Hitori took a moment to examine the crowd in front of him. Eight airships down, two left, and the people still looked uncomfortably numerous. He cupped his hands in front of his mouth and yelled, “Zoè! Zoè Todichini!”

A few people turned to face him, their eyes filled with dread weight, but none answered his call. Not that Hitori expected them to, given Zoè was an eight year old girl, not a weather worn adult.

He wandered the crowd, repeating the cry, until finally the young girl herself emerged from the sea of shifting legs. She was sniffling, but made an obvious attempt to put on a brave face.

“Come on sweetheart,” Hitori said, dropping to his knees so he was at her eye level. “Your family is waiting near the Civic Center. It’s your turn to ride in one of those big airships.” He held out his hand, then added with a smile, “Won’t that be fun?”

Oh look, an aspiring mercenary nursemaid. Legendary.

The girl hesitantly grabbed his fingers, and followed close as led her around the crowd. Her eyes kept darting to the nearby battle.

“Will this be the first time you’ve flown?” Hitori asked. Zoè nodded reluctantly. “The view is amazing, and everything looks itty bitty from up there. These mean old trees won’t be scary when they’re so small you can pinch them between your fingers.”

When they made it back to her family, Hitori kneeled down to address her. “Alright, go back to your parents, and make sure you hold on tight until you board, okay?” She nodded. “And don’t worry about things down here, okay? You’ve got a lot of very strong mercenaries looking out for you.”

She looked at him doubtfully.

“Like, do you see her over there?” He pointed at Bridget. As if on cue the woman in question vanished with an explosive crack, reappearing next to one of the lurching invaders as it shattered to pieces. Zoè looked amazed. “See, these dumb shrubs never stood a chance.”

“O-oh kay,” She said, then looked at him. “Th-Thanks, mister.” She ran off to join her family, who took their place in line and stepped into the Civic Center. A young woman guided them through the crowd.

He lost count of how many times he hunted down a lost child or a misplaced sibling in the last hour, though at least this time it only took a minute or two. He supposed the crowd had gotten smaller, even if it hadn’t gotten any thinner. In spite of what he told the girl, they were getting pushed further into the Town Square.

Even Mr. Foster, the Headmaster, had been driven from his position behind the Civic Center. To replace him they needed every Arteficer they had left to blast away the encroaching vines from the roof.

And they have you on fetch quests for clueless yokels. Even you are better than a job like this.

Hitori approached to the young woman in charge of organizing the boarding process, the same one who’d let Zoè and her family cut in line.

“Hey Èothain,” he said. “Anyone else need finding?”

“No, I don’t think so,” she said. “In fact I think I’ve got this from here on out. Thanks for your help, Seishin.”

“No problem,” Hitori said. “I’m going to go see if M— one of the Commanders needs anything else.”

“Sure thing,” Èothain said, then quickly added, “Oh, wait, I forgot to mention this earlier. Your Paladin boarded a few airships ago with wounded guard, so it’s only you and that other girl now.”

“Alright, thanks for letting me know.”

It didn’t take long for Hitori to find Commander Athens and Malikah. Rosa Varzhish was there, and even through the din of battle Hitori could make out her voice.

“Yah güey! That’s what I’m saying!” the fiery Easterner said. “These things are too dangerous. We’ve got to get em all while they’re still together.”

“And that’s a ridiculous way to do it,” Ramses said. “Even if it still works.”

“It’ll work, I put it back together myself. And you’ve seen how fast this spread, it would be more ridiculous not to.”

“You’re as mental as ever.” Ramses rolled his eyes. “And have you thought about potential survivors? Are you going to blow them away too?”

“What? Everyone’s accounted for. We’re all either dead, in the air, or on the line. Even little Li’s misplaced sheep got a flare up before they went over the mountain.”

“Are you okay with this Li?” he asked.

“Eurusia’s team knows the plan,” Ms. Athens said. “They’ve been cut off for hours. They’ll be well on their way to the next village by now.”

“Yeah, and Ayizan is with them,” Varzhish said, then laughed. “Esos cabrónes are probably safer than we are.”

“You two are mad as black sun,” Ramses said, then shook his head. “Whatever, I have an evacuation to complete.” As he walked away he added, “Rosa, I swear on the gods, if you blow us up, I’ll drag you in front of Anubis myself and pirouette on your heart.”

She laughed, but didn’t otherwise respond as Malikah left. Varzhish finally noticed Hitori, who’d strolled all the way to her side during the conversation.

“Should I be concerned?” Hitori said.

“No no, not at all,” she said, then added with a mischievous smile, “But don’t miss your flight.”

“Young Seishin,” Li said.

“Yes Ms.— Commander Athens!” Hitori said.

“I assume you’ve finished your work under Young Èothain. Please join the defensive line to the east. There’s a small team of militia for you to relieve. You can tell them to start the boarding process.” She gave him a once-over, her gaze lingered a moment on his outer thigh. He felt a line of sweat on his brow.

“Y-yes?”

She handed him a Wolf Stim from a satchel on her back, which he took with both hands. She didn’t say anything else, simply turned away. He was dismissed then, so he walked away, placing the Stim into an empty slot in his pouch.

He found the squad he was to relieve, a team of three men, although he supposed it might have been more accurate to call them children. Not a one of them was a day past sixteen. As for his duties, they didn’t feel like so much as a fight, but rather a session of high speed hedge trimming.

Bridget was nearby, apparently also having lost her team to air bound tasks. Hitori noted, with no small amount of incredulity, that she seemed to have gotten so bored she was cutting simple shapes into the vegetation with a borrowed knife. He sighed. She was such a show off.

Time passed slowly, the seconds marked by the slow erosion of the concrete pad in front of the Civic Center. Hitori hadn’t noticed the airships cycle out for the last time, so he was especially surprised when, after jumping away from a swiping vine, he bumped into the red brick storehouse in the middle of the town square.

He scanned the situation, counting his remaining allies. He didn’t make it past two. That was a great sign. Even better, they’d been cut off from the Civic Center, which was currently being violently dismantled. In a few minutes, the storehouse would be the only structure left in the village.

The trees, meanwhile, had lost any semblance of their natural shape, or even the impression they’d once been separate. The forest had become a wave of vines, and they were on the last vestige of dry land about to be pulled under.

“Uh, guys?” Hitori said. “Aren’t we on the wrong side of things right now?”

“Ah, Hitori my boy, all part of the plan,” Mr. Gustaf said. He turned to Varzhish. “What do you think lassie? The last airship far enough away yet?”

“Yes boss, this should be good,” she said. “Though they might have a bumpy ride.”

“That’ll have to do,” he said, then he yelled, “Oy! Girly!”

Ms. Athens materialized beside him, emerging from the shadows cast by the storehouse, then Mr. Foster threw a silver disk in the air. When it reached the apogee there was a blinding flash of light, and a split second later a circular wall of flames erupted from the ground.

“Alright lassie,” Mr. Gustaf said. “We have about ten minutes, so work quick.”

“Yes boss!” Varzhish said. She jumped into the shack, emerging a few moments later hefting a large device on her shoulder. It was a bulky metal cylinder, with a square frame welded onto it. A bundle of cable was wedged through a rough hewn slit, and the device looked like it had been cut open once, then resealed.

“Uh, what’s that?” Hitori said. The Easterner didn’t respond, instead she started fiddling with an electronic panel attached to the frame with a set of plastic ties.

After a minute of fussing she turned to Mr. Foster and said, “You call the bird yet?”

“Aye lassie,” he said. “He’ll be here shortly.”

“The quicker the better,” she said. “I only put it for eight minutes. Anyway”—she turned to Hitori, locking eyes with him and grinning wickedly—“As for this, well, let’s say it’s a little present I put together for the Chief Drake if she ever decided we wore out our welcome.”

“Rosalina’s always had a talent for putting old junk back together,” Mr. Gustaf said. He laughed. “Most often to the bother of her teachers.”

She laughed. “You must be glad I never found one of these when I was a girl, huh?”

Further conversation was halted by the steady beat of a helicopter, which finally grew loud enough to cut through the crackle of burning wood. Hitori immediately noticed a problem.

“Where exactly is it supposed to land?” Hitori asked.

“Nothing to worry about my boy,” Mr. Gustaf said, he turned to Ms. Athens. “Girly?”

That was apparently the Shade’s cue, as she melted into the shadows. A moment later the side door of the helicopter slid open.

“Alright laddie,” the headmaster said. “You first.”

Before Hitori could ask, ‘First for what?’ he found himself tossed into the air. He flew to the open door, and was able to clamber in with only a little help from inside. He found that, in addition to Ms. Athens, there was an old man he didn’t recognize.

Varzhish joined him a moment later, though she was able to smoothly swing into her seat without help.

“Hi Papá,” she said, apparently to her father. “Wanted to get one last look at the old place before it went?”

He responded to her in Eastern. “Hi little bean.”

The pair of them made room for Mr. Foster to slide in behind them. “Make it quick,” he said to the pilot. Meanwhile, Varzhish’s father was leaning out the door, looking at the village.

“Do you really think that old thing I found still works?”

His daughter laughed. “I couldn’t exactly test it, but the core is still sealed, it’s got fresh wires, and I put the controller together myself.”

“It’s a shame about my collection. I spent a long time making it.”

“Ay! Papà, you’re plenty spry. I’m sure you’ll find enough junk for a proper Bachijan funeral before you croak.”

Her father laughed. The pair continued to banter, moving deeper into the helicopter.

“We should close this,” Mr. Gustaf said, sliding the helicopter door shut.

“What is about to happen, sir?” Hitori asked.

“Oh, you’ll figure it out in a minute,” He said with a sly grin. “Though you might want to grab on to something.”

Hitori did as the Headmaster suggested, eyeing him with suspicion. He noticed that Varzhish and her father stopped yelling over the noise, and seemed to be waiting anxiously.

Hitori almost asked again what was about to happen, when a blinding light poured in through the small windows in the side panel of the helicopter. Before his sight could recover the helicopter was punted into the air and they were slammed with a deafening noise, like every possible sound hit them at once.

The pilot apparently expected the disruption, as he smoothly slid the aircraft back on track. Hitori hadn’t managed to brace himself completely, and was thrown onto Ms. Athens lap. He blushed and jumped back into his seat, but asides from a gentle push she didn’t react at all.

After a moment to recover Hitori caught his evaluator whooping and throwing her hands in the air.

“It worked! It worked! Chúpalo, pinche pendejos!” She yelled, with a manic gleam in her eyes.

“What the hell was that!” Hitori said. When it became clear Varzhish wasn’t going to answer, he turned to Mr. Foster.

The old man smiled, looking pleased. “Ah, that was an old weapon from before the Fading. I believe one of the smaller varieties.”

Hitori looked at him with a mix of alarm and confusion, before saying, “Was that really a great idea.”

“Oh, the young lass made a compelling argument,” Mr. Gustaf said. “We’ve never seen metaflora spread like that, and I think we’d all like never to see it again.”

I wonder what it looks like out there?

Hitori nodded to Mr. Foster, then crawled from his seat towards the door. He slid it open, poking his head out towards where the village used to lay. There was an almost perfectly vertical column of smoke and ash, capped high above them with an inverted bowl.

Down below he saw a few shadows moving on the mountains to the north, likely a group surviving metafauna. For some reason they seemed to be moving towards the village. Hitori shrugged and closed the door. If they wanted the smoldering wreck they were welcome to it.

He returned to his seat, and settled into a comfortable position, then slowly fell asleep to the steady beat of the helicopter.