Thulla looked over her shoulder once more to the tear in reality. She felt an ominous energy radiate out of it. A dark red haze rose up in the humid air. She twitched at the sparkling cracks that came out of it. “Yikes, Let’s skedaddle boys, before that angry void vagina slurps us up.” She said to Frederic and Pebelot, who silently agreed. “Let it be known that I, Thulla Bardeabu, refuse to lose any other body part to a space blender!” She boldly proclaimed, as she rushed through the overgrowth.

Branches lashed at her metallic skin. She had to cover her eyes with her stumpy arm. Lest she’d be blinded by a begrudged stick. Scattered cuts of vines made running a hazard, especially to an idiot with obscured vision. Her right arm swung around. Slashing at all the overhanging leaves. “Hya! Part before me, Sea of green!” She shouted wildly at her environment. All traces of her previous grace were gone, overtaken by the mannerisms of a ferocious little gremlin.

TWAP! A vine had gripped a strangling hold around her ankle. She planted herself against one of the pillar trees. Her head made a hollow sound against the hard stem. “Auwie, so sorry mister, eh... Tree?.” She apologized to the slender trunk.

She noticed that her right hand was completely embedded into it. Frederics bladed form was sticking out the back. Thulla tried to pull her hand out, but it didn’t budge one bit. Without thinking she started pulling harder, and harder. However her hand was well and properly stuck. She placed a foot against the trunk to leverage her strength better. She pushed, and pulled simultaneously. Suddenly she slipped free. Slamming to the ground.

Her clumsy fall was softened by the plant parts that were scattered everywhere. Dazed by her inelegant stumbling, she laid down there for a bit. “Why didn’t I just recall Frederic?'' She turned the shape shifting metal into a clunky hand, and facepalmed herself with it. “I’m an idiot, aren’t I?”

“It would appear so.” Pebelot chimed in.

“Shut it, or I’ll throw you in that spatial crack.” She chided.

“Please, anything is better then to be in the company of the stupid.” She squeezed the downright rude rock in her palm. Then she remembered that she was only pretending to have a conversational partner.

“What’s the use of a snarky sidekick anyway?” she juggled the pebble up and down…

A pebelot-esque response bubbled up in her mind: “Go ahead, toss me by the wayside and you’ll have to live with the fact that you threw away a sentient being, packed in an immoble suit of stone, to weather away at the endless erosions of time. Would you be able to live with that? I think not.” The pet-rock used a guilt-tripping tactic. “Hmm, to me that seems like just the appropriate response to any of your insults.” It was not very effective.

She put her pet-rock away once again. Sighing as she questioned her sanity. For some odd reason it was stimulating to bounce off her own monologue to an inanimate object.

Thankfully Frederic stayed mute. It would be something if he started singing all of a sudden. Slowly she got back up her feet. Her bum was hurting from the fall. She slapped a few wet leaves away that had stuck themselves to her armor.

“Wait a minute… Why are they wet?” A confused Thulla looked around, until her eyes found the fist-sized hole she had punched in the tree trunk. Water was seeping out of it. She sampled a lick. The fresh sensation of water permeated the buds on her tongue. It had a slightly grassy flavour, kind of what you’d expect from a crying tree.

A lot of the moisture had already been spilled. Thulla looked inside the gap she had inadvertently created. The hard outer shell was filled with a soft translucent goo. She scooped some up with her fingers. The slippery jell slid over her covered skin. She sucked it up into her mouth. It tasted almost exactly the same as the water, just textured differently.

“Aaah Bless thy roots water totem.” Thulla said as she engorged herself on the 4 meter tall pillar tree. It honestly looked more like a mighty thick bamboo shoot. Slick segments stacked on each other, with prickly bristles sticking out at every node. She felt bad for the wound she had caused. The tree would likely dry out and die. An idea popped in her head; could she repair it with the resin from the vines? Maybe it was worth a try.

She sliced off a couple bulbes. Unsure how to actually proceed she held them in her hand, while she thought things through. “I need to seal it off with Frederic, and then pour the resin in quickly from the top.” With a lack of better ideas she set to work. She held the bulb in a shape created with the malleable metal in her left arm. A thin sheet wrapped around the cut, with a funnel for the resin to run into.

Her right index finger now adorned a sharp looking knife. She sliced open the belly of the bulb. The runny glue gushed into the opening of the funnel. Thulla waited a couple seconds to let it all harden. When she lifted her mold, she noticed that the resin had fallen into the hollow tube. “Shit, I’m actually retarded.” She sighed. “That’s the second time I’ve drawn that conclusion already... There might be a pattern here. Oh Pebelot, before you interject, if you really don’t want to be associated with a numbskull like me. Then I can still throw you into that space grinder. Maybe you’ll find better company there.”

“You’re hopeless. I'm not surprised that you’ve made a mess. I’m surprised you are still among us. You need all the help you can get girl.” the pebble ‘said’.

~

“Just so you know I’m not ashamed. It was some of the best quality time I've had with the little girl. I can’t help that she’s really into roleplay.” Ramon spoke out of the blue. The duo was getting close to Varwick now. The dense forests gave way to open fields. Farm animals looked up curiously at the fast flying travelers.

“Uhuh.” Genik chuckled, he was deep under his skin already, so he didn’t need to stir too hard. “We should get ourselves a nice cup of tea when we arrive. What do you think?” He poked.

Ramon’s expression turned grim for a split second. Then he said: “No, I’m not wearing my proper attire.” They looked at each other before they burst out laughing.

“Nice, comeback bro.” Genik admitted. They zoomed along.

Genik asked him about his outburst from earlier. “I saw a shimmer, and for a brief moment I thought I could force an opening, you know... Alas it didn’t work.” Ramon shrugged: “can’t disintegrate space itself I guess.”

“So I’m not traveling with the destroyer of worlds, what a let down.” Genik mocked.

“Nope, sorry to disappoint. I’m just a regular destructive behaviour kind of man. Here to steal your woman, and ruin your day.” Ramon said whilst butchering an army salute.

It was getting noticeably busier on the road. They had already passed multiple farmer carts, and several startled traveling groups. Some hollered at the pair of speedsters. Flinging insults at their heads. “Maybe we should walk the rest.” Genik suggested.” He was getting uncomfortable maneuvering his hoverboard through the traffic. Even though his control had greatly improved. the likelihood that they’d create an accident was only increasing.

“We can slow down some, but I’m not walking.” Ramon said as he zipped past another horse drawn cart. The animal whinnied, spooked by the unexpected passerby. Genik sighed, He apologised to the coachman who tried to calm the horse. He received a nasty glare for his efforts.

Genik tried to keep up with Ramon who was already speeding over the next empty stretch of the road.

They were entering the outer rings of the city by now. Simple ramshackle houses were plopped down everywhere. Street kids started running after the flying men. Excited to see something new in their small worlds. The laughter attracted even more of their sort. Soon enough a horde of little people were chasing after them. Their childish cries of delight filled the streets. Genik had a nervous smile on his face. “This is troublesome,” he thought.

Ramon loved it. He flared out a sliver of his oppressive aura: “is there a hero among you powerful enough to catch me, The Bardeabu, harbinger of chaos, and destruction.”

The kids started going crazy. Ramon’s villainous laugh cut through the high-pitched screams. Most of the children started shooting bright flashing bolts from their toy-wands.

A cacophony of screams, and flashing cracks erupted in the streets.

“Can you not!” Genik yelled at Ramon. He was already having trouble dodging normal traffic. He didn’t need an army of brats barraging him with firecracker spells. “Fuck this shit” He split off into an alley, and got of his hoverboard. He kicked the thing up into his hands, and shoved it between his backpack.

A group of kids had gone after him. Quick as their short legs could carry them. Climbing over fences, and rooftops, anything to give chase. They surrounded the lone mage. They were aiming their toy-wands at him, like they were about to vanquish a great evil from the world.

Inwardly Genik was cursing Ramon’s name. “How did I ever end up in this situation?” He gave a dark glare at the little shitheads, that only seemed to rile them up even more.

“We’ve got you now, evil old man.” A snot nosed brat announced loudly at Genik.

A vein pulsed on his head: “Who are you calling old here?”

“Who else but you, dummy!” A fiery little girl squeaked.

“An ancient evil has come, we the heroes of today will banish you from our neighborhood.” A fervent bright-eyed boy spoke up, clearly completely absorbed in the games they were playing.

“Rip him apart!.” The fiery girl ordered the assault. All at once did the toy-wands pop into an overwhelming shower of colourful sparks. The harmless mana bolts bounced off Genik. It was embarrassing to be so viciously attacked by a bunch of kids.

Steam started rising from Geniks frame. He was extracting heat from all water sources in the surrounding area. “You’ve all walked right into my trap! Your youthfulness now belongs to me.” He said menacingly, as he pretended to absorb an unseen energy. The kids started shivering, as their body temperature started to drop.

“He’s stealing our life force.” - “Run for your life!” The group scattered as quickly as they had come. Only the fiery girl, and the bright-eyed boy stayed behind.

“This time you win.” The girl said. “Next time you won’t be so lucky.” the boy promised.

“What are your names?” Genik asked.

“I’m named Ywa, and he is called Jules.” The girl answered. Her fearless eyes looked straight at Genik.

“Ywa, and Jules huh? I’m sure you will make a dent in the universe some day, but for now playtime is over. Go back to your parents. They are probably worried about you.” Genik said as he saw them slump. The fun was over. They turned around and ran away. “See ya old man.” Ywa yelled before she disappeared around a corner.

“I’m not that old yet,” he told himself.

In the meantime Ramon was floating a couple meters in the air. Just outside the range of the sparkling projectiles. “Cower before my might, puny little humans.” His magic cracked ominously in the air. The children were going nuts trying to hit him. It wasn’t long before the city guard showed up, wearing their dark blue magic resistant uniform under their shiny breastplates, and bracers.

The street wise kids knew better than to stay and linger. They disappeared like rats in a sewer.

“What in Valkin’s name is going on here!?” The guard captain demanded to know. She was staring up at the floating man with her hands on her hips.

“Eh, I was just teaching the youth a valuable lesson.” Ramon answered.

“Why don’t you come down here, and let me teach you a lesson about the obstruction of the public order.” The guard captain said firmly.

“Yes, m’am!” Ramon complied. He floated down slowly with his hands in the air: “My safeword is pineapple juice by the way.” He said, wearing his goofy smile on full display. The woman tapped her feet on the ground impatiently.

“Anyway, it’s good that you are all here, I have something important to report, mind giving me an escort to the bureau?” Ramon said as he nodded at the two guardsmen who were standing behind their captain.