“Time is a remarkable thing. It touches us all, but some more than most. Don’t let yourself dwell in the past and forget to live in the present. After all, one of the best things, I believe, is the inability of our minds to correlate all its contents. If you dwell on what could have been, beware, for piecing together dissociated knowledge might open terrifying vistas that you cannot recover from.”

--Sermon, Church of Wisdom. AC 1430.

My claws strike out, phasing into materiality as another enemy makes it past the defenders. When I activated this skill, it required more than just my mana. It required that cold fire that burns from within. With time and use, I’ve come to realize the flame is my life force. As the burning dwindles, I've been able to equate the decline with the remaining time I have on this plane. I pull up the indicator to check,

***

You have Twelve Minutes Remaining on this Plane.

***

The more the crab and human golems are destroyed, the more I must pull from the sand of the castle to remake them, the faster the time decreases. The enemy has seemed to catch onto this as well and they throw themselves against the walls, trying to breach my defenses. Each creature that makes it to me I [drain], and the energy seems to prolong my time here. It's an uneasy balance, one that I'm slowly losing. I just need the starfish to get within range, so that I can complete the second part of the mission.

Luna and the squad ride the kelpie onward, and as they turn a corner the creature seems to slow down. It lets out a gentle neigh and then begins to dissolve, disappearing into shadow and bits of mana. Luna hops off and the rest of the squad follows. She says,

"It looks like we'll have to go the rest of the way ourselves."

They swim as fast as they can, and as they go Luna grows more frustrated. The others aren't particularly slow, but every second counts. She doesn't know how long Crabby can last for. The route has been clear so far, so she decides to take a risk.

"Wilhelm, I know you can go faster than this. Can you give me a ride? After your stamina drops, I'll hop off and teleport as far as I can."

Mina cuts in,

"Is your mana recovered? And what about splitting up the squad? That doesn't seem smart."

Luna slashes her arm down, cutting her off,

"Look, Crabby is giving us as much time as he can. The rest of you guys are still under stealth, I think it should be fine."

With that, the protests are stalled, and everyone falls in line. Luna climbs onto Wilhelm’s back and is a little discomforted. She much prefers the stability of Crabby's shell. Stowing that thought away she says,

"Ready."

Wilhelm nods, and then starts to grow red. She can feel the heat radiating through his body as he yells,

"FISH SWIM!"

And he propels off into the distance.

Luna is holding on for dear life, the momentum completely different from what she's used to. The catfishes tail jerks back and forth and it is all she can do to keep from falling off. His berserk state eventually fades, and she climbs off as he pants to the side. She says,

"Go ahead and take a break, wait for the others to catch up."

Wilhelm waves a fin to acknowledge and then Luna starts teleporting, stretching as far as she can to make up speed. Six uses of the skill later and she runs out of mana. Fighting the exhaustion that crushes through her, she starts using [Leg Chains] to throw a limb ahead. As the anchor plants, she pulls herself forward, causing her to rocket through the water. The mana cost is negligible and easily keeps up with her regeneration.

As she reaches the spot where they lost comms before, she stops, taking out the geo-locator. She tries going through the steps needed to call up to higher, and runs into a problem; one that neither she nor Crabby had realized. The long-range communicator is locked to Crabby's mana-signal, it lies dead and motionless in her limbs. Panic rises and her voice chokes up,

"I'm... I'm so sorry Crabby."

Down below.

The battle rages on, and my worry grows. I have two minutes remaining here, and Luna has yet to contact me. As I consider, I realize the issue. When my body was incinerated, I lost the armor I was wearing. There are no lines of communication between me and her. Panic begins to well and I scramble, trying to figure out a solution. I blast my [Eyes of Intent] as high as I can, striving to send a message across the distance between us. I receive no response and try again, shoving a significant portion of my mana pool into the skill, yearning to make my will manifest.

Something calls out to me from a distance, and it feels strangely familiar. The skill latches on and I feel the familiar *click* of communication.

As Luna huddles over the geo-locator in despair, the piece of Crabby's claw begins to glow. The familiar blue light shines, and she's able to hear his voice.

"...fish, come in, over."

She directs her mana towards the shell in wonder, and then speaks aloud,

"Crabby! It's me! This thing requires your mana signature! Just wait a second!"

Luna brings the glowing shell closer to the geo-locator, and the box lights up, indicating its ready to use. She goes through the sequence needed to communicate and soon, the other end responds. She had listened in to Crabby’s conversation before, and unlike then, the sounds of combat are loud in the background. She says,

"This is MoonCrab squad! We need support down here!"

The comms are scratchy, but she can just make out the reply,

"...negative. We're falling back now. Get yourselves out of there."

Luna's tension streaks higher, and she says,

"They're trying to drop the lines into the trench! It could happen any minute! We need support!"

"...we know. Our withdraw should be complete within the hour."

Crabby's voice emerges from the shell and Luna realizes he must have been hearing the entire conversation thus far.

"I am actively engaged with the enemy. I'm calling for fire on my position."

Luna blurts out, "What?"

The voice on the other end seems to pause, the time stretching ahead. Finally, the voice replies,

"Acknowledged. I need your current location."

Luna realizes that with the geo-locator in her arms, they probably can't get a good idea of his position. She remembers being shown how to look up a record on the geo-locator that shows prior locations. Crabby voice comes over the line, this time straight to Luna.

"You have the coordinates, pass them up."

Luna's arms shake, and she twists her body in denial. She realizes what would happen if she did, and her immediate reaction is to deny the possibility. She whispers replying,

"There has to be another way."

Her mind spins as she tries to come up with one, but each option is summarily shot down. Crabby's voice comes through once more, the tone almost as warm as her memories of the past,

"You can do this Luna."

She shakes sobbing, "I.... I CANT!"

Crabby replies,

"I know you can. I have faith."

With trembling limbs, she pushes the buttons needed to send the coordinates. The message transmits, and she slumps to the floor utterly defeated. She whispers,

"It's done."

Above the incursion zone, past the mana barrier blocking off the ocean, there lies an island. Since Charrose, the Dragon King made his great sacrifice, it has always been manned, stationed by those ready to defend the planet. A communication box rumbles, and three dragons lift their heads, staring at it intently.

"We have a request for fire. Coordinates 55Q EU 85653 45560. Target is approximately six-hundred meters below seabed. Request immediate air support, over."

The dragons are momentarily shocked, it had been several hundred years since they were last called into service. Things must be getting dicey down there. The leader of the squadron replies,

"Roger, moving to engage."

The dragons lift off, beating their wings to gain height as they fly. They move above the ocean, finally reaching the point indicated by the coordinates. The Air Force hovers above and begin their targeting sequence.

"Opening the shield."

An amulet pulses on the leader's neck, and the shining mana barrier opens below them. They then proceed through the familiar actions, using the skills that earned them the right to be stationed at this post.

[Part-The-Sea]

The ocean parts wide, forming a clear path to the sandy floor.

[Split-The-Earth]

The earth splits open, a straight path leading to the objective. They see a swarm of undead attacking a broken castle. With a discerning eye, they can see the piles of bodies strewn upon the floor. They send a mana pulse down below, scouting out the area and are able to figure out the enemy’s plan. For a moment, the leader locks eyes with the spectral crab below. "Godspeed," the dragon whispers.

[Burn-To-Ashes]

With jaws open wide, spiraling flame rockets down into the depths. The corrupted scream and rage against their impending doom, but the cleansing fire swamps their protests, instantly evaporating the remaining water in the hall. The skill is guided by their mana, and it leaves the structure intact. The earth dragon reinforces the pillars supporting the hall, and then fills it with reinforced stone.

As the Air Force looks to the rest of the battle, the water dragon says,

"Should we move to support the rest of the forces?"

The leader shakes his head,

"No, they have the veterans moving in for support. We will return to guarding the skies."

The earth closes, then the ocean, before the mana barrier over the incursion zone shuts once more.

Moment's prior,

The enemy realized their error, no longer offering themselves on a plate to be drained. Now, they're doing everything they can to attack the structure of the castle, almost ignoring the sand golems and denying me the power needed to rebut their attacks. It's alright though. The request for fire is in. I just need to hold them a little longer. Minutes pass, and a notification dings at me.

***

Time on this plane remaining: One Minute.

***

Hmph.

I yell out to the enemy,

"You'll never win, you know that?"

The corrupted reply,

"Fool. We are the heart of the dark, the temptation within. We will always win... in time."

A rumble shakes the hall, and the earth above splits open, revealing a tunnel all the way to the surface. I see the dragons about to fire, and yet that hardly holds my attention. The cold fire warms, glad to view the blue sky one last time. The enemy screeches and howls, yelling in anger. I spare a thought to their foiled plan, their declaration that they would always win. For the first time since assuming this form I sport a Crabby grin. I whisper,

"You might win.... But Not Today."

And the dragon fire descends.