Wreckage smoldered as embers burned.

Nova dropped to her knees on the scorched snow, gently lifting MC’s head. She brought the waterskin of mutagenic water up to his parted lips, pouring its last drops into his mouth.

“That’s it, huh?”

“Yes, and thank goodness. I cannot believe you have been drinking this poison all this time. We need to find a better way of healing your wounds as soon as possible. If only we had access to Dyn medical tools…”

Too bad he couldn’t take a holophoto of Nova’s reaction when she’d first seen him chug the stuff. She'd had a genuine panic attack, and had even attempted to force his waterskin away until he explained that in his particular case, it actually seemed to help more than it hurt. Though even then, he did not want to see what his insides looked like at this point.

“I think I broke a leg,” MC grunted through gritted teeth, spitting out a wad of blood. “Among other things.”

Nova quickly scanned his body for damage. As bad as he must have looked on the outside, it soon became apparent that his internals were even worse off.

“A fractured rib, a broken leg, and likely some minor internal bleeding as well,” Nova said, concern etched on her face.

“Gee, thanks doc. I’ll make a note not to hop off flying alien gunships next time.” He paused to take a deep breath, “I’ll be fine, just help me up onto Eiga will you?”

Leaning against Nova’s shoulder, he hobbled back to the Vairo-Syken, boots sinking deep into the snow. MC had kept all three of them safe this past week as they were relentlessly pursued by the Legatus’ Chariots throughout the frozen north, keeping his abilities active constantly to protect them, almost killing himself in the process several times over.

This time around though, Nova would repay the favor. After seating MC atop Eiga, she hopped off onto the soft snow, circling to the front of the dragon.

“Eiga, we need your help. We need to hide inside the nearby caverns to the north. Can you fly us?” She pleaded with the giant creature, enunciating every word, pointing to the gargantuan mountain range barely visible in the distance.

The Vairo-Syken grunted and craned his sleek armored neck in that direction, sniffing the air.

“I dunno Nova, that’s a pretty complicated command, don’t think we’re there yet.”

The only reason they’d stayed hidden this past week was thanks to Nova’s idea to train Eiga to fly without Midar. Even with the Energy Dampener, the fact that MC had to send Midar pings to guide the beast meant that there was always an opening in the Dampener’s bubble to let the pings through. So long as that was the case, their stealth would remain imperfect.

“There are massive caverns nearby,” she said, again miming the mountains that they had spent the last few days making their way towards. “Please, will you fly us there?”

They’d only tried the simplest of commands thus far—it wasn’t an issue of intelligence, which should be nearly that of a human’s. It was just a communication barrier, one they’d been slowly breaking down. While the dragon seemed to understand them at times, it was most likely through body language and tonal cues, rather than an understanding of the language itself.

Eiga apparently wanted to prove MC wrong, because he motioned for Nova to get on.

Nova’s eyes lit up. “Thank you! Please, stay low?” She mimed the ground with one hand and Eiga flying close to it with another.

“Why the fuck does he always listen to you?”

“Maybe because I don’t treat him like a tool?” She quipped, climbing up on Eiga’s back behind MC.

It seemed that Eiga had received the message. He took flight to the north towards the great Ells mountain range.

MC activated the Energy Dampener, completely surrounding them as they made their way through the air. Even still, the Dyn’s Insight Network would spot them instantly if they broke through the clouds, which was why she’d asked Eiga to fly low.

Now that they had destroyed what were hopefully the only Chariots in the area, they ought to have at least a chance of losing the Legatus’s forces in the labyrinthine caverns.

MC learned how to fine-tune the Dampener over the past week, modulating it to selectively block different types of energy. That meant it’d kill any and all radar, but still allowed air particles to pass through without sapping their heat energy. The result was a bubble that cut out all outside sound, making for a somewhat pleasant flying experience devoid of turbulence and noise.

Eiga flew them to one of the many gigantic caverns, easily large enough to house the great beast. The brilliant light gave way to blinding darkness as they penetrated several hundred feet inside before landing gently on the hard rocky ice.

Nova helped MC off and had him lie down next to the jagged cavern wall, then turned to hug Eiga’s snout in gratitude. It whinnied in response, a sound she had never heard from the majestic creature before.

“Preferential treatment, much?” MC jibbed.

The Vairo-Syken tilted its head away and snorted in indignation. Like it was telling him he wasn’t good enough for that kind of treatment.

“Yeah, I get it. You’re a fucking playboy. It all makes sense now.”

Eiga bellowed a deafening roar before stalking off to the other side of the massive tunnel, where he lied down to nap.

Nova rushed back to MC to check on his condition. The cold affected him less than it did her thanks to his armor and extra mass, but the slightly-warmer temperatures of the cavern would still aid in recovery. She immediately got to work.

“Your broken leg should heal on its own given time, so long as we splint it well, and your internal bleeding seems to have lessened. I shall monitor that for now, but your broken rib worries me the most. I will need to set it.”

MC grimaced, but kept his silence.

“Are you not in great pain? How can you be so at ease like this?”

Seeing Nova’s concern put a small smile on his face. It’d been so long since anyone ever worried that much about him—Nina excepted.

“Well, you know. Pain’s an old buddy of mine, we get alo—” MC broke out into a fit of coughs and tried to sit up, but Nova pushed him back down, rolling him onto his side to clear his airways.

“Magnus, give me your nanite-enhanced knife.”

MC obliged, retrieving the weapon from a drop leg sheath he’d fashioned. “I’m not gonna like this, am I?”

Nova neglected to respond, thus confirming his suspicion. It wasn’t like they had any anesthesia around, so MC just balled up the edge of his cloak and stuffed it in his mouth.

Working together, they removed his chest armor, revealing exposed bones that stuck out at an obscene angle.

Nova cut off a small section of the titanium wire lace from MC’s boot, then held both the wire and the knife up to the magic cleaning orb he carried around. It lit up for a quick moment, sterilizing both her and the tools upon contact, completely eliminating any harmful bacteria.

She locked eyes with MC, who nodded once.

Then she got to work, resetting the bone, reconnecting it to his ribcage, and securing them via wire. She’d have preferred to use a biodegradable wire, but given that they had nothing else on-hand, it would have to suffice. Still, she attached it in such a way that it could be easily removed later on.

He had to admit that her skills in that department were downright formidable, though MC had a hard time forming coherent thoughts at that moment. While he’d managed not to scream the entire time, he’d passed out by the time she finished her operation.

MC woke hours later to a body wracked with pain—a throbbing sensation that pulsed through his entire body. Apparently, Nova had created a splint for his leg while he was out, because he found himself completely immobile.

“Your condition has stabilized, though it will take time before you recover enough to walk.”

MC gazed up at the giant cavern entrance and the white world that lay just beyond. He clenched up, and in the next moment, giant sections of the black rock sealed off the opening, plunging them into darkness. Then he reinforced it a couple of times for good measure.

Even with radiation weapons, the Dyn wouldn’t be burning through that anytime soon.

“I thought I just told you to rest! You are aggravating your condition!” She told him off, as any good doctor would.

“Can’t let them find us,” he said weakly.

“I can see just fine in this darkness, but what about you? Do you need the magic orb, or would you like it dark?” Nova asked.

MC pointed to the sleeping Eiga. “Rucksack.”

Nova set the orb down beside him, bathing their immediate surroundings in an ethereal glow.

“Well I’m sure glad I picked that up in Dervegen. Never really had a use for it until now.”

“Are you usually so well-prepared?”

He coughed. “Always.”

Nova knelt next to him, curving her wings around them to help trap the heat. The soft glow from the orb and her own brilliant plumage somehow turned the frigid and inhospitable cavern into a somewhat friendlier place.

“Magnus, please stop pushing yourself,” she implored softly. “Do you even realize how injured you are?”

“Yeah. Between the throbbing pain, the agonizing pain, and the driving pain, I kinda got that impression. But we’d have died a dozen times by now if I hadn’t and you know it.”

“Yes, I know,” she said gently, “but this time you really do have to rest. I am fully qualified in human anatomy so please believe me when I say that unless you lay still for the next several days, your condition will only worsen. Without access to medical facilities, you may very well die if you aggravate your condition any further.”

She pressed on, seeing that he was about to argue back. “The skies were overcast today, so the Dyn satellites would not have been able to track us. We’ve flown a fair distance from the wreckage of the Chariots without your Midar pings. It will be some time before we are found.”

The angel paused to point at the entrance. “Not to mention that with your handiwork, it will be an effort to pierce through even if they do find us.”

MC chuckled, “Ok doc, you’ve made your case. We’ll lie low for now. And besides, I’m tired as fuck and I bet you are too. Where the hell are we anyway?” He asked, looking up at the giant cavern ceiling high above.

“These are natural caverns, hollowed out from eons of water rushing through them,” she said, picking up a handful of frozen sand that covered the rock, “This all used to be underwater many ages ago. These caverns form a labyrinthine network, interconnecting at hundreds of locations.”

“In other words, the perfect hideout for a dragon, a human, and a Dyn traitor who doesn’t want to be found.”

She nodded, “We will have to take care to not lose our way, yet I doubt navigation will be a problem between my enhanced sight and your Midar. I have an eidetic memory, so I can build a mental map of the caverns as we proceed. There are enough exits to these massive tunnels that we should be able to find another way out when we’re ready.”

“Hold up. Eidetic memory? You’re only telling me this now?”

“Well,” she flushed, “it had not come up, and we had more pressing issues to worry about.”

“That’s an understatement,” MC chortled. A long moment passed in silence before he spoke again.

“Guess that just leaves food and water to deal with. Really just food, given all the ice around here. Don’t suppose there are any animals we could hunt, are there?”

“Nova?” He gingerly turned his neck, but found that she’d already drifted off to sleep, her head resting against his armor’s shoulder plating.

He couldn’t help but crack a smile at her sleeping figure. The dark circles under her eyes were a testament to how much she’d been through over this past week. They both had.

Spending each night lying awake, wondering whether it would be their last. Whether they’d have to fight for their lives one more time. The Legatus had been relentless, sending both Ultimators and ship after endless ship to pursue them.

They’d only survived thanks to the combination of his abilities and Nova’s own knowledge of the inner workings of Dyn tech. MC had kept the Dampener’s Stealth Field active almost constantly, which had caused its potency to soar by leaps and bounds, though it came at the cost of a perpetual headache.

Sure, it had significantly decreased the attacks, but the Dyn’s satellite network meant they could only fly when the skies were grey, hunkering down at all other times within the mountain-side recesses he’d hollowed, or in deep underground chambers large enough to hold the dragon.

And even with the Energy Dampener, he had to allow his Midar pings through to fly Eiga. Low-power and highly directional as they were, it still wasn't nearly as bad as flying without the Dampener active, but the Dyn’s detection capabilities were head and shoulders above that of humanity’s.

They could pick up his tiny signals from distances many times further than what he thought was possible, resulting in their fair share of close calls and near-death experiences.

There was no doubt about it, the goings had been tough. Really tough, and he didn’t know how much more of this they could take. Nova had a heart of gold, but he could see the writing on the walls.

She was starting to crack under the stress, and if he was being honest, so was he. Over a month of dealing with this truckload of bullshit had left him constantly short of breath, under the force of an overwhelming pressure that would never relent. It’d made him weary, haggard, and spent.

And all of that was a footnote next to the bombshell of learning that this planet was real. That the hundreds—the thousands—of Zevan he'd killed were real. Thinking, feeling, loving beings that he'd brutally robbed of life. Sure, he'd killed before, but he'd always killed scum that deserved death. Some deserved even worse. But these poor souls' only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Could he still look himself in the mirror and be proud of the person he was? Could he continue living, drowning in guilt?

Emotions roiled in his chest. He felt like throwing up.

No. What's done was done. Even if the parasite had encouraged him, even if he thought it was all fake, he'd face the Zevan of this planet. He'd take responsibility for his actions, even if they called for his death. Because that was who he was. But not before killing the motherfucker who tortured Nova. Not before ridding this planet of the atrocity that was Dyn governance.

It would be his apology to Kelruhn. Spoken not with words, but through action. Until then, he would bury his feelings deep. For Nova's sake, if for no one else's. Because they had to survive. Because failure was not an option. Not when he had an alien civilization to overthrow.

Silently imagining the Legatus’ demise, MC found himself unable to keep his eyes open.

For the first time in a very long time, he drifted off to the hallowed shores of slumber, where the souls of those he'd brutalized awaited.