[-=Nox=-]

June was already quickly climbing down the ladder, whimpering as she touched the hot metal.

“Get back into the mech, June!” I yelled from the cabin.

June shook her head. “You can’t keep me trapped in whatever the hell that thing is. I’m…”

“You’re what? Where are you going to go, my little idiot? Do you not see that glass storm coming? It’s going to grind you into blood and dust!"

June hopped down onto the dune. “Don’t care. I’ve survived before on my own. I’ll survive again. Quit screwing with my head, please. I feel weird when I look at you and I don't like it one bit."

“I’m not…” I said exasperatedly.

June was trudging down the dune already, trying to get away.

“Please come back… June,” I spoke, my voice trembling.

She vanished. Damn it! Why did I have to disable her collar? It would be difficult to catch her now. She didn’t believe in me anymore, so I couldn't just track her by that!

“Fuuuuuck!” I yelled, accelerating my blood. I leapt from the doorway, down to the last spot where she had been, hoping that she didn’t get too far.

I crashed into her invisible body, both of us rolling down the glass dune. I was done arguing with her.

I grabbed her by the hair, pulling her back.

“Let go of me!” She screeched.

"Get back into the mech, you stupid-ass fox!" I yelled.

She slashed across my hand and chest with her claws.

I was done being nice. My June was gone and this one clearly needed to learn not to question my authority. I slapped her hand away and forced her down. She shrieked.

The crystalpede suddenly burst from the sand, chomping down on my leg.

“Arghh, come on! I threw you away! Auuughhhhh…” I yelled, flailing as June dashed beneath me, vanishing in the sand.

"Get back here!" I screamed. “Juuuuneeee!”

The centipede closed its mouth around my leg, cutting right through my muscles. The pleasure became nearly blinding. I bent down and slapped a circle on its head, bending backwards as the circle detonated. The head of the bug cracked open, sending a lethal volley of crystalline shards in every direction. I had no way to avoid the resulting shockwave that crashed powerfully into my body. My leg held captive in the crystalpede’s jaws, I shielded my butt with my hands for what I knew was coming. Some crystalline shrapnel went right through me, punching holes in my body.

"June! Would you stop running, damn it! You're my Dark servant, you belong to me!" I yelled into the desert, trying to free my foot from the broken head of the centipede.

"I belong to nobody!" She answered. “I don’t know you!”

The centipede dropped the broken segment and was already starting to form another head. The blasted thing was very persistent.

"This isn't an illusion, June! This isn't Europa, there's nowhere to run! You are going to die out there!" I yelled, struggling with accepting the fact that I now possessed empathy for a mortal.

“June, I really don’t want you to die. I… I care about you.” I finally admitted, shakily. I was losing a lot of blood. Too much for staying intact. I was getting distracted, as I now had to increase the Necromancy spell upon myself, thinking constantly about me. It was tiring.

"We'll see about that!" June answered, her voice fading away.

“June? Please, don’t go. I…” I whimpered.

She was gone. There was no answer. I looked up one last time. The crystalline storm-wave was almost upon me, about to swallow me. It was a horrid curtain draped across the entire moon, a tidal grinder of death created by the moon’s close proximity to the black hole. It would absolutely destroy Yul’s body. I was far too injured to make it back to the mech. In another few minutes June would be dead too.

I choked in resignation and despair. My essence was swiftly escaping from the huge gash on my leg and other numerous, smaller holes made by the explosion. My head was pulsating madly. I was running out of Void mana, losing coherency. I was feeling totally distraught. I had been forsaken by the only person that I cared about. I spent my Void mana even dangerously low as it was, trying to repair the many holes in my organic shell. And failing. Me and healing magic? Forget about it. I’d explode if I tried that.

I suddenly realised that there was only one option. I accelerated my blood one last time and composed two Quests, firing them at myself. As they activated, I focused inward and turned off my consciousness, willingly surrendering all control for the first time in millennia to another.