I START UP.

My eyes blink open as I breathe in a gasp of burning air. I cough and rasp before steeling myself and taking in my surroundings. I lie in the center of a massive impact crater, with bits of ember still burning around me, and a plume of smoke trailing up to the purple sky.

I force myself to my feet, cringing from the aching at my side. I fell hard. After closing the rift in the sky, I ran out of energy and plummeted straight down without any protection. Still, I survived. I take a look around at my surroundings. I stand in the middle of a forest of kwyer trees. Burned stumps of the orange wood litter the area, caught on fire from my crash.

I inhale deeply, gathering the little globules of Lifeblood floating around and converting it to Qi. With an exhale, I put out the last of the fires close by so it does not spread into an out-of-control firestorm. Trudging through the ashen-layered earth, I massage my temples and meditate to restore my strength.

It took me more energy than I expected to close that gateway. Not only that, I had peered into the vastness of the void and saw the army of the Void Pirates waiting to come through from the other side. I had even seen—

“Idu,” I say as I come to a halt. “That was Idu.”

A purely metallic being. Just like an Esh or an En. A robot. An artificial entity. Yet, he holds a keen intelligence within him. He is not just a machine, but a person. And his desires far outweigh any I have sensed in any being before. Even the Spring do not radiate the same callous ambition he exudes.

“He has to be stopped.” It is a decision I come to simply. But it is easier said than done.

I am still recovering— not just from pushing myself too hard, but from the fall. My core is nearly empty as it is, so I cycle the Qi and Aura within, keeping myself poised as I head in the direction of Thornthistle.

It is not far. At least, from what I remember during the fall. I saw a glimpse of the city on the way down as the world spun. So I walk on for now. I pass by a river pouring with mucky water, reaching a clearing covered in debris. I pause at the sight.

Something crashed here. I can still see the wisps of smoke and the lash ashes of an ember burning. I narrow my eyes, edging forward cautiously as I reach the center of the rater. I see a broken pod lying in the center, half-buried in the earth.

Bodies lie scattered at this crash site. Burnt corpses. They lie inert, so I leave them be. Instead, I press on until I reach the pod itself. I hear a hissing coming from within— a gurgling sound, accompanied by a low groan. I push aside the broken door and peer in. My eyes widen at the sight of what is inside.

“What… is that?” I ask backing up warily.

A twisted figure raises its head and faces me. A desiccated body— dried skin and visible bones. It stares up at me with hollow eyes and sharp teeth. For a moment, my mind flashes to the Vampires back in Jhisie. Those leaping creatures that can cross great distances in a single jump with extreme strength and durability.

But this creature simply runs up after me. It lashes out, swinging for my head as I duck under the attack. It is quite slow, but I stumble backwards and nearly trip over. I catch myself as the creature runs up towards me and snaps for my neck with its crooked teeth. I catch its face in the palm of my hand and squeeze tight.

Its head explodes, bursting open into gore and dried skin. I look down at it as its body falls limp and lies at my feet. I narrow my eyes.

“Is this what all those pods were carrying?”

I stare at the corpses around me. Then I hear more clamoring coming from within the pod. Three more of those creatures sprint out at full speeds, rushing my way. I swing my arm once, slicing them all in half. They fall apart as easily as the first.

“They’re weak, but…” I move for the pod, checking its insides. There is one last of these creatures there, trying to crawl its way out of some rubble. I impale it easily, shaking my head. “There are many of them.”

Far too many. I cast my gaze around at all the bodies. The corpses of these creatures. Most of them here died on impact, but this looks like a violent crash that went awry mid-fall. And there are dozens of them just here.

None can be compared to a single Esh, yet there were hundreds— thousands of those pods falling from the sky. I look up and see trails of smoke rising up to the sky all around me. More crash sites. More of these creatures. I bite my lower lip.

“I will have to find Kalmat.”

With all of my current strength, I conjure up my Aspect and take off into the sky, heading for Thornthistle. And as I pass through the sprawling landscape of the Flourishing Flatlands, I see dozens of crash sites scattered within the area, and hundreds of these wicked, vile creatures already moving for the city.