"Oh no!" &alon screamed. "No! No no no no no no no!"

Apparently, even gods could panic.

&alon fluttered around me like a frightened fairy, grasping her head in her hand as she shook and shook.

She looked up at the sky with fearful regard. "We're trapped!" She flew up against me, grabbed my torso and looked up at me, her sky-blue eyes as terrified as melted snow. "I'm scared, Daddy Genneth! I'm scared!"

"Don't be scared," I said. (I hoped I could do the same.) "Try again, there has to be—"

She flicked her wings, bobbing up in the air. "—I did try! I just did, and it didn't work! It didn't work!"

"Have they ever stopped you from leaving like this?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No no no, never! Never!" She sobbed. "They're gonna hurt the wyrmehs, Daddy Genneth. I don't want them to hurt the wyrmehs!" She cried and cried. "Daddy Genneth! Daddy Genneth!!"

I sighed out spores.

Leave it to a parent to sort through their kids' mess.

I turned around and started the awkward process of squeezing myself back into the ship.

"Where are you going, Daddy Genneth?" &alon flew after me in near-hysteria. "Where?"

I glanced back at her. "I'm going back inside to ask the Vyxit what they know."

She shook her clenched fists. "But that's so far away!" she pled. "Why do you have to go there?!"

"You're welcome to come along."

She sputtered in confusion. "But—but but—"

Turning away, I slithered in, using my powers to cushion the fall as the upper quarter of my body flopped down to the ship's ground floor. My sudden return caused Tal to yelp, while Twiggy skittered out of the way as if he'd have been run over by a car.

Qua'loc, meanwhile, was still tending to my children in their regeneration pods. "I told you he'd be back." The manticore barely so much as glanced at me before returning to his medical duties.

Tal spun around in panic. "Twiggy, Al—anybody!—what the fuck is going on?!"

As if to answer him, every light on every display flashed in a brief unison, as if to answer him.

"Incoming transmission!" Perzy said. "Priority Zero!"

"I thought Priority One was the highest classification," Al said. The many-limbed silver-coated inverted pyramid looked up in surprise.

And then a voice spoke, filling every corner of the spaceship. To my dismay, it was one I'd heard before.

hUen-dE.

All the Vyxit froze stiff.

"Hear me," she said.

With his stilt-legs trembling beneath him, Twiggy raised one of his arms, only for Qua'loc to glare at him and growl.

"The Tyrant is not worthy of your salute."

"But what if she's noticing—uh, watching?" Twiggy whispered.

But then hUen-dE's dramatic pause ended, making the discussion moot.

"Brothers, sisters, siblings all," she said, "the enemy from within has finally shown itself. I prayed to the Gods this day would never come, but it has. Loyal Vyxit, partners in the Long Hunt, we are under attack. A group of malcontents have risen up and declared war on our people. They have struck from the shadows, attacking us in our darkest hour, led by an Imposter they dare to call EUe."

"EUe was my friend and colleague, a hero to us all. He was martyred for our cause by a cabal of murderous traitors. They nearly destroyed us then, but we persevered. We've made our strongest warriors and greatest minds into aegises to stop such bloodshed from ever recurring, but it seems I underestimated the darkness in our midst. I'm so sorry, everyone. I have failed you. The unthinkable has come to pass: civil war. But have no fear, we will keep you safe. The traitors will be purged, along with the foul thing they dare to call EUe."

"Brothers, sisters, they have sided with the Blight! One of the serpents found its way into our sacred servers and corrupted them. Everything has been compromised. Trust no one but your leaders. Keep strong, everyone! With Ela-tU as my witness, I swear to you, the Blight will not triumph! We will have justice; even now, we work toward it. Despite the Blight's interference, the Lodestars are on track to be fired. The final countdown has begun. I have trapped the Blight with the power of the Sacred Blade, binding it to this planet. We will open a gate and strike the Core with the Lodestars' full might, and this time, it will not survive! We will destroy the Blight, once and for all, and the Long Hunt will finally end! Ela-tU is with us! Glory will be ours!"

And then the transmission ended, leaving everyone stunned—though not in silence.

Alarms had broken out across the ship, while repeated copies of a sequence of rapidly changing symbols had appeared on nearly every screen in view.

That had to be the countdown.

Tal covered his ears. "Can someone please shut off that alarm?"

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"Silencing," Perzy said; the alarm cut out a moment later.

"I wonder if any twEfE has ever had a tongue as long as hers," Qua'loc quipped. "hUen-dE could turn a kit against their mother if she wanted to."

"She's so scary… but… she's also so sad."

I glanced back in shock to see that &alon had followed me inside the ship.

How long had she been waiting there?

"Why is she so sad, Daddy Genneth?"

But I had more important questions to ask.

"Wait wait wait," I said. I looked at &alon, and then at the Vyxit. "Core? What Core was hUen-dE talking about?"

She'd said it had emerged before.

"Daddy…?" &alon said.

I thought back to what EUe had told me about her.

Because, &alon… she lost everything, I thought-said. You took it from her. And she's jealous of the people in the Archives. She thinks they get to live forever.

Of course, the Treefathers had made it clear that was nonsense; no one in the Archives got to live forever.

I think the fear of death comes from mixing together the fear of not being able to see more, and the fear of not leaving enough behind, I thought-added. It's no wonder hUen-dE is so sad and angry. She must feel like she's accomplished nothing with her life. For her, what happens next is do or die. It's her big chance to finally rack up a win.

I had to admit, I felt bad for hUen-dE; she lived to destroy. I wouldn't wish that existence on anyone.

To my surprise, it was Perzy who answered my earlier question.

"Over the millennia, Lady hUen-dE has refined Vyxit tactics against the Blight. After many failed attempts to enter through its portals to directly attack the Blight in its own realm, it was discovered that the Blight has a physical Core deep within its realm. The Core appears to be the Blight's nerve center. Destroy it, and the Blight should be destroyed along with it."

"And the gate hUen-dE was talking about?"

"By funneling dreamshard power to the Sacred Blade," Perzy explained, "we can open a portal into the Blightrealm. The Core is highly vulnerable to damage, the effects of which disable or even kill Blight-creatures in huge numbers. In the fleet's most recent encounter, we succeeded in opening a portal to the Blightrealm. Though the portal was imperfect, significant damage was still done to the Core. It seems Lady hUen-dE intends to repeat this tactic. I have little doubt it will succeed."

"Fudge," I muttered.

"Alright," Tal said, "so… what the fuck are we going to do now?"

Al tromped up a walkway to the upper level. "We must contact the rest of the Resistance. We have to revise our plans." He turned to face the command center at the front of the ship. "Perzandebilis, open all hailing frequencies, now!"

"I'm afraid that's impossible, sir!" the ship replied. "The Vengeance is jamming our communications!"

"The Vengeance?" I asked.

"The flagship," Tal said. "hUen-dE's seat of power."

Twiggy trembled. "They'll hunt us down like flies—gn-gnats. They'll kill us off one by one."

"Better that than whatever twisted plans hUen-dE has in store for those who surrendered," Qua'loc said.

Then there was a pair of beeps, followed by a sound of suction, and after that the hiss of an air-tight seal breaking as the translucent lids on Rayph and Jules' regeneration pods slid open.

— — —

I'd never been so happy to hear my daughter scream in terror as I was when she opened her eyes to discover a cat-eyed manticore peering down at where she lay in the regeneration pod.

Neither of the kids let the Vyxit help them out of the pods. Jules was obviously trying to hold on to whatever tiny semblance of control she still had over her life. Meanwhile, Rayph was just too excited to waste time on minor things like bodily coordination.

Jules and Rayph emerged from their pods like clothes from the washing machine, only without the benefit of a spin cycle. Translucent gel slicked their hair and skin and their dripping, wet samuei. The glop slowly dribbled down onto the smooth silver floor. I don't think any garments in history had suffered quite as much as my kids' clothes had. Honestly, their samuei deserved a medal for all that they'd endured.

Seeing them standing there was almost too much for me to bear, I wouldn't have had it any other way.

They were as healthy as could be.

I couldn't help but crane my head toward them and stare, setting my wyrmsight set to the max.

Triun be praised! There wasn't a single trace of fungal aura within them. They were 100% &alon-free.

The feeding tubes that had only just been stuck down my children's throats began to make some really alarming sucking-choking-gurgling noises.

It drew everyone's attention.

Qua'loc reached out and tapped one of the icons on the wall above the pods, causing the tubes to spew out the blockage that had triggered the alarm, only for Jules to wail in shock, flinging her hands to her mouth as the liquid essence of concentrated boogers poured out from the tube's nozzles. The awfulness was a dark, dull rainbow of black ooze and fungal tendrils, green spores, and loads of pus in various shades of putrefaction.

Pataphysics streamed from Tal and Alahumadwod as the two Vyxit got to work. Tal's magic wicked the gel and moisture off my kids and gathered it into a watery globe that he shunted into a container he'd pulled out of the wall. Alahumadwod did the same for the gunk in the regeneration pods.

"I wonder what the Colleges of Medical Sciences will make of this," he said.

"Whoa…" Rayph spread his arms in fascination, realizing he and his sister were now bone dry.

My kids were as clean as a whistle and—if my snout's innumerable sniffers were any indication—mildly lemon-scented, too.

I wished Pel could have been here to see it. The miracle she'd been praying for had finally come to pass.

Waddling forward, Rayph looked around for a bit before eventually deciding that the manticore was the neatest thing in sight.

"This is so freakin' cool." He reached out to touch Qua'loc's flank, but then stopped himself and did the responsible thing: he asked, first.

"Can I touch you, Mr. Manticore Guy?"

"What the fuck?" Tal stepped back in shock.

"Why are you speaking English?"

I'd been doing a good job of keeping abreast of things, but, I'll admit, this latest development threw me for a whirl.

"What's English?" Rayph asked.

Tal shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

Jules crossed her arms. "My little brother asked you a question."

"Please, little lady, hold on." Tal's shoulders tensed into mountaintops before he let them go slack with a long, drawn out sigh. "I'm having an existential crisis here." He pointed at me. "You. Snake-Daddy. Please tell me you speak the same language as them?"

I nodded.

"Holy fucking shit." He slapped his thigh. "Everybody, turn on your external mikes, and set the damn things to English."

"What's going on here?" I asked.

But before anyone could answer me, Rayph caught sight of the spores drifting down from my snout and toward him. He let out a frightened yell and toppled onto his backside.

I would have screamed if I could. My son, afraid of me? Angel's breath, what could be worse than that?

For once, even &alon seemed to understand my pain. She lowered her head in shame.

Fortunately, Qua'loc came to the rescue. "There is nothing to fear, little ones." To illustrate the point, he fell onto all fours, grabbed a paw-full of spores and sprinkled them over his head.

Jules and Rayph stared in shock.

I turned to Qua'loc. "Please translate this for them. Tell them I finally got—"

The manticore looked up at the ceiling. "—Perzandebilis, if you would. Let the young ones hear their father with their own ears."

"Done," the ship replied.

Qua'loc nodded at me. "Speak, Howle, and be heard."

"Testing," I said. "Testing, testing—"

—But there was no need to continue. A tinny, mechanical voice completely unlike my own could be heard coming from the walls, speaking the words conveyed through my song.

Jules and Rayph threw themselves on me, hugging my snout. I shook with emotion.

"I did it," I said. "I got &alon to listen. The spores are harmless. The fungus won't infect anyone ever again."

And for once, it felt like everything really had gone right.

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