HOME | DD

Description
ALATE
[adjective]
having winglike extensions or parts; winged.
Etymology: from Latin ālātus, from āla, “wing”.

—-

Hours later, when the fire had died down and the shaking in his hands had stopped, Casimir finally continued his search for the next contestant he had to defeat. He had three stars in total from his successes, and Kyuu had made it clear he needed five to get access to Ametsuchi’s main portal and confront her. He asked himself if he was really ready for this- by any means necessary he had to defeat the last of his opponents and Ametsuchi herself. Casimir took a deep breath, and then another, until he had steeled himself for the rest of his journey.

He continued moving through the zone, weaving his way through the raised wooden paths and strangely coloured buildings. Butterflies flitted past him in disorganized swoops and he batted them out of his way with the back of his hand. One drifted sadly to the ground. Cas set his shoulders, and continued onwards.

Elsewhere Izz, a robot competitor previously in charge of a supply depot, and his friends could smell the smoke beginning to waft through the area. They had gathered far from the building the housed the library, but the scent of smoke was getting stronger. One of them, a boy named Allen, sniffed the air warily.

“Does anyone else smell that?” He asked, peering around them to try and locate the source of the smell.

His teammate Jill nodded, her strange cat hat mirroring the worry and confusion on her face. The last member of their group, a little black ink-like creature, tilted their head to the side.

“A smell? What sort of smell?”

“Like burning.”

The group headed towards the smell in the air, but slowly in case the cause was still around and aggressive. Finally, Jill spotted it. The rubble of the library, still smoldering, but with no one else in sight around it. She dashed over embers and stamped on the brightest ones until they died underfoot.

“It looks like whatever caused this moved on pretty quickly, huh?” Allen thought out loud, smushing a few of the embers himself.

“Enemy?”

“Yes, Phoenix, probably.” Izz answered. His optics scanned the horizon around them and the other buildings and trees, but thankfully whatever had happened didn’t seem to have left a trail of destruction after it. “A competitor, I think.”

“This is horrible!” Jill lamented from a distance, finishing up with her ember smothering duties. The smell of ash still hung acrid on the air, but it was beginning to dissipate.

Allen patted her on the shoulder sadly, “At least it won’t spread any further. You have some ash riiiight here.” He gestured wildly to Jill’s entire body, and she looked down and laughed. She really was covered in it from almost head to toe.

—-

Beatrice’s toes skimmed the treetops below her. Her broom’s engine sputtered and she gave it a good, swift, kick. With a loud roar she began to rise again into the air. Ever since she woke in the cabin, alone, and with another star on her hand, her mind had been out of sorts. Even more out of sorts than it had been during the rest of the adventure. She couldn’t even say she hadn’t wanted this.

Suddenly, there was a whistling noise through the air. It sounded like something picking up speed. Beatrice glanced around wildly before looking up as a shadow covered her. The sun was blotted out by a strange, lion looking creature with huge wings. Her ensuing dive took her roaring through the tree branches below, their broken limbs snagging on her long hair and dress. Above her the lion also began to crash wildly through them.

There was a crackle of electricity, the hair on her arms beginning to stand on end, and Beatrice threw herself behind one of the huge trunks before a bolt of white lightning arced towards her. It snapped through the air and shattered one of the trunks closest to her hiding place. Peering back around the tree, Beatrice could see that the lion’s huge wings were gone, replaced by normal-ish looking arms. He was breathing heavily, fur singed lightly in patches, and holding himself as if he was hiding an injury.

“You’re a competitor, aren’t you!” She called, clicking her broom into it’s gun configuration. Pawing through her bag, Beatrice grabbed a handful of berries and jammed a couple of them into her mouth.

“Give me your star!”

—-

The girl’s weapon packed a punch. It felt like a cannonball had struck Casimir in the side. His injuries from his earlier fight hadn’t healed properly, could still feel the heat on his skin from the burning building even, and hadn’t escaped the rubble unscathed either…

Casimir grabbed the unconscious Kyle and hauled him over his shoulder, then stuffed the tiny girl under his other arm. It was awkward and difficult but the fire was beginning to spread through the library. His internal timer was close to running out, and he felt like he was still awake through sheer nervous energy. The building blazed. He stumbled through the racks of books towards the closest exit, dodging the crumbling support beams and chunks of brick that were beginning to fall. Casimir kicked the door open, splintering the wood under his heel, and threw the two competitors out to the relative safety of the hallway. He cried out as a heavy, burning slab of brick and mortar swiped his side…

Wincing, Casimir sheltered himself behind two trunks that had been destroyed in their battle. He held the wound on his side tightly and began to charge the static electricity in the air. Lightning wasn’t his favorite weapon, doubly so with no magical form to back him up. It had a great risk of backfiring as lightning was as indiscriminate and powerful as fire. There was a crack of a branch nearby and he loosed the bolt building up inside him. It crashed through the air, sending Casimir backwards with the sheer force of it, and narrowly missed the girl. She’d had to fling herself away, dropping the strange weapon she wielded just to move fast enough. The bolt of lightning arced towards the weapon, but dissipated into the ground before it could strike.

“It’s made of metal, isn’t it!” He called over the logs. “Give me your star, I won’t miss again if you pick that thing up!”

—-

Beatrice's heart pounded in her chest. She had gotten a couple of solid blasts in earlier but without her broom she wasn't going to be good for much. She decided she could come back for it later. As loathe as she was to leave it behind, it was too dangerous with her opponent patrolling the way he was. Beatrice ran as fast as she could into the forest around them, smacking blue and purple branches away with her hands.

“Hey!” She heard the lion shout behind her, but she was already escaping into the distance.

The air began to get thick with electricity again, and there was a soft crackling noise seemingly coming from all directions at once. Suddenly lightning ripped through the trees next to Beatrice. It was quickly followed by a heavy boom that had her covering her ears with a yelp. She cast a glance behind her, stumbling over her feet as she hurried to get away, at the lion who was holding onto his wrist as if in pain. He was snarling, wrinkling his nose and baring his teeth at her. The fur on his body seemed to stick out in all directions at once.

Beatrice carried on running.

—-

There was definitely something weird happening in the forested area. Allen was keeping a close eye on the smoke in the distance, although it didn’t seem to be getting any closer. Suddenly, a wave of force blasted through the area. It swept the Phoenix into the air and Jill had to grab hold of his outstretched hands and pull him close. A few of the smaller trees around them bowed, their tips stretching to touch the ground. There was a cracking noise- something deep in the forest falling over.

“What was that?!” The Phoenix curled around Jill’s shoulders tightly, tiny claws gripping the fabric of her jacket. The energy faded but left the crackle of static in the air behind it.

“Something big, perhaps?” Izz’s optics whirred with distress. “Should we go find out?”

“It was probably a competitor.” Allen’s brows furrowed.

“Let’s go see!” Before anyone could catch her, Jill took off at a run. She vaulted clear over one of the broken trees and disappeared into the inky dark of the forest.

Allen hurried to catch up. He wasn’t just getting tired of fighting, he was done with fighting. A branch smacked him across the cheek as he ran. Izz was somewhere nearby, he could hear the whir of his feet across the uneven ground. The whole place smelt like ozone. Like rain after a fire. By the time he caught up with Jill she was hiding behind a huge, felled tree and trembling with nervous energy.

“Stop running away!” He whispered, crouching down next to her. There was a huge grin on her face.

“I saw a kitty. I’m gonna hug him.”

“Absolutely do not.” Allen groaned. He peered over the tree slowly, hoping that whatever cat Jill had seen wasn’t a competitor. Maybe it was someone’s escaped house cat. That would be nice.

The surrounding area had been practically cleared out. The trees were leveled, thrown to the sides like sticks, and the ground was scorched in places. In the center of it all was a girl with bright red hair. She seemed to be collapsed on the floor and Allen nearly threw himself over the log to get to her but Jill’s hand wound tightly in the back of his shirt. In the blink of an eye, a bright portal opened against the back of the clearing. It was the same as the portals they used to travel between zones.

“Judges.” He muttered.

A huge mechanical creature stepped through, it’s steel joints whirring and clunking. On it’s head lounged someone dressed all in purple with wicked looking claws jutting from the sleeves of their outfit.

“Look! The kitty!”

Allen followed Jill’s pointing finger, and sure enough there was a creature more cat than human slipping through the glowing portal.

Izz slid up behind them. “We should follow. Jill will probably do it without us, anyway.”

—-

Cas’ heart was pounding in his chest so hard he was pretty sure it would leave an indentation against his ribs. Ko-Reko and the Automaton hadn’t noticed him slip through their portal and now he was standing in a long corridor, blank grey stone walls stretching out before him. Below his feet was a raised dais with strange inscriptions covering it. He took a second to gather his bearings before continuing down the long hallway. His eyes watched. Waiting.

Behind him, the portal shimmered again. Unceremoniously, a group of odd looking people practically fell over themselves to get through it. Cas span wildly, looking for somewhere to hide, but the girl with long pink hair spotted him.

“Jill, no!” Someone in the tangle of limbs shouted, but she was off.

She moved far faster than Cas had been prepared for and her entire body plowed into his side, throwing the both of them to the ground. He snarled, ears pressed back to his head and claws raised-

When he realized she was just hugging him.

She was practically rubbing her face against the fluff on his neck.

The others had extracted themselves and it turned out to be another robot, a boy, and an odd looking inky creature. Cas looked up at them balefully.

“If you would, please, perhaps remove your friend from my person?”

The boy rolled his eyes and pried Cas’ assailant away from him. She whined, but seemed to be in exceptionally good spirits after getting her hands into something soft and fluffy.

“I’m Allen, and this is Jill.” The boy said.

“And I am IZ-44. But you can call me Izz!” The robot held one of it’s hands out and helped Cas to his feet.

The little black creature leapt onto Jill’s shoulders again. It narrowed it’s eyes at Cas and said nothing. He shrugged. If it couldn’t- or wouldn’t- speak, that was it’s own prerogative.

“My name is Casimir, and we have to get out of here before those two follow you.”

He turned away from the group and continued to walk. Their confused stares followed him for a moment before they joined him. The quiet was oppressive, the only sounds were the quiet taps of their feet and the gentle mechanical noise of Izz’s plodding legs. The hall curved in one direction, then another, over and over until Cas was dizzy with it.

“Where are we even going?” Jill asked, her feet starting to drag against the floor.

“There hasn’t been any exits so far.”

There hadn’t been any sign of the judges either. That much Cas was thankful for at least. Again and again the corridor twisted. Their feet ached, numb from the thudding, plodding, constant. Cas’ ears pressed flat again. As he turned another corner, though, Casimir caught sight of the drifting, purple and pink scarves a certain judge wore. They flicked to the side, disappearing around another corner-

“There!” Cas broke into a run. “Something’s hiding the exits from us, this way!”

He followed Kyuu’s directions, the rest of the group trying to keep up with his hurried footsteps. They were starting to fall behind but Casimir continued doggedly. The blank white walls seemed to fall away around him, an array of colours spreading and fading with each step. In between the golden yellows and pale greens it seemed like something was watching, copying him, running alongside him like a shadow. Cas’ steps slowed down and he peered harder at the wall. Behind him, the others had stopped running as well. There was a thousand different versions of himself- of them, of all of them- running down these corridors.

Beside him ran another copy of himself, alone, and another ran in front with Juna and Gordon. Besides him were other, different coloured, versions of himself, fading into the distance surrounded by people and creatures he never could have imagined in a million years until it looped around and around coming back to this one point in time-

“Snap out of it!”

Izz stepped hard on someone’s toes, their loud yelp breaking Cas out of his odd daydream. He blinked hard, clearing his eyes- all of them- of the multitudinous visions of himself. Kyuu was standing in front of the group, leaning gently on the air as if he had no cares in the world. Izz had moved in front of the group as if to protect them from the judge.

“Stay away from us!” He warned, while Kyuu just looked on.

“What just happened?” Jill seemed to wonder out loud. She looked pale and dizzy and had to shake herself vigorously.

“Oh, just one of the good doctor’s little tricks and traps that are about the place. You should really watch out for those.” Kyuu just laughed. “Casimir, cutie, are you cavorting with a competitor again? I thought we’d gotten you past all that.”

Cas glanced at the group around him, he couldn’t see any stars on anything obvious and that seemed to be how they operated… Unless it was the robot in front of him. His hands flexed, claws sliding from their sheaths slowly. If he hadn’t realized, there was a good chance they hadn’t noticed yet either.

“No fighting, no more!” The tiny black creature shouted, leaping from Jill’s shoulders and putting itself between Casimir and the robot.

“It’s not like we have a choice.” Casimir growled and looked to Kyuu for confirmation.

The kitsune, however, seemed pensive and curious. His head tilted back and forth for a moment and for a split second his eyes glowed with the power of a thousand suns. A shiver of fear ran down Casimir’s back. It made his fur stand on end.

“Well,” Kyuu finally said with a hum, “you may stand a chance yet. I guess we’ll see. Don’t get distracted, now~”

And with that, he vanished with a curl of his many tails. Everyone could feel the tension bleed from the party gathered and Jill leant against Allen in relief. She wiped her hand across her brow dramatically.

“You have all met him before?”

They all nodded or agreed in various ways. Allen explained their fight against Kyuu and what had happened earlier while they continued to walk. While they spoke, they came out into a large room with three other arched doorways that led off deeper into the compound. The group stared in wonder while they tried to decide which direction they should go in. The doors and halls held no answers.

“Should we split up?” Izz wandered between them while he peered down the arches.

“It might be dangerous, we don’t have enough people to split up evenly so someone would have to go on their own.”

Allen seemed to be one of the voices of reason in the group. Casimir stayed quiet, waiting for them to decide what they should do. He was perfectly happy going on his own.

“Jill and I will take this one, we work best together.” He’d continued, gesturing to one of the doorways. “Phoenix, do you want to go with Izz?”

The little creature looked up at the robot, then over at Casimir, who was leaning against a wall trying to look as neutral as possible, and then shook his head. “I am small, and slippery. They won’t find me! I will go alone.”

‘If you’re sure…”

They seemed concerned, worried about leaving Izz alone with Casimir, though the robot reassured them that he didn’t think the lion was all that dangerous. Casimir had to suppress a roll of his eyes but internally thought that maybe working in a group would be a good idea for this part of his mission. The plan was that, no matter what they found, interesting or not, that they’d all return to the center in an hour and decide where to go from there. He wondered if the Phoenix creature had a sense of time or not.

Casimir and the robot took the center pathway, eventually coming to a large flight of stairs that lead upwards. It was quiet, other than the hum of machinery from both Izz and the building surrounding them.

“Do you think she’s powering something?” He thought aloud, one hand resting on the gently humming walls.

“I am wondering the same thing. Perhaps her ultimate goal is buried somewhere inside this place.”

Cas mumbled his agreement. Eventually the stairs ended and they found themselves in a room surrounded on all sides by computer screens. They blurred with static, zipping between scenes almost as fast as Casimir could look between them. Izz trundled slowly over to them, focusing on a particular set of screens.

“There.” He said, quietly. “That’s me. In the past.” One of his metal fingers touched the screen gently. It seemed to be a cycle of the same day again and again- or perhaps his life had been as repetitive and dull as to seem like the same day over and over.

Glancing around, Cas could see Juna and Gordon, and Mason and Nevara, and others that he’d never met before settling on a screen showing himself. Everything was burning around him and he could still feel the tears leaving hot tracks down the fur on his face. Cas grit his teeth. Another screen showed him, right now, creating an odd loop of screens showing screens showing screens and he found himself quite dizzy looking at it for too long. The Izz and Casimir showed on the screen had a long, red thread connecting them and, when he looked back to the robot, he could see the faint outline of the thread around his wrist. There were others as well, snapped or torn or simply fading away into nothing. But, when he lifted his wrist to get a better look, the threads faded from his view.

“How strange…” he muttered.

Suddenly there was a clatter on the stairs and both Cas and Izz span around, ready for anything to come up them.

It was Jill and Allen, though there was a wild look to their eyes. They hadn’t been gone that long, Casimir wondered as they came crashing up the stairs together. Something must have happened.

“I don’t think I’m very good at sneaking!” Jill shouted, a mad laughter in her voice. Following behind her was the Automaton and the purple robed creature known as Ko-Reko.

“Looks like we found the rest of the rats!” He said loudly, banging on the roof of the robot beneath him. “I’m gonna have some fun with this.”

Instead of leaping from the robot his form shivered and disappeared, only to reappear next to Jill and Allen wit a vicious swing of his claws. They threw themselves backwards at the same time that Izz lashed out. The claws connected with Izz’ long forklift extension, the sharp clang echoing through the room even over the static of the tv screens, but to everyone’s surprise they didn’t cut through. Izz went on the offensive, Allen following close by with a strange blue weapon that shifted in his grip. And Casimir slipped away.

It hadn’t quite been what Kyuu suggested, but he was so close to Ametsuchi he could smell her in the air. She smelt like nothing. Like a blank space in the air, the cut-out form of someone that might have existed once.The huge chamber unfolded before him, a giant whirring machine against the back wall, lined with huge tubes filled with a glowing blue liquid, a bubble encased an endlessly silently screaming man, and standing against the back wall was none other than the purple haired angel herself.

Ko smashed into the wall with the force of a train, the white walls crumbling under body. Shards of it fell around him as he pushed himself from it, Allen leaping after him wielding a long sword that had once been a wrench, and Ko snarled from behind his mask. The sword blocked one hand and Izz’s long forklift extension blocked the other. He was trapped between the two opponents.

On top of all of that, Jill seemed to come from nowhere. Her fist barely skimmed the edge of his mask. A thin crack split through the center of the monochrome mask and Ko screeched with rage. In a second he had disappeared and whirled at their backs with his claws glimmering in the bright light. Suddenly, a black blur smacked against the back of his head. It’s tiny pitch claws scrabbled for purchase on his cowl and he flailed, long sleeved arms desperately trying to slap Phoenix away.

“Get off of me!” He snarled, shaking his head back and forth. The long, jester cap-and-bells flapping comically. He vanished again and again, blinking in and out of reality with Phoenix hanging on for dear life.

Finally, the tiny creature was flung off of his back and Jill leapt. Phoenix splatted in her arms, quickly reforming to it’s little four legged state. Ko-Reko had frozen, one clawed hand held over his face.

“I don’t have to put up with this…” He said, and with a blink he was gone.

In the corner of the room, Automaton remained motionless. Slowly the tension bled out of the others. Allen and Jill looked at each other warily.

“Was that it?” She asked.

Izz blinked in confusion. “Perhaps…he did not want to fight?”

“Didn’t seem like it to me.”

Slowly, in case the strange judge came back, the group moved onwards.

“Where did that lion guy go, anyway?” Allen wondered out loud. His face went pale as someone cried out from deep inside the next room.

Ametsuchi’s hand was tight around Casimir’s throat. His transformation faded like ash on the wind, disappearing from his body even as her fingers tightened. Surrounding them were the various contestants, seemingly unconscious inside the glowing chambers. Red threads trailed from their bodies. Jill’s hands covered her mouth in shock as she saw even Nevara floating listlessly next to her ever-present companion.

“My servants fail me, fleeing in the face of adversity, and leaving competitors to sneak into my private quarters!” She flung him hard and Casimir collapsed next to the weak and sparking form of Kyuu. “On top of all that, you inspire rebellion in them!”

Kyuu wheezed. “Oh good, looks like backup arrived just in time.” His tails flickered like static.

Forcing himself to his feet, Casimir wobbled unsteadily and pressed his back against the wall. “We won’t be playing your games any more, Ametsuchi.”

“Tch.” She turned her back on them, wings quivering, and began to flick the switches on her giant machine. “I don’t need you two to finish powering this. I’ll just have to do without you.”

Hurrying to Casimir’s side, Izz propped him up on one shoulder while he heaved a breath. “What is she planning?” His tinny voice was full of fear.

“She brought you all here to steal your ‘potential fate’,” Kyuu explained from the floor. He cast his gaze to a tube where another fox-like man, only dressed in black and purple and blue rather than Kyuu’s extravagance, and sighed. “Every timeline leads to this moment. We’ve done this before in so many iterations of ourselves and every one has lead to ruin. If she brings herself to full power, she’ll rule every part of time and space itself. Fate will be her plaything.”

Allen’s hand, wrapped around his wrench, trembled. Jill had a frown creasing between her eyebrows. Even the Phoenix, who had seemed so desperate to get to the doctor, said nothing.

“What can I do?” Izz set his shoulders and nodded to Casimir. If they had to fight, even if he disliked it to the core of his being, he would do it.

The red threads on the trapped competitors were beginning to disappear. Kyuu wracked his brain desperately. “I think we need...a fate singularity. Yours and Casimir’s stars contain the fate of everyone you defeated, and everyone they defeated and so on and so forth.”

Ametsuchi’s shoulders shook with mirth. “That won’t work.” She said, flicking a lever with her slender fingers. “You’re missing a few links in the chain.”

Suddenly Kyuu cursed under his breath. “Six, right?”

She nodded. The machine was beginning to hum and whirr even louder than before. It’s great mechanical parts dragged up and down, huge gears turning with a groan. Casimir shuddered. He could feel a metaphorical weight pressing down on his shoulders. His people, these people. The few friends he made.

Suddenly, Izz was reaching out one of his little mechanical hands. He held it out to Casimir, who was still leaning heavily on his shoulder, with a steely glint to his eyes. “You should take the star. I’m not that good of a fighter.”

“Neither am I!” Casimir whined. He was just beaten into the ground by Ametsuchi, and not even Kyuu could keep up with her either, and he wasn’t keen on repeating the event. “I’m not someone you can rely on. Can’t we give them to someone else?”

Kyuu shook his head, then pushed himself up against the wall he had been slumped against. “Look I’d take them both if I could but you’re the last two competitors, someone has to win this.”

He took Izz’s hand. He felt the heady rush of power flow from the last star into himself. The magic seemed to tremble, thrumming under his veins and pulsing with each grind of the machine’s gears. Jill and Allen and the Phoenix looked on warily, as if they expected him to betray them at any moment. Even Ametsuchi had turned her head to watch the proceedings though she seemed nonplussed.

“And one final touch, I think.”

There was a wicked grin on Kyuu’s face. He stuck his tongue out, almost playfully, but he held a tiny vial on the tip that was filled to the brim with writhing red strings; the same as the ones coming from the other competitors. Ametsuchi’s smug face fell.

“How many times did you change the past?!” She snarled, bright white wings snapping out with a loud crack. Cas felt his own flare out to match her threat.

“Enough to say for certain this should be the last time~!”

He lurched forwards, hands gripping Casimir’s shoulders tightly, and shoved their mouths together in an odd kiss. The tiny vial was forced into Casimir’s and the glass shattered as he pulled away. Jill giggled, somewhere in the back of the room. There was a beat, where the dread that nothing would happen settled hard in all watching party’s stomachs, before Casimir began to glow. The bright blue light seemed to illuminate him from the inside, and the closed eyes on his wings and back carefully peeled open. Allen stepped back. Even he could feel the way the gravity in the room seemed to increase, seconds before the light exploded outwards.

Ametsuchi covered her eyes with an arm, and the others flinched away with a cry. When the light faded to a more tolerable level, Casimir looked down at himself and the electricity that coursed through his gauntlets, the fire that blazed where his feet touched, the orbs of water that floated nearby, and smiled. His outfit had become pure white, the sheer amount of destiny on his shoulders from both every version of himself and the other competitors felt like hope. Ametsuchi growled.

“You won’t stop me with pretty parlour tricks.”

Again she launched herself at him, long lab coat billowing out behind her. Unlike before, though, it didn’t appear as if she was moving faster than Casimir could see. The wind whipped around his ankles angrily as he blocked and dodged her vicious attacks. A punch that could shatter ribs. A kick that would leave a dent in his skull. He swung at her in turn, fire following his movements, and the blaze spread out around him in a huge circle. Ametsuchi’s huge wings beat powerfully and she leapt backwards and away from him. The wind whipped harder, the fire spreading out more every second.

“Everyone! Move back!”

Distantly, Cas could hear Izz and the others moving away from their raging battle. It was taking all of his concentration to keep Ametsuchi at bay however. Her own magic warred with his in the air, a swirling light show of power battling back and forth over their heads. Lightning struck fire, wind buffeted at ice shards, the shadows danced around their feet and grabbed for them with tendrils of darkness. Ice pooled at her feet that he didn’t create and he knew that Nevara was watching somewhere.

Casimir pressed his ears back and roared with all of his might. No matter what, he couldn’t show Ametsuchi that she was actually hurting him. Even with his strength, the new power given to him with his transformation, she was a dangerous opponent. He forced himself to move faster, to hit harder, until with one lucky blow Ametsuchi was flung backwards and hit the giant machine with a sickening crack.

“I’m going to strip you of your wings, doctor.” He said, voice low in his throat.

The fire around him was snuffed out in a blink. Casimir’s gloved hands gripped the base of her wings. She raged and thrashed, trying to pull herself from his grip, but he held fast. Her wings began to fall away under him. As the white feathers drifted, they disappeared before they could even touch the floor. Soon she was left with just the fluffy down and soon after that, nothing at all. Casimir’s eyes glowed the brightest blue yet. The star on his cheek seemed to be absorbed into his fur, tiny sparks of magic dancing away down his neck and face. He could still feel the pain from where Ametsuchi’s blows had struck him, but it was distant and dulled- as if it had happened to someone else.

“Casimir?” Izz asked, nervously peeking from behind one of the huge tubes.

“She’s been fighting for so long.” Casimir spoke with a thousand voices. It echoed throughout the now silent chamber. The others shivered with it. “I’ll put you back.”

Ametsuchi turned fearful eyes upwards to Casimir as a blue portal opened underneath her feet with a wave of his hand. She sunk through it and disappeared. Slowly the last of the contestants, Kyuu as well, stepped out from their hiding places and shuffled over to the strangely glowing lion. As Ametsuchi disappeared, the floating bubble containing the strangely warped man popped and a second portal opened underneath him. He was unconscious as he sank through it, but no longer screamed with unseeing eyes.

“Would you help me let the others out?” He asked, staring off into the middle distance away from them. It was hard to tell if he was unseeing or all-seeing.

Allen got to work first, snapping out of the fascinated stupor, and began plugging away at the controls to the machine. He growled and grumbled under his breath. Quickly Izz joined him and together they made short work of the release program.

“What did you do with her?” Jill sidled up close to Casimir while she watched the others work.

“I put her back where she belongs. On her fate’s true path.”

“So she’s okay?”

He nodded. The fluid in the tubes around them had begun to drain as they spoke, leaving the other contestants and remaining judges slumped against the glass. Kyuu pulled the other fox from his confinement, arms wrapped tightly around him as if he could hardly believe he was real. He nodded to Casimir before the portal opened up underneath him and finally they disappeared.

Together they worked on freeing everyone, Allen pointedly not asking how Casimir was putting everyone back into their own timelines, but muttering under his breath the entire time anyway, until only a few were left. Nevara floated closely to Mason, a hand resting gently on his shoulder.

“Well done, on not dying.” She told Casimir with a small smirk before they vanished as well. Jill waved goodbye the whole time.

Juna and Gordon were still unconscious as he sent them back to their own time, their own world. It was sad to see them go without saying goodbye. Everything would probably feel like a strange dream to them, until the memories faded and grayed at the edges. As they opened the last tube, Beatrice’s eyes jerked open. She thrashed in Izz’s arms, heel slamming against his metal head, and forced herself from the container. As she stumbled through the door, she shook out her damp pink dress with a curse, and her eyes locked onto Casimir.

“You! You absolute mother-“

She fell through the portal with a yelp, and Casimir grinned. “Whoops.”

The others joined him, Izz rubbing where Beatrice had clocked him comically. “Hey, Casimir. We have a request.”

He turned his head towards them, expression blank. “What do you need?”

“We’re all going together!” Jill sprung through the air, Phoenix hanging on for dear life onto her shoulders, and crashed into Izz and Allen in a laughing pile of limbs. “You can do that, right?”

A small smile spread across his face, wrinkling his eyes in the corners, and he nodded. Other than himself, they were the last ones to go through. He could feel the magic coursing through his bones beginning to disappear with each portal. Maybe he’d finally get to sleep, after all of this. With one final wave of his hand, the whole group of friends began to sink into the bright blue.

“Bye! Don’t forget us!” Jill called, hanging tightly onto Allen with one arm and squished closely to Izz with the other.

He wasn’t sure where everyone he sent back would end up. The jester Ko was sure to leave after he got bored, as he’d never been bound to the place by fate. To Casimir the entire complex was covered in a multitude of red strings. They were translucent, but with enough focus he could tug them and move them between each other. He wondered if that was what Ametsuchi had been fighting to do the whole time. She’d been trapped in between destinies for longer than he cared to imagine, but now she had a second chance.

Perhaps it was time to give himself a second chance as well.

The last portal appeared under his feet, and, as he sank through it, he could feel the last of the god-like magic fade away.

A few days later, in the Selefim kingdom…

“Casimir! Stop hiding!” White feet hurried after him, the lion dodging through pillars of stone as Casimir laughed.

He’d been leading Adeyemi on a chase through the castle for what seemed like an hour. There was some sort of stuffy meeting going on that his father wanted him to be a part of, and Cas would deal with it… eventually. Any moment now the Nepherim- seven foot tall wolf-like creatures covered in jutting spines and horns- would ask for a trade agreement that would swiftly go bad. It was well known amongst his people that they dearly wanted magic of their own, but were unable to get it without Selefim help and, because of that, they’d been at war for centuries.

Breathing hard, he ducked behind another ivory pillar and dived under a thorny bush. His fur kept him safe from the stinging barbs as he crawled on his belly away from Adeyemi. His friend had noticed something different about him, a willingness to learn and join people, he’d called it, but it had been certainly welcomed.

As he slipped through the other side of his escape route, a large shadow fell across him. For a moment adrenaline shot through him, until he reminded himself that he wasn’t on the run or part of a tournament anymore. He looked up with a cheeky grin that was quickly wiped from his face.

“Well, if it isn’t our crown prince. Hiding from your minders?”

It was the Nepherim king. His long, shaggy hair fell in great waves around his face. The horns on his head created a circle, like a crown, and Cas could see his piercing blue eyes from behind the curtain of hair. He still wore the sword that he cut down Adeyemi with, a lifetime ago.

“I am!” Casimir said, pulling himself to his feet and steeling himself inside. “Come and hide with me, I’m sure it will be more interesting than being sequestered away.”

The man tilted his head to the side, one ear cocking. Casimir held his hand out as the eyes on his wrist swiveled to stare at him.

“We can talk about magic a bit, maybe.”

“I think I’d like that.”

Description
ALATE
[adjective]
having winglike extensions or parts; winged.
Etymology: from Latin ālātus, from āla, “wing”.

—-

Hours later, when the fire had died down and the shaking in his hands had stopped, Casimir finally continued his search for the next contestant he had to defeat. He had three stars in total from his successes, and Kyuu had made it clear he needed five to get access to Ametsuchi’s main portal and confront her. He asked himself if he was really ready for this- by any means necessary he had to defeat the last of his opponents and Ametsuchi herself. Casimir took a deep breath, and then another, until he had steeled himself for the rest of his journey.

He continued moving through the zone, weaving his way through the raised wooden paths and strangely coloured buildings. Butterflies flitted past him in disorganized swoops and he batted them out of his way with the back of his hand. One drifted sadly to the ground. Cas set his shoulders, and continued onwards.

Elsewhere Izz, a robot competitor previously in charge of a supply depot, and his friends could smell the smoke beginning to waft through the area. They had gathered far from the building the housed the library, but the scent of smoke was getting stronger. One of them, a boy named Allen, sniffed the air warily.

“Does anyone else smell that?” He asked, peering around them to try and locate the source of the smell.

His teammate Jill nodded, her strange cat hat mirroring the worry and confusion on her face. The last member of their group, a little black ink-like creature, tilted their head to the side.

“A smell? What sort of smell?”

“Like burning.”

The group headed towards the smell in the air, but slowly in case the cause was still around and aggressive. Finally, Jill spotted it. The rubble of the library, still smoldering, but with no one else in sight around it. She dashed over embers and stamped on the brightest ones until they died underfoot.

“It looks like whatever caused this moved on pretty quickly, huh?” Allen thought out loud, smushing a few of the embers himself.

“Enemy?”

“Yes, Phoenix, probably.” Izz answered. His optics scanned the horizon around them and the other buildings and trees, but thankfully whatever had happened didn’t seem to have left a trail of destruction after it. “A competitor, I think.”

“This is horrible!” Jill lamented from a distance, finishing up with her ember smothering duties. The smell of ash still hung acrid on the air, but it was beginning to dissipate.

Allen patted her on the shoulder sadly, “At least it won’t spread any further. You have some ash riiiight here.” He gestured wildly to Jill’s entire body, and she looked down and laughed. She really was covered in it from almost head to toe.

—-

Beatrice’s toes skimmed the treetops below her. Her broom’s engine sputtered and she gave it a good, swift, kick. With a loud roar she began to rise again into the air. Ever since she woke in the cabin, alone, and with another star on her hand, her mind had been out of sorts. Even more out of sorts than it had been during the rest of the adventure. She couldn’t even say she hadn’t wanted this.

Suddenly, there was a whistling noise through the air. It sounded like something picking up speed. Beatrice glanced around wildly before looking up as a shadow covered her. The sun was blotted out by a strange, lion looking creature with huge wings. Her ensuing dive took her roaring through the tree branches below, their broken limbs snagging on her long hair and dress. Above her the lion also began to crash wildly through them.

There was a crackle of electricity, the hair on her arms beginning to stand on end, and Beatrice threw herself behind one of the huge trunks before a bolt of white lightning arced towards her. It snapped through the air and shattered one of the trunks closest to her hiding place. Peering back around the tree, Beatrice could see that the lion’s huge wings were gone, replaced by normal-ish looking arms. He was breathing heavily, fur singed lightly in patches, and holding himself as if he was hiding an injury.

“You’re a competitor, aren’t you!” She called, clicking her broom into it’s gun configuration. Pawing through her bag, Beatrice grabbed a handful of berries and jammed a couple of them into her mouth.

“Give me your star!”

—-

The girl’s weapon packed a punch. It felt like a cannonball had struck Casimir in the side. His injuries from his earlier fight hadn’t healed properly, could still feel the heat on his skin from the burning building even, and hadn’t escaped the rubble unscathed either…

Casimir grabbed the unconscious Kyle and hauled him over his shoulder, then stuffed the tiny girl under his other arm. It was awkward and difficult but the fire was beginning to spread through the library. His internal timer was close to running out, and he felt like he was still awake through sheer nervous energy. The building blazed. He stumbled through the racks of books towards the closest exit, dodging the crumbling support beams and chunks of brick that were beginning to fall. Casimir kicked the door open, splintering the wood under his heel, and threw the two competitors out to the relative safety of the hallway. He cried out as a heavy, burning slab of brick and mortar swiped his side…

Wincing, Casimir sheltered himself behind two trunks that had been destroyed in their battle. He held the wound on his side tightly and began to charge the static electricity in the air. Lightning wasn’t his favorite weapon, doubly so with no magical form to back him up. It had a great risk of backfiring as lightning was as indiscriminate and powerful as fire. There was a crack of a branch nearby and he loosed the bolt building up inside him. It crashed through the air, sending Casimir backwards with the sheer force of it, and narrowly missed the girl. She’d had to fling herself away, dropping the strange weapon she wielded just to move fast enough. The bolt of lightning arced towards the weapon, but dissipated into the ground before it could strike.

“It’s made of metal, isn’t it!” He called over the logs. “Give me your star, I won’t miss again if you pick that thing up!”

—-

Beatrice's heart pounded in her chest. She had gotten a couple of solid blasts in earlier but without her broom she wasn't going to be good for much. She decided she could come back for it later. As loathe as she was to leave it behind, it was too dangerous with her opponent patrolling the way he was. Beatrice ran as fast as she could into the forest around them, smacking blue and purple branches away with her hands.

“Hey!” She heard the lion shout behind her, but she was already escaping into the distance.

The air began to get thick with electricity again, and there was a soft crackling noise seemingly coming from all directions at once. Suddenly lightning ripped through the trees next to Beatrice. It was quickly followed by a heavy boom that had her covering her ears with a yelp. She cast a glance behind her, stumbling over her feet as she hurried to get away, at the lion who was holding onto his wrist as if in pain. He was snarling, wrinkling his nose and baring his teeth at her. The fur on his body seemed to stick out in all directions at once.

Beatrice carried on running.

—-

There was definitely something weird happening in the forested area. Allen was keeping a close eye on the smoke in the distance, although it didn’t seem to be getting any closer. Suddenly, a wave of force blasted through the area. It swept the Phoenix into the air and Jill had to grab hold of his outstretched hands and pull him close. A few of the smaller trees around them bowed, their tips stretching to touch the ground. There was a cracking noise- something deep in the forest falling over.

“What was that?!” The Phoenix curled around Jill’s shoulders tightly, tiny claws gripping the fabric of her jacket. The energy faded but left the crackle of static in the air behind it.

“Something big, perhaps?” Izz’s optics whirred with distress. “Should we go find out?”

“It was probably a competitor.” Allen’s brows furrowed.

“Let’s go see!” Before anyone could catch her, Jill took off at a run. She vaulted clear over one of the broken trees and disappeared into the inky dark of the forest.

Allen hurried to catch up. He wasn’t just getting tired of fighting, he was done with fighting. A branch smacked him across the cheek as he ran. Izz was somewhere nearby, he could hear the whir of his feet across the uneven ground. The whole place smelt like ozone. Like rain after a fire. By the time he caught up with Jill she was hiding behind a huge, felled tree and trembling with nervous energy.

“Stop running away!” He whispered, crouching down next to her. There was a huge grin on her face.

“I saw a kitty. I’m gonna hug him.”

“Absolutely do not.” Allen groaned. He peered over the tree slowly, hoping that whatever cat Jill had seen wasn’t a competitor. Maybe it was someone’s escaped house cat. That would be nice.

The surrounding area had been practically cleared out. The trees were leveled, thrown to the sides like sticks, and the ground was scorched in places. In the center of it all was a girl with bright red hair. She seemed to be collapsed on the floor and Allen nearly threw himself over the log to get to her but Jill’s hand wound tightly in the back of his shirt. In the blink of an eye, a bright portal opened against the back of the clearing. It was the same as the portals they used to travel between zones.

“Judges.” He muttered.

A huge mechanical creature stepped through, it’s steel joints whirring and clunking. On it’s head lounged someone dressed all in purple with wicked looking claws jutting from the sleeves of their outfit.

“Look! The kitty!”

Allen followed Jill’s pointing finger, and sure enough there was a creature more cat than human slipping through the glowing portal.

Izz slid up behind them. “We should follow. Jill will probably do it without us, anyway.”

—-

Cas’ heart was pounding in his chest so hard he was pretty sure it would leave an indentation against his ribs. Ko-Reko and the Automaton hadn’t noticed him slip through their portal and now he was standing in a long corridor, blank grey stone walls stretching out before him. Below his feet was a raised dais with strange inscriptions covering it. He took a second to gather his bearings before continuing down the long hallway. His eyes watched. Waiting.

Behind him, the portal shimmered again. Unceremoniously, a group of odd looking people practically fell over themselves to get through it. Cas span wildly, looking for somewhere to hide, but the girl with long pink hair spotted him.

“Jill, no!” Someone in the tangle of limbs shouted, but she was off.

She moved far faster than Cas had been prepared for and her entire body plowed into his side, throwing the both of them to the ground. He snarled, ears pressed back to his head and claws raised-

When he realized she was just hugging him.

She was practically rubbing her face against the fluff on his neck.

The others had extracted themselves and it turned out to be another robot, a boy, and an odd looking inky creature. Cas looked up at them balefully.

“If you would, please, perhaps remove your friend from my person?”

The boy rolled his eyes and pried Cas’ assailant away from him. She whined, but seemed to be in exceptionally good spirits after getting her hands into something soft and fluffy.

“I’m Allen, and this is Jill.” The boy said.

“And I am IZ-44. But you can call me Izz!” The robot held one of it’s hands out and helped Cas to his feet.

The little black creature leapt onto Jill’s shoulders again. It narrowed it’s eyes at Cas and said nothing. He shrugged. If it couldn’t- or wouldn’t- speak, that was it’s own prerogative.

“My name is Casimir, and we have to get out of here before those two follow you.”

He turned away from the group and continued to walk. Their confused stares followed him for a moment before they joined him. The quiet was oppressive, the only sounds were the quiet taps of their feet and the gentle mechanical noise of Izz’s plodding legs. The hall curved in one direction, then another, over and over until Cas was dizzy with it.

“Where are we even going?” Jill asked, her feet starting to drag against the floor.

“There hasn’t been any exits so far.”

There hadn’t been any sign of the judges either. That much Cas was thankful for at least. Again and again the corridor twisted. Their feet ached, numb from the thudding, plodding, constant. Cas’ ears pressed flat again. As he turned another corner, though, Casimir caught sight of the drifting, purple and pink scarves a certain judge wore. They flicked to the side, disappearing around another corner-

“There!” Cas broke into a run. “Something’s hiding the exits from us, this way!”

He followed Kyuu’s directions, the rest of the group trying to keep up with his hurried footsteps. They were starting to fall behind but Casimir continued doggedly. The blank white walls seemed to fall away around him, an array of colours spreading and fading with each step. In between the golden yellows and pale greens it seemed like something was watching, copying him, running alongside him like a shadow. Cas’ steps slowed down and he peered harder at the wall. Behind him, the others had stopped running as well. There was a thousand different versions of himself- of them, of all of them- running down these corridors.

Beside him ran another copy of himself, alone, and another ran in front with Juna and Gordon. Besides him were other, different coloured, versions of himself, fading into the distance surrounded by people and creatures he never could have imagined in a million years until it looped around and around coming back to this one point in time-

“Snap out of it!”

Izz stepped hard on someone’s toes, their loud yelp breaking Cas out of his odd daydream. He blinked hard, clearing his eyes- all of them- of the multitudinous visions of himself. Kyuu was standing in front of the group, leaning gently on the air as if he had no cares in the world. Izz had moved in front of the group as if to protect them from the judge.

“Stay away from us!” He warned, while Kyuu just looked on.

“What just happened?” Jill seemed to wonder out loud. She looked pale and dizzy and had to shake herself vigorously.

“Oh, just one of the good doctor’s little tricks and traps that are about the place. You should really watch out for those.” Kyuu just laughed. “Casimir, cutie, are you cavorting with a competitor again? I thought we’d gotten you past all that.”

Cas glanced at the group around him, he couldn’t see any stars on anything obvious and that seemed to be how they operated… Unless it was the robot in front of him. His hands flexed, claws sliding from their sheaths slowly. If he hadn’t realized, there was a good chance they hadn’t noticed yet either.

“No fighting, no more!” The tiny black creature shouted, leaping from Jill’s shoulders and putting itself between Casimir and the robot.

“It’s not like we have a choice.” Casimir growled and looked to Kyuu for confirmation.

The kitsune, however, seemed pensive and curious. His head tilted back and forth for a moment and for a split second his eyes glowed with the power of a thousand suns. A shiver of fear ran down Casimir’s back. It made his fur stand on end.

“Well,” Kyuu finally said with a hum, “you may stand a chance yet. I guess we’ll see. Don’t get distracted, now~”

And with that, he vanished with a curl of his many tails. Everyone could feel the tension bleed from the party gathered and Jill leant against Allen in relief. She wiped her hand across her brow dramatically.

“You have all met him before?”

They all nodded or agreed in various ways. Allen explained their fight against Kyuu and what had happened earlier while they continued to walk. While they spoke, they came out into a large room with three other arched doorways that led off deeper into the compound. The group stared in wonder while they tried to decide which direction they should go in. The doors and halls held no answers.

“Should we split up?” Izz wandered between them while he peered down the arches.

“It might be dangerous, we don’t have enough people to split up evenly so someone would have to go on their own.”

Allen seemed to be one of the voices of reason in the group. Casimir stayed quiet, waiting for them to decide what they should do. He was perfectly happy going on his own.

“Jill and I will take this one, we work best together.” He’d continued, gesturing to one of the doorways. “Phoenix, do you want to go with Izz?”

The little creature looked up at the robot, then over at Casimir, who was leaning against a wall trying to look as neutral as possible, and then shook his head. “I am small, and slippery. They won’t find me! I will go alone.”

‘If you’re sure…”

They seemed concerned, worried about leaving Izz alone with Casimir, though the robot reassured them that he didn’t think the lion was all that dangerous. Casimir had to suppress a roll of his eyes but internally thought that maybe working in a group would be a good idea for this part of his mission. The plan was that, no matter what they found, interesting or not, that they’d all return to the center in an hour and decide where to go from there. He wondered if the Phoenix creature had a sense of time or not.

Casimir and the robot took the center pathway, eventually coming to a large flight of stairs that lead upwards. It was quiet, other than the hum of machinery from both Izz and the building surrounding them.

“Do you think she’s powering something?” He thought aloud, one hand resting on the gently humming walls.

“I am wondering the same thing. Perhaps her ultimate goal is buried somewhere inside this place.”

Cas mumbled his agreement. Eventually the stairs ended and they found themselves in a room surrounded on all sides by computer screens. They blurred with static, zipping between scenes almost as fast as Casimir could look between them. Izz trundled slowly over to them, focusing on a particular set of screens.

“There.” He said, quietly. “That’s me. In the past.” One of his metal fingers touched the screen gently. It seemed to be a cycle of the same day again and again- or perhaps his life had been as repetitive and dull as to seem like the same day over and over.

Glancing around, Cas could see Juna and Gordon, and Mason and Nevara, and others that he’d never met before settling on a screen showing himself. Everything was burning around him and he could still feel the tears leaving hot tracks down the fur on his face. Cas grit his teeth. Another screen showed him, right now, creating an odd loop of screens showing screens showing screens and he found himself quite dizzy looking at it for too long. The Izz and Casimir showed on the screen had a long, red thread connecting them and, when he looked back to the robot, he could see the faint outline of the thread around his wrist. There were others as well, snapped or torn or simply fading away into nothing. But, when he lifted his wrist to get a better look, the threads faded from his view.

“How strange…” he muttered.

Suddenly there was a clatter on the stairs and both Cas and Izz span around, ready for anything to come up them.

It was Jill and Allen, though there was a wild look to their eyes. They hadn’t been gone that long, Casimir wondered as they came crashing up the stairs together. Something must have happened.

“I don’t think I’m very good at sneaking!” Jill shouted, a mad laughter in her voice. Following behind her was the Automaton and the purple robed creature known as Ko-Reko.

“Looks like we found the rest of the rats!” He said loudly, banging on the roof of the robot beneath him. “I’m gonna have some fun with this.”

Instead of leaping from the robot his form shivered and disappeared, only to reappear next to Jill and Allen wit a vicious swing of his claws. They threw themselves backwards at the same time that Izz lashed out. The claws connected with Izz’ long forklift extension, the sharp clang echoing through the room even over the static of the tv screens, but to everyone’s surprise they didn’t cut through. Izz went on the offensive, Allen following close by with a strange blue weapon that shifted in his grip. And Casimir slipped away.

It hadn’t quite been what Kyuu suggested, but he was so close to Ametsuchi he could smell her in the air. She smelt like nothing. Like a blank space in the air, the cut-out form of someone that might have existed once.The huge chamber unfolded before him, a giant whirring machine against the back wall, lined with huge tubes filled with a glowing blue liquid, a bubble encased an endlessly silently screaming man, and standing against the back wall was none other than the purple haired angel herself.

Ko smashed into the wall with the force of a train, the white walls crumbling under body. Shards of it fell around him as he pushed himself from it, Allen leaping after him wielding a long sword that had once been a wrench, and Ko snarled from behind his mask. The sword blocked one hand and Izz’s long forklift extension blocked the other. He was trapped between the two opponents.

On top of all of that, Jill seemed to come from nowhere. Her fist barely skimmed the edge of his mask. A thin crack split through the center of the monochrome mask and Ko screeched with rage. In a second he had disappeared and whirled at their backs with his claws glimmering in the bright light. Suddenly, a black blur smacked against the back of his head. It’s tiny pitch claws scrabbled for purchase on his cowl and he flailed, long sleeved arms desperately trying to slap Phoenix away.

“Get off of me!” He snarled, shaking his head back and forth. The long, jester cap-and-bells flapping comically. He vanished again and again, blinking in and out of reality with Phoenix hanging on for dear life.

Finally, the tiny creature was flung off of his back and Jill leapt. Phoenix splatted in her arms, quickly reforming to it’s little four legged state. Ko-Reko had frozen, one clawed hand held over his face.

“I don’t have to put up with this…” He said, and with a blink he was gone.

In the corner of the room, Automaton remained motionless. Slowly the tension bled out of the others. Allen and Jill looked at each other warily.

“Was that it?” She asked.

Izz blinked in confusion. “Perhaps…he did not want to fight?”

“Didn’t seem like it to me.”

Slowly, in case the strange judge came back, the group moved onwards.

“Where did that lion guy go, anyway?” Allen wondered out loud. His face went pale as someone cried out from deep inside the next room.

Ametsuchi’s hand was tight around Casimir’s throat. His transformation faded like ash on the wind, disappearing from his body even as her fingers tightened. Surrounding them were the various contestants, seemingly unconscious inside the glowing chambers. Red threads trailed from their bodies. Jill’s hands covered her mouth in shock as she saw even Nevara floating listlessly next to her ever-present companion.

“My servants fail me, fleeing in the face of adversity, and leaving competitors to sneak into my private quarters!” She flung him hard and Casimir collapsed next to the weak and sparking form of Kyuu. “On top of all that, you inspire rebellion in them!”

Kyuu wheezed. “Oh good, looks like backup arrived just in time.” His tails flickered like static.

Forcing himself to his feet, Casimir wobbled unsteadily and pressed his back against the wall. “We won’t be playing your games any more, Ametsuchi.”

“Tch.” She turned her back on them, wings quivering, and began to flick the switches on her giant machine. “I don’t need you two to finish powering this. I’ll just have to do without you.”

Hurrying to Casimir’s side, Izz propped him up on one shoulder while he heaved a breath. “What is she planning?” His tinny voice was full of fear.

“She brought you all here to steal your ‘potential fate’,” Kyuu explained from the floor. He cast his gaze to a tube where another fox-like man, only dressed in black and purple and blue rather than Kyuu’s extravagance, and sighed. “Every timeline leads to this moment. We’ve done this before in so many iterations of ourselves and every one has lead to ruin. If she brings herself to full power, she’ll rule every part of time and space itself. Fate will be her plaything.”

Allen’s hand, wrapped around his wrench, trembled. Jill had a frown creasing between her eyebrows. Even the Phoenix, who had seemed so desperate to get to the doctor, said nothing.

“What can I do?” Izz set his shoulders and nodded to Casimir. If they had to fight, even if he disliked it to the core of his being, he would do it.

The red threads on the trapped competitors were beginning to disappear. Kyuu wracked his brain desperately. “I think we need...a fate singularity. Yours and Casimir’s stars contain the fate of everyone you defeated, and everyone they defeated and so on and so forth.”

Ametsuchi’s shoulders shook with mirth. “That won’t work.” She said, flicking a lever with her slender fingers. “You’re missing a few links in the chain.”

Suddenly Kyuu cursed under his breath. “Six, right?”

She nodded. The machine was beginning to hum and whirr even louder than before. It’s great mechanical parts dragged up and down, huge gears turning with a groan. Casimir shuddered. He could feel a metaphorical weight pressing down on his shoulders. His people, these people. The few friends he made.

Suddenly, Izz was reaching out one of his little mechanical hands. He held it out to Casimir, who was still leaning heavily on his shoulder, with a steely glint to his eyes. “You should take the star. I’m not that good of a fighter.”

“Neither am I!” Casimir whined. He was just beaten into the ground by Ametsuchi, and not even Kyuu could keep up with her either, and he wasn’t keen on repeating the event. “I’m not someone you can rely on. Can’t we give them to someone else?”

Kyuu shook his head, then pushed himself up against the wall he had been slumped against. “Look I’d take them both if I could but you’re the last two competitors, someone has to win this.”

He took Izz’s hand. He felt the heady rush of power flow from the last star into himself. The magic seemed to tremble, thrumming under his veins and pulsing with each grind of the machine’s gears. Jill and Allen and the Phoenix looked on warily, as if they expected him to betray them at any moment. Even Ametsuchi had turned her head to watch the proceedings though she seemed nonplussed.

“And one final touch, I think.”

There was a wicked grin on Kyuu’s face. He stuck his tongue out, almost playfully, but he held a tiny vial on the tip that was filled to the brim with writhing red strings; the same as the ones coming from the other competitors. Ametsuchi’s smug face fell.

“How many times did you change the past?!” She snarled, bright white wings snapping out with a loud crack. Cas felt his own flare out to match her threat.

“Enough to say for certain this should be the last time~!”

He lurched forwards, hands gripping Casimir’s shoulders tightly, and shoved their mouths together in an odd kiss. The tiny vial was forced into Casimir’s and the glass shattered as he pulled away. Jill giggled, somewhere in the back of the room. There was a beat, where the dread that nothing would happen settled hard in all watching party’s stomachs, before Casimir began to glow. The bright blue light seemed to illuminate him from the inside, and the closed eyes on his wings and back carefully peeled open. Allen stepped back. Even he could feel the way the gravity in the room seemed to increase, seconds before the light exploded outwards.

Ametsuchi covered her eyes with an arm, and the others flinched away with a cry. When the light faded to a more tolerable level, Casimir looked down at himself and the electricity that coursed through his gauntlets, the fire that blazed where his feet touched, the orbs of water that floated nearby, and smiled. His outfit had become pure white, the sheer amount of destiny on his shoulders from both every version of himself and the other competitors felt like hope. Ametsuchi growled.

“You won’t stop me with pretty parlour tricks.”

Again she launched herself at him, long lab coat billowing out behind her. Unlike before, though, it didn’t appear as if she was moving faster than Casimir could see. The wind whipped around his ankles angrily as he blocked and dodged her vicious attacks. A punch that could shatter ribs. A kick that would leave a dent in his skull. He swung at her in turn, fire following his movements, and the blaze spread out around him in a huge circle. Ametsuchi’s huge wings beat powerfully and she leapt backwards and away from him. The wind whipped harder, the fire spreading out more every second.

“Everyone! Move back!”

Distantly, Cas could hear Izz and the others moving away from their raging battle. It was taking all of his concentration to keep Ametsuchi at bay however. Her own magic warred with his in the air, a swirling light show of power battling back and forth over their heads. Lightning struck fire, wind buffeted at ice shards, the shadows danced around their feet and grabbed for them with tendrils of darkness. Ice pooled at her feet that he didn’t create and he knew that Nevara was watching somewhere.

Casimir pressed his ears back and roared with all of his might. No matter what, he couldn’t show Ametsuchi that she was actually hurting him. Even with his strength, the new power given to him with his transformation, she was a dangerous opponent. He forced himself to move faster, to hit harder, until with one lucky blow Ametsuchi was flung backwards and hit the giant machine with a sickening crack.

“I’m going to strip you of your wings, doctor.” He said, voice low in his throat.

The fire around him was snuffed out in a blink. Casimir’s gloved hands gripped the base of her wings. She raged and thrashed, trying to pull herself from his grip, but he held fast. Her wings began to fall away under him. As the white feathers drifted, they disappeared before they could even touch the floor. Soon she was left with just the fluffy down and soon after that, nothing at all. Casimir’s eyes glowed the brightest blue yet. The star on his cheek seemed to be absorbed into his fur, tiny sparks of magic dancing away down his neck and face. He could still feel the pain from where Ametsuchi’s blows had struck him, but it was distant and dulled- as if it had happened to someone else.

“Casimir?” Izz asked, nervously peeking from behind one of the huge tubes.

“She’s been fighting for so long.” Casimir spoke with a thousand voices. It echoed throughout the now silent chamber. The others shivered with it. “I’ll put you back.”

Ametsuchi turned fearful eyes upwards to Casimir as a blue portal opened underneath her feet with a wave of his hand. She sunk through it and disappeared. Slowly the last of the contestants, Kyuu as well, stepped out from their hiding places and shuffled over to the strangely glowing lion. As Ametsuchi disappeared, the floating bubble containing the strangely warped man popped and a second portal opened underneath him. He was unconscious as he sank through it, but no longer screamed with unseeing eyes.

“Would you help me let the others out?” He asked, staring off into the middle distance away from them. It was hard to tell if he was unseeing or all-seeing.

Allen got to work first, snapping out of the fascinated stupor, and began plugging away at the controls to the machine. He growled and grumbled under his breath. Quickly Izz joined him and together they made short work of the release program.

“What did you do with her?” Jill sidled up close to Casimir while she watched the others work.

“I put her back where she belongs. On her fate’s true path.”

“So she’s okay?”

He nodded. The fluid in the tubes around them had begun to drain as they spoke, leaving the other contestants and remaining judges slumped against the glass. Kyuu pulled the other fox from his confinement, arms wrapped tightly around him as if he could hardly believe he was real. He nodded to Casimir before the portal opened up underneath him and finally they disappeared.

Together they worked on freeing everyone, Allen pointedly not asking how Casimir was putting everyone back into their own timelines, but muttering under his breath the entire time anyway, until only a few were left. Nevara floated closely to Mason, a hand resting gently on his shoulder.

“Well done, on not dying.” She told Casimir with a small smirk before they vanished as well. Jill waved goodbye the whole time.

Juna and Gordon were still unconscious as he sent them back to their own time, their own world. It was sad to see them go without saying goodbye. Everything would probably feel like a strange dream to them, until the memories faded and grayed at the edges. As they opened the last tube, Beatrice’s eyes jerked open. She thrashed in Izz’s arms, heel slamming against his metal head, and forced herself from the container. As she stumbled through the door, she shook out her damp pink dress with a curse, and her eyes locked onto Casimir.

“You! You absolute mother-“

She fell through the portal with a yelp, and Casimir grinned. “Whoops.”

The others joined him, Izz rubbing where Beatrice had clocked him comically. “Hey, Casimir. We have a request.”

He turned his head towards them, expression blank. “What do you need?”

“We’re all going together!” Jill sprung through the air, Phoenix hanging on for dear life onto her shoulders, and crashed into Izz and Allen in a laughing pile of limbs. “You can do that, right?”

A small smile spread across his face, wrinkling his eyes in the corners, and he nodded. Other than himself, they were the last ones to go through. He could feel the magic coursing through his bones beginning to disappear with each portal. Maybe he’d finally get to sleep, after all of this. With one final wave of his hand, the whole group of friends began to sink into the bright blue.

“Bye! Don’t forget us!” Jill called, hanging tightly onto Allen with one arm and squished closely to Izz with the other.

He wasn’t sure where everyone he sent back would end up. The jester Ko was sure to leave after he got bored, as he’d never been bound to the place by fate. To Casimir the entire complex was covered in a multitude of red strings. They were translucent, but with enough focus he could tug them and move them between each other. He wondered if that was what Ametsuchi had been fighting to do the whole time. She’d been trapped in between destinies for longer than he cared to imagine, but now she had a second chance.

Perhaps it was time to give himself a second chance as well.

The last portal appeared under his feet, and, as he sank through it, he could feel the last of the god-like magic fade away.

A few days later, in the Selefim kingdom…

“Casimir! Stop hiding!” White feet hurried after him, the lion dodging through pillars of stone as Casimir laughed.

He’d been leading Adeyemi on a chase through the castle for what seemed like an hour. There was some sort of stuffy meeting going on that his father wanted him to be a part of, and Cas would deal with it… eventually. Any moment now the Nepherim- seven foot tall wolf-like creatures covered in jutting spines and horns- would ask for a trade agreement that would swiftly go bad. It was well known amongst his people that they dearly wanted magic of their own, but were unable to get it without Selefim help and, because of that, they’d been at war for centuries.

Breathing hard, he ducked behind another ivory pillar and dived under a thorny bush. His fur kept him safe from the stinging barbs as he crawled on his belly away from Adeyemi. His friend had noticed something different about him, a willingness to learn and join people, he’d called it, but it had been certainly welcomed.

As he slipped through the other side of his escape route, a large shadow fell across him. For a moment adrenaline shot through him, until he reminded himself that he wasn’t on the run or part of a tournament anymore. He looked up with a cheeky grin that was quickly wiped from his face.

“Well, if it isn’t our crown prince. Hiding from your minders?”

It was the Nepherim king. His long, shaggy hair fell in great waves around his face. The horns on his head created a circle, like a crown, and Cas could see his piercing blue eyes from behind the curtain of hair. He still wore the sword that he cut down Adeyemi with, a lifetime ago.

“I am!” Casimir said, pulling himself to his feet and steeling himself inside. “Come and hide with me, I’m sure it will be more interesting than being sequestered away.”

The man tilted his head to the side, one ear cocking. Casimir held his hand out as the eyes on his wrist swiveled to stare at him.

“We can talk about magic a bit, maybe.”

“I think I’d like that.”