Adelle released her grip slightly, and Candace sagged against her. "It's not like I want to be like this," she continued, her voice smaller now. "Do you think I enjoy frying my brain by looking at things no prad was meant to see?"

"Why do you do it then?" I asked.

Candace laughed humourlessly. "Because I can see the loops, Alec. I can see how everything is connected, how one choice ripples through reality like a stone dropped in a pond. I can see what's coming."

"And what do you think is coming?" Kristi asked.

"The end," Candace uttered with a desperate expression. "Always the end. Over and over and over again. Different paths, different choices, but always the same destination. Everyone dies in the end. I just want to find a path forward where everyone isn't turned into radioactive sludge at the end of time!"

An uncomfortable silence fell over us. Even Adelle looked disturbed.

"Okay," I said finally. "Let's... take a step back from this inevitable end biz. We're all tired, stressed, and this place isn't exactly helping with the creepy vibes. Candace, if you need help managing your... Astral diving, we'll figure something out. Together. As a pack. Yes?"

"Whatevs," the fox muttered, her eyes not meeting mine. "M'fine now."

"Right," I said, not believing her for a second. "How about we do something productive instead of standing around? This place is full of weird magical plants—maybe we can find something useful."

"Sure, whatever," Candace shrugged, clearly eager to change the subject.

"Right. Let's dig through magically-irradiated junk. What could possibly go wrong?" Kristi commented.

We filed out of the van, spreading out across the property. Nessy followed close behind me, her expression concerned but supportive. Kristi moved toward another section of the spiral, methodically overturning debris to look underneath, keeping within sight of us.

After about twenty minutes of careful examination, Candace wandered away from the group, muttering to herself. I watched her go with concern but decided to give her space. When she returned a few minutes later, her eyes looked noticeably dilated, her movements more fluid and relaxed.

"Find anything good?" she asked, her voice slightly too cheerful.

I stared at her, noticing the subtle shift in her demeanor. Her pupils were wide black pools in her gray irises, and a slight smile played at the corners of her mouth.

"Did you just...?" I began.

"Just what?" she challenged, meeting my gaze steadily. "Have a moment to myself to clear my head? Yeah, I did. Problem?"

"Candace," I sighed.

"Look, I need some T' to think straight right now," she explained. "Especially in this place. The patterns here—" she gestured broadly at the spiral junkyard, "—they're not random. Your grandfather was trying to build something. Something big. Something whack and big that could reach across realities. It could be important. No, IT IS important. Important to everything. Every path of every great Wizard eventually leads them to Manchester."

"You're high and ranting nonsensical shit," Kristi commented curtly.

"Am not! Manchester is real! This place is, no, was a one-way fucking gate to Manchester!" Candace growled.

"And?" Kristi arched an eyebrow.

"And… I don't know what that means yet or how it's useful for us!" Candace huffed, head snapping left and right. "But I'm going to figure it out. And… aaah... oh shit."

Her head snapped up, ears swiveling toward the darkening sky above us. Her dilated eyes went wide with alarm.

"EVERYBODY DOWN!" she screamed.

I had just enough time to grab Nessy and pull her to the ground before something massive swooped overhead with a deafening screech. Wind buffeted us as enormous wings passed just feet above where we'd been standing.

"What the fuck?!" Kristi yelled from where she'd dropped behind a pile of scrap metal.

The thing banked sharply and came around for another pass, giving us our first clear look at it. What at first appeared to be a dragon was actually a massive wyvern-like beast made entirely of ceramic pottery shards fused together. Its wingspan must have been thirty feet across, and its serpentine body gleamed with an unnatural iridescence in the fading daylight. Instead of eyes, it had two glowing violet glass orbs that tracked our movements.

"Ceramic Wyvern!" Candace shouted.

The Wyvern let out another ear-splitting shriek and dove straight for us, its mouth, a jagged collection of broken porcelain teeth, opened wide.

"SCATTER!" I yelled.

We split in different directions as the beast crashed into the ground where we'd been standing. Shards of ceramic exploded outward like shrapnel, and I felt several pieces slice across my forehead as I rolled away, plinging off my back. The creature recovered quickly, whipping its tail around in a wide arc that sent more debris flying.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"My armor!" Nessy gasped, looking down at her torn delving suit. "It cut right through it!"

"Your armor's jank and whoever bound it to ya is a knob," Candace commented, nursing her bleeding hand. "The fuck kind of Bard are you? Sing to distract it!"

The Wyvern swiveled its attention to me, eerie violet orbs locked on my movement. It opened its maw again, but instead of another screech, a jet of what was possibly molten glazing liquid shot forth. I dove behind a rusted car frame just in time, the liquid splattering against metal with a hissing sound.

"Alec!" Nessy called from somewhere to my left. "Don't move!"

She stepped out into the open, planted her feet firmly, and began to sing. Unlike the gentle healing melody she'd used on Candace, this was a battle song—harsh, discordant notes that seemed to physically push against the air around us. The Wyvern shook its ceramic head as if disoriented, its dive toward me faltering.

But the distraction only lasted moments. The creature recovered and turned its fury on Nessy, rushing at her with deadly speed. I watched in horror as its massive claws extended toward the husky girl.

Candace appeared seemingly from nowhere, tackling Nessy out of the way just as the Wyvern's talons slashed through the space where she'd been standing. They rolled across the ground together, coming to rest behind a large metal drum.

The ceramic monster was already coming around for another pass. Nessy and Candace had regrouped and were attempting to distract it by throwing pieces of metal at its wings, but they might as well have been throwing pebbles at a tank.

Kristi was frantically pressing her key fob.

Just as the wyvern descended, the hum of anti-grav engines cut through the air.

The impact was spectacular. The reinforced front end of the Glider smashed into the Wyvern's chest, sending ceramic shards exploding in all directions. Both the vehicle and creature went tumbling across the yard in a tangle of wings, metal, and broken pottery.

When they finally came to rest, the Glider's front end was crumpled, smoke rising from the damaged engines. The Wyvern lay nearby, its body cracked but still moving, violet orbs flickering like dying lightbulbs.

"Did she just..." Nessy began.

"Ram it with a million-dollar vehicle?" Candace finished. "Yeah, she did."

The Wyvern pulled back, stunned by the unexpected crash. It shook its ceramic head, pieces of its "face" cracking and falling away to reveal more pottery-flesh beneath.

With a snarl, an orange-black blur flashed out of the semi-crumpled glider van. Armored fists smashed into the head of the wyvern. The beast wailed. Kristi came at it from another side, smashing the wyvern's neck with a rusted door.

The cheetah and raptor pummeled, clawed and bashed the downed beast, pottery pieces cracking and flying.

Each punch from Adelle's powerful fists exposed more wyvern innards. She targeted the suddenly visible brown-silver-violet, glowing core, her expression one of single-minded fury as she tore into the creature. The Wyvern thrashed weakly, but it was no match for a pissed-off cheetah valkyrie in full battle rage.

"Fuck you! I'm trying to… have… a nap!" With a final, sickening crack, Adelle drove both fists into the glowing beast core. It shattered like glass, releasing a burst of energy that momentarily lit up the entire junkyard. The Wyvern's body went limp, the glow fading from its eyes.

We approached cautiously, still not entirely convinced the damned thing was dead. Adelle stood atop it, breathing hard, her armored fists almost entirely obliterated, hands bleeding from where sharp ceramic edges and magisteel bits had cut through her knuckles.

"Addie, you okay?" Candace called.

"I'll live," the cheetah sat atop of the downed wyvern and began pulling out pieces of metal and ceramic from her fists wincing. "Why the fuck is this high level beerch here?"

"Cus this place is outside of the town barrier," Candace sighed. "And it's hella magically irradiated, so it's attracting other magical shit that wants to snack on the blooming goodies under the rusted metal. We… no, I need to buy us a high level beast-repelling wardstone. Plus a barrier wardstone and ward obelisks if we want to keep digging around here without more flying shit attacking us."

As the ceramic wyvern's body slowly crumbled into lifeless shards, a silver notification materialized in my eyes:

[Congratulations! Your pack has defeated: Ceramic Wyvern (Level 41)]

[XP Distribution: Shared amongst active combatants]

[Special Achievement: "Utterly Unprepared Yet Somehow Still Alive"]

[Note: The Wyvern's seventeen children would like to formally announce their vendetta against you. Not that you asked. They're quite upset about the whole "murdered mom" situation. Perhaps consider moving to another continent?]

[Bonus Achievement: "Pack Formation Speedrun" - You've managed to assemble a functional delving pack in record time! The System is absolutely shocked that none of you have killed each other yet. Congratulations?]

[You have reached 100% XP required for Level 4! Would you like to level up now? Y/N. Warning: Due to your old, internal injuries, you will pass out during the levelling process for the duration of eight point one hours.]

I stared at the system message, blinking in surprise. "Slayer, last time I levelled up was years ago."

"Years ago?!" Nessy blinked at me. "Wait. What level are you?"

"Three."

"How?! Why so slow?"

"Don't know," I shrugged. "Got the worst mana regeneration and also the worst XP gain rate in the universe. Or at least I did, until Candace bound me to herself and Addie."

"Level forty-one?!" Kristi choked. "That thing was fucking level forty-one?! How are we not dead?!"

"Team effort," Adelle grunted, still perched atop the ceramic corpse. "You hit it pretty hard with your glider. Plus I'm a pro at killing high level wyvern asshats, as long as they stay on the ground within reach of my fists. They got a crunchy center, see?"

"Precious crunchy," Candace bent down, collecting the beast core shards into her leather side bag.

I considered what to do next, looking at my battered and bleeding team.

I turned to Nessy, an idea forming in my mind. "You mentioned your second skill is Scrutiosmia, right? Can you use it to sniff out healing plants?"

The husky's ears perked up. "I... I can try. I've never specifically looked for newly bloomed healing plants before, but if they have magical properties, I should be able to sniff 'em out, yeah."

"Great," I said, arriving at a followup idea. "Oh. And Nessy, use your Riffweld to boost your own sniffing. Kristi, follow us and help move the heavy metal pieces so she can access whatever's underneath."

Nessy tilted her head, black and white curls bouncing. "Hum. I've never tried combining Riffweld with Scrutiosmia on purpose to target myself with my own music. My teammates were usually the ones demanding all the boosts."

"Cus gunslinger Viv was your pack leader and she constantly needed hand-eye coordination focus enhancements?" Candace commented.

Nessy nodded.

She closed her eyes and began to hum a low, steady melody. As she sang, her nose twitched visibly, nostrils flaring as she took in deep breaths of the junkyard air. After a few moments, her eyes snapped open, bright with excitement. "This way!"

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