Battle Hymn of the Republic

The first time I met you, you saved me.

Even in the horror that they had plunged in, Percival could only see Riley as the little girl that had tried to mug him for his hat and some food. Back then, he had acted like a repugnant shit to her, and yet she followed him home. Having a little sister ...

Flynn's face lengthened at the word months , his mouth dropping open as the reality of Willow's situation was made clear to him. There was more than her words in his mind, she could see it in the way his eyes searched through her, as if who she was had disappeared. The glint of steel brought him ...

The earnesty in Willow's voice caused the titan of a man to halt in his movements. He turned, coiling himself in readiness, but casting her a look that spoke of the man she knew. It was an opening that Vengeance exploited. The dark god threw herself at him, her blade a whirring nebula of steel.

At ...

The groaning wraithbrute flailed in the air, but the purgusite didn't turn it into the projectile that it was intended to be. Unlike the divinely charged Manon, or the oddly taciturn Horst, the coiling mass of shadows was unaffected. It was, however, not immune to the forces of gravity. Vengeance ...

Oddly, this wasn't the first time , or the only time, that Zippo had been suspended over the mouth of some creature. It made it no less horrifying for him, and, in fact, stoked some deeper fear which only made him fight more erratically. The giant drank in the faerie's distress as an aperitif to its ...

"They must at least have a talented mage to get through the school's wards without alerting everyone," surmised Zippo, hovering over the pauldrons, before his hands could find grip on the worked edges, "but the forest edge is where the wards tend to be weaker."

"It lets spirits come and go," Burri ...

"Burri?"

"Theres a little path that peels out of the Garden. Goes all the way back to the lab if you know what to look for."

As Skarnir gathered his things, he could see the gate guardian of Safeholme stomping along one of the pathways. A couple of students gave him a funny look, but let him go ...

"I expect this tale should live up to all the rest," was how the mysterious woman sent Skarnir off.

The frost sprite felt like an ice cube fresh from the freezer, almost tacky too the touch with how cold he was. Zippo squirmed until he landed on the man's shoulder, with Burri plopping down on the ...

Again, the woman's mouth showed a smile, this time locking a small chortle behind a pearly fence. The way she carried herself made it hard to tell if she didn't want to laugh, or couldn't. Yet, it seemed to help her forget about the creeping doldrums.

"I can forgive you," pardoned the strange woman ...

" Monsters ," came a high-pitched response from Drysi through tightly pursed lips, "that is batty."

It took every fiber in every muscle in her body to not just suddenly jump at the sudden ellicitation of usable information. Her notebook emerged from her bag, and she began to write something down ...