Blue fire rained down on the buildings of Hurraggh. Another screech split the air.

　　"It`s attacking the city!" came a panicked cry. The Merrowcrack Khan pointed helplessly.

　　The golden dot which issued them forth soared furiously over the adobe buildings as the orcs watched on silently.

　　Kairon turned to the on looking orcs, to his panel of khans consumed by fear, to Justafar who returned the glance coolly. Some of the Hurraggh citizens were remotely interested in the flamebeast, but most had shifted their attention back to the fight. No one screamed. No one rushed to gather possessions from burning buildings.

　　The fight had turned out everyone. Mothers carried babies, and even those who passed for the frail among orcs were in attendance.

　　Kairon started marching towards Justafar, saying, "We need your team assembled. The beast is loose, do you not see?"

　　Merrowcrack, Boldbreak, and Bloodboil, dressed in finest regalia for the event, had elbowed and shouldered their way to the ring. "Stop the fight! Stop the fight! Quickly, to the city!"

　　Justafar held up a hand in response, stopping Kairon, the Khans, and those observing the fight, before pointing at the rope circle Kairon was about to cross.

　　"You`re binding me with this struggle for dominance? Here? Now?" Kairon asked intensely.

　　"Skullcrush, you have some nerve! Our city is in danger! All that food going to waste!" The Khans backed him up with nods and murmurs.

　　A voice came from behind Kairon and the crowd`s attention shifted. Penelope was standing again, taking a ready pose.

　　"This is more important," she said.

　　Kairon held his arms out in an expansive gesture.

　　"Look at yourself. You`re broken, having thrown your body upon rocks. Will you not surrender and spare us all the time it would take me to wear you down completely?"

　　Merrowcrack chuckled, "Child, you have some persistence, I`ll grant you that. But no one has defeated Lord Kairon." He glanced nervously at Kairon.

　　"Are you afraid?" she asked, ignoring Merrowcrack`s jeers.

　　After a beat to process this, Kairon said, "If I am afraid, I am afraid for these people`s livelihoods."

　　"My Lord," Merrowcrack started, trying to hold him back by his arm.

　　He shrugged the orc off and started walking slowly towards Penelope.

　　"If I am afraid, I am afraid of what you are throwing away."

　　He stopped just out of her reach, but well within his.

　　"If I am afraid, I am afraid for you."

　　Penelope did not flinch as he neared.

　　"Well, I am afraid," she said, keeping her eyes on his hands and center of mass, "I am afraid of what you`re doing to my people."

　　Kairon chuckled. It sounded breathy, like he was out of practice.

　　"What do you think I`m doing to the orcs of this city? What malfeasance am I performing? Do you think me a corrupt official?" He held a hand delicately to his chest and chuckled again.

　　"We are thriving, child!" Merrowcrack called to her. "We live with excess, no longer just meal to meal. Let`s put this nonsense away and save what we`ve built!"

　　"I think you`re twisting them," Penelope announced for all to hear, "I think you`re making us into something we`re not."

　　A building in the distance collapsed, its structure giving away to heat and deformity.

　　"I can`t defeat you, Kairon. You don`t even have to try."

　　He nodded resolutely. "I accept your surr-"

　　She interrupted him. "I`m not surrendering. You can grind me to pieces, or just stand there as I do it to myself. It doesn`t matter. I`m not letting go and I`m not standing down."

　　He stared at her, an orc girl caked in dirt-covered bruises, grasping at comprehension.

　　"You don`t even have to try," she repeated, "but me? I have to try every day. Living with my people, I tried every day to fit in. Tried and failed and failed and failed. When I was exiled, I kept on trying. Trying to survive."

　　Kairon`s face didn`t change, but it hardened imperceptibly. Penelope, despite ongoing protests from her legs and back, began circling Kairon once again.

　　"But no one knows where you`re from, Kairon. You just showed up one day, you and your unbreakable body. How long was it until someone challenged you the first time? I bet they saw through you, challenged you to call you on your&inconsistencies."

　　Another building collapsed, and a shriek of triumph came from the flamebeast.

　　"You were still learning how to be one of us. You didn`t want to kill him, but there was nothing he could do to best you. You did to him what you`re doing to me, simply let him wear himself down. Success was inevitable."

　　Kairon`s attention had shifted from Penelope to the burning city. He stopped keeping her in front of him and stood there as she continued to circle, the blue light of the fire dancing in his grey eyes.

　　Penelope stopped behind him.

　　"I don`t know what drives your invention, Kairon," she said less harshly, "but we`re not the people you`re looking for. We don`t fit your definition of civilization. I think you`re driven to do good, but it`s lost on us. The translation doesn`t come through."

　　Merrowcrack growled and seized a young orc from the crowd. "Get in there and stop her! Drag her out!" he shouted angrily. But before he could toss the orc into the ring, Justafar put an arm out and halted the Khan`s attempt.

　　Kairon took a few steps towards the destruction like a man dazed, but stayed in the circle. He turned to the audience.

　　"This is what you want?" He held up an arm, indicating the city, every building ablaze. The crowd murmured, but no negative sentiment was forthright.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

　　Justafar strode forward and stood behind Penelope.

　　"Kairon," he said, dutifully omitting the title, "it`s not orcish. I`ve seen these people chafe under this false unity. You seem blind to it."

　　He put a hand on Penelope`s shoulder and continued, "Penelope has only been back a few days, and in that short time, she`s helped us to see Ogg`s own truth better than any of your investigations, trials, and judgements ever could."

　　Penelope struggled to contain herself, managing just enough to remain stern before Kairon.

　　"That`s why," Justafar said, "the Skullcrush are leaving the city of Hurraggh."

　　This shook the crowd more than it did Kairon. A susurration almost transformed the group into a mob.

　　Penelope shouted, just barely audible above the commotion, "We will build a new foundation, honoring and multiplying the strength of the individual!"

　　No one heard her declaration but Justafar, but she felt it had to be said.

　　"The Bloodboil are leaving too! It was our idea first!"

　　"The Boldbreak are quitting Hurraggh and taking up our traditional-!"

　　"The Sharpteeth are leaving!"

　　The Merrowcrack Khan looked to his two wing-orcs, the Boldbreak and Bloodboil as they had shouted. His injured look turned hateful and angry. "Quitters! Merrowcracks, to me! We`re saving what`s mine!"

　　The mob fractured as fights broke out and groups started going their own way. Eleruse stomped up to Justafar and Penelope.

　　"You caused no end of grief for your father and me, leaving like you did Penelope!"

　　Shocked by the sudden animosity, Penelope recovered, feeling the love hidden in the words.

　　"I`m only back because I couldn`t tell the difference between you and the feral pigbeast that took me in!"

　　Eleruse huffed and looked at Justafar, "Are you going to let our daughter talk to me like that?"

　　"Shut up, both of you!" he growled, "I might join her when she leaves next time."

　　Joined by a similarly squabbling group of Skullcrush, they gathered around and looked to Justafar.

　　Justafar looked at the destruction of Hurraggh as the golden dot swooped and flamed. Penelope caught his eye and said casually, "It set us free. I think we can return the favor."

　　Silently, she thanked Chicken and Salander. It would be hard and painful, given the history between them, but there was a family for her here. But given a desolate, toxic, dry, and unforgiving environment, what else could find a way to thrive than an orc after all?

　　"We`re going home, you worthless rabble," he said, not unkindly. They headed off to reclaim their territory.

　　Eventually, the ring was abandoned. Evidently satisfied with the destruction, the flamebeast was nowhere to be found in the skies over what used to be Hurraggh. Kairon sat heavily in the dust, illuminated by the blue fire, staring at nothing.

　　****

　　When his bonds were cut, Chicken immediately lost control to Ashley. She pounced like a coiled viper, forcing Chicken`s body skyward.

　　For the second time, Chicken struggled to restrain the psychic torrent controlling him. Through the storm, he recognized a few things, like the city he and his friend had escaped. It was on fire, though.

　　Ashley wasn`t exactly happy or satisfied as the city was demolished, Chicken noticed. The thirst for destruction was perpetual and cavernous.

　　He saw a gathering some distance away and wondered what might be happening.

　　Sensing Ashley`s ire turn on the group of people, he desperately turned his focus back on the buildings of the city, dragging Ashley`s focus with him.

　　There were no screams coming from the rubble.

　　Several exhausting hours later, he felt the persistent feeling of vengeance waver. His chance to take back control presented itself.

　　Opting not to wrest control by force, as Ashley was magnitudes more powerful than him despite the home field advantage, he instead attempted to placate her. Through gentle coaxing, he managed to turn her in on herself.

　　He landed roughly, his body screaming retribution for the taxing effort that Ashley had demanded. The spot he had touched down was a vantage south of the city. He could see the same group from before. They were calm and not on fire, being a safe distance from ground zero.

　　It was then that noticed he was not alone. Salander was among the rocks, looking down at the people as well.

　　The two were silent for some time, Chicken for his exhaustion. An emotion he couldn`t quite place seemed to have settled on Salander, which was quite at odds to his regular commanding aloofness. It seemed almost sad.

　　"You did good, Chicken," he said quietly, "and now I think we`re needed elsewhere."

　　"Is Penelope coming with us?" Chicken asked.

　　Salander didn`t answer Chicken`s question, at which point the impending sword of responsibility hanging over him to burst its thread.

　　"I was only supposed to be out flying to clear my head," Chicken lamented. "Auntie must be worried sick. Even worse, I might have broken a friendship."

　　Salander caught his eye with a knowing look.

　　"You made a decision and it turned out badly. I know how that goes."

　　The two silently commiserated over recent events, a cloud of regret forming over their heads. Chicken thought about apprising Salander of the migration, but remembered Salander was the root cause in the first place.

　　But I haven`t been doing such a bang up job, either.

　　As though tracing Chicken`s thoughts, Salander spoke up suddenly, saying, "Sometimes we can fool ourselves into thinking our selfish actions are in the best interests of all. It`s my fault this happened, Chicken."

　　For once, Chicken didn`t try to give things a positive spin and remained quiet. They watched as the group below disbanded.

　　"It`s my fault we lost Oreson and Shrub. It`s my fault the orcs came. Were you able to save everyone like you set out to do?"

　　The question was innocent enough, but it stung all the more for it.

　　Did I save everyone? Did I act heroically?

　　"In a way," he said out loud, "but it wasn`t what I expected."

　　Salander nodded solemnly. He put a hand on Chicken`s shoulder.

　　"It sounds like we both have some trust to rebuild," then gesturing to Chicken`s ethereal wings he added, "Can you fly us home with those? It`s not too early to start."

　　****

　　It was another cold early morning when Chicken and Salander arrived at the entrance to the refuge.

　　"This is it?" Salander asked haughtily about the hole leading to the underground.

　　"It`s bigger on the inside," Chicken said apologetically.

　　Before they could enter the hole, a panicked panting came from inside. A kobold head popped up, eyes wild with fear.

　　"Run! We`re under attack!"

　　No sooner had the kobold uttered these words did it pop out of the hole and start following its own advice.

　　Chicken and Salander exchanged looks before hastily climbing down.

　　The light of the refuge was easily seen from the entrance they had chosen. Dark shapes could be seen running and crawling about.

　　"You moved us into a cave you didn`t know was safe?!" Salander hissed.

　　But Chicken was already gliding towards the camp on his inherited wings.

　　As he grew closer, he noticed the floor of the cavern was covered in shallow water. Crawling about the camp were fishy kobold-oids, their bodies ending in fish tails where their legs and tails should be. They were crawling about the camp in the light of the fires that remained, which happened to be the ones higher off the ground and out of the flood.

　　Kobolds fought against these fish creatures, though under-equipped and leaderless, they either succumbed to the invaders or ran fleeing. Some ran back towards the entrance, while others found themselves running deeper into the caves.

　　Everywhere was the sound of hissing and light splashing. Chicken couldn`t make sense of the chaos.

　　"I need you all to calm-" he started to say, when there was a sudden thoom thoom, pounding rhythmically from the depths of the cave.

　　The chaos slowed. Even the fish people stopped their attack to turn and look.

　　From the darkness came a turtle, walking on its hind legs with feet like an elephant`s. It was huge, easily four or five times the size of a kobold, and it carried an equally large bone maul. It slowly approached the camp, its bony ridged snapjaw open, its eyes focused.

　　Chicken traced its gaze.

　　Pithy was trying desperately to help Auntie walk, to get away from the treacherous hoards, but they were both frozen by the new threat.

　　"No!" Chicken shouted, drawing on Ashley`s power instinctively.

　　His eyes filled with blue and electricity crackled from his ethereal wings and claws. He launched himself at this new foe.

　　But he was already exhausted from the effort of destroying the city. His rallying cry drew the creature`s attention, and it was ready for him.

　　With a swing of its maul, it deftly brought Chicken back down to earth with a sickening thud. He hit the partially flooded ground and rolled, deflected from his course like a tennis ball.

　　Thoom

　　Thoom

　　The monstrosity plodded over to Chicken. Behind it, through a veil of pain and impending unconsciousness, he saw Auntie and Pithy pick up the pace, Pithy obviously pulling Auntie from having to watch Chicken`s sacrifice.

　　He looked up at the turtle thing. Behind it, he saw movement.

　　Drawing once more from Ashley, and pushing his body even further, he slammed the ground with his fist. The mighty impact shook the cavern with the remaining force he had left.

　　Dust and rocks fell from the ceiling, dropping into the slowly rising flood with pitiful splashes.

　　The turtle thing looked around, concerned, before giving a low hissing laugh.

　　Then there was a creak.

　　Ashley`s own fossilized head was finally loose enough. It freed itself from the rocks on the ceiling for the first time in centuries and fell terminally on the massive turtle just before Chicken passed out.