Leah was intent on going back to the Enclave after getting the sixth cube. Her new eye acting up was getting annoying and there was only so much she could do with half-rotten parts from decades-old creatures. She was eager to try some new designs she had ready back at home base.

  She could afford a small detour, though, and two Quetzalcoatlus in mating season were reason enough for one. Sky Terrors, the barbarians called them, nearly untouchable in their flocks as Emex so painfully experienced. But a pair that separated from their flock for breeding? Perfect targets.

  There was a standing order to eliminate Qs on sight, if possible. They were a scourge of the wastelands, tearing apart squads and equipment alike. It was one of the rare orders Leah agreed with.

  She observed the massive birds through the scope of her rifle. Their mating rituals were a sight to behold. The pair flew high, as high as their wings would take them. When their flight reached crescendo, the female flipped onto her back, frozen in air for a short moment. She held her talons out and the male caught them without slowing down. The momentum propelled the pair forward for a fraction of a second, before the weight of the female stopped them.

  They plummeted to the ground.

  Slow at first, their free fall quickly picked up speed. They fell, a flurry of colorful feathers locked in a death spiral. The pair had absolute trust in each other, tumbling closer and closer to the ground, interlocked in the dramatic dance.

  At the last possible moment, they separated. Centimeters from a certain death they picked up speed and flew up, just to do it all again. One more ascend, one more fall. One more spiral, one more dance, one more—

  A bullet from Leah’s rifle penetrated the thin skull of the pterodactyl before it could let go. The female’s panicked screech cut off as the body of her mate brought them both down to the ground, smearing her to paste.

  Two birds with one stone. Or bullet. Same difference.

  Leah got up from her spot. She had to find their nest now, just in case they had any young. The Qs made their nests high, often on the roofs of skyscrapers. Leah knew of a ruin south, close enough to be a potential nesting spot.

  The city was close to the Veil, close enough that Leah technically wasn’t allowed anywhere near it. But she wanted to be thorough. There was a certain responsibility she felt, after Emex’s death.

  She made her way through the outskirts, picking out the tallest skyscraper she could see as her goal. There was no need to bother with stealth. Ruins this close to the Veil were mostly safe, bar a rare Guardian group.

  Speak of the devil. A half-eaten carcass was lying in the middle of the street, with bloody tracks leading away from it, towards the skyscraper. Only one set of tracks though, weird.

  Leah moved more carefully now. The stench of death hit her as she neared the building. She entered, her weapon at the ready, and whistled soundlessly at the sight that welcomed her. Raptor corpses lined the stairway, so much blood all around that she could bathe in it. A surprising amount actually, much too much to come only from the animals.

  She quickly examined the carcasses. Slashing and piercing wounds, most likely from a short sword. Some smaller wounds, no doubt the aftermath of the knife that laid forgotten in the corner. One raptor had a nasty wound from a blow to the ribs that ruptured at least three internal organs. It looked like a small group of Guardians had a field day here. The bodies were fresh, too, at most a day old.

  But there was only one set of tracks in the snow. She put her AI to work, taking a few samples of blood from the floor. It worked fast, spitting out results straight into her mind. At least sixty percent of the blood was human, but that wasn’t the surprising part. It all came from one person. One person fought here, losing three times the lethal amount of blood and killing a whole flock of Deinonychus.

  The bloody tracks led upstairs. Leah followed them.

  The sight on the roof shocked her even more than the scene earlier. A human, absolutely caked in blood, sleeping in a Quetzalcoatlus nest with a fresh flapling resting peacefully on her chest.

  Her first instinct was to eliminate the threat immediately. She quietly got closer to the Veiler, careful not to disturb the animal, and put a pistol to the woman’s temple. The mark on her neck only incentivised her to pull the trigger. A cursed mind mage. And yet, she paused.

  There was a symbol on the woman’s hand. A tattoo in the color of rust, a circular outline with squares and straight lines inside. Her parent’s signature.

  A million and one thoughts raced through Leah’s mind. Who was this woman, and what was her connection to her parents? She clearly was from inside the Veil. Her clothes and the mind mark made that much obvious. Was she an agent planted by her parents? No, she was much too young for that, they’d been dead already when this girl was born. Screw that, how was she even alive without air magic, any filtering device, and after losing so much blood?

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Should Leah finish what the raptors started?

  No, that’d be stupid. Cursing herself for not doing so earlier, she ran a scan of the woman. The flow of her energy made one thing immediately obvious. The symbol on her hand wasn’t a tattoo. It was a mark, energy flowing through it to vital organs, purifying air and replenishing lost blood. She recognized her parents' work in the flow. But they only ever theorized about the possibility… Did they succeed? But how would they, so long after their deaths?

  There were more questions than there were answers. She needed to learn who this woman was and bring her to the Enclave. She could be the key to her parents’ research, but she needed to be alive for that first. Her divine energy was running dangerously low. The woman needed rest and food. Leah was going to make sure she got just that.

  She ran downstairs and scavenged the best cuts of meat from the dead raptors. She didn’t have a way to purify it, but that was nothing to worry about as long as she got the stranger to the Enclave for treatment. Though now that she thought about it, maybe the mark would do the job for her.

  Lighting a fire on the roof wasn’t the wisest thing to do, but Leah didn’t care right now. She’d do anything to help the woman survive, even fight off a crowd of Guardians. She cooked the meat over the fire until it was done, and crouched a few meters away from the woman, watching her breath to make sure it was steady. It took a few hours of waiting motionlessly, but finally, she woke up.

  Only to meet Leah with hostility instead of gratitude. She’d expected nothing less from a barbarian.

  ?

  Mithra shot to her feet and scrambled for her sword. It was on the ground, next to the monstrous figure and out of her reach. It’d be impossible to win without a weapon, but she took a defensive stance anyway.

  The abomination didn’t move one bit at her movement. It didn’t react at all. It stood unnaturally still, the way only dead things could. There were no subtle shifts of weight, no adjusting position. It seemed to observe Mithra, its metallic eyes following her.

  The monster was humanoid. It shared similarities with the abominations from her lessons, but it looked much more clean, sleek. The cables woven throughout its body were clearly organized, flowing neatly. Its legs were fashioned out of thin metal strips bent roughly in an ‘S’ shape, with packed springs attached. Its silhouette resembled a woman, but instead of skin there was only steel, with intricate patterns of interwoven plates covering its chest and stomach.

  A skeletal metal hand with slick, elastic pipes flowing below the elbow reached for Mithra’s sword and picked it up by the blade.

  “This yours?” A deep, rasping voice left the creature’s throat. A crude imitation of speech.

  Mithra didn’t answer, trying to think of a way out. She may have accepted death not long ago, but the Gods saw it fit to give her a second chance at life. A third, actually. She wasn’t going to waste it again.

  “Have it your way.” The figure threw the sword at her.

  No, not at her. To her. Mithra barely caught the sword by the handle and held it at the ready. Her hand trembled with the effort. Her body may have regenerated overnight, but her stamina didn’t. She felt like she’d just ran three marathons back to back.

  But she had to try. This was what the Guardians were protecting the people from. An abomination, a real abomination stood before her. A monster with oil for blood, a steel imitation of humanity.

  It shouldn’t have given her a weapon.

  Mithra lunged at the creature, aiming for its neck. It didn’t defend itself, calmly taking the blow. Steel scraped on steel. She was about to swing again when she felt a cold pinprick touch her throat.

  “Dead. Wanna go again?”

  The monster withdrew its dagger. Rage bubbled in Mithra. It’d regret playing with her like that.

  This time, she aimed for the joints. No matter how strong the armor, it had to have weak points. She feinted an attack to its side and tried to sneak a blow under its armpit, but she missed. Her exhausted arms gave up, the sword bouncing off the armored stomach and clattering uselessly to the ground. Her opponent calmly picked up the weapon and brought its point to Mithra’s throat.

  “Dead, again. Give it a rest. You wouldn’t cut me with this even if you weren’t exhausted.”

  Mithra steeled her resolve. She was at the creature’s mercy, but there was one more thing she could try. If she was going down, so was it. Literally. The abomination was standing at the edge of the roof, close to the ledge. With one last effort, Mithra threw herself at it.

  But she was tired and slow. It simply stepped aside.

  She was pathetic. A child playing Guardian, almost dying to a group of animals and trying to throw her life away immediately after. Too weak to kill one monster, one that was an actual threat to the Veil. She was no Guardian, her father was right. She was a disappointment.

  Mithra looked at the snow, hundreds of meters below her. She couldn't arrest her momentum in time.

  At least I’ll die in the sun.

  She didn’t fall. The abomination was holding her by the scruff of her neck.

  “Oh for fuck’s sake, stop with the dramatics already.” It threw Mithra to the floor, hard. “Now, lay down in the nest and go rest. I need you alive.”

  Mithra was about to lunge again, but it pinned her to the ground with one leg. She spat at it. “Monster.”

  “Oh for crying out loud, I’m human, look. I’m human.” A metal mask lifted itself from the creature’s face, revealing pale skin.

  “See?” The rasp was gone, replaced by a completely average voice. Its face was not average, though. Deathly pale, with thin, deep grooves lined with silver running from the corners of the mouth sideways. But even with metallic eyes, it, or her, undoubtedly looked human.

  Mithra struggled with the ramifications of that. Was the person a Guardian, outfitted with powerful relics? Did she shame herself in front of a veteran warrior? But why did she resemble an abomination so closely?

  “A—”

  “Shut. I don’t need your questions right now. You can ask them after you rest. I can’t promise I’ll answer them, but you can ask.” The mask slid back, the voice raspy again. “I’ll make sure you’re safe, but your mark is about to run out of juice. Sit down if you don’t want to choke to death.”

  “What do you mean my ma—”

  “Just shut up already and eat.” The woman kneeled, with one leg still on Mithra. She put a cold, metal hand over her mouth. “Or I’ll make you.”