Bursting Melody’s fingers never stopped playing across her zither strings. The melody she wove was soft and graceful like wind through a field of lavender, yet underneath ran the mischievous, playful current of moonflowers blooming in darkness.

  It was a charming melody. To the illusioned titanspawn, however, it was a dangerous sound that heightened their desire to slaughter prey.

  The two creatures tore at each other with increasing fury. One had already lost an eye to its companion’s claws, dark blood streaming down its face. Beneath its feet, phantom lavender seemed to bloom and wither. Though these lavenders were only visible to the battling titanspawn, any other spectator uncaught by the bewitching music would see stone and bladed grass.

  Its opponent fared little better. The creature’s left arm hung uselessly, nearly bitten through, and under it, ghostly moonflowers shimmered, petals half-formed before flickering away. Neither beast understood why its prey mirrored its scent and form—only that it must destroy what stood before it.

  Melody risked a brief glance toward her sister. In the distance, Howling Badger dropped a titanspawn with a single, clean strike. She gave a slight nod. Good—three down on that side. One still standing. Two here still occupied. So far everything is going smoothly. The unspoken words came as she continued focusing on her own task.

  Her fingers shifted the melody slightly, adding a discordant note that would make the illusions seem to dodge and weave, keeping the fight going. She couldn’t let them actually kill each other. It was far more difficult to make illusions that could harm others than it was to make illusions that charmed. Hence, she needed them to continue fighting each other and exhaust themselves, turning them from predators to prey awaiting slaughter.

  A flicker of movement at the edge of her vision—

  One of Howling Badger’s remaining titanspawn had broken away from the fight, six limbs carrying it toward her with frightening speed. Her sister was too far, still engaged with another.

  Melody raised her free hand, keeping the other on the strings, continuing her illusion.

  The air rippled. Another concentrated burst of sound erupted from her palm, catching the charging titanspawn square in the chest. It tumbled backward, skidding across the rocky ground, momentarily stunned.

  The stunned titanspawn shook its head. Before it could regain its footing, Howling Badger was already moving, bronze energy singing through her legs as she closed the distance. A devastating knee to its temple sent it sprawling.

  The canyon fell silent except for the wet sounds of the two illusioned titanspawn still tearing chunks from each other, though their movements had grown sluggish, weakened.

  “Time to finish it,” Bursting Melody said, nodding to her sister. The melody shifted into a gentle diminuendo, and the illusions faded like morning mist. Both creatures stared at each other—confused, wounded, and dazed. The unfortunate beasts would never find their answer, for in the next instant, Howling Badger appeared and struck them down before their confusion could fade.

  The sisters stood in the sudden quiet, catching their breath. Howling Badger pressed a hand to her shredded back, bronze energy dulling the pain.

  Melody lowered her zither, ready to speak, watching her sister wipe blood from her knuckles—when a sound interrupted them.

  The sound echoed through the canyon. It was a sound akin to that of the titanspawn’s shrieking, yet there was a difference in it. While the previous shrieking could almost be described as a raw, primal roar like the roaring of an animal, this time it was broken into segments, giving the impression of measured speech—like a commander issuing orders on a battlefield.

  From the cave mouth, two figures stepped into view. They shared the same gray hide as their kin, the same four arms and segmented tails. But these titanspawn had a distinctive difference; each had four eyes arranged in a diamond pattern, and those eyes glimmered with an intelligence the three-eyed ones had lacked.

  They stood there observing. One tilted its head, studying the corpses of its lesser kin scattered across the canyon floor. The other’s gaze swept between the two sisters. It opened its mouth, and the broken segmented shrieks came again—this time clearly forming words in some rough, guttural language the sisters couldn’t understand.

  The first one responded in the same tongue, its four eyes never leaving the battlefield as it spoke. The two young quill users could only watch as the titanspawn carried out what was unmistakably a conversation.

  “This isn’t looking good,” Howling Badger muttered. Bronze energy flared around her as she shifted back into a fighting stance, though fatigue was already spreading through her body from the earlier battle. Beside her, Melody’s fingers hovered over her zither strings, ready despite her exhaustion.

  “Four eyes,” Badger said, watching the two titanspawn emerge fully from the cave. “The Elders warned me about these. I’m assuming yours did too?”

  Melody’s amber eyes tracked the creatures as they split apart, circling. “Of course they did. They’re smarter than the others, and they rarely hunt alone.”

  “Yeah.” Badger’s gaze flicked to the dark cave mouth behind the advancing titanspawn. “Question is—how many more are in there?”

  The four-eyed titanspawn finished their guttural exchange. Both turned to face the sisters fully, four eyes gleaming with intelligence that marked them as something far more dangerous than their fallen kin.

  They advanced from the cave, closing the distance, splitting apart. One began circling left. The other moved right.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Unlike their more bestial brethren, they did not simply rush in mindlessly.

  The sisters shifted, instinctively moving back-to-back despite the open space.

  The attack came from both sides simultaneously.

  The left titanspawn lunged, its four arms spread wide. Upper arms feinted high while lower arms swept toward Badger’s legs. She dropped and rolled, but the creature adjusted mid-strike, tail whipping around to cut off her escape. She had to enhance her legs and vault upward, barely clearing the stinger as it carved through the space where she’d been.

  She landed and immediately drove forward, bronze energy surging through her fist as she aimed for the creature’s weak points. Though the enemy was more intelligent than its counterpart, she saw no reason not to continue using tried and tested tactics.

  Her enhanced punch connected solidly, only to be met with supernatural resistance.

  The titanspawn’s hide suddenly gleamed with its crude bronze shimmer as it activated its Somaquill mid-strike. It carried two enhancements—one on its legs, another spreading across its torso.

  The impact that should have shattered the joint barely fazed it.

  Four massive arms grabbed for her. She tried to twist away, but one hand caught her wrist. The grip was crushing, strength far beyond what the three-eyed ones had shown. She felt her bones creak under the pressure. Her enhanced durability was the only thing keeping them from snapping outright.

  She grunted and resisted with all her might.

  The creature responded by yanking her forward. Another hand drove toward her chest like a battering ram.

  Melody’s zither sang. A concentrated sonic blast caught the titanspawn’s shoulder, disrupting its grip just enough for Badger to tear free. She stumbled back, gasping, cradling her wrist. Purple bruises were already forming where the creature had grabbed her.

  They’re stronger than I thought. I really did underestimate it. Her thoughts turned rapidly as she contemplated her mistake.

  Heh, even after I was warned repeatedly by the Elders. She thought to herself mockingly.

  The second four-eyed saw its opening. The moment Melody saved her sister, it charged toward her, pressing hard. However, the creature was cunning enough to have learned from watching its lesser kin fall to her illusions. While it charged, it did not do so blindly.

  As Melody recovered her attention and prepared to fight back, her opponent feinted and retreated, testing the range of her illusion and forcing her to attack using her sonic blasts. Out of five attempts, only two were close enough for the young Zitherquill to attempt weaving her illusion, and for those times, it shrieked—a harsh, discordant sound that disrupted her concentration and shattered the forming illusion before it could take hold.

  It closed the distance with frightening speed, only surpassed by the fastest of predators. Melody backpedaled, fingers flying across her zither strings. Another sonic burst erupted from her palm, catching the creature center-mass.

  The titanspawn slid backward from the impact, claws digging furrows in the stone—but it didn’t fall. Its crude bronze aura flared to life, spreading across its hide like armor. The enhancement made its already tough skin supernaturally resilient, nearly impenetrable by common nonmagical means.

  It charged again, its legs gleaming with that same bronze shimmer. This time, its speed outpaced even the quickest predators. A hard push of air rolled ahead of it, carrying a sharp crack of displaced wind as the creature blurred forward. It was too fast to track with the human eye.

  Melody barely managed to throw herself aside as four arms slammed into the space where she’d been standing, catching nothing but air.

  “Sister!” Badger called out, trying to move to help—but her own opponent pressed her hard.

  The titanspawn she faced had shifted its enhancements. Speed and durability both—torso and legs gleaming with crude bronze energy. The creature moved with the same terrifying speed as it engaged the tired Somaquill. Badger was exhausted. Even with her own muscle enhancements, she could barely keep up. Her quill was growing weaker, and though she managed to block the first strike, the second caught her across the ribs with bone-jarring force.

  Her only saving grace was that the blow carried no enhanced strength behind it. She was launched sideways by the impact. She hit the ground hard, rolled, and spat blood from the accumulation of wounds. She took a deep breath only to feel something grind and shift under her skin—sharp, electric pain ripping through her side and cutting her breath short. Definitely cracked, probably broken, she thought to herself in annoyance.

  She tightened her stance, angling her injured side away. She focused her quill once again, shifting her enhancements to her senses. She had to be precise and cautious in all her movements. Everything needed to be exact.

  This was the type of fighting style she hated the most, yet it was one she was vastly proficient in, beaten into her by the Elders to make up for her reckless nature.

  The titanspawn lunged. Badger’s feet carried her aside in a sharp pivot, her torso barely moving as she drove a short, brutal strike toward its eyes. The creature jumped backward immediately and growled.

  She breathed with great effort as her eye took a quick glance at her sister’s side.

  Melody wasn’t faring better. She’d abandoned trying to create illusions—the intelligent titanspawn disrupted them too quickly. Instead, she focused on sonic attacks, but even those barely fazed the creature when it enhanced its durability. It was learning her patterns, adapting its timing.

  The two four-eyed coordinated with terrifying efficiency. When Badger tried to press an attack during a vulnerability window when one switched enhancements, the other moved to support. When Melody tried to create distance, they adjusted positioning to keep her within striking range.

  The battle continued, titanspawn pressing their assault while the exhausted sisters held on through sheer will.

  Eventually, Badger’s opponent shifted tactics. It dropped its torso enhancement and poured everything into speed and strength.

  Four enhanced fists hammered her guard. The force was overwhelming, each strike devastating enough to crater stone. She had her own bronze-enhanced arms to defend, but the impacts drove her backward, her feet carving trenches in the canyon floor.

  The titanspawn’s tail whipped around low. She jumped, but fatigue made her slow. The stinger caught her calf, tearing through flesh. She cried out, landing badly on her wounded leg.

  The creature’s four arms came down like hammers.

  Melody was too occupied this time to save her, as her own opponent attacked furiously.

  Badger narrowly evaded, the pain in her ribs searing.

  Then a dreadful shriek echoed from the cave mouth.

  Both sisters felt chilled. The four-eyed titanspawn backed away and slightly lowered their heads as though they had just been scolded.

  From the darkness, more glowing eyes appeared. Not just three. Not four.

  Six three-eyed titanspawn emerged, shrieking as they charged forward on all fours. Behind them, two more four-eyed stepped into the fading light.

  Howling Badger felt her stomach drop. She couldn’t help but breathe out, “What the fuck.”

  Melody chuckled and thought to herself mockingly, A nest? That’s just great.

  Yet both girls thought at the same time:

  They were going to die here.