The scream broke her thoughts in half.
Celeste snapped her head up just in time to see a young griffon woman sprinting around the corner. She couldn’t have been more than mid-twenties, feathers matted with sweat, goggles glowing with fading rune-ink. She wore patched steampunk gear, smoke hissing from the valves of a mana pack strapped to her chest. Her claws flared with spell runes—but the glow was sputtering, overdrawn.
Behind her thundered a colossal Glutonne—a pig-like donut zombie with frosting-oozing jaws, its massive body shaking the sugared pavement with every step. Around its hooves, a swarm of Sugar Rushers darted like rabid mice, cube-shaped bodies gnashing with crystalline teeth.
The griffon stumbled, nearly collapsing. She tried to cast again, but sparks fizzled from her talons instead of flame.
Celeste froze. Her blood turned cold.
She was alone. Too far from the others. Terrified.
But leaving this girl to die? She couldn’t.
Her claws clenched around the marked book. Her blades flickered into existence with a nervous, unsteady shimmer.
“Oh stars, oh stars—” she muttered, then forced her legs to move.
With a burst of shaky courage, Celeste charged forward.
Celeste’s blades flickered in her trembling grip as she dashed toward the chaos. Her heart thundered in her chest, her voice spilling out in shaky, breathless mutters.
“Oh stars, oh stars, oh dear, this was a mistake, I’m not ready, I’m not—”
The Glutonne bellowed, frosting drooling from its circular maw. Sugar Rushers darted at Celeste’s ankles, and she squeaked, hopping sideways in sheer panic as her blade slashed through one in a lucky swing.
The griffon woman—steam hissing from her rune-worn goggles—let out a guttural shout, her accent thick and fierce.
“Move, lass! If ye just stand there gapin’, ye’ll be frosting on its hooves in two seconds flat!”
Celeste yelped, nearly tripping over her own sword as she dodged another Sugar Rusher. “I’m—I’m moving! I promise, I’m very much moving—oh dear, oh dear—”
The colossal Glutonne pig thundered forward, icing dripping from its tusks like molten tar. Celeste’s knees shook, but the griffon threw herself between them and the beast, claws sparking against the cobblestones.
Kirrin, feathers scorched from overcasting, staggered but still forced another rune into the air. Fire crackled, sputtered—and fizzled. She cursed, but her eyes burned with defiance.
“I’ll no’ let a bloody pastry take me down! Not while I’ve got breath left!”
Celeste’s eyes widened. “You’re—amazing! Terrifying—but amazing!”
The griffon grinned through her grit, yanking her goggles up just long enough for Celeste to see those sharp, determined eyes.
“Kirrin,” she barked, as though it were a weapon in itself. “Name’s Kirrin. Don’t forget it, lass—if we live, ye’ll be shoutin’ it in gratitude.”
Celeste squeaked, fumbling her blade back into position. “O-oh! Right! Kirrin. Lovely to meet you, Kirrin—now please don’t die!”
“Not plannin’ on it!” Kirrin roared, slamming a shoulder into the Glutonne’s flank. “Now swing, cat-girl! Swing like ye mean it!”
Celeste squeaked again as the Glutonne swung its massive head toward them, frosting dripping like lava. She darted forward on instinct, slicing at a Sugar Rusher that lunged for Kirrin’s legs.
“It's Celeste,I—I’ve got you! I mean—sort of! Please don’t die!”
Kirrin barked a laugh, wild even in the face of death. “That’s the spirit! Terrified fightin’ is still fightin’!”
The two stood side by side—one nervous, stammering, eyes wide; the other ragged but unflinching, every word sharp with fire.
The Glutonne thundered forward, frosting jaws snapping. Sugar Rushers swarmed like snapping jawbreakers at their feet.
Celeste squealed as one darted for her ankle—she swung wildly, tripping over her own tail, but the blade cut clean through it in a burst of crystalline dust.
“Oh dear, oh stars, that wasn’t—ah! Another one!”
Kirrin cackled, feathers singed but eyes blazing with stubborn pride. “Ye fight like a drunk kitten, lass—but at least ye’re swingin’! Keep ‘em busy—I’ll take the hog!”
“Th-the hog?!” Celeste’s ears shot up in panic. “That’s—that’s a building with teeth!”
The Glutonne bellowed again, donut-hole chest glowing with molten sugar as it launched a sticky orb toward them.
Kirrin snarled, bracing. “Cover yer face!”
She slammed her talons together—what little rune power she had sparked into a shield of steam and grit. The candy orb splattered across it, shards of caramel hissing on the ground. The shield cracked, nearly broke—but held.
The Glutonne roared, lurching through the ruin with the weight of an avalanche. Sugar Rushers skittered ahead of it, claws scrabbling, snapping at Celeste’s heels. She braced, ribbons flaring—then a sudden crack split the air.
Kirrin’s cry was no longer just a gryphon’s shriek—it was thunder given voice.
Her feathers flared, every plume edged in a halo of static. In the next heartbeat, her form broke apart into a lance of blinding white-blue, as though lightning itself had leapt free of the sky.
She vanished—only to reappear in a blinding streak, zipping through the tide of Sugar Rushers. The bolt cut a perfect line across the battlefield. Enemies it passed through convulsed, their candy-forms searing and collapsing into molten sugar.
For a heartbeat after, the air itself sizzled. A glowing trail of sparks hung where she had gone, crackling and hissing like a scar branded onto reality. The Rushers who had been too close twitched helplessly, sugar shells splitting with the sound of caramel snapping.
Kirrin reformed in a burst of feathers and light, talons digging furrows into the ground as she wheeled around, eyes burning with stormlight.
Celeste’s mouth fell open, her voice breaking out in awe.
“Kirrin… you were lightning.”
The gryphon ruffled her wings, electricity dancing along the tips. She didn’t answer with words—only a low, rolling rumble of pride, like thunder grumbling across distant hills.
Celeste peeked from behind her paws, blinking. “You—y-you stopped it! Oh, thank the stars, I thought we were—ahhh—”
Another Sugar Rusher leapt at her face. She screamed, fell backwards, and by sheer dumb luck skewered it on her blade as she hit the ground. “...I meant to do that.”
Kirrin barked a laugh, wild and unashamed. “Yer hopeless. I like ye.”
The Glutonne charged.
Kirrin roared back, goggles flashing, and leapt straight at it. She slashed glowing runes into its frosting hide, each strike carving molten steam bursts. But her spells sputtered—the runes breaking apart from overburn. She hit the ground hard, breath ragged.
The Glutonne reared up, hooves shaking the ground, ready to crush her.
Celeste’s stomach lurched. “No no no no no—”
Without thinking, she ran forward, legs trembling. She slammed both blades into the cracked cobbles. Mana surged down her arms—blue flame rippled outward, tripping the beast for a heartbeat. Just enough.
Kirrin rolled aside as the Glutonne crashed face-first into a candy-glass wall.
Breathless, Celeste stammered, “I—I don’t even know what that was—oh stars, my arms feel like pudding—”
Kirrin grinned, wild mane matted with sweat. “That was ye savin’ my hide, lass. Don’t question it—do it again!”
The Sugar Rushers regrouped, snarling cubes circling. The Glutonne began to rise, syrup dripping like lava.
Celeste gulped. Her paws shook. But she looked at Kirrin—still laughing, still defiant even as she bled—and she forced herself to lift her blades again.
Side by side, the terrified kitten and the fiery griffon stood their ground.
The Glutonne’s bulk quivered, frosting dripping from its crater-like maw as it loosed another rolling bellow. Around it, the sugar-cube mice—Sugar Rushers—skittered and hissed, their crystalline teeth clicking like glass breaking.
Celeste staggered back, twin ribbons of mana stuttering in her hands, fear and determination tangled together. Kirrin wheeled overhead, feathers catching the glow of the corrupted skyline, his shriek a command to move.
And something in her answered.
The katanas lifted, ribbons unfurling in her grip. She spun once, awkward at first, then with a sudden, rising grace. Steel and silk blurred together.
Light bloomed.
Sparkles spiraled outward as if she had torn a seam in the dark. Her blades traced a glowing circle on the air, every turn scattering comet-bright motes that drifted down like stardust. The nearest Sugar Rushers darted in—only to be sliced apart by the orbiting arcs, their candy-bodies shattering in showers of sugar shards.
The Glutonne lunged, jaws gaping—then reeled back, frosting sizzling where the radiant edge had caught its hide. Celeste’s spin slowed, her boots skidding against the caramel-slick stone, but the circle of light remained, a shimmering barrier that pulsed with her breath.
She staggered to a stop, chest heaving, eyes wide.
“I—I did that?” she whispered.
Above, Kirrin banked low, the wind of her wings scattering the last of the glittering sparks. Her golden eyes narrowed with something like pride.
The battlefield stank of burnt sugar and ozone, but for one breathless moment, it was beautiful—like dancing with comets.
The donut-beast roared, syrup eyes blazing. Its hooves thundered down, shaking the candy-glass street.
Kirrin wiped blood from her beak, goggles cracked, but her grin was wide.
“On three, lass!”
Celeste squeaked, blades trembling in her grip. “Th-three? What happens after three?!”
“Victory!”
They didn’t have time to argue.
The Glutonne charged again, donut-hole glowing with molten sugar.
“One!” Kirrin leapt onto a toppled lamppost, feathers flaring.
“Two!” Celeste, panicking, ran toward the monster, blades up, legs quivering.
“Three!”
Together, they struck.
Kirrin dove, carving a burning rune across the Glutonne’s frosted back. Steam hissed, blinding its eyes. At the same instant, Celeste stabbed both blades deep into the cracks from earlier, mana surging down her arms.
Blue fire met Kirrin’s rune.
The Glutonne howled, its sugary hide splitting apart in a shower of molten glaze. It staggered, lurched—then collapsed with a thunderous crash, frosting geysering into the sky.
Silence, broken only by their panting.
Then—skittering laughter.
The Sugar Rushers poured in. Dozens. Maybe more. Little cube-mice with snapping teeth, eyes glowing candy-red.
Kirrin staggered, clutching her ribs. “Bloody hell, there’s too many—”
Celeste grabbed her arm, eyes wide. “Go! I’ll hold them—please, just go!”
“I’m not leavin’ ye, lass—”
“Please!” Celeste’s voice cracked, but her grip was firm. “If you fall here, I… I can’t forgive myself. You’ve got more fight in you—so run!”
Kirrin froze, conflict blazing in her eyes. Then, with a ragged curse, she pulled back, wings snapping open. “Don’t you dare die!” she shouted, before stumbling into the sky, feathers scattering.
Celeste turned. The Sugar Rushers surrounded her, snapping, chittering, closing in. Her tail fluffed, her breath short.
“Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear…”
She spotted it—a ruined plaza fountain, still trickling with sugary water. An idea sparked.
She bolted. The swarm followed, claws scraping glassy cobbles. She leapt into the basin, blades slashing the pipes open. Jets of water gushed, soaking the Rushers as they leapt in.
The sugar-mice screeched, their bodies fizzing, dissolving into syrupy mush as the water ate away their candy shells. One by one, they popped into nothing.
Celeste, meanwhile—
Soaked.
Her fur plastered, her ears flat, tail dragging heavy like a sodden rope. She stood trembling in the waist-deep fountain, blades dripping blue fire and sugary water.
She hated every second of it.
Her face scrunched. “I’m a cat. I hate water.”
The last Sugar Rusher hissed, popped, and was gone.
Celeste was alone, dripping, shivering in the ruined fountain. Trapped in the one element she loathed most, but alive.
Celeste clambered up the slick fountain rim, claws scrabbling against the wet candy-stone.
“Okay—hah—easy does it—don’t slip, don’t slip, don’t—oh stars, that’s a lot of them—”
Below her, the Sugar Rushers hissed as the water chewed through their bodies. One by one they fizzed into syrup—but then, horrifyingly, the survivors began to climb. Their cube claws dug into the cracked stone, stacking on top of each other like rabid building blocks.
Celeste’s pupils shrank. “Oh no. Oh nonono. You’re not supposed to learn! Stop that! Stop being clever mice!”
She swung her blade wildly, slicing a few off the wall, but more scrambled higher, their glowing eyes snapping up at her ankles. Her tail lashed like a whip as she tried to keep her balance.
Then—
CRACK.
The fountain’s base groaned. The waterlogged stone gave way, sugar veins snapping beneath her paws.
“Wait. Waitwaitwait—” Celeste squeaked, ears flat.
The floor collapsed.
With a shriek, she plummeted, fountain shards and squealing Sugar Rushers tumbling with her into a gaping shaft of darkness. Water splashed around her as she fell, her blades flickering out mid-panic.
Her scream echoed off the dripping walls until it was swallowed by the abyss below.
