Vatra and Enyalius abandoned all caution. They ran through the halls noisily, drawing an echo of footfalls that trailed them closely. It was difficult to tell how many guards followed them, but Vatra knew it was far more than she could take down.

"I think we've drawn their attention to us," Vatra said through ragged breaths.

They'd run for a decent amount of time, weaving left and right. It was a wonder how large the ship was. She couldn't let herself imagine how many gods and supernatural beings were being held captive all around her. It didn't take long to deduce they were on the prisoner transport ship, and the other vessels she'd seen before were the support vessels.

Is this also the one that destroyed Belltower? No, I can't think of these things right now, Vatra shook her head and skidded to a halt.

The corner they took ended in a door they had no way of opening. Not without a guard.

"Shit," Vatra cursed. "Well, we were bound to run out of luck sooner or later." She glanced up at the pipe above them.

"I don't like that look," Enyalius groaned. He followed her gaze with a frown.

"How long do you think we've been running around?" Vatra asked.

Enyalius shrugged and turned around to face the oncoming guards. "I never keep track of trivial matters like that."

"Should have been long enough," Vatra said, mostly to assure herself.

Dozens of guards appeared at the end of the hallway. Their rhythmic steps grew louder and louder as they approached. Wordlessly, they executed a synchronized pattern of movements. Three guards side-by-side lead the charge before halting and kneeling, arming themselves with the glowing firearms Vatra had seen the first time she'd boarded the vessel.

The other guards stopped behind them.

They won't use those guns with that pipe above us. Surely they're just for show, Vatra thought.

Vatra held her godkillers out in front of her, and as she did, one of the guards in front fired off a single shot. The light that emitted from the weapon was blinding. Its range was as precise as an actual bullet, grazing Vatra's cheek, but she felt like her eyes were on fire.

Shielding her eyes, Vatra ignored the searing pain. She pushed past the feeling of her eyes melting in their sockets, and of her cheek being sliced open. That didn't matter. What she cared about was the footsteps of the guards nearing them.

They'd taken advantage of her weakened moment. Enyalius, once an admittedly formidable opponent, was useless. He was most likely blinded by the flash too, anyway.

"Do you trust me?" Vatra asked, forcing her words through a pain that throbbed in her temple.

"Yes," Enyalius replied without hesitation.

With his answer, Vatra turned her godkiller to her neck and cut open her jugular.

The nearing steps turned to frantic, retreating strides. But, the guards' attempt to run away were in vain. Within moments, after a skilled cut to minimize the time it took to bleed out, Vatra died.

She was set ablaze in both heat and ice. A feeling of panic overcame her before easing into peace. Then, there was nothing. Darkness and swarming black. Vatra hated death and rebirth. It took too long at times, and the process was uncertain. She hadn't died in a while, either.

The last moments of fire filling her vision felt familiar; a sickening sense of the life being taken from her. Her life was truly taken from her. Everything was being erased and stolen away. This fire was different than usual. But, she'd also experienced it before. A long, long time ago.

Vatra wanted to scream as she did all those years ago when the fire stole her existence from her. She wanted to fight the flames burning her flesh and bones to ash, but she couldn't do anything. All she could do was watch it engulf the world around her. It stole away the oxygen from her lungs until she choked on nothing.

Then, a breath was forced into her lungs. 

Confusion was often the first emotion skittering across Vatra's mind. It was like waking up from a dream. Orienting her position in reality, back into existence, took a moment.

However, Vatra was confused for more than one reason. Where once fire and metal surrounded her, cement scratched beneath her bare skin. Rain pelted down on her body and lightning cracked across the sky with the ferocity of a storm.

Pushing herself to a sitting position, Vatra held a hand to her face. She cleared the hair stuck across her field of vision and blinked at the sight in front of her.

The ship she'd been forced on to was smoldering in ruin. From her still foggy thoughts, she could only piece together that her actions had caused even more damage than she could have possibly imagined. The vessel looked like it had been destroyed from the inside out, and fire still burned from holes large enough for another ship to fly through.

Looking up at the wreckage, Vatra felt small. The ship was the size of a city on Earth. She couldn't even see the top of the vessel if she craned her neck.

A crack of lightning made Vatra flinch, and she was brought back to her current situation.

Where is everyone? What planet is this?

As if her thoughts conjured up another soul, Vatra saw the outline of someone running toward her. Through the pelting rain, she couldn't tell who it was. Vatra felt completely helpless.

Enyalius closed in on her. In his right hand, he clutched her two godkillers. And in his left, her fireproof jumpsuit. "You're lucky I have fast reflexes in high-stress situations," Enyalius said.

The god slowed to a halt and swiped the hair from his eyes. He held out Vatra's belongings to her without a glimmer of embarrassment when she stood up to grab her things. Enyalius obviously feigned a grin.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Vatra changed quickly, eager to get out of the storm swirling above their heads.

Folding his arms, Enyalius plucked at his own jumpsuit that had withstood the fire well enough. "Nothing I haven't seen, love. Besides, your obvious discomfort here is little compared to the fact you just gambled my life to the fire you engulfed that entire ship in, isn't it?"

"I knew it wouldn't kill you," Vatra said. She finished zipping up her jumpsuit and sheathed her godkillers at her back. "My godkillers didn't work, so I knew the fire wouldn't, either. Shouldn't you be glad, Enyalius? You're indestructible, too."

"Be honest, you weren't entirely sure," Enyalius pushed.

The two of them started toward the wreckage of the vessel.

Vatra laughed. A rumble of thunder echoed her response. "I told you to trust me, right? And I trusted you to be there for me after. It worked out, now let's go find the others. Or, at least anyone else."

The concrete beneath them was long-forgotten by whatever society had poured it. The rectangular patch they walked across appeared to have been a foundation for a building at one point. As Vatra allowed her eyes to wander from the path in front of them, she noticed more outlines of grey in the distance. They were shrouded by the thick rain, though, and she couldn't see much detail.

Surrounding the wreckage were broken and smoldering trees. Vatra could only compare the shape to some type of pine from Earth, but it was difficult to tell from so far away. Around the patches of concrete was barren land, void of any green or life. In fact, the ground was rather dead looking.

"What planet do you think this is? They must have taken a gambol after leaving the Dead Zone, but I don't recognize this landscape," Vatra asked. She had to raise her voice over the rain and rumbling thunder.

"Not sure," Enyalius said. "It doesn't look familiar to me, either."

Both of them raised their gazes at the same time, narrowing their attention on a curious sight at the base of the wreckage. There were numerous figures emerging from the ship, which Vatra expected.

She was surprised to see the growing static in the air. And not just from the lightning above them.

There were gods fighting back against their captors.