Noises.

  So many noises came from the other side that Idalia didn't understand. They were Wanderan words—far from the ones Kelix would mouth.

  They were gibberish nonsense escaping the lips of the three caped Wanderans inside the tent.

  When the portal spat her and Kelix out, the three wandermens were alarmed, because who wouldn't be alarmed when a random child wielding a lightning stick and a half-grown T-Rex cub just happened to be ejected from absolutely nothing.

  Kelix locked-in, zoomed, struck the man with dark-yellow aura in the chest with his lightning stabber before he could even breath a howl.

  That same armored man? Idalia's portal yanked him mid-crash as she wiggled her claws like a mischievous mage.

  Whoosh! Into the middle of the ocean.

  He splashed and thrashed, looking very confused and soggy. Perfect.

  Second one? Idalia grinned, concentrating. [Spatial Sight] told her exactly where he was running—dumb as a rock, trying to charge her back.

  And then—warp!—off he went, landing smack in a field of raptors. Idalia watched from above, giggling as he froze, the dinosaurs circling curiously. He tried to dash back toward the portal—snap!—gone. No more charging. He was just… a confused silhouette in a raptor festival.

  A fourth soldier entered the tent, bewildered, unsheathing his sword with his mouth agape. He was disarmed in the blink of an eye when Kelix slashed across his torso. Meanwhile, Idalia portal-warped, landing on the third soldier's shoulder, and bit down hard with her fangs clenched around their shiny throat.

  But no taste of flesh. Metal clinked, her fangs bouncing harmlessly off the armor. Instead, the woman she bit moved with ridiculous speed, gripping Idalia with an astonishing grip, then in a fluid motion slammed her against the ground.

  Ow!

  {Health: 100% → 61%}

  She'd been pinned. She swiped and gnawed, but the metal armor was frustratingly resilient! Then faster than a blink, the woman's fingers lit up at the tip with a strange fiery energy. Idalia's instincts screamed that it would pierce and hurt severely.

  She braced herself, thrashing, clawing. Mind screaming— Survive!

  Then Kelix struck the woman's hand. A metallic smell. A spark of electricity, a flash, and the lady dropped like a cooked turkey. The scent of smoke and ozone was everywhere.

  Idalia blinked, stunned, tail flicking in disbelief.

  "Get up, Ida. That's why I said don't tag along." He then turned his back, stepping toward the table piled with hides, each one scratched with scribbles. He grabbed one that had a surface with too many ridiculous shapes and symbols, trying to mimic the land.

  Idalia pouted, then shook away her disoriented, spinning mind.

  She stomped toward Kelix's side. "Another map?"

  But more importantly she asked, "What was that fire looking magic on her fingers? And you didn't need to save me. I could've totally managed!"

  Kelix rolled his eyes and examined the map sprawled across the table. "If you have no clue what Sinastral is—let's just call it Wanderan magic. It's very effective against monsters like you."

  "Monster?" she repeated, sniffing herself indignantly. "I'm not a monster! But you say magic…" she let the word's taste linger. "So they can make fire come out of their fingers? Like your lightning?"

  Kelix smirked faintly, though his tone carried the weight of distraction. "Something like that. They bend energy into forms. Fire, wind, light—whatever their bloodlines and training allow." He rolled the hide up and tucked it into his cloak. "Unfortunately for us, the Wanderan military seems to have been training a lot more of them lately."

  "Unfortunately for them," Idalia huffed, puffing her chest. "They don't have scales."

  Kelix chuckled a sound like static brushing across her senses. "They don't need scales when they have conviction. That's the worst kind of armor."

  Idalia tilted her head, confusion rumbling through her skull. "Convic… what?"

  "Conviction," he repeated softly, eyes flicking toward the flap of the tent where muffled shouting was growing nearer. "The belief they're doing something right, even if they're not. It keeps them from running when they should."

  Idalia's tail lashed behind her, thumping once against a crate and making it creak. "So… are we doing something right?"

  Kelix didn't answer immediately. His eyes narrowed slightly as he studied the marks burned into the map's edges. "We're doing what we must. That's what matters."

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  Idalia frowned. She didn't like that answer. It made her chest feel funny, like swallowing something too large for her throat. "That's not the same as right," she said quietly, but Kelix either didn't hear or pretended not to.

  The sound of boots and shouted commands outside grew louder.

  Kelix straightened, twirling his lightning rod once before it crackled back into life. "They're coming. We can't fight a whole company here. Can you open another portal, Ida?"

  Her claws flexed in the dirt, and she gave a toothy grin. "Of course I can. But where to? The last time I just picked somewhere and we landed in a lake."

  "Preferably not a lake this time." He gestured toward the far wall of the tent. "Back toward the cliffs we passed. I saw old ruins there—good cover."

  "Ruins?" Idalia perked up, then frowned. "Ruins have bones sometimes."

  Kelix sighed. "Yes, maybe even bones. Just focus."

  She shut her eyes and exhaled. The air trembled. Ripples of faint orange shimmer began to dance in front of her snout as the fabric of space bent and frayed like wet fabric being pulled apart.

  The voices outside grew nearer, footsteps pounding, metal clinking, someone maybe shouting, "To the Captain's tent!"

  Kelix glanced at the rippling gate. "Now, Ida!"

  The portal blossomed open with a hiss of displaced air. Kelix dove through first, the faint scent of ozone trailing behind him. Idalia leapt after, but something in her gut twisted before she crossed the rift—

  —the tantalizing aroma of sizzling meat had her turning her head, grasping the leg of the fallen Wanderan woman. She dragged her. She needed to have at least one taste.

  The portal snapped shut behind her.

  Kelix was already scanning the perimeter, hand crackling faintly as he tested the air. "Well done," he said, though his brow furrowed in frustration when he saw her gnawing on the leg that refused to reveal itself within the thick armor. "Ida!"

  Her pupils were wide, trembling, her voice a rasp. "Just one bite please! I never tasted—"

  Kelix's hand sparked, then an orb of electricity formed from it as he unleashed a blast that incinerated the entire body. Idalia gasped as she watched it get obliterated!

  She stiffened, her jaw still partly open as the smell of mana and char filled the air.

  It took her a moment to process the wastefulness of the act. The body she had been clinging to moments ago was gone. Nothing left but a few drifting ashes and the faint sting of ozone from Kelix's blast. Her tongue flicked instinctively, searching for a trace of flavor that wasn't there.

  "Kelix!" she growled, stomping her clawed foot hard enough to make the earth tremble. "Why did you burn it? I wasn't going to eat the whole thing, just one bite!"

  Kelix just stood tall amid the fading smoke, lightning still dancing across his fingertips. His expression was cool, almost bored, but his eyes carried the same sharpness as when he fought. "Because I told you not to eat them," he said simply. "And you weren't going to stop yourself."

  Idalia's throat rumbled with a low, indignant growl. "You're such a—such a meanie! You said you wanted to tear them apart too!"

  "I did." Kelix brushed a strand of dark hair from his face. "But that doesn't mean I want to taste them. There's a difference between killing and consuming, Ida. You wouldn't understand yet."

  She glared, smoke puffing from her nostrils. "I understand hunger! My belly hurts, and it smells good. And you just—just fried it!"

  Her tail thumped the stone once, twice.

  "You—! You burned it!" she howled, stomping forward and baring her teeth. "That was mine!"

  Kelix didn't even look at her anymore. It worried her when he looked down, flexing his fingers, the static fading from his palms.

  "That was someone, not something," he said evenly. His tone wasn't sharp, just… heavy. "And if you'd taken that bite, Ida, you'd never get the taste out of your head."

  Her nostrils flared. "That's what I wanted! To know what Wanderan tastes like! You said they're dangerous and bad, right? Then maybe I'd grow stronger from eating one!"

  Now Kelix turned to her. His smirk was strang, probably half amusement, half pity. "You really think power's hiding in someone's flesh?"

  "Think? I know!" Idalia puffed out her chest, glaring at him. "You said not to eat them! So now I'll never know if they taste good or bad!"

  Kelix's smirk grew wider, almost teasing. "Oh, you want to know what we taste like?"

  "Y-yeah!" she snapped. "How else will I learn not to?"

  Kelix nodded and tugged loose a lock of his own dark hair, then scraped it against his skin, drawing purplish-black blood. He twisted it between his fingers, the strands faintly glowing with static before handing it to her. "Here. I'm Wanderan too. Try this."

  She blinked at him. "That's… hair."

  "Correct. With blood."

  "I'm not eating your shed fur, Kelix."

  His smile tilted, humorless and sly. "Scales, fur, whatever. Think of it as a small appetizer."

  Suspicion flickered across her face, but hunger and curiosity won quickly. She snatched the hair from his hand, sniffed it once, then stuck it on her tongue.

  "Fine," she said, snapping it up between her fangs and began chewing it.

  Instant regret.

  Her entire body convulsed. "BLEH—BLEHHH!" she gagged, shaking her head so violently that sparks of energy flitted off her scales. "It tastes like burnt metal and rotten smoke! What is that!?"

  Kelix leaned back on one knee, watching with faint amusement as she coughed and thrashed, pawing at her mouth like she was trying to rip the flavor out of existence.

  "Make it stop!" she whined, tears rolling and drool dripping from her maw. "It's everywhere! It's in my nose!"

  [ Idalia's Rarity Development Up: [Rare] >> [Elite]! ]

  "That," Kelix said calmly, "is what we taste like."

  She froze mid-gag, blinking in horror. "You—you taste like that?!"

  "Wanderans," he clarified, smirking faintly now. "Every one of us. We've got lightning and ash in our veins. Not exactly pleasant to something with a nose as sharp as yours."

  Idalia spat again and again, rubbing her tongue against the ground, then dunking her snout into a nearby puddle. The water steamed faintly from the residual static in her breath. "Urrghhh! I think I'm dying!"

  "Good," Kelix said, rising to his feet. "Then maybe you'll remember next time."

  Idalia shot him a glare that could've melted armor. "I hate you! If you weren't so bad tasting I would bite you!"

  "Lesson learned."

  "You're horrible!" she snarled, still pawing at her tongue.

  "You'll get over it." He turned his gaze back toward the horizon, where the faint outlines of more tents shimmered under the dawn light. "There are worse things than bad taste, Ida. You'll thank me when you meet them."

  "Never," she muttered, still scrubbing her tongue against the rock.

  Kelix walked. The faint hum of his lightning weapon buzzed back to life in his hand.

  "Come on, lightning-breath. We've still got work to do."

  Idalia snorted, sulking as she followed. "If I ever eat you, I'm chewing fast."

  Kelix laughed quietly, not turning back. "You'd regret the first bite."

  "Never again!" she growled, wiping her mouth one last time. "Not even if I starve."

  "Perfect," he said, eyes lowering to his feet. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear."