I could feel the very essence of myself flow out and into the air behind me, like a phantom limb, as the wings of blood moved in the night sky. I could control these additional appendages as easily as if they were my own hands. I focused on stretching them as far as I could, letting the fluid turn and spread in the air. The wings were bigger than I expected. They reached twice my height lengthwise, and at a full stretch, the feather’s edge touched the ground. Despite the fact that they were made of my own blood and were suspended behind me with Cultist magic, they were heavy. I strained to keep them stretched and eventually let them rest against my back.

  I focused my remaining energy on lifting the wings, extending them, then rushing them down in an attempt to fly. A torrent of wind whipped around me like the snapping of silken drapes. My feet lifted a few inches off the ground before my excitement cut the action, and I dropped. I had flown, if only for a moment. I looked up at the dark sky and saw that the Blightwing had stopped its flight. It was tired, just like me, and was now perched on top of the construction crane. Tala was trying to pry herself from its metallic claws. I could hear her strained voice calling down to me.

  “I’m coming! Hold on, Tala!”

  I once again used my will to stretch the bloody wings, spreading them as far as they could reach, and snapped them down fast and hard. My body shot into the air faster than I expected. I hit my shoulder against a nearby wall, bouncing off of it and flying towards a cropping of exposed rebar. Points broken, sharp. Instinctively, I reached my arms out to catch myself, but my wings responded instead. They brushed out in front of me, stopping my flight, then brought me to a hover in the air. My wings fell into a rhythm that matched my heartbeat. Stretch, snap, and stretch again.

  I was doing it! I was flying! Now it was my turn to hunt from the skies. I concentrated on keeping my wings consistent in their motion, matching my heartbeat and breathing, and let them take me higher and higher. As I ascended above the wreckage of the final floors, I was hit with a cold wind. In the distance beyond the city lines, a storm was brewing. Dark clouds stretched across the entire horizon, and the moon was beginning to fade into a pink silhouette.

  “Ward!” Tala’s voice was harsh and pleading. She was lying on top of the large yellow beams of the crane, holding on against the rising torrents of wind. The Blightwing was gone. Then a great shadow fell over me. “Behind you!”

  I turned in time to catch the metal talons of the Blightwing's attack with the edge of my shadowy blade. The force knocked me down several yards, my body tumbling until I finally managed to straighten myself. The creature didn’t let up. As soon as the world stopped spinning, it was on me. Its heavy wings beat around me like a wave of groaning steel and cracking concrete.

  I did my best to keep my wings straight and my flight steady as I parried metal wing after metal wing. Over and over again, the Blightwing slashed at me, trying to get its final blow. Our conditions were still marked as [Crippled], and I could feel my body struggling with every motion, every dodge, and every parry. Even the shadow blades were beginning to crack along their darkened edge. Each strike of the boss’s attack chipped away at its form. I could feel their strength fading as my own stamina fell.

  There was a fury in the eyes of the Blightwing. It understood the significance of the next successful attack. It was life or death, and this creature did not want to die. But neither did I. I made a promise. To both my dad and to Tala. I would keep her safe. I would avenge Theo. I would finish the Trial and join the ranks of the Outriders. I would become stronger. Stronger than anyone. Stronger than death itself.

  A deep howl escaped the Blightwing’s metal beak as it lunged at me like a spear. I curled my wings in front of me and waved them out. The force pushed me from under the shadow of the beast in time to dodge the attack. Its massive body of iron, concrete, and glass rushed past me in a blur of stone-grey. A sharp gale of wind followed. The wind twisted me in the air. My feet rolled over my head. The sudden torrent caused me to grow dizzy. The distant landscape of rusty buildings, collapsed skyscrapers, and dark hills became a blur of swirling blacks and reds. My bloodwings curled around me like a scarlet cocoon. I fell, twisting over myself. My head was ringing and my mind was nauseous. With an instinct I never knew I had, my wings spread out and brought me to a stop. I was upright again. The world was still a blur, and my stomach was in knots, but I was no longer falling. I blinked, shook my head, and rubbed the sweat that was starting to fall into my eyes. When the world came back into focus, I found myself under a new shadow. The shadow of the construction crane.

  Looking down, I saw the Blightwing stumbling in its flight. It came to a shuddered landing on the top of the Crumbling Tower. Its wings scraped against the concrete roof, and its long beak tumbled a low wall. The broken stone fell to cover its head. I could see it was breathing hard and struggling to get back on its feet. This was my chance to land a final attack. To kill the boss and return home. I took a deep breath, stretched my wings, and focused my energy on restrengthening my shadow-smithed blades. The cracks of shimmering darkness at the edge of the weapons slowly sealed themselves, reforging their dark metal. Before I could descend, a loud groan of metal raced up my spine. The construction crane was falling. The thick metal beams of its reinforced base had been torn, bent, and were giving way to its own weight. A scattering of metal poles came crashing down around me. I lifted my arms above my head and felt them smash into my hands and back. I felt my wings give out for a moment, seeming to drip down as if the wings of blood were dying. I whipped my wings out, twisted them to the side, and dodged more debris. That's when I heard Tala call my name again. I looked up and saw her holding onto the edge of the extended arm of the crane, feet dangling in the open air.

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  "Hold on!" I snapped my wings down and ascended rapidly. Broken pipes and shredded metal continued to fall around me as I raced to save Tala. My flight felt slow, and my wings grew heavier as I pushed them to their limit. Rushing the wings out like I was swimming in a thick pool of ink. Each stroke was utterly slow and painful. "I'm almost there. Don't let go". I turned in the air to avoid the swing of the crane's hook as it raced past me. A piece of rebar cut through my left wing. I winced against the pain that didn't come. I expected it to hurt, but instead it felt different. It felt like the tearing of a too-thick, dead flesh you'd find on the bottom of your foot after hiking the drowned subway lines. The tear made my flight veer off to the left now, and I had to adjust the beating of my wings to offset it. The strain caused my breathing to burn and my forehead to sweat even more.

  Above me, another wave of screeching metal echoed out across the skyscraper. The top of the crane bent in half, the fold near Tala's. The force broke her grip, and she began to fall. She was still thirty feet above me, and the crane's head now turned its rusted face toward where I hovered. I put what remaining energy I had and burst upward in a staggered stroke. Ungraceful, like a dying bird, I flew. Closer and closer. Time slowed down. My heart beat, clawing from within my chest. I had to reach her. I had to save her. I had to keep my promise. Then the crane's upper half slammed into the top of the Crumbling Tower. A terrifying sound crashed over me like an invisible tidal wave. It shuddered the strength of my bloodwings, dropping me a few feet as Tala raced by. I let the fall drive me forward, reached out my hand, and caught Tala by the wrist. In a flurry of crimson feathers, flaking and breaking yellow steel, and cracking stone, I pulled her in, wrapped her in my wings, and we fell.

  We hit the top floor, concrete breaking and giving way to the impact, causing us to fall even further. We hit the next floor down, coming to a stop. The wind was knocked out of me, my right arm flashed with a hot pain, then I lost consciousness. By the time I woke up, the morning sun was breaking through a slit of slate-grey clouds and black hills. My bloodwings no longer held their form and lay splattered against the tiled office flooring. Tala was lying on my arm, a large cut across her forehead, eyes closed. My body hurts. Everything hurts. It felt like a train had run me over and left me to die on the tracks. I pulled up my status and was still marked as [Crippled], and below that, I saw a special condition. [Broken Limb]. As I read the words, the pain in my arm flared to life. I clenched my teeth against the scream that wanted to break free. Held it back as I slowly tried to free my arm from under Tala. Slowly, painfully, I managed to slide it out from under her and sit up. As soon as I was free, I grabbed my arm and stifled another scream. Then the floor shook.

  My stomach leaped up into my throat in anticipation of the ground giving way, but thankfully it held. Another quake reverberated around the tower, then another and another. I scanned the auburn-lit rumble and found the Blightwing trapped underneath the crane's fallen body. It was stuck. The boss furiously fought to break free. Its metallic beak thrashed up and down, left and right. It tore chunks of concrete and iron from the surrounding walls and flooring. Its wings struggled to lift from under a large marble pillar and scattered rebar. Despite its best efforts, it could not break free.

  I fell to my knees, careful to keep any weight from my broken arm. By the Fallen, it hurt. A horrendous pain of fire and lightning carved up my shoulder every time my arm moved. That wasn’t the only part of my body that hurt, or should I say, everything hurt. My legs were bruised. There was a stabbing pain in my chest with every breath. My lungs felt like they would collapse at any moment, and I would let my last breath disappear into the night sky. Ruined and dead upon the top of a crumbling skyscraper.

  I couldn’t let this be the moment I give up. The Trials were finished. I had accepted my Class Pathway, and I needed to get home to my father. There was only one last thing to do. Kill the final boss. I managed to get my feet under me and steady myself. I rolled iron saliva in my mouth and let out a scarlet spit on the dust-covered floor. I stood tall and walked. Every step was agony. Every heartbeat was like a bending copper pipe ready to burst. My vision came and went. A rippling darkness that only gave way to small dots of clarity. I wished more than anything I could be home in my bed. Warm under the thick concrete. Hidden in the shadows. Before I knew it, I stood before the beast.

  The Blightwing had given up its futile attempt to free itself. Its mismatched body of steel, concrete, rebar, and metal scraps lay broken and defeated. Its giant red eye glared up at me. There was no longer the presence of a great enemy, scowling and full of hate, within those eyes. No. There was only fear. Good. It needed to know fear. The world is fear. I tried to summon another shadow blade, but as soon as it formed in my hand, it shattered like frail ice. I didn’t have the energy to keep it stable. It didn’t matter. I had another way to kill it. I pulled my [Codex] into my vision and pulled forth my knife. A common weapon that barely managed to harm Wretched Shamblers or Duskweavers. This dull blade would win me the battle. I lifted it high and struck down right into the eye of the beast. There was a flare of white light. A piercing sound like the voice of crying angels. Soft yet powerful. Then everything went dark and silent.