Harlowe’s right leg dragged along the metal floor of the ark. Something had snapped or locked up inside it, rendering it inoperable. She kept trying to force it to move, but all that happened was another series of cracks and pings as the actuators gave out. 

Harlowe stared at the remains of the door, a warped plate of metal sticking up from the groove in the floor. "Fuck…"

Outside, Marcus and Vesna watched as the wilds knights continued to cut apart the resurrecting monstrosities. Vesna looked back to the door. It was the most convenient way of dealing with this problem for her. The old crone wouldn't get the satisfaction of her asking for help. A thought crossed her mind… she'd told Granny that she had enlisted Isette. Her right eye twitched and a small white moth pulled itself out of it, leaving the husk to drip vitreous fluid down her cheek. 

The moth that had been part of Vesna's eye flew down and past the melee in front into the ark. It was where the door her knights carried would be detonated, so it behooved her to examine it a little ahead of time. The door that had managed to impede her before had been forced open by something, and halfway over was Harlowe carrying an unconscious Clair. 

Harlowe pushed herself over the edge of the door, the metal digging a channel across her back. Her eyes, changed as they were by the ghoul curse, could see well in the darkness and the fluttering moth stood out. Its wings beat as it acted as another eye for Vesna. Harlowe recognized it from her encounter before reaching the nest. She wanted to scream and shout at it, at Vesna, but she needed to get Clair back to town. 

"You're not going to die," she said, holding the other woman's wound shut as best she could. 

The moth flew back towards Vesna. It landed on her face and crawled back into being part of her eye, the leaking fluid pulling back as the moth fused into it. 

"Marcus, one of your friends is inside the nest. We should retrieve them before detonating the door," she said, her gaze never wavering from the entrance. 

Marcus knew Harlowe and Clair were down there, but hadn't left Vesna's side. He wasn't the fighter he once was and his encounter with the ghoul at the Folly was enough to prove that to him. Upon actually having confirmation the pair were down there he began descending toward the nest and the Ark at its center. Vesna watched him go, assured once more that Marcus had been the right choice to father her child. 

Harlowe pushed herself all the way over the warped door piece and into the hallway that led out of the Ark. Clair's breathing was getting more shallow, the space between each breath a little longer. Panic began to set in. She's dying, she won't make it… even if I could walk. This is bad.

Tears welled up in Harlowe's eyes. "Someone, anyone… help."

_______________

Clair wasn't sure where she was. She remembered giving Harlowe her mask back after feeding her. Harlowe would be okay, that made her happy. The nest was still there…

She opened her eyes, all around her  the interior of the Ark. It was… different though. Everything was illuminated in a dull blue, but the flames had long since died down. There was a thin coat of snow… no, ash that spread from the ruined doorway, as if it had blown inside. Clair made for the exit, her boots tamping the ash down as she went. 

The outside was wrong in so many ways. The trees were either warped with pulsing cysts growing on their trunks, or just dead and blackened. Beneath her feet the all-too-living earth heaved and sighed from innumerable mouths. Above, beyond the ash clouds she could see unknown stars and cracks, as if the sky was a damaged glass dome. Between the shattered pieces of sky was something else, vibrant and chaotic, but emitting no illumination. 

"What happened…" she murmured.

Something watched her from behind the twisted trunk. The figure's eyes were sunken, their luster long gone. With an insectile hand they clung to the bark of the tree they were using to support their weight. Their single feeler twitched, the other lost long ago. They had heard Clair speak. Words, they used to use those. While unsure if the woman was actually there and not another hallucination, they had to check. They stumbled out from their hiding place, trying to pull their more human form together. 

"The end came," They spoke with a sussurating voice.

Clair turned to them and their eyes went wide. The figure was some mixture of human and moth features put together haphazardly. The edges of which part was which shifted as they stood, an appendage holding onto a tree. They were the first sentient thing she'd run into… wherever she was now. 

"The end? What's happened to the sky? The forest?" Clair asked, pleading. 

The moth person shook their head. "Can't recall, it's been too long…"

Clair's eyes softened. "Can you tell me who you are?"

The figure stared at her, eyes mismatched between human and moth. As she watched something felt wrong in her body. She was light headed, her vision blurred and she began to tip forward. The moth person reached out to Clair, too late to catch her. As she fell Clair heard a familiar voice. 

"There, now. Let's get you two out of here," said the gruff voice of a man. 

Clair watched the ground pull away.

_______________

Marcus picked the pair up after making sure the bandage he'd put on Clair's wound was secure. Harlowe held onto him with her remaining limb, her legs detached and left behind.  She stared intently at Clair, focusing only on the other woman's breathing. Marcus walked out of the Ark with the pair. The wilds knights outside were still hacking apart regenerating monster parts. He passed them and made for Vesna. 

Vesna looked at the trio. "I see you found two of them. I didn't know you were friendly with the ghoul."

"Half-ghoul," corrected Marcus. 

Harlowe's gaze wandered over to Vesna and she felt her blood go cold. "You!" She shouted. 

Vesna eyed the half-ghoul. "Me? I don't even know you."

"Bullshit! You showed up last night, said I would hunt people, sent me here to die!" Screamed Harlowe, her own partially shut wounds threatening to reopen.

Vesna shook her head. "Misdirection, clearly."

"Fuck you and your fae bullshit!" Harlowe felt her teeth dig into her gums as she growled behind her mask.

"Harlowe, I don't think she…" began Marcus.

"No! If it wasn't for you, I'd have turned around and gone back. Clair wouldn't have had to come out here and stop me from… from martyring myself." Harlowe looked back to Clair, watching the other woman's shallow breathing.

Vesna sighed, "this nest is a problem for me too. Why would I send someone so useful off to die?"

"What Vesna is trying to say is she didn't do it," said Marcus.

Harlowe stayed silent.

"If anything, it would have been Granny. She does so love to cause problems." Vesna looked at Clair. "Her condition is stable."

"You're sure?" Asked Harlowe, her voice soft.

Vesna nodded. "Yes. Marcus, take the two of them back to Imerre." She raised a hand and two of the knights from near the ark ran up. "These will be your escorts. I assume there's nothing important left inside."

"Nothing that can't be replaced, we got what matters out of there," said Harlowe. 

"Then I'm off, Vesna." said Marcus walking back toward Imerre, flanked by the two knights chosen to act as guards.

Vesna smiled faintly. "I will see you at the equinox or when you next call, my love."

Once Marcus was on his way back, Vesna had the knights carrying the warded door take it into the Ark. The knights set it down as close to the center as they could before leaving. She ordered her knights to disperse, to return to the woods. All in all, this debacle had been worth it for her. The Spring Maiden let a portion of her true form out, her wings, and then rose into the air. 

Vesna stretched out a hand toward the arc. "Let us see if the mage from the village is merely boastful." Emerald energy arced between her fingertips then formed into a small sphere. "Just enough to activate her wards, no more than the equivalent of a shove."

The sphere traveled down and into the ark. The damaged machinery within stirred as it passed and just as quickly went still once more. The spell hovered above the door then dropped, hitting its layered wards. Each ward that triggered set off the next in a cascading series of detonations. Built up magical energy expanded, encompassing the whole nest in violet light and sigil work. Something was thrown from the explosion and flew over Vesna followed by a shockwave that sent her reeling backwards.

Back in Imerre, Rene stood with the victorious militia. Some had been injured and a couple had fallen, but they'd repelled the threat to their village. Their celebration was cut short by the second, violet sun on the horizon. Rene knew immediately what it was.

"Steady yourselves!" She shouted, pressing herself against a wall.

The shockwave washed over them, knocking people to the ground as it went. 

"What in the hells was that?" Asked Erich, staggering to his feet. 

Rene peeled herself off the side of the Folly. "My front door."

Erich and those who heard gave the red haired mage a look. "Your what, sis?" asked Erich.

"It means these things," Rene kicked a ghoul-wolf corpse, "their nest is gone… hopefully."

"And what do we do now, sis?" Asked Erich.

"Pile them up and burn them," responded Rene.

Over at the Elder's home Bea helped another archer off the roof. There had been a handful of ghouls that had come from the forest after the bear. They laid dead in the snow, their black blood oozing out. 

Bea went to Berthold and hugged him. "I'm glad you were here, those things could have done far worse without you around." 

Berthold rubbed his sister's back. "Glad to be able to help this time."

"Me too."