Define "rescue"?

Qli, Ash and I were in the thick of it, fighting these witch-powered stompers to keep them away from Bloodwing (whose guts were laid out in a neat circle around a dimensional gate - don't ask). BW's magic was messy and beyond gross but it did bring Ash back to us. And he brought a posse with him too, the Digital Knights. A bunch of kick-ass warriors made from solid light, which is good because we needed all the help we could get. Qli's voice crackled in my ear on my radio headset.

"Koen! Father is being chased!"

Aw crap. I guess he didn't stay far enough away.

"I'll get him!" I was already dodging and weaving on my skimboard through the stompers, tripping them up with lashes of solid darkness so the Knights could pry 'em open like a pack of urchins at a free lobster buffet.

"Koen. Ash here. I detect two Masons in that sandspeeder. Darien's transmitter is off-frequency."

"TWO? Qli, I need backup!"

"I...am unable to assist."

"Ash here. Intercepting."

"Cloaking," I tap my headset off as I wrap the dark around me until the light bends. There's still a wake of sand behind me but the desert winds are starting to whip up as it is. Ash whizzes by me in a glowing light-cycle and almost cuts me in half with the wall of light he leaves behind him. I hop and glide down the edge of his wall, hiding my wake.

That blingtard's a Mason? Which one? That's a scummy dis...

He's wearing Qli's dancing outfit?

Mystery Mason's firing a souped-up mainland gun at Ash! I have to jump as he shatters the shield wall. Ash's wheels get plugged and the clank goes tumbling.

He's aiming at Darien now. Please Dad, hit the eject...hit the eject...HIT THE DAMN...GOOD!

He blew a hole in the dashboard! Doc's blind from the sparks!

**DECLOAK**

**SHADOW LASH**

GOT HIM! YOWCH! I got the lash stuck in the Tesla turbines and Doc's in the middle! This is NOT the way I wanted to go jet-skiing!

"KOEN! WE'RE GOING TO HIT THE CITY WALLS!"

"I'M STUCK!"

some assembly required

I gotta admit, I almost lost my lunch when Nova opened up that chest and showed me what was left of Bloodwing. My fur stood on end when I heard his voice in my head.

"Are you sure you want to do this now?"

We cannot wait. A day here last weeks where he and his pack are stranded...

I did some fancy mental calculations, the kind you memorize when you start time-travelling.

"Bast...you're right."

Through me shall they find escape.

I looked over the huge circle of glass melted into the sand where Ash got blasted into...someplace else.

"Through you...? Ugh...I hate these Ereb'ai rituals! Qli! You got a pair of tongs?"

killer babushkas?

I was just ready to spear this lizard for dinner when it happened. Spiraling darkness erupting from me, lifting me from the ground. I struggle for balance as I hear it whisper secrets of Erebus into my skull.

Your littermates are dead. All eight of them. Murdered by the Masons. Revenge Revenge Revenge.

I'll take it under advisement.

I just met a parallel me who was living with this curse! But in the other realm this happened after Qli was...

Qli?

I see a giant robot with long clawed stilts for legs lighting up the sands from where it trashed the tent my sister and I set up. It lunges away, but with the speed of thought I'm there, ripping into it like a tin can.

"YOU PICKED THE WRONG NIGHT TO MESS WITH MY FAMILY YOU ROBOT CHICKEN!"

I've got it pinned. It smells like a charnel house inside, and looks worse. Straw? Flasks? Coal brazier? How did all this medieval looking crap get stuffed inside a giant robot like this? Was it bigger on the inside...?

I pull out what looks like a mummy? Like an old hag dropped in the bog and left to preserve when the Druid robes were still in style. It's stuffed halfway in a giant stone...bucket? Was this half of it's sarco...sar...coffin...?

OW! IT'S BITING ME! GET OFF! GET OFF! GET...

*WHAM!*

Whew! Hey, thanks Qli! QLI! You're still alive! Um, who's your friend?