Julian reacted first. His body flickered into lightning as he launched a relentless assault, striking the beast from all sides. "I'LL HOLD HIM BACK! KASEN, CALL FOR BACKUP!"
Kasen fumbled for his phone, but before he could dial, the creature flung a chunk of its own molten flesh at him. The searing mass struck him directly, burning through his coat and melting his phone in an instant.
Kasen let out a scream of agony.
I moved without thinking. Grabbing a bottle of cold water from my pack, I poured it over his wounds. He let out a ragged breath of relief.
"Thanks... Abaddon."
Kasen quickly looked for his phone but shortly realized that it had been melted.
"Fuck... Looks like we have to pummel this thing ourselves."
Kasen's chains surged forward but melted upon contact with the beast. He recoiled, quickly retracting them. Adjusting his strategy, he lashed out repeatedly, aiming to skewer it instead. But as soon as his chains wrapped around its body, the creature gripped onto them, anchoring Kasen in place.
"FUCK!" he shouted, struggling against its pull.
A chill ran through me, and I sank to my knees. I fell to my knees. Dread coursed through my veins—not my own, but his. The story I had absorbed filled me with a fear that wasn't mine. My hands trembled as I reached for Kasen's chains for stability.
"Abaddon... What are you doing?!" Kasen's voice barely registered. My throat locked up, unable to form words. The terror overwhelmed me. I opened my mouth, but the only thing that came out was a scream.
Then, something changed.
Kasen's chains trembled violently, an unnatural vibration rippling through them. The vibrations extended to the creature, shaking its molten form apart. Its body splattered in every direction.
Julian seized the opportunity, dashing forward and plunging his arm into its remains. When he withdrew, he wasn't holding one core—
—but two.
Julian's breath was ragged as he stared at the two cores in his grasp, their eerie glow pulsating unnaturally. "The fuck is this..." he muttered.
Kasen caught the other core, frowning. "Molten don't have two cores. That shouldn't be possible."
I remained silent, still reeling from the sudden flood of terror that had gripped me. My Remnant had activated on its own, drawing from the story I had absorbed. But unlike before, I hadn't controlled it—it had simply overtaken me.
As the train rumbled forward, I stared at my reflection in the window. The person staring back at me looked the same, but something felt different.
---
We weren't able to reach back to The Scarlet Moon. We ended up in a small little town named riverbend. We didnt have enough fuel to make it through.
I pushed off the rattling train and stepped onto the scorched gravel of Riverbend under a bruised sky. Kasen leaned heavily on a makeshift crutch, his coat still smoldering where molten flesh had burned through. Julian wiped ichor from his boots with a ragged sleeve, two Molten Cores slung over his shoulders.
"The engine's tapped," the conductor called, voice echoing through the empty siding. "Can't spare another spark till you scavenge fuel."
Kasen's face went pale. "Scavenge where?" he gasped.
Julian cracked his neck. "Riverbend's the nearest outpost. They trade scrap fuel for credits—if we're lucky."
I nodded, swallowing my own fear. My Remnant had erupted of its own accord beneath the Molten's feet back there, vibrating Kasen's chains until the beast burst. I needed to learn how to control my remnant.
The settlement lay just beyond a narrow stone bridge spanning a slow, ash-tinted river. As we approached, I noticed a squat hippo lounging beneath the bridge's arch, its belly half-submerged in the sluggish current. On the parapet above, a weather-worn tablet warned:
"This River of Ash gives life to Riverbend in the age of Flame. Its waters cleanse the land's burned bones and bind the fields beyond to rebirth."
The hippo snorted and flicked a flicker of steam from its nostrils as we crossed.
Inside Riverbend's cracked walls, torches lit low. Two guards in patched armor barred our way. One hefted a rifle cannibalized from Molten Core components; the other carried a lantern whose oil flickered weakly.
"You here to trade?" the taller guard growled.
Julian hefted a Core. "Two, in exchange for a crate of charcoal fuel."
The guard sniffed the Core, then shrugged. "Medic hut's inside—then the trade hall."
We stumbled through the gate. Children with coal-smudged faces watched as Kasen was led away to the medic's hut and I sank onto a wooden bench, still shaky from that unbidden scream of terror. Julian lingered by the door, face drawn.
When Kasen's arm was bound and his burns dressed, we made for the trade hall. Barrels of dark fuel stood piled beside stacks of Cores. The merchant—scarred jaw, hardened eyes—didn't bother to smile.
"Two Cores nets one crate," he said flatly.
Julian handed over the credits. When he lifted the crate, its weight was utterly crushing. Outside, the hippo beneath the bridge watched us go, but I was too focused on Kasen's limp and Julian's tired glare to notice.
When we arrived to where the train should've been, we saw nothing. It disappeared.