Embers of sunlight pierced the pine branches when Alec was thrown off Hyperion's back. He'd been half-dozing astraddle, muscles in his arms and hands so sore they were practically melded to the hold they were gripping. His limbs flopped uselessly and got him tangled in a canopy of young pine, neck hanging by the strap of the rifle, which was stuck in a branch. He wriggled and lounged, heard the branches cracking.

He had time for one "Oh no," before crashing down through the trees.

He struggled to his knees and felt himself. Crap. The hammer was missing. He searched the ground desperately for it. Depending on how things turned out, it might be the only thing capable of holding back his monster. He found it twisted up in some dry brush and hooked it back into his belt, dusted off his pants and hurried off after the hulking behemoth that served as his mount. Rising over a slope of forest floor, he saw there was no need to rush anymore. They were nearly there. Gross apprehension welled up inside him. The river Avard stretched toward both horizons, a pile of Graveler corpses forming a partial dam in the river. The very ones that fell into the river chasing after him and Golem.

Golem. Damn. He missed that simple creature.

He watched Hyperion, his weapon, feeling an odd sort of affection. They had a shared history between them, but rocky from the start. Scamp had grown up to be a magnificent beast, but its temper had wrought death. Hyperion was famed for its smackdowns in the big Arena, but there were no trained referees in the underground leagues to stop it when it had built up a bloodlust. It would kill and maim its opponents, often enough causing damage to the opposing trainers themselves. Toward the end, Allstar had risen to the top of the slag heaps through fear. Nobody was sane enough to risk entering the ring with Hyperion anymore. Its rage never settled either. Not even Allstar could control it by the time the Championship Semi-finals rolled around, however Allstar was nothing if not vain. He wasn't going to retire his frontrunner and risk his beautiful career out of caution. In the end, somebody else paid the price. How many times had he dreamed about the corpses in the woods?

Shit. The thought of it made him want to be sick.

Hyperion approached the river unremittingly, as if it could bend nature itself to its whims. Alec had planned for them to follow the tracks alongside the river toward the horizon where there would no doubt be a crossing. Instead, Hyperion simply waded into the murky water until every inch of it was submerged, then disappeared.

Of course Hyperion wouldn't care about a measly stretch of water. For a while, nothing happened. Alec waited to see what would. Perhaps Hyperion would just drown in the Avard and that would be that. A comforting through. By the might of everything holy, Alec needed a cigarette right about now. The waters parted on the other end and Hyperion emerged from the water, lumbering over the far bank, shaking the water off.

"Dammit," he cursed and made his way down to the bank. Hyperion was already starting off toward the direction of the quarry, heedless of him. He had to get across the river fast. Scanning the bank, he found a part of the river where a fallen log and the piles of Graveler bodies made a haphazard crossing and treaded over. He was knee-deep in water, jeans pulled up and carrying his boots by the time he reached the other end, his legs sloshing. An irrational fear had gripped him halfway, sure that one of the dead Graveler would suddenly open its eyes and drag him down to the riverbed below.

When he hauled himself over the bank, Hyperion was already far away. It wasn't difficult to spot though, given that the horde of Graveler had just about done away with most of the trees and undergrowth in these parts. If left unchallenged, they would flatten the whole expanse and establish their central nest. He sped after his monster with as much energy as he could still muster. The carnage would be starting soon, after all. He would be remiss not to catch it.

It astounded him, just thinking of all that had happened up to this point. He arrived in Garden, a village teetering on its brink. He lost Golem to the horde, but still managed to scheme the villagers into complying with his madcap plan. He was unmasked in the Hutt and battered by Hyperion, then arrested by Theresa herself. Nothing seemed to have gone to his plan. Yet here he was, Hyperion at his heel. Somehow, it had all worked. Now, the value of his actions would be decided. The showdown was here.

Apart from a light, fluttering breeze, everything was still. The calm before the storm. The yawning hole stared at them like a black hole, stretching the height of the quarry from the ground to the top level. It was impossibly black, almost hypnotically. Alec found his gaze completely consumed by it until he shook himself out.

The horde of Graveler slumbered below, rows upon rows of dormant boulders not unlike headstones at a graveyard. His monster stomped in front, taking it all in. Calculating the odds? Forming a plan? Alec wished he could crack the creature's skull and peer inside. Just what would he find there?

For a moment, the harmony of morning impressed itself on him. His breath wisped before him into the chill air. The sun burned orange, lighting up a thousand shards of dew on the tufts of trampled scrub and upturned trees.

Then Hyperion raised its voice.

It echoed over the flat land and over the cliffs, extending north into the mountains. The roar of a true monster.

The boulders sprawling the valley like ants began to stir. Alec's heart thudded in his chest and it struck him. Just what the fuck was he doing here?

A giant Graveler reared atop one of the pathways carved into the stone precipice – the Alpha. It was too large for its own good, crawling on all six appendages like a bug. It responded, acknowledging the challenge, then it howled at the horde beneath it.

The battle was starting. Only Alec was afraid "battle" wouldn't cut it. "Massacre" might fit better after all was said and done.

All the Graveler, from front to back were rising, a hundred stone devils. The Alpha barked in response to Hyperion's challenge and its underlings picked it up, turning the sound dreadful, like an avalanche during storm.

Alec tried to quell the rising panic in his gut. They were entirely on their own here. The villagers were holding back the Squad in that very moment. Nobody would be coming to their aid. It was everything he'd been working toward since the night before. Now it was here and he regretted it all.

He tried to get a rough estimate of their numbers and came up at something between a hundred and fifty, and two hundred. Though the better part of them were upright, they had yet to move, waiting for the Alpha to command them.

Hyperion and the Exterminator. The two of them were almost laughable, standing against an entire army of beasts, but it was too late to back out now. He'd set the game in motion, all that was left was to see it played out.

He remembered he still had the Injector from Berk's Depot and unholstered it. Click. Four darts in the chamber. The rifle with one arm was locked and loaded, ready for action. He grabbed the hammer at his waist and approached Hyperion.

"Scamp!" It gazed down at him, annoyance apparent in its eyes. This was its fight. One it had been hankering for since the final days of the Championship. Alec pointed the hammer up ahead at the army of beasts, then rapped it gently at Hyperion's chest. He was the master here. He had brought the creature here to fight, but it would do so on his terms.

Hyperion snuffed in reluctance and turned toward the horde.

The alpha Graveler's voice rang out, spurring the front line into action, sluggishly in tandem. Alec counted sixteen of them as they began to crawl toward them for the first round. Behind them, the further rows were stirring as well, no doubt preparing for the coming onslaught. Alec replaced the hammer and hefted the rifle. A single Graveler may not pose much of a threat, but they would overwhelm them with numbers as they had the previous night when they engulfed Golem. This time there would be no running away.

Hyperion didn't move an inch as the score of beasts made their approach. They lumbered awkwardly over the terrain. Their bodies all seemed either thin, old, or beaten. There was some evolutionary strategy at work here. The first wave of attack would be the most expendable members of the horde.

Hyperion huffed a splat of gunk from its jaws in disgust. Alec had no doubt it was enraged with the response its challenge was given. All at once, the stillness broke. Hyperion catapulted straight for the head of their formation, like Golem had done in its last resort. Alec remembered liking Golem to a bowling ball scattering its opponents like pins. Hyperion resembled something like a massive artillery shell.

Bloody shards of stone burst in all directions. One split shell went flying through the air, blood arcing behind. Hyperion grabbed two Graveler and raised them up with ease, then smashed them together like eggshells. The two remaining Graveler to its left were still too smitten to notice the monster claw their bodies apart with one strike. The ones on its other side were mindlessly bustling toward it. The largest of the pack reached its side, raising its arms. Before its fists had the chance to even clench, Hyperion's neck pivoted 180 degrees and chomped down. Gelid blood exploded from its jaws with a horrible gurksplat. The behemoth roared at its still-living attackers, bursting over them a gout of their companion's blood. They collectively shrank back. It had killed half of them in the span of seconds.

Alec couldn't watch with rapt attention for long, as footsteps came at him from the side. Two overweight Graveler were shambling his way, supporting their bulk with their lower arms. Alec raised the rifle, lining up his vision to the iron sights on the barrel's top. He pressed the trigger and the weapon pistoned away at his shoulders. The barrel whipped up, spraying a burst of needles.

One Graveler looked surprised at having his face pierced by five metal darts. It attempted to have a little sit-down, but the counter-element was doing its work by then. It collapsed to the ground with an impotent grunt and lay still. Its friend whirled in bewilderment.

The rifle cracked, releasing another burst. The second Graveler's side went limp and it toppled, however, it was too large for the poison to kill it completely. Its eyes locked with Alec and it used its functioning side to crawl toward him.

Alec took aim at its head when he felt his sides grappled. A big one had embraced him from the back, which might have crushed his ribs had he not been armored. Another pair of arms enfolded his shoulders, disabling him from aiming the rifle. He felt a flush of hot breath on his neck and rolled his head to the side as the beast bit down on it. Its jaws closed on air. Alec wriggled his arm in its hold, groping for his belt.

The top of his scalp tickled. Its maw was again upon him. He snatched the pistol Injector from his holster, simultaneously firing the rifle into its arm. He pirouetted in the creature's loosened grasp, driving the Injector into its jaw. He pressed the trigger.

The needle punched through its jaw just as it bit down. Alec heard the raw squelch when the needle stabbed through its brain. Its eyes went cross and its body grew limp, but its grip still held him fast. Alec cursed under his breath as its lifeless body drove him to the ground. He fell back first, side tangled with the rifle's strap, pistol Injector flying from his hand. In the next moment, the crawling Graveler had him by the ankle.

He'd had enough of this. Alec screamed, lounging at his attacker. The Graveler looked up just as he brought the lead hammer down between its eyes. His arm vibrated as the skull caved, the blow cushioned by the gooey matter underneath. Alec got to his feet, dislodging the hammer from the carcass head. His breath was hoarse in his throat. He turned toward the center of the battlefield.

Hyperion was in the heat of battle, blood glinting on its carapace in the sunlight, its plated armor coated in limpid fluid. A Graveler dangled spitted on its horn like pork roast. Hyperion shook it off, dispatching the last of the second wave. One survivor was running away where it came from, dragging a tail of its innards behind. The impeding third wave of Graveler trampled it underfoot. So many, Alec could hardly count them all. This was a war.

He'd barely escaped his own encounter alive. It reminded him an attack could come from anywhere, so he limped toward Hyperion, covering its back. Or rather, covering his own back with its back. Hyperion growled matter-of-factly, stomping toward the incoming army. Ahead, more were gearing up. The Alpha itself was clumsily sidling down the rock, readying itself to participate in the carnage. There was no ceremony as the Graveler clashed with Hyperion once more. The monster was fully immersed now and worked with a controlled rage. It swung smartly, mowing down heads like an expert farmer scything his crop. The Graveler failed to envelop him, losing the advantage of their numbers. As soon as they had clashed, Hyperion forced them back, forming a half-bubble around him. The other troops then attacked in broken unison, allowing Hyperion to trash them in each direction. A regular hail of broken body parts and rock shards now fell. Alec lowered his head and raised his rifle. He dispatched Graveler trying to flank Hyperion, taking potshots at the ones further back in between. He trained his eye on the Alpha. It was still too far away, but disposing of it would go a long way to breaking the horde.

Hyperion was untouched and untouchable. The Graveler pressed it all around, but could not get within reach. A spindly Graveler with freakishly long limbs grabbed one of its arms, but failed to even slow the monster's swing. As Hyperion walloped, the pitiful being held on and was dragged half circle, shattered on the bodies of its companions. Still, as more and more of them awakened, the back rows pushed the inner rows closer and closer to Hyperion. Alec, seeing his safe zone around Hyperion was closing him in, darted away and tossed himself into a roll to escape through the legs of an incoming Graveler. He ran away from the horde of beasts pressing themselves toward the center where his living weapon stood. One of the Graveler tried to catch him, but Alec quickly punched a dart through its eye with his sidearm. He kept running, threw himself over a ledge and climbed over a dull outcropping onto sloping ground. Up ahead, two levels above, he saw the Alpha shuffling down awkwardly. He made a dash for it. Below and to his right, a hundred Graveler pressed Hyperion in the very midst. The beasts acted like a living landslide, using their own inertia to push themselves inward, crushing their enemy. Soon they were climbing over each other, closing Hyperion in completely, climbing over him, then Graveler climbing over other Graveler. An ant mound.

Alec would have again pronounced Hyperion dead, if he hadn't have seen the way it resisted the Death Squad to the bitter end. It built up a shattering roar from inside the living fortress the Graveler had ensconced it in. The pile of bodies wobbled as Hyperion moved, picking up momentum like an avalanche, rising, rising. Finally, the heap collapsed and a ripple gave way through the crowd. Hyperion burst out on the other side, looking not much worse for the wear. Two Graveler still clung to it, but it paid them no mind. It whirled on itself as early as it had exited the crowd and charged right back in. Now its charge had built up force. The Graveler were flung away in both directions. Hyperion cut through to the other side, cleaving a gash in their formation.

The army of mindless beasts swarmed in confusion, bustling in a thousand directions. The outer rank was breaking up in the madness. But Hyperion wouldn't let them. It doubled back, ploughing straight through, drawing an "X" mark through the justling circle of attackers. Only they were barely attacking now. The confusion had spread into panic. Alec turned away from the spectacle below. He was now at an intersection where the inclines leading to the upper and lower levels met. The Alpha was around the corner, preceded by an entourage of bodyguards. He hid in a fold within the rock, waiting for the right moment.

Hyperion split the air with a deathly explosion of sound, then went to town. It butchered gleefully, gutting all living things around it with malevolent precision. It was like a machine of death, turning beings into carcasses in all its vicinity. The bubble of distance around it reemerged, only now it was widening. The Graveler that had been pressing in on it with heavy numbers just minutes before were now dispersing in pandemonium, leaving a vast crater around the rampaging monstrosity.

The butcher kept cutting. Anything it came near was ground to bits. The concept of fatigue seemed antithetical. With each impact, it gained power. With each strike, an enemy shattered, exploded into a million pieces. It was no longer leaving corpses. Just blood, bits and guts. The translucent fluid now oozed down the length of its body. It was entirely slick. Any more and it would have to swim through the blood it had spilled.

Gradually, the battlefield changed. The ground was no longer flat. It was completely covered with guts, broken pieces of limb, shells, shards, organs, fingers, eyes, teeth, caps, morsels, stones, horns, arms, paws, joints, bones, goop, crumbs, chunks, hunks, scraps, shreds. Hyperion kept swinging, growling and bellowing madly, but its swings had lost any contact. The circle was now so wide apart, it could no longer reach any of its enemies. The Graveler lines were receding.

Alec noted the incoming entourage nearing his location. He sprang from cover, soaking the group of animals with needles. They were a fair group. All the Graveler that had rested on the quarry shelves had gathered here into one body. He pressed down on the trigger and held it. The weapon rattled, pain in his shoulder joint flaring with the recoil. The moving boulders dropped one after another, helpless to get within reach. The rear guard clambered over the carcasses to try and get close enough to attack. Alec screamed when his arm felt like it was about to come off, pincushioning the last of them, then the rifle went still. Click, click. It was out. He tossed it away, unholstering the pistol Injector.

The Alpha growled painfully in the midst of the corpses, shell caked with needle heads. A rocky "corpse" moved to his right, but he'd been ready since he saw it twitch its foot. He jumped straight at it, planting a needle in its eye, then pulled away. The Alpha shielded its eyes as he went for it, springing the clip, then stabbing a needle in its side. It swatted him off unsuccessfully and he punched the last dart into its nape. The creature arched in pain as it rolled on its back, kicking pitifully in the air.

Alec unhooked the lead hammer, felt the weight inside it shifting to his side. As he raised it, the lead weight worked against his muscles, making him draw the limits of the force in his arms. At the crest of its arc, the weight dropped into the hammer's bell, dragging with it all that built-up force. The Alpha guarded itself with one arm, which met the hammer. A painful throb screamed up Alec's arms as it did.

The arm shattered at the joint, dangling loose. Alec swung again, as the beast protected itself with another arm. The hammer tapped a lovely beat as it crushed the bones inside. The animal flipped over on its side, unable to maintain a balance, inadvertently pinning two of its remaining arms under its own bulk. Alec hefted the hammer above his head, veins stark against his skin. The Alpha's eyes blinkered pathetically, before they met the bell end. The skull caved with a crack, but the creature wriggled still. Alec lifted the hammer and smacked down again. Alpha twitched, shuddered, flailed. The hammer drifted limply, weakness creeping up Alec's tired hands. The Alpha was still struggling, groaning bloody cries in the muck.

"Time to put you out of your misery," said Alec, bringing the hammer in the air for the last time. The final swing nearly cost him his arms. It dropped low in a wide arc. His hands came free at the last moment before impact and his feet dropped from under him. The Alpha's head splattered over the stone.

Alec's arms throbbed. His muscles felt like soft chewing gum. He wheezed on the floor, straining to get to his feet. Suddenly, the ground shook under his ass. Fuck. No time to lose. He grabbed the hammer and ran for the lower level of the shelf. Fissures split the stone and began to crumble loose. A Graveler was catapulted into the quarry wall above him. The battle had escalated to the point of triggering a calamity. Everything was trembling. He looked behind to see a shower of dust and stone disgorging from the cliff. He leaped over the edge of the shelf, rolling on the ground, then dragged himself away behind cover. It was just in time. The stonefall engulfed the cliff, scattering rock and scree. Boulders broke off and planted themselves in the soil below. A cloud of dust warped the sun.

Hyperion was reduced to a shadow in the haze. It slowed, seeing the landslide. Its whole body heaved, heavy with breath, wisping the dust. It drew back and roared at the reduced Graveler numbers. The hapless bastards drew back, tripping over each other. Without hesitation, Hyperion charged the other way and slammed a mass of Graveler pressed up against the precipice, unsettling it further. It kept on reducing. Alec doubted if anything could stop it now. It would continue to hunt down any remaining packs of Graveler until the Death Squad finally came in and put a stop to it once and for all. Alec had no doubt Captain Theresa would use all of the Union's resources when it would come down to it.

The dust from the stonefall was clearing. The Graveler kept steering away from Hyperion, some clustering at the edges of the precipice, others attempting to flee into the dark hole, which proved difficult as the path was cluttered with jags and boulders. Hyperion seemed somewhat calmed down. It came to a halt and began to howl, gnashing its teeth.

The Graveler now began throwing themselves down on their bellies, turning their faces to the ground in utter submission. Hyperion was bringing them under its own mad control. Alec got to his feet, hardly believing it. The Graveler were near-halved in their numbers. All the survivors bent their heads, giving themselves in. They were waving the white flag.

"Holy shit," Alec gasped. "Holy shit." They were winning. No – they had won. It was over. It had worked. "Holy shit." The quarry was settling; the crumbling façade came to rest and the sun burned all the brighter for it. But something still wasn't right.

Pleased with its new horde of submissives, Hyperion growled inquisitively. A ripple of groans spread out from a cluster on the far side from where Alec was sheltered. Hyperion trundled over to them, leaving the rest at its back. That put the nail on the coffin - leaving one's back exposed to its underlings was proof of dominance. The Graveler gave way to Hyperion as it passed. It went inside the black cave.

Thunderstruck, Alec got up and ran after. As he loped over the vast expanse of ruined battlefield, he saw the Graveler were deferential not only to Hyperion, but him as well. At least there was that. The cavern entrance loomed over him like the mouth of some ancient creature, jagged rock outcroppings lining the inside like teeth. The place reeked of gas. As he approached inside, he heard echoes of an alien mewling. Like a crying child, but odd and distorted.

He went deeper. The chill draft made him shiver, but it felt good somehow. The abyss was inviting him deeper.

He came into an open space with a pool of water. The stench was now suffocating. Hyperion was bent over something, gorging itself. Unable to stuff more into its mouth, it raised its jaw up at the cavern roof and - squelch squelch - swallowed them half solid. It had more of them in its arms, yet more spread out before it. A banquet fit for a king. Alec's stomach dropped when he saw them.

It was eating Graveler pups - tiny, unformed Geodude. They were covered in a layer of blue, gooey skin, their Stone shells yet to form. All of them were mewling, crying out almost like a daycare of human babies. Hyperion scooped them up in its arms greedily, stuffing them in its murderous jaws, half-chewing, half-swallowing. Alec could do nothing to stop it. He stood there paralyzed. His head would not turn away. His eyes could not avert.

He lifted the hammer and yelled. "Scamp!"

It paid him no heed.

He brought the hammer down on its back, but it was a paltry effort. He was beyond tired. Hyperion snapped at him, flicking his body away. Alec was thrown to the floor, barely able to pick himself up. He raised the hammer again, hardly able to lift the damned thing. Hyperion whirled again, nearly impaling him with its sharp horn. It smashed its arm into the ground, driving Alec back. It was disputing his control. Hyperion wasn't his to command anymore. There would be no stopping it now, either. He was disarmed and useless, at his wit's end and Hyperion had an army. Alec doubted there was anything he could do now to prevent the behemoth running free in the world to cause havoc. He had created a monster.

It returned to its eating. The sounds it made were demonic. The munching, the crunching and snarling, the biting and chomping, croaking, and the mewling…

A reverberating bang.

The cavern tremored all around them. Cracks appeared in the ceiling, a shower of dust flickering off. Clara had told them the quarry was unstable and its walls went down in a stonefall mere minutes ago. Now the roof was collapsing. The whole cavern was about to come down on them.

Another bang. The cave walls shuddered. Hyperion just stood there, swallowing the young. There was no time. Alec took flight and ran for the entrance. A rhythmic banging came from above. It was as if the cave was being hammered into the earth. He emerged out into the light. The Graveler stood in a semicircle in front of the entrance, still as statues. Their gazes were upturned toward the lip of the cliff. Alec tried to follow their sight, but found himself too near the precipice. He backed away slowly, finally seeing a figure on top.

The abyss was breaking down. Boulders rained from the roof inside. The walls split and foundered. Hyperion bellowed from within, finally seeing the coming demise. The rhythmic sound of its stampede was getting closer. The roof caved in, an unimaginable mass of stone bulging inside. Hyperion ran for its life, still slick with the blood of its enemies. It smashed through jagged outcrops blocking its way, getting weaker with each step. It seemed the hustle had finally exhausted it.

The abyss crashed, pregnant stone driving the earth flat. An explosion of rock and dust erupted. Alec shielded his eyes, the shockwave flapping his hair and clothes. After that, he could see nothing. The dust had once again swallowed the light. Soon a slight breeze wafted through the valley, rustling whatever was left to rustle and clearing the dust away. What would the falling curtain reveal?

Alec heard it before he saw it. Hyperion bellowed in agony. It had almost made it. Its head poked free from the rubble, squashed beneath the hundred tons of rock and gravel. It whipped its head this way and that, struggling. The stuff that entombed it ruffled with its movements, but it wasn't getting free anytime.

The figure atop the lip appeared above the mound of collapsed dirt. Alec's jaw dropped. It was impossible. The creature he was seeing was supposed to be dead. Yet… it was the only thing that made sense. He remembered the night before, as he scaled the cliff on Golem's back. It had done away with their pursuers by hammering the ledge of the cliff, bringing it down on their heads. And now, at the end of everything, Alec had witnessed Golem's repeat performance.

It was battered and wounded, shell cracked all over, but it lived, trembling as it stood on its legs. It slid down the earth on its shell, tumbling to the ground. Alec ran toward it, astonishment supplanting all other feeling. Golem held him back with one paw, red eye turning toward him. It growled.

"You're alive, buddy," Alec said. He glanced at Hyperion's head lurching in the landslide. Golem had brought the mass down on them, hoping to catch Hyperion inside. What was it trying to do? Could it have recognized the precariousness of the situation and acted to save its own kind? In that moment, Alec realized. Golem was alive, meaning the Graveler hadn't killed it. They had taken it back to the lair as one of their own.

Golem hobbled to where Hyperion lay buried. Hyperion growled toward it, but it was empty of fire. Alec detected fear in its eyes. Golem stood just out of reach of the monster's jaws.

Hyperion desperately lounged its head, snapping its jaws, huge teeth closing just shy of its last opponent. Golem readied itself. Hyperion bit down a hair's breadth away. In that split-second, Golem sprang. Its rough arms enclosed around the shiny blade of horn atop Hyperion's head.

The big fucking dragon rasped in panic. It pitched its neck wide, urgently striving to shake Golem off. Golem's feet trailed in the mud, digging wide ruts. It held on fast, body shivering with intensity. Hyperion's neck spasmed, locked in place. It pulled away, dragged to the left, pushed away and Golem held on. Hyperion's skin was going grey. Veins protruded violet in its neck.

Golem pulled. The damaged crust of its carapace cracked from pressure. Its wounds bled. Hyperion howled in utter hopelessness and dismay. Alec stood frozen in place.

The horn split.

Golem flew back, split horn launching from its hands, blood showering from the cut-off as Hyperion howled in the sky, eyes going white, blood draining from its head. It cried one last, sorrowful note and thudded lifelessly to the earth.

Alec made his way to it. Hyperion's head was completely grey, stone-cold. He caressed its rugged skin, touched its veins just to be sure.

He turned back to see Golem getting up on its feet. It growled at him, a trace of that old bubbliness in its voice. It had done well by its master.

The horn fell from the sky, skewering a Graveler through the head.

"Oh," said Alec, fingers on his dampened cheek.

Tears.