The Golem waded forward. It seemed unaware or unconcerned with the structures before it, its heavy legs smashing through walls and structures. Even through the howl of the wind I could hear the cries and shrieks of the people inside. Screams of fright, panic and pain.

Tacita was instant action. She streaked forward. I called to her, "Tacita, wait, what is it."

She paused only a moment, her body vibrating with the need to intercept. The creature, whatever it was, was moving swiftly towards us. She barked at me, "I don't know, a fiend of some kind. We must stop it. People will die."

I shouted again, my helm roaring over the din of the storm, "Where's Olaf?"

Again, like a tethered dog, she was barely restrained. "He went to the quarry to load stones for the storm defences."

"We should wait for him, I can't determine what this thing is, how strong it might—"

The agonized scream of a child pierced the night, the cry rising from a collapsed shelter. Tacita released herself, like a bolt from a crossbow, searing down the thoroughfare towards the approaching titan. The child's scream set me in motion as well. I was uneasy at the uncertainty of what this was, what it was capable of, but I could stand by no longer.

As I rushed forward, I felt the presence of Enki before I heard its words in my head. That bitch!

I raced in Tacita's wake, sword clenched, deleting the distance between myself and the hulking monster. I thought back to Enki. What bitch? Tacita? What the fuck is this thing?

Enki's reply was laden with what might almost have been panic. No! Not Tacita! What the hell are you doing, why are you going towards it?

Tacita went airborne. She was so fast, a bird of prey diving on prey. But as fast as she was, the lumbering beast responded with lightning speed. A huge overly long arm whipped into the air. As it rose it pulsed with a light that reminded me of CUT. Tacita twisted in the air, avoiding the strike, but the light flashed along the length of the creature's arm, exploding. Even as I raced I could feel the force of the pulse washing over me like a blast wave. Tacita, closer to it, was tossed aside by the force of it, sailing over rows of buildings, crashing hard into an unseen structure.

I gasped. The power of the thing! It paused, for a fraction of a second, as the light died from its arm.

I skirted around it, firing BEAM. The bolts of energy struck hard, searing the surface of the Golem. Its huge form twitched from the impacts, the kinetic forces minutely twisting and shifting its form. It wasn't impervious, but the rain of fire I directed towards it slowed it not at all. It waded towards me through the onslaught of BEAM, its form twitching but not discouraged by each hit. A defensive field pulsed and rippled on the surface as each attack landed.

I reached to Enki, shouting, "Does it have Shield? What is this thing? It's like a Griidsuit."

Enki was pleading in its response. Don't worry about any of that! Just get away from it!

I roared back in response, backpedalling from a sudden charge by the thing, "I can't! It's going to flatten the town! It's hurting people!"

The Golem raised an arm again, the light of strange energies swirling around it, and swung hard towards me, the light intensifying with the movement. I leapt back, my blade flashing with the pulse of BEAM over and over.

The arm struck the ground where I had been standing, the energy exploding from it. I was closer this time and the violence of the shockwave still surprised me, even after seeing it fling Tacita away. The force exploded into me, knocking the wind from me and sending me hurtling back. I loosed one more flailing shot of BEAM as I tumbled through the air. As before, the thing was stationary, frozen for that single beat after delivering the explosive strike. As it stood my lance of energy struck its surface. This time the kinetic impact scored the strange surface of Golem, a whisper of smoke rising from it, a scar streaking its surface.

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I didn't have time to process. The next instant I felt timbers splintering at my back as the force of the blow made a projectile of my body. Sight and light were ripped away as beams and roofing sheets collapsed on me.

Enki shrieked in my ear. Get up! Get up! It's still coming for you!

I flailed with my arms, pushing debris aside, twisting to free myself. I could feel the thudding impacts of its feet charging towards me. I pushed a sheet of steel aside and glimpsed the tantrum of the stormy sky, then the silhouette of a glowing arm spearing down on me. I pushed with all the superhuman force my legs could generate, shoving myself through the debris, just out of the path of the blow. Again the explosion, crashing through the rubble, the light blinding. Flames erupted from the sheer kinetic compression of the blow, boards and particles filling the air, me among them, tossed like leaves before a tornado.

I hit the street hard, rolling to my back, firing BEAM, a sense of panic rising in me. The thing was moving again, tracking towards me, the BEAMs just rippling from its defensive field again.

Enki urged me. Flee, Tiberius! They can always make more humans! They're always doing it, there's more all the time! I can't make another one of you so easily! Get away!

I shook my head, bouncing to my feet. "It's going to destroy Dodge. The people here, they can't go through that again. Not while I'm here!"

Enki's words were laced with scorn. Oh, people are so resilient. And plentiful. They wouldn't make them so mushy if they didn't intend to lose a few dozen here and there. Just get out of here!

I roared back at it, "I can't! I'm… these people are mine! I'm responsible for them!"

I kept firing BEAM, futilely, frustratedly, the shots skimming off the Golem as it charged toward me. It seemed to expend energy in bursts. One moment it lumbered like a sleepy being forged of living stone, the next it surged faster than an Arrow suit. It surprised me, caught me off guard, leaping forward like a cannonball. It closed the distance between us too quickly. I turned to move but I could see how trapped I was. The glow arm swept from the side as the thing fell on me so blindingly quickly. The simple physics were against me, my feet under me, the strength of my legs pushing into the earth to move me away. But there wasn't time, wasn't space. The arm crackled with heat and energy, swinging towards me. If the shockwave held such power, what could a direct hit do?

Then Tacita was on its back, her bladed hands raining on its head, angry fire and sparks exploding on each impact. Her claws seemed to impact just above the surface of the beast, the field holding them just back from its corporeal form. But the energy in the arm flickered out. The blow still struck me, but with the force of only its brute strength, not the destructive energy of its main attack. The impact was still terrible. My eyes bulged and my whole torso seemed to distend, pain lancing through my ribs as I tumbled away from the blow.

I was caught in a dizzying sickness, nausea welling up with the pain. I was thinking to myself as much as to Enki. It powered down the attack. Its shields fail for a moment after it uses the energy attack. With Tacita on its back it couldn't afford to let the shields go down. It protected itself.

Enki was growing frustrated. None of that matters! If you get close enough to strike at that moment, you'll have been close enough for the attack to have turned you into mashed potatoes, or for the shockwave to have cast you aside again!

Tacita was a fury, I couldn't even see her arms, they blurred so fast. She was consumed with the violence of the moment. It was as though she was trying to burrow through the field that protected it.

I dashed forward, winding up to swing with CUT. The thing's tree trunk arm swept over its back, knocking Tacita to the dirt. Light flickered again in the other arm as it raised above her.

"Fuck! No!" I heard myself scream, seeing the danger to her. She twisted on the ground, winded as I had been by the force of the thing's blow. The crackling arm plunging down towards her like a comet.

I swung with CUT, striking at the monstrous leg before me. My blow ricocheted away, the repulsive force of the field making a mockery of my attack.

Then the blow landed.

Light exploded in my eyes, the shockwave punching so hard so close to the point of impact. My HUD flickered, the light and life of my suit seeming to dwindle for an instant as the explosion compressed me, threw me. I skimmed the earth, flying wildly over its surface, stones and debris lancing pain through me with each bounce.

I may have blacked out for a moment. There was a disconnect. When I regained my awareness I was half a street away from the giant. SIGHT showed me the image I didn't want to see. Instinctively I looked for her.

Tacita had taken a direct hit from the thing's arm. I saw her form. I saw what remained of it. From the waist down there was almost nothing. Glimmers of fragmented Griid suit, shards of bone, a huge dark smear of blood and gore. What remained of her was a torso, a head and one intact arm.

Those pitiful remnants shuddered and twitched. The Golem waited not at all, turning to lumber towards me.

What remained of Tacita twitched again, and then lay still. She died.

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