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I joined Chrome pressed against the wall. With my eyes closed and hearing focused, I stretched that sense as far as it could reach.

A deep growl rumbled, and the ground trembled with it. Earthquakes weren’t common in this region, at least not of that strength. Another growl followed—louder than the last— shaking the train car.

The shudder flung me from the metal wall, forcing me to crash into Chrome’s side. Without looking, he wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

I stood there, steadied against him, studying my hand that pressed against his chest. Hard, tenuous muscle lay underneath the black tee that hugged him. He wasn’t beefy, nor was he bony. Tall and streamlined. Deceptively strong. I had no doubt his muscles were made for display.

Another force rocked the train car, and we stumbled apart to catch ourselves.

A bestial roar deafened the landscape. Fear spiked through me, and I lunged for the blades within the duffels. Thankfully, Chrome returned mine.

I sought the swords first. Whatever was wreaking havoc outside required more than daggers to take it down. Grabbing an Elemental and Kinetic sword, I tossed them to Chrome—who easily snatched them from the airwith grace—and grabbed two more for myself before making my way to the opening of the train car. Chrome followed and took his place by my side.

There was no way the monstrous roar was from this world as it reverberated in my chest unlike any animal I’d ever heard. Upon setting my sights on the source, my heart skidded to a halt.

“What the fuck?” I braced my hand on the door frame.

Chrome’s fierce silence told me he didn’t have the answers this time. He embraced the coiled lethality he wore as a second skin while cold violence returned to his ice-blue eyes.

I faced the woods in time to see the foreign creature take out pine trees with a swipe of its paw.

A brown bear, the size of a mid-grade house, wrecked the wilderness surrounding us, but it was the massive black horns gleaming like polished stone atop its head that had me gaping,

I doubted our swords would do the job.

“Take off your bracelet, but leave the necklace on for now. You don’t know what to expect from your Elemental magic yet,” Chrome instructed. “Might cause more harm than good.”

I mumbled an agreement, removing the bracelet. My Kinetic magic I could control. It was one of the few things I had control over in my life, and a sense of calm washed over me at the level of comfort that brought.

The familiar rush of energy electrified my veins. My blue currents raced to life beneath the sleeves of my leather jacket. Closing my eyes, I took half a moment to savor the rush.

The moment I opened my eyes, the monstrous bear obliterated the few Kinetics who’d been running the train. An arm went flying, lodging in a tree limb thirty feet away.

Where in the seven hells did the beast come from? Did it have something to do with Forest’s plan to open a portal? Because it was clear this beast didn’t hail from this world. How were we supposed to fight this thing?

I stole a look at Chrome and saw he was in his Elemental form. The golden skin shimmered on his face and quicksilver eyes swirled with viciousferocity. He obscured his Kinetic side as his raven hair hung loose around his face.

“Attack together?” I asked. It was a dumb question I realized after the fact. What other choice did we have?

Chrome nodded, not taking his molten gaze from the bestial creature in the distance, “You come from the back, and I’ll keep his attention at the front.”

I gave a stiff nod, wanting to have a bigger role in this fight. It was petulant, but the constant need to prove myself was strong.

It stiffened and sniffed the breeze. The beast grunted and then turned glowing red eyes on us.

It had found its next targets.

We leaped from the immobile train car and took off at a sprint into the woods. I swung the blue Kinetic sword, slicing through the branches that threatened to jab me in the eye. Chrome did the same.

The bear moved toward us, ready to clash with its new prey. As it did, Chrome and I split directions, creating a fork around the beast. Its focus was on Chrome, so it turned to follow him—its size slowing it down. It left me free to take up the monster’s rear.

I lunged at the beast, testing my swords’ effect on it. I sliced at the enormous tendon on its hind leg. Turned out my strike served no purpose other than to piss it off.

It roared, and the trees quaked with the vibrations, which I absorbed. My swords clanged to the ground, falling into a small pile of red and orange leaves as I chose to forgo the weapons in favor of my magic. The energetic waves from the roar fueled me, and I recycled it into a ball of electricity.

I formed a blue electrical orb in my hands, molding it as it grew and grew. Chrome whirled around the bear in his iconic death dance, wielding his swords in an orange and blue blur as he landed well-placed slices across the beast’s lower body.

The beast roared at Chrome. A massive paw the size of a compact car swiped at him, but Chrome ducked and slashed his sword across its paw as it sailed over him.