Benjamin Kamphuis

A burst of pink and purple engulfed us as Avisa pirouetted, yellow sparks exploding around us like fireworks. At first, I thought lightning had found us, but when I glanced back, I saw the truth—Avisa’s spiraling fins were launching small yellow spheres. Each one detonated midair, sending surging sparks straight into the Static Elderkaws’ heads. Another volley. Another wave of explosions. The Elderkaws dropped from the sky into the storm below. Twenty became fifteen. Fifteen became ten. Then...

A towering piton rose from the sea, stretching high into the sky before vanishing into a mass of storm clouds, lightning crackling violently through them. Avisa slowed her approach, allowing me to take in what loomed before us. Green and red Decadyls crawled across the smaller boulders lining the piton’s base. Their geometric bodies were covered in sharp edges, antennae-like eyes twisting rapidly as eight long legs held them high above the stone. When waves crashed against the rocks, the...

Avisa moved with such precision after we bonded that I felt as if I were swimming within the water itself. With my arms tucked to my sides, I gyrated my body like the rolling sea, diving beneath the surface and leaping back out again. The seawater had once bothered me, but now it energized me. Every pore of my skin drank in the salt, leaving it as smooth as my beast’s. When Avisa slowed, I shifted back into my own perspective, scanning the horizon for any sign of Meadow. Somehow, the...