Elsinor Tarqqantes

"There is a story we tell our children in Croarag, Evora. I believe it is one from which you could learn much."

"Go on, then," she says. "What is it?"

I cannot deny that it is impressive - the power a story can have, that is. Even now, as the world which has been crafted for us falls to pieces just as our nation does, all I need to do is mention a story and the gravity of our situation is being set to the side. Years from now, I know, our story too will be told; we are the objects of songs and myths which will one day be sung. Though many of my peers, Evora included, do not grasp this, this concept is one that it is not lost on me. Rather it haunts me every day I breathe, a reality more terrifying than death itself.

"There was a boy, once, in a small town in Craorag. Perhaps it was years ago, perhaps decades, perhaps centuries. He was not a particularly special boy. His skin was the shade of night and his hair of the flames that light it up when those who live in our world begin to fear the darkness. His parents were neither rich nor poor, and they were not absent, nor were they constantly by his side. His childhood was perfectly ordinary, and, just like many young boys, he claimed that fear could not find a place to nest within his heart."

We run, Evora and I, but our survival is not a question of our ability or our brains - if it were, I would have no worry regarding our survival. Rather our escape is a matter of time and if it decides to play in our favour. The boat is in the distance, just in the corner of my eye, but there is still some journey to be made and the ground is shaking with such force that I cannot deny I am more afraid than I would ever care to say.

"Eventually, on one of the days his parents would set aside to spend with him, the three of them went to the beach. It was a wondrous experience to him, who'd never seen such a marvellous place before. All he wanted was to bury himself in the sand and wait for the waves to come and fetch him, to go on new adventures and live things he'd never dreamed to experience. 'Whatever you do,' said his parents, 'do not go into the sea, my boy, for you do not know how to swim and you would surely drown.' "

"Duck!"

I lower my head just in time to avoid a branch that, though it would not have killed me, would surely have given me a nasty bruise and temporarily have stunned me, something which I cannot afford. The greenery blurs past us and I am thankful that Evora has cast a spell which permits us to breathe without trouble as long as there are plants around to mass-produce oxygen. Had she not done this, I am sure that we would have run out of air by now, but as it is we continue to run without a trouble and I can continue to speak without worrying that I am using up my supply of air.

"'Do not go into the sea,' they said, 'for you do not know how to swim and you would surely drown'. But this boy was as curious as he thought himself to be fearless, and he would not heed the warning his mother and father had issued. The second their backs were turn he stood up and headed towards the wave, eager to dip his feet in them and feel the ocean wind on his back. It was not long, however, before he decided to go further and further until his feet no longer touched the ground and he found himself in a state of panic."

Though I see the boat in the distance, the feeling inside me that the sand in my hourglass is ticking away far too fast grows stronger and stronger with each step that I take. As the jungle is getting smaller and smaller before me, leaving more room for beach, I can feel Evora's spell begin to wear off leaving me with less and less air and the feeling that soon I will have none left in my lungs, though I know this to be far from the truth. Still, it is not until I am safely on the boat which has been sent to fetch us that I finally feel safe.

"As he began to sink under the water the boy grew in fear so that even when he had been dragged out of the water his heart raced at miles a minute. He could no longer think about anything but of death which had seemed so tangible to him in that moment that he could no longer believe it not to be a constant presence. 'I am afraid, now,' he said. 'Of death'. To this his parents laughed as they coddled him before they replied 'As you should be, my son. Any man who does not fear death is a fool'."

As the ship begins to float into the sea towards the unknown Evora turns her head to face mine. "Are you afraid of death, Elsinor?"

"Any man who does not fear death is a fool," I say. "But I am far greater and far more than any man."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aria Gracen

My name is Aria, my last name, Gracen. I was picked to represent my country of Craorag in the Trials of Halyin. I fell in love with Atlanta al Thea along the way, a hydromancer from Aavayoh.

Then, I died.

I can still see her when I sleep at night, in my heaven. I see her gorgeous brown eyes as I watch over her from above. Our last few moments together were precious and tender, and before I breathed my last breath, she had leaned down and kissed me on the lips. Dying then, in her arms, didn't feel as painful or as terrible. Instead, it was almost peaceful. Serene. When my eyes snapped open again I found myself sitting in the field of wheat that bent gently in the light summer breeze.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I?

I never thought that when I died I would become an author, write down all my adventures in this great big book to give to the other spirits of the dead that dwell with me in my heaven. I call it 'my heaven', because to others, their version of paradise is different – beautiful in their own way. Usually, the ones that stay with me are newcomers, and they leave eventually. To their own heaven, once they were ready to let go. I don't know how my writing will fare, but I have felt compelled to do this ever since I had died.

The night before I died – the night before the Treaty had been broken, something had taken over both Atlanta and I that forced us to speak the truth, and only truth, and nothing but the truth. And so, without meaning to, I was forced to confess my feelings for her that I had been holding in my heart for so long. Then, in the spur of the moment, I had turned and fled – partially out of terror of what I had done, and also because of how she would react. My imagination was...wild, then, to put it simply. I had thought she would scream, she would be angry and never speak to me again, so I ran. Running was something I always have done when confronted with a difficult problem. It was my second nature, almost. While I ran, I saw Mei al Thea's broken body, but didn't stop. I was too afraid.

Sometime during the night I had stopped my running and collapsed in a heap on the ground, out of exhaustion and sadness and fright, and began to weep. I wept because the only friend I had on Earth – the only one I had loved all my life, was gone, and it was all because of me. I cried until there were no more tears within me to be shed, until I had curled up into a ball underneath a giant sycamore tree and fallen asleep in mud and sweat and teardrops, and was pulled into a dreamless sleep.

I was unaware of how much time had passed, but I awoke to a blazing pain in my leg that I still remember to this day. My leg itches at the mere thought of it. The sycamore had toppled, and somehow, miraculously, had missed the entirety of my body and only crushed my right leg. I tried, for hours it seemed, though it couldn't have been – to heave my leg out of the trunk's deadly grip, but the wood would not budge. Through tears and fiery pain, I tried, until my muscles turned to jelly and I fell to the ground, knowing that it was the end. For me, anyhow. And I was right – it was the end for me.

But I never knew Atlanta would find me.

Before she came, however, I closed my eyes, ready to embrace my death. I had no weapon on me, so there was no way that I could end it quickly and cleanly – instead, I was at the mercy of the enraged, shattering island, that groaned and shifted with every passing minute. And as I felt the ground shudder underneath my body, I hummed a song that my mother, and my mother's mother, had sung before me. Back in Craorag, I had played the tune and sung the song while playing Antonia, my beautiful guitar. It was a gentle, sweet, ancient love ballad, and I imagined myself singing it to Atlanta as I softly sung.

Take this sinking boat, and point it home.

We've still got time.

Raise your hopeful voice, you have a choice.

You'll make it now.

Falling slowly, eyes that know me.

And I can't go back.

Perhaps she heard the sound of my singing, but the next thing my hazy mind was able to grasp was the fact that Atlanta al Thea was on her knees before me, eyess sparkling with fresh tears, squeezing my hand tightly in hers.

Moods that take me, and erase me.

And I'm painted black.

You have suffered enough.

And warred with yourself.

It's time that you won.

I don't exactly remember what I said to her, but I knew I told her to go back, to run before it was too late, but I think when I spoke the words I knew deep in my heart that she wouldn't go. I hated her and loved her for that decision, for my heart soared free as Atlanta shook her head no, like she had opened the cage that had fenced me in and allowed me to soar. Then she surprised me with one simple action. Atlanta al Thea leaned down suddenly, and gently kissed me briefly on the lips.

I still remember how her lips tasted ever-so-faintly of peaches and cherries, though chapped and encrusted with blackened dried blood, I recall thinking how such contrasting tastes blended so perfectly together in that kiss. She broke away almost immediately, but it was enough. It was enough for the both of us, because we knew. We knew we loved each other.

When I died she was cradling my head in her lap, tears running freely down her cheeks for the first time, looking both broken and relieved that I was out of my suffering. Blood loss and malnutrition had weakened my body, and it didn't take long for her to see that I was fading. She said, "Don't" and "Please" a lot in my last few moments, her voice choked and throaty. "Please don't", "Don't please" – but pleads don't bring back the dead. We both knew that. In less than a minute after our first and final kiss, I was gone.

I would like to tell you what became of her, but I can't. I can't, because I never looked for her. I don't know if she made it out of that island or not, because I have not seen her in my heaven yet, and I am too afraid to go look for her from the wheat field I had first appeared in. The wheat field is like a porthole to Earth in which I watched the people I know move on with their daily lives. My parents, for one, seemed heartbroken over my death, but as the weeks and months passed they healed. Antonia gathered dust in my room, which was left untouched after report of my death. The bird trader I had seen in the market with the white dove died of via stabbing after a robbery on his store. The birds, including my white dove, escaped to the skies in the chaos.

I never looked for Atlanta, though.

Maybe one day I shall see her again, waiting to embrace her when she appears confused and surprised in the wheat field in front of my house in the heaven. And then I'll take her by the hand and lead her to this house, where we would spend the rest of our eternity together happy, side by side.

These are but mere dreams, but after everything I've encountered in the nineteen short years of my life, I understood that sometimes, just sometimes, dreams do come true. Like meeting Atlanta, my one true friend, and our short, brief, sweet kiss in the woods.

And when they do, I call them miracles.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elysia Brisa

"Attention everyone!" I hear Tigaern say frantically. We've barely recovered from the last one. "There seems to be a, uhm, situation going on here at the island. I'm not exactly sure how to put this." In the background I can hear a muffled voice telling him to hurry up and get it over with.

"Halyin is at war. The treaty that holds this land is broken. We're trying our best to keep it together, but I'm afraid we only have 15 minutes. Elswyth has enlisted the animals' help and they will help guide you towards the boat where you first entered the island. Please, try your best to stay alive. I hope to see each and everyone of you on that boat when we leave. Good luck."

My heart is beating wildly in my chest and I can feel a panic attack coming on. Oh fuck. I'm so far from the dock, I'm practically on the other side of the island.

I rush to my feet and grab my bag. How the fuck am I supposed to know where to go?

I hear an urgent bird whistle coming from above and I glance up to see it fly away. The bird lands on another branch and looks back at me, it wants me to follow it. I begin running towards the bird and it takes off again.

I lose sight of it as it flies above the treetops. The ground shakes violently beneath me and I fall to my knees. I grip the grass in anger, screw this. I reach for my puzzle piece and shoot up through the trees, ignoring the branches that scratch at my face and arms. Once above I see the bird perched at the highest branch. I breathe a sigh of relief and fly after it.

Looking down I can see all abandoned shelters of the other magi. The trees begin to shake violently again and I watch helplessly as one falls and crushed Mei al Thea.

I stare straight ahead trying to focus on getting myself to safety, but I can feel myself losing control of the wind. Squeezing the puzzle piece even harder, I straighten myself out. Come on Elysia, you can't save everyone. Sometimes, you have to put yourself first.

Excitement burst through my tired, aching body when I finally catch sight of the sea in the distance. "I'm almost there!" I scream with joy.

"I'm so sorry, we've done everything we could. We have to leave now; to everyone left on the island, please forgive us. You have three minutes to come to terms with your fate. You will not be forgotten." My excitement shatters as I tumble towards the ground. I stop myself a foot above the ground.

I'm completely numb as I watch the ship sail away from the dock. I don't have the energy to fly myself over, I'd drop myself in the ocean and drown. Dropping to my knees, I feel hot, angry tears streaming down my face. I worked my ass off trying to stay alive. I've broken every moral code I had just to make it out alive on this fucked up island, and it was all for nothing. I start beating the ground in pure rage.

"I've killed so many people, I've played along with your twisted games, and this is the only thanks I get? Well, fuck you! Fuck all of you!" I shout towards the boat, but I know they're too far away to hear me.

I turn around and see Althia, daughter of Galena burst through the trees, almost falling off the dock as she skids to a stop.

"Wait! Stop! Please don't leave me here!" She cries out desperately.

The hopeless expression on her face breaks my heart, she looks back at me with tears in her eyes.

"How old are you?", my voice sounds broken and detached.

"I'm seventeen, why?" her distraught expression changes to one of confusion.

I grab her shoulders frantically, "Listen to me, it's gonna feel weird, but you just have to go with it."

"What are you talking about? Let me go!" she says, completely terrified.

I push her off the dock and try with all my might to float her towards the disappearing ship. Gritting my teeth in concentration, I try to block out her protests. "Be good Amity, be better than I was."

Althia has her whole life ahead of her, what do I have waiting for me? Nothing but a life of rejection and scorn. I feel the ground beginning to crack beneath me.

I look up to see her fiddling around with something and before I can figure it out, I feel myself growing stronger by the second.

"I'm healing you! Come with me, please." she shouts.

Suddenly, I snap out of it. I will the wind from behind me and I go flying towards her, going faster than I ever have before. She grabs my arm and smiles at me. Together we hurtle towards the ship and tumble onto the deck, knocking over a few people. Althia stands up and begins hugging other people, but I just lay on my back in shock. We made it. I'm alive.

I breath a heavy sigh of relief and scream in excitement. I wipe away my tears of joy, closing my eyes I thank everything that I'm alive. This is it, this is a new leaf for Elysia. Brand spanking new Elysia. The first thing I'm gonna do is find Amity and convince her to forgive me.

It'll be Amity and Elysia together again, but things will be different this time. We're going to help people for real this time. I promise to be better this time around.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Garnet al Thea

The last way she liked to be awoken was from a shaking squirrel. Garnet's irritation only lasted for half a heartbeat before the confusion of the fact that a squirrel had intentionally woken up took over.

"What-" she started to say, but trailed off. There were too many ways to finish that question. What was going on? What was this squirrel doing? What had caused it to venture near her?"

"We don't have much time," the squirrel squeaked.

Garnet sat up and stared at it. "I can understand you." Her hand flew to her forehead. She didn't feel like she had a fever, but perhaps this was a hallucination brought on by some kind of magical jungle gas the Mages had unleashed upon them.

"Garnet," the squirrel sounded exasperated, "Please pay attention. This is Elswyth speaking."

"She really is a rodent," Garnet muttered under her breath.

The squirrel didn't hear her. "The Treaty has been broken and the Ritual is over. The island will sink away within the next hour. Please follow me to a ship on the shore that will take you to safety."

It scurried a few feet and glanced back, clearly expecting her to follow, but Garnet only blinked. "The Ritual...is over?"

All her dreams for greatness, all her hopes for glory, all her efforts and sacrifices and struggles in the quest for perfection flashed before her eyes. They subsequently shattered into dust. Was there any part of her she hadn't given to the hope of emerging victorious from the Ritual?

"Yes. Please follow me to the shore," the squirrel repeated.

Why? She had to wonder. What was the point, if the Ritual was over? She was nothing if not perfect.

Garnet took a deep breath, and a level of rational thought returned to her. Even if her chances at the Ritual were gone, her chances for perfection weren't. She could still achieve perfection, even if it took her longer than planned.

She stood up and dusted off her pants. "All right. Lead the way."

The squirrel guided her through the jungle. There was destruction everywhere, but Garnet couldn't focus on any of it. Around her, the world was crumbling, but all she could think of was the first time it had fallen.

It had been those blasted questions that had brought the events into her head, she thought, dodging a falling tree, and her even more cursed answers. Now she could hardly go a second without thinking of her father.

There it was again. The thought of him. She flinched and froze at a fork in the trail. Which way had the squirrel gone?

The squirrel darted in front of her, and scampered to the left. Left it was for her as well, then. She broke into a run after the furry fuzz ball.

Annoying as animals could be, her father was correct that their instincts were often infallible, regardless of whether or not they were controlled by someone like Elswyth. Oh, why couldn't she stop thinking about her father? Every time he came into her mind, he brought unbidden images of the last time they had met.

The earth crumbled away into dust that fell into the jagged pit it itself had left behind. Garnet leapt over the pit, her muscles tighter from the thought of her father. She landed with a sting in her ankles. Stupid pit.

A few feet away, a tree quaked. Garnet didn't have to think. She jumped out of the way. It crashed down, triggering another wave of crumbling earth to swallow it up. The squirrel she had been following was among the animals that fell in.

She suppressed a sigh. There was no rest to be found here, and now she was without a guide. Behind her, something rumbled. She burst into a run. The beach, she remembered. The squirrel had said there was a ship on the beach.

Her fingers batted at the strands of sweaty hair that clamped to her forehead. Once she reached the boat, she thought distantly, she would have to clean up quickly. She could get away with being so mussed up when it was a life or death situation, but after the peril faded, she would have to return to a look of perfection quickly.

She tripped over something on the ground. Her wrist scraped against tree bark, even as she caught herself. She cast one glance at the object that had tripped her. Not an object, but a person, dead from a fall from a crevice a few feet away. One of the other girls from Aavaoyh. Mei, her name was.

No time to grieve, if Garnet had even known the girl enough to mourn. She turned away from the body with her aching wrist and continued her frantic flight.

A light splashing sound slowly reached her ears. It took her longer than it should have to realize that a light layer of water had come over the island and that she was wading through it, triggering the sound she heard.

Just as she burst out of the jungle, the figure of the ship so close, something jerked at her ankle. A vine, somehow able to have entangled itself around her foot, held firm. Garnet fell.

Her head hit the ground hard. She saw lightning bolts flash behind her lids. When the lightning bolt faded, so had her desire to move at all.

Why should she? She very well may have lost any chance she had at perfection. Why should she get up, and run, and struggle and fight just to get on that ship to live a life that might already be over? What reason did she have for stirring herself, when every movement hurt so much?

The memories of her father played again, but this time different from the others. It was only the memory of her father's smile, slowly crawling across his face like the sun across the early horizon. No words accompanied this memory, and no thoughts. No answers to the questions she had been asking.

But somehow, she found herself standing up. Every muscle in her body ached, but with the memory of her father's smile playing again in her mind, she ran for safety.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mei al Thea

Mei was already awake when the chattering monkey came for her. It gestured frantically, towards the beach, it's fear unmistakable. Mei knew what was happening. She hadn't felt it when she arrived, it was simply too big, but she sure felt the absence of the spell that had been holding the island together.

The little monkey pulled at her clothes, urging her towards the beach, where the Guardians presumably had an escape. Surely it was Elswyth controlling the monkey, alerting the tributes so that they could get to safety.

Mei nodded at the monkey, as she felt the Island begin to literally fall apart. She wondered what it all meant, if the contest was over, or if she still faced her death even if she got off this Island. Deciding she'd rather be killed in a fight than sink wordlessly into the ocean, she began to run.

She ran through the forest as fast as the dense vegetation would allow, her sword swaying on her hip. Suddenly the Island trembled, and a tree fell across her path, just barely missing her. As Mei stopped to catch her breath and thank her lucky stars that she didn't just get smashed, she heard a scream.

She ventured towards it, not seeing an easy way around the fallen tree. What she saw filled her with awe. The earth had split open, like a gaping mouth, and was attempting to swallow one of her fellow tributes.

It was the healer, Althia. Mei didn't stop to think. She ran towards the girl, praying she would get there in time to save her. After so much killing, Mei suddenly wanted nothing more than to save someone, and who better than her? The world would be a darker place with one less Healer in it.

Althia was screaming for help, barely hanging on to the ledge. In the depths of the earth's maw, roiling lava was hungrily awaiting her. Mei dove for her clutching fingers, and at first she thought she had made it in time.

But the island trembled once more, and Althia slipped through her hands. Mei watched in horror as the hope faded from the Healer's eyes, and she accepted her doom.

Another tremble almost took Mei over the edge as well. She pushed back her emotions, the tears, and ran once more for the beach. She arrived to see other tributes getting into a small boat that seemed to be hastily made from the trees and vines of the jungle. Guardian Miyu was standing on it, waving frantically for everyone to board.

As she got on, the island trembled again, but then didn't stop. It kept shaking, shaking itself apart. Miyu looked around at the tributes on board, too few it seemed, and accepted the loss of the others. They sped away on a magical wind, watching the island sink behind them. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Atlanta al Thea

A rumble.

Aria.

Another rumble. The earth shook, trembled beneath my body, jarring me out of my sleep.

Where are you?

I was so accustomed to the sight of the redhead Zoomancer by my side when I awoke, seeing her not there made my heart leap into my throat in fear and panic. Until the events from yesterday suddenly came flooding into my mind, all at once, in one big wave of emotion. How she had suddenly whispered, "I love you,", her eyes gleaming in the darkness as she did so. How she had whirled around and sprinted into the forest, never looking back, leaving me to deal with the reality of her confession.

Again, the ground beneath my feet shook viciously. Trees groaned overhead, and the sound seemed to awaken a sense of alarm and urgency inside of me. Magic was strong – I could feel it in the air, in the dirt, and I scrambled to my feet. Somehow during the night, I had fallen asleep, and now I wished I hadn't. What did I miss? Was this another Trial? Who had been lost during the evening?

This time, the shift in the earth's crust was so powerful it sent me sprawling with a grunt, my sense now completely focused and sharpened. A list of possibilities ran through my mind, and although my heart hammed like a sledgehammer in my chest, I kept my breathing deep and calm, slow and rhythmic. Staying calm in intense situations was one of the first skills I had to learn at the Academy back on Aavayoh, but this time as I stood shakily, I couldn't help but worry about Aria. Where is she?

Branches shook overhead, crackling and breaking and snapping all at once, threatening to come crashing down to bury me underneath their weight. I hitched up the helm of my bloodstained, torn dress, and sniffed the air like a bloodhound. The taste of salt from the ocean was fresh on my nostrils, and I knew that as I was a Hydromancer, my best bet of staying out of danger was to head towards the beach. With eyes daring to and fro like a deer, I started running. Running through the twisting trunks of the trees which moaned their pain, running with my shoes pattering the dirt and snapping twigs and dried leaves in the process, breath short, mind whirling, heart thumping hard.

Aria.

As the world blended around me in shades of flickering green and brown, my eager eyes scanned the lush forestry for a flash of red, for the form of another girl in the trees. Once, as the world shook and exploded with the force of the volcano's eruption, I did see a Craoragian, but it wasn't Aria, not even by far. No, it was only Elsinor, lying face down in a puddle of blood, still and stiff and unmoving. I nearly stopped, but a brief backward glance at the volcano spewing lava was enough to send me on my way, though I did send a brief prayer up into the skies for Elsinor's soul. My father had said, contradicting my mother's teachings, that all lives no matter how small or insignificant, were to be remembered and honored. But there was no time to grieve for Elsinor, as there had been no time to grieve for the numerous other Magi who had perished in the Trials.

I kept on running.

Where are you, Aria?

My mind was a mix of panic, anger, and fear for Aria's life. Despite the fact that she had left me after her shocking reveal of her love towards me, I couldn't help but feel worried –actually, more than worried. Agitated. Afraid. Distressed. Without her by my side, I felt like a coward, abandoning my friend whom had saved my life more than once. My house's saying was: We Do Not Fail. By leaving Aria behind, I was failing her – and myself – in the process.

As the glimmering shore of the sandy white beach – long removed of the crimson blood that had stained the shore all those days ago, came into view, I felt my aching feet slow and then finally stop. Just beyond the fallen palm trees decorating the beach, in the waves, bobbed a familiar wooden ship. It was the Harmony, the ship I had travelled to this island on, with Aria by my side. I could just make out the indistinct shapes of Guardian Miyu, along with some other tributes who had made it to the beach. Fear arose in my chest at the sight of Miyu helping Garnet into the body of the ship – this was no Trial. Common sense and gut instinct told me that something was terribly, horribly wrong. But as I scanned the small cluster of tributes for the familiar red waves of Aria Gracen, I did not spot her.

She wasn't there.

She wasn't safe.

She was still inside the forest, somewhere, lost and afraid and maybe even hurt.

I stepped towards the direction of the ship, brunette waves blowing in the wind, and stopped short. My mind was in the civil war. To leave or not to leave? To save myself and leave Aria behind, or to turn back and attempt to find her, even if doing so meant that I might miss the ship and be stranding on an island that was tearing itself apart?

You are a Thea of Aavayoh, Atlanta born of House Cervus. You know our words.

We Do Not Fail.

My mother's words repeated themselves in my ears, and I did not need any more reasoning. Inhaling sharply, I pivoted around sharply on the heel of my shoe and turned around, facing the trembling volcano and the ash that spewed high into the sky, shrouding the entire island in an inky darkness. Trees fell by the minute, groaning as they did so, roots sticking out from the ground like jagged hands reaching out to grab me, to kill me. Yet, I did not turn back towards the ship, did not look back at my safety sailing away. I was not going to leave Aria.

So, for the first time in my life, I found myself running towards my death, rather than away from it.

And the strange thing was – I felt more alive than I ever could be, when the hot, stinging wind stung my eyes and threatened to blind me, when the earth shook and made me stumble every two steps, when I had yelled Aria's name over and over again until my throat grew hoarse, when I finally found her, covered in soot and dust with one leg stuck underneath a fallen trunk. That was when I felt alive, when my heart truly felt free from the bonds of perfection, of the excellence my mother had always pressed me to achieve. Even though tears leaked out of my eyes and slid down my cheeks, my heart felt happy.

I had found her, she was alive, and I wasn't going to leave.

Not anymore.

"You shouldn't have come," her voice was hoarse, like mine. Her body trembled at my hand's touch, like mine. She was broken and wounded and scared, with one leg crushed underneath the heavy trunk, but her blue-grey eyes were aglow with a sort of wistfulness as she stared at me. "You should've left, left me alone..." Aria coughed, a raspy, hacking cough, and I knelt down and grabbed her hand.

I thought of words to say – good words, comforting words, words that would bind us together for the last few minutes of our lives. There was no denying it – we were going to die. If not by the lava and smoke and ash, then by the island's descent into the depths of the sea. Even my magic could not save us now. But as I struggled for the right phrases to say, Aria smiled sadly. She seemed to understand my dilemma, and whispered, ever so softly, "I still love you, Atlanta."

There they were again, those three tiny little words that had caused so much confliction inside me. I love you. They had made me felt anger, felt pain, felt fear and eventually happiness as I finally embraced her love, her kindness, the warmth of her hand in mine. Love like I had never felt before, from anyone in my lifetime. In reply to Aria's question, I gingerly took a hold of her cheeks in my hands, bent down, and kissed her gently on the lips.

I am a Thea of Aavayoh, Atlanta born of House Cervus. I know my words.

I Do Not Fail.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dhruva al Thea

The sky was barely light when my eyes opened. I woke earlier than usual, but still not as early as Luce, who was already dividing portions of food for our breakfast in the low morning light.

"Are you cooking for me?" I asked, propping myself on my elbows and watching a blush rise in her face. "Not that laying out fruit leather is exactly cooking."

She threw a wrapped portion at me in response, and I moved closer to her and the fire while we ate. Luce had done some spell - I don't know what but it involved a squirrel and vigorous signing - over the fire days ago to prevent it from making any smoke, so I felt safe sitting there gnawing on dried meats and drinking tiny sips of our precious water.

"What time is it?" I asked after I yawned for a fourth time. I shouldn't have been so tired, seeing as I went to bed around the twentieth hour last night, when I usually got to bed around the twenty-third.

Luce held up six fingers.

"Are you not talking again?" I straightened unconsciously. "Is the spell broken?"

She nodded, smiling widely.

"Good." I gave her a half smile. "It must have been uncomfortable for you to talk when you didn't have to."

She shrugged and signed something before leaning over to kiss my cheek.

"I'll assume that was a good thing."

She shoved my food at me again and I finished eating quietly, keeping my gaze on Luce as I did. She was gorgeous in the dawn - hair curling and eyes half-closed, fingers tapping out a quick rhythm on the dirt with one hand while she poked the fire with another.

She glanced at me, and I kept staring, her blush deepening as she raised her hands to sign something, though she paused halfway through.

"What?"

Luce didn't sign anything, instead lowering her hands and scratching in the loose dirt with a finger. Did you feel that?

"Feel what?"

A. She paused, staring at the ground. A shake. The ground shook.

"No." I grinned again, raising a hand to my earring to twist it slightly before running a hand through my hair. "You sure you're not just imagining things, Luce?"

I'm not.

I shrugged. "We should clean up. We didn't get much done yesterday."

How's your back?

I shrugged. "Fine. Not hurting as much anymore."

I finished my breakfast and was about to stand when I felt it, stronger than it must have been before, a trembling in the ground. "What was that?"

Luce shrugged, her face paler than I'd ever seen it, though that may have been due to the sunrise that was quickly lightening the sky.

Danger, she finally signed, and there was no better way to put it.

We worked as a pair, kicking dirt over the fire as we repack our bags, and Luce carefully fluffed the dirt where we slept so it doesn't look like anyone's been there. As we do, a stronger tremor shook the earth, and I had to clutch onto a nearby tree to keep myself from falling.

"Another. It's getting stronger."

We both froze as a voice rang out over the island - recognizable as the perky Lirimani Guardian, Elswyth.

"Attention, mages! This is not a drill. The island is falling apart due to. . . unforeseen circumstances. Miyu al Thea is doing all he can to keep the island together, but it can't last forever. You must get to the boat where you first landed in fifteen minutes, or else you'll sink with the island."

Luce met my eyes and wordlessly held out a backpack to me.

We started sprinting through the island, not stopping to talk as branches whipped our faces and their roots seemed to rise from the ground to try and trip us. Luce seems to be leaning towards taking the route she took in the first place, but I grab her hand and we both skid to stop panting.

"Shouldn't we. . . find the beach first? If we go straight there, it'll be easier than weaving through trees. Faster."

My words were accompanied by another earthquake, far stronger than anything before. Luce was thrown to her feet and I only barely managed to save myself from ruining my facial features by eating dirt.

Luce scrambled to her feet and launched herself across the path to me, clutching at my shoulders like I was her lifeline, and I belatedly noticed the crack that was splitting the ground. Luce had seemed to only barely get over it.

I hugged her for a second before saying into her ear, "Lucky we don't have to go that way."

She managed a smile, though it was weak and there was a curtain of fear clouding her eyes. I helped pull her to her feet and we kept running, towards the beach and its white sand, shining through the leaves. It seemed so far away, though it couldn't have been more than a hundred meter.

The run was spotted with rumbling earth, the ground shaking enough to throw us sideways and careen us into trees, or each other, or the ground. It felt like the very earth was against us, and I couldn't help reaching out to take Luce's hand.

If I lost her, there would be no point in getting off the island.

We finally burst out of the treeline onto the beach as the ground shook again, and I nearly screamed as I free-fell towards the sand, inevitably burying my face in it. The soft grains wormed their way up my orifices and I spat out grains as Lucia pulled me towards the dark figures boarding a boat, nearly two hundred yards away.

I'd never been much of a sprinter when I raced in school, and I'd never been much of a runner on sand period. I also never tried running with grains of sand up my nostrils, but it was a day for firsts. Luce pulled me along by the sand as we stumbled across the beach, trying desperately to find footing on the shifting dunes, made even more dangerous by the shaking earth. It was constant now, a permanent movement underfoot that made me walk like I'd had too much liquor.

Lucia was better at it than I was - she kept me upright, and nearly pulled my arm out when we both fell. I spat out more sand and kept going.

We were only a few feet away when the island started to break apart, in places where we could see it - the sand that the gangplank rested on seemed to sink into itself, and Luce pulled me ever hander towards it, barely managing to get the two of us on deck before the sand pulled half the walk in - the other dangled off the side like fishing bait.

I closed my eyes and hugged Luce tighter.

"Did everyone make it on?" someone called - presumably one of the Guardians, though my eyes were shut so tight I could only see blackness. A soft hand led Lucia and I towards a seat, where we stayed together.

"A pair got left - one from Crarog, and one from Aavayoh." I couldn't help inhaling, and for some reason, I feared it was me who'd gotten left on the island.

"Aria and Atlanta," another said softly.

I felt a cool hand on my face and pried my eyes open to see Lucia, staring at me worriedly. Are you okay? she mouthed.

I managed a nod.

"Look!" a girl shouted - though there were mainly girls left. I was the only male still alive.

We all turned in the direction of the island, which was rumbling audibly now, and trees seemed to be disappearing as the island split itself into fragments of rock and sand that bobbed in the water. It was hard to believe any of us had been able to survive for days on there, let alone eight of us - the eight of us left.

Entire chunks of rock, studded with foliage and life, sank underwater, sending up bubbles. The animals that were lucky enough to swim were quickly rescued by Elswyth, who cooed over each one of them like they were her children. The unlucky ones sank with the island.

Bird scattered out of the trees, some of which were barely above the waterline, their leafy tops being soaked with waves. I fancied that I could spot where Luce and I had been sleeping, but it was impossible to tell with half the island underwater and the other half near identical to one another.

The volcano was the last to go - it was leaking magma that'd been upset from the earthquakes and still pulsing out magic. The entire mountainous rock was swallowed by the ocean, to rest on its floor.

The entire scene, none of us could tear our eyes away. Muffled sobs came from Mei, who seemed more upset than anyone. Luce and I buried our faces in each other - her head resting in the crook of my neck, mine on her still-sweet-smelling hair.

"We made it out," I whispered. "Luce, we did it."