Take the chapter in all its unedited glory, dammit. TAKE IT. 

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Chapter 48 - Inheritance

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Athira crossed her legs and rested her wrists on her knees. Shift and Zoe settled uncertainly beside her, copying her position.

"I'll protect your bodies out here," said Talon. She'd given him whatever colour she could spare, but he still wasn't half his original size. "Just make it quick, I don't know how much longer before Sloth gets mad enough to move." 

Athira closed her eyes and nodded. She let her colour flow, her thoughts free, every breath drawing her deeper into her mindscape. She could have let herself go then, fall without hesitation but she had another goal.

"Azarin, he, who comes through night,"

Black colour wrapped around her. 

 "Zark'n, he, who guides the light,"

It spread to Shift, licking its way up his legs until every strand of hair was black. 

"Laris, she, who holds the gem,"

Zoe was next. She didn't move, her faith in Athira complete. 

"Rathril zi la ish varen!" 

Athira let herself fall, pulling every ounce of expended colour with her as she descended into the mindscape. 

The usual rush met her as she found herself at the top of the familiar cliff. No longer was it barren, the tree large and lush, leaves stretching every which way in the beam of sunlight. 

It took Zoe and Shift an extra second to appear beside her. Shift helped a bewildered looking Zoe up as she glanced around, trying to figure out where they were. 

The ground cracked. 

"He knows we're here," said Athira, waving them over. "Run!"

They followed her, feet pounding on the dust as Athira led them to the cliff and its drop hidden by fog. She didn't slow as the edge came beneath her feet, hoping it'd inspire the same reaction in Shift and Zoe. 

"Jump!" she ordered, bringing her hands in front of her head like she was diving, praying they'd follow. For her plan to work, her mindscape had to remain as solid as possible. Remaining on it too long disintegrated it, and she had no idea if it could hold three people for more than a few moments. 

Athira continued to fall, leaving the fog behind her. The mindscape she and Rathe shared was laid out in all its terrifying beauty. Looking at it now, she could only imagine what it'd been like for Talon when she'd merely been exposed to Sloth's essence in the Warden facility. 

Spouts of fire spat from the scorched earth, no part left untouched by Rathe's fury. The reforming pillars of rocks lay crumbled across the ground, barely able to keep their chunks together through the vibrations, let alone an upright structure. Magma dominated all except the highest points, the usually calm, glowing pools bubbling themselves into froth. 

Athira brought her legs in front of her while she fell, intending to look behind her when she heard Zoe scream.

That's one way to know she followed. 

Athira flipped around so her back was closest to the ground, getting a lock on Zoe and Shift's positions. She wasn't about to have a second Shift-in-a-building incident. This time, she'd be aware of everything. 

Shift had Zoe's hand. Both were falling feet first about twenty metres behind Athira, flailing about like they were trying to get a grip on the air and climb it.

Athira glanced back at the ground. There was a patch of ground not far from where they'd land without outside interference, close enough to get Rathe's attention quickly. 

She rolled stomach-up once more and extended a hand towards both Zoe and Shift. She reached for them in colour. Once they were in her grip, Athira stopped her own fall and concentrated. 

Shift and Zoe approached quickly. Athira timed it, waiting until they were only a few metres above her to really start trying. The last thing she needed was some kind of whiplash to happen. 

She tightened her grip on them as they shot past her, hugging the colour around them and slowing their descents before pulling them back up to her height at a controlled speed. Zoe had curled around her tendril of black colour, clinging to it with legs, stomach and hands while Shift's open posture suggested he was trying to copy Athira's when she levitated.

Shift looked up. "I don't remember this place being quite so fiery," he said, glancing nervously at the ground."

"It's all fun and games until Rathe gets mad," said Athira, bringing all three of them to her selected patch of safety. "I don't suggest you try and shift that, by the way."

"Worked last time, didn't it?" 

"Yes," replied Athira. "But Sloth wasn't around then. Directly shifting Rathe's power will still affect your body, and the last thing we need is Sloth suddenly taking an interest in your body." 

Shift mulled it over. "Good point." 

They touched down on the earth and Athira released them. She flexed her fingers and grimaced, noting the tail and everything else had followed her into the mindscape. 

Family reunion time.

"What now?" asked Zoe, colour pooling at her hands. 

"Now," said Athira. "We get his attention." 

Shift grabbed Zoe and skipped several steps back. 

Athira decided to get creative. She flung black colour into the air above her like an anti-firework, seeing how much of the magma she could cover before it ate away at her starting point. 

 It took all of thirty seconds for Rathe to appear over the ridge line, sprinting towards them as his thick, knobbed tail lashed against the landscape and ripped deep chasms into the ground. 

"Oh colours," whispered Zoe. "That's the thing we have to fight?" 

"It's only his avatar," said Athira. "The fragment that placeholds his consciousness in my mindscape."

"And his personality is worse than his looks, if you can believe it," said Shift. "Remind me why we're doing this again." 

"Because a purple blob monster is going to eat us all during naptime if we don't."

"Oh yeah."

Athira held her ground. She threw up a shield of black as Rathe drew near to absorb the magma wave caused by his skidding paws of feet. 

She expected him to attack immediately, launch himself into a fit of rage at her mere presence but for the first time she could remember, Rathe paused, and he looked at her. Something that could be classed as a smile bared the razerblade teeth inside his mouth. 

The guttaral voice still sent chills through her. "Your true form has finally surfaced. You have recognised your destiny and come to accept your master and bring the ages into the Kingdom of Sin. " The infra-red gaze shifted behind her to where Shift and Zoe stood. "And you have brought Spectrum to sacrifice to me. I accept the tribute." 

"Not quite," said Athira. "I'm here to tell you that you're helping us put Sloth back in Thols, whether you like it or not."

Rathe snarled. The tail carved another ditch into the earth, stirring the magma. "You dare make demands of me? I am Rathe, I am wrath incarnate, I am--" 

"Cocky and rather egotistical, if you ask me," said Zoe, narrowing her eyes as she stepped forward. 

"Energy, you dare speak to me?" demanded Rathe. 

"We 'dare' do a lot of things," said Shift, joining Zoe. "You couldn't take me on last time, buddy. You're not going to get two of us."

Rathe growled. "If I were not trapped within this infernal mindscape by your pathetic will, if I were at my true strength, I would--"

"Yea, well, you're not," said Athira. "You're a fragment of your power, and I have two Spectrum to back me up. I'm going to portal you out into the physical world, and you're going to take care of Sloth for us. Understand?" 

Rathe seemed to consider this for a moment. His smile grew. "You do not realise what the Spectrum were designed to do, do you?" The ground trembled with his laugh. "You may as well unleash me upon your world now and save yourselves the misery it will cause you. The alliance of colour will not succeed. It never has--not even the Titans could manage it. What chance do you pathetic humans have?"

"You've been telling me it's hopeless since I was fifteen, and I'm still here," said Athira. "I've had enough of you. Shift, Zoe, bring him down!" 

They shot forward, green and yellow auras trailing behind them as they charged. 

Athira closed her eyes, levitating herself above the ground as she focused. They'd weaken him. She had a different job. 

She blocked out the world around her, falling back into herself and letting the colour dominate her senses. The sound of Zoe's lazers faded. Shift's insults about Rathe's mother fell on deaf ears. For Athira, there was nothing but her and the colour.

Athira cleared her mind with the well-worn scrap of familiar story. Azarin, he, who comes through night. She inhaled through her nose, taking in as much colour as air. Zark’n, he, who guides the light. The colour coiled, tightening, condensing. Laris, she, who holds the gem.

She opened her eyes, the world black around her. Rathril zi la ish varen!

Athira threw her hands forward, the stream of colour several times the width of her own body as she reached for Rathe. She'd never dream of attempting something like this before, covering Rathe's entire body in colour, dragging him into the physical world under the hope that his hatred of Sloth would outweigh his hatred of being confined, that she'd even be able to keep control but it was a last ditch effort. If Sloth woke here and now, two Spectrum would die. Thols would be taken over, Rathe's victory assured no matter what. 

The black colour climbed up his legs. He attempted to shake it off but Zoe deterred him with a lazer, brighter and more powerful than Athira had ever seen from her. The sheer brilliance of her attacks forced Rathe to look away as she kept the beams coming. 

It reached his waist. The sheer intensity of the black beam was pushing Athira's cloak straight out behind her, making her feet slip on the ground. The colour was burning her up, melting her insides into a paste sinking down to her feet but she stayed on her feet. Her left knee felt weak. She forced it back into place, tail flaring out for balance as the seven parts split once more. 

Rathe turned his attention from Zoe to Athira, focusing on the source of the black beam slowly covering his body. 

"Portal or not, I will not tolerate such insolence!" roared Rathe. 

Athira could do nothing to defend herself without risking her progress as Rathe conjured his own beam of glowing red and sent it spiraling towards her. She closed her eyes, preparing for the pain to hit when Shift came to her rescue. 

To her horror, he jumped straight into the path of the beam. 

Athira almost lost control at that point. Around Rathe's feet, Zoe seemed unaware of what Shift had done, but she could still save him if she hurried, he could shift her colour, he could--

Rathe's beam halted. It twisted on the spot, and like that it was sailing back towards Rathe.

Shift appeared from the fire, bouncing on the spot and putting out the fires that'd started on his clothes. 

"Shift," Athira squeezed through gritted teeth. "What the hell--"

"I'm change, right?" said Shift. For the first time since she'd seen him, green colour he hadn't copied from someone else raced around him. "So I changed the direction! In your mindscape, your opinion of us is helping. We're stronger than in the physical. I can feel it!" 

"That doesn't even make sense!" cried Athira. 

"Don't think about it too much or the rules in here might change!" 

Athira's mind was screaming at him at Shift as he ran off. 

Rathe was almost covered. One last effort, one last push and his head would be covered. One last effort and the dangerous part of their plan could begin, the part that decided whether they'd just saved the continent or doomed the planet. 

Zoe aimed another beam of light at Rathe's eyes, who roared as the yellow colour hit him square in the face. 

"I will not go down so easily!" 

A taloned hand came down, directly on top of where Zoe was standing. She dove to the side but wasn't fast enough. The tip of Rathe's claw caught her across the back and pinned her down, leaving a deep gash on her skin as she cried out in pain. 

Rathe laughed. Athira's anger spiked. 

It felt like she had Rathe in a blanket. He might be covered, but he could still move, still act, still attack her friends and hold them down. Still hinder their progress. 

This is my mindscape, thought Athira. I'm stronger. I'm in control. 

For the first time, she found herself believing it. Zoe and Shift could hurt him. Rathe was capable of feeling pain. They could drive him back, and that was just two Spectrum. What could seven combined do? 

Athira squeezed her fists, the molten muscles quivering in her arms as she took control of the colour around Rathe's arm holding Zoe down and lifted it up. A howl of effort tore from her throat as the limb unwillingly rose and Shift pulled Zoe out. Athira grabbed at whatever colour she had left and covered the remaining part of Rathe's head in black, sealing the portal around him. 

"Got...him!" she managed. "Get in...the beam!" 

Shift helped Zoe over, her injury already disappearing as her regeneration kicked in. Together, they jumped, and Athira dropped her link to the mindscape. 

She didn't need the familiar words to clear her mind and pull her back to reality. The pain did that for her--there wasn't much left inside her except the iron core of pure willpower holding her all together. 

*+*+*+*

Shift's consciousness spiraled down the corridor to reality feeling like a malicious presence was pursing them, which was, of course, the whole idea. 

He opened his eyes, finding his body still sitting where he'd left it, opposite Zoe and Athira on the ground. 

His gaze lingered on Athira's body. Her chin was pressed to her chest, a wetness at her cheeks and an expression of pure agony written all over her. He held himself back, her words echoing through his head as Zoe stood up beside him. 

It's going to take everything I have to keep him under control. I won't be able to help past that, just make sure he stays under control. 

You got this, Thira, Shift thought, trying to project it to her. You got this. Just hold on.

Talon swooped up. "Talia had to raise the earth below you. Sloth was getting too close to Athira, we couldn't push it back any further."

Shift glanced down, noting how the ground was some distance he couldn't jump and survive below them. "Yep, she did indeed raise us up all right." 

Talon hesitated, head directed at Athira's still form. "Is she...?"

"She's doing fine, Tal," said Shift. "We got Rathe under control, now we just--"

Athira's head jerked.

Massive amounts of black colour poured out of her chest, forcing back her shoulders and elbows even as her wrists remained locked on her folded knees. Her neck stretched up, a strangled gasp rising through her throat. The colour engulfed her, hesitated and flung out into the air above the crater as it took on the familiar, captive shape of Rathe. 

"It's all up to her now," said Zoe softly as she stood, unaffected by the height. 

The colour finished pouring from Athira, the torrent of colour settling into the thin stream that kept Athira linked to him. 

The way Athira had explained it, as long as Rathe remained covered, he was still technically inside her portal and through that, inside her control. If any inch of him broke through that cover, that control was compromised and she wouldn't be able to simply suck him back into her mindscape. 

Of course, Athira had no idea if Rathe would simply break free once she pulled him into reality, but her argument had been that it was 'only a fragment' of Rathe's true form. Shift kind of got lost in the logistics of it, but it came down to Athira's will versus Rathe's. 

Knowing that didn't help quash the seed of terror at seeing Rathe in reality, despite how much Shift believed in her. 

Rathe was about the same size as Sloth at the moment--several times the height of the tallest human. Instead of the drippy, sleepy theme Sloth was rocking, Rathe seemed prepared for war. His body was a weapon, every angle and aspect of him able to kill and inflict harm. His presence made Shift irrationally angry, the urge to attack growing harder to suppress the longer he stared. It was hard to hold himself back, but without the boost from Athira's mindscape to strengthen him, Shift could guess how it'd end if he gave in. 

Rathe raised his head, examining the air with the burning coals of eyes in his new environment. 

Once he sees Sloth, his anger should refocus. He should go straight for the other Sin.

And if he doesn't?

Then we've doomed the planet now instead of later. 

Rathe's great head turned towards Athira, following the tendril binding them together. The snarl appeared. 

He stepped towards them. Shift froze. Athira couldn't control Rathe's movements. She wasn't strong enough--no one was. This was a Sin, the very thing the Titans locked away because they couldn't defeat, and they were trying to use it as a weapon? 

Apparently the same thing was crossing Zoe's mind. "What in the name of colour were we thinking?" she said. 

"That we didn't have another choice," muttered Shift. 

He gave in, deciding nothing could damage the situation any more than it'd started off in. 

Shift pointed at the ground below where Sloth's misty violet figure was crawling over the ground.

"Sloth's down there," he said, wiggling his fingers when Rathe didn't move. "Go get 'im, Rathey!" 

Zoe snorted as Rathe actually turned to look where Shift was pointing. "I don't believe it."

As soon as the incarnation of wrath's eyes caught sight of Sloth, the world took Shift by the head and shook him as hard as it could, or that's what it felt like.

In the mindscape, Rathe's roar had sent tremors through the ground, but in reality? It took the atoms of anything and everything around him and scrambled them into oblivion until they no longer remembered their structure. 

Shift felt disoriented, sort of like his feet were now atop his head, an appendage that suddenly wanted to be on the ground. His vision swam as he staggered around seeking solid ground to lie down on and pull his stomach back into position when his questing foot found empty space and plunged towards the ground. 

His stomach dropped. Someone caught his wrist and pulled him back to safety, if you could call a narrow, shaking pillar of earth safe. His colour told him it was Zoe. His vision told him it was a blurred mess of yellow and pale coloured skin.

"Careful!" she said. 

Her eyes went wide and she tugged him back again, further towards the centre of the pillar as Shift blinked his eyes clear just in time to see Rathe collide into Sloth with a crash several times louder than thunder. 

Screams of panic echoed beneath the sound from everywhere as Elite, Warden and Colour alike paid homage to their mortal state before the Sins. 

One thing was quickly clear: Sloth wasn't built for open combat. It was slow, deadly in its own way, but against even a fragment of the Sin designed with destruction in mind, it was about as useful as a snail against the tiger playing with it. 

Shift watched on in numb horror. This is just a fragment of what we'll have to fight. How do we fight that? Then, a happier thought crossed his mind: Unless, of course, Athira loses control and it all ends here anyway. 

Two swipes tore Sloth's midsection open, spilling indigo coloured ichor across the ground. Rathe pursued the advantage, tail whipping around to knock into Sloth's injured side. His shape stayed coated in black colour, still within Athira's control as he unleashed hell. 

Rathe's voice stalked around them. "This will be my Kingdom, my energy, my first conquest!" 

"No...ooo," droned a second voice. Sloth rose up, the mist around it swirling, crawling into action. "Thols... is... mine. You... shall...not...consume me!" 

The mist wrapped around Rathe as he continued his flurry of attacks. Sloth weathered the assault, allowing itself to be beaten to the ground as unknown to Rathe, the mist coiled behind him, seeping through Athira's colour surrounding him and into his body. 

Rathe's barrage slowed as more mist infiltrated his body. Rathe raised his claws for another attack on Sloth's battered, leaking form when it dropped back to his side. 

"Sleep, Rathe...Give...in.....to.......oblivion."

The mist danced around him and Rathe fell to his knees, head dropping to his chest like a toddler without sufficient nap time. Sloth crawled towards him, ignorant of its wounds

Rathe, the incarnation of wrath, all powerful and all consuming, this avatar of his true self from Athira's mindscape or whatever other name in the plethora it seemed to have that you wanted to call it, was losing to something Shift would compare to a slug. 

A really, really, lazy slug that was, despite expectations, about to flop on top of Rathe and make him dinner. 

Words Shift thought he'd never, ever say left his mouth. 

"We need to help Rathe," he said, dodging the flick of Athira's tail with a quick step. The line between good and evil is getting rather thin here.

"He's only a fragment, he can't take Sloth alone." 

Zoe looked at him, holding out her hand. "Together?" 

Shift took it, their hands joining in front of Athira's face, just above the tendril stemming from her chest to Rathe below. 

"Together." 

Zoe found her light easily, pooling it at her hand as she looked back to where the Sins struggled against each other. Rathe was back on his feet, if only barely. Sloth didn't seem to care either way, still working on engulfing Rathe's black-coated figure. 

Shift concentrated on his colour, bringing it under his will for what was possibly the first time. Usually it just did its own thing and he rolled with it. Now, as it tried to copy Zoe's, Shift used the memory of Athira's mindscape to hold it back. It'd done something useful then, something that hadn't been anything but his colour. 

Change, thought Shift, letting the word surround him. Emerald flecks danced off his skin, not smooth and bright like Zoe's yellow but powerful, different and alive all the same as he took control of them. 

The yellow and green colour bonded, twisting together as they shot straight into Sloth's head and knocked it back off Rathe. 

It was the chance Rathe's fragment needed. He pounced on Sloth with cry of victory, burying its horns and teeth into the violet mass of slug as he ripped it to pieces. Shift and Zoe watched in silence, fingers squeezing each other in a clearer message than words could ever convey. 

Sloth's pieces tried reforming but there was nothing it could do. If it wrapped its mist around Rathe, Shift and Zoe would knock it back and give Rathe a chance to recover. If it sent the mist after them instead, Rathe would make progress. 

It took nearly eleven bursts of colour for Sloth to stay down and not rise again. Eleven shifts of power, each one accompanied by a grimace from both yellow and green as they crossed the grey moral area of assisting a Sin, unsure each time if they'd done too much and accidentally tipped Rathe out beyond Athira's control. 

Rathe scattered Sloth's pieces with precise efficiency tinted with rage. Fury was written in his movements, the long swipes of his talons and the thrashing of his tail as it brought yet another building down around him. Athira's crater was no longer the only hole in the ground, but it was the one the pieces of Sloth sank back into as its solidified form reverted to the shaded mist disappearing back into the ground. 

Shift exhaled, relief going with the expelled air, but Rathe wasn't done. The Sin tore into the ground after the mist, the black layer covering him thinning with every passing second.

One look at the fading colour around Athira with the slackened muscles and Shift knew what was going on. 

"She's losing him!" 

Glimpses of white detailing among the black covering of Rathe, at the white feather lines on Talon's body as he flew around the Sin's head jabbing at him with his beak called something to Shift's mind from the first time he'd been to Athira's mindscape. The tiny fragment of Athira's childhood memories, the painting she'd made on the wall. 

Shift's eyes fell on Athira's tail, the parts swishing around behind her. Strong apart, but strongest together. Seven become one. 

"Zoe," he said, not entirely sure what it was his colour was telling him. "Channel your colour at Athira's."

She frowned. "Why--" 

Shift stuck his hand in the barely thread-wide tendril between Athira and Rathe, summoning his colour to his fingers and pushing it in. "Just do it!" 

Zoe followed suit. The yellow aura drained from around her, leeching everything into the stream of black colour as Shift had done. 

Nothing happened. 

Shift was left standing, one hand in Zoe's, the other inside Athira's black cord feeling like the biggest moron in the history of morons, and he'd seen a few dumb criminals in his time. 

Good job, buddy, thought Shift, squeezing his eyes shut. He'd been so sure something would happen. Now you're tired, almost out of colour and still have a Sin on the loose. 

"Look," said Zoe. Her voice was barely more than a whisper. 

Shift didn't think he'd have the energy left to care. His body disagreed. 

The colour of the cord was changing. Without a doubt, the black was transforming, lightening into a dark grey, rapidly sliding through the shades of lead, steel and ash faster and faster until the cord matched the colour of the outlines--a bright, perfect white that illuminated the cavern in a single flash of pure brilliance that burst from Athira's body. 

Shift shielded his eyes as the colour overtook the world. 

When the light faded, Athira was unconscious and the cavern was clear. 

Of Sins, anyway, thought Shift as he took note of the rampant destruction from his vantage point. 

Thanks to Rathe and Talia, the floor was no longer flat. Few buildings remained standing at all, most reduced to rubble for some reason or another. The tiles were much the same. Few had survived and those that had were isolated in their victory. Around the outskirts, cautious movement was peeking out from the ruins in the eerie silence. 

Shift glanced at the ceiling, wondering why it was dark all of a sudden before realising the blue runes were gone. Athira's white blast of light seemed to have obliterated any evidence of them at all. Shift just hoped it didn't mean the ceiling was about to cave in, because at this rate he was about to just let it. 

Natural, non-Sloth induced fatigue took hold, bringing Shift to his knees. Zoe gave in a few seconds later. 

"Next time we bring out Rathe," said Shift, pausing for breath. "Can we make sure we have more than two Spectrum to deal with him?" 

Zoe laughed at that. Her platinum coloured hair was loose, scattered across her face with the dried blood from healed wounds. "That's the next goal, isn't it?" she said. "Find the Spectrum, whip them into the same shape as us veterans?" 

Shift smiled at her as his gaze dropped to Athira. 

She'd reverted back to her normal, human look, more or less. The runes were gone from her arms, the garments of the Owl sunken back into her colour or wherever it was they came from. 

Even so, she wasn't entirely unmarked from the ordeal. A long, detailed tattoo curled around her left leg, depicting a kind of feathered tail if it were to have flattened out into her skin. If he looked closely, there were similar markings around her hairline. 

Shift met Zoe's eyes, neither of them wanting to be the first to speak and voice the thing he knew they were both thinking. 

Commotion stirred below their pillar of solitude as people emerged. Zoe licked her lips. 

"Shift," she said quietly. "Remember what Kione was saying a few weeks ago, how the Spectrum couldn't succeed without that other thing?"

"The Prism," said Shift, chewing on his lip. "The thing that ultimately decides the fate of Thols depending on which side finds it?" Zoe nodded. Shift shook his head. "Only the Prism isn't a thing, is it?" 

"It's a person," said Zoe softly, dropping her gaze to Athira's face. "A person who can join the seven colours together into a united form."

"You felt that too, huh?" said Shift.

Zoe gave him a one shouldered shrug in reply, looking about as uncomfortable as Shift felt with his next words. 

"We can't let her know," he said finally. It was going to Zoe, hell, it was going to kill him, but something inside, that part of him he knew not to ignore was yelling louder than ever. "We have to keep it a secret." 

"Why?" asked Zoe miserably, pulling Athira's head into her lap to stroke her friend's forehead. 

Shift sighed, resigning himself to the words. "Rathe sees everything, hears everything Athira does. If we tell her, we tell him. We give away our greatest advantage. Even with the Herald hopefully gone, Rathe's still in her mindscape. He still has allies."

He looked at Athira, drawing strength from the peace on her face. She'd held a Sin at bay with nothing but the power of her will and colour, refusing to give in even when it clawed at her sanity, fighting tooth and nail to keep that control. 

If she's the Prism, thought Shift. We have a real chance against Rathe. 

"So... what do we do now?" asked Zoe. 

"Until we have seven Spectrum," said Shift. "Until we can confront Rathe, we protect her. We do anything we can to keep anyone else from finding out. Tell no one but confirmed Spectrum about what she is."

"A vow of silence," said Zoe, holding her hand out vertical to Shift. "Bound by colour until released by those who forged it."

Shift met her palm with his own. Yellow and green met between their skin, mingling with ease as they infused the other with a tiny part of themselves. 

"A vow of silence," said Shift, holding her eyes as he repeated her words. "Not torn from thoughts or scape unwillingly, hide this secret from prying minds." 

Zoe's colour broadcast her acceptance of his and she dropped her hand back to Athira's face in silence. 

The vow was something rarely used, an ancient aspect of colour most people had forgotten or didn't bother with. It protected an idea or concept--no matter how solid or vague they may be--from being stolen from your mind and prevented either person from sharing it without the other's permission. It was a bond easy to manipulate to your advantage, and as such, required utter trust between the two making it. 

 Below, Talia was surfing an earthen platform towards them. Shift took a deep breath, unable to stop his shaking as his body demanded rest. A glance at Athira made him wonder if someone would carry him out if he simply passed out next to her. 

Zoe gave him a small smile. "We've already saved Thols once. What's a second or a third time with more people?" 

Shift gave up and flopped back against the rock. 

"Twice the effort." 

*+*+*+* 

A/N - Okay so I've written literally 9k words in the last 12 hours. Someone give me a cookie, dammit. Epilogue inc as soon as I finish it. 

Vote? Please? Ily. <3