CLEAR, FRESH AIR SWIRLED PAST HIM.

Mori closed his eyes and breathed it in with a sigh. It looked like Ren's device dropped them right outside the clock tower on Aurelios: a tall, translucent pyramid-shaped building.

Mori couldn't help but stare. It was the first time he'd seen a tower that didn't just climb. It stopped seemingly just shy of the crystalline sky, a clear, cloudless blue that stretched on for miles.

The doors were already open. Ren marched through with long, determined strides. Mori and Argent followed behind, up several flights of crystal stairs until they reached the top room of the tower.

Their feet reverberated against the glassy floor as they stepped inside to a circular, open-air room. Crystalline arches surrounded the space. The sky seemed so close here. And behind its veneer of azure blue, Mori could make out stars splayed across the sky, a galaxy just out of reach.

He took in a sharp breath. They really were at the top of the world.

A seething mass of shadow sprawled out from the centre of the room. Dark vines trailed out over the floor, winding round the crystal arches. Ren approached the centre, glancing at the vines with a frown pulling at her mouth.

She reached the middle and drew back sharply. "Suria," she muttered.

Mori hurried over. In the centre of the shadow, a young woman lay unconscious. The tendrils wrapped around her body and dug into her skin, black veining spreading from the vines.

"What happened to her?" Mori said.

Ren shook her head. She reached for one of the vines, but it didn't move from Suria's body. "I need to get her out of here."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Mori said. "You said she was trying to destroy the towers."

Ren bit her lip. "If she's been trapped here this whole time...maybe she didn't."

"Then who destroyed Arkos?"

"I don't know." She looked at Mori and Argent. "Have a look around, see if you can find some unused timepieces. I'll try and get her out."

After they'd gathered enough, Ren got to work disassembling them and stitching together a new one with the spare parts. Mori watched her put it together, stunned she knew the system well enough to be able to make a timepiece right off the bat.

Finally, Ren wound it up. For a moment, nothing happened. Then light burst from the watch face. The shadows writhed and squirmed, and finally receded, shrinking back into the floor and disappearing.

Suria gasped and dropped to the floor. Her eyes flickered open, hazel-gold with flecks of green. She looked at Mori and Argent before her gaze fixed on Ren.

"Oh, Ren." She had a softer voice than Mori expected, airy and melodic. "You don't know how happy I am to see you here."

Ren frowned. "What happened to you?"

Suria sat up and got to her feet, brushing dust off her dress. "You were right. The secrets of the system, all the things we couldn't figure out. It was all hidden in the void."

"Don't tell me you were down there." Ren stepped away, shaking her head. "We agreed we'd leave that place alone, remember? What would happen if you'd ended up trapped down there forever?"

With a start, Mori realised she had been trapped. He'd seen her before, asleep in the void.

"It was the only way." Suria looked steadily back at her. "And I had a plan for getting out."

"Really?" Ren said. "It didn't seem to have worked."

"On the contrary, it worked perfectly. You came and helped me." A little smile crept over her lips. "All you needed was the right push."

Ren tilted her head, confusion written over her expression.

Then she tensed, and her face went white. "Arkos."

With a lurch of dread, Mori realised what she was saying. Heat bubbled up and burst in his chest.

"How could you?" Mori shouted. He lunged for her. "There were thousands of people on that world! You killed them all just to protect yourself?"

Suria flicked her hand, lifting Mori into the air with an unseen force before throwing him back against the ground. "Oh, it's not like I'm the only one."

Mori rolled onto his side with a groan. He tried to call on the energy locked in the syncroiniser, like he had back in the void. But only a feeble burst of power sputtered from the watch.

Suria waved a dismissive hand. The ground between them dropped away, cutting a chasm across the centre of the room. Mori and Argent plummeted a storey down to the clock room a floor below. Mori landed amidst crystal shards and debris, coughing.

"Ren?"

He looked up. Somehow, Ren had managed to stay on the floor above, hovering in mid-air.

Suria tutted and moved towards her. "Still playing with timepieces, Ren? How childish."

A wave of fog rolled over the gap, obscuring the two from view. Mori pushed himself to his feet. "We have to help."

"I'm not convinced we'll be that useful..." Argent said, but he followed Mori out of the room and back up the stairs regardless. The tower shook with blasts of energy as they climbed. The crystal pillars flashed with rose coloured light. Mori and Argent stumbled through the fog into the top chamber only to find Ren and Suria locked in a fierce battle.

Ren rolled to avoid a shower of pink energy bolts. The column to her left cracked and it flew in front of her to block the next attack. Pink light exploded against the crystal, shattering the column into fragments.

"That's all you can do, isn't it?" Suria's voice echoed though the fog. "Run and hide. That's the difference between you and me, Ren. I'm not a coward. You had power, and you ran from it. And look where you are now."

Suria appeared, floating above the fog. She lifted her arms and two more columns split away from the wall and flew towards Ren. "Still playing with children's toys, while I hold the keys to the universe."

Ren crossed her arms in front of her, then wrenched them apart. The column split in half down the middle, parting to avoid her. Ren leapt back to avoid the second. It crashed into the ground. The crystal shattered against the ground, littering the floor with iridescent fragments.

Suria dropped to the ground, summoning a massive ball of pink energy. It crashed into Ren, launching her across the room. Ren crashed against one of the remaining arches and slumped to the ground.

Ren pushed herself onto her hands and knees, wiping blood off her mouth. "I got you out of the void, isn't that what you wanted? What more do you want if you already know everything?"

"The system has to be destroyed," Suria said. "That's the only way to fix everything. Every tower on the system must fall. Scrubbed clean and rebuilt." She strode forward and grabbed Ren by the collar of her shirt. "And you're going to help me do it."

Ren stared back at her. "You're delusional."

"The exact opposite. I know the truth of this world." Suria said. "Nothing can stay as it is. The system is flawed, Ren, right at its core." She sighed. "I suppose you wouldn't understand."

"Fortunately I didn't bring you here because I needed your understanding," she said. Her eyes glinted, hazel sharpening to steel. "Only your knowledge. Someone blocked the information I needed to destroy the towers. Which means I'm back to plan A."

"But...you must know how to destroy the towers," Ren said. "Otherwise, how did you..."

Her eyes widened.

Suria smiled. Light ripped through the tower, punching into Ren. She hit the ground and rolled.

"Ren!" Mori ran over to her, Argent close behind him.

Mori grabbed the timepiece from her hands and wound it again. He pulled the debris from the fight in front of them, knitting the crystal fragments into a tight barrier. Suria's light crashed against it, but the pieces held.

Shit," Ren muttered. "I've been so stupid."

"What happened to Suria?" Argent said. "She wasn't nearly this unhinged last time we met."

Ren shook her head. Her hair hung over her face in crimson-soaked strands. "I don't know. She's completely out of control. Something must have happened while she was trapped in the void."

Another blast slammed against the barrier. Mori glanced back at them. "What are we going to do?"

"Nothing," Ren said. "You two need to get out of here. I can't stop her."

Argent frowned. "I don't think leaving you alone with her is a good idea—"

Ren shook her head. "She'll follow me wherever I go. But you two have a chance of getting out of here alive." The barrier rumbled again, and Ren winced. "It won't hold up much longer. You need to go." She grabbed Mori's wrist and pulled him close. "Take this, use it to get back to Arkos."

"Arkos?" Mori said. "But—"

A final blast, and the barrier fell. Suria marched forward, rose coloured light crackling around her slight frame. "There's no point in resisting, Ren. Give me what I want, and nobody gets hurt." She extended a hand to Mori. "This one is your apprentice, no? Perhaps I'll kill him first. That might change your mind."

Ren's eyes narrowed. "You're not killing anyone."

Suria gave her a thin smile. "I think I'll be the one to decide that."

Her energy brightened — hot and burning, like it had been when the traveller had attacked him. Mori braced himself, but something at his arm tingled before the attack connected. He glanced down. A miniscule pocket watch had been attached to his wrist. Its tiny hands rapidly whirred backwards.

Mori looked up, meeting eyes with Ren. "What did you—"

Mori's stomach lurched. The room tunnelled, stars dragging into long lines around him. It felt like a hand had reached out and yanked him back through space.

The last he saw was Ren's limp body, dangling in Suria's arms. He tried to reach out and grab her, call her name, but the scene faded out around him, and everything was lost from view.