He stared at the void which was already beginning to close. The soil it swallowed earlier began climbing back up, solidifying back into the crater's floor. It seemed eager to erase the fact that something happened in this place. Kai-Se. He...

A curse slipped out of Nao-Zai's mouth. That's not going to work. Not when he could help it. A heavy weight clamped over him, stopping him in his tracks. He squirmed under it, but his whole body wouldn't budge. Tears stained his cheeks and he didn't bother wiping them away.

"Release me," Nao-Zai hissed. Seeing the slender shadow bleeding from behind and overtaking a portion of the crater's floor, he guessed it must be Chai-Song. "Let me go."

Chai-Song's beak clicks were loud. Almost stern. "After all the work we did, I won't be repaying you with doom," it chided. "The Piper made his choice. Let's honor that."

Nao-Zai swiveled to the fowl underneath its own clawed feet. "Then what's all of this for?!" he screamed. It didn't matter now, even if he was whining like a kid who just had his candy stolen. "I didn't come here to watch him die."

"Neither did we, but it's the outcome Fate has for him," Chai-Song answered. It removed its talons from his head, the curved claws scratching against the soil for the briefest second. "All we can do is to accept that."

Nao-Zai turned to the caldera. The floor was mostly back, the void-black circle in the center growing smaller and smaller. His fists clenched so hard his wrists started hurting. "Maybe for you," he said. "It's not the same for me."

Reol-Je lumbered over. "That's what led Han-Xi down the path they have taken," the tortoise jerked its head towards the crater. "Don't make the same mistake as the Amber Dragon did."

"Don't worry about the Piper," Chai-Song added. "You'd find another soul in a hundred years or so."

Nao-Zai whirled to the Sapphire Fowl, his mouth parting in shock. Did it just go there? What—

Do not put your faith in the Divine. Han-Xi's voice blared at the back of Nao-Zai's head. It had been so loud the dragon might have been speaking through the decreasing opening behind him. They will only let you down.

He gritted his teeth, looking to the ground and his worn boots. "You don't understand," he said, first as weak mutter. When the two beasts turned to him later, he raised his head and screamed in their passive faces. "You wouldn't understand."

And that had been the case for this whole endeavor. The Divine Beasts were only concerned with stopping Han-Xi and nothing else. If Nao-Zai and Kai-Se perished in the battle, they wouldn't probably blink an eye. They wouldn't understand what it meant to have a limit on one's life, on one's memory. Souls would live on, but this lifetime, this...circumstance would only exist once.

It's both the beauty and detriment of mortality. And with these creatures who carried on living for ages and ages, it's easy to take life for granted. It's easy to forget how to cherish the limitedness of time and how to fight for what one truly loved.

Maybe that's why Han-Xi went down the path that he did. Because even when he's Divine, he understood what it meant to live, to love, and to lose. That's why the dragon had been willing to bend the rules of the universe and fight Fate with his claws.

There's no way Nao-Zai would lose to that, Divines be damned.

"This is the only way," Nao-Zai stepped backwards. This is the only way I could fight for Kai-Se.

Then, he pivoted at the last second before Chai-Song or Reol-Je could stop him. He summoned Xin-Wei's bead and flushed its residual magic into his body. Let it heal his injuries and bring back the strength he lost. Chai-Song's shadow chased him down. Reol-Je's hisses resounded across the caldera. They're concerned about the stability of the prison, about the possibility of the bonds binding Han-Xi in the plane unraveling, about Nao-Zai messing everything up and undoing all of their hardwork.

Maybe Nao-Zai and Han-Xi weren't really that different, because damn the world. Kai-Se would always—always—come first. Because that's what love was like. It's not who one could be with for a day or a month. It's about someone who one chooses to be with for an eternity. A lifetime. Sometimes, even beyond.

Nao-Zai came at the edge of the closing void. Without wasting a breath, he dived inside. Just as his feet slipped through and Chai-Song's screeches blasted behind him, the prison's ceiling snapped shut. A silent sucking noise, then it's gone. And Nao-Zai was falling.

The prison wasn't anything like he imagined. It was a barren landscape stretching on for miles and miles. The sky was so dark red it was black-brown. The ground was as flat as polished marble. Nao-Zai scanned the horizon until his eyes rested on the curl of gold and the smaller figure staring up at it.

Kai-Se and Han-Xi.

They appeared to be lost in a conversation Nao-Zai was too far away to hear. Then, Han-Xi rose up to his full height, towering over Kai-Se. Words continue to be said and as he neared the ground, some of it became more discernible. Look....that. But I...give...satisfaction...ending a Divine.

Nao-Zai's eyes widened as Han-Xi opened his mouth and the temperature around the prison rose to a hundred rungs. Dear spirits. Not now. Light flashed from his periphery and he saw Kai-Se summon his own korza. There's no way he could fight off Han-Xi's blast with that. He'd be ash before the spell ever left his mouth.

Not on Nao-Zai's watch, though. He put his palms forward, Xin-Wei's bead humming to life. There might have been limited korza in this place, but the Ivory Tiger's energy was what constructed this prison in the first place. It's like coming home. He hurtled to the ground head-first. He released a torrent of korza straight into Han-Xi's head.

The ground slapped his shoulders but a remnant of Xin-Wei's magic absorbed most of the impact. He tucked himself in and rolled to a stop beside a cowering Kai-Se. Then, Han-Xi recovered and stomped towards them like a hungry snake. Nao-Zai scooped Kai-Se off the ground and scrambled away as Han-Xi shot another column of fire enough to singe the end of his hair.

Kai-Se squirmed, hands tightening around Nao-Zai's fenhai. The piper raised his head and surprise colored his features. Nao-Zai gave him a sheepish smile. "I'm worse than Han-Xi, it seems," he said. "I can't let you go either."

At that, Kai-Se's face crumpled into a mixture of relief and anger. "What are you doing here?" he demanded, his eyes misting. Within seconds, as Nao-Zao swervered around Han-Xi's mad blasts of flames and swipes of legs and tails from out of nowhere, tears streamed down Kai-Se's cheeks. It's a shame Nao-Zai couldn't wipe them away now, while he's running for both of their lives. "I told you I'd handle it!"

"It's not that I'm doubting you, but we're dealing with a Divine Beast here," Nao-Zai said. "You need a lot of boosts, and if I can only give you Xin-Wei's bead, I would."

Kai-Se blinked. "Xin-Wei?"

Nao-Zai shrugged. "Long story," he said. "Bascially, Han-Xi killed one of the beasts and I have its remnant. I can't seem to lose it even if I tried. It's just...here."

"And you can cast magic with it?" Kai-Se asked.

Nao-Zai couldn't understand what's the importance of asking that question now. Behind them, Han-Xi roared and leaped to the towering sky. The dragon's aiming from above. This was bad. "Yeah," he answered, nevertheless. "Yeah, I can."

Kai-Se pursed his lips and nodded. "You're right," he said. "I can't handle this alone. But you didn't need to follow me inside, just saying."

At that, Nao-Zai delivered an out-of-place chuckle. "No, I don't have to," he said. "But I chose to."

The piper raised an eyebrow. "Care to tell me why?"

Nao-Zai opened his mouth but a brush of red zipped for him. He shoved Kai-Se off him and took Han-Xi's blow in its totality. He heard his name being screamed as felt hard points slam and bury themselves deep into his gut. A weightless feeling swallowed his limbs as he arced through the space. A brand new pain echoed in the base of his skull when he slammed into the prison floor. Ugh. That's definitely made of stone.

Before his world stopped spinning, a hefty weight crashed over him, pinning him to the ground. Something crunched. Maybe it's his bones. Metal stained his tongue.

"How many more times must you get in my way," Han-Xi growled in Nao-Zai's ear. It wasn't even a question at this point. Rather, he couldn't tell with the ringing in his hearing and the relentless pain crowding in his limbs and gut, demanding all of his attention. There's surely some deep punctures there too.

Han-Xi's claws closed around Nao-Zai's head. His world swung into a dizzying current when the dragon picked him from the scruff of his fenhai and sent him flying somewhere. As he flew and crashed, lights danced against Han-Xi's scales. None of them stopped the dragon from bounding towards where Nao-Zai had crashed.

Nao-Zai's vision blinked on and off, sharpening and blurring at random intervals. His consciousness threatned to slip, but he bit down on his tongue to keep himself awake. Not yet. He wasn't going down like this.

The dragon answered his silent declaration by driving a claw deep into his gut. A deep squelch. Then, the pain. Somewhere in the haze behind the blur of gold and red, someone was screaming his name. Someone...

"You've come so close, young mortal," Han-Xi's silk-like voice bled into his ears as his life force ebbed out of his system, staining the prison floor. "But like your incarnations, it's so easy to kill you. Almost not worth the effort."

An almost-deranged chuckle ripped off Nao-Zai's lips. Through the blare of pain in his body and the dark spots marring his vision, he raised his eyes to Han-Xi's wounded snout. "I guess it's time one of us fights back," he rasped.

With the last of his strength, he opened his palm and there sat Xin-Wei's bead. Then, before Han-Xi or anyone else could stop him, he slammed it against the hard ground. A distinct crack. Nao-Zai gritted his teeth and summoned what remained of his energy. Focus on the senses. Leash the energy from around you. Make it your own.

Warmth drained off Nao-Zai's limbs, drowning him in impossible cold. Leash the energy. "Xin-Wei," his own raspy voice sounded so faraway in his ears. "Lend me your power."

A wintery front blew from the east, blasting into Han-Xi's side. The dragon stumbled back in surprise, drawing his claws away from Nao-Zai. That's all he needed. His korza slammed against the wild wisps of snow rising from where he shattered the tiger's bead. Then, he closed his fist, snatching all of that raw power back to his system.

The prison blurred. His limbs twitched without his permission, flailed without notice. Someone was screaming. Probably him. All of a sudden, the world stilled. Then, Nao-Zai rose. A new stream of magic and strength flowed in his veins. Han-Xi's eyes widened and his lips curled up in a snarl. But the dragon didn't attack.

It's alright to fear because Nao-Zai had come back with a vengeance. He was judgment. He was justice. And most importantly...

He was Divine.