Alias gripped her hand fiercer than he ever had before as the world dissolved around them and fell back together, not to form the meeting hall of Community, but to shape the entrance of the cave.

As she felt his dead deep through the bond, she casted her eyes towards him, and her body immediately tensed as she absorbed his white face, utterly pale and void of color. Never had she seen him so shaken.

He stepped away from her, letting her hand fall from his. "They don't listen," he said hoarsely. She felt a spark ignite inside of him, felt it steadily build until it reached a dangerous peak. "How entirely daft can they be?"

She watched him trail throughout the rocks, running his hands along their hard surfaces as he went. His feet dug into the ground with every step, and his fingers bit into the rock, as his aggressive nature flashed to the surface. She let him weave throughout the field as his anger came in waves, swelling then dissolving, and continuing in an eternal repetition.

Finally, she intervened; tracing his steps and following him through the rocks until they reached the very spot she had held him to her, begging for the life to reenter him. "Alias, no matter what they may think now, the Masters will come, and they will get their wake up call. They will prepare for war, and at least now they won't be entirely surprised when it comes, or unprepared. The seed of doubt and anticipation you planted in their heads may be small, but it'll sprout, and they'll act."

He shook his head. "I don't understand how after everything we've been through, they could take the risk. They're so consumed by fear that they can't see what's right in front of them; you, me, the danger. They're blind."

She sighed sadly, stepping to his side as they both looked down to the shapes in the ground of freshly sprung grass, when her ability had made an appearance at last. She let her eyes fall shut and open the gates to welcome the power that waited for her, felt it accumulate and then rush forward, and she embraced it now, embraced mother, and reveled in the warmth that enveloped her and Alias in return through their bond.

When her eyes opened, she smiled as she noted the grass that had spread over the entire surface, at the flowers she had encouraged to bloom. It was beautiful against the stark dark of the reddish rock that jutted out of the world and piled around them.

She looked to Alias who looked slightly dazed, mainly ruffled. Her power enthralled him, just as it did her, but to a mere mortal it was intoxicating. But he was more opened to her than he had first been, more accepting of her powers and who she was; what she was.

"Most people stumble through their entire lives blinded, and they never wake up enough to notice what's right in front of them." Their eyes locked.

"Is there hope for my people?"

Her heart skipped a beat, and the sensation was funny to her. She had grown accustomed to her mortal body, but with the knowledge she had recently repossessed, some of its functions still stunned and astonished her. She loved how her emotions could physically affect her, could impact her so deeply and thoroughly, how she had the ability to react and connect with other people on an entirely new level.

She smiled slyly. "What happened to the boy who didn't believe in hope?"

He looked at her amusedly. "He was shown the light."

"You still are rough around the edges, but you have softened, Alias, and it makes me happy to see you capable of such a thing. It gives me hope."

Mirth dissolving, smile slipping, he frowned. "I am not soft. I will never be gentle or kind. I will never be like you, or capable of it."

She chuckled and shook her head. "You are much more similar to me than all of you assume. I am mortal, or as much of one as I can be, like you. The happiness I feel, the joy and sympathy I can encompass, I am granted that ability through humanity. There are two sides to every coin. Humans are capable of such grief and delight, pain and pleasure, dark and light. It all decides which you choose to express. Remember that behind the veil of the sky, awaits the light."

She turned her feet and stepped lithely, body swiveling as she mimicked her dance from the woods, her waltz of creation. "To answer your question, I know there is hope for your people, for humanity, but what you choose to do with it depends entirely on yourselves. I can only guide you so far, and the final fate coincides with you."

"My people are damned, all of humanity is. We brought it on ourselves when we drank from the chalice. There was no other option for survival, and we accepted the risk."

She stopped moving and walked up to him, almost standing nose to nose, and she met his eyes. Her hand grasped his and he tensed, but she retrieved the knife from his grip. "Where did you get this?"

His face hardened. "The man who sacrificed his life to save mine gave it to me. It was his sole possession, and he wanted me to have it as it would not be of any more use to him."

"A man, who did not know you, just out of kindness and gratitude, gave up his life to save yours. Surely he would not do such a thing for a life not worth saving, and surely such a life, if it was damned, would not have still fought despite losing so much to save everyone, to fight for a cause much larger than themselves due to moral conscience. Such people, such a life, do not sound damned to me."

Acacia twirled the knife between her fingers, threw it up in the air and effortlessly caught it; the deadly beauty of her skilled and swift moves startled him as it contrasted her gentle prettiness. "I think that the chalice did not damn you as much as your consciences did. The chalice might've hardened you, infused a darker source of magyk in your bones, but it did not blacken your souls or hearts. You did that on your own. You choose to believe that and behave that way because it's easier than the alternative."

"And what is this alternative that scares us so?" He challenged.

She stopped fiddling with the knife and looked up to him. "It's easier to give up on life, on love, to be brutal and hate filled, than to face your inner demons and succeed beyond them and to allow your hearts to love again. So frequently, people mistake compassion and vulnerability for weakness, but to bare yourself is one of the bravest things you can do." Her eyes met his and dazzled, taunting him, testing him to argue with her.

He didn't deny her statements, didn't accuse her of being daft or pathetic as he would've done before, because for once her words sunk in and he thought back to the forest and how she had moved him enough to dance, to laugh, and what a terrifying plunge it had been to allow himself to trust her and gradually let her in past his defenses. But he didn't regret any of it, would never regret any of it as he felt lighter and more jovial than he had in a long, long time. He felt alive. All because of her.

She let his knife fall to the ground, didn't look at it as it hilted in the dirt. She waited for him, didn't push but invited, to make a gesture, to choose his next move.

He took a step closer to her, smiled at her as she titled her head back to gaze in his eyes. Hers were so beautiful and clear, so clean and bright. His were black as night, wild but strong and loyal. He was imperfect, but that was what made him perfection.

"Thank you," he said gently.

Her brows rose, creases forming across her forehead. "Pardon?"

"Thank you for teaching me to use my heart again, or rather for helping me to rediscover it. I was hurting in the caves before. It nearly killed me at times to be trapped in there, but you helped me to find freedom, not just in the world but in myself. You made life beautiful again, glorious. I...I don't regret what happened in the beginning, what we've gone through." He murmured, eyes looking downwards as an uncharacteristic red tinged his cheeks.

She covered her mouth to conceal her smirk, composing herself before he could notice. "You no longer resent me?"

His eyes looked back up to hers, enrapturing her. "If anything I cherish you."

She felt herself flush, such a peculiar feeling, one she had been yet to experience. She grinned at him, stunned by his sudden change in direction. At every twist in the road, he stunned her, and she cherished him for it. "Alias..." A million thoughts scrambled her head. There were so many things she wanted to tell him, that she should say, and others that she never could. She gazed at the hard planes of his face, yet his giving eyes. "I will never forget my time with you."

He smiled. "That is a large statement for someone who will live forever, who has already done so."

She beamed back. "You're special," was the only explanation she needed to offer.

A delicate silence hung between them, but it wasn't the empty kind that gapped between bits of conversation. It was full and heartening, and held all the words and emotions they yearned to share but wouldn't, could sense but wouldn't say. It enveloped them and caused Acacia's heart to balloon out, caused her eyes to prick with tears as she became so overwhelmed with emotion, with sheer feeling. Alias' fingers tentatively wove through hers, and their hands knitted together. They looked out and up at the veiled sky, at the shadows that tried to engulf them, but were no match for their prevailing light.

They stayed side by side, dark boy by bright girl, mortal by god. They said nothing; they needed to say no more. And they remained together, tied by an invisible connection, fingers intertwined, and as the sky grew darker, they remained bright.

Together they stood, as the world creaked then groaned, cut then split, and all of its monsters came pouring out.