Olivia was finding it more than a little difficult to concentrate on her conversation with Ericka later that night.

She couldn't stop thinking about Harpy, out there somewhere as the Serpent's captive. Every instinct was screaming at her to transform right this second and search the city until she found her, but the rational side of her that sounded suspiciously like Cryo kept her in check. She couldn't check the entire city. It was impossible.

"Liv?"

Olivia tapped her fingers on the side of her nightstand, her eyes wandering over the walls of her bedroom. Then there was Jason, what he'd said about his mother. She'd figured Aurelia would be the strict type, but what Jason had described seemed to go far beyond that. She was starting to think that talking to Aurelia might not have been as helpful as she'd originally thought. Her parents had always told her to tackle things head on, but then, they didn't live by the ridiculous temple formalities.

"Hello? Olivia?"

Olivia's gaze drifted out to her balcony where she'd left the door open for the breeze. She wondered where Jason was at the moment, if he was happy. And Ella--what would Ella be doing right now? Their chat with her this afternoon had been casual enough that Olivia could tell herself that Ella was making progress, but there'd still been something dark underlying the light tone of her voice, like--

"Skypillar to Olivia! Hello!"

Olivia blinked, her attention snapping back to the sight of Ericka's waving hand on her Liaiser screen. "Sorry, Rikky. I spaced out for a bit, but I was still listening, promise."

Ericka rolled her eyes. "Uh huh, sure Liv. What did I say then?"

Olivia pressed her lips together. "Umm... something about costume design for Starsong's dress?"

Ericka sighed. "Close enough, I guess. I made some alterations to Aurelia's original design. I was wondering if you think she'd go for it?"

"I don't know," said Olivia. "If you pitch it in a way that's all temple-y and stuff I'm sure she would. Ask Ariel, she'd come up with a way to sell it easily."

"Well, since you seem to be so out of it I'll release you from this conversation and go bug Ariel," said Ericka. "I'll see you--oh, wait! I wanted to ask, have you asked your parents about the Riverweed swim? It's in less than a week! Actually, it'd be a week from now since it's the same day as today just a week from now but--"

Olivia bit the inside of her cheek. "Um, I haven't asked, but I'm pretty sure the answer is going to be no. I'm still getting the blackouts, so I'm pretty sure I know how the conversation will go." She leaned to the left. "Hey mum and dad, can I go for a swim in the canals when literally everyone else in the city will be doing the same thing?" She leaned to the right and deepened her voice. "No, Olive, you know it's too dangerous." Leaned right, normal voice. "But I'll be careful and Ericka and Ariel will watch me--" Left, deeper voice. "Olive you can't expect your friends to be watching you all the time. All it takes is one lapse of judgement and--" She sat back up straight and sighed. "You get the idea."

"I'd watch you the whole time!" said Ericka. "I'd say they could come, but given it's a holiday it's probably one of the best days for business for them. I'll think about it some more and see if I can come up with anything."

Despite knowing that anything Ericka came up with would just be shot down regardless, Olivia smiled. "Thanks, Rikky. I'll see you tomorrow at performance practice, yeah?"

"You bet!" said Ericka. "Bye, Livvvv! Love yooooooou!"

"Love you too, Rikkyyyyyy!" said Olivia.

With a final wave, they ended the call. Olivia put her Liaiser onto the nightstand and promptly fell back on her bed, one arm over her eyes. She lifted it when she saw Viri's violet glow and moved her arms to make room for the little Ascended to snuggle against her chest.

"How are you doing, Viri?"

"I'm great, Olivia," said Viri. "All recharged and ready to go!"

Olivia smiled and scratched Viri on the head before dropping her head back onto her pillow. "Heh, I wish, Viri. No transforming tonight, I think."

She felt Viri shuffling around on her chest, probably sitting up to look at her. "But I thought you wanted to transform? You've been calling to me so loud tonight."

Olivia lifted her head up to find that Viri was indeed sitting upright and watching her. "What do you mean calling you?"

"We can feel when you want to transform," said Viri, tilting her head. "Back in the beginning, that's all we used to need to transform you, but it was... dangerous. That is why we need a key phrase to activate our powers now."

"Ah," said Olivia, reaching for her Liaiser to set an alarm. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I would have revealed myself in the first week if you transformed me just because I wanted it. Can't imagine anyone holding onto their secret long like that."

Viri hesitated before she drifted over to Olivia's Liaiser, hooking her little disembodied hands over the top of the screen. Her large, violet eyes were far brighter than the Liaiser's light.

"The Luminaries of the first civilisation did not have secret identities," said Viri, making Olivia completely forget what she was doing with the Liaiser. All she could do was look at Viri's eyes. "The city knew all of their identities. But so did the Other. It is what led to their downfall."

"Their... downfall?"

"The first civilisation, the one who built this city, was destroyed by those supposed to protect it," said Viri. "We had thought we could stop it. But the Other is cunning. It is cruel. And it devoured them. This city was not supposed to be inhabited again. It is dying. It is infected. But when your people re-discovered this city centuries ago, we could not let the Other take them without a fight, but the end is coming, far faster than it did for the first civilisation."

"Viri--"

Viri dashed up, centimetres from Olivia's face. Her violet eyes burned. Demanding. Urgent.

Worried.

"Olivia," said Viri, her hands on the tip of Olivia's nose. "The Other has learned, Olivia. It has learned. It knows why it failed the first time. It knows what it needs. What it needs to get rid of. What it needs to eliminate. It knows the one power that can stop it."

"What power?"

"Starsong," whispered Viri. "Only Starsong, but alone, she is weak. She needs her other half. Her other half. When she chose you, she knew. But she didn't. We do now. We know and we are certain. We have started the end with the only piece we had to our advantage. A year ago, we chose Cryo. For that, we are sorry. This was not meant to happen in your lifetime, but it was the only way we could break the pattern."

"What pattern?" asked Olivia. Viri's forehead was nearly against her own. All she could see was her Ascended's violet aura, swallowing her whole. "What about Cryo being chosen? Are you talking about Banshee's pattern?"

"Not the pattern of one, but the pattern of the whole," murmured Viri.

The Ascended pushed herself back in the air, drifting away from Olivia's face. Olivia blinked, snapping out of it at the sudden loss of contact. The violet glow was gone.

Viri's eyes were glazed over as she continued to mumble words that didn't make sense. "We have to catch the Other off guard. We have to distract it, long enough to give them a chance. Long enough. It will be their burden. We do not know how it will end, but together... together we can. Maybe. It's all so dark. I'm losing him. I'm losing us. It grows. The lock will not hold. It will not hold."

"Viri," said Olivia, reaching out for her Ascended. She scooped her up in her palms and brought her back, stopping her from drifting further. "Viri? What's wrong? What lock? Where is this coming from?"

Viri's gaze snapped back into focus. She stood up in Olivia's palms and blinked once.

"You must sleep now," said Viri. "Dream, Olivia."

Olivia burned with a million questions. She wanted to know why Viri could talk about all of this now when the rules had stopped her before--or maybe she'd always been able to talk about it and just hadn't. Her thoughts tumbled over one another, but before she could straighten them out into a question, the haze of sleep blanketed them all and she could no longer keep her eyes open.

She sank back into the pillow and was asleep before she knew it.

*+*+*+*

In the solid, quiet darkness of her bedroom, something called Olivia awake.

Strangely, she wasn't under her covers, but on top of them. She sat up with a shiver and rubbed her eyes, reaching for her glasses and Liaiser on her nightstand. After putting on her glasses, she tapped the Liaser's screen to life, squinting away from the sudden light of her ill-adjusted eyes. The time flashed across the centre of the screen--it was still the middle of the night. She had hours before she had to be awake.

Olivia shook her head and rubbed her eyes again, about to replace her Liaiser and glasses back on her nightstand and snuggle down under the covers when that same something--a feeling, deep inside her chest like it was buried under her tattoo--pulled at her once more.

"Viri?" murmured Olivia, nudging the little Ascended who was more shadow than anything tangible, curled in the corner of her mattress. "Viri, is that you doing that?"

Viri's violet eyes gleamed in the darkness as she shifted out of the shadows and looked at Olivia. "Is what me, Olivia?"

"This feeling," said Olivia, touching a soft finger to her tattoo. She swung her legs out of bed and headed to the still-open door of her balcony, called by the feeling. She'd forgotten to shut it--no, she hadn't forgotten, Viri had said things, about the Other and Cryo being chosen and Starsong needing her other half, but none if it had made sense. She'd had a million questions, and then--then she'd fallen asleep.

The breeze ruffled her fringe, the chill in the air causing the hairs on her arms to prickle. She remembered dreams, but they were all so vague. Misty silver-white and fog like ashen clouds, mixing and colliding and crashing in a storm like no other over the heart of the city. A storm that rained fire and death, and a song...

Olivia frowned, hand on her forehead. She remembered the song being so loud in her ears, coursing through her like her own blood, the one thing that could keep her alive, but for the life of her now--she couldn't remember it.

She turned around to face her Ascended, watching her with large, violet eyes. "Viri, what were you talking about before I fell asleep?"

Viri stared at her, unblinking. "Things you must remember, Olivia."

"But they didn't make sense," said Olivia. "What did you mean--"

Viri stayed at a distance. "If you remember them, they will make sense. But you must remember them. I doubt I'll be able to say them again." She paused, drifting closer and laying one hand on Olivia's nose. "Please don't ask me to repeat them, either. If he is listening, it would be dangerous."

Olivia pursed her lips. "Cryo would probably be able to work it out. If I tell him--"

"No!" said Viri. The violet glow of her eyes filled the room for a brief moment before releasing it back into darkness. "You cannot tell Cryo what I have told you. Cryo's own Ascended has passed on his own message to his chosen, but you must never repeat the words I said to you. When you two are together, he is always watching. He suspects. Those words are now only safe in your mind, Olivia. Do you understand?"

Olivia scooped Viri up in her palms. "Viri, you're being really strange tonight. Why could you suddenly tell me all of this now?"

She could have sworn there were misty tears in her Ascended's eyes when she next spoke.

"Because," whispered Viri, covering her hands with her face before her ethereal shoulders straightened and her gaze hardened. "We knew he wasn't listening to us tonight."

It clicked in Olivia's mind. "Your rules--the ones about what you can and can't say--the Other can hear what you say, can't it?"

Viri hesitated before nodding.

"What about my name, though?" said Olivia. "If it could hear you, wouldn't it be able to find me?"

"No," said Viri. "We Ascended don't speak the language of humans. When we converse, you speak ours, and in our language, your name is not... as you would usually understand it. That is all I can say without risking you."

"Gotcha," said Olivia, wondering if Cryo had come to the same conclusion and if it was safe to tell him that. "So--"

Her tattoo warmed as Cryo transformed, and a second later, tapped his tattoo twice.

It was random enough to pull Olivia's thoughts away from what Viri had said long enough to remember that feeling that'd pulled her from sleep and drawn her to the balcony door. That feeling was still there, sitting right in the centre of her chest, and if she let herself feel... it was drawing her to the temple.

"Viri, you said you weren't doing this, right?" said Olivia, guessing that Viri, still sitting in her palms, could feel it too.

"That isn't me," said Viri.

Olivia pulled down her shirt just enough to expose the top of her tattoo and found it glowing violet. The first thing she associated with the colour was Viri, but if it wasn't Viri, then...

"DragonFae," said Olivia, releasing her shirt. "She wants us at the temple. She's calling us." She looked down at Viri. "Ready?"

"Yup."

"Ascend, Shadow of Skypillar!"

The shadows wrapped around her like a blanket, warm and familiar, soothing the ache of lacking sleep through her head. Banshee's hair swept down behind her with its tips of white as Grief and Joy appeared and completed her transformation.

The darkness covered her and swept her across the rooftops towards the temple. Now she was transformed, the violet flecks of DragonFae's magic drifted off Banshee's tattoo through her tunic. They left behind a faint, purple light behind her that winked out of existence after she'd left it behind, like each fleck knew when its job was done.

Banshee let the flecks guide her, steered by their tug towards the Starlight Hall. She caught sight of Cryo as he flew across the night like a spectre of the stars before diving towards the ground near the Hall's base.

It didn't take long for Banshee to catch up, and when she did, Cryo was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.

He gave her his usual solemn nod that she would normally have made some kind of joke about, but tonight, she needed to ask him something else.

"Cryo, was your Ascended acting really weird tonight?"

"He was," said Cryo. "He told me some strange things, and told me I could not ask further questions and could not tell you."

Banshee licked her lips. "Did you work out why he could suddenly tell you these things?"

"He did not," said Cryo. "He merely mentioned a sacrifice had been made to ensure they were able to speak, then told me to 'sit down and shut up' while he spoke. After he told me, he refused to say anything further and merely sat there and stared off into nothing."

"Mine put me to sleep so I couldn't ask questions," mumbled Banshee. She bit her bottom lip. "Do... do you think they're okay, though?"

"I believe something happened that they were not happy about, but that they themselves are well."

"I hope so," said Banshee. A burst of violet flecks erupted from both her and Cryo's tattoos at the same time, whizzing through the air like they were trying to tug both Lumi's up the stairs but lacked the tangible mass to do it. "We'd better go see what DragonFae wants before she decides to turn us into a bunch of riverweed or something."

Up the stairs they went.

Even with the violet flecks that hung in the darkness like a hundred miniature stars, the common room felt way too empty. Banshee let them lure her towards the corridor marked with DragonFae and Golem's sigils, but just outside the threshold, she stopped.

"This feels weird," she whispered to Cryo over her shoulder. "Like we're breaking some kind of serious Lumi etiquette or something by going into their area."

"I didn't think you were aware that such etiquettes existed, Banshee."

Even though he spoke at his normal volume, the way his words plowed through the silence made her wince. "Oh shush it, Featherbrain."

Holding her breath, Banshee stepped into the corridor of DragonFae and Golem, half expecting Skypillar to smite her down where she stood. When nothing happened, she relaxed a little and allowed herself to take in the details.

Just like the corridor that held Banshee and Cryo's sigils above its doorway, this one led to a small house-like area. Ignoring her curiosity to glance behind every door they passed, Banshee followed the trail of violet flecks past the kitchen and a small private lounge to a half-open door that allowed a flood of multicoloured light to spill out onto the floor.

With the tips of two fingers, Banshee pushed open the door.

It was one of the bedrooms, though it looked as if the furniture had been changed around recently. Everything was in a haphazard array around the edges of the room with the exception of a bed pushed against the back wall. Long drapes of silvery material hung over the bedposts, creating an almost ethereal-like wall from the rest of the room, secluding it away from the rest of the world like some kind of fortune teller's tent.

The violet flecks urged Banshee to approach the bed, and as she did, she saw DragonFae.

The now-elder Luminary's tattoo blazed with indigo light in the centre of her chest, but the rest of her usually elegant, slender form was gaunt and pale. Her wings were folded down to lay on either side of her body, one of their edges torn and ragged. Her scales were dull. There were fresh bandages around her waist, thigh and neck and one of her horns had been snapped off halfway. She stared off into the space in front of her.

Banshee's voice got stuck in her throat. She'd known that Fae had been injured, but this badly? What exactly had they fought against that could have got past Golem and done this kind of damage?

The violet flecks around DragonFae coalesced and dove into her form. Like her essence had been returned to her body, she stirred. Her gaze regained its focus as she tried to sit up a little straighter, her wings rising into the air from her back before she winced and lowered the damaged one down once more.

"I'm glad you both came," said DragonFae.

"I thought Golem said you were healing?" asked Banshee, realising that most of the furniture in the room contained various medical equipment. She'd seen a fair bit of it in her time as Olivia.

"I've had to dedicate my magic to other causes," said DragonFae. "Masking your auras from the Serpent and scrying for the aurorastone was far more important than my swift healing, though Golem argues otherwise." She looked to her ruined wing. "Regardless, that's a conversation for another time. Right now, I need your help."

Banshee pressed her lips together as Cryo replied.

"What do you need us to do?"

"My scrying was successful," said DragonFae. "I found Harpy's location, but I made the error of informing Wyvern, believing him able to keep a level head. The first chance he got, he disappeared, we believe to go after her. Golem went after him, but I fear he will need help before long." She plucked one of the larger scales off the back of her hand. "I believe you're familiar with these. My essence will follow you and assist you, though my focus will be split between this scale and the one I gifted Golem. You have no time to lose."

"Should one of us stay to ensure your own protection?" asked Cryo as Banshee took Fae's scale. "What if the Serpent were to come after you?"

"It is a risk we must take," said DragonFae. "We cannot lose the aurorastone, and Harpy is the only one who knows where it is. If the Serpent finds it before us, it will spell doom for this city."

Something that Wyvern had said earlier made Banshee realise something. "And what if the Serpent let you find Harpy with your scrying to lure the rest of us in? To take the aurorastone off us once we have it?"

DragonFae's face set like her partner's stone.

"If that is true, you will see first hand what we have been trying to protect you from this whole time."

*+*+*+*

A/N - Loooots of hints in this chapter ;D Also I'm reeeeeeeeally excited for the next chapters. Squeeee. 

Thank you Marcus Mugo for jumping on board with Patreon! <3