ADARA

Beautiful Navei script wound itself around the domed, rocky cavern where the crystalline light shone through the opening, making a near perfect circle around the bed of snowroses. Each petal raised with a single movement, slumped with the lack of any. Euron—Evyriaz, whatever he deemed to call himself, sat among them. Wrinkles formed into his brow, the only hint of the age which he came from, though his hand remained steady and slender, gentle with the vulnerability he carried between his thumb and forefinger with his armor glimmering underneath him. "Such were the words I first spoke — and lost when I fell into a crimson slumber... a slumber I was saved from by those who I fought to see an idyllic future," he remarked in the soft melody of the Irimountian accent, given a ghostly quality, then got up to his feet in one airy movement. He turned to them with a warm smile, a farcy from the descendent who carried his name. Arms open to greet them, his horns twinkled with the small, decorative crystals hanging off the tips. "Hello, those of the young world born from the silver ashes of the old... it is so good to truly meet you." A pause, where his brow crinkled, then he went on, "Forgive me, for mine addled memories, I am sure it was spoken of — an inkling, perhaps... unshared betwixt Echoes... but for what purpose have you come?"

Adara shared a glance with Fenrer. Intimidated and awestruck by the ferocious beauty as from the first when she beheld Yuven Traye, she approached and whispered, "We've come because we need your help." Hesitation cracked through her throat, but Fenrer's hand pressed against her spine urged her onward, though she had no right to speak for the Storm Wardens fighting and dying on the battlefield for this one moment. Euron studied her with a curious smile. It fell across her skin, the same studious expression the spirit of the crystal gave her — and the sacrifices given unto it to bring her to where she stood.

"You," he said, the tone softer and empathetic compared to the rumbled rattle of a formless shape backlit by a crimson dusk. "You, who spoke unto me and my name, a phoenix in the egg." He gave a small bow to her, but straightened out without pause before she could stop it in the first place. "Such is the strength of heart I hoped for in the future. Against all odds... to believe." His gaze slipped over to Fenrer, who held his silence, shoulders hunched. "Molvasolevu. Never had I dreamed I would meet the next Inheritor of the Flame." He bridged the rest of the distance, meeting them at eye-level though his smile faltered. "What is it you seek assistance from this old, split soul?"

Adara nudged Fenrer, who took in a breath. "The Storm Wardens are performing a Cleansing March on a possible broken rift — festering since a hundred turns prior, and we have reason to believe the Otherworld is at risk," he explained to the man he once thought was a god — a higher being. "With a Goliath classed Derelict. Many people are dying while we speak. We cannot afford the Echo Obscura to seep into the Otherworld. We need you on the other side. Many believe a Crimson Dusk is on the horizon, and if we do not win here, they may be correct." Fenrer stepped forward to Euron, a burst of frustration in his eyes, though like with Lasen, Euron kept his cool, without the fury of the time past. "Many fought and died for the beliefs the Ancients toted. To a whole lot of people, you are a god. But to stand here in front of you... you are just a man." He drew back with a small shake of his head. "We fought on faith, on the words the Storm Wardens bestowed. Thankless because if one sees us... Derelicts abound." He stared at Euron. "We've been sent here by your descendent to retrieve you, and seal whatever breach has been created from the actions of the darkness."

Euron's soft expression wilted into aged weariness. "Please, follow me. You shall see the truth for yourself." Without waiting to see if they would follow, he turned on his heel to head for a crystal archway dug into the rock face. It led into a tunnel of shiny gemstones of many hues. Adara stepped into the field of snowroses to catch up, but stopped when she reached the middle and her boots hit rock instead of grass. Underneath her, the floor of crystal, curved ever so slightly. It gave her the impression it was far bigger than what was visible.

Swirling with clouds, she choked at the familiarity. It's... a world sphere... but what's it doing here? Her attention drew up to Euron when the ancient Storm Warden stopped underneath the arch. Fenrer hesitated beside her, but then gave no thought to what was beneath them to catch up with the man turned god. Out into the open air, the land and horizon stretched out before her. Islands in the sky dotted and nestled themselves in clouds. Feathery wisps danced and crossed the distances with ease, with the starlit scar tearing through the sky. Euron looked between them, then pointed upwards where the stars collided. Her heart dropped into her stomach at the few darker ones, pulsating against nothing. A couple had turned red, rotting. Though none of it reflected on the Otherworld. One crimson star flipped between searing brightness and dim truth.

"The Twilight Sea... the Umbral Crossing," Fenrer muttered as he stared upwards, his eyes reflecting the inky, star splattered sea.

"The Soli'lonav, as we called it in Navei." Euron turned to them with a smile, and she noted to ask Yuven to translate. "Your concerns... are valid, but though I am but a man... we prepared for any eventuality. As Ojain crossed into the Echo Obscura, I took it upon myself to cross into here at a crossroads — would that my home did not suffer for both me and my baby brother's flaws." He brought his hands out, snow tangling around his fingertips. "Worse still that I carried that anger, the fury in my heart for so long... until it was but ash in my mouth and blood in my nose. Such was the Corruption's malevolent influence... turning me into a twisted reflection of myself, with a Derelict playing the part. As it fed on life, it created death." He swept the snow over the edge, and Adara stepped back when a thin veil formed. Images blurred. Space and time bent. "For only one thing could ever awaken me from the slumber I put myself in to preserve a sense of peace, even as the parasitic husk replaced mine own heart. The call of an innocent. Those I swore to protect."

"The Fall of Irimount," Fenrer mumbled beside her.

Euron gave a slow nod. "We fell long before that," he gave a quiet correction. His attention drew up to the sky when the brightest star continued to fight against the darkness encroaching on it. "If the blizzard was to be the end result, I would send myself into this world to seal the split myself and the First Flame created, to drain out the depraved and hungry back to where they came from and out of Mich-zarlun," Euron whispered. "At the cost of the world we knew for the world we may never get to see. The damage we created to cauterize a wound." He created another veil to push at the next. "Desperate." It slipped over the first. "As long as I remain here, the wound cannot open, but if I were to return, the Source Rift would have to reopen... and it would unleash what awaits in the separation. Little pockets are manageable... but the Source Rift must never open again." His tone came out more authoritative, a command when he turned to them. "The Twilight Sea is a blanket betwixt the Echoes of this world, your world, and the world the Derelicts breed within and drain." Euron dropped the veils. "You should know that better than I, Molvasolevu. You have the ability to behold it."

Fenrer jerked. "Well..."

Euron faced him with a small shake of his head. "I bid you... do not look into the abyss overlong. You may find yourself staring back."

"So..." Adara drew out in the silence. "You can't come back?"

"Even if I wanted to. This Echo is safe... for the time being. You and yours have followed your faith and beliefs. It has kept the pus at bay," he told her while Fenrer appeared to ruminate on his words. "I know a time will come where the pressure will be too great... the wound will slowly start to fester and open again, but we have split memories, the flow of magick itself and lessened its influence on your world." His gaze rested on her. "Though you are a beacon... your coming also tells me that we are far too close to a precipice." He headed to her. "You are untrained, untapped. You would need one of equal magicks to you to wield it."

"But all the Anima are dead," Fenrer pointed out.

Euron turned to face him with a tilt of his head. "You... misunderstand me. Anima you speak of... that's just another word for magick being... you are no more an Anima than she is," he said, motioning at her. "Anima — soul. It's the capability to touch the deepest parts of the flow that separates us from you... and for that... is an unnatural formation. A necessary, but regrettable one. It is magick Derelicts feed on. Magick and soul."

Fenrer paused, then widened his eyes. "So... during the Great Crimson Dusk in pushing out the overflow back where it belonged... you halved magick?"

"Just so," Euron whispered. "By using two points across the lands to create a giant glyph — powered by the blood of Anima." He sighed, his weary brow heavy with guilt. "Many were warned of such... and yet many still chose it. Better than to die with no soul left... to become a spreading infection into the Echo Obscura. Anything, for our world so teemed in life and magick, it was a feast too irresistible for them. The ones born of the Ushunex'soli." Another word to translate, and her desire to return heightened. "I am sorry that I could not help you further, but for now, you can rest easy — this world is safe. You will know though, when it is not." It was then his gaze settled on her alone. "You, especially... Adara Sazaka. Everyone has a role to play in what is to come. If we were the smoldering ashes... all of you are what was born from it. Take heart... protect it well... it is the only world you have."

Her name crawled off his lips and pierced deep into her soul. It rang with a song in her ears. A cold ember in her heart, but the sensation disappeared as fast as it came when she gripped onto Fenrer. Euron's smile became warm once more, instead of the authority and wisdom of a being beyond her. "Alas... the longer you remain, the more you become one with this plane," he told them. "I can send you on the rivers of soulstars." He nodded at Fenrer, who tilted his head. "I will close the door behind you, and continue my duty to the last as a Storm Warden." He raised his hands out, spheres of pressure growing along his palms, but he frowned and looked over their shoulders when soft moonlight started to spread from the cavern.

Adara followed the source.

In the middle of the snowroses, a pillar of light started to widen from the world sphere stuck in the ground. Fenrer brought a hand up to his belt, but Euron stopped him with a quiet hiss through his nose even as he held the growing spheres of pressure. His uncertainty evolved into curious amusement. "Ah... life for life," he said with a sigh. "You must leave. You are needed on the other side."

"What's going on?" Adara asked as she stared at the wondrous light. As she turned around, she grunted when Euron slammed the pressurized orb into her chest, doing the same with Fenrer who gave a startled, tight gasp. "Hey!" Unable to catch shapes through the light, the sensation too familiar. Images of the gale Yuven created to bring them out of Evyriaz's death glyph. A slingshot of her soul, she choked on the inky darkness when it swallowed her. Stars bounced across the waves, ash-sprouted wings tried to catch her when the green star followed suit, and they both slammed into the sea below as the beam of light disappeared past the layer of the Echo as crimson tangles started to stretch for it. Denied entry, they spread away from the light, inching closer to them.

Sinking deeper.

Crushed lungs.

It stung her eyelids, and she lunged up at the sound of cracking ice, right into Maria's hands and a cup pressed into her lips and a tutting noise from a certain white-haired nuglet. Blurry images turned into sharpened focus as Maria clapped her back when she coughed. "Easy," she said. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

Yuven leaned beside Fenrer, helping him up too, though his wake up was far more sluggish as he opened his eyes. Galactic spirals spinning across the stars as he held his brow. "What happened?" Yuven said.

"Uh... a lot."

"What did you see, thank you. Was the plan successful?"

Fenrer squeezed the shoulder he was using as support. "A couple things... but to put it short, Euron couldn't cross. For that, we'd have to reopen the Source Rift of the Derelicts... and that can't happen. He assured us though that the Otherworld will remain unaffected for the time being," he told him with a quieter cough as he hiked up his knees to straighten himself out. "But... I saw something else. I saw... well, not saw, I heard Kemal."

Yuven furrowed his brow. "Kemal? Why?"

Fenrer looked between them, and gave a confused shrug. "He was asked a question. 'What are you willing to lose?'... and then it went black. I couldn't see much else except him and... maybe a couple others, they were talking—no... fighting? Or just finished." He brought both hands up to his head. "My head's killing me."

"You both will have to write a report. Leave no details out," Yuven chittered, then sighed as Maria fed Fenrer a different cup. "I have... news of my own."

"What is it?" Adara asked when Maria gazed over at Yuven with a frown.

"To put it simply," Yuven whispered. "Volaris has followed Irimount. It is a frozen ruins, mired by Derelicts and the dead." Her heart lodged up into her throat, but before the question could leave her lips, Yuven's head lowered further. "I flew over to try and prevent a repeat... only to be a bystander to its destruction. Princess Hayvala is dead, and I have reason to believe King Laucan has also perished in the destruction." He gripped onto Fenrer when he slumped. "I am the only one left of the family... no longer the prince — by all accounts, respects, and inconvenient, rage-inducing technicalities." He lifted his gaze. "I am the King of Naveera. King of the ashes and snow dunes." He tilted to the side to release a long hiss, throwing his fist down onto the ground. "Because of course... I wish for them to suffer the consequences of their actions, to never be able to haunt my life." A plume of mist left his nose. "Not that the title matters where there is nothing left to govern, to rule. It changes nothing."

"It changes some things," Fenrer mumbled.

"How?" Yuven growled.

"You have king's blood..."

"They already got Laucan's, mine, and Hayvala's." Yuven let Fenrer settle himself. "As I said, it changes nothing. It is a frustrating technicality that I am hopeful can be rectified and I never have to think about it again, but we must return home... see how the battle went."

"Yuven—" Adara got up with Maria's help, but she stopped when he put a hand in her face. "Wait, I need you to translate a couple things I heard."

He lowered his hand. "Go on."

"Okay." She gathered up all ability to speak Navei. "Sol-Solilonav and Ushunexsoli."

"Come again?" Yuven asked, proving her butchery of the singing language.

"Soli'lonav and Ushunex'soli," Fenrer echoed with more practice.

"Oh." Yuven quirked an eyebrow. "Space and Black Hole.... Roughly." He peered at Fenrer. "Is that all? We are wasting time the longer we remain here."

"Where's Evyriaz?" Adara questioned.

"He went back down into the depths of the sepulcher to rest," Maria said.

Back in her own body, stretching out her magick underneath her skin, she gave a quick nod. "Right. Yes, I'm ready at least... we have a lot to share, and for once I agree with Yuven... we don't have a lot of time to share it."

Yuven stared at her as if she grew four heads, but Euron's words echoed and reflected the words written to her on a piece of parchment. A phoenix in an egg. The ashes of the final silver flames. Her hands trembled, the sinking feeling becoming a mass.

Why do I... have a terrible feeling... and when he spoke my name I... Adara clutched her heart. What's happening?

Questions unanswered, it tingled at her nailbeds and threatened to become a wildfire once more.