ADARA

We're going to escape. I believe. I have to.

Out of her dress and her dreamy fairytales, she tightened every strap and checked her cuffs of the freshly laundered clothes. It fit with far more comfort than the dress, and she rolled out her shoulders and kicked the air. Ready for movement. Ready for the trials waiting for her on the other side of the palace walls while Kazmira and Hayvala kept her hidden inside the princess's room. Free of the extra ornaments in her hair and hands free for flexibility, her heart pounded with the warmth across her lips. In the safety of her pocket, the whittled wolf Fenrer carved with his own hands and handed off his faith in her. Across her shoulders, she tied Mother's crimson shawl close to her throat, a shield against the icy wind, a mother's love she refused to abandon. And someday... I'll go back to Tebora and get that little box.

"You must fly free, Little Bird."

Hope left her for too long, and the thorn dug deeper into her heart as Tara leaned against her and told the stories of the wondrous heroes with gleaming blades. Heat turned ice-cold at the memory of the lakeside, where she opened the silver lilies and Tara declared the beauty in everyone else's fear. Adara glanced in the mirror, with Tara's shadow reaching out to her. Her fingers curled into the shawl's tightly woven fabric. I wonder... I wonder if she and Fenrer would've gotten along. Wherever she ended up... Adara twisted around to Hayvala. "I'm ready."

Out of the room twice the size of Garren's loghouse, Hayvala led her through the quietest parts of the palace. "We have little time," she explained in her own rush. "I want you three out of here by the time the nobles return for the afterparty. I am having Kazmira drop some supplies at your escape route — Laucan and I are the only ones who know of it."

Adara stopped. "Isn't your brother going to be a problem?"

"No, I am quite certain that he will not try and prevent your escape. I make no excuse for my brother's actions... but ever was he a prisoner of his own hope. Any sort of chance, he'd take without hesitation, without thinking about the consequences, as with his age... the consequences can be everlasting with our lifetimes," Hayvala said, and her long moonshed feathers slumped. "I actually have not spoken to or seen him since... since he reinstated my place on the Council. I think he has now seen the damage he's caused with a single choice. It is Blackwall that concerns me." Hayvala quickened the pace through the white-tapered halls of crystal, snowing chandeliers. Around several labyrinth bends, Hayvala nudged her into a giant, beautiful throne room of marble columns. Navei notes rang up the colonnades, and behind the high throne, long panes of glass revealed the expanse from on high. Mountain claws curled around, a protective shadow against the elements.

Hayvala smoothed out her sleeves, then smiled at her. "I am heartened to have met you, Adara Sazaka, though I wish it was not like it was," she whispered. "In a way, this is also my fault." Her hands hung limp at her sides, then hooked on the fur sash around her waist. "Keeper's Blackwall interest in the world sphere stems from the fact that my entanglement was caused by it — and my baby brother knows loss too keenly. After the loss of our mother, the world changed. He doesn't want to lose again. Though I cannot condone how he behaves, I understand." Hayvala drew in a soft inhale. "Because it's that same sense of loss that drove me to mix my aura with the world sphere."

Mother. Jisa. Tara. Pain clenched her heart into a tight fist at Hayvala's familiar words. "What does he even want from it? What does my magick have to do with any of this?" Adara questioned. "I can barely control it — your brother has seen me lose control, and he still thinks I can do something about this situation your kingdom is in when I can barely help myself? When I haven't been able to use my magick to save one person let alone who knows how many who live here?" Tears lodged into her throat. "Don't you think I would've done it by now?"

Hayvala gazed at her with a slow blink, and her pupils widened from the vertical slits. "It is not your responsibility. What happens to this kingdom is in our hands, not yours," she whispered. "You are free to choose as you wish. Go where you please. If someday that leads you back here... I will give you a warmer welcome, I swear on my song. But if you are to never come back, I wish you a good life, with boundless happiness." Her hand rested on her heart, and Adara lurched at the moonswept glyph spinning between them. Notes rose on the wavy edges. "I swear I will get you three out of here." It dissipated when Hayvala dropped her hand from her heart, and the soft, whispered passages made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up at the gentle touch across her skin.

"What was that?" Adara rasped.

"Just a promise," Hayvala whispered. "One I will keep."

A different warmth glided across her heart and wilted the thorn by a single root. "Thank you, for everything, Your Grace."

Hayvala smiled. "You don't have to be so formal with me, Adara. Now, it is important you understand something when you leave — the blizzard is an unnatural force. I can not rightly call it 'nature'. Out there, any little piece of flame will die. You must find some sort of civilization and take your ease when you can. Even us, as Avaerilians born into this climate, we struggle, but those not born here do not make it long without preparation." Hayvala slipped a hand into a small slit in her dress, then tugged out a strange white compass, whose needle spun on a slop top. "This will guide you. Keep it close."

Adara put it with the wooden wolf. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Saying the blizzard is an unnatural force is putting it quite mildly, Your Grace."

A chill swept up her spine at the calm, cold voice, ringing out through the storm as Fenrer demanded for them to run. Blackwall stood between the pillars, hands tucked in his sleeves. Hayvala's eyes narrowed, and her feathers thinned out into sharp points. "Keeper Blackwall," she said. "What the blizzard is cannot be changed, not by us, and not by you." Adara frowned when Hayvala stepped in front of her, standing taller than the mightiest giant against her wispy frame. "You have fooled my baby brother into believing a false hope, and as his older sister, I'm afraid I can't let you go rampant in these halls."

Keeper Blackwall stepped closer, undaunted. "You know that for sure, Your Grace? Is that what the world sphere told you after you gave it a fervent wish?" he mused. "You are not an Anima. You can't know the truth in the memory magick." He drew his gaze to her. "I'll be frank, Miss Sazaka. As you saw at the Summit, no one knows just what you're capable of. There is no one alive anymore that can teach you the intricacies of it. You are so afraid of being a wildfire that you will stifle your potential."

"You tortured Yuven Traye," Adara hissed and slammed forward. "What? Are you going to do the same to me that you did to him? Steal yourself away into my memories or force me to do your bidding? What about the Auric Law? I've heard so much about it that I wonder if you're willing to risk that."

Keeper Blackwall raised an eyebrow, then lifted his arm, where a black band wound around it in the coils of Pyvansomiir. "What many people will create out of fear for one individual so long ago," he mumbled as he clenched his fist, and she chewed on hate at Prunal's constant calls for the end of magick. The blight. The taint they created. "Labor to believe it, but I don't want a repeat of the Obscura War, where every Anima was murdered for simply existing as they were, with the Storm Wardens as their executioners. Many places they stormed under the name of Hurricane Cleansing Marches. I do not deny what I did to Yuven Traye, but I did not do what was outside the confines of the law. And I have zero intention to do the same unto you. I do not have to." He lowered his arm and glanced at Hayvala. "You can't stop this blizzard as you alone, that is true, but you have an innate key into something far more valuable in knowledge."

Adara scowled, but the screaming flames bounced in her temples and set the golden fields on fire. Smoke curled into the sky and burned both friend and Derelict. "And what's that?"

"What I sought in Traye's memories — the Doom of Irimount," Keeper Blackwall whispered. "And yours? I seek the reality of the Echo Obscura. Simple as." He tipped his head then focused on Hayvala. "You know, Your Grace, I was not lying when I told you there was a way to detangle your aura. I had truly intended to do so, in return for the knowledge within this palace. But you don't intend to stand against me." He straightened himself out with a break in the calm, suspicion crawling across his face, and Adara drew back.

Hayvala sighed out a plume of mist through her lips. "You've hurt my brother," she hissed, her sharp fangs revealing the wyvern inside the princess. "Would that I could deliver all the pain you've caused tenfold onto you — but I've already paid my blood price. I know I am not your equal, Blackwall, and it is for my brother that I accepted your help." Her gaze flicked behind Blackwall. "I'd lose. Simple as... but he won't."

Keeper Blackwall followed her indication.

Donned in Storm Warden armor, Fenrer stalked through the throne room with his gaze full of steel when he set it on Blackwall, who faced Fenrer in full with a raised eyebrow. "I see you survived, Fenrer Pyren."

Fenrer smiled, but it was more of a wolven snarl. "I'm a son of the sea," he said and crept closer, drawing out a beautiful, emerald sphere into his hands, where tendrils spun. "If you think it would be so easy to kill me, you thought wrong." He twirled it on his fingers and came to a stop in front of him. "So, tell me how you want to do this, Keeper Blackwall. We can finish what we started, and there's no infernal cliff you can have me thrown off of." He drove his fingers into the sphere, sending white cracks along its surface. Adara winced when Hayvala pushed her back with her arm, a wispy shield rising around them. "If you think I'm afraid to use my powers, you are wrong."

Pressure cracked in the air and tugged at her magick. Keeper Blackwall raised his hands. Tendrils of tar rose out of the black glyphs around him, snaking through the air. "You are afraid, Fenrer Pyren," he said. "For the same reason Adara Sazaka is. It was that fear that drove the Obscura War — that turned history into a metaphysical Obscura Text. I mean only to reveal the truth."

The emerald sphere shattered when Fenrer clenched his fist. Adara gasped when a glyph sprang out from in front of him, and he tossed a spear of air into it. It slammed into the barrier Blackwall threw up. Vines carved ravines into the field, but Fenrer continued to toss every primordial through his glyph without relent, without cease. It sprinkled into sparks when a fireball burst from the wispy vines. Keeper Blackwall scowled, then sent his own glyph of tearing rage through the air. In an instant when it yawned into sharp flames, Fenrer dropped his glyph. Adara almost screeched at the wildfire, but stopped when it fizzled around Fenrer, who rolled his neck.

"Keep throwing stuff at me, see where it gets you," he mumbled, though she doubted Blackwall heard when he continued.

Fenrer walked closer.

Wait.

Fenrer came closer to the fallen Soren Pyren, empowered by the magick he stockpiled around him.

Blackwall stopped, and narrowed his eyes, then held his glyphs on the defensive. "Hoping to use your bloodline on me, Pyren?" he whispered, and Fenrer slammed to a stop in confusion. "I'm not ignorant, and you can't rely on your bloodline in every fight, can you? I'm sure it would work on someone who doesn't understand it." Auric spheres grew out of his glyphs, and aimed them at Fenrer, who responded in turn, the green, starlit swirls spiraling in rage.

"Stop!" a screech sounded at the doors.

Adara and Hayvala twisted around.

Laucan Travon held out his arms. "You will kill everyone here if you go toe to toe!" he snapped and raced for her and Hayvala. Adara went for a kick, but stopped herself when he clung onto his older sister, then put himself between Hayvala and the warring Aurus. "Fenrer Pyren, I will happily give you Yuven Traye!" He kept his arms out. "I will give Yuven Traye, I just want you to help my sister! I didn't want you killed!"

Both Blackwall and Fenrer dropped the auric spheres. Fenrer's gaze darted from Blackwall, to Adara. "Adara first," he said. "Then we can talk."

Laucan tilted his head at her. Adara left Hayvala's side, then ran for Fenrer's. His green glyphs wrapped around into a full circle of protection, a deep hum entering her heart when he kept his defensive stance. "We're going to do it like this, Keeper Blackwall," he said. "I don't want to fight. I want my best friend. You already got what you wanted from him, so I've heard. But to mess with Anima magick, to force Adara to do something that could very well hurt her in the process — even that is beyond your knowledge." Fenrer came closer to her, then acknowledged King Laucan. "It is for Yuven's benefit that I will entertain the idea."

He stopped when Adara squeezed his forearm, and leaned closer. "Fenrer, I know they've done some horrific things, but Hayvala has helped us... we should help her in just one way," she said. "I owe her... and I can handle Keeper Blackwall. You just go get Yuven, I'll be right here. I'll make sure he doesn't do anything to stop you."

"I can't leave you alone with him, Adara."

Adara touched his back. "Just trust me."

Let me pay you and Yuven back somehow. This happened because of my magick, because I wouldn't listen the first time when Yuven told me people would want to use it.

Fenrer's head lowered with a small shake, then lowered his strong glyphs. It wasted at her feet. "Fine," he said. "Princess Hayvala?"

Hayvala glared at Keeper Blackwall, then her brother, who stared at her with wide eyes. "Very well, if that is your wish," she said and tucked her hands back in her furs. Both her and Laucan headed for the doors. Fenrer stepped out of her way, then gazed at her.

"Kon," he whispered.

Mist rose from his body, and shifted around her.

Fenrer turned to Blackwall. "I have just left Adara in my Aeoniir's protection. If you try anything, you're going to wish it was the Conclave passing down judgment." He clasped her shoulders and nodded. "He will only come if you call out to him. Konyiiu. Repeat."

"Konyiiu."

The mist swirled tighter around her, and Fenrer nodded, releasing her before racing after the two royals. Left with the black-robed Keeper, she brought up her own silver flames, but they wilted against the might of the blizzard. He raised an eyebrow, then his hands.

"I have zero intention of fighting a battle I will lose," Blackwall said.

"You seemed plenty determined before," Adara hissed.

"I meant what I said. I wish for the truth in your magick's memories," he said with a sigh. "I'm surprised you're not keen yourself. You could find answers. Answers that the Storm Wardens wouldn't be able to give you."

"What makes you think they can't?" Adara demanded.

Blackwall shook his head. "For Turns, the Keepers of Pyon collected knowledge of the Obscura Era, we have struggled to find the source of the Derelicts, the gateway into the Echo they come from," he said. "What prompted the Anima to do what they did, and how exactly our world is still here despite their actions."

"And no one knows that?" She scoffed.

"Not a one." Disappointment creased his brow. "Your magick could unclog one little piece."

Adara scowled at him. "Well, I'm not inclined to help. If you want it so bad, I'M sure you can find a way to do it yourself."

"I would have done so if that was the case, so it's clear I must appeal to the person I saw at the Summit," Keeper Blackwall said with his own scoff. "Adara Sazaka, I had no intention of allowing Yuven Traye to leave, and now it seems Fenrer Pyren has decided he could never stand aside. I will allow all three of you to leave, but I want you to uncover what the world sphere is hiding. Contrary to what Fenrer Pyren said, it will not hurt you."

"And how do I know you're not lying?" Adara bit. "How do I know that you won't just go back on your word the moment I do it?"

"You're not an Aurus. You don't know. But are you willing to take that risk?"

People screamed. Derelicts feasted. Corpses rotted out on the streets of Prunal.

Jisa touched the crystal and accepted the risk.

Adara dropped her silver flames. "I will do this if you let them go."

"If you're in doubt, feel free to call that Aeoniir at any point," Keeper Blackwall said. "Follow me."

Against her mind, she followed her heart and believed.