The tapping of Seraph's bare feet was the only sound that resounded through the empty city.

"So the songbird deemed one worthy to tell her story to."

Ellyrie's body was revolting at the sound of Seraph's voice, she wanted to run, to hide somewhere, but her legs would not obey.

"You deemed her important enough to live, so she should know exactly what she is facing, Seraph-Historia." Elodie stared right into Seraph's dead eyes and approached her in turn.

"And just who allowed you to call me by that name, little songbird?"

Seraph's words were a razor, enough for Ellyrie to wince and dash forward, darting behind Elodie and finally turning to face the woman in white.

In the bright of day, Seraph looked all the more unreal, a pale figure devoid of colour. Her attention was solely resting on Elodie, which lowered the weight pressing down on Ellyrie just a little.

"You told me your name yourself, why should I not call you so?" Elodie neatly folded her hands. "Have you not killed me enough times to allow for some familiarity?"

A smile began to form on Seraph's face, and it was the most hideous thing that Ellyrie had ever seen, she cast her eyes to the ground. Before Seraph could answer however, a voice rung through the streets.

"Seraph!"

Down the stairs sprinted Melthaine, her face contorted by anger. Her pace halted once she reached the plaza, every step became a hurdle greater than the one before, yet she pressed on.

Until Seraph turned to look at her. The moment their eyes locked, Melthaine was cast on the ground, held down she strained her arms, her nails breaking on the stone as she tried to pull herself closer.

"Oh my. And here I thought you would be happy to see me again." Seraph leaned her head to the side, a few locks of pale hair covering parts of her face. "Is that truly the face you want to show your mother for the first time in centuries?"

"Calling you that, would be an insult to every woman that has ever lived." Melthaine growled through her teeth, only for her head to be pushed down on the ground in turn.

"After everything I've done for you? Have I really been such a terrible parent?" Seraph ran a hand through her mane, her attention fixed on Melthaine. Enough so that she did not turn when Levion came running onto the plaza, borrowed blade in hand.

Without hesitation he ran towards Seraph, who still had her back turned. The blade glowed, it sang through the air, aimed at her neck.

"Your life ends here, Aeterna!" He shouted, the blade reached her neck.

And it stopped in place.

Seraph´s eyes stared at the blade in mild amusement before she turned around. "I think you are mistaking me, child. Oh."

Levion´s body was frozen, the pieces of armour rattling against the constraints keeping him in place.

"That I would see this design again, in these times."

Levion´s arm was torn from it´s socket as she spoke, causing him to scream in pain.

"Very durable, but how shoddy. What is the point of encasing a soul if it can still feel. Ah well, she will learn with time I am sure."

At the slightest movement of her fingers, Levion was hurled to the side, crashing into a wall. Again Seraph laid her eyes on Ellyrie, and slowly she walked closer to her.

"I have had a rather irritating few weeks, and I really would rather not have it continue with pieces like you acting out of line."

Melthaine continued to struggle and squirm, only to be shoved to the ground harder, causing the rock underneath to crack.

"That is quite enough, Mel. You would not want to be separated again, now do you?" Seraph continued her stroll towards Ellyrie, until Elodie stepped in between them.

"You will not harm her here, Seraph-Historia."

"And who will stop me, you?" Seraph´s smile grew wider, an extending thin black line.

Elodie shook her head. "I could not. Nor could I have told her, had you really wanted to keep her ignorant. So why are you here, and why are you doing this?"

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"Even I can be distracted from time to time, Songbird. Much in the world is moving, and some of it is so very delightful to watch. But you are correct, I am not here for her. I am here for you."

She reached out with her left hand, and ran it across Elodie´s chest. The woman did not flinch.

"You have become absolutely and irredeemably boring, Elodie. So much so that even killing you is no longer enjoyable. And now you even go against the few rules I laid out for you. It is like you are asking me to get involved."

Seraph´s finger continued to trace down Elodie´s body. Where it touched it tore the cloth and skin underneath, leaving a single black line running across her torso.

"Perhaps I have, Seraph-Historia." Elodie spoke quietly, blood running out of the corners of her mouth. "Or perhaps I know that you are not speaking the truth. You can no longer torment my elders, if I were gone, who could you punish?"

Seraph´s smile collapsed, her eyes narrowed. To Ellyrie it felt that the very sun was turning to ice as a cold wave swept through the city.

"Evermore insolent. And so very flat." Seraph shook her head, the hint of a laugh ringing in her words. "You cannot even bring the energy to hate me, did I drive that out of you? Are you truly no longer disgusted, afraid of me?"

"I do not hate you, Historia." Elodie straightened her back, causing blood to seep out of the seam across her body. "I pity you."

A silence spread across the plaza, even Melthaine ceased her struggle. Aghast she stared at Elodie.

"Even the weakest little chief, leader of little more than his family and a few of his friends, whose life will never amount to anything, is respected, appreciated, loved by those around him. Even the smallest rodent is adored by it´s children. You, Historia, sit at the throne of creation, and all fear and despise you. How could I do anything but pity you?"

Ellyrie could not bear to look, she stared at the ground, hiding her face in her hands. She felt the ground tremble, heard the cracks forming on the stone around them. And the bone chilling gasp of Elodie as Seraph drove her hand into her chest.

From the spreading blackness she tore out a light blue sphere, and crushed it in her hand. Afterward the line across her body closed, leaving Elodie gasping for air, staring up at Seraph in horror, and confusion.

"Killing you would only prove your point. No, there is a better way to deal with you." Seraph had recovered her smile. "It is time for the eternal princess to discover just how cruel time is. How every passing minute leads you further to your grave, to the knowledge that with you all you held in memory will die."

Seraph turned around and walked towards the stairs. "Enjoy your last few decades, or will they merely be years, or months?" Her laugh, cutting through the bone, echoed across the crumbling city as she vanished from one moment to the next.

Melthaine was the first to rise to her feet, despite her condition. She ran to Ellyrie, helping her up. "Quick, we need to get out of here, now!"

Together they helped up Levion, who managed to attach his arm back to his torso. Bricks and chunks of rock were falling from the tall buildings all around, and Elodie sat where she was, clutching her chest with despair screaming out of her features.

She grasped her hair and pulled at it, her chest rising and sinking rapidly.

"Don't just sit there Elodie!" Melthaine ran to her side, pulling the princess to her feet. "Do you want her to be right? If anyone can help us leave it is you, so please, do something!"

Elodie was looking at her, though it was not sure if she truly saw Melthaine. Her hands were shaking as they picked out a flute from her holster. The melody was shaky at first, and yet it managed to sound across the collapsing city.

The tunes were answered by the call of a massive eagle, swooping down from the sky and landing right next to them.

They climbed atop, the eagle beat it´s wings and took off, carrying them safely out of the mayhem.

Ellyrie was staring down, watching as the city was sinking in on itself, collapsing into a black hole that had opened in it´s centre, spreading and engulfing more and more. The sand poured into the dark without cease, simply disappearing on contact.

The blackness spread fast, reaching the horizon faster than they did. From here it traveled upwards, blackening the air and the very sky.

Elodie, sitting at the head of the great eagle, pulled out her white flute, the tune causing a great gust of wind to carry them upward, towards the ever shrinking blue sky. Only one last spot remained open, shrinking rapidly as they approached.

And just before it closed, they were through. Ellyrie saw beneath them how the blackness had created a perfect dome, that once it was finished, collapsed in on itself, her mind racing as she saw the space, shrink.

The endless desert had disappeared. Where there had been sand and ruins, there now was only the same green grass of the Landsea.

The eagle carried them until nightfall, landing near a small hill. Elodie was the last one that sank down to the ground, where she immediately collapsed to her knees. The eagle grew more and more transparent, until it finally ceased to be.

"Are you alright?" Ellyrie sat down by Elodie´s side and laid a hand on her shoulder.

Elodie shrank away from the touch, her breath going faster. "It, it is so cold." She wrapped her arms around herself, panic still in her eyes. "Is this what winter is like? Will I grow sick, get a fever, die? Please Ellyrie, tell me I will not die!"

Ellyrie just stared at her, her mouth open wide. Melthaine sat down by their side. "El, could you please help Levion with finding some firewood? I'll try helping our princess."

"I mean, of course." Ellyrie rose up, and followed Levion into the little forest. It was quiet, save for a few critters that scurried away the moment they drew nearer. Eventually she stopped holding a hand on the hilt of her sword, her shoulders growing less tense.

After a few more steps, she started to chuckle, and laugh as her tension resolved, and tears streamed down her eyes.

She had survived. They all had survived.