Mez was barely conscious when they tumbled through LoVelly’s portal but she tried her hardest to keep her feet under her. Despite her efforts they still stumbled the landing and they both went rolling through sand. It wasn’t far, thankfully, but now there was sand in her face, sand in her hair, sand in her clothes and she was so absolutely sick of sand.

They landed together in a heap and the tandem groan would have been funny had they not been so completely and utterly exhausted. She felt LoVelly shuffle around as he extracted himself from their tangle of limbs before she suddenly felt hands on either side of her face, pressing gently.

“Mez,” he said. She only grunted in response. “Mez look at me,” he insisted. Painfully slowly, she cracked her eyes open against the meager light and her vision swirled as she tried to focus on LoVelly’s face so close to hers.

“What?” She whined.

“We are not doing that again.” He turned her face back and forth just so as he said it, emphasizing the words. “We need to have a plan beyond ‘you losing control and that thing… liquefying people’.” He released her and sat back on his heels. Mez begrudgingly pushed herself up onto her elbows, her head spinning at the movement. When she wobbled LoVelly reached out an arm to balance her and suddenly she was hit with a swirl of irritation and fear that she recognized was not her own.

“I am not losing control,” she hissed but she knew he was right.

“Then what do you call what keeps happening?” LoVelly pressed. She could feel her temper begin to flare. She wasn't sure if it was set off by the irritation that had been transferred or if it was just LoVelly that was irritating her.

“I don't know,” she jerked away from the touch on her shoulder, trying to distance herself from the flow of foreign emotion. Her anger still simmered. “I don't know!” She shouted this time, burying her face in her hands. Why was he pushing at this now? She was exhausted, she was dirty, and she was irritable.

“Maybe we should try figuring that out then?” He pressed again. Her eyes snapped up to meet his, glaring daggers at him.

“Maybe you should drop it!” She snapped at him.

“I can't Mez. I can’t drop it because I’m the only one that seems interested in figuring it out.” He narrowed his eyes back at her.

She moved her hands to dig her palms into her eye sockets, pressing, pressing until she saw spots behind her lids. She took a deep breath and growled on the exhale. She scrambled to get to her feet, a bit wobbly but she managed. LoVelly looked up at her but did not follow. She snapped her hands to her sides, spun on her heel and stomped away, not caring where she was going as long as it was away from LoVelly, away from anyone in this moment. She felt the sand give way beneath the soles of her shoes step after step, making her movement feel syrupy and slow in addition to shaky. She breathed deeply, in through her nose, out through her mouth.

They had landed in the ruins of a pre-war city. She had no way of knowing which one or how deep they were into the sprawling, crumbled city.

Around her were heaps of broken stone and time-worn rubble, half buried in dark, black sand where monumental buildings once towered. These driev' all that was left of any of them were scraps that hadn’t been useful in rebuilding and junk that was no longer operable after The Shift. Large metal and concrete columns rose up, sometimes several stories tall, out of the ground and extended too far down into the sand to be scavenged and instead rested there, forgotten. Ruined walls occasionally remained standing, crumbling around the edges with age.

It was hard to imagine now that anything of importance once stood where she stood.

For lack of anywhere else to go she stomped past heaps of metal, stone and dune. She walked until she couldn’t see LoVelly anymore, fuming as she went. She climbed over heaps of broken pavement, careful of any sharp edges or metal sticking out and scrambled through shifting dark sands.

She did want to figure things out.

She wanted to help LoVelly.

She just…she needed someone to help her but it felt like everywhere she turned it was more horror and misery.

Of course there was LoVelly. He seemed to want to help her- despite everything he’d seen- but she just wasn’t sure if she was ready to put her trust in him. He’d given her no reasons not to but she couldn’t shake the strangeness of the bond they shared. Familiar in a way she couldn’t describe but it set her on edge nonetheless.

She took a bad step and between the unstable footing and her shaking legs she went down hard in the sand again. She yelped when she landed and something jabbed her in the thigh sending pain sparking through her. She quickly reached for the source when her hand came across a familiar feeling piece of metal. She rolled and dug her hand into her pocket and sure enough it was a key that was digging into her among the coins jingling loose in her pocket. She’d forgotten all about the earrings and the money and the sweet promise of a room somewhere she could hide away, if only for a little while. It all felt so far away, had it really only been that drievett? She rolled back to her feet, half hysterical, and let out a peel of laughter, anger and frustration temporarily forgotten, and she made her way back toward where she'd left LoVelly.

The man in question must have gone to do his own exploring because by the time she made it back he wasn't where she left him. The depressions left in the sand however gave away his path as he dragged his feet through it and were easy enough to follow. She fiddled with the key on its loop as she pulled it back through her belt loop, swinging it around and around as she followed his tracks.

The sand gave way to cracked and broken pavement that quickly rose up above her head and she had to clamber up over the edge to continue on. Once she’d pulled herself up she spotted LoVelly where the enormous chunk of rubble they were on jutted out over a chasm between it and another large ruin. A set of stairs, profoundly intact on one side, led down to where the remnants of a bridge once led across the yawning space below. She found him there, sat atop the steps tossing pebbles over the edge and down, down into the pit.

She thought to scuff her feet as she approached, make some kind of noise so as not to startle him but he turned to look back at her like he’d expected her to be there. He didn’t say anything and turned back to tossing pebbles as she made her way towards him. She suddenly felt a bit ashamed of her outburst earlier. She knew he was only trying to help but she argued that she was also under a lot of stress lately. They were both trying their best given the circumstances.

“Can you believe that after all that,” she waved a hand in reference to ‘all that’. “I've still got this tevvy key?” She held the key out to behold as she took a seat on the steps near LoVelly. Not quite next to him, still leary of the air between them. LoVelly looked at the key and then past it, at her, and smiled.

“Oh well thank the gods.” He rolled his eyes but it was playful, not angry. “I’m sure that will be useful.”

“And some pocket change” She dug into her pocket and shook the money, a light jingling emerging.

“That is genuinely good to hear since we lost everything else.”

“Everything except for the key.” She added.

“Except the key.” He agreed.

They sat for a moment, Mez dropped her chin into her hands, elbows on her knees. LoVelly plucked another stone from the steps and tossed it over and they waited for it to hit the bottom. There was a soft plunk followed by the splash as it hit water at the bottom.

“Are you mad at me?” She finally asked, still not quite looking at him, just quick glances out of the corner of her eyes.

“I was, a little bit, earlier. But I’m not anymore.” She could feel him looking at her.

“I'm sorry I yelled.” She offered. She finally shifted and turned to meet his eyes. He was looking at her with a smile on his face. She searched his eyes for any trace of ill will but there was nothing to find. “Are we good?” She asked.

“Yeah. We're good.” He broke their eye contact to pick up another pebble and throw it over the edge. She watched him do it, watched the little stone arc and fall below her line of sight. She heard it plunk into whatever water sat below.

“Oh! Oh oh!” LoVelly turned to her suddenly, eyes big with excitement. “I wanna show you something I found when I was wandering around.” He quickly scrambled to his feet and leaned down to offer her a hand up. He quickly helped pull her to her feet, using their joined hands to pull her along. He led them along the uneven surface, back to where Mez had climbed up onto the ruin and they scrambled back down into the sand. He led them along the colossal pile of rusted and weathered metal to a spot not far from where they’d arrived in the first place.

“Here.” He finally said, stopping before a crevice in the heap and to her horror, ducking into the space. He stopped and looked back when she didn't follow.

“You just… went in there? Is that even stable?” She asked, looking around at the surrounding structure. LoVelly looked around himself briefly and shrugged.

“It opens right back up a little ways in.” He said, like that settled the matter. He waited for her to reluctantly allow herself to be led on. She ducked down and hunched her shoulders as she shuffled through the space.

Admittedly the little walkthrough wasn’t that bad, it didn’t seem like anything was going to collapse on them immediately or fall apart. It was mostly just bare, cracking pavement sections that had been smashed into each other where they fell long ago, occasionally producing a gap like the one LoVelly had found. The opening was narrow but not uncomfortably so, she ducked her head more out of habit than need. It sloped down fairly steep at first and she placed a hand on the wall to steady herself but as they went down it began to level out. And before she had to think too much about it they were carefully shuffling back out into the open.

The path through the crevice had led them out somewhere down below, somewhere down the path of the rocks LoVelly had thrown. They stood on the edge of the chasm, with several enormous slabs of stone angled down towards them where they’d collapsed sometime long ago.

Mez saw now what LoVelly must have been talking about. While the colors had long worn away and the pattern was broken in plenty of places, Mezalie could still make out the distinct starburst inside a circle that had likely been laser-cut into the stone ages ago and worn smooth over time. She took a small step to peek over the edge of where they stood, getting a better look at the broken pieces below. It wasn’t terribly far to the bottom, maybe two stories, and now she could see the water that had gathered there in a pool.

“An old convergence marker?” She asked, stepping back to relative safety.

“Yeah…” LoVelly agreed. “I could feel it when we got here like it was, I dunno, calling to me?” He held his hands out before him, palms up, like they held some kind of answers that he did not. “Can you hear it?”

Mez paused, listening at first for a sound out of habit but knowing it wasn’t something audible she was listening for. She closed her eyes, trying to focus on the fen in her veins and looking for a sign, but there was nothing. She opened her eyes and shrugged at him, shaking her head.

“I’m pretty sure this is how my fen works. It’s…it’s hazy still but it’s coming back to me in waves. It has to do with the convergence points…” LoVelly squeezed his eyes shut in concentration, brow furrowing. He was waving his hands around gently in frustration. “I don’t think it’s these old man-made ones but it’s-” he paused, struggling for the word.

“Ley Lines?” Mez cut in.

“Yes! Yes, ley lines!” LoVelly cheered. “If I’m not aiming it…the portals follow ley lines to natural convergence points.”

“So the field near Doss, the beach outside Desmek, and from Desmek to here-”

“All on ley lines en route to this convergence point. I was thinking about it once I found this and it’s starting to click into place in my brain.

“Do you remember anything else?” She asked, hopeful.

“Sort of…?” He shook his head gently, willing the memories to come. “I remember finding you on the beach but I don’t know how I found you…” He squeezed his eyes tight, pursing his lips together. “I know there’s more. I can see it sort of. I had a vision before too.”

As he rambled on, Mezalie watched as he worked his way to answers they both desperately needed. She noticed when his hands started to radiate a soft white light, giving off what looked like tiny wisps of smoke or steam.

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“LoVelly.” She interrupted, getting his attention. She flicked her eyes down and he followed until he saw what she meant.

“Oh! Yeah.” His mouth stretched into a grin. “I remember this.” He brought his hands up between them, light radiating toward her. Mez didn’t even think twice before she was reaching her own hands out to meet his. She almost expected something dramatic and explosive to happen when their hands joined but instead what she got was the sound of wind chimes. Long, varied tones ringing around each other not unlike a song but more like a conversation. They were soft, just in the background of the white noise of silence.

“I can-'' Her voice sounded far too loud in the quiet so she started again softer, whispering, “I can hear it.” She couldn’t help the smile that crawled onto her own face. The melodic sound made her feel giddy somehow. Her hands tingled where LoVelly held them and they both watched as the light from LoVelly’s hands engulfed hers, then crawled up their arms before suddenly it surged, blinding both of them. Mez blinked back the tears against the light and tried to focus on LoVelly but she was no longer in the ruins and where the man once stood was a beautiful young woman with dark auburn hair and fire in her eyes. She looked back at Mez with a hunger in her eyes that made her want to recoil. When she tried to pull her hands back the young woman mouthed something at her and even though no sound came out the words were clear.

“Can you feel it? It’s Convergence.”

She gasped in a breath, sucking in air desperately and suddenly she was back in the ruins, LoVelly’s hands in hers. They were still on a ledge in the middle of a ruin surrounded by an old broken city and the dark sand of a dead spot. The woman was gone but she remained in Mezalie’s mind. Something about her had frightened her, the intensity in her eyes or the way her lips curled around the words…

She took another deep breath and met LoVelly's eyes and for a moment she couldn't understand what she was seeing. When she looked directly at him she couldn't quite see his face. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see it, vaguely, the shape of something much more than LoVelly. She quickly shook her head and blinked hard and when she looked back all seemed well. She'd have to compare with him the effects their fen had together. It was making her dizzy and light-headed, her stomach turning.

LoVelly has power here.

The thought came unbidden into her mind. She knew it was true though, the thought flowing into her mind unencumbered by the separation between LoVelly’s mind and her own. She seemed to be able to read him like a book like this. She felt his feelings as they flowed through him and ultimately through her like an unstoppable tide.

She felt a brush of his mind against hers and it was chaotic, loud and abrasive. It shot by in streaks too fast to latch onto. She felt so much of the confusion swirling in his mind. It felt a lot like falling, in a way that made her stomach lurch. The certainty of knowing you cannot catch yourself and fear of not knowing when you’ll reach the bottom. At the mercy of forces outside of one's control.

In the same way that he’s been gathering her up and pushing on together, he needed that from her in return. Someone to catch him before he reached the bottom or at least someone’s hand to hold on the way down.

She could do that.

Like a punch to the gut, pain and nausea erupted in her stomach. She yanked her hands back, away from LoVelly and wrapped her arms around herself tightly, begging the feeling to stop as a whine escaped her and she dropped to her knees.

“Mez-” LoVelly immediately dropped down with her. “What’s wrong?” He raised a hand as if to reach out but he stopped short when she held one hand out between them.

“I’m gonna be sick.” She moaned and suddenly lurched to the side, towards the edge as she began to gag. LoVelly scrambled after her, afraid she was going to fall. She didn’t make it quite to the edge before she began to heave. He placed a comforting hand on her back as she did but quickly pulled back when a hot, dark material sprouted forth and coated Mezalie, bubbling and hissing. It engulfed her from head to toe but only down her back and the thin membrane-like substance inflated and deflated, as if breathing as she retched onto the sandy concrete.

The smell hit LoVelly almost immediately, the smell of rot, and he had to gag. When he dared look he saw that some of what was splattered on the pavement was almost identifiable as what he’d fed Mez back in the farmhouse. Mez gave another burp, a choke and another miserable sound as her body rid itself of what was left in it.

A roar erupted from the thing pouring from Mezalie and LoVelly was glad he was the only one around to hear it because, without all the commotion and the noise, he could hear it properly. He could hear the separate tones that made up the chorus of voices that belonged to the creature, including Mezalie’s own voice.

It screeched again and as Mezalie finished heaving her arms collapsed, sending her down and rolling to her side. Strange viscous arms shot out of the mass barely in time to catch her. Her own arms waved feebly around, trying to right herself but barely managing to do anything at all, disoriented by the sudden, violent episode. The strange arms dragged her away from the ledge and seemed satisfied with that and retreated back into the viscous blob which began to recede back into Mezalie’s body.

LoVelly quickly shuffled across the distance to her side, gathering her up. She groaned and leaned into him.

“I want a nap so bad.” she rasped, tongue darting out to lick her lips and making a sour face at the taste.

“You can nap as long as you want.” He assured her but she shook her head.

“I don't know if I can sleep anymore.” She said softly. “I can’t eat food. That awful thing just told me so.”

“Mez whatever you need, we can-” LoVelly tried again but she brought an uncoordinated hand up to his face, silencing him.

“The monster calls me dead witch.” She said very seriously. LoVelly scrunched his eyebrows trying to understand.

“What is that supposed to mean?” He asked. Her eyes remained trained on his face but she seemed far away as she spoke. She also looked tired, dark circles under her eyes and her skin dry and dirty. She took a long breath and released a deep sigh.

“I think I might be dead.” She said simply, like it made all the sense in the world.

“What?” He asked again, because now he was surely lost. Mez pushed herself up, dusting the sand from her hands and then her clothes. LoVelly tried to help but she waved him off.

“I'll be fine. I've been seasick my whole life so I can handle vomit. I just…” she took a deep breath, “wasn't expecting it.” She brushed the sweat-stuck hair back from her face.

“I would like to return to the part of the conversation where you think you’re dead?” LoVelly looked at her with naked concern on his face.

“I got shot through back there. I felt it. I should have died then. But even before that, on the beach? I don’t remember much because it’s all a mess then, but I’m pretty sure I died. I remember dying and I remember a…a place. It was familiar.” She paused trying to recall what she could. “It’s where the monster-” she made a sour face and her eyes darted to the vomit. “Can we talk about this somewhere else? That smells foul.”

“Absolutely.” LoVelly immediately agreed. “But we’re not done with this conversation.” He got to his feet, offering her a hand up. She used their joined hands to pull him closer, twisting their hands so the back of his faced her and she leaned in and placed a kiss to it. When she leaned back she looked at him expectantly, waiting.

“Solahran promise knot. I trust you. You saved me and I’m gonna save you too.” She shook their hands once and he took the queue to mirror her action and placed a kiss to the back of her hand. Pleased, Mez smiled and dropped their hands.

“Promise.” He smiled back at her and they made their way back through the passage into the open. Mezalie stretched her arms high over her head as they emerged, twisting and turning, trying to stretch out the soreness she seemed to feel in her whole body. LoVelly turned to her, determination on his face.

“Okay. Let’s talk about this again. You think you’re dead? But you’re also here with me right now.” He looked perplexed, motioning to Mezalie herself.

“At first I thought I’d become a death witch but I don’t have faul-fen…” she dropped down into the dark sand, criss-crossing her legs and scooping a handful of sand. “My fen is different now but it’s still fire.” She let the sand slowly spill through her fingers. “You’ve seen that. But I’m telling you I remember dying.” The final word sounded like it was pulled from her unwillingly. LoVelly could see the upset on her face. She scooped another hand of sand. “It’s where this thing came from. Wherever I went, it came back with me but how did I come back? I don’t understand-” She looked to him, “Did you do it?”

“No…no I don’t think so. The monster was already there when I found you. I just don’t know where I was or what I was doing before that. How I knew where you were…” He dropped down into the sand across from Mezalie, turning to lay on his side, head propped up on one hand.

“I don’t think I can eat food. The thing told me earlier that anything I put in this body will rot and I’ll puke it up.” She took a deep breath and reached her hands up to work at the tangles in the ends of her hair. “I don’t think I need to breathe.” She said it quietly before pressing her lips together in a tight line, eyes wide. For a moment they said nothing, just looked at each other. LoVelly could feel that Mezalie was searching him for a reaction.

“Okay. Well,” LoVelly did his best to stay casual. If she wasn’t going to freak out then neither was he. “We can test that, can’t we?”

She nodded.

“Are you ready?” He asked.

She nodded.

“Alright. Starting now, don’t breathe until you need to, I guess?” He felt odd saying it but she nodded and then placed her elbows on her knees and her chin atop her hands and closed her eyes. He watched her sit still- perfectly still, in a way that was rather unnerving. He waited, counting the tes, as he took his own breaths and she did not.

After what was already an uncomfortable amount of time Mezalie opened her eyes and met his. She didn't look like someone who was rapidly suffocating, turning red or blue or purple. In fact if anything he thought she looked calm if not a bit worse for wear. Her gaze was even and unwavering as she continued to stare him down. After what had to be several deb by that point she opened her mouth.

“Talking is only exhaling, right?” She said, the words becoming breathy and soft at the end. She finally, finally, took a short breath. “I think I still need air to work the vocal cords.” She shrugged but pointedly did not take another breath.

“Okay. Are we sure this means you're dead though?” He still sounded unconvinced.

“I was burned, then I got shot through. I can't eat.” She began listing, “dead witch,” ticking things off on her fingers. “No breathing-”

“Okay. Okay. I get it. Let's just say that's our running theory then.” He rolled onto his back, pillowing an arm behind his head. “We need to talk to someone who knows more than we do.” He sighed.

“Who are we supposed to ask?” She threw her hands up, exasperated. “So far asking for help hasn't worked out great for us.” She gave him a pointed look.

“That’s true.” He sighed. “What we really need is some time to regroup…figure out what we know.”

“Do you think they’re after us?” Mezalie blurted

“What?”

“I mean, I did probably burn up two temples and still got away.” She shrugged, “They were trying to keep me there at the first temple. They were using a barrier-fen and they were saying something about a ‘proper meal’-” she shuddered, taking a deep breath. “Whatever that means.”

“So maybe, it’s possible, they’re looking for us.” LoVelly connected the dots.

“Right.” They both looked at each other, glum, as they realized their options may be even more limited than they’d thought. LoVelly released a long, tired, sigh before rolling himself to his knees, facing Mez.

“Well, I don’t know about you but if we need to lay low for a while I’d like to do it somewhere with a shower and a bed.” He said, pointing to Mez. “You still have that money right?”

“Yeah.” She patted her pocket, nodding.

“I say we find ourselves somewhere decent while we figure this out.” LoVelly clenched his fists, a soft white light starting to grow from them.

“Where are we going to go? We don’t know where we are.” Mezalie asked. The white light was brighter now and she could see a ring of shifting light widening between his hands.

“I’m going to follow the ley lines and convergence points until I find something.” He explained. “I’m sure one of these things I can feel is at least near a city.” He closed his eyes, searching for something he couldn’t see.

The ring had widened to the size of a window and as it grew it obscured LoVelly from Mez’s view, instead showing her a gray, shifting landscape. Images seemed to zoom by at random, too quickly for her to get a good look at. Occasionally she thought she recognized the shape of something as a building or a tree or something else but she wasn’t sure. When the rushing landscape suddenly stopped on a soft, gray field, tall grasses swaying softly, Mezalie felt a pull of familiarity. The landscape looked so familiar to her, like somewhere she’d been before, somewhere she wanted to be... She didn’t notice that she’d leaned in or that her hand had come up as if to touch until LoVelly’s voice broke through her thoughts.

“Don’t touch that yet.” He warned. Opening his eyes, as if he could sense her proximity to the open portal. She caught herself, pulling her hand back. The image of the field in the ring disappeared, replaced again by shifting colors. LoVelly stretched his arms out wide to his sides, focussing on the fen in his hands creating the glow that was slowly creeping up his forearms now. Then he brought his hands in, towards himself and the rounded view shrunk down, to something the size of a book as he appeared to hold it in his hands. She could see now that his eyes were flicking back and forth rapidly, trying to follow the images as they flickered by.

“Aha!” She jumped, the noise startling her when she’d been so focussed. She looked back and the little portal seemed to have stopped on a single image finally. Mez leaned forward to better see what it had stopped on. LoVelly had let a smile creep onto his face as he raised his hands again and seemingly stretched the portal back out just a bit.

Inside it showed what looked like a darkened street but past that, buildings rose up and lights twinkled in the dim light of the moon. It didn’t appear to be busy, nobody bustling around or wandering by. Their view was limited to what could be seen directly through the window. Just the empty walkway, the dim light and the buildings in the distance.

Mez quickly scrambled over to LoVelly’s side, trying to get a better look at the shimmering image of the other place.

“Where’s that?” She asked in a hushed tone.

“I’m not sure, but it’s along a ley line. It’s far, where Sol isn’t rising yet. Is that okay?” He asked, turning to face her.

“Anywhere away from here and all this sand is fine by me.” She confirmed as LoVelly unwound himself to stand. He maintained the soft glow up his arms as he stood and began trying to widen the portal, making soft motions with his hands as the edges of the view warped and turned. Mez watched him mold and shape until he stepped back, seemingly done.

“This is the best one I’ve done so far.” He said, grin on his face.

Mezalie hadn’t actually gotten much of a look at the portal before. She’d been somewhat preoccupied or otherwise indisposed the other times LoVelly had used it. She had a vague memory, from the monster, of LoVelly appearing on the beach through a shimmering portal like this. It was strange and confusing [as it wasn’t her memory but she got enough to gather that the creature thought LoVelly was dangerous. She felt the creature recoil in its dark corner in her mind when she realized that it was wary of LoVelly. ]

She needed him if she was going to deal with it.

She might just need him in general.

“You coming?” LoVelly’s voice broke her from her thoughts again. She realized then that she’d been lost in her mind, the creature dragging her down. She pushed it away with a shake of her head. The window-portal was large enough now to step through, even for her.

“Yeah.” She got to her feet. “Let’s get outta here.” She stepped up beside him and when she looked at him he nodded, indicating for her to go ahead. She wasted no time in stepping right up to and through the portal, going first this time, LoVelly on her heels and she prayed to any gods that would listen that they could be granted some time to rest.