The Willways silence didn’t prepare me for the quiet the Tides brought. Not a single sentient thing lived on the murky surface, the waters descending deep despite my feet planted firmly on the top. Kikito is wide-eyed with a look of a man who’s trying to convince himself he’s not crazy. Even Life looks mystified by the sight. Black looks over us, infinite and infinitely empty. Dark waters ripples from underneath my shoes into the overall void and merge with the larger aquatic picture.

“I haven’t been here in so long. I don’t think I could tell you how long,” she says.

“It’s ethereal,” I say, for lack of a better term. Kikito idly nods. She looks around us, half-running in various directions. “What are we looking for?” I ask.

“The Loomer’s palace. Lights usually guide but something feels off. I don’t think the Loomer is here, but there’s nowhere else they could be. They’re tied to the place tighter than I’m to the planet.”

“That powerful?” Kikito asks.

“That empathetic. Life - earth life- has no semblance of structure without the Loomer.”

“The Death to your Life?” He hedges to which she nods with a small smile.

“I guess you could say that, but I need them more than they need me. The Loomer turns all this energy into masses I can then transform into you and your pets and the ideas for your favorite meals.” Her smile slips. “I do feel someone here. Follow me and don’t freak out. You can breathe under this,” and with that she falls under the water and plummets to the bottom. I quickly lose sight of her and jump, cannonballing deep.

The water surrounds me, fills my mouth and nose and into my body. Breathing through it is surreal. I look above at Kikito sinking in. He has his fingers on his nose and his eyes are tightly closed. He sinks down like a rock. I grab a hold of his jacket to ride down with him.

We fall for a while, long enough for me to pull myself down to Kikito’s eye level. He looks at me and points to his own eyes and then to mine. I look around but see nothing so I shake my head. Not until we finally hit the bottom in a gentle explosion of silt. Then we can see distant lights at the bottom, orange and murky but still there. They see it too so we make our trek across the sand, passing distant columns coughing up sparse orbs of light that struggled to find each other. Life looks concerned, and so does Kikito. Still, we run towards the light and the palace finally coming into view. A giant black structure reaching up into the abyss with empty columns stacked on top stands before us, a large arching black hole serving as the door. Someone stands in the way. Several do, 10 people bunched up at the entrance.

Life stops and we run into her back without nudging her. “How did you find the Tides?” She demands.

“I could ask you the same question,” a sultry voice speaks. I watch Kikito pale. “I believe we arrived the same way you did, via that giant hole something left. Sloppy work, whatever is it.” Life bolts forward as they approach and we meet in the middle. The leader is a woman: tall as Kikito with long light brown hair that floats around her thicker form. Her eyes are exhausted and green. She wears black robes with functioning pants.

“It’s the people from that city,” Kikito says as quietly as possible, but it’s not quiet enough. A taller figure whispers into the other’s here, pointing a finger out towards us. This one is taller and pale all over. I can see organs and muscles working visibly underneath translucent skin, even from a distance. I still don’t hear them say anything to her despite watching their mouth move. Life takes a step back, closer to us.

“What a happy accident,” the woman says with a high laugh, “we’ve been looking for you, pieces of Inbetween.”

“Who are you?” I demand. Kikito puts his hand on my shoulder and shushes me.

“You may call me Akhenaten, us the Reaching of Aten. My dear friend here is Clear. Maybe a bit on the nose, but what’s Life without a little bit of fun?” She looks at our entity friend with a hungry grin. I’m surprised to see fear on Life’s face, bare feet bracing to run back the other way.

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Then I felt the one she called Clear. Their energy felt like Life’s but stronger and stranger.

“We’re looking for someone we’re not here to bother you,” Kikito says.

“Oh but we’re here to bother you. We all missed…whatever happened here,” she says and looks around. I see the cracks in the walls now, the sands shifting from instability. “…But that doesn’t mean we can’t do business right here, right now. Come with us and we’ll reunite you.” Akhenaten steps forward and we all step back. She smirks, matches our pace for a few more steps, and Clear breaks out in a dash.

I don’t know where to go but we run. Life is ahead of us, fear all over her body. It keeps me pushing forward until I can get close enough to say something.

“They’re stronger, yes,” she says without me asking, “Clear has a piece of Inbetween partially fused to them. It’s enough to beat both of us into submission and then some.”

“And so fucking fast!” Kikito croaks from her other side.

“We have to get out of this in a way they can’t follow. Kelvin, grab Kikito and focus on a wormhole out.”

“Like grab me bridal style or just hold my hand?” He asks.

“He’s faster and stronger than you he just hasn’t applied himself yet. So grab him, Kelvin.”

I hoist Kikito up in my arms, his bulk blocking my view of the uniform sand. It’s ridiculous but I don’t have time to laugh. I give myself an immediate body ache focusing on what she’s told me. Like Kikito described, a feeling of safety bubbles up inside me and I hold onto it. When light sparks from my body Life grabs my arm with light sparking from her.

The sand explodes in a flash of blinding lights, sucking us into it like a black hole and spitting us out the chaotic other side. The rip seals itself back up into nonexistence, leaving us in a corner of the Willways that screamed into the halls. We’re immediately rocked to the ground with paralysis from the sound but we see nothing. Kikito falls on top of me, his back laid across my side. I can breathe but I can’t move otherwise. Life is nearby, head trapped to the side staring at me. I can’t speak.

I’m worried we didn’t get away as something shadows Life’s face. Her eyes dart up and her pupils dilate. Her mouth can barely move but it wants to scream. Another sound torments us, a static wailing full of inconsolable sadness. It knocks her eyes straight ahead again, water welling up in them.

It steps over Kikito and I for lack of a better term: it’s more of a swarm of worms crawling over our bodies. It’s tall and gray, neck reaching up to the ceiling. It moves past us and slides over to her on a bunch of long tentacles dragging the ground. Slowly, it bends over to reveal its head. It’s similarly confusing to how you could describe a black hole except it’s a localized tornado blasting screaming static at us. It leans back up but then its hand wraps around Life’s body and lifts it like a doll. She doesn’t break eye contact with me until we physically can’t look at each other anymore. The static gets more intense and I see blue light radiating off the walls.

Kikito screams first. He rolls right off me and backs away. My body feels like a switch released and I have autonomy again. I get to my feet just as the thing finishes up eating her. Its core heats and brightens and it twitches in distress like the cave creature.

We don’t have the time to think: I charge at the thing with my hands in the air. I think of my intentions as hard as I can while Kikito screams encouraging nonsense. Something along the lines of “get that fucker” flutters out. It faces us, tries to make itself tall but twitches again with bursts of light coming out.

I think of the movies Mirana and I grew up watching and leap into the air, smacking the giant thing with my small hands with all the might my soul can muster. My light cracks against its with a deafening sound. Blue lightning bolts shoot up the body, swirling into the whirlpool with electric fire, causing it to sizzle and a blurry aura to surround it. It falls like a nuclear plant: exploding and melting down on itself, surging through the Willways and taking the light with it. The monster thrums loudly one last time and shakes the ground and walls.

Its remains collapse into the dark as the last light leaves my body. I’m wet with sweat and my brain is so hot. Kikito calls for me when he hears me hit the ground and tries feeling around for me. I can’t bring myself to make any noise for him. My conscience feels distant like a shrinking mass I can’t catch up to anymore.

Arms wrap around me. “Kev! Kev don’t you go to sleep on me - you’re gonna be fine if you just keep breathing!”

“Breathing doesn’t matter,” I say weakly. He shakes me.

“My ass it doesn’t matter! You’re not leaving me you dick! This is all your fault and I’ll be damned if you quit on me!”

Rumbling behind us, undeniable by either one of us. He looks up to a small light poking out of the walls. Multiple warm green masses pop up and surround us. Kikito grips me and drags us to the wall.

“What is that?” I ask quietly. They feel welcoming. I don’t know how I know that but they do.

“They’re…uh, they look like mushrooms,” he says with a note of awe. The rumbling gets to a relatively heavy level and suddenly a beast rounds the corner with a flurry of lights.

It’s exactly as Kikito had described but more imposing in the fur. It lands to a stop right in front of us, and on its back?

A woman staring wildly down at us, red hairing cascading around her shoulders.