Kayden and Tham ran.

Kayden felt like he’d never ran that fast before, and Tham sure as heck hadn’t. A single false step could mean the end as they sprinted through the newly-formed and already-collapsing massive tunnel created by the giant man, rocks falling all around them.

Kayden every few seconds would progress time on himself and Tham, exhausting himself but moving forward nonetheless. He had no idea where they were going. They could perfectly be running straight out into sea, or into an imperial ambush of some kind, or into Athoren’s core. But they had no choice.

They ran until their legs felt like exploding, and then some more, always upward, hoping for the best but fearing the worst. At least they knew where to go now, even if that ‘where’ could be anything.

And finally, after an eternity and some more, the giant man broke out into the light. It was extremely blinding, as if they’d ran so far up they’d reached the sun. But they kept running up, tunneling into a bustling afternoon market street inside the fortified city that was Unbadda. People and animals all around them started screaming at seeing the hole in the ground and the giant man, and a commotion of people not knowing whether to run away or come closer started growing in.

Kayden was the first to react.

“Follow me,” he told Tham, taking him by the arm and dashing into the nearest store.

They ran up the stairs to the second floor, third floor, and then the rooftop.

“Do you trust me?” Kayden asked Tham, his heart racing.

Tham nodded quickly, exhausted to the bone.

“Then jump.”

Kayden breathed in deep, and dashed into the rooftop’s edge, jumping away into the next store’s rooftop and falling cleanly on its ledge.

“I can’t!” Tham called out.

“We don’t have long!” Kayden replied. “Imperials will be swarming this place any minute now!”

Tham hesitated.

Déjà vu.

Kayden had lived this before. A different time, different people. The same fear.

“Tham.” Kayden said, firm but confident. “You’re part of the Skyguard. That means you will fight for those who are not here to try. So take the leap, Tham. Because you know you can.”

Kayden could see the flash of decision in Tham’s eyes. But it was just that –a flash. Tham ran through the end of the rooftop. He jumped. And he made it.

Kayden and Tham jumped toward another rooftop, and then another, getting away.

And as they did, they saw another man running past them in the rooftops as well, going the other way.

A man dressed in rags, long sackcloth covering his face and body. He was fast. Running, he hopped from one rooftop to the other with the dexterity of a cat, toward the giant man. Carrying a rod he didn’t seem to need in the slightest, he was definitely the most agile vagabond Kayden had ever seen.

Hidden among some barrels, Kayden and Tham couldn’t help but watch as the mystery man quickly reached the giant man, who was now running through the city wreaking havoc, and jumped. As he did, he extended his rod forward, and, reaching the shoulder of the giant man, transformed the rod into a long diverging whip, with which he started flicking at the giant man’s neck.

“Another Mimicker?!” Kayden said, frowning. “And I thought I was–”

“No,” Tham said, eyes shining. “A Shardbender.”

The mystery man’s –the Shardbender’s– whip barely tickled the giant man. But Kayden soon realized that that was the point. The giant man, annoyed but unable to stop laughing, soon started twitching and shaking, trying to throw off the Shardbender, to no avail. The Shardbender then rolled up his whip and it turned into a rock, which he dropped in front of the giant man’s foot. The giant man, unguarded, tripped on the rock, leaning forward.

Then, the Shardbender stepped off the giant man’s shoulder, sliding down his back as if surfing a massive wave. And as he did, the surface his boots touched started turning to stone, transforming the giant man’s jumpsuit into hard rock. The giant man’s expression turned from annoyed laughter to fear as the weight and hardness of the stone pulled him down into the ground. He hit the floor hard, and was unable to stand back up. The Shardbender hopped off the giant man’s foot onto the ground, out of Kayden and Tham’s sight.

“Man!” Tham said. “That was a Shardbender! Can you believe that?”

Kayden nodded, eyebrows raised. “I gotta admit that was pretty impressive.”

“I can do it better,” the Mimicker muttered from behind Kayden’s back.

“This is our chance,” Kayden then said. “Let’s get going.”

Sneaking down from the rooftops was the easy part. Blending into the population with their worn-down clothes and transformed Mimicker was easy as well. The hard part came when they realized none of them had any idea where the Airtronic mines started in this oversized city, let alone where to find the location of Tham’s fellow villagers.

“How?!” Tham exclaimed, frustrated, after a long while of asking for directions and getting uncomfortably ignored in return. “How can there be no freakin’ maps of this city anywhere in the city? How do people find their way around?”

“Yeah, this is pretty dumb,” Kayden acknowledged, lips pursed. “So close and yet so far…”

What they did start seeing more and more around were Imperial soldiers. Fortunately, Kayden and Tham were just two other fellow citizens here –nothing to worry about. …Until Kayden bumped face-first into a ‘Wanted’ poster of himself, and noticed something. He paled just slightly.

“Uhhh, Tham?” Kayden called out behind him. “I, um, have just realized something.”

“Oh, no,” Tham muttered, coming up next to him. “What is it?”

“I may have forgotten that my eyes are of different colors,” Kayden whispered. “Something that anyone looking at my face would have noticed. …And something that’s pretty well drawn in the ‘Wanted’ posters as well.”

Tham pursed his lips. “Yeah. I don’t know what else to say. You screwed up. Now what?”

“Now,” Kayden started, “we–”

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“Kayden.”

A female voice, sharp and strong, from above and behind him.

– – –

“Kayden.

“This is it.”

Kayden turned. The moonlight was the only thing illuminating Lauren’s figure, the two of them far enough from the Skyguard HQ for its light to reach them.

“You’re really leaving, aren’t you?” Kayden asked.

“I am,” she said, softly but determined. “This is too much. I’ll never forgive you, Kayden. But, for tonight, I’ll forget.”

Kayden had trouble meeting her blue eyes. “I love you, you know.”

“I know.”

Silence.

“We said we’d guard the sky,” Kayden whispered.

“We said a lot of things, Kayden,” Lauren replied. “Bakor said a lot of things. He’s gone now. And so will I be. I’m sorry, but this is just how it is.”

“...Will we meet again?”

“We will meet again, Kayden. You know that. Neither of us will give up. And so we’ll one day meet on opposite sides of the battlefield. I won’t hold back then, and neither will you.”

“...That’s right,” Kayden nodded slowly.

It hurt.

He wanted to hug her. To kiss her. But it was time to leave. The Lauren he knew was gone. It was time to part ways.

“I’ll be looking forward to crossing swords on the battlefield with you, Kayden,” Lauren said with a forced smile. “Then I’ll see if you’re really as good as you always say you are. Goodbye.”

And, just like that, she was gone.

– – –

Kayden turned around and unsheathed the Mimicker. He wouldn’t let himself be paralyzed again. Ever.

“Lauren!” he shouted. “It’s been a while. Surprised?”

“Hand yourself over, Kayden,” she said. Lauren, the erratic teenager he’d once known, was now a young adult dressed in royal red clothing, floating high up in the air with a metallic mask hiding her mouth and nose. Her long blonde hair waved in the wind behind her. Even so, her eyes looked… bored. “I’m not in the mood for fighting today. Don’t make this any harder.”

The slightest glance at her face made Kayden’s mental armor tear apart. He winced.

“I’ll never surrender to you,” he replied, trying to keep himself firm and stable.

All around Kayden and Tham, hordes of imperial soldiers started taking up positions, awaiting the Everbender’s orders.

“Capture them,” Lauren said.

Kayden broke into action.

Spinning with the Mimicker in hand, he struck at soldier after soldier, progressing and regressing time on himself with a mastery only the Swordsman of Time would be able to achieve. He leaped and jumped all around Tham, protecting him, guarding him, as he felled round after round of soldiers.

“You’re going down!” Kayden shouted at Lauren.

Slash. Dodge. Jump. Attack. Defend. Protect.

There were so many of them. But he’d survive. So would the Mimicker. And so would Tham.

The Mimicker transformed into a mace, back into a sword, a whip, an ax, a bat, a million other things, as Kayden fought by instinct, his purest drive being three words. Survive and protect.

He forced himself not to think. He only fought.

This is it.

And then, with an army of fallen soldiers on the ground and a hundred other armies coming in, Lauren Lerahen lowered to the ground, her hands clasped behind her back. Kayden knew what he had to do.

Kayden dashed toward her, breaking through the ranks of soldiers filling the street with a roar. And as he reached her, time froze. No, not time. Him.

Lauren was extending her right hand toward him, and as she did, he felt his heartbeat slow down, his breathing get harder, his thoughts muddy up, his pace lower.

His whole body was slowed down, somehow. And slowing even further.

Everything was hard to process. He didn’t know what was going on. His consciousness started to fade. His vision went black.

Lauren!

Tham!

“Kayden!” Tham called out in the distance, terrified.

He couldn’t use his powers. He couldn’t gather enough air for that. So he shouted.

“Tham!” Kayden called back, unable to see, unsuccessfully trying to fight against what he felt like dozens of attackers swarming in on him. “I’ll catch up to you! Run!”

But he could hear Tham struggling. They –whoever the attackers were– were on him as well. Kayden at least had the Mimicker, but Tham had nothing. And then, in that fraction of a second, Kayden made a decision. With his last moment of consciousness, and with all his might –which seemed to be nearing nothingness as well–, he threw the Mimicker at Tham.

“Last command, Mimicker!” Kayden shouted, dropping to the ground. “Save him!”

– – –

Tham didn’t remember what happened next. The frantic minute that followed comprised of the Mimicker getting to him, attacking the ambushing Imperial guards, making an opening, running away, and getting saved by the Shardbender was as hazy as a dream –and a really bad one.

“...Where… am I?” Tham asked, slowly sitting up on a hay bed with a wince.

The Shardbender was sitting on a chair next to his bed. Physically looking several years older than Kayden –early-twenties, maybe–, he had wild blond hair and black eyes, the now-absence of hood revealing sharp features and a gaze that looked to have seen much more than what it had signed up for in life. Even so, he grinned.

“I knew you’d wake up,” he said. “The name’s Merdilen Arthenmon. Shardbender. Hero. Nice to meet ya. Don’t worry, kid.” He winked. “You’re safe here.”

“You’re a real Shardbender?” Tham asked, forcing himself to sound casual.

“Heh. As real as you are.” He swiped back his long blond bangs. “I get ya. I’m hard to believe.”

Then Tham remembered. He got up from the bed, so fast he got dizzy.

“Where’s Kayden?!” he asked.

“Who?” Merdilen replied.

“The man who was with me,” Tham said quickly. “The one from the wanted posters.”

“Ohhh,” Merdilen nodded. “The Timeless. He was captured by the Empire of this world. Why?”

“Well, we gotta get him back!” Tham exclaimed. “We need to–”

“Ehh… What’s in it for me?”

Tham thought fast. If this Merdilen guy was half the Shardbender the legends talked about, then he’d definitely need him to save Kayden. It had all happened so fast… Kayden had given over the Mimicker and his own freedom to save Tham. Tham needed to get him back, safe and sound.

Tham shrugged. “Wealth, fame, power. No matter what you’re at, you’re likely to find it on our quest. …Well, except for the first one, and maybe the second. We did get some nice loot from the Valley of Broken Statues, though.”

Merdilen folded his arms. “You don’t sound very convincing.”

“I mean, we don’t have much to offer,” Tham admitted. “True heroes don’t look for something in return, but I guess those are hard to find these days. Don’t worry, Merdilen. I’ll find someone who wants to make a name for himself as the one who overthrew the Empire of the Shattered Sky.”

“Good luck,” Merdilen smiled. “I’m sure you will. Your sword’s by the door.”

“Well, then,” Tham said. “I’ll… go find a real hero. Thank you for saving my life. Goodbye.”

Tham headed for the door, grabbed the Mimicker, and left. Alone but determined.

It didn’t matter. He would save Kayden. And his village. Everything would go back to normal. Right? Tham would make sure it did. No matter the cost. Tham had never held anything more than a knife before, let alone a sword. But it didn’t matter.

“It’s the two of us now, Mimicker,” Tham said.

“Um, three,” a voice from behind him said.

It was Merdilen Arthenmon. The Shardbender, somehow all suited up with a black coat and sword already.

“It’s been a while since I went on a real quest. I gotta say they’re in short supply as of late. It’s true that I kinda miss those days.”

Tham looked at him, incredulously. “I thought you weren’t coming.”

“It was a test,” Merdilen said, not looking at him. “Besides, I would feel bad if I didn’t.” He must’ve seen Tham smile, because he added, “Not because you hurt my ego or anything, though. I choose to. Out of my own initiative.”

Tham breathed in deeply. “All right, then. Let’s go.”

The Mimicker then spoke. “Yeah. Let’s go beat up some bad guys.”

“Kayden,” Merdilen said. “Whoever you are, we’re coming for you.”