Okay, where should I start?

My name is Merdilen Arthenmon, he thought, soaring from rooftop to dark rooftop, spinning around in the cold air, and I’m the last Shardbender.

He landed on a storefront, momentarily losing balance before Shardbending his boot into a rock-hard substance, adhered to the rooftop, with which he pulled himself back up in one smooth move and continued forward.

I died, but I gotta find out why this afterlife isn’t like old books. Running, he could see the next wall ring coming up close, but didn’t stop.

It’s weird to think I was chosen to save the world, he thought as he leaped straight into it, Shardbending the thick wall surface into sand where he touched it, stepping through, and then Shardbending it back into solid rock as he hopped forward. It didn’t really work out.

A lot happened in between. Friends died. All that’s behind me.

Right now, though…

He stopped, crouching on a ledge while looking over at the highest-security prisoner camp. Where this ‘Timeless’ friend of Tham should be.

How on Earth am I meant to explain all this to anyone else?

Merdilen needed answers, no matter what. He needed to get back to the ‘alive’ world. This looked like neither heaven nor hell, but it for sure was something otherworldly. He had a hunch that, if he saved this Timeless-Kayden guy, he’d get closer to his answers.

Merdilen took his rod from his belt as he Shardbent it to a long black sword.

“All right,” he said, leaping into the next rooftop and dashing forward. “Hehe. Time to make a mess.”

– – –

Tham breathed in and out several times.

The plan to save Kayden was simple. Merdilen Arthenmon would go in and make a mess. Tham would go around and take advantage of that mess. While Merdilen was wreaking havoc, Tham would enter the prisoner camp with the Mimicker, find Kayden, and break him out. The main problem, though, was…

“Why are we trusting him, again?” the Mimicker asked from the sheath on Tham’s back.

“Because we don’t have a choice,” Tham whispered.

Being honest, he was terrified. As he walked around the night streets of Unbadda wearing the shifted Mimicker as a helmet, humming some of his favorite tunes to steady himself, he realized he’d never been so alone. He’d never been to a city as big as this before, let alone at night, let alone on his own.

“We just gotta go up,” Tham then said. “The upward slope means we’re going higher in the security levels.”

Tham could feel Unbadda’s decay everywhere. The small children trying unsuccessfully to guard the entrances to taverns whose doors had clearly been blown down long ago. The imperial guards beating up women selling sentient gems for not having a permit. Tham would’ve liked to walk with his eyes closed just to not see how rancid the city was.

Tham’s village would be arriving here in the next couple of hours. Without saving Kayden, there’d be no chance of making up a plan, much less actually saving the villagers.

Surprisingly enough, Merdilen’s fake ID had gotten Tham and the Mimicker through to the uppermost ring. Now came the hard part. Supposedly, Merdilen would blow up the wall on the specific prison Kayden was in, but Tham had his doubts.

Tham, wearing his Mimicker helmet, went up to a tavern’s rooftop, and there he crouched, looking over at the long spread of prison centers and work camps set up before the monster of a mountain that hid the sky.

Now he could just wait. Watch and wait.

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– – –

Breathe. Regress time.

Breathe. Regress time. Breathe. Regress time. Breathe. Regress time. Breathe. Regress time. Breathe. Regress time.

Kayden needed to keep himself alive.

Breathe. Regress time. Breathe. Regress time.

No matter how much longer he spent shackled and hanging.

Breathe. Regress time.

He had already given up once.

Breathe. Regress time.

This time, he was not letting go.

Breathe. Regress time. Breathe. Regress time. Breathe. Regress time. Breathe. Regress time. Breathe. Regress time.

His breath caught in his throat. As if time had slowed down. …Or as if he had.

“Will you stop doing that, please?” a flat female voice called out from the darkness of his cavern. An unmistakable female voice. “Also, did you plant those forget-me-nots just now? I’m certain those weren’t there before.”

“Lauren,” Kayden said right away.

“Who?” Lauren said. “I’m the Everbender.”

“What do you want?” Kayden said, eyes narrowed.

“Don’t worry about it,” Lauren said from the darkness. “I came to ask you personally. What do you want? Last meal. It's breakfast, by the way. My treat.”

Kayden didn’t know what to reply.

“Rat got your tongue?” Lauren asked with curiosity in her voice. “What is it, Kayden? Have you got nothing to say?”

Her voice… so soft. So misleading. Kayden breathed in deeply.

“I’ve got until morning, then,” he muttered.

“Huh?” Lauren said. “What was that? No, Kayden. You’ve got nothing. I’m starting to believe you can’t help me find the Sky after all. My change of plans was for nothing. Your prize is death –easier for both of us.”

Kayden frowned. “...The Sky?”

“The Megalo Sky,” Lauren said casually from the darkness. “‘The Timewatcher couldn’t allow that, so he reset the timeline.’ You know. The thing to do that.”

Kayden’s jaw dropped. “It’s real.”

Lauren sighed. “I guess we’re not getting anywhere with this. You want a last meal or not?”

“No,” Kayden snapped. “Not from you.”

“Your loss,” Lauren replied. “Well then. See you tomorrow.”

He could hear her leaving.

“I have no idea what I’d do if I were you!” Lauren called out from the gate of whatever dark place they were in, “But I’m invested.”

– – –

Merdilen breathed in deeply, the night air filling his lungs.

He pulled on his gloves, both with several compartments full of sand. This last rooftop oversaw the sprawling camp that was the beginning of the prisoner sector of the city, several blocks before the sharp mountain shot upward, holding the highest-security individuals. Darkness.

The camp tents were barely cloth. Most were torn-down or damaged in some way; being subtle was impossible in a place like that. So he wouldn’t be. This was a distraction, after all.

Merdilen extended both arms to the sides, standing up straight in the rooftop. He jumped forward, maintaining his position, diving like a cross into the tents below. His coat flapped in the cold wind as he fell. And right before he hit cloth, he Shardbent.

He Shardbent the rapidly-approaching tent into solid stone and his boots into thick rubber as he hit the surface, not missing a beat as he ran atop the stone, leaping onto the next tent as he turned it into stone as well.

This is what you wanted, Merdilen thought, determination in his eyes. For this power to help the world. Right, doctor Alekis?

He shifted his sword into a pole with a red banner on top, crouching to swing it through a fireplace next to the tent below, and then raising it high in the air. A burning beacon of justice. And then he kept running.

“With this power, Merdilen, you’ll save the Modern Age.”

He couldn’t forget. He couldn’t forget doctor Alekis. He couldn’t forget his world.

Far in the distance, someone sounded the alarm. Merdilen could feel them. Thousands of soldiers, coming to him. He kept running, holding the beacon high in sky.

“Come at me!” he said, speeding up, turning every possible high surface into stone as he ran.

Don’t look back.

“You’ll lead the charge into the future.”

He kept running, forward, toward the mountain. Arrows and shouts flew around him. One pierced his leg, but he Shardbent it into the thinnest sand possible and continued on.

“You will make it. Because you…”

“...I am…” he shouted, leaping forth, “the one who will keep my world alive!”