Wren encountered two more people on the way up the stairs. She was prepared now. She used her stone on them. Releasing guilt like that didn't really leave less for her. It was like sharing emotions with Fleck. But forcing the feeling on people who were also awful and terrible, but didn't regret it, was satisfying. It was easy to get rid of them.

The hard part was taking so many flights of stairs. The tower wasn't short, and she was pretty sure the cultists were stopping on the top.

She was proven right when she reached the landing to the last floor, and peered out the door's window. The window was a small thing near the top, but through it she could see the cultists had effectively ripped a tear in reality. On one side of the clear veil was their world, the office building. On the other side was a swirling pattern of blues, purples, and black. And after a moment she realized the black swirls were creatures. They didn't seem to have a consistent shape, but they clearly had substance. Their eyes were just a red glow, and there was a faint red glowing outline around them as well.

Anvon stood at the front of the cult. Wren couldn't see his face, but based on his posture, and the way his lowered hands were still spread out, he was pleased with himself.

He took a step forward.

Wren lurched forward, grabbed the door's knob, and stopped.

She'd thought about it one the way up. The beings that gave the cult power did so after they went out and murdered people. If the cultists left reality, they wouldn't be doing that anymore. And it seemed to Wren, that letting the cultists live with them in their reality was a magnanimous kindness for creatures that asked for such cruelty. This was a trap, in other words. It had to be a trap of some sorts.

Anvon walked forward. He reached the veil. He went right through, to the creatures waiting. And she. . .let him.

Nothing happened yet. The other cultists began to follow him. The veil bled a little. Swirls of blue and purple appeared around the walls of the office building, and small items like pens or bits of debris began to float. But it seemed harmless, and still Wren let the cultists go inside the veil.

"Are you sure? Because Cooper got in."

"What?!"

Moon nodded. "He went in like the fire wasn't there at all. I was supposed to catch up with him. And now your telling me I can't?"

"Well Aqua, Udo, and I couldn't get in. How did Cooper?"

Wren knew letting them go in to an obvious trap was morally questionable, maybe not a good thing to do if she was already so guilty. But what was she supposed to do? Try to stop the people that wanted to walk through the tear? She'd probably fail. Even if she succeeded, there'd be more fighting. The people of Morivon would want the cultists executed or locked away. (Wren wasn't sure what the laws for execution were on Morivon.) And the cultists would know that.

"Cooper is a colbber. He's immune to some magic," Moon explained. "This must be one of them."

Even Pauth appeared out of the shadows and went through.

Then there was one person left. And Wren recognized her.

She finally flung the door open. "Eddie! Wait!"

She launched herself across the room. The stone, still in her hand, activated. But she wasn't feeding Eddie guilt. The desperation she was feeling had to get through, but she also wanted to show that Eddie was her friend. That she cared about her.

But she didn't get the chance to send much of either feeling before the connection broke, the silent spell failing like snapping rope, so violent it actually sent Wren staggering back.

"That's not going to work," Eddie said. "That's my ability. How do you think the cult broke the magic defenses around Edinar's castle?"

Wren stared agape. Eddie could just, break magic? That ability was. . .well, it didn't do much good unless someone was already using magic. But if they were, it was stupidly powerful.

Cracks appeared in the floor beneath them. Right. Not the time. "Eddie. . ."

"Oh? Oh now you want to care?" Eddie laughed, and her voice cracked a little in the process. "I was worried, you know. When both groups on Xentron met back up, you weren't there. And no one had an answer when I asked where you were. They didn't speak at all. I thought! You had died!" She gasped out.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Eddie ran a hand through her hair, legs bent as she stared out. Then, she composed herself a bit. Her manic expression dialed back, she lowered her hand, and she stood up straight, looking down at Wren even when Wren pulled herself to her feet.

"But there you were. You were fine, weren't you? And you didn't recognize me. And I'm not sure I recognized you either. Do you know what it's like? Your closest friend, a stranger?"

Wren swallowed the bile in her mouth. No, she didn't know what that was like. Couldn't even begin to imagine what it would feel like.

Then Eddie spoke again. "It was that dragon, wasn't it? He had something to do with it."

Wren's jaw moved for a second, aghast. "He's more violent and angry than me!" she exclaimed.

Some of the outburst was driven be Fleck, and his own incredulous feelings splashing into hers. But some of it was her own emotion. Eddie was bad mouthing Fleck like he'd done something wrong, and she wouldn't have that. And also, despite her crimes, despite the self-hatred, despite everything. . .

"I haven't changed as much as you seem to think! And I would've changed with or without him! The galaxy isn't nearly as selfish and evil as the cult makes it out to be."

Eddie raised an eyebrow. The crack in the floor beneath them had grown and splintered. On Eddie's side, the floor was starting to rise up higher, starting to float like the objects in the room.

"Everyone on Iva was cruel to you," Eddie pointed out. "And Rasha only started acting better when she got something from you."

"You know, that's setting the bar really high."

It wasn't Wren who said that. Cooper appeared behind her, hovering by her left shoulder, having pulled off the invisible sheet. Wren wasn't surprised to see him per say. She'd heard Fleck and Moon.

Cooper pressed on. "And, there's a big difference between what you're talking about at that school, and going out to murder people. And I think you know that."

"Cooper!" Wren hissed.

"Well, if she's as good as you think, this isn't news." Cooper turned to Eddie. "And I hope you are. You're the one who spared me, when the cultists attacked my town."

'Oh. OH.' Wren looked between the two.

Eddie looked at Cooper, face impassive. When her lips pulled back in the corner, Wren could see the metallic glint to them that the cultists had.

"You're right. I did spare you. Because it was the first time I'd done this. Because I didn't understand how it worked. Because I had some doubts about if killing everyone was necessary. Rest assured, I don't do that anymore."

Wren just made a few inarticulate noises. Eddie hadn't technically said she regretted sparing him, or threatened to kill either of them now. But her statement was very cold. Wren had no problem believing she meant it, and worse, believing she found that an improvement.

Bits of the ceiling and broken off and started floating from the deep cracks above them, but it hadn't gotten any brighter because more of the blue and purple had seeped into the room. The crack in the floor had split so far you could see the floor below. The side of the room Eddie was on seemed to get higher, trying to float. The side they were on, meanwhile, was starting to sag, the floor not designed to be held up by so little.

"Eddie. . .you don't-you didn't believe that. You don't have to be like this."

"Funny, you didn't think that before!" Eddie hissed, spit flying from her mouth.

Wren took a startled step back and the ground shook beneath her, a new crack behind them as well.

Wren clasped her hands together. "Eddie please. We can work this out."

"Maybe not right now," Cooper reminded them. "But if you come with us, we can help you."

"And if you're wrong? I haven't seen anything in this galaxy worth sticking around for."

"Then you can make your own!" Cooper yelled. "I-I know how cruel, and dark, and fucked up the galaxy is. Do you-do you think I don't?" He wasn't still yelling per say. He didn't sound angry. Maybe desperate, but he was clearly trying to wrangle in whatever emotion he was feeling, which made it hard to tell. "But I know that's not the only part of the galaxy. And-and if it was, you can make your own goodness. And I don't want to hear that you can't."

He ran a hand through his hair. The wrong hand. He was going to get metal tangled in the strands.

Wren and Eddie were both silent for a moment, looking at him. Unfortunately, they didn't have a moment. The tear was still pulling their world apart, where it was leaking out.

Wren turned back to her. "Eddie please. Come with us. We can talk about this."

She could show Eddie the positive things she'd experienced.

And Eddie did look uncertain for a moment, before closing off her expression. "We're talking right now. I have nothing more I want to say."

She turned around, cloak and hair swishing in the low gravity, and walked through the tear.

Wren called out one more time, reaching out. But the crack in the floor was big enough it would be hard to get across, and if Wren got much closer she ran the risk of going through the veil as well.

Eddie stepped inside. Then, one of the beings inside went between Eddie and the entrance, blocking her from view. It looked at them, and lurched out of the veil, its shadowy mass growing as it lurched towards them.

"Oh shit!" Cooper exclaimed, staggering back.

He couldn't go very far. At this point, it was a long distance between their floating bit of floor, and the closed door to the stairwell.

Wren launched herself between Cooper and the being. It wouldn't take him. Not that she wanted it to take her either. She didn't think using a power given by this creature on it would work very well, so no exploding it. She tightened her grip on her stone instead. She wasn't sure using emotion based magic on the creature would work very well either, it being so different than them, but she was going to try.

She huffed as the creature got closer, the breath sounding more like a dragon's snort than anything she would normally make. She glared the creature down and connected to the power of the universe. And then it stopped. Right in front of her. She glared at it, but before she could send a mental attack, it pulled away. It zoomed backwards towards the veil, shrinking like it hard been burnt. Then it was gone, and the veil closed behind it, taking the blue and purple colors with it.

Unfortunately, it also took the effects on gravity with it. Everything that had been floating in the air fell back down, including the platform they were standing on. Cooper and Wren plummeted from the top of the building.