Toulou took Pepin’s hand from their bleeding stomach and held it firmly.

Jacques untied his sash and added it to the already covered, sopping wound while Emelri dug in her bag for medical supplies. Adrian was by her side, staring in horror, and in the background, it was quiet; the last of the Spillers downed.

“I’m... I’m sorry...” Toulou said between ragged breaths, tears sliding down their face as they looked at their brother. “For everything.”

Pepin whimpered as he clenched the hand back, leaning down and touching his forehead to Toulou’s. “No. Don’t apologize. I-it’ll be alright, as long as we have each other. Remember?”

“Pep... You’re strong. You must do the rest without me.”

“Stop being dramatic,” Jacques barked, and Pepin sat up again. “We’re going to heal you. Just hold on. Emi, clean the wound—”

With their other hand, Toulou roughly grabbed Jacques’s wrist, glaring at them. “Stop. You can’t heal this, Jacques. Just let me go. It’s what I deserve.”

“Don’t be a fucking idiot.”

“Let me take a look,” Emelri said, lifting the soaked sashes. Her heart stopped.

A clean slice spread from their hip up to their left armpit, and severed intestines were beginning to slip out of the open, gushing wound. In their left arm was what looked like an arrow wound with purple webbing, forking all the way down their torso.

“Ziluria...” she mumbled, a hand coming to her mouth. “Toulou...”

“I was going to die of poison anyway,” they said, coughing as blood leaked over their lips.

“N-no, you weren’t,” she said, pulling out the small vial of see-through liquid. “We brought an antidote. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Y-you were supposed to get better.”

“Toulou...” Jacques pulled them into his arms; their torso now resting in his lap. “This is all my fault. If I had just told you from the start about Carnadine—”

“It’s not your fault.” Their hand found Jacques’s face, and a gentle smile spread over their lips. “Don’t do that guilt shit, remember?” Leaning forward, they placed a gentle, bloody kiss to his cheek. “You’re the best father I could have asked—”

Their hand fell to their side, and Jacques quickly pulled from the embrace to look at them. The staring brown eyes were misty, unblinking. “Toulou? Toulou, Sweetheart... T-Toulou...” Kissing them on the forehead, he hid his face in the crook of their neck and wept.

Adrian hugged Jacques from behind as his own tears silently fell. Pepin still held Toulou’s hand as he sobbed along with the others. Emi looked down at the unopened vial still in her hand and stared as tears fell over it.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. They were supposed to save them.

The glossy, lifeless eyes stared up at the emerald sky, and a light rain began to fall over Fort Blood.

❀❀❀

Emi, Pepin, Jacques, and Adrian all walked in silence down the dirt path as they entered Yundet. Jacques pulled along the roan-colored horse, Lumi, who’d been spotted on the Tomptif beach on their journey east. The horse must have found her herd again after they let her go, but she was all the same still eager to come say hello when they called to her with fruit in hand.

Emelri tried not to focus too much on the large, wrapped form slung over the mare’s back that they’d been transporting the last several days. She rubbed at the scar on her arm where the shard of Broyeur had got her, the wound already healed by Pepin’s magic.

Three days had passed since the incident, yet she couldn’t stop replaying the image of Toulou taking the blow that was meant for her, their body tumbling down, the unhealable wound, and most of all, the dead eyes staring up at nothing. Shivering slightly, she tried to shake the images but was unsuccessful until someone spoke.

“Wait, are you sure this is Yundet?” Pepin asked, walking up beside Jacques and staring down the hillside.

“It is, yes,” he answered, and Emelri caught up to them only to gawk as well.

The once desolate, leveled town covered in ash was now heavily populated with Alchemists and Venwi Folk who lined the streets with donkeys, horses, tents, and equipment. All the corpses were gone. No flag waved and no one seemed to pay any heed to one another as they went about their tasks.

“What... what happened here?” she asked, eyes falling over the many builders throughout the town putting up clay foundations for new houses. “Where did all these people come from?”

“They were here when I brought Jacques through,” Adrian said, “but there were far less before. I believe they’re here to reclaim Yundet. All the Spillers are gone and the farmland is ready and untouched. Most are from Zmeyal, I would guess, but obviously not all of them are Alchemists, so I don’t quite understand their motive for coming all the way out here—”

“There he is!” someone shouted in Venwi, and Emelri blinked as a group of people rushed to their location. “The man who was brought through the portal!”

Jacques looked around in confusion and distress as these strangers all hovered around him. “Uh, sorry, what’s happening?” he asked in Venish, and the people looked at him oddly.

“You recognize Jacques?” Adrian asked in a language they understood, and they nodded enthusiastically.

“Yes, you must be the man who was with him when he crossed from the Elderian side!” a black Alchemist woman with long black hair bellowed while Adrian quietly translated under his breath to Jacques. “Are you here to open the portal again? There’s been some rumors circulating that you two would return to open it!”

“Wait, you both were seen coming through?” Emelri asked, and Adrian looked sheepish.

“We may have attracted quite a bit of attention when opening and closing the portal. Some people already questioned us when we first arrived, but I thought that would be the end of it.”

“End of it?” A Venwi Folk man with light brown skin laughed. “Of course, people want to investigate the once dormant portal we all believed would never open again!”

“Is that why all these people are in Yundet?”

“Well, partly, I suppose...”

“Many of us have been inspired by what the Alchemist Savior has done for us,” a qivaz with white hair and tawny brown skin said. “We owe them everything.”

“Alchemist Savior?” Jacques asked after hearing Adrian’s translation, and the blond repeated the question in Venwi to the group.

The qivaz’s eyes widened. “Have you not heard of them? They leveled the Yundet stronghold and many other Spiller dens, and in doing so, inspired courage in all of us! They’ve brought us into a new age where we don’t have to be so divided between Alchemists and Venwi Folk. We can live more peacefully!”

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With a sinking feeling, Emelri realized who they were talking about and glanced at the cargo on Lumi’s back.

“That legend of a magic user freed not just Alchemists,” the Venwi Folk man chimed in, “but Venwi Folk as well from Spiller control! We are all inspired to fight back! Many of us want to liberate other users who may still exist on the Elderian side.” He looked at Jacques as he said it, and the magic user frowned in response when he was relayed the message.

“That’s a terrible idea,” Emelri said. “They have Teptrite over there.”

“Oh, we are aware,” the black woman said seriously, “but we are ready for such an encounter. You’ve probably heard of non-users getting a hold of magic wielding weapons to use against those murderers. We have the tools now. All people needed was a push; an example of someone brave carving the way, and we got just that with the Alchemist Savior. We haven’t seen a rebellion against the Spillers this successful since… well, ever!”

“Wish we could meet them,” the qivaz said with a sigh. “I can only imagine how inspiring that would be.”

There was silence for a moment, and Emelri looked at her family members to see the same confliction in their faces that she was currently feeling.

“Some of us have volunteered to go through once the portal opens,” the Venwi Folk man continued. “I’ve heard Elderian flows with resources! Maybe we can build there!”

“I just want to see what’s on the other side,” the black woman added. “Now you two are here, you will be opening it, right? I assume that’s why you’re here.”

“Um, yes,” Adrian finally said after a long pause, “but we don’t have control over it from this side—” Before he could finish, a loud sound like an electrical device powering up rang out, and they all looked out towards the portal way out in the water. The archway lit up with glowing green words.

“Oh, yes, yes, yes!” the qivaz yelled. “It’s going to open soon! Thank you so much!”

As quickly as the group arrived, they were already leaving, sprinting away and getting lost in the now overly excited crowd.

“Shit,” Jacques cursed, turning to the others. “Gabriel is about to open the portal.”

“What are we going to do?” Emelri asked. “How are we going to keep all these people from coming through with us?”

“We can’t.” They all looked at Adrian as he spoke. “There’s nothing to do. What’s important is that we get back home.”

“Adrian,” Jacques took him by the arm, “if a mass of people start coming through the portal, it’ll be chaos.”

“Then what do you propose? We’re running out of time. We need to get through before it closes again. It’s our job to bring our family home.”

They mutely searched each other’s faces for a tense couple of seconds then an earth-shattering sound rang out.

“It’s opened! Hurry, grab on!” Jacques yelled, taking hold of Adrian’s shoulder.

Pepin had enough time to take Emelri’s hand after Adrian took his arm before they were all teleporting.

They appeared in a large crowd right outside the towering, now magic filled archway. Emelri felt herself being shoved by the dozens of bodies desperately pushing through. Pepin held her fast as they stepped into the portal with the others.

Now on the other side, she was horrified to see it was just as crowded. The sea pyramid on the edge of Elden Town was cram-packed full of people. Immediately, they were all being questioned by random strangers in Venish.

“Are you all old worlders?”

“What is it like on the other side?”

“Is it safe?”

“They have horses over there?”

“Holy—let us out first, you fuckers,” Jacques exclaimed, shoving his way past them while still leading Lumi, then a strange look crossed his face. “Shit. There’s a lot of magic users here.”

“I can feel them too,” Pepin shouted over the noise. “There’s easily over a hundred...” He tripped when someone elbowed him by accident, and Emelri caught him by the arm.

“Thank the stars you all made it!” She turned, seeing a slim man in his early thirties with black skin, shoulder length black cornrows, and brown eyes. He squeezed past a few people to reach Jacques and patted his old friend on the arm.

“Gabriel!” Jacques patted him back. “Fuck, am I glad to see you. What the hell is happening? Where did all these people come from?”

“They’ve been camping out here the last several days waiting for the portal to open,” he said, having to get very close due to the crowd, which did not go unnoticed by an impatient-faced Adrian. “I had no choice but to open it. I couldn’t have you all stuck on the other side.”

“It’s alright. You did the right thing.”

“Hmpf,” Adrian complained, frowning. “You weren’t so happy about the portal opening just a few minutes ago, but when he mentions it...”

Jacques gave his partner a look. “Are you serious right now—”

They were all pushed back and forth then, as more people poured in from Yayma and those from Venwick rapidly disappeared going the other direction. The five of them were pulled in separate directions as the situation went from disorder to pandemonium.

Emelri received an elbow to the gut and was thrown into another stranger. Attempting to get up, she caught sight of Lumi snorting anxiously, picking up her feet while Jacques held tightly onto her reins. Adrian, who was the closest, tried to help calm the animal down as she tossed her head, but the horse reared.

Emelri gasped when the cargo on her back slid off; the wrapped, lifeless form crashing to the ground.

The family all froze, staring at it in shared shock.

A half-second passed and Pepin warped to Adrian’s side, helping him calm Lumi back down while putting a protective barrier around the fallen cargo. Gabriel also teleported over to help. Emelri was still out of reach but even through the mess of humans, she watched as Jacques kneeled down and lifted the sacred package into his arms.

So many emotions crossed his face, but the one that won out was anger. He passed the body reverently over to Adrian who took it tenderly.

Turning back to the crowd, electricity crackled over Jacques’s eyes. He gritted his teeth as a massive shock wave spread from his body out and over all of them, ending at the portal where it formed into a crystalized barrier; the same solid barrier that had once kept them from entering into Yayma all those weeks ago.

Everyone except Jacques’s family and Gabriel received a nasty little shock, stopping them in their tracks.

“Enough,” Jacques projected, and a hush fell over the crowd as they all turned to look at the red-faced magic user who caused this. “You’re all stuck here for the next hour until the barrier breaks. I suggest you rethink what the fuck you’re all trying to do here.”

“What the hell,” a man’s voice sounded from somewhere within the multitude of people. “Why would you block the entrance?”

“Have you all forgotten what happened two centuries ago when hundreds of people flooded into Elderian at once?” he countered. “The portal closed. Why do you think that is? Because too many people were coming and going. It’ll shut off again if you keep this shit up.”

“Does it matter?” someone else yelled. “We have magic users and someone here who clearly knows how to reopen it. Whoever they are will reopen it again. This is a non-issue.”

Jacques pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re all not thinking clearly. Do I even want to ask any of your reasons for trying to get through? Is it curiosity? Greed? Human stupidity?”

“Hey, you’re one of the users who came from the old world,” a female voice accused him. “How can you judge us when you’ve already crossed over?”

“He’s from the old world?”

“Hypocrite!”

“He wants to keep all the secrets to himself!”

More voices joined in until Adrian shouted over them, “I know you’re curious, but if Teptrite enters this portal, the users on the other side are done for. They don’t have offensive users over there.”

“That’s not true.” A white-haired Alchemist stepped forward. “We can fight back just fine. That’s why we’re here. We have weapons made from Mevlo, the great blacksmith, that even non-users can use against Spillers, and we have the numbers and the drive to take them down once and for all!”

There was an ear-splitting cry of support.

“It’s too much of a risk,” Adrian countered once they’d settled down. “You’re chancing the existence of an entire culture that was already decimated on the Elderian side. You don’t know how powerful Teptrite truly is—”

“We’re ready. We’re getting to Yayma and ending these Spillers no matter wh—”

“We’ll see about that.” This last voice that spoke belonged to one of two figures robed in red that jumped down from the rafters and drew weapons as well as devices filled with the dreaded Teptrite.

Screams rang out as once again, Emelri was thrown around amongst the surge of frantic bodies.

“Spillers!”

“Spillers are here?”

“They have Teptrite!”

“Protect the children and the elderly!”

Finally reuniting with her family, Emelri noticed Jacques, Pepin, and Gabriel were all suffering the effects of the active Teptrite.

“Emi, help me protect them,” Adrian shouted as he drew his sword.

She nodded, feeling both conflicted and excited to use the new weapon strapped to her back. The two-sided axe had been gifted by her father on their way back through Barshio. It was smaller and lighter than the late Broyeur, but the new weapon she named Batteur, was much quicker.

Turning the green crystal on the handle, she slung magic out at the assailants which were now standing in a small clearing that’d formed around them. More weapons made by her father were used by others to fight back.

The few blasts of non-user magic hit one of the Spillers, who did not get up again. The remaining, red-cloaked figure looked around in a panic, tripping over their feet and dropping the Teptrite device as the congregation closed in on them.

As soon as magic users regained control, the non-users had the assassin cornered and things were a blur after that. The air filled with electricity, prickling Emelri’s skin, and her line of sight was blocked by the sheer amount of just green everywhere. There was shouting from all around her and then the sound of rock splitting, a loud crash, then deathly silence.

Staring past the many heads in front of her, she caught sight of the unlit black entryway and her jaw dropped. A massive chunk of black glass from the side of the portal was missing, now rubble on the ground. Under the debris was the still and bludgeoned body of the second Spiller.

No one had words as they all stared horrified at what they’d just done; the humming of the Totrium whirring in the background.

The portal to Yayma was unsurpassable once again.