Grass crunched underfoot, deep steel- the voice of eons. “You can’t hide from me.” Arctic stepped forward, eyes meeting Iri’s as she stepped out from behind the vegetation. No- this wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.

This wasn’t… “You overstep…” Their confrontation faded into the darkness of forest and the water laden boughs, an overcast sky rumbling far above with the hints of thunder and promises of eternity.

Siqxhe slowly started to slip away into the forest-darkness, carefully making his way between the immense trees of which had been growing here for so long, jungle-monoliths all crowded together among the verdancy, green light. Echoing down from a grey sky-

A blade, silvery, echoing with the faintest vestiges of power. It was in front of him and not quite- Laeo looked at him, sharp eyes glaring deep into his own. “You… in any other world, you’d be dead. Stop running. Just let her die.”

“Never.” He glanced back, hoping that Iri would make her way over here. There was no way he’d ever be even close to a match for Laeo, and he knew that- after his defeat atop the world, a victory so bitter. “You killed them. The Ilyaochi were doing nothing, and you-”

“I killed them. I saved the world.” He stepped forward, but didn’t swing his sword. In that moment there was nothing between them, the knowledge that Siqxhe would die on his whims, the whims of Arctic and an uncaring sky. “The Eternity Falling deserves Polarity Light, after all this time-” Thunder boomed, an immensity of sound rolling over everywhere, followed by a soft pattering, echoes… “Iri hid it. Arctic will return it.”

“She would have returned it too, if she hadn’t got caught beneath the shadow of God. Don’t tell me Arctic wouldn’t have done the same thing.” Laeo had returned the sword to his side, signaling that he could talk without immediate fear of repercussion. It was a faint signal, because repercussion was always there, the flick of a wrist and the power of the sibilant. “The Eternity Falling is neutral. They have to be- or else one side wouldn’t exist.”

An expression of almost painful denial ran across Laeo’s face. “You-” The world was wreathed in flames for a second, a single moment and they were laying on the ground, blinking out the after effects of sound and air and rushing wind. A whole section of the forest had been obliterated, power beyond anything he’d ever seen before. Laeo was the first to stand, only paying a quick glance to Siqxhe. “Remember when you cause the end of the world, Siqxhe…”

Then he was gone and they were running.

The earth was fire as they ran, a scorching wind at their back as their island was systematically destroyed. Then the sky itself was fire, an explosion of brilliant light echoing through the clouds and their holes, an iridescent sheen and the all the power of his breath catching, feet pounding against loamy soil, running.

Fire itself brought to kneel, those incessant tears, drops of incandescence halted as they slipped quietly into the forest and the violent seas, away.

Away…

……….

Eventually they came to a rocky crag, the effect of untold years of plants and animals and wind and water, all bearing their weight against the stone. Driving rains pounded against them as they slipped beneath the overhang, exhausted…

Iri set about making food, collecting water, bringing fire from little more than damp sticks, while Siqxhe just slumped against the wall. He was tired of running… they’d been going, so long. “Will he ever give up the chase?”

Iri glanced up from the fires she’d been making, the orange-bright flames reflecting oddly off her innards of silver-facet brightness… “No. No, I don’t think he will. Not until he can return home.” She stared down at the fire, silent for a long moment as she just… pondered. A sadness, draped over her and woven of such tight threads, falling back to forever-so-long ago… “We’re weary, Siqxhe. It’s been so long since we’ve seen the sunrise over Jewel West or moonlight on the sands of the Installation. Too long…”

“He speaks as if he would destroy the world. Everything.” All humanity, their achievements, so long written into the very stone of the world. A fire, like the steady drop of the tears they’d run from as they scoured the island, just… everywhere. He shuddered. That would… “Polarity Light is on the world, though. He wouldn’t destroy it, right?”

Iri laughed, a short sound, pained. “You misunderstand. Nothing and nobody can destroy Polarity Light. It can be lost. Not destroyed…” She shook her head, inviting Siqxhe to move closer to her fire, something he readily accepted. So cold, the weight of water and the pressing of fear- they were being chased.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

They were being chased, and as inexorably as the sun rose, Arctic was coming. They didn;t have long here. Moving… stars across the sky. “The debris band. Maybe the temple represents the debris band.”

“It didn’t look like it to me.” Iri shook her head, this time, bittersweet. “The Eternity Falling was different, before- but everything just seems out of proportion. Too smooth… it would be jagged, if it were debris.” Siqxhe still held his belief, but still… she brought up good points.

What did it mean? More importantly, what did it matter- the fire crackled cheerfully, a counterpart to the endless cold of wandering, skies… invisible. They were trapped beneath the pounding rain, the threat of coming danger. Iri moved closer to him, almost-

Afraid. Iri, the sibilant, afraid… “I feel him… he’s strong, but I don’t fear his strength.” She feared- orange, the eyes in the darkness and the infinities, the things that had crushed here once before and would do so again with barely a though… no, he didn’t know anything about the Eternity Falling’s thoughts. It was not human.

Something, beyond human- the orange, firelight and memories of the darkness, dying. He fell asleep in Iri’s gentle, jagged arms, dreaming about the death of so many people, injuries unknitting and reknitting themselves before him in an endless sea, agony, the fabric of reality. Dreams, and light- a subconscious imagination. The iridescence, the flames as they washed-

He woke to an insistent thud, echoing through his bones as Iri dragged him through the jungle-floor, ferns and flowers and all the little things that were Noabo whispering past him in a distilled moment of jungle. He squirmed a little bit and Iri dropped him, forcing him to catch his balance and run-

Again, they were running, and this time there wasn’t much of a place to run to. The end of the island was fast approaching, and they couldn’t very well backtrack as they’d been doing the past few days- Arctic had burnt the island. Ashen worlds, darkness…

Destruction unimaginable, black- stone cliffs, and the crashing of waves so far below, the power of the ocean and its strength as it had eaten away at the basalt over the course of that many years. More than he could imagine, more than Iri had lived, the natural processes something beyond the scope of his understanding. “How far-” He paused a second, gasping to get his breath. “How far behind are they?”

“Decently far, but not so much as to prevent us from running. We need to…” Iri’s voice trailed off, and after a second Siqxhe understood why. On the horizon, something so perfect, a glimmer of light and a reflection and the relief that came from savior-

A ship. A ship sailed on the horizon. Then they were pounding forward, falling, crashing into the surf as they swam. Iri moved doggedly forward, but Siqxhe glanced back every once in a while, watching the emerald jewel of the isles, one of so many, fading… the dawn mists, sunlight brightness striking black sands and glittering off the remnants of rain as they swam toward the ship, two lines.

Intersecting… for a moment it looked as if they weren't going to make it, but Iri was a powerful swimmer and Siqxhe managed to keep up pretty well himself. More importantly, Iri clung to the wood of the ship like a barnacle, metal claws gouging into the wood and holding, despite the water as it threatened to whisk them away, she held.

One hand over the other, the crack of metal into wood, one step up. Another hand, and then a ladder was dangling beside them and they were flopping to the deck with a variety of spears pointed at them. “What’s happening here?” A man dressed in captain's regalia, the gold chains and dun-greenish clothes stopped, staring down at Iri with an unreadable expression. “What is happening?”

“They were clinging to the…” The sailor let his words trail off as Iri stood, towering over everyone but the tallest of them, eyes burning. Fear, but also joy in equal measure. They’d escaped. “We were running from a particularly dangerous group of people. They won’t catch us now.”

Siqxhe stepped up beside her, a vote of confidence from someone of clear Nola descent. The captain likely wouldn’t care about something as petty as that, but the crew definitely would, and it helped when his companion was so thoroughly… inhuman. “We’re making our way to Abōeo… I was trained at the university there, and it's long since time I returned.” A lie, but it didn’t matter.

Here on the deck of a ship, wind blowing through sodden hair and drying him as much as it chilled him- bright sunlight, and an end to running.

………..

Laeo looked out over the fleeing form of the ship as it deftly navigated the channels and reefs of the Nolabo seas, feeling… hope. Fear, too. On that cliff of black stone, he watched Siqxhe live. “Strike the water. Close-”

“It’s not possible. Iri’s faction shot down the only satellite I have in the region.” Arctic stepped up beside him, all glittering lines, impossible geometry and anger. A burning wrath that slipped through his eyes and into the very essence of his being. Laeo had never seen him this angry until they’d finally confronted Iri. “Besides, more action would call the Eternity Falling, and that would be catastrophic. I’m… stockpiling.” Laeo let the words roll over him, thinking about what Siqxhe had said. Two sides to a conflict….

He watched, tearful- water gleaming, enemies living…