Kayden and Varokan moved weakly forward, step after step.

Abner Chafter is dead. Abner Chafter is dead.

The statement looped over and over in Kayden’s mind.

They were nearing the rest of the Libertatum Brotherhood troops when they heard the Everbender free herself with a roar.

Kayden turned right in time to see her soaring through the sky towards them, rapier held forward. His eyes widened. He felt so weak.

Her furious rapier was about to pierce Kayden’s stomach when a familiar man appeared out of nowhere and caught her arm with both hands.

“Dad!” Tham’s voice cried from afar.

“Tandol,” Kayden recognized with a gasp.

Burning white eyes glanced at Kayden and nodded. Several empty Unbound air vials hung from a belt on Tandol’s hips. His hair was floating, as if being pulled in every direction by an invisible omnipresent force. His legs were shaking slightly.

“I’ve been escaping this fight my entire life,” he said with a trembling voice.

The Everbender looked at him with pure rage in her face.

“You saved my son,” he told Kayden, “and so I promise you something. You will not leave here empty-handed. And I can be a hero too.”

With that, Tham called out his name one last time, and they both disappeared into the sky.

– – –

Tham would’ve done anything to be able to see again just then.

“They’re teleporting through the sky!” Hassah started narrating quickly as she reached him through the rocks and debris. Her voice was trembling. She could feel his pain too. “Spacebending! Your dad’s appearing everywhere throughout the sky. The Everbender seems to be barely able to keep track. But he’s not getting close! …He’s looking for something.”

Tham faced upwards too. As if directing his blinded eyes towards his dad would somehow heal his wounds.

“They’re soaring away from the slave campsite, into the city. They… They slammed into a building!”

Come on, Dad, Tham thought. You have always been my hero.

“And still they continue!” Hassah said. “They’re coming back. Your dad’s reaching towards her. He’s attempting something, but I don’t know what. The teleportations are getting faster! Even faster!”

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Tham’s heart was beating hard in his chest as the doom music of invisible war drums. He breathed in deeply.

“Come on, Dad!” he shouted at the top of his voice. “You can do this! You can do anything!”

“...He grinned,” Hassah said.

A hand Tham recognized as Kayden’s squeezed his shoulder.

“Your dad is strong, Tham,” he said firmly, but even Tham could hear the pain wavering in his weakened voice. “Stronger than any of us could’ve imagined. He set out to do something, and he’ll do it. But…”

He didn’t finish the sentence.

“We need to retreat,” Varokan said. “Now. If your father achieves something, we’ll be forever grateful. But we need to be ready to leave the second something goes awry.”

Tham was horrified.

“...And leave him here?” he whispered. “I’ve been fighting this whole time to get him back, and you tell me to leave him behind?”

“There are things in play here, greater than any of us,” Varokan said. “We achieved a lot in this battle. The rest of your surviving village is safe in Kaijin Base. So is Hassah’s, and many others. We got hundreds of Unbound air vials and valuable information. We defeated the Skyfall Empire’s army for the first time in history. But the Everbender alone has the power to kill every single one of us in a matter of minutes. This is a victory, and it is our duty to make the most of it and not throw our lives away now.”

Then, Hassah spoke again.

“The Everbender…” she whispered. “The Everbender stabbed your dad through the chest, and he’s still grinning.”

“No!” Tham shouted with a broken voice. “Can’t someone do something? Will we really leave another friend to die?”

“Wait,” Hassah said. “He’s saying something.”

“They’re too far up,” Kayden whispered. “There’s no way we’ll hear him from here.”

“...I’m gonna do something to you, Tham,” Hassah said quickly. “But it’s gonna hurt.”

“Do it,” Tham said.

Then… Flow of blood from bodies. Heavy faraway footsteps on rock. Screams and whimpers of pain from all around. Tham could hear everything.

He breathed in sharply. His head hurt. Overloaded again, he felt the near-irresistible urge to cover his ears with his hands. But he didn’t. He focused.

Far above in the distance, Tham could hear his dad. His voice came clear and strong to him throughout the chaos and madness of the world.

“Her mask,” his dad was whispering. “Her weak point. Her mask.”

Tham nodded with a wince. Then his dad spoke again. One last time.

“Live, Tham. Live.”

The boom against the ground that came right after said enough.

Tham screamed his dad’s name time after time, but there was no reply. The enhanced hearing faded as well.

But I haven’t told you my stories yet, Tham cried out in his mind.

Everything hurt as he was pulled by the others back to Kaijin Base. Everything hurt as the massive humanoid dashed east as fast as it could through the fields, valleys, and eventually the desert, barely managing to leave the Everbender behind.

A great cost had been paid that day. Now they had to live up to the challenges that lay ahead. Tham knew one thing. It would only get worse. But they were strong enough.