Veralla hurtled through the warpstorm, half-blind from fear and sensory overstimulation. She had no idea where she was or where she was heading; she only knew she had to take Mentoria away from the Shard, away from where Airo was. So Veralla focused on his presence through the mindlink and moved in the opposite direction as fast as she could.
Mentoria chased after her, a great menacing aura tailing behind, shackled by another's will. The titanic dragon roared, the wordless challenge full of rage and frustration that her quarry continued this futile elusiveness. She was swiftly gaining upon Veralla, her reality-altering willpower unparalleled to something as trivial as a cutting-edge aethertech jetpack.
Veralla had a mere second of headway, and it was going to disappear soon. She could not evade pursuit in a straight chase, and worse, she must not to. Once far enough from the Shard, she had to keep Mentoria in a relative stationary position, until... until the starship fell upon her and killed her.
The presence behind her grew closer. Too closer.
Veralla checked the jetpack's odometer. This was far enough.
She pulled upward sharply and then instantly switched into a diving spiral. She felt a giant claw slashing the air mere inches away from her left wing. She looked back. Mentoria had already changed direction, roaring as she came upon her. Veralla cried out, veering sideways, and avoided being disemboweled, yet Mentoria's tail slapped her on the follow-up strike. Veralla spun out of control, pain across her whole body leaving her breathless.
She fell through the featureless darkness, sleets of reality particles beating her scaled hide, tearing openings in spacetime, catching glimpses of Mentoria baring her enormous fangs in triumph, swooping for the finishing blow.
Reality particles, windows to temporal spatiality, hailing in a warped, fractal whirlwind...
Leading elsewhere.
Veralla summoned her hyperfocused will, Mentoria's claw reaching out to crush her, and plunged through a passing fractal manifold.
And re-appeared above and to the side, a hundred wingbeats away.
She had done it.
Exhilaration filled her. But it lasted only an instant as Mentoria turned, roaring, and charged at her. She sought the nearest reality particle large enough to pass through and dived into it, willing it to shift her elsewhere.
She appeared in another place, even further away. Mentoria faced her again, a roar erupting from the throat of the titanic Primordial, her wings and foreclaws flaring in a deadly gesture as she cast out another reality-unraveling invocation. Veralla again reacted instinctively, negating the lethal Æther spell, yet Mentoria was already charging in, covering her attack with the spell. Veralla particle-shifted barely in time and came out under Mentoria, winning a respite for a few moments before she had to evade the next assault.
This turned into a dangerous game. Veralla jumped from one fractal to another in the howling warpstorm, Mentoria every time on the verge of catching her. The Primordial dragon roared in fury, blasting her firebreath, making ligthning-fast lunges, hurling more existence-erasing invocations, yet Veralla always managed to evade through sheer determination and luck. Mentoria tried to follow her through the miniature holes in reality but the local spacetime had become so unstable she could not control the manifold's exit points. She now pursued Veralla madly, becoming more and more riled up as endlessly long minutes passed and slowly accumulated.
Veralla realized if she could keep up, she could hold Mentoria pinned in place.
But she did not want Mentoria to die.
"Mentoria, stop! Please!" she cried, as she emerged once more from a reality particle. She had acclimated her will to the effort of passing through, and the strain was already bearable. "I do not want hurt you!"
In response, the titanic dragon gaped her jaws, unleashing a silvery torrent of flame. Veralla ducked, particle-shifting through a mirror-like fractal in the last instant. She emerged, hearts pounding, confused, exhausted, and frightened. Mentoria was again coming at her and she shifted again, emerging this time distantly enough to catch her breath.
How much time had passed? Ten, fifteen minutes? An hour? Hundreds of years? She had no idea. She had only to stay in one area and wait for the strike. She had to hold out until the starship crashed.
Yet she wanted to save, not to kill. She was a Radiant Knight.
"Mentoria!" she shrieked. "Please! Hear me! You are strong! You are a dragon now!"
Flashing claws, shifting, roaring firebreath, shifting. Veralla looped around, jetpack blazing frantically, the warpstorm and the whole world an unrecognizable blur. She had no more endurance. She was battered and weary, and her reactions were getting slower. Her willpower was weakening. If she particle-shifted now and emerged near Mentoria, she would be done for.
"You can overcome Ferrtau's control! You can do it! Just fight it, please!"
Across the dark, almost-gone reality, Mentoria stretched to her full terrifying size and she rushed forward, fangs bared in a snarl.
"You are a Primordial now, Mentoria!" Veralla screamed, voice pleading. "You can do anything! You are free! You are free to choose! Choose freedom!!"
Those last words struck home. Mentoria halted mid-charge and stared at her with feral, silver eyes. A tremendous growl escaped her jaws and the titanic dragon shivered, her gaze brightening in a semblance of recognition.
Veralla held her breath, hoping ardently she had reached Mentoria. Mentoria growled a second time, but the sound was more pained and desperate than before. She snarled and convulsed violently – and to Veralla's horror, her eyes dimmed once more, the spark of self-awareness dying inside.
The moment passed. Mentoria roared, lunging forth with a gleaming claw. Veralla looked around in panic for a reality particle to shift through, but right at that moment there were none.
She closed her eyes, her last thought being her love for Airo.
Then an invisible will pulled her hard into some vast otherworld, and the starship crashed.
***
Airo parried in the last possible instant, losing his balance. Ferrtau pressed the advantage, forcing him backwards. Airo stumbled in an awkward sideways dash, but Ferrtau intercepted his move, driving an armored fist in his temple. Airo reeled, his vision fading, and lifted the starblade instinctively. Rain of blows fell upon him and he backed away, his guard overwhelmed.
Ferrtau needed one hit. His starblade would do the rest. Airo held on to dear life, summoning all his strength and speed to deflect the relentless assault, yet it was too much, too fast. A few more exchanges at most and he was done. He would die. The galaxy would die. Everything ever existing would die.
Veralla would die.
Airo screamed and turned his desperate parry into a furious retaliation. Ferrtau's blue-white starblade barely missed his face, all senses on his left side replaced by sheer pain. It mattered not – for a fiery light ascended in Airo's soul, renewing his vigor and giving him a burst of strength.
Ferrtau staggered momentarily, surprised by Airo's suicidal rebuff. Airo let out another shout, turning back the initiative with a flurry of swipes and slashes. He risked his defense in order to close the distance, misleading his opponent with two defiant feints, and then he executed his deadly seven-strike kata.
Despite the sudden onslaught Ferrtau evaded every attack, blocking the last one with an abrupt step forward, stopping dead Airo's starblade with his own. The two warriors halted before one another, their sun-swords locked in a solar-sparking nova of fury and bodily might.
"Again with your seven-strike technique," Ferrtau hissed, leaning forward. His eyes were full of bloodlust. "You never managed to learn the full nine-kata version."
"Neither did you," Airo snapped, pushing hard against the bladelock.
Ferrtau grinned madly. "Oh, but I had centuries to practice."
Before Airo could react, Ferrtau shoved, breaking the contact, and his starblade whirled with impossible speed. Airo summoned every ounce of his skill and determination, warding off blow after blow after blow in mere instants. Somehow, he deflected Ferrtau's entire assault, but he raised his weapon high to stop the last attack – leaving his guard wide open.
Ferrtau kicked him squarely in the abdomen.
Airo fell to the ground, stunned from the pain. This was the end.
Ferrtau lifted his starblade, preparing to deal the finishing blow.
Something happened.
All of Airo's senses suddenly were crushed by sheer pressure. The tenuous reality around the Shard compressed. Time slowed down.
Then a bright dot appeared somewhere on the black horizon.
Timeshifted as he became, Airo managed to lift his starblade to shield himself just as the H'raal sphereship crashed into Terra Para, washing everything with a blinding, overpowering explosion.
***
The total annihilation lasted for an eternity. When the supernova front finally passed, Airo blearily saw Ferrtau, who watched toward ground zero, shading his eyes with a hand.
"What a desperate tactic," Ferrtau remarked as the painfully-bright horizon faded, revealing a starry sky free of warpstorms. "Yet as clever as it is extreme..."
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Airo didn't wait for him to finish. He leapt upright, lunging forward, and brought to bear his starblade just as Ferrtau began to turn. Ferrtau reacted instantly, stopping his attack cold, and then made a series of swipes with such speed Airo couldn't block them before arresting his momentum and he fell on his knees, nearly killed by the assault.
Ferrtau paused with a wry smile. "Really, Airo, you were the martial pride of the Academy, but you should have learned to dodge more often in a duel. Alas, your Way ends here."
Suddenly, there was a flap of powerful wings. Veralla emerged from the night sky with outstretched claws, diving straight at Ferrtau. He jumped back a dozen paces, his face mixed with surprise and wonder. Veralla landed with a roll and rose upright, wasting no time to engage Ferrtau using her bulk and reach.
She made a series of lashing attacks, yet Ferrtau repelled them without effort and then rammed her in an attempt to knock her down. Veralla leaned into the blow with a hiss of pain, spreading her wings wide, but the strike was so fierce it knocked her back, her hindclaws leaving luminous trails as they gouged the Shard's crystalline surface. Airo raised a hand and cushioned Veralla's inertia as she came by his side.
They were together again.
***
Her twin hearts soared at Airo's physical touch, the contact between him and her becoming complete on every level for an instant. Invigorated, she flicked her tail and brushed it against him in a quick caress.
Are you all right? she mindcast, relaying her own condition through the mindlink, alongside the waves of love and relief she felt at their reunion.
I will manage, he replied, sending a mental status of his health as he rose. Let us do this.
They looked at one another, finding strength in their mutual love, and then as one glared at Ferrtau.
The Lightbringer stared back with amazed dismay. He lowered his starblade and laughed bitterly. "So you two have become soulkin. What an unlikely couple: the Dragonslayer and the Primordial, bound together. How very romantic."
"It is over, Ferrtau," Airo called. "We are two against you now. You cannot overcome us both." He lifted his starblade, ready to charge, and Veralla leaned forward, prepared to follow him.
Ferrtau laughed again. "Airo, you forget – she is a dragon."
Veralla sensed Airo's terror through the mindlink in the same instant as Ferrtau looked at her, his eyes becoming a pair of golden orbs.
Suddenly, the mindlink was gone. She could not control her body anymore. Her awareness blurred and she was plunged into a deep fog. Panic overcame her as something huge and frightening entered her mind, taking over her senses, her will, and her own thoughts.
Veralla tried to scream, yet she was not herself anymore.
***
Airo shouted in fear when he lost the mindlink with Veralla. He called her name, terror tearing his heart, yet she didn't respond. Instead, she walked slowly towards Ferrtau, as if in a trance. Airo shouted again, gripping his starblade, and charged at Ferrtau. Then Veralla turned, her expression slack and her purple eyes dimmed by a golden haze. Airo stumbled mid-step, frozen in place by Veralla's horrific Revenant resemblance.
Ferrtau laughed in manic triumph. "Yes, two against one! But the balance is in my favor, Dragonslayer!"
"Veralla!" Airo shouted. "Veralla!"
She gave no indication she heard him. Slowly, she bared her teeth and approached him like a predator, her glazed stare fixed at him.
"Veralla! It is me, Airo! I am your soulkin! Veralla, stop!"
A growl escaped her throat, and a flicker of recognition flashed in her eyes. Yet it went out in an instant, and she made another step, her foreclaws hooked wickedly, her hindlegs tensing to pounce. Her whole body trembled, the terrible power which influenced her too great for her to fight.
Airo realized she was going to kill him.
Facing such hopeless knowledge, Airo became perfectly calm. He let his guard down. This was it. His Way ended here. He felt no fear. His heart was full with peace and compassion.
He looked at Veralla. She was his light. She was his soulkin. He would never hurt her willingly. He would never fight her, no matter what.
He loved her.
And he believed love existed above all else.
"Veralla, I am here," he said softly, moving to stand before her. She growled again, shaking violently as she struggled to free herself from Ferrtau's influence.
"I am here, Veralla" he repeated and placed his hand on her dark, scaled cheek.
She reacted instantly, her snout flashing. She sank her fangs deep in his armored forearm. Pain seared his entire perception, yet he did not move. He did not flinch. He stood, blood flowing from his mangled limb, and he smiled with warmth and kindness.
"I love you, Veralla," he said, his soul singing. "I love you with all the light within me and across the universe. You are my soulkin, Veralla. You are forever shining upon my soul. I love you, Veralla."
He looked into her amethyst gaze and let her see the truth written in his core essence.
She returned his gaze, her slit-pupiled eyes locking with his – and then, like a radiant star ascending over the long dark, comprehension dawned in them.
***
She struggled and strained and leaned against the hold, but there was no use. She was submerged into a bottomless void, alone and without strength. She could feel herself only distantly, a faint movement over a still lake, a shadow passing before her unseeing spirit.
She pushed hard, trying to lift upward, to drive away the invading presence. But her efforts were against smoke, her struggles crippled without power. She was alone, so very alone, held down in the dark where there was nothing. She was falling down into oblivion, the darkness becoming deeper and deeper, closing around like a drowning tomb, snuffing out her very essence.
She cried, keening for help, for release, for death, for something to set her spirit free from this utter emptiness.
Then, a single ray pierced the darkness.
Rise up, my child.
The ray ignited a spark of flame.
And Airo's voice came to her. "I love you, Veralla. I love you with all the light within me and across the universe. You are my soulkin, Veralla. You are forever shining upon my soul. I love you, Veralla."
The words echoed across the span of her being, a chiming wave of harmony, kindness, and peace. The emptiness receded, its devouring mirage laid bare before a starry sky. The stars and the words infused the very core of her soul. She suddenly soared, free and bathed in pure, everlasting light. Her spirit roared with joy and love, blazing off the fog from her mind and burning away the invasive presence. Her senses, her body, her mindlink with Airo, everything was restored. She was once more Veralla.
She was free.
Regaining control, she realized what she had done. Her jaws were still clamped around Airo's forearm. She could taste the blood, his blood. She could feel his pain and the horrific damage she had wrought. She sobbed, tears streaming down her cheeks, her vision blurring from her grief for her soulkin.
"Shhh, it is all right," Airo said, smiling. He dismissed his starblade and patted her head tenderly with his good hand. "It is okay. I love you, Veralla."
I love you too, Airo, she mindcast, more tears cleansing her forworn being. I love you very, very, very much. I love you forever.
At last, she found strength to gently release his arm, the limb nearly severed. Scarlet blood seeped from the punctured armor, leaving starlit trails upon the Shard's cerulean surface.
Do you... do you still trust me?...
I trust you, Veralla. Now and forever.
She nodded hesitantly, unable to stop the tears. She was glad. So very glad that she had Airo. She loved him, and would forever be his.
But they still had one last trial before them.
They both turned to Ferrtau. His face was dark with rage and disbelief. Veralla sensed the terrible storm stirring in his soul.
"Ferrtau..." she began.
"No!" the Lightbringer shouted, trembling. "This is not possible! Not even She could overcome my Gift!"
"Ferrtau, please stop," Veralla said. "I do not want to see any more people die. I do not want you to die. Please, let us help you. We can heal you. You can be a Radiant Knight again. We–"
"You will not stop my Crusade!" Ferrtau screamed madly. "No one will stop me! I shall bring forth Ascension! I SHALL HAVE MY REDEMPTION!"
"Ferrtau, this is not the Way," Airo said softly. "You–"
"NO MORE WORDS!" Ferrtau bellowed, and charged at them.
Airo instantly summoned his starblade, lifting it in his good hand. Veralla rushed forth, moving to defend him.
Ferrtau flew at her, sun-sword arcing with killing intent. She ducked under the blow, her wing outflung for a buffeting strike, but Ferrtau ignored the blow and slammed his armored fist in her face. She staggered, opening herself wide for a counterattack. The blue-white starblade descended–
***
–he lunged forward, parrying the death-blow in the last possible instant, his own starblade sparking violently against its counterpart. He twisted, turning the block into a bodily throw, yet Ferrtau sidestepped, elbowing him in the ribs. Breathless, he tried to disengage, too slow to deflect–
***
–she pounced a second time, Ferrtau at once redirecting his swipe, the sun-sword slashing her flank. She roared, the pain nova-hot, and collapsed to the ground, helpless–
***
–war cry bursting forth, he rammed into Ferrtau, using weight to bring him down, his enemy ceasing his mangled arm, a shout of agony, a brutal shove, and he was flying downward, hitting the crystalline ground–
***
–she saw Ferrtau raising high the sun-sword and she surged, her body coming between her soulkin and the blow–
***
–he refused to lose her, rising, meeting her halfway, shielding her, yet she didn't yield, both of them halting in a final embrace on the starblade's path...
***
...and Ferrtau's hand paused for the tiniest of moments.
And Airo, his warrior's instincts true even in the face of death, had his own hand flying a split second too slow, yet that single eternity made all the difference.
The starblade struck home, stabbing Ferrtau all the way through the torso.
Airo pulled it free, yet there was no visible wound. Rather, the blade had harmed something more ephemeral than mere matter. Nevertheless, the injury proved mortal all the same, for Ferrtau widened his eyes in surprise and toppled.
***
Airo and Veralla lay atop the Shard, catching their breath for an endless minute. The night sky was alight with countless stars. Cold, cleansing wind blew from Terra Para's frozen expanses. The world was calm and tranquil, like an infinite ocean after a great storm.
Ferrtau stirred weakly.
They edged toward him. Airo pulled him in his bloodied arms. Veralla leaned her head closer. Ferrtau coughed and opened his green eyes. They were clear from madness – and life was quickly leaving them.
"Finally..." he whispered. "I saw... the Way..."
"You never left it," Airo replied softly, holding him. His voice was thick with emotion. "You have always walked the Way, my friend. You merely forgot that truth for a while."
"Airo..." Ferrtau lifted his arm feebly, offering his starblade. "Take it... take yours, too... use them... to seal the Vortex..."
"I will, Ferrtau. I will. Hold tight, my friend."
Ferrtau coughed again and gazed with fading eyes at Airo and Veralla. "You two are so beautiful together... I just wanted... to build... a lasting legacy..." He paused, grimacing, and struggled to continue. "How blind I have been... you... you two... shall be my greatest deed... you are my true legacy, mine and Kalessia's... Oh, Kalessia... I miss you so much..."
Veralla keened quietly. Airo held on to Ferrtau, ignoring the pain in his bleeding arm, sadness welling inside him as he watched his friend die. Ferrtau noticed both their reactions and sighed with remorse.
"I am... dying..." he whispered. "Yet... before... I pass... Airo... please... forgive me... forgive me for what I did... to Zenassa... and... for making you suffer... for so long..."
"I forgive you, my friend," Airo said, a lone tear running down his cheek. "I forgive you for everything."
Ferrtau nodded weakly, and looked at Veralla. "And you, Veralla... I am sorry... for what I have done... to your mother... and to you... I am sorry..."
"I forgive you, Ferrtau," Veralla hrrr–ed, her purple eyes sad.
Ferrtau nodded again, and then smiled at them faintly.
"Thank you..." he sighed. He took his last breath, closing his eyes, and died.
Veralla sobbed. Airo kept Ferrtau in his arms for a while longer, until an ominous thrum from behind reminded him what had to be done.
He carefully laid Ferrtau down and took the blue-white starblade, lifting in parallel his own golden sun-sword. He rose to his feet, Veralla looking at him uncertainly. He turned toward the Reality Vortex. The sheer wall of emptiness had receded, blown away from the starship's supernova explosion. The Vortex had been reduced to a blindingly-bright rift in the crystalline body of the Shard.
Airo strode forward with determination, holding both starblades. As he approached the rift an instinctual certainty ignited in his mind. He paused before the Vortex. He then drove both sun-swords straight into the rift. Agony shot out from his injured arm and Veralla instantly flooded him with power and vitality through the mindlink, their combined wills overcoming the searing torment.
The starblades sank into the rift, flaring for a second brighter than the Vortex itself, and then they melted, leaving no trace of defilement upon the Shard's azure surface.
Airo sat down, exhausted. Veralla huddled next to him. The two wrapped one another in a warm embrace. The cold, freezing wind blew on, biting into Airo's exposed head. Veralla draped her wing over, shielding him from the elements. The air carried a faint otherness with it, an echo of some sort, a mirror dimension where the calm was always prevalent and the night sky graced the earthly heavens forever.
"Do you know the way out of here?" Airo asked.
"Yes, I can lead us back to the others," Veralla replied, her mind bright with certainty and love.
"We need not to hurry anymore... right?"
"Yes, we are safe now."
"Do you want us to stay for a while and watch the stars?" he asked.
"Yes, I do," she said happily.
The two of them snuggled closer and their gazes ascended toward the Great Cosmos.