RAL
They faced a new problem - it became clear the longer they waited. What if something happened during the night? Daylight was quickly disappearing as they waited on the rooftop for any changes in and around the giant eye in the sky that still peered down at them. Ral had significant confidence that he could sense his sister if she managed to reveal the solute of the giant Gate, but the issue surrounded the haphazard contraption they had made to get him up there. It would be difficult for them to even operate the ‘ladder’ if they couldn’t see their surroundings.
“These roofs can probably withstand some heat,” Rask said. He tapped the toe of his shoe against the ceramic shingles. “If we can salvage some scrap wood, we could make a campfire for some light.”
“There are torches on the side of the building we are on that could be salvaged,” Verne added. “But that would mean going down there.”
The three of them glanced uneasily down over the edge of the roof. There were more Unseeing now than before, the streets of the Heart nearly filled to the brim with stark white bodies and blood red mouths. They constantly screeched in their awful voices as if taunting them.
Being the better climber, Ral took it upon himself to get any torches he could by scaling the sides of the walls. He was carefully staying high enough to prevent any Unseeing from pouncing on him. He discovered through Rask that the building with the spire on it housed an upscale restaurant with a gambling parlor on the upper floor. It meant all the good lighting would be inside.
Ral only dared to retrieve two torches from abandoned balconies off the side of the building. One of them looked worse for wear and Ral wondered how long it would stay lit if they used it. When he returned, Rask was scratching on glow-runes on certain parts of the spire and the ladder so even if they failed to get any fire going, they had some reference point in the dark.
Verne came back from the north side of the building carrying pieces of broken wood. Ral had seen him jump the gap to access the neighboring rooftop of a squatter, less sturdy looking building across the way. “They have much softer roofs over there,” Verne explained. “I don’t know what that building is for. It seems abandoned. Didn’t see any torches but got some wood.”
The rest of the evening was spent stockpiling what wood they could, building the campfire on the slant of the roof (possible with some clever repositioning of the shingles by Rask) and monitoring the screeching hordes of Unseeing right below them. Rask tried to hide how much his injury hurt him until Ral wordlessly used his cloth belt to wrap up the welting up bite on the back of the Freerunner’s neck. Infection would probably soon set in but they had nothing else to dress it.
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Rak suddenly felt cold as the world plunged into night. He loved seeing sunsets out in the Ivassk desert, even when seeing his old namesake sink below the horizon and experiencing the darkness take hold of the sky, he never once felt foreboding or fear. He was witnessing the cycle the Caelisians thought he was a part of. Watching dusk fall into night was part of him. But now…
Now the giant eye in the sky blended in with the night. It was like Mind had won and the darkness of the Gate stretched over all existence. It blotted out the Moon that would otherwise be present in the sky.
Now, all Ral could feel was fear.
CAMAZ
Aris lay on the flat rooftop surrounded by glowing runes. She barely breathed and her skin continued to look ashen. Her hand still clutched at the handkerchief she had asked him to give to Verne. Camaz sat next to Laell about seven paces from Aris in the one spot not densely covered with runes and they both watched the lifeless body.
All of the work had led to this point. He had expected… more action perhaps. He certainly thought he would be doing more, but if he learned anything ever since he set out to look for Aris out east, it was that he had always faked how useful he was. From his time with the Sekrelli, to his time as a Professor and then as a spy. Aris had told him that the Parts orchestrated these events so she and her brother could save them from the cataclysm that Mind wants to bring upon the world.
How could he deny the possibility that he was also manipulated just to bring Aris to this point? How cruel would the gods be to move people like pieces on a board game just to have them suffer?
There were moments while sitting there on the cold ground when Camaz thought how he didn’t really care for the rest of the world. He had gone back to the time when Aris was angry at the world, angry at him, and all he could think about was how much he agreed. How dare the gods make fools of them all? What did Aris do to deserve this? Why did she have to tarnish her solute beyond recognition in order to save the world?
Was this world even worth saving?
His ward - his daughter - could live one more day in happiness, free of pain and sadness, devoid of responsibleness thrust upon her by mere chance. The thought made him want to stop everything and bring her back. It made him want to shout on the rooftop he was on for the world to go fuck itself and shake Aris out of it whatever terrible dream she had to go through.
But he looked again at the handkerchief clutched in her hands and choked back a sob. Laell put a hand on his arm and left it there as they continued to watch Aris’s body in the middle of the enchanting circle barely keeping her alive.
He was the fool to think Aris thought of herself at all when she decided to face Mind. For the hundredth time that day, Camaz sent a prayer to whatever god was left that cared for Gaia but this time he wished for Aris’s safety and return just so he could tell her how fucking proud he was.