The salt was stained red and blue where the two pools of blood met. The Quarian airplane was missing its tail, and the airplane's nose was crumpled straight into the ground. The Quarian pilot had attempted to exit the craft, and the red gore of his broken body spread out in a sunburst. The Rilnese man was severely burned on one side of his face, and his airplane was missing a wing. He had been in the craft when it hit the ground, and the contents of his skull evacuated through his nostril in a conical smear of blueish-gray mush.

Alice sighed.

She did not need to see the battle herself to guess at the outcome. The bulk of the airplanes were unpainted, or painted blue, and there was far more blue blood staining the salt. Ashe, the Elemental Queen of Darkness, was dancing among the corpses in a large cluster of wrecks nearby. Alice tried to keep her distance from the Elemental as she scanned the battlefield. There were no survivors, let alone survivors that could be healed. But she carried on with her false hope that she could save at least one life.

Some of the shattered craft were still burning, and the air was filled with the sickly-sweet smell of burning flesh. Mercy snorted.

"I'm sorry," Alice said. "We don't need to stay here. Daughter of Spirits! Open a portal to the other side!"

She reached out and touched the portal even as it was still forming. The air on the other side was much more pleasant. The cool, clean desert air seemed to satisfy the Pegasus. Alice was relieved to be away from that frightening Elemental, but when she looked to the south, she realized that she was not alone.

A girl-child floated just above the ground, her naked toes nearly scraping the salt. She wore a frilly dress, and her hair was extremely long. At first Alice thought that she resembled the Light Elemental named Titania, however the girl-child had too much substance. She had shining blue scales on her cheeks and on her forehead, like a Rilnese person, however her hair was light blue, almost the color of the sky.

The girl regarded Alice with deep blue eyes.

"Another Spirit," the girl said.

Alice glanced around. "Me? I'm not a Spirit."

The girl looked deeply confused. "Are you certain?"

It brought back memories of her childhood. That crone, who was not really her grandmother, rarely spoke of the time when Alice was first brought to her.

"I'm not sure," Alice admitted. "Daughter of Spirits! Am I myself a Spirit?"

The magenta Spirit Elemental appeared at her side in a flash.

Technically yes, though you were born here in the flesh, the Elemental replied. This child was willed into existence by the people on the other side. She is the Spirit of the Nation of Riln. I warned you once before that she is growing stronger.

"Blood has been spilled," the girl said. "It consecrates the ground. It makes me stronger. But I am afraid, Spirit. I am afraid because my people are afraid."

"There was a battle on the other side," Alice said. "The Rilnese forces lost horribly. The Quarian airships are flying south with their helicopters and their gliders, escorted by Felix and his airplanes."

The girl's face contorted as Alice spoke. Finally, the child said: "I don't want to die."

"Are you in danger?" Alice asked.

It is possible that she could cease to exist, or change into something else, depending on the outcome of the battle, the Spirit Elemental said. The people of Riln have developed a concept of their nation, and she reflects that concept. Those people can die, or become disillusioned.

Perhaps Alice could not save the dead pilots in the salt flats, but here was somebody who needed help. Maybe, just maybe, she could save at least one life.

"How can I save her?"

There is only one way to guarantee that she will survive. She must become the life partner of a Dream Being from the other side. This will bind her soul to a more stable soul.

That term seemed familiar to Alice. Brigid often announced Princess Elvira as the "life partner" of Princess Astrid.

"A mortal on the other side? A Rilnese mortal? Like Shane?"

Your master, the Daughter-Heir of the Purple Dragons, is quite clever. It is highly unlikely that she did not contemplate your meeting with this Spirit. It is highly unlikely that she would allow the meeting if she did not intend for Shane to take this Spirit as his life partner.

"That's probably true," Alice said.

Suddenly the child looked frightened. "There is a Purple Dragon here," she said. "A terrible beast. She hunts other Spirits and kills them for sport."

"Princess Elvira?" Alice asked. "She is my friend, and Shane is her friend as well. I think you should at least meet Shane. If anyone can help you survive, it will be him. He knows a lot about magic."

The girl considered this. "Where is Shane now?"

"Somewhere far to the south, but if we do not hurry, the invasion will reach him and he will be too busy fighting to speak with you." Then, to the Elemental, Alice asked: "Is it possible to carry her through the Elemental Plane of Heaven?"

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You are a Spirit, and you have traveled through that Elemental Plane many times. I think it should be safe for her as well.

Alice nodded. "Spirit of Riln, will you come with me?"

"I like you," the Spirit of Riln said. "You are very nice to me. I think I will go with you."

"There is an anchor nearby, at the purple spire in the center of the salt flats. If we hurry, we can beat the invasion." She held out her hand, then scooped the child up onto the saddle. "Hold on tight!"

----------------------------------------

Shane wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel that was already soaking wet. The air atop the plateau was so hot it was rippling. Dragging hundreds of people to the Realm of Fire to took too much time. Out of two hundred storm sorcerers, only a few managed to master draconic sorcery well enough to fly. And the enemy was visible on the horizon, six huge airships, escorted by almost two hundred airplanes.

A single pilot could be the difference. No hesitation. He needed to get back to work.

A messenger trotted up to him. The boy's long straight hair betrayed his common birth.

"Chief of Chiefs," the boy said. "Knight Fintan has formally requested your help in the defense of Bastion!"

The boy saluted.

Shane sighed. Then, he amplified his voice with wind magic, and said: "Brave pilots, please listen."

Reluctantly, most of the storm sorcerers stopped practicing long enough to listen to his words.

He cleared his throat. "I have challenged the Quarian Air Force and they have defeated our forces in the salt flats. Now, I must continue my challenge in person, to risk my own life by leading the charge against the invaders. But before I go, I need everyone here to know one thing. Our nation, Riln, was subjected to decades, if not centuries, of carefully-calculated destruction of hope.

"The Blue Dragon served the Elemental Queen of Darkness, and he wanted above all else to make us hopeless. He fed the people of this land false hopes. Perhaps the hope of living in another land. Or perhaps the hope of exterminating the hated northerners. But you, brave pilots, once you take to the sky, you will become their hope. Their true hope."

With a flash of golden light, the Light Elemental appeared at his side.

"As Chief of Chiefs, heed my command! Inspire them! Fly, fight, and give them hope! Let them see that the spirit of our nation is strong!"

After a brief pause, the storm sorcerers began to salute. Then, with apparent understanding of the need for haste, they returned to their fruitless training in draconic sorcery. Shane turned and walked toward the north, but halted when a magenta portal appeared before him.

The messenger froze.

"At ease soldier," Shane said. "You are dismissed."

Shortly after the boy left, Alice appeared in a flash of magenta light, riding on her winged white horse. There was a second figure seated in the saddle as well. A girl-child, with dark blue eyes and shining blue scales on her cheeks and her forehead. Like Alice, she must have had a rare mutation, because her hair was pale blue, instead of the dark shade of blue that was common in Riln. Her frilly white dress looked somewhat ethereal, and indeed, her entire body was slightly transparent.

"We made it in time!" Alice said.

"I'm sorry," Shane said. "I don't have time to talk. My nation needs me."

"Wait!" Alice insisted. "This girl here. She is your nation! She is the Spirit of the Nation of Riln!"

She is telling the truth, his Light Elemental reported.

Dumbfounded, Shane regarded the child once again. Both of them, the woman, who was growing younger every day, and the child, both with outrageously long hair, both with the correct eyes but hair that was slightly the wrong color.

"Alice!" Shane exclaimed. "You are a Spirit!"

"So it would seem," Alice replied. "We can discuss that later. This girl needs your help."

"If she is the Nation of Riln, then she absolutely needs my help. That's what I was going to do just now. I was going to go fight and save our nation."

"There is another way you can help her," Alice said. "You, and this Spirit, you must become life partners. My Spirit Elemental explained everything. I think the Purple Dragon intended it, and I bet she wants me to be life partners with Felix. Anyways, it will keep her alive, and it will also give you some new powers. I think."

"What kind of powers?" he asked.

They both turned to look at the child sitting in the saddle. The girl-child looked up at the sky.

"How can I explain?" the child began. "I was only born a few months ago. I certainly can't do everything that that beast of a Purple Dragon can do." She waved her hand toward the storm sorcerers. "These people here. I could allow you to borrow their connections."

His mind reeled.

Trying to puzzle out the nature of my power? the Purple Dragon had said, all those months ago. Since you have so tastefully performed your duties as my servant, I shall venture to give you a hint. What type of magic was used to create the Realms, I wonder?

The question struck him like a bolt of lightning.

The borrowed connections.

The unrecognizable magic.

"Alice?" Shane asked. "Ingrid. The Lady Ghost. Is she a Spirit?"

Alice gasped. "Not so loud! You need to be very, very high up in the Church to learn about that!"

"So she is!"

The magenta Spirit Elemental appeared beside the Pegasus.

The Goddess of Dreams held out two hands, the Elemental began. One was cyan, one was dull magenta. Ingrid grasped the magenta hand, Vaska grasped the cyan hand, and then they ripped the Goddess in half. By touching the two halves of the Divine Power directly, their physical bodies were immediately destroyed. They were reincarnated in these worlds. Vaska is the first Dream Being, and Ingrid is the first Spirit. When they returned to the Physical World, they slept until the snow accumulated upon their bodies.

"I read that they swore oaths of marriage to each other," Shane said. "With a Light Elemental as witness."

Titania was the witness, and she granted the new Dream-Spirit bodies immortality. But they were life partners even before those oaths. This is an orthogonal concept. When those two come to this world, they have access to all of the powers of life partners. However, life partners do not need to be married. Astrid and Elvira are almost never in the same Elemental Plane, and they have their own mates with their own children. Ingrid and Vaska are a rare case.

Shane nodded. "Almighty Spirit of the Nation of Riln! Please, to save my people, our people, will you take me as your life partner?"

"I will," the child said.

The girl-child floated up away from the Pegasus, toward Shane, and past him. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck. Her long sky-blue hair tumbled over his shoulders, and he felt the feather-light weight of her body press down against him. Her arms clasped together in front of his heart, locking her in place. And then he felt power. Overwhelming, god-like spiritual energy surging through him. Immediately, all of the other storm sorcerers suddenly turned to face him.

This pact between a Spirit and a Dream Being, Shane's Light Elemental said, is witnessed and sealed.

For a moment Shane wondered if he could perform the Dance of the Festival of Fates with his new Spirit. Then he could almost hear Brigid's voice in his mind, saying something like: "That would not be very masculine." So he put the thought aside. He focused on those storm sorcerers. Their connections were there. Simple things really, like dull magenta lines against a dark sky. He need only reach out and grasp them...