Residual sparks trickled through the air like raindrops, spraying the ground in a sizzling display of Essence. He was falling behind.

Their elusive trail snaked around buildings and looped underneath cabs, dodging the once-roaring traffic. Now everything was deathly quiet save for the frantic pounding of Reial’s heart.

Hyvas, what was he even doing? He didn’t know him; so why was he going this far? Reial could just pretend that he had never seen him. That the image had just been his imagination filling the dead space of the wait.

But someone had to care. He didn't need to be a hero or great Strider to care. Jadica wasn't, yet she had spoiled him rotten with it.

White-stone buildings gave way to towering glass skyscrapers as the chase led him into the heart of the city. Here, the clustered nature of the fragile monoliths prevented them from being alleyways. There was only up and down.

The youth made a sharp turn on the upcoming street, forcing his pursuers to cut the corner and unceremoniously stumble. A novice mistake. Ruby sparks erupted from the bottom of Reial’s boots as he came to a screeching slide around the corner. Then he burst forward in an explosion of motion, his Essence thundering like the crack of a whip. Tight form, long Strides.

He swung his arms close to his side, using the boost of speed to continuously propel himself further. Each Stride, two, each breath, one. His vision narrowed, forming a dark tunnel that was impossible to peer past even with Veil Sight. Pure perfect focus.

They threaded through the crowded streets, ruby sparks flying off of glass and steel alike. He quickly gained on them, their explosive steps muffling his own. Short, fast Strides over the more powerful long ones. The way they struggled to turn the corner and decelerate. It was plain as day that these so-called ‘Striders’ had never been properly trained before.

The toes of his boots pressed into the reconstructed surface with every thrust forward, accelerating to speeds he didn’t imagine himself capable of. Once he was within arm’s reach of the pursuers, one of them—a young woman with medium-length dark hair—whirled around and swept her foot at him.

Reial caught her blow with the back of his arm, the impact sending a shiver down his spine as sparks washed over him. A blur of motion flared to life as he instinctively thrust his free hand out, catching the woman’s fist inches away from his face. He swept his foot underneath her remaining leg, knocking her clean off her feet as a wave of ruby energy followed. Her barrier shattered upon contact with the ground.

Linithesis’s being flickered then blazed alight with amusement, the ancient thrill of combat coursing through Reial’s veins. Two more.

Reial darted through the gap in between the last two pursuers and grabbed the youth by his arm. Words didn’t carry over when Striding, they were lost in the normal flow of time. He wanted to pull the youth into a safe corner, a building, anywhere to get him away from his rabid stalkers. Instead, he fought and pulled back, striking his arms with a cloaked object. Causing cracks to appear across Reial’s barrier.. Hyvas, what could be so important yet sturdy that he was willing to strike him with it?

Their game of tug-a-war ended abruptly as their legs crashed into one another, bending the space in imperceptible angles that the human mind was never meant to know. They fell, sprawling across the sidewalk in a heap of tangled limbs. Reial groaned as his barrier shattered, leaving him with a throbbing pain in his forehead. Hyvas…that wasn’t a good idea.

An image of a hand reaching for him formed in Reial’s mind before he was abruptly tossed to the side. A sphere of ever rotating ruby energy surrounded him, cushioning the impact. Space continued to bend all around him, slowing his descent until he finally plopped down onto the ground.

“You think you can just take whatever you want from us, don’t you?” The woman asked, her voice somewhat nasally. Was she Mirsian?

“I’m taking back what’s mine. Not that you would know what that feels like considering all you do is steal.”

Reial rubbed his head and looked up to find the woman keeping the youth pinned to the wall of a building. The sparks having long since carved out an impression of him.

“Keep givin’ lip and I’ll tear it off.” She glared.

“Better to be smart than a brute like you.”

She huffed, pulling him closer to her before slamming him against the wall. The screech of sparks carved a deeper hole into the wall as time resumed its normal flow. Being in the heart of the city, little to no one appeared to notice them as traffic violated their view.

“Cera, just take the thing. I don’t want dragoons noticing us.” The man said.

Cera shrugged him off. “Relax, Qres. If they wanted to do something about us, then they would have already done so.”

Qres glanced at the skies wearily.

“Besides, this runt been glancing at me for too long. What’s your name again? Tray? Fray?”

“It’s Eerays,” Eeray spat.

“Yeah, the kid Turan picked up from the streets. Thought you were something special, then again, he says that about everyone.” She laughed, then looked to Reial. “Thanks for the help, pretty boy.”

Reial froze. He ordered his body to move, but that look... Why was it so dwelling familiar?

“Oh, the silent treatment? Well, I do like a good mystery. Although you dress a bit too fancy for my taste. Like those airheaded Aunesfernish. Now then,” She pulled Eerays close to her. “Hand it over.”

Eerays returned her glare. “No.’

“I wasn’t asking.”

Qres shifted nervously in his spot as he watched.

“Solis Vaylius take you and you’re dwelling ugly face, you heartless crone.”

A malicious smile crept onto Cera’s lips as her sea-green gaze held his. Then, she drove him into the ground, where a wall of sparks prevented him from contacting the solid surface. She used this opportunity to drive her knee into his ribs, breaking past his feeble barrier. The familiar crunch of bones echoed in Reial’s ears, followed by the desperate, wheezing gasp for air. No.

“Say, did you do something about my friend there, red?” Cera asked as she released Eerays from her grasp.

Reial hesitated.

Before Eerays had a moment to escape, Cera brought her foot down onto his leg, forcing it to bend as if he were sitting cross-legged. A shrill scream tore through Eerays’s throat, but it was muffled by the booming roar of traffic. Reial felt like a prisoner in his own body as he watched. Charette had been in Eerays’s spot before. The men, the way they pulled on her arms as she struggled to get free, the ransom. The flash of blood and severed limbs. Stop.

“Already giving me the cold shoulder. That’s no way to treat a woman. You should be proper. I promise I don’t bite,” she said, bringing her boot down onto Eerays’s right arm.

A soundless scream sat upon his lips as she ground his bones into dust, the stone beneath him a churning gray mush. “Not usually, anyways.”

Darkness surrounded Reial as the world ceased to be. The noise, the suffering, everything was gone. Everything but the fresh blood dripping down the rich dark walls of his family’s manor. Blood that should’ve belonged to him. Why? Why had she saved him?

The scuffle of tired footsteps tempted him to look up. No, he couldn’t do that. He had to stay strong. Strong like her. His mother and father would come eventually. They had to. The Almagest, Solvaylius, the help, someone had to come and save them.

Reial clutched the medallion close to his chest as he struggled to right his breathing. Brave, he had to be brave. If she could summon the strength to free him from that evil man’s claws, then he could do the same for her.

His false courage devolved into pure terror as the invader’s grimy shoes finally came into view. Then the body. Reial couldn’t tear his gaze away from it as he reluctantly faced her limp form. The mop of sandy brown hair, the trail of blood, her mangled arm. Hyvas, her arm. Would she ever be able to use it again?

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“Relamene,” He croaked as tears spilled down his cheeks.

What had they ever done to deserve this? They did their schoolwork, helped around the manor, and listened to their parents when they were being reprimanded. Everything they’ve ever done they did to the best of their abilities, so why was this happening to them? Why did they deserve this?

A wave of nausea engulfed Reial as the memory melted away, returning him to the bustling cityscape. Eerays writhed where Relamene had lain, his arm like that of a flesh-colored crumpled leaf. The sight alone made Reial retch.

“Aww, you’re new to this, aren’t you?” Cera asked Reial. “This is how the Striders of Old used to fight, y’know? Sure, they had swords and spears and axes, but when they came in close,” She Strode forward, a trail of sparks flashing behind her. “They didn’t have to play by the rules anymore.”

Reial trembled at her touch, his lungs panting for air as he began to hyperventilate.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you.” She smiled, stroking his hair. “I don’t like breaking other peoples’ toys.”

Cera released him from her grasp and Strode back to Eerays. She knelt down beside him and held out her hand. “I’ll be taking back what’s rightfully ours now.”

Eerays moaned. “I-It… never belonged to you.”

“You’re right, it belonged to your family until we managed to secure it.”

“Y-You…Stole it!”

“Stole it? They paid us to keep it safe. And here you are trying to steal it from us,” She clicked her tongue. “What a shame. You don’t often hear about a Strider turning cripple.”

“Cera!” Qres cried.

Cera whipped her head around and glared at him. “What?”

“N-Nothing. I’m sorry.”

Reial fumbled around his pockets for the medallion. Faces, why were there so many people watching and doing nothing? Why couldn’t they jump in and rescue them? Why? Why? Why couldn’t he do anything?

“Still your breathing,” Linithesis advised.

He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want to hear those screams and cries again. He didn’t want to be left responsible for something he could’ve prevented, yet all he could do was sit and watch.

Cera gestured to him. “Qres, put the child to sleep.”

“B-But I thought you liked-”

“I do, so be gentle with him.”

Qres nodded nervously. His approach was slow and deliberate, almost reluctant as if he didn’t want to hurt Reial. A stark contrast to the invader’s labored shuffle. Reial wanted nothing more than the darkness to take him. To whisk him away from the horrible world he inhabited. He knew that he wasn’t capable of great change like the Empyreans, that everything he did only amounted to failure. Despite this, his heart stubbornly clung to the notion that he could still do good.

The lies that threatened to grant him the strength to stand back up, the fire that roared to aid those in need, his humanity, Reial suppressed them all. Why did he continue to curse himself with false hope? Eerays would be a cripple for the rest of his life, and it would all be because of him.

“Stop brooding and get back up! You’re a Veil Strider, start acting like one," Linithesis ordered.

Reial just stared.

“Please. You’re all he has. Don’t sit around and learn to regret it later. He may not be whole but there’s something you can still do about it! Listen to ME, listen to REASON!”

Reial froze as Qres’s brown suede shoes came into view. That night, that body. Tears spilled down his cheeks as a hiccupped sob forced its way passed his throat. Linithesis, I can’t. I can’t.

“Sorry about this, kid. I promise we’ll find a comfy place to leave you.” Qres apologized.

“REIAL!"

A turbulent warmth spread throughout his chest like the violent windstorms of Aunesfern. One he recognized as belonging to the Pneuma. He wanted to comfort him, to show that he loved and cared about his well-being. He wanted him to know that everything would be fine. But it wouldn’t be. None of it would be fine.

He waited and waited for the numbing blow to come and send him to the pleasant void of the unconscious. His one and only escape, yet his torturer did not grant him that much. Qres’s shoes were there one moment, and then disappeared the next. Like he had feigned interest in him.

A shower of sparks washed over him, followed by the dull thud of a limb breaking past the shielding Essence. Weak stumbling sprays of ruby energy splashed across Reial’s cheeks, filling him with the desire to act, to move, to fight. Empyric whispers chirped like the morning calls of blinding redtails, indistinct, unintelligible, but comprehensible all the same. To be brave, to acknowledge the fear that had crept into his heart, but not allow it to rule him. They knew of his suffering, after all, it was They who had shouldered the burden of rebuilding their world. Maybe standing back up wouldn’t change anything, but it was better than staying down.

Reial stumbled to his feet and gaped at what he saw. It was the Courser, hailing a flurry of kicks and punches upon Qres as the man staggered back. They were anything but deliberate or precise, almost as if he was taking out his anger on him. There was no grace or skill to them, only a man enthralled by complete fury.

Qres shielded his face as the Courser feinted a jab, then buckled as a knee was driven into the side of his thigh. Before Qres had a moment to react, the Courser smashed his elbow into the side of his head. He caught Qres as he went limp, ignoring the blood on his sleeve as he drove him face-first into the ground. Splinters of concrete shot out, punching holes through nearby cabs and shattering the glass of buildings. Against a Strider, the debris did nothing more than disintegrate upon contact with their shield.

Reial tensed as the Courser stood back at his full height, radiating a cool, controlled rage as he stared down Cera. An electrifying pulse burst from the earth, temporarily distorting Reial’s vision. He felt…heavier. Almost as if the weight of the world had been placed on his shoulders. No, rather, his weight had been returned to him.

Through his wavering Sight, he managed to keep an eye on the Courser. It felt as if even stepping forward would send him toppling over. Hyvas, what does he want with us? The pool of energy from beyond sputtered as it failed to empower him.

Reial’s being coiled and stretched as it frantically struggled to stabilize itself. The blare of traffic howled in his ears one moment, then fell eerily silent the next. Cars swirled behind the Courser in a hazy mix, jerking to a stop upon an imaginary conveyor constructed by the world he was thrust into.

Electricity raced through him as a floodgate of Essence poured into his being. He felt renewed, like taking a cold shower on a hot summer day. His weightlessness, his steady Sight, his firm footing, it all returned to him without warning.

Then, the Courser disappeared in a flash of sparks. There was no hint of movement, no blur that would aid Reial in tracking his movements, not even the continuous wakes of ruby energy that would explode with every step. He didn’t move like a Strider, he moved like them, the Empyreans of legend. Transcendent, glorious, and perfect.

Reial twisted his head in Cera’s direction to find the Courser batting aside a sluggish blow with the back of his hand. She followed it up with a swing of her leg, which he easily evaded by whirling around her. Then, he swept her off of her feet. The luxury of being bound to the earth was one she didn’t deserve.

A piercing screech of shattering Essence clawed at Reial’s ears as the Courser spun low and drove his boot into her twisting form. Ruby sparks erupted from Cera’s side as she was launched into the sky like a burning meteorite. The Courser Strode after her, blazing up the towering skyscrapers as he caught up to her in a quarter of a heartbeat.

He leapt off the building in a tight roll, and extending one leg out, slammed the heel of his boot into the center of her torso. A weak spray of sparks splashed against him as he sent her hurtling towards the earth at a breakneck pace. There was nothing Reial could to do save her. He was frozen with awe. That move, just where had he seen it before?

Cera, Eerays, Qres, they all ceased to matter as the Courser softly landed on his feet. It wasn’t a slow descent, but a Strider’s Essence protected them from all manner of heights. That is if they were in complete control of their descent. Cera didn’t have that privilege as she crashed in the distance, disrupting traffic. The explosion of sparks meant she was alive, but probably in no condition to move around after what the Courser had done to her.

Reial stared at the man as he slowly approached him, then stopped as he glanced at Eerays. He hesitated, then went over to shake the youth on his good arm.

Eerays only moaned.

The Courser glanced up at the sky. “The dragoons should be with you shortly. They might be able to save your leg still. As for your arm…” He shook his head.

Shame welled in Reial’s heart as he avoided looking at Eerays’s arm. He could’ve saved him, he could’ve done something to lessen his pain, yet all he could do was- No, now’s not the time to feel sorry for yourself.

“Don’t waste your time trying to track me.” The Courser said.

Reial narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

“Just a fair warning is all. If you want to know where I’m going, I’ll gladly tell you.”

“And why should I trust you?”

The Courser shrugged. “Why shouldn’t you?”

Reial frowned.

“He makes a good point.” Linithesis said.

“Quiet, you.”

“How about we call it for now?” The Courser asked. “The city’s too lively for my taste.”

Reial drew his sword. “You’re not going anywhere until you return Scorch."

The Courser turned away from him and started down the street.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going!”

“Where else? I’ve already told you.”

“You can’t just leave!”

“Why not?”

Reial’s anger began to boil. “Because I want my drog back!”

“Then come get him at dodgemans gorge. Oh, and I’d also leave the scene if I were you. I’d rather you didn’t get mixed up in the law.”

Reial quelled his anger with a sigh. Hyvas, I hate that man.

Linithesis hummed. “Is that so…”

The Courser waved lazily as he disappeared again in a flash of sparks. Reial examined the barely conscious youth on the ground and hesitated. If he left him now, he would be forever tortured by his fate, but if he tried to help him, then he would be questioned by the dragoons again and waste even more time locked in a spire. What do I do…? There wasn’t a right or wrong answer. How did the Courser just expect him to abandon his humanity after what he saw?

“Reial?” Linithesis called.

“Yes?”

“Do me a favor and gaze into his being. Imagine what he looked like when he was whole. Focus especially on his arm and leg.”

Reial complied without hesitation. He searched for that distinct light that was hidden behind every person’s visage. The one that bespoke of suffering, of joy and grief, of loss and sorrow. Eerays’s was tinted a bluish-purple, and shone twice as bright as Charette’s, although it was one-hundred times smaller than hers. The light was gouged with rippling currents, unlike that of the long scars that tainted his sister’s.

Reial imagined him during the chase. Sweaty and weary, yet whole. Then how he was hurt. How it was Reial’s fault for getting in the way. How he should’ve done something to save him from Cera’s clutches but couldn’t. The memory brought bile to his throat, however he managed to stomach his disgust.

For a brief moment, Eerays ceased to exist. Then he popped back into existence, shivering in a cold sweat as his arms desperately grasped at his shirt. Reial blinked. Where had he gone?

“Umm, are you all right?” Reial asked.

Before Reial could get an answer out of him, dozens of reptilian shadows crossed overhead, followed by the thunderous cracking of wings. The next moment, he was gone, bolting back towards the plaza where he had left his sister.