XXVI.

Twelve

Golden palm-axes glistened in the sunlight over the First Petal. Golden helms shone and shimmered. And the white robes of the followers flowed like water as they slid effortlessly between stances and positions.

A ritual. A ritual of the Obek Pantheon—the pantheon which included such deities as Hemah, Tartys, Vezos, Kosos, Vecca, and Thalyssus. They marched in formations and struck artful, intentful forms they gestured and danced and fell and swayed…

And then Hemah's sunlight took them all away…

X

Cedric and Rithi stood atop the rooftops which peered down over the Third Petal, atop the church. The same place they had been before they faced Kogar. The same place they watched a Thelani ritual, before the attack sent most of the cult to an early grave. The same place where Calamon's tragedy began.

"Alright, then." Rithi pulled up his black mask. Ithlo's white helm began to form in a mist atop his head. He opened his mouth to speak, but barely completed another word before a sound like shattering glass erupted through his mind. Something was taken from him. Something important.

And then he collapsed.

"Sorry, Rithi." Cedric muttered as he gently lowered him to the dark shingles. "You'll have to sit this one out."

He walked back to the precipice which hung over the Petalfall. He stared out with Grivonym in his hand. His eyes traced the scattered platforms amidst the gradient, the places where blood and stone still hovered and sat, upheld by nothing.

There was a platform straight below him, too. Too far to drop to without breaking at least one leg, not to mention the incline would send him straight into the pit if his footing was unsure. Perhaps there was another way down...

{{I can handle it. Drop.}}

You know the price you'll pay if you're lying.

{{I do.}}

Cedric took a deep breath. No signs of any of The Twelve. How many were left, anyhow? He turned to see Faunia, to ask…

But he was alone. It was just him against insurmountable odds. Just like in Freiya. Just like at Nelreign.

I need that star. Ready, everyone?

[Ready.]

{{I am prepared.}}

He gazed again at the dark sky around the Petalfall. "I won't."

And he stepped off the ledge.

Ithlo's white jacket formed around his body and fluttered in the wind. A helm soon glowed into form atop his head, followed by the black and white boots that Ithlo wore around his legs.

The platform was approaching…

Thunk.

A dull noise. A glimmer of sunlight shone over his body. Like clouds had parted — except there were no clouds. And there was no sun.

A glowing, golden palm-axe had embedded itself in the platform below. It shone and glimmered with fierce, potent magic.

Cedric clumsily kicked the wall beside himself, but couldn't launch himself far enough away to miss the platform.

Okella, instead, floated out of his body and wrapped her tendrils around him. She threw more tendrils overhead to wrap around a dangling rooftop, and swung Cedric into the arena like a sling.

[Wings!]

Just like that, Cedric's leather armor tore open at the back to reveal crimson wings. They beat the air and caught, sweeping him gracefully forward. Almost like he knew what he was doing.

That golden axe—

{{Hemah. You remember my instruction?}}

Don't stare into the sun. Easy enough.

His wings struck the air. He launched forward.

Another glimmer of light crossed his body.

She's moving—and fast.

The wind hissed from above. Cedric flipped onto his back. He raised Grivonym—

BANG!

The collision of their weapons was concussive. His ears rang. His blacksteel blade rattled and sung with the vibration as it slammed against her golden polearm. Her eyeless helm thrust out at his face. Her golden lips showed no emotion.

Cedric kicked at her. He couldn't reach.

Hemah simply raised her offhand, still bracing the weapon with one hand alone, and stuck her golden, sharpened nails out at his face.

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Swiiish!

"Graaaah!" he fell slightly. Their weapons pulled apart. His eyes leaked blood.

Then she swung again.

Okella acted. His body became incorporeal for the duration of Hemah's graceful dancing flurry. Two of her tendrils shot out for Hemah's head, and plunged through her helmet.

There was only one brief second before a scream rattled through Cedric's mind, and his own scream of agony followed.

He watched Okella's tendrils writhe and squirm as they fell limply from the air. They'd been cut. Severed.

[She—she cut me! She cut my tendrils, she—]

Okella, relax! Stop talking, just—

The axe hit him. It ripped into his leather armor, tore down from his heart to his abdomen, sprayed blood all throughout the air. Cedric looked down—there were gears revealed beneath his leather. Ithlo's gears. She spun her weapon again—and froze in place midway.

The gears began to spin. They spun at impeccable speed, whirred loudly as all began to slow down around him…

But still, he spiraled out of the air like a dead fly. His body struck one of the floating remains of the Petal, rolled down the few steps that were still in place, and came to a dull stop at the cobbled bottom. He didn't stir. He didn't breathe. The only sound from him was the pooling of blood around his head and torso. He thought it might be the only sound he'd ever make again.

{{Time is frozen. I can only hold it for so long, we must proceed.}}

I can't… fucking move.

Okella was still screaming in his mind. It drowned out all of his other thoughts. He looked up to the star, so close. Just fifty more paces and he'd be able to reclaim it. Just a few more…

He shut his eyes. He let out his last breath.

For once… I agree.

And his head fell limp.

Until a hand touched his, and held it tightly.

Cedric choked. He stirred. A gentle caress met his chest, and the wounds were soon closing up.

His heartbeat returned to speed.

{Cedric, are you alright!?}

"T…Tirolith?" he asked, and held the hand tighter.

He looked up to see her, covered in her typical icicle armor. She smiled gently through her open-faced helm. A somber smile, removed from her usual demeanor.

"How did you get here…?"

"Serkukan called, and I answered." She looked up to the red star. "Going there?"

{{It's unknowable the damage that'll be dealt to the timeline from this.}}

"Where's Faunia? Is she okay?" Cedric began to his feet.

Tirolith helped him up. "I… don't know. But we don't have time for that. Focus. I'm going to launch you."

"You're what?"

She was already grabbing his torn collar. She reeled back…

Ptoow!

He was thrown with insurmountable force. Right toward that red star, still safe in the space of frozen time. Okella had finally stopped panicking as well, seemingly healed just as well as Cedric had been.

Almost! Okella!

Her remaining tendrils shot out for the glistening star.

Yes!

Kogar's eyes flashed through his mind.

The optimism drained from his face. An impact cut him out of the sky, shot blood onto the stones around, kicked all of the air from his lungs…

But the tendrils locked.

And the star fell with them all…

X

Rithi pulled himself up from the ground. His body was doused in sweat. His mouth still drooled. He looked up—his eyes trailed the hellscape for Cedric, for Hemah…

An array of flashes lit the sky. Purple. Silver. Red…

Green. A figure stomped down behind him.

"Rithi…?" hissed a voice. A soft voice, made softer by the respirator stuck to his face.

He turned over. Their eyes met. "Falskar!" He couldn't contain his shock.

Those green eyes became an immense glare. The poison-baron Throkos approached and took him by the collar, raising him over the Petalfall.

"You remember my name? You come to my home, kill my creed, desecrate my church… and you remember my name?"

"It wasn't… like that!" Rithi choked.

"What was it like? Was it not a transparent genocide under the guise of Thelani salvation? Was it not abominable murder? Did it feel good, snuffing out our families like the farmer to rats and abandoning our place to ruin?"

"The cure… the cure worked on you!"

His eyes grew more ferocious.

"Let me show you the result of your 'cure.'"

His mask hissed a steam onto Rithi's face. The bolts which embedded the respirator to his face began to peel themselves out. They both winced.

And then his respirator fell free.

Rithi had no words for the horror laid bare. His eyes bulged wildly. Throkos did not shy away from showing it. The skin was...

"I'm… sorry. But it doesn't have to end like this."

Throkos gently sighed. "For you, it does."

He released Rithi's collar. If the fall wouldn't kill him, the poison would.

But sure enough, he heard the sickening crackle of his bones below.

His respirator floated back up and reattached itself to his face. He winced again.

"Painful as ever. I hope you felt a shred of that pain, too, Rithi. Bastard."

And then Throkos was away, back to the sky.