{Enki | Ocean Landing}

Elden, Rayne had so much explaining ahead of her, but she couldn’t wait to tell Xelan all about it. With her sitting upside-down in a chair, him rolling his eyes and gently chiding for her to sit properly, and them both knowing that would never happen. His approving grin. Her legs dangling over the back of the seat. Hair draped everywhere. Then Tameka would come in with Pax, and Rayne could show him the right way to drive his dad crazy. Meanwhile Nox—

Nox.

Inside her head, Rayne looked up at her predecessor. There was this carriage about Nox lately. Once upon a few years ago, he only ever stood in a fighting stance, on guard and ready to strike first. A posture of ‘the frightened,’ but one capable of so much destruction. Now, he folded those arms of his—as wide as the diameter of her waist—like he wasn’t sure what to do with them, but still ready to defend himself if trouble should find him.

Rayne pitied whatever the next trouble was because Nox fought like the savage she remembered from the battlefield. Quick for such a behemoth, he enjoyed using his hands to rip flesh apart. A death machine and damned fierce about it—

“You’re staring. And smiling.”

Caught in her examination of him, Rayne looked forward and tried to force her metaphysical body not to flush with embarrassment. “I… uh… Look, we’re close to the last conduit before the big empty space. Do you think there’s more ocean? I hope not.” Nervous chatter.

Mercifully, Nox let her off the hook. “If it is, I hope there are more sea creatures. I could use the exercise. Or maybe an army to demolish on my own?”

Rayne wasn’t sure how to feel about all this. Her ex-enemy voiced her exact longing. One army wasn’t enough. Despite being a good warm-up fight, she still withheld a few surprises, and Rayne couldn’t wait to see the look on Nox’s face when he realized why she didn’t need saving. It was enough to make her smile with mischief.

“You wear the same expression on your face that Xelan wore when he’d completed some new invention he wanted us to test.”

Nox couldn’t know how much his words meant to Rayne. “Really?!”

“I live in fear of that face.” He shot her a wry smirk. It said he knew exactly the worth of his sentiments, but also that he awaited whatever mischief she intended to cause.

Trusting Nox came easily after the last two years together, but how could Rayne explain this to Xelan and the rest in a way they’d accept him? Because that’s what Rayne wanted, despite fearing their judgment or disappointment.

“Your brain and your heart are not always in concert.” These words from Korac’s Verse often replayed in her head lately. About her violence. About her confinement. About her shadow.

“‘An Icarus thinks deep on the eve of war, but only the brave think on their future with no heed for mortal concerns. Those are prisons for the obvious.’” Nox brought Rayne once more to the present.

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She was thinking of the future to avoid thinking of her fate. “That’s beautiful. Is it from a Verse?”

Nox unfolded his arms to rake fingers through his hair in a recurring gesture Rayne recently noticed. “Uncle Vinco’s. I want to speak with… with my grandmother of the wars the Icari fought. The ones he often referred to but which we were never taught in our histories. The wars my mother never knew.”

Rayne wet her lips before asking, “How—how would you like me to tell everyone about us—I mean, you?” A voice inside her head told her to keep her eyes forward. Cowardice. Ignoring the impulse, she turned and looked up at Nox.

He turned and looked down at her. His eyes widened a touch. She’d surprised him with her question. Emotion thickened Nox’s deep voice as he asked, “You wish to?”

Resolute, Rayne gave a definitive nod. “Yes.” In saying so, she agreed to fight her family for his place in this world, in her mind, and in her shadow. She bit her lip.

Nox’s stare fell to her mouth and quickly raised to Rayne’s eyes. He cleared his throat before saying, “Tell them however makes you the most comfortable, but we both know they will argue to remove me.”

Rayne frowned at him. “I’m not so sure anymore. Do you remember how Sagan said she forgave you? And the way Korac talks… Xelan read your Verse and was receptive of it. I trust them.”

“I defer to you on this matter, your majesty.” Nox dipped his chin in a bow, folded his arms, and returned to his vigilance outside this space.

Staring at him, Rayne wasn’t entirely convinced of this quiet reservation—

His black eyes… they shimmered.

“Nox, are you—”

Calibrated.

Optimized.

Stabilizing…

Unable to stabilize.

Warning: Fifty-six hours and forty minutes until maximum destabilization.

“The final conduit.” The giant in her mind pointed ahead.

Rayne focused on the coup at hand and stopped. It was the same energy barrier as all the other conduits, but this one gave none of its secrets away. All dark. “What do you think is on the other side?”

“Abresson.”

Rayne, uh… tried not to think too hard about how much she savored the growl in Nox’s voice. “Right. Let’s kill us a Tritan.” Inside her head, she punched her palm. Outside of her conscience, Rayne stepped across the threshold.

It was not another ocean.

A blanket of darkness threatened to suffocate Rayne, the surface beneath her feet clanged of metal, and heat suffused the air. The uncomfortable aroma of living bodies accompanied the stifling warmth.

But none of this was why Rayne stopped breathing.

Heartbeats.

Paralyzed by the sound, she forgot how to breathe. Rayne fell forward until she found something to support her—a metal rail.

Inside her mind, Nox gripped her biceps and forced her to look at him. “Rayne—”

Light, blinding and intrusive, exposed a simulated sky above and black rock below. Rayne couldn’t focus on it while also relearning how to breathe. For this, she stared into Nox’s grave eyes. He held her steady, and she still couldn’t speak to explain. To tell him of the danger. Of—

She finally looked out.

Rayne and her shadow stood on a scaffolded platform, one of several overlooking the expanse below. On and on, the volcanic rock stretched to an endless horizon covered with people.

Not just any people.

A girl stood with pale skin, long black hair tied in a braid, and blue eyes. She wore armor of black banding over her entire body except her exposed back. Face forward, and hands relaxed at her sides.

A man stood beside her with medium gray skin, long black hair with half of it pulled up in a high knot and the other flowing down his back, and black eyes. Black leather pants, no shirt, and war paint covered his tremendous body. He stood at attention.

“Us,” Rayne breathed. “A continent of us.”

“Surviving our steward is impressive, but I’m afraid this is where you meet your end. Imminent can’t have you warning the Vast Collective of their new Overseers.”