The world creaked slowly with distant ground shaking thunder.

As though a long still night had passed, for the first time in three years Eona Jokullsdottir opened her eyes again.

The body was stiff and ached oddly. There was a sharp pain that swam in her eyes, surging further back into her brain as she stared up at a charred ceiling where thin white roots dug into burnt paint and wood. A heady floral smell swaddled her, the scent filling her mouth and lungs as she breathed. Her fingers brushed over smooth thick petals beneath her and she, with some effort that made her body creak, sat up.

Where was she?

It was a room certainly, the walls had a faint tinge of red to them hidden beneath dust and charring from an ancient fire with the thin roots trailed up and down to both floor and ceiling. She looked down at herself and her mind swelled with memories of red. The fabric was red. She was wearing red before, it had been dyed with fresh blood as she felt her spirit slip slowly from her body. This dress though was a vibrant happy shade of red, with golden threat decorations and small hints of white. It was the dress brides of the Four Kingdoms would wear, and she mindlessly tugged at the sleeve as though it would vanish into a puff of smoke at any moment.

Had he come?

Beneath her was a bed, consumed by large white flowers with thick petals. She thought she could feel the flowers try gently wrapping around her arms and legs as she slowly crawled off the bed on stiff limbs to get to the floor.

Her heart was fluttering in her ribs, banging against the bone. She should be happy, but why did she feel like her stomach was full of oil?

Where was Liu Xie and Idony?

For some reason, she felt that she should see both. No, that she had to see both. They both needed to be with her. How long had she been gone? Was Idony okay? Was she big now, and barely able to remember Eona's face? Or was she small still, with only a year to pass between them. He had promised, he had promised and she told Idony he would come.

But he was not there.

Idony was not there either.

The fluttering of her heart, the sensation of oil in her stomach combined into a tight knot of tension that wrapped around her lungs.

Eona pushed herself forward, going towards the door in a staggering walk as she felt her chest squeeze tightly in on itself. The doorway led her into long corridor, where part of the wall had long since collapsed to expose a courtyard covered in more of the white flowers and joined with tall slender willow trees that looked as if they were being subsumed into the white mass of blooms as well.

"Oh good! You're awake!" A cheery if someone strained voice spoke, a gloved hand grabbing her arm. She turned to see a friendly faced young man in amber and gold armor behind her, a comforting smile on his face. His eyes burned with an orange glow but she felt no fear from them. "Things have sort of spiraled out of expectations, but that's fine."

"What?" Her voice was hoarse and a metallic taste oozed over her tongue. She swallowed.

"Don't worry about it," the man said as he began walking quickly forward. "We just need to get you out of here."

"Where is here?" The rasp in her throat was slowly fading as they walked quickly through the corridor into what looked like at one point to have been some sort of storage room for tables. Three piles of quivering black sludge were sprawled out, one bisected by a collapsed table that had animal bite marks in it.

help...

help help...

help...

There was another door which she was quickly pulled through into a large courtyard where a single thick-trunked tree stood. Instinctively her eyes followed its pale trunk upwards, and upwards, and further upwards. It seemed to continue onwards far to the sky, with strange vaguely humanoid creatures scrambling up its sides. Where were the branches?

The man paused in his walk to also glance up at the tree, narrowing his eyes. "It's happening here too, of course," he muttered, before speeding up in his step.

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"What's happening? I don't understand," Eona wheezed, stepping over a trailing root that nearly slipped around her ankle. She gathered up the red skirt in her free hand to hold it out of the way of her feet.

"A wedding was supposed to happen, but now it's turning into a bit of a disaster," the man sighed while shaking his head. "I wish I could tell you more, but it's all a bit much and we need to get you to safety first."

"Safety? Where? Is Idony going to be there? Is Idony okay?" She stopped to briefly cough and sputtering, spitting out congealed blood that had gathered in her throat. "Where's Liu Xie?"

"Right here."

Eona was yanked off her feet and behind the man, who had in the same motion pulled out a fine sword with an amber hilt that started to crackle with orange fire. Peering over the shoulder of the man she could see another young man across from them, who wore white clothes that his long white hair seemed to blend into, an equally white flower pinned into his hair. His eyes were dark voids, and he smiled at her.

She knew who it was, and yet she could not believe it at the same time. There was no way they could be the same person even if the tension in her chest and screaming in her mind said otherwise.

"Ah, I should have figured you'd come quickly," the amber eyed man said wearily, "you're causing quite a commotion all over the Four Kingdoms. You must be quite proud of yourself."

"I would not say 'proud', subverting your methods to contain me was rather easy, and hiding myself among your number was barely much effort. She let me in, after all," his smile showed teeth, sharp things for rending flesh.

"It was the Jade Prince, he's more keen on pretty faces than even I am," the amber eyed man said.

The other man was quiet for a second, before smiling again with a shrug, "well that is true, he's hardly changed all that much I admit." He acquiesced. Then he turned his gaze to Eona, holding out his hand. "Come here, Eona, we can wait for Idony together."

The hand tightened its grip on her slightly, "don't." He spoke quietly under his breath. "He can't get her."

"Where is she?" Eona asked, confused impatience creeping into her voice. Had she woken up, or was she simply in a damned nightmare that those who died inglorious deaths are condemned to?

The man did not answer her question.

"Dear Amber Brother, how did you come in here without me noticing, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Ah," the man straightened up. His hand was getting warm, and warmer. It would have been uncomfortable if Eona's eyes were not locked on empty cold voids that wanted to suck her in. "Well it's simple. I'm the original owner of this house after all, I can still come and go as I please. I'll confess I hardly had a reason to come until very recently."

"You're more clever than I give you credit for, dear brother!" The pale figure laughed, it was friendly and yet devoid of any closeness that came with siblings.

"Where is Liu Xie?" Eona asked, raising her voice slightly to be heard over the distance. "What did you do to him?"

The pale figure tipped his head slightly, "I woke up. The dream can't really persist once a dreamer wakes up, can it? Although he seemed to find a way around that, in a sense..."

Her heart dropped into an abyss, "he's gone?"

"No," the pale figure shook his head, "he's still me. I am him. Come to me, Eona. I promised we would be together, didn't I?" He opened his arms as though in an expectant embrace, smiling gently at her even as his eyes trapped her in their gaze. She felt like darkness was closing in around her, pressing against her bones with him as the only source of pallid light left. "Eona, as you slept I went through your memories, I saw your suffering, the pain of Idony. You died with your blood seeping into a filthy bed, alone except for your murderer who patiently waited for you to die. I could not save you then, but I can now. All of the agonies of humanity do not need to persist. I've listened to the prayers of the dying and the wretched, and I know that all of humanity's greatest desire is to simply cease."

This was definitely not Liu Xie, Eona withdrew behind the other man. Or perhaps it was, but it was not the Liu Xie she knew. It was not the Liu Xie she fell in love with and dreamed of a return to.

"Are you talking about your own annoyances and delusions again? Each time you always say the same thing, that you're trying to fulfill humanity's wish for death." The amber eyed man said.

"You're right, I do repeat myself," the pallid one agreed. "The truth is..." his mouth split into an unnaturally wide sharp toothed grin, a white flame blazing to life in the depths of his eyes. "In all of existence, I've felt that only I deserve to be. You're all mockeries of me!"

He was right before her, Eona's breath caught in her chest as his arms closed around her and his face came close, the smell of flowers and medicine entwining with ash. His grip was firm and unrelenting, "but you... you and Idony are the only ones who deserve to live with me. I'll devour this world, and in the ashes we'll build a beautiful garden and house together. You, Idony, and I... you want this too, don't you, Eona? You wanted me to come for you, and I wanted to take you. You've always been mine. You and our child are the only good things this miserable world have brought forth. Please, let me kiss you again, I've missed you so much and now that you're awake..."

A hand made of dust and dirt, crackling with blackened flames, pulled at the pallid being's arm. He turned his head for just a second, his grip slacking on her as another hand grabbed her by the back of her dress and pulled her backwards.

An inferno of black, amber, and jade flame fell downwards from the sky, as earthen hands emerged from the ground to grasp at the pale figure.

The world itself seemed to slowly change in color, warping through the various hues of the rainbow as shapes grew indistinct and blurry. Her aching body was filled with fire and she finally screamed in agony as her skin burnt away and her bones became cinder.

The colors resolved into a red room, her body ceased to burn as her eyes focused on a painting of a curling dragon and phoenix above on the ceiling. There was a window allowing a warm afternoon sun's light to spill through.

But all she could hear was screaming.