Storm swallowed, staring at the white door of the asylum, red spray paint messily splattered across it. The night sky was dotted with stars that winked and glittered - was it his imagination or were they blinking more urgently than usual?
He gently opened the door…
“J-Juniper? Are you…?”
His saber clattered out of his hand.
Blood.
So much blood.
Bright scarlet and dark crimson and dried burgundy. It splattered the floor, the walls, everything, as if Jackson Pollock had used the entire asylum for his passion project, and only wanted to use particular shades of red.
A heavily panting Jade knelt next to… something he couldn’t look at, something bloody and fleshy clamped between her teeth. She lapped the blood off with wet slurping sounds, followed by the sound of her spitting, blood becoming slightly lighter as it mixed with drool.
The cyborg finally managed to glance at the bloody mess next to her, breathing sharply as he observed the corpse of his late wife. Juniper’s desecrated body was a mess of blood and flesh and more unidentifiable objects from the body, organs and veins and muscles splattered around like a child’s dinner plate. Pale brown hair splattered the ground, mixing with blood and flesh and skin, as if the healer herself had decomposed. Wide purple eyes were covered in splatters of skin and flesh and blood. Chunks of her were gone, messily ripped from her limbs like… like somebody had ripped them off with their teeth, leaving gaping holes that showcased layers of skin, bloody organs, and torn-open veins. The biggest hole was an art show of pink and red on her neck, right where Juniper’s carotid artery used to be. It was gone, yet the thing Jade was now chewing seemed terribly like it.
Squelching sounds made the cyborg feel like vomiting, accompanied by spitting, screeching, and splashing as Jade continued to devour her sister, feasting on the dangerously iron-rich corpse, the hybrid’s body reddening with Asian flush. Juniper’s body was almost unidentifiable were it not for the simple silver band around her left ring finger, which she clutched close to her, yet it had still been splattered with blood. A ring she clutched ever so dearly despite how much despise she shown toward the idea of rings. He had planned on making them rings once, when she first proposed to him, wanting to make something semblent to his culture. He still remembered how she rejected the idea, claiming he’d just hurt himself doing so.
Not a sound escaped Storm as he watched Jade eat her sister, watched the hybrid lap the blood off his wife, his breathing instead shaky and erratic, face pale from a mix of horror, disgust, and his ailment-riddled body, various conditions that had gone ignored for so long.
Even still reeling from what Juniper had done, shaken by the monster she’d confirmed was lurking under that sweet surface, this was sickening.
Nobody deserved this.
The cyborg was breathing hard, with grief, disgust, trauma, and so many feelings he just couldn't handle as he trembled from where he stood.
So he turned them off.
Love, despair, fear—all of it—winked off one by one in his consciousness, just like the stars he knew were fading so far away, like...
Only a few emotions were left, the most dominant ones.
A saber was picked off the ground.
Jade looked up, tongue lolling out of her head as she licked more blood off what must have once been Juniper’s heart. “Took you long enough to show up,” she spat, bursting into a giggling fit as blood and spit flew.
Anger, hatred, vengefulness, disgust.
No response, but that familiar purple glint from below his bangs said enough.
He breathed in, then out, curling his right hand into a fist while clenching his saber tighter in the left.
Storm forced out one statement, his voice a cold hiss, "Just what do you think you're doing, Jade?"
She laughed, licking her lips and wiping her mouth, smudging the blood. It ran in a thin trickle down to her scar, purple and red and black. “You tell me.”
The saber powered on, the cyan glow it let off casting a shine onto the cyborg's face, leaving one side lit and the other dark.
He closed his eyes briefly as he once again forced out a response, an emotionless, almost robotic voice meeting her statement, "Jade, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Jade. Will you stop Jade? Stop, Jade."
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
It wasn't working.
A void tendril snaked up next to him, the unnerving amount of anger causing it to grow in size and strangle Jade, static recurring around the borg and rapidly increasing in voltage, to the point the sparks gave off heat.
She laughed as her oxygen slowly gave out, sinking to her knees as the hybrid grinned, showing off red teeth.
Electricity crackled at Storm's fingertips, his saber slamming mere inches from Jade's neck, separating her from Juniper's body as the static got dangerously close.
“What, are you sad? That she died? Well she was… delicious…” Jade erupted into laughter, wheezing and coughing as she giggled.
"She's your sister," he hissed in response, "and all you want to do is eat her?" The borg brought his hand closer to her neck, the thought of using the deadly amount of electricity alluring. "There's a problem here, Jade, and I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do."
“Oh, go ahead.”
The amusement was gone from her voice now, giving way to a deranged desperation. “Do it!”
A bit of skin smacked Storm in the face as Jade screamed, hitting the ground with one final squelch. He narrowed his eyes and the void tentacle constricted around her tighter, burning and torturing yet not killing.
A sliver of twisted common sense made its way into that robotic lust to kill, "Why should I give you what you want?"
The hybrid couldn’t respond, but a smirk crossed her bloody, spittle-infested lips as she thrashed across the ground, licking blood off the floor.
Another void tentacle was conjured to restrain her, Storm just about ready to make up his mind.
He wasn’t sure just how long he stood there. Minutes? Hours? Days? Years? Screams, sobs, laughs, they all faded into the background as the machine took over.
He curled his hand into a fist, raising it as the amount of electricity was multiplied fourths fold, testing the very edge of his limits.
He was about to bring his hand down when the door creaked open, revealing the sunlight of the early morning.
“D-daddy?” a young girl’s voice asked.
Storm whirled around to see a stunned Opal sinking to her knees as she watched, one hand clutching a wailing Caleb while Grace had let go, walking towards the cyborg as she cried.
"I..."
Slowly, fearfully, emotions became existent.
He dissipated the static, but the void tentacles continued to restrain the hybrid, keeping her away from whatever was left of Juniper's corpse.
“I-I’m scared…”
The younger boy began bawling, while Opal only watched, silent tears running down her cheeks.
The borg seemed briefly unsure what to do, before cautiously walking up to Grace, trying to force out everything else from his thoughts.
“Daddy, what’s happening?” she cried, burying her face in his arms. “What are you doing?”
"Grace, I-" He shook his head, unable to find a way to word this, "A-aunt Jade went too far and Juniper... Your mom had to go somewhere..."
“O-okay… what’s the red stuff? I don’t like it. It’s scary, Daddy.”
"...I'll tell you later, but right now I want you to go outside with Caleb and Opal, okay? I'll come with you."
“…fine. Come on, Caleb.”
The boy sniffled and followed her, while Opal stayed behind. “So…?”
He didn't respond at first, but informed her, "I understand why you want Jade dead now." The borg's fists were clenched, and his gaze was utterly unreadable due to the tide of emotions, but judging by how the mass of void tentacles would occasionally squeeze Jade a bit too tight, Storm was fighting off the urge to kill her here and now. Knowing what Juniper had done to him, he wasn’t sure why he was so mad at Jade for acting on her impulse. Maybe his built-up anger and hurt decided to pour out now, feral and unruly. Or perhaps, somewhere inside, he had found it in him to care despite it all.
Opal glanced in her direction. “I… what happened?”
Her face and tone of voice made it clear she already knew.
This time she received no response whatsoever, his gaze dark.
“Wh-what are you going to do with her? I don’t want…”
She hugged herself, voice barely a whisper when she said, “It’s not much, nearly nothing, but she’s still my mom. I- I don’t want to be an orphan.”
The borg was dragged back to reality.
"Opal I wasn't going to..." Storm shook his head, knowing that was a lie, "I won't kill her, I promise you that."
“Then what?”
Tears pricked the hobbyist’s vision, her pride being the only thing keeping them from spilling over. “You’ll turn her in to the wizards? What’ll happen to her? I won’t ever see her again, and Dad will—Dad will—I can’t!”
"Opal..." He tried to find something to say, something that could temporarily blind them from the harsh reality, but nothing came to mind, "I... I don't know what'll happen to Jade, all I know is that there's no way she's going to be allowed in the asylum after this. I wish... I wish I could do something, but I can't, all I can do is be there to help you."
“So she’s good as dead,” was her only response as the girl stormed out. As the man watched her run off, he couldn’t help but feel as if he somehow failed her. He couldn’t have done anything to prevent this, even if he had peered at the future Juniper never would have listened to him, but he wished he could’ve done more to comfort her. For the first time in all the years he watched over the children this was the first time he failed to do exactly that.
The borg sighed, before glaring at Jade from the corner of his eye, "This is your fault, you know."
The words are dull, metallic. They taste the same as his own thoughts, back when Juniper—
She only glared back, but she couldn’t hide her fear completely.
The two held their gaze for a couple of seconds before the hybrid glanced away. “So what are they going to do?”
There was no hesitation in his voice, "Kill you or worse, I'll settle for either."
She didn’t respond, but her eyes said enough. Worry and anger and hatred and derangement and fear. So much fear. All of them crowded in her green gaze, giving way to a screech that sent Storm’s blood-curdling.
He breathed deeply before static crackled in the air once more, this time with less voltage than before.
The luminous plasma crept towards the hybrid, steadily progressing despite the fear, despite the screeching, despite the struggle against the void tentacles.
She fell limp, slipping into unconsciousness as the static retreated, having done its job. He then manipulated the mass of the void, separating it into smaller tendrils that bound the hybrid to the point of complete immobility. The bindings included a void tendril that bound around her jaw and kept her mouth closed, making it impossible for her to speak—or bite—when she awoke.
The remaining void was used to neutralize the bloodstains, the room looking as if nothing had ever happened.
Yet one thing remained untouched.
The desecrated corpse glistened with blood, the grotesque image plastered in the moonlight. Looking at it revolted him, and the thought of touching the body was unbearable, so instead, he manipulated a thin sheet of void to cover Juniper, intending to return later. Torn veins squirted a bit of blood like the last pathetic bit of water from a broken fountain. Water, however, wasn’t red.
He turned to the door, the swishing of his coat and the insane hybrid's breathing the only sound before the door clicked shut, sending Jade into pitch darkness.
Elsewhere, a malicious prismatic flash heralds coming destruction.
The true keystones are encroached upon by the extradimensional curse of the deep.
The final remnant of the psuedo-elemental, the faux jewel of devoured elements sitting in the middle of the ring of gems, shatters into thousands of pieces, its fragments so tiny they litter the air.
A rift opens at the Academy's front hall. Tentacles pour forth from it, like water from a glass, throwing the doors open with a loud yet hollow slam.
Slowly, the dust of the false keystone scatters into the Prodigian wind, its pieces multiplying like spores of fungi as its real counterparts are leeched from once again.
Even beyond that, the festering puddle where it last stood continues to bubble and boil with poorly-contained ravenousness.
Sensing the curse transmitted in the air, it begins to spread through the soil.
The ground is tormented with black and purple, the infection's requiem, mutated and alive, inescapable.
For the elemental presiding over the true secret of the deep, this is its last chance at satiating its eternal hunger.
It cannot accept defeat again.
Back in the Academy, a stunned Opal was furiously sketching, crumpled papers and broken pencils strewn about. Nobody else was up - it was barely the crack of dawn, and she’d only gotten up in the first place because she wanted to sneak off and check on Jade. Grace and Caleb had insisted on following, and she’d decided to let them, hoping to buy them a treat or something.
But that wouldn’t be possible…
Another broken pencil hit the floor with enough force to ricochet and hit the ceiling.
A red-haired girl stumbled through the Academy approaching the kitchen, where Opal was sketching. "Wha...?" she mumbled, half awake.
The hobbyist flinched, looked up, waved, and went back to drawing.
A certain borg also choose this time to enter the kitchen, stopping and staring at the mess of crumpled papers. “What happened here?”
“F**king nothing,” Opal snapped, gathering the papers without letting them see. She crinkled each one some more, tossed them into the trash, and was about to stalk off when a tapping on the doorway distracted her.
Da da. Da da da. Da da.
Robin scowled at his sister, demanding an answer.
"No," was all she said, pushing her glasses up.
Raiden crossed her arms, standing behind the hobbyist, “Okay, what’s up with you?”
“F**k off,” she said, “just f**k off.”
“Fine then.”
She then proceeded to walk over to the trash can and pull out the wad of paper, but uncrumpling the mess.
"No, wait, don’t-"
She stared at an unraveled piece, glanced up at Opal, the wordless flattened out the rest of the papers, allowing them to drift to the floor, face up and revealing its contents for all to see.
When she dropped the last piece, her gaze became hostile, “Now, Opal, if you don’t f**king explain what this is, you’ll be saying hello to hell for me.”
The hobbyist stared at the pictures awkwardly, contemplating what to say.
One had been ripped almost completely in half. On one ripped side was a glaring Opal, the other a screaming Storm. Each line was dark and hard, as if she’d pressed as hard as she could with her pencil.
The next was crumpled to oblivion. In it, Storm was surrounded by void tentacles, poised to attack as blood dripped from his neck. The cyborg faced the camera, emotionless and deadly. It had been done rather crudely, with small strokes and many, many eraser marks.
After that was a messy jumble, the first image to use color. And it used every color - red walls and green eyes and purple graves. Everything else was a mess.
Opal kicked the other drawings aside before she stared at them too long, looking Raiden dead in the eye for a long moment.
Then she scoffed, sneering at the cyborg. “What are you gonna do, kill me?”
“I can kill you,” she shrugged, her voice emotionless, “Or I can get something to kill you for me. Yet that’s only if you don’t explain.”
“Okay, do it.”
"No," Hope ordered, standing between the two. "We are not attacking each other, especially not after we just got Glace back."
The hobbyist rolled her eyes. “Great. Why don’t you all-“
”OPAL,” Robin yelled, immediately wincing right after as the taste of bitter chocolate filled his mouth, the archer feeling as if he was being punched. “You know I don’t like yelling. So why don’t you just tell me without my having to figure out what you’re doing because you’re a terrible liar?”
"…you don’t want to see it," Opal muttered, before forcing a smile. “Chill.”
Opal was promptly dumped in a rift.
Robin blinked. “Soooo… do I want to check with Storm?”
Hope stared at where Opal was for a while, then paused, almost turned to face Raiden, thought better of it, and went to set the table for breakfast. "Sure, I guess," she said to Robin, grabbing the plates and bowls.
Unrealistically well timed, the mentioned Storm Trainee entered the kitchen, rubbing his face tiredly. When he noticed everyone staring at him, he drawled, "...what's going on?"
Pausing, one of Hope's feet remained on top of a drawing.
Robin narrowed his eyes and fingered an arrow, stomping up to Storm. “Do you mind f**king telling me what you did?”
Andrew swooped over, quickly assessed the situation, and flew to his friend, placing a hand on the archer’s shoulder. “Hey!”
Robin’s lips twitched upwards with a hint of a smile, but he kept staring at Storm, now nocking an arrow.
"What's..." a yawn interrupted the sentence "...going oooon..." Nathan trailed off, seeing the events transpiring in the kitchen. Jax and Aurora were the next to see what was happening.
Another set of footsteps neared the kitchen. A gruff voice spoke up. "Okay, seriously guys, it's too early in the morning to..." Lane's eyes darted from Robin, to Storm, to the drawings on the ground, back to Robin. "...be threatening each other..."
Robin yelped and nearly shot the arrow at Lane but stopped at the last second. “Okay. Okay. Storm, do you have something to say?”
”Annnnd it’s time for a mental health check!” Andrew said, attempting to move Robin away. The archer held firm, though, glaring at a bewildered Storm.
"I..." The gray-haired wizard glanced at the floor, muttering, "I think you should be asking what Jade did..."
“WHAT?!“
Robin promptly snatched Andrew, screamed at the fairy to pull out his map, and the two teleported to Jade’s asylum.
Storm stared at the spot where the two were, then glanced at the floor, unsure how to react.
Meanwhile, Raiden huffed and summoned her own map, "I don't know about you, but I don't trust them to not to do anything stupid." With that, she was gone.
But the cyborg was already too late.
Juniper’s body was still covered in the void sheet, Jade now conscious as she screeched through her gag. Robin, meanwhile, stood shock-still in the middle of the room, mouth slightly open as he clutched his ears. “Nonononono…”
Andrew was next to his friend, arm around him in case the archer fell. His eyes were squeezed shut, tail wound around Robin’s ankles - clearly, they needed each other’s support.
The archer didn’t look at Raiden as he snapped, “Opal. Now.”
The borg observed the room for a minute, before finally snapping her fingers and opening a rift, Opal promptly falling out. The hobbyist was singed, soaked, slightly frozen, and clearly static, but Raiden paid no mind to it, knowing exactly what caused it, "Either you answer Robin or go through another round with Kunikuzushi."
The hobbyist glared at Raiden, glancing at the floor before shuffling towards Robin. “Um…”
"Spit it out already," the time traveler snapped at her, returning the glare.
“F**K OFF,” both siblings snapped simultaneously. Opal hesitated before taking a nervous step closer to Juniper, while Robin…
Walked right up to Jade and started screaming at her.
"Congrats, you both failed at explaining things to each other," Raiden muttered sarcastically, "And did something stupid."
Opal scowled and glanced at Robin, who was still screaming at Jade.
”F**K YOU. F**K YOU! Whatever the hell the wizards do to you, you deserve it! YOU’RE NOT MY F**KING MOM!”
He sprinted out of the asylum, quickly being followed by Andrew.
Raiden watched them go, before glancing at Opal, "I don't know about them, but I'm still waiting on an explanation."
“You mind asking your dad for one?” the hobbyist spat, refusing to glance at her mother.
"I think it'll be more accurate if I hear it from you," her voice held no tone or feeling. It was just...empty.
“I’m gonna get Robin,” she said, meeting Jade’s eyes for barely a millisecond before darting out of the asylum.
Robin had already teleported away, wanting to have a chat with a certain cyborg.
Raiden walked out behind her, her sapphire gaze narrowed, "Yeah, right. Stop with the excuses and answer me already."
A hysteric giggle exploded through the air, Opal clutching her stomach as she laughed and laughed and laughed. Tears of mirth - or sorrow - filled her eyes as she finally stopped. “Aw, what are you gonna do, Raiden? Kill me? Torture me? I’m so scared. Shut the f**k up, b**ch.”
The hobbyist was instantly choke-slammed against the asylum wall, "Listen. Last night Caleb and Grace were having nightmares about Juniper, I found my dad's ring in the trash can, and then found you and your stupid a** drawings the following morning. If you don't tell me what f**king happened right now, you'll have the joy of meeting your z**ing insane jacka** self."
“Nope~“
“You can’t f**king say no-“
The amusement in Opal’s eyes stated one thing: yes, she could.
The borg glared at her before tossing her in another rift.
So much for that.
Back in the Academy, Robin had turned his rage to Storm, arrows already peppering the wall as the archer yelled at him. Andrew hovered behind his friend, concerned but unable to do anything.
“Uh, hey, Robin…”
”THE F**K IS WRONG WITH YOUR HEAD?”
Storm ducked under another arrow.
"You know, some clarification would be appreciated-" He dodged another arrow, "-because there are multiple answers to that question."
“YOU DESERVE TO F**KING DIE!” was Robin’s only response, arrows being shot at a shocking speed. It was only a matter of time before his quiver ran out, but he still had magic up his sleeve.
"Do you mind explaining why?" Desperation edged his voice, but it went unnoticed.
The last arrow was fired directly at Storm’s throat, Robin groping in his quiver before tossing his bow aside and unsheathing his wand. “B-because- because- what the hell did you do to Jade, b**ch?”
Thankfully, the borg had powered on his saber in the right moment, incinerating the arrow.
"I didn't do anything," he replied hurriedly. It wasn't quite a lie, but it was far from the truth.
“YOU’RE LYING!” Robin shrieked, Andrew quickly flying down and squeezing his hand.
”Robin. Back off. You can yell at Storm later, but you’re gonna get yourself hurt.”
“I don’t care.”
”…yep, that’s it-“
The Storm fey flicked a finger at his friend, the tiniest bit of electrify knocking him out. “Well, he’s gonna hate me when he wakes up in about twenty minutes.”
Storm let out a sigh of relief, turning off his saber, "Thank you."
“NOPE, WE’RE NOT DONE YET,” Andrew declared. “That stuff with Jade was really scary. And since I’m assuming you were related to it, I want to know what happened so I can tell Robin without the guy going crazy. Plus Dad’s gonna absolutely freak if he finds out anything bad happened to Jade.”
"Well f**k that." He shuffled his feet for a bit before saying, "I didn't do anything to Jade. I mean, I nearly did, but I didn't. You should be more concerned about what Jade did to Juniper." That last part was muttered, the borg cringing slightly at saying Juniper's name.
“…I know she… she died, but what I’m asking is how. And no, I’m sure you did something to Jade, I don’t think she bound herself with Void tentacles,” the fairy snapped back. “Before you answer, though, can we get Robin somewhere besides the Great Hall? I have a feeling things won’t be any better when he wakes up.”
"Fine," he replied with a sigh, fidgeting with his coat hem nervously.
Andrew promptly picked up his friend as if he were a rag doll, dumped him into one of the bedrooms, and walked back outside. “Well?”
"After I saw her eating Juniper I knocked her unconscious and restrained her. What more is there to say?" The borg was rather passive aggressive this time, still not admitting the full truth.
“That’s… really gross. But, one, what’s gonna happen to Jade? And two, what else did you do? Or do you want me to teleport back and find out?”
"How am I supposed to know? I'm not a judge. As for the second thing, I didn't do anything else, and even if you asked Jade, she'll just be muttering about Hunter and wanting to die."
“…mmhm. Let’s go and teleport back then examine her, shall we? I think I’ll find plenty of burn marks. And she can’t use fire or Storm magic.”
"I already told you I knocked her unconscious. Obviously, I did it by electrocuting her." He huffed, "If you're trying to prove something, you're failing."
“Giant burn on the neck? Hello? I’m just trying to get you to admit everything so I can figure out the best way to break the news to Dad. Bozo.”
"I didn't do anything," he insisted again, shifting his weight from his left leg to his right.
“CAP.”
Storm stared at Andrew before moving to leave, ignoring the fey as he ran after the borg.
“SO YOU DID!”
"I never said anything."
“Then stop.”
"Stop what? Leaving? I'm leaving because you don't know when to stop."
“SO JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU’RE HIDING.”
An arrow struck the fairy in the back of the head, Robin standing behind them. He’d found a full quiver and was now mocking another arrow.
Luckily, the one he’d shot at Andrew had a rubber tip, but still…
”BRO THAT HURT!”
”Shut the f**k up, Andrew,” Robin snapped, hating himself for smiling a bit as the taste of pop rocks filled his mouth. “And get out of the way.”
However, in this brief moment, a door slammed, signifying the borg had already gotten away.
Back in the private common room, Hei had gotten up, rubbing his eyes and yawning. “New piercing, slay…”
Raiden glared at him, having rifted back to the Academy and currently looming in the kitchen.
His eyes widened and he dug his fingers into his arm. “Something f**ked up?”
“F**ked up doesn’t begin to describe it,” Raiden replied drily, the mess of drawings still on the floor in front of her.
“Why, what… oh, what the f**k? Where’s Opal?”
“Gone.”
“As in?”
“As in she left,” the borg responded, irate.
“Or you rifted her?”
“And if I did?”
“B**ch,” he snapped, his tattoos flickering purple and lavender before they shut off. “Whatever. What happened?”
“Jade killed Juniper and it appears Opal hates my dad because of it,” the borg deadpanned, “Oh, and by the way, the new piercing looks as stupid as your last one.”
“Was it sick?” he asked, fingers digging even deeper into his arm, pain exploding through the trainee. Juniper… dead. Juniper… alive. Juniper… dead. Juniper… alive.
It was like he’d disconnected from the world, hovering in the sky like a helium balloon, connected to the world by a fragile hand.
“I wasn’t there,” she replied drily.
He stuck his bottom lip out. “Bleh. Alright, I’m gonna wake up everyone else. Bet Rai’s gonna burst into tears.”
She didn’t respond, giving him an odd look before exiting the room, feet kicking up the drawings and causing them to drift under the table.
He studied them, seemingly bored, before picking one up and walking to the private common room.
In the room, a certain pumager napped on top of the bookshelf, a paw hanging over the edge.
“HEY, RAI,” Hei called, smirk settling on his face. “GUESS WHAT?”
He earned himself a yowl as the feline jumped in surprise, losing its footing and crashing to the floor. The tiger-striped puma stared up at the Shadow Trainee, paws in the air as a fluffy white stomach was exposed.
The Shadow trainee kicked him in the side. “Can you morph back to fairy? This is weird.”
The cat rolled into a loaf position, hissing and swatting at Hei’s ankles before shifting - resulting in him being on all fours before he pushed himself into a sitting position.
The Earth Warden stifled a yawn, ”Well, you didn’t have a problem with it before.”
“It’s weird, okay?” Hei said, dragging a tooth across his new lip ring before adding, “Oh yeah, and Juniper’s dead.”
“What?”
The trainee rolled his eyes and scoffed, clearing his throat before snapping, “So yeah, legal issues, political issues, blah blah blah, you’re a Warden. Even if you‘re too much of a wimp to deserve it.”
Rai’s gaze was utterly unreadable - not due to lack of emotion but a mess of it. Disbelief was smeared across his face a along with grief, despair, hurt, and anger. His vision glinted, the Warden curling a hand into a fist and training his sapphire gaze on the trainee.
“Okay, okay,” Hei held his hands up, “jeez, how else was I supposed to tell you?”
Fury began to build up, Rai’s tail lashing, “Perhaps by deciding to care.”
“Well, never said I didn’t. Just because I’m not crying about it doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck.”
“Crying isn’t the only way to care, and it certainly sounds like you don't,” he replied, glaring.
“Fine. You want a huggy and a kissy?” the trainee said, holding up his arms for a hug. Unappreciated sarcasm practically oozed from his words.
The hostile stare Rai was giving him only worsened, a growl building up at the back of the fey’s throat.
Hei snorted, tattoos starting to glow purple.
Both of the fey’s fists were curled down, orange essence radiating from his vision.
Luce walked into the room and immediately took a step back, eyes wide.
Neither reacted to Shadow Warden's presence, the two giving each other a death stare.
Luce's tail flicked nervously, his yellow gaze darting from Rai to Hei, "...what's going on?"
“Oh, Juniper died and Rai’s being a baby because of it.”
A hiss, "I'm not being a baby."
Meanwhile, the resident Brit tensed, "Wait, did you say Juniper died?"
“YES,” the two boys chorused.
“Since when? And how?”
“Dunno, ask Raiden,” Hei shrugged, “but she might be too edgy to tell you.”
“She’s always too edgy to tell me,” he replied dryly.
“Yeah, and I don’t know,” he said, “Duh.”
The Shadow Warden exhaled deeply, expression mixed.
Samantha broke in, having been eavesdropping, "I get you two are upset and stressed over... Juniper, but please, don't start fighting each other."
“Ugh. All I’m saying is that somebody with more backbone deserves leadership, not him.”
Rai gritted his teeth, firsts remaining clenched as he glared at Hei, “I can handle it fine.”
“Hah. Tell me that when you’re sitting in a cell next to your dear mentor, who you keep insisting you didn’t kill.”
"Because I didn't," the Earth Warden insisted, his Vision casting a shine.
Lane walked in. "Would you guys keep it down?"
Hei glanced over. “Hi, Juniper’s dead.”
"So you get to yell at Rai?"
“I get to make him stop being wimpy.”
“I’m not wimpy,” Rai interjected.
"Hei, you're stupid, then. Stop it. Rai, walk away from him. Or throw a rock at him, then walk away," Lane answered. "Actually, yeah, throw a rock."
The Shadow trainee huffed in annoyance and left, leaving Rai, Samantha, Lane, and Luce to deal with their… interesting revelation.
“Lane, you’re being an instigator,” Luce stated drily from beside the Storm Warden.
“Fine. So… Juniper’s dead, huh?” the Warden replied, “That’s… a shock.”
Samantha ran her hand through the front of her hair. "Storm isn't going to take it well, is he?"
“No, he isn’t,” Lane said, “Nor is Raiden.”
Samantha sighed, blinking back tears. “Have the children heard yet?”
Rai, meanwhile, had teleported off, Vision flickering.
Meanwhile, a gray-haired cyborg sat in a near empty room, twirling a loose thread around his finger. He kept twisting it around his finger as tightly as possible, continuing until the string snapped, then started again with a new loose string, wrapping it about a different finger.
I was going to abandon her.
He coiled the strand about his finger even tighter, trying not to wince. Only he knew that he was planning to divorce Juniper, about a week from now.
And now she’s dead.
The string snapped, and he reached for another thread. She probably thinks I was happy with her.
He wound the string around his middle finger, the white strand getting tighter with each coil and turning the skin red then purple then blue.
Thing is, I wasn’t.
A snap signified that this thread broke as well, then the borg promptly started again, a hole appearing in the hem of his coat.
So why do I miss her?
He continued to fiddle with the string.
Eventually, the cyborg stopped, getting up. He should probably deal with Jade now, but…
He sighed, summoning his map and taping the edge of Lamplight, where the asylum was.
The cyborg immediately had to retreat the second he teleported in. The rush of hatred and passion and anger and so much more flooded his every cell, directed at the thing that was sprawled, listless, on the asylum floor.
Storm balled his hands into fists, trying to calm the tide of emotions but failing. They crashed into him again and again like waves crashing into a cliff wall. Quickly, much too quickly, it was too much, and he found himself turning them off, until his thoughts, his mind, were silent.
Jade slowly opened her eyes, attempting to get up but obviously failing once she saw Storm.
His sapphire gaze was unreadable as he observed the hybrid, before stepping into the room, resisting the urge to fiddle with his coat. All he had to do was turn her in and be on his way,
He couldn't, he wouldn't act like a bot this time. He wasn't going to...
Jade narrowed her eyes, squirming in discomfort before raising her eyebrows ever so slightly at the corpse behind him.
The borg found himself following her line of sight, settling on the desecrated body. His hands squeezed into fists again, and he was forcing himself to calm down once more, glancing back at Jade. He clearly hadn't turned off nearly enough of his emotions, but he just didn't want to risk it.
Clearly, her amusement indicated that she knew exactly what she was doing.
Just outside the door, Rai set foot, the Astral Fey's eyes widening at seeing the ongoing scene.
The cyborg loomed over the hybrid, electricity crackling about his form. His gaze was cold, emotionless, maybe even dead as he stared down Jade, the former struggling in her bonds in an almost too-pleased manner.
Rai peered into the doorway, tail twitching nervously. Once he caught sight of Jade, though, he instantly regretted it.
Storm and struggling and screaming and red and he was weak and pain and Darkshade and relief and no and begging and Hunter and Hunter and Hunter and Hunter-
He tossed the incoherent thoughts aside, digging deeper despite his instincts screaming at him not to.
Kill me now.
Kill me now.
Now.
no-
“STOP!” Rai screeched, hugging himself as he desperately attempted to get back into reality.
But he couldn’t.
Every time he tried, another barrage of chaos hit him, determined to keep the Warden down. It was happy down there, paradise down there, free down there.
He stopped struggling.
He started sinking.
The borg whipped around to see the Earth Warden, emotion clicking back on as he rushed over, to Jade’s demise.
Rai, however, wasn’t aware of this, stumbling around blindly as he began to fall into a mental hell.
It was no surprise when the fey barely flinched at Storm pulling him into a tight hug, repeating the Warden’s name in a vain attempt to get his attention.
Blood turned into flowers that burnt into a crisp. Grass lengthened into void tentacles that reached hungrily for him, a crowd of rabid animals yearning to devour a single carcass. The hushed, calming whispers around him turned into a screech that never ended, pitch fluctuating as the disembodied voice attempted to steady itself. Paradise was hell. Hell was home. Home was gone.
Let me go stop no please yes just do it I didn’t mean to I don’t want to just take me away-
He didn’t feel himself moving, scarcely noticing Storm leading him outside, gaze brimming with concern.
”Rai,” the borg repeated the name forcefully, still trying to get him to snap out of it.
The screeching in his head only intensified, burrowing its way through his eardrums, his skull, digging into his brain and throwing it apart.
Stop.
Stop.
Stop.
“Stop,” the fairy squeaked out. In a last-ditch attempt, he anchored onto that piece of reality, forcing his way back.
”…what were you doing?” Rai asked, eyes still shut. If he opened them, the world would be back. Better to shut off all his senses until he knew what was real.
Storm ignored the question, “Rai, what happened?”
“What were you doing?”
“Dealing with Jade,” he exhaled deeply, “Now what happened?”
“Doing what, exactly?” the fairy asked, ice creeping into his voice.
He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it, realizing he didn’t know how to soften the truth to the fairy. So he went with a blunt answer.
”Jade ate Juniper and she can’t stay at the asylum anymore. I have to turn her in.”
“That doesn’t mean killing her,” Rai snapped, fists clenching.
“I wasn’t going to kill her.”
“Liar.”
He opened his eyes and glanced back at the hybrid, pity and confusion mixing together as he watched her sob.
“I’m not lying, I was just up-“ Storm simply glared at the Earth Warden, “You don’t even care, do you?”
“No. I know that what she did is horrible, but…” he exhaled loudly, “you don’t know what it’s like in there.”
His eye narrowed, “What do you mean what it’s like in there?”
It was Rai’s turn to evade the question. “N-no, I meant-“
”You meant what? She mind trapped you? I don’t see how she can do that, Rai.”
“I…”
The borg had just about enough of this, “Answer the f**king question, Rai.”
“I HAVE TELEPATHY,” he blurted, vision flickering brighter. “Can you just turn Jade in now?”
“You have what?” Storm completely ignored his question, staring him down.
“Telepathy, okay? Can you not make a big deal out of it? I can’t hear your thoughts right now, it only works if you transmit to me. Jade’s an exception.”
“Exactly how long have you…” His anger was replaced with concern as quickly as it came, the shift in mood a tad disorientating.
Rai crossed his arms. “Do you think the court will want to kill her?”
He glanced at Jade again, wincing as her mental turmoil struck him again. The warden took a step back, attempting to compose himself. “Because if so, then you can’t do it.”
“I don’t know. They might settle for life imprisonment.”
“That’s not any better.”
“Rai, you know as well as I do that she was just in a life-long house arrest.” He fiddled with his coat, “Either way, if she left or someone else saw her like this, she’ll be killed on sight. You’re better off let me turn her in.”
“You almost killed her on sight anyway, how do I know you won’t do it the second I leave?”
He sighed, “Just come with me then.”
"…fine.”
Back in the Academy, Aly, Chase, Samantha, and Lucas had entered the common room.
A stressed Luce looked up from a mug of tea, immediately glancing away, while Samantha shuffled awkwardly. Lane leaned against a wall, indifferent, and Hei was doing similar.
Hei groaned. “Not it.”
“I’m not doing it,” Luce stated quickly.
Lucas stared at them in confusion, “…doing what?”
”Telling you Juniper died,” Lane stated bluntly.
“Bruh,” the Shadow trainee said bluntly.
Chase did a double take. "Wait, what?"
“She’s no longer with us, she’s gone, she stopped breathing, she’s ascended into another plane of existence… she’s dead,” Hei said.
Luce muttered something under his breath, shooting a look at Hei.
He shrugged. “I’m gonna go tell Gale, that’ll be more entertaining.”
"How?" Lucas asked.
Meanwhile, a certain Ice Fey left-hooked Hei, the trainee’s plans being thwarted.
He staggered backwards, holding his cheek in shock before bursting into laughter. “What, Alyss, scared your hubby’s gonna go crazy?”
“No,” she spat, her eyes narrowed, “I rather you not treat all this like a game.”
“Mmhm. Then why don’t you break the news to him, huh?” Hei taunted, smirking widely.
She didn’t bat an eyelash, “Fine.” She moved to leave, her tail knocking the teen off his feet on the way out.
“Jeez, why so angsty?” Hei grumbled.
Everyone else varied between shuffling awkwardly or looking down disdainfully at Hei.
He got to his feet. “Ugh. Welp, yeah, Juniper’s dead. What else do you need to know?”
Lucas blinked. “A lot.”
”Well, too bad, ‘cause I don’t know anything besides the fact that Storm and Jade are involved,” Hei said.
Everybody stared blankly at him before leaving.
Meanwhile, Aly waited in front of her husband’s bedroom door, afraid to knock.
Ice Warden was severely second-guessing her choices.
She could always tell Gale later - it's not as if he cared about Juniper. Yet that would mean proving Hei right, and he wasn't right. The dastard was just a pain in the a**.
Still, would telling him really be-
“Well, if you won’t do it, I will,” Hei’s voice said smugly from behind her.
Aly whirled around furiously, casting an Icicle Shard that was quickly neutralized by a Shadow Shock.
The Shadow trainee swept into the room, slamming the door in the fairy’s face.
A swear was audible on the other side of the door as the trainee strode into the room, gaze falling on the sleeping form of a certain Ivory.
“Wake up,” he snapped, poking at his nose stud absentmindedly.
An ear flick was his only response.
“WAKE UP.”
He earned himself a startled yowl, promptly followed by an annoyed hiss due to fey falling off the bed.
”Can I not sleep in for once in my life? I’ve been dead for three years, for Nor’s sake.”
“Well, Juniper’s dead too. But I doubt you’ll want to revive her.”
The Ivory stared at him, expression mixed, "She what?"
“Died, duh,” Hei said, sitting on the bed with much more force than necessary.
“How?” He questioned in disbelief, blanket wrapped around him.
“I dunno. Jade? Storm? What, I figured you’d be happy. Don’t you, like, hate her? And everyone?”
“That's...complicated.”
The Shadow trainee shrugged. “I don’t see how it is. How many times have you f**ked Jade up? I mean, it was pretty sick, but I don’t see how it’s complicated.”
“It just is,” he snapped, moving to get up.
Hei rolled his eyes. “If you say so. Y’know, Gale, your wifey is kind of messed up in the head. Don’t you think so?”
“No, she isn’t,” the fey grabbed a shirt off the top of the dresser, pulling it on.
“That’s because you’re biased. Do you still like her, or are you just obligated to?”
Silence.
Gale then grabbed a hair tie, pulling his mess of hair into a rough ponytail, “Well, I still like her, but I don’t think she’ll agree with me on that. And no, I’m not obligated to.”
“You like her? So Glace and Rai weren’t accidents?”
“...they were accidents,” he replied, pinching the bridge of his nose, “But that has nothing to do with whether or not I like Aly.”
Hei smirked wider. “Accidents?”
“Just because you like someone doesn't mean you’re ready to have children - I wasn’t.”
“Heh. I’m so telling Rai about this.”
“And what would you get out of that? Glace told him ages ago.” The Ivory started at him, tail flicking, “Oh, and I never said I hate him, just that I wasn't ready to have children - so don't you dare start with that.”
“So why did you bother with starting a family in the first place?”
“I didn't bother, it just happened.”
Hei rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time. “So getting married isn’t a conscious decision. Noted.”
“I think you're misunderstanding what marriage is,” Gale stated as he sat on the bed, his tail curling around him.
“Maybe,” the trainee moved from poking his piercings to poking his tattoos, “but that’s irrelevant.”
An awkward silence ensued.
”…what happens after you die?” Hei blurted, before cursing under his breath and digging his fingernail into his arm.
“It really depends on the person,” he replied cautiously. “Why do you ask?”
“Obvious reasons.”
The grey fey stared at him for a moment, before choosing to start out the window.
“Well, as I said, it depends on the person. People who are held back from moving on - or simply aren't ready - normally watch the mortal world or haunt a place of interest. Some might attempt possession or reincarnation.” Gale began to fiddle with his tail, threading about his fingers, “Others move on to heaven or hell...and there’s multiple. One of the heavens is called the Lotus Realm - or at least, that’s what the Voidwalkers call it. There’s also two hells that I know of - one of which is reserved for Voidwalkers.” He winced at twisting his tail too hard, releasing it, “When I was dead, I mostly haunted the Academy, but sometimes I wandered off. I think she’ll do similar for now - it’s common for a ghost to haunt the place they died until figuring out where to go.”
Hei shrugged. “Well, that’s nice. Where’s Glace?”
“Probably in her room, if she hasn’t woken up yet.”
“Huh. Thought she followed you around all day. Daddy’s little demon girl.”
A glare, “She’s not a demon.”
“She has f**king horns and enjoys torturing others.”
“That doesn’t make her a demon,” Gale replied drily, “The same way being a dragon and sadistic doesn’t make you a demon.”
“Dragon? The f**k?”
A shrug, “Do you prefer a sadistic deer?”
“Ha ha,” the Shadow trainee said, oozing sarcasm, “You’re almost as funny as you are normal.”
“Unfortunately, I’m aware of that.”
“God, you’re dense,” Hei grumbled. “Aight, bye.”
In his home in Pallet Pass, a wizard woke up to get ready for his classes at the Academy, and immediately felt something poking his arm. He looked down and saw a few purple crystals digging into his arm, which he plucked out. Blood began to seep out of the cuts, but quickly stopped. Guess they weren't that deep in. I wonder how they got there, though.... He shrugged it off and threw the crystals in the trash as he headed to the bathroom to clean off the blood.
What he didn't notice, were slowly expanding, small, purple spots where the crystals previously were.
Meanwhile, at the Academy, a fairy paced back and forth in their room, tail lashing aggravatedly. Every twenty or so paces, they would pause and glance to their right, a slightly fogged window showing the morning sky.
They directed their gaze to Lamplight Town, seeing something that not many would notice.
The newest addition to the plane of the dead.
The spirit in question was a bit blurry from this distance, but the unmistakable white building told them exactly who it was.
Juniper.
Every time they thought of the name their stomach did a little flip, guilt wrenching its way into their thoughts.
They averted their gaze, and resumed their indecisive pacing, trying to figure out whether or not they should dare speak to the spirit.
Yet as another hour flew by, and insomnia began to kick in, the figure sighed before closing their eyes, doing the one thing that was sure to get on the spirit's bad side.
Hopefully, this wouldn't end as badly as the last couple of times...
“What’s going on?” Juniper asked, frowning. “One second I’m getting Jade some food and… and… oh f**k.”
"...Hello?" The fairy asked, keeping a clueless tone. He did not need her to realize anything.
“Why am I dead? I can’t believe Jade… that is… that was… disgusting. Anyway, get out, b**ch, just because I’m dead doesn’t mean I won’t hate you.”
"...you're in my room, shouldn't I be asking you that?"
“Okay then I’ll f**k off and leave you to torture my sister now I’m gone,” she said immediately, turning away.
His amber gaze was unreadable, "And why should I torture her?"
“Bye.”
Panic flashed through the fairy briefly, "Look, Juniper, I need to-"
“Need to what? Torture me, laugh at me, break me like you did my sister? No thanks.”
"Need to apologize...." The response was said softly, his indecision from earlier rising anew.
“Oh, f**k you, I don’t want an apology. Just avoid me and we’re good.”
"But-"
“Bye,” she said forcefully, turning to leave again.
"I need to apologize before Hunter realizes you're dead," The fairy blurted suddenly, "Because he'll avoid telling you the whole story."
“Oh, I don’t want your apology,” she snapped, rolling her eyes.
"I don't care," he replied, "whether or not you forgive me is up to you, but I just..." He shook his head, "I need that off my conscience, okay? Don't you know how that feels?"
“Yes, and you deserve to suffer, now goodbye.”
"I know I deserve to suffer, but please-"
“No. Apologize to the wall all you want. Bye.”
"B-but-" The ghost continued to leave, causing the fairy to clutch his tail panickily as he rushed out the words, "Look, I'm your brother and I know that makes everything I did worse, and Hunter was so mad when I told him but I need to tell you because I feel awful and I wish could take everything back but I can't. If I never did anything Jade wouldn't be insane and you wouldn't be dead but I can't change the past so I'm sorry, I really am."
“You’re my… not biologically?” was her only response, Juniper forcing her other thoughts away.
"No, I was adopted... sort of." He shifted uncomfortably, beginning to twist his tail.
“Oh,” she said, eyes dull. “I don’t have the energy to hate you now. Bye.”
The fairy let out a little sigh as he watched the ghost go, this time not bothering to stop her.
It didn't exactly go the way he wished, but at least he had that off his conscience... right?
Juniper hesitated as she left, waiting for another plea, but there was nothing.
She sighed and left, dreading what was to come.
A little while later, Gale sat in the common room window seat, gazing outside. He didn't feel like joining the others in the common room, nor had any interest in it, still needing to process some things.
Juniper's death shouldn't bother him, it really shouldn't, but it did.
It bothered him that he never got the opportunity to be her brother. Yet...maybe that was for the better.
The Ivory continued to be lost in thought, so much that he scarcely noticed someone enter the room.
“The view is beautiful, isn’t it?” a cold and horrifically familiar voice seeping its way towards his ears.
He stiffened, before forcing his body to relax and turning his head to stare at her, flicking his previously fluffed-up tail in a nonchalant manner, "I suppose it is. I see you finally decided to drop by...?"
His tone contained a false serenity, being slightly infuriating to the wizard.
She clutched the handle of her wand tight enough to leave an imprint on her hand, the Keeper finally forcing a smile. “How have you been, roshna?”
His mouth ran dry.
It was impossible to hide his discomfort now, his ears pinning back and his tail fur fluffing.
Regardless, he forced out a response, his voice meek, "I'm...fine."
”Oh, really?”
“Y-yes.” He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, staring at the ground.
“Of course you’re happy,” Hilda spat, taking a step closer and cupping her hand under his chin. “Aren’t you?”
He recoiled, muttering, “I-I never said I was happy-“
The grey fey clearly wanted to get away from her, but could only manage to back into a corner.
She advanced, cold fury filling her eyes as she grabbed the Ivory’s wrist. “Are you?”
He pulled his hand away, not answering.
Hilda scoffed. “Of course. Did you help her? Were you the one who murdered her and you just pinned it on Jade? Of course. That’s exactly what you would do.”
"What? I-I didn't-"
She narrowed her eyes, exhaling loudly before pulling the Ivory into a hug, squeezing hard enough to restrain him.
Panic filled Gale's gaze, the fey vainly trying to pull out of her grasp. "L-let me go, please."
She laughed lightly, nails digging into his skin. “It’s okay. I forgive you.”
"Nonono," the fey was crying now, desperately trying to escape, "you can't-"
"Why not?" Her voice was sickly sweet, and her nails dug in more.
"Stop, just stop."
She released him, tracing her fingers across his cheek. “You don’t want to be forgiven? Do you not deserve it?”
"N-no," the word came out in a choked sob, and he retreated further into the corner.
Smug confidence filled Hilda’s voice as she cradled his cheek, this time more forcefully. “I knew it.”
The Ivory tried not to scream.
He wanted her to stop, to stop touching him, "loving" him, talking to him, forgiving him - all of it, just all of it. He wanted her to forgive him but she couldn't, just couldn't. Not now, not later, never. He'll never suffer enough to earn the right to say sorry, never less be forgiven. He didn't deserve it, he'll never deserve it, she was the one who told him.
He wanted to be her son again.
He wanted to be loved again.
But not like this.
Never like this.
He just couldn't.
The courtroom was empty.
At least, except for two figures in the center of the dark room, facing the judge’s podium. A glaring cyborg and an unconscious hybrid.
The former had static cracking in the air around him, occasionally growing more and more potent before flickering to a stop.
Jade came to with a gasp, thrashing as the cyborg easily held her in place.
“Stop!”
Storm jerked away instinctively. “Shut up.”
“No, where are… what did…”
The nightmares slowly disappeared as Jade panted, straining against her bonds. “S-stop.”
“I didn’t do anything,” the cyborg responded, voice emotionless.
“No, my… they took…”
Storm ignored her as he sat back, tapping his fingers on his depowered saber, pointing it so that if he did activate it, it would melt Jade’s neck clean off.
He dropped it with a gasp when he realized what had happened.
Where bonds usually cut into green wings, there were two long scars with translucent green material sticking out slightly. The cyborg frowned as he ran a finger across the jagged material, ignoring the hybrid’s winces and struggling. Why didn’t they cut the whole wing off?
His hand dropped to his side. So they could grow back. The wizards wanted an infinite supply of fairy dust at no cost.
Normally he’d never wish that on anyone, but Jade? Jade was different. She was insane. She was crazy. She was evil.
And yet… thirty, forty years ago, she’d laughed and talked and smiled with him. She’d cried and screamed and suffered when they had to fight and kill and… and die. He’d known her, at least he used to.
He could recover, he was lucky enough to recover, but what if he hadn’t been?
Storm’s thoughts and Jade’s struggles were cut short as the door opened and an impressive assembly walked in.
The cyborg retreated, forcing himself to sit and biting his tongue to force back his questions and accusations.
A black-robed wizard swept into the room, settling herself onto the podium. “For The Ancient’s sake, I don’t know why we’re even having this trial.”
She heaved a sigh. “The accused is already present, as they’re so unpredictable they must be bound to their chair,” she sighed, “which is reason enough for a life sentence. Well… Jade Landcrafter, you are charged with war crimes on multiple occasions, murder, homicide, wizardslaughter, torture, and treason - of both Fey and wizards. Do you have anything to argue your case? We couldn’t find a defendant for you.”
“No. N-nothing.”
The courtroom doors swung open, a cross Earth Warden walking down the center lane.
His hands were curled into fists but he managed to keep a calm expression despite the burning fury in his gaze. It was hard to tell who he was mad at, since he first glared at Storm, then bore a similar expression when he glanced at Jade. Yet the Astral Fairy wordlessly made his way to the front of the courtroom, his white and gold cape flowing behind him as it covered up his large translucent yellow wings.
He had stilled his tail, the usual lashing that indicated anger or aggressiveness absent from his movement. Yet the crystal hanging from his belt shone a brilliant orange as it swung next to him, sending those who know what it could do into a state of panic.
Upon reaching the front, he acknowledged both parties before quietly taking a seat in the defendant's chair, to a certain hybrid's surprise.
Jade frowned at the fairy. “Wh-what… what are you doing?”
He didn't look at her as he said, "You're sober." His statement wasn't inquisitive, as his tone was flat as if it were a fact - as if insanity was something that went away like buzz. He then moved on to answering her question, "Doesn't matter what I'm doing, just don't do anything stupid."
Under the desk he was notably clenching and unclenching his Vision, the bright glow still not subduing.
“Oh, so you hate me that much, don’t you, why won’t you do it, why won’t you let them do it, why do you hate me so much, what did I ever do to you, what did I ever do to him, Rai, WHAT MADE HIM BREAK ME?”
Jade’s words ended on a shrill shriek as she gasped for breath, shaking and panting.
"Jade," His voice was calm, and he looked utterly unfazed, unlike the last time he visited her, "you're doing something stupid."
And I don't hate you, so shut up, would you? They're not going to let you die, and I'll prove it.
The Earth Warden showed no indication of his mental response, retaining his calm expression, which was beginning to be... unnerving.
“Stupid? They won’t let you do this, I won’t let you do this, I hate you!”
He held up four fingers, counting down his responses, "Yes, wrong, you don't have a choice, and I don't care."
“Oh, so you do hate me, why are you doing this, do you think you’re some hero? Helping me makes you no hero.”
"No I don't, that doesn't matter right now, no I don't, and I know that."
He stopped paying attention to her, glancing at the judge, "What, cat got your tongue? You have a trainee as your persecutor, I wasn't aware a warden was a problem."
She sighed and buried her face in her hands. “Go on. Storm Dreamchaser, you have the floor.”
The Storm Trainee stood, his voice surprisingly emotionless as he started his argument, "I'm sure we're all aware of what Jade's done, but in case anyone needs a reminder, war crimes including, but not limited to extermination, destruction of (notably) government property on multiple occasions, willful killing, and attempted assassinations. Of course, she stood trial for these crimes before, so continuing - torture, circumventing house arrest, psychological abuse, and cannibalism. These crimes were committed against a variety of people, regardless of race, age, and gender identity. Previously, she escaped severe punishment due to her mental state, but she has used this escape to continue harming others. As for what I'm proposing? Jade should, and needs to, pay for her actions which not only affected the people she inflicted harm upon but the general population."
“And what do you mean by pay? A death penalty? Or worse?”
"I normally do not wish for someone to suffer," he began, "but I believe the present warden can testify that Jade wishes to die, and by giving her the death penalty you would be rewarding her."
“The alternative is rather… inhumane,” she responded. “But I’ll consider it once Rai gives his argument.”
Storm let out a little sigh of relief as he sat back down, Rai getting up.
"I will not lie, Jade does seek death and intended to plead guilty due to this. However, it is important to note she wants to die due to personal, constant suffering. There is no denying what a multitude of people saw, yet I want to see the sentence mitigated. Jade was not mentally fit and suffered previous abuse or mistreatment at the time she committed most of her crimes, deeming her actions a delayed form of self-defense."
“Many of us suffered, including you. That doesn’t excuse her actions,” the judge responded. “What alternative do you suggest?”
"Well as you stated, previous suffering does not excuse her actions, so I obviously can't suggest something like a year of house arrest."
The judge arched an eyebrow, he was clearly playing at something.
"Yet, the death penalty, as Storm said, would be rewarding, but also set a negative example for future cases similar to this one. Then there's also the fact that due to hybridism, there is a high chance that Jade may outlive any life sentence you give her. So, that leaves one thing - reformation."
“No.”
She glanced at the cyborg. “Storm is right. Sending her back to the institution? She’d only hurt whoever would take care of her, and I doubt anybody would - or even could.”
Jade snarled, glaring at Rai. “I’m wondering who’s really the insane one here.”
"Ah, but that's not what I was suggesting, wasn't it? That is only a sub strand of the possible sentences."
"Then what are you suggesting?"
"Well, there's something else that's done when a person needs a bit of help with their mental health."
“She doesn’t deserve-“
A screech interrupted her as Jade strained at her bonds, glaring at Rai with pure hatred. “Never. I won’t - I can’t… maybe I should’ve torn your throat out.”
”Enough!” the judge called. “Get yourself under control or I’ll sedate you again.”
The hybrid bit her lip hard enough to draw blood but leaned back. “Don’t let him do that.”
”I won’t. Well, right now we have two logical solutions - either a death penalty or another method which is far crueler yet more logical. Some wizards suggested we use this opportunity to extract more Faen tears and dust, even if it’s from a hybrid. Storm?”
"If it's not a problem to bring it up," the borg started cautiously, "I noticed that someone already took the opportunity. I'm not arguing in her case, but the Faen will not take it lightly regardless if the said person is, as they put it, a ralshti. I believe it's best to avoid options that'll result in political problems, I feel like we've had enough of those."
“She murdered hundreds of Faen on the battlefield, I don’t think they’d mind… but what do I know about what they’d think? We’ve come to an uneasy peace, and I doubt anybody would object. This benefits us all… except for her, of course.”
Storm kept his gaze even, "Faen have a very strict etiquette. To list a few things: never ask about ages, keep your wings tucked to show you aren't hostile, never try to forcibly collect tears or fairy dust, etcetera. By going against those simple rules, you deem yourself a threat. They may be peaceful, but that peace comes with trust and respect."
The judge nodded. “So what do you propose?”
"I suppose a life sentence, but with 'taking opportunity' strictly forbidden."
“Done.”
A gavel was tapped against wood. “We find the accused guilty of all charges, with the penalty being a life sentence.”
Jade glared at Storm, teeth grit. “Oh, now you hate me, now you’re just as bad - or good, I don’t know - as Aly or Gale. Did my dear sister matter that much to you? Or did she hate you all along, like he did me?”
The Storm Trainee didn't look at her once, nor paid any mind to her statement, but instead turned to Rai, "Why did you-"
Anger burned in the fairy's eyes as he interrupted with his response, "Sometimes you need to remember how you felt in a similar situation and do the right thing, even if no one else wants to." He briskly walked past Storm as the court was dismissed, his Vision shining even brighter than it was when he entered.
In the Academy Common Room, the children and adults were scattered about the room, choosing to either sit on one of the elemental stools, stand in place, or pace about. Hope sighed, running a hand through her hair. "How did this happen? Juniper was just fine yesterday..."
Raiden eyed the Fire Trainee, opting to ignore her.
"Jade happened," Lane answered, standing against the wall.
Nathan, meanwhile, was staring at his Wizard Watch. "Also, a very long message about Juniper and Jade got sent out," he said, turning his Wizard Watch for everyone to see.
It was an extensively long and very graphic article, the photographs shown being especially bloody.
“Killed… eaten… trial… Storm and Rai?… life sentence… f**k, how bad can our lives get?” Nathan griped.
Luce shot the boy a look, "I beg your pardon, but did you say eaten?"
"Yeah...they have pictures, if you want to see them."
"No thank you," he replied quickly, paling drastically.
“Yeah, gross... Hey, uh, Raiden, did you know anything about this?”
The borg continued ignoring the group, arms crossed.
As the group talked, Hei was wandering the private bedrooms to no avail, before reaching the Shadow Tower and finding Glace.
He leaned on the arm of the chaise she was sitting on, smirk unmistakeable. “How’s your little pet doing?”
She stared at him, bored, "Which one?"
“The one on crack.”
“Haven’t been able to drop by,” the ice fey replied with a shrug.
The Shadow trainee’s smirk widened. “You want to check Wizard Watch or should I just tell you?”
"Do I look like a wizard to you?"
“No, you look like devil spawn. Well, Juniper’s, uh, dead and Storm, Rai, and Jade are somehow involved.”
Glace simply blinked.
“Ugh, you’re boring,” the Shadow trainee groaned, getting up to leave.
"What, were you expecting screams of horror?"
“No, but your dad at least did something.”
"And I'm not my dad," she replied simply, inspecting her claws.
“Well, there’s a shocker. Are you Aly, then?”
An ear flick, "F**k off, won't you? This is getting boring - not to mention you're beginning to look stupid."
“So that’s a yes.”
"That's a no," she replied drily.
“Okay, okay. Whatever.”
Hei left, leaving a slightly bemused Glace behind him.
In Lamplight Town, a wizard was checking the time. 6:54. Still have a lot of time, classes start at eight. Might as well walk around Lamplight. He turned and immediately walked into another wizard.
"Ow..."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"Nah, it's fine, this stuff sort of happens to me regularly."
As the other wizard walked away, she felt a strange itchiness all over the front of her body. She shrugged it off. Allergies, probably, she thought, pulling allergy medication out of her backpack before walking away.
Back in the Academy, a certain Keeper was flipping through the pages of her book, fingernails digging creases into the pages.
You promised yourself.
You f**king promised yourself.
Phantom pain ran through her body and she dropped the book, cursing under her breath.
Get over yourself.
It was years ago.
Decades ago.
Hilda retrieved the book, breathing shakily. It was easier not to believe him, much easier.
After all, they didn’t believe her the first time. Or maybe they did, they just didn’t care.
She’d make them believe her.
She’d make them care.
And if they didn’t…
She’d make them suffer.
She’d make him suffer.
“He did it, he did it, he did it,” she muttered to herself, “Everything was his fault, everything is his fault. He killed them, he tortured them, he did it, he’s the bad guy.”
Fabricated memories crossed her mind, the Keeper convincing herself that they were real.
Hilda reached the page she was looking for, a smirk crossing her face.
Finally, they’d believe her.
In the Academy's Common Room, the group had started to awkwardly disperse, either to prepare for classes, eat breakfast, or just leave.
In that moment, a furious Earth Warden teleported in, startling the remaining members of the group.
Samantha took a deep breath of air before greeting the fairy. "Oh, h-hey, Rai."
The Fey’s ears perked, the ginger glowering at the Water Warden, “Hay is for horses.”
The Astral Fey’s tail quivered in annoyance at not receiving a response - which, admittedly, was quite intentional on his part. Causing Samantha’s shock to double, he stormed off without another word, his Vision glinting as he did so.
"So...anyone know what was that all about?" Nathan dared to ask.
"...he's upset," Aly replied, blinking, "Most likely over Jade."
“Hi guys!” a loud voice rang through the room, “How are you- none of you look like you’re doing well.”
Kaminari swooped in from the doorway, landing neatly onto the carpet. “Anyway, where’s Andrew? I need to pick him up.”
The Storm Fey was met with blank staring, not receiving an answer until Raiden passed by.
"He was with Robin earlier, idiots."
“Oh, yay! Bye!”
He flew off, leaving blank stares behind him.
”So… should we tell him?” Samantha asked.
Aly pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing, "...no."
“WAIT WHAT-“
"And of course he heard us," the Ice Warden stated drily.
“BECAUSE I’M NOT DUMB. WHAT HAPPENED?”
"If you keep yelling, I can and will pluck you."
“Okay, okay, jeez. Where’s your sense of humor?” Kaminari said, rolling his eyes. “So what did you so urgently need to tell me?”
"Keep this up and it seems I'll have a new pillow," she replied without batting an eyelash.
“Chill out, you don’t need to be so edgy all the time. What is it?”
"We don't need to urgently tell you anything. We just debating over whether or not to inform you of something completely trivial-"
"Trivial?" Samantha questioned, promptly going ignored.
"-and we decided not to bother you with such matters. Now if you don't mind, please go retrieve your impetuous child this instant. I have more important things to do than talk to you." The Ice Warden finished, her expression as dead as possible.
“Okay, okay. Samantha, what is it?” the fey asked, glaring at Aly.
Samantha opened her mouth, noticed Aly in her peripheral vision, reversed her decision, and decided to stand there awkwardly.
“Okayyy…”
Aly huffed and annoyance before walking off, leaving him alone with Samantha.
Samantha exhaled, apparently having been holding her breath. "Well, at some point between last night and this morning...Juniper died."
“…shoot.”
"Yeah..."
The two shuffled awkwardly for a while, until Samantha turned to leave. "Well, I guess I'll go prepare for classes..." With that, Kaminari was left in the Common Room.
The Storm fairy shrugged, slightly bemused, and left, looking for Andrew.
In the Great Hall, Aurora awkwardly shuffled into the Archives, searching for a book to read.
Muttered cursing hit the trainee’s ear, Aurora getting to her feet as quickly as she could. Hilda had entered the room, clutching her book tightly with an expression of grim triumph on her face.
"Oh, hi, Ms. Wishstone."
She glanced down at the trainee, politely aloof. “What?”
"I'm just going to go get a book..." Aurora paused, looking behind her. "Um, do you know where the mystery and fantasy sections are this time?"
She pointed vaguely to a door. “Right, left, forward, right.”
Before Aurora could say anything else, she left, an inexplicable smirk crossing the Keeper’s face.
"Thanks..." Aurora trailed off, noticing that Hilda had already left. Then she turned and headed towards the door.
Meanwhile, Hilda was making her way back up the Archives, smirk growing wider still. He’d crossed the line. And now he had to pay.
Finally, she got to do something. Finally, she wasn’t the victim.
She continued, ascending the stairs and scanning the Academy quickly to make sure he was still in his room. Satisfied, she brushed past the classrooms and to the bedrooms, smirk growing almost manic as the occasional giggle escaped her.
Finally.
Hilda slammed the door open, staring straight into Gale’s wide amber eyes.
The Ivory flinched, ears pricking up. His first instinct was to hide under his blanket, but he stayed still, watching the Keeper warily.
She stalked towards him, raising her wand. “You really should’ve locked the door. Though it wouldn’t have been very effective.”
Gale's tail fluffed, the fey's ears going from an attentive, perked position to a flattened, fearful one. He smoothed out his fur, but his ears remain laid back as he responded with a forced smugness, "And once again, you fail your job as a Keeper."
She didn’t respond, but her lip curled ever so slightly - an indication that his words had gotten to her.
Astral magic began to condense in the air around them, like flecks of glitter dangling around the room. It was strangely beautiful, but should the magic become stronger, it would surely be fatal.
Instinct screamed at him to flee, but he stayed put, keeping his gaze steady with hers.
"Isn't the Academy supposed to be a safe place? Dare I say even sacred? Didn't you swear to protect this place, the book, and its inhabitants? Who knows how many times the Academy's been destroyed, the book is on the verge of falling apart, and then you failed to care for a single chi-"
“It’s not my fault Ariana was a psycho. Besides, you’re not a child,” Hilda snarled, “And I certainly wouldn’t care for you if you were.”
The flecks of magic in the air became significantly larger, a few bursting like fireworks while the rest continued to swell.
His expression was unreadable, "And who said I was talking about myself? Hmph, you even fail to hide your feelings from your 'enemy.'"
“SHUT UP!” Hilda screeched, squeezing her eyes shut in a sudden outburst. More Astral magic exploded, the room becoming dangerously bright. “Stop it, stop it, stop it!”
She flung a hand at Gale’s face, tightening her grip on her wand as if she wanted to stab him with it.
And then it all stopped, the light fading, the Astral Magic rupturing into harmless wisps.
The grey fey exhaled deeply, briefly closing his eyes, "I think maybe you should stop. You're clearly not fit for your job, and I doubt you ever were. To think you've lived this long and never learned how to fulfill your only purpose."
The Keeper clenched her jaw, breathing deeply.
”My job goes first. And this,” she gestured at her book, “is not my only job.”
There were no indications of the meltdown she’d had seconds ago - in fact, all of her emotions seemed to disappeared altogether.
That was, until she slapped Gale across the face.
The Ivory stared at her in shock, his cheek stinging with numb pain.
He honestly didn’t know why he was so surprised…it’s not like something like this never happened before.
She raised her hand to hit him again, eerily quiet.
This time he recoiled, fear flickering across his expression.
Before Gale could dodge, Hilda grabbed his wrist (grimacing as she did so) and slapped him again, this time harder.
The book fell to the ground, opening to the page she’d bookmarked - his page.
He paled drastically, shrinking in her grasp. Why would she have been reading his page? He knew how she was, avoiding the things she didn’t want to remember, and why would she want to remember any of that?
Or perhaps she wasn’t planning to read it, rather, end what she started…
The Ivory’s gaze wandered over to the open book on the ground, his shock and confusion becoming even worse as he skimmed the contents.
Forcefully entered the asylum, attempted to murder Jade, finished killing Juniper-
He blinked forcefully, shaking. He didn’t even care when Hilda slapped him again - he deserved it, after all.
It was his fault.
He killed Juniper.
Gale shook his head. Something felt wrong - his memories were fuzzy, and he had absolutely no recollection of his actions.
But false memories began to fall into place.
A shattered scream, terrified purple eyes, a laughing Jade, a hand - his own - casting the spell that took Juniper’s life.
He clutched his head, trying to make sense of it all. No, he didn’t do it, he couldn’t have, but he did, his own mind told him so, was he going crazy, asylums and straitjackets and insanity?
Hilda smirked. “There we go.”
Meanwhile, in the Fire Tower...
"Dad, DAD TABLE!"
A thud.
"OW, FIDDLESTICKS!"
"Did you just say fiddlesticks?"
"Would you rather me say [expletive]?"
"..."
"I fiddlesticking thought so, dearest daughter."
"Please stop..."
Chase cast a wave of heat in front of him, crawled around on the ground, and started gathering the books he had dropped using a blurry heat signature. "Here, let me help." Hope placed her books down on a nearby table and walked over to assist her father. A few seconds later, Chase had hit his head on a table while trying to grab a book. "Ouch."
Hope winced, raising her hand to her right eye.
"Yeah, this is going to take some getting used to," Chase groaned, grabbing the book from under the table.
Hope lowered her hand. "Yeah..."
"Gosh diddly darn it, this is going to hurt a lot more later." Chase rubbed his head..
"Did I seriously just hear someone say, 'Gosh diddly darn it'?" Nathan asked, from another room.
"Hope doesn't like it when I say fiddlesticks," Chase responded.
"How is 'Gosh diddly darn it' any better?"
"You want me to say Go-"
"NO!" Nathan and Hope responded simultaneously.
Chase shook his head. "You teenagers are so hard to please."
"Mom, seriously, get a substitute," Jax sighed, seeing his mother struggle to tend to the Water Tower's coral in various corners of the rooms. "You still have a broken arm and multiple injuries that still haven't healed."
"Jax, I'll be fine."
"So you won't get a substitute?"
"I am fully capable of teaching this cla-"
The elevator dinged, and a woman with black hair with a few gray strands and dark blue eyes was accompanied by a Serrazag as she stepped out. "Hello, is this the water tower?"
"Yes it is!" Jax answered, before turning towards his mom. "I knew you would refuse, so I asked Lillian, the arena wizard, to come sub for you anyway."
"And based off of what Jax told me and how you look right now, I'm not taking no for an answer, Samantha," Lillian added firmly.
"But-"
"Mom, go rest," Jax demanded.
"But I can-"
"REST!" Jax and Lillian exclaimed at the same time.
In the Academy Great Hall, the Storm Keystone flickered brightly as the corresponding warden drew power off of it to quickly prepare the rooms in the Storm Tower.
Kaminari had entered the Storm Tower. “Where’s Andrew?”
"Invisible somewhere," was the response.
The Storm fairy groaned, tail lashing in the air and knocking over a book as he half ran, half flew up the stairs.
In the Great Hall, a wizard accompanied by a TripTrop had just teleported in. The TripTrop kicked purple dust off of its hooves before following the wizard to the cafeteria.
Soon, Kaminari was dragging a pouting Andrew down the stairs, lecturing and calming him down at the same time.
A few minutes later, more wizards had teleported into the Academy, some chatting with friends upon arrival and others entering the Archives.
A few more minutes later, all the wizard watches buzzed, signaling the start of Academy classes. The students walked down the halls to the towers and packed the elevators in large groups, all heading to class in the cramped elevator spaces, per usual.
Five minutes later, the wizard watches buzzed again, notifying the latecomers to get tardy passes. A wizard who was about to step inside the Ice Tower elevator groaned loudly, knowing they would have to go to the archives to get a tardy slip from Hilda.
And with that, classes had started.
Meanwhile, a flash of orange-gold energy drifted through the Earth Tower’s sparring hall. Green soon joined it, spiking and droping like a sound graph, joined by streaks of blues. The dark blue twisted with cyan, light yellow energy spiraling around it all.
To the bypassed, it was beautiful to look at, resembling the Aurora Borealis. To those who knew, however…
The colors grew darker, first a blade-like sheet of light cutting through the circumference, followed by water drenching the hall, freezing in the shapes of nightmares. Green glowed beneath it, spiraling shoots of throned vines bursting out, sending hazardous shards of ice flying. However, they quickly stopped in places, being engulfed in the spawn of heaven and hell itself.
A flower of orange light formed on the ground, rising as if closing back into a bud. The petals turned everything it touched - including the ice - into glowing stone, the ground “cracking” beneath it like roots. Above the ceiling mimicked the sky, the room growing darker as what appeared to be a shooting star increased in size.
Before the flower could even finish closing, a star of orange energy marked a target over it, a cosmic stone crashing and shattering the petrified ice.
Then it was gone.
Just gone.
There were no rubble, ice, or vines. There were no cracks in the floor, nor was there any energy.
All there was…was an adult fey, hand clenched into a fist and sapphire gaze burning with fury.
“So, this is what you do when you’re mad?”
Slow applause resounded from behind him, a girl’s laugh ringing through the room. “Wow, even more emo than I’d expected.”
Rai whirled around, gaze smoldering. “How did you find me?”
Opal rolled her eyes, blowing a huge pink bubble before answering. “The Academy isn’t that big.”
The Astral fairy clenched his fists, turning away. “I don’t want to talk to you.”
”No, you never want to talk to anyone,” she said, sauntering over with inexplicable ease, given the circumstances.
Rai rolled his eyes, squeezing his Vision. “What do you want?”
Opal looked up at him, holding out her pack of gum. “You want a piece?”
”No,” he snapped, visibly annoyed.
The hobbyist shrugged and tucked it back into her pocket. “So touchy. Well, I want a Vision.”
”…a what now-“
”Are you deaf or just stupid? I want a Vision. Preferably one that works against Storm.”
He glared at her. “You can’t just get a Vision, and even if you could, Storm can always just use his.”
“Why can’t I? You have one, and you’re also the oh-so-special Warden. How is that fair? Also… Storm has a Vision?”
His tail trumped against the ground similarly to an angered cat, the fey glaring more intensely, “There are literally people in Teyvat who spend their whole lives trying to get a Vision. And guess what? They fail. It was never a matter of fair, Opal.”
“Fine,” the hobbyist said, “Tell me where you were earlier.”
“Why does it matter to you?” Rai replied, irate.
“Because you were at my dear mother’s f**king trial and didn’t think to tell me, her literal spawn, about it.”
“Keyword, ‘spawn.’ You wouldn’t care unless I convinced them to kill her.”
“…true. Why didn’t you, then?”
“Because it’s wrong! She’s still your mother, Opal,” he snapped at her, ears pinned back.
“Who killed my aunt. If you weren’t so biased, you’d be able to see reason. Especially considering your dear father helped.”
A growl escaped the ginger, Vision glowing, “Shut. Up.”
Opal turned up her palms, smirk unmistakable. “I’m just telling the truth.”
Orange energy surrounded his tail as it slapped her back, the impact being akin to being hurled at a brick wall.
She dodged his next strike, still smiling. “Anger issues, huh?”
“No, you’re just provoking,” he stated simply before throwing a punch, which the hobbyist avoided.
“Okay, okay. Where is Gale anyway? You going to argue for him like you did for Jade, or will you be the prosecuter?”
“Why don’t you ask the sibling he actually cares about and leave me alone? Or is that not possible?”
“No, because Glace is gone. Besides, Rai, I know you wouldn’t kill me. How high is your body count now?”
“I- You- ARGH,” he tackled her, his Vision practically blinding.
She shoved him off and adjusted her glasses, laughing. “Resorting to harassment now? That’s low.”
All she received was a snarl. The fey’s fur was fluffed, claws digging into the wooden floor as his ears laid back all the way, teeth bared.
“God, you’re like an animal. Calm down, will you?” Opal said, mocking him before laughing again. “Whatever, I know all I need to know, you can go kill yourself or whatever you do in your free time.”
Rai simply glared, a growl still rumbling in his throat.
Opal walked backwards towards the exit, wiggling her fingers goodbye. “See you later, oklish!”
Her words were met by a furious roar, a orange-furred feline pouncing on her frame, the two crashing into the hall.
She kicked him away, rolling her eyes. “You really are crazy. Hm, maybe Jade’s right and you are going to end up in the asylum one day-“
Her words were cut off by a certain furious Ice fairy.
"Did you just f**king kick my brother?"'
Opal snickered. “Yes. Wow, sensory issues really do run in the family. You’re missing sight, your brother’s missing hearing, and your mom and your dad? Everything, once they die or go crazy.”
She was instantly choke slammed against the wall, "Listen, b**ch. Rai isn't your little brother who you can harass all you want - he's mine. On the other hand, you have Robin, who you can f**k for all I care."
The hobbyist pushed Glace’s arm away just enough so that she could talk. “Yes, but Rai’s the one who insisted on getting involved in court. He’s the one who refused to avenge Juniper. And he’s the one with a Vision. So he’s much more interesting than my disabled little brother.”
"You know, some days I regret f**king up your life," she nodded as she said this for emphasis, glancing back at Rai. She then glanced back at the wizard, her fingers curling into a fist, "Today, however, I don't." The statement was punctuated with a left hook, the fey's tail lashing as hard as her brother's.
Opal scoffed and ducked under the Ice fairy’s next strike, dancing just out of hitting range. “The only person who’s allowed to hurt me is myself. Sorry, freak, just because you’re hot doesn’t mean you’re allowed to do that.”
"Sometimes I question how you're still alive with that attitude," she replied, tripping the hobbyist with her tail.
She jumped over it and took another few steps backwards. “So do I. Well, wonderful chat, but I have a cyborg to brutally murder.”
Opal opened her map when a ding sounded from her backpack. She took out her device for Wizard Watch, then smirked. “Oh, and good luck to your dad.”
The hobbyist teleported away, leaving the two extremely furious siblings to confer.
Meanwhile, Gale was being escorted down the halls, annoyance radiating in his gaze. He specifically asked for a life sentence, but no, Hilda insisted on torturing him further.
And when the guards led him to his cell, he realized just how bad the torture would be.
A certain hybrid lay on the ground in the cell opposite his, thrashing and muttering every so often before falling back into an uneasy sleep. Pure desolation radiated in every inch of her body, from her eyes framed with black circles and heavy bags to her brown hair hanging long and impossibly tangled around her, framing her face in a color that blended exactly with the dried blood. Each of her breaths were labored, like it was taking all of her energy just to inhale and exhale. It probably was.
Gale swallowed. “Not here. I- I can’t.”
One of them shrugged. “It was specifically requested. Besides, she’s under sedation.”
The Ivory shot a nervous glance at Jade before entering the cell, hoping she wouldn’t wake up.
Yet, as luck would have it, the loud clash of his cell door shutting was enough to wake up the hybrid.
Jade opened her eyes immediately, smashing her head against the floor before sitting up, like she was knocking the nightmares out of her head. As she sat up, she caught sight of the Ivory, eyes widening.
Gale winced, breaking eye contact as he coiled his tail around himself.
“Well, get on with it,” the hybrid snapped, digging her nails into the metal floor. “Unless you’re real?”
A pause. “Impossible. You’re dead, just like him, just like me, but I’m not dead and you’re not dead…”
Her voice trailed off, eventually fading into just giggling.
The Ivory stayed silent.
If the hybrid wasn't even sure he was real, perhaps he could wait this out.
Jade winced, clutching her head. “No, you can’t be real, tell me if you’re real, no, stop it!”
He subconsciously flinched, clenching his tail in his hands. Although waiting this out seemed like a good idea, he began to question how long he'll have to sit there, doing near nothing.
The hybrid glared at the ground. “Well, Gale, what are you doing here? Are you just an illusion or- shut up!”
She swiped at the air before looking up at him. “Well?”
He looked her up and down, still remaing silent but growing increasingly concerned.
“Don’t just sit there looking all worried, you’re not him, are you? Is this some sick ploy? I’ve pulled a few, but this…”
Jade knocked her fist against her temple, clearly something behind frustrated. “Talk, will you?”
“I…”
“That’s it?”
She laughed humorlessly, stalking closer to the bars. “Sounds like the beginning of a joke. Two fishnas enter a prison cell…”
"Don't call me that," the Ivory suddenly snapped, fur bristling
She giggled, pressing her cheek against a bar and wincing. “Ooh, touchy. You usually don’t care about anything.”
He opened his mouth to say something then closed it, looking away.
Jade backed up. “Gale, Storm, Ariana, Gale, Gale, Aly… always the same visitors. Unless you’re staying?”
“I hope I am,” the fairy muttered under his breath, staring at the far wall.
Her eyes widened and she shrank back, suddenly fearful. “Nonono. You always leave eventually. You can’t be real. Talk to me, b**ch!”
The hybrid winced, lifting her arms as if to protect herself from a strike that never came.
"I beg your pardon, do I look like a woman to you? And do you not hear the words coming out of my mouth?" Gale replied, gaze filling with annoyance.
She groaned, tearing her hands through her ear as she stumbled backwards into the wall.
“Can’t you see I’m busy? Shut the f**k up for five seconds!”
Jade doubled over, ignoring Gale completely, before righting herself and flashing him a grin dripping with sarcasm. “Sorry, they never shut up. Just… just tell me if you’re real or not. And don’t lie. Who am I kidding, you’re always lying…”
"I am real, and I'm not lying," he then added under his breath, "Though I wish I was."
“That’s what they all say. I need proof, I guess you can’t give it to me, I bet they’re laughing at me, I bet he’s laughing at me, tell me, fishna!”
"If you call me that one more time-"
Jade laughed. “You’ll what?”
Gale fell silent, not having an answer for her.
She rolled her eyes. “Funny, I know what you’ll do but you don’t. The amount of sh*t you’ve done? The amount of sh*t you will do? But what do I know, considering I’m f**ked in the head?”
"I know what I've done, but to be honest," the Ivory met her gaze, flicking his tail, "It doesn't matter if you're 'f**ked in the head' or not, even I don't know what I'm going to do, or if I'll ever know. That's the reason I'm in this bloody, nor-damned cell, to begin with."
Jade curled her lip, a mix of amusement and annoyance flickering over her face. “Hm. Get your beauty sleep, then, Gale, maybe when you wake up you’ll be ready to kill me again.”
Back in the Academy, Rai scowled, getting to his feet. “Any idea what she was talking about?”
Glace shook her head, studying her claws absentmindedly. Suddenly, her tail fluffed up. “I know somebody who’s knows everything, though.”
The Ice fairy smirked and walked off to find Hilda.
Soon, the fey slammed open the door of Hilda's room, glaring at the violet-eyed wizard.
The Keeper sighed. “Now what?”
"Opal said something's going on with my dad - what the f**k did you do, b**ch?"
“Don’t make me alter you too,” Hilda snapped, flipping open the book noncholantly.
"What do you mean by alter me?" She hissed in response, eyes narrowing.
The Keeper smirked at Glace, flipping through the pages. “Figure it out.”
She opened her mouth to retort, then closed it, a smug grin working across her face, "Well if you insist..."
A quick flash of cyan and the book was no longer in Hilda's grasp, but in Glace's, the latter now leaning against the far wall.
The Keeper glared at her, fists clenching. “You don’t know how to alter it, so don’t try. You’ll just kill yourself.”
“Oh, who said I was going to alter me,” she replied casually, turning the pages, “When it’s much easier to get rid of you.”
“Do you even know the consequences of that?” Hilda asked, laughing as she twisted her wand in her hands, “I mean, I turned your father into who he is. Really, if it weren’t for me, he’d already be dead, and you along with him.”
“And Hunter, Jade, and Juniper would’ve never existed.”
“True,” she nodded, “What does it matter? I know you wouldn’t kill yourself, you’re far too selfish.”
“Selfish? You’re the one begging for your life with the guy you disowned as your excuse.” Glace replied, claws digging into the book’s binding.
Hilda scoffed. “Then try it, I dare you. You and I both know that self-perseveration is the most important thing. You wouldn’t throw your own life away for a murderer who doesn’t love you, especially considering he’d die as well.”
The fey stared at her for a moment, before grabbing an entire chapter yet of Hilda’s life and tearing it out.
Chapter after chapter fluttered to the floor until two were left - the one which detailed who Hilda was, and the recording of the events of that day.
Glace narrowed her eyes before taking her claws through the pages, the shredded pieces fluttering to the floor.
For a second, there was only silence.
But when she looked up, a shocked purple gaze mirrored her own.
“It didn’t…work…?”
The Keeper forced herself to laugh. “It won’t work on you.”
"Yeah, right," the fey responded with an eye roll, "As if."
She frowned and stared at the book more intensely, inspecting the pages.
“You can’t use it,” Hilda snapped, recovering her nerve, “Only I can.”
"Well if this damn thing records everything, how about we check the instructions? Then we'll see if you're telling the truth."
She sneered. “Go ahead. What will you do?”
She glared at her, turning to the first page of the book.
A little while later, the Ice Fey gave up on trying to prove the wizard wrong, agitatedly checking the information she came for - and swiping a few of Hilda’s pages off the floor - before tossing the book at the Keepers face and leaving.
Frankly, she had better things to do.
The Keeper caught it, scowling. “What the f**k do you think you’re going to do?”
“Nothing you’ll like!” Glace called over her shoulder, promptly darting out of the room.
A little while later, the Ice fairy scowled as she flew above Lamplight Town, crazy ideas and ridiculous plans whirling through her head.
The karma of most the people below was a pale gray, a few specks of brilliant white and jet black dotted throughout the bustling crowds. Nobody interesting, really.
It was long before she dove - startling a few nearby wizards - landing outside a rather monotonous building.
She let herself in, glaring at everybody who looked at her. Everybody here had dark gray karma, most of it coming from lies. Politicians.
The Ice Fey eventually decided to ignore them, striding down the hall and focusing on the nameplates by the office doors.
One of the offices had a gold nameplate while the rest were silver or bronze. Glace shrugged and walked up to the office with the gold plate, not quite sure what she wanted to do. The plate read Judge Spellwalker, which seemed good enough.
She pushed the door open, startling the woman inside, who huffed irritably. “Do you have an appointment?”
“Obviously not. Are you going to be at the trial for Gale Starheart?”
“Yes, I’m judging it. Why? You want to be a witness or a viewer?”
She crossed her arms, arching an eyebrow, “Is defendant not an option?”
Her eyes widened. “What’s your name?”
“Glace,” the fey replied simply.
“Ah,” she nodded, smirking a little, “Starheart? Understandable. Well, I’ll have you know you have to be a lawyer to represent someone. I’m afraid your father will have to represent himself.”
Glace opened her mouth to object, but she spoke over her. “The recent Landcrafter versus Dreamchaser was a unique exception, especially considering the offender’s mental state and history. Your father doesn’t have that luxury, and we already have a defendant who has, albeit reluctantly, agreed to defend him.”
The fey became deadfaced at noticing the judge's spike in karma; It seems even smugness can be used against you. "And that defendant is?"
“A lawyer that you don’t need to worry about.”
"Oh, I think I do," she replied, glaring.
“Why?” the judge asked, looking back at her documents, “You’re not capable of defending your father, no matter what.”
Glace scoffed, "Are you sure about that?"
After a pause, the judge answered stiffly, “You’re a trainee?”
"Are you blind?" She deadpanned, gesturing to the cyan streak in her hair, "This doesn't wash out, y'know."
She shrugged. “Had to make sure. Well, I’d have to consult with Congress and the justices… but the largest issue here is you.”
The judge looked up from her papers, turning her pen in her fingers. “You‘d have to gather your own witnesses, be fully learned in court proceedings, not to mention your… questionable track record.”
"That record is hogwash, do you sapans really believe I own a human clavicle? With how small it is? Only hedgehog bones come in that size." She received an interesting expression from the judge, but continued before the wizard could speak, "As for that other junk, I already have a witness and more evidence than your so-called lawyer could dream of, plus I do know a thing or two about legal shi-er, crap."
“I’m talking about your, ah,” she gestured at her horns, “incident in the past weeks.”
"Technically, I didn't hurt anyone, the dragon did. And before you say anything about my involvement, how about you hit up my grandfather and ask him how well restrained it was, to begin with."
The judge sighed. “I have no interest in hitting up your grandfather. In the meantime, run off and do your research. Thank you.”
A smug grin, “Y’know, with that attitude maybe you two should do more than just hit up.”
They fey was rather keen on running off in that moment, avoiding the wizard’s reaction but startling those who were in the hall.
The judge sighed deeply, going back to her documents.
But once her face was hidden, she smirked slightly - it had been so long since someone was actually willing to stand up to her.
A while later, an Ivory batted away the hand of his escort, intent on making it clear he was capable of walking on his own. He had already irked the wizard quite a few times on their journey here, the young bounty hunter being quite relieved when they finally reached the courtroom.
“If you cause any trouble-“
“Do I look like I can cause trouble?” The grey fey’s right arm swaddled in a sling while he wore an iron band on his left wrist.
“You’re literally on trial.”
He stared at him with a dead expression, “Just open the door already.”
The wizard raised his hands defensively, “Alright, alright, I’m opening it.” Then under his breath, he added, “Stupid guy doesn’t know what I’m allowed to do to him.”
“I heard that,” Gale snapped at him before they entered.
“Geez, what’s your problem?”
The two were walking down the central aisle when the fey answered, “I can ask you the same thing.”
“Yeah but you’re - again - literally on trial. Shouldn’t you try to be a bit more…”
The Ivory stopped, forcing the wizard to do the same, “Nice? Ever considered I might want to be imprisoned?”
“But…why? Even if you are guilty, wouldn’t you want to avoid that?” The young man responded with a frown.
“I actually don’t know if I had any involvement with this, but there are some things I have done and want to be punished for.”
“…like what?” The bounty hunter questioned, suddenly concerned for his own safety.
“Oh, nothing too serious. You know the usual, assassinations, murder, and whatnot.”
The wizard’s jaw dropped, causing the Ivory to laugh.
“I’m joking, it’s much more intimate...mostly.”
“Oh…wait, what do you mean by mostly?”
The timing of the door open was impeccable, leading to Gale simply shrugging before glancing back at the door...and quickly regretting it.
Standing at the door was a certain half-demon, gripping a messily stapled stack of papers.
“What the hell is that?”
“...my daughter.”
“You have kids‽”
“Surprised you didn’t ask who I had kids with,” the fey replied dryly.
The Ice fairy snickered. “Nice to see prison didn’t knock all the personality out of you.”
“I’ve literally only been there for an hour, Glace.”
Meanwhile, the wizard blinked, “Wait, then why did they put you next to-”
“None of your business,” the Ivory interrupted, glaring. Meeting Glace’s gaze, he then added, “How - and more importantly, why - are you here?”
She crossed her arms, a slight smirk playing across her face. “The judge was a pushover. You could kill that sapan in your sleep, why don’t you?”
The Bounty Hunter stared at her, wide eyed, but before he could speak, Gale spoke first.
"Too many reasons."
Glace sighed. “Boring. Come on, I’ve got the perfect argument to save your pathetic life.”
He stared blankly at her, “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?”
The trainee smirked. “Maybe because you should.”
Just as she finished her sentence, the doors open and an impressive assembly of wizards entered. Glace rolled her eyes at the display and practically skipped to her spot, beaming at her bemused father.
Gale shook his head with a sigh, promptly slapping away a certain Bounty Hunter’s hand and flawing the wizard’s attempt to drag him over to Glace.
”I’m perfectly capable of walking, thank you very much.”
”Then hurry up!”
”Roshna,” a voice called from behind him, the Ivory stiffening before walking slightly faster.
Hilda stepped in his path, smiling. “How was your stay?”
Gale didn’t meet her eyes. “Fine.”
She scoffed, opening her mouth to respond before deciding better of it, turning away to her own podium.
After everyone had seated, a familiar black robes wizard entered the courtroom, heels clicking against the wooden floor.
As she approached the judge’s bench, Spellwalker hesitated and glanced at Glace, who simply smirked. The fey received an eye roll in response before the wizard slid behind her bench, promptly tapping her gavel against it’s plate.
“Prosecution,” the judge nodded at Hilda, “you may call your first witness.”
The Keeper stood up, facade cold and emotionless. “Thank you, Your Honor. I call to the stand the accused himself, Gale Noren Starheart.”
The Ivory twitched his ear slightly at hearing his full name, but otherwise showed no reaction.
The judge sighed long and hard, muttering under her breath, “War criminal cases. Buy one, get one free.
“Witness, please come up to the stage,” she called.
The fey glanced at his daughter, who beckoned for him to go, and promptly winced at the stool scraping as he got up, making his way over whilst trying desperately hard not to make eye contact with Hilda.
She watched him walk along, slight smirk unmistakable.
This was not going to end well.
The Ivory had planned to turn himself in and accept whatever punishment they gave him, but of course they just had to follow the law and give him the right to a trial.
What part of “I want to be locked up for life” did they not understand?
Hilda stood up. “Your Honor, members of the jury, my name is Hilda Wishstone.
I intend to prove that on the day of February 10th, 1023 AFW, Gale Starheart murdered Juniper Wishstone. Please find him guilty of murder. Thank you.”
The Chief Justice nodded. “Proceed with the cross-examination.”
The violet-eyed wizard turned to face the Ivory, with what he could've sworn as a smile flickering across her features.
"Mr. Starheart, where were you at the time of the crime?"
No answer.
"Mr. Starheart?"
Still silent.
"Mr. Starheart."
When he continued to refrain from speech, Hilda let out an exaggerated sigh, turning to the Judge, "Permission to treat him as a hostile witne-"
"The Asylum," Gale interrupted, glancing in her direction before looking away. His voice had waivered when he answered, but it didn't appear that he was lying, rather, he was questioning himself.
Spellwalker arched an eyebrow before responding to Hilda, "No, the witness is willing to speak. Please proceed with the interrogation."
"Well then," the Keeper stated with a strained expression, "Which asylum were you present at, Mr. Starheart?"
"The one in the East District."
"Where Jade Landcrafter was formerly detained, correct?"
He quickly looked at her before glancing at the ground, "Yes..."
"What did you witness?"
"I...don't know."
"What do you mean?"
"I..."
Meanwhile, Glace looked up in their direction, frowning. She had been taking notes for the past few questions, but the Ivory's confusion had obtained her concern.
"Answer the question, Mr. Starheart," Hilda stated forcefully, eyes narrowed.
"I...saw Jade..."
"And?"
"...she...ate Juniper?"
"Are you lying?"
"I would never-"
The purple-robed wizard ignored him, approaching the podium, "May I remind you that this is a court of law? Here, lying is just as bad as an actual crime."
"Hilda, I'm not-" A glare caused him to shut up, the fey's ears pinning against his scalp.
The Keeper promptly glanced at the Judge, who nodded. "Due to the results of the previous hearing, we are all aware of Landcrafter's misconduct. However, if you persist with this hesitance, you will be treated as a hostile witness, and due to your record, this includes using magical means to tell if you're lying."
Glace promptly looked at Gale, mouthing the word "Record" with a confused expression. He ignored this, answering the judge instead, "I'm aware, apologies."
She huffed, "Prosecutor, proceed."
"What else occurred?"
"Jade attacked me," he replied without hesitation, however, uncertainty was written across his expression.
"What did you do?"
Silence.
"Mr. Star-"
He shook his head, "I don't know. I'm sorry, but I don't know. I remember that Juniper was harmed before Jade...I don't remember how she was harmed."
A quick exhale of frustration, "Mr. Starheart, when we initially arrived at the detention center, you testified that you killed Juniper Wishstone, correct?"
"I testified that my actions led to her death, not that I killed her," Gale replied with an odd expression, Spellwalker bearing a similar look as she observed.
"How did they lead to her death?"
"I don't know."
The Keeper began to pace, twirling an amethyst pen in her grasp, "So you know you harmed Wishstone but you don't know how?"
"Yes, that's what I'm saying."
Judge Spellwalker cast a look in his direction but didn't say anything.
"Do you recall how badly you harmed her?" Hilda continued, ignoring Spellwalker.
"Enough that she had failed to evade Jade."
"Did you attempt to help her in any way?"
"I...couldn't."
"Why not?" She asked, tapping her pen against her hip.
"I don't know."
Another sigh, "Do you recall your intentions when harming her?"
"I didn't have the intention to harm her."
"Who did you intend to harm, then?"
"Jade, in self-defense."
A hum, "And your motivation for not assisting Wishtone?"
"I don't know."
Hilda was silent for a while, before turning to the Judge, "That is all, your Honor. However, may the jury be instructed to disregard his confusion? Many can testify that he's been this way since the incident...I suspect he might have been suspected to head injury during the events."
"I am not-" Another glare caused him to shut up, the fey's tail lashing.
"Request denied," Spellwalker stated coldly, "Again, this is a court of law, Mrs. Wishstone - there is no reason for Mr. Starheart's answers to be disregarded, especially since there is no evidence of injury - besides a broken arm, in which is impossible to cause amnesia."
"Your Honor, it's Ms. Wishstone, not Mrs." she replied with a forced smile, "And if I present evidence, will you reconsider?"
The black-robed wizard waved her hand dismissively, "Yes. Now, defendant, proceed."
Glace promptly got up - making a great deal of scrapping her stool against the ground, much to the Jury’s displeasure - and smugly made her way to the front of the courtroom, practically sneering as Hilda returned to her seat.
With an inexplicable smile, the half-demon turned to face Spellwalker, “Your Honor, before I begin, I would like to ask a question.”
The woman rested one hand on her podium, the other propping her chin, “Go on.”
“If I can prove that the defended acted out of a poor mental state - or perhaps even hallucinated the whole ordeal - would you consider treatment years as a sentence?”
Gale’s fur promptly fluffed, the Ivory opening his mouth to say something but being deprived of the chance to speak.
“It depends on the evidence provided, and the opinion of the Jury,” Judge Spellwalker responded, observing Glace carefully.
The Ice Fey simply continued to smile, “So you’ll consider it?”
“…Yes.”
“Alright then!” She much too peppily turned to face Gale, putting on a mockingly serious face, “Mr. Starheart, the Prosecutor - as in, Ms. Wishstone - called you Roshna before the session began, correct?”
“Yes, why does that matter?” He answered defensively, clearly on the edge.
"Mr. Starheart, your outburst is non-responsive. Refrain from cross-examining," Spellwalker stated with a hard stare, "Defendent, proceed."
"Well, Mr. Starheart, will you care to enlighten us on what Roshna means?"
Gale blanched. “It means son in Norlian.”
Glace raised her eyebrows in mock surprise. “Son? But Mrs- sorry, Miss Wishstone has no known biological connection to you. So why would she call you that?”
“I… don’t know.”
“Really?” the trainee asked, pacing circles around her father.
“Really.” He replied forcefully.
”So there’s no adoptive relationship between you two or something like that?” She asked, flicking her hand in a casual manner.
He froze up, something similar to panic making its way into his expression.
Hilda watched the interrogation unblinkingly, fist clenched around her wand.
“…I plead the Fifth.”
A smirk. "Oh, well, we can always find out about that later. So, Mr. Starheart, would you instead inform us of why you and Ms. Wishstone have such a...hostile relationship?" Glace than shot a look in the Keeper's direction, "Outside the courtroom, that is."
Gale stared at the ground. “How are any of these questions relevant?”
"You'll see," she replied casually, before Spellwalker could remind the Ivory about cross examination, "Now answer the question."
“I plead the Fifth. Again.”
The Ice Fey arched a brow, "Well then, allow me to rephrase that question to something more vague. Does your hostile relationship with Ms. Wishstone have anything to do with Elemental Balance?"
“…yes,” Gale murmured under his breath.
Glace cupped a hand around her ear. “What?”
”YES,” he snapped, tail whipping through the air before settling back down.
"You didn't have to yell," the Trainee stated with her hands on her hips, ears notably laid back, "Final question: Regarding Elemental Balance, did you ever really have full control over that?"
“No. You know that.”
"They don't," she replied flatly.
Spellwalker looked at the two oddly, "Defendant, that was your final question?"
"I thought I made that clear."
"In that case, Mr. Starheart, you may step down. Defendant, name your next witness."
Glace smirked, crossing her arms. "Hilda Wishstone."
"Excuse me, what?"
"Do you have a problem with it?" Glace interrupted, eyes narrowing.
The wizard clenched her wand, twisting it between her hands, "No, it's just that it's...unusual for the prosecutor to be called to the stand, that's all." She finished her response with a nervous laugh, leaving the Ice Fey unconvinced.
"Well, it doesn't break any regulations, as far as I know," the fey stepped back, gesturing for Hilda to approach with great flourish, "So will you please bear witness, Mrs. Wishtone?"
The wizard glared at Glace, but hesitantly stepped off the podium. Her tone was clipped as she said, "It's miss, as I have stated multiple times."
"One time," Glace corrected before letting out a dramatic sigh, "try not to exaggerate, Ms. Wishstone. I apologize, however." The last sentence was said with a dismissive wave of her hand, her tail lashing slowly behind her.
"What do you want?" Hilda snapped, breathing heavily.
The fey's eyes narrowed, "I strongly advise against hostility, Ms. Wishstone, and if I may remind you," she had approached the witness stand, drumming her claws on the wood, "you're not the one asking the questions here."
She pushed herself off the stand, striding confidently to the center of the floor, "Your Honor, may I proceed?"
"Proceed," the wizard answered, an odd expression flickering across her features.
"Ms. Wishstone, were all of the Defendant's previously known hostile activities influenced by Elemental Balance?"
“…how would I know? You’re the crazy one.”
“Your Honor, the witness’ answer was not responsive to the question.” Glace simply stated, casting a side glance at Hilda.
"I plead the fifth," she replied drily.
The Ice Fey examined her, "Ms. Wishtone, the fifth amendment does not apply to these circumstances, especially since you are not the accused. Your honor, permission to treat Wishtone as a hostile witness?"
"Permission granted," Spellwalker replied briskly, perking up with interest.
"Restating the question: Were all of the Defendant's previously known hostile activities influenced by Elemental Balance?"
Hilda bit her lip, exasperatedly replying, "Yes."
"Would uninfluenced hostile actions be unusual for the Defendent?"
"I don't know."
The fey slammed her fist on the podium, tail lashing, "'I don't know,' isn't the truth, Wishstone."
"...the answer is yes," the wizard exhaled, edging away from the trainee.
"Did you ever adopt Mr. Starheart?"
Gale stared at the two wide-eyed, tail fluffed and flicking back and forth.
"Not legally." She muttered.
"So you did?" Glace inquired.
The response was practically whispered, "Yes."
"A little louder please."
"YES," the wizard gripped the edge of the podium, violet gaze unreadable, "Is that all?"
"Ms. Wishstone, refrain from cross-examination," Spellwalker intervened. She then added, "Ms. Glace Starheart, I don't know where you're going with this, but it better not be a waste of our time."
"It'll be worth it, your honor."
"Proceed."
"Did you at any point abuse him?"
Silence.
"Ms. Wishstone?"
The silence persisted, and meanwhile, a certain Ivory had flattened his ears, beginning to look immensely uncomfortable.
"Ms. Wish-"
"Only because he deserved it."
"Like mother, like son," Glace grumbled under her breath, "You have a bit of free-range in your next question. Why did he deserve it?"
"He harmed Hunter," the wizard hissed, only to catch herself. She actually...
"Was he under the influence of Elemental Balance?"
Hilda appeared breathless, "Yes."
"So, in the logical sense, you abusing Mr. Starheart was ungrounded, since he technically did not harm Hunter? Correct?"
"...yes."
"Ms. Wishstone, you do realize abusing Mr. Starheart put him at risk of trauma, correct?"
"He was going to be traumatized either way," she replied blandly.
Glace ignored that, "And you do realize trauma affects the way a person processes things, correct?"
"Yes."
"Do you have any prejudices against Mr. Starheart besides what was stated in this case?"
Silence, then an answer, "...yes."
"Your honor," the half-demon stated, drawing the judge's attention, "Based on the presented evidence, can one conclude that the Prosecutor is too biased to continue in this case?"
"The Prosecutor has been proven biased, however, unfortunately, there's nothing I can do about that," Spellwalker said carefully, catching Glace's eye, "But I trust that the Jury will keep this in mind."
The Ice Fey glanced at her father, who positively looked as if he wanted to die, before looking back at the judge, "May I present evidence before asking a final question?"
"Permission granted."
"Ms. Wishstone, I suppose this seems familiar?" Glace stated, pulling out a messily stapled stack of pages, which she gently placed before the judge.
As Spellwalker lifted her reading glasses and inspected the documents, the fey turned back to Wishstone.
"Well, I didn't want to do this, but—Ms. Wishstone, did you or did you not frame Mr. Starheart?"
The trainee had made sure to state her question as loudly as possible, the courtroom falling silent.
"Ms. Wishstone, you are currently a hostile witness, if you do not answer the question-"
"I did."
"I have no more questions."
She retreated back to the defendant's stand, taking a seat on the stool next to Gale. The latter was hiding his face behind his hands, clearly wanting nothing to do with the former.
Spellwalker, meanwhile, stared sternly at Hilda, "Do you have anything you want to add?"
The wizard breathed deeply, "Yes, I do. Even if I intended on framing the Defendant, he still admitted on having been involved, and as the questioning proved, he is not in the right mind."
"Anything else?"
"No."
"The Jury will discuss the evidence during a recess." With that, the wizard banged her gavel, leaving the court to shuffle out in silence.
Back in the Academy, Hope and Nathan felt more or less like crap. The entire class period consisted of events from awkwardly keeping their father from walking into thing and setting stuff on fire to having to do the demonstrations while following the given instructions semi-decently to prevent Chase from accumulating possible lawsuits.
When the bell finally rang, the class rushed out, leaving the two exhausted siblings. Nathan collapsed into an open seat, an action that his sister attempted to follow...which led her to slam her knee into the leg of a desk instead and yelp in pain.
"You know what? I expected today to go by a lot easier..." Nathan sighed. When he didn't receive a response, he looked over at Hope and saw her on the ground breathing through gritted teeth. "Oh. You okay?"
"No."
"..."
"Well, hey, we made it through the day," Chase said, standing up. "But needless to say, I think I'm going to go find a substitute for tomorrow...we're kind of burned out."
"I want my depth perception back," Hope mumbled into the ground.
Students throughout the Academy flowed out of the classrooms and used their maps to teleport away, most leaving behind messes.
Well, except in Lane's classroom where he made them clean up. The students, armed with brooms and gloves gathered an assortment of trash and dumped the contents into the garbage. The majority of it consisted of snack wrappers, crumbs, dust and what looked like purple glitter.
A few minutes later, the Academy was mostly silent, with a few students reading in the archives while failing to notice the fact that the rooms had scrambled around them while others took naps in their dorms. For the most part, however, young wizards enjoyed the beautiful day outside, exploring the island.
Meanwhile, Aurora sat on the edge of the land surrounding the floating Academy and looked at the island below.
"Hey, what's up?"
Aurora looked to her left, seeing Jax sit down beside her, before looking back at the view below. "Well, it's a really nice day out. I wish everyone could go out and enjoy it, but..."
"..."
"..."
"Hey, Aurora?"
"Hm?"
"What do you think about a day off?"
"What?"
"We dealt with a crisis within our own group less than a week ago, my dad came back blind, my sister is blind in one eye, Scarlet suffered a stomach injury, my mom came back impaled and with a broken arm, Shadow did something to Glace, Juniper...died in the middle of the night shortly after we got Glace back, and Gale is now being put on trial. Everyone is emotionally spent, including me, so why not take a day off?"
"...wow, our week was worse than I thought."
"Sorry-"
"No, no, a day off does sound nice." Aurora stood up, grabbed Jax's hand, and leapt off the Academy's ledge and onto a panel of Astral magic. She summoned more panels and the two jumped from panel to panel until they reached the ground.
Meanwhile, while the two left to enjoy their day, a certain half-demon had just flown in to the Academy, solemn as she tried to figure out how to break the news of the trial to her mother and company.
At the end of the hall, the Astral Tower door opened, and Lucas stepped out, quickly acknowledging Glace's presence. "Oh, hi Glace," the Astral Warden said. "Are you looking for something?"
"Oh!" The fey was clearly caught off guard, lacking her usual cold demeanor, "I, um, was actually looking for you...and the others."
Honestly, the trainee looked just like a certain borg whenever he was caught stealing from the cookie jar.
Wait, did all those years of babysitting have an effect after all???
"Oh, alright. I think Aurora just went out, but I believe everyone else is here. I'll go get them." And with that, Lucas had walked off to gather everyone.
A few moments later, everyone excluding Jax and Aurora were gathered in the main hall. Nathan looked around, then pulled out his Wizard Watch.
Nathan Nightwhisper - Academy
"Jax, where are you?"
Jax Watermaster - Lamplight Town
"Out with Aurora. Why?"
Nathan looked up. "Jax and Aurora are in Lamplight Town right now," he commented, restraining a little smirk. Similar to her brother, Hope also attempted to suppress a little smile.
Glace, having glanced around at everyone, decided to ignore the two siblings.
"Shall I start with the good news or bad news?"
"Bad news," Lane answered.
A large chunk of the group stared at him.
"If we start off with the bad news, the good news will leave us feeling slightly better afterwards," Lane explained. The stares subsided.
The fey's yellow gaze fell on Abner, "Well, the bad news is that you don't get to retire for the next five years, as that's the best I could do regarding my dad's case." She then cast a glance at her brother, grumbling just loud enough for him to hear, "No thanks to you Rai."
Aly stared at her daughter, "WHAT?"
However the she-demon provided no explanation.
"The good news is that our lives...are about to get a whole lot worse."
The group stared at her, before a cacophony of voices started yelling at the same time.
"HOW IS THAT GOOD NEWS?"
"What do you mean by worse-"
"...is there even good news at this rate-"
And quite a few similar phrases were yelled out as well.
After a good bit or so of chaos, the Ice Trainee cupped her hands to her mouth, screaming, "SHUT UP."
And that they did.
"So... shall I start listing?"
"THERE'S A LIST?"
And chaos ensued once again.
Once the group settled down (again), Glace exhaled deeply before stating monotonously, "Hilda's on trial, there's some sort of weird virus spreading, and you might want to look outside..."
Nathan walked over to and looked out of one of the Academy windows. "What the..."
Hope walked over and looked out as well. "Wha..."
Firefly Forest was taking on a purple hue.
Glace let out a huff, staring at Storm for some reason. Familiar whispers spoke in her ear, and she bit her lip, choosing not to mention the last bit of bad news.
Meanwhile, purple crystals began to sprout at the entrance of Firefly Forest, most trailing from a small crystal formation in the shape of a footprint.
As the purple hue spread throughout Firefly, notably, the winged creatures of Prodigia took flight, undoubtedly heading right toward the Elemental Islands.
Clearly, they were getting out while they still could.
A trio of wizards walked by the entrance to Firefly Forest and paused. "I feel like this doesn't need to be asked, but those crystals weren't there before, were they?" the male wizard asked.
"No. No they were not, Jackson," one of the female wizards responded.
Jackson walked over and snapped a piece of one of the crystals off. "Weird..."
Pained moaning and slight banging sounds seemed to emanate from the forest as more crystals poked out of the ground and slowly grew. "We've gotta do something," a wizard said, summoning her Eclipse Sky Scythe.
"Kylie, we have no idea what we're getting into-"
"Jillian, I'm with Kylie on this. The monsters in there sound like they need help, and we're right here," Jackson said.
"...fine, let's go," Jillian sighed, tipping her Pyrium Hat and summoning a Mithril Staff.
And with that, the three wizards stepped into the discolored forest.
Before they got far, however, banging resounded from The Big Tree to the trio’s right. Vines and crystals covered the entrance to the tree. Kylie gripped her scythe. “I got this one.” Bringing her scythe down on the blockage repeatedly, crystals began to crack and vines snapped until the door was freed. More slamming sounded from the tree. “Flora? Is that you in there? The door is no longer blocked.” No response. Kylie gripped her scythe harder. “Okay, I’m opening the door…” The wizard cautiously reached for the door and pulled it open.
Through the doorway, the trio could see a familiar green fairy writhing on the ground. “Flora? Are…you okay?” Jillian asked. The fairy stumbled to her feet, clutching her left arm, which was mostly coated in crystals. She looked up at the wizards, with frazzled bangs hiding most of her left eye, which shone purple underneath.
“Y-you sh-should not-t ha-have come…”
“Flora,” Jackson stepped forth, “what happened?”
The fairy directed her gaze at Jackson. “I-” She cut herself off, focusing on the jagged, purple crystal in Jackson’s hand. “You should n-not have…”
“Flora?”
“Leave me.”
Kylie stepped forward. “Flora, we’re not le-”
“Don’t let me out.”
With that, thick vines infused with crystals burst out of the ground, blocking the wizards off from the inside of The Big Tree. “Flora!” Kylie raised her scythe again, stopping when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Kylie, let’s go. There’s more out there.” Jillian took her hand off of Kylie’s shoulder and pointed to a trail of faded purple TripTrop footprints with crystals sprouting out.
Kylie reluctantly lowered her scythe with a sigh. “Fine.”
The trio followed the trail to the crossroads where the trail widened, with various footprints emerging and going to and coming from multiple directions. “What…” Jackson trailed off.
Suddenly, a group of hostile TripTrops and ClipClops emerged from the trees, crystals covering random parts of their fur, claws, and even horns. “Is there even anything left here that hasn’t been affected by these crystals?” Jillian asked, gripping her Mithril Staff.
“Yeah. Us,” Kylie whispered, backing away.
“I doubt that will stay a fact for long,” Jackson breathed.
Green elemental particles swirled around the trio, reforming into a multitude of earth spells laced with purple and black crystals. Jackson slammed his right foot into the ground and ice extended from the point of impact, quickly forming a dome of ice that shielded the group from the attacks. Jackson unleashed a wave of fire with a kick from his left foot that melted the dome, and released another one at the monsters.
The crystals on the monsters simply attracted and absorbed the flames, taking on a dark orange color as they expanded. “What the…”
Kylie fired bolts of electricity at the monsters, which yielded a similar effect as Jackson’s attack, only the crystals took on a gray coloration with sparks of electricity bouncing about inside. The partially crystalline beasts fired blasts of the absorbed elements laced with crystals at the wizards, forcing them to dive and duck. Kylie was the first to get back on her feet and readied another attack. “No, don’t!” Jillian called out. “If we attack them with magic, the crystals will just absorb it and fire back stronger!”
Jackson looked at the jagged crystal in his hand, then looked back up. “Hey, you two, get ready to run.” Jackson stood up, now holding the purple crystal in both hands. The crystal’s color began to shift from purple to yellow, getting brighter and brighter. Holding the crystal in his left hand again, he fired a large blast of Storm magic at the monsters, watching the crystals absorb the attack and spread, each crystal glowing a bright gray as electricity bounced about inside. Gray elemental particles materialized in front of the monsters as they prepared to retaliate. “Now run!” Jackson tossed the crystal into the center of the monster gathering as the monsters fired large blasts of violet electricity. The trio scrambled away as the yellow crystal absorbed the electric attacks. The crystal began to crack, then violently exploded. Jackson spun around on his left foot and slammed his right on the ground, causing a thick wall of ice to burst out of the ground and take the force of the crystalline shrapnel. The trio continued to run until they reached Stonefish Beach, quickly doubling over and taking deep breaths.
“We…have to tell…someone about this…,” Kylie breathed. The young wizard took a deep breath. “And Jackson, that was amazing!”
Jackson shrugged in response. “Eh, no problem. I’m…not going to lie though…I feel pretty…exhausted. My hands also feel…pretty cramped after…that,” he huffed. The wizard flexed his hands.
“Little bro, I don’t think those are cramps…look.” Jillian pointed to the wizard’s hands.
Jackson stared at his hands, which now had crystals covering them. “...crrrrap.” He stumbled backwards. “Hey…I feel a little…dizzy…”
Jackson collapsed.
“Jackson!” Jillian quickly knelt down next to the fallen wizard, checking his vitals.
“Is he okay?” Kylie asked.
“Well, he’s ali-OW!” Jillian yelped as Jackson dug a crystalline hand into her wrist. “JACKSON, OW, WHAt the heck…Jackson?”
The wizard returned his sister’s confused expression with a cold, blank gaze.
Jillian quickly turned towards Kylie. “Kylie, run.”
The corrupted wizard turned his attention towards Kylie and released Jillian from his grip, leaving her on the ground clutching her arm as crystals grew on her wrist. Kylie scrambled away, quickly feeling a sharp pain on her left shoulder. And then another on her back. And one more on her left leg.
The young wizard’s running slowed to a stumble before she collapsed forwards, exposing the violet crystal darts that pierced her skin.
Firefly Forest fell silent.
Nathan peeled his gaze away from Firefly Forest and focused it back on Glace. "Okay, the 'our lives are about to get worse' bit isn't new, but we can deal with that. We always do. Regardless, that doesn't make it 'good news', but that's besides the point. I just want to know one thing. How exactly did Hilda end up on trial?"
"The evidence wasn't exactly in her favor."
"...so why didn't Gale get let free?"
"...it wasn't exactly in his favor either."
Nathan failed to comprehend.
The fey pinched the bridge of her noise, awaiting the wizard's question...
...but instead, the familiar sound of the Academy doors opening rang out, the drawn out creek catching the present group's attention.
Having brutely opened the outrageously heavy door was a certain general, the Ice Fey looking as tired as ever but striding up to the group regardless.
"Please tell me you people have seen Firefly, that'll make the explaining easier."
Meanwhile, Aly glared at her relative, grumbling under her breath, "Nice to see you too, Cyro."
"I heard that."
"Yeah, it's purple and has crystals everywhere now," Hope answered.
“And,” the tribe leader began, “those same crystals just corrupted everyone there.”
"This again?" Lane sighed. Lucas sort of just stared blankly ahead, reliving a past memory.
The fey arched an eyebrow at the “again” but continued, regardless, “In case you’re wondering, it’s not possible to cleanse any of the corrupted. Frankly, they absorb any element that hits them, including Astral and Shadow.”
Luce arched a brow, “The latter is surprising because…?”
“When I said absorb, I meant absorb,” Cyro replied, crossing his arms, “the element they’re corrupted with isn’t Shadow, we’ve checked. Our assumption is Void. Additionally, since Harmony hasn’t taken action, it doesn’t seem the elements are imbalanced either.”
Lane pinched the bridge of his nose. "So, basically, we can't use magic to fight back and we can't be near the infected safely, so our only option without fatally wounding the infected is to run away when we see them."
“…which is why I’m here, actually. The corrupted are characterized by large crystals growing on their body. These crystals, frankly weigh them down enough that if the infected were to, let’s say, attempt to swim, they would immediately sink to the bottom and stay there.”
Nathan stared at the fey, “…and this is helpful, because?”
A sigh, “You people don’t think things through that much, do you?” He then added, “It’s important because it’s impossible for the affected to leave the island. They’ll have to cross the water.” His tail flicked, once, twice, before he continued, “All the fairy tribes have been evacuated - minus the Forest Tribe and part of the Storm Tribe - and the yeti, catamount, werewolf, and merlings are preparing to leave at Harmony Island. The Creek Tribe have left their spare boats there and have contacted some friendlier pirates that are willing to assist. I’m proposing that you all head to the Elemental Islands while you still can, and wait this out.” He sighed, before adding, “And please convince as many wizards as you can to come…we haven’t had much luck persuading them, and you only have so much time until we’re forced to leave you all here. Although we’ve had…skirmishes in the past, we don’t want you wizards to all die off.”
"Well, thank you, General. We'll try to get as many as we can to evacuate," Samantha responded.
On the island below, a trio of corrupted wizards accompanied by a variety of corrupted Earth-elemented monsters wandered out of Firefly Forest and shuffled around, with the majority headed towards the general direction of Tower Town.
Meanwhile, the group had split up, some of wardens, Storm, and Abner teleporting to their respective elemental areas (with the exception of Lucas going to Bonfire) while Lane, Chase, Luce, Rai, and company teleported directly to Harmony Island.
Back in the Academy, Dylan had just teleported in. "Guys, urgent news! ...Um hello?" Dylan began to wander around the Academy. "Hello? Lane? Chase? Lucas? Anyone there? Hellooooo?"
In Lamplight Town, life carried about normally. Wizards and their pets and buddies flocked the streets. Jax and Aurora walked through the Northwest Court, with the Water Trainee consoling the very disappointed Astral Trainee regarding her earlier two failures to obtain the Sparkle Kitty from the Twilight Wheel. Suddenly, the duo's Wizard Watches buzzed. "Wonder what that could be about," Aurora asked aloud to nobody in particular as she summoned hers. Jax did the same, and both read a message from Hope.
Hope Flamewhisper - Harmony Island
"There's apparently a virus spreading and it started in Firefly Forest. Avoid anyone or anything with purple crystals growing on it, or you risk being infected. Don't use magic on them either. We're currently trying to evacuate everyone in all of the zones to the Elemental Islands. Stay safe."
Aurora looked at Jax. "A virus?"
Suddenly, a clinking sound could be heard coming from the Vendor's Plaza behind them.
The duo slowly turned around and saw a wizard stumbling towards them, crystals coating the front of her body.
"Uh, Aurora, I think that's your answer..."
A woman awoke in the small, dingy room, the walls blackened with smoke, cardboard taped over the broken windows. The heat had long since broken, a chill seeping through the edges of the cardboard patching, raising goosebumps on Leslie’s bare arms. Gritting her teeth, she rose, shoving her glasses onto her face as her cold bare feet struck the thin, rough wooden floorboards.
Cheap lodging was all she knew. Dim, dusty, places, their often unreasonable prices usually snagged from the black market. Here, nobody would ask questions.
She never stayed anywhere for long. She’d learned her lesson with that.
Her bright blue gaze fell on the picture of herself as a young girl, sitting and smiling with a little toddler on her lap, both watched by her mother standing in the back. She found herself touching the image, fingers drifting across her sister, but she pulled her hand away before reaching her mother.
Leslie moved away from the picture and maneuvered her way through the cramped room, carefully edging around the worn, dusty furniture.
She couldn’t help but think about the image, regardless of having moved away.
She couldn’t stop thinking of the woman in the image, of her striking blue eyes and neatly cut blonde hair.
When she was younger, people used to say Leslie looked like her mother. Back then, she would smile, proud of the connection to her great beauty. Now she was grateful for her dark, pitch-black hair and poor eyesight remedied by a strong pair of spectacles, the only things keeping her from looking too much like her.
She felt a small kick in her abdomen, reminding her of a certain…guest.
Leslie paused, resting one hand on the gentle swell under her nightdress, feeling the flutter of tiny, half-formed feet inside her.
“Hi, baby,” she whispered.
A particularly hard kick answered her.
“Good morning, sweetheart. We might be moving out today - I don’t know how much more of this sh*t I can take.”
Leslie knew the baby probably couldn’t understand, but she still talked to them. She would talk to them about a multitude of things, from small talk about the smell of morning dew to curse-filled rants about their living conditions.
This morning, thankfully, it was the former.
Despite her optimism and kindhearted words, she couldn’t help but worry underneath. About the life her baby will be born into, about how they'll react to not having a father, and most selfishly of all, what they’ll look like. She just couldn’t figure out what she'd do if her child looked like Ariana, her mother.
Or if they’d look like them, but she wouldn't think about that.
They couldn’t.
Well, she’d still love her child. That was certain.
Still, the thought scared her.
Leslie missed her mother, but her actions still hurt. Everything she’d done, everyone she’d killed, every life she’d ruined.
And now a face that was nearly a carbon copy of hers stared back at Leslie in the mirror.
A hard, pointed kick brought her back to reality.
“You’re right, buddy. No point living in the past, huh?”
Leslie yanked open the one non-stuck drawer in the worn dresser and pulled out a vivid red gown and tucking the garment under her arm to free her hands.
“We’re gonna get out of here soon.” she promised the child. “I’ll buy a little house for the two of us, and start a wand-making business to make a living. It’ll be a nice, quiet life.”
She sighed, slumping back on the bed, the whole thing instantly sagging under her weight.
“Really, that’s all I want. I’m so tired of this.”
Gathering up the clean clothes from the bed, she left to get ready.
Tower Town was bustling with Floatlings, the area in peace, mostly forgotten by the outside world. Floatings launched themselves to their own elemental areas in the clouds, while others rested in their towers below.
They were completely oblivious to the events transpiring near them.
They were.
Infected Clipclops, Pomprikles, Fissurals, wizards, and other earth monsters quickly ravaged the town. Crystals scaled up the towers, draining them of their elemental energy, forcing the Lumin Trees at the top of the towers to shrivel up as they were sucked dry of all their magic.
It was too late to take refuge.
The Floatlings had quickly succumbed to the virus, crystals encasing the flowers on top of their heads, and their yellow color shifting to a faded purple.
Above, one wizard with an Eclipse Sky Scythe had taken their place near the slingshot in the clouds above Tower Town.
And an infected Floatling was preparing to launch.
The wooden portion of the slingshot was secured by crystals, and the green band was now surrounded by a purple aura and was more elastic than previously. The floatling was pulled back and the wizard took aim, before releasing the slingshot.
With a burst of purple energy, the floatling was boosted towards its target, accompanied by other boosted floatings with the same target.
The other floatlings were launched to other areas of the island, all of the targeted areas initially unsuspecting of these unwanted visitors.
The purple, little, sphere-shaped creatures had touched down in each area of the island excluding Harmony Island.
It wasn't long before the inhabitants of each areas began to contract the virus.
In Bonfire Spire, infected Emburns, Neeks, and Burnewts had overrun the Royal Palace, leaving the majority inside infected. The lava was soon carrying small crystals, while the footsteps and corrupted spells cast yielded crystals that sprouted up from the ground. Each of these crystals turned orange as they absorbed the elemental energy of the area, and Bonfire's lava began to cool.
Similarly, Shiverchill's snow began to melt as the temperature dropped, with cyan crystals growing along the sides of the mountain.
Skywatch's machines stopped functioning, damaged by crystals and corrupted monsters.
Lamplight had quickly devolved into anarchy as the area was packed and the virus managed to quickly spread itself, leaving minimal survivors.
In Dyno Dig, Professor Scoog (the grandson of the previous one) was watching a few wizards race against the clock and dig for fossils, when a single floatling landed in the area. One wizard went to pick it up, examining it. Their hands quickly were encased in crystals and their skin tone began to shift to a dark purple. They placed the floatling down, and cast a light purple Super Nova on the wizards before firing a Falling Star Smash that was accompanied by crystals at Professor Scoog.
Not too far away from the adults clustered on Shipwreck Shore, one floatling reached the ground, while five of its other companions landed in shallow water and one landed on a distant Shipwreck.
In Bonfire Spire, Lucas treaded along the blackening ground. "Hello? Anyone there?"
There was no response, except for a light shuffle.
"Hello?" Lucas slowly approached the noise, which seemed to have come from a chasm. Suddenly, a Ashlet, with orange crystals growing between its feathers, rose out of the chasm and wasted no time unleashing flaming crystals in the forms of a Wildfire and a Fireball upon Lucas. Diving away from the attacks, Lucas attempted to conjure an Astral shield, but failed, the few wisps of Astral Magic he had conjured finding themselves absorbed by the Ashlet's crystals. Just as it was about to fire another spell at the unprepared warden, a net forced the Ashlet to the ground, the responsible slime scooting out of hiding. "Oh, thanks!" Lucas got to his feet.
"No problem!"
"Hey, do you if there are any other survivors? The island's being evacuated."
The slime beckoned Lucas to follow. "Everyone's taken refuge in the Royal Palace. I'll take you there."
In Shiverchill, Lane was sending a message to the chat.
LS (1:01 pm)> Everyone that was in Dyno Dig is infected. Searching Shiverchill right now.
LH (1:02 pm)> In Bonfire Spire, all the survivors are in one spot, but there are too many to teleport. Storm, can you or Raiden set up a rift?
Lane put the chat away and opened his pet book, summoning his Luminex and Pterrocks. "Alright, we've got to find survivors. Avoid any monsters covered in crystals and bring them back here. Got it?" The two pets grunted in understanding. "Great, let's go." Pterrocks took to the skies, searching for survivors along the top of the mountain. Lane and Luminex stuck to the ground, taking two different paths.
On Harmony Island, Lane and Rai were setting up a camp to host the refugees (until the actual evacuation began) while Luce spoke with some of the Water Fey that were waiting with the boats.
A figure fingered an arrow, gazing at the arriving groups. They had been watching for quite some time now, a white-scaled snake slinking in the branches above them.
Their yellow tail lashed in the air behind them, shadows dancing across it as they moved in and out of the light. Amber eyes glistened in the dark, narrowing and dilating as the figure took in the scene.
A small group of fairies appeared to prepare to leave, while a couple of wizards were regulating the incoming people. A group of teenagers was hanging awkwardly in a corner, unsure what to do.
The figure let out a huff before allowing the snake to slide onto his arm and turn to leave.
He didn't care that they were here...as long as they weren't here to stay. There were enough people staying as it is.
Meanwhile, the trainees and teens sat below the palm trees, mixed emotions arising from the group. Glace and Raiden sat aside each other, both glaring at Opal - who was a distance away. The aforementioned wizard stood with her younger brother as Hei leaned against a tree near them, tracing his tattoos with a finger.
Hope and Nathan worriedly conversed near the water - clearly panicking over an absent Jax - as Scarlet sat attentively next to Chase. The said Fire Warden had been forced to come by Lane, the red-haired wizard taking the opportunity to sulk at being treated helplessly.
Hope suddenly stood up and paced back and forth, before stopping to check her Wizard Watch and send another message to her younger brother. Similar concerned messages had been sent not too long ago.
Hope Flamewhisper - Harmony Island
"Jax, are you and Aurora okay?"
Hope Flamewhisper - Harmony Island
"Jax, are you there?"
Hope Flamewhisper - Harmony Island
"Hello?"
Hope Flamewhisper - Harmony Island
"We're all on Harmony Island, waiting or refugees, please come."
Hope Flamewhisper - Harmony Island
"Jax, please respond."
Hope bit her lip, resuming her pacing and watching the Wizard Watch intently.
Nathan stood up. "I'll try the chat," he said, pulling a small cylindrical device out of his pocket.
NN (1:04 pm)> @Jax Waterwhisper @Aurora Herolight NN (1:04 pm)> Where are you two? NN (1:05 pm)> @Jax Waterwhisper @Aurora Herolight
The two siblings waited for a moment before looking back at each other, both thinking the same thing. They pulled out their maps and tapped on the image of Lamplight Town.
In the Academy, a wandering wizard finally gave up searching for the wardens and opened the Academy doors, quickly being introduced to a...sight.
In the hour he spent searching for the wardens, crystals had overrun the entire island.
Well, except Harmony Island. Well, I guess I know where I'm going. Dylan summoned his backpack, pulled his map out of it, and tapped on the image of Harmony Island.
In Skywatch, Storm had gathered all of the people into the factory...
...only for the doors of Skywatch's factory to slam open, exposing the gathered humanoids, monsters, and bats.
A certain trainee whipped around to face the intruder, immediately being met with dozens of infected Storm Fey.
Curse words were spat out before void tentacles smacked away the crystal-coated fey, yet as soon as they were out of sight, a roar burst the borg's eardrums.
Standing behind the fey was a Storm Titan, crystals sprouting on its metal hide and causing it irritation. Its gaze met Storm's as a cacophony of screams rose from the gathered mass.
A void infested Royal Roar was let loose.
At Harmony Island, a cyan rift flashed and dumped out a moaning borg, the void crystals present his shoulders, legs, and back neck quickly fading.
“Dad?” Raiden had gotten up from next to Glace, tentative, “Are you alright?”
Meanwhile, the Ice Fey frowned, “Wasn’t there… crystals a second ago?”
The trainee forced himself into a sitting position, red staining his clothes where the crystals had been, "No, I'm not okay, the remaining members of Storm Tribe are infected and they infected Griff, and there were a lot more crystals two seconds ago." The last part was said with a wince.
A second rift dumped a familiar pair of toddlers next to him, Grace and Caleb landing with an pair of “oof”s.
Storm’s sapphire gaze was unreadable, “A couple of crystals got into the rift and they didn’t have any affect on them either.” He seemed rather calm about the whole ordeal, but an exchange glanced with Raiden was all his daughter needed to know that the borg had absolutely panicked when Grace and Caleb’s touched the aforementioned crystals.
Notably, Hei was looking in their direction, concern flashing in his gaze. Yet it quickly faded when Grace noticed him, exclaiming his name and running over to him.
Before anyone could begin to question the Chasers’ immunity, Storm received a ping.
LS (1:27 am)> borderlands LS (1:27 am)> rift LS (1:27 am)> won't last long LS (1:27 am)> @Storm Dreamchaser
An expression of utter annoyance was written across the borg's face, before a rift opened behind him, dumping out Lane and his group.
Well, the remaining twenty members, that was. The rift snapped shut right before an infected Luminex could pass through. Lane looked up at Storm. "What happened to you?"
"Skywatch mission failed," Raiden answered for Storm, taking off her necklace and handing it to him before searching her satchel for some bandages.
"That's an understatement," he grumbled, before glancing around, “…where are Hope and Nathan?”
Chase perked up. "I'm sorry, what do you mean 'where are Hope and Nathan'?"
Meanwhile, the aforementioned siblings were running through a darkened Lamplight Town, avoiding the small crystals poking out of newly formed cracks and holes in the stone ground. Some point after initially arriving, Nathan had taken the opportunity to put on a blue headband as well as change into a dark gray version of the Ninja Robes, which was characterized with portions of dark blue and red, and the Ninja Covers, which was also dark gray, but had dark green straps.
During their run, Hope looked at Nathan. "Was changing really necessary back there?"
Nathan looked back at his sister. "Yes." He tapped one of the two purple and pink headphone joint on his ears, forming the spacial void of the Cosmic Mask around his head.
The two abruptly stopped, seeing a mass of crystal infected wizards shuffling in the direction away from them.
"Let's back away, very quietly," Nathan whispered, taking steps backwards.
"You say that like it's not common sense," Hope whispered back, also walking backwards.
"Well, in situations like this, someone normally makes a loud noise and alerts them!" Nathan retorted, still whispering. And with that, Hope tripped over a raised stone tile. The Fire Trainee instinctively spun around, forearms bracing her fall. Hope sucked in air through her teeth as she got up, brushing dirt from her now scraped arms.
Nathan turned to face her and turned off the mask so she could see his annoyed expression.
"We can hope that they didn't hear that," Hope whispered.
"Yeah, you can stop whispering now." Nathan pointed his Cosmic Sword at the corrupted wizards, who were staring at them now. A crystal was fired at the two siblings. Hope yelped, jumping back as the crystal slammed into the spot where she was standing previously. Nathan turned the Cosmic Mask back on. "Aaaand now we start running."
Leslie stood at the sink, hair damp, dressed in a deep red gown, doing her make-up.
Her mascara was really running out. She’d have to get more, but make-up prices were rising unreasonably as of late, and it was hard to find work.
Leaning closer, she squinted at her face in the cracked mirror. Her eyeliner was crooked, one of her weak points when it came to make-up. She reached for the eyeliner pencil, hand groping blindly over the chipped counter, eventually snatching the slim object from its surface.
Screams echoed outside the window. Leslie started, the eyeliner pencil she’d been using slipping from her fingers and striking the grimy tiles of the bathroom floor.
Sh*t.
But that was the least of her worries right now.
She picked up her glasses from the counter, hurriedly putting them on as she rushed out of the bathroom, making a beeline for the window.
Outside, a horde of wizards with purple sclera, crystals growing out of their skin, and lavender skin were moving towards Lamplight Town square, their movements sluggish as the undead. Floatlings with a similar appearance darted throughout their ranks, along with a handful of monsters.
“Oh, god…”
Leslie didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t stay inside, but going out was a death sentence.
Well, she’d have to escape at some point.
No matter where she stayed, Leslie always kept her suitcase on hand, in case she needed to get out fast.
Leslie darted around the small room, gathering belongings and shoving them into the bag. Now certainly wasn’t the time for neatness.
When she was finished, she slung the bag over her shoulder, stuck her painfully swollen feet into low-heeled garnet-red shoes, tucked her sword into the sheath at her waist, and headed out, leaving the horrible little room behind.
Meanwhile, a plane was flying above Lamplight, one person was standing on the wing, another was flying it.
“Damn. It looks like a bunch of people got infected. Good thing we found your old plane, eh Ben?”
”Yeah, I guess. I just hope that someone has a cure, or else we’re screwed.”
The area in question was polluted with a dark fog of void crystals that seemed to reject the light around them, blanketing the town square under a mockery of night. The infected hordes had no expression of any emotion, not a hint of their souls as they crept into the streets from the diseased Forest, littering the air with millions of little bits of crimes against existence as dust flaked from their void-induced crystal growths. The very flesh and blood of each overcome being seemed to desire nothing but complete expulsion of the virus, writhing and struggling as nerves and synapses went into panic, responding to the void eating away at the magic stores in each specimen.
Yet, in spite of such obvious pain, not a single one made a sound.
"Freaky!" said Ansat.
"Let's land at the Academy," said Ben. "Those guys will know what to do."
Unbeknownst to them, or at least Ansat, there were two teenagers, one with green hair, the other wearing a bandana, grabbing onto the bar that had the wheels in front.
"Geez, Max, this was a pretty dumb idea." said the bandana wearing one.
"Well how else were we gonna get to safety?" said the green haired one.
The plane kept flying over Lamplight, as Kobe and Max stared at the horde in horror.
”Yikes, those dudes are dead, but, like, not dead.” Said Max.
”Yeah. I hope we find a cure.” Said Kobe.
On top of the plane, Ben was flying close to the Academy, when he realized something.
”Uh, now that I think about it, maybe we should head to Skywatch.” He said.
”And why’s that?” Asked Ansat.
”More tech stuff. I need to build some gear just in case, I can’t risk using the rift gun to zap things here.”
”I guess that makes sense.”
And so, Ben set course for Skywatch.
The plane was flying on course, only for Ben to notice something.
“Ah sh*t.” He said.
”What?” Asked Ansat.
”I think I forgot to fuel up.”
”YOU WHAT?!”
”I haven’t used this thing in a while, I thought there was plenty of fuel left!”
”YOU F*CKING IDIOT!”
On the bottom, the two teenagers were confused.
”Wait, why’re we going faster?” Asked Kobe.
”I think I heard something about running outta fuel.” Said Max.
”Sh*t.”
And so, the plane went off course, as it started flying towards the ocean.
Meanwhile, Dylan had just teleported onto Harmony Island.
Lane was holding down a panicking Chase, Storm seemed to be injured, and Glace and Opal had somehow broken out in an argument despite being a fair distance away from each other.
"Well, seems like you all know about the virus and Shipwreck Shore seemed to still be mostly unaffected, so I'll just head over there and try to find survivors," Dylan said to nobody in particular, clearly not wanting to get involved in the events. He unraveled his map and tapped on the image of Shipwreck Shore.
Back in the Lamplight Outskirts of Lamplight Town, Hope and Nathan were still running from the infected wizards. Crystals whizzed by them, with quite a few being way too close for comfort. "Okay, this isn't working," Hope commented. She looked at her brother. "Firewall?"
"Firewall."
The two spun around, facing the infected wizards. Hope pointed her Luma Sun Ray Rod at the ground in front of them, charging up a beam of fire. As crystals continued to be fired at them, Nathan rapidly spun his Cosmic Sword, sending each crystal that came in contact with the weapon into the vastness of outer space. A stream of flames were unleashed from Hope's spear and carved a line into the ground in front of them, forming a wall of fire between the siblings that prevented the two sides from seeing each other. That didn't stop a few crystals from being launched at Nathan through the firewall and absorbing some of the fire. Luckily, the few that were on target just phased through his Cosmic Mask. "Yeah...let's go," Nathan said. The teenagers then proceeded to run from the Lamplight Outskirts, stopping for a rest when they reached the outside of the Coliseum.
Hope sat on the ground, running her hands through her hair. "We're not going to find Jax or Aurora, are we?"
Nathan shuffled his feet, before also opting to sit down. "Well, we didn't see them in the infected crowd...so don't lose hope."
Hope lowered her arms, winced, repostioned them, then lifted her head up to give Nathan a look of disdain. "You're not dad."
Nathan shrugged. "Eh." He then lowered his gaze to Hope's scratched up arms. "Also, are your arms okay? They're pretty scraped."
"Well, they're not bleeding." Hope stood back up. "Anyway, you're right. Until we know what happened to Jax and Aurora, we've still got to search for them."
And with that, the two siblings left the Coliseum area and walked back into the Town Square.
Where they found another horde.
"For Harmony's sake," Hope muttered. Hope and Nathan quickly backed away and started running away again as crystals were fired at them again. Hope turned around, preparing a fireball in her right hand which was aimed it at the ground in front of her. With gritted teeth, she fired multiple fireballs at the ground, creating another wall of fire. Hope inhaled sharply, clutching her right arm.
"Hope, don't just stand there come on!" Nathan called out, not too far away.
"Yeah, coming." Hope turned around, speedwalking over to her brother.
Nathan tapped a headphone joint, turning off the Cosmic Mask. He shifted his gaze from Hope's grip on her arm to her face. "You good?"
"Yeah, it just stings."
"Let's just ask Jax for bandages when we find him," Nathan said, turning around and walking forward. "There's gotta be a refugee shelter of some sort around here."
Hope, however, was preoccupied with her own thoughts.
Why does my arm feel like it's...burning?
The Fire Trainee released her grasp on her arm and looked at it.
Small, dark orange crystals had sprouted from the scratches on her arm.
Hope started to run her hand through her hair. Cra-ow!
Hope winced, feeling something scratch her forehead.
The trainee lowered her hand and looked at it.
Purple crystals had sprouted on her palm as well.
Before the girl could so much as think about it, the world lost its balance around her and she hit the ground with a thud.
Nathan paused midstep. "Hope?" Nathan turned to face his sister, who had crumpled herself up into a shaking ball. "Hope, you good?"
His sister remained in the same position. In the meanwhile, the crystals on her right arm rapidly spread, dissipating the collected fire magic throughout them.
Tapping the headphone joint on his left ear, Nathan backed away, the space void of the Cosmic Mask enveloping his face. "Hope, say something."
"Run."
Hope got to her feet, facing Nathan. Her skin and hair had taken on a purple coloration, purple crystals encased her right arm and hand, and crystals poked out from under her hair, slowly spreading along her face. She bent over and picked up her Luma’s Sun Ray Rod, which immediately traded its orange glow for a purple one as crystals latched Hope’s hand to the spear. A single, pleading green eye focused on her brother. "Nathan, run."
Then the eye went purple.
Nathan ducked as his sister charged at him, letting her spear phase through his mask before freezing his sister in a block of ice. He gripped his Cosmic Sword and backed away from his frozen sibling just as the ice shattered and disintegrated into elemental particles, absorbed by the crystals.
The infected wizard drove her spear into the ground, cracking the earth beneath it and creating a larger crack that snaked towards Nathan. Small ice-coated crystal spikes exploding out from the growing crack, accompanied by a cluster of void crystals engulfed in green and purple flames.
He jumped to the side, dodging the spikes as he swung his sword. Flapping the now purple wings of her Draconyx Gear, Nathan’s sister rushed into the air and started swooping down, slashing at him with her right arm. Dirt and grass flew into the air as the trainees' attacks narrowly missed Nathan, instead gouging the ground.
Nathan summoned a stone green relic ring and grasped it in his hands, rolling away from another attack that phased through his mask. He handsprung back onto his feet, slamming his hand into the ground. A pair of rune-labeled stones traveled along the ground, headed towards the infected wizard, who was arcing downwards for another attack.
A brown vine lurched out of the ground, blocking the path of the infected wizard’s left wing and causing the girl to spin uncontrollably as she hit the vine and crashed into the ground away from her brother. The vine retreated back into the ground and Nathan slipped on an ice relic again. "Sorry, Hope." He froze the girl in another block of ice several times over before running away.
Panicked cries rang through the square as feet thundered against cobblestone, bodies pushing against each other in desperate, single-minded attempts to get out.
Leslie fought to keep up, pain searing through her swollen feet, twisting one ankle as she ran, a single thought circling through her mind like a broken record repeating one stanza of a song over and over again.
I have to get out or I’m f*cked.
Someone shoved into her, knocking the teen off balance and sending a fresh wave of pain through her injured ankle as she fought to keep from falling and being trampled.
Get out. Get out, or die. Those are your only options.
She pushed herself to her feet, teeth grit as she got up. A protective hand fluttered over her abdomen as she pushed through the crowd having one goal in mind; to escape.
As she moved between the way too tight gaps, she could’ve sworn she heard a familiar, male voice. Yet as she didn’t hear it again, she continued pushing through, valuing her unborn child too much than to allow herself to be pushed down again.
That’s when she heard the scream.
She couldn’t see the source, being too far back to see anything, but whatever caused the fearful outburst had sent the crowd into a panic, leading to Leslie being pushed to a side as the distressed wizards sought to flee.
The teen soon found herself flat on her back in an alley, the sound of yells and footsteps being the only indicator of what ensued. But soon not only her sight, but hearing failed to inform her of the events, the blood rushing to her head from hitting the floor and leaving her with only the sound of her quickened breaths and heartbeat.
Somehow, the silence was more frightening than the screams.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long for her hearing to strengthen, the sound of crystal scraping stone reaching her ears. The sickening thuds of the approaching mass caused her thoughts to plunge into the memory of the infected wizards, soon evolving into a nihilistic spiral of how she was doomed and all she had done was in vain… leaving her to wait for an inescapable fate.
At least, a fate that was inescapable until callused hands gripped her arms, pulling her shadows.
A frightened screech would’ve escaped her if those same hands didn’t cover her mouth, preventing the infected mass from being alerted.
Desperate to escape, Leslie made a split-second decision and bit down, hard.
Iron flooded her mouth as her captor fought back a scream, dropping her onto the hard ground.
Spitting blood as she pulled herself to her feet and adjusted her glasses, the teen glared at the person who had taken her prisoner.
They wore a heavy, dark-blue cloak, the hood pulled over their head, casting their face into shadow. Heavy breathing could be heard from under their hood, thick with anger and pain.
The cloaked wizard made a grab for Leslie, but she pulled away, reaching for the knife concealed in a hidden pocket of her gown.
One pale hand forced their hood back, revealing a face set with blazing teal eyes, a nose that had clearly been broken long ago, the mouth twisted into a snarl of hatred.
“Careful, now, Leslie. Lightmasters don’t make mistakes. Do it right for Mother.”
The edge of the knife met their throat, the pregnant teen doing her best to keep her hand from shaking.
They were panicking now, trying to get a grip on her, to kill her before she could kill them.
“You little bi-”
A flick of the blade cut their throat, their body falling to the ground.
Lightmasters don’t make mistakes.
“Uh, Aurora, I think that's your answer...”
Aurora sat on a tree branch, hidden away from all of the infected ravaging the town on the ground below.
The crystalline wizard raised a hand aimed at Aurora and Jax and launched a cluster of crystals at them. A shield of Astral magic was quickly conjured with the intent of blocking the attack. The crystals ripped through the shield, absorbing bits of the shield, leaving multiple holes in the shield before it destabilized and disintegrated into particles of astral magic. The two friends dove out of the way, quickly launching themselves back to their feet. Jax looked at Aurora. “Yeah, let’s just run.”
Aurora buried her face in her knees.
So they ran. Moved away as fast as they could.
But the virus moved faster.
As the two ran into town square, they were greeted with the sight of wizards running away screaming while others laid on the ground, writhing as crystals formed on various points of their bodies.
And then they rose.
Aurora pulled her hood over her head, vainly trying to sink further into it than she could.
The two friends wasted no time in running away from the area. The Astral Trainee summoned her map. “The Wizard Watch said Hope was at Harmony Island, right?”
It didn’t matter.
“Move!” Jax tackled Aurora as a flurry of crystals whizzed by, causing the Astral Wizard to lose her grip on her map which was promptly shredded mid-air. The infected wizard lowered their outstretched hand, directing their next attack at the children.
A blast of water hit the wizard faster than the crystals could absorb the attack, knocking the wizard off balance. As the crystals grew and multiplied, distributing the water magic obtained, the responsible water wizard promptly sweeped their legs out from under them using his own. The two wizards took the opportunity to get back on their feet. Jax took a brief moment to look down at the crystals multiplying along the wizard’s body, before looking back up and following Aurora.
A plea for help was barely audible from the distance, quickly fading. Aurora slammed her hands to her ears, desperately trying to shut out the world around her.
It was all fine. Well, except for the town. They were all fine.
Then…how did it end up like this?
A teary-eyed Aurora looked at the ground below her, a water wizard occupying the spot on the ground below her, immobilized by dark blue and purple crystals on his right leg, extending from his foot to above his kneecap.
The two friends had taken refuge underneath a tree in Pallet Pass, finally able to take a rest. Suddenly, Aurora noticed something in the corner of her eye. “Jax, what’s that on your leg?”
The Water Wizard perked up and looked down at his legs. Purple crystals poked through his pant leg, budding in the middle of his right calf. “...crud.” The newly infected wizard looked back up at his friend. “I guess I messed up.”
Aurora could only watch, horrified, as her friend’s skin took on a light purple coloration. The boy positioned his hands above his leg, particles of water magic forming around them and flowing into the crystals. “W-what are you doing?! Stop that!” Aurora exclaimed, reaching for her friend’s hands.
The boy quickly shifted away from her reach, continuing to pour magic into the multiplying crystals. “I’m not letting myself chase you. Just...go find the others.”
“I’m not le-”
“See you when this is over.” The boy’s soft smile disappeared, the virus taking over as his eyes shifted from orange to an emotionless purple.
Aurora sniffled, shifting her vision away from the corrupted wizard and going back to shutting out the world around her.
And then she heard a ding. She pulled a small cylindrical device out of her pocket, wiping away tears.
AH (1:49 pm)> @Jax Watermaster @Hope Flamewhisper @Nathan Nightwhisper @Aurora Herolight AH (1:50 pm)> If you’re still in Lamplight, go to the barn north of the crossroads, I’ll meet you all there
Aurora shoved the device in her pocket, looking back down at the immobile wizard below, hesitant to make a decision.
Finally, she stood up. See you when this is over, Jax. Aurora leaped off the branch she was standing on and onto one of another tree’s, tree hopping just outside of Lamplight Town’s boundaries until she reached the Academy Crossroads. The barn wasn’t too far away from here. With that in mind, the Astral Trainee pushed herself into a run, stopping only when she reached the barn doors.
Aurora pushed open the door and stepped inside, her eyes immediately resting on a red-haired woman who was facing away from the door. “Grandma?”
Tired brown eyes met hers, the woman perking slightly, “Aurora? What are you doing here?”
“I was out with Jax when we got attacked by infected wizards. Grandpa sent a message for us to meet him here.”
She stared blankly, “...infected wizards? What mess did you all get into this time?”
“I don’t know,” Aurora sighed. “But I just want it to be over already.”
Pity flashed across the redhead’s expression. Even though she didn’t know what was going on, she could tell her granddaughter was upset.
Wordlessly, she pulled the younger wizard into a much-needed hug.
Tears formed in the young wizard’s eyes once more, rolling down her cheeks and staining the redhead’s shirt. No. Aurora, stop crying. Stay positive. Aurora sniffled, hiccuping as she tried and failed to hold back tears. No, stay positive… “J-Jax…” The wizard finally burst into tears, returning her grandmother’s embrace. “I lost Jax!” Aurora sobbed, her grandmother pulling her in closer. The two remained as they were, still hugging even after Aurora had calmed down.
When they finally released each other, Aurora wiped her eyes and cheeks with her sleeves.
Then, she looked at her grandmother’s now decently damp shirt. “S-sorry about your shirt, Grandma,” she apologized.
“It’s just water, there’s nothing to worry about,” she attempted a smile, placing a hand on her shoulder.
Aurora managed to return a small smile before letting it fade. Aurora hugged her grandma once more. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Not too long before this, crouched on a literal rooftop was a certain yellow-robed wizard, thanking Harmony that whoever lived here had the outrageous idea of having a neon gold roof… blinding, but to his advantage.
Honestly, this wasn’t one of his better ideas, seeing how high up he was… but was being trampled and having crystals stabbed in his back really any better than this? He could only sigh, his gaze scanning the surroundings.
Absolutely no one had avoided being infected, the population of Lamplight becoming one crystalline assemblage, sludging through the deserted roads.
It was around now the wizard was pinged, leading to him moving out of sight as he checked the device.
<SD (1:45 pm)> @Abner Herolight Please tell me Hope and Nathan are with you AH (1:46 pm)> They’re not SD (1:47 pm)> Then look for them, Chase is freaking out over here SD (1:47 pm)> We’re pretty sure they’re looking for Jax and Aurora
The wizard was currently on the side of the roof facing away from the crowd, the yellow-eyed man glancing over the edge to see who was among the infected. Thankfully, none of Flamemasters were in-sight (or Aurora, for that matter).
<AH (1:49 pm)> They’re not infected, but they’re not anywhere near me AH (1:49 pm)> @Jax Watermaster @Hope Flamewhisper @Nathan Nightwhisper @Aurora Herolight AH (1:50 pm)> If you’re still in Lamplight, go to the barn north of the crossroads, I’ll meet you all there
And thus was how the ridiculously old man wound up roof jumping, praying to Harmony that none of the infected would hear him.
Meanwhile, out of options, Leslie ran.
She didn’t know where she was going, she just knew that she had to get out.
Her ankle was still in terrible shape, and the pain should have been blinding, but Leslie felt nothing.
She was numb, thoughts racing frantically, battling the urge to just crumple to the ground and sob, overwhelmed by the events of the past few minutes.
I just killed someone.
I, Leslie Goldencrafter, am a murderer. Lightmasters don’t make mistakes, but I’m not a Lightmaster anymore. I don’t know anymore. I don’t want this, but the title of “murderer” isn’t like a name. At least that can be changed. At least I can try to forget that.
Mother would be so proud. I guess I really am her daughter, no matter what I do.
Back to Abner, the wizard had previously found a gutter pipe to slide down, having to jump a fence to get out of Lamplight. Now he was quite out of breath, having to run a ridiculously long distance to exit the wheat fields, a sprint away from the actual barn.
After catching his breath, he strode up to the door, pushing it open and revealing a familiar pair of wizards.
“Aurora? Vanessa?”
The two in question released each other, facing the Keeper. “Oh, hi grandpa.” Aurora waved at her grandfather in greeting.
Despite the welcome, the man frowned, noticing the tear stains and Vanessa’s soaked shirt, “What happened?”
“Oh. Um…” Aurora looked down. “Jax…isn’t coming here,” she whispered.
“...oh.” An unreadable expression flashed across his face, the wizard approached his granddaughter and gave her a hug.
Aurora took in a deep breath and breathed out, returning her grandfather’s embrace.
He looked as if he was about to say something, but the creak of the door opening interrupted him.
So much for that.
“Abner?”
The wizard blanched, looking over his shoulder. Undeniably, standing behind him was an all too familiar teen, her glossy black hair tumbling over her shoulders, glasses askew.
He looked back at the group, expression strained, “…sh-crud.”
Aurora blinked, “Grandpa… were you about to curse???” Complete and utter shock rang in her voice, as the Astral Wizard - for the first time in his entire life - uttered the first two letters of a dreaded four-lettered word. He was just two letters away from perhaps even breaking a law of the universe, one that forbade this specific old man from cursing.
Unbeknownst to the universe-bending interaction, Leslie’s mouth ran dry, “…Grandpa?”
This was certainly unexpected.
Vanessa looked between her husband and Leslie, eyes narrowing, “Abner, how do you know this girl?”
Almost simultaneously, the red-gowned teen asked, “Abner, who the f*ck are these people?”
He groaned, hiding his face behind his hands.
This was bound to happen eventually - there was no denying that - but did it have to happen like this?
The yellow-eyed wizard mumbled to himself, “I should be glad Edan’s on the Elemental Islands,” before answering. “Vanessa, this is Leslie. Leslie, this is Vanessa and Aurora…” He trailed off, looking for a safer word to describe than ‘wife and granddaughter’, “…my family.”
The redhead - who Abner introduced as Vanessa - arched a brow, “You didn’t answer my question.”
“…the gambling bar.”
The woman let out a dragged-out sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Leslie brushed out her flowing red skirt, looking defensive.
Her hands lingered briefly on her abdomen, a gentle swell visible below the fabric of her gown that hadn’t been there before.
Abner, having made note of Leslie’s…change in appearance, was crossing his fingers behind his back and (also, for once in his life) praying to the elementals that Leslie wouldn’t say anything.
“So let me get this straight…” Leslie said, almost wearily. “The first person in over a year to act like I’m worth their time, my first kiss, the guy I lost my virginity to, who helped me through the worst experience of my life by an incredibly long shot, and it turns out that you’re actually really old and have a whole-a** family?”
She sighed heavily.
“Wow. The universe really decided to f*ck me in the a** with this one, huh?”
Throughout Leslie’s statement, the wizard had grown drastically pale, the redhead had clenched her fist…
“Harmony save me.”
…and promptly left hooked him.
“ABNER HEROLIGHT, WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU?”
He inhaled sharply, rubbing his jaw, “…you’re as lively as ever, eh?”
Leslie watched nervously, hands still clasped over the slight evidence of her time spent with Abner, almost protectively.
Vanessa glared at Abner, Aurora peeking out from behind her.
The brown eyes of the woman darkened, “Clearly not lively enough for you.”
The wizard was promptly kicked in the crotch.
Leslie glared at him, hands on her hips, doing her best to regain her balance in high heels that had become rather tight since the beginning of her predicament.
“You know, usually if you’re gonna hook up with someone, you should probably tell them if you have a literal granddaughter. I’m 16, you a**wit. You knew that.”
That seemed to set something off Vanessa’s gaze, “You’re WHAT?”
Meanwhile, the yellow-eyed wizard sunk to the ground, knowing what’ll happen next.
“You heard me. 16. I told him that. Got kicked out of a bar for it too, because I didn’t pay attention to who might be listening to my life story. That’s on me, though.”
The redhead immediately whirled back to Abner, this time kicking him in the rib, “FIRST GALE, THE EDAN, AND NOW HER? WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO LEARN BOUNDARIES, ABNER?”
“Edan?” Leslie asked, looking interested. “He was the one who threw me out of the bar. And by that, I mean that he literally flung me out of there. Abner helped me get back to my apartment. We started meeting up regularly after that.”
“Well then,” Vanessa started, staring at Leslie over her shoulder, “It seems I’ll be punishing Edan too, seeing that he’s dating this IDIOT.”
“Wait, hold up.” The wandsmith-in-training held up one manicured hand, palm flat. “How many people is he dating at once? Like, that’s genuinely concerning.”
“…”
“He’s polygamous,” Vanessa answered at the same time as Abner, the latter letting out a groan.
“But aren’t your partners supposed to know about each other if that’s the case? It seems one hell of a lot like cheating otherwise.”
“…you’re the only one I don’t know about,” she snapped back with a growl, glaring at Abner.
Leslie glanced around at the carnage around them, pushing up her glasses.
“So…I know there’s a lot to unpack here, but we should probably focus on not dying first.”
“No, no, we still have time…”
…Abner was promptly slapped across the cheek, “That was for lying to Lucas about how you stopped gambling.”
“Now let’s go. If I don’t make it, Abner, so help me, I will f*cking haunt your a** for the rest of your life, I swear to Harmony. I mean, there’s someone else I’d love to haunt, but she…” Leslie trailed off, looking pale.
“And Chase would literally murder me if I show up without his kids,” he strained, sitting up and clutching his ribs, “I’ve already lost Jax…we have to wait.”
“They better be here soon. I know you saved my life, but all my respect for you has pretty much gone right out the f*cking window. I can’t believe I slept with you.” At hearing the last sentence, Vanessa walked off into a nearby stall, returning with a broom.
This was the one benefit of waiting in the barn.
“As I’m sure you guessed, Abner, I’m pregnant. It’s either yours or..not, but either way, so help me. I’m f*cked. So thanks, I guess.”
Leslie had never seen Abner run so fast in her life.
The overall-wearing wizard hounded after him with the broom, spitting out curse words at a frequency that shouldn’t be possible.
For a brief moment, Leslie and Aurora were watching them run towards the door…before remembering they couldn’t go out and jumping out of the way as the two raced past.
Unfortunately for Abner, luck was not on his side, and he was quickly chased and cornered into a stall, the sound of broom whacking a** resonating through the barn.
The two teen girls exchanged a glance, Aurora speaking first.
“…grandma’s mad.”
She didn’t say anything else, not knowing how or being willing to process her own grandfather’s pedophilia… or reverse pedophilia, for that matter.
“I mean, so am I-wait, what now?”
“Grandma. Vanessa’s my grandma.”
She paused for a bit.
“…oh.” A quick glance at the stall, “…sorry gramps.”
A groan answered her apology.
“Let me get this straight. I f*cked a much older, married man with a granddaughter who looks to be about my age, though seeing how sh*tty I am at guessing ages, Harmony knows how off I am with that one.”
“To be fair, he found the fountain of youth when he was ten.”
Leslie sighed. “Of course he did. If Mother weren’t rotting in hell right now, she’d be doing all she could to get him to give up its location.” She glanced at Aurora, seeing her expression and hastily changing the subject. “He could’ve at least told me that. I told him the truth about myself, and that sh*t’s pretty hard to believe.”
She pulled her knees to her chest, trying to ignore the scent of blood and fear that clung to her and praying that Aurora wouldn’t notice.
Awkward silence, before the girl realized something.
“Wait… you were the one who ruined my blankets-”
And thus, everyone’s day suddenly got worse.
The bespectacled teen looked away, face as red as her gown.
“Yeah…sorry about that. ”
“…it’s fine,” however, her face said otherwise, causing Leslie to distance herself.
“No, that’s my fault. Should’ve used my cloak for that, although…”
And…she was done talking for the rest of the time.
Perfectly timed, a certain yellow-eyed wizard was whacked out of the stall with a beat-looking broom, Vanessa still fuming as she stalked after him, “Stupid overgrown cat.”
“I’m not a cat-“
And of course, literally all the barn cats had to pounce on him at that moment.
This was not his day.
Despite her emotional turmoil, Leslie stifled a laugh at the situation.
Before Abner could retort any further, the door slammed open, Nathan standing in the doorway.
The Cosmic Mask retreated into the headphone joints on the wizard’s ears as he scanned the room, stopping when he saw Aurora. “Where’s Jax?”
…
“Where. Is. Jax?”
“Infected,” Aurora answered softly, averting her eyes.
“What.”
Aurora shuffled awkwardly, still avoiding eye contact.
Nathan glared at the Astral trainee. “Aurora, what did you say?”
“He got infected, okay?” she snapped, returning the glare.
The barn went quiet.
“Sorry,” she quietly apologized, going back to avoiding eye contact. “If I could’ve done anything about it, I would have.”
Shoving off the cats, Abner had gotten to his feet and walked over to Aurora, placing a hand on her shoulder and looking at Nathan. “I’m sorry about Jax, Nathan, I really am. Yet if it’s not too much to ask, where is Hope?”
“Oh, Hope? She’s just peachy. She can’t get infected twice over, can she?” Nathan leaned his back against the barn’s doorway, sliding to the ground. “Hope and I had one job. Protect our younger siblings. I did just great at that, huh?” Nathan commented sarcastically. He pulled his knees to his chest. “At least Hope was able to save one.”
Durning these events, on Shipwreck Shore, Dylan was conversing with Samantha about gathering refugees. “You’ve got land, I’ve got the sea,” Samantha said.
“Sounds like a deal,” Dylan said. “I’ll meet you back here.”
Samantha dove into the water, activating her breathing bubble.
Dylan walked toward the shipwreck and was confronted by a corrupted Aquaster. Electricity trailed his scythe’s blade as he spun it. “Sorry pal, but you’re in the way.” A bolt of lightning shot past the monster and split into three.
And all three trailed back to the monster and were absorbed by the crystals.
“What the-” Dylan quickly found himself dodging a purple Ion Cannon laced with crystals. “So I’m going to have to find another way,” he muttered, casting a Super Nova on the monster and running around the ship when it was distracted. It didn’t take long to find a large hole in the ship, and Dylan climbed into it. “Hello? Anyone in here?” Quiet shuffling was his answer. A wisp of astral magic hovered above Dylan’s hand illuminating the area enough to see three wizards and a FlikFlit eyeing him warily. The wizards were wielding a variety of makeshift weapons, one wielding a hammer and dagger made of rocks and sticks, while the others gripped a slingshot and a spear. Dylan put his scythe away and raised his hands in reassurance. “I’m here to evacuate you and any other survivors to Harmony Island.”
“And why should we trust you?”
Dylan fired a Starbit Blast at a corner of the shipwreck. “No crystals, see?”
The wizards stared warily at Dylan before whispering among themselves. Finally, one of them stepped forward. “We’ll come with you,” she stated plainly. “But if you get infected, we’re killing you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Dylan climbed out of the shipwreck and walked further across the sandy shore, followed by the three wizards.
Meanwhile, Samantha was accompanied by several uninfected monsters and Merlings searching the Cap’n’s Quarters. “Hey!” one of the merlings exclaimed, “I think there’s someone-”
A large rumble and roar caused the merling to end her sentence with a scream. “Oh Harmony, that’s the Old One,” Samantha breathed, staring at the large sea monster, crystals growing along its tentacles and head.
The infected sea monster grabbed the merling in a tentacle and wasted no time in firing an Aqua Spear with a crystal point at her chest. The merling was released, drifting to the ground, crystals multiplying around the injury.
“BROOKE!” One of the merlings screamed, swimming towards their injured friend, before being held back by the other merlings.
“Wave, Brooke’s infected.”
Wave wrestled against the others’ holds. “So what? We can still help her!”
Samantha walked in front of Wave. “If you touch her, you’re only going to get infected yourself. And if we don’t get out of here fast, we’re all going to be infected.” At that, Wave went limp, letting the others quickly drag him out of the room, right before a crystal tentacle slammed into the ground where many were previously standing, launching sand and splintered wood into the water as it tore through the southern half of the ship, catching many of the monsters and merlings in its attack, infecting and knocking them unconscious. The recently assembled group was forced to run and swim further up the ship. Crystals popped up out of the ground, hunting them down until they reached the upper deck of the ship. The group sighed, collapsing on the ground and breathing heavily. I hope everyone else is doing better than us, Samantha thought, forcing herself to her feet. Whatever the case, we’ll have to find another way back to meet up with Dylan.
Not too far from Shipwreck Shore, a certain crystal smuggler entered the Dark Tower. He closed the door behind him, dropping the heavy sack over his shoulder onto the ground. "Any updates?"
No response.
"What, is it that bad? Did he, like, change his name or something?" he asked, frowning as he walked up the tower floors.
Swimming across the large body of water, Samantha’s group were able to make out land, trees, and more importantly, Dylan and the survivors he gathered. They climbed onto the shore and met up with Dylan. “That’s all that made it?” Dylan asked.
“We had a run in with the old one…we lost most of the survivors there.”
Dylan sighed. “We had a few run ins with some infected Floatlings and monsters, but for the most part we made it out of each one. Anyway, let’s get out of here.” Dylan pulled out his map
Samantha pulled out her map as well. “Alright, everyone, gather up in a gr-” She was cut off as a wizard screamed. The screaming wizard was pointing at a group of infected Aquasters and Mimics.
Dylan gripped his scythe and internally swore.
Torrents were fired, splitting the group into several chunks, dividing them with a path of crystals and those that failed to dodge the attack. The survivors chaotically attempted to escape, only resulting in the formation of messily organized groups failing to evade the infected. And one by one, group by group, the survivors began to fall. Dylan slashed at an infected wizard, before deflecting the crystals fired by another. “We’ve gotta get the rest of them out of here!” Dylan exclaimed.
“They’re scattered everywhere now, and so are the infected! We’d just end up teleporting some of them with us too!” Samantha whacked a monster back with her wand.
“What is that?” One of the merlings asked, pointing up in the sky.
A large structure in the sky glittered magnificently in the sky, flapping its wings, a clinking sound being made every time the wings moved. “It’s Mira!” One of the wizards exclaimed.
The survivors below started calling out to the wizard in the sky, pleading for help.
Samantha looked at Dylan. "You think Mira will actually help us?"
"Maybe..." Dylan squinted at the silhouetted figure above. “Wait a minute...” His eyes widened and he leaped back as a cluster of void crystals were launched at him.
“She’s infected!” Samantha exclaimed.
Dylan brandished his scythe. "I guess we're not done fighting yet."
Samantha grimaced. "I guess we're not." Behind her, the survivors fumbled with their makeshift weapons, trying to prepare to defend themselves against the tower guardian.
On Harmony Island, a restrained Chase had finally given up resisting, and a stressed Scarlet flew back and forth in the air above. Some of the few refugees that had made it to the island quietly conversed and comforted each other while others gathered under a medical tent to be treated for their injuries.
Then, Storm received a message.
<SW (2:15 PM)> @Storm Dreamchaser SW (2:15 PM)> We failed. SW (2:15 PM)> Everyone is infected. SW (2:15 PM)> Mira attacked everyone.
Storm swore under his breath and ran his hand through his hair, before sending a reply.
<SD (2:16 PM)> Okay, you and Dylan return to the camp and we’ll wait for the others to report back. SW (2:17 PM)> We can’t. SW (2:17 PM)> *Everyone* here is infected. SW (2:17 PM)> Tell Chase and the kids that I'm sorry.
Back in Lamplight, after rather tense exchanges, all the people, monsters, and pets present in the barn were brought to the center, a rather mauled Astral Wizard drawing out his miraculously unscathed map and teleporting the gathered to Harmony Island.
At the island, they were met with the sight of a clearly distressed tech wizard, a panicking fire warden, arguing teens, and a group of very annoyed water fey who were impatient to cast off.
Aurora looked around. "H-hey, where's dad...?"
Luce, who was standing nearby, turned to face her, "He should be in Bonfire right now."
The Astral Warden, in question, was still inside the Royal Palace, having been guided there previously by a slime.
There was just one problem.
"These doors aren't going to hold forever!" one slime shouted.
"Come on Storm..." The Astral Warden opened the chat and began to type another message.
At the same time, a shapeshifter stood in the corner, shooting a barrage of messages to Storm, unaware that the time traveler had forgotten to unblock him previously due to repeated similar instances in the past.
The doors broke down.
Survivors' screams rang out through the palace as crystals flew through the air, wedging themselves in rocks, skin, and scales.
"FOR ****'S SAKE STORM, RESPOND!" Ignis yelled.
"Oy, mate, watch your language!" a partially infected slime shouted from a distance.
"Oh, shut up, Jerry."
Storm got another ping.
LH (2:22 pm)> @Storm Dreamchaser, could you please open a rilukdyjhar
A seething shapeshifter and a very limited assortment of slimes, salamanders, and monsters teleported onto Harmony Island, with the lone shapeshifter holding a map that wasn't his.
Immediately catching the shapeshifter's attention was a certain borg, who, at his despise, was being pinned down by Rai as Raiden tried to apply a bandage, the gray-haired wizard still failing to sit still as a certain Storm Warden mocked him for it.
Ignis slowly inhaled. "Storm. We're in the middle of an epidemic. If you're going to organize an evacuation, CHECK YOUR ****ING METHODS OF COMMUNICATION."
"Ay, language, buddy! There are still kids here!" a fey exclaimed from one of the tents.
The trainee glanced at the language-correcting fey, then looked up at the false-wizard, "Αν δεν κλείσεις το γ**ώ πάνω τώρα, Θα σου χτυπήσω το α** τόσο δυνατά που θα σε στείλω σε άλλη διάσταση έτσι ένα ηλεκτέρας μπορεί μισό-α**εντελώς συνθλίβετε το φολιδωτό σας δ**κ σε α προφυλακτικό της μητέρας**κερ."
Raiden's eyes were as wide a dinnerplates when her father finished snapping at Ignis, Opal covering Grace's ears in the background, an unreadable expression on her face.
"...language?" the same fairy said with considerable uncertainty.
Lane raised an eyebrow. "Okay..." He turned to Ignis. "So where's Lucas?"
"And while we're at it, where are my kids?" Chase piped.
Abner glanced at Nathan, gesturing for him to answer the Fire Warden.
Nathan shuffled over to his father uncomfortably. "U-um. Hope and I went out to find Jax...neither of them made it back."
"..."
"You're mad, aren't y-"
Chase knelt down and wrapped his son in a hug. "No. No, I'm not," he whispered, voice cracking. The red haired man looked up in Abner's general direction. "Thanks for bringing him back."
Scarlet lowered herself from the sky, somberly burrowing herself into the hug.
"Your mother is going to kill me," Chase half-joked.
"On that note, where is Samantha?" Lane asked.
"And my dad didn't make it back, did he?" Aurora sighed.
"No, he did not," Ignis answered Aurora.
"...Samantha never made it out of Shipwreck," Storm said with a sigh not long after, "She messaged me a short while ago."
Aurora's head drooped, the girl trying to hide the fact that she was holding back tears as she shuffled closer to her grandparents.
Meanwhile, Chase pulled his two children in closer.
Lane let out a frustrated breath. "And we still have no clue about a possible cure yet, do we?"
Storm inhaled. “Okay, so, funny thing.”
“Spit it out already,” Lane said.
“Raiden and I are immune.”
Silence.
“Repeat that?”
“Raiden and I are immune to the virus.”
More silence.
“So, can you create a cure, uh, using yourself, then?” Rai asked.
“The ‘cure’ would be poisonous.”
“Oh.”
“Screw void,” Lane muttered.
A wizard walked up to the remnants of the group. "I'm sorry about your friends and family, I really am, but uh, can we depart now? Y'know, before they get here?"
Rai frowned, tail flicking, "Wait, the group from Shiverchill isn't back yet."
Lane blinked. "I and like twenty others are the group."
“Then what happened to my mom-“
Meanwhile, in Crystal Caverns, a group of wizards and a certain Ice Fey were screeching a variety of profanities as the ran from a horde of Crystal Monsters, having been forgotten by Lane.
"S**t." Lane quickly whipped out his map and teleported into Crystal Caverns, scythe swinging as he followed the angry screams.
The Ice Warden's ear pricked from ahead, having caught the sound of scythe cutting through crystals. She abruptly planted her feet, cyan and light yellow energy intertwining about her left wrist, before they burst into sigils within a perfect circle, barbed chains of ice and astral energy impaling multiple crystal monsters and anchoring them against a nearby ice pillar. They quite obviously absorbed the magic, but as the warden planned, found themselves unable to move.
As the next line of monsters approached, her war scythe materialized in her right hand, the crescent moon staff glistening in the light of the sigils.
Kill Lucy's spawn now, scream at Lane later.
In the meanwhile, bursts of electricity knocked Crystal Monsters into the air, where they were slashed apart, small bolts of lightning jumping between the crytals before residing within them. The Warden tossed his scythe at the measly advancing wave of Crystal Monsters. A ring of electricity formed around the spinning scythe as it slammed into the monsters, sending all but one of the monsters flying into the nearby chasm. The scythe arced upwards into a nearly vertical rotation before rocketing downwards, slamming into the Crystal Monster and scattering its pieces. Lane yanked his scythe out of the ground, and advanced through the caverns, leaving a trail of crystals in his wake until he finally spotted the irate Ice Warden and group of caveners.
Meanwhile, Aly had beheaded quite a bit of Crystals Monsters, sporadically sending out chains to restrain anything that got too close. The rest of the group, meanwhile, had reached a dead end, leaving them depending on the Wardens for their safety.
On the opposite side of the battlefield, Crystal Monsters were shattered or sent flying away from the battle. But with each one destroyed or knocked away, more arrived to take its place.
Needless to say, hacking away and restraining the monsters wasn't working.
The monsters were advancing towards the caverners and increasing the gap between Lane and Aly.
Single target attacks are ineffective.
A large scale magic attack isn't going to work at this point since the magic would just be absorbed.
Seems like there is really no way to get through.
Wait.
An idea flashed in the Storm Warden's head.
Lane quickly summoned and dug through his backpack, quickly pulling out a Sonic Blaster. The Warden pointed it at the mass of Crystal Monsters.
"See ya."
Air warped around the blast of sound, and the Crystal Monsters cracked as they took the hit and hurtled away from the point of impact.
The path was now clear.
A certain Ice Fey strode up to him, "Maybe next time, don't forget me."
"I just-"
"Talk to me again when my ears stop ringing."
At this point and time, the group of wizards, dwarves, and yetis approached, being quite relieved.
As soon as the refugees gathered around, Lane and a few other wizards pulled out their maps and tapped Harmony Island, teleporting the group over to the chosen island.
Aly was immediately met with a hug from Rai, the warden sighing, "You're way too old for this." Regardless, she returned the embrace, a smile playing at her expression.
"So," the wizard from earlier started, "can we go now?"
Storm sighed from where he now stood, "Yes, we can leave now."
"Final-" The wizard was cut off by a scream from the tents. Refugees dashed away from the area, as a single wizard stumbled out of a tent, crystals growing on their neck.
The wizard looked up, tears streaming down their face. "I-I'm sorry...I didn't...want to be left alone..." The wizard took one step forward, and collapsed.
The refugee camp went silent in shock, everyone trying to process what happened.
They took too long.
Three.
Chaos broke out between the grounded refugees as they made a mad scramble for the boats. The present wardens and trainees tried to make a move to gain control of the situation, but failed, leading to many coming in contact with the infected before they could even get to their feet.
It wasn’t long until the newly infected collapsed, and the panicking group began to steer clear of the bodies like a herd avoiding a predator.
Two.
A she-demon’s gaze fell on the unconscious infected wizard, eyes narrowing as their fingers twitched. Whispers screaming, a blast of Shadow Magic blocked a barrage of crystals, quickly being absorbed.
From behind her, a certain Shadow Trainee began doing the same, tattoos glowing lavender as blast after blast countered crystal.
Yet they couldn’t counter it well enough.
One.
The fey took off, wise enough to flee before they too were infected. One of the Water Fey slammed their foot down on a plank of their boat, leading to them falling through a hole and allowing it to sink. The others did similar until the only intact ships were the ones drifting away.
Meanwhile, the Ice Trainee didn’t follow the rest, cursing as she felt crystal graze her arm. Claws met wing, a fey left flightless.
The Shadow Trainee fell to the same fate.
Infected.
The screech of time meeting space occurred at the shore, a gray-haired man, a teen, and two children running inside a rift. Cyan flashed as it snapped shut, a single crystal making it into the quickly closing hole.
One of the children - the younger - began to come down with a fever.
And risen.
Dark energy began to pulse in the crystals of the infected, and in another realm, the energy of a pseudo-elemental lingered between the imprint of the keystones...
In the Academy, a Warden of endless light is dragged deep into the infectious darkness, host only to the insatiable element mocking all that he once stood for, a mimicry of heretical design. Shambling towards the Keystones, Void essence twists inside of his skin, ravenous and delighting in the feast to come. Slowly and rigidly, his arm is pulled skyward, the void exploiting the Warden's connection to the Keystones to feed. Essence begins to collect in the palm of his hand, lured towards his authority, consumed by the true nature of what was held within. Crystals burst from flesh, dark blood splashing over the pedestals, staining the stone and holding the absorbed essence within. Locked away within the subconscious, the true mind of the Astral Warden can only watch and writhe in agony, feeling the visceral pain of each growth forming and piercing, millions of blades at once. The crystalline structures gradually begin to lock down all movement, and before long, the Warden is reduced to a statue, swirling essence fighting and being captured or consumed in every molecule of his being. He cannot scream. He cannot cry out. And he knows what comes next. In an instant, the crystals shatter, the pseudo-elemental's consciousness desires complete and total corruption. Overtaken elemental energy expels itself from the Academy, the structure and island inlaid with the corruptive minerals. Raw Void essence sweeps across the archipelago and far beyond, utterly decimating the land and water, instantly infecting everything in the blast. All that is precious to the corrupted Warden, infected and destroyed, disgraced to the highest degree. He can only watch. He still cannot scream.
...And looming in their dust was no other than Void.
On Ground Zero.
Eyes wearily opened as a fey let out a groan, soon pushing herself into a sitting position.
The space around her was oddly quiet, and after slowly glancing around, Glace quickly realized she didn’t recognize where she was. None of the others were here, and this place…
Trees surrounded the clearing, a dark element running through their grooves, leaves being shades of black and violet. An odd substance stained the soil, and all the vegetation that neared it quickly withered, a hiss arising as acid burned through. She couldn’t see above the canopy, the branches having intertwined to block off the sky.
And, frankly, she felt like someone was watching her.
She couldn’t recall why she moved her hand, but she stopped the second she caught sight of it. Light violet scares coated her fingers - but not extending past her knuckles - and thin void crystals protruded from her wrist, resting against the skin of her arm.
If you happen to be a gray-haired clone who previously experienced being stabbed in the abdomen by a giant hunk of ice, you would probably be stepping away from the she-demon, being reminded of a certain blonde with a god complex.
However, there were no such clones within her radius, leaving an utter lack of a forewarning towards any form of negative events.
Instead, the trainee let out a dragged out sigh.
“I’m assuming since I’m not infected, this is going to be permanent?”
“Very.”
The yellow-eyed fey turned to face the voice so fast, she nearly got whiplash.
Standing - or rather, hovering - a short distance away was the all too familiar form of Void, the pseudo-elemental crossing its arms as it inspected her.
“So you’re the… thing I share parents with?”
.
.
.
“WHAT THE F**K?”
Clearly, the fey did not take that bit of information well.
The elemental bore a look of disdain, speaking distastefully, “Your… father hosted me in order to create this body, and Shadow - a mother we partially share, apparently - provided the substance for my creation… quite similar to your case, actually.”
Blank staring, “How long ago was this?”
“Three years before you were born,” they responded in a monotone.
“So… not only am I a demigod, but my twenty one year old brother? Sister? Neither? Just happens to be a Nor damned elemental?”
“Pretty much.”
“F**cking hell.”
After recovering from her outburst, her eyes narrowed, “So how does any of that have to do with… this.” Raising her hand was all she needed to do to clarify, the new edition to her appearance sufficing as an explanation.
At this, the elemental shuffled awkwardly. Genuinely shuffled. “Well, seeing the circumstances, it would be… immoral to infect a younger sibling.”
“Didn’t you call me a thing not too long ago? And haven’t you attempted to take over the island one… two… maybe even three times so far?”
”Yes, but-”
“...great, you’re a kissa**.”
They promptly argued for the next three hours.
Classic siblings.
In Firefly Forest were two adults, Ansat and Ben. They were walking around, trying to infect someone. Why they were in Firefly Forest is anyone's guess.
A cyan rift flashed near fisherman's pond, the Chasers tumbling out stacked like tetris blocks, Storm very obviously being at the bottom of the stack.
Raiden pushed herself up from Storm - balancing two toddlers on her back - and blinked at seeing the surrounding. "Firefly? Seriously, Baba?"
"Uh... Raiden, you know I'm full of bad ideas," the bandaged borg replied as he wormed his way out from beneath the heap of his children.
"And how," she began, pushing Grace and Caleb off her, both landing with an oof, "is this bad idea going to work?"
Grace sat up, blinking innocently, "Is daddy being stupid again?"
"Yes," Raiden answered at the same time Storm said, "No."
The teen rolled her eyes at her father when he shot her his how-dare-you-side-with-her look, and promptly picked up Caleb, instantly frowning.
Before she could say anything, however, a rustle in the bushes caught both borg's attention.
Out came Ansat and Ben, who looked very off.
"Great, more idiots," Raiden practically growled in irritancy, leading to an offended look from Storm.
However, the gray-haired wizard moved to grab his saber, his daughter doing similar....
"F**K."
"Language, and what is it?"
"You're one to talk, and some idiot stole my saber," she snapped at him, eying the infected Ansat and Ben warily.
Unbeknownst to the young borg, however, her quote-unquote "pog uncle" was making some... improvements to her original saber.
With precise manipulation of electricity, and a small time of metalworking with more blunt force trauma, it was time to assemble what would promise to be an improvement to Raiden's battle capabilities.
The entire laser-generating portion of the saber's handle, transferred to the internals of the rough metal outline. An oscillation system fused to the base blade, refined, and linked up to the visor. An electric conduit implanted on what would technically be the pommel.
The tests were major successes. All forms of material are cut in an instant. A Ffodnarg slain for fun with simple blade levitation.
It was perfect.
And it might just have been the best gift a violence-prone borg could have gotten.
Ansat began a light jog, before running faster. Eventually, he coated himself with an electric aura.
"Raiden..." The Storm Trainee began, and without having to finish, the aforementioned brown-haired wizard scooped up Grace - Caleb clinging to her neck like a baby Koala - and ran.
Meanwhile, electricity similarly arced around the older borg, saber powering up and casting a blue shine on the ghastly forest.
Ben similarly flew forwards, a fire aura coating him. He wasn't going as fast as his friend, but was still going fast.
Storm's heart rate quickened at seeing the flames, but he forced himself to stand his ground, building up electricity and clenching the metal hilt of his saber, the cyan plasma growing brighter every dozen amps.
A number counting down in the corner of his visor, another counting up in the opposing.
Just a bit more...
Ansat raced at him, the borg's saber slicing through the hunk of crystals growing on the speedster's side. It wouldn't kill him, but it did expose the injury the crystals infected through. Ansat's electrical aurora was quickly snatched, charging the borg's further before it crashed down on Ben, the crystals on the flying tech wizard exploding from the collective heat, his firey aura quickly sputtering out and leading to him crashing in the branches of the nearby tree.
The borg turned to face Ansat, who was behind him.
One down, one more to go.
Ansat started running in circles around Storm, moving quick enough so that his legs almost looked as if they were a blur. Despite the thrill that this would've usually brought him, his face was still dead.
The Trainee arched a brow at this tatic, a void tentacle being thrust out and tripping the so-called "half-brained hedgehog." It promptly wrapped him up like a spider's prey, carrying him away to toss him into the tree with Ben.
Ansat crashed right into Ben, all of the money in his pockets flying outwards.
Storm, meanwhile, blinked, dissipating the void tentacle, "...that was too easy."
And of course, this was exactly the moment the two friends started fling void infested spells at him.
Ben flew upwards while spamming spells, clearly intending to gain the height advantage in his scuffle. Ansat, on the other hand, tried the same tactic as last time, but from a way further distance.
Realizing that it might not be the best of ideas to attempt to incapacitate Ansat and Ben, the borg opted to retreat, another Void Tentacle being summoned to block a certain speedster in case he tried to bulldoze the Trainee.
Ansat tried to break the tentacle, but to no avail. Ben kept spamming spells from above, as if nothing happened.
The tentacle suddenly coiled about Ansat again - grabbing Ben as well - before hurling both of them away, the two disappearing over the tree line.
Storm dissipated the void tentacle, catching his breath from his very chaotic running, "Okay.. so maybe that wasn't....the best of my ideas."
The borg said that as if he expected a response.
Aly would have agreed with him.
Lane would have scolded him for it.
Chase would have shrugged it off.
Gale would...actually, Gale would have probably just raised an eyebrow.
If only there was a response.
But that doesn't matter now.
Now, it was just him, the remnants of his family, and faint clinking of crystals.
If only it felt peaceful.
. . .
Maybe it's because the island was never meant to be this quiet.
. . .
Time to find Raiden.
Elsewhere, a certain Ice Fairy crossed her arms, glaring at her newfound older half-sibling, still locked in an argument. "So if I'm an a**hole, what does that make you?"
"You've cycled back to that point five times already. Respectfully, stop. You're wasting both of our time."
"What 'time' are we even wasting? There's nothing to do here."
The elemental remained expressionless.
"So what now? You want me to admit you won?"
"I already knew that. I don't need you to reiterate what I did...but yes, that would be nice."
"Hah, no."
"..."
It suddenly dawned on the elemental exactly how troublesome a younger sibling was, even if they're already eighteen. The pseudo-being was surely not going to escape this conundrum anytime soon, especially seeing how their...younger sibling was immune due to their reluctance.
That's when they realized they had indirectly given themself not-so-babysitting duty. Now, if only they had Canada Dry imprint to chug in disappointment - much akin to a certain entity - and mope about how all their plans have been ruined due to the presence of one she-demon. This was truly an evil of a whole new level, much more nefarious than all their schemes combined.
Speaking of schemes, they couldn't go down the path of nihility just yet...they first had to figure out how to not-so-babysit a certain fey while continuing their with their world domination.
The pseudo-elemental was by no means experienced in keeping other beings occupied without putting them in direct mortal danger, which for some reason it could not bring itself to do when it came to the she-demon. It could toss Glace into the void, but the last remaining Darkshade might assist her in spite of his constant apathy to the concerns outside the abyssal dimension. Physically restraining her would be too much work, considering the apparent affinity to Void magic it could sense from the little devil, on top of whatever Shadow had done to her. Forcing her to follow the pseudo-elemental around would be a massive pain in the a**, and she might find some counter to the plague from the deep. Until it could find a solution that wouldn't kill her or become a threat to the virus, the embodiment of the endless deep couldn't do much more then waste time arguing.
When it came to that matter, actually, the Element of Void, for all of its power, presence, and omniscience, had absolutely no idea whatsoever why it felt like Glace needed to have a better chance of survival until the inevitable. Its own mother, for lack of better words, was regarded by the pseudo-elemental as a million different insults in archaic, unknown languages. It felt no debt to the other elementals, either, even if it was feeding off of them. All it had ever done to Gale was torment him and his allies; as for Aly, any beings it was aware of related to her had only caused it and the voidwalkers most keen on helping it issues. It had no reason not to reduce the fey to a crystalline statue, and yet its hand was stayed.
Back to the matter at hand, though.
The borgs. They were the biggest issue. A voidwalker and his remaining family, obviously immune to the infestation.
The time travelers. Completely f**king useless in most cases of dire importance, but if reality forced them to interfere, the situation may be turned in favor of the survivors.
Any remaining voidwalkers. It would take time to drain all of the essence into the virus or into the pseudo-elemental.
And the little prick standing in front of him.
It was time to get to work, but that started with making sure this ragamuffin rat was taken care of.
Then an idea came to the pseudo-elemental. One that relied on its half-sibling's survivability in combat, which it could tell was sufficient for what it had in mind.
"Starheart. If I gave you an axe and told you to survive a horde of imprints, how long do you estimate you would last?"
“Why would I- Nevermind. Longer than you would expect,” the fey paused and arched a brow, “also, the name’s Glace.”
"And also Starheart, is it not?"
"Yes, but-"
"Then I'm correct. Good luck."
Summoning a network of tendrils, the pseudo-elemental ripped open a rift under Glace and pushed the she-demon in, tossing an axe made of neutralized void crystals down with her.
Where the rift ended was an imprint of an ancient fort from a war centuries ago, cold and dark. Holes and windows punctuated the walls, though a thick void smog prevented exit.
And in the dark miasma, a million eyes stared back.
Glace, (like a certain time traveler) faceplanted into the ground of the void, the void crystals on her hand glowing slightly. She quickly pushed herself up, spitting out the bits of void “soil” that had gotten into her mouth, recoiling at the taste.
It was at this time that she froze, whispers screaming thousands of bad omens as her gaze met that of the infinite dark.
“For f**k’s sake-“
The heliotrope-colored axe was drawn from the ground nearby, just in time to collide with an imprint’s face, only for five more to emerge from the dark.
This was going to be a long day.
The imprints rushed forward, screaming as they forced their way into the building. Axe met head and body faded into mist, but the hordes kept coming regardless of how many fell. They were seemingly endless, and the she-demon could do little more than continue to hack away.
As the axe came down over and over again and void essence disappeared into the crevices of the blade, crystals began to grow from the jagged pommel, slowly coming to fuse with the crystal jutting out of the she-demon's hand, currently unnoticed. The more the fey savaged the horde, the more the two structures developed this bond, and the more energy began to collect within the weapon- soon enough, it was glowing a bright purple, and fragments of crystal orbited the blade, liquid arcs of essence twisting like solar flares around them.
A tight feeling of immense pressure invaded Glace's head, the influence of the stolen power straining against its confines.
And the next time the axe ripped across a line of imprints, that built-up essence surged from the blade, manifesting as a wave of abyssal anti-energy that reduced the crowd to dust and echoes.
Elsewhere, an elemental conducts a search through the eyes of the infected for the remaining immune or surviving.
Somewhere in the shuffling Academy Archives, a long forgotten stone took on a more intense purple glow, feeding off of the absence of the other keystones as well as the magic within the crystals of the corrupted.
As the pseudo-elemental made plans to deal with any immediate threats, a Storm was making his way through Firefly, checking his visor regarding the other's location.
Not long after his encounter with a certain half-brained hedgehog, he had realized it was possible to hack every wizard watch on the island and track them. This lead to him quickly having to alter his visor's parameters to only show advancing infected withing a mile radius, as the population size was shockingly large. This, admittedly, had taken more time than he liked, even with his experience programming in less time, no thanks to all the troubles he managed to get with his companions. He had smiled slightly at this, but it was all but wistful.
Storm soon continued on his course, navigating Raiden's tracker. Now, a question would be why he didn't just use a rift? The answer? Even though he successfully tracked every wizard on the island, he couldn't track the monsters or any intellectual species that somehow remained on the island. Thus, it would be particularly unwise to rift into a said place and potentially alert every infected in the area of his location.
And so, he was stuck trekking through Firefly, eventually tying his coat about his waste due to breaking a sweat.
It wasn't long until he abruptly stopped, a twang of a bow resounding through the forest.
Golden energy drifted through the air, amber eyes darting about. They had been surrounded by quite a few of the infected, leading to them keeping an arrow nocked at all times.
At the moment, they weren't approaching, but it wouldn't be-
The grass rustled, and the figure immediately spun, arrow nailing the crystalized wizard to a tree. This provoked the others, each charging at that moment, casting spell after spell. Each movement was countered by an arrow, the green and blue cloths of their clothing flowing with their movements. Astral shields conjured to block spells, bursting into a shower of yellow particles before the violet magic could overtake them. Yet with these rapid, inhuman maneuvers, it wasn't long before the shrapnel of a spell grazed their face, a pained hiss escaping them. The golden energy that circled the field changed in color, taking on a purple taint...
...then when it was least expected, changed back to its previous gold, shining brighter than before.
So that's how you cure it.
The energy curled like a snake, the figure's eyes glowing as they stood defiantly, somehow escaping succumbing to the corruption.
The essence struck.
It moved like a consuming force, growing stronger with each crystal it destroyed. It bit like a serpent, its venom, instead of hurting, healing the infected. It fed off the birth magic of the infected, curing the wounds left by the dark matter with the essence of the beings themselves. It was not perfect, as those who took mortal injuries would certainly perish if something were to affect their magic, but it was good enough.
Their astral pin on their vest caught the light of the essence as it returned to its owner, and all of the previously infected collapsed, the abrupt draining of their mana being too much to bear.
A snap caused their ears to prick up, their white wings poising to take off, when-
Storm stood at the edge of the clearing, utterly shocked. The fey somehow not only managed to avoid being infected, but also cured the infectees. However, before he could say a word to the ginger-haired figure, they took off, leaving him alone in the forest.
Well, seeing the cured infected were still here, mostly alone. Now, to figure out what to do with them...
A while later, he had rifted the cured, seeing there were no infected there. As long as they didn't make the mistake of leaving, they should be safe there. He continued his trek through Firefly Forest, the memory of the fey burning at his thoughts.
It was possible to cure the virus - the fey was evidence of that - but how? The magic the fey used wasn't normal, meaning he most likely couldn't replicate it, especially since it wasn't elemental magic. Or at least, it wasn't an element that could succumb to Void.
He began to wonder if there was an alternative, eventually groaning at the headache he gave himself trying to figure this out.
A notification flickered onto his visor.
Not long after Storm and the kids had split up, Raiden had led her siblings to the very edge of Firefly, not far from the long-abandoned Mountain Pass.
"Where is it..."
"Where's what?" Grace was sitting on the ground nearby, looking up at her older sister.
The borg, meanwhile, was frantically searching the dense foliage, an impenetrable forest before her, "An entrance to the Silvian."
"What's the shell-way-an?"
"Silvian," Raiden corrected with a small smile, "It's the place where the fairies live, remember?"
The toddler perked up, "You mean the magic forest Mr. Flwuffy tells us stories about?"
The borg could scarcely hide her snicker at the nickname for Luce, "Yes, it's the place he tells you about. We're going there to hide from the crystal people." Her voice was soothing, making everything sound like a game.
"Caleb!" Grace exclaimed excitedly, turning to her brother, "Raiden's taking us to..." She trailed off at seeing he had fallen asleep, curled up in a tight ball. "Raiden, why is Caleb asleep? It's not nap time yet."
She glanced back in alarm, cursing under her breath.
The brunette had noticed that the boy had picked up a fever, but forgotten to ask Storm for the fey tear back. It's not as if it would cure him of whatever bug he picked up, but it would've kept him from tiring out too quickly, which is exactly what just happened.
Raiden exhaled deeply, answering her sister, "Caleb's been feeling a bit sick and is sleeping to feel better."
Grace suddenly fell quiet, "Will he...have to go somewhere like Mom?"
"No!" The borg's outburst startled the girl, "No, he won't have to. He'll wake up soon, don't worry." Raiden bit her lip, before adding, "Grace, I'm having a bit of trouble finding the entrance to the Silvian...do you want to help me while waiting for Caleb to wake up?"
"O-okay..." The young girl looked rather...drained, having lost all her previous enthusiasm.
Her older sibling cast a concerned look before tending to their younger sibling, alarm flashing across her expression upon realizing how high of a fever Caleb had.
Storm better arrive soon.
A little while later, Storm had reached the edge of Firefly, but his children were nowhere in sight. He frantically checked his visor, at first thinking that maybe the coordinates were offset, before remembering what lay beyond the border.
Raiden, I hope you know what you're doing.
It had taken him a while to locate the entrance, and once he'd done so, he quickly discovered Raiden was on the move again. Even the chances of an infected finding the Silvian were slim, the younger borg clearly didn't want to risk it, regardless of immunity. And frankly, she was moving fast, taking advantage of a rift or two. The Storm Trainee almost did the same before realizing exactly how taxing tracking the infected was, deciding to conserve battery power for now.
It was evening when he finally caught up to them.
He narrowly avoided being hit by a blast of Astral Magic, his daughter having taken zero chances the moment she heard someone approach. However, at seeing who it was, her battle-ready stance melted into relief, "Baba! Thank goodness."
He offered her a small smile, "Where's-"
Raiden tilted her head towards a nearby tree, which, now that he paid closer attention to it, contained a hut woven into the branches, "In there. Do you still have my necklace?"
"Of course," he responded, moving to take it off, "Sorry, I should've given it back earlier." He held it out to her, and she solemnly accepted it. Her relief changed to a frown, gaze fixed on the crystalized tear.
Storm all but noticed, "Raiden? What's wrong?"
"About our immunity...is it possible that the virus affected us...differently?"
.
.
.
The space was small, but seeing the remaining population had fallen to corruption, it had become impossible to trust large areas.
Raiden had fallen asleep to his right, leaning against the wall. Her steady breathing was the only sound, the creatures of the night having fallen silent. In her lap was Grace, the borg's younger sister gripping tight, face twisted with a nightmare.
In his lap was Caleb, the two-year-old hot to the touch. The toddler was clearly ill, coughing in his sleep. The grey-haired wizard gently ran a hand through the child's black-brown hair, his sapphire gaze brimming with concern.
The last week had been complete and utter hell.
The same day Glace went missing, Juniper died, being eaten by no one else but Jade. The day after, Gale went under arrest, and a strange virus had begun to spread, completely under their noses. Jade went on trial the following day - with him being the prosecutor - and was sentenced to life imprisonment, delighting in mentally abusing Gale.
The grey fey went on trial later that day, earning himself fifteen years of imprisonment. Thankfully, Glace managed to haggle with the terms, allowing the fey to spend the majority in house arrest - with a catch of therapy.
As time went on, things all but worsened, starting with the virus worsening, transitioning into the fairies eaving - the rest of the population residing on Harmony Island. Not long after, the virus manages to spread even there, causing chaos to ensue.
The only people who weren't infected were him and his children.
They were alone, and no one could help them.
Or perhaps, just maybe, someone could.
He remembered an odd ginger-haired fey - one who had used a strange magic to protect themself from the virus. They didn't seem familiar - wearing foreign robes and carrying a long bow that was roughly half their height. He didn't catch a good glimpse of their face, but he did remember that they had long ginger hair, which seemed a bit unmanageable.
Yet the question is how he was supposed to find them, especially since...he couldn't leave, no.
He didn't doubt that Raiden could handle herself, and he didn't doubt that Grace and Caleb would be safe with her; it's just that...he wasn't ready to leave. He wanted to ignore the world just a bit longer, but the feverish toddler, the one in his lap, was fate's way of saying no.
Why me?
The following morning Storm made a decision: he was going to find that fey. He explained to Raiden (in private) where he was going and that he'll be back soon, leaving her to watch over the kids. The was only one thing...
"They're a f**king full-grown fey, how the hell do you just... disappear?" The borg had searched the entire clearing - and the surrounding area - before slumping against a tree in despair. He hadn't found a single trace of the fey, and he didn't have any other clues regarding their location. As he sat under the tree, his mismatched blue eyes observing everything carefully, a frightening thought made its way into his mind.
What if Caleb...dies?
He didn't take another rest after that.
Meanwhile, across the island, a certain pseudo-elemental had returned to their clearing, eyes closed as their omnipresent eye searched. The other day they had felt the loss of power, feeling as if someone snatched a meal right out of their stomach, leaving them empty.
Someone - somehow - had been cured.
Their first priority was no longer the voidwalkers (who, frankly, were mostly oblivious) but whoever managed to heal the infected. They needed-
They paused.
HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TRY TO KILL THIS GUY?!?
Undoubtedly, one of their voidwalkers knew of the elusive healer. However, what earned an annoyed growl from them was the fact this voidwalker ever so happened to be Storm. The rogue was painstakingly immune to everything they'd thrown at him. He survived a void robot, Ffodnarg, the sect attacking him, a universe collision, having void essence ripped out of his body, poisonous mist, and somehow managed to ignore the void essence fighting against him.
Wait...
The elemental closed their eyes, concentrating...
In Firefly, a flash of pain ran up the borg's leg, and he felt it buckle under him. He tried to get up, but the pins of needles of pain ran up his leg again.
Red was beginning to stain the left side of his trouser, so he cautiously rolled up the fabric, grimacing at seeing his knee. Something metallic was stabbing out torn, pink flesh, a purple essence staining the area. Normally, he ignored the writing of Void, but right now, it seemed to be his mistake.
His sapphire eye darted about nervously, taking in the surrounding. There wasn't anyone around right now, but he was in the open, and void…
He could always rift out, but there was no guarantee that the place he rifted to would be safe, even if he glimpsed at the future timelines.
It was at that moment footsteps became audible.
Electricity began to arc around the time traveler, the borg preparing to give the approacher a nasty shock.
"There's no need for that." The voice was accompanied by the creak of a tree branch.
Storm's eyes narrowed, "Who's there?"
“Just a friend.”
Although the words sounded friendly, the trainee did not let down his guard, electricity building up in strength.
The branches creaked again, a long, white creature darting through the leaves, “You’re wasting your time. That won’t have an effect on me.”
“Then why are you running?” Storm replied warily, anger concealing his agony.
The branches creaked once more, and something - someone - dropped out of the tree in front of him.
An amber-eyed fey towered over the injured borg, light yellow tail lashing behind them. They appeared to be male and wore foreign-looking robes, having long, ginger hair draped against a huge long bow, which was strung across their back.
“That,” the fey began, tilting his head slightly toward a farther tree, “was my pet. I don’t need her getting scorched. Now will you please stop? I’m trying to help you.”
The trainee obliged…somewhat. Static still sparked in the air, and his gaze signified that he had done it out of recognition, not out of trust.
“Help me? And why would you do that?”
“If you didn’t trust me to help you, then why are you looking for me?”
The static receded completely.
Storm gave him an odd look, “How did you know that?”
“I saw you watching me during that fight,” he replied, tail flicking through the air, “based on the look on your face, it was obvious that you took interest in me…and the same happened for you.”
If the borg were a cat, his eyes would most certainly have become slits, “And why are you interested in me?”
The fey took a step toward, “I can ask the same of you.”
“But you know the answer - I need your help - but I don’t know what you want.”
Another step, “But do I know what you need my help for?”
“You could take a guess.”
White flashed in the branches again, and Storm could’ve sworn he heard a hiss.
“If you’re going to be so wary, I’ll tell you my intentions first: I just want to ask you some questions.”
“What kind of questions?” Suspicion pooled in his visible eye, sapphire meeting amber.
“Oh, nothing too serious, and if you need an example…” This time, it was the fey’s turn to for hostility, his voice becoming a cold hiss, “…I’ll be starting with what are you.”
The borg felt something bite his arm, slumping as the world went dark.
The ginger-haired fey bit down on a pin as he tied up his hair, back turned to his “visitor.”
Not long ago, he had run into a particular gray-haired wizard for the second time, and this time, he was going to get answers. Snow - a miniature prodraxis - had made quick work of inducing a fainting spell, allowing him to ensure the “visitor” wouldn’t try anything stupid. Especially seeing that injury of his. Speaking of which, he had questions regarding that, specifically regarding why the essence in the wizard’s injury was akin to that of a virus that had broken out on the island.
Pinning his hair in a bun with one hand, he slid the decorative hairpin out of his mouth and neatly into his hair, allowing him to free his other hand. A soft moan caused his ears to prick, a glance being cast on the “visitor” laying on a cot nearby. Yet instead of waiting for him to fully wake, the fey left the room, off to retrieve something.
Storm wearily opened his eyes, feeling quite…numb. And cold, for that matter. He moved to sit up, only to find he couldn’t, leaving him to settle with lifting his head instead.
The borg caught a glance of a bandage on his leg, another being on his right arm. Someone had taken off his brace - leading to a swear - and factoring in his injured arm, that was probably why he couldn’t sit up.
However, the foul language didn’t end there, leading to a tangent of swearing upon realizing he was shirtless.
No wonder he was so cold.
Though his discomfort wasn’t what caused his vulgar choice in vocabulary, rather, it was the fact his burn scar was exposed. Intriguingly, he wasn’t upset…just angry.
He had already accepted it as part of his life now, it’s just that he didn’t fancy the idea of some stranger knowing exactly how badly he had been burned. Knowing always led to questions, and questions lead to memories.
However, footsteps caught his attention, prompting him to inspect his surroundings.
He was in a cave - that was for certain - and it seemed to be near the surface as sunlight streamed through an opening in the cave ceiling. Shelves were carved into the stone walls - full of herbs, fabrics, and other materials - and basic furniture was placed in unassuming locations. He could also - just barely - see a rug next to the cot he was on, seeming to be made of some sort of silk. As to why silk was used for a rug, that was beyond him.
The space was rather uninteresting, the most eye-catching detail being the occasional vine or lichen patch.
Storm sighed, casting his gaze at the open ceiling, breathing out a sigh.
It seems it was time to wait.
A hand braced a kettle, steaming hot water being poured into a delicate tea cup. Thanks to a makeshift teabag that was slowly floating to the top of the liquid, the cup's contents frothed as it became a rich brown. With a sharp prod of a spoon, the teabag was forced to sink, and a white snake slithered next to the cup, drawn by the warmth.
“Hello, Snow,” The tea pourer said affectionately, a few stray strands of ginger hair hanging over his eyes.
“Snow” let out a relaxed hiss, coiling about the teacup about half an inch away from the porcelain. Placing down the kettle, the fey reached out a finger and gently stroke the reptile’s scales, a slight smile across his face.
Within the tea that a certain snake was heat-bathing with was a mixture of ginkgo, turmeric, and a few other herbs. It wasn’t really a casual drink, but rather, a little something to help the visitor with the side effects of Snow’s venom. The venom itself wasn’t lethal, but it was…inconvenient.
It was about now that he gently lifted the snake - allowing her to curl about his neck - and place the teacup on a tray with a sandwich and a napkin.
As for the sandwich…he was admittedly concerned regarding his “visitor’s” health, especially seeing how thin he was. He was on the brink of starving, but he was getting a bit too close for comfort.
Stepping into the room, the fey was immediately met by a sapphire glare.
Well, it would be sapphire if Storm didn’t have a singular slate-blue eye.
“I see you’re awake,” the fey said simply, placing the tray on the nightstand next to him, “I’m sorry about Snow’s venom, but it didn’t seem like you were going to let me near you.”
He continued to glare.
The fey flicked his tail, “The last thing I wanted was for you to bleed out.”
Finally, the borg spoke, “I wasn’t going to die.” He immediately winced, the numbness causing him to feel like static.
“I know that.”
Storm looked him up and down, “How?”
“The same way I know you’re not human,” the fey replied simply, “though you do look quite like one.”
An unknown expression flashed across the gray-haired man’s face, “How the f**k do you-“
“I’ll be happy to answer that question and others as soon as you answer mine.”
Silence, then “Fine.”
The ginger-haired fey clasped his hands together, his snake lifting her head wearily, “Well then, now that that’s settled, I’ve brought you something to eat. And a little something for the numbness.”
“Y’know, I would appreciate it if I was able to sit up.”
“I haven’t forgotten about that,” he said with a sigh, suddenly looking just as weary as his snake, “I put your brace on the nightstand.”
The next few minutes were filled with the very awkward process of putting a shirt on the borg - mostly made awkward due to the fact Storm couldn’t lift either arm and refused to help the second the fey mentioned the trainee’s paralysis - followed by much more awkwardly assisting the wizard with strapping his brace on.
Finally, the grey-haired wizard managed a sitting position, wearing a borrowed shirt and sipping from a teacup.
After an awkward pause, "Sorry about the shirt thing. When I moved you here one of your injuries started bleeding again...honestly, that was the most atrocious bandaging I've ever seen." The last part was joking, but he only received a harrumph in response.
"That was my daughter's handiwork." A pause, "Though believe me, my bandaging skills are worse."
"You have a daughter?"
The borg smiled slightly, "Yes, two of them, along with two sons."
As Storm said this, the fey's face fell, his tail drooping.
The trainee blinked, wondering what he said wrong, "Is something the matter?"
"No, no, nothing's wrong," the ginger-haired man paused, before adding, "It's just that...I also had a daughter, and a son, if I can even call them that."
"What...happened to them? If it's okay to ask."
The fey exhaled heavily, "My daughter was stillborn, as for my son...well, my wife was from the Ice Tribe and they're...quite superstitious in regards to possession and whatnot." He fell silent again, looking for words.
It's not up to me to complain, for Celestial's sake even Harmony would've agreed with her.
"Nevermind, it doesn't matter what she did, the fact is, my son also died, at least that's what she told me." He crossed his arms to hug himself, tail now lashing, "I just wish I got to meet them."
Sympathy flashed in the borg's gaze, "You didn't get to meet them?"
"No, I worked for the Academy back then...I was nearly always busy and I didn't manage to catch a break until..." He fell silent again.
Storm placed the cup of tea back on the nightstand, an unknown emotion making its way into his expression. If the fey worked for the Academy, that means he was either a past Warden, Trainee, or Keeper. None of the Wardens or Trainees - with the exception of Jade - have ever retired, and since the last Astral Keeper was Abner...
He's a Starheart. All the Academy Keepers before Abner were Starhearts. But that would mean...
"Your wife told you your son was dead, right?"
The fey looked at him, confused, "Yes? I already said that."
"Does your name happen to be Austen Starheart?"
He didn't need to hear a response to know the answer was yes.
“So you’re telling me my son's actually been alive, and I...wasn’t there for him.”
Austen sat next to Storm on the cot, currently holding his own cup of tea, specifically, thyme tea to help soothe his immense shock.
The fey’s ears were drooping, tail curled around him while his snake curled up in his lap.
Storm, in the meanwhile, had relaxed quite a bit, dropping his hostility and even going as far as comforting the fey.
Yet no amount of comforting words could console the Astral Fey, not after what he heard.
“I’m a horrible parent,” he moped, his amber gaze dull.
Storm sighed, “Welling in self-pity isn’t going to make up for anything. And there’s a small fact that you said you’ll-”
“-help you once I asked my questions, I know. What is it that you need help with exactly?”
“It's related to the topic at hand, actually. You’ve probably noticed that I’m immune-”
“That's one of my questions, actually,” the fey stated.
The borg continued with a nod, “My family is also immune. However, something didn't...quite work out for my youngest. The thing is, he’s dying and I thought-”
“-that I could help,” Austen finished, gaze unreadable, “I’m sure I can, but...you can’t walk and I don’t know where he is. Or if it’s already too late for him.”
“There’s another way I can take you to him. And he can’t have...I would know,” he finished the statement while staring at the visor on the nightstand.
Austen lifted his snake onto his shoulders, getting up, “Then we should probably get going.”
A while ago, in Firefly, a feverish Caleb slept in Raiden’s lap, the brown-haired both watching her younger brother in concern.
“Raiden?”
She looked up at Grace, the girl’s emerald eyes brimming with worry, “Is Caleb going to be okay?”
“Of course,” the borg attempted a strained smile.
“Then why did Daddy have to leave?” Tears pricked at the toddler’s vision, “Is he even going to come back? Or is he-” She didn't finish, choking on a sob. It was clear Grace was worried that what happened to Juniper would happen to Storm.
Why wouldn’t she? After seeing something like that...
Raiden simply sighed, extending an arm and pulling the girl close, “Grace, Baba had to go get someone to make sure Caleb gets better. I promise you he’s going to come back. He’s not going to leave us. That’s why I’m sure Caleb’s going to be okay.”
But as time passed, the borg began to fear her words might prove to be false.
And they did.
“Caleb? Please wake up…please…”
Raiden was pressing her fingers against this boy’s wrist, sapphire eyes wide with panic. Not long ago the boy was gasping for breath, and now…
She had tried everything by now, and knew the pleading was pointless, it’s just that—
The screech of a rift tearing rang outside the hollow, moments too late.
I can bring someone back from the dead…
The words had seemed impossible, but Storm was willing to try anything, as long as there was a glimmer of hope.
…as long as they died recently…
The borg was clutching Grace, an arm around Raiden’s shoulder. None of them could lose someone else, not after…
…and their cause of death…
Caleb’s limp form lay in Austen’s lap, the fey holding his hand above the boy. That strange magic - the one that drew Storm to him - swirling about his palm.
…won’t kill them again.
The toddler was breathing again, his eyes shut tight and his fever burning again. The ginger-haired fey watched the boy carefully before cutting off the flow of magic, Caleb's breaths immediately growing more and more shallow…
“Storm,” the borg’s mismatched blue gaze met Austen’s amber, “I’m sorry for your loss.”
…they stopped.
The borg had rifted away, going to the one place he felt safe. He was back home, leaning against a wall, tears running down his face.
Moonlight cast through the glass roof, lighting the room with a mourning blue. He ignored the pain he was in, only thinking about how he failed Caleb, how he left him to die, just like...
Juniper...
If only he hadn't argued with her that night, if only he wasn't selfish enough to plan to divorce her, if only...
He knew that even if he had tried to do something different, they still would've died. All he had to do was glance at the timelines...
But it was so much, so much easier to blame himself. To act as if there was a chance for things to happen differently, no matter how much pain he went through because of it.
A glint of light caught his attention.
He didn’t know why he grabbed it.
The faded gray gemstone had gone unused for years; scarcely anyone knew he owned it. Yet the second he touched it, it flashed blue, and a swirling symbol resonated from within.
Water?
The borg glanced at the gemstone in surprise, his opponent bearing an expression of equal shock.
But the harbinger quickly recovered, swinging his polearm nonchalantly. "Seems like I finally met my match."
Ajax rushed at him, his weapon - composed of pure electro energy - being brought down over the time-traveler's head, being blocked by a blade of storm energy. Childe smiled, at him, his lifeless blue gaze filled with excitement, "So what's your ambition? Surely it's not that Seelie."
"It's none of your business," Storm hissed in the harbinger's ear, earning himself a smug look.
The harbinger thrust his polearm upward, causing the borg's weapon to slip out of his grasp.
"Aren't you going to use it?" He taunted, his blue eye meeting its mirror image.
The borg gritted his teeth, sending a series of abyssal tentacles hurling toward Tartaglia. The harbinger responded by slamming his fists together seconds before they reached him, using his abyssal form to toss them away.
"Hah," Childe's voice was disorientated by the abyss form, but pain still shone through, "You really thought that would work?"
The borg unsheathed his saber, the glowing blue light hissing in the air, "No, but this might."
Multiple abyss tentacles were sent spiraling in the borg's direction, instantly being redirected or sliced through. He began to recognize the harbinger's favored attacks, his fighting becoming rhythmic, almost mechanical - which Childe noticed.
Instantly, a whale of water rose into the air, turning its stomach up as it prepared to splash back into the ground. Finally, finally, the borg's newly acquired vision shone unspeakably bright...and time stopped.
Not literally, but the borg didn't know that right now. Particles of water suspended in the air, and within them, the ghosts of the past. His father smiled at him before dissolving into flames of water, spreading rapidly in all directions, breaking up into glittering stars. Aly glanced back at him, her icy cold gaze meeting his before the temperature dropped drastically, the water beginning to crystalize and his Vision briefly flashing cyan. The formed snowflakes began to melt, whipping out violently around his circumference, each one slicing through the air like knives. The water formed into yet another image, this time Raiden, the younger borg mouthing something to him.
"What are you waiting for, idiot?"
Time picked up its normal speed, and his saber slammed into Ajax's chest, burning through his abyssal armor as blades of water struck the harbinger, tossing him away.
Judgment had been served.
He powered off his saber, standing over Childe, who had reverted to his normal form, "Now, where's Rai?"
Blood trickled down his chin, but the fatui still didn't back down, "First...your passion."
The borg stared at him, his sapphire gaze hostile, but he still found himself responding, the answer present in the water, "Family."
"Then we're more alike...than you think."
And with that, Tartaglia pointed to the south.
He turned the gem over and over in his hands and soon found himself using it to its full extent.
The borg felt himself moving faster than light, slowing down time and cycling through the three familiar faces. Yet the water didn't stop with Raiden, who gave him a simple nod, and the water didn't warm up after Aly vanished. Juniper obliviously beckoned to him, Hei chased after Grace, and Caleb waved him goodbye, the little boy beaming.
The water froze.
That smile. That smile. He just wanted to see it a bit longer, just...
Sobs began to fill the abandoned room, not a soul around to hear it.
A cyro vision clattered to the floor.
It was late when Storm came back.
Austen had moved Caleb's body to one of the nearby caves, having told Grace that he needed to sleep in a special place to get better.
She quickly realized he joined Juniper.
Due to this, she refused to talk to Storm, her gaze holding a hurricane of emotions every time she looked at her father.
No one dared to speak to her.
After some discussion, it was decided that Austen would stay with them until all the infected were cured. The Astral Fey had at first insisted on sleeping outside, but eventually settled in a corner.
Raiden wasn't quite sure how late it was when Storm spoke, sounding as if in a daze.
"Three days."
She hummed inquisitively, and he added, "Three days since the virus spread. Three days since Juniper..."
Raiden pushed herself into a sitting position. The older borg's back was to her, and he was staring at the window, watching the stars.
"Did you ever tell her?"
Storm glanced back at her with a somber surprise, "...No."
"Then you have nothing to feel bad for. And even if you did tell her...you still shouldn't feel bad. She wasn't exactly the nicest person, Baba," Raiden informed him.
"I..." She had a point. It's not like he planned to divorce her on a whim. He had...
His right arm was pinned down, his mismatched blue gaze meeting violet and green.
“Get…off me…” His voice was scarcely a whisper, hoarse from screaming, begging, only for no one to hear him.
The hybrid simply brushed his face gently, her smile genuine but sick and fake within the borg's thoughts.
Her body was pressed against his, the heat and pain unbearable, but what was worse than all of it was how helpless he felt.
He didn't have his brace, couldn't push her away, and she positioned herself so he couldn't kick her off, no matter what he did.
All he could do was lay there, crying and desperate and wanting it all to end.
Why did he marry Juniper?
Why did she choose him?
Why did she need another child?
Why did she...hurt him?
He started sobbing, Juniper attempting to comfort him but only making it worse, his eyes stinging from the tears.
He remembered what the situation had reminded him of.
Black acid tears streamed from his left eye, normal tears flowing from the right.
He was sobbing, visibly in agony from the acid burning his eye and skin. He was repeating "I don't know" over and over, each time weaker than the last.
That night, the memories faded before coming back again.
A familiar whisper was at the back of the boy's mind, inviting him to listen to it and forget about the pain.
But he knew what it wanted, he knew what it planned for him.
The scream barely escaped his mouth before he was forced into subconsciousness.
His thoughts drifted back to that night, of what happened after he remembered.
She was telling him it'll be okay, soothing him as that whisper did a long time ago. He wasn't conscious of it, but he was begging her to stop, once again screaming.
He felt her pulling him into a hug, but he didn't care, didn't want it.
Startling enough, he felt like he wanted to die.
He felt a prick on his arm, and he felt his body going numb.
Why...me...
The world went dark.
A hand on his shoulder dragged him back to reality, his blue gaze meeting his daughter's.
"Are you...are you okay?"
He tried to answer her, a fib of a "yes" on his tongue, but his voice died in his throat, and he found himself holding a hand to his chest, feeling as if the last drop of air had been squeezed out of his lungs.
He could breathe, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't breathe-
The door slammed open, promptly followed by Juniper tiredly plopping down on a chair in the kitchen.
Wattage tugged a strand of a certain borg's hair to catch his attention, but he simply rolled his eyes and continued washing the dishes, already knowing who was behind him.
After most of the questioningly sprinkle-covered plates were washed, Storm cautiously began, "So... how was your day?"
"Horrible," she replied without looking at him, "why are you asking again? Especially since I have to see my sister torture herself on a daily basis?"
The Storm Trainee grimaced - that was clearly the wrong way to go.
Exhaling deeply, he decided to just get to the point, "Grace and Caleb tried to make brownies today. Sorry about the uh, mess."
"What mess?" She demanded, snapping upright.
"...look up-"
Surely enough, on the ceiling was a piece of graffiti consisting of chocolate, sprinkles, flour, and a variety of unidentifiable confections.
"Didn't I tell you not to-"
"I know, I know, but you didn't tell them not to cook. I was minding my own business when I walked in on Wattage being forced to help them bake," Storm said with a sigh.
Juniper's eyes narrowed, "Minding your own business? You mean locking yourself up in your room and pretending that Caleb is old enough to know not to-"
"How many times do I have to tell you-"
"That it was an accident? How many times have you told me that, Chaser?"
"I'm not looking for an argument," he mumbled under his breath, the comment going unheard.
"I told you you can't take care of yourself but-"
"Juniper-"
"-you always go ahead and prance into situations-"
"Juniper-"
"-you can't hand-"
"JUNIPER."
That got her attention, but when she met him in the eye the borg immediately glanced at the ground.
"I know you had a bad day but can you not... can you not take it out on me?"
The half-fairy's gaze softened, but before she could say anything, Storm continued.
"I think I'll go to bed - Wattage can probably finish this better than me anyway." With that, he put down the glass he was washing, wiped off his hands, and silently slipped away.
Meanwhile, Juniper, in response to the guilt trip, got up to go after him but as soon as she opened his bedroom door, all she saw was an empty room.
His bed was untouched, that weird glass was out on his dresser, and a particular clock on the desk was a tell-tale sign of time travel.
He had clearly run away from his problems. Again.
How much more tear could their relationship bear?
Another memory came rushing back, the borg's breath hitched. Raiden was gripping his hand, her gaze unreadable, "Baba?"
He simply shook his head, fear, so much fear of Juniper, filling his gaze.
One last memory came rushing back, the last before he had the sense to use his component.
Juniper pushed away the sleeping borg’s bangs, revealing the scarred side of his face. The skin there was ironically more pigmented than the rest of his body, a “healthy” shade of pink in comparison to his pasty, dead-looking white skin tone.
She found herself running a finger along his scar, tracing it down from his forehead, around his eye, then over his nose, and back towards his cheek, stopping at feeling the cool metal plating on his face. She wasn’t sure what metal his plating was made of, only that she was curious about the injury it concealed. In fact, all of the voidwalker’s scars and components filled her with a fascination, prompting her to find a way to fix them, to improve as a healer, and perhaps…finding a way to fix Jade.
She continued tracing the burn scar, passing over plating, skimming past his jaw, and finally down his neck. She was forced to stop at the collar of his shirt, but the hybrid knew - especially because of plating peeking from below it - that the scar continued down there. She was tempted to take a look but…
The borg stirred, letting out a moan as he shifted in his sleep.
She immediately lifted her hand, fearing that he would awake, but let out a sigh of relief when he continued sleeping. She began to gently stroke his face, trying not to flinch when he whimpered.
Clearly, he was having a nightmare.
She began to wonder if there was a cure for that; Nightmares, that is.
Despite having her own bed, she slid under the covers next to him, moving him so that his head rested in her lap.
She sat there for quite some time, gently stroking and kissing his scar. She was rarely with him like this - since they got married, he made it very clear he didn’t want an intimate relationship with her, going as far as having a separate room.
“J-Juniper?”
The borg had wearily opened his eyes, the right being a deep, beautiful shade of sapphire while the left a glassy slate blue, purple swirled into it.
She froze, mouth running dry.
“Why are you…in my bed?”
“I…just wanted to see you.”
His eyes narrowed, “In what way?”
“It’s lonely in the other room,” she responded quickly.
He struggled to push himself out of her lap, his left arm limp against his side, “That explains why you’re in my room but not in my bed.”
She attempted to help him, “Well, where am I supposed to-“
He pushed her away, “Window seat.”
“I…” She’d forgotten his room had one.
“What were you planning?” He interrogated, gaze distrustful as he managed a sitting position.
“What’s up with you?” She moved to touch his hand, only for him to slap her hand away with the opposing.
“Multiple things, actually, starting with how the last time you were in here, you decided to have fun f**k-”
“I’m not here to do that,” she replied with unnatural steadiness.
“Then what, pray tell, are you here to do?”
Too many things.
She had originally left her room because she was lonely, but then she grabbed a vial of sedate thinking maybe she could find out about the void…
“Well?” He snapped, a trace of fear lacing his voice.
“Nothing. I just wanted company.” Under the covers, a needle entered the flesh of his left leg, the borg quickly slipping into unconsciousness once more.
She loved him but…she needed Jade back.
Besides, he probably won’t even remember it.
How...how had he managed to love Juniper so much?
The answer lingered at the back of his mind, going ignored for so long.
He didn't.
They buried Caleb the following morning.
Raiden had found a branch for Storm to use as a walking stick, but she still found herself helping him limp along, Grace walking ahead of them. Austen, who was originally walking ahead of the toddler, slowed down to walk alongside the two borgs. His amber gaze was sympathetic, but his tone carried an air of authority, "I understand what it's like to lose a child, and I know it'll be a while until the grief subsides...but we need to do something about the virus." Without giving them a chance to respond, he added, "And it seems something happened to the keystones as well." He gestured with his chin towards Storm's hair, which caused both borgs to stop. Since Storm's hair was already gray, the lack of streak had almost been unnoticeable, but now that Austen pointed it out...
The last time something like this had happened, Void had-
The older borg's gaze darkened, "Is it possible to cure the whole island in one go?"
Meanwhile, in the Void, a crystalline axe sliced through a stray imprint, a she-demon tensing as she listened for approachers. Honestly, if she was in Void's position, she would've done anything but leave him to fight for his life after sparing it, but she knew better than to complain. So far, she discovered that, hey, she wasn't fading into nothingness, so that's good, and that, hey, the weird crystals on her hand let her summon void tentacles. Yay! She had another type of dark element octopus arms to add to her collection! Fun! (Can you feel the excitement yet?)
Oh, and it let her supercharge the creepy void axe, no big deal.
"Can I just go home now?" She groaned, slumping against the wall and staring at, well...nothingness, "I don't even know how long I've been in here, which is saying something."
You would expect an answer from an omnipresent god, but no, she just had to look stupid talking to the essence of nihility.
She rubbed her face tiredly - notably with the void-decorated hand - but immediately snapped up at hearing the familiar sound of a rift tearing open. A purple rift had opened a short distance in front of her, the crystals on her hand glowing proudly.
"...huh."
Falling out of a rift a short while later, three wizards ran in a panic, screeching the word "Infected!" in a mad dash away from the Ice Fairy.
Glace sat up, blinked, then facepalmed, "I'm not infected, you idiots."
"Wait, you're not?" The male stopped, and turned around, surprise crossing his expression.
"Jackson!" One of the others scorned, "It could be a trick!"
A female nodded in agreement, "Yeah, Jillian's right; don't you see the crystals?"
"Oh. So we keep running."
"Well, it's a better idea than fighting her..."
The fairy pinched the bridge of her nose. "One. There is nowhere to run to. Two. I. Am. Not. Infected."
Jackson crossed his arms, unconvinced. "Sounds like something an infected would say."
"The infected don't say anything."
Jackson rolled his eyes. "Oh, su-"
"No, no, she has a point," Kylie interrupted. "Neither of you said anything when you got infected...and then infected me."
In the background, the Ice Fairy slashed at another imprint. "Look, I don't have time for your nonsense," she muttered, walking around the trio and towards the rift. "If you want to go back to the island, this is it."
The wizards looked at each other, before opting to follw the fairy through the rift...from a relatively safe distance, of course.
However, no safe distance can keep rift travelers from meeting the fate of gravity. Thus, all four of them fell out of a rift, piled on top of Glace. Kylie let out a screech, scrambling off Grace and checking herself up and down - only to find no crystals, or purple spots, for that matter, "Wait, I'm not infected?"
Jillian got off in a more dignified manner, while Jackson was kicked off by Glace, hitting a pillar with a groan.
The she-demon glared at Kylie, "That's because I'm not-"
"Yeah, yeah, you've been saying that," Jackson interrupted, wincing as he got up, "You can really pack a kick, huh?"
"Wait, if you've been telling the truth, then why do you have crystals on your hand?"
Everyone immediately turned on Glace.
The fey gave them a weary look, "Don't ask me how - you don't want to know - but Void is..." She grimaced, "My older brother."
"Oh, that makes sense-WAIT WHAT?"
Jillian nudged her friend.
"Sorry, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Kylie apologized.
"...hey, wait, how are we even here right now?" Jackson asked.
"We walked through a portal, Jackson," Kylie responded.
"No, I mean, we were infected earlier, weren't we?"
"Yeah, but then, that would mean that we were cured somehow?"
"So there is a way to stop this nightmare..." Jillian pondered.
"I mean, I got that crystal to break by overloading it with magic," Jackson piped.
"If you mean 'violently explode and risk hitting anything nearby with shrapnel' when you say 'break', then yeah, you figured that out. I'm sure it won't be hazardous in any way," Kylie commented sarcastically. "Besides, that would just hurt and reinfect anyone that got that...'treatment'."
"I was thinking something more along the lines of finding who in cured us while we were in Firefly Forest," Jillian said.
"Well I definitely prefer that idea over Jackson's biohazard grenade idea," Kylie replied. She suddenly turned to the Ice Fairy. "You want to come with us?"
Finding a needle in a haystack.
That was their plan.
A plan glued together by hopes and dreams and powered by luck.
Well, hopes, dreams, and luck are all anyone left has to work with anyway.
Unless you were Glace.
She arched an eyebrow, "So...you plan on going to Firefly to find some person - or thing - that you have no idea what they look like, and frankly, might not even still be there. Oh, and there's the fact that even though I'm immune, you three clearly aren't and will probably risk being infected again, leaving me to beat your a**es."
"Well, when you put it like that..." Jackson ruffled his hair, casting a glance to the side. The other two wizards looked equally awkward.
"Well, you guys are onto something, we need to find a way to cure this mess," the she-demon got to her feet, qilin-like tail flicking behind her, "But I have a better way of doing it."
_Chat Log_ -Glace Starheart has entered the chat- GS (10:42 am)> @Storm_Dreamchaser Hey, uncle Storm, guess what? I'm immune!!! GS (10:42 am)> Ran into three weirdos in a rift, took them to the Academy. Don't ask how I got in a rift. GS (10:42 am)> Did you or Raiden put them in the rift or smth? Because they're look for the person who healed them.
Meanwhile, back in the Silvian, Storm and Austen were trying to formulate a plan to cure the population in a single attempt while Raiden entertained Grace.
Ever so often, Storm would have an outrageous, potentially disastrous idea, only for Austen to be the reasonable one and point out a painful amount of flaws.
One of these occurrences was happening in the present; "I could send you back in time, so you only have to cure the source—you won't even have to worry about the rest." A tinge of desperation laced his words. Although he had phrased it as optimal, the real reason for suggesting it was Caleb.
Austen let out a weary sigh, "You already explained that time travel can lead to - if I may quote - 'an incomplete time loop leading to a repeat of the events, meaning it would do virtually nothing besides creating another timeline.'"
"Oh, right," he muttered, looking crestfallen.
The Astral Fey comfortingly pat his shoulder, "Maybe we should review the main problems? We might figure out a plan from there."
And so, they continued back into their loop of plans.
Raiden, meanwhile, sat next to Grace, silently helping her make a dandelion chain. Yet, the borg didn't let the silence last long, "Hey, Grace?"
The girl looked up at her sister, then wordlessly returned to the wilted flowers.
"Are you doing okay?"
That did something. The toddler froze, hands tightening around the flower stem. She knew Juniper wasn't asleep, she knew what actually happened to Caleb, and more importantly, she somehow knew this was all Storm's fault. If only he had arrived a moment sooner, if only he hadn't gone to that awful place with that terrible thing that was her aunt. If only—
She had crushed the flower, trembling with grief and anger and so many feelings no child should know. Raiden had caught onto her despair, pulling the girl into a tight hug, but through it all, one thought filled Grace's mind.
Why do you still care about him?
Almost as if he heard the unspoken words, the older borg watched his daughters with a forlorn gaze.
A little while later, Raiden was still comforting Grace when she heard a ping, looking at Storm's direction in surprise. The gray-haired man frowned, calling to her, "It's...Glace? But didn't she..."
The younger borg wasted no time checking the chat, "She says she's immune and with some people who were shoved in a rift. She's looking for whoever cured them," the borg glanced at Austen, "I'm assuming that was you?" He nodded in response, tail flicking behind him.
Storm, meanwhile, crossed his arms, "I put them in the rift earlier. How on Earth did Glace get in there?"
Another ping - this time on her INCD - drew Raiden's attention back to the chat.
_Chat Log_ GS (10:43 am)> Hello? GS (10:44 am)> @Raiden_Dreamchser Are any of you there? -Raiden Dreamchser has entered the chat- RD (10:45 am)> Sorry, Dad can't reply to anything rn, his Visor's running on max. He says he put them in the rift. We're with the guy who healed them rn. GS (10:45 am)> Really? I'll be back. -Glace Starheart left the chat-
Back in the Academy, a certain Ice Trainee was smug.
"Annnnd there we go, I've found your guy," Glace called over her shoulder, clearly proud of herself.
Kylie looked at her, agape, "That fast?"
"Mhm~" The Ice Fey flicked an ear, "There's only two types of people who can open rifts - void freaks and time travelers. A voidwalker wouldn't bother helping you - although there's an exception - and I didn't know how to open a rift till today so... that leaves time travelers, and I happen to know them."
"Let me guess, you figured that whoever put us there might've saw who healed us?" Jillian inquired.
"Yep, and better yet, they're with them right now." Glace started flicking her tail again, "Now give me a minute, won't you?"
_Chat Log_ -Glace Starheart has entered the chat- GS (10:53 am)> Raiden, where the **** are you right now? RD (10:54 am)> Um... I'll open a rift for you all in a bit. -Raiden Dreamchaser has left the chat- GS (10:54 am)> ...okay then. -Glace Starheart has left the chat-
A cyan rift tore open in the Great Hall, grabbing the group's attention.
The three wizards stared cautiously at the portal.
"Well, what are you waiting for?"
The wizards looked at each other and shrugged, before walking through the rift. Immediately, the now baffled wizards found themselves in an unfamiliar forest.
"Where are we?" Kylie asked, loking around.
“The Silvian Forest, I don’t expect any of you to recognize it. Humans aren’t allowed here after all.” An older, male voice answered, causing the group to whip around. A ginger haired fey flicked in ear, his amber gaze pooling with amusement as he inspected them carefully, “Yet, with the circumstances of the past few days, I think a few exceptions can be made.”
"So even though we're here, don't touch stuff, got it," Jackson said, looking around.
Glace, meanwhile, crossed her arms, "Looks like I'm doing the introductions?"
"Please," Storm answered, currently sitting next to a tree trunk and making use of Raiden's INCD, jotting something down in something similar to the notepad application.
"Alright then," the she-demon let out a huff before first gesturing to the borg, "That's Storm, over to his left is Raiden, and the kid next to her is Grace. I don't know who the snake guy is-"
"My name is Austen," the Astral Fey interrupted.
"Wait, Austen? Is your last name Star-"
The fey gave her a weary look, holding his snake, "Yes, it's Starheart. Is that seriously the first thing everyone is going to ask me?"
Storm arched a brow, "No, you just happened to run into your granddaughter."
"WHAT?"
While things quickly escalated between the two fey, the grey-haired wizard cast a glance at the three wizards, "So, who might you three be?"
The older female gestured to the boy, "This is Jackson," she gestured to the younger girl, "Kylie, and I'm Jillian."
"It's nice to meet you," he replied before glancing back to what he was doing. After a brief pause, however, he glanced back up, "Perhaps you might be able to solve our problem?"
And thus, the three wizards were peeking over Storm's shoulder, failing to read the Greek chicken scratch. The borg out a nervous chuckle before translating his notes, "Basically, Austen is skilled in healing magic and knows how to cure the virus, the only problem is that he doesn't have enough mana to do it. When he healed you, he had to borrow your individual mana to have enough magic to do so."
"Then can't he heal everyone one by one?" It was an innocent question, but Jackson earned himself an eye-roll from Austen, who had approached.
"If I heal everyone one by one there's a chance the remaining infected will just infect everyone I healed, and then I'll just be healing everyone over and over for the rest of eternity."
"Oh," the wizard replied simply, slumping.
Storm sighed before continuing, "That's why we need to heal everyone in one go. Yet as I said, healing one person takes so much mana that Austen has to borrow some from the said person, which means he's not going to have nearly enough left over to spread the spell over the entire island."
Jillian frowned, "But can't you just borrow mana from everyone at the same time? An island's worth of magic is probably enough."
"A mana exchange is no simple feat," Austen answered, shaking his head, "the only reason I was able to do it so easily was because the virus was leeching off your mana, but as soon as I cured you, I was cut off access."
"Then just spread the spell faster than you cure them," the wizard responded as if everything were as simple as a wave of your hand.
"Accelerating the spell will require more mana, not to mention I might wind up healing everyone faster as well...which is not only an inconvenience, but dangerous. If I heal everyone too quickly, then those that received grave injuries might bleed out. I need to heal them properly enough that they won't die the second my magic is cut off...and that requires me to slow down the healing process for the virus itself."
Storm placed a hand against his forehead, exhaling dramatically, "And this is why we still don't have a plan."
"Could you somehow connect to or use one of the keystones or something?" Jackson suggested.
"The keystones are currently kaput," Raiden answered drily from behind the group, "However..." She cast a glance at Glace, who arched a brow, "What exactly do those crystals do?"
"Pretty much copies whatever party tricks your dad can manage, especially the void ones," she answered, arching her brow even higher.
The younger borg then cast a glance at the older, "Have you tried using Void Magic on the infected yet?"
"Only once, why?" Storm answered, as bemused as Glace.
"Is it possible to somehow sync your void magic with the virus?" Raiden then tilted her head to gesture to Jillian, smiling slightly, "Because if so, I think her idea might just be possible."
“If we do that, won’t we have to, y’know, get close to one of the infected?” a skeptical Kylie asked.
Glace began pointing at all of the Stormchasers. “Immune, Immune, and Immune.” She pointed at Austen. “Can heal himself.” And finally pointed at herself. “Immune.”
Kylie blinked. "Huh."
"Regardless, I would rather find someone in an area without many people, and someone that won't make this harder than normal," Storm said.
"Jax?" Glace suggested.
"Somewhere in Lamplight with a lot of other wizards," Raiden replied. "How about Aurora?"
"Aurora? Like the Astral Warden's daughter?" Kylie asked.
"Yes, she was on Harmony Island with the few former survivors," Storm responded, his daughter promptly opening a rift to Harmony Island.
The group crossed through the rift, with Storm and Raiden going last. However, unlike the usual situations involving the gray-haired time traveler, this time, the crippled borg landed on top of the group rather than under it, leading to a rather awkward situation where Raiden had to squirm out from underneath the living pile (how she got there is a mystery in itself) and help the crippled borg off.
After everyone sorted themselves out, Austen slipped his long bow off his back, glancing about the clearing.
There was no one in sight.
Elsewhere, the pseudo-elemental wields omniscience through proxy, finding sight and sense in the essence and crystal that abounds the island. Its attempts to break through to a more direct answer had failed, be it due to its half-sister's crystals resisting or the presence of some strange, ancient (and far more potent) variation of Astral forcing influence away. All it could do now was try and map out where the virus was in its mind, effectively learning where the threats that remained were by knowing where they weren't.
Then footsteps encroach behind it, and the Element of Void is interrupted.
"I thought you would be more original this time."
The pseudo-elemental needs not turn around to know who's behind it.
"I thought you weren't going to step in."
"I wasn't. Not like I can, anyway, seeing as how you've appeared to lock down anything I can do from the CONSOLE. I'm here to grasp the situation, because I'm worried they won't be able to figure things out for themselves."
"Your worries are misplaced. They are capable. A survivor of universal scale and his daughter, both immune. A being who can purify this blight."
The pseudo-elemental pauses, and the last remaining Darkshade watches its tentacles curl in rare, primordially-instinctive frustration.
"And a liability with a relic."
Faint amusement hides beneath the voidwalker's apathetic stare. He remains silent, and the pseudo-elemental continues.
"I've come this far. Taken control of everything else. The others and their envoys cannot stop me. Harmony is isolated. All that remains is them."
"So how do you plan to stop them? Throw random garbage at them until they find a way to depower you again?"
"I don't intend to give them the chance."
"That was never up to you. I can tell, just by the way these scars shiver at the presence of that new relic."
The pseudo-elemental remains silent.
"The chance... that's down to that fey now, right?"
The silence stretches on, and RW smiles to himself.
"I thought so."
Before the pseudo-elemental can do a thing, the voidwalker vanishes into abyss.
Suddenly, the pseudo-elemental's mind finally feels a gap in the plague, and the Element of Void returns to its objective.
The crystalline horde turns, searching for a means to breach this bastion.
The abyssal entity focuses whatever power it can spare into its mindless army, manifesting as crystal.
And then it sits and waits.
At a much less interesting location, somewhere within Harmony Island’s jungle, the odd group followed a limping borg deeper within the foliage.
It was eerily quiet.
No birds sung, no monsters shuffled about, even patches of lively touch-me-nots barely reacted to the group’s movements, it’s leaves blackened and withered. With the corrupted canopy ahead, it was pitch dark within the flora, casting the illusion of night.
On multiple occasions, they had to veer around dense purple dust that spewed from quickly decomposing plant life, or Austen had to withhold the wizard trio, narrowly preventing them from stumbling on a stray crystal.
No one dared speak.
They were deep within the jungle by the time Storm gestured for them to stop, propping himself up on a nearby tree stump. He checked his visor, a small light flashing to indicate that Aurora’s INCD was up ahead.
They were close.
The plan, in theory, was simple; The wizard trio would distract the infected Astral Trainee as Austen bound her. Raiden would then dumped her into a rift. The rift would transport the astral wizard back to Silvian (with the group using seperate rift a safe distance away). Storm himself, along with Glace, would attempt to see if they can access the Void Magic within the infected’s crystals. If so, Austen - with their help - will take advantage of the theorized (based on past shenanigans with Void) connection between the infected and try to cure the island. If not, then Austen will cure Aurora for safety reasons and the group will have to come up with a new plan.
However, in reality…not so much.
.
.
.
Cue the crystals and shoddy escape.
"Why can't anything be easy?" Kylie whined quietly as darkened blasts of Astral magic laced with crystals and corrupted Astral arrows whizzed by the running group.
"Lose her in the trees. She can't follow us forever," Jillian responded, an arrow narrowly missing her.
"Lose her in the trees? She is literally already in the trees!" Jackson whisper-shouted, speeding up as a hail of arrows arced down from the treetops.
"Then she'll just have to get out of them." Jillian launched a wave of icicles at the nearby treetops. Despite a few finding themselves absorbed by the crystals in the...purplery, Jillian's efforts were rewarded with the sound of snapping branches and a thud. "Now, we run faster."
As this occurred, Austen was visibly annoyed, hissing a flurry of Norlia under his breath, "Eshti en ey mara sapanen sen trishkna wishti."
Meanwhile, nearby, Storm raised a brow, "Give them a break, they're technically running for their li-"
Screams sounded nearby, leading to both men glancing in the trio's direction. The Astral Fey drew back his bow again, taking aim...only to lower it and letting out a string of Norlian curses, punctuated with the occasional "Mara geshki houlka!"
"Language," the borg replied wide-eyed.
He received a glare, "We've been doing this for the past fifteen minutes. I get a chance to land my shot, and then they start running like headless chickens and cause that girl to keep moving. I don't know how to land a moving target, Storm."
At the site of the chase scene, blasts of corrupt Astral magic whizzed by the wizards, miraculously not hitting them once. "I'm tired of running," Jackson grumbled, turning around. Sparks of electricity began to leap off of the wizard's clenched fists.
Kylie stopped and turned around. "Jackson, you idiot, we can't hit them with magic!" the girl exclaimed.
Bolts of lightning repeatedly slammed into the bases of two nearby trees. Wood and bark snapped as the trees began to lean over, before finally crashing into the ground, cutting off a corrupted Aurora from the wizards. Jackson turned to face Kylie with a smirk. "Who said I was going to attack her directly?"
Kylie rolled her eyes and gripped her Eclipse Sky Scythe. "Yeah, yeah, lets just pin her in before she gets away."
A fair distance away, the two uninfected adults heard repeated snaps of wood and large crashes.
“What in the name of-“ The fairy didn’t finish before shaking his head, his snake arching up into a strike pose. He hissed a command at the serpent, the mini prodaxis promptly slithering off him and heading in the direction of the noise, Austen running after it.
Storm, meanwhile, wearily called out for Raiden before being dumped into a rift.
Jillian stared at the makeshift enclosure. "Well, I'll be. It actually worked." She ruffled Jackson's hair. "Nice thinking, lil' bro."
Jackson batted his sister's hand away and started running his hand through his hair. "Why do I even bother fixing this anymore?"
"Well, on another note, I think we should've been quieter with that," an alert Kylie said, quickly glancing around as distant bushes rustled.
"I guess we just hope Austen gets here faster than them," Jillian sighed, tightening her grip on her staff.
Lucky for the trio, Astral Fey are faster on foot than in flight. Unlucky for them, mini prodaxises slither at less than half a fey's top speed, and he was relying on Snow to sense them. Sure, he knew roughly the direction the sound came from, but for all he knew the wizard trio wasted no time in running around again. However, also frankly, for all he knew, one of them was infected.
So after a short while of following the snake, he picked her up and sped up his run, hoping that the snake wouldn't bite him too hard when she sensed the wizards.
The tense wizards still waited in place, eyes darting around.
Currently, not far away, Austen halted when Snow nipped his ear, the fey drawing his bow. Up ahead were fallen trees, barricading something - or someone - from moving in the forest. Poising his wings to take off, he leaped into the air, catching sight of what lay behind the logs...
...and immediately having to dive out of the way. Swearing, he shot an arrow - missing his mark - and dropped down on the edge of the logs, tail lashing for balance as bow drew taut.
The missed arrow landed near Kylie's feet, causing the wizard to shriek and fire a volley of poorly aimed spells in Austen's direction.
A shield of Astral Magic blocked the fire walls, the fey sending a glare in the wizard trio's direction before taking aim again.
He lined the bow with crystals on the Astral Trainee's shoulder, lowering it so it'll catch her coat hem.
Breathe in.
Breath out.
He let the arrow loose.
It hit it's target, crystals shattering and mixture of blood and purple essence streaming from where it punctured.
The girl showed little indication of pain, turning around and firing a crystal-tainted blast of Astral magic at the Astral Fairy as Crystals began to slowly cover up the small wound.
The fey blocked the blast with another astral shield, making sure to dissolve it before the void could overtake it. He shot another arrow - this one with a lead tip - at the same spot, making a mental note to do something about the lead poisoning later on.
The corrupted wizard attempted to fire another blast, only to find themself unable to do so. The trainee pointed her bow at the fey and nocked an arrow, albeit slower than the fey.
The fey tensed, keeping an arrow notched as he lept out of the way, the wizard's arrow striking a tree. However, the movement led to him being inside the ring of trees, costing him the height advantage.
In the meanwhile, Jillian shifted her gaze from Austen, to the fallen trees in front of her. Cyan particles swirled around the wizard's hands as a short pillar raised her into the air, granting her the ability to see the trapped, infected wizard. With a swiping motion, a patch of ice appeared below the trainee, causing the girl to lose her footing and fall backwards, dropping her arrow and bow. Shortly after, the patch of dissolved into cyan partlicles and was absorbed by the crystals on the corrupted wizard.
Seeing that infectee was now unarmed, the fey dropped the arrow back into his quiver, and - to put in bluntly - wacked the back of Aurora's head with the curve of his long bow. In normal circumstances, being hit by a bow would certainly hurt, but not cause much damage. In these circumstances, however, being hit by a bow that heavy at a fey's full force quickly knocked her into unconsciousness.
"That...was shockingly effective."
"Glad it was," Jackson said. He slammed his right foot into the ground and two blocks of ice burst out of the ground, launching two large branches into the air. Kylie launched a fireball at each branch, knocking them into the distance, where a few thuds could be heard. "When are we leaving? If they get too close-eep!" The wizard was cut off as a crystal whizzed by his face and embedded itself into the fallen tree behind him. Another branch was fired into the distance, resulting in another distant thud.
"Preferably, now." Austen replied, notably raising his voice to get a certain literally god-forsaken borg's attention. Almost immediately, a rift opened, stealing away Aurora before snapping shut, followed by a series of aggressive rifts that swallowed up the rest of the group.
The wizard trio and Austen (plus his snake) fell out in a pile in the Silvian, back under the tree hut they've made camp at. Raiden crossed her arms, looming over them, "You four are pretty bad at working as a team, you know that?"
"Yeah, we noticed," Kylie and Jackson said in sync.
Snow slithered out from beneath the pile with a hiss, followed with Austen quite effective throwing all three wizards off his back, "Do you mind not digging your foot in my wing?" With a sigh, he turned to Raiden, "To be fair, your father isn't exactly the greatest at thinking through his plans."
The young borg simply shrugged in response.
Meanwhile, a distance away, a tightly bound (and currently unconscious) Aurora was affixed to a nearby tree, Glace standing and in Storm's case, sitting, nearby.
"So...how exactly are you going to cure her?" Jackson asked Austen. "...And...where is she?" he asked, looking around.
"With my dad and Glace," Raiden answered before Austen could speak, the promptly walked off to entertain Grace.
The Astral Fey let out a wear sigh before answering Jackson's first question, "The same way I healed you three, as for the specifics...it's more of a see-it-to-believe-it sort of thing."
Back with Aurora, Glace had previously attempted to manipulate the void essence, promptly failing and breaking into a swear session. As she did so, Storm proceeded to attempt to manipulate the void essence, and for a brief moment, managed to pull something out, only for the energy to be immediately sucked back in.
Quite embarrassingly, the most powerful Voidwalker (next to RW) had failed to void walk.
He promptly joined Glace's swear session.
A little while later, both returned to meet up with the waiting group, Raiden perking up.
"How did it go?"
Storm pinched the bridge of his nose, "Well, Glace utterly failed, and then Void somehow managed to reabsorb everything I pulled out."
"So...what now?" Jackson asked.
Glace crossed her arms, responding curtly, "We a) find a way to stop Void from undoing Storm's progress or b) have Austen heal Aurora and make a new plan."
“I personally thing we should give option A a shot,” Storm responded, embarrassedly clinging onto Glace for his dear life, “…only probably is that I have no idea how to about with that.”
"Maybe we can use normal elemental magic to keep it from flowing back in? Or at least slow it down long enough so that you have more time to pull out the void magic," Kylie suggested.
"Huh, that might just work."
And so Glace and Storm were back with Aurora, this time with Austen.
"What exactly do you need me to do again?" The Astral Fey questioned, arching a brow at Aurora's no-longer-unconscious form.
"When I pull out the void essence, you send Astral Magic into the crystals," Storm supplied, "If it goes wrong, Glace is supposed to get us out of this mess."
The Ice Fey snorted with bemusement, "If? When Raiden told me to go with you, she was certain you'll make a mess either way."
He ignored her, nodding to Austen, "Let's get this over with."
The fey frowned for a moment, as if questioning to say something, but instead thrust out his hand, energy concentrating before his palm. It was that same, golden energy that he had used to heal the wizard trio, but instead of directly blasting it at Aurora, he concentrated, the essence spiraling before separating into three strands, two recoiling as the third struck the crystals, quickly being consumed by the void essence.
"Well, it seems Astral Magic doesn't work."
"What the f**kity f**k?" Glace stared at him, "Aren't you an Astral Fey? Hell, what was that?"
"Celestial Magic," he replied with a shrug, "It should be impossible for it to exist in that state, but my magic is full of it," he paused, before adding, "It's what allows me to heal the infected, and what Astral Magic comes from."
"Wait, did you say Astral Magic comes from that? If it's not the original then why does it balance..." Storm trailed off, glancing at Glace.
"Shadow Magic?" Austen supplied, "Astral wasn't meant to balance it, Celestial was. For some reason beyond me Celestial Magic just...died out. It separated into Astral Moon, and Sun which balance Shadow instead, but it doesn't do so perfectly."
The borg was evidently in thought, "Well that explains how Void figured out to overpower it. Is it possible to use your usual magic without healing?"
"Yes, I'm assuming you want to try that?"
They did exactly that. As Austen expected, it was quite potent, Storm barely being able to preserve the void essence from the crystals. The second they completed this, Aurora became unnaturally still, gaze as blank as before.
The magic Austen manipulated changed in purpose, seeking to expand through the crystals and grow in strength, becoming more luminous as it absorbed Aurora's mana. The fey allowed it to mimic the virus, festering in hunger as it sought to absorb as much magic as possible.
He let it loose.
Almost impossibly, it rapidly spread from crystal to crystal, infected to infected. Each time it spread to another being, golden energy escaped from its confines, forming into the shape of a serpent and striking, wounds vanishing as the crystals were shed.
It rapidly overtook the island, the entire population's magic at Austen's fingertips.
He breathed deeply, closing his eyes as like a certain pseudo-elemental, he accessed omnipresence.
Conscious of jumping from infected to infected, he finally located some Earth users, having them spread the altered virus with spores. This increased the range even further, the wind carrying the traces even further...
...all while Void watched, helpless. Austen could easily find them with the omnipresence, but something told him not to risk it. This left the elemental in both frustrations and false safety, as although the group did not know of their location, they could not act against them as they did not know the group's location either.
As all this occurred, as rapidly as his range spread, it shrunk, the golden essence healing one infected after the other.
The energy recalled, the remaining wisps returning to their owner just as he reopened his eyes. The fey smiled slightly, the last infected still bound to the tree before them.
He gathered the remaining energy, forming it into the familiar golden snake before sending it out to Aurora, quickly ridding her of her crystal ailment.
He then glanced back at Storm, "So, what now?"
"...I have no f**king clue."
"Hello? Void is literally running around the island?" Glace informed the two with a facepalm.
The cured Astral Trainee regained consciousness, and opened her eyes, only to be rewarded with blurry vision. Instinctively, Aurora attempted to rub her eyes, but found herself unable to. In fact, she was unable to move at all. Blinking hard and rapidly, the Astral Wizard cleared her vision and looked down.
I'm bound to a tree.
Why was I bound to a tree?
When did I get bound to a tree?
I thought I was with...
Aurora's eyes widened as panic began to set in. Squeezing her eyes shut, she writhed desperately, trying to get free. No luck.
"Aurora."
The voice went ignored, as the girl continued to thrash around within her constraints, trying and failing to get free again and again. In seconds, the now hyperventilating wizard had exhausted herself.
"Aurora, calm down."
Wait, that sounds like...
Aurora opened her eyes, letting them dart around and examine the surroundings, before resting on the source of the familiar voice that addressed her. "...Storm? W-where is everyone? Where are we? How did we end up here? Why am I tied to a tree? Is everyone else okay? Are you okay?"
"As fine as ever," he paused, gripping Glace's shoulder a bit to tightly for her tastes, "just missing a component or two."
The Ice Fey rolled her eyes, "He's paralyzed, but that's nothing new. Everyone else been evacuated, and we brought you here to get Austen to cure you. The reason you're tied to the tree was to keep you from killing us."
"Austen?"
That ever so happened to be the moment when a certain white snake dropped out of the tree branches.
"Eep!" A still on-edge Aurora attempted to scramble backwards, only to realize that she was still bound to the tree.
Snow lifted her head into strike position, flicking her tongue before slithering off. A yellow-tail flicked in the trainee's peripheral vision, and not long after, the ropes loosened.
"I would like to apologize for the ropes," Austen informed her after stepping into view, allowing his snake to slither onto his tail.
Glace crossed her arms, careful not to let Storm collapse, "That would be Austen."
Aurora took the opportunity to step away from the tree and ropes before waving at Austen. "Hello!"
He dipped his head in greeting, "Hello to you too."
"To answer your other questions," Storm started after they were introduced, "We have no idea what happened to the others after being evacuated - or infected - so we can't say they're okay. But...those who were infected should be fine, right?" He cast a glance in Austen's direction.
"Yes, they're fine. A bit confused and scratched up, but fine."
"Okay..." The Astral Wizard paused, resting her gaze on Storm's hair. "...did you notice that the streak in your hair is gone?"
"Yes, I already informed him of that," Austen replied, while Glace point blanked.
"Excuse me what?"
"So then...the keystones..." Aurora trailed off.
"Are damaged," Austen finished, "And with that in mind, after dealing with this...'Void,'" he cast a side-glance at Glace, raising a brow, "We need to deal with that." He paused for a moment, "Correction, I need to deal with that. I never taught Abner how to fix those Celestial-damned keystones."
Aurora blinked. "...huh?"
"Oh, Austen was the Academy Keeper before Gale. He's the reason Abner knows anything about being Keeper," Storm supplied.
"...oh." Aurora glanced at Glace, noted the new crystals on her, opted not to question it, and decided to ask another question. "So if I was...infected, then how did you uninfect me?"
"Austen," Glace and Storm replied simultaneously.
The aforementioned fey blinked, "The word is cure."
Aurora shuffled. "Sorry, my mind's feeling a little fuzzy right now."
“It's fine,” the fey reassured, “We have other things to worry about.”
“Speaking of which, we should probably check on the Keystone first,” Storm chimed in.
Aurora summoned her backpack, and went digging inside of it. "I thought I put my map-wait...no...it got shredded, and then..." Aurora went quiet.
"Hey, it's alright. We need to get the others first anyways."
As Glace began to help Storm hobble away, she glanced over her shoulder, "Jax is fine, idiot. You can thank Grandpa Snake over there."
Meanwhile, a trio of wizards had gotten lost in the forest, having been tired of standing in the same place.
Meanwhile, at the clearing where Austen, Glace, Aurora, and Storm had just arrived was Raiden, impatiently tapping her foot as Glace made a "log cabin" out of twigs.
At noticing them, the brown-haired borg snapped to"Oh, hey, there you guys are," Kylie said.
attention, "Those idiots just left and they're probably lost."
"I'm sorry what?"
Glace blinked, "What happened to 'not touching anything?' I'm pretty sure walking falls under that category."
Aurora blinked. "Wait, who are you talking about?"
"Jackson, Jillian, and Kylie," Austen supplied, "They're a trio of wizards we encountered by accident."
"Oh."
Storm, meanwhile, was pinching the bridge of his nose, "Raiden, please tell me you know where they-"
"Yep."
And with that, the present were dumped in a rift, falling out behind the trio.
"What the f**k happened to not touching anything?" Glace demanded after pulling herself out of the traditional living pile.
Raiden did similar, adding, "And what happened to not doing anything stupid?"
The wizards looked at each other, and then Kylie and Jackson shrugged.
The gathered (minus Grace) let out a collective sigh at the trio's ignorance.
Glace pinched the bridge of her nose, "Do we have to take them with us?"
"Yes, please," Kylie piped.
"Where are we going?" Jackson asked.
"We won't last long out there," Kylie added.
"Are we going to that void place again?" Jackson asked.
"You two, she wasn't talking to us," Jillian cut in.
Storm let out a dragged-out sigh, "Unfortunately, we have to."
"Oh good- WAIT, unfortunately?"
That question conveniently went unanswered as a rift opened, promptly dumping all of them into the Academy's Great Hall.
"I'm sorry, but how in Peters' and Mahimker's names do you ever get used to this?" Jillian groaned from the middle of the pile.
"You don't," Raiden replied, helping her father up. After she did so, however...
"...what...happened to this place?"
Cracks had torn through the Great Hall, spreading from what used to be the keystone pedestals and up the walls to the roof. Thousands of crystal shards had dug and embeded themselves into new holes in the floors and walls of the Academy, making the room sparkle like a five year old's art project after being given a bottle of glitter. The windows had been blown to pieces, shards of glass littering the windowsill and floor, while others were lost to the ravaged world outside. Pieces of the ceiling had opted to take a permanent vacation to the ground, and the Astral-patterned carpet accepted brand new gashes that extended into the wooden floor below. The tapestry was now reduced to shreds, and the lanterns were reduced to barely recognizable pieces on the ground.
The Warden Keystones the group came to check on were nowhere to be seen.
However, there was still one thing in the Great Hall somehow left intact.
"...d-dad?"
The wizard's voice cracked as she called out to the crystalline figure in the center of the wreckage. "Dad, i-is that you?"
There was no response.
Why would there be?
Raiden walked over to Aurora, placing a hand on her shoulder, "I don't think he's going to respond." Ever.
Aurora stared ahead blankly, opening and closing her mouth repeatedly as she attempted and failed to produce a response.
Aurora turned to Austen, looking at him pleadingly. "Y-You can f-fix this, right? You cured them," Aurora said shakily, gesturing to the trio of wizards. "You cured me. You can cure him too, right? Right?" A forced smile made its way onto the Astral Wizard's face as she turned away. "Y-yeah it's fine fine fine it'll all be fine we can fix this we always fix this it will all end well..." Aurora's rambling began to slow. "It's fine Dad's fine Dad will be fine it's all fine..." Aurora choked back a sob and turned to face Austen again. "He...he will be fine, right?"
Austen and his snake exchanged a glance before he looked at Storm as if willing him to say something.
The borg sighed, "Aurora-"
"Please tell me we can fix...this." Aurora's voice cracked.
Austen closed his eyes, sighing, "...you can't heal crystal, the same way you can't heal stone, water, fire, or air. There's nothing left of his body...if there's anything left of his consciousness it will disappear as soon as I eradicate the crystals." Snow slithered over to Aurora and made her way to the girl's shoulder, cuddling against her face the best a snake could. "I'm sorry for your loss."
Aurora's head immediately dropped. Her vision began to blur as tears welled up in her eyes. The wizard trembled and sniffled, struggling to keep her tears from spilling over.
A single tear dotted the ground.
He's not...
Then another.
He'll be...
Then more.
...dad...
The girl sobbed uncontrollably, no longer able to hold back her tears. No longer able to hide her emotions. No longer able to remain in denial.
Jillian approached the distraught wizard and silently wrapped her in a hug. In the back of the group, Kylie and Jackson shuffled awkwardly, the former eventually walking up the the Astral Wizard and patting her on the back.
They remained that way for a while.
Eventually, the sobs subsided, and Aurora sniffled, still trembling in Jillian's arms.
Jillian released Aurora and took a step back, still leaving her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Are you feeling any better?" Jillian asked.
Aurora looked up at the older wizard, then dropped her gaze to the floor again. "I...don't know."
Jillian gave Aurora another hug before stepping back once more and giving the girl a sympathetic smile. "Well, if you ever want to talk about it, we're all here."
Aurora softly nodded and walked over to Austen, taking Snow off of her shoulder and gently handing her over to the fairy. "...so what now?" the Astral Wizard quietly asked.
"We deal with Void," Storm answered before the fey, voice oddly monotonous.
"And how are we going to do that?" Jackson asked.
Glace's tail flicked, her expression mixed, "Easy, we kick his a** again."
Jackson blinked. "We? Again? Do you mean that one time you all gathered everyone on the island to attack it and we all still almost failed?"
"Wait, what?" Austen stared at the other blankly, clearly somehow not knowing of the previous events.
Glace ignored his confusion, however, "Well, the elementals are around this time, we can always just ask them for help."
Jackson scrunched up his face in confusion. "...wait, why didn't we just start with that?"
"Because some of us aren't idiots."
"Ouch. So where are they?"
The present adults all stared at the boy blankly, clearly in a state of disbelief. In almost perfect unison, they deadpanned, "Harmony Island."
"...okay then."
Despite several protests, the whole group, including the now enlightened trio, were rifted onto Harmony Island’s shoreline, ready to ask the elementals for their assistance…
…after they disentangled themselves from the dogpile that the act of rifting had created.
Aurora rolled off the top of the pile.
The rest of the group did similar, with much less grace than simply rolling. Jackson - it seems he was the always the target of misfortune - discovered the feeling of horns digging into his rump, before being technically rammed off an even less unfortunate Ice Fey. Meanwhile, Jillian and Kylie were reminded of the reality of Storm's paralysis as they were somehow pinned under the exceptionally tall borg's leg, all while the aforementioned Storm Trainee also discovered an interesting sensation, specifically, the feeling of a snake slithering down his shirt. As this occurred, Austen attempted to retrieve his reptilian companion, only to fail due to Raiden also attempting to assist.
Chaos. Beautiful chaos.
After two minutes of a makeshift game of Twister, with Aurora watching from the sidelines, the group had managed to finally untangle themselves.
Also watching on the sidelines was a familiar firey elf, who, frankly, was taking advantage of their ghostly nature and floating a good bit off the ground, arching an eyebrow at the mess.
"...Sooo, I'm guessing you people still haven't figured out how to not fall on your faces."
"...no," Kylie responded. Then she paused. "...wait, who are you?" she asked.
The elf blanked, "SERIOUSLY?"
"To be fair, you've been absent for the past few eons. You can't expect the child to know who you are," Austen monotoned, his ears laid back.
"You know what? Fair." Looking at Jackson and the rest of the trio, the embodiment of fire introduced himself, "The name's Fire. No last name. All powerful deity of the Fire Element, blah blah blah, etcetera, I don't need to go into details."
"She used to go by Ember~" Another voice sang, totally oblivious to the offense of using a dead name, along with misgendering to top it.
"STORM I'M GOING TO-" He stopped, glancing at a certain Storm Trainee, "Not you," then continued, "-KILL YOU."
"No, you won't," the aforementioned person replied smugly, popping into existence next to Fire.
Okay, it's pretty obvious they were trying to offend him. Forget about the oblivious part.
In response to that, the elf raised a fist, flames enveloping it and quickly becoming so intense in heat, that they went from red to violet in the blink of an eye.
Storm - the elemental - raised their hands defensively and took a step back, "Okay, so maybe you would."
Not taking his eyes off the other elemental (or dispersing the flames), Fire addressed the group, "I did go by Ember, but only one damn person was allowed to call me that and I don't care if it's f**king petty, I will annihilate the planet if one of you call me that. And for the record, I'm male." His voice had grown increasingly aggressive, the ghost-like being glaring daggers at his peer. "Understood?"
When the group finished stammering out yeses, Fire dispersed the flames and slipped into a friendlier mood, "Well, now that that's out of the way, why are you here?"
"Yeah, why are you-" Storm (the elemental) didn't get the chance to finish before Fire shot them a deathly glare, slowly raising his fist.
“Well, you know Void? He’s kind of f**ked up our whole world and we’re here to ask you for help in taking him down.” Glace answered, smoothing out her hair. Aurora nodded along eagerly.
And maybe taking him down will get Dad back.
Fire and Storm (the deity) both stared at the girls blankly before screaming "Shadow!" at the top of their lungs.
Apparently, they wanted nothing to do with her spawn.
Almost immediately, the she-demon appeared behind the two, followed by a grouchy luminous deity.
The woman had one arm crossed against her chest, holding up her opposing to inspect her fingernails, "What is it? And can Astral take care of—" Her gaze settled on Glace, leading to her eyes widening slightly, "Please don't tell me this about her."
Fire sighed, "Wrong spawn, your other one is causing trouble again."
"Okay so Astral can take care of it. Goodbye~" She slapped Astral forward - hissing slightly at burning her hand in the process - before turning to leave...
...only for Fire to pop into existence in front of her.
"No."
"What?"
"If Void managed to corrupt Astral last time, then no, they can not take care of it."
"Yes I can—" Astral began to protest, only for Storm (the elemental) to interrupt.
"Uhhh, dude, you're weaker than me, which is saying something."
The yellow wizard stared at the grey fey, only to scoff and roll their eyes, "Yeah, right."
"No, the annoying Ivory has a point," Austen introjected, "The fact I'm capable of killing both your physical bodies go to show that neither of you can feasibly imagine overpowering any of the other elementals." The Astral Fey once again monotoned, his patience beginning to wane.
Fire blinked, "Excuse me, who are you? I never got around to asking."
"Austen Starheart."
"Oh, fun, another one of his pets."
"I beg your pardon—"
Shadow in—terrupted, "Wait, didn't I kill you nearly fifty years ago? How are you..."
"Wait, YOU DID WHAT?" Astral was hovering a good three feet off the ground, towering Shadow
Meanwhile, Storm (the deity) screaming at the top of their lungs, "ICE, EARTH, WATER, GET OVER HERE, WON'T YOU?" Before finding a good place to watch the chaos unfold.
Which, was quite a grand thing, as Jackson, Kylie, and Jillian had immediately begun questioning Austen regarding his immortality, Storm (the Borg) was accidentally insulted on multiple occasions due to the elementals forgetting to specify which Storm, Glace was attacking her half-mother over leaving her father fatherless, Aurora was clueless as to what to do, and finally, Raiden was busy covering Grace's ears due to the sheer amount of profanity.
Ah, what a lovely day.
One minute passed.
Chaos.
Two minutes passed.
Chaos.
Five minutes passed.
Chaos.
Eight minutes passed.
The arguing wasn't nearly as amusing anymore.
Chaos.
Eleven minutes passed.
A Water elemental attempted to speak up and dissolve the fights.
She was drowned out.
Chaos.
Fifteen minutes passed.
The right eye of an icy yeti twitched.
Twenty minutes passed.
The Ice elemental snapped. "Will you all SHUT UP? We've been here for almost half an hour."
The chaos stopped.
After a few minutes of awkward silence, they gathered tentatively began.
"Uh...."
"So..."
"Who's dealing with Void?"
The elementals looked at each of other, before staring at Shadow...along with a few brief glances at Astral, who seemed slightly annoyed at the elementals' preference to leave their faith in Shadow.
"Do I have to?" The demon drawled, being met by a chorus of yeses. She sighed, resting her chin on her fist, boredly waving the opposing hand, "Very well. Just don't blame me when the world stops existing."
"Well, let's just hope that we succeed then," Jillian sighed.
"That's...not what she meant—" Storm (the borg) began to correct, only to decide he was best off not correcting them.
"Well, I'd like us to win either way," Jackson piped.
"So...how exactly can we stop Void? Isn't Void, like, immune to elemental magic or something?" Kylie asked.
"Oh that's the easy part, at least for Shadow," Glace replied with a smirk. The aforementioned elemental, however, choose some choice primal words to describe her younger spawn.
When Shadow had finished, Kylie looked away from the elemental and stared blankly ahead. "..oh...okay."
After a moment of awkward silence, Shadow ventured, "So, where is the idiot anyways?"
Elsewhere, six gleaming gemstones of raw elemental essence empty to gray and stain with black.
Something dark pools in the coast of the island. The shores bubble with a vile smoke of black and purple, the miasma reaching up like a swarm of dark hands. The fog swirls and begins to spread across the island, thick and toxic.
The fog at the shores begins to solidify, latching onto the landmass.
Then the shaking begins.
The group struggled to maintain their balance, barely able to focus on the billowing clouds of darkness around them.
The ground began to crumble, bending and folding around the group. Losing their balance, members of the group stumbled or fell, and the quakes forced them together. A map was frantically summoned and the group disappeared.
A pile of people and a dark elemental appeared in the Academy's Great Hall.
"What the heck was all that about?" Jillian gasped, clutching Raiden's arm- only slightly to Raiden’s annoyance- as she tried to reorient herself after what had just occurred.
Kylie dug her way out from the bottom of the remaining pile, clutching her map. "Earthquake," she wheezed with currently smushed lungs, having only made it halfway out from the bottom of the pile. "Academy...midair...no shaking."
In the meanwhile, Shadow had hopped off the group and taken on a confident stature...clearly an attempt at reclaiming some dignity.
The mist swirls and soars skyward, surrounding the Academy.
Dark eyes open in the miasma, locking onto each elemental respectively. Manifesting tendrils riddled with crystal and orbiting gas lash out, miles upon miles of black either gripping onto the island or attempting restraint on their targets. Windows shatter in a hailstorm of stained glass. The walls shake and crack.
Celestial magic lit up the room, immediately tying down and slightly burning some of the tendrils, preventing them from extending further into the ravaged school. Others were infested with wisps of Shadow magic, granting a certain she-demon partial control of the onslaught. A lightsaber whooshed through the air, reducing pieces of a tendril to ash. A wizard and fairy worked together, launching large blocks of ice through the windows at the onslaught, and clamping down any tendrils that neared members of the group with astral-infused ice. Rifts opened and closed, redirecting the attacks further into the dark void. Two other wizards ran around, lighting torches and lanterns, bringing more light into the dark void surrounding them.
In the meanwhile, an Astral wizard had her complete attention locked onto the ghastly eyes in the cloud of darkness as she focused large, relentless blasts of Astral Magic at it, her bow and arrows lying off to the side, discarded for having no effect.
The eyes... scream. Loudly, almost deafeningly, filled with some instinctive and raw hatred. The tendrils recoil into the mist as it continues to rush further into the Academy, forcing the survivors backwards. Crystalline dust forms into sharpened shards and swirls in the mist, raining down like black sleet.
Three glowing purple eyes stare out from the front entrance, gazing at the group in some form of malicious apathy.
A shield made from Celestial magic formed around the group, blocking the rain of crystals, each of them bouncing off and falling to the ground in a chorus of clinks.
In a somewhat suicidal act, Aurora dashed out of the shields range, ignoring several startled protests, and gathered up the fallen shards, running back in without a word of explanation or a scratch, somehow. She thrust her hands and the cluster in them towards a stunned Austen, and the shield wavered, before the fairy quickly recovered. After a second or two, Aurora nodded to herself, satisfied.
The crystals were then abruptly thrown into the mist, and the trainee held up her non-infected hand to blast the pure light of Astral magic towards the cluster.
The cacophony of screams, clinks, and general chaos increased tenfold as the crystals exploded deep within the abyss, an unholy screech resonating within everyone’s ears.
The mist writhes and swirls like solar pulses on the sun's surface. The triad of eyes in the dark narrow as one is pierced by the golden light, leaving a dark hole in its wake. The eyes in the mist bleed essence and squeeze shut as they scream, the un-ichor staining the floors and giving rise to crystal growths.
The pseudo-elemental raises a hand to what remains of its hit eyesocket, staring intently at the dark, festering mess of fluid that promptly coats its hand. Essence separates, the ambrosia of the elements of Creation splitting from the hungry confines of the Void in its temporary weakness- the multicolored liquid seems magnetized to the host elementals, but is promptly reabsorbed by a tentacle.
The Element of Void looks back up at the survivors.
It remains silent.
Then it thrusts an arm forward.
The crystals begin to spread like skewers, bursting forward from the ground, tearing fabric and hardwood asunder as the dark spikes attempt to impale.
Jackson slammed a foot into the ground, summoning several walls of astral-infused ice.
They were shattered.
"Well that did nothing."
"No way, really?"
"I did not ask for your criticism, Kylie."
"Move it you two!"
The two wizards broke out of their short-lived argument and barely managed to dodge the spikes. Unfortunately, they were now surrounded by spikes in every direction, effectively unable to move. The rest had pressed themselves up against the walls, also avoiding the attack.
Another wave of spikes were sent immediately after, and the group scrambled to dodge them, narrowly avoiding the potentially fatal blows.
"We're... not gonna last long like this, just by ourselves..." Storm muttered. It was barely visible now, but it wouldn't take long for the first signs of fatigue to show. The mere act of trying to stay alive in this hostile situation took a lot more energy than the group had to spare, especially after everything else.
One misstep, then they'll be gone like the others.
Panels of Astral magic materialized, leading to the center of the hall, above the spikes responsible for desecrating the hall.
Aurora stepped onto the center panel, wielding an Astral bow.
The girl drew back on the string, summoning an arrow as she took aim.
Crystals grew and multiplied on the wizard's left hand, greedly siphoning off of her magic.
She didn't care.
Thousands of Astral arrows flashed into existence above her, each one locked onto the violet eyes in the darkness.
"Bring. Him. Back."
The arrows were released, rushing into the abyss.
Infuriated roaring echoes through the school as crystalline blades rip through the air, directed at the girl.
Leaping onto another panel, Aurora summons thousands more arrows to appear in the air, directing them all at the dark elemental.
Infectious crystals continued to multiply.
"Bring him back."
A spike tore through the floor, seeking to impale.
Aurora leapt onto another panel, barely dodging the attack. Beads of sweat formed along her forehead as crystals began to poke out of her arm. Aurora raised her right hand into the air. Astral magic condensed, forming one massive arrow. She dropped her arm, pointing her open palm in front of her.
"Bring him back!"
The arrow burst through the Academy’s doorway, ripping chunks out of it as it rushed into the abyss. Before the elemental could react, another arrow followed suit, smaller than the previous.
And another.
And another.
The Astral panel Aurora stood on slowly lowered with each consecutive arrow. Each arrow was noticeably smaller than the last, and yet, each put more strain on the young wizard. The panel began to fade as Aurora wavered, struggling to maintain balance. She shakily raised her right arm, managing to only summon a pitifully small arrow.
Crystalline spikes began to form below the Astral wizard.
"Why...did...you...take...him..."
Aurora dropped to a knee, letting her arms fall to her sides. As the wizard lost feeling in her left arm, the panel and arrow began to dissolve into particles of Astral magic that were pulled into the crystals littering the former Great Hall.
Succumbing to exhaustion, the unconscious wizard began her plummet towards the crystals below.
Storm could only watch as the girl fell.
One misstep.
And they’ll be gone.
That misstep will not be taken.
A rift flashed open below the falling wizard and spat her out a few feet away from Austen. “Idiot…” Raiden muttered. With the intention of keeping the infected wizard from infecting anyone else before something could be done, Jackson summoned vines that burst out of the ground and formed a cage around the unconscious individual, quickly giving each vine frozen and static properties. Overloaded crystals splintered and were carried out of the ruined building as waves of shadow magic rushed through the hall, courtesy of an allied dark elemental.
Weapons were brandished and particles of magic swirled in the air.
Ice coated the walls and windows, refusing the passage of the opposition’s toxic haze.
Fueled with determination, the resistance locked their gazes into the abysmal darkness, each desiring one thing.
For the chaos caused.
For the lives lost.
For the sake of their world.
This monster will face retribution.
Silent indignation meets their animus as two eyes and a wound stare back.
Two arms rise, hands pushing forward from the ever-obscuring miasma.
The sound of voidborne rifts tear loudly into the halls, screaming their existence against the will of all creation, etching themselves into reality.
Something roars from the other side.
Crystal-ridden tentacles pour fourth and wrap into a dark mess, hiding a serpentine body covered in scales of shards. The deep rumbling resonating in the halls of the Academy resemble the drums of war, for but a moment. The echo carries an ancient fire, and an ire lost to time.
And as the crystalline head rears and begins to flow out of the portal, the threat becomes apparent.
Wrapped tendrils unfurl and beat against the walls of the Academy, soon undoing the rafters, the ceiling, blotting out the open sky. The shrieking of rock-on-rock as body segments grind together is like nails on a chalkboard played on 160% pitch through a Walmart speaker. The dark clouds of the infestation collect and surround the Academy's broken remains in an orbiting storm, slowly rolling inwards- if the resistance had even thought of walking away from this battle, it would not have the chance.
The Element of Void's full body is revealed, a target acquired and visible
At the same time, however, the hulking voidwyrm Ulakam thinks the exact same of the assorted survivors.
Isis...
A fierce violet shone through the dark, spiraling and spreading through the building, dripping into cracks and branching into the shadows.
Hecate...
A lilac hand gently moved through the air, causing mist to swirl. A wrist flicked like a conductor does with a baton, the energy spiraling up in the air to meet it.
Astarte...
The energy darkened into a black, mauveine pulsing within the energy as it changed and hardened. As it readied itself to do its creator's bidding.
Demeter...
An ancient core formed before a being, acting almost like a living, breathing creature, turning to face the Ulakam. Its pulsing light fixes on the abominable wyrm's form, its master's hands gently drifting through the air, circling the embodiment of will.
Kali...
Angry, vicious power burst from the core, spiraling through the air before colliding into the wyrm, tearing hole after hole in crystals and flesh, causing void essence to splash and stain the surrounding carpet. The energy continued spiraling after its massacre, rejoining into an ever-shifting shape.
Inanna...
As the creature of darkness recalled, standing presence behind its creator, core pulsing in the dark, the amethyst she-demon stepped forward, hidden claws clicking against the wooden floor.
And Diana...
"Now...this is going to be fun."
Yellow eyes glistened in the dark, accompanied by violet...
...the core-born creature lunged for Void.
The wyrm discarded its wounded segments and lunged to the defense of its creator, meeting the beast head-on and smashing it away using its tail before it could damage the pseudo-elemental. Responding to its roaring, the maelstrom surrounding the floating island began to send strikes of dark lightning down on the battlefield, called from abyssal fields unknown to time. The bolts sapped and cleared any essence on the battlefield, consuming instead of destroying, doing the same for any living being it happened to graze.
The others took care to dodge the bolts, dragging their infected ally with them. In the small moments where they could, the wizards, fairies, and borgs all would pause to watch the warring beasts in astonishment.
A certain former Academy Keeper however, could only stare mournfully at the wreckage around them as he realized the disaster the current keeper would find after the battle ends.
If the battle ends.
Shadow, on the other hand, was not interested in dodging.
Oddly enough, the she-demon showed no reaction to the storm, in all her casualness, crossed one leg over the other, somehow sitting in mid-air. She placed her arms on her lap, drumming her fingers against her chin, seeming almost bored.
Energy surged through the void manifestation, tearing out of the beast as the core shot out from under its tail, once again reforming into the elemental's beast.
Its ever-shifting form opened what one could only assume was its mouth, before letting out a deafening roar and lunging for Ulakam, violet energy condensing into fangs and teeth as it tore into more of the wyrm's segments. Void essence continued to splash onto the ground, the beast began to absorb it, its core processing and refining it for its own use.
As this occurred, the demon's reptilian eyes met her half-daughter's cat-like, and the lilac elemental smirked.
"Dear, would you mind dealing with your brother for me? This isn't nearly interesting enough for my tastes."
Glace visibly recoiled at the manner Shadow addressed her, still not having fully wrapped her head around her relations with the elemental. However, she still had enough composure to retort, "And what the hell am I supposed to do?"
"How about you use that gift of his, for starters," she drawled in response, abruptly flicking air. It seemed completely random, that is, until a hand made entirely out of shadow essence flicked Ulakam halfway across the Acadamy, the core beast blinking its thousands of shifting eyes before diving after the wyrm.
The elemental then crossed her arms so that her left palm would be upright and facing her right side, and her right palm would face her left. With this movement, elemental essence once again spread, quickly subduing the void-borne lightning and clearing the field for - to put it simply - the mortals of the group.
As the wyrm continued to shed segments, the maelstrom began to accelerate, dark winds warping vision and ripping against flesh. The discarded crystals shattered and blew into the cycle, creating a stream of crystalline particles embedding into skin(?) before being torn away by the wind. The Ulakam fell into the hurricane and began to accelerate with the turning gales, employing hit-and-run strategies for blows the Cordis would have a harder time responding to. With each pass, Void essence was reclaimed from the opposing beast, drained back into its source.
With every attack and buffet the Cordis seemed to anger, charging up with immense violet and dangerously increasing in size. Meanwhile Glace reluctantly obeyed her half-mother's request, void magic being manipulated in favor of the group, Storm quickly joining in and helping her, albeit still clinging onto his daughter's shoulder for his dear life.
The Element of Void felt the clash of control between itself and those tainted by its curse run deep within the wyrm it commanded. So it simply voided harder. Anything coming at the pseudo-elemental directly was dispersed by its superior control over the void, though not without difficulty.
Then its eyes began to glow.
Focusing power into the Ulakam, crystal growths began to expand on its segments, ripping forth into a series of sharp protrusions and malleable tentacles. Now with actual appendages, the wyrm accelerated one more time and latched onto the opposing beast, stabbing into it and digging within flesh until tentacles wrapped around the core. A dangerous gambit soon ensued, with crystal coursing through the tendrils and striking into the heart of the Cordis as best the wyrm could muster.
At first nothing happened.
Then a crack appeared on the core, then another, and another.
Instead of showing an unimaginable amount of pain of essentially having it's heart equivalent ripped out, it narrowed it's eyes, flashing it's uncountable amount of teeth in undoubtedly smug grin.
The core fulminated, green flames enveloping the wrym as it's precise, controlled blast incinerated it, the impeccable destruction being manipulated to destroy the wyrm...
...and it's creator.
The pseudo-elemental immediately tore open a series of blocking rifts, allowing the flames of the detonated core to channel through. It stamped out anything that came too close with tentacles, the attacks being dispersed but the defending tendrils being incinerated as a result. Embers of destruction floated past even these, and the elemental was forced to block the remainder of the attack with its attached tendrils, causing damage. The wound did not cauterize, because elemental composition mumbo-jumbo, and essence began to leak from each of the burnt tendrils individually before essence patched them up. The escaped elemental energy immediately coursed back into the spirits it belonged to.
With the beasts off the field, the storm returned to its normal speeds, leaving both sides of the field open to attack.
A dark miasma settled over the air with the death of the wyrm, dispersing over the Academy ruins and whipping up with the storm. From the darkness swarmed thousands of Watchers, dark hands reaching and swarming the survivors, attempting to take hold and tear apart. The pseudo-elemental pushed its newfound momentum by crushing the mist into the swarm, effectively creating a binding chamber of corrosive toxins around the group- survival depended on those who could mitigate the threat.
The mist diverted around an invisible sphere, Storm's void-tainted eye casting a shine from beneath his bangs. At the summoning of the death mist, the Borg erratically became irate, anger burning in his gaze.
Perhaps it was trauma, or delayed grief, but whatever caused it manifested enough trauma that a cyan glow emitted from his coat pocket, the pocket that contained...
Time slowed for the Borg.
A freezing flame spread through the Academy, being not true fire but thousands of shards of Ice moving simultaneously. It separated, flying rapidly in all directions except the group's, mimicking glittering, deadly stars. These "stars" increasedbin size, lashing out at the circumference as blade like snowflakes, before rapidly recalling to their summoner and being sent out once more, forming into blades that stabbed into Void's "flesh."
Time resumed to normal.
This all occured much faster than the one could blink, the faces of the past flashing, almost tauntingly before the borg before being snatched away, no one being able to see it but him.
His blue gaze locked on Void, and unreadable expression across his face as the psuedo-elemental attempted to rid themself of six-phase ice...
...only to realize they were powerless against an element from another world, and that they were physically incapable of absorbing this substrand.
Void promptly responded by tearing the blades out with its tendrils, throwing them away into the storm as essence seeped from the wounds. The black liquid faded to white, then split into a rainbow of different elements, stabbing into the chamber and returning to its host spirits. Undeterred, the Watchers replenished their numbers and clawed at the repelling force of the void users present, screaming as they tried.
Key word? Tried.
The void users didn't have to do anything before a hand made of shadow essence proceeded to not only gouge the eyes out of the Watchers, but essentially disembowel them.
Meanwhile, the responsible observed her amethyst finger nails, as bored as ever.
The swarm screamed again as it was cast back into the void, leaving the mist room to disperse.
At this, the dark elemental glanced up, yellow tainting the edge of her irises as she contemplated whether or not to take things a notch further. Yet she decided the better if it, the yellow fading back to their usual purple.
She still had time to burn.
Meanwhile, Austen had quite effectively restrained Aurora with a rope of celestial magic, currently in the process of healing her from the virus (again). Meanwhile Raiden was notably beginning to tire from supporting her father whilst keeping track of Grace (who was in a rift) while the others where becoming more and more impatient (or in Glace's case, uncomfortable). The outlook wasn't exactly favorable.
"THE CAVALRY'S HERE, SUCKERS!" A voice suddenly cried.
Startled, the group turned towards the entrance, shaking their heads in disbelief as they realized a certain water trainee was the one behind the shout.
And that certain trainee had rode into the Academy on a special horse.
Glace sputtered. "Isn't that one of Abner's-"
From behind Jax, the rest of their formerly infected friends appeared, looking tired but still in a much better condition than the fighting group.
Raiden and Storm both slumped down to the floor in relief, finally succumbing to their weariness.
Thank you guys. So much. For being here.
The pseudo-elemental turned to face the sudden intrusion. Only a second's downtime passed before it fired off a volley of essence-based shots at the now-reunited group, triple shots orbiting around each other as they traveled.
Thanks to the quick reaction of a fire wizard and the Embershed and Luma-hybrid accompanying her, flames arced across the group's path, rapidly intercepting and redirecting the attacks before they could get absorbed.
Accompanied by an Emburn and a Frostfang, a red haired wizard leaped into the center of the hall. Elementless blue magic pulsed around the wizard and his pets as a large blue orb took form in the middle of the hall. Pointing a finger gun at the pseudo elemental, the wizard smirked, launching the orb.
Nathan Nightwhisper used All-Out Attack
Cracks ripped open in the orb, the light inside eager to burst through. In seconds, the orb violently blew apart directly in front of the elemental.
Turns out, Void couldn't absorb the element of elementless magic.
Void could only mitigate so much of the attack with collapsing defensive rifts, left to deal with the remainder of the blast force ripping into itself. When the blue smoke cleared, essence poured from a wounded mound of tentacles, soon retracting to reveal the pseudo-elemental, as stoic as ever.
The essence returned to its respective spirits in great volume, and for a moment, the enemy seemed to falter... Not for long, though, as a new volley of attacks pounded into the fray. Void crystal shot upwards from the ground, shattering in midair to release a barrage of essence and fragments. At the same time, tentacles shot forward from the pseudo-elemental to distract any evasive efforts, though the action seemed to put a new strain on it.
A certain fairy joined his older sister, giving the bored looking elemental a quick, sour glance, and then focusing back to the weakened opponent.
Quickly dismounting from the definitely-not-stolen horse, Jax spared a short glance at a recently cured Aurora, before joining his siblings up front. A trio of wizards stared at the new arrivals both questioningly and gratefully.
"Who are you guys?"
"And how did you- hey watch out for the tentacle- get here?"
Rai's Vision glowed as stone from another world pelted a stray tentacle, the fey glancing back at the trio, "I flew here. The others stole a mystyyk."
An Embershed snorted smoke out of her nostrils. "I am not a Mystyyk!" the Embershed protested.
"Ardent, it's not worth it," Hope responded, stroking the dragon's scales.
"Q and A later, beat up Void now," Nathan sighed, tapping the headphone jack on one of his ears. The Cosmic Mask turned on, enveloping the wizard's head in black and purple matter.
The aforementioned enemy continued its barrage, shots and strikes increasing in volume and speed as time went on, seemingly without limit if uninterrupted.
Hope and the dragons next to her once again blocked the barrage with their fire magic, although not as successfully as the first time. Jax assisted with his own element, blasts of water meeting the shots halfway.
“He has to be getting tired after that attack.” Storm muttered, still slumped on the floor, a short distance away.
At this, Shadow rolled her eyes, finally paying attention to the group again, "He is tired," she smirked, "this isn't his home turf after all."
Void evidentially heard this, as his dull, identical pair of violet eyes met hers...and Shadow smiled wider.
It was only a moment's distraction, but it was enough, perfectly coordinated with another member of the group.
Multiple robes of Celestial magic restrained the psuedo-elemental, burning as they did so. Of course, Void could continue with his spells, but the ropes were there to stay, draining him of essence.
At least, until the fey ran out of mana.
A stream of water snaked through the air, latching onto falling crystals and other stray void essence before flying into the mist outside and dissolving.
With the air cleared, a Luma-Embershed hybrid took to the air. Red-orange elemental essence gathered into one spot, forming a pulsing ball of lava.
A Wildfire.
Only...it grew larger.
More Fire magic flowed into the ball of lava, expanding the spell's magnitude.
Scarlet's wings flashed a bright orange and the dragon opened her jaws, roaring. She flapped her wings forward and sent the spell hurtling towards the elemental, letting it spew out smaller balls of lava onto the surrounding tentacles.
Scarlet used Totality!
It was a direct hit.
The ensuing explosion shook the Great Hall as cracks extended from the point of impact, each one leaking smoke.
Jax shielded the group from any stray bursts of flame with a wall of water, and when the smoke cleared, they looked up at the carnage on the pseudo elemental’s side of the room.
And there, Void still stood, resisting defeat. Scraps of once-defensive tentacles fell to the ground around the artificial elemental, squelching as they did so.
Essence bled into the ground as it separated, the winds faltering in moments of weakness.
The group continued to bombard the false elemental with spells as tendrils lashed out, attempting to incapacitate the attackers.
But the longer those Celestial restraints stayed, the harder it was for Void to defend and retaliate.
Those restraints had been on for long enough.
The ground below Austen erupted in a shower of splinters, unwillingly allowing a tentacle to slam the fairy into the ceiling.
The bonds shattered.
Essence roared through the Great Hall, blowing loose debris around in the howling storm.
Suddenly, a giant coin appeared, as a rift opened.
Out from the rift flew Ben, who was carrying Ansat, as he threw him at the false elemental.
Ansat curled up into a rapidly spinning ball as he braces for impact.
Nathan blinked. "Wait, what the-"
Ansat struck Void across the face, before hitting the ground, rolling on the ground in a U-turn, before leaping back up, and striking the face again.
He landed on 2 feet, before smirking and wagging his finger, as Ben floated down next to him.
And the elemental...
Toppled over.
Quite ungracefully, really.
For the first time in what felt like hours, Great Hall was silent.
"Um, woohoo?" Hope said, in a very confused, but slightly cheery voice.
"Aw man, I thought there was gonna be an explosion." said Ben.
Shadow crossed her arms, looking more disappointed than Ben, "Ending this island would've been more climatic than that... disgrace."
Raiden, from her seat next to Storm at the base of a pillar finally decided to comment, "You guys do realize that Void hasn't been sent back to the void yet...right?"
In short, the next few minutes were filled with an absurd amount of passive-aggressive spellcasting.
Thankfully for Void, this didn't last long due to the group's minimal mana supply and lack of elemental keystones. Unfortunately for Void, however, essence finally finished draining out from their variety of injuries, leading to them having an "oh sh*t" moment before promptly imploding, a glowing crystal not dissimilar to Shadow's cordis being left in its place.
"..."
"What were you saying about anticlimatic?"
A certain borg wearily looked at his daughter, "I..."
And of course, this is when a small purple rift opened, a rather familiar hand snatching the crystal before it snapped shut.
"...am not going to bother processing this sh*t."
"Sweet." said Ansat. "So does this mean that Void won't try and take over the island again?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
.
.
.
Weeks later, a familiar group gathered in the private common room, streak-less wardens and trainees gathered with their companions. Damage was being repaired, Austen had cursed them out regarding the keystones, and Storm...
The group looked at the gray-haired man expectantly, who had grown rather quiet.
Although he knew what they'd been talking about, he had stopped paying attention, his mind drifting to…
Juniper's smile…then her yells.
Caleb's playful giggles as he runs after Wattage.
Hei's indifference, yet gentleness toward Grace.
How could one manage to lose this much in one day?
"Storm?"
He glanced up at a familiar, light blue gaze, the Ice Fey looking…tired.
She had crossed her arms, tail flicking lazily behind her.
"Well?"
He frowned, "What?"
"Lane can't continue as Storm Warden, and since you're still the Storm Trainee…"
Oh.
So that's what this was about.
For some unknown reason, the borg's grip on the pillar tightened, the man barely able to prop himself up.
Anger flashed in his gaze, and he took a shuddering breath, "This is what you f**king bother me for?"
Samantha and Chase glanced at each other in the background, the latter speaking first, "Hey, bud, I get you've been through a lot today but-"
He cut himself off when Samantha stepped on his foot, the Fire Wizard cursing under his breath.
The trainee, meanwhile, was sending the two a death glare, which, in turn, was the reason why the Water Wizard had silenced Chase.
"Look, as you said, I've had a rough day, and I don't need you people to finally giving a sh*t to my existence just to dump the entire literal island on me." He hissed.
Abner spoke up, "Well, it won't just be on you..." He swallowed the rest of the sentence, perturbed by the borg's expression.
Storm's gotten mad before, but this was...
"Do you have any idea what you've all put me through? ANY?"
A few of the group stepped back, others shuffling nervously.
Purple flashed beneath his bangs, "Well, let me enlighten you."
His lone eye fell on Abner, “For one, you,” anger emphasized the last word, the Storm Wizard’s teeth grit, unnaturally sharp canines visible before he started yelling, “you were the one who recommended me as a trainee to begin with, even though you knew I wanted to leave. You were the one who obligated me to stay here until it was too late.”
“Too late for-“
Abner didn’t get to finish before the borg turned - not literally - on Aly, “And you, do you have any idea how long I had to tolerate your and Gale’s bullsh**t. Every. Single. Day. Do you know how long you bullied me, Alyss? Reminded me every f**king day that I was helpless without my brace? And then Gale’s death threats, and worse of all how you would side with him whenever he had something to say about me?”
She blinked in surprise, “Storm-“
"Then, there's Lane the bloody idiot," he spat, glaring at the fellow Storm Wizard, "who had ever so much fun harassing me whenever I cracked a stupid pun, which, if I may inform you, was one of the only f**king things keeping me from falling apart. Too late for that."
He caught Chase’s eye, the blind wizard being oblivious to what came next, “And you, Chase,” he spat out the name like poison, “Acting as if you cared about me only to toy with my feelings?”
“…When did I-“
“I could start listing right now,” a hiss replied.
“Then there’s your lovely wife over there,” sarcasm dropped from each word, his glare meeting Samantha’s defensive stare, “who ruined my entire f**king life and never bothered to apologize.”
Something flickered in Chase’s expression, “She didn’t-“
“THEN HOW COME I’M A VOIDWALKER?”
The common room grew so quiet, one could hear a gold coin drop.
An exasperated sigh escaped the gray-haired man, and the purple flash below his bangs was no longer a flash, but a steady, threatening glow, “I can’t even f**king die without going through who knows what not once, not twice, but three times. And you know what I had to give up for that? Something which I never even wanted? My right,” he was breathing hard, eyes beginning to burn from the tears that threatened to fall, “to see my family again. My mother? Dead. My father? Dead? My wife? Dead? My son? Also dead. Sure, Raiden and Grace are still alive, but thanks to f**king void, I’m going to outlive both of them, no matter what happens. And when I finally die, I have a z*bbing free pass to hell.”
The tears fell, the man's sheer anger holding back a scream as not water, but acid dripped out of his left eye.
It's not as if the group would have any idea why he was in pain, no thanks to his bangs.
"And the worse part?" He forced out the words without a trace of pain, keeping the agony to himself, just as he's done so many times before, "That so much worse happened to me because of you all, and if I were to tell you," his gaze caught a purple one, an immortal wizard standing a distance away, "you would never believe me."
Storm pushed himself up with the pillar, towering over the surrounding, "So? Now that you know just how f**king broken I am, do you still want me to be Storm Warden?"
He didn't receive a single word.
"Good. Because I can assure you, if you still choose me, it doesn't matter what I did today, this sh**ty island would hate me instead," he began to limp away, propping himself against the wall, before hesitating and adding one last thing, "and they would be right to. You can never trust a cyborg."
Especially one who was never fully human, to begin with.
It was a few days later when they saw the borg again, leaning on a crutch and averting everyone's gazes, "I...would like to apologize for what I said a few days ago. I'm just...dealing with a lot right now."
"And?" Raiden edged him on, crossing her arms.
He sighed, "But that doesn't justify what I said. None of this is your fault."
Awkward glances were exchanged, before Luce ventured, "It's fine, Storm."
"I'm still confused by what you-OW!"
A certain fire wizard's foot was stepped on again, this time by Aly.
"As long as you apologize, it's fine."
"Well that's good to hear-"
"So are you going to be warden or not, I'm too tired to find a replacement."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...fine-"
"WAIT, RAIDEN HAS TO BE YOUR TRAINEE."
"Wait, what-"
"I accept!"
"Th-that's not how it works..."
.
.
.
Well, all's well that ends well, right?
...
RIGHT?