As the group made their way down the far side of the mountain the landscape beyond stretched out like a painting unfurling into sunset. The sea stretched along one side and the land on the other both appeared infinite from their vantage. Off in the far distance over the land and expanding far over the sea were the skylands of the Force Isles.
The land masses hung in the air as if the True's above placed them there with a master's hand. They still had at least a day of travel before they would arrive to the outskirts around the nation. With night rapidly approaching they would have to make camp shortly after they fully descended the mountain side.
"We are so close." Tanisha said.
"These mountains weren't here three years ago." Aurelius said absentmindedly.
"Ah." Tanisha said in contemplation. "So, that means they formed thanks to the mana hurricane?"
"He misspoke. They did exist just not to the ocean." Fuyumi corrected. "It is common for mana storms to change geography. It is telling to the power of the hurricane that it altered something this far out."
The group continued down but Bjorn couldn't help but think about the explosive force of the failed skylands in the Chaos Land. When the magic that kept them afloat broke down the destruction was terrifying. The scale and stability of those skylands and the ones that stretched like a continent before him was not comparable.
One of his heads couldn't turn away as the sun set behind their destination. It took a moment for Bjorn to even realize that Aurelius had been talking nearly the entire descent from the mountain. He was animated in his descriptions of the Force Isles, the people, the adventures and the friends and family he had there. He was adopted by a human caravan that frequently traveled between nations connected by the Chaos Lands.
"Draco is probably losing his mind being stuck in the city, he was never good being still for too long." Aurelius said.
"That is your brother, right?" Tanisha asked.
"Yeah. Oh and I will have to keep an eye on him around you two. He is… well appreciative of women." Aurelius rubbed the back of his neck, looking a little embarrassed. "Not in a bad way. Just know… he has had his fair share of encounters."
"Appreciation doesn't sound bad," Tanisha said, genuinely puzzled. "Don't you appreciate us?"
"It means he's promiscuous." Fuyumi said.
"Ah. Well." Tanisha coughed. "I heard humans were more concerned with that kind of thing."
"We are." Fuyumi said with a hint of fondness. "After nearly three years I could use a—"
"Fuyumi!" Tanisha snapped.
"We are all adults here," Fuyumi shrugged. "But I am the only one here with that kind of urge."
"Honestly, I forget you're human sometimes," Tanisha said. "Do you have children?"
"No." Fuyumi said.
"Then why do you do that?" Tanisha questioned. "Do humans need practice?"
"Human's sleep together for fun." Aurelius said quickly, waving the topic away. "Anyway, when we get there I know we have to get to the Lyghten Towre but—"
"We will find your family first. The Towre isn't going anywhere." Tanisha said and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Anyway, tell us more about your family."
His family weren't traders themselves but trade was lucrative for anyone willing to make that journey. Guides and guards through the Chaos Lands were always in high demand. His family were both for anyone looking to shorten their routes and take the dangerous path. As the signs of mana storms intensified fewer and fewer of his family thought it was safe to risk the trip. By the end, Aurelius was the only one willing to keep taking contracts, venturing into the Chaos Lands alone while the storms raged. It was that decision to keep taking contracts that eventually led the elf to Tanisha.
***
The group had walked until they reached the end of the kobold path at the base of the mountain. The forest was dense and travelling it at night would have been hazardous. Bjorn and Tanisha could see in the dark but Aurelius, Fuyumi and Anasuya could not.
Encountering a group of monsters as large as what they saw with the crawling stalkers could turn out very differently with everyone blind.
"We should make camp for tonight." Aurelius said as darkness loomed. "Normally, I'd say we could continue through the night this close but with the possibility of running into more monsters. It's not wise."
There was a general consensus that he was right and they cleared out a place to rest. They didn't have sleeping bags or camping material because they were forced out of the facility so suddenly. However, with their constitutions and mage bodies they would all be okay sleeping naked in the middle of a snow storm. A clear night wasn't going to be an issue.
As Bjorn sat at the edge of the rapidly forming campsite Fuyumi walked over to him. She sat down beside him, her gaze looking out into the middle distance.
"I never had a chance to thank you." Fuyumi said.
One of Bjorn's heads looked at her while the others looked around the area for threats.
"There is no need for thanks between friends," Bjorn's head said in sequence.
Fuyumi's gaze dropped to her hand. She opened and closed it with a reverence not belonging to such a simple motion.
"I can't describe what this feels like." Fuyumi said her voice was soft and vulnerable. "Having access to aether… it is not like having mana. Mana felt alien… it was like it was always a replacement for something else. A piece that didn't quite fit. It was like it wanted to unmake me as much as it was a part of me. But this, I feel… whole. I can't use my power yet but I know it is still there incubating, changing to match this new me I have become."
She leaned back on her arm and looked up at the sky.
"You know I was a failure?" She continued with a pained smile on her lips. "I wasn't cast out but, when I left the Yuki and became a wanderer I always thought I would die out there some day. I think I was ready for it. Ready to let go. But when I met you all things started to change. Tanisha was an outcast too, right? I think that helped me to relate. She said her bridges were burned but mine might not be. I think… I think when this is over. I am ready to return to the Yuki and make my peace."
Fuyumi stood up and gently pulled one of his heads down to look her face to face.
"So, thanks are necessary. You did more for me than save my life, you gave me the ability to see clearly. To feel less broken inside. You are a Divine, right? Then like Tanisha I believe in the Sonr Orma Eilífra. I believe in what you are. Sól will always have my heart, but I give you my spirit."
"I am not the True of Man." Bjorn said, not in rejection but in conformation. "I am True Hydra, I am True Cernunnos and True Dagda. I don't have an afterlife for anyone. I don't require spirits."
"Well, my Divine." Fuyumi said with a smile. "Luckily my people live a very long time. Hurry up and get strong enough to build me a Heaven."
She took a step back from him and bowed on her knees and prayed.
"Sonr Orma Eilífra," She said. "In this moment I see you, and I give thanks.
Not for ease, but for truth.
Not for comfort, but for the gift that woke me.
You showed the path not by sheltering me,
but by revealing what I could endure.
I bow here by my own will.
No fear binds me, no reward lures me.
I choose you.
I will honor you in word and deed,
carry lessons into the world,
and walk forward as one who has been changed.
From this breath onward,
I give you my worship."
Bjorn is stunned at the sudden reverence. He just watches her for a long moment as he processes the vow she just proclaimed. She knew Tanisha worshiped him as a True but wendigo worship wasn't the same as what humans do. Tanisha loved him and her actions were her reverence but she didn't treat him any differently. He didn't desire worship, but he knew what he was, what that could mean for people.
"That was not necessary. Please stand up, lift your head." Bjorn said. "I will take your belief in me as your Patron and friend. Beyond that it is your right to decide but I don't need worship."
Fuyumi stood up and looked at Bjorn with a long gaze.
"Regardless if you need it or not, you will become the patron of those like me. Those in the Yuki that want to be whole. Many Yuki may choose to follow in the future." A knowing smile formed across her lips. "I got in early. Hope that means I get a better spot when you do eventually ascend."
Her voice darkened. "Besides I am somewhat lost as to what to believe when it comes to the Divines. If they hunted humans like Laxy and Ivoi said then they are undeserving of my soul."
"I see." Bjorn paused to consider his words. "That does remind me, we need to talk about aether. The sooner you can use it the better. So let me explain what it really is. Maybe after some practice you can relearn Walking Armory."
***
The morning quickly faded to mid afternoon as the team trekked on. At their pace they expected to arrive shortly after sunset. The thick forest had given way to the wide open steppes of the Force Isles southern terrestrial territory.
There weren't any roads from the direction they had come which was thick wilderness and mountains. The grass had grown to chest height, most of it golden brown interspersed with stubborn shrubbery. It flowed like waves in the wind carrying the earthy scent of untamed nature.
Tanisha would disappear with her Arcane Shift every now and then and come back with a wide smile and new plants. She would catalog while they walked. Aurelius's eyes were on the floating skylands ahead while Fuyumi and Anasuya both sat on his back.
That was when Bjorn tasted something wrong.
Corrupted Mana?
Maya?
Primana?
Something else entirely the only other time the world tasted this wrong was when the veil between this world and whatever lay beyond was thin. The same energy that he felt when he looked at the rift. The burning wrongness that what he was seeing was not something he was meant to, not at the level of power he currently was.
"Everyone!" Bjorn yelled. "Danger!"
They all stopped and soon they felt it too. He could tell by the pained looks on their faces. Lightning cracked in the sky and froze mid flash. Energy bled outward from the rupture, staining the world red, like a fresh wound torn across living flesh. The sun dimmed as the sky twisted, swallowed beneath a sickly aurora that coiled into existence in an instant. It was a mana storm forming in moments,
Then the voice came. Not transited through sound but, through law. Intent made as tangible as the ground beneath their feet.
"Son of Toxin, false king of serpents!" It hissed, each word violent and seething. "You brought Riots to my ascension! You led me to Khah! I will kill you and pull my ba from the void before it is too late. Become my ḥeka, become my power, until I can escape again!"
"Did everyone hear that?" Tanisha questioned.
"Yes, we need to run!" Aurelius said.
"No, no, no, why is he after us?" Failsafe said internally.
"Doesn't matter. Something to do with killing us is all that is important." Isin said mentally.
The team sprinted as fast as they could, well as fast as most of them could. Aurelius could run circles around them if he wanted to but, he didn't abandon them. Bjorn looked around, head and his split mind working to process everything simultaneously.
A crack in reality split open and something spilled out black, vast, and burning, like a wave of living scales wreathed in fire. The form seemed endless but it was not perfectly in reality. It was as if it was being rejected at the same time it was becoming tangible.It was hard to look at, like watching a needle push through fabric from the other side. It was only visible in waves.
Bjorn saw its head for a beat. It wasn't the Great Serpent, it was the avatar that had wrapped itself around the Rift. His eyes were locked onto Bjorn with absolute ire.
The avatar was miles away but closing on them far faster than they were closing on the city. The sky, the ground, the ocean and everything else began to shiver as the residual power of Rift flowed from it like a tsunami. It was using that power to rip open reality like it was peeling back a clothing.
They weren't going to make it and even if they did then what? Bring the avatar of a True Immortal down on the unsuspecting Force Isle entry check point? Kill thousands and still likely die in the end?
"Anasuya, Fuyumi get off!" Bjorn yelled as he stopped. "He wants me."
Tanisha stopped as well. "Bjorn what are you doing? We have to go!"
"No," Bjorn said. "It wants me, you all can live. I will fight it and keep it away from the Force Isles."
The armor appeared around Tanisha and her aura, the event horizon that was the manifestation of her core, sprang to life. She stepped up to him and placed a hand on him.
"You are my life," Tanisha said. "If you stay, I stay. End of story.
"Tanisha we can't win against it." Bjorn said.
"Then we give it indigestion after it eats us. I am not going anywhere, Bjorn Scalebound." Tanisha said.
"Neither am I," Aurelius said. "That thing tried to wipe out the continent, who knows what else it will do."
"I won't be much help as I am now but it will be an honor to die here beside you all." Fuyumi said.
"He is after me," Bjorn insisted. "None of you have to do this."
Aurelius turned to Fuyumi and pressed a storage ring into her hand. "Take this to Sophia and Niketa Lyns. You should find them in Okecombe. Tell them… tell them I'm sorry I didn't make it home."
Tanisha flicked her own ring toward Fuyumi, who caught it reflexively.
"It has everything I promised Signe," Tanisha said. "Make sure our contacts in the Force Isles receive it."
"You're acting like I'm not coming with you," Fuyumi said sharply.
"Because you aren't," Aurelius replied, his expression hardening. "Someone has to tell the world what's coming. The Monster Tide. The Trues waking up. All of it. Please…please, keep my family safe." He gave a thin smile. "And hey… maybe we're about to kick that lizard's ass."
Fuyumi clutched both rings to her chest, hands trembling.
"I'll be waiting in the city," Fuyumi said. "You'd better not die."
"Anasuya, go with Auntie Fuyumi." Isin said in the hissing tongue.
"No!" Anasuya said. "I am with daddy!"
"This is dangerous go with your aunt." Isin said forcefully.
"No!" She said as she used her maya to vanish.
"Damn it Anasuya please." Isin said.
There was no reply, only silence as Fuyumi placed her hand on each of them one after the other with a nod. She then started running towards the city in the distance. Still hours away.
There wouldn't be any help coming. And there was no way to kill an avatar coated in years of Rift energy. Bjorn turned to Tanisha one last time. Her helmet hid her face, but he knew she was looking at him all the same. He didn't ask her to leave again. He could feel the fear in their bond, the certainty this was the end but she would face it anyway.
He didn't ask her to leave again. She was a warrior. She had the right to choose her battlefield.
Each of Bjorn's heads turned toward the approaching horror as it tore through reality faster and faster, the world screaming in its wake. He took the first step forward.
Then another.
His core ignited, power roaring through every vein, every scale, every mind. Latent energy surged to the surface, bending the air around him. He galloped as fast as he could, the others in step beside him.
"Do we have a plan?" Tanisha asked.
"Stay away from the lightning, and hit it as hard as you can." Aurelius said.
"Anything more than that?" Tanisha said.
Aurelius was quite for a moment.
"It wants to kill Bjorn, so distracting it may work. Arcane Shift and Juggurnaut Stampede together might let you two stay out of its path directly." Aurelius said grimly. "Bjorn's venom is also a True ability so it might be able to kill it… eventually. He should use every possible poisonous and venomous attack he has."
Before they were ready the world ripped open in front of them. A rift split that world as in a blinding light. The edges fraying the minds of those too close to avoid it. There was a scream of defiance, one that shook the blinded world.
"No!" The avatar screamed.
As Bjorn came into contact with the sudden rift he felt his body become unmade. The state between life and death. He saw himself, his form unraveling without paint. Tanisha was beside him, Aurelius beside her. He reached but before he could touch them his arm unfurled like a ribbon loosed in the wind. Still there was no pain, only a sense of unmaking.
When his body was gone, there was only his core, suspended in an endless white void of blinding power. Three orbs floated together, bound by threads of primana. In the center was the sealed core, the maya core that nearly killed him years ago.
Fuck it.
With less effort than a gesture, he released the seal. Maya poured out in a silent flood as Bjorn let go, ready for his awareness to fade. He had died once already. This would be no different.
His only regret was Tanisha.
That she had followed him.
That she hadn't run.
That she would never have the ordinary life she deserved.
Failure, again. Just like the first life.
But his thoughts didn't fade. In fact after an endless moment they sharpened. He became more aware.
His core burned brilliant against the Rift's void and yet appeared dark against its blinding light, a paradox impossible to describe. The maya no longer flowed freely. It condensed, thickening, sketching the outline of something Bjorn had never truly seen.
The Spellform of Failsafe fully revealed. It was vast and intricate beyond anything he had ever perceived before. He realized, with cold clarity, that parts of it had always been hidden from him. It was only visible now, under these impossible circumstances.
Most of it was elegant. Precise even. That changed once he saw what the new sections revealed. Those parts were wrong.
They violated the spellform, digging into his cores like hooks, tearing power free. Siphoning not just energy, but personality, being, identity. It wanted to rip at his soul but settled for his magic. Looking at it made him sick in a way that had nothing to do with the body he no longer had. He would have retched, if he could.
"Dad!"
The voice cut through the horror.
Bjorn tore his focus away from the thing latched onto his Reincarnation Failsafe and saw Anasuya. She was whole, untouched, existing as if the rift itself could not harm her. Before he could speak, she scooped his core, and Tanisha's, and Aurelius's into her mouth and then the world finally went dark.