YUVEN

Miesero. As Neven ran into the abyss without falter, he clung onto Fenrer who wheezed out his life. Up on his feet, he waited for Adara to quell Fenrer's torment before taking a single step to follow him. A warm hand wrapped around his arm, jolting him back into the present reality. "He's right," Maria's voice settled in his ears, and he turned to her. "I know you don't like this, Yuven, but we have to trust him." Her brow furrowed in a sense of nervousness, but when he faced her in full, it disappeared. "Let's find a way to that platform."

"...fine." Yuven swung an arm out. "We head down the tunnel. Try to keep sight of the hollow. Adara, you will be the one feeding your magick into the platform. As I have told you, we will be breathing hard and you'll have barely broken a sweat." In the lead with Neven long gone, he refused to waste any time he gave them. I will never waste the opportunities you've given me. Never. He dragged out his crescent blade, shining its sharp light through the dark. Curls of tendrils in battle, with the other three close behind him in varying states of dismay, with Fenrer in the worst condition, his hand over his eyes. At some point Adara handed him his auric blindfold, which he had managed to tie around his head.

A low throb pounded on his head and licked across his veins. He raised a hand to stop them, and peeked around the corner. In the middle of the diverted paths, a single brazier aflame with bloodied flames. Chains wrapped around its base, and he held back the bile of past mistakes when a Derelict licked at its entrapment, slowly rusting it. Piece by piece. Kindred patience. Black bones extended out of its shape, every shifting, malformed. It got up and stalked around the brazier, the flames sputtering with each step.

Why is there so little? Why have we seen no cultists on our end of things? Yuven looked past Maria, Adara, and Fenrer to where they had left, the void yawning for consumption. It can't be that simple. He might have grabbed their attention, but this cult has been active for Turns. It can't be that simple. Yuven scowled and returned his attention to the lone Derelict. It stilled its patrol, its neck giving a sharp crack in their direction, the red orbs along its body concentrating onto a single point, focusing on them.

As it opened its mouth to reveal its jagged teeth, he jumped at Fenrer's gasp of pain, twisting out of Adara's grip to sink onto his knees onto the floor below. "Why isn't it working?" Fenrer pleaded as he tore the auric blinder off. In the moment of silence, the flame flickered, then blazed with Fenrer's next writhe of pain and both hands went up to his head. The Derelict pulled ever so gently on its chains, but the motion sent Fenrer onto the ground to dry heave his life.

Yuven swung out from the corner and leaped for the Derelict, driving his crescent blade into its throat. Hook embedded into its jaw, he tore out the core and split it into golden stars. It fell around him in showers of light. Turning to Fenrer, he straightened himself out when Fenrer ceased the pained gasps and movements, his hands slowly drawing away from his head as he looked at him with wide, confused eyes. Adara ushered him to his feet again, and Yuven looked through the shattered piece of the wall and into the cavern.

In the opposite distance where he had abandoned Neven, lamps whispered out their last, flickered hope. Shapes twisted, molded, and fell. He sucked in his lips, and mumbled, "We're getting close." Back to the truth, he pushed them onward, where the mineshaft inclined and curled around. Their last hope for escape from the hell they found themselves in. It opened wide to the hollow, but he prevented the others from approaching. Along the walls, sat upon tiny plateaus, ballistas, pointed downwards and upwards in equal measure. Yuven pressed his boot against the shaky walkway to the platform, the wood holding fast to his weight. "Caution... if Neven did his job right, they know someone's here." Up onto the shaky walkway, he looked around as he ascended onto the platform, a pure white in contrast with the abyss below. No one barred their retreat. No one came to stop their escape; and with all four of them on the platform, his confidence wavered with Fenrer's ability to stand.

"Now what?" Adara whispered as she looked upwards with him. "What even is this place? Is this... their headquarters?"

Yuven folded his arms and studied the environment around them, tracing the runic lines on the platform. Four cardinal points. Tongue against his teeth, he walked along it, the circuits of stone open, willing to take magick from the way his flowed easily through it, but didn't take. It didn't stick. Probably works like everything else in here. Blood magick. At least for normal magickae. "Adara, try filling the cardinal focal points with power. But I would watch the process — mostly because I don't trust anything to do with this place, but if it's our only means of escape... we'll do what we must."

"That's not comforting." Adara headed to the northern one.

"Maria," Yuven whispered to her. "Keep an eye on the area. I have a bad feeling... and my feelings are usually right. But, most of all, keep an eye out for Neven. I will not leave him here." His hand squeezed her arm, for the last shred of warmth and comfort in the clutches of cold death.

"Of course." Maria drew out her crescent blade in preparation, so he moved onto Fenrer while Adara waited by the north cardinal.

"Molvisaliz."

Fenrer swayed by the west cardinal. "I'm sorry I'm useless," he rasped.

"You are not useless. You are hurt. I don't know what they did to you but we are going to fix it. We're going to go home... and get them all to Euros where they can be interred." Yuven sucked his lips between his fangs. "Fenrer, I... I'm sorry, for a lot of things. So, please... rest. Out of everyone, you deserve it."

Fenrer considered him, and for a fleeting moment, a smile drew across his face. A fleeting instant, and the pain appeared to relinquish his hold on Fenrer. "Didn't we... apologise to each other already?" he asked softly. "I forgive you, Yuven. Let's..." His next breath came in a sharp inhale. "Let's go home, alright? I have a bad headache... and... I need some sleep."

Yuven managed a nod, then headed over to Adara while she traced her glyph over the runic indents. Silver flames bloomed across the edges, until it gave off a radiant hue and the cardinal took in the power. His head raised when the beams of scattered promises raised higher. It hit the hollow circumference, reflecting as above and so below. Promising, but- Feathers pressed against his ears, he studied the ballistas along the walls. "Fill the other cardinals, but take care. I don't like this." He refused to take his attention off the walls of the hollow while Adara followed his direction, listening to the distant wails which echoed off the smooth stone walls. Beacons of light shed off in silver tangles, his breath catching in his throat at the power.

"Now what?" Adara asked after the last cardinal lit up.

Where is he? Yuven balled his hands into his fist at the eerie silence which held onto the air. Rumbles sounded beneath him, but he tensed up his shoulders at an uneven ripple. Lights constricted, became solid, and he jumped when one grabbed Adara around the ankle. Her scream sounded through her ears as she was dragged to the eastern cardinal. Fenrer snapped his head up, getting back to his feet, but Yuven found himself far too slow when the chains of the western cardinal whipped forward and dragged him through the light. Embers of the morning scattered.

"Maria!" Yuven threw his arm at her when she ran for him, sending bursts of flames at the entrapment glyphs. It slid off of Adara's cage, who swung her head around and punched the wall of light in front of her. Chains slid across the runes, and he ducked over one, only to get whacked in the face by another. Pulled along the stone, nothing more than a prisoner to someone else's whims. It weighed his magick down — against his own skin when he dared to take stock of the worsening situation. Unable to touch the ground, he strained against the restraints when Maria also found herself wrapped in chains. Amber pulses ran through her body as she fought against it, gaze focused, but it proved far too strong for even one of the giant's blood.

"Yuven!" Adara called as the rumbling quieted, though they remained trapped in their static cages.

"Can you use your magick?" he called over to her.

Adara's brow furrowed, and he frowned at the lack of substantial energy radiating off her. "Not like this..."

Four points remained on the roof.

"If you were hoping to escape, you went in the wrong direction," a shape stepped up the wooden platforms, their hands tucked in their sleeves, a face hidden behind the mask. "Let's see..." They walked into the center, taking stock of them. "Yuven Traye, is it not?" Yuven scowled when they turned to him. "I believe the Corruptor who took down Irimount to awaken Evyriaz from his slumber and shake the fore of Aztryxer... I'm surprised you yet live. But I suppose its of no consequence," they remarked. "You didn't have to do this, you know. You could've simply walked away."

"It's not in my job description to walk away." Yuven lunged against his chains. "Where is Neven Lotayrin? What did you do to my Oathbound>" He snapped his head to Fenrer, who had brought his hands up to his head and floated there, limp. "What do you seek to gain here?"

"You would've known all of such if you hadn't burnt our studies, Warden Traye." The cultist headed up to Adara, and he prayed for her to keep her mouth shut — which she held her tongue when their attention drew over her and back to him. "As for your fellow Warden... he left."

"What?" Maria snapped.

"Is such a surprise?" the cultist asked. "We weren't unaware of the activity in Asairai — the things Neven Lotayrin was fighting so hard to do to root us out. But... he's lost. He's lost the Wardens under his command. He's lost his will to fight. He wanted an answer to all of this, and whereas you would see it in ruins—" They pointed up at him, and Yuven tried to pull himself out of the magick manacles. "He would walk into it to find an answer. You're the last, necessary sacrifice — Irimount was a bit of a failed opportunity on our end of things." They shrugged. "But... I'm sure an Anima will suffice to crack open the hole between Echoes."

Adara squirmed, but Yuven fought to distract him, "He wouldn't leave us."

"You sound so sure of that... Why is he not here?" The cultist looked over all four of them. "To be so close." Their hand reached down towards the platform. "And now... a spark will be needed to turn a candle into a blaze."

"Because he wouldn't leave us." He promised he wouldn't.

"Believe what you like," the cultist said, heading to the edge of the platform. Their hand went into their coat, and they drew out a phial of glittering gold. It steamed up the glass the moment it was uncorked, and Yuven tried to find leverage in his arcane cage when they sent the droplets down into the abyss, returning to the center of the platform when the rumble turned into a cracking roar against his ears. "We have no need for the Storm Wardens — the villages anymore. Do take solace in that. Dying for a cause... all of us must face it."

Wooden groans sounded throughout the hollow, and Yuven jolted when the ballistas raised and pointed at them. Right through their hearts.

Off to his left, Fenrer mumbled under his breath, his cage glowing with the rising sun.

"You will die too," Yuven pointed out.

"Then so be it. Is that not what the Storm Wardens live by to eradicate the Derelicts of which you understand so little of? How do you expect to kill something that cannot be killed? Have none of you thought of their origin outside what the Elder Convocation wanted the world to believe?" The cultist shook their head. "If the world must burn for it to open its eyes to the truth, that is the way of it. We are a festering wound, the Derelicts are a purge. Every death brought us to this. From the first broken heart of a thousand Turns ago."

"...broken heart?" Yuven mused.

The cultist paused, and he heard the grin in their voice. "Ah, to be so ignorant."

Crimson bolts filled the ballistas, and Yuven snapped his head around at the others, his gaze finding Maria's, who appeared to be deep in thought, her breath leaving in slow, calm, waves. He tried to copy her, to let his mind think clearly, but Neven had left him. Neven pushed the limits of time and his distraction proved worthless. "Yuven Traye, as your blood, distorted by space, fed the fall of Irimount. So too shall it feed the crack awaiting us at the end of the road." Hand raised, the ballistas creaked backwards. "And the Anima shall call forth their ancient rage."

Yuven threw out his arms to try and pull himself out of the containment of magick, but he froze at a quiet gurgle which came front he center of the platform. In an instant, a sharp edge twisted itself out of the chest of the cultist. Blood pooled into the divots below, not enough to provide energy. It crinkled against the magick which kept them afloat and in chains. His eyes widened when Neven, eyes wide and pupils near non-existent, revealed a vicious baring of teeth. Golden feathers folded, he tugged upwards to impale the cultist in full, dragging them both to the edge as the ballistas waited for their magic user's signal.

"If you want to feed the Derelicts so badly," Neven hissed through his nose. "Then feed them yourself." Foot against the cultist, he tore them off his glaive, whipping the splatters of red across the roots of their chains. Relief swelled into his heart, but it drowned at the slow rise of shadow tendrils which gently gripped onto the platform.

"We have been," the voice echoed.

Neven adjusted his grip on the glaive, his feathers flicking as his gaze swung around the hollow. "Can any of you use your magick?"

"No," Yuven drew out.

"Bloodied provider," the echo turned into a searing scream in his mind. We call upon your jaws. Open and reveal the Gatekeeper!"

Several ballista bolts launched, not into them, but into their cages. Each one shattered, though the chains remained and his knees burned when he slammed into the stone. Red tumours bubbled out of the walls and consumed the ballistas, some of them not able to take their shot. Yuven pulled himself to his feet with a scowl, trying to pry off the magick though it singed his skin to attempt. No, it burned. A gasp left his throat when he tried to free himself from the icy gaol.

Maria's fire exploded outwards with her shout, though the chains consumed the embers. Fenrer slumped onto his knees, Adara, at a loss.

"We have to get out of here!" Yuven snapped out to Neven when the entire mountain rumbled. Dusty waterfalls fell around them, the nascent platform becoming hotter by the second.

Neven turned to him, his eyes returning to concerned sapphires as he looked between all of them, before raising his head to the roof. "We will have to propel the platform up!" he instructed as he headed to Maria, pressing the blade into her chains. With leverage, her flames bloomed, a beautiful sun as they burned away and melted into the crevices.

Yuven jolted his head up when a broken neck crawled over the edge of the platform with a hiss. "Neven!"

Neven swung on his heel in an instant, throwing an icy glyph straight into its face to send it off the platform with a screech. Another took its place by Adara, who narrowed her eyes. Silver lilies tried to stretch themselves through the cracks, but Neven's glyph swung around to her to smother it in icy ash.

We don't hunt them. They hunt us.

Yuven focused on his body, drawing inwards instead of outwards as he counted his breaths. Blood for blood. He tried to find a sharp edge to pry open his life, but looked up as Neven fought off Derelicts while Maria helped Fenrer out of his trappings, forced to drag him with his lack of movement.

"What's wrong with Fenrer?" Yuven called over as he tried to press his ghostly beliefs through the chains.

"I don't know..." Maria mumbled. "He's unconscious."

"Fine time to do that!" Yuven jumped up, dragging his fangs against his tongue. "Godsdamnit!"

Adara turned on her knees to look over the edge.

"Adara, Yuven, I'll get to you once I've taken care of—"

A snap sounded through his ears.

Crimson energy crackled through the air, swallowing his vision.

A cold shield of frozen golds raised higher still in front of him as Neven leaped in front of the bolt launched from the darkness. Hands on his glaive, the magick threatening to crack as he held his ground with a misty plume through his nose. As if pulled along its tracks, the Derelicts, deconstructed to mere, formless shadows pulled into the bolt.

"Neven." Yuven yanked on his chains, tearing through his desperation as Neven held the bolt in place with the anchor of his glaive. "I can get us up there, I can free myself—!"

"Yuven Traye," Neven hissed, holding firm. "I asked you to have faith in me, I promised you that I would return to her. I hope you didn't think I would leave you like this."

"Fuck that promise!" Yuven snapped as Maria rushed behind Neven to head for Adara, and their combined flames burned the arcane weave.

Worlds fell quiet and Neven released his next breath and the cracks grew larger. His gaze slipped back to him over his shoulder, a small smile crawling on his face. Time slowed with the power of his family as Neven angled his glaive, allowing his hand to slip off the trembling shaft. Yuven raised himself when a sapphire glyph constricted around his body, and the air cracked in his ears.

Neven whipped back around to the glaive, driving it downwards as the icy shield melted underneath the dark heat.

Crimson splattered across the sapphires along the edge of his glyph, and he found himself unfettered before they melted away as fallen snow. He drew his hands closer to himself, and dared look at what his failures had caused.

Blood pooled further into the divots of sacrifice, with Neven tossed to the side, eyes closed as he bled out his life.

Light cascaded over the edges and the cracks. His body swayed with the movement of mountains and the roar beneath them.

Worlds breathed. Colours washed away as Neven grew paler by the moment, the pool spreading around his legs.

...Dad?