YUVEN

"You can't be serious."

Maria sat on the couch, hands in her lap. Eyes wide and face downcast. Her arms lifted into brushing her nose, but he found himself at a shaken loss for words. After a moment of their shared silence, a scoff left her lips, her arms wrapping around herself as tears bubbled at her eyes. "...of course," she whispered. "Of course this had to happen. I just didn't understand enough to see it." Maria let out a breath, lips sucked in. "Adara's right, they did do something to his eyes. I spent nights looking over those... horrible documents, but I didn't want to say anything until I confirmed it with an Aurus healer but that's off the table now."

Yuven knelt close to her. "Maria," he said. "When the boat comes, I want you to go with Neven." Her gaze trailed to him. "I'll come back, we'll get married, but first I have to save my Oathbound from himself." If I even can. His fingers curled against his knee and he forced himself up again. "Besides, I need you to go to... possibly head off anyone wanting to investigate Aurus. They'll know eventually, if they don't already." Chest tight, he shook his head in turn. "But this?" He tossed a hand at the door. "He made this choice. Fenrer has always told me how everyone can choose. People choose to be cruel. People choose to be kind." A crimson pin glinted in the shadows. "I've always chosen what'll get me through the next day." He turned back to her. "How am I going to tell Neven? He's going to blame himself, you know he will. He'll work himself up, and we both know he won't survive that. You said so yourself, he's in a precarious position and we need to take care of jostling him — surely that includes emotionally, does it not?"

Maria's brow furrowed. "I just don't understand why Fenrer would do this," she said, out of her own seat to pace the living room.

"Well, what did they do to his eyes?"

Maria came to a slow stop, her neck tilted around to give him a pained smile. It doused the fire in her amber eyes. "Tell me what you know about Aurus."

"Their magick is centralized in their eyes — giving them a certain texture and the tell-tale swirl of their inner flow. Some go as far as calling them biological crystals," he said. "The Eyes of Crystal." He let out a huff, but it died in his throat when Maria brought her fingers up to her lips, her warm undertones going ashen; the first time he had borne witness to something which unsettled Maria — the woman who stared into the face of death without flinching when it splattered her coat red. "Maria?"

"I started to suspect something was wrong when we found Julis without his eyes," Maria forced out, her hand drawn away from her lip. "...and I think Neven suspected as well, and when we saw Fenrer in that state—" Her words paused, but she continued on, "They believed that something about said crystal eyes had the key to peek through the Source Gate." Maria took in a shaky breath, her tone shifting into something holding facts but tortured with emotion. "They had a way to..." Her breath hitched. "They knew how to remove the crystals and cut off the flow from Aurus — and how to liquify it back into essence." Yuven found his own heart burning in the pit of his stomach. "They tested a lot of Aurus, trying to figure it out, trying to make it work. With no success until-" Her hand twitched in the air. "They figured it out, they figured out why those Aurus couldn't see into the Echo Obscura. A passing glimpse drove them mad, then killed them." Maria's tortured expression twisted into a pained smile. "They had the essence, but no Aurus was powerful enough to behold it. Not alone. Not without a shield."

"No," Yuven said with a quick shake of his head.

Maria nodded. "I think... what shielded Fenrer from those effects, was another Storm Warden, an Aurus Storm Warden. Someone who would've partaken in the Derelict venom like every other Warden who finished their training," she said. "Fenrer's a powerful aurus, but even he would not have survived that with just his power alone, so they gave him a shield, their final piece. But in surviving it, he was forced to comprehend something far beyond mortal ken." Maria covered her mouth and nodded again.

"What did he see, do you think?" Yuven asked after the information choked him.

"Whatever he saw, it killed people just by glimpsing into the Echo Obscura."

Yuven pressed his fingertips together, bile and swill entering his nose, but he held his breath and waited for it to subside. "I don't know why I didn't even experience that through our Oathbound connection."

"Maybe Fenrer had enough time to do what Kemal did. Suppress it to spare you the pain," Maria offered.

Oh... Molvisaliz... Yuven drove his fangs into his lip. "That's why the dawnblade possessed him. It sensed the corruption both within and without and took matters into its own hands, but all it could do was purge the taint. But Julis wasn't tainted, am I wrong?" He glanced at her, and her silence spoke volumes. "Just enough, like you said, of one who partook in their venom to stave off such effects. That's why they were targeting Storm Wardens; they were hoping to snag an Aurus. They snagged two." Yuven rubbed his chin and let his breath escape him. "So my best friend is out there, wandering, with two pairs of eyes lodged in his skull. One, his own, the other, functioning like a shield."

"Adara mentioned his eyes were turning red?"

Yuven nodded.

"That is a lot of strain to put on someone's eyes," Maria offered. "I think Fenrer knows that better than anyone. Is it possible he left because he thought something worse would happen if he didn't?"

"Like what?"

Maria drew his shoulders up with a helpless shrug.

"Maria," Yuven whispered, his hands finding her shoulders. "Whatever his reason, he still broke the Law. We both know that won't be hidden forever. He knows that better than we do. So, whatever drove him he must've decided was worth it. That it was worth putting us into this position," he offered. "Fenrer was always so stubborn, so unwilling to back down from what he thought was right."

Blackwall sneered at him.

"I need not do anything."

What you saw didn't come from nowhere.

Yuven relaxed his grip. "The dawnblade reacted to that," he concluded. "He begged for its deliverance, to wipe away the darkness no matter what was around it for the relief of what came after — and it answered to his blood." His arms dropped to his sides. "Sungrove taught him that. Watching all those people be brutally murdered in front of him — his own parents. Such an extreme that he barely survived. Fenrer always believed in our duty, to save and protect the light, to be a sword and a shield... and he's got a sentient embodiment of that in his hands. One that can't differentiate enough to recognize the destruction it's causing. If people die, so be it. It's not human. It doesn't have that human emotion even if Fenrer does. A force of nature that my best friend is carrying into who knows what."

Maria's gaze flicked back and forth. "We don't have time."

"I know we don't." Yuven turned away from her. "But I can't act comfortably until you and Neven are on that boat and far away from here."

"Just once, Yuven," Maria whispered. "Can there be a time where we have each-other for more than a few weeks?" Her fingers touched the necklace of his single promise.

Yuven scowled at the light outside. "I'm going to try," he offered. "I'm going to tell Neven. I'd... like for you to be there just in case." He collected himself, steadied his stance, then headed for the staircase with Maria trailing behind. Adara had shut, locked her door. I don't think devotion will help him, Adara. I think what he needs is a wake-up call. Yuven continued on though Maria paused in front of it, but he had no time to waste, and no luxury to have it. He opened Neven's door, holding his breath when the aged Avaerilian tore his attention from the window to him.

"Yuven?"

Yuven headed to his bedside. "The boat will be here soon," he gave, relaxing when Maria's footsteps shuffled inside and closed the door behind her. "You're going to go home with all the reports compiled, and you'll be taken care of with more supplies than we have here." Acid stuck to his throat, and he inched closer. "I want you out of here."

Neven's jaw clenched in thought, but his gaze flicked to behind him, and when Yuven peeked, Maria looked sick to her stomach.

"What happened?" Neven asked, tone weary.

Yuven tried not to cry at his quick deduction of the situation even with his half-dead state. "You must promise me, Miesero... that you won't blame yourself. You just listen, and take as much time as you need to process." He let out another puff of air when it threatened to turn into a sob for answers. "Please."

Neven's expression shifted into one of being disturbed. "I promise."

He let out the breath he held the moment he stepped in. "Fenrer's gone," he said, clutching onto Neven's arm to prevent him from reacting, though Neven remained still. "He put Adara into a sleep and left the treehouse. Further investigation, I also believe he stopped by the watchtower of the north gate heading out of the city and wiped the memories of the night shift. They don't remember seeing him." Yuven gripped tighter when Neven twitched. "I am telling you this because I'm going to get him. I'm not going with you back home." He steadied himself when Neven looked at them both, expression widening in horror, faded feathers flattening against his ears. "You promised me," he dug his heels in when Neven shook his head. "You promised me. I will go find him."

"But why?" Neven pleaded. "This isn't like him, Yuven, you know—"

Yuven shook his head. "...don't lie to yourself, Miesero."

Neven went quiet. Yuven sat on the edge of the bed to hold onto his shoulders. "When you were investigating this cult," he said. "You and Kemal were onto something. I looked at the maps downstairs, and from what we've learned from the documents we swiped from those mines. I'm starting to come to several conclusions. They're either trying to glimpse into the Echo Obscura — using Aurus to do it, or trying to pinpoint the location of the original Source Gate."

Neven stiffened. "You need to get Fenrer," he stated.

"I will."

"No." Neven gripped onto him, voice shaky and weakening fast. "Listen to what you just said, Yuven. I don't think it's that simple. Kemal did something the moment our connection started to necrotize." He trembled. "Kemal knew something. He figured it out and wanted it to get out there even if it cost him his life." Tears crawled down his face. "If he and Fenrer were held captive together..."

Yuven drew back but an inch and eyed Maria. "...Julis was on Kemal's team."

Neven's expression shifted at their unspoken affirmation, though Yuven tried not to scream when Neven turned his head in slow motion to Maria. "...really?"

Maria gave the same tortured nod she gave Yuven downstairs.

Yuven held onto Neven when he gripped onto his knees even as his face went pale. "You promised me."

"I need to tell you something," Neven forced out, a certain resolve entering the sapphires. "Back when we were in Irimount. I found your cell." As he opened his mouth to brush such information off, Neven raised a hand to stop him. "It was the same machinations that led to the ruination of Irimount. Kemal and I figured out they were hunting for king's blood — which meant they've had their claws in a lot of things. Whether pressuring events to unfold or passive nudges." Neven's feathers lifted with his next, steadier breath. "Kemal also pointed out to me that my capture might've been politically motivated, but that doesn't mean it wasn't being used for other purposes whether the perpetrators knew it or not." Neven blinked rapidfire. "And I think what drove Kemal to leave after being stuck in this bed, I think he realised that it might be too late to stop it, but not late enough to not do something about it," he said. "He asked too many questions for his own good — that's what I used to tell him, but I think it's more like he asked the right question at the exact wrong time for his life — but not the wrong one to realise how to kick the cult out of the shadows. He just decided that it was worth the cost of his life." Neven let out a shaky sob. "And if he thought Fenrer had the best chance to survive with that knowledge, he would've killed himself for it, while he was still himself. Still Kemal, not whatever the cult was trying to turn him into."

"You need to rest," Yuven whispered. "I'll go find Fenrer, I promise."

Just promise to not leave me.

"Don't blame yourself," was all he gave. Neven lowered his head, but Yuven drew back when his breathing turned into pained laughter. "Miso..."

"I can't believe it," Neven said through his tears. "It wasn't for nothing." Tears formed rivers along his cheeks when he lifted a hand up to his mouth, paler. "Everything Kemal and I put the Storm Wardens through, trying to dig at stone and finally found a crack." Yuven blanked at the tortured glee on Neven's face. "I get it. I get why Kemal left without a word, if he didn't, it would've been for nothing. It would've been too late to change what was already a stuck course. I don't think he intended to get himself killed, but he knew that was a very real possibility the moment he crossed those gates." He let out a heavy sigh, relaxing.

"I'll get Fenrer," Yuven repeated.

"No. I can't lose you both."

"And you won't. But we need that boat to get here so you are away from here." Yuven got off the bed and side-eyed Maria. "Here, I'll let you rest. Of course it wasn't for nothing. I'll make sure of it." Over to the door, he stopped when Maria put a hand on his shoulder, and he looked back at Neven. "Remember that you promised. Fenrer made his choice, don't lie to yourself and say that he wouldn't do this. Not in a million Turns. Because he would, and he has. You said it wasn't like Kemal to disappear, but he did say something. No, he asked something." Yuven faced him again. "And I'm going to ask Fenrer what that question was when I find him."

Neven glanced at him, more miserable than he had come to. "Just come home."

"I will, when I find Fenrer." He then left Maria to settle the wounded Storm Warden. Door shut on the consequences of his actions, he clenched his fists and sank to the floor. Into the muck, and when he lifted his head in the darkness, Fenrer joined him. "And I will," he hissed to the shade, the real thing when he lifted his head, scared, but no less resolved. "You didn't let me sink into this, I'm not going to let you do the same thing even if you're chained by your sense of righteousness." Yuven frowned at the twisted tendrils in the darkness, the Derelicts, the pus of an infected wound. "Where did that wound come from?"

He lifted his head further to stare at the wooden wall. Back to the stone, he found his own strength to stand, with no hand to help him up. He took in a breath, then made his way down the stairs to prepare the demoralized Storm Wardens, and himself, to go running headlong into the abyss.