THE DUALITY OF MANKIND

A NOVEL BY VANE VANDER

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ACT 1

PREMONITION

1

“I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Lukas swiped his fingers across the tops of the paintbrushes one more time. They bent fluidly under his fingers, just as he’d expected. He wiped his forehead, relieved that he wouldn’t be sentenced to a week more of hardcore cleaning all the displays on unpaid overtime and another lecture from his boss Engles about how a paintbrush with scraggly and stick-straight bristles was a paintbrush nobody would want to buy.

He glanced all around him. None of the seven customers in the store looked in need of help, and marketing wasn’t his job, so he slipped past the front counter and tapped his wrist on the scanner standing dutifully beside the door to the back rooms. A green light, and a ping, and then an unlocked door.

Everything fully automated, just as he’d expect from an Alegria-owned store.

The vaporwave playing softly over the store’s loudspeakers completely muffled as the door closed and locked behind him. His sinuses tickled- a pinching and a build-up above his mouth- Lukas sneezed into his work-issued coat sleeve.

One of the people dutifully clacking away at a keyboard swiveled around in his chair. A disassembled drawing tablet was splayed across the desk, screen cracked and resistant to any and all attempts to replace it.

“Bless you, young man!”

Lukas rolled his eyes. He hid his face with his other sleeve, the one that didn’t have a dredge of snot on it, and ducked into the second back room to escape his coworker’s intent eye.

The mail room was stuffy and humid despite the two fans running at full speed. Cabinets lined the walls, some brand-new and bought with the windfall profit of last quarter, some dingy and borderline-rusting and proudly wearing their status as the first donated objects from the store’s founding like the last remaining veterans of a world war. Packages too big to fit into any of the cabinets littered the floor, shuffled around occasionally by the two people working the mail room at any given moment.

To his right was the garage door for the occasional delivery.

To his left was a silver hatch tightly secured against a circular door with ropes that everyone had been instructed on their first day of training to leave the hell alone. An asbestos-infected room, they’d been told. Far too messed up to clean without sacrificing several weeks of off-time that they couldn’t currently afford, but adequately sealed away until the day they could.

One hulking package a meter in all three dimensions sat on its side a short distance from the door. Fragile, this side up. Lukas shoved the box back onto its correct bottom and retrieved the box cutters from his pocket and sliced through the tape. A satisfying ripping sound peeled through the air.

If this is the new shipment of paint bottles and they’re all burst, I swear to god I’m gonna report-

A person contorted into a far-from-natural position, his head tucked between his knees, his arms bent back at an impossible angle. Skin pallid and cold with blotches all over. An ear missing, a stump where a healthy ankle with a foot should have been.

Six bloody scalped slits on his skull, three on each side of his head.

Seven words stamped onto the corpse’s forehead.

You’re one of us.

Never forget that.

Lukas shuddered. The box cutter slipped to the ground and clattered, catching the attention of his coworkers. He took a few steps back from the box and balled his fists and shoved them into his pockets. He squeezed his eyes shut before they could drift to the hatch.

Go! Go while there’s still time!

I’m not leaving-

“Lukas?”

He opened his eyes. The new intern- a wiry boy of fifteen with wire glasses far too big for his face- stared up at him.

The elder boy narrowed his eyes. He’d forgotten the intern’s name- Nola? Nikki? Nii-

“It’s Nikolai, sir.”

“Nikolai.”

Lukas turned away from the box, his eyes itching to view the corpse again out of a sort of morbid curiosity- not that the image of the lifeless collection of bloated joints hadn’t already seared into the back of his eyelids. He forced himself to keep his voice low and steady, trying not to come off as pissed with the boy for interrupting him.

“Nikolai, what are you doing here?”

“You look distressed, sir.”

Lukas sighed and shook his head. “I’m fine. Nothing you need to worry about. Go back-”

Nikolai stepped towards the box. Lukas lunged, desperate to close up the box to keep it under wraps for the police- but the boy had already gotten a glimpse of the somehow-odorless body, and his face quickly turned the same shade as the delivery’s, and Lukas had barely a moment to cover his ears before an ear-splitting screech assaulted him.

Several security guards on patrol immediately ran over to them. They took one glance at the body inside before one of them dialed 911 and one of them called Engles to explain and the other escorted Nikolai outside.

Lukas let go of his ears- ringing as the security guard conversed with the emergency operator. He bristled like the worn-out paintbrushes in the back and slipped out of the back rooms. The coworkers in the back room started pelting him with questions, but Lukas shrugged them all off as he tapped his wrist on the scanner again and checked out of the building.

I’m not staying around that body any more than I have to.

The art shop was a short distance from the lightrail station. Half an hour’s ride between work and home for a little over a dollar a day. The station was empty. Lukas waited on the rickety metal bench, the deluge of messages flooding in almost choking his decade-old flip phone.

What gives? Engles never gives out free passes to walk out of work to the rest of us. Why are you so different from the rest of us? Why do you get so many special privileges?

You looked distressed. Wanna go to the gym later? Lift it out of your system?

Hey, daily reminder that I’m thankful for your existence! I’m making legal brownies right now. I’ll save some of the batter for when you get home.

Lukas smiled, a private grin that dissolved as quickly as it had materialized. A loud squeal somewhere to his left as the lightrail train approached the station. He pocketed his phone and stood up, the only person on the platform, the lunch rush long since gone and the dinner rush a few hours from forming.

The train slowed to a stop. The doors whooshed open. He stepped inside and immediately made his way to the upper level of the train and took the first window seat available. All alone, all by himself with only a few harried parents with a sleeping baby in a carrier at the opposite end of that train segment to keep him company.

Not that they'd give him any more than a passing glance, but it was better than being alone.

The city rushed by at breakneck speed. The trees turning yellow and orange, leaves flying through the air; the modest business buildings encompassing hundreds of industries and private businesses; the apartment buildings far more vast and sprawling than the one Lukas lived with hundreds of lives- if not thousands- playing out every single day. The blue sky stretched to infinity, witness to centuries’ worth of fireworks from all sorts of occasions and lost model rockets and sky writing declaring a couple’s everlasting love in ethereal letters.

He and the dead man from the mail were of two completely different worlds, and Lukas had no intention of changing that one bit.

2

The apartment complex was silent as Lukas pulled open the front doors and slipped inside. The fingers of his left hand, stained with a birthmark like wine had splashed all over a carpet, immediately flew to his mailbox.

Nothing inside.

He turned to the stairway and began the three-floor ascent to his apartment. A few kids tore through the halls as he slowly ascended, giggling and screaming and waving swimsuits around as they chattered about going to the private pool a block away.

A tiny bit of warmth arose in his chest. He let himself have a private smile all to himself, remembering to wipe it from his face before he stepped onto the fourth floor. He tapped his wrist against the scanner right beside the door to his apartment- added just a few weeks before he’d moved in a year ago- and opened the door and stepped in.

“Hey, you!” A boy popped out of the kitchen, an apron hastily tied around his waist, several smudges of chocolate on his face. He blushed. “Uh… hold up.” He dashed back into the kitchen. “I gotta take this off first.”

Lukas rolled his eyes and stepped into the tiny kitchen their particular apartment had afforded them- barely enough to fit the two of them, slender as they were. His friend’s butt knocked against the open drawers beside the oven as he leaned down and flung open the dishwasher- he yelped, startled, and blushed harder as he threw off the apron and hung it on the open pantry doors.

His friend ruffled his feathery brown hair. He managed a lopsided smile, his cheeks burning.

“Welcome home, Lukas. I, uh… You caught me off-guard. But everything’s in the oven! How are things with you?”

“I…” He shivered, the face of the dead person flashing before his eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“That’s alright.”

“There wasn’t any mail-”

“Oh, right!” His friend snapped his fingers. “I already got the mail. I got this weird package from someone-”

Lukas cringed. His friend’s eyebrows wrinkled.

“Did something happen at work today?”

Lukas squeezed his eyes shut and shuddered. “Kova- I- I don’t-”

“Does it have anything to do with the caedats?”

Lukas hissed and sucked a desperate breath in between his teeth, his jaw clamped shut so tightly that it throbbed. Kova helped him shuffle out of the kitchen and lie down on the worn-down couch on his side to force him to breathe more easily- and Lukas immediately curled up, his legs pressed up tight against his chest, his face buried in his knees.

“Shit, I’m sorry. I forgot. It won’t happen-”

“What did you get?” Lukas hissed.

“Oh! It’s a video game.” Kova reached over to the coffee table, where the package had been fully deconstructed with packing material lying around everywhere, and retrieved a small clear plastic case with a gray-green cartridge inside. Kova held it in both hands and studied it, passing his fingers over the malformed company logo on the bottom- INTEND- and then opened the case and slipped the cartridge out. “Pretty old, I gotta say…” He opened it and ran his fingers over the half-formed logo on the bottom of the cartridge. “Looks like a bootleg.” He turned back to Lukas. “Sorry I brought up the… things. I forgot-”

“What game is it?”

Kova scowled and refocused on the half-faded writing on the label. “The Duality of Mankind. Huh… I’ve never heard of this one before.” He flipped the cartridge over. “Collector’s edition. No return address… I guess I’ll take it for a spin, and if we don’t like it, we’ll put it up for sale.”

Lukas groaned and poked his head out, just enough to glare at Kova. Kova, confused, set the cartridge down on the coffee table and went back into the kitchen to sort himself out. The sink was overflowing with dirty dishes- he brushed it aside and put it off.

The weekly cleanup would be the next morning. He’d deal with it then.

The oven beeped. Kova reached over to the drawer on the other side of the oven and retrieved two oven mitts. He slid them on and opened the oven and gave the hot dry air a moment to vacate before he pulled out the brownie pan and slid it onto the counter to cool.

“Kova!” Lukas yelled from the couch. “Can you open a window in here?”

“Right away!”

Kova flung open the kitchen window. The sounds of the awkward border between the suburbs and the commercial district filtered in. Anonymous vehicles zipping past on the highway not too far from the apartment building. The faint chatter and thumping characteristic to sharing a living space with hundreds of strangers. Two people arguing on the sidewalk about college applications.

A shred of wistfulness drifted in on the afternoon breeze. His parents were somewhere out in the wild open world, toiling underneath the same sun shining down into his kitchen. Just existing without a care, without a single pang of regret or remorse for the years of emotional neglect they’d inflicted on their child. Constantly glancing at the empty room in their basement, wishing that the trophy they’d personally molded and built such an elaborate case for was still perkily perched on its pedestal.

A prestigious son had strayed from the path of being his parents’ pride and joy to pursue the liberty that all the school textbooks had promised him, had drilled into his brain since he was six years old. A promise failed to be delivered on, the rewards forcibly snatched no matter the cost- the cost of comfort and support.

Life was not worth living if he could not fully call it his own, and assistance couldn’t be accepted if the price was someone else using him to live by proxy.

The few possessions he’d escaped from home with a year ago still sat in his room, tucked away safely in the same backpack he’d used and ready whenever he needed them. Some rocks from his youth, some games, some spare phones and charging cords. A few college letters that had somehow followed him, none of which he planned on answering.

And Lukas had tumbled into his life shortly after his breakaway- Kova didn’t exactly remember how they’d met, but they’d somehow managed to both get emancipatory documents and find somewhere low-cost to live. Live, not survive, because even though the pantry was barely full and Kova had a tough time finding something filling to eat for dinner as his friend slowly slid into a nap, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Beans,” Kova whispered to himself. He stood on his toes and retrieved a metal can from the back of the pantry. “I think we’ll have beans tonight.” He raised his voice and yelled, “Hey, Lukas!”

Lukas let out another groan.

“You need any medicine or anything? I can make a quick run to the store.”

Lukas made a shushing sound. “I just need a nap. Give me a few hours. I’ll be okay.”

3

“Hey! Wait up!”

Syntha sprinted over and dug one foot into the ground when she arrived at the stable. She tripped- a wooden bar hidden in the hay, most likely- head over heels, face straight into the yellow stalks.

“There’s no need to hurry.” A somber face peered around the corner- Lex, his body soon stepping into view as well. He scowled at Syntha as she pulled herself to her feet and brushed off the straw clinging to her clothes. “Every damn day’s the same around here.” He brushed a strand of long orange hair out of his eyes. “Our time would be better spent paying back all our debts.”

Syntha reached over to the side of the stable and plucked the steel lance from its holder on the wall. She pointed it at Lex. “This is repaying our debts. We didn’t perform the awakening right. We gave her an incomplete offering. Now we’re going to atone for our-”

Lex threw his head back and cackled, his arms crossed, his brown and gold robes swaying in the gentle breeze of that summer day. “Sins?” He rolled his eyes. “Puh-lease. The gods don’t give a rat’s ass about our suffering. They don’t care about the wars raging between the last vestiges of humanity since utopia disintegrated. They don’t care about our crops withering out and dying before harvest season. And they certainly didn’t care when Ceuta went insane and dislodged the seal to the underworld. She disappeared and left us to deal with the caedat threat. Nobody’s going to save us, sister.”

“But Melilla-”

“Gods-” Lex covered his face with one hand, embarrassed on her behalf. “Didn’t you pay attention when Grandmother was alive? When she was passing down the history to us? Melilla died when Ceuta became corrupted by humanity and tore Melilla’s heart out. Gods can’t survive among us humans forever, no matter what form they take, no matter how many blood sacrifices are made to keep them in this realm. They always go bestial and destroy everything within reach- Ceuta destroyed our civilization once when she was young, and you want to give her the opportunity to do it again?”

Syntha stood the spear at her side. “Ceuta loved humanity. She had only the purest love in her heart before she became overwhelmed by her sheer power. I’m gonna go into the underworld and find her and help her tame her powers. And then I’m going to plead with her to come back.”

One of Lex’s eyebrows quirked up. “And if she doesn’t?”

Syntha’s resolve faltered, but she still kept her ground.

“…Then I’ll have to kill her to keep everyone safe and go-”

A slender girl with a tangle of short black hair covering one eye emerged from the stable, her boots laced up all the way, a white feather gifted from a dying bird tightly weaved in behind her right ear. She instinctively ran a hand down the handle of the silver bow slung over her shoulder, her hips swaying almost imperceptibly.

“K- Kuroi!” Lex’s face flushed, and he bowed, acknowledging her. “W- What-”

“So you’re gonna let your own sister venture alone in the underworld because you’re afraid of a few overgrown rabbits?” Kuroi placed a finger under Lex’s chin, lifting his terrified face to meet hers. “Some older brother you are. You’re supposed to protect her.” Kuroi withdrew from Lex and ruffled a hand through her hair, purposely going slow and exaggerating all her movements to make Lex shudder with excitement. “I’ll go in your stead then since you don’t have the guts. She needs someone strong to protect her-”

“Fine! I’ll go!” Lex rubbed his eyes and shook his head to clear his rose-colored vision. “But when the caedats shift back, we’re running straight back here, alright? I’m not risking my skin any more than I have to!”

Kuroi put a finger on her lips. “Not even for me?”

Lex winced. “I… Anything for you. Your wish is my command.”

“Well, I’m commanding you to help your sister. And… maybe there’ll be something for you at the end of it.”

Lex rubbed his nose, suddenly bashful. “Just take me to the damn tomb already.”

In the year’s time from Ceuta’s misawakening to the entourage’s two-mile journey that day, a forest had grown around the tomb’s small circular building. Moss had conquered what was once well-cared-for concrete and marble. What Syntha’s ancestors who had been fortunate enough to have known Ceuta for the year she had been among the humans had built, hoping that maybe someday their children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren would be able to resurrect her.

Syntha’s spear, strapped to her back, made a whisper of a clatter as she stepped inside the tomb. Crude drawings covered the walls- a fireball descending from what Syntha guessed was the sky, a human stepping out of the ashes, her left hand stained in red splotches. That human working alongside her peers under a harsh sun hidden behind a cloud. Large structures of some sort- maybe they were the skyscrapers in her grandmother’s legends- stood behind them. Hearts, harvests, hearths where she professed her blossoming love for her friend.

Then the scenes changed. Hands vibrating, fire enveloping her body. A dragon standing in her stead, preparing to ravage the land around it. Three people- spear, bow, and magic in hand- and the dragon-girl’s lover preparing to strike their transformed friend down and return her to sanity.

And then the attack.

The blood sacrifice.

The countless deaths that could have been avoided had Ceuta stayed up in the heavens, had heeded her father’s words, had left humanity alone without even a hint of meddling.

The stone statue Ceuta’s soul and powers had been sealed away in, rotting away civilization more and more as her eternal sleep dragged on in a half-transformed state, curled up with her wings wrapped around her slender body.

Syntha had seen the pictures a thousand times before. Underneath the pictures were words scrawled in the lost language of the utopia, long looping letters forever concealing their secrets.

Where the platform with Ceuta’s statue had been a year ago was now a dark hole leading into the oblivion of the underworld, refusing to be lit by the sunlight streaming through the crack in the roof. Ceuta had made that crack, Syntha remembered. A flick of a dark blue tail.

Syntha took a deep breath and then jumped into the hole. It was only a drop of a few feet. A narrow tunnel stood before her, red and purple patches of earth, twisted like brambles, pulsating and providing their own light from lack of sun. Lex and Kuroi dropped in right after her, Kuroi’s bow tinkling as it brushed against the metal clips in her belt.

What phase was the moon in? Full moons were like one of the ancient green lights her grandmother had described floating in the sky, promising a safe journey- as safe as a journey in a caedat-ridden hellscape could be, anyways, even if they were in humanoid form and as close to human empathy as could ever be possible for them.

But new moons were an absolute no-go. Nine feet tall with feral eyes and solely savagery pulsing through their veins. The skin of a rabbit fitted with the mentality of a dinosaur. Those who had been foolish to venture into the underworld when the caedats were at their worst had told tales of apparent warring among the few scattered caedat “tribes”, if the disjointed shards could ever hope of qualifying for such a relatively civilized label.

All Syntha’s knowledge of the horrors of the underworld was secondhand, and if she was lucky, it would stay that way.

Lex coughed. “Are we gonna get moving soon?”

Syntha shook her head and rubbed her eyes. “Yeah. Sorry. Just had to think for a moment.”

“Well, think faster next time, because I-”

A screeching sound, like metal being torn apart. The three of them turned around, horror galvanizing their faces-

A gulping noise like someone’s gullet swallowing.

The hole had sealed shut.

They were stuck.

They stood there for a few minutes, absolutely petrified, before Kuroi wrung her hands. “Well…” She released a nervous chuckle. “Syntha, you wanna do your thing?”

“I’m on it!”

Syntha rushed over to where the flesh of the underworld had twisted closed. With a few snaps, she unlocked her spear from the straps on her back. She held the shaft in both hands, and with a bend of her legs, she shot upwards-

And the spearhead bounced off and cracked, sending both of them to the ground. Syntha landed on her butt. The spear rolled away, stopped by Kuroi’s feet.

“What-” Syntha reached for the spear and pulled it over to her and stood up. She twirled the spear around to study the head, almost catching Lex’s clothes with it as she did so.

A crack ran down the center of the spear, the head split into four.

She furrowed her eyebrows, a cold sweat starting on the back of her neck.

“Uh…”

“You idiot!” Lex rushed forward, his face alight, his fists up, going in for a punch- and Kuroi caught a fistful of his long hair and jerked him back with a yelp. “You’ve trapped us down here! And now I’m gonna get turned into a caedat, and I’m gonna die down here, and it’s all- all- all your fault-”

Kuroi tugged on his hair again, earning a half-restrained scream. She clucked. “Beating up one of our only allies isn’t going to help us.”

Lex blushed. “Y-yes, dear…” He straightened himself, but Kuroi still held onto his hair.

Syntha bit her lip. “Well… Hey!”

Lex perked up. “What? You know something-”

“Grandma’s stories. Wasn’t there a second world connected to this one?” She glanced down the tunnel, reaching about ten meters before a dropoff into the infamous labyrinth. She took a few steps forward, brushing aside Lex and Kuroi. “Maybe the underworld is a kind of bridge. Maybe that’s where Ceuta is right now. Gone off to help someone else.”

“Or to ravage some other world! Come on, sister- oh, wait, we can’t, because-”

Kuroi slapped him and turned back to Syntha. “We’ll have to be swift, then. You have any idea where a door might be? A hatch, perhaps?”

“A hatch… Maybe at the other end of the labyrinth?” She shook her head. “We definitely won’t find it if we stay here. Come on, let’s go.”

And she took Kuroi’s hand, and Lex took Kuroi’s other hand, shaking out his newly free hair, and they took off running together.

4

Another muffled snore escaped Lukas. In the glow of the spare computer monitor perched on the coffee table in lieu of an actual TV, his face looked almost ghostly, otherworldly. A strand of his hair floated with static like a tiny ghost’s arm.

Kova ruffled Lukas’ hair before shifting an inch to the right, taking care not to disturb his friend’s head still in his lap. He set the controller down and wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand, skin glistening, a sharp contrast to the rest of the room- dead with the sun and waiting to resurrect with the light.

I’ve got to take a shower soon.

Just a few more minutes…

Lukas stirred. A soft moan escaped his throat before his groggy eyes slid half-open, attention sliding lazily to the screen-

A moment of confusion

He sat straight up.

A thunk.

“Gah!”

Lukas scooted away a few inches, biting back tears. He gingerly touched where his forehead had collided with the edge of the table.

“What- what-”

“So you’re awake. Isn’t that convenient.”

Lukas squinted his eyes at Kova, his sight blurry in the glare of the monitor. Kova met him back with a scowl. Lukas shuddered.

“You missed the tutorial. We need to talk.”

Lukas, still groggy, cocked his head. “I-”

“Did you send me this?” Kova pointed to the cartridge poking out the top of the console. “I’m not angry.” He shook his head. “Not at you.” He dropped his arm and hit the pause button- the tinny MIDI music tinkling out of the lone speaker still working on the side of the monitor changed to something a bit more upbeat than the bass notes that had been dragging along the red and purple hellscape. “I just want answers.”

Lukas tensed and averted his gaze. “I don’t have-”

“Lukas. Look at me.”

Lukas gulped and balled his fists before he forced himself to look Kova straight in the eye.

“You and I have shared this apartment for a little under a year now. With the exception of from when you leave for work to when you come home afterwards, we spend the entirety of our lives together. That’s our agreement, right? You make the money, and I make this place a home for the both of us.”

Lukas slowly nodded his head, his eyes still squinted, his forehead still pinging with pain.

“And yet… I still know barely anything about you. You’re moody and withdrawn, and you barely speak. Hell, today’s the most you’ve spoken in months.” Kova bit the corner of his lip. “You know everything about me. You kinda have to, since we’ve been in such close quarters… And all I’ve gotten in return is that you have a shred of artistic ability that I’ll never have and a burning hatred of ‘caedats’ for some reason, and that only from you mumbling in your sleep!” He unpaused the game and gestured to the monitor, his steely gaze faltering a bit when he saw Lukas cringe. “And then I get this weird package in the mail, and literally none of the characters will shut up about those stupid things. And a tunnel connected to another world? And a missing person?” He gave up on the cold demeanor and softened his face. “I’m not angry. I’m just confused. I just want answers.”

Lukas shook his head. The dim light in the room kept Kova from seeing his cheeks burn. “I’ve told you everything I know already. I don’t remember anything before I met you. And I don’t have anything to do with that game.”

Kova let a shard of laughter escape his mouth before he covered it and forced it back down his throat, immediate regret sinking into his cheeks. “Don’t tell me you’re playing right into the amnesia trope.”

“I’m serious.” Lukas glanced at the monitor, at the three people in eight-bit wonder standing near the top of the screen among what looked like a forest of fresh monster guts. “I don’t care where I came from. Maybe that’s relevant to you- maybe that’s what keeps you going- but I just want to stay here and draw things and work at the art shop and be right at your side. I’m happy here. Isn’t that enough? Do I have to fabricate a tragic backstory to give it all meaning?”

Kova shook his head. He saved his game and turned the console off, throwing the whole room into darkness.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have accused you. I’ll just wait until morning and start making calls… You think that maybe it’s someone at your work?”

“Kova,” Lukas muttered under his breath.

“Hmm?”

Lukas shook his head- and then remembered that Kova couldn’t see him. “Can we deal with it tomorrow?”

“Fine- wait. I want you to stay home tomorrow.”

“What- they need me! I’m one of the mail-”

“I know, I know. But… I’d just feel safer in case this is a prank about to go horribly wrong, okay?”

“…But what about rent?”

“Shit… You have any sick days left?”

“I already used them all. I asked for more a few days ago. My boss said no.”

Kova swore under his breath. “Then I’m coming with you to work, okay?” He fumbled around in the darkness until one of his hands finally found Lukas’ right shoulder. He clutched it, fingers itching to slide to his slender side. “I want you safe.”

Lukas moved one of his own hands to move Kova’s to his side, touch electric, breath unsteady, molding the strong fingers around his body. He stayed there for a moment, his eyes closed- more for self-effect than for any redundant purpose.

“Thank you, Kova… That means the world to me.”

5

Dawn broke through the treeline, more red and orange leaves falling to the ground like fireworks celebrating another summer come and gone without any threats of the end of the world having come to fruition. Lukas released another soft snore, his head resting on Kova’s shoulder as Kova leaned up against the window in their seat on the top floor of the lightrail and gazed out at the world passing below him.

The world hadn’t been that large when he’d consigned himself to a lifetime of hermitry in that apartment, never straying farther than the nearby grocery store a few blocks away. The world hadn’t been that large when he’d been in fourth grade, helping his grandmother put up gel clings and stickers in the windows as part of her autumn decorations, giggling all the while as he grouped up black cats and stereotypical white ghosts and skulls and scattered them among the multiple windows of her back door. Imagining some temporary society quickly to be replaced by the ornaments of the Christmas tree looming over his head at all times, speculating at the presents he’d been getting when he was done running around in a parent-imposed prince costume and being forced to humor the princess-obsessed local girls his age with his companionship.

The world hadn’t been that large when his brothers had dressed up for Halloween as some of the characters in whatever game Kova had been using as escapism from them that month and rampaged around the neighborhood just to humiliate their eldest sibling by proxy. The world hadn’t been that large when the space under his bed became the neighborhood he should have been scraping candy from.

Soon it would be October, and they’d have to decide for the first time if they wanted to bother with coordinating their costumes and handing out candy to whatever children came knocking on their door or lock the door and do more dastardly things to each other.

If that was what Lukas was into, anyways.

The loudspeaker came on and announced that they were approaching their next stop- the one that Lukas always got off at, the one he’d told Kova to wake him up for.

“Hey.” Kova carefully slid Lukas off of him and shook his shoulder. “Wake up. We’re here.”

“Hmmm…?” Lukas’ eyes dragged open, becoming more alert after he glanced out the window. “Oh. We’re here.”

“Yeah. Oh- and daily reminder that I’m thankful for your existence.”

Lukas shook his head, the groggy weight slipping from his sleepy eyelids. He took Kova’s hand as the lightrail slid to a stop.

Lukas guided his friend down the steps and off the train. Three blocks away, the neon sign outside Alegria Arts shone against the brightening sky, pink and purple slowly fading away into blue. He could count the amount of people on the sidewalk with one hand- the one that wasn’t intertwined in Kova’s.

The front door of the shop was open. Lukas tapped his wrist on the scanner outside as they stepped through the doors- and Brian, the coworker from the previous day, immediately descended on them, his usually greasy black hair slicked back, even more of a caricature of a gym rat in clothes too tight for him than usual.

“So.” He crossed his arms. An eyebrow shot up. “I didn’t know it was Bring Your Friend to Work Day.”

“Shut up, Brian,” Lukas said. He ducked his head and tried to go around the hulk of muscles and veins in his way- but Brian merely stepped right where Lukas was about to walk, keeping him pinned in an uncomfortable spot right in front of the store entrance.

Not that anyone was trying to get in that early in the morning anyways.

“Not so fast, kiddo. You don’t have a uniform on. And I don’t recall the one assigned to you being checked in yesterday.” His other eyebrow lifted as Lukas’ jaw tightened, his face setting, Kova biting back a yelp as Lukas tightened his grasp on his friend’s hand. “Maybe you know something about that?”

Lukas didn’t miss a beat as he clipped back, “I left my uniform at home on accident.”

“On accident. Oh, I see.” Brian uncrossed his arms and jerked a thumb towards the door to the back rooms. “Why don’t you go look in the closet and see if there’s a spare one you can borrow? We don’t have any nametags… but it’s not like you’ll be working in customer service anytime soon.”

Lukas tugged Kova with him, heading for the back room door- and Brian stopped them again.

Kova huffed. “Hey, what’s the big deal, old coot? This how you treat all your guests?”

“Can’t you read?” Brian pointed a finger at the door, keeping his eyes trained on the two boys. “Employees only.”

Lukas scowled. He swallowed the urge to flip off Brian- word would get out to his boss Engles eventually, and his documentation wasn’t exactly attractive to other businesses- and nodded to Kova before he let go of his hand and disappeared into the back room by himself. Brian continued to stare down Kova, his eyes frozen and steel, before he turned away and followed Lukas into the back room.

Kova strode over to the closest bench and plopped himself down with a sigh. His mind wandered as his eyes wandered to the tech store across the street. A brightly-lit display in the front, a pink and purple posterized woman smiling ear-to-ear with a pair of headphones on in an awkward pose she’d never have taken had it not been an advertisement. Phones and tablets and the rare laptop lined the walls, propped up on translucent plastic displays, all of them set to the same brightly colored demo app, the same hypnotizing looping commercial, boasting vivid displays and the newest processors and only changed in the most minute ways to accommodate for the slight differences in screen size. A free-standing carousel here and there throughout the little of the store Kova could see, hawking luxury earbuds and fake-diamond-studded phone cases and more doodads that neither he nor Lukas would ever be able to afford.

A slap to the face, wasn’t it? A constant mocking- this is the life you should be living, the displays screamed. But you’ll never be able to because you don’t have enough money. No friends, no prestige, no cool features for you.

Kova’s flip phone burned with jealousy in his pocket.

Shouldn’t Lukas have gotten changed by now?

Maybe it’s just taking longer because he has to use a spare one? Maybe he’s being chewed out for forgetting to bring his uniform back?

Maybe he’s just working in the back rooms today to save company face.

I shouldn’t waste my time here. Lukas is probably doing just fine. I’ll just go outside and take a quick walk. See if anything’s changed by the time I get back.

Kova left the store without a word. He took a right on the sidewalk as he slipped his hands into the pockets of his sweatshirt.

After a few minutes of walking, he came across a city park of sorts, completely empty. A fountain sat in the middle, a circular concrete expanse surrounding it, two stone benches curving around. Green grass as vivid as the advertisements inside the tech shop filled all the remaining space. A statue of some dead city official or another stood near the corner of the park, perched perfectly for all the drivers to see as they passed by.

Kova took a seat, the benches just tall enough to let him swing his feet. The water in the fountain burbled. A cloud passed in front of the sun.

6

Kova’s eyes cracked open. The sun’s glare immediately hit his eyes- he covered them and sat up.

He’d dozed off on a bench… in a public park.

He patted himself all over- his phone was still in his pocket. The small wad of cash was still in the chapstick container wedged in the front pocket of his jeans.

Kova allowed himself a small sigh of relief. He stood up and shook his head. The last shreds of whatever dream he’d been having slid away, already forgotten and relegated to the trash bin in the back of his mind. He checked his watch.

Afternoon?

Lukas!

Kova tore away from the bench and high-tailed it back to the art shop, not caring who he pushed or bumped into on the sidewalks. He burst through the front doors- a young prissy couple straight out of a stereotypical surrealist painter’s New York jumped out of his way, scowling him with evil eyes and arms full of shopping bags. He muttered a quick sorry before he dashed to the assistance center by the checkout.

“Hello?” he managed to squeak out, his breath heaving, his chest struggling to keep up.

A scrawny girl who Kova might have had a crush on in high school had he still been shackled to that system mussed her hair before she strolled over to him across the counter.

“May I help you?”

“I, uh-” Kova checked his watch. “Lukas Talos? He works here? It’s past his shift time. Do you know where he is?”

The girl gave him a leery look. “And you would be…”

“Kova Innan.” Kova gave her a lopsided smile, hoping that it didn’t show her now nervous he was. “His friend. We share an apartment, you see, and neither of us own a car-”

The girl touched a hand to her ear. Her eyes rolled to the ceiling.

What-

“Do you know where Lukas Talos is?”

Oh, must be a telecom sort of thing.

The girl hummed, and she dropped her hand. Her attention returned to Kova. “It’s past his shift time. But we don’t have any records of him leaving-”

Her eyes widened suddenly. She touched her hand to her ear again, listening to whatever voice was feeding her whispered words on the other end. Her face grew strained. Kova’s palms began to sweat.

“Umm… Mr. Innan?”

Kova’s attention snapped back to her. “Yeah?”

“Go home immediately. The police want to have a word with you.”

What- I haven’t done anything wrong- I did all the paperwork right! I got the judge’s orders and the financial statement and the transcripts-

“Y- Yes, ma’am. Thanks.”

Kova beelined out of the store before he could have a nervous breakdown in front of the girl and headed for the train station. His phone vibrated- one of the many daily alarms telling him approximately when Lukas would be leaving work, when he would be boarding the train, when he would be walking home.

Everything was on a set time, so sometimes it was off by a few minutes, but it had never failed him.

Until now.

The apartment was void of the usual chatter of the residents when Kova stepped inside. A few leaves from the trees standing guard over the sidewalk outside drifted through the door after him, red and yellow and borderline crunchy. He stepped on one- the fragile plant shattered under his shoe, absorbing into the black welcome mat as he flew up the stairs with sweaty palms and a heavy heart.

I haven’t done anything wrong. I haven’t done anything wrong. I haven’t-

The fourth floor of the apartment was empty. Not a single trace of police there- Kova strode over to his door, but it was just as blank as it had been that morning. He dug his ID card out of his pocket and tapped it on the scanner. The door unlocked and swung open.

No police were there either.

The video game sat on the coffee table, case open, the cartridge flipped over on the other side of the table.

Kova picked it up. What had once been pristine and flawless plastic was now disgraced with a surface scratch on the back side, the actual pins still untouched.

What are the chances…

He turned around and inserted it into the console and booted it up. The same pink and blue pixelated clouds greeted him along with the same MIDI music- but there was a slight undertone, the notes of the music just out of tune, the colors of the clouds darkened the tiniest bit.

Load game.

7

The underworld was desolate and empty, a watseland of reddish and purplish earth and thorns. As Syntha treaded carefully through the labyrinth, Lex and Kuroi trailing behing her at a respectable distance, they occasionally came across broken and rusted equipment from the expeditions of the more careless of their fellow villagers- shattered spears and pitchforks, jeweled shields, blades snapped in two and abandoned to rust. The rusty dried blood of caedat and perished human alike stained some of these objects, buried halfway into the ground, slowly being absorbed into the infinite land of the underworld.

“Where are all the caedats?” Syntha wondered aloud- and then she tripped on a bramble, catching herself just in time to keep from face-planting. “I- I was expecting a fight, or- or a confrontation- or something!”

“It’s a full moon,” Lex said, smug, stepping over the bramble with ease. They took a right turn. “They’re probably hiding away in their warrens. Bunch of cowards. Don’t want to face-”

“Aye, who are you calling a coward?”

The party froze in their tracks, petrified. A dark figure stepped out of the next left turn- tall and strong-built with stubble for days. His amber eyes glistened in the omnipresent light. Three sets of long rabbit-like ears hung low from his head, long black greasy hair tangled around them, swaying with every step he took towards the party.

Syntha slipped her broken spear out of its holder, her arms trembling, trying to keep a straight face not full of fright.

“Y’know, it would be a real shame if a pretty face like you got lost and turned into one of us,” he said, his voice gruff. “I’d hate to be the caedat who ended up killing you when the moons switch.”

“Are you threatening my dear Syntha?” Kuroi rested a hand on the handle of her bow. “I wouldn’t do that-”

“I wouldn’t be down here if I were you. There’s nothing here… There’s no light here. Not in any of us. Nothing left down here. Just us caedats condemned to hell. Get out of here before the moons switch and we turn vicious.”

Syntha lowered her spear, although her fingers still burned as they remained wrapped around the shaft. She cleared her throat before she asked, “We’re looking for Ceuta-”

The caedat burst into laughter, a raucous, obnoxious sound that reverberated through the walls of the labyrinth. He wiped his forehead with the back of one hairy hand. “And you’d trust any of us to tell you where Ceuta went? After we’ve been hunted by you humans for as long as we’ve both been in existence, driven down here while you all get the blessings of the gods and the best of everything and we only get scraps at best?” The caedat calmed his breath and assumed a scowl. “Aren’t we all looking for Ceuta? She liberated us. She broke the seals that Chronos trapped us down here with. And then you humans put the seals back. And if she comes back… Well, let’s just say you humans won’t be the sole inheritors of the earth anymore.”

Syntha fumbled her spear- it clattered to the ground, and before she could pick it back up again, the caedat swooped over and stole it, twirling it in his own hands and mocking her with a leery grin as she stumbled back to her feet.

Kuroi tensed and slipped her bow out from over her shoulder.

The caedat pointed the spear at them. “Typical humans. Play stupid games, earn stupid prizes. Go back home.”

“W-we can’t,” Syntha stuttered. She crossed her arms in a facade of bravery. “The opening closed behind us-”

“So it’s a closening now?” The caedat cackled. He stood the spear at his side, a mockery of a walking stick. “Tell you what, I’ll cut you all a deal. Make the best out of a bad situation, eh?” His face hardened. “I’ll help you through the labyrinth. You break through that dastardly steel seal keeping us out of the otherworld. And then we’ll go find Ceuta together.”

Syntha perked up. “You mean-”

The caedat winced. “You in or not?”

Syntha shook her head- and then Lex stepped forward in between them.

“How are we supposed to trust you?”

The caedat shrugged. “You’re not. Hell, I don’t even trust myself most of the time. But hey, if Ceuta’s all she’s hyped up to be, she should be able to give us some sort of blessing to let us keep our humanity despite the moons, eh? And then we’ll be able to coexist with humans.” He sighed and shook his head. “Who am I kidding? You humans will just hunt us all the same. Come on, let’s go.”

He turned and started walking. Syntha, confused, stood there for a moment before Lex shoved her forward. She dashed up to him, and the rest of the party followed as they made a left turn.

“So, uh…” Syntha folded her hands together- and then almost tripped on another bramble sticking out of the ground. “You do know for sure that Ceuta’s in the otherworld, right?”

“You think I’d lie?”

The caedat shook his head. One of his ears brushed Syntha’s shoulder, cold and wet, leaving behind a red streak on her skin- fresh blood. She shivered.

“Burst through the labyrinths ’bout one year ago your calendar. Green and blue dragon twice the size of me transformed. Spurt ice everywhere and killed two of my friends. Others fought back. I think…” They made a right turn. “We gave her a pretty grievous blow to the head. Divine blood everywhere. Then she broke through the seal to the otherworld. No one ever saw her again.”

“So the otherworld is real?”

The caedat hissed. “Haven’t you been listening? Yes, it’s real! But I ain’t ever been in it. Mostly because you humans sealed the hole right up with some metal thing. We can’t touch steel-”

“Her spear’s steel,” Lex spat. “Cut the lies.”

“Handle’s not. Otherwise I’d be dead already. As I was saying, we caedats can’t touch steel. Poisons our blood and boils us to death from the inside out a few minutes after the first touch to the skin. Just another gift from our good ol’ buddy Chronos.”

His hold on the spear tightened- Syntha feared his veiny fingers would break it, snap it in half from the sheer force of his grip.

“Suppose you want Ceuta to restore everything to the industrial paradise it was before Chronos got all pissy about Ceuta’s daddy issues.”

“Y-yeah,” Syntha stuttered. “It was Melilla’s dying wish, passed down through my family-”

“Hey, what’s your name, kid?”

“Me?” Syntha coughed. “It’s Syntha, sir.”

“Syntha? What, your mother cough while trying to say Cynthia?”

“Actually… yeah.”

“Huh. Well, nice to meet you, Syntha.” The caedat threw a half-assed smirk over his shoulder. “Name’s Mags. Old human name doesn’t matter. I’ve probably forgotten it and still in denial about it. One of the oldest caedats around.” They took a right turn. “I mean, it’s not like they live very long. But at least I got to see your paradise before I went to hell… And it wasn’t paradise at all. Hell, I probably would have killed someone to get a shot at what human life is now.”

“That’s cool and all,” Lex said, “but why the hell are you just dumping all of this on us? I don’t care what caedats think about-”

“Shush, darling,” Kuroi snapped. “Mags is being kind enough to help us. You should be grateful he didn’t kill us on sight.”

Lex shut up, his face burning. Mags chuckled to himself, allowing himself a private smile, and they continued their march through the labyrinth.

8

Thunder roiled beyond his apartment window as Kova slid the power switch of the console to off and turned off the monitor. He lowered himself to the ground, laying down on his side, his eyes wandering among the ruffles and springs making up the threads of his apartment carpet.

So if this game is to be believed, my friend is some kind of interdimensional dragon god thing without his memories who’s being hunted down by other interdimensional rabbit things.

And he’s also supposedly some sort of cosmic keystone capable of rebuilding entire civilizations and ensuring peace.

And he’s also got issues with his parents.

Good grief. Kova rolled over to his other side, this time facing the wooden coffee table. Another peal of thunder rolled outside. Come on, think. If I were a Mary Sue savior of a poorly edited book, what would I do?

Really? Video games aren’t real. This was probably just some thoughtful alibi for a kidnapper-

Another roll of thunder right outside the apartment. Kova slid his eyes over to the window, scanning the sky for lightning- and immediately jumped to his feet, his eyes wide, forgetting everything as he dashed through his apartment door and ran down the steps to the lobby. His chest spasmed as he practically glued himself to one of the windows, watching as the angry black and gray clouds enveloped and swirled around the green and blue anomaly floating within.

The TV in the corner of the lobby, normally set to the local news and the weather channel, roared to life with breaking news. The art shop and the tech shop across the street, both engulfed in flames, people rushing out with their arms full of either their loved ones or hundreds of dollars of merchandise too valuable to lose. Police surrounding the scene, red and blue lights flashing in the camera. A newswoman struggling to piece together a coherent sentence to describe the scene of utter chaos unfolding behind her.

Kova tore himself away from the window and watched the TV as security camera footage played. The mail room, a scene of peaceful work, a few security officers assisting the workers as they screened packages to ensure that nothing illegal had been shipped to the repair shop. Then a flash- a bang- and four indistinct figures rising from the smoke. A glint of metal, a gruff voice, an argument.

Kova’s right hand instinctively clutched the fabric of his shirt above his chest as he continued watching, too mesmerized to pull away. It was the hatch. The hatch that was supposed to remain closed at all times. It was arsonists; it was a malfunction of the hatch; it was a bugged piece of mail sent in by lone wolf terrorists; it was sabotage by a disgruntled employee.

Kova turned back to the window, his heart racing. The green and blue anomaly was still flailing, a roar rippling through the vast sky. The hail was still pouring.

I know exactly where he is.

Kova burst out onto the streets. His feet hit the pavement running- and then he collided with a girl and stumbled to the ground, accidentally taking her down with him.

“Crap! Sorry!” She picked herself off the ground, and he followed suit. She brushed her orange hair out of her eyes. “I guess I got distracted by all these weird… houses? Were they called that back then- no, now-”

“Come on,” a boy who could have been her sibling whined. “We ran all this way to find your stupid Ceuta, and you’re going to get distracted now?”

Holy shit. Kova’s palms began to sweat. This is real, it can’t be real, it can’t…

The girl pouted and took one last look at Kova before breaking out into a sprint with the other three people in her party- one of them lumbering along, laboring with every step like he wasn’t sure he was even in existence.

Have I…

“Wait!” Kova yelled, taking off after them. “Syntha!”

The girl froze, her body gone stiff. The other three people in her party slowed to a halt, petrified as well, all of their eyes fixed on Kova.

The girl turned around slowly, her arms pulled in close, tense and unsure of herself. “You… How do you know my name?”

“From the game!” Kova wheezed, trying to catch his breath.

“The… game?”

“The game! You and Lex and Kuroi-”

The two more human of her companions tensed as well. The boy who’d yelled at her earlier cleared his throat. His scarlet robes flapped in the wind.

“We need to get moving, otherworld person. This is our problem, not yours-”

“He’s my friend!”

The boy scowled. He waved his hand to dismiss Kova. “We don’t need another Melilla happening. We don’t need another death on our hands.”

They stood in silence for a moment before Kova snapped his fingers. “You need help taming Lukas, right?”

The girl’s eyebrows wrinkled. “Lukas?”

“I- I mean Ceuta. I’m his friend. If there’s anyone he trusts, it’s me. I- I can help calm him down. Or at least lure him over here.”

The girl hesitated a moment before she nodded. “We could use all the help we could get.”

Kova sprinted back to the apartment, shutting out the yelling of the boy as he scolded his sister. Footsteps followed him up the staircase. He didn’t dare look behind him- the thumping of his legs and the beating of his heart were all he knew, all that existed in his world as he kept flying up the stairs, Lex and Kuroi and Syntha following behind a few floors down.

Kova reached the top of the stairway. He kicked open the roof access door and stumbled onto the roof, seventeen floors up. Gravel scraped his shins as he pulled himself up. He didn’t dare look anywhere even remotely below him as he turned his head to the sky and held up his hand, pale and flushed against the grim sky.

The green and blue anomaly poked its head out of the clouds again. A pinprick on his fingers began to glow white, soft at first but growing brighter and brighter as the mess of scales and feathers descended-

The world fell out from under Kova, knocked off his feet as the dragon collided with him. A stray scale scratched Kova’s forearm, leaving an angry red laceration behind, but he wrapped his arms around the beast’s throat with all his life, the pinprick on his finger glowing as bright as the sun, forcing him to close his eyes-

The world shifted under him, vertigo spinning him around and around. Kova forced his eyes open just in time to catch himself and wrap his body around Lukas’ back as the dragon pushed off the roof. Two strong wings, master constructions of sinew and skin pulled tight, billowed out and pushed them up into the forever sky.

Wind rushed at them at breakneck speed. Kova kept his head down, his eyes half-closed, his hair plastered to his face. His cheek rested against the scales of Lukas’ back, his own lungs heaving in sync with the flaps of the wings as they approached the clouds.

Dampness descended on Kova, a dark not-quite-water substance permeating every crack of his clothes. He shivered. Lukas released a roar, air from the depths of Antarctica spouting from his mouth, breeding a new set of hail ready to drop down to Earth-

Lukas barrel-rolled.

Kova lost his grip.

And the sky turned upside down.

Lukas’ tail slapped him in the face, making his sight shimmer for a second. Arctic air rushed around him, the land an impossible distance away, the buildings in miniature like toys. Seconds stretched out into hours, minutes into years. The world began to spin, tumbling head over heels towards the ground. His stomach lurched. His vision turned bleary, his tears ripped from his eyes.

I- I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die!

His lungs spasmed- a body collided with him, its hands grabbing all over his body, trying to gain purchase on his clothes, and then Syntha’s voice in his ear, a mess of incoherent sounds as she struggled to keep ahold of him. The world was one washing machine in the middle of a spin cycle, grays and blacks and silvers spinning around them as the rain and hail and the light on his finger abated.

The clouds broke. A sliver of light. Their spin slowed considerably as the air thickened, enough to save their brains from being completely emulsified. Syntha’s and Kova’s eyes met, their hair billowing out all around them.

“Melilla,” Syntha mouthed, inaudible over the rushing in his ears, her eyes suddenly fluttering wide.

Kova shook his head, suddenly pissed. That’s really what you’re worried about? People reincarnating? We’re about to-

To die…?

Something warm slipped past Kova’s arm, tickling the laceration. He glanced up- a blue wisp of flame with two little phoenix wings disappeared into the sky. Another one slipped by, this one tickling Syntha’s ear. And then they started coming in full force, swirling around the two of them, the heft coming back into their bones as the wisps slowed them down.

The roof of the apartment came into view. Deep gashes on the roof where Lukas’ claws had scratched. Lex stood, his face to the sky, one eye closed and the tip of his tongue sticking out as more of the wisps shot out of his hands and caressed the two kids as they floated down to the roof light as a feather.

Kova’s feet touched the roof. His legs gave out, and he collapsed on the ground, curling up and holding his raging stomach in. Syntha detached from him and brushed off her outfit before she shook her head to put her hair back into order. Lex rubbed his cheeks and sat down to catch his breath, his face a deep shade of pink.

Kuroi beelined over to her, her hands grasping Syntha’s shoulders before her arms enveloped her in an embrace.

“My brave little darling. I knew you could do it.”

“Melilla…” Syntha whispered, her eyes fixed straight ahead.

Kuroi’s eyes wandered to Kova as she pulled away from Syntha, who rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath. She took a step towards Kova. Her head cocked a little as she studied his face.

“Kova,” she mouthed, trying the name on for size. “That’s your name, right?”

Kova turned his head to look at her, still curled up on the ground. “Yeah. And you’re Kuroi.”

Kuroi squatted down beside him. “Tell me, how do you know that? As far as I know, we’re the first people from the firstworld to successfully cross into the otherworld.” Lex coughed behind her, glaring at Kova. “Other than our precious Ceuta, of course.” She scooted a bit closer to Kova and took his face in her hands. “It looks like we’ll be working together for a while to restore her to sanity. Isn’t that right, Lex?”

Lex scoffed, and then his eyes caught the sight of the buildings around them, majestic and regal in the sudden sun. He stood there, mesmerized, eyes open wide, his bravado forgotten.

“Lex?” Kuroi crooned.

“Uh-” Lex shook his head and covered his face with his hands to hide his blushing. “Y-yeah, whatever you say, Kuroi. I’ll go wherever you go.”

“Thank you, sweetheart.” She turned back to Kova and rolled her eyes. “You said something about a game?”

“Yeah…” Kova sat up. The world immediately shifted around him. He planted both hands firmly on the ground to keep himself from falling back over. “A video game-”

“So those are real?” Syntha piped up, jolted out of her catatonic state. Kuroi sighed. “You really can just put plastic into a container and open a looking glass into another world?”

“…Sure. If you want to put it that way.” Kova stood up, a rush of dejection coming over him. “I suppose I’ve got to get the apartment ready for four people now.”

Kova left. Kuroi and the rest gathered together, Syntha practically bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“Can you believe it, Kuroi? This is the paradise Grandmother told us about! The buildings are so tall, and there are so many lights, and I don’t see a single patch of farmland anywhere-”

“How in the caedat’s hell is this paradise?” Lex cringed and covered his ears as a truck blasted its horn down below on the street. “There’s so much noise. I can barely hear myself think. I almost let you splat on the ground because I couldn’t concentrate-”

“And we’re all so grateful you didn’t do that,” Kuroi said. She laid a hand on Lex’s shoulder, pleading with her eyes for him to shut up, which she did. “Maybe, when Ceuta regains her sanity, she can help us build a quieter version of this, hmm?”

Lex shrugged off her shoulder. “I don’t want to rebuild anything. I want to get rid of Ceuta and go back home and move on with my life.” He paused, his eyebrows wrinkling. “Where’s Mags?”

9

Syntha brushed a hand along the metal rail of the apartment balcony. The bright lights of the midnight city flashed below her, cars- that was what they were called, right?- moving by in an incessant stream, all sorts of people she’d never know passing her by without even an iota of a clue of what exactly had happened that day. A parade float gone awry, some studio or another filming a movie, a conspiracy theorist finally being proven right…

Her other hand instinctively reached behind her back- a little wave of panic rose in her each time her fingers curled around nothing, reminded that her spear was gone, that Mags had taken it from her in the labyrinth and then disappeared without a trace after they’d burst through to the otherworld.

A few heavy footsteps behind her. Syntha turned her head to see Kova sit down beside her. He wore a blue sweatshirt- she shivered as a response, her nightgown doing little to shield her from the chilly autumn nighttime air.

“So,” Kova whispered, his eyes fixed on the distance. “Tell me about Ceuta.”

“Ceuta?” Syntha’s eyebrows wrinkled. “I thought his name was Lukas-”

“No, I mean Ceuta. The goddess-dragon-person-thing you came here for. Before I knew him- her.”

“I… I’m not sure what exactly you want to know. There’s the legends of Chronos and Mythos and their children? Or Ceuta’s escapades in the firstworld? It’s all second-hand knowledge, you know- actually, I don’t know what you know, and I don’t want to inundate you with redundant knowledge-”

“Tell me about Ceuta as she was on Earth. As she was in the… firstworld. Before she went feral.”

“Oh!” Syntha’s face lit up. “She showed up with a shooting star one day a little over a hundred years ago. The world was kinda like this one, you know, with running water that you can just turn a knob to get and… houses that scrape the sky and… electricity? I think that’s the word for it. But it was summer, and everything was a great deal warmer, and there wasn’t any school going on at the time. And Melilla found her at the side of the road near her house half-dead and brought her inside and nursed her back to health, and then-”

“And then she stayed for a few months helping people before she went insane?”

Syntha scowled. “If you’re just gonna talk over me-”

Kova glanced at her. “But that is what happened, right?”

“…Yeah.” Syntha paused. “Wait, you’ve been watching us all this time?” She stood up. “How long? How much do you know?” Her face contorted, her chest threatening to tighten. “That’s- that’s not-”

Kova raised his hands. “Whoa whoa whoa, calm down. I started at the stables right before you jumped into the portal to the underworld. I haven’t seen anything… private. It’d be too pixelated to see, anyways. I just wanted to make sure we were both on the same page.”

Syntha closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Whew. That’s a relief.” She sat down again, watching the flickering lights in the rooms of the building across from them on the other side of the street. “Okay, now you’ve got to tell me something about Lukas.”

Kova tightened his jaw. “…He’s quiet.”

“…And?”

Kova shook his head. “There’s not much else to say. He doesn’t talk much about himself. He goes to work and makes money to keep the two of us afloat, and I stay behind and maintain a home we can both tolerate at the end of the day. We coexist. We keep each other out of the welfare system. We’re friends, in a weird kind of way.”

Syntha’s shoulders sagged. “And that’s it?”

“Yeah- oh, and he always freezes up whenever caedats get mentioned.”

Syntha pouted. “That’s a disappointment. I expected Ceu- Lukas to be more… exciting? Gracious? Generous? But I guess, after all, he could have lost all his memories again…”

Syntha’s voice trailed off as she focused on a flickering room across the road, some sort of strobe light illuminating the silhouettes of at least three people as they danced the night away. She rubbed her eyes and yawned. “You think he won’t remember you at all when we find him again?”

Kova cringed. “Don’t- don’t say that. I don’t want to think about that… what that would entail. I’ve already lost enough friends.” He stood up, half of his face illuminated yellow in the midnight glimmer of the city around him, a glint in his eyes. “We’re leaving in the morning. No exceptions. I’m going to find Lukas and bring him home, or…”

Syntha cocked her head. “Or?”

Kova shook his head and bit down on his lip. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him from being taken advantage of, come hell or high water.” He turned to the glass balcony doors, watching the rise and fall of Kuroi’s chest as she slumbered the night away on the sofa. “Or both, if I get the misfortune of seeing a caedat with my own eyes-” He snapped his fingers and turned back to Syntha, who’d stood up. “You need a weapon, don’t you?”

Syntha, sheepish, nodded her head.

Kova bit his lip, thinking for a moment before meeting her eyes again. “Local hardware store sells curtain rods and lots of… pointy things. We’ll make a trip in the morning to see what we can get you. Is that alright?”

“A… hardware store?” Syntha’s eyebrows wrinkled. “I don’t understand. What’s a store?”

Kova’s eyebrows mimicked hers. “I thought- wasn’t your paradise exactly like this? How.. How do you get things if you don’t have a store?”

“Well…” Syntha put her hands together. “People had noisy boxes they put in their homes. They sacrificed bags of goo and broken plastic objects to them, and in return, new things- whatever things they wanted- came out of the boxes-”

“A 3D printer?”

Syntha slowly nodded, slightly ticked. “But they all became useless when Ceuta cursed the land. No more… electricity. Now we just get things from markets.”

“Markets are stores.”

“So it’s just semantics then.” Syntha yawned and opened the balcony door, slipping inside the apartment. “Sure, I’ll go with you. Hell, I’ll even try some of your weird fashion if it makes you feel better. Diplomacy and all.” She managed a half-awake wave. “Good night.”

Kova turned around. Syntha held the door open for a moment, then, realizing Kova wasn’t coming in with her, closed the door and retreated to the sole bedroom, where Lex was sound asleep. Kova put his arms on the balcony and turned his head to the moon, full and just beginning to wane. Somewhere in the distance, a shooting star rocketed across the sky, quickly fading into the oblivion of the night.

You’re somewhere out there, aren’t you? Don’t get yourself hurt. Don’t hurt anyone. Just wait- I’m coming for you-

Ah, who am I kidding? He shook his head. Lukas can’t hear me. I’m just being a pansy. Gotta man up, just like Father said…

Father can go screw himself.

ACT 2

GOLDEN SON

10

A raindrop rolled down his forehead, flitting through the dirty and matted hair already sopping wet, leaving behind the only trickle of clean skin on his face. Earth’s rich soil embraced him, a hand creeping around his side, coating his skin, shielding his more sensitive regions from the lights fading in and out somewhere beyond his heavy eyelids.

A rumbling, a squealing, a lock of car doors. Worn, cracked skin brushed against the back of his neck, nimble fingers checking for a pulse, brushing his hair aside. A fingerprint on his eyelids, and then a blinding light, tunnel vision giving way to a kindly feminine face as the light subsided.

“You seem to have gotten yourself into quite the predicament,” she murmured. “Don’t move. I think your arm is broken.”

Lukas released a groan as she set his head back down. The fog began to dissipate from his mind. The woman moved over to his chest, brushing aside the dirt- and then a sharp jolt of pain in his left forearm. A wet gurgle escaped his throat, murky and muttled. He tried pulling the arm closer to him, away from the stranger, but another ping of pain swept through his bones in return.

“I said, don’t move.” The woman straightened his arm and wrapped a towel around it to keep out the rain. She brushed more dirt off of him. “I’m going to give you something to knock you back out, alright? I don’t want you hurting yourself. Not until I can get you home and cleaned up and stabilized.”

“Kova…” Lukas moaned.

The woman froze for a second, and then she shook her head and went back to the car. She returned with a first aid kit in a compact transparent plastic box, bandages and wipes and gauze still in sufficient stock. She pulled out one of the packets and ripped open the top and pulled out a white wipe quickly defiled by the grime on his upper arm.

Lukas’ hands curled. “Kova…”

“Sshh.” The woman discarded the blackened wipe and brushed some drizzle off her face. She pulled out a golden vial and a long silver needle. “Just relax. You’re in good hands.”

A pattering on the window, sky dark behind the crisp curtains. White everywhere- the curtains lazily swaying from the breeze outside, the walls with paint so shiny it threatened to blind him with the ceiling light’s reflection, the sheets wrapped around…

His body?

Hers?

Blood rushed past his ears as full consciousness washed over him like a wave. His head pounded as he tried to sit up- and immediately flailed back down. Confused, his right hand crept across his naked chest, feeling mountains that shouldn’t have been there. His hand wrapped around the swollen lump that should have been his left shoulder.

His chest spasmed, a stab of pain in his gut. He sucked in a sudden breath. His hand traveled down, fingers trailing the skin, calming down a bit when he realized that his arm hadn’t been crudely hacked off and sold on a black market- it had been numbed and bent at the elbow and then bound tightly against itself with a stretchy gray bandage tape. The “swelling” had merely been his hand.

A natural splint, maybe?

Figures. She didn’t call anybody, not even an emergency number.

He shivered. What else did she do to my body?

He threw the covers off of him, his half-arm flailing as he almost lost his balance. An unfamiliar weight hung from his chest. He looked down to see-

I’m a girl now?

The door opened. A middle-aged woman with wrinkles- crow’s feet?- around her eyes walked in, the skirt of her dress sweeping the floor, her reflection showing in some of the gaudy childish decorations on the walls. She held a bundle of clothes in muted pastel colors in her arms, ignoring the stares of the dolls on the bookshelves. She closed and locked the door behind her.

“Good, so you are awake.” She cracked half a smile. Her chestnut hair bobbed as she set the clothes down on the side table beside his bed. “Riki, isn’t it? Long time no see. I almost forgot you existed. Good times fighting the alien dragons that could breathe in space, eh?” She paused. “Why have you come back now when middle school’s been dismissed for so many decades? And how are you still so young?”

Riki?

I- Dragons! He balled the sheets in his fists, suddenly tense. But how-

“I think you have me mixed up with someone else.” He winced- his voice had more of a lilt to it than he remembered, though only slightly.

“So you aren’t Riki then.” The woman pouted. “Then what’s your name, darling?”

“It’s Luk- Lukas-” His throat spasmed, and he hocked up a spatter of blood.

“Lucasta? A pretty name for a pretty girl. I remember studying that poem in high school, back when wars were merely a weary aspiration to be waged against parents. Oh, that was so many years ago… I wonder how all my friends are doing. I never did get in touch with them, you know-” A hand flew to her chest, fingernails painted a deep shade of red. “Oh! I’ve been so rude!” She smiled at him. “My name’s Kenna Innan. Friendly neighborhood empty nester. You wouldn’t mind me taking care of you for a while, would you?”

“I…”

Lucasta tried swinging her feet out of bed, but her legs turned to spaghetti the moment she put any weight on them. She collapsed to the floor- her half-arm scraped the floor, aching to be free from the binds, her right arm trembling as she tried to pull himself back up. Kenna squealed and stooped over to her, slipping her surprisingly strong arms around her chest and lifting the girl back up onto the bed.

“Patience, Lucasta. The sedative I gave you is still working through your system. I’ll give you something later to keep the pain in your arm down. Take a few hours to rest, okay? And when you feel you’re ready, you can get dressed and come upstairs.”

The woman patted the stack of clothes again and then left the room, leaving the door unlocked behind her. Lucasta pulled her slender legs back onto the bed with her one functioning arm, her feet dangling down, unmarred by calluses and perfectly trimmed.

She turned her palm up, studying the unfamiliar lines of her palm glinting in the light, how soft and untainted by the world her skin appeared. Her chest tightened, her eyes aching, threatening to water.

I’m a monster. I… She curled her fingers in. The blood drained from her knuckles. I killed Kova! I killed my only friend in this whole wide world! Her lips quivered. I let my own damn emotions force me to shift… I- I wouldn’t let that caedat drag me back to the grave, and I destroyed so much to pay for it…

A sob escaped her lips. A teardrop ran down her face, and then she crumpled over on the bed, letting the sheets play the role of her tissues as she wept.

I kill everyone I love! Everyone!

I… I don’t want to be alone in this world in a body that isn’t mine, in a house I didn’t work for, in a world… without Kova…

11

“Kova! Kova, wake up! You gotta see this!”

A heavy weight slammed into Kova’s chest. His eyes shot wide open- Syntha shook him violently in his bed, only backing off when he released a groan, kicking her back and throwing off the sheets.

She’d dressed himself in one of Lukas’ old shirts. Gray and faded, beginning to fray at the edges.

A shudder ran down his spine.

He sat up in bed, mind reeling, the last dregs of his dream- of the fall- slipping from his vision. Syntha flitted out of the room. He followed her to find the living room in complete disarray, sofa cushions thrown everywhere and a stack of dirty dishes on the floor beside the doorway to the kitchen. The monitor was half-glitched out, The Duality of Mankind inserted backwards and wedged halfway into the console.

“What-” Kova turned to Syntha, whose face was animated. “What’s going on-”

Syntha rushed over to the console and reinserted the cartridge. Kova groaned and rubbed his eyes- but instead of the usual booting screen, the monitor blanked out for a moment and then showed a living room.

His living room, furniture and window and everything in as much detail as the 8-bit graphics afforded him.

Syntha pointed to the girl in the middle of the screen. “That’s me!” She stepped towards the monitor, and the girl did the same, Syntha’s words appearing on the screen above her as she spoke them. She turned back to Kova, her finger still an inch from the screen. “Do you think we could use this to find Lukas?”

“That would be too easy.”

The bathroom door opened. Lex stepped out, a white towel hanging from his waist. His wet hair looked almost brown in the morning light. Kova muttered a curse under his breath.

“Oh, yeah?” Syntha stepped towards Lex, her hands on her hips. “And what do you know about the otherworld’s technology?”

“There’s no guarantee that this world is an… accurate reflection of our own future past,” Lex pointed out.

Syntha stood there for a moment, flustered, before she turned her back on Lex and crouched down in front of the console, studying the power and reset buttons with a renewed fervor.

“It can see people from the firstworld. So why wouldn’t it be able to see Lukas?”

She grabbed one of the controllers and backed up a few feet so she could see the monitor. Her thumb tapped down, and the screen changed- essentially the same scene, except for being focused on Syntha, it centered on Lex, who was still standing right outside the bathroom.

Lex, a hand on the loose knot keeping the towel around his waist, stepped towards Syntha to see the screen- and took a few steps back, shocked, almost losing his grip on the towel. “What-” He glanced around the room, checking for cameras or anything else, but he saw nothing. “How-”

Kuroi stirred on the couch as the view changed to feature her. She rubbed her bleary eyes and sat up, her eyebrows wrinkling as her eyes caught the TV.

“Is… that me?”

“Yeah!” Syntha flashed a smile at Kuroi. “Now let me see…”

Down again. The scene changed- back to Ceuta’s tomb, the sunlight rippling as it slipped through the crack in the domed ceiling. At least seven adults were crowded inside, three dots bouncing up and down above each of their heads.

The hole was still closed.

A trickle of blue, a few pixels easily overlooked gone down one of the adults’ faces.

Syntha bit her lip, keeping her gaze steady, forcing herself not to think of home. Kuroi murmured something she couldn’t decipher. Lex stood there in silence and shock. Down again- now it was Syntha’s room in her family’s cottage, the entire building vacant.

Down again. A blindingly white room, clean curtains fluttering as four-frame sprites. A bed sat at one side of the room. A- a child? a girl?- lay in the bed, snoozing away, little Z’s floating up and away from her as she slumbered on.

“Wait.” Kova put a hand on Syntha’s shoulder. His breathing deepened, strained. “That… That’s my childhood bedroom-”

“It’s Lukas!” Syntha shouted, throwing her hands into the air, a wide grin on her face. “Mystery solved!”

Kova stepped closer to the monitor and studied the room again, his arms folded and pressed against his chest. “Nothing’s changed except the color of the paint.”

“And we’re supposed to take a video game as gospel?” Lex snorted. “Don’t you have some other way of finding him?”

“Lex…” Kuroi hissed.

“What?” Lex shrugged with one arm, one hand still holding onto the loose knot. “I don’t want to waste time with dead ends. Especially ends that’ll leave us dead. Anything? A phone, a chip, a-”

“He has a chip in his right wrist.” Kova rubbed his own wrist. “But I don’t think it has a tracker inside of it…”

Lex rolled his eyes. “Then to your old house we go, I guess-”

“I can’t do that,” Kova growled, tensing. He balled his fists.

Lex cocked his head, a few strands of wet hair hanging in front of his eyes. He brushed them behind one ear with his free hand. “And pray tell why you can’t visit your parents?”

“Kova has parents…?” Syntha put down the controller. The Z’s continued to fume from the sleeping person onscreen. “But I thought…” She put a finger to her chin, thinking. “I guess, if she died-”

Lex cut her off. Syntha scowled at him, but she didn’t protest as he said, “Listen, Kova. I don’t know what happened between you and your parents, and, to be honest, I really don’t give a damn. But if I know one thing about angsty teenagers, it’s that your parents don’t hate you half as much as you think they do if they were kind enough to take in your…” He glanced at the monitor. “Friend.” He glared back at Kova. “So let’s get a move-on and get Lukas back and get on with our lives.”

“Hey!” Syntha piped up. “Kova! You promised you’d get me a new-”

“A new weapon, I know!” He buried his face in his hands and released a loud groan, trying not to hyperventilate. “Alright, alright. Get yourselves together. Eat something. We’ll leave in ten minutes.”

Lex rolled his eyes again and went back into the bathroom. Syntha cheered and slipped into the kitchen, pots and pans banging as she searched and eventually found the pantry.

A muted thunk. Something spilled. Probably the cereal.

Syntha popped her head out of the kitchen, an unsteady smile on her face. “Sorry. I’ll clean it up. I… didn’t expect the box to be so easy to open.”

Syntha ducked back into the kitchen. Kova rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes and pressed his fingers against his eyelids. Kuroi got up off the couch and laid a hand on his shoulder, coming in close behind him.

“Give her some slack,” she crooned, still a tad sleepy. “It’s been a long three days. She’s been looking forward to this for a great while.”

Kova shivered as she leaned in closer, her face brushing against the back of his neck, too scared of what she might do if he pulled away to move.

“I’m not Melilla.”

Kuroi backed off from him, a confused look on her face. “You and her have so much in-”

“I’m not just part of someone else’s backstory. I’m not some tragic hero, and I’m not a background character, understand? I’m not some disposable accessory to Lukas, even though he’s the only reason you’re here. I’m his friend. And I’m not letting him just wander off to some virtual land, never to be seen again.”

“But what if that’s what he wants, darling?”

Kova bit his lip, feeling his throat tighten in anticipation of tears.

“He wouldn’t. Not in a million years.”

But you confessed two days ago that you barely knew him.

Why would he leave for a place he doesn’t know anything about?

Kova suddenly opened his eyes and pushed Kuroi away. “Back off a bit. I need… a moment.”

Kuroi, startled, shied away from him. “No need to be so rude.”

12

Syntha covered her ears as soon as she stepped out of the apartment lobby and onto the sidewalk. The beeps and buzzes of the passing-by cars assaulted all of their ears- except for Kova, who’d tried to acclimate shortly after he’d moved in all those months ago and had eventually come to tolerate the constant blur of noise. But after a while, the sounds subsided enough for the party to cautiously remove their hands from their heads.

They made their way through the busy city blocks, slowly heading towards the commercial district. They looked slightly out of place, just barely passing off as tourists- Lex with his hair pulled back in a ponytail with a jacket half-zipped up, Kuroi with her silver bow still slung over her shoulder, and Syntha trailing behind the three, eyes always caught up in one sight or another. Kova kept one of her hands in his, pulling her along as they passed by banks and daycare centers and apartment complexes meant only for the powerful and wealthy.

So many blinking lights. So many people.

So little green anywhere.

The store wasn’t any different. Syntha tore away from Kova when they arrived and stood at the edge of the parking lot, her eyes wide, taking in both the expanse of gray sky and the wide swath of pavement marked off and sparsely filled. Kova grabbed one of her hands again, tugging her along, pleading with her to come with them before she shook her head and stepped off the curb of her own accord.

The hardware store had lower ceilings than he’d remembered the last time he’d had to step in for a leaky pipe under the sink at three in the morning- outside the time range for the hired on-site mechanic for the apartment. The shelves didn’t tower nearly as much, either, and there were less things stocked than usual.

Shower curtains in gold and silver and every metal color in between lined a display, some sparkling to attract harried parents with whining kids, some with decorative ends. Syntha picked a simple silver rod as tall as she was, and with a few of the triangular rulers from a few aisles over and some wires and crimps, she had herself a decent replacement to the weapon that Mags had deserted them with.

Where was Mags, anyways?

It didn’t matter. Kova’s parents were just a few hours away by train, and all the rails were closed to passengers until morning.

Not nearly far enough away.

13

Lucasta awoke to the sight of a purple light fading in and out somewhere beyond her bedroom window. The light intertwined with reds and oranges, giving off the appearance of the neighbor’s house in flames- probably just an early pre-Halloween party, the decorations in the front yard askew and half-embedded in the ground.

Lucasta jolted out of bed. Her legs were still somewhat unsteady, but they were enough to carry her as she stumbled around in the dark. Her left arm throbbed, pleading to be released from its bindings. Her right hand slipped on a tiny nub sticking out of the wall, and she flicked it up, awashing the room in clean white light.

I- I slept through the whole day?

She stumbled over to the side table, where the folded pile of clothes still sat. She picked up the blue and green shift from the top of the pile and wormed her way into it. Goosebumps rose on her skin. The skirt of the dress tickled her knees, and her bare skin shivered, but it was better than being naked.

She opened the bedroom door. A hardwood floor greeted her. Next to her room was a relatively small living room. Kenna sat curled up in an armchair in front of the fireplace, flame tickling eternally charred wood.

Kenna, hearing Lucasta’s footsteps, closed her book and set it on the ground beside her.

“Good evening, darling. Are you feeling any better?”

Lucasta shook her head and sat down beside Kenna’s chair. She rested her head on the side of the chair, gazing blankly into the dancing flames.

Kenna reached her hand over and petted Lucasta’s long and mattted hair. “I’m sorry, darling. I can get you some more painkillers if it would help? I think I still have some melatonin in the medicine closet.”

Lucasta paused for a moment, then nodded her head, wincing when her left arm sent another ping of pain. “Yes, please.”

“I’ll be right back, then.”

Kenna got up and went upstairs, returning with three white pills, a few red gumdrops, and a cup of water. She returned to the living room and knelt down beside Lucasta and held her hand out.

“Don’t worry about the off-color of the melatonin drops,” she said. “They came as a multi-pack with several different flavors. They all taste the same to me. It doesn’t matter.”

Lucasta stared at the pills for a moment before making eye contact with Kenna. She mouthed a “thank you” and then took the pills, washing them down with the water, holding the drops in her hand.

Kenna returned to her armchair. She sighed and turned her gaze up. Lucasta followed her line of sight to the mantle, where several family pictures stood. Kenna posing in a forest, Kenna and her husband laughing at their wedding reception, Kenna and her whole family posing together at a Christmas gathering.

Kova standing in the middle, smile unsure, eyes blank and dead.

Kova…

“Oh-” Kenna caught Lucasta staring. “You know my son Kova, don’t you? You were… murmuring his name when I found you.” Her eyes began to water, and she pressed her fingers against her tear ducts, trying to stem any tears. “I loved him so much. I still do. I just wanted the very best for him- I wanted to see him live up to his full potential. He was doing so well in school, and he was getting torrents of college letters in the mail, pleading with him to enroll here or there… And then he left. Just up and abandoned us in a fit of rage, and we never saw him again.”

A sob escaped her throat. She forced herself to take a deep breath, pulling herself back together. Lucasta squirmed, nervous.

Do I tell her that I… I killed Kova? Or do I just leave it open?

There’s no proof that I killed Kova. He could still be alive- I- I hope so, because if this is his mom, and I have to be the harbinger of bad news…

“Do you know anything about Kova? Where he is now, how he’s doing? Please? I don’t know what he’s told you, but all I want is to see him again. He’ll always be welcome here. I hope he knows that.”

Lucasta bit the inside of her lip, willing herself not to think as she said, “I’m sorry. I don’t know anything.”

Kenna sighed. “I should have suspected as much. He never seemed like the type to randomly get entangled with girls.” She shrugged. “Although apparently I was oblivious to his feelings all along, so what do I know? Screw me, right?” She patted Lucasta’s hair again. “I’m going to bed.”

Kenna retrieved her book and went upstairs. Lucasta got up off the floor and stepped closer to the mantle, then to the bookcase beside the fireplace, also full of family pictures on its top three rows. More photos of Kova. Yearbook portraits, candid shots at the day camp he’d mentioned once or twice. Tenth grade, his characteristic fringe beginning to grow, his arm around his father’s shoulders as they stood outside a cabin of some sort. Elementary school age, a first place medal around his neck, grin wide and missing a few teeth.

His hair had been shorter then, buzzcut, finally allowed to express the waves his grandmother had passed down in middle school. His shoulders widening, growing some muscle on his previously skimpy frame. A strong jaw from his father and the kind blue eyes of his mother.

Maybe he wasn’t completely truthful about his past either.

Lucasta shook her head. Sixteen or so years versus one day.

She sat down in the armchair, her eyes returning to the fire beginning to dwindle down. Her head lolled back. She opened her hand, the drops still there, slightly sticky. She brought them to her mouth and swallowed them.

I’ll figure out what I want to do in the morning.

14

A spark flew from Lex’s hands as the four of them sat facing each other in the back of the lightrail train. He clasped his hands and closed his eyes for a moment, then opened both again- another spark.

“Lex!” Syntha snapped, slapping his hands apart. “What are you doing? You’re gonna set the train on fire!”

“I’m practicing,” he said, closing his eyes and clasping his hands again. “Just because we’re far away from home doesn’t mean we can slack off on our studies. And just because you two are too preoccupied doesn’t mean that I’m going to behave the same.”

“Come on,” Kuroi purred. “Think of this as a vacation-”

Lex scoffed, his eyes flying open. “What? You’ve become that acclimated in such short time? You can’t even open a cereal box right!” A whole slew of sparks gushed from his palms, but they were blue and void of heat. “Just because we’re here doesn’t mean that the firstworld ceased to exist. We’ll have to eventually go back- that is, if a caedat doesn’t kill us first- and we’ll have to readjust. And the more that you pretend that this is our home, the harder it’ll be to leave.”

Syntha crossed her arms. “Can’t you relax for just one minute?”

“Lex, darling,” Kuroi crooned. “the more you whine and complain, the longer we’ll have to spend here.” She reached across the table and touched a few fingers under his chin, lifting his face up. A deep red bloomed across his cheeks. Another spark left his fingers. “Have you worked on any new spells lately?”

Lex stuttered for a moment, his eyes desperately darting elsewhere. “I, uh- I’ve been thinking about the mage that helped take down Ceuta.”

“The massive blaze?” Kuroi suggested.

“Yeah, that… I’ve this theory that Ceuta has ice affinity because of all that hail that rained down. If I can make a big enough blaze, that should be enough to weaken her in case she goes feral again. Because fire melts ice, and it worked the first time.”

Kova blanched. Lex delicately pushed Kuroi’s hand away from him, holding onto it for a moment before letting go. “What? You look like you’ve swallowed a ghost.”

“No, I-”

And then Kova slid off of the bench and took off running through the aisle, only one other group of passengers on the top floor, all asleep. He beelined straight to the bathroom and locked the door and flung himself in front of the toilet, head hanging over the toilet bowl, the sterile scent of the water wafting into his nose and making his stomach lurch. He clamped his hands over his ears and closed his eyes, throwing himself into a self-imposed void.

Too much. Too much new stuff for now. I want to go home and curl up in bed and sleep for the next three days.

Get ahold of yourself, Kova. You just need to get Lukas first, and then you can spend all the time you want at home.

What if Lukas leaves me?

He won’t. He’s your friend. Why would he-

I don’t even know for sure that he’s still alive! I’ve made myself completely dependent on him… I don’t know anyone in this goddamn city, and I have no idea where I’d get a job, and I have no qualifications even if I found someplace that would bother to hire me! I need Lukas back.

Kova’s fingers curled. He took a deep heaving breath. I could-

No. Not after all that I’ve done. I’ve got this independence, and I’ve burned the bridges, and I’ve got to suffer the consequences.

I could at least ask… Relief could only be a few taps away. I don’t have to worry like this…

Kova sucked in a deep breath. He pulled away from the toilet and slipped his phone out of his pocket. His fingers brushed over the delicate ten numbers, the phone number that had defined his youth- but they hesitated at the green call button, waiting patiently for that final touch that would put him back in contact with his estranged parents.

I… I’m not ready for this.

You’ve never been ready for anything. You weren’t ready to run away from home, and you weren’t ready to testify in front of that court, and you weren’t ready to take the test to get your GED. You’ll survive a single phone call.

Kova’s fingers trembled- and then he held his breath and hit the call button. The phone went dark, and then the familiar drone of the call tone buzzed. He put the phone up to his ear.

“Hello?”

The sweet, rich tone of his mother’s voice.

Kova swallowed down a sob.

“Hello?”

Kova bit his lip.

“Hello?”

“M- Mom?”

Silence on the other end of the line, and then his mother’s breath caught in her throat.

“Holy… Kova? Is that you?”

Kova stayed silent. His eyes watered. He forced himself not to think about his old home, about his parents- he was just calling to ask if Lukas was there.

“Is this some kind of prank? Who is this? I haven’t seen my son in over a year and this-”

“Mom, it’s me.”

His mother released a squeal. “Kova! My son, my son, oh my god, it’s been so long… Are you alright? Where are you? What’s wrong?”

“Are there any visitors at home right now?”

“So she does know you!” His mother cleared her breath. “There’s a girl here with a broken arm. She arrived yesterday with a shooting star. Her name’s Lucasta. Do you know her?”

Lucasta?

I mean, if Lukas was a girl originally when he was Ceuta, and then he switched when he shifted and came here…

I’m gonna have to memorize his face all over again, aren’t I?

He… didn’t lose his memory all over again, did he?

Kova nodded his head, then remembered he was on a phone call. His chest constricted. “Yeah. He- she’s my friend.”

“Hmm. Can you come home? Even if just for a few minutes? I… I want to see your face again. Just so I know for sure that you’re still alive. You can even go back to wherever you’re living afterwards…”

Take a deep breath, Kova. You can do this. It won’t be more than a few days.

And then I’ll have to fight with Syntha and friends-

You’ll cross that hill when you get there. Just get him back in your arms first.

“I’m already on my way. I thought he- she’d be with you.”

“Kova?” Her voice sounded concerned. “Is there something wrong?”

“No-” His lungs jerked. Someone knocked on the bathroom door. “I’ll be there within a few hours.”

“I’ll be waiting. I love you.”

Kova murmured an “I love you too” and then hung up. He took one last glance at the toilet before opening the bathroom door.

Lex stood in the bathroom doorway, his face dark. “I assume this upcoming stop is the one we’re supposed to get off at.”

“Yeah.” Kova paused. “What the hell’s your problem, anyway? You’re always so grumpy and rude-”

“I have many emotions,” Lex cut in, rolling his eyes, one hand pushing on the bathroom door to keep it open. “Irritated, upset, moody, fatigued, annoyed, pissed, disgruntled, invalidated. To call them all ‘grumpy’ would be a disservice to the English language and an insult to myself.” He tossed part of his long orange hair back over his shoulder. “Anyways, right now, I’m feeling rather invalidated since I don’t want to be here. There are crops to tend to and tomes to be studied and people to feed back at home. You know, responsibilities? And I’m not too keen on shirking them all to go chasing after some mystical dragon god person who probably won’t even come back with us anyways. Not from what I’m hearing from you and Syntha bickering all the time. So you’ll just have to forgive me for being so damn grumpy.”

Lex turned around and strolled back to their cluster of seats. Kova sat there, thinking, and then put his phone back in his pocket.

What an asshole.

The loudspeaker came to life, announcing the approaching stop. Stay in your seats, board and exit in a single-file line, the usual spiel. Kova sat in the seat nearest the bathroom, not wanting to brave a sudden deceleration flinging him across the aisle, and waited for the train to slow down.

They regrouped and exited the train together. The sun blazed in the morning sky; not a single cloud was in sight. A maze of highways greeted them, a supermarket across the road.

A stray memory of going home after another forced chore run late at night, Kova’s head resting on his seatbelt as his father maneuvered the winding highways.

He turned to his right, the sun to his back, one foot in front of the other.

15

Kova hesitantly took a step onto the welcome mat in front of his parents’ house and glanced behind him. The front yard was only inhabited by a few maple trees turning orange and red. A few leaves fluttered to the ground and rested on the lush green grass.

Syntha cleared her throat. “That’s… weird. She doesn’t have a knocker on her door. How are we supposed to-”

Kova pushed the orange doorbell button. A few chimes ran inside, immediately followed by a dog’s barking- although the shades were drawn on the large front window, and no dog dared poke its head under.

Syntha’s eyes narrowed. “What is that?”

“It’s… a doorbell?” Kova said.

“Oh.” Syntha sheepishly smiled and hid behind Kuroi, who tousled her orange hair.

Footsteps pounded inside. Kova held his breath and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, nervously shifting. The front door opened. A hefty black dog with short hair brushed past the woman’s legs and rushed up to the screen door, barking at Kova, who was desperately trying not to make eye contact with the woman.

She gasped. Her hands flew to her mouth.

“Kova- hey, back, Almira!” The woman pushed the dog away from the screen door and opened it, wrapping her arms around the stiff Kova. “My son… You’re finally home. You’ve made me the happiest woman in the world.” She rested her head on his shoulder for a moment, lips trembling, and then pulled away from him. Her eyes caught sight of Syntha and friends, Syntha still hiding behind Kuroi, her head peeking out to see the reunion.

“I see you brought some friends… A bit eccentric looking, aren’t you all?” She laughed. “Come inside. Lucasta’s tidying up in the kitchen. I’ll make some minty hot chocolate. That’s still your favorite, right?”

Kova’s mom stepped aside and beelined over to Almira, who was panting in the living room, leery of Syntha and friends as they stepped in. Syntha continued to hide behind Kuroi as they wandered into the dining room, studying the parental platitudes stickied onto the wall with black swirling letters. Kova, his mind aching with childhood memories begging to resurface, rushed into the kitchen-

The most beautiful girl he’d ever seen stood with her back turned to him, her right arm outstretched, rubbing blue window cleaner onto the tiny kitchen window. Her left arm was bent at the elbow and bound up against itself, motionless except for a twitching every now and then. She was dressed in a simple blue and green sundress, looking like something a girl might have haphazardly made in his eighth grade sewing class. Her hair was bunched up into two messy ponytails, trailing down to her hips.

There was no need for the reclusive sun to come out from behind the clouds. She carried a radiance all her own.

She could be Lukas’ sister.

He doesn’t have any sisters- not that I know of. Nobody accompanied him in his… fall.

There’s only one person this could be,

Kova’s throat closed. His palms broke out sweating. He slipped them out of his jeans.

The rustling motion caught the girl’s attention. She turned around and caught Kova’s eye- and her serene demeanor shattered. Her breath heaved- her face filled with panic- and she pushed past him and ran down the stairs and flung herself into Kova’s old bedroom and locked herself in with a slam.

“Wait-” Kova brushed past his startled mom and took off running after Lukas, almost colliding with the bedroom door, pounding on the wood. “Lukas! Please- I know that’s you- just let me in…”

A breathy whisper, almost too quiet for him to hear, slipped out from the crack under the door. “Kova…”

Kova crouched down, almost lying down, as close to the crack under the door as he could get. “That’s you, isn’t it? Lukas?”

“Get away from here,” she hissed behind the door, her breath heaving. “I- I’m a monster. I almost killed you. I can’t help anyone- anyone at all…”

Kova stood up, his eyes wandering, searching- and then he found the little metal emergency key sitting on top of the doorway’s ledge, right where he’d left it when he’d fled. He reached up and snatched it.

“I’m going to unlock the door now,” he clarified, trying to assume a calm voice. “And then we can talk, and then I’ll take you home, okay?”

Lukas hissed in response. Kova slid the key in and turned the doorknob slowly, opening the door at the same speed, taking a few tentative steps into the room. Lukas was curled into a ball in the corner, hiding her face in her free hand, trembling.

“Hey.” Kova shut the door behind him. He knelt right beside Lukas and put a hand on her shoulder, waiting a moment before resting his body beside hers.

The skin contact made her breath calm a bit. She peeked out at Kova. Her face was flushed, the skin under her eyes red and angry.

“You don’t have to talk. We can just sit here for a while.”

Lukas feebly nodded. They sat there, the two of them, their breaths out of sync with each other. In and out, in and out, in and out.

Lukas closed her eyes. Her free hand reached out, searching, until it found Kova’s hand. She slipped her hand in his. Their fingers intertwined.

“I’m so sorry,” Lukas whispered after they’d spent a few minutes in the silence around them. “I never should have gotten you involved in this. It was like what Father said. I was condemning myself to a life of loneliness and strife-”

“What are you talking about?” Kova sat up, his hand still wrapped in Lukas’. “You… You’re not…” His eyes flew open. “Syntha was right?”

Lukas sucked in a wet breath and cringed. She tore her hand away from Kova. “I don’t want to remember-”

“Lukas-”

“I’m a monster!” Her body began to tremble. Tears formed in her eyes. “I was feral, and I couldn’t control myself, and I couldn’t comprehend anything except the most basic of emotions-”

“Lukas!” Kova took Lukas’ hand again. Lukas bit her bottom lip and winced and refused to meet Kova’s gaze. “I don’t care that you’re a… dragon god thing. I don’t care that you came from a completely different world. None of this was your fault. Take a deep breath and just tell me what’s going on.”

Lukas bit back a sob. “We… We were playing on a playground- one tucked away inside of a forest in a close-by neighborhood. The sun was beginning to peak, and then I heard a voice, Father’s voice. And all these angels- they burst from the heavens and ripped my skin away and dumped ice into my veins and set me on fire. And I screamed- I screamed to the high heavens for them to have mercy on me…” She tightened her grip on Kova’s hand. “And then the rain fell, and the needles tore my muscles from my bones, and that was all there was left, just bones. Fossilized bones that grew their own skin back, and then I was a rock, a soul bound to a rock-”

A knock at the door, and then the door squealed open. A soft pattering of feet. Kova glanced behind him- Syntha stood there, her eyes wide, incredulous.

Lukas noticed her presence too, and she hissed and jumped to her feet, letting go of Kova yet again. Fire swirled in her eyes, locked on Syntha. “And you- I was locked away in a stone statue for a hundred years, forced to wait with Melilla’s blood on my hands while everyone visited me in that gaudy tomb and pretended to mourn. And then someone finally came along to save me from my eternal prison, and why? To apologize on her ancestor’s behalf and set me free? No! So she could enslave me!” Lukas stepped over Kova, who was struggling to his feet, and went toe-to-toe with Syntha, who was a full head shorter. “Your offerings didn’t do shit. Just stole perfectly good food that could have gone to the villagers you claimed to be so concerned about, that you wanted to build a better world for. And that’s why you followed me here, isn’t it? So you could drag me back?”

Syntha stepped back. “I- I thought- You’re Ceuta! Friend of mankind! You’re supposed to help us-”

“I don’t owe anything to you. I don’t owe anything to the Father who burned the tunnel between the two worlds that dead souls used to walk to gain new life and cursed innocent people to fill it, people who are now condemned to a life of senseless murder. The only person I owe anything to is Kova. He took me in when I was reeling from gaining a human body again. He sheltered me from the world when I was most vulnerable. He helped me get a job and find a foothold in this world. We built a life together, and I’m not letting you or Father or anyone else rip that from me again.”

“Umm, your powers? You’re a god! Or a goddess… But you have the ability to improve the lives of millions of people! You could give me your powers, and then I could find a way myself-”

Lukas shook her head. “I can’t do anything of the sort while I wear flesh. All I have are my own two hands and feet. And even if I wanted to help, I’d have to shed flesh- you know, die. And then I’d be right back in Father’s hands. And do you really think he’s going to let me help?”

Lukas could feel the hope slowly fade from Syntha’s eyes before she shook her head and stood on her tip-toes, trying to match Lukas’ height. “I’ll… I’ll find a way!…”

“I told you so.” Lex leaned against the open doorway, his arms crossed, a scowl on his face again. “She’s not going to help. She can’t help. We have to go-”

“Are you leaving so soon?” Kova’s mom stepped down the staircase and poked her head into the room, taking in the spectacle. “It’s only noon. Lunch is almost ready.” A high-pitched whistling screeched from the kitchen. “Oh! That’s the water!”

Kova’s mom went back upstairs. Lex eyed Syntha, who eyed Lukas, who eyed Kova, who eyed Lukas in return.

“Don’t think this is the end of it,” Syntha said, giving Lukas the evil eye. “You promised Melilla you’d help the world.”

Lukas pointed to Kova. “I already have.”

16

“I’m sorry I didn’t make any hot chocolate,” Kova’s mom said, ruffling her son’s hair as he sat in the chair farthest from the kitchen- the chair his father had always sat in. “We were all out of cocoa powder. I can go shopping for more for the next time you come back… You are coming back, right?”

Kova sucked in a deep breath. “I… can’t make any promises.”

“Why not?” She went back to the kitchen and returned with four bowls of steaming hot ramen. “There are always the weekends. And your birthday. And the holidays…” She set the bowls down, one for all but Lukas, who was hiding in the bathroom. Syntha began studying her food intently with wide eyes. “It’ll be like old times. I know that the… legal stuff happened, and that you hate going to church or shopping and all that, so I won’t force you to when you come over. Just… know that I love you and you’re always welcome here.”

Kova blushed and averted his eyes to his food. Syntha picked up her fork, hesitant, and watched Lex across from her as he effortlessly twirled it and came away with half of the bowl wrapped around the prongs.

“So this is what food is like in the otherworld? Just… noodles?” She set her fork down. “Um, Kova’s mother? Do you have any fruit that could go with this?”

Kova’s mom perked up. “Oh! You can call me Kenna. And I think-” She opened the fridge and leaned down to the bottom drawer. “I have a few apples left. You want one?”

“So apples haven’t gone extinct!” Syntha cleared her throat. “I mean, yes, please.”

Kenna gave Syntha a leery look and then tossed one of the red fruits to Syntha, who caught it over her head. She took a bite out of it. Lex gave her a sidelong glance, slightly ticked, and went back to devouring the noodles.

“I can keep the seeds, right?”

Kenna released a nervous laugh. “I… don’t see why not, dearie.”

Syntha grinned and took another bite.

Lex turned to Kuroi, who was picking apart the knotted mess in her bowl one strand at a time. “I was helping in the garden earlier. Our host was so gracious as to give us a few flower seeds to start our own garden. I was thinking, when all this is over, we plant them in the circle in the tomb-”

“Lex-”

“Nice little purple periwinkle flowers to remember our fickle friend Ceuta by-”

“Lex-”

Kenna returned from the kitchen. “Hey, what’s going on here?”

Lex shook his head. “Nothing you need to worry about.”

Offended, Kenna put her hands on her hips. “Well, then… Since I went to all the trouble of making this nice lunch for you, I think you’ve got to pay something back.” Her gaze turned out the window to the back yard, ground completely covered with leaves. “Syntha, I think your name was? You were carrying that… thing with you when you arrived. I’m sure you and your friends could easily master the rake.”

Kova groaned. He set his fork down.

Lex’s eyebrows furrowed. “I’m not exactly sure what you’re asking us to-”

“Yard work,” Kova blurted out.

Syntha twirled the green rake around as she swept up one more patch of leaves into the pile in the center of the backyard, which had grown almost as tall as she was. Red and yellow leaves fluttered through the air, coming to rest wherever they pleased.

Kova dragged his feet through the wet leaves plastered to the concrete curb of the front yard. His shoes had soaked through a few hours prior, socks sopping wet, toes cold and uncomfortable. His tired arms dragged his metal rake behind him, dredging up half-disintegrated leaves and grass trimmings, the dying smells of autumns past rising up and taunting him with half-remembered shreds of Halloweens past.

He’d thought that he’d left behind menial labor. He’d lived under the impression that he’d never have to be a slave to his parents again, torn away from passions to spend three or more hours working under the heavy-setting afternoon sun.

Kova bumped into something warm. He lifted his eyes to see Lukas standing in front of him, her back turned away, staring out into the empty street.

“What are you doing all alone over here?” Kova said, rubbing his eyes, fatigue creeping into his voice.

Lukas turned around, her hair undone from the binds, loose and waving in the light breeze.

“You- you’re not going selectively mute on me again, are you?”

Lukas stared blankly at him for a moment before averting his eyes to Kova’s rake, the prongs of which were right next to Lukas’ foot.

“Oh- oh, sorry.” Kova moved his rake and brushed some more leaves into the gutter, where the street collection would collect them early the next morning. He stopped to rub his eyes again. “Syntha’s all the way in the backyard. You can whisper. She won’t hear.”

Lukas closed her eyes, almost to think, and then opened them again.

“I’ve been thinking.”

“About?”

Lukas kicked a few stray leaves into the street. “Feelings.”

“Yeah, because you’d know anything about feelings.”

Lukas scowled. Kova shot Lukas a lopsided smile, shrugging to indicate he was joking. Lukas gave him a momentary glance and then tried to cross her arms- and remembered that she couldn’t. Kova went back to raking leaves into the gutter.

“I’m not allowed to have feelings.”

Kova froze. “…What are you talking about? I don’t care if you-”

“No, I mean…” Lukas sighed. “Gods are fickle. My father is a hurricane. My mother is a midnight blizzard. And I’m all the bad parts of both combined. I- I can’t do the emotional subtlety thing like you humans can. Either I shut down or I explode.” She balled her fist, pressing her fingernails hard into her palm. “Or I supernova and shift and lose control. That’s all that the gods need. Vengeful or unresponsive-”

“Like a statue?”

A muscle in Lukas’ jaw twitched. She nodded.

“You were a statue once, right? For a hundred and one years?”

Lukas nodded again, visibly uncomfortable.

Kova shivered and brushed his arms off. His rake fell to the grass. “I… I’m sorry. You’ll have to give me a moment. The past few days… It’s a lot to take in. I need a rest. A long rest locked inside our apartment with the shades drawn.” He looked back at Lukas. “You’re coming home with me, right?”

Lukas closed her eyes and sighed. “Kova…”

Kova tensed. “You didn’t change your mind, did you? You’re not going with Syntha- I won’t ever see you again!” He glanced to the backyard, wary. Syntha stood on the other side of the now massive leaf pile, trying to push an obstinate Lex in and bury him, still blissfully unaware. “And what about the caedats? I don’t want you getting hurt. Just come home. We can figure everything out once you’re safe.”

Lukas put a hand on Kova’s shoulder, her eyes downcast. “…Trust me when I say this. I… I love you, Kova.” Kova’s eyes widened, and Lukas winced. “Stay here under your parents’ roof for as long as possible-”

Kova shook his head, his jaw clenched. “I can’t do that-”

“You have to. I’m afraid Syntha and her cohorts might use you as ransom to coerce me into going back to the firstworld with them. And you know my feelings about that already. I want you safe. Your parents won’t let them hurt you one bit.”

Kova bristled and brushed off Lukas’ hand. “You don’t know my mother one bit.”

“…True. But she took me in without a single thought. I’ll talk to her if you want me to. She seems obliging.” Lukas tried to fold her hands- then remembered that one of them was still bound up. She held her right hand to her left shoulder instead, fingers traveling over the dressings beginning to stain with sweat. “I’m going back to the underworld to befriend the caedats and set things straight with them. I’m going to figure out how to control my shifting so I won’t accidentally hurt you anymore. Then I’ll come back, and we can resume our lives.”

Kova clenched the rake, and with a jerk of his body, violently scraped the rake against the ground. It squealed as it launched a bundle of wet leaves into the air, some of them hitting Lukas’ good arm, leaving behind a slight grimy trail. Lukas grimaced and took a few steps back.

“It’s like I don’t know you anymore,” Kova whispered, his arms trembling as he stood there, his eyes squeezed shut, his breath raspy. “I don’t think I ever did.”

A pang in Lukas’ chest. “I think there’s a cliché-”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you love something, let it go, right?” Kova sniffled. “I- I can’t let you leave me again. Do you know how much I worried about you? You’re my friend, and I can’t just let my friend wander off right into hostile territory for god-knows-how-long- what if you get killed-”

A fist smacked into Kova’s cheek. He stumbled. His rake clattered to the ground. His vision sparkled- green and blue fireworks, dissipating to an iron taste quickly spreading on his tongue.

Lukas’ breath caught in her throat. She stared at her hand. A few blue snippets of light circled around it, dancing on her palm.

Lukas cringed and sucked in a wet breath as Kova stood back up.

“Dude! What the hell-”

Lukas continued staring at her hand. “…I need to leave tomorrow. I don’t want to go feral again. I don’t want you to be the next Melilla.”

Kova glared at her, and then he rolled his eyes and picked his rake up again.

Lukas turned and headed towards the backyard. Lex cursed something in broken snippets of a language Lukas had long forgotten. An image popped into her head- a long fluttering dark blue cape with golden clasps meeting at the collar.

Lex’s head disappeared beneath the leaves, and then he popped out again. Kuroi giggled, a hand to her mouth, making Lex stutter in embarrassment. Syntha was bent over in half, giggling so hard she soon collapsed to the ground in a raucous ball of laughter.

She didn’t look the part of the master, and Lukas didn’t look the part of the slave. But that’s all the gods were to the people of that village, weren’t they? Just make-a-wish conduits, existing for the benefit of the humans living down below instead of as almost-equivalent companions.

Other parts of the remnant kingdom were different. Temples scattered all over where the stories of the gods had spread, mistold so many times that they effectively worshiped twenty different divine families bearing their general countenance.

Chronos, the creator of everything and supreme ruler over all in existence.

Mythos, mother of time, through which blessings to the hearth and home had trickled down to the inhabitants of the barren land.

And all their divine children, too many to count, pampered in their mansion in the alternate dimension where every atom could be a looking glass into the world they’d created for their humans. Waited on hand and foot by souls unfortunate enough not to have been granted passage into the otherworld to be reincarnated again and then sent back to the firstworld after another life, forever yanked out of the cycle.

Maybe she and Kova weren’t so different after all.

17

The wind howled outside Kova’s window as he slipped in between the cold sheets of his bed. Cold, and strangely soft. A stray half-formed memory from childhood tickled at the edge of his mind.

Mom must have washed these earlier.

He drew his arms close into his body and shivered. The bed was even smaller than he’d remembered. His freezing toes were hanging off the end of the bed. The edges of the sheets threatened to come loose from where his mother had carefully tucked them under the mattress.

Just like old times.

Just like old times…

His arm shot out to the side. The mattress creaked. A cascading sound outside. He looked up, watching the elongated shadows play out on his ceiling. The spindly tree branches scraping the sky against a dark gray background, swirls and puckers of the ceiling paint distorting the image just the slightest amount.

Just like when he’d been a child, still in elementary school, watching the sky from an open window long after bedtime. Watching snow come down and coat everything in white, watching rain come down and coat everything in slick wet. The trees waved even then. Like they were speaking, screaming some long-lost language he had no hope of learning.

Where’s Lukas?

Kova sat up in bed for a moment, pausing, his head swimming. He swung his legs off the bed and opened his door and shielded his eyes as the hallway light flooded in. He turned his head to the living room- Lukas was fast asleep, curled up on the armchair in front of a dead fireplace.

“Lukas?” Kova whispered. He moved over to his friend and shook her shoulder. “Hey, you don’t have to sleep there.”

Lukas stirred. Her eyes dragged open. “Hmm?”

“I think we can both squeeze onto one bed. Come on. It’s cold out here.”

Lukas moaned and pulled herself upright. She yawned and stretched out her arms, immediately devolving into a shiver, her borrowed nightgown affording little protection. Kova offered his hand, and he pulled her up to her feet, guiding her to his door-

His phone started vibrating on his nightstand, a practical blare in the otherwise silence.

Lukas groaned and rubbed her eyes. Kova cursed under his breath and retrieved the phone and excused himself to the bathroom right beside his bedroom.

Why…

Why is Lukas’ boss calling me? Especially this late at night?

He sat down on the toilet seat and flipped it open. “Hello?”

“Hello there… I assume this is Kova Innan?”

Kova narrowed his eyes.

“…Yes, sir. What do you need?”

“I’m sorry about calling so late at night. But I couldn’t sleep. I hope you’ll understand.” Kova rolled his eyes. “My name is Engles Alegria. I’m the owner of Vixen Repairs. Across the street from the art supplies shop where I believe your friend Lukas Talos was employed?”

“…Yes, sir. But he’s sleeping right now.”

“Well, then… Could you pass along a message to him? I owned that shop as well, and we’ve procured another building with better fire insurance to conduct business from, and we’d like to re-employ our former workers first. We’ll pay overtime wages for setting up the place.”

A pang of panic shot through Kova.

Crap! He’s going to leave me tomorrow…

Kova took a deep breath.

Hold yourself together.

“I’m sorry. He won’t be available to work for a while. Family emergency.”

Engles sighed on the other end of the phone- at least, that was what Kova thought it had been, since all he heard was a crackling sound. “That’s truly unfortunate. He was one of my favorite employees. Hard-working until the end; never a nuisance. But I understand if he doesn’t want to come back after the mail incident. Well, have a good-”

“I’ll work in his place.”

What are you doing? You don’t have a car or job experience or anything-

I’ll figure something out. Anything to reduce the amount of time I have to waste in this place. And I gotta keep paying the rent on my apartment somehow.

“Hmm? Well… You were that kid who claimed emancipation from your parents a year back, weren’t you?” A shuffling of papers on the other end of the phone. “You have your GED, correct?”

Kova blushed and nodded his head- then blushed harder as he remembered that Engles couldn’t see him though his phone.

“Y- yeah. I do.”

“And you don’t have a criminal record?”

“As far as I know, no, sir, I don’t.”

“Well, then…” More shuffling of papers. “I’ll run a background check on you sometime in the next few days. Send me a resume, eh?” Engles cackled. “I won’t be that restrictive. Not when I need all the help I can get.”

Kova’s eyebrows wrinkled. “Why wouldn’t I need to send a resume?”

“Because… Because you’re going through a rough patch right now. And I remember all the news coverage from way back when-”

“Then I’m going to have to retract my offer,” Kova said, his lips quivering but his voice firm. “Unless you’re going to hold me to the same standards as everyone else. I don’t take handouts.”

“…If you insist. I’ll be waiting for it. Have a good night, Kova.”

“You too.”

Kova flipped his phone shut. He let his phone slip out of his hand and drop to the floor, eyes distant, mind going over the words he’d said. The phone clattered, flipping over, momentarily showing his lock screen before it flickered dark again.

Kova picked up his phone and returned to his bedroom. He slowly opened the door. Lukas was curled up in the sheets, her head turned away from him. She stirred and released a soft groan as the light from the hallway spilled in.

Kova softly closed the door and put his phone back on the nightstand. He slipped into bed right beside Lukas, just enough space on the mattress for both of them, a cold pocket of air fluttering through the sheets and then dissipating. Lukas’ body was warm against his, burning almost imperceptibly hotter, although Kova couldn’t tell if that was because she was a god or because she was a girl.

“That’s you behind me, right?” Lukas whispered, groggy.

“Yeah.” Kova slipped an arm around Lukas’ body. “It’s okay if I do this, r-right?”

“Mmhm.” Lukas put her hand on Kova’s. Their fingers intertwined. “Sorry about… earlier. It was a heat of the moment thing. I… didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“I’ll be okay.”

“That’s a relief… Good night, Kova.”

"Good night, hulk."

Lukas’s breath stuck for a moment. “…What?”

“The Hulk- you know, the superhero guy who gets super angry and that makes him transform-”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Lukas paused, and then she tensed. “You think I’m a hero?”

Crap… What do I say? I don’t say yes, because then she’ll think I’m on Syntha’s side, and I don’t say no, because then she might take offense.

Should I- no, that’s too cheesy…

“I think that’s up for you to decide.”

Lukas released a long breath. “Kova?”

“Yeah?”

“I miss my siblings. It’s kinda… lonely down here on Earth.” Lukas shifted one of her legs, pressing it closer to Kova’s. “I wonder if any of them followed me down here. Maybe I’ve talked to some of them without even knowing…”

“Uh, Lukas?”

“Yes?”

“If you gods can come down and take human form, and then you meet and get into a relationship… does that count as incest?”

Lukas squirmed. “Go to sleep.”

Kova lay there, silent, counting down the seconds and the minutes as Lukas’ breath eventually slowed and deepened. The lights in the house eventually all flickered off, leaving the yellow glare of his alarm clock counting down the hours as the only source of light.

Another memory crossed his mind. Three in the morning on a vacation to his grandmother’s house in her living room. There had been a side table with a shelf close to the floor where she’d kept the CD player that she rarely used, a beautiful silver-edged piece of machinery. The front of the CD player had a tiny clock on it that cast a soft blue light in the nighttime hours, and Kova had knelt beside that nightstand night after night during a bout of insomnia during that vacation and rolled around little bouncy balls themed after his favorite cartoon characters.

At least, until his mother had had to do a midnight toilet run one night and had found him and ordered him to go back to bed.

But the bouncy balls were long since lost, or packed up with all of Kova’s other old toys, or abandoned in the old junk bin he’d always kept underneath his bed, now a graveyard for spiders that couldn’t mind their own damn business.

Kova closed his eyes. Green and blue wisps floated lazily across his vision, more colors soon joining in the ceaseless dance. The colors of Lukas’ descent to Earth, Lukas’ loss of control, Lukas’ abandonment.

Lukas.

Always about Lukas.

Who am I, anyways?

Just a sad kid from a sad town who wants to take care of-

What do you want to do with your life? What will you do when you wake up and this is all a dream that went too far?

Kova shivered, clutching onto Lukas’ sleeping body tighter.

Take advantage of this break from your new normalcy, Kova. Get that job and ace it. Take a break from the hatred and resentment and worrying. Learn something new-

How? How am I supposed to focus-

Fine. Just… make yourself into the person you said you’d become when you left this place. Do it for Lukas if you have to. Just don’t lose yourself in the process.

Kova tucked his head by the nape of Lukas’ neck and opened his eyes for a second before closing them again. An old habit from childhood.

18

Kova’s hands flew all over the table, hands itchy, searching for the keys he knew to be around there somewhere- hidden behind a piece of cloth, perhaps? He tossed some of the fabric to the side, uncovering another key. His eyes darted around until he found the same color scrap of fabric a second later and touched the almost pathetic miniature key to it. The key dissolved. The fabric glistened with sparkles.

Kova snatched the fabric and thrust it at the child closest to him in the cramped room, wadding it into his hands. “Take this and run. The room-” Kova sneaked a glance at the clock at the front of the room. Five minutes stared back at him. “Is about to blow.”

The kid stammered a thank you and then ran out the door and into safety. Kova didn’t have any time to think about it before he returned to the table, hands searching for another key, another matching-color piece of fabric to save another inhabitant from the never-ending curse of rooms spontaneously blowing up.

Fabric.

Key.

Kid.

Kova would die himself if he missed so much as a single person, even if he himself was well out of the range of the room when it combusted.

Fabric.

Key.

Kid.

Something heavy smacked into him. The world turned upside down and then black. Gravity settled back into his bones- a hard ground beneath him. His hand shot out, feeling whatever he’d landed on. A familiar carpet texture, short-haired and slightly rough.

His room?

Kova opened his eyes. The watch on his right wrist buzzed, the screen flickering on- burning bright against the inky blackness of his room- to admonish him for waking up so early before it dissolved into the watch face he’d configured so long ago.

Three in the morning.

Just another nightmare.

At least a lizard hadn’t been watching threateningly from the laundry room in his grandmother’s basement, threatening to sit his throat and rip out his organs and eat them if he so much as touched the stairway to the upstairs. Although it would certainly have made for a better insurance commercial.

Kova sat up. The bulk of the dream instantly slid away from him. The last few remnants tried to follow through the door, but Kova clung onto them, tucking them away for future use as he crawled back into the bed and slipped his arms around the empty space where Lukas had been.

Empty?

Kova shot straight up and fell straight out of bed. He rolled back to his feet and flew through his bedroom door. He dashed up the steps and glanced around- outside in front of the large window in the living room was Lukas, her back to the house, face to the sky.

Kova tiptoed past the kitchen and slipped his shoes on. His mother’s voice from so many years ago before school echoed in his mind- he slipped on a jacket as well and grabbed the keys to the front door before he went outside.

“Hey!” Kova sharply whispered, jolting Lukas out of her apparent trance. “What the hell are you doing out here? It’s three in the morning! And it’s cold!”

“I wanted to leave without making a ruckus,” Lukas said. “And I wanted to check the moon. Just in case.”

The two of them looked up to the moon, light dimmed as a cloud passed by but still shining bright. Somewhere in between the full moon and the third quarter, waning away too slow for their human eyes to perceive as they stood there in the bitter morning frost.

“Tell Syntha I changed my mind,” Lukas said. “Tell her I went back to the firstworld. Send her on a wild goose chase-”

“We’re not that stupid, kid.”

Kuroi stepped out from inside the garage- the garage door must have been left gaping open all night. Slung over one shoulder, tinkling softly against the soft silk of her sparse and ethereal nightgown, was the same trusty silver bow. She slid it off into one hand and retrieved one of the arrows from the tie on her leg- Kova recognized them as some of the ones his father had used to hunt with.

Kuroi nocked an arrow, ready to aim and pull back and fire at a moment’s will.

Lukas tensed as Kova stepped forward. “You’ve got some nerve ordering around my friend like that-”

A solid wave of summer heat collided into him, pushing Kova off his feet and into the front yard. He rolled and caught himself right before he smacked straight into a tree. He lifted his head just as Lex stepped into view, shivering in the same brown and gold robes he’d worn when they’d first met, his face stony and stern. Lukas took a few steps back, her one hand balled into a fist.

Lex sneered as Kova moved to stand up. Lex lifted one hand, and a bundle of sparks shot out and anchored Kova’s hands and feet to the ground like so many pieces of gum, forcing him to kneel before Lex.

“I’m sick of this mission,” Lex hissed, face remaining blank as Kova struggled. “I’m sick of Syntha’s whining and having to adhere to these archaic methods of doing things and not achieving anything day after day after day. It’s you and your stupid civilization’s rules that’s slowed us down.” Lex turned his gaze to Lukas. “Please just come with us peacefully. We’ll let you go afterwards so you can be with your pathetic friend all you want. I just want my sister to stop whining.”

“Come on, Lukas,” Kuroi crooned. “Be a good boy now.”

“Release Kova first,” Lukas said, feeling a vein in her neck twitch.

“Oh?” Kuroi stepped forward and put the tip of her slack arrow to Kova’s temple. Kova winced. “Age doesn’t equal intellect, does it? Come with us… Or I can’t guarantee the safety of your friend.”

Kova forced his head up to glare at the woman above him. Her gentle eyes should have belonged to a caring mother or a loving wife.

Can gods hear thoughts? Even if they’re trapped in flesh? Do they at least get that power?

God, if Lukas was listening to my thoughts all this time…

Can you hear me? Hellooo?

“You heard me, right?” Kuroi added. “I’d hate to see your friend’s brains splattered all over the driveway. He seems like a nice kid. Just think of when his mother finds out…”

Lukas sucked in a sudden sharp breath. She outstretched her trembling hand and took a step forward.

“Don’t… Don’t touch…”

Lukas… I- Stop and reason-

“So you are coming with us?” Lex said.

“Don’t…”

Lukas’ eyes suddenly widened. She bolted for the road. Kuroi and Lex stood there, flustered for a moment, and then Kuroi abandoned Kova and started chasing after Lukas as well.

Lex towered over Kova, his eyes dark. Lex held one hand to Kova’s forehead, the other poised to snap.

“May you know one ounce of the suffering I am going to inflict on Lukas.”

Lex snapped his fingers- and the world exploded for Kova in the space between his ears. The bonds on him dissolved. He crumpled in on himself, contorted in pain, his fingers scrabbling over his ears, pain pinging, washing over him like a tsunami. His own voice had gone silent, vocal cords straining, no sound coming out, no sound from anywhere except the rush of blood in his own ears and the gnashing of his teeth.

His mother’s hands scrambled over his body, turning him face-up. His vision blurred red. Somewhere above him- so high up and away, hailing down from the heavens- was his mother, voice gone, wind rushing in its place.

Lex was gone, chasing after Kuroi, who was chasing after Lukas, now a mess of green and blue gradients, pure white eyes shielded from the constant arrows by thick scaly skin. Kuroi’s attacks were useless, and so Lex whisked himself and Kuroi into the sky in a torrent of blue wisps, chasing after the beast sailing through the air as easily as a bird in its native habitat.

His mother shook his shoulders, face strained, tears threatening to spill. The pings lengthened out, fewer and farther in between, an earthquake and its aftershocks instead of a constant heartbeat, one of the only things that still spoke to him.

A fish’s lips opening and closing, opening and closing, opening and closing. His name? His name, over and over and over again.

Kova touched his ears and mouthed the words, “I can’t hear anything.”

A new light lit behind his mother’s eyes. She helped him to his feet- he wavered for a moment, but then his balance returned. She helped him stumble inside and lie down on the couch. She pulled out her phone and dialed something and started talking wildly, and he closed his eyes, and it was like he had never existed at all.

ACT 3

MORNING STAR

19

A low rumbling licked at the edges of Lukas’ hearing like a red-hot flame as the world colored itself back in, reds and purples filling in the lines and hopelessly tangled branches swooping over him. His skin tingled. Feeling poured back into his naked limbs.

Lukas sat up. Jagged walls stood solemnly around him, made of branches growing seamlessly from the ground to the sky twenty feet above him. Little wisps of yellow streaked through the air. His muscles ached. His upper spine between his shoulder blades burned.

I’m back in the underworld-

A gruff hand clamped over his mouth. Overgrown hair from the back of the hand ticked his nostrils. A floppy ear brushed past Lukas’ shoulders. Someone yanked him to his feet. Lukas kicked behind him- his assailant yelped and let go of him and jumped back.

A screeching of a metal door swinging farther open. Lukas turned around- he was in a jail cell, several other non-caedats curled up in their respective little cells, almost all of them fattened up to the point of immobility. Some of them Lukas recognized as former loiterers who’d tried to graffiti the store a few times, although he didn’t know their names. His assailant stood between him and the cell’s opening, his six ears hanging down limp, his dark hair thick and long and tangled.

So they did get arrested after all. Just not by… humans.

“Kid…” The disheveled caedat shook his head and stood up straight, eyes half-open, glaring. “Aren’t you supposed to be some benevolent god or something?”

Lukas shivered and crossed his arms. “I’ll decide that for myself. Tell me where I am.”

The caedat rolled his eyes. “You’re in the holding cell. What-” Lukas bit his lip. “Don’t give me that look. You thought we were gonna let you just lie out there unprotected from the other warrens? You’re safe here with us, kid.”

Lukas relaxed. “That’s a relief.”

The caedat raised an eyebrow. “Eh?”

“I was looking for you.”

The caedat released a chuckle. “Aren’t you a character? You’re not at all what I expected from the legendary Ceuta.” The caedat stepped forward. “My name’s Mags. Chief of this warren. Don’t ask what my name means.”

Keep breathing normally.

“My name’s Lukas.”

Mags rolled his eyes. “And you got a sex change. I get it. All you teens are rebellious in your own little ways…”

“No. Apparently I shift genders every time I… shift.” Lukas took a step back, suddenly confused. “So… you’re not gonna eat me?”

“Listen, kid, I know all the rumors say that divine blood tastes… well, divine, but we’re not damn vampires. Gotta have the meat and all or nothing, and I prefer my prey a little less… lean.” He shrugged towards the prisoners and let his gaze wander back to Lukas. “I’ve got my own personal grievances with you. But I’ll put them aside for now ‘cause I’m generous like that. Why’d you come back to this hellscape? Thought we gave you enough of a send-off party to scare you off longer.”

“I’m being followed by three people hellbent on enslaving me to help rebuild their doomed society-”

“Syntha and friends?”

Lukas cringed.

Mags rolled his eyes. “So that’s a yes?”

Lukas hissed. “I hate them. I’m done playing the part of the make-a-wish slave.”

“…So you came here, where you knew we’d ask you to do things.” Mags shook his head. “I always knew the gods didn’t have a single bone of logic in their bodies-”

“The point’s moot. I can’t access my powers while trapped in flesh.”

Mags bared a toothy smile. Two sharp fangs protruded from where his canines should have been.

“Oh, I can help with that.”

“I have a friend I’m reuniting with when this is all over-”

Mags shook his head. “Sorry. Got a bit carried away there. Go on. You’re the most entertaining thing I’ve seen this past year.”

Lukas blushed, cheeks adding to the already toasty air. “I’ll cut to the chase. I came here to make amends-”

Mags exploded in raucous laughter. He threw his head back. He slapped his knee and wiped his forehead as he forced himself to sober.

“Kid, we’re all creatures cursed by Chronos here. There’s no amends to be made. You were in beast form, and we were in beast form, and we all fought each other because that’s what feral animals do. Unless you wanted to apologize to me for killing two of my friends… But I doubt you remember it.”

Do I?… Vaguely, I think. Mostly just the light and the pain…

Lukas scowled. “Then can I go?”

Mags shook his head, and Lukas groaned. “I’ve been waiting to talk to the legendary Ceuta for a damn long time. Maybe we could make a deal of sorts?”

Lukas raised an eyebrow. “Hmm?”

“Listen, kid. You already know how caedats work. Shift when the moon goes dark, shift again when the moon goes bright. You can thank your father for that. And we- and by we, I mean all of us in this warren- want you to change that.”

“I told you, I can’t-”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Mags waved him off. “Trappings of the flesh and all that. I already know damn well how gods work. We got a former mage. She’ll just temporarily turn you into a statue, yeah?”

Ceuta, I brought you some of the first picks of our harvest this year. I got this grain because it’s nice and dark and one of the more nutritious ones, and this one has a white wisp on it, and I know you liked to play with the white wisps…

Lukas’ chest constricted. “Former?”

“Well, she still practices. But now her main identity is as a caedat. Just like all of us down here.” Mags stretched out his arms, groaning as his muscles loosened. “You get rid of the time rule so we can shift whenever we want.”

“And in return, you’ll protect me from Syntha and her friends?”

“You got it, kid. It’s a deal. And if we break it… just wait long enough in that statue and pull another Ceuta.”

Mags offered one meaty hand. Lukas hesitated for a moment, scared the tanned fingers would easily crush his own, but he took Mags’ hand and shook it with a firm, final shake. Mags refused to let go of Lukas’ hand, though, instead opting to tug on his arm and start leading him out of the jail system.

“Hey!” Lukas tried to tear his hand away, but to no avail. “Where are we going?”

“To the main warren,” Mags said. “I got a godson. He’ll probably spare some clothes for you. You’re as naked as a winter midday sky.”

“You still remember those? After all this time?”

Mags gave Lukas a queer look over his shoulder but didn’t slow down. “You know something you shouldn’t. I’ll let it slide. For now.”

Lukas cringed as several of the prisoners, so obese that they couldn’t even open their jaws all the way, released a collective primal groan. Both hands- for both of his arms were somehow fully healed- flew to his ears, but that only blocked out a tiny part of the bellowing. Then came the rank smell of all of their skins putrefying, mold and other nasties growing between the folds of their skin gleaming with sweat and grease.

That’s their food source, isn’t it? Just… captured people?

Kova…

Kova? Can you hear me? Don’t come down here. Seriously. I don’t want you turning into one of these pigs-

Mags and Lukas exited through the end of the tunnel and burst into a spacious area the size of the baseball field that had been near Kenna’s house, the ceiling domed and hollowed out. Twenty tunnels branched out from it in all directions, each one with a different symbol above the entryway. A few caedats milled about, sniveling to each other in a rough language Lukas knew nothing of.

Different families?

Mags paused for a moment and then ducked into the one with the two arrows pointing up carved above it. The ground gently sloped down like a ramp, and as they descended further into the ground, the air grew thicker and thicker.

“Mags, stop for a moment.”

Mags halted and let go of Lukas’ hand. Lukas yanked his hand back and massaged his sore wrist for a moment before he took a deep breath.

Mags turned around to face him. “What do you need, kid?”

“If a human’s down here for three consecutive days, they become a caedat, right?”

“Yeah. Don’t see why you need that clarified-”

“Then how were those… people…”

Mags raised an eyebrow, and then he shook his head. One of his ears flopped and brushed Lukas’ head. “Oh, the cattle.” Mags studied the fingernails of his right hand. “Turns out, if you lick one of these brambles and then drink a few drops of caedat blood, that doesn’t happen.”

“But then how-”

“It’s a prevention, kid. Not a cure. And it’s got a nasty side effect. You’re smart. I bet you can figure out what it is.”

Mags turned his back and continued walking down the tunnels. Lukas stood there for a moment, thinking, and then trailed behind the lumbering man, their plodding barely an echo.

After a minute, the tunnel broke into an open space a few rooms large, reminding Lukas of a one-room house. At one end was a sheet of some sort of leather- Lukas shivered, not wanting to think about its origin- hanging from the ceiling, blocking off the corner from view. A few rudimentary beds lay on the floor, pieces of almost ancient fabric hastily ripped and sewn into new arrangements like macabre patchwork quilts.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, kid.”

Lukas shook his head. “I’m just trying to process everything.”

Mags walked over to the hidden corner and rushed past the sheets. “Well, keep processing, because you ain’t seen anything yet.”

Mags returned a moment later with a worn leather shirt and a matching pair of pants. He tossed them to Lukas, who took them and studied the soft material in his hands before sliding them on. They were a tad too loose, and he had to tighten the strings woven into the pants like a belt until the strings were hanging to his knees, but they ultimately fit.

“Stay here,” Mags ordered, already stepping back towards the warren center. “Rest a bit. Or don’t. I’ve got to gather everyone for your little welcome party.”

20

Syntha stepped down the stairs in her pink fluffy oversized slippers. The sleeve of her nightgown caught on the banister- she stumbled and caught herself. She looked around for a second and then hopped down the last step.

Syntha rubbed her sore eyes and glanced around. Kova was snoozing on the couch.

Where… I thought-

Everyone else must be asleep. Yeah, that’s it!

Syntha shivered and shuffled her way into the kitchen. The golden sun was just beginning to peek its way up from the horizon. Clouds cradled purple and blue bruises. A few dirty pots and pans sat in the sink.

She glanced over to the refrigerator, tilting her head to watch her image distort in the reflection. A disheveled girl stared back, hands rough and sore from a lifetime of farmwork, legs strong and trusty, ponytails springy and freshly washed from the previous night. In the middle of it all, a few small numbers glowed from the fridge’s left door: seven in the morning.

So this is what it’s like to be in an otherworld kitchen.

Lex was right. There are so many weird sounds… Like that humming. Where’s that humming coming from?

Syntha stepped over to the sink. She touched a few fingers to the dishes’ greasy tarnished surfaces and then grimaced and pulled them away just as quickly.

Ew, ew, ew!

Do they not… wash their dishes right away? Just let them be dirty for a while first?

Maybe they leave them full of scraps and open the window and let the animals take what they want first.

Syntha wiped her fingers on the nearby dishrag and turned around. The closed doors of the pantry greeted her, painted white and chipped in a few places.

I don’t hear any nature. No crickets chirping, no birds singing-

Maybe this world has made mosquitoes extinct?

A sudden knocking at the door. Syntha startled for a moment.

Should I go get it?

She shook her head. Probably just some otherworld-

More knocking at the door. A borderline slamming. Syntha poked her head out of the kitchen. A distorted image of Lex’s scowl shone through the decorative fragmented glass of the front door. She stepped out, checking to see if it had awoken Kova- it hadn’t- and then opened the door.

“Where the heck were you?” Syntha said. “I thought you both were still sleeping!”

Kuroi shook her head and glared at Lex, a scowl on her face. “Why don’t you tell her, dearie?”

I’ve never seen Kuroi scowl like that before… This has got to be bad.

Lex blushed, flustered. He cleared his throat. “I’ll cut to the chase. Ceuta is missing. Again.” Kuroi coughed, and he added, “And it was my fault.”

Syntha froze. Another gust of chilly almost-winter air blustered through the front door. Lex and Kuroi stepped inside and shut the door behind them, taking care to latch it softly so Kova wouldn’t wake up.

“Do you have any clue where she is?” Syntha whispered.

Lex and Kuroi exchanged glances, and then Kuroi put a hand on Syntha’s shoulder and leaned close.

“I’m so sorry, sweetie,” she crooned. “It seems we’ve accidentally chased our dear Ceuta into the underworld again.”

“W-well, that’s not so bad, is it?” Syntha said. “Ceuta’s strong. And the caedats aren’t in their beast forms. Maybe she’ll break open that seal that locked us out from the firstworld!” Syntha perked up. “Maybe she changed her mind-”

“I saw her shift back,” Lex butted in. “We watched the caedats drag her away. She’s probably been eaten or just straight out murdered by now. And if that’s the case, we need to pack up and head home immediately before they shift back into beast form.”

Syntha took a step back. “Can I say goodbye to Kova first?”

Lex hissed. Kuroi put a hand on his shoulder and stepped to stand beside him- like a pair of dysfunctional parents about to reprimand a child.

“I may have… deafened him,” he said through his teeth, strained.

“You what? He- he helped us, Lex! He gave us shelter after we failed to calm down Ceuta the first time. And he and his video game thing helped us find Ceuta here when we didn’t stand even the smallest speck of a chance of finding her again! And his mother gave us lodging when she didn’t even know us-” Syntha began to tremble- “and you repay him by taking one of his senses away?”

Kuroi coughed and turned her eyes to the staircase behind Syntha, the one that led upstairs. Something lurched in one of the upper rooms. She whispered something to Lex, and then he nodded and turned back to Syntha.

“What do you care of otherworlders? Let their fancy technology and subdued humanity prove its merit. We’re going home. And that includes you.”

Syntha stomped her foot- the ground rattled, and something in the kitchen clinked, but she didn’t care.

“Not until you restore Kova’s hearing.”

“Syntha…” Lex held up a hand. His eyes were focused on a point beyond her head, somewhere distant, cold, unfeeling. “If you don’t come with me right now, I will test the statue curse on you. And I will ensure you get buried and left to rot in this world you fetishize so much.”

“…I’m your sister, you moron! What would you tell the people back home? Our family?”

“That you fought valiantly, but you died to the caedats, and there was no hope of escape.”

“Lex!”

Kuroi raised a hand, hesitant to strike him-

But Lex turned and slapped her across the face first, sending her stumbling back, almost brushing against the couch where Kova was beginning to stir.

“I’m sick of this,” Lex breathed. “You tricked me into this, Kuroi. I… I thought you loved me back.”

Kuroi winced and tried to pull herself back to her feet, but Lex firmly planted one foot on her back, forcing her to stay down despite her grunting and wriggling. Her bow creaked.

“You led me on this whole time. Used my affection for you as a yoke to do yours and Syntha’s bidding.” He pressed down harder. Kuroi tried to push herself up, tried to allow herself just a little bit more air than Lex would allow. “You know what the punishment for disingenuous sexual conduct is back at home.”

“Lex!” Kuroi rolled over, forcing Lex’s foot off of her back. She flew back to her feet and ran a hand over the bow still slung over her shoulder, ensuring that it wasn’t harmed. “I never led you on or anything. I don’t know what I did or said that made you think I had any sort of attraction to you. Quite the contrary. I only tolerated you because you were Syntha’s brother.” She brushed off her skirt. “You don’t have an exclusive license on me, and I have no obligation to be your partner, you self-important brat-”

Lex’s eyes flared. His fists curled.

“What did you just call me?”

“You’re a brat. Sure, you work hard, and you’re intelligent. But I want… more in a partner. Like a heart. And patience.” She stepped toward him. “And if you lay so much as one hand on Syntha, I won’t hesitate to kill you right here and now.”

Lex took a deep breath. He and Kuroi locked eyes for a full minute before he averted his eyes. Syntha edged closer to the front door, trying to keep her breath down as much as possible.

“Put Kova’s hearing back,” Syntha whispered. “And then I’ll come with you, Lex.”

Lex closed his eyes and rubbed his eyelids.

“Gods, I’ve been so impulsive…”

“Lex, please,” Kuroi whined.

“I… I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t know how!” Lex howled. He lunged forward and snatched Syntha’s hand and dragged the struggling girl over to the sour-faced Kuroi. “Help her get her stuff together. We need to leave as soon as possible. I don’t want to be convicted of any crimes, and I don’t want to have wasted all this time just for Ceuta to be dead when you find her.”

Kuroi took Syntha’s hand, hesitant, but Syntha yanked it away, scowling. “Promise me you’ll come back here when this is all over and put Kova’s hearing back.”

“I…” Lex suddenly turned around and released a guttural yell and kicked the wall. “Fine! I’ll do it! I’ll do your bidding this one time if it makes you shut up!” He sucked in a strained breath. “And you’ll probably make me restore our home too, right?”

21

Lukas brushed a hand against the branches forming the wall. His fingers traced the twists and turns as he squatted there in the corner, a tangled highway of magenta and red and almost orange, almost imperceptibly pulsing as if the underworld were the inside of some great beast and these were its veins and arteries.

…Blood?

Lukas sniffed.

Yeah, that’s… that’s blood, all right.

The stench was everywhere. Just at the edge of what he could smell, permeating every inch of the place. Lukas rubbed his nose and turned around-

A child, about five or six, was staring at him at the room’s entrance, wearing leather clothes just like Lukas’ but torn and frayed at the bottoms.

Lukas, feeling awkward, half-waved and stood up and pulled his arms close.

“…Hi?”

There are children here?

Once you factor out the constant danger of being murdered… living down here must be awfully boring. I don’t blame them.

“Daddy said you have to come with me.” The child held out her right hand, palm roughened, skin cracked.

Lukas shivered. I forgot…

What do they do down here when they’re not being beasts?

The child stomped her foot. “Come on! Everyone’s waiting!” A whining from her throat. Her six ears, short and not fully grown, quivered. “I’m gonna get in trouble…”

She dashed over to Lukas and grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the entryway. He followed her back to the main area of the warren, where the head couple of each family stood in the entryways to their own tunnels- most of them a heavily-built man and just-as-sturdy woman, a few children behind them scuffling to steal a peek at Lukas before being shoved aside by a sibling. Some of the women had their ears braided into two thick cords, their thick coarse hair woven in between in intricate patterns.

Mags was standing in the center of the area, boredom written all over his face. He perked up when the two of them came into view. The child detatched from Lukas and ran over to him, her arms wide, jumping.

“Daddy, daddy, daddy!”

“Daddy’s here.”

Mags picked her up and hoisted her to sit on his shoulders. She wrapped her arms around the crown of his head, trying to stay on top as Mags turned back to Lukas.

“What’s the matter with you, kid? Never seen another kid before?” His daughter swung a foot at his chin, and he swatted it away, the smallest of smiles on his face.

Lukas bristled. He turned his eyes up. “What’s your name?”

“Morf!” The girl giggled and swung her legs again, accidentally hitting Mags in the jaw with her heel.

He grimaced and put a hand on her leg to calm her down. “Morf of Warren Baneg.”

“Do the… other warrens name, or-”

Mags groaned. “Sure, if you need an answer. I don’t give a damn whether they do or not, just so long as they don’t hurt anyone in this warren.”

Mags turned away from Lukas and faced the rest of the warren, pausing a few seconds to gain their attention. “So…” His voice boomed without even the slightest of echoes. “It seems our search for Ceuta is over.”

A murmuring among the couples, and then a few of the kids went ballistic, screeching like monkeys and scratching for their parents to let them out. One of them barreled into the others, pushing everyone in their family out, the kids sprinting towards Lukas-

“ENOUGH!”

Mags put two fingers to his lips and whistled a high screeching note. Everyone froze, caught like a red light at a massive rendition of “Red Light, Green Light”. One of the kids right next to Lukas teetered on one leg, hand almost touching Lukas’ shoulder until Lukas shook his head and stepped back. Morf clamped her hands over her ears and whined for a moment before shakily grabbing back onto Mags’ head.

Everyone’s eyes focused on Lukas, boring into him, wondering if the new lanky kid really was Ceuta or if Mags had gotten too close to the human spear that he’d taken as a trophy and had finally gone insane.

“H-Hi,” Lukas stuttered, awkwardly waving, turning around slowly, taking care not to focus on one couple for too long. The kid who’d been teetering finally fell over.

“We’ve made a deal,” Mags continued. “You want the good news or the bad news first?” He gave the crowd a moment to discuss before he cut them off. “Too late! Bad news it is, then!” A roaring groaning from the crowd. “What? Should be easy. Protect Ceuta. Don’t let the other warrens know this kid’s here. Make them think he’s dead.” He turned to Lukas. “Might have to draw some blood to fake a death with. Sorry about that.”

Lukas bristled.

What if Syntha and friends get fooled too?

I don’t give a damn what they think.

But what if they tell Kova?

Lukas turned his head to the ceiling.

You’re watching, right, Kova? You still have that game? You brought it with you, right?

Mags shook Lukas’ shoulder, wrenching him back to reality. “You’re acting like I’m gonna rip part of your liver out and sell it on the black market. It’s just a bit of blood.”

Lukas pulled his arms close. “Divine blood.”

“Just tastes better, kid. That’s the only difference.”

Lukas pulled himself in closer. Mags rolled his eyes and turned back to the warren.

“So the good news. Kid’s gonna use some of his power to lift some of the curse-” The warren erupted in a mix of volatile emotion, people swaying, eying Mags out of the corner of their eyes. “Hold up-” The crowd continued. Mags released one of his ear-splitting whistles again, cowing the warren into silence. “We’ll all still be caedats, don’t worry. But only Warren Baneg will be able to shift whenever they want and disregard the moon!”

Silence. Pure silence, everyone too shocked to speak.

“Imagine living in the firstworld. Or the otherworld. Taking back your due, your rightful inheritance from the humans who stole it. Being able to touch any sort of metal without having to worry about if it’s steel or silver or anything else!”

Hey- wait a moment-

I didn’t agree to that!

“The sharpest minds and the strongest bodies. Think of the harshest environments humans can’t even imagine bearing- the deep forest, the most hellish arctic landscapes, underground… but we can survive. This tiny warren won’t constrain us any longer.” Mags stretched out his arms. “The whole world will be ours.”

Mags kept his arms out, waiting for the roar of the crowd that he knew was coming- and it did, washing over Lukas like a tsunami, forcing him to the ground with his hands clamped over his ears. Morf squealed, and so did the rest of the kids in the warren, absolutely ballistic and running in circles around Mags and Lukas until Mags dropped his arms down to his side and whistled again to hush everyone up.

“Ambrios!”

I’ve heard that name before.

But where…?

A girl a few years younger than Lukas, dressed in a dingy dress made of patches of human cloth sewn together, stepped forward. Her dark eyes avoided Lukas’ gaze, instead focusing directly on Mags as she folded her hands in front of her and knelt.

“Yes, Mags?”

“Get up.” She did so. Mags pointed to Lukas. “I want you to take our guest to the hot spring. Get him all relaxed before he goes… stiff. If he bleeds, holler for us.”

“Yes, Mags.” Ambrios curtseyed and then focused her eyes on Lukas’ feet. “Come with me, then.”

Ambrios turned aboutface and started down one of the unoccupied tunnels. Her dark green hair swayed behind her. Lukas stood there for a moment, confused until Mags nudged him and he started walking.

Ambrios didn’t acknowledge him once until they got to the wide open space- a deep circular pit in the ground, rings slowly descending like steps to a bottom Lukas couldn’t see for all the steam. Ambrios slowly waved a hand in front of her, and the steam dissipated, leaving only clear gold water shimmering.

Lukas stepped forward to the edge of the pit and stuck the toes of his right foot in. “Water feels fine.” He turned to Ambrios, who immediately looked away. “What?”

Is she blushing?

Don’t think about… that. You’ve got Kova waiting for you back at home.

Home…

“I…” Ambrios cleared her throat. “I need to grab some bathing supplies. I’ll be right back.”

Ambrios turned back to the tunnel and left. Lukas stood there for a moment, confused, and then he shrugged and started stripping, letting his clothes drop right next to him at the bank of the pit. Once he was nude, he took one hesitant step in, and then one more, and then another and another until he was sitting on the steps, submerged up to his neck, his ponytail fanning out on the surface of the water.

Ambrios returned with a basket of woven and knotted leather- presumably human- and set it down beside Lukas’ clothes. She retrieved a pink-tinted bottle and poured a fingernail-size amount of shimmering lotion onto it and partially rubbed it into her palms before she reached for Lukas’ hand.

“H-hey!” Lukas recoiled, splashing water onto Ambrios’s dress. “What’s your problem?”

Ambrios forcefully grabbed Lukas’ hand again and started massaging the lotion into his skin. “I’m trying to get you to relax. It’ll make being turned into a statue less painful. Unless you like pain?”

Lukas stared at her for a moment, then sighed and closed his eyes and bit his lip, letting her hands move up his arm and eventually cross over to the other arm.

“I suppose I should apologize for being so cold,” Ambrios said, working at a dry patch of skin on Lukas’ left shoulder. “You know when humans watch a celebrity’s actions on their phones and obsess over them and then have a hard time dealing with it when they finally meet in person?”

“…Yeah, why?” Lukas suddenly jerked away from Ambrios. “You don’t have another copy of the game, do you?”

“What?”

“The Duality of Mankind? The game- my friend Kova has one, and it lets him see what’s going on with certain people or even control them-”

What if they were never being controlled? What if all those button presses were coincidental?

Ambrios blinked slowly, frozen, and then returned to her scrubbing, this time working on his spine. “Oh, that! I’ve been so busy with the caedats that I completely forgot that I’d created and sent that out…”

Lukas cocked his head. “What do you mean, busy with the caedats?” He shivered as Ambrios’s fingers passed over the small of his back. “You make it sound like you descended like… me…” His eyes widened. “Sister?”

Ambrios shrugged. “Surprise. It’s me.”

“Why are you down here? How? I thought- Father-”

“I’m down here on official business,” she said. blunt. “This warren has grown a bit cocky. As you probably already know.” She glanced around, checking to ensure there weren’t any other caedats watching nearby, and then she leaned close to Lukas’ ear. “I was supposed to covertly pick the leaders off one by one and mail their bodies to you. Try to intimidate you into making a stupid mistake and dying in a freak accident down here so your soul would go back home. A twofold plan hatched by Chronos and assigned to me.” Ambrios shook her head. “You being here throws a wrench into my plans, because nobody will… kill you if everybody loves you. If I love you.” Her breath caught in her throat. “But Chronos won’t allow me painless passage back to the afterworld if I don’t ensure your death.” Her eyes watered. “And I miss Mother and Arkensia and Caelin and the others…”

Lukas leaned back until he was floating in the water on his back. He stretched his arms out wide.

“Then you’ll just have to learn to live down here. I already have a life. I have someone waiting for me back in the otherworld.”

“Then why are you here?” she squealed, on the edge of hysterics.

“Because I have a shifting problem,” Lukas said, his voice firm. “And a caedat problem. And they both threaten my friend, so I’m here to deal with them.”

Ambrios balled her fists. “I could kill you right here and now.”

“You won’t-”

A blue wisp passed by Lukas’ wrist. He stood up in the pool and stared at his hand. The wisp lazily floated around and around, joined by another one as his chest tightened.

What did Kova say I was? A hulk?

Deep breath. I can’t shift here. I can control it. I can, I can, I can…

Lukas exhaled.

The blue wisps disappeared.

“You won’t,” he continued, Ambrios’ lips quivering in the corner of his vision. “Because then the caedats will murder you as revenge.”

He reached up to his head and pulled the tie out of his ponytail and slipped it onto his wrist, letting his hair free to tickle his shoulders. He sat back down in the hot spring, and Ambrios reluctantly retrieved more lotion and went back to massaging her brother’s skin.

22

The embers of the fire glittered as Syntha drew her legs in closer and rested her head on her knees. Lex, splayed out and drowsy, gazed up at the stars through half-open eyes on her left. The flames’ reflection glinted in his glassy eyes. Kuroi snored to her right, curled up in a ball with her back to Lex, their argument only half an hour ago still echoing through the forest of concrete and glass.

Syntha’s eyes drifted up to the sky. Dark gray clouds drifted across the sky, passing in front of the half moon to Syntha’s back, a welcome change from watching the entrance to the underworld with its torn and jagged metal cap.

That’s Orion’s Belt hanging over me, isn’t it?

Just like home. Follow the belt or else you’ll melt. She shivered. Everyone’s taking care of the farm back at the village, right?

Oh- that’s right! Harvesting season is coming up! We’ve got to hurry, don’t we?

Syntha tapped Lex’s shoulder. “Brother?”

Lex closed his eyes and let out a groan. “What?”

“I can’t sleep. I’m gonna do a quick patrol in the underworld.”

Lex rubbed his eyes and then crossed his arms over them, blocking out the dying light from the embers.

“That’s not the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard. But it’s definitely up there. Sleep deprivation negatively impacts critical thinking skills, reaction time, physical ability… And besides, I don’t exactly trust you to be able to fend off however many caedats are lurking this late at night without me and Kuroi.”

“Oh, and you can?”

Lex moved his arms off his face and glared at Syntha. “I never said that. But I can hurl fire faster than you can twirl that travesty of a stick.”

Syntha’s eyes flared, and she opened her mouth, about to retort- but then one lone spark shot from the fire, catching her eye.

“Lex?” she whispered. “Exactly how good are you with magic?”

Lex raised an eyebrow, confused. “Sufficient to hold my own against a caedat. Probably.” He glanced up at the sky. “New moon’s fast approaching. We’ll have to smoke them out.”

“Do you think… Would it be possible to turn into a dragon? Like Ceuta?”

Lex scoffed. “Why would I want to do that? I like myself just the way I am-”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Careful, sister. Don’t test me. Of course it’s possible. How do you think Ceuta does it even though she’s trapped in a human body?”

“…Through her divineness?”

Lex cackled. “Obviously you misunderstand how magic works.” He gave Syntha a few seconds to complain and then continued. “All living beings hold magic in their bodies, some more than others. Wild animals hold almost none, but it’s still there. Plants have a little more, but because they don’t have brains, they leak it all the time about as fast as they can recharge it.”

“And people?”

“I’m getting there! If every living thing was a machine, they would have fuel tanks where they keep their energy and restore it over time, yeah? But we humans are horribly inefficient machines, wasting magic like a billionaire on a drug bend whenever our emotions get too… extreme. Trembling at the precipice of rage, making time appear to go more quickly when you’re ecstatic. Emotions get too volatile when there’s too much magic in one’s body, like when you sit in a cramped position for a few hours straight and your limbs scream to be stretched and moved.”

“Wait!” Syntha turned to the moon. “Ceuta was in a human body all that time ago when she first descended, and she went feral because… of too much magic in her body?” She kicked a stray ember. “No… That doesn’t feel right. Something’s missing.”

“Anyways… Humans are unique in that they can actually train themselves to project their magic outward and use it. But it takes a great deal of practice. Even I can’t do much yet compared with some of the great mages throughout history. Which makes me a bit scared for Ceuta… To move wind takes little skill. I could do that in my sleep. Fire and water require more magic and more skill. But earth, physical matter… Shifting form would take a great deal of energy. And she obviously can’t stay in that form for long since her shift right when we arrived here lasted…” He counted on his fingers. “A day at most. If the trend continues, Ceuta’s probably in human form right now, getting eviscerated by caedats. Which-” Lex ignored the scowl on Syntha’s face- “are a bit of an aberration as they have two magic tanks, one they can voluntarily spend and one that the phases of the moon control.”

“But- no, I remember Ceuta saying she couldn’t access her powers while she was in a physical form.”

“Well…” Lex sighed. “Promise you won’t kill me for saying this-”

“What?”

“We humans can only use magic for two things. Manipulation and destruction. Creation takes exponentially more energy, more than humans could ever hope to amass in their lifetime.” He paused. “There was only ever one mage who managed to achieve that level of mastery. And he became a god and abandoned us.”

Syntha paused. “…so Ceuta was right. We have no hope- Wait, why haven’t you told me this before now?”

Lex shrugged. “You didn’t ask.” He rolled back over away from Syntha. “Go back to sleep.”

23

Lukas stretched his arms out in front of him, focusing on the polished fingernails, the pink skin rubbed almost raw in the bath, the faint blue lines where his veins popped out.

Come on, Lukas, you can shift. You’ve done it before. Just breathe deep… and relax-

A twitch in his right arm. He sucked in a breath. A blue wisp around his wrist.

No- stop being afraid. No fear. Fear be gone…

He released his breath. The wisp disappeared.

Does that only happen when I shift out of emotion? Or will that happen all the time-

“What are you doing?”

Lukas jumped, startled. The towel around his waist slid. He grabbed it and yanked it back up, turning towards the source of the voice- a girl about his age, wrapped in a faded midnight-blue sarong. She blushed and turned her back to him.

“W-who are you?” Lukas stammered.

“Hale,” she replied, twirling a few strands of her short hair in her fingers. “You know, the mage Mags mentioned. I was gonna bring you back to the warren center and turn you into a statue… But I’m really not in the mood to recreate any ancient architecture, so get dressed already.”

Sheesh…

Lukas dropped his towel and slid on the wispy, almost ghost-like clothes that had been left for him. In the back of his mind, he wondered how the caedats had managed to get their hands on something like it without staining it with blood or tearing it- but he tucked his thoughts away and donned the clothes and tapped Hale on the shoulder.

“Hey!” She slapped his hand away. “Don’t do that. Ask politely if you want my attention.”

Lukas scowled. “What’s your problem with me?”

“Pardon?”

“Don’t play innocent. I’m not that stupid-”

“Never said you were, kid-”

“I’m not a kid. Why are you so angry with me?”

“Because…” She sighed and turned around to face him. “I’d sworn off magic. Decided to stock up my power until the day I could cause my own annihilation and rejoin my father. And maybe take out the rest of this bloody accursed warren with me.” She paused, cackling at Lukas’ face, full of confusion. “What? Not all of us want to be here.”

He shook his head. “Neither do I.”

“Then why are you here? Unless…” She batted her eyes. “You’re here to rescue me.”

“What- no!” Lukas backed up and grimaced. “You’ll have to find someone else to be your prince. I have someone waiting for me at home.”

“So you haven’t seen the light of the caedats and want to convert?” She cackled. “Ceuta, your name was?”

“Lukas.”

She cocked her head for a moment, studying him, and then she shook her head. “Fair enough. I’d want to distance myself as far away from Chronos as possible. Shedding the name he gave you and all the powers he bestowed upon you and even moving to a completely different realm. Doesn’t get more extreme than that!” She paused. “You know, I kinda like you, Lukas. You’re cute-” he grimaced- “so I’ll tell you why I hate you and everybody else so much.

“I used to live in the capital city of some kingdom or another.” She began walking down the long winding hallway back to the warren center, and Lukas followed close behind. “Doesn’t matter what it was called, since the land’s always changing rulers and names and inhabitants. My father was one of the knights assigned to protecting the queen, and one day, she snapped her fingers and decided-” she snapped her own fingers- “that she wanted a bunch of caedats slain and brought back so she could have some new fur coats. So my father decided to go because, hey, who doesn’t want to reduce the population of underworld-dwellers? So she paid him half in advance with these long white pills with the word ‘ridersbane’ on them, and when they got soaked in water-” she held out one of her fingers- “they’d expand to that length. The consistency of bread with none of the flavor. And with the handy-dandy effect that they’d put off the whole three-days-then-caedat effect for another day.”

“You… don’t happen to have any more of those, do you?”

“Nope!” She curled a hand into a fist. “Dad entrusted half of the stash to me and then went into the underworld. Told me to wait a month and then, if he was still missing, to put myself into servitude to earn the money for a trip back to the capital. But there’s no way nobility like me’s going to do bumpkin work! So I took my pills and I went exploring down here.”

“And Warren Baneg took you in like me?”

“I thought you came here of your own free will!”

“I… did. And got a bit lost.” Lukas cringed a little. “And might have gotten knocked unconscious en route.”

“Huh.” Hale shrugged. “Anyways, no. Warren Tripoli took me in and sheltered me and stole all my pills. They were a starving bunch, cause, you know, caedats are immortal and they technically can’t starve to death and Tripoli was a bunch of holier-than-thou vegans who didn’t want to eat people. I mean, I don’t want to eat people either… but come on, when you’re starving, a big fatty ass suddenly doesn’t seem that repulsive.” She suddenly covered her mouth and gagged. “Did I really say that? I guess they’re finally starting to get to me after three years stuck here…”

Maybe I should have sought them out instead…

No, because Warren Baneg was the one you ultimately had a problem with. And a bunch of starving people serve no protection.

“So… Big reveal! The pills they stole ended up poisoning and killing all the caedats in Warren Tripoli! Which I thought was cool, ‘cause, hey, Dad could use that to slaughter a ton without being all violent and scary and then bring those back to the queen! But then I tried to go back to the firstworld to reset the turning-into-a-caedat clock, and Warren Baneg snatched me up and forced me to stay here until I’d turned.”

“I still don’t see what this has to do with me.”

“They…” Hale’s voice dropped to a whisper. “They fattened my father up. And they made me eat him.”

Lukas halted. Hale kept on walking without him for a second before she noticed and stopped as well.

Holy shit!

“I… I’m sorry for your loss,” Lukas whispered.

“His last wish before they cooked him alive was that I’d kill every single last one of them.” She scowled. “And I’m to help you help them so they can burst out and kill even more people?”

“Well,” he countered, “if they were outside, they wouldn’t have to eat people, would they? They’d have the wilderness and all the plants and wild animals that grow in there.”

Hale stared at Lukas. She slowly shook her head. “You’re so naive.” She turned around and continued walking, and Lukas quickly followed. “You could give me power instead so I could destroy all the caedats. And then you could make me a human again.”

I mean, it would put them out of their misery. And then the underworld would be less dangerous for both souls and people to traverse. And then I’d have one powerful and reliable ally to protect me instead of a horde of creatures who could tear me to shreds at any moment.

But most of the caedats of Warren Baneg- of the entire underworld- they didn’t choose to be here either. They were born, or they wandered here by accident and were spared, or Chronos cursed them.

I…

I couldn’t watch that slaughter. I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I was responsible for letting it happen.

“Your problems are your own,” Lukas said at last. “I made a deal with them to be protected from my would-be captors in exchange for power. And now I’ve got to follow through, whether or not I like the results.”

“I see how it is.”

Her face darkened as they approached the exit into the warren center. They stepped out. The caedats who’d gathered to watch cheered- a deafening roar, washing over the two of them before Mags whistled and hushed them again. This time, in the center, stood a raised platform made of the same brambles and branches as everything else, the top flattened so he wouldn’t impale himself.

What is this, my tomb?

Hale pushed Lukas into the center of the space. Lukas got on top of the platform and stood up, his arms crossed, apprehensive.

“Do you want me to stand, or sit, or…?”

“Sitting will suffice,” Hale said, her voice flat. “I don’t really care.”

Lukas sat down and crossed his legs. A pained laugh escaped his lips before he lied down and curled himself into a ball, remembering his presumed-eternal pose in the tomb, imagining two wings sprouting out of his back to cover him.

A sea of eyeballs stared back at him, breathless. He closed his eyes and covered his face with his crossed arms, tucking himself in tighter.

The shadow of Hale passed in front of him. A soft chanting of words, echoing throughout his mind- Melilla came to his vision, her long purple-dyed hair swaying in an inaudible summer breeze, a smile on her face as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the cooling wind- he’d forgotten what that smile was for; was it for him- or her, as he’d been- or something else?

If only I hadn’t shifted…

He was high above the clouds, feet firmly planted on the huge shimmering islands that made up his home. Three of his siblings flew overhead, half-transformed with huge wings coming out of their backs. They playfully battled, batting their wings and sometimes tails and occasionally full-out transforming and leading to a chase across the skies. Always invisible to the people below except for a vague shimmering across the blue beyond.

If only I’d been able to shift…

A late night after a long day of work, curled up with Kova on the floor, a few pillows strewn between the two of them. Watching the screen flicker as Kova punched his way through some dungeon game or another that he’d taken with him on his exodus. Dragons swarmed everywhere, most of them shifters or whatever the game had called them gone insane from not having switched to their human form for so long.

If only I hadn’t shifted…

The chanting of words grew louder. His limbs disconnected from him one by one, going out like lightbulbs on a decaying artificial Christmas tree. A mist of coldness descended on him, and then a dull ache through his body.

His soul- if it could be called that- separated from his body, and he floated above the stone mass that had been him, connected by a thin tether.

Nothing at all like he remembered.

The place where his heart should have been grew warm. His whole astral body tingled. He flicked a hand in front of him- nothing, nada, not even a shadow.

First severed from time, and now from space.

Everybody looked right through him. Then, one at a time, they left for their rooms, Hale the only one refusing to move. Each returned with a scrap of cloth and laid it on the statue, eventually covering it in a mass of scraps and miscellaneous threads. Lukas turned to each one of them as they came and went.

How am I supposed to do this?

Hale turned to leave- and she scraped her arm on a stray edge not covered up. She yelped and cursed as a few drops of blood dripped onto Lukas’ statue- his astral body seized up for a moment, a wave of heat crashing through him before releasing him to reel.

Power. Power… I have…

Deep br-

I don’t have lungs. I can’t take a deep breath.

I’ve done this before. I’ve used my powers inside a statue. I just have to focus it outwards instead of letting it fester, don’t I? Is that how this works?

I could start with… Mags.

Do I have to state my intentions? Or is a gut feeling enough?

But I don’t have a gut right now.

Lukas focused on Mags and stretched out an invisible arm. Mags stood unaffected for a few moments, and then the skin above his heart began to faintly glow. Those still left in the warren center took notice- a small grin grew on Mags’ face before Lukas’ arm flopped down, exhausted.

This is going to be harder than I thought.

The light from Mags’ chest dissipated. With a flourish, he somersaulted in midair- and then a pop and a flash, and he was a caedat, a rabbit’s more muscly cousin with six floppy ears hanging down. He prowled in a slow circle around Lukas’ statue, occasionally barking at someone to everyone else’s laughter, and then, when he’d completed his circle, he tumbled over and shifted back to his more human form.

“Looks like you keep your promises, kid,” Mags said, staring right through Lukas’ invisible soul. “Now keep going.”

The other caedats waited a moment, hesitant, and then circled around Lukas’ statue, begging, pleading to be the next one. Even the children joined in- but their parents pushed them back, afraid that one of the little ones would chip something off of the statue or otherwise damage it, seemingly unaware that they themselves were just as dangerous to the inert mass of stone.

The jostling knocked a few clumps of patches off the statue and onto the ground. Someone scraped themselves again- a few more drops of blood, and then Lukas roused himself and granted another caedat power, and again and again until the flow of caedats coming and going and testing out their newfound powers was like a sick ballroom dance, the constant murmuring chant of “Warren Baneg” and pop pop pop their music.

24

Kova rubbed his eyes. The tangling mess of sprites bobbing in and out and back and forth in a jagged circle dizzied him. With one hand over his left eye and the other on the remote, he saved his game and switched the console off. The computer monitor he’d pilfered from his dad’s office flickered for a moment and then switched back to being the secondary screen on his laptop.

Yes, Lukas, I’m watching. I saw everything.

A browser popped up, the daily news on one tab. A seventeen-year-old boy named Lukas Talos was still missing. The landlord of that particular apartment building was willing to put off rent for a month or so while the search continued, but not for much longer, seeing as his friend, Kova Innan, had apparently fled for his parents’ house. The comments were bustling with snide remarks- Kova shouldn’t have moved out of his parents’ house in the first place; they were the prime examples of why the legal age was eighteen and not any lower; and who really cared about two random teenagers in the middle of a bustling city, anyways?

Another tab. A search for anything having to do with The Duality of Mankind. Only garbage results from keyword stuffers and fake pirate sites looking to make a quick buck through subscription paywalls.

Kova closed his laptop and slid it back into his backpack and shook his head.

That’s it. That’s all I can do right now.

I’m so sleepy…

He laid down on the floor- his phone buzzed at his back. He rolled over and grabbed it and flicked the screen. An email from Mr. Engles.

I got your email. Sorry to hear about your accident. I’ll have a personal disability plan worked out by your first day here.

Kova tossed the phone a few feet away and rolled back up to sit. His mind wandering, he turned to his bookcase- one of his many half-used diaries, usually lined up in a neat row and pushed to the back of the bookcase, was a little askew. He plucked it out, other books immediately falling over to take its place, and opened it.

A blank page, a few smudges at the bottom-

His pencil holder on the shelf above the diaries started to jiggle. A single pen was jittering- the fat black one with the fake-smiling faces Kova’d gotten from the dentist who’d first forced braces on him at thirteen and then ripped them off three years later. He’d condemned it to sit there and dry up and eventually be recycled out of pure spite.

It trembled as it rose and hovered in the air.

Kova dropped the diary and rubbed his eyes, but the pen stayed there, shaking like someone with Parkinson’s was holding it for a minute. And then it steadied out, descending to write lopsided letters on the page like a kindergarten kid with sticky fingers and a broken crayon.

Kova? That’s you, right?

The pen dropped, lifeless. Kova, hesitant, took it in his fingers, thinking it would make him feel tingly or suddenly become possessed, but it was just a normal pen that clicked just the same when he made it click.

Is that you, Lukas?

The pen jerked out of Kova’s hands the moment it left the paper. It flipped in the air before it returned to the page, writing right under Kova’s scrawls.

This is my first time successfully possessing anything, so I have to write quickly before I become too tired to keep up the connection. I’ve given the caedats a bit too much power, I think. They’re all knocked out asleep for the time being.

The pen dropped again. This time, Kova didn’t hesitate to take it.

Why? You said you were going to befriend them!

Because they’re protecting me from Syntha and friends, and because it was my father’s curse on them that trapped them down there in the first place. Most of them don’t deserve to be stuck down there forever.

So the game didn’t lie after all.

Does that mean you’re done? You’re coming home as soon as you get out of that statue, right?

…I don’t know. I haven’t figured out how to shift yet. And I accidentally pissed off the mage that put me into this statue, so I don’t know exactly when I’ll be able to get out.

I know. I watched through the game.

Kova paused for a moment. The pen wiggled- he tightened his grip on it.

Can’t you take a tumble to shift like the caedats?

I’ll have to try that. The pen jittered, leaving an inky black trail behind it. I have to be quick. Meet me at the bridge over the nearest lake to your house, the one with the road that leads to the school, at the new moon

The pen shuddered, leaving a blot of ink where a period should have been, and then flopped over and rolled off the diary.

Kova took a deep breath and reread all the words.

This isn’t a fever dream, is it?

Kova closed the diary and opened it again. The words were still there, exactly the same except for a slight smudge at the bottom. He closed and opened it again- the exact same, and then he closed it and hugged the little book tight against his chest.

Yes, Lukas. I’ll be there. I can wait four days.

A tap on his shoulder- Kova startled, looking over his shoulder to see his mother standing behind him, either unaware of the floating pen just moments ago or unfazed. She handed him an index card, the only way they’d been able to communicate the past few days.

Lunch is almost ready. I hope you’re keeping up with your studies, coding or whatever you’d decided to do with your life when you stomped off. All those ones and zeroes…

You have a doctor’s appointment at three to check what exactly happened to your hearing. Be ready. And if I see that game out one more time, I’m taking it away. My house, my rules. Understand?

Kova swallowed and picked up his pen again. An ugly memory from a tech camp from almost half his life ago reared its head- one of the bratty counselors had said the same ones-and-zeroes line- and he swallowed it back down.

I understand. It’ll be gone by the next time you come back.

He handed the card back, avoiding her gaze. She peered at him with slits for eyes, leery, before she left Kova’s bedroom and went back upstairs.

Kova stared blankly at his bookcase. A few thoughts of what he could do, both in wait for lunch and the appointment and for Lukas, passed through his mind- he could read one of the old books his younger self had left behind, or he could flip through one of the old and yellowed notebooks filled with half-done comics, or he could reread for the seventeenth time the oversized black book in the middle with the words The Elements emblazoned on the spine in large gray letters that had once been silver.

I just have to survive four more days.

I can do that. Easy. I survived sixteen years under that woman.

Kova stood up and climbed onto his bed, pulling himself up and throwing up the blinds so he could see out the bedroom window. The dim grays of the autumn sky cast a muted shadow on everything. The same bare, dead tree branches scraping futily against the heavens swayed in an inaudible breeze.

I bet none of my old friends care that I’m back. I doubt that they even know. They’re probably out at prom, or- he checked his bedside clock, then remembered that it didn’t display the date- the dance, or whatever the school hosts on random Fridays at the end of October.

I don’t even remember most of their names. I doubt they even bothered to learn mine-

Come on. Get up. Stop pitying yourself and do something worthwhile. Kova forced himself off the bed and onto his feet. Pick out an outfit for meeting Lukas? Start learning how to read lips? Force yourself to talk to someone new on the internet? Because I can guarantee you’ll have to talk to all sorts of strangers when you get that job at the new art shop.

If. If I get that job.

I can’t be mopey anymore. I can’t- I won’t let this disability stop me. I need to get out of here. And that starts…

He retrieved his laptop from his computer and threw the lid open.

With a terminal.

25

The warren eventually went back to its usual activity. Most of the caedats went back in their own tunnels and rooms; a few milled about, and every few minutes, one of them would go in or leave one specific tunnel with the symbol of five parallel vertical lines carved above the entryway.

That’s the jail, isn’t it?

Can I go-

Lukas leaned forward, floating towards the entryway- but the silver tether binding his soul to the statue tugged back, taut and too short, and he reluctantly went back to hovering over the statue.

“Kid.”

This is… more boring than I’d thought. I can’t practice shifting, I can’t talk to anybody, I can’t move around-

“Hey, kid, you there? It would be a shame if we overworked your soul into oblivion.”

Lukas turned around. Mags stood with his arms crossed, wearing the same stern look he’d first greeted Lukas with. Hale was next to him, her gaze averted, distracted by something inside her own mind.

I can read minds, can’t I?

What- why would I do that? Why would I want to? I’m- I’m not-

Mags slugged Hale on the shoulder. She shrugged Mags off and growled, “What?”

“Our personal god’s still in there, right?”

I’m not your personal god!

Hale squinted, peering through Lukas. “Yeah. I can see him, if a faint outline counts.” A wave of heat washed over Lukas, like his entire soul was blushing. “Okay, the outline’s a bit more distinct now.”

Mags shook his head. “I still can’t see anything.”

“Not my loss.” Hale ignored Mags’ grimace. “Hey, god person! We gotta ask you a question.”

I can talk to them, right? And they’ll hear me?

Only one way to find out.

“Y-yeah?”

“So…” Mags carefully laid a hand on Lukas’ statue where Hale had scraped her arm. Whether on purpose or not, Lukas didn’t know. “Kinda suspicious how you were able to get us all fixed and ready in such a short amount of time, kid. You hiding something from us? Got finer control over your powers than you let on?”

“Oh, so you can hear him, and I can’t?” Hale whined.

Lukas ignored her. “They spilled blood on my statue multiple times. It kept refilling my power. I don’t see why you’re complaining, anyways.”

“Hmm…” Mags cocked his head, thinking. “You know, I’m feeling a bit… hungry. I say we call a feast in celebration of our newly-found freedom and give our god friend the blood drippings.”

“Nuh uh!” Hale shook her head. Her six ears flopped about- she batted them back behind her shoulders. “We got the powers we wanted. I don’t want to risk him cursing us on Chronos’ behalf. And besides, if he wants to benefit from the feast, he should have to help us prepare it.”

Mags sighed. “Fine. I guess you have a point. Release him from his statue.”

“Can’t he release himself?”

Can I?

Lukas held his breath- then remembered that he didn’t have lungs. He focused on the statue below him.

I want… I want a body again…

“Gah! You’re doing it wrong!” Hale stepped up to his statue and waved a hand through where Lukas was floating. An icy feeling followed where her hand had passed through his soul. “You have to possess the statue first so you’ll be inside it when it animates and then rewind the state of the matter. Otherwise you’ll mess up the anatomy and you’ll die instantly!” She cursed under her breath. “Some god you are. I’ll just do it myself.”

Hale closed her eyes and folded her hands like she was praying. She murmured a string of unintelligible words, and Lukas felt his soul become heavier and heavier, like rain forming inside of a cloud, before the stone took him back in. Lightning through his veins- and then the thunder of an ache through his bones as pea-sized gravel crumbled off his skin and to the floor. His limbs came back slowly, sluggish. With a groan, Lukas cracked open his eyes, thankfully still clothed.

“Ah! Sleeping Beauty awakens,” Hale taunted. She moved around so Lukas could see her as he struggled to pull himself to a sitting position. “So, you gonna help us?”

“S-Sure?” Lukas slurred, his tongue not quite connected yet.

“Good!” Hale glanced past her. “Hey, Mags, where are you going?”

“I’m gathering the butchers and cooks,” he grunted. “Show Lukas around the jail. We’ll be there soon.”

Hale stood up and dashed into the tunnel with the five vertical parallel lines. Lukas followed on stumbling feet, feeling taking its sweet time to come back to his limbs.

Nope. Don’t miss being made out of stone.

The rank smell of unwashed skin hit them like a truck. Both of them clamped their hands over their noses as they passed by the morbidly obese prisoners, somehow even more fatty and slick with sweat and grease than a few- hours? days?- ago.

I turn into a caedat if I stay down here too long, right?

How long have I been down here?

How much longer do I have left?

If I turned, I’d still be divine, right? And would I be able to control myself like they all can now?

“Poor saps,” Hale said, the two of them still walking past a seemingly endless row of cells. “But if you think that’s disturbing, wait until you see what’s next.”

The end of a cell block finally presented itself. Hale led Lukas to the left. Apprehensive, he peered past the bars of a cell-

His stomach plummeted. More helpless prisoners, except instead of being cultivated for their fat, their limbs were slowly dissolving from existence. Some of them were only missing the tips of their fingers and toes; some only had their upper arms and legs; some were just torsos; and everyone else was some shade of in-between. Every single one of them opened their mouths as Hale and Lukas passed by, the latter in horror as all the prisoners were missing their tongues and, from the silence coming out of their mouths, their vocal cords as well.

An apotemnophiliac’s wet dream.

“The anomalies,” Hale said. “Those who consumed caedat’s blood but refused to lick the brambles.”

“This is…” Lukas shivered, panicking. “You people are monsters! Why- Why’d I ever-”

“That’s a really good question.”

Lukas’ eyes widened. “Hale! I- I consumed all that blood as a statue. Soaked it in. Am I going to become one of these? Be turned into a personal god like Mags called me-”

“Gods, get a grip, won’t you? It starts immediately. And you don’t seem to be missing any body parts, so I think you’ll be fine.”

Lukas studied his fingertips. They were perfectly intact.

Hale turned back around, and they continued their grim march. “Be thankful that Mags recognized you and didn’t force you to drink his blood while you were sleeping.”

Oh my god… I could have been one of these people!

I could free these people, couldn’t I? Stop them from becoming food?

Yeah, and what’s the otherworld going to do with an influx of torsos? I doubt any of them want to go on living like that. And I can’t afford to piss off the caedats. Not when I’ve finally got them on my side.

So I’ve completed one part of my promise to Kova. Now for the other-

“Hale?”

Hale didn’t bother looking over her shoulder. “Yeah?”

“How do caedats shift?”

“With the moon, dumbass-”

“No, I mean, what do they do when the new moon strikes? What happens in their body?”

“Hell if I know the details-”

“Do caedats usually do a somersault when they shift? Or is that just something Mags did to show off?”

Hale halted in her footsteps. Lukas stopped a few feet away from her. She gave him a sidelong glance, peering at him over her shoulder.

“You’re not a caedat. Not yet, anyways. What’s it to you?”

Lukas, at a loss for words, flustered for a moment before he spoke. “Didn’t you say you hated Warren Baneg?”

Hale crossed her arms. “I don’t condone their more… heinous actions. Like eating people. And I’ll be abstaining from tonight’s feast. But I made up the part about eating my dad. Wanted to get a reaction out of you. Truth is-” she averted her eyes and scratched the back of her head- “I don’t know what happened to him. I never saw him again after he went down here. I might have eaten him, for all I know, or some other warren might have gotten ahold of him.” She smiled. “But it makes for a more tragic backstory, doesn’t it?”

“You’re sick-”

“Hey, don’t look at me. I didn’t abandon my family to mess up other peoples’ lives.”

A pounding in Lukas’ head. A blue wisp. His breathing tightened. Hale giggled until another wisp streaked by.

“Uh…” She grabbed his hand and started pulling him down the hallway and jerked him into the room at the closest right. “Into the kitchen you go!”

Lukas stumbled to his feet. More and more wisps encircled him- he tried to keep his breathing steady, tried to calm the thumping in his chest.

Light enveloped him, almost blinding. Something tugged his limbs in all directions, popping them out of their sockets, tearing his skin open and slathering it in concrete and setting his veins on fire-

The light faded. Lukas lifted his head up- it smacked against the ceiling, making all the twisted pots and pans hanging from the cabinets jingle against each other. He flattened himself against the ground and pulled his wings in tight and closed his eyes.

I…

I shifted?

And I’m still lucid?

His mind began to fog.

No, no, no- I can’t go feral here. I can’t lose control. Focus, Lukas, focus!

“Oh my gods!”

Hale yelled, jumping back, eyes wide. Lukas opened his eyes, and she studied him with a newfound interest, putting a hand on his scaly snout and… petting him.

“Hey, you’re kinda cute, aren’t you?”

Lukas snorted, icy air escaping him.

Hale jumped back and shivered. “I t-take that back!”

“Hey!”

Mags suddenly burst into the room, followed by four or five caedats Lukas didn’t know, all of them wearing faded and worn gray clothes- and the strangers’ eyes went wide at Lukas. Mags stepped forward and bopped Lukas on the nose, earning a sneeze of cold air in his face.

“You figured out how to shift, kid! So now you’re ready to return to the real world.” He wiped the frost off his face. “And we didn’t even have to uphold our end of the deal.”

Syntha didn’t come after me?

Good riddance.

“Hey, don’t just stand there!” Mags barked back at the other caedats. “Bring… ten of the fattest prisoners. We’ll feast tonight.” He turned back to Lukas. “It’s cool and all that you figured out how to shift, but could you… change back? We’re about to cook, and you’re kinda taking up half the room.”

How…? I only shifted back because I ran out of energy the other times. Do I just have to wait?

Dragons are like reptiles, right? And most of those are cold-blooded. If they get too cold, they die.

But I’m ice affinity. That makes no sense. So what is it, then? What’s the kill switch?

Mags waved a hand in front of Lukas’ snout. “Hey, did you hear me?”

Lukas lumbered his body around and smacked Mags with his tail. Mags stumbled over backwards. Lukas curled himself against the back wall of the room.

Mags grunted as he pulled himself back to his feet. “You’re strong, kid.” He slugged Hale, who’d been gathering buckets to fetch water from the hot spring, in the shoulder- she blinked, irritated, dropping a few of the wooden and plastic pails. “Make him shift back. I want him human again before the prisoners roll in.”

“Yes, sir,” Hale hissed.

Mags left the room. She turned to Lukas, her hands on her hips.

“Well? You heard him!”

Lukas closed his eyes- something in his stomach lurched. The light returned, but much softer this time, a bubbly feeling in his limbs as his body compressed back down. A cradling hand of cloud set him down on the ground, white ribbons dissipating into the air as his skin returned to being supple and soft.

And completely naked again, shreds of the clothes he’d been wearing scattered on the ground.

Hale gaped at him, her eyes wide. “You’re a… girl?” But- I thought-”

“I change genders every time I shift. Don’t ask why. I don’t know.”

“That’s so… weird. Does it hurt? And how does puberty work? If you got pregnant, what would happen to the-”

“Coming through!”

A pig squeal. Hale jumped out of the way, rushing to the back of the room to shield Lukas, still curled up on the ground to hide her nakedness. A rumbling down the hall- the prisoners rolled in, pushed along by the same muscular caedats that’d been in there earlier like drastically oversize beach balls.

One of the prisoners snorted.

Another… defecated.

“That’s nasty,” one of the cooks said. “Hey, you-” he pointed to his closest peer and then to the buckets- “go fill those up and fill the pot. Leave five of them here. And you-” he pointed to the person who’d rolled the pooper in- “clean that up. The rest of you, pair up and grab a bucket and start draining blood. Mags’ orders.”

The remaining cooks descended like buzzards on the prisoners, gathering pails and ripping open veins on their prey’s arms and watching the blood drip down like so many red rivers into the blue and brown buckets. Squeals flooded the air, limbs just barely able to wave, cooks holding down limbs as the blood dripped down and down and down. Skin turned ashen and gray. Claws ripped open bellies and started separating juicy fat from muscle from brittle bone from tendons.

Lukas winced and covered her face with her hands.

Hale noticed and grimaced. “Yeah, I know. This is the reality your father stuck on us. And it sucks.”

“This is the last time I’m letting this ever happen again.”

“Hopefully! I’m kinda hunkering for a salad… nice dark green leaves, some berry juices, a few stale baked pieces of bread… Oh! I’ve been so rude.”

Hale snapped her fingers. Some of the tears of skin hanging off the closest dead and partially-processed prisoner snapped off and twirled around, turning into another uniform just like those that the cooks were wearing.

She dropped the clothes in front of Lukas. “I hope I got your size right. Wouldn’t want a boob hanging out.”

“…Thanks?”

Lukas checked to make sure the cooks were too engrossed in their slaughter to notice her before sliding the clothes on. They fit alright- not perfectly, but not too loose.

Something in her stomach lurched. She averted her eyes from the rivulets of blood running down a prisoner’s arm- one of his former coworkers, someone from the mail room whose name he’d forgotten.

“I… don’t feel well. I’m going back to the center.”

“Whatever.” Hale shrugged. “Less food for you since you skipped out on helping. I’m going to start a fire for the meat.”

Lukas rolled her eyes.

Like that’s a downside.

She pressed herself up against the wall, then, watching the cooks to make sure they weren’t watching, slipped out and traced her steps back to the main room of the warren.

She collapsed on the center pedestal. Her stomach ached- she curled up and closed her eyes.

How much longer do I have until I become a caedat?

I… I don’t know.

The feast is tonight. I’ll escape then.

I could escape right now…

Another pang of pain from her stomach.

I need to eat something first. Even if it is human meat. I can’t fight off caedats- or Syntha, or Lex, or whatever that other girl’s name was- on an empty stomach.

I’m almost done, Kova.

I’m almost home.

26

“Hey! Hey, wakey wakey! Daddy says it’s time to eat!”

A rough palm slapped Lukas’ cheek. She opened her eyes and pulled herself up. Morf was standing right in front of her, gnawing on a thick strip of greasy meat almost as long as the little girl’s arm, a shard of pottery serving as a plate in her other hand. A few caedats were milling about, a few entering the commons now and then, nibbling on nuggets of meat and chatting in some harsh and lispy language Lukas didn’t understand.

Morf cocked her head. “Why are you a girl now?”

“Because…”

Dammit, how do I talk down to little kids?

“Because my body changes genders every time I shift. I don’t know why.”

“Oh. Well, tell me when you figure it out!”

Morf took Lukas’ hand. Lukas forced herself not to let her lip curl at the sensation of Morf’s post-eating greasy skin. Morf pulled her off of the pedestal, leading her with unsteady legs into the jail hallways. A few of the cells were empty this time, the piss and excrement gone, space left pristine like nobody had ever been there.

“Hey-” Morf let go of Lukas and spat her strip onto her plate, and they both stopped, almost at the first turn on the way to the kitchen. “Lukas?”

Lukas squatted down to her eye level. “Yeah?”

“Daddy said you’re afraid of meat. But it’s just meat- it’s not moving anymore.” She reached forward and patted Lukas on the top of her head- Lukas let her. “So you don’t have to be afraid, because I’m here!”

“Thanks… Morf.” Lukas giggled. “That’s a weird name. Where’d you get it from?”

“Well…” Morf put a finger on her chin. Her eyes rolled up to the ceiling, thinking. “Mommy said that’s what Daddy was yelling when he first came here. ‘Morfy-” Morf hopped back- “‘Morfy! I need Morfy!’ And he was rolling around and crying and he puked a few times. Mommy said he got really sick for a while. But he’s okay now. He doesn’t yell ‘Morfy’ anymore.”

Lukas sobered. “…Are you sure it wasn’t morphine?”

Morf cocked her head. “What’s that?”

“Never mind.” The older girl stood up. “Well? Aren’t you going to lead me to the kitchen?”

“Yay!”

Morf took Lukas’ hand again, this time making the two of them run- Lukas humored her at first, but this trip through, the pungent smell of unwashed skin was harsher, and she tore her hands away and clamped them over her nose.

Morf turned around and giggled at Lukas. “You’re funny.”

“How do you even live with this smell?”

“What smell?”

“This-” Lukas pinched her nose with one hand and gestured to the entire jail with the other. “It’s rank. It’s disgusting.”

“I don’t smell anything. Come on, we’re almost there!”

Morf took off running for the kitchen. Lukas stood there for a moment, trying to get her eyes not to water, and then she took a deep breath and followed Morf to the kitchen.

She released her breath, chest heaving, eyes almost glazing over as she took stock of her surroundings.

Half of the warren was crammed into the cramped kitchen, all jostling to get to the kitchen counter, some of them leaving every now and then with another potsherd and some red cuts of meat- strips, thighs still on the bone, little niblets. Morf took Lukas’ hand and dragged her into the back of what could have been interpreted as a line, eventually getting up to the main attraction- the massive pile of greasy and wet meat.

Lukas winced- there’s got to be some nasty germs growing in there- and took a small bit the size of one of her fingers into her hands. Some juice, cloudy and vaguely yellow, dripped onto her palm. Her stomach lurched, and she held the cut with two fingers, unsure where all of the potsherds had gone.

Morf hit Lukas’ thigh. “Come on! You’ve got to take more than that!”

…She’s right. I can’t survive on just that.

Lukas hesitantly took another piece the size of her palm and shoved her way out of the crowd. Morf glanced between her and the counter- not wanting to be left behind, she quickly tugged at another strip and freed it from the pile and chased after Lukas all the way back to the commons.

“Hey!” some stranger or another yelled. “The god kid’s gonna try some human meat for the first time!”

“Oh, what a pity we don’t have cameras down here,” another one, an older lady, crooned. “Baby’s first cannibalism!”

Lukas’ face flooded with heat. She set the bigger piece down in her lap and took the finger- not actually a finger, she knew- and pinched her nose shut and shoved it into her mouth and choked it down. It tasted of beef, chewy dark beef, just the right amount of greasy that makes one feel like crap afterwards.

That… actually wasn’t that bad- She gagged. What am I thinking? That used to be a person- used to be a living, breathing person I probably talked to once!

The caedats watching hollered as Lukas wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, some of them even clapping. Morf clapped and did a little dance- the spectators giggled.

“What’s the matter, kid? Not Hannibal enough for you? Need more spices?”

“Now you know what we’ve been having to deal with for the past century or so,” someone else yelled- probably Hale from the lilt in her voice, although Lukas couldn’t tell from the echo down whatever corridor the voice came from.

“Now Chronos is really gonna have it in for you. Eating his own people! Wait until Daddy finds out.”

Ambrios?

“Hey, good job, kid,” Mags drawled. He slapped Lukas on the back as he came into view. He gestured to the patty still in the girl’s lap. “Now do it again.”

“Do it!” the rest of them started chanting.

Lukas grimaced, sticking her tongue out. The chanting grew louder, a tsunami of noise, threatening to wash Lukas away in a sea of syllables- do it, do it, do it-

She took the damned slab of meat and shoved it into her mouth whole. Tears pricked in her eyes as the meat, succulent and rare, started to dissolve in her full cheeks.

A wide smile on Mags’ face. Cheering all around, curses on Chronos, slaps on the back.

Kova…

She swallowed. Some of the meat caught in her throat- she coughed, and the caedats laughed.

What would Kova do-

I’m not Kova! I’m weak. I’m dependent. I’m easily swayed-

“Shut up!” Lukas yelled, standing up on the pedestal. “Just- just shut up!”

The caedats sobered. The few just entering the commons stood in the entrance, confused.

“I’ve…” Lukas’ breath heaved. “I’ve had enough! You’re not going to kill me anymore. I don’t hate you. And you don’t hate me. But I’ve had enough of being humiliated. I’m not- I’m not your personal god. Or your source of entertainment. And I don’t want to be a caedat, either!”

“Uh, kid?” Mags tapped Lukas on the shoulder. “It’s only-”

She shoved Mags away. One of the caedats whooped, yelling for a fight- Mags shook his head and stumbled back onto his feet. She jumped off the pedestal and took off running down the nearest tunnel heading up, feet bare, wanting to be anywhere but there-

Her chest seized up, forcing her to slow down and stop and bend over. Her lungs heaved. Her sides burned.

“And why should I go after her?” Mags said, his voice echoing from the commons down the tunnel. “She can shift. I think she can fend for herself until she gets back to the otherworld.” A pause- an unintelligible voice among the rising roar of the others. “What am I, her personal apologist? I don’t care. I’ve got enough on my hands keeping the rest of you in line. Now shut the hell up and eat your damn meat.”

The burning in Lukas’ sides subsided enough for her to put one foot in front of the other, slowly building back up to a comfortable walk. The ground began to incline upwards, the underworld all around her gradually growing brighter and brighter- she hadn’t noticed just how dark it was in the warren. Eventually, it became too steep to walk, so she crawled along on all fours like a beast- like a caedat- and climbed up the rest of the way until she passed through a vaguely circular opening in the ground.

The walls of the labyrinth greeted her, brambles glistening.

Lukas took a deep breath and stretched her arm out again. The growing pains returned, popping her limbs out as she shifted in a flash of light. Nobody watched; no caedats came to try to slaughter her as she dug her claws into one of the labyrinth’s walls and climbed up until she was teetering on the skinny top, the whole maze stretching to the horizon in front of and behind her. She flicked her tail up- it just barely brushed against the ceiling of the underworld.

Did the underworld grow all that time I was gone?

Sounds like something Chronos would do just to mess with me.

She turned around.

Which way to the otherworld?

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. The tang of rotting metal hit her from behind. She tried to turn around- one of her feet slipped off, and she dangled from the ledge for a second before she swung herself over the wall and climbed back up from the other side. Unsteady, she stretched out her wings and hopped to the wall in front of her- it stood steady.

A scuffling below her. She peered down. Two caedats had their hands clamped around branches, trying to climb up to Lukas and failing. She blew gently on them, and they squealed as they let go of the wall and bounced back and shivered.

Lukas snorted. Her jaw ached.

So dragons can’t smile after all.

She hopped to the next wall, and the wall after that.

You know, the way you left was kinda immature…

She turned a bit to the right- she’d arrived at the crux of a long wide area- and glided to a corner.

I don’t care. They got what they wanted.

She hopped to the next wall.

And I got what I wanted.

Another wall.

And Kova’s about to get what he wants.

27

Lemon scent stung Kova’s nose. He dragged his crumpled-up paper towel across the front window, carefully going around all the decorations. A few crystal sun catchers that wouldn’t be useful again until spring returned, a little pink jelly heart Kova had brought home in kindergarten. Most were gaudy brittle Thanksgiving decorations, inherited from dead grandparents he’d barely known, that would probably disintegrate if he so much as looked the wrong way at them.

Something bumped his free hand. He looked down- Almira pushed her nose into his hand. She tentatively sniffed it before she stuck her pink tongue out.

Kova yanked his hand away. Almira stared up at him with big black eyes, glassy in the living room’s lamp light. Kova softened- maybe I’ll let her lick my hand just this once- and then he shook his head and went back to wiping down the window.

“Kova!”

A crackling- he rubbed the outside of his ears, still sore from the previous day’s surgery. The chilled and sterile metal table, the spike of a needle in his ear, the seemingly hordes of blue-masked faces hovering over him as his stomach lurched in his dizzy haze.

“Go get the mail!” A pause. “And then it’s time for drops afterwards!”

Kova dropped his arm. He stood there for a moment, his mind racing, before he threw away the dirtied and disgusting paper towel. He pulled on his boots and winter coat and earmuffs and slipped through the front door without so much as a single squeak.

Frigid winds slapped his face. He pressed his gloved hands against his cheeks.

Has it really gotten that cold already? It’s only been, what- he pulled his gloves away to count- six days? A week? since Lukas left.

He turned his eyes up to the sky.

New moon. Either Lukas is coming back tonight and we’ll reunite and go back to the city, or… he’ll be dead.

He shivered and shook his head.

Don’t think about that! I trust him. He’ll come back.

He better.

He plodded to the mailbox, frost-tipped grass crunching underneath his feet. The mailman had forgotten to put the red flag back down. The mailbox squealed as he threw it open- Kova winced and retrieved the letters and inspected them on his way back inside.

Three fat- health insurance, junk mail about a pre-approved credit card, a utilities bill.

And one thin, addressed just for him.

Kova went back inside and put away his winter gear as his mother wandered downstairs, her tablet in her hands, completely engrossed in whatever she was watching as she wandered into the kitchen. Kova followed her and slid the fat letters onto the counter- she didn’t even notice- and peered over her shoulder at the three fat men sitting at the news desk.

“But they’re not filming a movie,” the one in the green shirt on the left said. “My wife works for the city. There were no records of anything to do with demolition on the property. And even if they’d gotten everything cleared away, really? You’re telling me the great Engles Alegria would demolish one of his own buildings on a workday?”

Kova’s eyes widened.

I- I know what happened!

“It’s got to be a movie!” the man in the middle with the pink shirt spat out, waving his arms about. “Why else would the city ignore those squatters on the destroyed property? I’m telling you, half of the workers that day were hired extras, and the rest were holograms-”

“But how do you explain the dragon?” the third and final guy with the yellow shirt cut in. “Holograms wouldn’t be able to project that far. Alegria’s got a lot of resources, sure, and some of the most brilliant coders to ever come out of this sorry state. But that kid got hit by the damn thing, and he rode around with it for a minute or so and then fell off until-”

“Until a hologram set him down gently! Or maybe the kid was part of the hologram after all!”

“Except we know who the kid is.” The yellow shirt checked the papers in front of him. “His name’s Kova Innan, and he lives a shared apartment with- get this- another boy his age named Lukas Talos who worked there and went missing around the same time as the first 911 calls from that area! And they can’t be paid actors because we know who placed the calls- they’d be too long to play here, but the records are publicly available- and they were all employed by Alegria’s subsidaries for at least a month before the incident.”

“And your point is-”

“Alegria’s got a line of biological implants. And who’s allowed to get them? That’s right, only their employees. They’re guinea pigs, unwilling or not. And guess who’s got their own CRISPR editor? That’s right, Alegria, right inside their world headquarters in Minneapolis. And we won’t know for sure because tax forms are confidential and private, but according to the listing for that specific apartment before our little friends-” Kova grimaced- “bought it, they seem to be on the lower income side of things. So it wouldn’t be out of place if, say, Alegria, Inc. were to offer them extra money in exchange for performing genetic experiments on them!”

Kova’s mom propped up the tablet on the kitchen counter, letting the men continue to ramble on. She turned around slowly, every step methodical, placed just right to send a shiver down Kova’s spine.

“You have one minute to explain what the hell is going on.”

“Well-” Kova coughed. “I, uh, I got a roommate to help pay the bills, and he ended up getting the position we both applied for, and I stayed back and made the space bearable and got some odd jobs here and there. But, he, uh- promise you won’t laugh at me?”

Kova’s mom remained silent, her lips tight.

“He- He’s a god. And he came out of that video game that I have downstairs.” Kova’s face burned. “And so did the other three people who crashed here last week. And he can shift into a dragon-” Kova’s voice choked up. “And he changes genders every time-”

“Wait.” She held up a hand. Kova winced. “You’re telling me that this Lukas just came out of nowhere with no documentation and no money and somehow got a job? And filled out all the paperwork for an apartment with no credit history or bank account?”

“Actually, I did the apartment paperwork. I only added his name on it after he’d built up some work history.”

Kova’s mom sighed. “God, Kova… Alright. Okay. It sounds batshit insane, but obviously it happened, because you weren’t here for a year, and he’s on the news, and you’re standing in front of me after this whole time. But what about the other three kids? Why were they here?”

“To try to convince him to go back to the firstworld-”

“The what?”

“The firstworld. Where he and the others come from. This-” he waved his arms around- “is the otherworld. And they’re connected by an underworld that’s full of monsters and shreds of dead souls. That’s where they left to. And he’s coming back to the otherworld- to here- tonight. The new moon. Just like he promised.”

Kova’s mother averted her eyes for a moment, thinking as the three fat men continued to speculate as to what had happened to the blue-green beast thing they were so sure they’d seen.

“And you’re going to just go back to your apartment when he comes back?”

Shit! What do I say? I don’t want her to take-

Kova swallowed and set his jaw.

She can’t ground me anymore. The worst she can do is kick me out.

“…Yes.”

“…Son!” Flames danced in her eyes. Kova shrunk back from her. “You- I warned you about getting mixed up in the wrong crowd! The police are going to be swarming all over you and him- I’m surprised they’ve been too distracted to go after you!”

“That’s a good thing! He and I can slip through the cracks and get away with things that those with more money would get busted in an instant for. He and I can deal with no welfare and slightly lower standards of living in exchange for all the freedom of not being smothered by the government.”

Kova’s mother scowled, at a loss for words. “…You can’t be serious. You and your bravado again. If you value independence so much, why are you still here?”

“Because Lukas told me to stay here! Because he thought, if something happened to him, I’d have someone to protect me, help me get back on my feet. Do I like it? No! Not one bit! But I trust him enough to know what he’s doing.”

The tablet flashed. The two of them turned to it as the three men groaned and switched to a live feed. Whoever was filming was doing so on a potato phone behind a cracked glass window, too busy adding sordid commentary to go outside to get a better view.

His mother’s words melted into one another as Kova stared at the screen.

His eyes widened.

His breath caught in his throat.

The streak of blue and green.

28

The final stretch of the underworld. A large gaping hole in the ceiling, midday light streaming through and scattering to all the branches below.

Lukas dropped down from his perch on the last of the labyrinth walls and craned his neck up. A few clouds drifted lazily across the bright blue sky. An airplane left a gray trail behind it.

A perfect day for flying.

He stretched out his wings, crouching down and then jumping up and shooting into the air-

A slap of heat to the eyes.

He stumbled in the air and forced himself to land on a pile of rubble. His limbs ached as he shifted back and pulled himself out on top of the rocks- and then Syntha appeared right next to him. The metal point of her spear brushed right against the side of his throat, her face cold and stony as she held it there.

“So, all this waiting wasn’t for nothing.”

Lex strolled into Lukas’ view, his hair free and blowing in the wind. Lukas snarled- Lex snapped his fingers, and Syntha pressed the metal point ever so slightly harder against his skin.

“I was going to prepare a big speech for when we captured you. But you seem to be a bit… naked. So I’ll spare you the humiliation of having to stand naked in front of everybody and just end this now.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Lukas spat back. “We’re in a public place. There are cameras watching. The police-”

“-wouldn’t dare follow us into the underworld,” Lex cut in. “But you’re right. They won’t be here before long. Lucky you. I won’t get to make you suffer for all the time you’ve made me waste.”

He held out his hand. A fireball materialized in his palm, glowing, crackling red. Something nudged the back of Lukas’ neck- one of Kuroi’s arrows, he guessed.

“Ceuta, please,” Syntha whispered, her breath unsteady. “One more chance. Please come back with us.”

I can’t shake my head. That’ll tear my skin wide open.

He glanced around. Sirens started to wail in the distance.

I’m surrounded.

Syntha’s spear dug harder into his skin. Lex held the fireball closer to Lukas’ face. Tears pricked in the corners of his eyes as the heat began to sting.

No, I’m not.

Heat bloomed in his chest. A few blue wisps streaked around his right arm. He kept his eyes focused right on Lex’s as he curled his arm in and then shot it out behind him- a seizing of every single atom in his arm, a skewering sound, and then Lukas threw himself backwards and retracted his arm and somersaulted over Kuroi, crumpled and gasping for air and bleeding as she rolled down the rocks with a bloody dent in her chest. Her bow clattered to the ground. He got back up on his feet, and Syntha bolted to Kuroi, and he and Lex took off running, one chasing the other.

Lukas jumped, and in a rash moment, rolled to the side and shifted and beat his wings into the air until he was sailing along just above all the buildings, the confused yells of the people below as insignificant as ants. And then a warm sensation on his tail, and he chanced a glance backwards to see Lex just barely hanging onto the tip.

“Ceuta!”

Lex gasped for air and pulled himself farther up Lukas’ tail. Lukas beat his wings and ascended further up into the sky, a good fifty feet more above the buildings. A stab in his tail- the glint of silver out of the corner of his eye.

No, the glint of ice, because a freezing sensation surrounded the wound, biting into his flesh.

He roared and flicked his tail.

“Ceuta!”

Lex climbed farther up the tail, reaching Lukas’ rump. His dagger- his magic- whatever he had, he drove it into the little crevice between Lukas’ right leg and hip and twisted. Lukas’ thigh exploded in pain- he barreled over and over and over again in the air, trying to throw Lex off, but Lex held on, his knuckles deathly white.

“Ceuta!”

A bridge connecting the city to the main highway, crossing over a winding river. Lukas closed his eyes and tucked his wings in and dove. Lex let go at the last moment.

Both of them crashed into the freezing water.

Lukas shifted back. Her muscles froze up. Her lungs jumped, desperate for air- she kicked, feebly at first and then stronger until she broke the surface. Her lips parted, greedily drinking in the air, her hair plastered to her forehead.

“Ceuta!” Lex yelled.

Lukas turned around to see Lex kneeling on a pallet of floating ice, water dripping down his furious face. The gash in her leg screamed in pain, quickly muted by the freezing water.

Lex brushed the soaked hair out of his eyes. A devilish grin grew on his face.

“Just give up. Either let the icy waters take you, or-” he held a hand out, conjuring a fireball- “submit to my flames.”

Lukas shook her head. Her limbs seized up- she struggled for breath as she desperately began paddling for shore.

Lex snapped his fingers. His floating ice pallet began tailing Lukas, just a few feet behind. She shook her head and dove underwater, kicking her legs, her heartbeat struggling to keep up. Her fingers were frozen solid. Her skin ached, wanting to crack and spill open everything into one big frozen soup.

The cold tugged on her eyelids, slid its icy lips next to her ear, whispering, entreating her to close her eyes and let the lazy water’s arms caress her and envelop her in their silence. But she kicked back above the surface and kept paddling, kept struggling for air until-

A pang in her chest.

She yelped, throat dry and sticky like wax paper left out in the sun.

Her legs refused to respond, and she slipped under.

The shadow of Lex’s ice raft passed over her as she sunk farther and farther down into the water. Her legs twitched- she didn’t dare look down, scared of what the unknown depths would look like or what was lurking in them.

I… I’m going to die here…

Kova’s face. A warm, loving arm around his shoulders. The sunset off the apartment balcony, purple bruises and pink scars and the dark blue of eternity.

I can’t die here!

She landed on the river floor. Soft brown silt squished in between her toes. Her lungs jerked in her chest like they were trying to grow limbs of their own to swim up.

One last wave of heat over her limbs as she forced herself to shift.

And then there was silence.

And breath. Deep, glorious breaths of water, still icy but rejuvenating, refreshing every inch of his body instead of offering a watery grave.

…I can breathe underwater!

Why didn’t I know this before?

He craned his neck to look up. Lex was still floating on his raft above him, still looking down, trying to watch him as best as he could through the dark waters. Lukas flattened himself against the riverbed and closed his eyes and swished his tail, clouding up the waters until he was sure Lex couldn’t see a damn thing at all.

He opened his eyes and crawled forward. The waters slowly cleared up. A swoosh in the surface- Lex was floating right above him again.

Lukas snorted. Bubbles floated up to the surface. Lex reached out his slender fingers to touch one and jerked his hand back suddenly and shivered.

Lukas kicked up and poked his head above the surface. He paddled a bit back from Lex’s raft- he ducked his head back underwater, just barely missing Lex’s flames. He poked back up and breathed onto the water in front of him, watching it crystallize and freeze up and attach to Lex’s raft, throwing it off balance.

Lex wobbled for a moment before he crawled to the center of the new raft. He scowled.

“Real funny. You’re just prolonging your own death, you know…”

Lukas backed up a bit and emptied out his lungs, all around him, watching ice form and slowly grow outwards on its own. A few shards came hurtling towards him like so many spears- he ducked his head underwater just in time.

A hole burned in the water, translucent for a moment before breaking and revealing Lex’s face, distorted through the rippling water. He reached in and swished the water a bit.

“Your father was a simple laborer!” Lex yelled, the pink of cold spreading over his cheeks.

…What?

Lukas poked his head through the hole. He snorted icy air at Lex- Lex dispelled it with a few sparks.

“You think you’re so much better than us humans with your ice affinity and your ability to shift and your lineage, don’t you?” Lex stood up, staring back down at the beast below. “Your father was once human. He was the greatest mage the universe had ever seen. Self-taught, even. His peers said that he was powerful enough to overthrow all the gods. And you know what he did?”

Lukas slowly shook his head.

“That. He discarded his body and slaughtered them all. And then he destroyed the world and remade it as he saw fit. Some say the guilt of killing all his friends split his soul in two, creating his wife Mythos. Your mother.”

Lukas swiped at Lex- Lex jumped back and blocked with a wall of fire, making Lukas hiss and retreat. The ice sizzled. Steam rose up as it began to melt.

“Your father was a coward. He ran away from everybody who could have used his help, who needed it. And you would do the same? You injured Kuroi. My friend. I’m not asking the world of you. I don’t give a damn if you restore the firstworld or not. I’m just asking for you to help one person.” Lex gasped for air- Lukas saw ears brimming in his eyes. He conjured a fireball in his palm. “But I already know your answer. You don’t give a damn about anyone but yourself. So it’s my duty to ensure you can’t hurt anyone else ever again.”

Lex hurled the fireball at Lukas. Lukas ducked his head underwater just in time, watching the fireball sizzle and eat away at the ice. Lukas kicked his legs and ignored the aches from the gash and sped away, dodging the buoys tethered to the surface and beating his wings like fins to go faster.

Something slimy slid by him.

A fish?

Fish still live here?

He glanced over his shoulder. Lex was trailing right behind him on a current of blue and red wisps, dodging the bridges and overpasses, staying right on his trail-

A dam.

Lukas took a deep breath of water and shot out, stretching out his wings, sailing just above the concrete barrier. Water droplets slid off him like bullets.

Lex’s wisps wore down at the dam. He threw himself to the side and rolled onto the riverbank. He gasped for air, his chest pounding, and pulled himself to his feet as he watched Lukas slide away farther and farther into the horizon.

“Damn, that was tiring,” Lex whispered to himself. He brushed some dirt off his robes, dingy and desperately in need of a good wash, and wiped the sweat dripping down his forehead. His limbs ached. “You’re getting stronger, Ceuta. I’ll give you that. But fifty dollars says I know exactly where you’re headed.”

29

“Kuroi!”

Syntha dashed down the rocks. Kuroi’s limp body rolled down the rocks and landed right against a jagged shard of a metal support beam. Kuroi grunted in pain. Syntha hopped to her side and turned her head to the sky, watching Lex desperately hang onto Ceuta’s tail as they disappeared together.

“Dammit!”

Syntha tossed her spear aside and pulled Kuroi away from the destroyed support beam and onto a relatively flat slab of concrete. She knelt beside her, at a complete loss for what to do. Kuroi moaned, her voice gritty and rough as blood seeped up from the dent and seeped into her clothes and started leaking onto the ground.

An exposed organ, tissue shredded, glistened red.

Kuroi grunted and reached out for her bow, laying just a few feet away from her- she couldn’t reach, and a cry escaped her lips as her arm flopped into Syntha’s lap.

“Syntha…”

“Shush! I’ve got to have something I could use- something to stop this bleeding-”

She grabbed her skirt, psyching herself to tear it, imagining the argument she’d be having with Lex later-

Lex!

“Dammit, Lex!” Syntha howled to the sky, her eyes flooding with tears. “Couldn’t you have healed Kuroi before taking off on us?”

“Syntha.” Kuroi grunted and put one hand on Syntha’s hand, the other clutching at the hole in her chest. “Stop. It’s useless.”

He couldn’t heal Kova-

“No- I got to- The otherworld has police and doctors and-”

“Syntha. Stop.”

Syntha’s eyes watered. She forced herself to meet Kuroi’s gaze, serene and spaced-out.

“Listen, darling. To me. And all around you.”

“I…”

Syntha’s lips quivered. She forced herself to close her eyes for a few seconds, if only for Kuroi’s sake.

“You and me and Lukas and Lex… we don’t have any business being here in this world. There are no gods here, or kings, or tiny villages with simple people. Only smoke and grime.” She paused- her breath rattled. “Oh, how I do regret dying and leaving you alone in this disgusting world. But Syntha… all of this is meaningless. Every tear. Every bead of sweat.” Kuroi touched a few fingers to her wound. Her fingertips came back red. “Every drop of blood.”

“Wanting all the people I love to be able to live longer lives and not have to toil so much is meaningless?”

“No, dear… That is a noble goal. But wanting everything to change overnight is. And especially to- to this…” Her head lolled to the side. Commuters traveling from the parking building to their jobs walked along without a single care in the world, their heads down, their eyes fixed on the pavement beneath them. “I think it’s clear by now that Ceuta isn’t going to be the answer to your problems. Nor should she be.”

“Then why’d you even come and help?”

“Because… Because someone needs to protect you from yourself. Someone needs to give you guidance, or else-” A gasp. Sirens started echoing in the distance. “Oh, damn. I was wrong after all. They do care in the end. Wouldn’t it be a shame if I were to conveniently black out right now and then die in custody before they could extract any information from me.”

“Kuroi!”

Syntha ripped a part of her skirt off and pressed it against the wound. It immediately bled through. Kuroi’s eyes fluttered.

“Stop- stop speaking, Kuroi. Just hold on.”

She took Kuroi’s hand and pressed it down harder against the dent in her chest.

Kuroi winced.

“Syntha…” Her voice was little more than a whisper, barely audible against the bustle of the city all around them. “Kill Ceuta. Stop this cycle of madness. Then get Lex and go home.”

“I…” She grabbed her spear and fastened it to her back. “Okay.”

“And run. Now. Go.”

“I… Okay!”

Syntha took one last long look at Kuroi and then pulled herself to her feet. The ambulance rounded the corner- people scattered to the sidewalks, clamping their hands over their ears as the sirens grew louder and louder.

Syntha took off sprinting in the opposite direction, leaping over rocks and rubble and bits and pieces of concrete and whatever broken merchandise hadn’t been recovered by the police. A few people gathered at the end of the property- she shoved them aside and hit the sidewalk running.

One of her hairties broke. One of her ponytails unraveled, burnt orange hair waving in the wind, free, waving goodbye to Kuroi as the medics stabilized her and put her on a stretcher and loaded her into the back of an ambulance.

I should have taken up magic like Lex. I could be flying above everybody right now-

She almost collided with a man dawdling outside a store and shoved him aside. He shouted obscenities at her as she continued sprinting. Her spear caught on an open window- the metal shrieked as it scored the glass.

“Sorry!” she shouted over her shoulder. Someone threw a punch at her- she skipped to the side, just barely missing it, and turned the corner. Her lungs burned. Her chest heaved, but she kept pushing forward, kept putting one foot in front of the other and slipping and sliding between all the cracks in the people just trying to get on with their mundane everyday lives.

The horns of the lightrail blared. A blue flash, and another turn- she was just a few blocks away from the lightrail station.

That’s my only way out-

A gunshot somewhere to her left. A police car swung into the street in front of her. She halted and turned around- another police car turned the corner and braked. Officers spilled out from all sides. She circled around. All of the roads were suddenly blocked with flashing red and blue lights and black uniforms and glossy weapons just waiting to be fired.

One of the officers stepped her way, his hand on his holster. “Hands in the air where I can see them.”

“Uh… okay?” Syntha stretched her hands out. “Is this a good angle for you? Or is the sunlight too strong?” She turned her hands over. “Or maybe you’d like to see the backs of them?”

“Stop talking!” the officer barked.

Syntha squeezed her lips shut, watching bystanders start to gather at the scene.

That’s a… gun, right? That’s what they called them? And you point one at someone, and they die quicker than the eye can see.

“You’re not just your normal everyday squatters, aren’t you?” another officer piped up, stepping over to Syntha, wiry and tall and built like a stick. He nudged her neck with the barrel of his gun. He reeked of rotten onions and several days without a shower.

Syntha eyed him and bit down on her bottom lip, trying to keep herself from quivering.

“Bunch of pithy little pretend anarchists, running around with spray cans and boom boxes. If I had a quarter for every one of those I let go…” He shot at the sky, boom ringing in Syntha’s ears. She winced. He laughed and returned the hot barrel to her neck. “I’d be broke. Because I shot every last one of them in their pretty little necks. Snapped them like wishbones on Thanksgiving.”

“Isn’t that illegal in your world-”

“Shut up!” He dug the barrel into Syntha’s skin. She stepped back. He grabbed her arm and tugged her close, right up against him, and sneered. “You didn’t put down your weapon when we accosted you. That could be interpreted as a sign of a threat, you know.”

“You never told me to-”

“Ignorance isn’t an excuse, darling.” He put a finger to Syntha’s chin and forced her to look up at him. She scowled. “And I’m hired by Alegria himself, not the city. So I don’t have to follow all of the city’s regulations. Oh, and he’s decided that playtime’s over.” He put the gun to the front of her neck and cackled. “Oh, won’t he be absolutely elated to hear that I’ve got another one of-”

“Officer!” one of the grunts shouted, pointing to the sky.

And then the rain came.

A hand of wind wrapped its fingers around Syntha and yanked her body up. Drops of flame rained down on the officers, setting their hair on fire, their cars ablaze.

Shrieking- of metal, of man, of sudden chaos.

And Lex’s face, greeting her with a scowl as the hand of wind dropped her on the roof of the nearest building.

“Lex!” Syntha rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her brother. Lex grunted and pushed her off. “Kuroi- she’s-”

Lex’s face darkened. “Then I was too late.” He sunk to his knees and covered his face with his hands, his breath heavy. “Kuroi…” A wet sob, and then he wiped his eyes. “I… I need to rest a moment before I even dare try fast-travel again. We’ll be heading back to a certain house shortly. Preferably before the police get here.”

Syntha stared at him. A rush of heat in her cheeks- she pulled her lance out from its holder and held it out in front of her, staring at the shiny metal.

And then she threw it to the ground, letting it clatter right in front of her feet.

“I’m useless!” Lex jerked his eyes up- Syntha tugged at her hair. “I couldn’t follow Ceuta; I couldn’t save Kuroi; I didn’t even stand a chance against all those police officers-” Her eyes locked on Lex. “You’ve got to teach me magic. You have to.”

Lex’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve spent nearly my entire life training to get to where I am now. And you expect me to get you up to a point where you could hold your own in five minutes?”

“You…” Syntha’s lips quivered, flustered. “You could teach me something basic. Something I could use now.”

“Hmm…” He tapped his chin. “Fine. But I’m no teacher. You’d be better served with an actual instructor in the firstworld. But if you insist… I can’t do much if I don’t know what your affinity is.”

“My… affinity? I thought only gods-”

“No, everyone capable of manipulating magic has one.” Lex stretched out his hand. He wiggled his fingers. A little blue wisp appeared and floated in the sky, disintegrating in the sunlight. “Mine is wind, actually, not fire. Hence how I’m much farther along at it than fire or…” He grimaced. “Electricity. Gah, I can’t stand people who just electrocute anything that moves… Cowards.” He shook his head. “Affinities don’t cost nearly as much magical energy to manipulate as everything else.”

Syntha held her hands out. “How do I find it?”

“Close your eyes.”

Syntha closed her eyes.

“Now put your hands together like you’re praying to Ceuta to just die already so we can go home.”

Syntha opened one eye, glaring at him, but she did as she was told.

“Now concentrate. Think about something that really gets your blood boiling, something that makes you tremble at the mere thought of it, something that keeps you awake at night. Picture it in your mind.” Syntha scrunched her face. “Focus on it. Dwell on how it makes you feel-”

Syntha yelped and stepped back. A handful of sparks flew out of her hand.

Lex gaped at her, wide-eyed.

Syntha stared at her hands. “How- I’ve never-”

The roof access door rattled. Lex rose to his feet and curled his fingers. Little balls of fire like marbles formed on his fingertips. He swept his arm down and rolled them under the door, cackling as their assailants shrieked on the other end of the slab of steel.

“Grab your spear. They’re here early.”

Syntha grabbed her spear and, hesitant, stashed it back onto her back. Lex twirled around, his breath heaving- a maelstrom of winds rose up in a neat funnel, lifting the two of them up just as the roof access door busted open. Officers spilled onto the roof, watching helplessly as the two siblings shot into the air.

A narrow tunnel of air- like an undersea current, except this one came with a risk of falling down several hundred miles and splatting onto the ground. Syntha forced herself to focus on the shoes on Lex’s feet in front of her.

Syntha’s hair blew all around her. Her other ponytail came free. She stretched out her arms, free as a bird- as a bird could be when having their sibling control the direction of the torrent of air.

So many roads below. So hopelessly complex, like an ant colony, each little vehicle on the road having somewhere to be and something to do and a place all its own.

“If only I’d been quicker,” Lex said to himself, his voice only a whisper in the wind. “I should have known that Ceuta would have pulled something like that. I should have stayed at least until the end- I should have gotten injured in her place…”

Syntha bit her lip. Her tears would have been like bullets in the torrent anyway.

30

I can’t go straight home. Kova won’t be there, and Syntha and Kuroi will probably still be in the area in wait to ambush me.

I can’t go straight to his mother’s house. Hell, I don’t even know for sure if Kova’s still there.

But Lex could be headed there! And he might hurt Kova in my place- or even kill him- and it’s not like the police will be able to catch him in time!

Lukas took a deep breath of chilly air, passing over the roads, the manufactured and trimmed treetops, the empty fields being sold as development land. All of the sounds of the city bleeding into suburbia- cars blaring their horns, people shouting, driving- all melded into one steady stream of not-quite-static. The same sound Lukas had fallen asleep to for so long, and yet different.

Lonelier, almost.

Alienating.

One of the roads ended in a roundabout and a parking lot. The local nature reserve, several acres of nothing but undeveloped forest and an artificial beach closed for the season. Lukas dropped down into the cover of the trees and slipped past the tight tree cover.

He shifted back. His skin tingled with cold as he crawled over to the half-frozen river gently piddling nearby. He leaned over- a crackled reflection of his face stared back, hair limp with grease, eyes bright.

I…

I killed Kuroi.

I… killed someone.

He leaned forward and stuck his hands in the lake. His palms screamed in the icy water, his skin almost immediately turning pink and then red. Sand caked underneath his fingernails as he dug his fingers into the soft silt of the riverbed, red filtering into vis vision, fingers scrabbling to dig deeper and deeper with an almost violent passion.

A gasp of air. All the goosebumps on his body simultaneously rose.

Dammit, I…

Kuroi’s scream echoed in his mind.

That’s what gods are supposed to do, right? Create, manipulate, destroy. And kill anyone who gets in their way.

Syntha’s blank face stared back at him.

He yanked his fingers up. Silt slipped off his sore fingers, the water rippling as the droplets of dirt splashed down and dispelled the glassy reflection. He cupped his hands and scooped up water and dumped it over his head.

He gasped for air as the water stung his scalp. Rivulets of water slid down his forehead, his cheeks, his chest. He scooped up more water and splashed it on himself. The chill, the faux purity that only nature could provide.

I don’t want to destroy. I don’t- I don’t want to kill anyone. No more. Not if I don’t absolutely have to.

A pattering behind him. He glanced behind him- a lone deer was staring at him with big glossy black eyes. A few patches of white shone on its skin. He raised a hand- the deer shook its head and ran away.

Lukas shrunk back from the river, backing up on the riverbed, his feet smudging the mud. A leaf stuck to the back of his heel. He yanked it off and tossed it into the water.

I don’t want to deal with this anymore. I don’t want to be a god. I don’t want all these people chasing after me. And I don’t want to kill- I don’t want to-

He twisted and punched the nearby tree. A boom, an echo. A few leaves fell around him, sticking to his skin. His knuckles screamed in pain- he pulled his hand back to see the skin red and raw.

I… I’m a god. He curled and uncurled his fingers, studying the lines in his palm. I could manipulate them to make them go away, couldn’t I? And the caedats- I could still call on them, couldn’t I?

No. Lex is my problem. I won’t risk their lives any more than I have to.

I need power. And I need to become a statue so I can confirm that Kova’s okay.

Power…

He walked away from the riverbank, his eyes scanning the brown and drab land. A hiking trail sat not too far away. He made his way over-

A biker zoomed down the path. He jumped behind a tree. The biker rolled past- and then rolled over a rock, and her tire turned, launching her off the bike. She crashed into the ground. Her ankle twisted. She yelped.

“Dammit!” the girl yelled, somewhere about his age, maybe a little older. Her frazzled red hair spilled out of her helmet. She struggled, but she couldn’t stand up.

Lukas poked out from behind the tree. The skin above her ankle was bright red.

Should I…?

“Hey, you!” The girl locked her eyes on him. She pointed to where her bike lay on the other side of the path. “There’s a first aid kit in the back. Can you bring it here?”

Lukas glanced around- and then he went over to the bike and unhooked the clear plastic box from the back. A red cross in permanent marker greeted him, little bandages scattered within.

“Yeah. That. Bring it here.”

Lukas brought it to her. She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled herself up to sit, extending her injured leg in front of her and rolling back her pant leg. He crouched beside her.

“Yeah, that’s my shin, alright…”

The girl popped open the box and retrieved a wide bandage and a moist towelette. She reached forward- a ping of pain in her shoulder, and she yelped and shrunk back.

She handed the bandage and towelette to Lukas and stretched her leg back out. “Could you put this on?”

Lukas nodded. He tore open the packaging to both and reached forward- he brushed his pinky against the almost-bleeding area. Warmth blossomed in his chest. His stomach lurched. The girl winced, and he quickly wiped the area and put the bandage on, embarrassed.

“Th-thanks. Help me up?”

Lukas crouched down again. She wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and he helped her to her feet, wobbling as she pulled away from Lukas.

“Thanks…” She cocked her head. “What’s your name, nude forest man?”

Lukas glanced down. He was indeed naked. He blushed and shook his head. He clenched the bloodied towelette in his right hand- his fingers tingled.

“Too shy?” She giggled. “You didn’t look the type. But thanks anyways.”

She stumbled over to the bike and pulled it up and walked it down the path, slowly disappearing from his line of sight. Lukas turned back to the river. A stick with a few brittle leaves still attached floated by.

He studied the towelette in his hand, red streaks glowing in the light.

I could eat-

No! That’s nasty! He grimaced. I could get AIDS or- or something else!

I wonder…

He traced a finger along one of the streaks.

His heart pounded.

His skin flushed.

And the streak grew pale and then disappeared altogether.

He touched another streak. And another, and another, until the towelette was as clean as the snow would be there in a few months’ time.

He tied the white almost-cloth on a nearby tree branch and curled up on the ground.

Now I’ve got to become a statue…

He held his breath and closed his eyes. A blue wisp circled around his wrist, tickling the skin with heat. He opened his eyes and let go of his breath.

That’s going to be the hard part.

What did Hale say? That I needed to possess my body before I turned back to flesh so that I don’t mess myself up?

So I’ve got stay in my body until I turn to stone. That’s one part.

But what are the others?

Lukas closed his eyes, searching his mind. A certain day over a century ago. Faces all a blur- all except for Melilla, the purple starting to grow out of her hair. The mages- their words indecipherable, their voices slurring together in the bright light.

This is useless. I can’t remember. And I’m too close to seeing Kova again to risk accidentally killing myself with an unpracticed spell.

He opened his eyes. He rolled onto his back, keeping his legs pulled in against his chest.

A few birds stirred far above his head in the treetops, little shards of light streaming down from the cracks in the leaves. Leaves crinkled as they fell from the trees and landed all around Lukas, some on his face. He brushed them off and watched the wispy clouds float on by.

This place is pretty peaceful. I should take Kova here sometime, show him- just me and him and this cold ground, sharing heat-

A twinge in his lower regions. Lukas winced.

No- not now-

He clenched his muscles, squeezing his legs against his chest, and little by little, the tightness between his legs subsided.

Enough of that. I.. I don’t feel that way about Kova.

But then how do I feel about him?

Well… He saved my life. He helped me off the streets and let me into his life. And he helped me get a job so we could have a safe place we could always go back to every night.

And what have I repaid him with? Uncertainty and a backstory he shouldn’t have gotten mixed up in and the constant threat of losing everything he owns because of one person I pissed off.

Maybe Chronos was right. Lukas closed his eyes. Maybe my place really is in the heavens where I can’t ruin anything.

31

The wind howled through the almost-bare treetops. Only a few stars shone through the thick cloud cover, scattered, lost in the deep abyss of the sky without the moon’s bright face to guide them safely back home to the horizon.

Kova shivered and clutched his coat closer to him. His backpack sagged heavy against his back, packed to the brim with whatever possessions he couldn’t deal with never seeing again. Which was, admittedly, not that much, only what he’d brought with him from the apartment and a few more pairs of clothes.

“I have my freedom now. And I’ll be damned if I just throw it away and go back to being that weird kid who lived in the basement and never came out of his shell!”

“Then get the hell out of my house. Be a man of your word for once.”

The nighttime air scraped Kova’s lips, crisp in his breath. He pulled his hood over his head and faced away from the wind. He trodded over and rested his elbows on the back of the bench overlooking the lake- one of many benches scattered throughout the park, the cold from the metal trying to seep through his several layers of sweaters and failing.

The wind picked up. A blast of cold air over his shoulder. A thick shadow passed over the streetlight behind him.

Kova turned around- and jumped. An overgrown- was that a rabbit?- beast of some sort was sitting on its haunches across the street, watching him with beady red eyes, unmoving, just… breathing. And then it took a step towards him, sniffing, its six ears swaying in the brisk wind.

“You… You’re a caedat, aren’t you?” His eyes widened. “…Lukas?”

The caedat flopped on its side and tumbled. A white light enveloped it and then scattered- a dark-haired little girl wearing a loose-fitting dress of thin leather rolled onto the ground and pulled herself up.

She clapped her hands. “Ta-dah! But it’s not Lukas. It’s me, Morf!”

“Morf… Oh! I know you.”

Morf cocked her head- and then shivered and pulled on her ears. “How? I don’t know you.” She suddenly turned glum. “I don’t know anyone out here in the otherworld…”

“You’re from the…” Kova shook his head. “Never mind. Where’s Lukas?”

“I don’t know.” Morf scratched her head. “He- she- whatever!” She stomped her foot and pouted. “He left us yesterday. He was all angry about something. Daddy doesn’t know anything after that, so I don’t either.”

“Okay…”

He went into that lake with- with Lex?- yeah, with Lex. And then he shifted again and disappeared into the park reserve.

So if anything happened to him, it would have been in there.

So where is he?

Kova’s fingers twitched.

We should have agreed to meet at the library instead. They have old donated TVs. I could have hooked my stuff into one of those and watched while I waited-

“What’s wrong?”

“He promised he’d be here tonight so we could decide what we want to do next.”

“Oh.”

Morf flopped down beside the bench and pouted harder.

Kova turned his eyes back to the sky. A pair of flashing red lights- a commercial plane. A shiver ran down his spine. The usual roar of an airplane passing overhead just faintly mewled, pathetic against the other nighttime noises- the burbling of the few parts of the lake not busy freezing over, the last chirping of crickets for the season, some actual rabbit or another brushing through the grass on its way to its hibernation station underneath a tree.

A stab of pain in his right ear- he clamped a hand over it and winced. His other hand went to his pocket, fingers searching. No pain bottle.

Crap! I forgot it at home-

No, I forgot it at my mother’s house.

I’ll get something over-the-counter tonight when I go home. Like, actual home.

A dark shadow passed over the treetops. Kova's heart fluttered. He held his breath as the shadow dropped down.

Yellow light cast over a green-and-blue beast across the street, half as tall as the streetlight behind it. Slinky, built like a cat, its tail waving slowly, the fanned tip stretched out. A crown of points on its cone-shaped head, its wings pulled tight against its body. Stark white eyes, bright and alive as they watched Kova.

It smacked its tail against the nearby tree. A fluttering- leaves falling all around them, red and yellow and all the other colors of fire settling at their feet.

Kova slid his backpack off onto the bench. He stepped forward, tentative, and reached out his hand to stroke the beast’s muzzle, scales sliding and breathing under his skin. The beast closed its eyes and purred- a happy sound, a content sound.

It pulled its head away and curled in on itself. A blanket of blinding white light- Kova shielded his eyes until it disintegrated like a broken feathery pillow spilling out. And then Lukas stood in front of him, as naked as the day he’d descended.

They stood there in silence for a few minutes, staring at each other, Morf peeking out from behind the bench.

“Lukas?” Kova whispered.

Lukas nodded his head, tears brimming in his eyes.

Kova dashed across the street. He wrapped his arms around Lukas, around his slender body, just barely keeping itself from shivering in the frigid autumn nighttime air. His hair tickling his neck, his head resting in the crook of Lukas’ neck.

“Oh my god- you’re-” Kova laughed, tears in the corners of his eyes glinting in the light of the streetlamp. “You’re alive. And you’re not a caedat- and you didn’t get killed by any of them-” He pulled his head away, looking Lukas in the eyes. “We’re going home tonight. We’re going to get everything sorted out. With the police, with Alegria, with the landlords. With each other.”

Lukas winced.

“What?”

Lukas squirmed. His throat choked up.

“I… I just…”

Kova let go of Lukas and stepped back- and then took off his outermost coat and sweater and draped them over Lukas’ shoulders. “Even… gods need to stay warm.”

The corner of Lukas’ mouth twitched up in a grin. He averted his eyes elsewhere.

“What’s wrong?”

A tiny pathetic sound from Lukas’ throat. “I… Can you hug me again?”

“Sure. Of course.”

Kova enveloped Lukas in his arms again. Lukas hesitated a moment, then returned the gesture, closing his eyes and relishing in the chill of the nighttime air on the back of his neck, on Kova’s warm breath tickling the nape of his neck.

“Kova?”

“Yeah?”

“Look me in the eyes.”

Kova glanced up-

Lukas slipped a hand to the back of Kova’s head and squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his lips against Kova’s. Hungry, yet not daring anything further than a simple kiss. Kova’s eyes widened, thrown off guard- but he let his eyes close and his hand wander to the back of Lukas’ head, exploring the tangled hairs, offering himself up to further exploration, letting the blonde boy get his fill.

Lukas shivered and suddenly pulled his head away.

A heavy pause, almost oppressive in its weight, like a rice vest forced on a special-needs kid. The world drained of sound, their breathing the only thing still existing in the universe.

A hissing- a whooshing- Kova yelped, and Lex materialized behind him and locked his arm around Kova’s neck, yanking him away and pressing the edge of a dagger of ice to his throat. Lukas jumped back- the sweaters slipped off his shoulders, his eyes wide open, his chest pounding.

Greasy, stringy hair. Wild eyes. His once ornate robe torn in multiple places. Blood spatters all over his sleeves. Red and brown and black caked underneath his ragged fingernails.

Lex, depravity.

“So, Ceuta, we meet again.” A new silk in his voice. “You’re not the only one who’s discovered the blood trick.”

“Blood?” Kova whimpered.

Lex pressed the dagger ever so tighter against his throat.

“What- I-” Lukas stepped forward. “What are you playing at, Lex? That only works on gods.”

“Ceuta. Such an innocent child underneath all that… endowment. Physical or not. What a shame Syntha couldn’t be here to see you die.”

“Where’s Syntha?”

Lex cackled, echoing down the street, the shrill noise scaring all the nearby birds from the trees. Kova squirmed and bit back a tear.

“She served her purpose. She was a great deal of help to me with achieving my goals. But people are disposable, Ceuta, mere pawns in the celestial game of the gods…”

Lex rolled his eyes to the stars. A fierce wind picked up, slamming Lukas in the face with a hand of frost. Lukas stumbled back and covered his face. The wind died just as quickly as it came, and Lex snickered as Lukas picked himself back up.

“And I am- I will become a god, Ceuta, every bit as powerful as your father. And I won’t abandon my people! I’ll end every ounce of suffering-”

“You killed Syntha.”

“Death is temporary. Syntha’s soul is in good hands. My hands.” Lex snapped the fingers of his free hand by Kova’s ear. A little white wisp stretched out its hand and then disappeared again. “And I’ll resurrect her and Kuroi and everyone else you and your father’s curse on the firstworld have taken from me.” He shook his head. “I have you cornered. So let’s make a deal. You give me every ounce of your ungodly power, untapped or not, right here, right now, and I’ll let you live. I’ll even leave you a mortal like your little friend here.” Kova closed his eyes and grunted. “You can go back to your mundane life selling implements so other people can make pretentious art and pretend that their lives aren’t mundane and meaningless. Or you both die here right away and I’ll take the power from both of your blood.”

Lukas’ chest tightened. A few wisps of blue ran around his hands. He curled his hands into fists.

“Leave Kova out of this. He didn’t do anything to you.”

“Oh?” Lex raised an eyebrow. “I’m just copying what you always do. Using others as meat shields.” He laughed. “And you’re going to try to fight me instead of talking it out, aren’t you? That’s cute. Typical gods.”

“Lukas never used me as a meat shield-”

Lex squeezed harder on Kova’s throat, cutting his words off. “Come on, Ceuta. Just try fighting me. I promise it won’t be anything like earlier today.”

A wisp of blue.

Lukas curled his fists.

“Yes…”

Lukas’ legs trembled. He fell to his knees. More wisps of blue.

“Give in, Ceuta. Go feral. Succumb to the savagery only a child of Chronos would be capable of.”

Kova squirmed. Lukas spat on the ground, on all fours, eyeing Lex all over.

“Come on.” Lex wiggled his fingers. “You can do it. Unless you’re coming to your senses?”

They locked eyes.

“Think of the benefits of being mortal. You won’t ever have to worry about shifting, for example, since you’ll never be able to have enough magic in your body to do so. You’ll blend perfectly in with everybody else. And…” He traced his blade against Kova’s throat. Kova yelped. A faint pink streak on his neck. “You won’t be condemned to immortality. You won’t have to watch everyone you love grow old and decrepit and die while you stay perfect and unblemished forever. Because you both will be going through the exact same damn thing.”

Lukas’ lips quivered.

“So what’s your decision?”

“I…” Lukas bowed his head. “Fine. I submit.”

“Lukas-”

Lex let go of Kova and shoved him to the ground. He clamped his hands on the back of Kova’s neck- Kova shrieked, and then they were both Lex, both of them with the same sharp expression, the same robes, clones right down to the same damn popped stitches on their robes. They joined hands and spun around and around and around- Lukas rubbed his eyes- both moved at the same time, their voices the same pitch and cadence.

“Just so you don’t pull anything funny,” the Lexes said in perfect unison. “One of us is the one you hate. And the other is the one you adore. Choose wisely if you decide to be rash.”

They moved towards him, feet stepping to the same inaudible rhythm. Lukas stood up, studying the two as they reached their arms to him and placed their palms all around his neck, their skin sweaty and yet deathly cold.

Lukas took a deep breath. Both were the same. Both of their breaths were hot and heavy. Both of their fingers were lithe and gentle against his skin as they pulled away and crawled down his neck, traveling all the bumps and ridges of his spine.

He glanced from one to the other- and then he saw it. A little flicker near the corner of right Lex’s lips. Slightly less steady fingers touching his forehead. Eyes with just the slightest touch of glassiness, of lifelessness, of something repressed underneath.

He shot his arm out and impaled the left Lex.

Warm blood ran down his arm.

And Kova’s shocked eyes met his.

The facade disappeared. Right Lex shrieked, cackling, swirling back.

Kova stared at Lukas, motionless except for his hands, pulling away and feeling the half-shifted arm embedded in the right side of his rib cage.

Lukas was a statue but alive.

A spear of bone and scales.

A few drops of blood.

Kova’s mouth in a perfect O.

“I…”

Kova crumpled to the ground.

Lukas drew his arm back, returning to normal, and fell to Kova’s side.

“Kova-”

Lukas pulled over the jacket Kova had lent to him and pressed it against the hole in his friend’s chest. Deep red blood pulsed out in time with Kova’s jagged breathing. A visible organ, slick and wet.

“Kova! Say something!”

Kova grunted. He reached for the pocket of his jacket, quickly staining crimson. He sucked in air- his chest shuddered.

“Lukas… My phone-”

Lukas snatched Kova’s phone from his jacket pocket. He jammed on the power button.

“It’s dead.”

The phone fell from Lukas’ hands. Kova wheezed and clutched his stomach, forcing his eyes to stay open.

Lukas pressed the coat harder down on Kova’s wound. “Hold on, Kova! Someone’s got to drive by eventually. Someone’s going to notice loiterers- they have to-”

“Lukas.”

Lukas sucked in a breath. “Shut up!” Tears in his eyes. He brushed them away, furious. “Kova, I… I’m so sorry-”

“Lukas.” Kova’s arm trembled as he raised it up, his hand caressing the side of Lukas’ face, the blood on his fingers mixing with the tears Lukas refused to acknowledge running down his face. “This wasn’t your… fault.”

“Kova-”

Lukas let out a shriek. His head jerked back. Kova’s hand fell to the ground.

“Not so powerful now, are you, Ceuta?” Lex strolled over to Kova, a smirk on his face. “It would have been over by now. You’d be on your way home.”

“Shut up, you piece of shit! My friend is dying! Do something!”

“With pleasure.”

Lukas’ eyes widened. He stood up in front of Lex, his arms wide- Lex shoved him aside with ease, Lukas stumbling onto the street.

Lex conjured a ball of what looked like a spun glass storm at sea and hurled it down into Kova’s chest.

And all was still.

Too still.

Kova…

Kova…

Oh my god-

Lukas’ chest tightened- he dropped to his knees- his breath ragged and raw.

Lex passed his hand over Kova’s face. The eyes closed.

“Like I said… mortals are disposable.”

Blue wisps.

Trembling limbs.

The moment all his thoughts went still.

The blinding light pulling his arms and legs apart, stretching them in all directions, enveloping him like an unholy baptism.

His voice, his screaming bleeding into the rough tones of a feral dragon.

The two of them locked in a delicate dance in the sky, directions unspoken. Lukas’ wings beating in the air, both of them swooping all over, passing through clouds, silhouettes in what should have been the moon.

Lukas’ throat, raw, blizzards and ice ages pouring from it as Lex whizzed all around him. Everything blurry, formless, temporary.

Little balls of heat here and there like mosquitoes in the dog days of summer.

A thunderstorm- lightning didn’t happen in November. But now it did, crackles of yellow and white shooting from the sky, not enough to get past his scales.

A roaring- from him, from the sky, from Lex with sweat pouring down his forehead.

Syntha. Syntha of the air, of the fire, of the wind and rain and lightning. Her spear. Poison to caedats, pretty to everyone else.

The back of his neck. A snick.

A silence.

ACT 4

ST. GIGA

32

A fresh batch of soul parts. Great job, Merr. I knew I could count on you. Now go back to your studies.

Let’s see… Ah! I’ve got a few complete sets here. I’ll just set these aside for Loc-

A golden string? Where… Ah, a finger.

Wait- Red-

Oh-

Oh, Ceuta…

Okay, I think these are safe. I don’t think Father saw that silver string reappear. Or, at least, I could easily pass it off as my own, couldn’t I?

No, I have a golden string…

The point’s moot. Mythril suppresses soul strings. And you’re staying in this box while I figure out what to do with you.

Hmm… I can’t let Loc stitch you up, because he has to report all his activities to Father. And I’m not all that good with stitching souls back together myself…

I wonder if I could bribe Caelin?

You remember him, right? He’s into the crafting arts. He can weave tapestries like no other. And sometimes he weaves clouds and mountains and spring grasses since Father still hasn’t gotten his energy restored.

He cried the most when you left us, Ceuta. He weaved an ocean of tears just for you. Drowned half a million people in the process.

I’ll go talk to him. Back into the darkness you go.

So this is Ceuta?

Are you sure? Because it just looks like a lot of scraps of flesh and bone to me-

I pulled as many pieces of her out of the soul shreds line as I could. I might have missed a few, though…

Like half of her rib cage! It’s alright, though. I can fabricate bones and flesh. But I’m not carrying her all the way to the spring!

Of course not, silly… I’ll do that.

So my payment?

What could you possibly want? This is paradise, dummy. You can have whatever your heart desires.

Well… I want to be the one to present Ceuta to Chronos when she’s alive again.

I have to be there too!

But I get to say her name! And hold her hand!

…Fine. Just keep hush about her until she’s completely ready, okay?

Yes, Big Sister.

So how’s it going so far?

Yeah, this finger is definitely Ceuta’s. The rest of the skin in this box seems to be a match.

But how much of the body did I recover?

Her hands and feet. Most of her right arm. Her left arm is missing, though. I’ll have to fabricate that. Large parts of her chest are gone, as well as her right eye and most of her legs.

Her face?

…

I got her face, right?

Yeah. But her scalp is gone. I’ll try to recreate her hair.

Can you get one of her hands done by the end of today?

I- what- Arkensia! I just started!

I’m sorry. I’m just as frazzled as you are. But I would feel… safer knowing Ceuta was one step closer to being with us again.

I’ll do my best.

Do you think that Ceuta can hear us?

Ceuta’s not alive yet-

No, I mean… This is the first divine soul we’ve-

We?

I gathered the pieces!

But I’m doing the actual weaving!

I’m sorry, that you or any of our most skilled stitchers have had to sew back together. Mortal souls are made to be pulled apart and reassembled into new souls. But not ours. Not divine souls.

Then why am I even bothering when we’re missing half of Ceuta? We’ll only get half of our sister back at best.

…I wonder that too. But, if I’m guessing correctly… Mortal bodies have cells-

No way! I never would have guessed!

-and each cell contains the same string of information about that body. Or, at least, it’s supposed to. Maybe our divine souls are like that. Maybe every piece contains the same information about the soul, so that, as long as one piece is surviving, the soul can return.

But if someone finds the other pieces of Ceuta, then they could… make another Ceuta? Arkensia- What if Len-

Don’t speak his name!

…Sorry…

I suppose that would be possible… All the more reason we need to revive our Ceuta as soon as we can.

How’s it going?

I got a hand done. Just like you said. It’s rougher than I remember, though. Like a mortal’s. Feel.

Oh… Oh, Ceuta… I used to hold this hand every day. We’d go cloud-jumping, remember? And we’d hitch rides on the huge scarlet birds that tore though the remnants of the wisps at the end of the day. Not because we needed to, of course… I could always have carried you home on my back. And I remember you couldn’t shift back then-

…Are you done?

…Excuse me?

You were talking to yourself.

…I think Ceuta can hear me. Or some part of her does.

…

These parts don’t feel dead like mortal souls. Like something primal and asleep is still breathing beneath the surface. Still listening.

…

Caelin?

I should get back to work now. I need that hand back so I can finish the rest of that arm.

So it’s been a week.

So it has.

Sorry I haven’t checked in. I’ve been busy with Father. Diplomacy doesn’t seem to be working.

…Well, on a lighter note, I got Ceuta’s torso done.

Caelin-

Relax. I’m not a pervert. I’m working on her legs right now.

Not her face?

That’s for last.

Because you’re afraid to look Ceuta in the face?

…

Is the skin meant to be so patchy?

I had to use a few spare mortal soul parts here and there. It’ll meld to the same color when we put her in the spring.

We could almost have a mortal Halloween celebration here! Just like before the world fell into the chaos it’s in today.

Arkensia!

Spoopy scary skeletons-

Arkensia, stop! You’re going to tear apart the stitching!

…You’re right. I apologize. Sorry, Ceuta. It’s taking me everything I have to wait.

…

She looks older. Far older than the Ceuta I remember.

Aging ravishes much more quickly in the mortal world than in here. And Ceuta was away for a very long time.

Does that mean- Hey, Arkensia! Ceuta is almost as old as you now!

That… That’s a disturbing thought.

So today’s the day. The courtyard’s empty. Father is in the middle of a strategy meeting. And our siblings are studying.

And you ordered all the servants out?

Indeed.

Then help me carry this body- ugh, Ceuta’s way heavier than I thought she’d be.

She’s older, dinglebrain. Now come on. And go faster! I don’t want her silver strings just showing up while he’s discussing a certain someone with his general.

Fine, fine- oof-

Are you okay?

Just tripped on a pebble. I’m fine.

Whew. Okay. Now lower her in… and pray-

We’re gods. We’re the highest authority. Who are we gonna pray to?

It was a sentiment, pickles-for-brains- oh- oh, Ceuta-

33

Ceuta… Ceuta, can you hear me?

A pinprick of light.

Ceuta, come on! Wake up!

A light- a firestorm right in front of her eyes, almost blinding, yellow and pale and encompassing her like an overenthusiastic hug.

It’s been a little over a century in human years since I last saw you open your eyes.

A soft brush of skin against her right hand. Silk to the touch. The light subsided the smallest amount.

If you’re going to die, at least say goodbye first…

Lukas opened his eyes.

All white all around him, then details slowly started filling themselves in. Two teens were hovering over him, clearly a few years apart, the younger’s face still clinging onto the last vestiges of baby fat, the elder’s dark green hair braided into two long chunky braids hanging down and wrapped up tight in blue ribbons. Both of them wore matching uniforms of sky blue, gold stitching looping at the borders and forming words Lukas no longer knew how to read.

And the widest smiles on their faces.

“Ceuta!”

The younger sibling offered an arm. Lukas took it and pulled himself up to sit- he was in the middle of a shallow pool of water, little bubbles tinkling all around him. A white dress, soaked, hung off his scrawny frame.

Or, rather, her frame.

Lukas felt behind her. A long tumble of golden hair, slightly tangled from floating in the water. She pulled herself up to her feet- her legs wobbled, and the other girl rose to offer her shoulder to lean on, which Lukas took, grateful.

“Ar…” She coughed. “Arkensia?”

“So you do remember me!” Arkensia beamed. “Enough of your soul must be intact, then. How do you feel?”

Lukas rubbed her eyes. “Like death.”

The boy scowled. “So you’re not ready to present to Father?”

Father!

Lukas pushed away from Arkensia and wobbled away from her as fast as she could.

Oh my god, I’m in the afterworld, I’m trapped here in the afterworld, I’m-

She stumbled and fell flat on her face.

Arkensia rushed to her side and scooped Lukas up in her arms, brushing the courtyard pebbles off her face.

“What’s gotten into you, Ceuta?”

Lukas shook her head. “I- oh my god, Arkensia, I killed Kova-” A strangled sound escaped her throat. Her face crumpled. “I killed Kova-”

“Who’s Kova?”

Lukas sniffled. She pressed down on her throat, trying to keep herself from breaking out into a sob.

“My… friend.”

“Was she a mortal?”

Kova’s not a girl!

Lukas slowly nodded anyways.

“Hmm… Well, we found you about two weeks ago. And I don’t remember ever seeing anything about a Kova in our soul processor.”

Lukas wiggled. “I have to go- I have to find him then-”

Arkensia clucked. “If he reincarnated, then he’ll be only a newborn. You should stay up here with us. Besides…” She giggled. “You need to recharge your energy before you go running off on us again!”

The corner of Lukas’ mouth twitched up in a smile.

Arkensia took her out of the courtyard and up the winding staircase of the palace’s south tower, her footsteps echoing on the unscratchable marble, the boy- Caelin, Lukas thought he was- tagging along behind them.

They eached the top of the tower. Four doors stood around them, each one of them with an unintelligible scrawling on them. Arkensia pushed open the second door and stepped inside.

The window that she’d sat in front of her whole life, the perfect perching point for staring down at the humans below when the clouds parted just right.

The same tiny wooden chair still with the dent in it from when she’d kicked it and sent it flying into the wall during a tantrum.

Arkensia set Lukas down on the bed. The sheets rustled underneath her body- flawless, chilly from countless years of disuse. And smaller than she’d expected.

Arkensia folded her hands and planted the softest of kisses on Lukas’ forehead. Lukas whimpered.

“Don’t beat yourself up so hard, Ceuta. You have all of eternity to find your Kova again.”

“But Father…?”

Arkensia bit her lip. She glanced out the window. A few servants had broken from the meeting and were milling about at the edge of the circular courtyard.

“I don’t know how Father’s going to react. You did abandon us and set in motion the most drastic change to the firstworld in its history, after all.” Her face darkened. “And you probably remember how Father’s temper can be.”

Caelin coughed. “We should get going.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of shimmering white gloves and handed them to Lukas. “Put these on. They’ll hide your silver strings so we can keep this a surprise.”

Lukas slipped the gloves on, soft against her skin. A chiming in the distance from the north tower. Wedding bells- no, more like a death knoll on a copious amount of ecstasy.

Caelin huffed. "Already?"

“Caelin, your studies are absolutely essential. Especially because of…” Arkensia gave Lukas a sidelong glance, and then she touched Caelin’s shoulder, nudging him towards Lukas’ door. “Come on. Let’s leave Ceuta to rest for a bit-”

“Because of what?” the younger girl asked.

Arkensia turned back to Lukas and folded her hands. “Don’t you know there’s a war going on?”

34

Lukas bit her lip and shook her head.

Lex?

“We’ve been dealing with a certain pest for the past few months,” Arkensia continued. “So far, we’ve managed to keep him at bay with minimal losses. A few lost servants here and there.” She leaned in closer. “And he seems to know you.”

“So the sooner we present you,” Caelin added, “the sooner we can prove your innocence.”

“…Fine.”

Lukas slipped off the bed and threw her window open. A few more servants bled out into the courtyard, huddling in a clump of white uniforms.

The bells chimed again. Caelin groaned, and Arkensia grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the room.

The bedroom door clicked shut behind them. Lukas stepped over to the chair and lifted it up. A slight indent in the seat.

When was the last time I fit in this?

She set it down and glanced around the room.

Could I shift in here?

She shook her head.

No. Not enough space.

I don’t have to stay in here, do I?

Lukas opened the door, wincing when it squealed- but there was nobody on the other side. She tiptoed down the staircase. Two doors met her. One going to the courtyard, where a servant in red was giving directions to a crowd of white. And the other, two guards with halberds standing guard.

Crap! They won’t let me out, will they?

Hmmm…

She dashed back up the stairs and went back inside her room. Her window was still open, the afternoon’s breeze blowing in and ruffling the sheets. She grabbed the windowsill and pulled herself up onto it.

Don’t look down.

She looked up. The same chinks in the stone that she remembered.

Lukas turned. She stuck her leg out and climbed onto the brick sticking out, the stone rough and gritty beneath her bare feet. She winced and grabbed the next one above her head, and the next one, and the next one until she pulled herself onto the flat tower roof and rolled over.

Her arms ached, her breath heavy, her heart fast. She rolled over near the edge and glanced down- instant vertigo, white forms blurry, forcing her back to the middle of the roof.

I don’t think they saw me.

She turned her head to the sky. Infinite blue. Little streaks like there were tiny transparent worms in her eyes wriggling all around.

She pulled herself to her feet. Her head swam for a moment- she swayed until the feeling passed, and then she turned back to the castle. Her hair blew behind her, her dress fluttering.

A wide expanse of clouds. The aging castle spanned out in front of her, gray and white bricks. The courtyard, servants starting to disperse, the spring in the middle bubbling with aqua blue water.

The stable sticking out from the west corner of the castle, pegasi fillies from Lukas’ youth no doubt grown up and had children of their own formed from the ceaseless stream of mortal souls and then died to recycle back to the firstworld soul supply. The aviary at the east corner, oversize birds meant to be mounted cursed with an even shorter life cycle.

Lukas turned around. A break in the clouds, exposing the firstworld far below. Shacks and cottages dotted the land, separated by vast farmlands mostly left barren by the drought. An occasional sleepy village. Little leithtemples- small domed buildings not unlike Lukas’ own tomb where gods could congregate with humans, even though she couldn’t remember the last time either of them had- stood here and there like warts on the brown earth, few and far between.

You’re out there somewhere, Kova.

Lukas put her hands together. No little ball of light appeared.

So I can’t use any of my divine powers through these gloves.

Hell, I don’t even remember how to use them in the first place!

She dropped her hands- and then slipped off the gloves. No golden strings appeared as she slipped off her dress and undergarments, naked as the day she’d been born. She crouched down and wadded up her clothes and shoved them in a crack in the roof.

Deep breath…

“Hey!” a voice echoed. “Up there on the tower!”

A golden string shimmered, tied to her pinky.

And she jumped.

Air whooshed all around her. She curled in on herself- a torrent of blue wisps. She shifted right before she hit the ground, wings knocking the guards off their feet, slipping through the clouds to the vast airspace below.

She drew her wings in and did a barrel roll- then snapped them out, thick skin between her wing bones catching the wind, pulling her up like a windboat sailing on the wind. Except that the ambassadors from the other dimensions hadn’t made a visit in millenia, and there weren’t much use for windboats when there were pegasi and mountbirds and all the gods could turn into dragons with enough practice anyways.

I could descend right now, couldn’t I? Disappear without a trace.

No… She beat her wings, maintaining a comfortable altitude. The people on the ground still probably hate me. And it’s gonna be hard to search for Kova with a corporeal body.

Something tickled Lukas’ nose. She glanced down- smoke rose from a village. A burning of a dead body.

And I want to properly say goodbye to Arkensia this time.

She beat her wings harder, climbing up in the air until she broke through the cloud cover once more-

Crap! How am I gonna get back inside?

She advanced towards the castle. The guards, still a bit dazed, jumped to attention, pointing their halberds at the green and blue shape barreling towards them.

“Halt!”

Lukas slowed down and dropped in front of them and shifted back. She held an arm over her chest for decency as she stood up.

“You there!” the guards said in perfect unison. “Surrender now or die!”

She stayed still, eyes focused on the guards, her jaw locked.

The guards swarmed on her, grabbing her arms, dragging her into the tower she’d left ten minutes prior. Two other guards appeared out of nowhere, taking their places.

The guards dragged Lukas through the courtyard, her naked body practically on display for all to see. A few servants, idle and milling about, hooted and hollered. Lukas swore at them, but that just made them laugh more. One of the guards threw open the doors to the west tower, and they pulled Lukas along with them, not giving a single damn as they traveled through the reeking stable.

A squire, metal bucket banging on his arm as he scurried about, giggled as he scooped up more poop and dropped it in the bucket with a stomach-churning plop.

The guards dragged Lukas up the tower, taking care to jerk her arms up every step, every damn three hundred steps until they were at the very top. One of the guards tore away from Lukas- the other squeezing both arms in recompense- and pushed open the wide wooden doors.

A vast throne room. A red velvet carpet. Thin purple curtains in the windows, sunlight shining through. Weapons- an obsidian sword, a pearly axe with a handle of ivory, a golden spear with jewels embedded in the shaft- hung on the wall behind the throne.

And a grouchy-looking old man with a flowing gray beard and squinty eyes among a sea of wrinkles.

The guard at the old man’s side poked him- he woke up and glanced at Lukas. His eyes widened- then hardened again as he stood up.

Her stomach lurched.

“Ceuta?”

35

The guards threw Lukas to the ground, their hands retreating from her trembling body. She kept her face low to the ground- practically touching the red carpet, letting it caress her face.

“I said Ceuta!”

The man pounded a hand on the arm of his throne, booms thundering through the room. Lukas bolted to her feet. Her arm returned to cover her chest- as well as a skinny arm could.

“Look at you. Disgraceful.” He waved his hand. “Fetch a spare servant uniform. I won’t have this obscenity in my court.”

“Right away, sir!”

The servant at his right side bowed and then disappeared.

The old man turned back to Lukas. His upper lip curled in disgust.

“Ceuta. It almost shames me to call you my daughter. First you shirk your duties as one of the divine children, then you cavort with humankind, and now you show up in my court unannounced and stark naked.” He paused. “Explain yourself.”

Lukas’ throat tightened. She hesitated- a million words running through her head- and then she opened her mouth to speak.

“I won’t make any excuses for what I’ve done.” Her right hand trembled. She balled it into a fist, pressing her nails tight into her palm, not caring if they drew blood. “But I did what I felt was right at the time, and I refuse to apologize for it.”

“Oh!” The man threw his head back and cackled. “Such- such bravado! Such young recklessness!”

He wiped the dribble from his face and stood up just as the servant returned, a bundle of gray and white clothes in his hands. He waved his hand, and the servant moved to Lukas, wrenching her arms like a resistant doll with gummy joints even as she tried to swat him away until he’d forced the clothes onto her.

The servant pushed Lukas to the ground, one foot on her back. She glared up at the old man.

“Chronos.”

“That’s Your Majesty to you, or, rather, Father-”

The door flew open again.

“What’s the ruckus in here?”

A swishing of clothes. An old woman appeared, a dress tailor-made to her plump body fluttering in purple and gold. Her purple hair hung limply in ringlets, too tired to sway as she waddled over to Chronos’ throne.

“Ah! Mythos!” Chronos stood up, and the two embraced for a moment like a pig wallowing in a shallow mud pit. “Our daughter is home.”

“Who-” Mythos glanced at Lukas, a moment too long to be comfortable. “Oh. Ceuta. It’s you.”

“Ah…”

Mythos turned to Lukas, and for the first time, she noticed the crow’s feet, the sea of wrinkles, the widow’s peak.

Mother? When did you turn into an old hag?

Lukas bit her lip, afraid to speak.

“Daughter…” Mythos folded her hands. “Your father and I have been slowly recharging our power since the dawn of time. We’ve had some… setbacks because of your shenanigans. But you should be proud to know that you’re the first one that’s hearing our plan!” Mythos giggled. “Your father and I are going to wipe the firstworld clean.”

A shock went through Lukas’ body. She squirmed- the servant pressed his foot down harder on Lukas’ spine, making her back ache. She grunted in response.

Oh my god-

Kova? I got to let Kova know-

No, he’s probably an infant, dammit! I’ll have to take him to safety!

Where am I going to take him? The underworld’s a wasteland. No place for a helpless infant. And I can’t go back to the otherworld. I don’t have documentation- a heavy gasp escaped her lips- I don’t have the money or skills or patience to raise a child.

“You seem distressed.” Mythos pouted. “Why? Our neighboring dimension-” She glanced to Chronos- “What was it called again?”

“Gehenna-Altaris.”

“Oh, yeah, that. They went through a wipe, and they’re doing just fine now. In fact, they’re stronger than ever. We’ll be fine.”

“We’re importing a bunch of soul fragments from them,” Chronos added. “To populate the new world. The old souls will be sold off in the trade. We don’t need any more servants.”

“Which is why we’re sending you to the dungeons instead.”

Mythos flicked her fingers. The same offhand gesture that she’d ordered hors d’oeuvres with, that she’d sent off servants to repair a crumbling part of the castle with, that she’d used to send her children off to their studies when they were much younger. Two guards swarmed on Lukas and yanked her hands behind her back and handcuffed them together in a flash.

“You-”

A guard elbowed Lukas with a bony elbow. A flush of pain. She winced.

“I’d have said to go to your room.” Mythos frowned. “But that doesn’t seem to have worked.”

The guards dragged Lukas out of the throne room. Lukas shrieked and kicked a guard- the other punched her square in the jaw. Stars bloomed in her vision.

They descended all the way down the stairs- and then the guards tapped their feet on the floor, the part of the ground they were standing on becoming a platform sinking down into a hidden dim hallway that, as far as the eye could see looking out at the castle in proportion with the cloud cover, didn’t exist, couldn’t exist.

The metal shrieking hit Lukas’ ears first, and then she realized that it wasn’t metal. The jail doors were perfectly fine. The people inside them, however…

The guards threw her into a cell like she were nothing more than an inert sack of potatoes. The heavy door squealed as it locked shut.

Lukas pulled herself to her knees, trembling, her arms sore where the guards had grabbed her. Something like liquid obsidian dripped in the corner, drops echoing throughout the room. The floor felt grimy- but when she dragged her fingers along, no residue came off.

She took a deep breath and shook her head.

Well, that was a mistake.

36

“And you’re going to let me in now.”

“I… I’m going to let you in now…”

A shriek- a whine of metal as the heavy cell door slowly opened, and then Arkensia appeared. She rushed to Lukas’ side and shook her- Lukas’ eyes fluttered open, not the slightest bit asleep.

“You-” Arkensia slapped Lukas across the face. Lukas bolted to her feet and rubbed her reddening cheek. “You stupid child! You absolute buffoon! I told you-”

“Yeah, I know-”

Arkensia grabbed Lukas’ earlobe and yanked her down. Lukas grunted in response.

“Now you’re down here, and Father is furious and twirling up thunderstorms, and Caelin is absolutely heartbroken that he didn’t get to present you-”

Lukas grabbed Arkensia’s hand, making her soften her grip on her sister’s ear. “It wouldn’t have gone well anyways. I’m glad Caelin didn’t get any flack for bringing me there.”

Arkensia went silent for a moment, thinking, before her large eyes centered on her again, red irises just barely reflective in the dim light.

“I… I’ve never seen Mother all wound-up like this before.”

“And you think I have answers?”

Arkensia scowled.

“Shit. I didn’t mean it like that.” Lukas scratched her collarbone and then leaned in close to Arkensia’s ear. “Could I ask a favor?”

“What?”

“Mythril smothers golden strings, right?”

“Yeah…” Arkensia’s eyes widened. “How do you- You were listening all that time we were stitching you up?” She bit her lip. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Ceuta-”

“Does it only work when the hands are covered? Or is it mere proximity that determines protection?”

“…What are you getting at, Ceuta?”

“Answer my question.”

Arkensia slowly nodded her head. “As long as it’s directly touching some part of you, it’ll hide your soul strings, yes.”

“I need you to do a favor for me.”

“What are you planning?”

Lukas leaned in closer and cupped her hands around Arkensia’s ear.

“Did Father tell you that he’s planning to wipe the firstworld clean and make it anew?”

Arkensia gasped. “What- the people- they’ve suffered enough- You’re not joking me, are you?”

“I’m telling the truth. I need to go down there and warn as many people as I can to flee for the underworld-”

“Ceuta! There are caedats-”

“Warren Baneg owes me a favor. I’ll have them escort whoever I can convince into the otherworld. They should be safe from Chronos there.”

“Assuming you can convince them that this isn’t a ploy for you to ruin their lives again. They hate you. They’ll never believe you.”

Lukas hissed. “Which is why I need to stop being me.”

“Ceuta-”

“I need a mask of mythril, Arkensia. Something to cover my eyes but still let me see. But respectable and only covering as much as necessary so I don’t look like a faceless monster. Beautiful but simplistic, if that even makes sense.”

Arkensia went silent for a few heavy seconds. “Well, I suppose it’s technically possible. But how are you going to get out of here?”

“I escaped the first time. I’ll… think of something.”

“Well…” She perked up, and then she hissed. “No, I don’t want the guards getting hurt-”

“What?”

“Father’s regalia. His weapons. The sword and the spear and the axe. I could probably sneak them away without him noticing. He doesn’t give too much of a damn about them anymore, and they’re only useful against mortal threats, not other gods. But I don’t want these guards coming to any harm. They’re just doing their jobs.”

“…I could shift and just barrel them over-”

“But you can’t carry your clothes with you when you shift-”

“Bundle them into a sack and tie it around my neck.”

“That’s crazy…” Arkensia snapped her fingers. “It just might work.”

Arkensia stood up. Lukas did as well. Arkensia took Lukas by the shoulders- she was almost a full head taller than her younger sister.

“You’re the same as ever, Ceuta. Always wanting to help the mortals.” She giggled, tears forming in her eyes. She wiped them away with the back of her sleeve. The corner of Lukas’ mouth twitched. “I’ll try to get it to you before I go to bed.”

“Thank you, Arkensia-”

“Just one thing.” She stared at Lukas for a few seconds, studying her eyes like a sad mother about to see her son off to war- and then she reached into her dress and pulled off a blue teardrop pendant on a ribbon from around her neck. She pressed it into Lukas’ hands, curling both of their fingers together. “I made this after you went feral and disappeared into the underworld in case you ever came back here. It’ll teleport you to safety since I doubt you’re attuned enough with your divinity to be able to do that yourself.”

“…Thank you.” Lukas slipped it around her own neck, tucking the pendant underneath her shirt. “I hope you can forgive me.”

“I already did.” She turned back and left the cell, pushing the cell door shut. “A long time ago.”

37

Nine candles were burning in the chandelier. The crystals hanging off every other available space glinted, a million different sparkles, catching in Arkensia’s glass and reflecting in her eyes.

“What’s wrong, dearie? You’re not sick, are you?”

Arkensia shook her head. “Gods don’t get sick.”

“Ah! I’ve got a smart daughter.”

Mythos leaned over and elbowed Chronos- he coughed, a servant rushing right to the head of the table in case he choked. Which he didn’t, because gods didn’t choke from food either.

Chronos swallowed and patted his mouth with his napkin. “I should know. I’ve watched her grow into the mature woman she is today.”

“Oh, Chronos…” Mythos swooned. “Don’t say that. All the rulers from the other dimensions will come breaking down our door to be the lucky one that gets to take her hand in m-”

Arkensia coughed. “Caelin? What did you learn today?”

Caelin rolled his eyes and set his fork down. “You were there, dummy.”

“Please,” Arkensia hissed under her breath, Mythos and Chronos still lavishing her with praise.

“I, uh…”

Caelin picked his fork up again and stabbed the egg- it shattered, yellow and white splashing across his plate and seeping into the tablecloth.

Mythos gasped. She snapped her fingers- a disheveled servant with a tangle of orange hair rushed over. Mythos yanked the servant closer to her by the earlobe, servant’s eyes wide and frightened.

“Clean that up,” Mythos snarled.

“R- Right away, ma’am!” the servant squeaked.

Mythos let go of her, and the servant rushed over to Caelin and picked up the plate- and accidentally splashed egg yolk onto his head. Caelin yelped and bolted to his feet and grabbed his sticky hair, a drip of egg running down his face.

“You- you fool!” Mythos yelled, shooting up to her feet. Two of the guards grabbed the servant by the arms. Mythos grimaced as the plate clattered to the floor, a crack running down the middle. “Take her away. Put her next to Ceuta’s cell.”

“Ceuta’s in the dungeon?” Ri, the youngest of the seven siblings, squealed. “Why?”

“Because…” Mythos groaned. “Just eat your food.”

“No!” Ri pounded her fists on the table. The glasses wobbled- a few drops of red wine splashed on Chronos, and he swore under his breath and left the table. “Tell me!”

Mythos’ mouth twisted up, but she forced herself to sit down again. “Well, Ri…”

Arkensia stood up and took Caelin’s arm and took him into the outer hall. The doors echoed shut behind them. Mythos, launching into a rave, didn’t seem to notice their absence. She led him, his lips quivering, tears brimming in his eyes, to the nearest bathroom across the hall.

Almost every spare inch of the bathroom was gilded with gold, right up to the toilet seat- and hell, if the water could have been gilded, then it would have been as well. Arkensia brought Caelin up to the sink and turned on the faucet.

“Lean over.”

Caelin leaned over, putting his head in the sink. Arkensia splashed cold water over his head- Caelin shivered, his hair slowly returning back to a wet brown with every splash.

“I’m not a child,” Caelin hissed as Arkensia turned the water off.

“No.” Arkensia twirled to the other side of the bathroom, her feet lithe and graceful, and retrieved a fluffy towel. She placed it around his shoulders to catch the dripping water. “But you’re not an adult either.”

Caelin rolled his eyes. “We’ve had this conversation a million times.”

Arkensia folded her hands, ignoring him. “It would be wise to head back to your room. I’m sure Father and Mother won’t mind.”

Caelin turned and left the bathroom, the towel still on him. Arkensia waited a moment and then peeked out the bathroom. No servants approaching. She stepped out and went up the stairs, moving fast enough to keep her feet from echoing until she was at the top of the stairs.

Arkensia pushed open the heavy throne room doors and slid inside. Her eyes quickly swept the room. Nobody. She took one tentative step forward, and then another one, and then another one until she was right at the throne.

The royal regalia glinted above her head. Myra, axe that could cleave a thousand forests. Lykos, spear that could yank a heart clean out of a mortal’s chest with just two thrusts. And Lin, the sword rumored to be able to seal away the light- as much as the sun in the sky itself, if its wielder wanted.

Arkensia set aside the red plush cushion on the throne and stepped up, reaching up to the weapons on her tip-toes. Her fingers brushed against Myra’s handle. The weapon turned into a snow-white pen, falling straight into her hand. She curled her fingers and slipped it into her pocket, out of sight.

“I don’t think you want to be doing that, my liege.”

Arkensia turned around. A guard with a red sash tied around his waist was standing in the throne room doorway.

She put her hands on her hips. “May! I thought I told you to sweep out my room.”

“It is done, my liege.” He bowed. “Should I clear some space in your closet for the royal regalia you’ll be… hiding in there?”

Arkensia put a finger to her lips. “Shush!” She reached to Lin, which acted the same at her touch, joining Myra in Arkensia’s pocket as a glossy black fountain pen. “This is important, May.”

“I’m sure it is, my liege. But surely you can forgive me if I ask why?”

“I forgive you. And I’m not going to tell you. Because I don’t want you getting in trouble for being my accomplice.”

“Are you planning some kind of misconduct, my liege?”

“Please stop calling me that.”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to take that matter up with His Majesty, my liege. I wouldn’t want there to be any misunderstandings as to perceived misconduct.”

“May.” Arkensia turned around, eyeing her personal attendant, red to blue. She shook her head. “I… I need you to take a seal of silence.”

May’s eyebrows wrinkled. “I- I beg your pardon, my liege?”

“I won’t tell you anything more until you agree.”

“…Fine, my liege. I trust you to know what you are doing.”

“Thank you, May.”

Arkensia turned back around and reached for Lykos and pocketed it. With all three weapons in her pocket, she went over to May and touched a finger to his forehead and then over his lips. A squeak from his throat- and then he was left without a voice, looking a bit queasy even as he struggled to maintain his composure.

“Listen, May.” Arkensia dropped her voice down to a whisper. “There’s a sack as long as your arm sitting on my bed. Grab it, but don’t look inside, and meet me in the courtyard in fifteen minutes. Make sure you don’t let anyone see what’s inside. Do you understand?”

May opened his mouth to speak- and then, half-confused, nodded his head instead.

38

The faint roll of thunder outside, settling deep into Lukas’ bones like an old friend. The dripping in the corner of her cell quickened, lively, a glossy black slowly seeping out across the rest of the room.

Lukas glanced at her wrist again- then slapped it.

Stop! You don’t have a watch anymore. Stop looking.

And then she looked at it again, and she slapped herself again.

A squeak down the hall. Lukas’ heart squirmed. She bent over, her head to the floor, afraid it would be Chronos, coming with a black-hooded crew for her execution or something equally dramatic-

The squeal of the cell door opening.

“Ceuta.”

Arkensia’s soft voice. Lukas looked up. A man stood beside her in the open doorway, his face soft with the last vestiges of baby fat, a mess of red curly hair atop his head. He held a shimmering white sack with two strong cords of braided leather in his hands- from where, Lukas didn’t know.

“May,” Arkensia whispered, nudging the man, and then they went into the cell.

Arkensia took Lukas’ shoulder and pushed her to the side of the cell, out of the way of the open door. She held her arm out behind her- May passed her the sack, and she unhooked the loops like her fingers were a part of an intricate ballet.

“Specially designed so it doesn’t come undone midflight,” Arkensia explained.

“…Don’t you have zippers here?”

“Zippers?” Arkensia’s eyebrows wrinkled. “What are those?”

Lukas shook her head. “Never mind-”

“No, I’m curious. What are zippers?”

Lukas bit her lip, and then she wove her fingers together to demonstrate. “They’re a sort of… contraption you put on clothes to keep them together. Like locked teeth, and then you drag a plastic thing through them-” she pulled her hands apart- “and they open. And then-” she laced her fingers back up again- “you pull it through to lock them back together.”

“Hmm. Were those in the otherworld?”

Lukas, uncomfortable, slowly nodded.

Arkensia blushed, and then she reached into the sack and pulled out the mask and pushed it into Lukas’ hands. Lukas took it and flipped it over.

It was, for all intents and purposes, an X. A lopsided X, symmetrical for both sides of her face, the top side wider than the bottom to cover her eyes. Three slits on each side for her to see through.

“Arkensia… I don’t think this will fit-”

“Just put it on, dummy.”

“How will it stay-”

Arkensia took it from Lukas’ hands and pressed it against her face.

A hissing- a burning, a melting, like her skin was melting off, the plastic fusing into her skin where it touched- somewhere outside her, a shriek pierced her ears, and then Arkensia’s other warm hand against her mouth, sudden silence, the both of them pressing until the sizzling under her skin subsided and Arkensia pulled away and Lukas stumbled back.

“Ar- Arkensia!” Lukas hissed, clawing at her face, at the mask which refused to come off. Her skin ached where she dug her fingernails in, trying to pry the mythril off. “Oh my god, what did you do-”

“Stop.” She put one hand on Lukas’ shoulder and grabbed her arm with the other. “Stop struggling.”

“Arkensia- You- You tricked me-”

“Stop struggling!” she hissed under her breath. “Take a deep breath. I’ll show you how to take it off.”

Lukas released a sob, rough and raw, but she lowered her arms.

“Relax. Like… Like you’re going to shift.”

Lukas exhaled and relaxed her shoulders. Her lips quivered.

“Now slowly take the mask off.”

Lukas raised her hands to her face. Her palms touched the mask- the mythril fell into her hands. She passed a hand over her face- the skin was unharmed.

Lukas peered at Arkensia, confused, until she cleared her throat. “No strings or glue. I designed it so it wouldn’t come off in the middle of a fight or any other… inopportune moments. It shouldn’t hurt like that after the first time.”

Lukas glanced at the mask again, and then slipped it back on. She bit her lip as it bound to her face- then looked at Arkensia.

Everything was as clearly visible as if she hadn’t been wearing it at all.

Arkensia’s face softened, and then she reached in the sack and pulled out a pen with one bulky end and handed it to Lukas. Lukas took it in her hands and glanced at it questioningly- or, at least, Arkensia assumed, because she couldn’t see Lukas’ eyebrows.

“A… pen?”

“Hold it downwards and click the button-”

Lukas clicked the button. May pulled Arkensia out of the way just in time- both she and Lukas yelped as Lukas dropped the sword on the ground, clattering, sending an echo through the cell.

“I said hold it downwards,” Arkensia whispered. “Lin, and Myra, and Lykos-”

Lukas picked the sword up. “Who?”

“The weapons have names. And as such, you have to treat them with respect. And you have to bring them back!”

“Fine-”

“Wait. Don’t move.”

Lukas froze. Arkensia stared at Lukas, at the awkward way her untrained hands held the sword, her arms trembling, just a little too heavy for her. A tear formed in the corner of Arkensia’s eye- she blotted it away with the corner of her sleeve and then held out her hand. Lukas looked at her for a moment, confused, and then understood.

Lukas touched the bottom of the sword- it shrunk again. She took the mask off and handed both the objects back to Arkensia- and then, as a last thought, she took off the necklace and handed that over as well.

Arkensia put the items back in the sack and retied it tightly shut, keeping her eyes averted all the while. “You’ve grown a lot. My baby sister Ceuta…” She sighed. “You have to shift now- but take your clothes off first.” She covered her eyes. May did as well. “I couldn’t stand to see a perfectly good servant’s uniform get shredded.”

Lukas sighed and stripped down in the middle of the cell, tossing the clothes to the side. Kova’s face hung in her mind as she took a deep breath and loosened her limbs and let the white light wash over her, stretching her limbs and mind out.

His claws clattered on the hard ground. Arkensia took May’s shoulder, and they turned back to Lukas, suddenly somber. Arkensia stepped forward- Lukas lowered his head, and Arkensia carefully tied the sack tight to Lukas’ neck, careful to leave him enough room to breathe. Then- as a last-moment thought- she touched her hand to the space between his eyes, lingering for a moment before May tapped her shoulder and she turned to leave.

“Wait a few moments after I leave,” Arkensia whispered over her shoulder. “And…”

“My liege, we have to go-”

“Come back safe, Ceuta. I’ll be watching over you.”

May grabbed Arkensia’s shoulder, his face hard, and the two of them dashed out of the cell, their steps echoing through the jail, fainter and fainter until Lukas couldn’t hear them at all.

Lukas pressed himself down flat against the floor and closed his white eyes.

I’m coming, Kova.

“Hey- hey, you-”

Lukas opened his eyes and lunged at the guard standing in the doorway. He snapped his teeth- the guard shrieked. Something warm splashed over his teeth- a familiar rush of energy through his body. More guards appeared, this time with weapons of steel and bronze and even gold. The two forces collided, Lukas swishing his body every which way, the guards only getting a few futile strikes against his scales before meeting the other end of a sharp claw or a stray tail or even his teeth themselves, like swimming in a sea of bodies.

A horn in the distance, a siren blaring. Lukas squeezed himself onto the pedestal. It didn’t move up. One of the guards got onto his unsteady feet, bleeding profusely from a shoulder. Lukas sneezed a flurry of ice onto him, freezing him in place instantly, and then jumped up and rammed himself into the ceiling.

A crash- chunks of marble and slivers of stone shot in the air like bullets. Lukas threw himself out of the open hole, claws scoring deep scratches in the ground as he pulled himself up. He paid no attention to the guards caught off-guard outside as he sailed right off the cloud.

Air rushed all around him. The wide-open ground unfurled thousands upon thousands of feet below him. He pulled his wings in tightly, dropping like a stone, his white eyes set on the leithtemple halfway between him and the horizon- and then he unfurled his wings slowly, the air catching in the taut folds of skin like a sail, pushing him along to the little dome of stone he’d descended inside the first time.

The wind pressed the sack tight against his neck. One of the straps came untied and tickled the nape of his neck- he sneezed, dry air taking the arctic wind from his breath before it could crystallize.

The leithtemple slowly came closer and closer to him. He pulled his wings closer in, dropping down- and when he could start to see the details of the carvings etched into the stone, he took a deep breath and let himself crash into the stone.

A funnel of light caught his body and swirled him around. His stomach lurched- he felt himself shifting, his body compressing back into a human form, weight lurching back into his bones like a thousand dumbbells had suddenly tied themselves to his limbs. His foot slipped into the bottom of the funnel- and then it threw him like a sack of rocks onto the pedestal.

A smack. The sack slipped off his naked body and sagged to the floor. His empty lungs heaved for air as he rolled onto his back. Intricate carvings of someone’s visualization of the divine family peered down at him, eyes disapproving and lifeless, lips puckered and sour like a prissy substitute teacher from the otherworld.

His- or rather, Ceuta’s- face was far too pink in the cheeks, and the artist had made them all have round faces with baby fat like so many cherubs, and his father’s eyes were far too kind.

His vision blurred. He closed his eyes and curled in on himself. Reds and purples danced across the dark canvas of his eyelids, unappreciated eternal ballet dancers waving long ribbons only humans could ever notice.

Humans…

Shit! I gotta hide!

Lukas rolled off the pedestal- and fell to the floor. He pulled himself up and brushed the pebbles off his naked butt and pulled over the sack. The straps came undone easily in his fingers, looping in and out until the top fell open and revealed what little Arkensia could bless him with.

The mask had slipped to the bottom of the sack. Lukas pulled it out and pressed it to his face, waiting a few seconds until it had bonded. He reached his hand in and pulled out the clothes- simple faded cream-colored linen, worse quality than that of even the lowest of servants, hand-stitched with holes in the armpits.

Is this some kind of joke?

He groaned and slipped the shirt on over his head, taking care not to get the collar caught in the mask and tear the whole fabric apart. It hung on his frame, just a little too big for him. A draft of air rushed in from the leithtemple entrance- he shivered.

Why would Arkensia play a trick on me?

He reached back into the sack, fingers searching under the pants of the same worn-down quality, and pulled out a pair of… boxers.

His breath caught in his throat.

She… knew.

39

Once Lukas had gotten dressed, he picked the sack up and slung it over his shoulder and stepped outside. The undersides of the clouds were a dismal gray, the skies almost mocking him in their lush blue tones. He stepped forward. Dead grass crunched under his bare feet. A few stray dead-cold fibers sneaked between his toes- he jerked his foot up to find the grass still encrusted with the morning’s frost.

He glanced around. The land unfolded all around him, flat patchy ground stretching as far as he could see, only impeded here and there by a few soft rolling hills. He turned his eyes to where the sun was beginning its descent into the ground- on the horizon, a few puffs of smoke above the hatched roofs of a village.

Damn!

He started walking in the direction of the village, feet hesitant.

I can’t shift. I can’t just fly there. That’ll give me away to Chronos, mask or not.

He picked up his pace. Frozen grass gave way to stone-cold dirt, cracked from lack of rain.

And- And I’m not a mage. I can’t teleport or ride the wind.

A sweat broke out on his forehead. Lukas groaned. A bead of sweat rolled down his mask and into one of the slits and right into his eye.

A sting of pain. Lukas halted and gasped, his hands scrabbling at his face, fingers stopped by the mythril, blinking his eyes until the pain subsided and he could walk again.

The mighty Ceuta, another voice in his mind jeered, a mockery of Lex’s. Felled by a mere drop of sweat!

Lukas shook his head. He was a little closer to the village- he could make out that there were windows on some of the houses, but not what was in the windows themselves.

His legs were just about ready to give out as he forced himself to walk the last few meters to the village borders. Sticks tied with rope marked off large swathes of land for gardens and farms. Little sprouts- the first green he’d seen in a long time- poked out from the earth, damp with recent watering.

His feet ached as he stepped into the village, all the houses arranged in a wide circle, a gap at one end where a long dirt road to somewhere else far away started. He sat down on a flat rock and set down his sack and pulled up his feet. Dirt had caked into the cracks between his toes, and what little wasn’t on its way to forming a callus had been tinged gray like a dead man’s skin by the earth.

“Hey!”

Lukas glanced up.

“Hey, you!”

Lukas looked over his shoulder. A stick of a man, wiry black hairs sprouting in sparse tufts from his chin, stumbled out of a two-story building- actually, building was a kind way of describing it; it more resembled a torrent of rocks and pebbles that had somehow managed to fall into the vague shape of a building. A torrent of raucous shouts poured out behind the man, silenced only by the heavy wooden door slamming shut.

“Kid!” the man half-shouted, half-belched. “Screw off! We don’t need any more damn whores here!”

“I’m not here for that,” Lukas snapped back. He leaned over and pulled Arkensia’s necklace out of the sack and tied it around his neck and tucked the pendant under his shirt.

“Then whaddaya want?” The man sneered and crossed his arms. “You one of those traveling performers? We had a few yesterday. Entranced all my customers and hoodwinked them out of their money!”

Lukas closed the sack and slung it over his shoulder. He turned around to face the man, keeping his face blank and expressionless.

The man sneered. “Vagabond, eh? Well, come on in, I guess. But if I find out you don’t got any coin to spend, I’ll kick ya out faster than you can say ‘Ceuta is dead’.”

The man turned and slammed the door shut, sending a shudder through the whole building. Lukas glanced around the rest of the village. All the other houses were strangely… quiet.

One of the second-story windows flung open. A woman wearing half a shredded dress leaned out the open window, her eyes dopey, tongue lolling out, her long brown hair swinging everywhere until a man grabbed it in his fist and yanked her back in and slammed the window shut before she could yelp.

Lukas shivered.

I don’t think there are any children in this village.

He rolled his shoulders.

It wouldn’t hurt to ask.

He forced himself to walk to the building and open the door. The clatter of plates hit his ears first- a blazing chandelier hung from the ceiling over where the bartender was smashing together glasses full of a rainbow’s worth of liquid. Men of all shades and sizes stumbled around among the beaten tables in a drunken mockery of a ballroom dance honoring the ducks as they returned for the spring. Except that it was autumn, the firstworld far warmer than the otherworld had been, and the lithe steps of the hunter and his fowl partner were instead the lumbering off-beat stomps of so many steel-toed soldiers disturbing a marsh.

Lukas grimaced and strode over to the bartender. He slipped his sack over one shoulder, using one of the straps as a long handle. He sat on one of the high stools and drummed his fingers on the counter.

The bartender tossed a drink to one of the dancers and spilled half of it on the floor in the process. His eyes caught Lukas- his eyebrows shot straight up.

“Well, look at ya! Kinda young to be drinking, eh?”

Lukas shook his head. “Do you have any children here?”

The bartender’s roaring laughter shook the blazing chandelier- a few sparks floated down around the two of them. “Children- this is a tavern, you dunce!”

Breath steady.

“I’m talking about this village in whole. Hopefully you can at least enlighten me as to what it’s called?”

“No can do. Someone stole its name a few decades ago.”

The bartender turned around and took a glass of yellow ale and handed it to one of the patrons whose eyes were brimming with just as much froth. His eyes flickered to Lukas’ hands, still drumming on the counter. The bartender rapped his knuckles on the few bottles still hanging on the wall- a few more appeared out of thin air.

Lukas’ breath caught in his throat. Regenerating?

No, respawning.

“And village? What village? There ain’t a village here. Hasn’t been one for decades. Not since that little rat Ceuta decided to play benefactor and royally screw things up.”

Lukas’ jaw twitched. He stood up and turned to the door. “So I’m wasting my time.”

“No- what- you-”

A mountain of a man thumped out of the back room. Lukas froze and turned to face him. Whether the rolls of his arms were from fat or badly-grown muscle, he couldn’t tell.

“This pixie giving you trouble?” he asked, voice slow like he’d coated his whole mouth and throat and even part of his face in molasses.

The bartender rubbed his hands together, faux nervousness spreading across his face. “Y-Yes, Ismar. Be a dear and fetch Fiel, would you?”

“Yes, sir.”

Ismar disappeared back into the back room. Lukas stepped away, hesitant at first, and then left through the front door out into the fresh air.

He barely got a noseful before the door slammed open behind him. He whipped around- two bald men, Ismar and who Lukas assumed to be Fiel, standing side-by-side like entrants in a fat contest. Fiel wore a faded-white cap stretched onto his head and purple robes, a poor imitation of Lex’s own, stitched with once-gold thread half-frayed and pulled out over the years.

“Boy, what’s your name?”

“I…”

Crap! I didn’t think this far ahead!

What should I-

“It’s St. Giga.”

Fiel snorted in disbelief. “Have you ever heard of Ceuta before, dear Saint?”

Sweat at the back of Lukas’ neck. He swallowed and shook his head. “No-”

“Lies!”

Fiel outstretched his hand. No magic came forth. He grimaced and studied his wrinkled fingers.

“Uh, Fiel?” Ismar piped up. “He might’ve been born after the fall.”

“Hmm…” Fiel studied Lukas’ hands. Lukas covered his left hand with his right, trying to hide the red splotches. “A child of Ceuta, perhaps? A grandchild? I would think the genetics diluted enough that the birthmark wouldn’t still be there.”

A lurch in Lukas’ stomach. He bit down on his lip, begging his face to remain as blank and expressionless as stone.

Damn! I- I can’t shift!

I could probably outrun them, though-

A pang of pain from the bottom of his right foot. He winced.

Yeah, I don’t think that’s an option.

“Hm?” One of Fiel’s eyebrows shot up. He cupped his hand by his ear. “Did you say something?”

Lukas stayed silent.

“I think he said that he knows where Ceuta is,” Ismar said.

“Oh, yes…” Fiel cackled as he stepped forward.

Lukas reached one hand into his sack. His fingers wrapped around something long and skinny. He pulled out to find a tan gel pen in his hand.

Some help this’ll be-

Wait!

Fiel’s eyes widened as Lukas ran his fingers over the bottom of the pen- and then the both of them yelped and jumped back as the pen turned into a golden spear with a multitude of jewels embedded in the shaft and clattered to the ground.

Just like the one he’d seen above Chronos’ throne.

Thank you, Arkensia.

Lukas picked it up. It was a little too heavy for his spaghetti arms- they trembled as Fiel stepped closer, a wicked grin on his face.

Lukas pulled his arms back and thrust in front of him. Fiel stepped to the side- the spear caught in Fiel’s clothes, ripping a hole near the hip. Fiel sneered and lumbered towards Lukas. Lukas swung the spear, but it just bounced off Fiel’s flesh.

Damn! I should have picked the sword- or the axe-

Ismar lunged for Lukas, who rolled out of the way just in time. The spear turned back into a pen in his hands, and he threw it back into the sack and pulled out the fountain pen, fumbling with it until Ismar threw his weight onto Lukas, forcing the two of them to the ground.

Lukas grunted and pulled his feet out from under Ismar’s reeking body, not sure whose sweat was trickling down his ankles. Fiel grabbed Lukas’ arm and pressed him flat against himself. He put one hand on Lukas’ forehead and the other on the mask and yanked- a jolt of pain at the borders of Lukas’ face, but it stayed on, just as Arkensia had promised.

Lukas yelped and squirmed- Fiel was too strong. He felt the pen slip from his hands. Ismar swept over and scooped it up in his hands, staring at it blankly, his triple chins showing as he brought it closer to his eyes to study as Fiel continued trying to peel the immovable mask from Lukas’ face-

“Bottoms up!”

A flash, a bang, and a silence.

40

“Whoops! Sorry about that. Couldn’t help myself.”

A dark blurry shape moved over Lukas- then separated to become two amoebas.

“Tryne, you have to be more careful when you flash bomb-”

“Hey, I saved him, didn’t I?” One of the amoebas flailed its arms. “He’s still alive… I think.”

“You don’t even know if he’s a boy or not.”

“I- I’m not a prostitute! I’m not going to look in his- in their pants!”

“Relax, Tryne.” The amoeba on the left reached to the other, slightly more defined now, vaguely human shaped. “I haven’t left you out of my sight since I joined this troupe. I know very well you haven’t seen any boys.”

“…You know, it would be nice to have a boyfriend…”

The figures grew a bit more defined. Dark shades of color started bleeding back into the room.

“What? A wimpy, pithy little man with barely a single kernel of corn on a piece of string to call a ring? If I were to ever consider selling you off for a dowry- not that I would, of course…” A nervous chuckle. “I’d want more than a pathetic little piece of drought-ridden land. Preferably a cushy place in the capital, away from all this drought nonsense. Something that will get us off this damn caravan forever.”

“I like the traveling,” a younger voice piped up.

“Yeah!” another young voice chimed in. “Such a big world!”

Silence for a few moments, and then the more curvy of the two figures coughed. “You know, it would be nice if he wasn’t wearing that mask so we could tell if he was awake and listening to us jabber or not.”

“Nah.” The other person shook their head. “I’ve heard enough stories to know that people who’ve been saved and got knocked unconscious in the process always wake up suddenly and act bewildered and ask a ton of questions.”

Lukas’ throat spasmed- he coughed, a wet hocking sound from deep in his throat. His limbs trembled as he pulled himself up and crossed his legs. He glanced down- a red stain had blossomed at the bottom of his shirt near his right leg.

“Oh, that. Uh, sorry? I accidentally scraped you against the side of the caravan when we were trying to pull you in.”

A lurch- Lukas’ stomach turned upside down. He grunted and laid back down on the makeshift bed, not much more than a thin mattress and a sheet. The pots and pans hanging from the ceiling tinkled and clattered as they swayed- the faint sound of hooves outside.

A moving caravan.

Well, I guess it’s better than walking.

He waited for the queasiness in his stomach to subside before he sat up again and turned. A dark-skinned girl stood before him, one of her hands on her hips, staring out the back of the caravan as the land passed before them. Locks of wavy blazing red hair locked in a ponytail hung down her back, swaying with the caravan as the two horses outside pulled it away to whereabouts unknown. Beside her, a plumper and much fairer woman turned and headed to the back. She just barely squeezed down the middle with its bulky bundles of equipment on both sides as she went to the back to watch over the two twin boys playing near the net strung across the open back. The canvas back had been rolled up, the roll pinned to the top, letting the warm outside air breathe in and out of the space as it pleased.

“You done staring?”

Lukas snapped his attention back to her-

A pang of panic through his body. His hands shot to his side, where the bag should have been- nothing.

Tryne giggled and winked and slipped to the middle of the caravan, her narrow hips swaying as she reached behind one of the bundles and pulled out the bag.

“This what you’re looking for?”

Lukas shot to his feet- his head swam, and he stumbled a bit before he regained his balance. The horses outside with their irregular canter didn’t help much, either.

“I- I need that back!”

“Well…” Tryne pulled out the black fountain pen and twirled it in her fingers, studying it all the while. “Thing is, we’re pretty far away from our next destination. And, no offense, but you’re weak as heck, boy.” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. A shiver went down Lukas’ spine. “Couldn’t even get a single decent hit in, huh?”

Lukas’ face burned. His hands grew sweaty.

For once, I’m glad the mask doesn’t let me shift.

“Calm down! I’m jesting.” Tryne giggled and slipped the pen into the bag. “Here you go!” Lukas reached for it, and she yanked it back just in time. “Nope! You owe me for saving your life. Let me think… There’s got to be something you can do for us to repay your debt…”

Debt?

Lukas swallowed. “What exactly do you do?”

Tryne put a hand to her chest and scoffed, mock-offended. “What do I do? I’m only the most talented dancer on this continent! I mean… except for the ones in the capital…” Her eyes burned with hatred. “Those little ribbon-encrusted plinks can rot in the underworld for all I care-”

“Tryne!”

“Sorry, Ame.” Tryne blushed for a moment and then cocked her head back to Lukas. “Anyways, I didn’t catch your name?”

“It’s St. Giga,” Lukas said, no hesitation in his voice this time.

“Saint-” Tryne’s eyebrows shot up, and she blinked a few times for dramatic effect. “I’m gonna call you Giggy for short. You like that, Giggy? You love it?” She cackled. “I don’t care. You’re Giggy now-” She snapped her fingers. “Giggy the mysterious dancer! No… You’re too clumsy. Giggy the dashing cook boy? No, wait- Giggy the enigmatic mime! We need a mime!”

Lukas grimaced as Tryne shouted over her shoulder, “Hey, Ame! Can Giggy be a mime?”

“No. I don’t like mimes.”

“Darn!”

Tryne stomped her foot. The caravan shook. One of the two boys playing at the end of the caravan almost fell out- both of them squealed, more play than actual terror as the other pulled his brother back in.

A few moments of silence, and then Lukas admitted, “I wouldn’t mind being a dancer-” Tryne perked up, and Lukas raised his hands. “Hey, I didn’t say I had any talent. You’ll have to teach me.”

“…Teach you?” Tryne scoffed. “Well… Maybe. I guess I could…” She clapped her hands. “It’s a deal! Although I could already tell that you have no talent, so you’ll owe more to me.”

She went back to the middle and slung the bag on one of the unused hooks, bags of costumes and a few props hanging from the others. Lukas didn’t move to stop her.

Tryne sashayed to the back of the caravan and sat down beside the two boys, immediately taking up a game of patty-cake with them. Lukas sat back down on the bed and watched them, the boys giggling with genuine glee, Tryne letting them mess with her thick ponytail when she let them win.

Do you think… one of them could be Kova?

It’s possible he didn’t recognize me. And it’s not like six-year-olds pay that much attention to anything other than themselves anyways.

41

The sun was touching the horizon when the caravan halted, everything jittering at the sudden stop, the pots and pans clanging a discordant song all their own. Ame unhooked the net from the back of the caravan, and the two boys barreled out the end, tumbling onto the ground and running themselves silly.

Tryne waited until the boys collapsed in a heap, exhausted and dizzy, before she slipped out the back. Lukas followed her, and the two of them stood together, gazing around at the village they’d arrived at. It was slightly bigger, scattered clusters of five or six houses each around a city circle with a water fountain. The stone was cracked and mossy; the fountain clearly hadn’t been functional for several decades.

Tryne turned to Lukas. Her dancing dress, swirling purples and blues not unlike the far-off sunset, was almost ethereal in the gentle breeze.

“We’re performing tomorrow.” She held out a hand. “So let’s get started with that practice.”

Hesitant, Lukas took Tryne’s hand- she spun him around and shoved him. He stumbled and almost tripped.

He turned back around and glared. “What was that for?”

“I had to check that you weren’t a bowling pin.” Tryne giggled. “Okay, for real now.” She put her hands above her head. “Stand like this.”

Lukas glanced around- the villages were dark inside, shutters and shades closed. His cheeks burned as he put his arms above his head.

“Now mirror my actions.”

Tryne lifted her leg up at a right angle, knee perfectly straight. Lukas managed to lift it halfway- he wobbled and grabbed his leg, trying to force it up more.

Tryne groaned and facepalmed. “Giggy-”

“I have a name,” Lukas spat, letting go of his leg. “You should try using it sometime.”

Tryne scoffed. “The nerve! I don’t think I want you to be my dance partner anymore.”

Lukas shrugged but stayed silent.

“Hmmm…” Tryne put a finger to her chin, deep in thought. “You know, I’ve always wanted a bodyguard. I suppose fighting is a lot like dancing.” She snapped her fingers. “Go inside the caravan and pull out those weird pen things.” She winked as she added, “Giggy.”

Lukas grimaced as he climbed back into the caravan. His eyes traveled over all the bundles of props- toy weapons, tiki torches ready to be lit, several garish and childish masks- before he found his sack and slung it over his shoulder.

He slipped back out of the caravan. Tryne was nowhere to be seen.

“Yeah? Hello?”

Lukas turned. Across the city circle, Tryne was chattering with some nondescript villager or another.

“I’ve got a friend who’s rather clumsy. Is it okay if we chop down some firewood for you?”

“Why, of course!” The villager clapped in glee. “And bring back some berries while you’re at it.”

“Thanks! Oh, and I’m with a troupe of traveling performers. We’re putting on a performance tomorrow night. I hope to see you there!” Tryne cracked a smile. The villager closed their door, and Tryne pranced back to Lukas. “Well, what are you waiting for?”

An owl hooted above their heads as they stepped into the forest. Lukas plodded along behind Tryne, the sack over his shoulder, borrowed boots loosely tied and two sizes too large for his feet.

Tryne broke from the path and approached a tree. She wrapped her arms around it- her fingers just barely met on the other side. She pulled away and gestured for Lukas to come over.

“Okay, so…” Tryne thought for a moment. “I guess you can practice your swings on this tree.”

“What- I thought you said you were going to help?”

Tryne studied her fingernails. “I never said that.”

Lukas groaned and tossed the sack to the ground and pulled out the snow-white pen. He touched the bottom of it- it turned into an axe. Tryne whistled, eyes wide open, then feigned disinterest as Lukas dragged it over to the tree.

He raised the axe and turned it in his hands so the handle faced the tree trunk- the blade dropped back down. He grunted and twisted the axe, bringing the blade back up- it drooped down again.

He set the axe down and wiped his sweaty palms on his shirt before he picked it up again. His forearms started to tremble from the weight. The blade stayed in place a little longer before it drooped down again.

Lukas cursed under his breath as he set the axe down again. He lifted up his foot and slipped off his boot- he let it drop to the ground as he pulled off his sock. He tossed the sock to his other hand and pulled the boot back on, old leather feeling even more disgusting as he wrapped the axe handle in the sock and lifted it up.

The blade didn’t droop.

Lukas took a step back and swung into the tree trunk-

A sharp, piercing pain in his side.

Lukas yelped and let go of the axe. The axe stayed embedded in the tree trunk as he stumbled back.

Tryne glanced up. “You okay, Giggy?”

That’s not my name!

“Yeah,” Lukas gasped. “I- I think.” He checked his side- no blood, not even a single sign of a wound. “Side stitch, probably.”

“Pulled a muscle?”

Lukas shook his head. He returned to the tree and put one foot on the trunk and yanked the axe out. He swung again- the axe got stuck again, the gash in the tree’s side larger, splinters and chunks of wood flying out. Something sharp like a dagger in his gut- he hissed and grabbed his chest.

“Uh… You need a doctor, Giggy?”

“I’m fine,” Lukas winced.

“You don’t look fine.”

“Then why don’t you try?”

“Fine! I will!”

Tryne humphed and tossed her hair over her shoulder and shoved Lukas aside. She grabbed the axe and yanked it out of the tree trunk and swung wildly at the gash-

A thunk as the axe cut deeper into the tree. Tryne shrieked and crumpled to the ground, curling into a ball, tumbling into the mess of twigs and leaves on the unkempt ground.

“Chronos… above…” Tryne’s voice wavered as she pulled herself up, trembling all over, half from pain and half from the night’s cold front starting to roll in. “That weapon’s got to be cursed or something…”

Lukas perked up. “You believe in Chronos?”

Tryne nodded, her face off-tinged like she was about to throw up. “Not really. I mean, the fall’s a farce. People just suck at inventing things and want some grand story to blame. But the capital’s full of weirdos who worship the guy, and they’re doing just fine.” She eyed Lukas and pulled a twig out of her hair. “Why so curious all of a sudden?”

Lukas straightened himself and cleared his throat and blanked his face. “Because there’s a reason I’m wearing this mask right now. I have a message to deliver to the people of the firstworld, and I cannot let Chronos find me, for both my safety and everybody else’s.”

Tryne, still in pain, managed a giggle. “And what’s this oh-so important message?”

“Tryne. I’m serious.”

“Well-” Tryne giggled again. She pulled another twig out of her hair and held it out for Lukas to take. “I’m not.”

Lukas kept his arms at his side, ignoring the twig. “Chronos is planning to wipe the firstworld clean and rebuild it. All the buildings, all the land, all the people currently in existence will be swept away and destroyed.”

“So… the end of the world?” She twirled the twig in her fingers, feigning boredom. “Can’t say I’m convinced.”

“I’ve heard it from his own lips.”

“And I’ve heard the shrieking of a goat giving birth, but that doesn’t mean that I’m any more credible.”

He held out his left hand to Tryne. “I have the mark of Ceuta. Is that enough evidence?”

Tryne shrugged. “I can dye my hands with berry juice as well.”

Lukas swore under his breath. “I don’t know how I can convince you, then.”

“Then what was even the point?” Tryne sighed. “I actually wish you hadn’t told me. Now I’m gonna be all moody, and Ame’s gonna ask what’s wrong, and then the both of us are gonna worry that you’re right and that we’re completely doomed.”

“You’re not, actually. Anyone who flees to the underworld will be safe-”

“The underworld? Are you insane? The caedats-”

“-owe me a favor. They won’t hurt you. Just say that a man named L-” Lukas coughed- “a man whose name starts with an L wants them granted safe passage to the otherworld.”

Tryne studied Lukas. “What’s your name?”

“I told you already. St. Giga.”

“No, your real name!”

“…It’s Saint-”

“No, idiot!” Tryne slapped Lukas’ thigh. He yelped and stepped back. “The one that starts with an L!”

“That’s not me-”

“I’m not stupid! Even saints have actual names before they get, I dunno, canonized? Deified? Whatever it is.”

Lukas sighed. He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I can’t give out my name. I don’t know if Chronos knows it or not, and I don’t know what association it has here in the firstworld to Ceuta-”

Lukas clamped a hand over his mouth. Tryne peered at him, her eyes slits, and then she glanced back to the axe.

“You really are a weird little character, aren’t you? With your devil axe and lack of any talent whatsoever.”

Tryne pulled the axe out of the tree and tossed it aside. She slipped around to the other side and bolstered herself against the tree right beside it and kicked the trunk with both legs. The trunk crackled, and then thunder rained through the treetops as it splintered from the trunk and fell over.

Tryne kicked the felled trunk again for good measure. Lukas bent over and shrunk the axe back to a pen and slipped it back into his sack.

“We should head back before it’s too dark to see.” Tryne turned to leave the forest, Lukas following behind her. “We can deal with chopping it up tomorrow.”

42

A bonfire was crackling by the time they returned to the village. Ame was sitting with the two boys, playing some intricate finger game with each other and giggling all the while. A pot sat right in the middle of the fire, wedged in the logs, flames licking the sides of the metal, bottom glowing red and orange as the nighttime breeze ebbed and flowed.

“Welcome back!” Ame said as they approached. Tryne yawned and stretched her legs out, her feet tickling the edge of the fire. Lukas sat down, pulling his legs close to his chest. “Dinner’s almost ready. What took you so long?”

“Giggy and I were chopping down some trees.” Tryne brushed a few strands of stray hair back over her shoulder. “Ame, you should have seen him- he was weak!”

Lukas’ cheeks burned. He buried his face in his knees.

Ame burst out laughing. “You’ll have to forgive Tryne. She can be rather… rash sometimes.”

Tryne huffed. “I am not!”

“Anyways,” Ame continued, ignoring Tryne, “what are you good at, then, Giggy?”

Lukas thought for a moment, then he shrugged. “Nothing much.”

“Oh, come on!” Ame patted Lukas’ shoulder. Lukas shrugged her hand off. “There must be something. Nobody’s good at nothing.”

Drawing?

No- I need something dark and edgy!

“Adapting, then.”

Ame’s eyebrows shot up. “Adapting? So you’re a sellsword, then?”

What- That’s not-

Play along.

Lukas shrugged and glanced back up at Ame. “If it allows me to survive.”

“Well, our coffers aren’t the largest, and we couldn’t carry much gold with us in our caravan anyways. We live village-to-village, so we can’t offer you much. I hope food and shelter and transportation will suffice?”

Lukas perked up. He nodded.

“Very well, then. We’ll let you travel with us as long as you protect this caravan from rogues and what else every night. Is that a deal?”

Lukas nodded again.

Tryne scoffed. “I don’t think you want-”

Ame shot Tryne a sharp look from the corner of her eye. Tryne squeezed her lips shut.

Ame pulled on a thick glove and opened the pot. Steam billowed out- the smell of some kind of boiled fish wafted into the air. Tryne pulled her legs back as Ame grabbed an oversized silver fork and reached in and stabbed out a hunk of fish flesh.

Ame held the fork out to Lukas. “Eat up, child. You’ve had a long day.”

Lukas, hesitant, took the fork. He spun it around in his hands, studying the pale slab from all sides before deciding to take a bite. It fell apart in his mouth- bland, flaky strands eager to get caught tight between his teeth if not for their flimsy consistency.

“Well?”

Lukas swallowed. A whole lot of nothing went down his throat. He coughed politely. “It’s alright.”

“Only alright?”

“Well, it’s not revolting, if that’s the word you’re looking for.”

Lukas shivered and pulled the coat tighter against his skin. The stars twinkled far above him, countless constellations he’d long forgotten the names of, so tightly packed and clogged with pinpricks of light that his city-attuned eyes hurt just glancing up.

The wind whispered again, gentle nighttime breeze brushing past the canvas of the caravan, the same sing-song notes that had made him feel desolate and alone in the lonely hours of past nights- even when Kova had been beside him. Somewhere inside, Tryne and Ame and the two boys were snoozing, sound asleep. One of Ame’s snores roared, heavy and nasal like a flu-ridden bear- Lukas stifled a giggle.

Footsteps on the other side of the caravan. Lukas pulled his sword out of the ground, his muscles tensing, and swept around to the other side-

Fiel was standing there, robes fluttering in the wind, bloated mass clear as day in the moonlight.

Lukas stifled a gasp and took a step back. He took a deep breath and held out his sword. “You there. I see you.”

“I wasn’t trying to hide,” Fiel sneered.

“State your business.”

This is how guards act, right? Cold and detached?

Fiel gestured in front of him. “You are my business. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t try to kill me this time!”

Lukas stayed silent.

“I know who you are, Ceuta.” Fiel stepped forward. Lukas tensed. “I know exactly what you want. And I came here to tell you that the thing you want awaits in the capital, unharmed, safe and sound.”

Kova?

“That’s the most obvious trap I’ve ever heard,” Lukas shot back. “Now leave. Or I’ll consider you a threat to this caravan and cut you up into so many slices of ham.”

Fiel burst out in laughter. “You couldn’t even spear a wild pig if it were blind and deaf and missing all its limbs. And you expect to harm me?” He wiped his forehead. “I’m just here to deliver a message. But if you want a fight, dear Ceuta, I’ll be waiting in the capital…”

Fiel turned back and walked into the wilderness. Lukas watched him as he melted into the endless land, slipping into the stars until all that was left of him were the sounds of the treetops rustling in the nearby forest.

Lukas lowered his sword and walked back to the caravan. He went a lap around, checking for rogues and thieves and any other threats, and then returned to the wheel he’d been sitting on.

43

Mist slipped its cold hand past Lukas’ arm, light as a feather. He jolted awake- he was lying on the ground beside the caravan, his face in the dirt, his sword a few feet away.

…Did I fall off?

Lukas pulled himself to his feet and retrieved his sword. He glanced around- fog piled up to his knees, soft and deathly cold like the clouds of the afterworld had descended all around them and Chronos was about to fulfill his promise. A wall of white, layered curtains, obscuring everything past the cottages in the immediate circle, hung all around.

A shadow past the curtains. A silhouette- a tall boy, hair flopping to one side, loose clothes hanging off his frame.

“Kova?”

The boy stayed still. Lukas took one tentative step forward, then another, then another- the fog parted as he stepped towards the silhouette.

“Kova! Kova, it’s me, Lukas, you remember me, don’t you-”

Lukas tripped. He stumbled for a moment, then grunted and got right back on his feet. The silhouette moved backwards, legs frozen in place, like a puppet on a stick pulled back by an invisible hand.

Lukas picked up the pace, his blood rushing in his ears. But no matter how far he ran, how hard his chest pounded, how light his feet skipped over the earth- the silhouette stayed the same size, the same distance away, always just one step separated, one reach of the arm.

Lukas fell to his hands and knees. The sword clattered to the ground in front of him. The figure stared at him. Lukas’s chest heaved. He stared back as the silhouette faded from existence, dissolving into the fog.

Lukas planted the sword in the ground and pushed himself up, yanking it back out and sloughing it back to the caravan. Tryne was right outside, stretching her arms and yawning so much it was like she was perfoming a silent opera.

“Oh, hey, you,” Tryne murmured, drowsy. She pulled the tie out of her hair and shook her head- strands of red flew all around her face, tangled. She reached into the caravan and pulled out a heavy wooden brush and started dragging it through her hair. “What in the underworld’s up with you?”

Lukas’ face burned. He sighed. “I thought I saw somebody.”

Tryne raised an eyebrow. “And you woke up half of the village too. But now I know your real name, Giggy. If you’re trying to stay hidden and mysterious, you’re doing a god-awful job at it.”

Lukas tensed. He squeezed the handle of his sword tighter. “That’s not your secret to tell-”

“Whoa! Relax!” She held her hands out in front of her. “I won’t tell. Besides, I like saying ‘Giggy’ too much. Giggy, Giggy, Giggy.”

Tryne sighed and pulled back her hair and tied it back again, giving the ponytail one more brush to make it curl up just the slightest bit at the end. She watched as Lukas touched the end of the sword, shrinking it again and stashing it in his pocket, still tense.

Tryne yawned again and batted her eyes. “I’m still kinda sleepy. You woke me up. So now you’ve got to tell me a joke to wake me up all the way.”

Lukas, flustered, struggled for words before he cleared his throat. “Why did the chicken cross the road?”

Tryne’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know, Giggy. And which chicken in particular are we talking about? Because I’ve known a lot of chickens in my life.” She put her hands on her hips and leaned forward. “In fact, I’ve got one in front of me right now.”

Lukas sucked in a breath, pink bleeding into his cheeks. “I think, if I were a chicken, I’d have deserted this caravan just now!”

Tryne stepped back and planted a foot on the ledge to the back of the caravan, canvas hooked and stretched across the back to keep the wind out. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t.” She grabbed the handle on the metal frame and pulled herself up, her knuckles white as she pointed to the neighboring forest with her other hand. “Now go prove it and chop up that fallen tree for me!”

“What- the one from yesterday?” Lukas hissed. Tryne slipped inside the caravan and retrieved his sack, tossing it to him offhandedly.

She’s lazier than half my siblings!

I should have taken off running after he said no children-

And what? Starve? Get shanked by some random rogues? You have it good here. Stay along for now. You’ll figure something out later.

He picked it up and slung it over his shoulder, turning away. “Fine. I will.”

44

The flames of the tiki torches flickered in their posts all around the water fountain as the villagers filtered into the main circle. Grays and browns and dirty whites of everyday clothes clashed with the bright purples and oranges of the two boys’ robes as they scampered all around the place, shaking hands and squirming as strangers kissed them on the forehead and squeezed their cheeks and remarked how cute they were.

Tryne poked her head out of the caravan. Her hair was a mess, tangled and frizzy. She glanced to Lukas, who was hiding on the other side of the caravan out of view, fidgeting with his pens.

“Hey,” Tryne whispered. “Sorry it’s taking me so long- You alright, Giggy?”

Lukas shrugged. He touched the bottom of the fountain pen, fingertips too light to trigger it to shift. “I’ll survive.”

“Check the perimeter?”

Lukas turned to face her. “Shouldn’t you be getting ready?”

Tryne huffed and disappeared back in the caravan. Her silhouette danced around as she tripped and pulled her brush through her hair and eventually threw it to Ame and sat down to let the fat woman brush it for her.

Lukas popped a finger in his mouth. He whistled the two tones Tryne had taught him. The two little boys came running over to him, panting from exhaustion, sweat beading on their foreheads as they tumbled over to him.

“Y-Yes, Giggy!” they piped up, standing tall, their chubby faces almost cherubic in the flickering light in a hellish sort of way.

“What are your names?”

“Kay!” the first one piped up.

“Tay,” the other whispered, suddenly glum, refusing to meet Lukas’ eyes.

“What’s your part in the performance?”

“Well,” Kay said, “we’re supposed to be acrobating until Tryne comes out! But Tay-” he elbowed Tay, who squealed and ran inside the caravan- “he’s being a big dumb stinky poopy head.”

“Fine.” Lukas sighed. “I’ll talk to him. Go back out and stall for time.”

Lukas pulled himself into the caravan. Tay was cowering right inside the opening, his hands over his head, trying to hide. Lukas sat down beside him and dangled his legs off the edge.

“Hey.” Lukas set a hand on Tay’s shoulder. The little boy was trembling, his lips quivering, about to cry. “What’s wrong?”

“I- I’m scared,” Tay blubbered. “There was a weird man in the audience-” A sob escaped his lips. He wiped his tears with the back of his hand. “And he had yellow eyes.”

Lukas paused, thinking for a moment. “What’s wrong with yellow eyes?”

“Be-Because Tryne said that’s the mark of someone who’s murdered all his friends!”

Lukas stifled a giggle. “I’ve known a few murderers. Their eyes were red, not yellow.”

Tay looked up at Lukas. “B-But those are gods. And gods aren’t real. That’s what Tryne said.”

Lukas nodded.

Tay peered at Lukas. “You’re our guard, right? You’ll protect us?”

Lukas nodded again.

Tay slumped. “You’re going to leave us eventually, aren’t you? Like every other guard?”

“I…”

Just lie for his benefit. He’ll probably forget.

Lukas shook his head. “I haven’t decided yet.”

Another sob escaped Tay. He wrapped his arms around his legs. “I don’t want to go back out there.”

“He’s in a crowd. There are lots of other people who’d see him if he tried to do anything to you. And I doubt you’re the one he’s after.”

Tay’s eyes widened. “You mean he’s gonna kill Tryne-”

“No! No, that’s not what I meant! I mean… he’s probably after me. And he’ll see I’m armed and won’t try anything.”

Tay wiped his eyes. “I feel a little better now.”

Tay slipped out of the caravan and scampered back to the crowd. Tryne stood up and sung a few notes to warm her throat up. Ame nodded in approval, and Lukas followed her out of the caravan, taking up his station right behind it.

Tryne stepped onto the makeshift stage, no more than a little dirt area marked off with tiki torches with scarves tied onto the poles. The crowd’s voices extinguished like a flame doused with water, steam in whispers floating through before disappearing altogether.

Tryne cleared her throat and raised her arms. The ribbons tied onto her limbs floated as she spun around, a mess of oranges and purples and the red of her hair all spinning together like a tornado. One of the ribbons broke off and floated over to Lukas, a swish of purple at his elbow, limp in his fingers as he picked it up off the ground. He studied it for a moment before he shrugged and tied it around his wrist.

Tryne opened her mouth- a shiver bolted down Lukas’ spine as the most ethereal voice he’d ever heard pierced the air, slipping into his ears, slithering in deep into his eardrums like snakes of ice.

“Have you seen the morning light?

Have you felt the ocean fog?

A barrier between horizon and fright,

come back to me.”

Tryne swished her hands in the air- Kay and Tay shot out, torches in their hands, juggling them as they danced along on unsteady feet, somehow keeping on the rhythm as Tryne swept her arms to the ground. Pieces of gold and silver and bronze started raining onto the stage, thrown by the audience, some hitting Tryne- although she never acknowledged them in the slightest.

“I’m standing at the shore;

a voice reflects across the waves.

Morning Star shines above,

a neverending praise…”

A dark shape bolted out from the edge of the crowd. Lukas switched the fountain pen for the white ballpoint and stepped out from behind the caravan. Nobody noticed him, all eyes glued onto Tryne, utterly entranced as she flitted around the stage area like flower petals scattering in the wind.

“Have you seen the dying blaze

burning at the edge of your sight?

A father, fists flying, a son,

eyes burning red with blight!”

Tryne floated back to center stage and turned to Lukas, holding out her hand. Lukas hesitated for a moment before she winked and gestured for him to come onto the stage. He slipped the pen into the collar of his shirt and set down his sack and joined her.

Tryne took Lukas’ hands and spun him around in her arms like they were a couple in a ballroom, dancing one of the dances that only the divine family was rumored to know. The back of Lukas’ head hurt as he struggled to remember the steps in time with Tryne’s swaying body, so much more lithe and light than him, a beauty cavorting with a beast-in-hiding.

“I’m standing at the edge;

a hand reaches from the abyss.

A face I once knew, a friend-”

The dark shape bolted out from the crowd, lunging for Tryne. Lukas shoved her aside and pulled out the axe and jammed on the bottom- the blade materialized just as the shadow reached its arm out.

A snick, a squelching sound. The thunk of the assailant’s body sagging to the ground. A clean cut, a gash in his neck, a sudden spike of pain in Lukas’ own neck like a vice gripped around and squeezing. Warm blood ran down Lukas’ left arm, and he winced and bore the pain, red mixing with the dirty white of his shirt, caking into his fingernails.

Tryne gasped, frozen in place, eyes wide, her hands over her mouth. Kay and Tay halted and gave the body no more than a moment’s glance before shrieking and setting their torches back on their stands and breaking for the caravan.

Holy…

Holy shit, I just killed someone!

The crowd stirred, contemplation quickly dissolving into verbal chaos. Lukas lowered his axe, his breath catching in his throat, his hands trembling. The pressure on his neck slowly subsided. A gurgle came from the dead man’s mouth, crimson life force draining into the otherwise almost colorless ground.

Tryne leaned into Lukas’ ear. “Giggy. What just happened?”

Lukas stared at the body, ignoring the feeling of drops of scarlet dripping off his numb fingertips.

“I… repaid my debt.”

45

Tryne stumbled as she crawled back into the caravan- Lukas grabbed her arm, stopping her fall, and helped her in. He shuddered as he dropped to his knees, the night’s cold air just starting to blow in again.

Ame glanced up from her needlework- her eyebrows immediately shot up. “Look at you! You’re a mess!”

She grabbed the jug of water from the corner of the space and dipped the tip of her handkerchief in and waddled over to Lukas. She grabbed his left arm- he grunted as she started scrubbing the dried blood, brown and crusty, off his skin.

“What happened?” Ame asked, her gaze flickering between Tryne, who was seated at the opening, staring blankly off into the night sky, and Lukas. “You’re back early. Did Tryne mess up-”

“Someone tried to attack her,” Lukas said, blunt. Tryne coughed and crossed her arms and shivered. “I dispatched them. Just like we agreed on. She’s unharmed.”

“Ah.” Ame’s face darkened. “We’ll have to get moving to the next village, then, if this one isn’t safe.”

She moved her handkerchief to his left hand and started scrubbing. The red blots remained- her eyebrows furrowed.

Lukas sighed. “Those are birthmarks. Don’t bother trying to scrub them off.”

“I see.” Ame took his other arm and started rubbing the crusts on there. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone with a birthmark on their hands before. Usually it’s on their face, or higher up on one of their limbs- somewhere where the sun’s always shining so it can diddle the marks and make them darker. Tryne has a birthmark on her-”

Tryne coughed loudly and violently shook her head, red hair flying everywhere.

“A-Alright, dearie, I won’t tell Giggy.” Ame chuckled and pulled back, the blood crusts gone. She clucked. “Your clothes are ruined. The blood will rot and attract all sorts of nasty bugs.” She turned behind her. “Tay! Can you see if the dead man outside has any clothes that aren’t ruined?”

“F-fine.” Tay tore away from the finger game he was playing with Kay and slogged out of the caravan.

“And Tryne,” Ame continued, “I hate to ask any favors from you, considering what happened this night, but I need you to find our horseman and ask him to get the caravan ready to travel again.”

Tryne slipped out of the caravan without a word. Lukas, without Ame’s prodding, got up as well and followed her out.

Tryne squeezed her eyes shut and clutched Lukas’ arm with one hand. Lukas stood there for a moment, confused.

I- what-

She doesn’t want to see the dead body, you dunce.

Lukas led her around to the other side of the caravan. Tryne opened her eyes, silent, still hanging onto Lukas as she led him to one of the cottages nearby and knocked on the door.

The lights in the cottage came on. A tall man with a scraggly black beard answered the knock. He eyed Tryne and Lukas and then sighed and slumped his shoulders.

“No, you can’t use the guest room. I’m using it-”

“Bran,” Tryne whispered. “We need to go.”

Bran groaned. “Again? How many times-”

Tryne scowled at him.

“Okay, okay. Fine. Let me grab a few things first.”

He disappeared back into the cottage and came back with a small glass perfume bottle, half-full. The three of them returned to the caravan- the horseman broke off and went to where their two horses were tied up next to another cottage, and Tryne and Lukas climbed back inside. Tryne immediately retired to the bed at the back, flopping herself onto the covers, pulling the pillow down over her head.

Tay popped up, a tangle of gray and black clothes in his arms. His eyes brimmed with tears as Lukas approached and crouched down to his level.

“I- I took the unstained clothes from the dead man, Giggy. Just like Ame asked.”

“Thank you,” Lukas whispered. He patted Tay’s head- Tay’s breath shuddered, half-awe, half-fear.

Lukas stood up and pulled his shirt off, dropping it at his feet. Tay stared wide-eyed at his chest as Lukas untangled what he thought was a short-sleeved shirt of sorts and pulled it on. The fabric was soft to the touch, slightly stretchy, fitting him almost perfectly.

“Um… Can you look away for a moment, Tay?”

Tay spun around and held his breath and squeezed his eyes shut. Lukas stifled a snort and slipped his pants off and slid the new ones on.

A shimmer. Lukas glanced down at the old clothes. Something crystalline rippled across the fabric- they disintegrated like shattered glass, shards floating into the air and disappearing from existence altogether.

Lukas swallowed and leaned down and patted Tay’s head. “It’s okay now.”

Tay released his breath and opened his eyes. The whole caravan shuddered- a horse whine from outside, Bran’s coarse unfiltered cursing following right after it.

46

The caravan jolted as it drove over a rock, pots and pans clanging to their own discordant beats. Lukas turned his eyes to the sky. It was like an elementary school student had taken a sheet of black construction paper and dumped the entire jar of glitter onto it- so many stars, it was almost impossible to tell where the original constellations were.

Not that Lukas had ever known any of them, anyways.

The caravan jolted again- Lukas steadied himself against its metal frame. Confused snores erupted from the front, everyone but the horseman and Lukas asleep, the light hanging from the ceiling long since extinguished.

I wonder how my family is doing all the way up there. I wonder how the war’s going- I hope they’ve managed to smite Lex into oblivion. Or tear up his soul and sell it to one of the neighboring dimensions…

His chest tightened.

Dammit! I had the perfect audience to warn to evacuate earlier, and I squandered it all! At this rate, I might as well have never descended at all-

But then I would have been executed by Father.

He shook his head.

I’m alive. And we’ll be at a different village tomorrow. I can try again. That’s what matters.

He studied the stars again. One of them was shining brighter than the others, a little ways down from the top of the sky, shifted just slightly to the right. It twinkled over and over- Lukas slipped a hand to his chest, his fingers curling over the pendant still resting there. The star was twinkling in time with his heartbeat, faint, just barely noticeable.

Morning Star shines above, indeed.

47

“I’m standing at the edge;

a hand reaches from the abyss.

A face I once knew, a friend,

someone I never thought I’d miss…”

A voice tickled at the edge of Lukas’ hearing. He slowly cracked his eyes open- he’d dropped off to sleep sometime that night. The caravan was stopped, Tryne somewhere outside, her voice soft and gentle like she was afraid to hurt the air.

He sat up and slid out of the caravan, turning all around, taking in the village around him. The houses were all in various states of decay- some looking freshly abandoned, some with vines growing in through the windows, some with roofs like undercooked pies filled with hot air and then removed from the oven too soon, air hissing out and soft top collapsing in.

Tryne wandered over to Lukas, her plain yellow sun dress hanging limp on her frame in the absence of wind. Dark circles shone under her eyes.

“Good morning…” She yawned. “I didn’t sleep well last night. You?”

Lukas shook his head.

Tryne hummed and gestured around. “We ended up in a real dump. I don’t think anyone’s alive here to perform to. Unless you want to dig up some bones, and we can pretend?” She giggled. “Ame wouldn’t let me get my hands that dirty. And anyone living in this dump couldn’t afford to pay us anything anyways.”

“Assuming they’d pay you in the first place.”

“Hey!” Tryne put her hands on her hips. “Do you want to be fired?”

Lukas shrugged, stifling a snicker. “I’ve repaid my debt. I could leave at any time.”

Tryne took a deep breath and calmed down. Her eyes flickered to somewhere behind him. “Hey, not to scare you, but... there’s someone standing right behind you.”

A baby shiver shot down his throat. He turned around slowly, footsteps purposeful, methodical.

A girl was, indeed, standing right behind him, her hands pressed together, mousy and timid. Her orange hair had been bleached by the sun, quick on its way to gray like the land all around him.

She peered up at Lukas- a squeal escaped her throat, and she took off running. Lukas stared at her, confused, gears turning in his mind as she disappeared into one of the broken-down cottages on the other side of the tiny village.

What in the world…

That hair-

“Damn, Giggy,” Tryne giggled. “You won’t have to kill any more people for me if you can just scare them away.”

“…She looked like Syntha,” he whispered.

A daughter? A cousin? Some other relative?

“What?”

“She looked like someone I used to know.”

“Aww! You had a girlfriend? That’s so cute! Tell me, was she into men who hide their faces from everybody?”

His face burned. “She wasn’t my girlfriend!”

“Tryne!”

Ame poked her head out of the caravan- her foot slipped. She stumbled and tumbled out of the caravan and landed right on her knee. Tryne and Lukas rushed over to Ame and helped her back up inside.

“Darn,” Ame whispered, her voice strained, her knee bright red. “Tryne, can you be a dear and help the boys with breakfast?”

Tryne humphed and climbed into the caravan, pots and pans clattering, climbing out past them a few seconds later with a wrapped pack of food and two small boys in tow. Ame grunted as she set a hand on Lukas’ shoulder, Tryne and the boys disappearing somewhere else to cook.

“Giggy,” she said. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something. St. Giga- that’s not your real name, is it?”

Lukas flustered, nodded his head. A flash of heat ran through his body. “It is-”

“Don’t lie to me, child. Your mask doesn’t hide the softness in your cheeks. And children can’t become saints. Not in any religion I’ve heard of in my forty years.”

Lukas bit his lip, heat rushing to his face.

Forty years? I think- no, I know I would have remembered a traveling dancer.

Ame moved her hand, caressing his face, fingertips brushing the edge of the mask. “You look like you have something to say, child. Spit it out. I promise I’ll listen.”

Lukas took a deep breath and balled his hands into fists, his heart threatening to break out of his chest, his pendant burning hot against his skin.

“I… I came down here to deliver a message from Ceuta herself.”

Ame nodded. “Go on.”

Lukas managed to blank his face, though his voice continued to tremble. “The gods above- Chronos is going to destroy the firstworld soon. Wipe it clean, I mean. Everybody here will- will die.”

Ame’s eyebrows shot up. “Everybody?”

Lukas nodded, calming down. “I don’t know when. It could be in five minutes; it could be in five centuries. You all need to evacuate to the underworld as soon as possible. Anyone who doesn’t will perish.”

“Giggy, there are caedats in the underworld-”

“One of the warrens owes Ceuta a favor. She’ll ensure they protect whoever escapes.”

But what if they’re not in the underworld? What if they’re living it up in the otherworld-

Or they’re all dead?

“Ceuta…” Ame paused for a moment, her eyes unfocused, deep in thought. “Child, you do realize that Ceuta is the reason everywhere we go is a wasteland, right?”

Lukas stayed silent.

“Ceuta resented mankind so much that she condemned their whole world to slow decay. I don’t see why she would suddenly help us now-”

“Does it matter why she wants to help?” Lukas blurted. “This is the truth. I saw Chronos speak it with his own mouth-”

“I doubt that, Giggy. The only souls who see Chronos face-to-face are those condemned to be his servants forever.”

Lukas reached into his pocket and pulled out the black fountain pen. He touched the bottom and jammed the tip of the sword into the ground, startling Ame.

“My sister, Arkensia, risked her life and freedom to steal these weapons for me. The same ones I’ve been guarding Tryne with.”

Ame’s eyes widened in recognition. “Chronos’ own royal regalia-”

“Indeed. I’m sorry I can’t prove my legitimacy any further without risking both your safety and my own. But I hope this will suffice.”

Ame, shocked silent, sat there for a few good moments, eyeing Lukas up and down as he unshifted the sword and slipped the pen back into his pocket.

A pattering behind Lukas- a tug on his pants. He glanced down to find Tay, his large watery eyes staring up at him.

“B-breakfast is ready, Giggy.”

48

The last flames of the fire flickered as they died down, embers still pulsing red-hot. Tryne had long since left, opting to pass the day under the shade of the caravan. But Lukas stayed at the fireside, watching the smoke float into the sky and then dissipate like it had never existed.

Where are you, Kova? Disappeared like all this smoke.

This world is too big- you could be on a completely different continent under a new name and a new set of memories encoded in some language I couldn’t even begin to fathom.

How long have I been gone?

He pulled the necklace out from under his shirt. His fingers wrapped around the pendant.

Are you an adult? Do you have your own family to take care of?

I- I wouldn’t rip a father away from his children. Or a mother from her babes.

I couldn’t love someone not my own age-

Something soft hit his shoulder.

“Come on! You just gonna mope there all day?”

Lukas turned around. A rude-looking boy, almost the splitting image of the other girl, lunged forward and snatched his beanbag back before Lukas could process what had just happened.

One glance at Lukas’ face, and the boy screeched and dropped his sack and took off running.

Lukas pulled himself to his feet and took off after him. “Wait!”

“Oh my god, oh my god-”

“Where are you going-”

“Oh my god-”

“How do you live in this wasteland-”

“He’s going to rip all my limbs off!”

Lukas dug his heels into the ground and halted. The boy continued sprinting, disappearing into the same cottage the girl from earlier had.

…Rip all his limbs off?

He glanced around, at the destruction, at the void of human life.

What happened here?

He started walking towards the cottage, one of the less-destroyed buildings. Tattered fabric hung in the blown-out windows. The roof had been stained the shade of the sunset on fire, tiles missing here and there, murky brown stone underneath. The rest of the cottage, though, had held up relatively well.

He knocked on the door. The girl from earlier peeked out from the curtains and then disappeared- screaming ensued, like monkeys trapped in a cage, and then the door swung open.

A plump woman with at least twenty years on Ame stood in the doorway. The boy and girl cowered in the corner of the one-room cottage, curled in on themselves, hiding their faces with their hands.

The plump woman peered at Lukas with beady little eyes, her gray hairs curling furiously like little snakes. “Where’d you come from?”

Lukas gestured behind him at the caravan. “I came with some performers. But I don’t think they’re going to be doing much of anything while they’re here. We only came to spend a few nights to regroup.”

“Ah… I see.” She turned around. “Maise!”

The orange-haired girl shot straight up, her eyes wide open.

“Get the tea ready. And use the browning leaves. Those should be sweeter.”

Maise nodded, frightened, and disappeared out the back door, the boy following her. The old woman stepped aside, inviting Lukas in.

The cottage was less of a dump than he’d expected. The floor was made of stones pressed tight against each other, gaps filled with compressed dirt to flatten it out. A single rusty table sat in the middle of the room, overturned wooden boxes serving as chairs. Their clothes were stained and borderline falling apart, like some sepia shot out of a forgotten heirloom photo box.

The old woman sat down. Lukas took the seat across from her, fiddling with his fingers, nervous. The back door squeaked- Maise snuck back into the room, footsteps unsure, keeping her gaze down. She set the two wooden cups down on the table and rushed back outside.

Lukas took the cup closest to him and pulled it closer. Two brown leaves floated in dark amber water.

“What’s the matter?” the old woman squawked, eyeing his hands. “It’s not poison or alcohol. What would I gain from killing anyone so far from civilization? Drink up.”

Lukas took a tentative sip. The tea didn’t taste like much of anything.

“You don’t have anywhere you need to be? No obligations?”

“I have a message to deliver to mankind,” Lukas answered. “But it would be rude of me to not let you speak first.”

“Oh! So gracious!” The woman fanned herself with her loose sleeve. “Just like royalty! Very well, then. But I don’t know what you could possibly want to know from such an old grandma.”

God, she’s like Tryne in elderly form.

Lukas glanced around at the water-stained walls. “I want to know how anyone could possibly live in a dump like this.”

The old lady took a deep breath. “Very well. A history you’ll get.

“I used to be one of the royal guards when I was young and graceful.” She took a sip of her tea- her face contorted, lips puckering like a stereotypical sour old grandma. “I’d patrol around the front gates of the castle. March my armored feet over perfectly good grass day after day, keeping little whipper-snappers like-” she gestured behind herself- “these two from trying to sneak in and play hero. Never saw a lick of war, so I guess Chronos blessed me there.”

“…But you’re here?”

“Ceuta’s fall was tough on all of us, kiddo. And I lost my niece when she tried to bring Ceuta back to remedy things. She and her brother, so full of potential… They just vanished into the tomb and never came out.”

Syntha!

Lukas grunted. He gulped half of the cup of tea down- it went down the wrong way, his throat spasming as he set the cup down and coughed into his arm.

“Are you alright?”

Lukas nodded his head, voice strained. “I- I’m fine. Please continue.”

“Alright. If you insist.

“My sister needed help with the farm since they were two of her hardest workers, so she wrote to me and begged me to move to her village to help. So I packed up what little my daughter and Maise and I had and relocated- but by the time we arrived, the drought had taken the whole village. I went through her entire house…” A tear formed in the corner of the old woman’s eye. She dabbed it away with the corner of her ragged sleeve. “I took the few heirlooms she hadn’t sold off and packed them into our carriage, and we started back for the capital. But the carriage broke down here. One of the wheels got jammed in the mud, and none of us knew how to fix it, so we just settled here instead.”

Lukas glanced around. “Your daughter-”

The old woman sniffled. “That’s a sensitive subject, young man. You’d be wise not to bring it up again.”

She died in the famine too, didn’t she?

The old woman took another sip from her tea, her lips puckering even harder. “I’ve given you my life story. All that’s pertinent, anyway. Now I want to hear that message of yours.”

Lukas took a deep breath.

Don’t mess it up this time.

“Do you believe in Chronos?”

The old woman nodded. “I do. And his whole lovely family. Sometimes I see them moving in the constellations. Personally-” she leaned in closer across the table- “I root for Arkensia. She’ll make a fine ruler of this dimension someday when Chronos decides he’s had enough.”

Lukas coughed into his arm, eager to hide his embarrassment. “I take it you believe in the soul recycling chain as well?”

“That would be correct, sonny. By the way- I don’t believe I got your name?”

“St. Giga.”

“St. Giga…”

She got up suddenly and went outside, returning with a small blackened box in her palm- a cartridge, Lukas noticed, the label long since rotted off, the plastic darkened from the years. She sat back down and shook the water out of it before holding it out for Lukas.

“A name long since passed down in my family. A name I haven’t heard in a very, very long time.”

Lukas took the cartridge in his hands, tracing his fingers over the metallic pins, half of them broken and lost forever.

“Do you know what this world was like before Ceuta’s fall, child?”

Lukas almost nodded- then shook his head furiously.

She hummed. “It was a very hedonistic world- but also very magical. The common everyday man could conjure entire worlds in front of him with only a spark, then package them back into boxes like these when he was done. But a box could only hold one world, one set of people.” She leaned in closer. “Can you imagine the hubris it would take to wipe an entire world’s memory over and over and over again? All the friendships- all the personal gains- all the hardships one had overcome in the world, all gone with the push of a button-”

“That’s what Chronos is going to do to this world,” Lukas blurted.

The old woman sat there in silence, staring at Lukas, her eyes blinking furiously.

“Everything is going to be destroyed,” he added. “I heard it straight from his mouth. I don’t remember- don’t recall whether he’s going to build something new from the ashes or abandon this dimension completely. But neither you nor I will be here to find that out if you don’t evacuate to the underworld as soon as possible.”

“…I see.” She stood up and opened the back door, sticking her head out. “Maise!”

“Coming!” a faint voice yelled back. A few seconds later, Maise returned to the house, her eyes downcast and still avoiding Lukas as the old woman led her to the table.

The old woman took Maise’s left hand in her own- Lukas’ breath caught in his throat.

That- That’s my birthmark!

Lukas stood up suddenly, leaving the cartridge on the table. “What’s going on here?”

The old woman kept her eyes on Maise’s hand as she spoke. “Son, do you know why I let you in so readily?”

His palms started sweating. He fell silent.

“I know you have part of Ceuta’s soul inside you.” She let go of Maise’s hand and reached for Lukas- he stepped back, holding his hand behind his back, his heart thumping louder in his chest. “The part I saw fighting in the stars when Maise was born. You both have her birthmark.” She nudged Maise forward- Maise covered her face with her hands and violently shook her head. “Come on, dearest. Surely you have enough memories between the two of you-”

“There you are!”

The front door slammed open. Tryne stomped inside.

“Giggy! I’ve been looking all over for you!”

Lukas whipped around. “What do you want, Tryne?”

“Oh! Your nerve!” Tryne scoffed and brushed a few stray strands of hair back. “I’m bored. And the twin troubles are driving me absolutely insane. And Ame is being absolutely useless!”

Lukas sighed and turned to the grandma. “I’m sorry. Can we continue this conversation later?”

“Of course.” The old woman sweetly smiled, hiding her disdain for Tryne as the younger girl dragged Lukas out of the cottage. “We’ll be here until the end of time.”

49

Tryne let go of Lukas at the caravan, Tay and Kay running laps around it, their tiny legs clearly not about to give out anytime soon.

“Okay,” Tryne snapped. “First off- what the hell were you doing in there? Don’t you know there’s a good reason we avoid destroyed villages like this if we can help it? Bandits hide out- rogues and the squalor of the earth go together like moss and old rocks! You could have gotten murdered!”

“I think I can handle myself,” Lukas shot back. “Friendly reminder that I saved your life last night.”

“I-” she stuttered- “Fine!”

Tryne stomped her foot and climbed back into the caravan, releasing a shriek of frustration, her silhouette tugging on her hair. Tay and Kay froze, hands to their ears, wincing until Tryne flopped onto her bed and went silent again.

“Why is Tryne angry?” Tay whispered to Lukas.

Lukas shrugged. “Hell if I know.”

Kay suddenly broke out in raucous laughter. “Oh! Gi- Giggy sweared!”

Tay slapped Kay’s shoulder. “It’s swore, not sweared.”

Kay slapped Tay in the face. Tay wailed and started chasing Kay around the caravan again.

A soft tap on Lukas’ shoulder. He turned around-

Maise was standing before him, her lips quivering, nervous eyes downturned. Her hands were curled into fists, trembling as she slowly forced her lush eyes to meet his- or, at least, where his mask hid his eyes.

Lukas’ heart skipped a beat.

She has red eyes. Just like me.

Just like a… god?

Maise’s breath cracked. Her eyes watered. Her voice came out strained and nervous, lips grasping for words before she finally became audible.

“I- I wanted to apologize for my conduct earlier-”

“But you didn’t do anything-”

“Precisely.” She winced. “I hid my face and refused to obey my grandmother’s orders. She trusted you- or, rather, she trusted that I was you- or is it that you’re me- Oh, I’m so confused-”

“So you are Ceuta.”

Maise nodded, struggling to regain her composure. “The daughter of Chronos incarnate in human form.”

Kova could be my age right now!

“Prove it.”

Maise took a deep breath and crossed her arms. “Only if you do.”

“Fine. When I was in the otherworld, I worked at an art supplies shop-”

“-and I went home every day to my best friend-”

“-whose name was Kova-”

“-until I had a panic attack in a bathroom-”

“-and almost went feral.”

“I shifted and ended up at my friend’s mother’s house-”

“-where I stayed until I left to befriend the caedats-”

“-which I did, after I gave them the power to control when they shift-”

“-and I mastered my own.” Lukas coughed. “So I left to reunite with Kova-”

“-but Lex tricked me into murdering him, and I really did go feral-”

“-and then he slaughtered me as well.” Lukas put a hand on Maise’s shoulder. Maise looked away, her cheeks burning. “Can you shift?”

“Not- not well.” Maise managed a lopsided smile. “Granted, I’ve been living in the capital most of my life, and shifting would get me killed, so I haven’t practiced at all.”

“Then how are you alive?”

“I- I beg your pardon?”

“Your silver strings. I pissed off Chronos. He wants me- wants Ceuta dead.” He took a step back. “And how am I supposed to trust that you haven’t been lying to me this whole time and that you’re not an agent of Chronos?”

Maise tapped the back of her left hand. “You wouldn’t betray yourself.”

“Birthmarks can be faked.”

“Eyes-”

“Those too.”

Maise hummed. “He wouldn’t risk another shard of Ceuta’s soul turning against him.”

Lukas sighed. “I’m going to have to take your word for it, aren’t I?”

He pulled the pendant out from under his shirt and caressed it in his fingers. Maise also reached into her shirt- and pulled out a pendant of her own, an exact replica but pearly white instead of blue.

Mythril!

Maise noticed Lukas eyeing the pendant and shrunk back from him. “I’ve said too much. Grandmother won’t be pleased. I’ve got to head back-”

“Wait!”

Lukas caught Maise’s shoulder as she turned to leave. She shrugged him off and took off running for the cottage. Lukas waited a moment and then ran after her, tumbling into the cottage a second after her.

“Maise!” The old woman shot to her feet as Maise stood up and brushed the dirt off her pants. “What in Chronos’ name-”

“Grandmother.” Maise bowed. “He’s a Ceuta.”

“…I see.” She turned to Lukas, who was panting in the doorway, out of breath. Her face hardened. “Lukas, I take it. Unless you still want me to call you-”

Lukas hissed. “Fine. Congratulations. You got me. Call me whatever the hell you want.”

“Take off the mask.”

He shook his head. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“It’s mythril. It’s keeping my silver strings dead so Chronos doesn’t discover me and smite us all dead-”

“Yes, child, I know how mythril works. But surely you can keep it in your hands for a few minutes and it’ll keep working?”

Lukas groaned, then forced himself to stand up straight. He stared the old woman in the eye as he reached his hands to his face. The mask fell into his palms- he curled his fingers around it, holding on for dear life as he pulled it away.

And, for the first time in days, the bare skin of his face met the kiss of the open air.

Maise stepped forward, she and the old woman studying Lukas’ eyes, the unobstructed contours of his face, the way his hair hung down over his forehead, just barely out of his sight.

“Giggy!”

Tryne burst into the cottage again.

“Gah!” Lukas’ hands flew to his face, fingers still curled, just barely keeping the mask from bonding back on. “Tryne-”

“I told you not to be in here! Some bodyguard you are-”

Tryne swiped at Lukas. Her fingers caught on the mask, jerking it out of Lukas’ hands.

And, almost as if in slow motion, it slipped out of their hands and fell to the ground right on one of the rock faces and shattered.

Lukas stood there, gaping, all staring as the shards dissolved in the air.

Tryne’s eyes slowly crept up to Lukas, who was still staring dumbfounded at the now-empty ground. Three golden strings of light materialized, tied to his right hand, thin and just barely visible, stretching up far past the ceiling of the cottage. A few silver strings appeared as well, some brighter than others, their ends attached to each of the people in the cottage.

Tryne, dumbfounded, shook her hand- the string stayed attached, no matter how hard she tried to brush it away.

“Giggy?”

Lukas closed his eyes, face blank. A sob escaped his throat. His face crumpled, and then the rest of him too, sinking to his knees, his face in his hands.

“I… I failed.”

50

“Giggy?” Tryne rushed over to Lukas, crouching down beside him, slipping one arm around his shoulder. Maise joined her on his other side. “What do you mean, you failed?”

“I-” Lukas shuddered. He coughed, his breath shaky and wet, clogged with tears. “I’ve accomplished nothing down here. I couldn’t save a s-single person. And now Chronos knows where I am, and he’s going to kill us all…”

Lukas’ breath heaved. He released another sob. Maise’s grandmother crouched down and lifted his chin, his hands falling away, skin under his eyes sore and reddening as their eyes met.

“Where is the opening to the underworld?”

Lukas’ lips quivered as he whispered, “It’s in the village where your sister lived. Inside Ceuta’s tomb. There should be a hole that leads straight down. It’s only a drop of about six feet or so.”

A roll of thunder outside, shaking the ground, the cottage trembling like an earthquake’s aftershock. Tryne shot up and peeled back the windows- the sky had darkened, gray clouds plastering over where blue had once reigned.

“Gods above,” Tryne whispered, her eyes wide. She burst out the front door, dashing for the caravan.

The old woman pulled herself to her feet. “Maise. Get your brother. Get your things together.”

“Y-Yes, Grandmother.” Maise left through the back door.

Maise’s grandmother held her hand out to Lukas. He took it, and she helped him up to his feet, his legs shaking.

“Lukas. The only way you’re going to fail is if you don’t help your friends pack their caravan right now.”

Lukas hesitated for a moment, processing her words, before he tore away from her and pushed outside. He dashed to the caravan- his hairtie broke, and his long hair billowed out, waving behind him. Kay and Tay were standing outside, staring at the sky, at how the clouds seemed to sprint across the expanse without even the slightest vestige of wind. Lukas scooped them up in his arms and pulled them inside the caravan with him.

“Giggy!” Kay whined, squirming. “We were cloud watching!”

“We have to go,” Lukas explained. “Now.”

“Why?”

“I’ll leave that for Tryne to explain.”

The two of them pouted, watching Lukas as he rolled out of the caravan. Tryne appeared a few seconds later, Bran following behind her with the horses saddled up and ready to go.

“Lukas!”

Maise came running over to him, out of breath.

“Maise?”

“Lukas, I…” Maise waved a hand in front of her face. “Is it okay if my brother and Grandmother and I ride with you?”

“It’s not my choice to make. You’ll have to ask Ame.” He turned and cupped his hands over his mouth. “Hey, Ame!”

“Ame!” Tryne joined in, searching in the caravan. “Ame, where are you?”

Maise wrung her hands. She turned around- her brother was heading towards them, a black metal box under his arm. As he came closer, Lukas could make out the intricate carvings on all sides, swirls telling a story he had no time to sit and listen to.

The boy halted in front of Lukas, studying his face, confused. Maise nudged him along to the caravan- Tryne shoved them aside as she barreled out. Maise rolled her eyes and helped her brother pick up the heavy metal box and climb in.

“Giggy!” Tryne bent over, out of breath. “I can’t find Ame anywhere.”

“Did you look anywhere other than the caravan-”

“Now’s not the time for jokes, Giggy!”

Lukas cursed under his breath.

I wasn’t joking!

“I’m sorry. We’ll have to leave without Ame.”

“Without-” Tryne released a shriek of frustration.

Another tremor- Tryne tripped. She picked herself up.

“Well? Aren’t you coming?”

Lukas shook his head. Maise bolted out of the caravan suddenly, heading back for the cottage.

“What in the world are you staying back for? Isn’t everyone who stays going to die?”

Lukas nodded. He touched his pendant. “I’m going back to the afterworld.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I… I don’t know. I’ll figure something out.”

“Giggy…” Tryne reached out to him, then shrunk back and went back inside the caravan. She returned a few seconds later with his sack, tossing it to him. “You forgot something.”

Lukas managed a small smile.

Tryne returned it, wistfulness in her eyes. “Good luck, Giggy. Whatever it is you’re doing. And come to the underworld when you’re done, okay? I don’t want to be lonely with only a bunch of rabbit people to keep me company!”

51

“Maise!” her brother yelled, poking out of the caravan. “Come on! Now isn’t the time to act out the definition of indecision!”

Maise huffed and climbed into the back of the caravan, squeezing herself in between two little boys just out of toddlerhood and her brother, who was picking his nose. If they couldn’t dig enough food out of the ground, he might as well have gone digging for gold to pay for something out of the king’s grain stash. She shoved the black metal box to the side of the caravan, making room for her to stretch her legs as she watched the scruffy horseman hook his horse up to the caravan.

Maise closed her eyes. The image of her cottage floated in front of her. The water well, the measly garden out back, the small brown leaves poking out of the dirt.

A pang in her chest. She pushed past her flustered brother and barreled out the caravan, shoving Lukas aside, barreling headlong back to the cottage.

“Grandmother!”

Maise flung open the cottage door and dashed inside. She looked all around. No sign of her grandmother to be seen. She closed her eyes and held her breath, her heart booming in her chest- and then a crash from behind the cottage.

Her grandma was collapsed on the ground by the water well, squirming. Her right leg was contorted, twisted, new joints where they shouldn’t have been. Swathes of dirt and mud were wiped flat, skid marks ending at her feet. A fat woman, reduced to the same state as a bird crashed into a window back when the cottage had windows.

“Grandmother!” Maise stooped down to the woman’s side.

The elder released a wet gurgle from her mouth. Her eyes struggled to slide to the side. “Maise…”

Maise offered her arm. “Come on. I’ll help you up-”

“I’m about to leave!” the horseman shouted, faint, echoing through the empty village, through the rushing in Maise’s ears.

“Maise,” her grandmother whispered. “Just go. Clearly I wouldn’t be able to make it through the underworld if I can’t even get up off the ground.”

“Grandmother…” Tears misted Maise’s vision. She rubbed at her eyes, furious. “Come on!”

“Maise.” Her grandmother snatched at her neck. Her meaty fingers struggled to pull off the necklace tight around her neck, but eventually they managed, and she pressed the seven-pointed star pendant into Maise’s palm. “I know you want to help. You have part of Ceuta’s soul inside you. But that’s why you need to put yourself first this time. You need to leave.”

“No- I’m sure Lukas-”

“And we’re off!”

Maise struggled to her feet, her legs shaky as she tottered out of the cottage, the palm with the pendant numb. The horseman saw her running back towards them- he sneered and slowed his horse down to the slowest trot it could manage, letting Maise run back to the caravan and hop over the back netting and climb inside.

Her brother stared at her with lush eyelashes, flicking the juicy booger out the tiny crack in the canvas. “Grandmother?”

Maise shook her head, biting her lip, afraid of her voice warbling.

She turned her head back to the back she’d slipped through. To the cottage doomed to rot and decay and total annihilation along with everything else in the land. To the flowers still giggling in the garden.

To Lukas, standing still on the dirt path, his eyes still sore but shining bright with purpose as the carriage picked up speed.

52

A roaring tickled at the edge of his hearing like a million cows stampeding down a hill. The bottom of his feet pinged in pain as he turned to the east sky.

A wall of dust on the horizon, stretching all the way to the sun, casting a dark shadow on the land. As it advanced little by little, it swallowed up brittle cottages, stones embedded in the earth, tearing up whole chunks of land like something out of a children’s tornado fairytale.

I saved five people.

And none of them were Kova.

His throat tightened. He took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes.

No more crying. I can’t do a damn thing for Kova if I’m always crying.

Or for anyone.

He shivered, watching the wall of sandy dust from the continent’s farthest borders thunder closer and closer.

They’re not going to make it, are they?

He folded his hands and closed his eyes.

“Arkensia,” he whispered, half-drowned-out by the roaring. “Speed them to the underworld. Please. For my sake.”

He opened his eyes. His left hand let go of his right, creeping back up to the pendant, his fingers curling around the small blue stone. He crouched down, not breaking his stare, and grabbed the sack tight with his other hand.

Kova, wherever you are, know that I love you.

One of the clouds above dissipated, letting in a glimmer of sunlight before it was swallowed up again by the rest of the mass of dismal clouds.

And that I’m going to miss you.

The wind picked up, blowing through his hair, caressing the long strands like a lover’s embrace.

Like the ghost of Kova was with him, would always be with him, like some shred of his soul had made it into Lukas’ own with Caelin’s unwitting stitching.

And that I’m going to kill Chronos.

ACT 5

ALLOWAY

53

Heat kissed his fingertips. Fur brushed against his arm, scraggly and rough.

“Hey, kid. How come you’re always unconscious every time we meet?”

Lukas rolled over and heaved out the dust in his mouth. A laugh tinkled from somewhere to his right.

He rubbed his eyes to clear out the crusties before opening them. He was splayed out on the raised platform in the warren center, his arms and legs hanging off the edge. His clothes were torn in a few places but ultimately still intact. Mags was standing at his feet, his arms crossed. Tryne was to his right, nervously yanking on one of her six ears.

Six ears-

“Oh, good, Giggy. You’re awake. I was worried for a while that we would have to… eat you.” Tryne gagged. “God, I hate being a caedat!”

“Hey!” Mags bopped Tryne on the head. She yelped and tugged on her ears. “Don’t be insulting your saviors now!”

Lukas sat up. His head swam. His lungs burned with every breath he took.

“Where…” he squeaked out, his voice raspy. “How-”

“Warren Pipri found you crumpled and half-buried in the sand. I’m impressed you stayed in one piece, honestly. They said the wind had blown you about like a tumbleweed-”

“I thought you were at war with the other warrens-”

Mags groaned. “It’s been ten years since you and I split, kid. Thanks to you, all the other warrens are afraid of us. So we get to sit back and dine on any unlucky wanderers from the otherworld while they do all the work of collecting them.” He paused, thinking for a moment. “Hey, kid. Did you ever reunite with that friend of yours?”

Lukas froze, his eyes distant. His hands slowly crept up to his face.

“Hey- I didn’t-” Mags sighed. “Hell, kid. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was such a touchy subject.”

“No, I…” Lukas sucked in a wet breath. He rubbed his eyes and then lowered his hands. “I’m okay.”

“Your friend in the firstworld?”

“I… I think so. But he would have been killed-”

“Hey-” Mags pointed a thumb at Tryne, who was busy trying to weave her ears and her hair together into two messy braids. “Pipri found her and her two little pops of joy half-buried in an overturned carriage. If they’re to be believed, there’s still a few buildings that refuse to go down. Maybe your friend is bugging out in one of those.”

“I… I’ve already made peace with his death.”

“Yeah, somehow I doubt that, kid.”

Lukas struggled to his feet-

A dark mass shot out from one of the tunnels and barreled into him. The two of them tumbled over and over again, coming to a stop at the edge of the expanse.

“Lukas!”

He rubbed his eyes. A young girl was on top of him, her face close to his, her eyes bright and full of delight. Long tangled black hair tumbled down from her head. Her six ears were nearly as long as Mags’.

Lukas spat out a strand of her hair. “Who-”

Her grin faltered. “Don’t you remember? It’s me, Morf!”

“Oh. I…” Lukas searched her face again. “You’ve… grown.”

“Yeah!” She got off of him, letting him sit up. A high-pitched giggle escaped her. “Uh, sorry we kept you in a statue for the past ten years.”

Lukas glanced down at his hands. “I’ve been asleep for… a decade?”

“Daddy said it was ‘cause you were too close to death, and Arkensia- she helped Warren Pipri find you- she said that ‘soul-sleep’ was the only way to keep you alive until she got the energy to safely wake you up.” Morf popped to her feet. “Oh! You’re not hungry, are you? Because we have some meat left over from last meal! Although the cooks would have dried it by now…”

“That… That would be lovely,” Lukas whispered.

“Right away!”

Morf dashed into the tunnel leading to the jail. Lukas laid down on the ground and curled up and rested his eyes.

54

“Hey. Hey, Lukas, wake up. I brought you some meat.”

Lukas opened his eyes. Morf was squatting beside him, a strip of dried meat in her hand. Everybody else had left the warren center for places unknown.

He sat up and took it from her and bit off a hunk. The familiar sting of the grease spilled into his mouth, slightly muted. He swallowed- the meat went down rough in his mouth like the wrong side of a piece of leather dragging across concrete.

“I want to see the firstworld,” Lukas said. “I want to see how bad the destruction is.”

Morf’s eyebrows shot up. “I don’t know about that… Warren Pipri went through a lot of trouble to bring you back here. Or so I was told.”

“I know. But I still want to see the firstworld.”

Morf huffed. “I guess I could talk to Father…”

Lukas smiled. “Thank you, Morf.”

Morf sighed and stood up and disappeared into one of the tunnels.

Lukas took another bite of the meat strip and closed his eyes, savoring the rich flavor.

One of the caedats from Warren Pipri came for him a little over an hour later. Lukas almost laughed at his appearance- he’d wrapped a long strip of linen around and around his head, leaving only his eyes and six ears exposed. His feet were bound in a similar fashion, and the rest of his body was covered with a simple wrap.

A walking stereotype of a sand-dune explorer.

Dangling from his back was a pair of modified reinforced snowshoes, plastic wrapped over the bottoms to keep the sand out.

The caedat gestured to Lukas without a word. Lukas stood up and followed him out of the tunnels.

A few other caedats, presumably from Warren Pipri, were standing at the entrance, none of them wearing any clothes as they loitered around a caravan not unlike Tryne’s. But instead of horses pulling it, two caedats in beast form were pawing at the ground, waiting impatiently to take off.

“Climb in,” the unnamed caedat ordered.

Lukas climbed into the back. It was almost full, a few mattresses piled in the back beside a small box marked “FOOD” and a coil of thick rope that twisted and twirled everywhere like a mass of spaghetti for a giant.

He glanced up. His sack was hanging on a hook, flat and empty.

A wave of panic through his body.

The weapons are missing!

I wonder if one of the Pipri caedats took them…

It’s been a decade. They’re probably long-since broken.

He stood up- the caravan lurched as the only clothed caedat climbed in and sat beside Lukas. He fell to his knees and braced himself as it started moving forward. The other caedats ran alongside it like a discombobulated rodeo, escorting them through the twists and turns of the underworld.

55

The caravan stopped at the entrance to the firstworld. Daylight spilled out from the tunnel above their heads. The roaring of the furious wind outside echoed in their ears as half of the caedats squatted on their haunches and then jumped up the six feet into wherever the tunnel started.

The clothed caedat stood up and grabbed the mass of rope and left the caravan. Lukas followed him out. The caedat threw one end of the rope over his head, missing a few times before the caedat standing at the top of the tunnel finally grabbed it and stomped on it with a claw to hold it in place.

The clothed caedat shimmied up the rope and disappeared up the tunnel.

“Alright, kid. Your turn.”

Lukas gulped and took the rope in his hands. A fleeting memory- Ceuta and Melilla swinging from a tire swing in the dead of summer.

“Hey, hurry up! Daylight’s not gonna last forever! Especially with all this sand blocking what little sun we get!”

Lukas gripped the rope tight and hopped onto it. His feet slipped- he ended up right where he’d started.

“What? You can’t even climb up a simple rope?”

Lukas’ cheeks flushed. His arms trembled as he climbed onto the rope and clenched his thighs- he slipped off again.

The clothed caedat sighed and then pulled the long rope up. He tied a knot at the end and then threw it back down to Lukas. Lukas climbed back onto the rope, his feet on the knot, and waited as the caedats pulled the rope up enough that he could hoist himself up and out.

He rolled onto his back. A familiar crack in the domed roof greeted him.

…My tomb.

Lukas sat up. The clothed caedat approached him and unwrapped one of the scraps of fabric from his chest.

“It’s pretty hard to breathe out there. You’ll need this.”

Lukas took the scrap and wrapped it around his face, leaving his eyes exposed. One of the shifted caedats poked his head out of the tomb entrance. They were facing away from the wind, dust howling all around them, none of it brushing into the tomb.

The clothed caedat untied the knot from the end of the rope and handed one end to one of the caedats, who took it in his mouth and took off running- or trudging as soon as he hit the sand, his feet scrabbling for purchase, claws sinking into the almost-orange everywhere.

The others waited until the caedat was far out to start following the rope, keeping one claw on it at all times. The clothed caedat handed his end of the rope to one of the beasts, who took it in his teeth, and slid on his snowshoes- or sandshoes, rather. He gestured to Lukas, and the two of them put a hand on the rope and stepped outside.

Sand immediately blew into his eyes. Lukas squinted. It was if the whole world was a broken hourglass- the bottom shattered, the top spilling everywhere for all eternity. His feet kept sliding, sandy particles getting between his toes, scratching at the delicate skin between.

Well, at least I won’t have to pay any salons to get my skin exfoliated anymore.

“Keep your eyes peeled for anything off,” the clothed caedat yelled, just barely audible over the wind. “Any survivors outside buildings that aren’t unconscious are mirages from Chronos and should be ignored.”

“Lukas!”

A voice echoed in the distance. Lukas froze. His breath was hot and sticky behind the cloth.

“Did anyone hear that?”

The clothed caedat shook his head. “All I hear is wind, kid.” Lukas grunted and pressed on. One of the caedats in front of him stopped and took the rope in his teeth- to keep it steady, he guessed. He slipped to the other side of the rope and kept trudging along.

“Lukas!”

Kova?

Lukas’ heart picked up.

“I heard something,” he said.

“I heard nothing,” the caedat behind him replied. “Probably just a mirage. Or your imagination.”

Lukas’ foot slipped. He stumbled but caught himself, the rope shaking.

“Lukas!”

Lukas stepped past another caedat, feet planted firmly in the sand. He stopped and brushed the sand out of his eyelashes.

“Lukas!”

“Kova!” Lukas yelled. “Is that you?”

“Lukas!”

Lukas grunted and pressed on, stepping around another caedat. The end of the rope was in sight- the caedat with the end had stopped, the rope strung taut. He glanced back- the tomb was nowhere in sight, just more sand as far as he could see.

Which wasn’t very far.

The wind howled. The wind grew stronger, slapping his face over and over again with belts of caustic sand, stinging with every new strike. He gritted his teeth and pulled himself the last few feet to the end of the rope.

A shadow about twenty feet away. A human, standing in the sand, arms stretched out wide.

“Lukas!”

“Kova!” Lukas yelled.

“Stop!” The clothed caedat gripped Lukas’ shoulder. “It’s just a mirage-”

Lukas shrugged him off. He gripped the end of the rope, ignoring the wetness of the caedat’s spit slowly drooling onto the rope, and reached out as far as his bones would let him.

“Lukas!” the caedat yelled. He grabbed the boy’s wrist and yanked him back. “What are you doing? You’re going to get yourself killed!”

“Then what are we out here for?” he yelled back. “There’s nothing else to see!”

The caedat swore in a language Lukas had long since forgotten. “It’s just one of Chronos’ mirages! So unless-”

Lukas tore away and leaped for the figure. He fell to his knees, scrabbling along the ground, almost a snake on his belly as he tried to keep his hands from sinking into the sand.

“Lukas!”

Sand blew into his eyes. His eyes screamed. He furiously wiped the sand from his face. A few particles remained at the corner of his eyes- he bit back tears and kept pushing forward.

The figure fell. Lukas kept crawling forward- but the silhouette disappeared just as he reached it.

He glanced back.

The caedats were nowhere to be seen.

Of course!

He let out a scream and dug his hands into the ground right under him. Sand immediately caked deep under his ragged fingernails, stinging like a knife as he scooped more of the tan particles out of one spot and threw them downwind to scatter with the rest of the wind.

His leg slipped- his arm fell into the hole he’d made.

A hand.

A cold, stiff hand.

A sharp pang in his heart.

He started digging with fervor around the hand. A wrist, an elbow, eventually a full arm sticking out of the sand. The skin was dry as a bone, papery thin, veins and arteries like a toddler’s awkward scribbles on a hot sunny day.

He planted his knees firmly below him- as firm as they could be- and yanked.

More sand fell away. The edge of a chest peeked out.

He kept digging. A ragged shirt, more holes than actual threads. He made a cavern under the body and slid his arms under and pushed up- the rest of the sand slid off in little rivulets as the rest of the limbs slipped out from their beachy grave.

“Kova!”

His fingers to the neck. No pulse.

“…Kova?”

No response.

“Kova…”

Couldn’t I revive him? Resurrect him somehow? Being a god’s got to come in useful sometime.

In any case, I can’t do it here.

Lukas grunted. He took the body’s wrists in his hands and stood up and started dragging it in the direction he’d come from- at least, what little was left of the indents in the ground, like the shore washing away a sand castle into a formless lump and then gradually nothing.

He dared a glance over his shoulder.

None of the caedats were left.

None of their footsteps, either.

56

“Dammit!” Lukas hissed as he kept pulling.

Do I even know how to resurrect people? I don’t know any soul stitching- that was always Caelin’s subject. Not to mention ripping his soul away from all the people who got shards and pieces of it- will they die too?

Assuming all the pieces are still in this dimension-

He slipped and fell to his knees. A bit of sand sneaked into his wrappings, tickling his nose. He sneezed- a booger shot out, thick and juicy, letting even more sand in when he reached in and threw it back into the sand.

The caedats can’t have been that far away.

“Hey!” he yelled over his shoulder. “I’m alive!”

No answer.

“Are you there?”

No answer.

Maybe they just don’t hear me-

“Ceuta!”

A roaring voice all around him, encompassing him, coming from every single grain of sand blowing in the wind. Lukas looked up- a pair of glowing red eyes faced him just beyond the curtain of dust, each bigger than his whole head.

Lukas’ breath rattled. His eyes widened. He shrank back.

“Father…”

“You are more idiotic than those cursed with shrunken brains and shriveled intellects,” Chronos said. “To think that you could save your friend from the clutches of death.”

“I- I have to!” Lukas yelled back. “He’s the only reason I bother with living in the first place!”

Chronos cackled, a booming sound even louder than the wind. Lukas clamped his hands over his ears until the echoing subsided.

“Gods cannot die in this dimension.” A silhouette joined the red eyes- a divine dragon, towering far above Lukas, materialized. “But a god who cavorts with humans is barely a god at all!”

Chronos opened his vast jaws. Lukas struggled to his feet. A blue wisp tore around his wrist-

Chronos leaped forward. His pearly white teeth gleamed in the sun, almost blinding.

The last thing Lukas ever saw.

57

Chronos’ jaw clamped down on Lukas. A scream tore from his throat- then a dagger of a tooth sliced through, jagged and serrated. The gurgle of hot blood replaced his voice, his breath.

His body sagged beneath him, refusing to move, to obey even the simplest of commands.

Kova…

I… I’m so sorry, Kova.

He closed his eyes.

A tinkle at the edge of his hearing.

I wonder what it feels like to have my soul be ripped apart again…

Another tinkle, slightly louder.

Chronos’ mouth lurched. Warm spit washed over Lukas. His skin began to tingle- to dissolve. His eyes burned.

I… won’t have to resurrect you if I’ll be joining you soon.

A jingle.

The tooth slowly slid out of Lukas’ throat. The fizzing ceased. The tongue caressing his back either fell away or hardened- he couldn’t tell which.

A wave of chilly air passed over him.

A soft, lulling note.

His hands traveled to his throat. The jagged hole in his neck was still there, but no blood spewed forth; his lungs still drew air, despite his airway being completely severed. Veins popped out of his half-dissolved skin, blue and red, an abstract painting to his mortality.

White text hovered over him, the only light in the universe.

Game Over.

Restart from your last autosave?

Yes

No (Return to Title Screen)

He rubbed his eyes. The words stayed, stark white, pixelly like one of Kova’s old games. A few soft flower petals started falling down on him, pink and red and white and jagged with pixels as big as his fingernails.

Last autosave…

When was the last save? When I descended to the firstworld? When Lex killed me? When I left the caedats?

When I first met Kova?

He took a deep breath.

All that time lost… I don’t know if I could go through all that again.

But what’s the alternative? Not existing? Letting a facsimile of myself do something stupid?

Arkensia didn’t risk her life for me to just give up.

I’m not going to let myself be killed twice.

He reached up and touched the yes.

The petals blew away. The words disappeared, throwing him back into the pitch black. A pinprick of light appeared in the center of his vision, quickly glowing brighter and brighter-

He was back in the sandstorm.

The clothed caedat behind him swore in a language Lukas had long since forgotten. “It’s just one of Chronos’ mirages! So unless you want to throw your life away, I’d suggest you step back right the hell now.”

Lukas took one last glance at Kova’s silhouette in the raging storm and then stepped back.

“That’s a good kid.” The caedat bopped Lukas on the shoulder. He turned around and started pushing him down the rope. “We’re packing it in! There’s nothing to see today.”

The two of them started backtracking. More and more caedats followed them as they went down the rope, pulling the other end behind them, slowly recoiling back to the tomb. The caedats jumped back down the tunnel as the clothed one roped in the rope and coiled it back up.

Lukas stepped into the tomb. He furiously rubbed at his eyes, dispelling the sand that had wedged into the soft corners.

Maise’s grandmother’s cartridge was casually sitting in the far end of the tomb’s tiny space.

“Well, that was an experience,” the clothed caedat remarked. “Hope that assuaged your curiosity for a long while, because I doubt we’ll ever see any debris float our way again. Not until Chronos cuts the storm and starts rebuilding, at least.”

The caedat chuckled and then tossed the coil of rope down, jumping right after it.

Lukas squatted down beside the cartridge, running his fingers over it. It was in even worse condition than he’d last seen it: a long crack ran down the side, exposing the chips within. Something soft and gooey was living inside the plastic shell, like a cross between a slug and a blobfish.

He cringed.

Collector’s edition, indeed.

He turned his eyes back to the cartridge. His fingertips tingled like they were awash in Chronos’ saliva all over again.

He could grab the cartridge and start a new game. Reunite with Kova somehow, even if only until their eventual demise, even if only a shell, a shadow, a mere ghost of the boy he’d been.

Even if it meant having to deal with Lex and Syntha all over again.

But how would he play it without a console?

He could cross back into the otherworld and find Kova’s mother and ask to borrow his system, assuming it was still functional ten years later.

But how could he look her in the eyes and break to her, describe to her in gruesome detail, the undignified death of her son?

It didn’t matter anyway. The cartridge was broken, perhaps beyond repair, and Kova’s mother was probably dead, and the otherworld had long since forgotten the two of them.

Kova, I hope, wherever you are, you can forgive me for leaving you like this.

But you always wanted to be free of anyone who would bind you to a fate you didn’t ask for.

And it’s not fair of me to expect you to wait patiently on the sidelines while I find a way to slaughter a god.

He patted the cartridge, his fingers lingering a moment too long, hesitant to leave.

So I’m setting you free.

He took one last long look at the storm outside. Somewhere beyond the physical, his siblings were busy helping to carve out the new firstworld under the direction of their father, batting off Lex like a mere fly.

Or maybe Lex had already won, and the Chronos that had killed him had been a mere puppet under his strings.

But that was a mystery for another day.

Another life.

A different Lukas, perhaps, on a different save file.

He turned and took a deep breath and jumped into the tunnel to the underworld.

The world between the one where he would never truly belong and the one that had rejected him for trying to belong.

The world where such familial love sprouted amongst the darkest of places, the harbinger of some of the grimmest of deaths.

The world where he could observe, and indulge in, the full unbridled duality of mankind.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

VANE VANDER is an absolute wreck of a human being. She spends her days trying to forget fujoshis exist, ricing TAILS, and complaining about the futility of internet discourse. She can usually be found breaking things at mayvaneday.art.

Copyright © 2018-2021 Vane Vander. All rights reserved as detailed in Copyright.