Something was different about Aurra. They could feel it as soon as they stepped out of the closing portal. At first, it was only in the air and subtle, but then something far greater transpired: the sun grew bright.

  It was almost blinding at first, because it happened so fast. Aurra’s largest star flared up, and in seconds, it was as luminous as Earth’s. And it made quite the sight. The haze was blasted away and faded into the air in all directions. The sky turned into a bright blue that was alien to the world. Warmth no longer came from trapped heat, but from a direct source. And the all-encompassing feeling of the world’s alchemagi rose dramatically.

  Drides watched the landscape patiently as the sun grew even brighter. It became a white light, turning everyone’s shadows into dark blacks that stretched across the ground. Even clouds began to burn away, and the temperature was quickly becoming unbearable. Now the original feeling of excitement and success was disappearing. No one knew what they had just done, but it seemed to have been an apocalyptic mistake.

  But just as the sun hit its blinding peak, it suddenly all but turned itself off. Just a few moments after its blinding light scorched the sky, it dipped into the dullest red it had ever been. And then, it continued to dim even further. The sky fell into a deep crimson and indigo twilight as Aurra’s heavenly body eclipsed itself into a dark ball of fire.

  Before the temperature dropped, the haze swarmed back in and thickened to a light fog—the heaviest it had been since the Dark Ages. Upon reaching its new level of luminosity, the star settled and became still.

  “What the hell?” Garder snapped. “It looked like it was working for a second!”

  “What do you mean ‘working’?” Shin replied.

  “I don’t know. I just thought that it would become bright again.”

  “Instead, it looks like it just went into a state where it was burning something rapidly, and then cooled off,” Simon said. “Huh… that’s odd.”

  “What’s going on, Drides?” Verim questioned sharply. “Did you know this was going to happen?”

  “I can still feel alchemagi…” Wendell added. “In fact, it’s… strong.”

  “Look at the haze,” Garder replied.

  The nearby outer barriers of the villa’s sun globes had contracted a little bit, causing the borderline plant life to enter the poisonous atmosphere and turn to dust.

  “If a field this small shrunk by a few inches…” Milla thought out loud. “What would the equivalent be for a City?”

  “What have we done…? The outer parts of every City might’ve just succumbed to the haze… We might’ve just killed thousands of people.”

  “Relax, Garder,” Wendell replied. “They never keep people on the outer barriers for this very reason. I’m sure that casualties would be low.”

  “God damn you, Drides,” Shin yelled angrily. “What did we just do? You were expecting this to happen, weren’t you?”

  “Hm…” he muttered and looked back at the group. “Quite an effect, isn’t it? I should thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I can’t give you the list yet, but I assure you, it’s growing every time we meet.”

  “You bastard!”

  “Calm down, Lady Xin. There’s more to this than just an increase in alchemagi’s potency and the loss of the sun’s power. Mind you, I’m not a hundred percent sure on this one, but I can find out in just a moment…”

  He took out his two claws and put them together. Nothing happened. Milla immediately brought out her pair and tried to open up a tear, but it was as if the claws were only those of any other animal.

  “No…” Milla whispered. “It… it can’t be.”

  “Okay, so the claws don’t work anymore. We’ve still got three good old-fashioned portals out there… Um, don’t we?” Verim wondered.

  “Oh, sure,” Drides replied. “Only, they won’t work, either. The connection between the worlds has been severed. Torn apart. And you have each other to thank. I might’ve not been able to kill the Original had it not been for your efforts in uncovering how it existed down there. Of course, the poor thing likely didn’t know the end result of its own death, either.”

  “Damn it…” Shin grumbled. “We can’t travel between the worlds anymore… Can’t even go back to Hold’s kingdom…”

  “And… I’m stuck here?” Simon added. “What the hell did we do?”

  “Don’t make me repeat myself,” Drides scoffed. “Like I just said, you have stopped the merging of Earth and Aurra. The worlds are apart again, like they were before the Original weakened the barrier separating them so long ago. So, now that you can no longer come back from Hold as many times as you want, hide on Earth, and recruit more people like Simon, what will you do? By the looks of it, you’ve realized your new mortality, and you’re scared. That assurance that this war wouldn’t kill all of you is gone.”

  “What… are we going to do now?” Shin muttered. “For starters, we’ll send you back home and rid you from this world.”

  Shin charged forward with an electrified katana, moving faster than the others had ever seen. Just a split second after she made her first move, her sword plunged straight through its target’s chest. Other than his cough and the faint sound of blood hitting the ground, all went silent.

  “You just sit tight in our kingdom, or force your way back to Earth for all I care. So long as you’re not here to bother us anymore.”

  “Great job, Shin!” Garder shouted.

  “Brutal…” Milla added. “But I think he got what he deserved.”

  “That just leaves two pretorians left,” Wendell sighed.

  “Ha…” Drides suddenly laughed and looked up at the others. “I’m so… excited. This is only… the fourth time I’ve done this.”

  “What?” Shin murmured. “How can you still be…”

  Drides exploded into orange particles. For a brief moment, his death was undisputed, despite the fact that he had managed to live long enough to say some final words. But… they realized that something was wrong before his robes and eyepatch even hit the ground. The smoke wasn’t expanding, or disappearing. It lingered, in a tightly compacted form.

  A faint wind was then felt from behind, and everyone turned to follow the cloud of orange as it moved away from them, swirled into a shape, and drew in the outer robe and eyepatch. Standing there, as if nothing had happened to him, was the young man Shin had just supposedly killed. He grabbed his robe and covered himself as he slid on his eyewear. He stared at everyone, smiled wryly, and suddenly let out a frenzied laugh.

  “Surprised? What, you thought I was dead? Heh… Ah…”

  “Oh, God…” Verim muttered. “What the hell is this guy?”

  “What the hell am I?” Drides replied and calmed down a bit. “I… am something very special. There have been people like me before, but my similarities to even those few are minimal. I am more than just a once in a generation occurrence… Cheating death is my special little trick. As is killing people instantly. To say nothing of… Well. You’ll find out. Today, our first meeting as enemies, I will not divulge too much about myself. Instead, we should focus on what I am, at the base of everything else.”

  “What are you going on about?” Garder shot back.

  “I’ll tell you…” Drides bowed his head and counted up with all ten fingers. “Watairre, earth, fire, iron… Mind, plant, solar… Vector, lightning, and nova… I can use all of this world’s silly magic spells. But that doesn’t make me stand out from the others than came before me.”

  “No… No way…” Shin murmured. “He couldn’t possibly…”

  “He’s an apostle,” Milla replied. “There’s no doubt.”

  “An apostle?” Garder asked. “Um, what were those again?”

  Drides answered, “As a paradigm is the result of a gathering of a single element, an apostle is the result of the gathering of all of them…” He lowered his fingers, except for one. “But in my case… I was given another. An eleventh element. I like to call it ‘void’, but it also controls death itself. And where there is death, there is also life. So, I can manipulate both. I can take life away, and I can grant it. But I keep the latter as a gift to myself.”

  “Are you saying you can’t be killed?” Wendell questioned.

  “I don’t lie to enemies that I respect. I might die on Earth. You’re welcome to try and find out. But in Aurra… I am certainly immortal.”

  “I don’t believe that,” Shin replied. “None of this is possible.”

  “I don’t care what you believe. This unique power alone makes me stronger than any of you. But I can’t rely on it for everything. So, speaking of power… Do you know how you truly define its mastery? It’s not about how much destruction you can reign down. It’s about how much of it you can use with enough control and restraint to not kill you opponent. As thanks to you all for what you’ve done today, I will give you a taste of what I’m capable of. Yet, I’ll leave you alive, because you are still useful to me, and are worthy of another fight in my eyes. I am in search of rivals, people strong enough to face again. I want to see your personal growth.”

  “This much arrogance and pride can kill on its own. It doesn’t matter how strong you are. There are six of us here. We could’ve killed the Original on our own had it not come back to life. We still have a chance.”

  Examining the hole in his robe where Shin had stabbed him, Drides sighed and replied, “Would you like to test that theory?”

  “Everyone, he’s far too dangerous to leave alive,” Milla said. “I’m sorry. I knew I should’ve expected this. At least let us make amends to all the harm we might’ve just brought to Aurra.”

  Garder readied his sword. “For Kamsa and Jeryn, all that I ask is that I play some part in sending him their way.”

  “To think we actually wanted to trust you,” Verim added and drew his blade. “We’re not going to let you see the end of this war.”

  “Ah, now this is the kind of attitude I like. ‘Let’s do it, everyone!’” Drides scoffed. “Prove you’re worthy of a rematch.”

  “Shut up and die,” Shin replied as she electrified her blade again. “Come back as many times as you want to. We’ll just keep killing you.”

  “Go ahead, give me everything you’ve got. I won’t let myself fall a second time just to prove my immortality. I doubt you’ll land another hit.

  Verim acted first, throwing four of his valuable metal vine seeds at Drides’ feet. They exploded out of their shells and wrapped around his legs, their thorns puncturing him through his robes and immobilizing him.

  “Now!” Verim shouted. “Take him out!”

  Garder encased his legs in ice, and Simon finished the coordinated attack by using most of his energy to summon up a magnification ray that seemingly obliterated Drides in a pillar of light.

  After the light disappeared, nothing was left of Drides—or so it only seemed. He came down from the air, uninjured. He slammed his fist into the ground, turning the nearby area into a crater of splintering metal spires. Just like the Original, his attacks were made of multiple elements, and each spire shot out swirling vector lines that everyone easily avoided.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  But he wasn’t trying to kill them; he was only trying to separate them from each other. He released his technique and stood again, making sure that everyone got a look at his eyes. The patch was open, and both of the eyes were identical: golden irises with triangular pupils.

  “All we attacked was an illusion!” Shin called out.

  Before they could properly react, he leapt and hit the ground in the middle of the group, where he fired out three blasts of air that threw Verim, Simon, and Garder backwards. Before they landed, they realized something: Drides was summoning spells too quickly, and without using his fingers.

  “Everyone gets a turn.” He chuckled smugly. “Ah, I nearly forgot. I actually have no need to point out a finger or think up a silly incantation. I control my alchemagi innately. I’m a living conduit for its full spectrum.”

  “Good for you…” Garder muttered after spitting out some dirt.

  Shin, not about to let herself be embarrassed and insulted, gritted her teeth and charged forward once again with katana ready. Drides formed an iron pike—something that would’ve been easily sliced in half by the sword. So instead of using it to block each sweep aimed at him, he used it to simply shove away the strikes or hit the sword on its broadside.

  After a few exchanges, Drides electrified his pike, and then bashed Shin’s katana away with just his left fist. Before Shin could get her blade back in place, he shoved the pike straight into her sword-wielding arm until it hit bone, and then shot out the stored electricity. Shin shrieked in pain as her entire body gave out and she collapsed to the ground.

  The pike disappeared just as Wendell fired out one of his exploding spheres. With his superior reaction speed, Drides took hold of the flames bounding off of the metal ball’s surface, held it in place for a moment, and then launched it backwards. He intensified the flame as the sphere made its way back to its owner, causing it to explode violently and blasting Scud and Wendell backwards—setting his coat ablaze in the process.

  “Damn it…” Wendell huffed.

  “Get back,” Milla told him and raised two fingers.

  “Just land one good hit,” he said as he backpedaled.

  Milla surrounded Drides with vector lines and prepared to close them in. He responded by gathering the surrounding light into his palm, forcing the nearby area into an even deeper darkness. He then aimed his palm at her eyes and released the glowing orb, blinding her with a bright burst, and followed up with a blast of air infused with ball lightning that blew apart her lines. The wave shot out towards Milla, who took the brunt of it and was knocked to the ground, where she tried to recover.

  Knowing that victory was hopeless, Simon stayed down, as Verim and Garder got back to their feet and launched themselves forward with swords ahead. Instead of focusing on both of them at the same time, Drides fired off two burning rays of light at Verim’s ankles. They cut through his boots and created burns agonizing enough to make any further steps too painful to endure. Verim stumbled to the ground, but kept a firm hold on his prized blade, letting out a heap of curses in the process.

  Garder was the final one to go down, and Drides was particularly ruthless to him; spraying an exotic mix of lightning bolts and vector lines all across him just close enough to nick him a dozen times over. His legs and arms quickly became covered in clean but deep and painful cuts. Garder continued his effort to move forward despite his injuries, so Drides brought him to the ground by firing one last vector line. A string-thin beam of hot atoms pierced straight through his shoulder plate and out the other side.

  With everyone hurting, Drides stood up straight, massaged his neck a little, and looked at the carnage he had just caused. Only thirteen seconds after it had begun, he had claimed an easy victory.

  “And now, let’s put you in prison…” he said with a smile.

  He opened up his eyepatch again, concentrated, and generated a portal to the Fragmented Dimension right in the middle of everyone. The black, pulsating sphere drew in dirt and grass, and his victims desperately clung to the ground to avoid being pulled in. But then it suddenly stopped.

  “I was just kidding with that last part,” Drides said with a sigh. “You all looked so afraid just now, even though there’s no real point of sending you there. When we meet again, I expect some improvement. And you’ll know what to expect, won’t you?”

  Attempting to get past the crippling pain, Garder managed to get a knee back up and lean against it with sword at the ready. Again filled with rage, he glared at Drides, secretly hoping somehow that his anger would bring back the malevolent force that wiped out the Guard’s army before.

  “Well, I’m sure you’ll all recover soon enough and rush off to go help Hekens or whatever, so I’ll be going. I await our next encounter.”

  “You…” Garder muttered as he struggled to stand. “You son of a bitch… I knew you’d betray us when we were no longer useful…”

  “But you’re wrong—I do still need you. As long as you oppose the king, you can all be very useful. Like you have been thus far.”

  “An apostle, huh… I assume just one of you exists in a lifetime…”

  “I’m sure Milla can tell you all about it. I should be going.”

  “I don’t care what you are… It’s because of you that Kamsa…”

  “Still thinking about her? I had no part in her death. Blame Trinqit and Lontonkon. You’re just trying to find a reason to hate me. But the truth is, you don’t know enough about me to have a reason.”

  “Shut up… Insulting my friends is reason enough…”

  “Give me a break. Tch. Too emotional. I guess you’re just another who puts meaningless sentiment above everything else.”

  Drides closed his eyes and the mechanical patch. When he opened his uncovered eye again, it had returned to normal. Garder stumbled forward, dragging his sword at his side in a pathetic manner. As the others recovered, Drides watched Garder and shook his head at his persistence.

  “Fine…” He sighed. “You really want to prove your worth to your friends, do you? Let me tell you something. Out of these six, you’re the one I care the least about. There is nothing remarkable or admirable about you.”

  “Shut up…” Garder muttered.

  “Look at you. You’re a five-lifer, right? Never done anything of value in any of them, I’m sure. You’re among a providence breaker, a respected Holdian, a former Aurrian queen, a searcher specialist of the nearly vanished Watchers Elite, and one of the few known combat trained solars who is an Earthen on top of it. What are you?”

  “Somehow, despite all that, I’m their friend.” Garder coughed with a small wry smile. “Doesn’t matter if I don’t measure up to them…”

  “But I’m letting all of you go, idiot. What is ambition without some constraint? You’re only throwing your life away without purpose.”

  “Doesn’t matter. I’m not letting you get away after what you did.”

  “Such arrogance. Just can’t handle a defeat, can you? Fine, then. You can die. In fact, your death will strengthen the resolve of the others. Make them more interesting, focused opponents in the future. For the sake of my desire to see you all grow, maybe this can be beneficial.”

  The mechanical eye patch popped back open, revealing a dark eye with something terrifying: a solid black iris, encircled by a glowing, fiery deep red. It looked like a solar eclipse from an apocalyptic nightmare. Garder couldn’t help but be captivated by it, and like the demon’s eyes from before, it seemingly brought him into its realm. He continued to move forward, but no matter what how he tried, he couldn’t avert his gaze.

  “Garder!” Milla called out as she tried to stand up again. “Don’t look into that eye! Simon—blind him!”

  Fearfully, Simon stood, but didn’t progress any further. He was too afraid that no matter what he did, Drides would continue to target Garder, and might even turn around and take him down, as well.

  “Goodbye,” Drides said sharply.

  The circle flared to a bright red, burning an image in Garder’s mind. The image of a blood red penumbra surrounding a void that was blacker than black seared into a place within his subconscious, and then crunched down on his very soul with overwhelming force. It felt as if Garder had been hit with something incredibly heavy, and his whole body was violently paralyzed from the inside out.

  Then came the feeling of release—the same that came moments after physical death. While he could still feel his feet on the ground, Garder also felt himself slowly begin to drift off into the darkness.

  But then something pulled him back with as much force as Drides’ attack. Almost as if being thrown back into his own body, he snapped back awake and found himself looking at Drides as if nothing had hit him. He froze in place as he contemplated just how he had been yanked back into life. It certainly didn’t happen the time that Verim took him down.

  “H-how in the…” Drides muttered.

  “Garder? Are you okay?” Milla asked worryingly.

  “You… you lived…” Drides continued. “Then you must be… Of course, you have to be that one. But wait… Does that mean your sister…?”

  He turned to Milla, and before Garder could react, he hit her with the same attack, dropping her to the ground again. A few seconds went by, and Milla’s briefly frozen expression was replaced with confusion and fear.

  “Fascinating… So, you’re both… Yeah, that would make sense. Hm. I’m glad I found you two. This… changes a few things.”

  Without warning, he vanished in his trail of light, leaving behind not a single answer about what had happened to Aurra or the twins. It took everyone a few minutes to realize that he wasn’t coming back.

  “Milla… you okay?” Garder asked as he checked over his wounds and torn clothing. “He hit you with the same attack, didn’t he?”

  “I’m fine,” she replied quietly. “But I thought I was dead…”

  “That was his special ability, right?” Verim groaned as he applied a vial’s medicinal plant oil to his burns, before handing it to Shin.

  “But you both survived it…” she added. “And then he said he was glad he found you two? What was he talking about?”

  “I don’t know,” Milla exhaled. “I honestly have no idea.”

  Garder looked at his right hand. He knew it was the force that had saved him before that his enemy spoke of, but that was all he understood. Drides knew more about him and his sister than they did themselves.

  “Look at Aurra…” Wendell murmured. “What could we possibly have done to make it like this?”

  “We’re going to talk with Rivia. Right away,” Milla replied and took out the demirriage scroll.

  “What about Garder? He got hit pretty hard,” Simon mentioned.

  “Yeah, we should get you checked out,” Verim urged them.

  “Just forget it. I’m okay,” Garder assured despite the pain in his right shoulder.

  “Well, at least let me give you something.”

  “Fine. Just hurry up… We really should see Rivia immediately…”

  As Verim administered a pain killer and blood stimulant to speed up Garder’s healing, Milla tested the claws again before laying out the demirriage scroll. An obvious fear was that now the light was so dim in Aurra that it wouldn’t even be able to form at the brightest hours.

  “You make a good medic…” Garder coughed as Verim finished. “You probably could’ve saved me after our first encounter if you wanted.”

  “Yeah, probably. Of course, it wouldn’t have made much sense.”

  The dimensional carriage almost exploded into existence, gleaming more brightly than ever before. Its body was so opaque, that for the first time ever, every detail of its engravings could be seen, and at some points it couldn’t even be seen through at all.

  “Woah,” Simon commented. “We’ve never seen it like this before.”

  “And in such dismal light…” Milla added. “It must be the increase in alchemagi flow. If alchemagi is contained only in Aurra now… Hm.”

  “It is pretty immense, yeah,” Shin replied. “I can feel it. It’s like it‘s buzzing or something. Going at full peak without dipping.”

  “So, alchemagi on steroids…” Simon murmured. “I guess this would make techniques more powerful, as well. Drides was no doubt using a high level of restraint against us.”

  “Enough about him,” Garder muttered as he stepped in. “All that matters now is whether or not the portal to Rivia is still functioning.”

  “Maybe we should scout ahead and make sure that area around his villa is clear first,” Milla suggested.

  “Screw that. Aurra’s in a crisis. We don’t have time to waste.”

  Milla reluctantly agreed and joined Garder. The others followed, and the carriage began its journey—which was faster than usual. A second later, they were on the giant dais surrounding the invisible doorway.

  The changes to Aurra were also apparent on this side of the world, and the weather was miserable. Hundreds of sunlamps strewn about the grounds, used to cover dozens of tents, were purifying acidic, wind-blown rain coming from a lightning-filled storm above.

  Shiloh noticed them upon arrival, and left his dinner behind for some greetings. “Hell of a night,” he muttered above the wind. “Any idea what happened? As the sun was setting, it suddenly got really bright—”

  “We know all about it,” Garder replied. “But we’re trying to find out why. We’re here to talk with Rivia.”

  “Anything else happen recently, Sergeant?” Shin wondered.

  “Other than Osk dropping out of contact, nothing else to report. We’ve been holding here without much to do for the last month.”

  “Osk? When did he last report?”

  “About a week ago. Last I heard, he was going to C, and then nothing. We have no idea where he is.”

  “Damn it…” Verim muttered. “The Captain was a good man…”

  “He might be in good hands for all we know. Anyway, you’d better get going. Everyone could use some answers after what’s happened.”

  Shiloh scuttled back under a tent, and Milla turned to the middle of the dais. She stepped up to the exact spot she remembered using last, and without any expectations, thrust the claws forward and pulled them apart.

  Somehow, the connection had remained—the path to the Fragmented Dimension had survived through Aurra’s dramatic change. She closed the tear and turned to the others.

  “What?” Garder questioned.

  “It’s working. I’m going to go get Rayna.”

  “Oh, right… I forgot about her.”

  “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

  Milla returned to the super-charged carriage and disappeared. About five minutes later, she returned with Rayna in tow. The girl looked silently around at the scenery with eyes wide as she held Milla’s hand.

  “So how do we get to my parents?” she asked.

  “We have to pass through a doorway to a strange, different world,” Milla explained. “It doesn’t even have color, but we’ve been there before and there’s nothing to be scared about.”

  “Hi, Rayna,” Garder said. “Sorry you’ve had to wait so long.”

  “Oh, that’s okay. What happened to Aurra?”

  “Hopefully, we’re about to find that out.”

  “Are you okay? You look hurt.”

  “Thanks for your concern, but… I’ll make it.”

  “Wendell, your cat’s getting all wet.”

  After everything he had been through, he had to let out a belly laugh as he patted Scud on the head. “He’ll forgive me eventually.”

  “You guys look like you’ve been through a lot…”

  “Yeah, we have,” Verim sighed. “Milla, are we ready?”

  “I think so. Here, could you open it?” Milla asked and handed the claws over, as Rayna squeezed her hand tighter.

  Verim nodded and stepped forward, his burns still inflicting pain with every movement. The tear opened up quickly, blasting out air beforehand like it had every other time. He kept it open while Simon, Shin, and Wendell slipped through. Garder was next, but he stopped after noticing that Rayna was scared to enter.

  “Hey, seconds turn to minutes in this place. We can’t keep them waiting.”

  “You’re not helping,” Milla replied and knelt down to Rayna. “Hey, it’s okay. I was scared the first time I went into this place. But your parents are there, and I’m sure they’ll be really happy to see you.”

  “It’s not the place I’m scared of…” she replied. “It’s seeing my parents again… I don’t know what I’ll say to them… And then I’ll have to go home, won’t I? I don’t want to say goodbye to you, Milla…”

  Realizing there was likely no choice in the matter, Milla couldn’t respond at first. Rayna was likely going to be with her group for a long time to come—perhaps even for the rest of her life. And how could she possibly explain that?

  “You’ll go home eventually,” Milla assured her. “But for now, you’re with us.”

  “Okay, Milla…”

  “And I promise that nothing will happen to you.”

  Rayna nodded and hugged Milla tightly. She let go after a few seconds and prepared to enter the mysterious realm.

  Garder went in next, followed by Rayna and Milla. Verim got one last look at the new, strange Aurra that just lost a connection which had existed since the dawn of man, and then closed the tear behind him. What a dark and alien place their world had become.