CHAPTER 25: An Explanation

As the day stretched onwards, the trio, each involved in their own investigations of Lum, eventually caught up with some rest. Jake took a nap propped up against a blue house, while Vino, after a hard few hours, had fallen asleep at the workbench in his commandeered base of operations. Orsel’s core, however, had laid still and silent since the wee hours of the morning when he had been given free rein of the city. The dark purple stone was wrapped and nestled within his cloak, with his crookshank leaning against the wall. Suddenly, he felt something disturbing his sleep— a light poking feeling. With this sensation, Orsel reformed his body within his cloak, siphoning the room’s darkness like layers of paper stacked on top of one another to return his body to its usual shape. Even after he was brought back, he still had trouble wrestling open his peepers, especially with the bright daylight shining into the room. When Orsel could finally get a sense of his surroundings, he found that he was being prodded by none other than Hope herself, kneeling down with the blunt end of his own crookshank pointed at him. After giving one more poke, Orsel’s confusion grew to annoyance.

“Alright, I’m up! What do you want?” He snapped, grabbing the crookshank out of Hope’s hands.

“Sorry about that, It’s just… I have some more questions for you that I’d like answered.” Hope answered bashfully.

“Look, I already told you the truth about why we’re here. We were lock—”

“I already know that. I just need some more info on Shaydon.”

“What do you mean?”

Hope looked away for a second, then back at Orsel with a smirk.

“You want to see what I’ve been working on?” 

“Sssure.” Orsel answered hesitantly.

Just then, Hope instantly disappeared before him in a flash of light. Startled, he got up from his resting place and looked around for her.

“Hey, where’d you—” Orsel asked, until eventually he saw her at the base of the steps of the palace. “How’d you do that?” He asked, shocked, looking between where Hope was now and the ruins they were in before. 

“We call it ‘blipping’,” Hope explained, demonstrating again by teleporting herself a few feet up the steps. “Light is a very fast thing, so some of us lumans have trained ourselves to use that to move to places almost instantly.”

“That’s amazing!” Orsel stood, astounded

“We can’t do it too much, though, or it gets a bit… well… disorienting. But come, follow me!” With that, Hope blipped herself to the top of the enormous stairwell, with Orsel grimacing at the thought of having to climb up that wretched thing again. Then again, following the orders of a grand or grandess wasn’t something he was inexperienced with.

Orsel, wheezing, finally had made it to the top of the stairwell, braving the harsh daylight and exhaustion. He used his last jolt of energy to leap into the shade provided by Hope’s throne room, laying flat on the floor in exhaustion.

“Oh my, are you alright?” Hope stepped over to him, concerned.

“Just… need… rest…stairs…too high.” Orsel panted. 

“Well, whenever you’re ready, we can start. Take as much time as you need.”

After a couple of minutes, Orsel had regained his bearings and sat down on a nearby chair. He noticed that Hope had actually cleaned the place up a bit since their first visit… Although, the word ‘clean’ was still a bit of a stretch.

“Alright,” Orsel queried, “So what do you want to know about Shaydon? I’ve got a bit of an axe to grind with them right now, as you can probably tell.”

“First things first.” Hope grabbed a pen and a sheet of paper. “What’s it like living there?”

“It’s dark and dreary, which is nice, but it’s also cutthroat and cruel.” Orsel replied, folding his arms. “You wouldn’t catch me going back there in a hundred years.”

“And why is that?”

“Why ISN’T that? Everyone higher up than you treats you like garbage, and star is hard to come by if you just want to live honestly.”

“I see.”

“I mean, the weather’s always pleasant, and it is where I was raised, but The Seven have made it so hard to-”

“The Seven?” Hope perked up. “What’s the Seven?”

“A bunch of shayd Thead keeps around to run the city and all that. They’re a bunch of jerks, but y’know, they keep things running… or limping…”

“Do you know their names?”

“I think I forgot a couple of them, but I know Edrip’s kinda their boss, then there’s Yuttoguln, he’s the police chief, then Eyve and Ven, who we’ve told you about before… uh…”

Hope was furiously scribbling down Orsel’s descriptions on her sheet, to the point where she hastily grabbed another.

“Anything else about them?”

“Well, I know one of them is Caverai, but I think he got replaced a bit ago… Ooh, Loth! He’s in charge of entertainment, I think.”

“Soo… is each one of them in charge of a different professional branch of Shaydon?”

“Probably. I suppose some of them overlap, though… I dunno, I never looked too deep into how stuff like that worked.” 

“What would you say is an average day in your life?” Hope asked, interested.

“Well, today is certainly the worst example of that.” Orsel joked, spinning the staff of his crookshank against the ground. “But usually I wake up in my apartment, then take the barge to my job-”

“Where do you work?”

“Uh, SMC- Shaydon Municipal Construction.”

“Really? What kind of things have you been building?”

“It’s just been standard buildings mostly— apartments, businesses, stuff like that.”

“Hmm.” Hope scribbled something out on her paper. “What do you usually do after work?”

“Well, sometimes I just watch my visbox. Reception’s kinda bad, but I was hoping to save up enough star to get a new one.” Orsel looked to the ground a bit in sorrow. “I guess that’s out of the question now.”

“Anything else you do? Like, say you have a day or an evening off?”

“Well, that’s been impossible for the last cycle, considering the curfew they put in place.”

Hope perked up at the word, and began to scribble a bit more intently on her sheet. At this point, Orsel couldn’t help but take some interest in Hope’s observance. 

“So, why all the questions? From what I’ve heard, you already have a history with Shaydon.” Hope froze in place, eyes blank with shock. She looked as if she was about to snap the pen in her hand in half.

“Oh, it’s just— well, uh… I’m… very fascinated in current events, is all. Anyway, is there a particular reason for this curfew, or…?”

“I don’t think we ever got a straight answer. Something about safety or rising crime rates, but I never noticed anything different. It’s been in effect for a couple cycles now.”

“Interesting… Interesting… Now, how likely do you think it would be that Shaydon, Oh, I dunno, does something… bad in the near future?”

“Uh… bad how?” Orsel asked, skepticism coating his words. “Because from the looks of it, they’re already doing experiments on innocent people.”

“Hmm, I mean, uh— hold on.” Hope fumbled with her words as Orsel grew more confused.

“Look, what exactly is this? I mean, all of this!” Orsel stood up and began to rifle through Hope’s files and papers. “What’s with all these plans and maps and secrecy? I just want a straight answer! The least you can give after all these years you were allegedly missing is to shine some light on some of this.”

Hope sat, slumped, contemplating Orsel’s request.

“No pun intended, of course.” He continued. “I mean, it just seems-”

“No, you’re right.” Hope answered, waving her hand at Orsel, still looking away. “I’ve just, I’ve never been one for subtlety, y’know?” She smiled weakly before her face returned to sadness.

“I’ve spent the last decade up here watching everything that’s been going on in the world.”

She pointed over to the mechanism that encircled the beam of light in the center of the room.

“Do you know what that is?”

“I can’t say I do.”

“That is a dayfinder. It’s a machine used by Luman royalty to allow one to see everything that goes on under the sun. I’ve been using it— and that radio I got from one of the houses below— to observe… patterns of what’s going on in Crux.”

“So you’ve been spying on everyone the entire time you’ve been up here?”

“I don’t like to use the word ‘spy’. I’d say… observing, or people-watching. Look, what they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

“Alright, fine, but if you can see everything, then why ask me for stuff? You can see Shaydon at any time, right?”

“The clouds that hang over the city deprive me of seeing anything within its borders,” Hope explained, “Which is unfortunate because my entire theory revolves around them.”

“What theory? What are you talking about?” Orsel snapped, confused.

Hope looked out the open door, directly into the sun.

“There is a war coming.” She explained, “One that would dwarf the Umbral Incursion, or even the War of Life. I’ve seen changes. Training drills across the world, illicit-looking dealings between… people here, and— hold on.” Hope rushed over to her piles of documents, picking diagrams and descriptions of people out from the stacks upon stacks of hastily-scrawled papers. 

“Look, this guy here? Leochu, he got a ton of star to open this casino because he’s been trading with this lady— wait, this should be…” Hope scrambled over the last decade of her work, while Orsel just sat in his seat, irrevocably confused. “Alright, look here! Up in Crystolia, there’s been a surge in enforcement against the local quasi, and this radio! Here, if I turn it to this station…”

She flicked on the radio, and it repeated an automated weather report.

“Alright, it’s supposed to have this beeping in the background. Just… listen closely here.”

Hope stood eagerly before the radio for about a minute before Orsel stepped over, disinterested, and turned it off.

“Look, Hope. I can’t begin to imagine how hard it’s been for you all this time, but I’m not sure any of this is… y’know… real?”

“It IS real!” Hope protested, clutching her stack of papers. “I’ve lived long enough to know when something big like this is about to happen, I mean, the Umbral Incursion was my-” Hope froze in place and turned back around to face the work she had done in her isolation. The bales of documents and web-woven strings of yarn encompassing events and people throughout Crux.

“You have to believe me, please. I know this all looks a bit messy, but I can guarantee you that a war, or maybe something even worse, is coming.” Orsel began to back away from Hope, towards the door to her throne room.

“I’m just finding this a little hard to believe, is all. Look, if you can find something that actually proves your point, then, sure— maybe I’ll be inclined to follow all this. As it stands, though, it all looks a little…” Orsel looked at the disheveled documents strewn across the room as he searched for the perfect word to use.

“… Scattered.”

Hope knelt to the floor, thumbing through the pile of papers she was still holding.

“Do… Do you have any more questions for me?” Orsel asked, cautiously approaching the Grandess.

“No, no, that’s enough.” Hope conceded. “You’re free to leave.”

“Alright,” responded Orsel, looking around at the piles of stained papers. “You know, I could come by later and help you clean this up if you need.” Hope didn’t respond, instead tending to her curated papers. Judging from the atmosphere, Orsel assumed he had no reason to stay.

CHAPTER 26: Equal

The day stretched onwards as Orsel looked around for his partners amongst the empty expanse of the city of Lum. The thought of discouraging Hope’s theory weighed heavy on his mind, but what was he supposed to do? Play along? She may have been alive long enough to know when a war is happening, sure, but Orsel had lived in Shaydon long enough to know that nothing ever really changes. Sure, maybe things would get a little worse as time went on, but as far as he knew, people were begrudgingly content with how things were.

The most frustrating part for Orsel was that, to be completely honest, an infinitesimally small part of him did believe Hope. It was no question that Shaydon’s leaders would be bold or stubborn enough to start another war against the world, and the existence of Eyve and Ven’s awful experiments would raise anyone’s eyebrows. The only reason he felt forced to dismiss it was because Shaydon was the last thing he wanted to worry about after putting his life on the line to run away from its thankless clutches.

Orsel stuck close to the walls and alleyways as he walked aimlessly through the dead city, careful as to not touch the sunlight with the parts of his body that weren’t obscured by his cloak. He had lived his entire life beneath the shrouded skies that Shaydon held dear, and life beneath the clear bluish-purple sky was a harsh adjustment to make for someone of his disposition.

“There has to be a better way.” Orsel griped after ducking beneath a precarious group of rays of light, flitting through the tattered holes of a large banner. Eventually, at the gateway of a sun-bleached courtyard, Orsel decided to experiment. He propped his crookshank up against the wall of a nearby building and, with some hesitation, rolled down the left-hand sleeve of his cloak. As was common for most shayd, his arm was made of three long, braided tendrils, which frayed at the end of his arm to form his hand and fingers. He carefully inched his arm out from the cover of darkness into the direct sunlight, holding what would be his forearm with his right hand in an effort to steel himself. First, came the tips of his fingers. It was a sensation not unlike entering a hot bath after spending a day in the cold— a temperature shock that lingered and seeped through the body, and never seemed to fade away. Orsel hissed and winced at the pain, but he was determined to build up at least some resistance to this wretched element.

Next, he engulfed his entire hand in the shower of light from above. It was like dunking it into boiling water— the pain causing his tendrils to wince and writhe, with fumes of pure shadow pouring from his form. Orsel’s breaths shortened as his eyes clenched shut. After three more agonizing seconds, he had decided he had enough and retracted his hand into the cover of darkness. At last, he was safe and content, the pain and trials melting away as abruptly as the sensations began. It was always safe in the shadows, but Orsel knew that his future, whatever one it would be this far away from Shaydon, would have to be at least a little closer to the light. 

“Well I’ll be!” Orsel heard a thunderous compliment from behind him. He whipped around nervously to find none other than Jake towering behind him. “You got some core, trying out a stunt like that.”

“Yeah, I know. It was pretty pathetic.” Orsel slumped as he grabbed his crookshank from the wall.

“I didn’t know you guys did Ay’kwill.” Jake said, scratching his head.

Orsel’s face shifted to that of immense confusion.

“Equal? What?” 

“Nah, Ay-Kwill. It’s some weird thing Aquean hippies do. They say it ‘promotes balance between forces’ or some such.”

“What do you do in Ay’kwill?”

“Well, it varies from element to element. It’s pretty much building up resistance to your opposite. Aqueans do it by sitting above a fire, zephryn— I think they bury themselves alive, and from what I’m seeing, I guess shayd just… Stand in the sun.”

“Well, I don’t know about balance or Ay’kwhatever, I just want to spend time out here without being in, y’know…”

Orsel stuck his hand back out into the sunlight, then quickly retracted it as it began to sting again.

“… Excruciating pain.” Jacob clasped his hand around his chin in ponderment.

“Well, I may not know a lot about balance either,” he said, cracking his claws, “… But I do know a thing or two about pain. The most important thing is that you gotta keep at it until you don’t feel a thing.” He pointed at Orsel’s crookshank as an example. “Go on, hit me as hard as you can.” Orsel, confused, looked between Jake and his tool.

“You sure about this?” He asked, concerned.

“I wouldn’t be asking you if I wasn’t.” Jake boasted. “Now, come on, give me everything you got.”

“Okay…” Orsel surrendered. “Man, I’m dealing with a lot of crazy people today.” he muttered under his breath as he prepared a hearty swing with his crookshank. He clenched his eyes shut and thrust the metallic implement through the air with all his might, its edge singing against the wind until a resounding PLUT filled the air. Orsel opened his eyes and found Jacob’s hand on the ground, a clean-cut stump displaying itself as the point of separation from the behemoth of soil before him.

“GOODNESS!” Orsel shouted, backpedaling away. “Jake, I’m so sorry, I—”

“Huh.” Jake pondered for a second. “Those things are sharper than I thought.” He picked up his severed hand and affixed it back to his stump arm, scoring grooves into the flat surfaces with his still-attached claw before plopping it back on, good as new. 

“See? I’m as solid as firmament.” Jake announced, articulating his newly attached hand. “Ain’t nothing on Crux that can cause me pain!” He bragged, flexing both his arms above his head.

“Wow…” Orsel marveled, “You think I could ever be like that?”

“Maybe someday.” Jake laughed, “Till then, you’d have to train as hard as I have. I’ve worked hard on a ranch my whole life, and served during the Umbral Incursion to boot!”

“Amazing… Wait, you served in the war?” Orsel asked.

“As a matter of fact, I did.” Jake explained wistfully. “Weren’t much other options for us terrians during then, anyway.”

Orsel shifted his gaze towards the floor awkwardly, kicking a rock away with one of his tendrils as he put his hands to his sides.

“Hey, I have a question.”

“What is it?” Jake sighed, expecting to dig up a war story he had buried within his subconscious.

“You don’t… think something like that could happen again, could you?”

“Like what? The Incursion?”

“Yeah.”

“I dunno, probably. Hopefully not in my lifetime again, though.” Jake narrowed his gaze at Orsel. “Why do you ask?” 

“Well…” Orsel sidled nervously. “… Promise you won’t freak out?”

“Orsel, what’s this about?” Jake asked sternly.

“I don’t know all the details, but I think Hope’s got it in her head that there’s a war coming.”

“What?!”

“Yeah, you know, all those papers in her throne room? She’s been using this thing called the daylooker, or something, to see what people around Crux are doing, and somehow she pieced together that Shaydon might be setting up for a war.”

“Huh…” Jake pondered, sitting down on a nearby piece of rubble. “Maybe…”

“Oh, don’t tell me you think so too!” Orsel panicked

“Nah, nah, I haven’t heard all the facts, but you never really know this kinda stuff.”

“Jake, she’s been cooped up in that room for the past two decades! She’s gotta have some screws loose.”

“Yeah, but for the past cycle your ‘Eyve and ‘Ven’ have been abducting folks from all over the world. Maybe that’s why they’ve been doing it… trying to make some living weapons or something.”

“Listen to yourself! You’re not actually considering this, are you?”

“What’s got you all wired up? I say we at least hear what she’s found out.”

“I can’t believe this. I get not even ONE DAY away from Shaydon before I hear they’re still causing me more problems.”

Jacob furrowed his brow.

“Hey, Orsel. In case you ain’t heard, a war’s going to cause trouble for EVERYONE, not just YOU,” he snapped. “Hell, it already has. I had to face the Umbral Incursion head-on, and I can say for certain that everything I ever knew changed for the worse ‘cause of it.”

Orsel went quiet for a bit, pouting. He was angry, sure, at how it seemed like escaping Shaydon’s grasp was proving to be a greater and greater impossibility. But he had to take into account that there were others besides him who had also been burned by its insatiable flames of conquest. 

“I’m sorry.” Orsel proclaimed. “I… I know I’ve been selfish, but after everything I’ve been through, It just stings to hear everything flooding back again about Shaydon.”

“How do you think I feel?” Jake explained. “I want to get everything with them over and done with, too— leave it all behind— but sometimes problems like these just… have a way of comin’ back.”

There was a brief pause as the sun rose to the highest point in the sky.

“Look,” Jake continued, “maybe you’re right, maybe Hope really is off her rocker, but I’d say it’s better to look at everything and make our own judgments before we move forwards.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Orsel sighed.

“Come on, let’s go pay our favorite grandess a visit.” Jake said, gesturing Orsel back towards the temple. “I hope she has some more of that tea.”

“Ugh.” Orsel couldn’t stand the thought of drinking that sickly-sweet brew again… Or climbing all those stairs, but Jacob did have a point. It was better to have at least some idea of what was going on in the world around them. Even in the worst case scenario— that Hope was right about there being another war— They would at least know about it ahead of time instead of being caught off guard like the rest of Crux supposedly would.

Suddenly, as if from the sky itself, a small stick plunged itself into Jacob’s head, causing him to momentarily stop. He turned around to face Orsel again, blindly feeling around for what had struck him.

“What was that?” Jake asked, grasping his claws around the new protrusion from his body.

“I don’t know. Where’d it come from?” Orsel panicked, clutching his crookshank and frantically surveying the sky. Jake plucked the rod from his head and wiped the excess dirt off of it to find that it looked like an arrow with a tip made from dull, orange metal. 

“Who in the pit is practicing archery out here?” he asked, also making sure to watch the skies alongside Orsel. 

“I know it landed around here somewhere.” a concerned voice sprouted from a nearby alleyway, getting closer, until around a corner came the familiar form of Vino, sporting a brand-new pair of goggles and a rather cumbersome-looking device.

“Vino!” The two exclaimed in unison.

“Where have you been?” Orsel asked, “And what’s that thing?”

“Well,” Vino answered, “I found an old lens maker’s workshop around here, so I cleaned it up and started doodling around with, uh, this.” He shoved it forwards, showcasing it to the pair.

“Is that where this came from?” Jake asked, dangling the arrow he had extruded from his head in front of Vino. “You should really be more careful where you aim.” Vino’s face turned red as he grabbed it out of Jake’s talons.

“Sorry about that, but yeah, that place has everything! Spare parts, a forge, even some shreds from some old uniforms!” Vino bragged, stretching out his goggles so they snapped back onto his forehead.

“So, what have you two been up to?” he inquired, reloading the bolt into his invention.

Orsel and Jake looked at one another, then back to Vino. 

“Well, we’re heading back to Hope’s temple with some matters to discuss.” Jake explained.

“What kind of matters?” Vino asked.

“It’s… a little complicated,” responded Orsel, fiddling with his crookshank. “We’ll explain on the way.”

CHAPTER 23: Business as Usual

Although it was unseen, the breaking hours of the early morning had finally reached Shaydon. With its arrival, Yuttoguln had finally returned to his office within Shaydon’s detainment sector. He took his seat at the desk, looking down at the paperwork he had been pulled away from due to the unpleasantness that had occurred the day before, a streak of ink from a pen marking the sudden interruption to his day. His eye twitched as thoughts from last night’s council meeting raced through his head. His department would finally be receiving more resources, sure, but he did not expect Edrip to be as open as he was to his alliance with Eyve and Ven. Things were changing, but he hoped that he would be able to continue his work uninterrupted for the most part. He heard a gentle knock at his door. Even though no one else should have been in the building at this hour, the behemoth knew exactly who it was. He lumbered over and opened it to see exactly what he expected— nobody at all.

“Hey, Yutty- buddy!” A feminine voice greeted from behind him.

“Do not call me that, Lusa.” Yuttoguln ordered, still facing out the door. “Why are you here?”

“Well, I saw you made out pretty big at the meeting last night, and I just wanted to drop by and offer my congratulations!”

Yuttoguln turned around to face whom he was conversing with- a skinny shayd of the female persuasion sprawled across his chair in a relaxed manner. She ran her hand along the hood on her head, lifting it up so it could drop with a gentle thud on her back.

“I ‘made out’ with more responsibilities.” Yuttoguln replied. “The funding is generous, but I feel Edrip’s interest is only going to complicate things.”

“Ugh, don’t you get it? You’re IN with him now! You have something he wants, and that means you can write a ticket for pretty much anything.”

“I don’t want to be IN with anyone,” Yuttoguln complained, running his hand down his face, “I just want to do my job. I want to see to it that every miscreant, thief, and criminal out in those streets is brought to absolute justice.”

Lusa slunk off of Yuttoguln’s chair and began to lean on its back support.

“Yeah, yeah, and that’s where I come in, your loyal undercover operative. I let you know what the folks are up to down there.”

“Yes. And speaking of your profession, why aren’t you at your post?”

“Gotta keep things unpredictable.” Lusa said, examining her hands, “Besides, it’s not uncommon for a “normal shayd” to have something like a second job or an errand to run every once in a while.”

Yuttoguln stepped up to the window in his office and stared out at the waiting horizon of the city. Their world was just beginning to wake up, with barges and boats drifting down the canals and the power to hundreds of buildings flickering on all at once. He briefly admired the unsung beauty of his home before returning to his desk.

“I need to get back to work. Allocating funds and sending out more patrols.”

“Not to mention, sending prisoners to those hags, Eyve and Ven.” Lusa scoffed. “You saw that creature at the meeting, right? Why do you think Edrip wants to make more of those ugly things?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care.” Yuttoguln replied. “Cells have been getting a bit cramped lately, anyway. It’s punishment enough for their crimes, and that’s all that concerns me.”

“Well, I was thinking now that you have a bit of a demand for what you do, I could stir up a bit of trouble if need be…”

“Out of the question.”

“Oh, come on! I hate being a wallflower—”

Yuttoguln banged on the desk in frustration.

“We DO NOT instigate! Things are bad enough out there without us interfering. That ruckus yesterday has left everyone on edge, so as far as everybody should be concerned, things are business as usual. Rawth will capture the escapees, Loth will drive public attention away from the experiments, and we’ll return to normalcy. The only thing changing is that criminals are going somewhere else for the time being.”

“And, y’know, you’ll be making twice as much star.”

Yuttoguln sighed.

“It will be spent accordingly, now don’t you have somewhere to be?”

“Fine, fine. I’ll leave.” As Lusa strutted out, Yuttoguln’s attention was once again grabbed.

“Oh, and could you shut the door on th—” but she was already gone. Yuttoguln groaned and got up to close the door.

It was going to be a long day.

CHAPTER 24: An Invitation

Back at Lum, Hope poured boiling water from a kettle into four cups half-filled with a yellowish brown powder. As the ingredients in each cup were mixed, they foamed up to the rim, then settled, steaming with a sweet, earthy aroma. She took the tray of drinks across her kitchen into an old meeting room where Orsel, Vino, and Jacob were waiting.

“Sorry for the lack of accommodations.” Hope apologized, setting the tray down onto the table. “It’s not very often I get visitors.”

“Uh, that’s quite alright, ma’am.” Jake affirmed, grabbing a cup of the tea. “If anything, we should be apologizing for intruding.”

“To be completely fair,” Vino interjected, taking a sip of tea, “we did think you were dead.” Jake elbowed Vino in his torso in response. Hope sighed and looked away.

“I know it sounds odd, but I’d rather keep it that way. I don’t have the strength to face the world after everything that’s happened here.”

“Of course, we’ll keep your secret, right fellas?” Jake asked, followed by the other two nodding. Hope smiled weakly.

“Well, it’s good to know I can trust some people after all this time. If you don’t mind me asking, why have you come here? I thought by now people would have seen enough of this place.”

Orsel took a sip of his tea, and found that the taste was much too sweet for him.

“We escaped Shaydon!” He coughed. “There was this lab where they were making monsters out of elementals, so we busted out!” Hope sat still, wide-eyed by this news.

“What?”

“It’s run by Eyve and Ven, the research and development chiefs. I don’t know why they’re doing it, but I think there were like ten of them.”

“Eleven.” Vino corrected. “Jake and I were there for a while before Orsel showed up, but we’re telling the truth. They were fusing cores together to make these monsters out of different elements.”

“That sounds awful!” Hope expressed, putting her hand up to her mouth. “How long have they been doing this?”

“I’m not so sure.” Jake scratched his head. “I was the first one of us to show up in that cell, but that was around a cycle ago. Even then, there were still more of those… things. A week after that though, Vino came, time went on, the other prisoners were all… turned. Then Orsel showed up last night, and well, here we are.”

“That is… troubling, to say the least, It seems like Thead still hasn’t…” Hope caught herself mid-thought and cleared her throat. “Well, you three are welcome to stay as long as you like in order to stay safe and recuperate. I only ask that you don’t draw too much attention to this place, and of course, keep quiet about me.” Having finished her tea, Hope stood up and began to exit the room. “I’ll be in my throne room. And remember— next time you want to see me, just knock, alright?” As she left, Orsel tried to brave another sip of the tea, immediately regretting the decision afterward.

“Do either of you guys want the rest of this?” Orsel offered his friends.

“Sure, I’ll take it,” Vino answered. “She seems… pleasant.”

“Generous, too.” Jake added, “Heck, we got this whole place to ourselves! Where do you wanna head to?”

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going to go to sleep.” Orsel said, shuffling off. “I’ve been up all night and need some rest.”

The first half of the trio’s day in Lum was relatively slow, but some relaxation was definitely appreciated considering everything that had happened to them. The morning sun that crept across the fragments of Lum was a welcome sight for both Vino and Jacob. While Orsel slept within one of the less-destroyed homes, the other two made the most of their time wandering throughout the abandoned streets of the city, perusing the lost history that surrounded them.

“You know, we’re pretty lucky here,” Jake said as he plodded down the road alongside Vino, “not just ‘cause we’ve found a safe haven o’course. Visiting Lum after the Incursion’s something of a taboo, but I always wanted to see this place for myself.”

“You know, there’s something I don’t quite get,” Vino asked. “You guys are made out of inanimate material, right?”

“Well, yeah, but we can still move.”

“No, what I mean is-” Vino struggled to find the right words. “You don’t have the same limitations as organic life like us. You don’t need to eat, you can’t get sick, and you have remarkable physical durability… at least from what I’ve heard. With all that taken into consideration, why exactly did you guys make cities and stuff?”

“I dunno.” Jake replied astutely. “I guess we just followed what was already going on.”

“Yeah, but— I mean, look at you!” Vino gestured at Jacob’s size. “You could take down an army if you tried. Doesn’t worrying about stuff like housing and money seem like it should be beneath elementals?”

“Well, I can’t speak for all of us, but I like the stability. Besides, it doesn’t sound like much of a life if you ask me. For us to just give up and do nothing, living at the mercy of the world?”

“I know, but it’s always something I’ve wondered about.”

“I mean, I get it.” Jake clarified, looking downwards. “Sometimes we take what we can do for granted, after all. Here’s the thing, though, we ain’t immortals or gods. We still gotta rest during the nights, and we can still die from old age or core damage. I mean, just earlier, you saw Hope at her most vulnerable.”

“I suppose so. Well, if it’s any consolation, you’ve done remarkably well for yourselves.”

“Well, don’t speak too soon,” Jake added as he picked up a piece of rubble from one of the destroyed homes. “We also make our fair share of mistakes.”

The pair’s travels eventually took them to the ruins of a large building surrounded by broken glass.

“Watch yer step,” Jacob warned. “I know you folks don’t take kindly to sharp stuff.” 

“What do you think this place was?” Asked Vino as he gingerly stepped around the piles of glass.

Jake shrugged and kept on moving, while Vino arced his head around to try and see within the structure’s confines. A metallic glint caught his eye, which was enough to pique his interest and get him inside the building. 

“I think I’m gonna look through this place.” announced Vino, ducking beneath a bar of stone half-blocking the door.

“Go for it, I’ll tour further ahead.” 

The volume of broken glass was unfortunately unchanged within the cracked walls, but from what Vino saw during his first look within, it was worth the possibility of a few lacerations. The building looked like a long-forgotten workshop, half of it filled to the brim with worn and rusted scraps of metal and trinkets, as well as schematics carved into tablets. The other half, however, seemed more dedicated to working with glass than metal. A long-forgotten kiln stood silent against the corner of the workshop, along with a smattering of more complete fragments of glass disks.

“They must have made lenses here.” Vino realized to himself, walking parallel to the main workbench. “Shame there aren’t any still intact.” He rummaged through cupboards and rooms trying to find anything of inherent value, only to find a set of dusty work goggles tucked away within what was once a locker. He wiped some filth off with his shirt and put them on.“Not bad, not bad,” he said, admiring himself in a nearby mirror. The locker also held something else that proved useful during this time, a broom. Vino saw the place could use a good sweeping, and spent some time dusting up the stray sand and glass from off the floor. After that was done, he was properly invested in getting this place to look at least a bit like it was back in its heyday.

CHAPTER 21: A Remainder

At long last, Orsel had finally made it to the top of the grand palace of Lum, only to find that he was face-to-face with an intricately carved door. He tried opening it and found that although it wasn’t locked, it was still considerably heavy. He wedged it open with his crookshank at first, and once it parted ways enough he threw his weight against the enormous, hinged slab of sandstone. Inside was an ornately decorated room that had certainly seen better days— stacks of paper were laid out haphazardly across various tables and the ground, scrawled with what looked like nonsense from afar. Four thick columns set at equal points from one another decorated the room, with a radio set up between the two on Orsel’s right. On the left side of the wall, just past an enormous pile of papers, was a weapon in a display case— a staff with a circular, hollow metal blade adorning its top. It was the only thing in the entire room that looked brand new. Amongst all of this, Orsel tried to find what could have caused the flashing he had witnessed outside. The only light he could find was at the center of the room— a column of starlight focused from a hole in the ceiling by an enormous machine made with metal and glass lenses, overlapping and wrapping around one another. Direct light was dangerous to Orsel, but he stepped forwards out of curiosity in order to get a closer look at the mechanism. He walked around it, perusing it from every angle. He was never one for mechanics, but he tried to learn what he could when it was possible. Just as he finished a lap around the column of light, Orsel heard frantic footsteps coming up from behind him, though the open doorway. As he turned around, he saw Vino and Jacob ascending the stairway, with Vino’s eyes lighting up at the sight of Orsel.

“There you are!” Shouted Vino, relieved, “We’ve been looking all over for you.” 

“Where do you get off running away like that, huh?” Jake scolded.

“Look,” said Orsel, “I saw something up here, and I had to check it out. There was some flashing light, but I can’t seem to find what caused it.” Vino peered over Orsel’s shoulder, wide-eyed at what he was seeing.

“Orsel, do you know where we are?” He said, walking in and basking in its history.

“Not really, no.” Orsel replied

Vino put his hand on one of the columns next to the radio.

“This was Hope’s throne room. I’ve only ever heard stories about this place.”

Jacob inspected the piles of papers strewn about the place in disgust.

“Mmm, looks like the years haven’t been kind to this place.”

“Well, it’s possible we’re not the first ones who have come here since the lumans’… departure,'' Vino proclaimed, fiddling with the radio resting on its desk. “Likely some vagabonds or outcasts have made this place their home for a bit.”

“Of course they had to muss up the most important place in the city,” Jake scowled. “I mean, there’s like, what? Fifty houses down there? Could’ve crashed down there instead of the foyer of a grandess.”

Vino picked up a bale of papers to investigate their contents.

“Well, I suppose sometimes beggars can be choosers. I just hope whoever made this mess isn’t still here— although it would be helpful to have someone decipher these cabbit scratchings.” He said, slapping the paper he was holding with the back of his hand. Orsel slunk over to the pile of papers Vino was looking at and took one from the top of the bale. Almost immediately, he recognized it as something he had seen countless times in his line of work. 

“These are building schematics!” Orsel realized, hastily pulling more sheets from the pile …”Or, at least, most of them are. I’ve never seen designs like this before.”

“Give me that!” Jacob said, swiping the paper from Orsel’s hand. “He’s right— this is a blueprint for a cloudscraper in Tallem!”

“Look, this is a map of the Aqu’arion islands!” Vino exclaimed, folding one of the sheets of paper out to double its size. “There’s step-by-step instructions for… something, but I can’t seem to make it out.”

“This is gettin’ weird.” Jake observed, rifling through some more papers. These in particular had sketches of people throughout Crux, accompanied by small descriptions about their professions and traits. “Whoever this fella is, he’s got his nose in a lot of people’s business.”

Orsel wanted to make himself useful by getting some more information about this mystery. Seeing how Jake and Vino were busy tearing through the main pile of documents, he searched for anywhere else some sensitive information might be held. He made his way to the half of the room opposite the entrance, being careful once again not to draw too close to the column of focused starlight. He noticed a particularly tantalizing looking box nestled next to the arm of a white marble throne.

In the seat of this great chair, however, lay a pile of silken fabric— a robe adorned with thick ribbons sporting a multitude of colors. Looking at it a little closer, Orsel noticed a lump protruding from the chest area of the garment. He shifted the fabric around to find that it was covering up a crystal-clear, triangular gem. As he uncovered more of it, Orsel saw that it was decorated with wavy, coiling patterns and indentations shifting around its surface— at this point, he realized just what was in front of him.

“Is that what I think it is?” Vino asked, sneaking up behind Orsel who whipped around to face him.

“I think so. It looks like a core, but I’ve never seen one that looks like this before.” Orsel admitted, scratching his head.

Jake lumbered over, arching over the throne to get a better look at the anomaly.

“It’s a Luman core!” He exclaimed. “I guess now we know who’s been living here and trashing up the place, but how’d one of them manage to slip by and stay here for this long?”

“I suppose it’s statistically probable that at least one of them managed to escape the slaughter and hide out here in the city for all these years,” Vino observed, gently picking up the core, “And judging by the looks of it, they’ve been quite productive with their time alone.”

Orsel moped a bit, examining the expanses of the room.

“Goodness… I can’t imagine having to spend all that time without anyone else. I mean, think about it, this guy’s just been up here on his own for the past decade!”

“Must be nice.” Jake chuckled. His attention then turned over to Vino, who was still examining the chunk of crystal, scrutinizing its recursive details and proving mesmerized by its patterns. “Careful with that, petals! That’s someone’s life in your hands.”

Jacob was correct, as an elemental’s core is the source of their continued existence on Crux. Each one may seem like nothing more than a hunk of gleaming rock; but within its crevices lies a mystical connection to its respective element, as well as its individual thoughts, feelings, and layout for its physical form as an elemental. It provided them with the means to see, hear, touch, and taste, to grow and learn, and to adapt to one’s surroundings. To put it simply, each one housed the soul of an elemental.

“I know, relax!” Vino defended, “It’s just been a while since I could see one of these up close. Goodness, you’d think they were made in a machine with how detailed they are.”

Orsel protested, tapping the side of the throne with the end of his crookshank.

“I’d put it back if I were you, Vino, This guy’s still asleep, and we’re not exactly comfortable with the idea of being… handled like this.”

“In a second,” said Vino, struggling to see a detail on the core’s bottom facet. “I’ll put it back right after I see this last bit. It just needs a little more light on it…”

As Vino walked closer to the beam of starlight in the center of the room, Jacob made a sudden realization.

“Wait… Light? VINO—”

Before he could act, The core grazed the edge of the beam while it was still in Vino’s leafy hands— and that was all it took.

CHAPTER 22: A Lone Light

A blinding flash of light erupted from the core as it was pulled from Vino’s hands by some unseen force. Vino was blown back, impacting Jake to the point that there was now a sizable flauna-shaped crater in his torso. The temporarily conjoined pair ducked behind the throne for a bout of shelter from the shining onslaught. Orsel screamed in pain as he tried to cover himself up, and threw himself behind the massive stack of papers in order to offer his body some relief from the torrent of light. The core was still as bright as a floodlight, suspended in the center of the room, but as the seconds passed, a form of pure light began to wrap itself around it. Waves of colors enveloped the room until finally, a luminous form remained standing.

Three eyes opened on a head adorned with hair as bright and bold as the sun on a clear summer sky. As the figure regained her bearings after a stretch that painted its form with a prismatic band of color, she realized that she wasn’t on the throne— or clothed. She let out a short shriek as she turned red and ran over to the chair and promptly dressed herself with the robes left out on it.

Jacob unstuck Vino from his torso like a pulled weed and peered around the corner of the throne, only to see a sight that nearly made him wheeze in shock.

“It’s HOPE.”

Vino went wide-eyed as he, in turn, looked over their barrier.

“Wh- how?”

“I don’t know, but we need to get out of here— we’re trespassing!”

 “Alright!… Where’s Orsel?”

The two of them looked around their area to come to the debilitating conclusion that Orsel wasn’t with them.

“Crap.”

Behind the stack of papers, Orsel was still in the process of regaining his bearings from being subjected to a nearly lethal dosage of light. A voice from the other side of his hiding place, however, immediately caught his attention.

“These aren’t supposed to be here…”

Hope shuffled through her now-further disorganized notes, eventually noticing the open door to her throne room. 

“That’s odd. I could have sworn I shut this thing earlier…”

As she made her way towards the door and shut it, Orsel took the opportunity to move from his position. To try and find Jacob and Vino. He slunk between the pillars and the shadowy corners of the room looking for his friends, when a noise caught his attention.

“Psst!”

Hearing it came from near the chair, Orsel looked over to find Vino hastily beckoning him over to behind the throne. Unfortunately, the CLUNK of the door’s lock spooked Orsel, who ducked behind the pillar nearest to the desk displaying the radio.

“Ugh, I must’ve had one too many bottles of Prizz last night.” Groaned Hope, shuffling over to her throne. Before she could take her seat, however, The radio next to Orsel sputtered to life, crackling and spraying static. He noticed one of his tendrils had somehow shifted onto the wire powering it, and quickly tried to silence it by yanking the plug from the wall. Needless to say, at this point, Hope was properly alerted.

“It seems as though I am not alone.” She said loudly, backing up towards the display case on the wall. She promptly unlatched it and grabbed the gleaming scepter from within its confines, brandishing it threateningly and spinning it above her head.

“SHOW YOURSELF! I AM HOPE! GRANDESS OF LUM, AND I WILL NOT TOLERATE INTRUDERS!” She swung the weapon, kicking up a gust of wind and sand, and sending a flurry of papers fluttering about in the air. Seeing this, Orsel slunk further behind the pillar in fear and cowered under his hood. While Hope stalked the perimeter of the throne room, Vino breathed in some dust suspended in the air, and found himself in a coughing fit. Jake covered his mouth in a panic, but it was too late. Hope had caught wind that whoever was trespassing her home was, for certain, behind her throne. This had also caught Orsel’s attention, as he peered around the edge of the pillar to find that Hope was about to find his friends out.

“There you are, you scoundrel…” She taunted, grasping her staff with both hands and pointing it towards the unseen source of the noise. “You should know better than to intrude in someone’s home.” Just as she was about to peer behind the massive seat and find his friends, Orsel jumped out from behind the pillar.

“ALRIGHT, YOU CAUGHT ME. I GIVE UP!” Orsel screamed, waving his hands around in order to divert Hope’s attention. As she looked over at him with her three piercing white eyes, and her body glowing red with anger, Orsel considered that maybe this wasn’t the best idea. Although, if he was going to keep Vino and Jake from being found out, he would have to commit. He dropped his crookshank to the ground and continued his plea as Hope slowly stepped forwards, through the column of light in the center of the room.

“Scavengers are not welcome here.” Hope bristled with anger, tightening her grip on her weapon.

“I- I know that now,” Orsel replied, stepping backwards in tandem with Hope’s approach. “Look, I came into this tower to… Scavenge, and I guess I accidentally woke you up.”

Jake and Vino took a look at the commotion that was ensuing and found themselves quite shocked.

“What is he DOING?” Vino whispered.

Jake squinted at the scarlet form threatening Orsel.

“He’s saving our hides, that’s what. Now, let’s go.”

“We can’t just leave him here.”

“She’s a grandess! What are we supposed to do?”

“Well grandess or not, we need to help him! Try and find something heavy, I have an idea.”

Orsel and Hope’s dance continued until the shayd found himself backed against one of the room’s walls.

“Who sent you?” Hope asked, thrusting the bladed edge of the weapon closer to Orsel’s chest. He responded by flexing his torso away from the threat.

“Nobody sent me, I escaped! I found this city… alone, and I thought I’d hole up here for the night!”

“You said you came here to scavenge!”

Orsel’s core sunk

“I- I did say that, but I mean it when I say I mean you no harm! Just don’t hurt me.”

“Silence! You come here as a subject of Thead, no less, to take even MORE from me? It’s bad enough I have to hide myself away up here, surrounded by the fragments of my people, and you have the core to say you ‘mean me no harm?’ Shame on you!”

“I-uh, I didn’t…”

“May you never be reborn.” Hope said coldly as she lifted her weapon to strike a blow onto Orsel. As he sat there, against the wall, frightened and confused, bracing himself for impact, he found that such a thing never came. He waveringly looked up to see Hope still standing there, blade above her head. However, the longer he looked up at her, Orsel saw Hope’s hands begin to tremble, followed shortly by her face as it contorted from rage to what looked like sadness. The red that painted her body faltered from a furious scarlet into a soothing blue, and before Orsel could even respond, she fell to the ground and wept.

“I can’t do this.” She sobbed, burying her hands in her face, struggling to cover all three of her eyes. “I can’t keep living like this.”

Orsel’s terror eventually melted into empathy. He scooted over from the wall and prepared to put his hand on Hope’s shoulder to comfort her. However, he recoiled at the last second, worrying that he would somehow cause her more pain.

“I- I’m sorry.” Orsel consoled. “I really don’t know what to do here.”

“Neither do I.” Hope sniffed. “But I will say I will not kill you.”

“That’s a relief.” Orsel chuckled nervously. “Look, let’s just calm down. We’ll talk this out, alright?” At this point Hope seemed in a better state of mind. Her blueness had washed away and she glowed a pale yellow. It hurt for Orsel to look at, but he wasn’t about to go on complaining to this mysterious stranger.

“I think that would be for the best.” Hope gingerly stood back up, grabbing the staff to help her with her balance. As she turned around, however, she came face to face with a sight that just about put her back on the floor again— Vino holding a broken bottle and Jacob brandishing Hope’s entire throne as a weapon. At the sight of the Grandess’ recuperation, the two hastily tried to return to a picture of normalcy, smiling warily at Hope as she stood there, taken aback. 

“Uhh, these are my friends.” Orsel explained. “They mean no harm as well.”

Hope closed her eyes and took a deep breath, moving her hands from the center of her body to facing her palms outwards.

“I think I’ll put on some tea.”

CHAPTER 19: Mutuality

Piles of sand had resulted in dunes encompassing entire houses, with the most extreme of which resulting in a sandbar that stretched all the way up to half of the grand wall’s height. As they delved deeper and deeper into the sandstone confines of the city, past different establishments and homes— one of which being completely surrounded by broken glass; the group eventually came across a desecrated fountain, still seeping fresh water into a half-drained pool. The statue that once adorned its spout was cracked, its figure split down the middle and entirely missing its head. However, this fount’s beauty was of little importance, as what really mattered to Orsel and Jacob right now was the fact that it could help Vino during this parching time. Jake slung Vino, roots-first, into the pool of water in the fountain. His body slung limply over the edge, still unconscious.

“It’s a miracle this thing was here.” Orsel said, relieved. “You’d think a place like this would’ve lost access to running water a long time ago.”

“Yeah, weird place. Dangit, why won’t he wake up?” Jacob dipped his claw into the pool and tasted it. “It seems fresh enough.”

“Maybe he just needs some time. You know, to soak.”

“You’re probably right, “Jake sighed, sitting down. “I mean, I know plants like the back of my hand. They always need time.”

“Is it because you’re made of dirt? Orsel asked.

Jacob lowered his eyelids.

“It’s ‘cause I’m a farmer. I grow spactus back at my ranch.”

“What’s spactus?”

“It’s uh, a kind of plant,” Jacob explained, “It’s tough and prickly, but the fruit’s real sweet if you peel it right. We use it to make a drink called jej.”

“Really? What’s it taste like?”

“Well, it tastes a lot like spactus fruit, but it’s also fermented and spiced, so it’s bubbly and has some kick to it.”

“Hmm.” Orsel contemplated as he looked back over at Vino. “This could take a while. What say we get some sleep?”

“I’ll stand watch,” Jacob announced, surveying the area. “I already got some shuteye on the boat, anywho.”

“Alright.”

Orsel leaned his crookshank up against the edge of the fountain and laid down at where he stood, still captivated by the stars that lay above him. He scooped some sand from the piles that laid haphazardly on the path and placed it behind his head to form a makeshift pillow. Before he could truly drift into the realm of slumber, however, he had something to share.

“Li-Listen, I just want to say thank you for everything you’ve done today. I’d be doomed if it wasn’t for you guys.”

Jake turned his head away from Orsel.

“Don’t mention it.”

“I’m serious,” demanded Orsel, sitting up halfway from his resting position, “Even if I wasn’t arrested, there’d be nothing left for me there.”

“Well, I find that hard to believe.”

“You don’t know what it’s like back there. No matter how hard you work or how well you treat others, you’re still just a nothing to anyone higher up than you.”

“Funny, I thought mindless devotion was rewarded there.”

“It’s not mindless devotion, it’s survival! It’s working, so you can have a place to exist in society! If it were up to devotion, I’d have let my coworker die today. If it were up to devotion, I would have ratted your plan out to Eyve and Ven.”

“You just told me earlier that you looked up to Thead, though. Ain’t that devotion enough?”

“Yeah, well just because I have to do everything he says doesn’t mean I like him- or his laws, or his council, or-”

Orsel cut himself off. He was angry, but he didn’t want to bog himself down thinking about his home. After all, he had finally left that wretched place, wasn’t that enough?

“I’m tired. Good luck on the watch,” He said, pulling his hood over his eyes and turning away from Jake. Jacob looked at Orsel, laying down on the ground in front of him, his cloak speckled with sand. His head was filled with contradictory thoughts about the shayd before him. He was a little odd, sure, but this Orsel was a complex person who had thoughts and feelings just like him. He, too, had ideas of frustration, joy, sorrow, aspirations, and regrets. Although he was still skeptical of him, Jake had at the very least come to the conclusion that he was nothing like the shayd who had wronged him so long ago.

“Hey, Orsel?” Jake asked, jerking Orsel out of his attempted slumber.

“Hmm?”

“You helped us out, too. Thank you for that.”

“You’re very welcome,” Orsel concluded as he turned back around.

Before he could even go to sleep, however, he heard a loud THUD behind him. As he turned back around to investigate, he found a large pile of soil where Jake was— the big guy didn’t even last a minute awake! While he was amused by the thought of Jacob falling back to sleep the second he turned around, he felt a slight stinging on his hands as he saw his shadow cast before him. He recognized it as the tell-tale pain of light exposure. Orsel turned around carefully to find out what the source of it could be, and his attention was brought back to the top of the palace that towered behind them, overlooking the fountain.

CHAPTER 20: A Quick Departure

This time, he was absolutely sure of what he saw earlier; He HAD to investigate— a thought he momentarily debated as he looked back over at his two incapacitated allies. He decided his compromise would come with being as quick about it as he possibly could, and rushed over to the palace. As he journeyed through the streets and over the remnants of the odd crumbled building, Orsel noticed that Lum’s architectural practices were very different from those back home. Instead of tall spires and complexes made out of pitch iron, they opted more for flatter, squared designs for their homes and establishments, made from carved and dyed sandstone. The fact that so many of them were still somewhat standing even after the tragedy this city had faced served as a testament to their durability. Eventually, Orsel had made it to the steps of the palace. It was mostly pyramidal in its shape— with three of its sides decorated with massive circular windows of stained-glass, most of which were sadly shattered. One side was adorned with a positively massive staircase facing the archway the group had just entered the city through. At the structure’s top, however, at the end of the staircase, there was a domed building about the same size as the other houses Orsel had seen throughout Lum. The sheer height of the climb almost dissuaded him from ascending, but at this point his curiosity as to what might be at the top was too great to ignore. He pressed on, one step at a time, one tendril over the other.

Back at the fountain, Vino had finally woken up- shocked to see that where he had awoken was not where he had become unconscious. He dragged himself from out of the fountain and immediately noticed a large pile of dirt and burlap next to him. Vino assumed this was Jake, asleep. He must have carried him to Lum while he was out, but there was no sign of Orsel. Assuming something unfortunate may have happened, Vino jostled the pile that once was Jake’s body. He rumbled awake, the burlap that once made up his shirt wrapping around his body, the shards of glass that made up his claws dragging themselves to his hands, and two gleaming, orange eyes hollowing themselves out to finally return a friend back to the realm of the awake.

“Ngh, what is it? “Jake grumbled. “Oh hey, you’re up, Vino! How you feeling? Any better?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I just went into torpor due to dehydration. Do you know where Orsel went?” Asked Vino, surveying the surrounding area.

“Orsel?” Said Jake, shocked as he gathered himself and began to join Vino’s search. “ORSEL!” He shouted, trying to recall the shayd to the group.

“Where is he? What’s going on?” Vino asked.

“I-I don’t know! One minute he was here, and I was keeping watch,” Jacob panicked, “Then I must have dozed off.” The two looked around the area for a little while longer. As Vino searched, however, one of his roots bumped into the edge of a triangular bottle. He picked it up and dusted it off, then filled it up with fresh water from the fountain. He supposed any time was the right time for preparation. “Dangit, why’d he run off?” Jake grumbled

“Where do you think he went?” Vino queried, taking a sip of water from his newly-filled bottle.

“I don’t know,” said Jake, scratching his head, “but we’d better find him soon. He’s probably still somewhere in the city, come on.”

Clutching his crookshank and using it to drag his body further up the steps of the palace, Orsel debated why he was doing this in the first place. He sprawled himself across the steps in exhaustion.

“This thing’s taller than I thought.” He said, panting. With this moment of respite, however, Orsel took it upon himself to appreciate the view before him. The stars were still as indescribably beautiful as before, but the blank vistas of sand encompassing the world around him caused a feeling of peace to well within Orsel. He was finally safe- and there was nothing around him that could hurt him anymore. After he thought he had rested enough, he hobbled himself back up and continued climbing. Orsel made it this far, and at this point he was committed to finding out whatever that odd flashing was, no matter what.

“ORSEL!”

“ORSEL!” The voices of Jacob and Vino echoed throughout the decrepit streets of Lum, lost to the whispering sands and husks of long-abandoned buildings.

“Dangit, I just don’t get it.” Complained Jake, whipping a chunk of sandstone across the street with his tail in frustration.

Vino gazed up at a sign hanging from the side of a building, dangling in the gentle wind. 

“You know, there’s something I don’t get, too— why are you so concerned about Orsel all of a sudden?”

Jacob’s eyes narrowed.

“What do you mean?”

“What do I mean? Not 5 hours ago, you wanted him dead or gone. Now, you’re leading a search party for him!”

Jacob paused for a moment.

“We talked.”

“Well that’s good. About what?”

“Life… Survival.”

“Is that it?”

“Well, he said a lot… Enough to make me think a bit.”

“Think about what?” Vino queried, tilting his head.

Jacob looked up at the stars. He had seen the same sky for countless nights, but they had never quite looked the same as they did now.

“About how we’re… kinda the same, you know?. He’s a worker, he has morals, and from the looks of it, it seems that people just kick him around.”

“And you… connect with that?”

Jacob took a deep breath and peered into the open archway of an empty Luman home.

“It’s just… The world’s already hard on people like us, so why do we have to be?”

Vino was pleased at Jacob’s change of heart towards Orsel, but the task at hand still required their utmost attention.

“Can you think of any place he might’ve gone?”

“Let’s see, we came into the city through the wall, then he started going on about-” Jacob snapped his claws in realization “-THE TOWER! C’mon!”

CHAPTER 16: A Thousand Points

The dredging vessel drifted lazily over the lopping waves of the Therean ocean, the smog-choked skies and pitch-black waters surrounding Shaydon finally scores behind the three escapees. Vino sat diligently, half-asleep at the controls, still embracing the thought of freedom. Orsel sat bored against the boat’s wall, having dipped the sharp end of his crookshank into the water to watch it cut the current as they moved forwards. Taking Jacob’s place was now a large, inanimate pile of dirt wrapped in burlap and mottled with glass shards. He was taking a well-deserved rest after exerting himself today, reducing himself to his base components while he slept, as all elementals do from time to time. Vino yawned.

“Alright, if my navigation is correct… At this speed, we should hit land in less than an hour.”

Orsel pulled his crookshank out of the water. 

“Thank goodness, I could use some shuteye. Jake here’s got the right idea.”

“I thought shayd stayed up at night.” Vino probed.

“I heard that we used to,” Orsel rolled over, “but once smog started filling up the sky, we couldn’t really tell the difference anymore.”

“So you’ve never seen the sun before?”

“Sometimes it peeks through. I hate it. It stings my body.”

“What about the stars?”

“The what?”

Vino nodded his head upwards

“Look up.”

As Orsel looked up, he was nearly knocked to the floor by the stunning beauty of Crux’s night sky, unmarred by the clouds he had known all his life. A veritable tapestry of innumerable points of light and streaks of celestial colors captivated his vision. It was paralyzing to think that throughout his existence, such life was hidden during a time he had always associated with rest and curfew.

“Is that real?” Orsel asked, still taking in the sights.

Vino chuckled at his response.

“It sure is. Constellations, spires, suns, and worlds— all spiraling about in the endless black void.”

“It’s incredible,” Orsel commented, “like a thousand cities stacked on top of each other with the windows lit up.”

“There’s a lot you haven’t seen, isn’t there?”

“I guess so. I had always heard stories of what was outside the walls back home, but I never assumed they could be this beautiful.”

Vino perked up as he looked back ahead.

“Well, here might be a good place to start. Look!”

Orsel made his way past the pile that once was Jake and ended up at the boat’s bow. Between the star-spattered skies above and gentle waters below, a thin sliver of land caressed the horizon in front of them. Vino turned back over to Jake.

“Jake, wake up!”

Jacob hastily reconstituted his body, the dirt and glass shifting into a shape that resembled his old body, as he took effort to keep his clothes on the outside of his massive frame. 

“Whahappun? We under attack?”

Vino pointed forwards with great vigor.

“Land, dead ahead!”

Jacob’s grogginess was soon dispelled by the announcement, he scooted up to the front of the boat with his partners, shifting it somewhat. His eyes filled with optimism at the sight of the upcoming destination. He slapped Vino’s back in celebration. 

“Haha, Nice GOING, petals!”

Vino coughed a bit upon being hit.

“Thanks, I hope we can find some water soon, though. I’m getting a bit parched.”

Orsel beamed (as much as he could) with happiness

“I still can’t believe this. We’re almost home free, and there’s not a thing they can do about it!”

CHAPTER 17: Acquisition

Searchlights blared into the shrouded skies of Shaydon, originating from a large building on another part of the continent’s shoreline. It is a monumental part of the city’s district of defense, and the recent developments have whipped it into a frenzy, causing a monumental ruckus. Within the metal dome adorned with fearsome markings and munitions, a large crowd of armored shayd brandishing boltcasters surround a podium occupied by Shaydon’s own General Rawth Egar. The troops move to and fro, filling various amphibious transports with supplies and weaponry for their upcoming manhunt. 

“Come on, you worms, MOVE! Every second we haven’t shoved off is another mile between us and them!” The diminutive general shouted.

One of the soldiers makes an effort to reason with him.

“But sir, we-”

This effort is immediately rendered ineffective as Rawth glares at him, and the soldier decides his time is better spent miserable, yet alive. The leader gazes at his fleet of ships, and towards his second-in-command.

“Kast! Is everything gathered?”

“Munitions, check. Survival equipment, check. Vessels are up to code and completely fueled. All soldiers accounted for. We are ready to move out.”

Rawth raised his boltcaster to the sky

“SHAYD! RALLY!”

The soldiers quit their meandering and stand perfectly still, awaiting word from their general.

“We have been tasked with an important mission direct from Edrip himself, the capture and retrieval of these 3 individuals!” Rawth shouted, pointing at a visual aid in the form of a poster displaying the faces of the three escapees. “This is no routine search, however! We have also been given explicit orders to return them back here ALIVE!” 

The soldiers, in response to this news, let out a dissatisfied groan before Rawth continues.

“Yes, while lethal force is unfortunately prohibited, this sort of situation is what we were trained for! We are adaptable, and we will overcome!” Eyve managed to slip in through the assortment of soldiers, clutching a small, black diamond-shaped object in her metal claw. “We will find this traitor shayd, and he will face punishment at the hand of none other than the great Thead Cronec!” After navigating the sea of determined shayd, Eyve finally made her way up to Rawth’s podium and tapped his shoulder, handing him the object. 

“We will… Wait, what? What are you doing here?” 

“Change of plans. We have a list for you.”

“A list? What are you talking about, list?”

“Well, as you probably know, Ven and I have some important work to be doing, and that work requires, for lack of a better word, volunteers.”

Eyve tapped the device with her regular hand, and it unfolded into a projector, displaying images of various elementals, some of fire, some of water, none of them shaydonian in nature.

“Yeah, I’ve heard this before. Look, our priorities lie with the traitor! Not in collecting any more lab rats for you and your sister.”

“There’s compensation involved.”

“Do I LOOK like Egred? Read my eyes— forget it.”

“There’s HEAVY compensation involved.”

Rawth stood for a minute, frowning. There was nothing more he would have wanted than to effectively hunt down the scoundrels who had escaped the city, leaving destruction in tow; but the prospect of leeching off some of the research division’s newfound funding was an idea he was simply incapable of resisting.

“The floor is yours.” Rawth gestured Eyve towards the center of the podium.

“Esteemed soldiers of Shaydon.” Eyve spoke, calmly and collected, to the masses. “While it is of the utmost importance that the traitors you’ve been assigned to capture be dealt with- Orsel Jino, The flauna, and the terrian- your loyal Chiefs of Research and Development have a small favor to ask of you whilst you are performing your duties.” She grabbed the object she had handed Rawth earlier and placed it on the podium. Its screen enlarged to inform and dazzle the swathes of shayd before it, cycling through a display of informational pictures of random elementals native to Crux.

“We have made a scientific breakthrough that we believe will strengthen our nation beyond its current limits, and in order to continue our research down this avenue, we require elemental cores. Lots of them. It’s no doubt that some of you have had some experience with the smaller scale abductions you’ve been tasked with, but at the moment, quantity is of the utmost importance. Whether they be ignis, aqueans, cryos, lithians, shattered, intact, in pieces, it doesn’t matter, we’ll take them, and for each pound of them received, we will reward your esteemed division of natural security a grandiose 1,000 STAR! Which I assume your dignified General Rawth will distribute amongst you fine fellows in a manner he sees fit.”

This generous amount generated some murmuring amongst the crowd, as well as a flurry of eyes to point upon the aforementioned general. He hastily prepared his response.

“Uh, that’s right! So, change of plans: You! The finest and mightiest of our people, are to fulfill this reasonable request. Tonight, we move out! In search of not only the traitors, but the cores of any other elementals we can get our hands on. After all, are they also not traitors? Those from beyond this land have turned their backs on us since the Umbral Incursion’s beginning! WHO IS WITH ME?!”

As Rawth raised his fist, a roaring applause erupted from the soldiers as they piled onto their respective ships, the navigation systems set to travel throughout the waiting world of Crux. Rawth continued barking orders amongst the roused rabble. 

“Alright then! Man the ships! Redirect navigation to anywhere we can set anchor! I want to be swimming in cores by this time tomorrow!” Eyve smiled over at Rawth, who was quick to turn away from her, scowling.

“You had better know what you’re doing.” He muttered under his breath.

CHAPTER 18: Salt and Sand

The hours at sea eventually melted into one another, the shoreline inching its way closer and closer to the fated group, revealing a long-forgotten lighthouse and dock awaiting them in the distance. The time was spent either getting in some shut-eye in shifts or playing cards with part of a deck found in the engine compartment. Since there were so many missing, some improvisation was required. Eventually, they were close enough where the promise of land was mere inches in front of them. Orsel leapt off the bow onto the sandstone dock, attempting to guide the boat into a good spot for anchoring.

“Alright, bring it in nice and steady.”

Vino finangled with the controls.

“It’s uh, not slowing down. Wait, crapcrapcrap-” The vessel screeched against the side of the dock until crashing with a loud THUD towards the stretch of dock in front of it. Some smoking and bubbling began to emanate from below the boat’s deck as the two remaining passengers felt their means of transportation begin to sink slowly under the water.

“Well, that’s not good.” Jake observed.

“I suppose we’re not going to need it where we’re going.” Vino added, hopping out of the boat.

Once the three had evacuated the pathetic sinking of their ship, they took some time to get their bearings. Vino inspected the masonry of the docks, while Orsel’s curiosity drew him towards the abandoned lighthouse.

“We have to keep moving,” Vino explained. “They’re not going to give up easily, so we need to find a place where we know we’ll be safe.” 

Jake surveyed the dunes up ahead. 

“So, where are you thinking, Lum?”

“It’s the closest place I can think of. At the very least, we’ll know we’re alone.”

Orsel began to scale the side of the lighthouse out of boredom. 

“We’re going to Lum?” He responded, a twinge of excitement in his voice. “Where is it?”

“It should be a decent hike through these dunes,” pointed out Vino. “I hope they have some water there, I’m feeling a little light in the head.”

“Probably that slop Eyve and Ven were feedin’ ya.” Jake pointed out. “In any case, let’s get movin’. We need a place to rest."

Orsel, Vino, and Jacob carved out a path in the bluish, star-lit dunes, their tracks swept away at the hands of the gentle breezes that inhabited these parts. As the time went on, Orsel decided he’d break the silence and take the opportunity to learn about this brand-new place he was going to.

“So, Lum. What’s it like there?” He pondered.

“Well,“ Vino responded, “back in its heyday, Lum served as the cultural beacon of Crux. Since the Lumen desert is such a barren place, they had taken to importing goods and ideas from all around the world and making something new out of them. Needless to say, they were also big fans of colors and light.” These concepts intrigued Orsel. Maybe this escape wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“How’s it doing nowadays?” He asked.

Jake and Vino looked at each other with concern. With some initial silence, Vino spoke up.

“Well-”

“It’s a damn ghost town,” Interrupted Jake. “First place the Umbral Incursion hit, and it got hit hard.” 

“Yes, unfortunately it remains a relic— hallowed ground, if you will. Still, I’m sure the spirits won’t mind us staying for a couple days to recuper—.” After failing to finish his sentence, Vino fell face-first onto the sand in front of him, and began to slide down the dune the trio was climbing.

“Vino?” Orsel asked, descending the hill. “You alright?” There was no response from the flauna.

“What did you do?” Jake asked, shoving Orsel away from Vino.

“I didn’t do anything, you saw it yourself! He just fell down.”

Jake picked Vino up by his roots, shaking him gently upside down. His limp body flailed around as his eyes remained closed. “He’s not dead, is he?” Orsel asked innocuously. Jacob held Vino up to the side of his head in silence, with his eyes widening in realization after a few seconds.

“He needs water.”

“Why?”

“How do you— he’s a plant! An or-gi, uh, organic.” Jake explained, fumbling over his words. “They don’t have cores like us, they need stuff like food and water to live. Matter of fact, he was talking a lot about needing water during the trip.”

“Wait— the ocean’s made of water, why didn’t he just—”

“No, no, that water’s too salty for things like him. Plants and flauna need fresh water.” Jake said, slinging Vino over his shoulder like an empty sack. “Let’s just hope we can find some. Keep moving, and stay in front of me, where I can see you.”

“Uh, alright.” Orsel said, leading the way forwards.

 The two conscious members of the group continued their journey to safe harbor, bathing beneath the light of the stars and the gentle, caressing breeze of the desert.

“So, when you say Lum got ‘hit hard,’ Orsel said, “How hard are we talking, here?”

“Everyone that used to live there is dead.” Jacob answered, bluntly.

“Oh.”

“Yup, I meant it when I said it was a ghost town. Course, Shaydon had a bit of a history with this place even before the incursion,”

“We did?”

“Well, yeah— didn’t they teach you any of that stuff?”

“Hey, my life was spent either working in a factory or working on a construction site. I never really cared about stuff like that, anyway. After all, all you really need to know is to listen to anyone higher up than you.”

“Like Thead?”

“Well, he’s our grand, who doesn’t look up to that? Anyway, what were you saying about Shaydon and Lum before the whole war thing?”

“Well, Lum had a grandess by the name of Hope, and from what I hear, she and yer Thead were pretty close. So much so that she managed to get Shaydon out of its shell to start doing stuff like trades and diplomacy with the other places around Crux.”

“Sounds nice— so why’d Lum get the axe?”

“Nobody really knows, I mean, shayd are—” Jacob held his tongue and cleared his throat. “It could’ve been anything, really. Maybe something pushed him over the edge, or maybe he was planning against her the whole time.”

“Probably. I can tell you one thing, though— I don’t care how close Lum was to it, I want to put as much distance between me and Shaydon as possible.”

“I don’t think that’s gonna be a problem— look up ahead.”

Before the two, in the distance after just ascending a dune, lay the ruins of a long-forgotten nation— the walls and towers that once surrounded it cracked and blending into the sand it lay upon. Everything within its borders looked absolutely devastated— fading colors blending into one another, swept away by years of neglect and sand-saturated winds.

“That’s Lum?” Orsel asked

“No, just another unrelated city stranded out here in the desert.” Jacob smirked.

There was some silence as Orsel contemplated the prospects of another city being out in these wastes.

“Well, it seems as good a place as any for us to hide. Let’s go.”

“Alright— oh, and Orsel? That is Lum. I was just joking.” Jacob explained, pointing ahead.

“Oooh. Okay.”

  With that awkward exchange out of the way, the still-moving members of the escape party traveled beneath the grand archway that was once the gateway into this regal place. Considering how much damage the wall had taken, there were now a multitude of possible entrances, but this seemed like the most proper way into the city. They found that there were no remnants of a door or gate in place in the archway to close off the wall or defend against would-be intruders. As good a metaphor as it was for the former nation’s acceptance of outside ideas and people, it was sadly nonfunctional in terms of defense. The ground was lined with finely-carved sandstone, dyed all manner of colors, faded to time and sand. Orsel thought the place could use a good sweeping— his contemplation interrupted by a glint in the corner of his eye, coming from the top of the palace at the city’s center. He turned his head to take a better look at it, only to find that it vanished before it could truly enter his line of sight.

“You see that? That light, up on that tower!” Orsel asked Jacob, pointing to the top of the enormous building, but as Jake looked up, he simply shook his head.

“Afraid not. There hasn’t been light here in a long time.”

CHAPTER 14: Seven Minus Two

Back on Shaydon, seven Shayd of considerable importance sit within a well-furnished waiting room. Black marble painted the floors and columns, with seats of dark purple fabric peppered throughout the narrow space. Tapestries of gray and white fluttered along the walls and hung across the ceiling, depicting great events in Shaydon’s tumultuous history. In this room, Yuttoguln, Eyve, and Ven sat on opposite walls, Yuttoguln and Ven glaring at each other and Eyve perusing a magazine while the clock on the farthest side of the room ticked on. Eventually, the clock rang out with raspy bells, alerting the three individuals, and two sides of the recent happenings, that it was their time to face their judgment.

The three walked through the doors at the end of the hall into an enormous, elliptical room, stark black and mottled with angular lines that spattered against the walls like that of a spider’s web. Two desks stood before them— one on the left, and one on the right, both facing forwards at what would be their jury for this evening. A semicircle of chairs, five filled, three empty, towered before them, with the middlemost chair immediately in front of a grand throne of pitch iron. The shayd that filled it looked incredibly apathetic, clutching in his ancient hands a scythe wreathed with darkness so black their eyes could hardly perceive it. As they took their seats, the shayd before the one in the throne immediately spoke up.

“Welcome, esteemed members of The Seven. It is with great sorrow that I, Edrip Lalf, must say that tonight’s grand decision involves the fate of two-er, three of our own.” 

Eyve and Ven glared at Edrip as he continued.

“Before us are none other than our Chief of Law Enforcement, Yuttoguln Glutt, and our Twin Heads of Research and Development, Ven and Eyve Nellman. I would like to discuss the catastrophic incident that occurred mere hours ago. You’re the main parties associated with this event, I believe, seeing as how your laboratory and your staff were directly involved.” The three accused remained in silence at their desks. Yuttoguln sat still, brow furrowed, while the scientists’ minds were clearly racing at their predicament. Edrip ran his finger down a parchment as he listed off the night’s events.

“Reports of alarms, strange creatures attacking citizens, a daring chase by our law enforcement to catch three individuals, two of which, from what I’m seeing here, were not even Shayd. An event involving all of these factors culminating in an incident that destroyed hundreds of star worth of equipment and infrastructure, as well as the theft of an Aardite-class dredging vessel, along with the retrieval of THIS. Bring it in!” Behind the culprits, two shayd wheeled in a large cage containing the same creature Yuttoguln fought tooth and nail back at the dredging docks. It let out a screech as the room’s seated members widened their eyes and recoiled in horror. One of the workers zapped it with a boltcaster, forcing it to curl up and remain silent as Edrip concluded his statement. “Yuttoguln, you were the only person on the scene remaining to deal with these problems, so tell me…” Edrip thrust his body over the raised counter he stood at, making a resounding THUD that echoed throughout the room.

“WHAT. HAPPENED?” Collecting himself, Yuttoguln stood up to prepare his statement, with Eyve looking like she was ready to tear herself in two with anxiety.

  “Eyve and Ven, our chiefs in research and development, have been performing experiments in secret to combine the cores of Shayd and other elementals in an attempt to create living weapons. The three escapees were meant to be test subjects.” A deafening silence filled the room as Ven’s rage built. She lunged from her seat at Yuttoguln and screamed, barely held back by her sister.

“YOU SON OF A-” The two traded blows for a few seconds until the large shayd in the throne, still bored, tapped the butt of his scythe against the ground.

“Thead expresses! There will be order in this meeting,” Edrip followed up, “Now please, continue your explanation.”

Ven collected herself, pleading before the court.

“Please, I did this for our nation! It was going to be a bold new step for our militaristic capabilities!”

“They’d be stronger and better than anything we’ve ever put out before!” Eyve added. Thead glared at her as Edrip continued to get to the bottom of this predicament.

“And how exactly did Mr. Glutt become involved with your acquisition processes? Why did he know of this?”

Before the twins could speak up, Yuttoguln confessed.

“I supplied her with criminals from the prison, while she offered star in exchange. I took it because our division needed funding. Every shayd associated with this project was provided by myself. As for the other elementals, I honestly cannot say.”

“And how did I not know of this?” Edrip glowered.

Yuttoguln took a deep breath.

“Eyve and Ven told me you wouldn’t approve. I kept it secret because we needed the star. It’s too much to hide now, and I will accept any punishment for conspiracy, Edrip.”

A muttering between the other members of the Seven filled the room, concluding with Edrip leaving his seat and walking between the two desks.

“It seems we have been presented with a very complicated situation, that seems as though it should have a very simple and direct solution,” crooned Edrip, looking slyly at the three perpetrators, “I should have the three of you executed on the spot for lying to me and betraying my trust.” The two sisters looked at each other, nervousness painting their half-mechanical faces, while Yuttoguln stood content with the thought he would face appropriate judgment.

Edrip pointed at the twins.“Eyve, Ven. As of today, your experiments are to receive full funding and have been given explicit permission to continue by me, the highest order.”

The two looked positively dumbfounded as Edrip changed direction from them over to the Chief of Law Enforcement. “Yuttoguln, as of today, the law enforcement division is to receive double its original funding. Until further notice, all criminals are to be transported to the research and development sector.” The seemingly unfeeling behemoth of shadow and cloth almost seemed taken aback by the decree, but simply closed his eye and nodded his head. “Are we understood?” Edrip asked, eyeing his subordinates. Some hesitance still flickered between the three at their desks, but a near-simultaneous answer was given.

“… Yes.”

Edrip clasped his hands together and began to return to his seat.

“I believe that’s a suitable decision for today. You are all dismissed.” With his order, the others left their seats in single file, Thead and Edrip electing to remain in the room. Yuttoguln lingered for some time, glowering at Edrip before resuming his work. After a spark of realization, Edrip pointed at the shortest member of the Seven as he prepared to leave.

“Except you Rawth, we still have some business to attend to.” The diminutive shayd grumbled a bit and returned to his elevated seat as he watched the others leave.

CHAPTER 15: Happenings

Eventually the room was occupied by only three, and Edrip returned to his state of importance. “Rawth, I have a direct order for you considering the recent… happenings. I need you to return the escapees.”

Rawth’s eyes flared to life.

“You got it, boss! How should I go about the killin’? Shattering? Split? Ooh, what about-”

“ALIVE,” Emphasized Edrip. “The enthusiasm is appreciated, but if these were former test subjects of Eyve and Ven, there may be certain qualities about them that were valuable to our heads of Research and Development. Not to mention, their knowing the inner machinations of the sisters’ project isn’t something we want to deal with in the long run.”

Rawth sighed.

“I suppose not. So, what are we looking for?”

Edrip reviewed his parchment from earlier in the meeting.

“A small, yellow-flower variant of flauna, a rather large terrian, and a shayd. It’s not often that individuals possess the talent to leave this city, so they should all be considered extremely capable- and dangerous.”

The shayd on the throne behind the two spoke up, for the first time in what seemed like a very long time.

“What is his name?”

“Which one?” Replied Edrip, somewhat startled.

“The shayd.”

“Uh, Orsel Jino. Former construction worker, indicted for not being under full-time employment as of yesterday.”

“What a ridiculous law.” Thead groaned. ”In any case, bring him to me so that I may deal with him personally. Any shayd with a will that great has proven himself worthy of my audience.”

“So you may administer his punishment yourself?” Edrip added, eagerly.

Thead glared down at Edrip.

  “Of a sort, yes. Although such things should be none of your concern.”

Edrip pointed out the door.

“You have your orders, General. I do not expect disappointment from your forces.”

Rawth saluted and hurdled over the counter, bolting outwards.

“You can count on me, sir!”

“We TALKED about your exit- and he’s gone.” Edrip griped.

“You are a fool.” Thead grumbled.

Edrip turned back around to face his leader.

“Yes, and what have you found dissatisfactory today, my Grand?”

“You know what.”

“Oh, for— Look, that employment law was signed under YOUR supervision. Besides, keeping the population busy is one of the best methods for quelling rebellions and the like.”

“Not THAT,” Thead hissed, “Your Grand Decision. I know what you’re doing, Edrip. What you’re preparing for. I can say for certain this path will only lead to darkness.”

“We ARE darkness.” Edrip shouted. “And we are glorious for it. Look at what you’ve accomplished in your prime. This spire, this city. You united this nation under this banner, you led the charges of the Umbral Incursion— ruled with iron tendrils for over sixty years of your life! I only wish to match, nay, exceed the standard you’ve set for Shaydon’s leaders.”

Thead sighed and looked upwards at the light.

“I am no role model. My accomplishments were fruitful, but heed my words when I say that my path is not one to be emulated. Mindless conquest is not the answer to establishing the legacy you seek.”

“Well, you’ll be pleased to know this conquest isn’t mindless. I’ve put a lot of thought into it, as a matter of fact.” Edrip pulled out a rather large book, flitting through it to showcase random pages to Thead as he continued to hunch over in his throne, eyelids lowered. “You may have stopped your war over a decade ago, but in my mind the battle never stopped. I’ve charted plans, made deals, maneuvers, secrets, the likes of which we could use to bring Crux trembling to its knees! And now, thanks to Eyve and Ven, we finally have something that can put us over the edge. To think they were afraid to show me their progress.”

“They were afraid because you’re unpredictable,” Thead criticized. “You latch on to the latest shiny trinket or concept you come across like some newformed, and try to twist it into something that belongs to you. It’s a blasted shame I had to be one of them.”

“You speak shamefully of your exploits, yet you bathe in the rewards you have sown.” Edrip claimed, gesturing around the room they were in. “Besides, if you were truly opposed to my philosophy, you would strike me down where I stand. That scythe of yours hasn’t kissed flesh nor core since you gave up”

Thead looked over at his scythe. It was like looking at an endless, starless sky, unfazed by the dim light that wrapped around everything else in the room. Its edges feathered with white energy that outlined its angular shape. Even now it whispered to him, thoughts of violence and despair, lost glory he could obtain once more if he would only listen to its call again. Thead snapped his head away from it, back towards Edrip.

“My actions should not be what dictates yours. You promised me this council of yours would rule on a basis of fairness, and if I am to remain overseeing it, smiting you seems quite contradictory to that philosophy.”

“Bagh, I know the real reason— You are old and weak, unfit to rule this nation— to bring us to greatness!”

A blinding flash of blackness swiped across Edrip’s line of sight. He was knocked on his back to see Thead still sitting in his spot. A small shred of cloth from his hood fluttered onto his lap. Thread inspected his hand.

“I may be old, and unfit to rule by your standards, but one thing I am not is WEAK. I will remain Grand of Shaydon until I am dead. That is the oath I made during my adolescence, and that is the oath you will respect. Now go, see to it that this Orsel situation is dealt with.”

Edrip gathered his things and began to take his leave.

“As you wish, my Grand.”

CHAPTER 12: A Cold Confrontation

Deep down in the tunnels perforating the city’s streets, a light, mottled by metal grating, shined directly ahead of Orsel, Vino, and Jacob as they belted their way forwards through the maze of pipes and valves.

“Just a little bit further, c’mon, guys!” Orsel encouraged as he ran. When the three had finally made it to the grate producing the hopeful light, it proved to be another obstacle that was no match against Jacob’s might as he threw his formidable weight against it, blasting it open. At long last, the trio’s prize was within sight— the docks. An enormous stone wall and a surprisingly open gate were all that stood between them and their access to the city’s dredging vessels and stockyards— as well as the open waters of the Therean Ocean.

“What luck, it’s open!” Orsel shouted with joy, “Now all we have to do is unhitch one of these boats and—” While Orsel found himself explaining, Jake and Vino managed to run past Orsel into the walled-off area. Shortly after, they turned out of sight of the lone shayd, and their departure was capped off by the loud, unexpected CLANK of the shutting door. Orsel was left alone to bat against the door, wondering what could have happened.

“Guys, the gate’s locked!” he shouted, trying with all his might to turn the entranceway’s handle.

“I’m going to try opening it from this side!” Vino confirmed, unseen. Orsel took a step back from the door to try and find an alternate way up.

“Well, hurry up!” he said.

“STOP, CRIMINAL!” A deep voice bellowed from behind Orsel. He turned around to see none other than Chief Yuttoguln towering over him, wringing his boltcaster in his braided hands. The siren from his jailboat behind him still blared and illuminated his presence. “Your time is up, Orsel. I will give you one last chance to return to your sentence.” Sidling against the wall, Orsel mustered up every ounce of courage he had to speak up to this superior.

“I-I’m leaving! This place has done nothing but treat me like garbage!”

“Criminals should be brought to justice,” Yuttoguln convicted, “Besides, you have nowhere to go.” As the behemoth made his statement, Orsel noticed an intruder to their exchange, creeping its way up behind Yuttoguln.

“Neither do you.” Orsel wavered, pointing behind the chief of law enforcement. Yuttoguln turned to see the same sight Orsel caught, as he now slipped ever so slightly away from his spot. A titanic experiment composed of ice and darkness, crashing forwards through Yuttoguln’s jailboat, leaving a pool of frozen filth and shreds of boat to overflow the canal and spread onto the ground. As the boat’s siren sputtered back to life behind Yuttoguln after the impact, the creature screamed a horrible scream, like that of an impending avalanche. Defending himself, Yuttoguln fired a bolt through the experiment’s arm with his weapon, only for it to knock the boltcaster out of his hands in pain and resort to hand-to-hand combat. The two titans locked hands and pushed against one another, the icy beast’s writhing and shrieking contrasting Yuttoguln’s disdained silence the entire time. As the fight went on, Orsel slunk away across the length of the wall over to a crane tower that intersected it, connecting access from the docks to a loading bay outside. Since this was a working environment, a healthy supply of crookshanks was kept nearby. Orsel grabbed one and hooked it into the side of the crane, beginning his ascent.

Orsel’s abscondence caught the eye of the still-struggling Yuttoguln, who was firmly reminded of the task at hand. He dove beneath his adversary to grab his boltcaster, knocking it off-balance as it crashed under its own weight. After having retrieved his weapon, Yuttoguln attempted to aim a shot at Orsel as he climbed up the crane tower; only for the creature to regain its footing and blast a sheet of icy, frost-bitten breath at Yuttoguln, freezing his tendrils to the ground, and rendering the firing end of his boltcaster inoperable. During all this, the jailboat’s detached siren was still sputtering through its damaged speaker, causing the experiment to clutch its head, screaming in pain. Noticing this, Yuttoguln saw an opportunity— he clubbed the still-shrieking siren away from him with his weapon, driving it away and lodging it into the framework of the crane Orsel was still climbing.

Orsel’s eyes widened with dread as he now saw the shambling monstrosity of frost and shadow making its way towards him. He began to climb faster, fueled by fear of having to face this creature, until he had finally reached the base of the crane’s cockpit at the top of the wall. The monster attempted to heave its twisted body upwards towards the painful sound, hoping to put an end to it. Unfortunately, its weight proved to be too much for the infrastructure to handle. One by one, the rivets that connected the tower to the wall popped out like bullets, compromising the structural integrity of the barrier. The crane creaked and leaned forwards into the dockyards as Orsel began to descend into it after circumnavigating the crane’s head. Startled and noticing the structure he was on wasn’t stable anymore, he leapt down onto the roof of a supply shack as cracks along the wall began to lengthen alongside the crane tower’s gradual descent.

After finally stumbling onto the ground, Orsel noticed what was once the imposing wall had suddenly transformed into a cascade of dust and rubble. He zipped towards the docks as quickly as he could, trying to scope out his two cellmates amongst the chaos. Suddenly, a sight caught his eyes— a light facing towards the open waters, coming from a rather small dredging vessel. The cloud of dust behind him kissed his tendrils as he ran towards the beacon— over the cobblestone path, past the safety gate, onto the metal docks, and eventually, over the edge.

Orsel had hooked onto the back of the vessel with the business end of his crookshank, dangling over the propeller as his cloak was soaked for the second time today. He hoisted himself up onto the main deck, his two friends still staring blankly forwards at the ocean in front of them.

CHAPTER 13: The Stowaway

“Hey, guys! We made it!” He celebrated, only for Vino and Jake to whip their heads around as if they had just heard a ghost. Orsel simply assumed they were still a little high-strung from the whole ordeal they had just been through.

“Man, that was rough back there, but hey, we did it! I can’t believe this actually worked!” Vino and Jake’s eyes leapt from each other back to Orsel in disbelief as they sat in complete silence. “I know, I know, I’d be speechless too,” continued Orsel, “but we really pulled one over on those guys, huh?” Vino finally spoke up.

“Yeah… You, uh, you really pulled your weight back there, huh?” Jacob soon followed suit.

“Yup, now ALL THREE of us are on our way to freedom.” Orsel pondered for a moment. 

“Hey, there’s something I don’t quite get— how come you had the boat ready when you said you were trying to get the gate open?” Vino froze and cleared his throat nervously.

“Well, there was a lot of noise going on back there, and we wanted to have things ready for when you got through.”

“Yeah…” Orsel went on with his course of thought, “but how did you know I was going to get over the gate while it was still closed?” Jacob slipped down onto the dock where Orsel stood and eased him over to a porthole.

“Hey, why don’t you go check on the engine? See if there’re any problems down below? We’re going to have to keep things smooth if we’re gonna make it to the mainland.” Vino nodded enthusiastically. Orsel, still a bit confused, was at the very least grateful enough for his recent liberation to go along with his new partners’ demands.

“Uh, okay. See you guys in a bit!” As Orsel descended into the ship’s mechanical depths, Jacob’s smile disappeared as he went back to his usual spot next to Vino. The two stood in silence for quite a while, Vino working the controls as Jake felt the wind through the three wispy roots that sat on his head.

“So,” said Vino, trying to lighten the mood, “lovely weather up ahead.” Jake smashed his fist on the side of the boat.

“We were SUPPOSED to leave him behind.”

“I never guaranteed that,” Vino defended, “Besides, how was I supposed to know that this shayd, out of ALL of them, would be the only one that wasn’t cannon fodder. I mean, statistically speaking, their survival rate is admittedly…”

”Look, I’m not dealin’ with one of their kind.” Jake interrupted.

“Well, it looks like we’re going to HAVE to.” Vino snapped back. The quiet between the two slowly crept back, quickly abated by an idea from Jake.

“Why don’t we, I dunno, shatter him now and dump ‘im overboard! I’ve been burned before for keeping one of them alive, and I’m not gonna take that risk again.”

“I am aware, and I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“Why not? You want him to do the same to us when our backs are turned?”

Jacob nervously looked back over at the porthole where Orsel descended into. Vino clutched the controls a bit more intently.

  “All I know is that we locked him out there with Shaydon’s law enforcement and those awful experiments, and he STILL managed to survive and make it onto the boat. He’s gifted. He’d probably find some way to wriggle out of death if we presented it to him.” Jacob rotated the claws in his hand like that of a drill.

“I find that hard to believe,” he growled.

“Besides,” Vino led on, “Are we REALLY going to kill him after everything he’s helped us out with? He seems to trust us, and he hasn’t really given us a reason not to do the same for him.” Jacob furrowed his brow and crossed his arms.

“It’s not about what he has done, it’s about what he will do.”

“He might be different,” Vino shrugged, “Who knows? It’s illogical enough that he survived, so would it really be that much of a stretch for him to be… Good?”

“Hmm” Jacob grunted unenthused while Vino continued his statement.

“Here’s the way I see it: Yes, we have every reason to hate Shaydon, for causing and perpetuating the Umbral Incursion; which is, y’know, the biggest and most devastating war Crux has ever known, causing untold amounts of destruction and death to places and people that we loved, and yes, for imprisoning us…”

“Yeah.” Jake replied.

“But we have no real reason to hate HIM,” Vino continued. “HE didn’t cause the war. Hell, he probably wasn’t even old enough to serve in it when it was happening. So for the sake of civility, let’s just judge him as an individual.” Jacob ran his clawed hand down his face and sighed a great big sigh.

“Fine, but first chance we get, we cut ‘im off, alright?”

“If that’s what you want, fine.”

“And if he tries anything funny, WHACK! That’s the end. One strike policy.”

“Yes, fine, big and scary. Right now, let’s just focus on moving forward. We have a long trip ahead of us.”

Jacob and Vino suddenly heard a commotion coming from behind them, beneath the deck. Metallic clanking and screeching echoed from beneath them until finally, Orsel emerged from the entryway, wrestling what looked like an enormous rat.

“Hey guys! I- WOAH!” He exclaimed as the beast shifted its weight and scratched against his cloak. In the commotion, he dropped it, and it was now free to skitter around the salt sprayed deck.

“What the hell is THAT?” Vino shouted, struggling to divide his attention between the creature and the controls. Orsel began to attempt whacking the fuzzy perpetrator with his crookshank. 

“Well, it-rnngh! Looks like a- hrrh! Canal rat!” he said, missing every swing. 

“Well, get rid of it!” Vino ordered. “Don’t let that thing near me!” 

“I’m trying!” Screamed Orsel, missing another frantic swing. Jacob rolled his eyes. 

“Aw, fer the love of- Let me at ‘im!” The rat was now between Jacob and Orsel, still strafing around the latter, who it deemed the bigger threat thanks to his crookshank. Jacob grabbed the wild animal in one of his massive hands, and gracelessly threw it into the open waters. It landed with a great SPLOOSH in the blackened waters, and was immediately ravaged by hungry sea creatures.

“Nice job!” Orsel congratulated, only to be met with a short grunt from Jacob as he returned to the upper deck. Orsel cleared his throat.

“Well, you’ll be happy to know that aside from that stowaway, everything’s up to code underneath.”

“That’s great Orsel,” encouraged Vino, “Hear that, Jake? Looks like smooth sailing ahead.”

 “Let’s hope so.” Jacob grumbled.

CHAPTER 9: In it Together

What happened after was a blur. A sharp pain in the core later, and Orsel found himself awake in a dingy cell, facing a just-closing cell door. The moment he came to, he bolted towards the gate and banged on it, only to receive an electric shock designed to nullify his aggression. Orsel slammed his fist on the ground.

“You can’t DO this to me! I-I don’t deserve this!” Ven led Eyve back up the staircase. 

“And yet here you are.” She provoked smugly, punctuating her statement with the slamming of a heavy metal trapdoor. Orsel balled his fists with rage and pulled his hood over his face, muffling his indignant screaming.

“I CAN’T— WHO DO THEY— I SHOULD— RRRRRGGGHHH!” He rattled the cage’s bars again, hoping his anger could override the pain they caused— no such luck. A sudden JOLT forced him to let go, grimacing from the pain. As he turned around to try and rest his wounds, he unexpectedly learned that he was not alone in this cell. A scrawny-looking flauna and a towering earth elemental sat on opposite sides of the walls on benches in his cell.

“Hey there, uh… little buddy.” The earth elemental greeted. Orsel slumped over, mortified at his outrage.

“Leave me alone.” He grumbled. Despite his dissatisfaction, the giant seemed earnest. “Ah, what’s wrong?” He continued.

“Oh, nothing,” Orsel spilled, “I lost my job, my life fell apart-” A growling began to emerge from a nearby cage, and Orsel was able to take a good look at who exactly his neighbors were in this prison. “— and I’m probably going to be turned into one of those things”. The flauna stepped down from his bench and approached Orsel cautiously.

“Hey, things are going to be alright. What’s your name?”

“Orsel.” Orsel sniffed. “Orsel Jino.”

“That’s a nice name,” The stranger consoled, stretching out his leafy hand. “I’m Vino and this is Jake. It’s nice to meet you."

“It’s nice to meet you, too, but it doesn’t change the fact that we’re grandly screwed.” Orsel griped, wiping some dirt off of his cloak. Vino made his way towards his wall, and began to wedge a brick out of its socket.

“You know, this doesn’t have to be our end,” He proposed. Orsel was still shaken.

“I mean, sure, maybe they’ll do something else to us, but—”

“— We’re bustin’ out of here.” Jake interrupted, moving over to Vino’s half of the cell to lift him up and assist him. Orsel recoiled at the words.

“You want to escape?”

“Bingo” Vino affirmed.

“Oh, what good is that going to do us?” Orsel complained, pacing back and forth in the cell. “There’s nowhere we can hide in the city that they won’t find us.”

“We’re not staying here,” Jake clarified.

“You’re going to leave THE CITY?!” Orsel exclaimed, his eyes wide with shock, “that’s impossible!” Vino continued his focus behind where the wall’s brick was removed, at the wires hiding in plain sight.

“Not impossible,” he sighed, “Just very, very, hard.”

“Now look,” Jake explained, “We’ve been cookin’ up a plan to get out of this joint, but neither of us know the city well enough to get all the way.” Orsel pondered the situation. 

“So… You want me to help you navigate?”

“Yep, and after you do, all three of us will be out of here, smooth as silk.” Vino said, still fiddling with the wires behind the wall.

“But there’s no place for someone like me out there!” Orsel bemoaned, “If there’s one thing they make clear in here, it’s that shayd are pariahs! Especially after the Umbral Incursion…” Jacob winced at the words as Vino continued to abate Orsel’s concerns.

“Well, I can tell you that whatever’s out there is a hell of a lot better than what we’ll face if we stay here. Besides, if we pull this off, we’ll help you get your bearings in the mainland if need be.” Orsel’s intrigue piqued at the prospect of a new profession.

“Promise?” He asked. Vino Signaled Jake to put him down on the bench, and stretched his leafy hand out to Orsel in affirmation.

“We’ll shake on it. Jake?” Jake grumbled hesitantly, but he had to accept working with a shayd would be a necessity he had to face if he wanted to escape. The three wayward souls joined their hands together for a momentous three-man handshake. As soon as Vino and Orsel finished wiping the dirt off their hands from Jake’s contribution to the ceremony, Jake piped up. 

“Now, tell us how to leave.” He firmly requested.

Orsel racked his mind for a moment, wondering what the best way to go about this would be. The walls surrounding the city were formidable, sure, but in truth they protected as well as they contained. The wastes that Shaydon was home to, with its cruel plants and creatures that hunted for anything that moved, would be difficult to deal with if they were to make their escape on land. The canals that snaked through the streets, however, provided Orsel with some semblance of inspiration.

“The docks!” He blurted out, “Our canals get water from the sea, and we dredge out there for gravel and stuff. The place is locked to common folk, though.” Jacob made a fist with the glass talons he used as fingers.

“We don’t have to worry about locks.” He declared. Vino pulled out the brick he had been using as a map and showed it to Orsel.

“Now, how do we get there?”

“I’ll show you when we bust out.” Answered Orsel. A pause blossomed between the prisoners, with Vino and Jake knowing that now there was a chance their plan wouldn’t be as foolproof as they had thought. Vino continued to goad an answer from Orsel, emphasizing his crudely-made map.

“Yeah, but I think it would be better if we knew beforehand, you know?”

“Trust me, I’ll lead the way when we get out,” Orsel replied obliviously. “Speaking of which, what’s the plan?” Vino and Jacob looked over at each other. It was clear that this was far from the best-case scenario in their plan, but pushing any more insistence on getting the directions now could cause their ticket out of the city to lock up. It was apparent they had no choice but to trust this newcomer.

“I’ve got some exposed wires here that link up to this place’s security systems,” Vino explained, pointing over at the hole on his side of the cell. “Once things are good and riled up, Jake here will break down the walls.” Orsel tilted his head.

“Wait— why would you want to rile the place up?” Vino made his way over to the wires and began to tamper with them.

“Trust me, every great escape has a greater diversion. Jake, you ready?”

“On your signal,” Jake affirmed. Things were moving a bit too fast for Orsel.

“We’re going NOW?” Vino continued tampering with the wires.

“No time like the present. BREAK IT!”

CHAPTER 10: Out of it Together

Jacob’s hand began to whirl around like a drill, his glass fingers forming a light-blue, conical blur that loudly bored through the stone wall of the cell. Rubble and bits of metal were flung around throughout the cell as Vino held his place by the wires. When he noticed Jake had made it to a certain point, he twisted the two wires in his hand, and a deafening alarm began to blare throughout the building. All the other cell doors in the prison opened at once, and the creatures that resided within began to stir from the cacophony.

“ALMOST THROUGH!” Jake shouted, still maintaining his position, when the twins Eyve and Ven opened the door leading down into this horrid space.

“WHAT IS GOING ON?!” They both yelled synchronously, when their answer was plainly in front of them. Their hard work had begun to creep out of their living spaces, one by one, with one of such spaces being home to a desperate breakout. With a mighty CRASH, Jake had finally dug through the building’s foundation to make a tunnel to the surface above. He shoved Vino and Orsel up out of the building and soon followed. At the sight of this, Eyve converted her hand into a shocking apparatus and began to follow them, before finding herself interrupted by the other subjects who had turned their eyeless faces towards their captors, growling and sizzling with anger. The scientists were smart enough to know when to run away from a conflict, and soon found themselves back up the stairs, throwing their weight against the trapdoor to lock it. As it locked, with clattering and screeching still occurring behind it, Eyve cowered behind Ven, who still stood stalwart to face the door.

“Get Yuttoguln.” She commanded.

CHAPTER 11: The Hunt

After a long day at work, Yuttoguln had finally found a moment to himself. He sat down at his desk in his dimly-lit office and threw his newly-obtained funds on top of his workspace. Dispensing justice was a difficult thing to do in Shaydon, but Yuttoguln was absolute in his belief in the system. Unfortunately, his division was somewhat underfunded, so he took it upon himself to source payment from… other avenues, like Eyve and Ven. He had just begun to divide his new haul into different piles when all of a sudden, his radio rang. Always being the investigative sort, he picked it up.

“Law enforcement. What seems to be the-”

“YUTTOGULN, THEY ESCAPED!” Ven’s shrill voice yelled from behind the receiver.

Yuttoguln took a deep breath and closed his eye, rubbing his temples with his free hand. 

“What. Happened?”

“I don’t know, one minute they were all in their cell, ready for testing, and the next, all of our subjects were loose.” Yuttoguln’s eye widened.

“Those THINGS are loose?! You made a solemn promise to me that you understood there was no room for error.” He hissed. Ven stuttered.

“Yeah, but-” Yuttoguln hung up his radio and slammed a button on his desk. The lights that flashed throughout the building glowed dimly from white to purple. He retrieved his boltcaster from beneath his desk and barged out of his office to the waiting eyes of the other officers.

“LISTEN UP, FOLKS!” Yuttoguln barked. “We have three fugitives on the loose within the city. Prisoners who think they can slip through the bars of our judicial system.” He balled his fist at the statement. “One terrian, one flauna, and one shayd by the identification Orsel Jino. You have my orders to bring them back broken or whole, and if you see anything else suspicious during the pursuit, you let ME know first, understood?” His speech was met with a sea of salutes and raucous approval. “Good.” He croaked. “Let justice be done.”

The trio of prisoners snaked their ways through the backstreets and alleyways of the city of Shaydon, with Orsel leading the way.

This late in the day, the locale’s normal curfew was in effect, so the canals and walkways were thankfully clear of civilians for their escape. The group made their way over a bridge to meet a three-way intersection.

“We make a right up here, come on!” Orsel declared vigilantly. As he scuttled forwards, his compatriots struggled to keep up with him, especially in Jacob’s case. His girth may have helped for demolition tasks, but his body wasn’t exactly suited for quick getaways. Still, his time lagging behind gave him an opportunity to convene with Vino.

“This wasn’t…supposed to happen.”

“Just keep going,” Vino affirmed, “We’ll deal with it later.” A narrow alleyway found itself in the path of the absconding group, littered with bins of refuse and a myriad of junk. Orsel, knowing these streets and what would support his weight, leapt from can to dumpster to get to his destination as fast as he could. Vino, being the careful sort, cautiously weaved his way between the obstacles presented before him, sucking in his gut and contorting where necessary so as to not come in contact with the filth. Jacob, being the last one to arrive at the shortcut, barged through the barriers and junk with reckless abandon. He had a place to be, and he wasn’t going to let anything smaller than him get in his way.

“How much farther?” Queried Vino, scouting up and down the city’s winding roads in a manner as if he actually knew where they went. Orsel made his way to a bridge leading to a large roundabout where the city’s canals circled around.

“We’re halfway there! C’mon!” As they made their way forwards, klaxon sirens and purple lights began to creep their way into the city’s evening silence. The guttural roar of jailboat engines whirred throughout the canals near the three escapees, and they soon found themselves, quite unfortunately, surrounded.

“Uh, fellas? We got company,” Jake astutely observed. Shaydon’s officers hopped out of their vessels, boltcasters in hand, and began to make their approach towards the gang. They, in turn, huddled closer together, preparing for either their doom or at least a good scrap. Orsel felt something beneath his tendril as he winced them away from the oncoming threat— the cold and metallic surface of a grate. This particular kind of grate happened to be an entrance to Shaydon’s labyrinthine maintenance tunnels. Without a second thought, Orsel revealed the metal disc to his allies.

“Jake, do you think you could-” Before Orsel could finish his sentence, The earthen behemoth had bent open the bars and dove into the darkness below, ushering his two cohorts to join him. Once they had jumped down, Jacob twisted the bars above him, ensuring their pursuers couldn’t get down the same way.

“Alright, where to from here?” Vino asked, shaking a bit of filth off of one of his legs. Orsel was a bit unfamiliar with the territory considering Shaydon Municipal Construction hadn’t needed to do work down here for some time, and had to regain his bearings.

“I think I can get us to the docks from here,” he proclaimed after some hesitation. “Follow me!”

As the fugitives descended further and further into the tunnels, frustration began to well up from within their pursuers. An officer by the name of Nudot called his leader from his radio transmitter.

“Yuttoguln? We lost them. They escaped into the maintenance tunnels. Permission to pursue?” Yuttoguln was far behind his squad, performing the secondary task of solo patrol through his quadrant of the canals, as was important to any search.

“Permission granted,” He replied through the radio in his jailboat, “Exercise caution.” “Affirmative,” Nudot rallied as he watched his fellow officers use their boltcasters to

 finally remove the mangled gateway to the maintenance tunnels. As the diligent Nudot eased his tendrils over to the pit, an ear-splitting shriek pierced his sense of hearing. This was followed shortly by one of the jailboats his group had taken here being thrown clear over the troops’ heads onto where the maintenance tunnel was, crushing a hapless officer beneath its weight. As the dozen-or-so shayd looked over to see the source of the new disturbance, they saw before them a 7-foot tall behemoth of stone and shadow lumbering out of the depths of the rancid canal. Growling and crushing chunks of scrap metal between its asymmetrical, claw-like hands. Another twisted creature of blue, sputtering flame and darkness wreathed its way over the bridge of the canal opposite its earthen brother, sparks feathering off of its twisted form as it lurched towards the group of officers. Nudot thought it prudent to turn his waveform communicator back on.

“Uhh, Yuttoguln? We have another problem here.” Yuttoguln perked up.

“What do you—” His communication was hastily interrupted by crackled screaming. The chief turned off his waveform and stepped down on the accelerator. Deep down, he knew Eyve and Ven’s dealings were nothing but trouble, and now that they had caused this many problems, especially to his own subordinates, he had to put a stop to it, whatever the cost.

CHAPTER 6: My Time

“Whuzzat the alarm?” Jacob panicked, still keeping a lookout from within his shared cell. “I don’t know what it was,” Vino replied, still tampering with wires from behind another carved-out brick, “But whatever it is, it didn’t come from here.”

“Probably some factory accident or building mishap.” Jake chuckled. “Boy, that would be a sight.”

“What do you have against shayd, exactly?” Vino asked. “Y’know, besides this whole ‘situation’ we’re in. I have my gripes with how they do things, but you seem to have very strong opinions against them.” Jake tapped the edge of the electrified cell out of curiosity, enjoying the sight of electricity arcing from his glass claw.

“Umbral Incursion’s what I have against ‘em. Damn monsters.”

  “Well, the war was hard on all of us. Heck, I was just a kid when it happened. I remember our orchard back home getting destroyed and our family having to resort to… uh…” Vino hastily cleared his throat. “What happened to you during that?”

“You really wanna know? I was a soldier. Terrian Platoon 22. I found an injured shayd and took him in out of the kindness of my core. We nursed ‘im back to health. Two days later, everyone except me was nothing but shards in the wind. You can’t trust ‘em.”

Vino gulped and nervously continued his tampering with the wires.

“Well, I can see why you’d have your reservations after an event like that.”

“It ain’t a road I want to go down again.”

“Yes, I offer my condolences, but we’re going to have to stick with this plan. We need to pick the brain of whatever shayd we end up with in here.”

Jake smiled a crooked smile and flashed his claws.

“Figuratively.” Vino clarified.

“Aw, you’re no fun.” Jake joked.

“This is serious,” Vino explained. “We need this to go off without a hitch, so you’re going to have to do a bit of acting.”

“Easy as jej. I ain’t got any issues being presentable.” Jake said, brushing back the wispy roots on his head. “It’s if he sticks around where we’ll have a problem on our hands.”

“Fine. We still have some work to do, though. Can I borrow you for a second?”

CHAPTER 7: The Law

“CYCLES OF WORK! GONE!” Refanom shook the walls of his office with his indignation as Orsel sat quietly across from his desk. “It’s just— how do you do it? How do you RUIN every single thing you touch? Huh?” Orsel stood up in anger.

“I saved Ytsap’s life!” He shouted.

“Oh, congratulations. I hate to burst your bubble, but your little stunt single-handedly crippled our entire workforce! They’re gonna be out for weeks, and we’re already too far behind after today…” Refanom sighed a great big sigh and slumped back into his chair with one final piece of news to declare. “I’m letting you go, Orsel. As of this moment, you are officially… unemployed.” Orsel snapped forwards in his seat.

“Unem-UNEMPLOYED!? NO! You have to give me another chance! Please! Don’t you know what they do to people like me?”

“I’m well aware.” Refanom smirked. “Frankly, this should’ve come a long time ago. You were always a liability, after all.”

A bang at the door interrupted their conversation. Orsel’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

“You didn’t-” He said, his soul sinking. Refanom opened a bottle of Umbleweed wine he had seemingly been saving for this occasion.

“Oh, but I did. You can come on in, Mr. Glutt!” The door slammed open, mussing up the documents and schematics lining the room. Nestled within the frame was a positively massive shayd with a single, unblinking eye stained with anger and glaring directly at Orsel. “I’m sure you’re familiar with our chief of law enforcement, Yuttoguln.” Announced Refanom, finally dislodging the cork. Yuttoguln grabbed a parchment from his sleeve and read it off in a voice deeper than the black pit.

“Article 2B, section VII, paragraph four— any shayd found not participating in full service of the nation via full-time employment, community service, or other means as specified by the Seven will be promptly and efficiently stripped of their belongings, rights, and freedoms to participate in civil society.” Orsel cowered behind his chair.

“I-I’m participating, look! Community service!” He started picking up the scattered papers from Yuttoguln’s arrival and putting them in a nearby trash bin. “See? I’m cleaning up litter! There! Good as new!” Yuttoguln swept the chair aside and grabbed Orsel’s arm. 

“You have the right to remain silent.”

Orsel was crushed. It was unbelievable, he had been nothing but a model citizen for twenty years here in Shaydon, and here he was cuffed and pacing behind Chief Yuttoguln like a common miscreant. Sure, he had made his mistakes in the past, but he didn’t think he should be incarcerated for them. This is the way things worked here in Shaydon, though. It doesn’t matter if you meant well because once the higher-ups find out you’re of no use to them anymore, you’re swept under the rug.

With his arms cuffed and Yuttoguln leading him toward his jailboat, Orsel plodded forwards shamefully.

“Keep moving.” Yuttoguln ordered as he whacked Orsel forwards with the flat end of his boltcaster. Considering the device was capable of flinging bolts of energy at a voltage high enough to dissipate any elemental, Orsel considered himself lucky that was the only pain he was feeling coming from it. He stepped into the boat’s caged passenger seat, followed shortly after by Yuttoguln, taking his place in the cockpit. His weight shifted and sunk the vessel considerably as he wedged himself into the control booth. With a mighty roar, the boat chugged to life and began to sputter through the canal, towards Orsel’s final destination. As he sat alone, watching the wake shuffle garbage in the canal behind him, Orsel grew quite angry with his situation. Was this really how things had to end for him?! He had saved a life, for goodness’ sake! He rattled against the bars, only to find that they delivered a monstrous shock in response to his rage. Turning to the silent officer Yuttoguln, Orsel desperately plead his case.

“Isn’t there anything I can do to repeal this? I’ve done nothing but good work for-”

“Quiet.” he ordered, still looking diligently forwards. The walkways on the sides of the canal were eerily empty, as most of the Shayd that filled them in the mornings were now at their jobs. Eventually, the sight Orsel had been dreading had finally come into view. The headquarters for Shaydon’s Law Enforcement. Blinding spotlights and cages lined its impermeable walls, while the sounds of hard labor and suffering echoed throughout the air as they passed slowly by. This was where Shaydon’s most dangerous individuals were kept— criminals, murderers, and anyone the nation deemed an enemy to its strength, which in recent times proved to be quite the sweeping generalization. Orsel had heard rumors that law enforcement had begun to crack down on troublemakers as of late, and shayd were beginning to go missing. The city was a strict place, sure, but he never thought he’d find himself on the wrong end of a cage and boltcaster.

Orsel began to notice that Yuttoguln’s boat was beginning to drift past the entrance to the enormous building.

“Uh, excuse me,” He queried. “Isn’t this where we’re supposed to be stopping?” 

“Our stop is further ahead.” Yuttoguln burbled. Orsel’s concern grew as the boat drifted towards Shaydon’s Research and Development district. The waters of the canal gained an oil-slick shine as it fizzed against the edges of the boat as they moved forwards. The smell of chemicals choked the air worse than anywhere else in Shaydon. Being elementals, the population was thankfully immune to poisons and diseases or anything else that would traditionally hinder the health of organic life, but there was no denying it was still an unpleasant sensation. The place was filled with laboratories and testing sites hidden within the depths of monolithic buildings. It was here where Shaydon’s newest ideas were birthed from the brightest minds the nation had to offer, like the many machines and tools used for people’s jobs… Like the one Orsel used to have.

CHAPTER 8: E-Labs

Eventually, the boat stopped at the docks near a bland, out-of-the-way building with the Shaydonian letter “E” marked on its second floor in fading paint. Yuttoguln wedged himself out of the boat, causing it to jut upwards about a foot due to the shift in weight, not unlike the crane leaving Refanom’s construction barge earlier in the day. The chief of law enforcement swung open the door to Orsel’s cage and yanked him out by the cord of his cuffs. As he got his bearings, he found himself being dragged closer to the building by a long cord attached to his shackles. The path’s only illumination came from a flickering sparkbulb hung above a heavy steel door. Yuttoguln banged on the door, with a small slot opening to reveal a pair of eyes— one milky-white like any other shayd’s, and one pitch black and surrounded by metal prosthetics. A muffled voice crawled its way from behind the door.

“Did you come alone?” the individual hissed monotonously.

“Open the door, Ven. It’s just me.” Yuttoguln groaned. A flurry of locks unlatched themselves behind the gate, and it swung open shortly after. Yuttoguln let himself in, with Orsel in tow. He stayed as far as he could from his captors, especially after seeing Ven’s body, the left of which was completely made up of metal parts.

“My apologies,” Ven explained as she re-locked the door, “You understand better than anyone how important security is to this… venture of ours.” Yuttoguln frowned.

“I did as you requested. I expect my payment.”

“Not so fast, we need to see that this one’s up to snuff.” Ven crooned as Orsel cowered behind Yuttoguln. Ven banged the floor of the building with her steel, tendrilous hand. “Eyve! Get up here! We’ve got another troublemaker.” A trapdoor behind the building’s front desk flung open, and Ven’s better half stepped out of it, grumbling.

“Sis, we gotta start swapping off with every other trip down there. I’m sick of getting stuck with— hello… Who is this?”

The two fingers sprouting from Ven’s left arm lengthened from their sleeve, forming a circle. A web of light and symbols formed in the empty space, separating Orsel and herself. She began to list off his personal information as it appeared on her screen.

”Name: Orsel Jino. Persuasion: Male. Eyes: Ivory. Height: 6’4 extended, 5’0 rested. Date of Formation: Azuli 1, 562.”

“He’s cute, too.” Eyve interjected, pulling the cord on Orsel’s cuffs, yanking him forwards.

“I’m leaving that off the record.” Ven scolded, her normal eye lowered. Yuttoguln looked up at the ceiling in frustration.

“Please pay me so I can leave.” Eyve rolled her eyes and grabbed a large sack from behind the front desk, handing it to Ven. Ven opened the sack- it was filled to the brim with Star, the most popular form of currency on Crux. Ven plucked one of the glittering disks of precious metal from within the confines of the bag, admiring the star-shaped cut of glass embedded in its center.

“I’m puzzled as to why you’re so averse to this arrangement. You’re bringing a criminal to justice and contributing to the future prosperity of our nation. Logically speaking, it’s everything you stand for.” She plunked the coin back into the bag, where Yuttoguln responded by quickly swiping it away. He turned and left silently, slamming the heavy door behind him. The two sisters’ eyes drifted slyly over to Orsel, who began to back step away from his captors. 

“Now, listen,” He cowered, backing himself into a corner. “I-I’m sure we can talk this through, this is all just a big misunderstanding. Surely, two ladies of science like yourself can listen to…” Ven clutched Orsel’s cuff-cord tighter as her left arm morphed into an electric prod, crackling with painful-looking bolts of energy. ”… Reason.” Orsel gulped as he finished his thought.

CHAPTER 4: In Some Deep Stuff

Elsewhere in Shaydon, a laboratory in the city’s Research and Development district stands tall and glowing. Deep, deep beneath its floors of shayd scientists testing new and progressive ideas to be implemented in their city, a prison lays beneath its floor, holding one of Shaydon’s darkest secrets. Each cell of the horrid place was inhabited by loathsome creatures, created by the unnatural combining of elementals throughout the world of Crux with that of the native shayd. Primal amalgamations of water, earth, fire, and shadow shambled within their cells, their minds lost and instincts reverted to a bestial state. They clattered against their electrified cages, screaming for freedom from this pain that they could never hope to attain, even if they were outside this prison. One of these cells, however, was shockingly home to two separate inhabitants. The first of these was Jacob, a rather large, slug-like elemental made from dirt, wearing a shirt made from burlap and claws of bright blue glass adorning his massive hands. He sat with a cold expression on his face, his brow furrowed, and his arms folded across one another. His cellmate was Vino, who surprisingly wasn’t an elemental at all, but rather a living plant native to Crux known as a flauna. He was short and spindly, with a flowery head decorated with bright yellow petals. He had slender, leafy hands, and three roots that had developed into flighty legs. Vino was peering out of a small window Jacob had dug out from behind a brick, using two flecks of shiny metal as a periscope to try and scout out the area outside. He scratched lines onto the brick’s weathered side, attempting to make a map of the surroundings.

“Any luck?” Jacob queried, keeping a lookout for any folks that could be trouble for the two.

“No use. I’m beginning to think this is hopeless.” Vino sighed, tucking the makeshift periscope behind the wall and trying to place the brick back in its slot. Seeing him struggle, Jacob helped him out, neatly inserting it in place. The two then kept up appearances, resting on the bench opposite one another.

“This whole city is built like a maze,” Vino explained.

“That bad, huh? I thought you said you broke out of here before.” Jake accused.

“I said I broke out of the police station, and even then, that was when I had half a dozen people to help me out. We never made it out of the city because it’s essentially unnavigable”

“Is there anything else you can remember about how this place works?”

“It all happened so fast, and everything looks the same out there. The only thing I can say for certain is that there’s a big tower in the city’s center and that there are canals everywhere that provide transport. Our only hope for escape comes from knowing how to navigate this place.”

“I don’t know how shayd live like this.” Jake grumbled. “Almost makes me feel sorry for ‘em.”

“Well, to be fair, their livelihood depends on being able to traverse this city. Besides, they have their whole lives to learn its layout and intricacies.”

“Yeah, before they’re smashed in a work accident or arrested for looking the wrong way.”

“Oh, don’t be crass, Jacob. Besides, I think I may have just given myself an idea.”

“Yeah, and whuzzat?”

“Simply put, we-”

Vino’s explanation was suddenly interrupted by the clanging of a trapdoor, and the echoing of steps down a stairwell. A slender shayd by the name of Eyve made her way down, hauling a pot of foul-smelling sludge. Beneath her cloak, it was apparent that the right side of her body, instead of the usual coiled tendrils of darkness that shayd bodies consisted of, was made almost entirely out of metal prosthesis.

“Hello everyone!” She announced in a singsong voice. “Guess what? It’s mealtime!” She clanged a spoon on the side of the pot, awakening the creatures in the surrounding cells. They began to screech and roar, banging against their high-voltage cages and receiving massive shocks for doing so. “Yeah, yeah. Listen, we know you’ve all got two cores to take care of now, so we need to make sure you keep up your energy, now don’t we?” She slung a spoonful of the gruel into a slot in each of the cages, where it landed lovingly on the cell floor.

“Rest alone isn’t enough for you anymore, no, no. You need to FEED.” As the other cellmates ate up their share of the meals, The scientist finally made it to Vino and Jake’s cell. “And how’s our organic life doing? Good?” At the sight of his captor, Jake stood up and began to pound on the cell’s wall. The pain from the energy coursing through the bars was somewhat nullified for him, since he was made of dirt.

“YOU LET US OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW, YOU MONSTER! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT KEEPIN’ US IN HERE!”. Eyve’s eye lowered as she put down the pot and rolled down her right sleeve. Instead of a hand, there were two long, metallic tendrils wrapped around one another. She partly unraveled them and stuck them into a socket next to the cell door. Moments later, Vino and Jake felt a tremendous JOLT of electricity arc its way through their entire cell, painfully shocking them

“Now, are we going to be quiet today?” Eyve asked smugly. Jacob was furious, and every ounce of his body was screaming at him to tear down this door and rip this horrible, horrible lady in two. However, one look at his shivering cellmate convinced him otherwise. Vino clearly had a lower tolerance for pain than he did, and sparing him from the collective punishment was unfortunately Jake’s only option at this point. He looked away from Eyve in shame and sat back down on his half of the cell. “That’s more like it.” Eyve proclaimed, picking up the pot and spoon once more. “Now eat up, flauna! We need that body and brain of yours in tip-top shape for our special project!” Vino held his hands out and winced as the cold slime was shoveled into his palms. He wore a look of disgust on his face as he chowed down on the stuff, struggling to keep it down as he reminded himself it was his only source of nourishment. Eyve scraped the bottom of the pot with the spoon. “What about you, big fella? You want a snack, too?”

“I’ll… pass.” Jake rejected.

“Suit yourself.” Eyve sang, packing up her supplies as she made it back up the stairs. “Ooh, just think! You guys are going to help us out soooo much! Bye everyone!” As the door to the holding area closed, Jake muttered to himself.

“I like the other one better. She’s quiet.” Jacob complained, running his claws against the cage’s bars.

 Vino ignored him, as he was still taking care of the “food” he was provided. 

“Ugh, this stuff tastes like pure poison.” He griped.

“At least it keeps you alive.”

Vino grimaced.

“Debatable.”

As Vino finished the last bite, Jake remembered what the two were talking about before they were interrupted by their meal.

“So, you were saying something about an idea?”

“What? Oh, yeah. We’re gonna get a shayd to help us out.”

A deafening silence fell upon the prison cell, the only other sounds being the continued feeding of the other creatures.

“Did you hear what I said? We get a shay-”

“I heard what you said.”

Jacob took a deep breath.

“Vino, I’m gonna keep it flat with you- I am not working with a shayd.”

“Well, I’m afraid it might be our only choice.”

“There has to be another way. They’re cunning, they’re sneaky, and you can’t trust ‘em.”

“Possibly. However, any of them that end up down here are bound to be out of options.”

“Down here?”

“Of course! Think about it.” Vino gestured to each of the other cells around them in the prison. “Each one of these… things were made by combining the core of a shayd with another elemental. So logically, they’re going to do the same for us. I theorize they’re waiting for an eligible shayd to toss into the mix.”

Jake’s expression lit up. “… And once he’s in here with us, BAM! We’ll have ourselves a map to the city!

“Exactly!”

“We don’t have to… take him with us, do we?”

Vino began to knock on a few bricks in the cell, checking if the space behind any of them were hollow. “We’ll see. Best case scenario, he gives us everything we need right here.”

“And the worst case?”

“Well, it’s an even tie between him either killing us both or ratting us out to those scientists.”

Jake’s expression soured, “You really have a five-star head on your shoulders, huh?”

“You could say that.” Vino said as he knocked on one last brick, mildly pleased with the sound it made. “Now, we still have some prep work to do. You think you can dig out this brick?”

Jacob chuckled, “Do shayd commit war crimes?” Vino’s expression was blank. Jake cleared his throat and began to scratch out the brick’s grout.

CHAPTER 5: What Goes Up…

The staff of Shaydon Municipal Construction had eventually made their way to their worksite. It was a dismal place near the outskirts of the walled city, with the promise of becoming a brand-new beacon of architectural prowess. The scaffolding of the building they were going to build stood dead in front of them, an unstable mess of wrought iron and rivets. The stabilization brace they had brought played an important part in the construction of Shaydon’s buildings, providing a stable foundation after being hung from the crane and fastened precisely. Once the barge stopped, Refanom gave his go-ahead to the workers and business began straight away. The first order was to move the crane from the barge onto solid ground. One of Orsel’s coworkers, Zoder, strapped himself into the cockpit and started up the massive apparatus, its internals chugging and straining as he moved the levers around. This crane, like most of Shaydon’s mechanical equipment, was either imported or inspired from another nation on Crux, Tallem, to the point where they had become the industry standard. Ramps were extended from the barge to the edge of the canal and the now-unstrapped crane chugged slowly towards the land, the barge tipping slightly to accommodate the massive shift in weight. As it finally struggled to leave the canal, Orsel caught himself thinking about how lucky Zoder was to have gotten his heavy equipment license. Now that he was the designated driver, he wasn’t stuck with any of the grunt work that he and the others had to do. Whatever the case, there was still a job to be done. The crane hoisted the stabilization brace high into the air, while Orsel and three other shayd made their way to a makeshift elevator set up next to the building’s scaffolding.

Orsel noticed that the brace wasn’t as clean as it should’ve been for a brand-new building, with the upper segments looking quite rusted. They were each handed a waveform transmitter from their boss, Refanom, in order to communicate while they were stuck up on top of the scaffolding.

“Alright, everyone-” Refanom spoke through his transmitter, only to be met with a feedback loop, bringing a shock to all his listening subordinates. He hastily turned off his transmitter in frustration and continued his statement, “Alright, now you all know the drill with these braces. You each have an assigned spot that the posts for the brace will drop near. You’ll have about a minute to screw the bolt in once the signals are given. Are we clear? The shayd standing before Refanom gave an affirmative salute. “Good.” He continued, “Now get up there and get this thing done!”

Orsel and his three coworkers, crookshanks in hand, ascended by the elevator to the level they needed to be at. It was easy to find, considering it was the only part of the building that even had a floor, albeit one made from haphazardly balanced wooden planks. As they got to where they needed, Orsel found himself getting knocked on the shoulder again by Chwern. 

“Make sure not to screw this one up, alright?”

“Oh, knock it off, Chwern!” Orsel snapped, “I do as good a job as anyone else here.” 

“Hey, easy now! No need to drag us down with you, bud!” Chwern laughed as he went towards his post. Orsel sulked as he did likewise in the other direction, with Ytsap in tow. 

“Ah, don’t listen to him, he’s just a jerk. I remember when I was new, he practically bit my head off every chance he got,” he consoled.

“It’s been like two years, though! When is he going to let up?” Orsel grumbled.

“To be fair, you are pretty, uh, ‘accident-prone’.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, there was the cement incident-”

“The tankers looked exactly the same as the septic ones.”

“The I-beam debacle”

“I swear, someone greased the damn thing.”

“The broken lightbulb.”

“That was NEVER proven to be me!”

“Not to mention, there was the barge today. You still reek, by the way.”

“You sound just like Chwern.”

The pair eventually came to an enormous hole in their path where the scrap wood they had grown used to walking on was completely missing. A lone hazard cone stood near it, inefficiently serving as a warning. Yatsp looked down into the tangled web of scaffolding below.

“Aw, jeez, the last team must’ve lazed out on this part. We gotta go around.” Ytsap observed.

“Around?! It’s like three feet wide!”

“Yeah, and about a hundred feet down.”

“I bet I can jump it.”

“Pfft yeah, I can already see it now- the “Orsel gets shattered from falling through scaffolding” incident.”

“Oh, knock it off. I’ve made it through worse.”

“You see? This is what we’re all talking about. You, taking all these risks with us, cleaning up after. You need to start thinking about your team.”

Orsel’s eyes flattened as he leapt across the hole with hardly any effort, Ytsap’s eyes wrenched shut momentarily in suspense.

“Yatsp, have you ever taken a good look around at where we are?”

“I’m trying not to. I’m scared of heights.”

“Not the building, I mean here in Shaydon. Our place in this world.”

“I mean yeah? We’re construction workers. We build things.”

“There has to be more to it than just that, though. I want to do something that actually matters.”

“I’d say this matters. Making places for people to live or work is pretty impressive.”

“Then why aren’t I happy? Is this all we’re going to be doing for the rest of our lives?”

“Probably, yeah. It’s what we went to school for, after all.”

“Well, I don’t like that. It’s why I do stuff like jump the gap. It’s something that I like to do— a risk— nestled within a lifetime of things I don’t like to do, y’know?”

“You need to see a doctor or something, Orsel. You’re a special case.”

“I also don’t like hearing that all the time.”

Orsel and Ystap finally made it to a large pole topped with a socket. The patchwork wooden floor around it was painted to let anyone here know that this was where a part of the stabilization brace was supposed to latch itself into.

“Guess this is my stop.” Orsel proclaimed.

“Alright, I’m gonna head down to the other one. Promise me you’re not gonna “jump the hole” or whatever, alright?”

“I’ll be fine, go on.”

As Ytsap left, Orsel scratched the floor with the pointed end of his crookshank, making streaks in the paint marking the stabilization socket’s location. Zoder’s crane slowly raised the brace high into the air, adjusting, so it was perfectly in line with the center of the building. As its swinging and adjustments died down, Orsel heard his transmitter spring to life, with Refanom’s voice blaring through.

“Alright, Brace quarters are dropping down soon. Is everyone ready?” Synchronized “Yes”es, “checks”, and “affirmative”s came through the transmitter from Orsel and his coworkers. “Good.” Refanom confirmed. “Post one coming down!” A latch on top of the crane’s hook popped open, unfolding a part of the stabilization brace and sending it plummeting downwards. Orsel could see the pole near Chwern through the maze of scaffolding as the pole slotted itself in, and he hastily screwed in a bolt with his crookshank to stabilize it.

“Post one stabilized and in position!” Chwern reported through the transmitter. 

“Good. Post two coming down!” Refanom barked, the unlatching of the second post of the stabilization brace descending on cue. The entry for this section was unfortunately rougher than its predecessor, as it scraped against its entry tube and shook the scaffolding with an ear-splitting SCRREEEEEEEEECH! As it was fastened in, Orsel noticed some scaffolding further up was continuing to shake, with popped rivets raining down onto the wooden floor. 

“Post two stabilized and in position!” The transmitter shouted. Refanom was pleased. 

“That’s what I like to see! Post three coming down!”

“No, wait!” Orsel tried to interject as the scaffolding was still shaking on his end, but it was too late. The third latch unhinged and pounded into the socket amongst the building’s shuddering frame. Beams from above were beginning to fall down along with torrents of bolts. Orsel leaped out of the way of his station as they pelted his head.

“What’s going on up there, Orsel?” Refanom asked impatiently through the radio. Not having any time to respond, and as more of the scaffolding came tumbling down, Orsel noticed a particularly large beam was about to fall square onto Yatsp.

“Yatsp! Get out of the way!” Orsel screamed as he bolted across the length of the floor. In the middle of turning his head, Yatsp found himself promptly tackled by Orsel as a beam crashed through the floor where he once stood.

“You alright?” Orsel asked, but was met with a glassy-eyed stare from Yatsp as he pointed upwards past Orsel as he lay on the floor. Orsel looked up behind him to see more of the girders were starting to come loose. Yatsp’s radio switched on, with Refanom’s voice shouting through it once more.

“THE WHOLE THING’S COMING DOWN, EVERYONE EVACUATE!” Chwern and a coworker Orsel had never bothered to learn the name of rushed towards the scaffolding’s elevator and prematurely descended without their better half. Yatsp hazily stood back up and panicked.

“They left us behind! We’re not going to make it!” he blubbered, darting his head around. Orsel grabbed his arm and dragged him through the tumbling wreckage, making sure to keep his ball and chain, so to speak, unmarred.

“Come on, we’re gonna get out of here, trust me!” Orsel exclaimed.

When the two finally made it to the place where the elevator once stood, they looked down to see their two coworkers already halfway to the bottom.

“Just our luck, we’re doomed,” Yatsp complained. Orsel looked over at the elevator’s cables, then back at the hooked end of his crookshank.

“I’ve got an idea,” he proclaimed, extending his hand to the panicking Yatsp. “Here, grab on.” Yatsp was hesitant to trust Orsel with anything in a situation such as this, let alone a rescue operation, but it was painfully clear he had no choice if he even wanted a chance of staying alive. He slammed his eyes shut and took Orsel’s hand. The two jumped off the edge as Orsel hooked the crookshank onto the elevator cable, sliding down alongside a flurry of sparks formed from the friction. Moments later, they landed on the elevator with a loud THUD, much to the surprise of the other coworkers.

“See?” Orsel panted. “We made it safe and-” The elevator suddenly shifted, the clanging from the scaffolding around them now mirrored by the apparatus they relied on to descend. Then, the sudden excess of weight on the platform finally revealed its consequences on the passengers as it entered a state of free-fall. A few, harrowing seconds passed before it clattered to the ground below with an ear-splitting CRASH! The passengers, thankfully, seemed dazed but unharmed, but seeing the state of his workers was the least of Refanom’s concerns right now as he stared daggers into Orsel’s soul. The scaffolding soon followed the example of the elevator, where after the course of around half a minute, the carefully-riveted mangle of girders and pipe eventually collapsed in on itself. This brought Zoder’s massive crane careening to its side, since it was still latched to a quarter of the stabilization brace. Once the dust settled, there were two individuals still standing amongst the wreckage. A shayd and his boss. 

Chwern, still laying down from the elevator’s sudden re-entry, looked around at the mess Orsel caused and gave him a swift punch in one of his tendrils.

“Way to go, Orsel.” He snapped.