Edward

  I sit in front of the pillar of glass as I do every day. Visenar is taking a long time to clean up, after all the destruction Darian left in his wake. I am here to help with that, but I always take time here. No one has gotten around to this yet. It’s not in the way of anything. There are no homes or businesses destroyed nearby. It’s on its way to the palace, a path few people tread anymore. Someone will want to remove it. In a week, maybe two. Once everything else is done. I wonder if anyone will know who he was. If anyone will ask.

  I killed him. That much is clear. I’ve never met another mage with glass mana, and by now most people know I fought in the palace on insurrection day. It’s obvious I killed him. I killed him in an instant. He was slowing me down and I couldn’t afford to be delayed. I couldn’t. I barely remember the moment I realized I had to kill him. The panic that made me do it without hesitation. He looks afraid, now. Shocked. Like he didn’t realize the danger until a moment before his death.

  I wanted to be him so badly. So desperately. He has always been a pillar in my life to scale. A peak beyond my reach. Until the end. Until I needed to stop someone and he was in my way. I killed him so quickly. It feels wrong. Like he should have had some long speech. Some final words. A goodbye, of sorts. Instead, he was just an obstacle to get past. Why does death have to be so fast? So permanent? I can’t help but wonder. If I could have had a chance. A chance to really talk to him, if he could have been saved. If he could have let go of all the perceived slights to his pride. Like I did.

  “Henry is dead,” I say. I tell him this every day, And like every day, he fails to respond. “When he was taken, the first time, it was my fault. He was there to get me. To save me from myself. From spiraling like . . . he was there for me. And he wanted to work with me to escape. I agreed then . . . sacrificed him to escape myself. It was my fault he was taken.” Again my– the man I killed just stares back, face still contorted in horror. Eyes still empty.

  “I always thought I would make up for it someday. You know, after Lily saved him, after she fixed my mistake . . . he never told anyone what I did. He kept it secret. Never threatened me with the information either. He didn’t go looking for any justice for my cowardice. Never even brought it up privately. He just. He didn’t trust me anymore. Which was deserved. But somehow it hurt so much more than everyone knowing. Knowing what a coward I am. How weak I am. How much suffering my brother went through because of my cowardice. He still called me his brother. He was still kind. Never once did he utter a single sharp word in my direction. The Collector knows Lily would have. She would have beat me into the ground with one of her lectures. I would have preferred that. Instead I lived with my little brother, constantly on the other side of thick glass. Smiling. Waving. But never within reach.”

  The man I killed doesn’t condemn me for this. He never does. And it never feels better to confess to him. I continue anyway.

  “I thought, if I kept fighting. Kept making up for my past, someday that glass wall would come down. He wouldn’t just forgive me, but maybe even trust me again. I was going to prove that I wasn’t the coward who abandoned him. And you know what? When I got the spikes back, I thought maybe I had gotten there. I fought Prince Kallon. One of the most powerful mages in the country. I faced him head on and I won. I didn’t run away. I didn’t hide. And I thought, surely, this time, I will face my brother and he will know I’m not a fucking coward anymore. He will know that, next time, I will protect him. From now on, he can feel safe and at ease, knowing that I won’t abandon him ever again.”

  I take a deep breath as my voice starts to tremor. “But I’d already seen him for the last time. I just didn’t know it yet. One last awkward goodbye from a brother who never trusted me again. He is in another pillar. Like you. But his is stone instead of glass. His death was also too quick. No final words or goodbyes. I guess one of us did grow up to be like you after all, in a way.” There is no humor in the joke. Only bitterness. I am the only child anything like our father. And I will die ashamed of it, someday. “He was the best of us. Better than me. Than Gil. Than Lily. He deserved to be the happiest. And he is gone. And I don’t know what to do. I am cleaning up the city. Helping rebuild after all of that destruction. But I’m lost. Aimless. What do I do now? How do I move forward?”

  “E-Edward Endings?” A voice says and I tense up. Turning to see a wiry man with his hat in his hand. He is jittery and carries a wild look in his eyes. He is in a full on panic, but everything is calm, I can’t understand it.

  “Yes?” I offer. A wave of anxiety flows off of him all at once as he realizes he’s found me.

  “Please, they need help. There was an attack, no one knows what to do, none of us are used to fighting. We still can’t contact the Mage of Mourning. We don’t know who else to ask,” he begs. My hackles raise. An attack? By whom? Why? And why am I the person they came looking for?

  “Show me,” I answer, and the wiry man nods, nearly breaking into a sprint toward the center of the city. There is a tremor in the air, like the sound of steel bending. It’s just a feeling but it runs down my spine and hastens my step. The city is ash and rubble as I run past, until it is pristine and untouched. Side effect off Lillith’s attempts to defend it. In all directions there are pillars of stone. The closer we get to one the more carnage we see. The further we get the cleaner the city becomes. But we aren’t heading for any of these. No, we are growing closer and closer to the massive tree in the city. Where the gallows used to be. We are headed toward the Radiant Woods. I brace myself as we finally make it to our destination. Even so I am unprepared.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  The taste of iron in the air is thick, and it’s clear to see why. My stomach churns. I’m not ready for this. I’m not who they needed. They need Lily, not me. Anyone but me. Whatever fighting there is to do is over. Half a dozen volunteers lie dead at the base of the tree. They surround the broken and mangled body of what can only be described as a monster. Its arms end in jagged, twisted blades. Its legs are the same, extending so far up that each step must have dug blades into its haunches. Its head has been crushed by a massive stone while smaller rocks surround its bruised and bloody body. There are maybe ten remaining bystanders, exhausted and bloodied. Two are bandaging a third as the rest catch their breath.

  “W-what happened here?” I ask, horror washing over me. The terrified man who came to get me shakes his head, looking toward the wounded woman.

  “Monsters aren’t supposed to escape from the Woods,” she grumbles. “I don’t know why. But this one did.” She spits in its direction, much to the chagrin of the woman in charge of bandaging her.

  “Please, tell me everything,” I ask, trying to suppress the shaking in my voice.

  Gilbert

  Dom watches the tree line as I draw. He’s been keeping me company every day as I watch. Neither of us intend to miss suffering again. Neither of us intend to be too late to stop tragedy. We will not let anyone else die while we enjoy ourselves.

  “Any luck?” I ask and he shakes his head, dropping the hand with the whisper sphere to his side.

  “Still no contact,” he answers. Shit. She is travelling on foot. She shouldn’t be too far for these to work. As far as I know, with Sarafyna’s whisper spheres there is no such thing as too far to work. And yet, we haven’t been able to contact any of them for days. They haven’t stopped by the hat shop either. They are completely cut off from us. Which means, if something does happen, we are on our own. This was always a possibility, but it wasn’t considered likely so soon, and is pretty close to the worst case scenario. I pause while drawing Dom’s nose.

  “What do we do if we never get in contact with them?” I ask. He pauses.

  “I . . . don’t know. I’d like to believe I’ll be able to protect everyone but,” he sighs. “I’ve believed that before.” I still haven’t asked him for his entire story, but I heard about the last battle he was in. When Tumult was destroyed. He should have been stronger than his opposition, but he lost. And a lot of people died. He may understand what I am going through even better than I do.

  “We will,” I say. “Whatever comes, we’ll be ready.” He looks forward at the Radiant Woods again.

  “I hope so,” he whispers. I take a deep breath. I don’t know how to comfort him. But he is helping me. I want to do the same. I open my mouth to try, but a gentle buzzing goes off in my jacket and I reach in to find my sphere is active.

  “Hey,” I say. “Everything alright over there?” Only one person ever calls me on this sphere. My . . . friends back in the other community don’t contact me as much. They can’t really connect with me right now. I don’t blame them. They are sympathetic, but they just don’t get it. The grief they understand. But not the guilt. No, the only person who calls me now is Edward.

  “No, Gil,” Ed says, fear apparent in his voice. Dom’s face shifts in an instant, from melancholy to steel. “Something has changed. There was some kind of attack. Gil, the monsters in the Woods can leave now!” My blood runs cold for a moment. Dom clenches his fists.

  “Wait. Wait wait wait. No, Lily said they are just people. That should be fine, right? She wished they would come out on their own! They’d be easier for Sara to find and help. But they aren’t supposed to be able to survive outside the control of the Woods. Not without a divine mage, right?” I ask.

  “I don’t know. But this one came out in Visenar. Gil, it killed six people! One of them killed six people! What if it’s not the last?” Ed pleads and my heart quickens.

  “Gilbert, this isn’t good,” Dom whispers. Then he takes the sphere from me. “Ed, this is important. This monster, did they attack first? Or did the people they killed make the first move?” Ed is silent for a long moment, leaving Dom and I a chance to talk. “Gilbert, if what Lily says is true and these monsters are innocent people . . . what’s going to happen if they start showing up everywhere, in all of these communities at once?”

  “I– I don’t know, but Sara won’t be able to help them. But why would it attack the volunteers with Ed?” I ask.

  “We don’t know that they did. They could have escaped the Woods, looking like a monster, and incited what felt like self defense. That’s why I asked who attacked first. This is what I’m worried about, Gil. Is this a single instance, or is this going to happen all over? And what will people do if it does? People will die!” Dom explains and my face pales.

  “And if it did attack first?” I ask. Dom pauses, and his eyes return to the trees.

  “If they did attack first, well. A lot more people will die,” he responds. Just as he does, Ed's voice returns.

  “I-I can’t tell. No one is sure. What are we going to do, Gil?” He begs. I look at Dominic, whose eyes are widening.

  “I don’t know,” Dom says. “But we need to figure something out quickly. It just happened here too.”