The sky's brightness, heat, and intensity only amplified as they continued. It touched the obsidian wall of the tower and gradually silvered it into a full mirror. Sammy had ignored that reflection for a while, but suddenly she looked at it again, and no longer saw the ‘old her’ at all. It was Samantha. The Goddess Samantha.

  She smiled victoriously. Ha! Yeah, that’s right, you bitch! I’m who I want to be. My reflection is entirely under my control. I see what is true… I made it this way.

  It is no longer a lie, if ever.

  Sammy had to slow down as she realized Azure began to lag, panting and having difficulty. They went through some spell protections, and she quaffed a potion to help, which simmered her down and let her continue, with difficulty, and her skin was staying entirely crystalline. She was even sweating. That was not too common for a long time. It was odd, like condensation on a cup more than actual fleshly sweat.

  As the grand shape of the palace began to become evident, gravity started dying rapidly. If anything, their method of travel became more effective thanks to the lack of resistance to the climb, and plenty of good handholds on the railing and step structure.

  Not long after progress under Azure’s buffs, that brightness seemed to become something more. Sammy felt the light licking her soul, trying to envelop it. She found it wonderful, actually. It pulled her along and she wanted practically to ‘run’ upward.

  The Light of Truth. A somewhat foreign thought that she realized was… true.

  “I-I can’t… I can’t! Please!”

  Sammy blinked and turned back downward to see Azure completely stopped, hunched with her head turned away in pain, eyes entirely closed. Panting and shaking. Her clothes were soaked and dripping.

  “Oh no,” Samantha breathed, feeling suddenly extra worried, both for her lover and the implications to their journey. “Azure, what can we-”

  “I can’t go on! It-it’s impossible! It burns deeper than fire — I’m doused in lava deeper than bone!” With effort and squinting eyes, she met Sammy’s gaze. Terror was painted on her face. “If I move any closer, I’ll be consumed!”

  Sammy was completely at a loss. She looked around and saw only the golden gleaming sky and the tower. Sideways solutions didn’t exist. “There’s nowhere else to go, Blueberry! You can see that. Come on, babe!” She crawled back down closer, and held out her hand, putting on a confident, supportive smile. “You’re almost there! You can do it. Have faith!”

  Azure gazed back, shaking her head uncertainly. Her eyes came to focus on the hand. She almost did it. Her body twitched. “Nowhere else,” she repeated softly, and her head twisted down, to look below, down the length of the tower. “I see it now. I failed. Damn it. This would be my punishment… not so bad, for a coward. I’d have helped you… It’s what I’m made for, after all.”

  “Azure, you’re not making sense. You didn’t fail, and you’re damn sure no coward! Look how far you’ve gotten! Almost to the top, with victory over the hill! Make the run with me. Downhill, babe, with a full head of steam!”

  This seemed to pain the Incarnation of The Lover. She bared her teeth and a desperate moan escaped. When she looked up, her eyes gleamed wet. “You don’t fucking get it, Samantha! That moon?!” She thrust her finger upward emphatically, the tip of it immediately beginning to smoke. “That’s your test! I walked away from mine! In fear, I turned away… because I saw the monster in the mirror. What I’d be…” She ripped her eyes away and finished in a whisper, “What I’d be apart from you.” Her smoking finger dropped.

  Sammy was left stunned, and she suddenly understood what she meant. “Down the steps. A split up. Individual tests.”

  Silence and stillness. One cool breeze blew through the air, little more than a momentary vapor in that heat.

  Sammy moved down closer, putting her hand practically in Azure’s face. “It’s too late, now. Come on! We’ll change things. That’s what we do. Adaptation, Azure! There’s a lesson in that. Make the best of things and keep going forward. It’s the only play. Take my hand! I will find a way to protect you. I promise.”

  Azure’s eyes rose to the hand, and then to Samantha’s eyes. Two twin worlds met again, swirling with power, familiar as always but in that moment entirely alien. They did not truly meet eye to eye, but twisted together… a glorious crossroads of two disparate paths.

  “No. You won’t.” Azure threw herself downward and clear of the tower in a freefall.

  “Azure!” Sammy screamed, and immediately tried to grab her with the claws, or grab her lover’s claws — anything. But she was dodged deftly, and the closest arm to succeeding was blocked by the spell shield, making Sammy a victim of her own sorcerous excellence.

  Without further hesitation, Sammy leapt right after her into the same kind of freefall, starting a targeted spell to slow Azure’s fall.

  “Stop it, Samantha!” Azure called, baring her teeth and pointing her gun threateningly. “You can’t come running after me every damn time! I’m not your damsel — and I need to do this!”

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Just shut up cause I’m not allowing this! You’ll die!”

  “Maybe — but here. It wouldn’t be the end. You can’t control everything, Chestnut.” The unfortunate reality of the vulnerable position Samantha was in was made abundantly clear when Azure fired a potion round and a huge AoE glob of glue blasted Sammy right in the face. She had only a split moment to react, there wasn’t any leverage to dodge with, and she was caught in the middle of casting a spell.

  She was sent spinning, disoriented instantly with her vision completely blocked. She struggled in midair only briefly, as another impact occurred and she was jerked, knocked into the tower, and then fell only a short distance before slowing as the glue stretched. She had a vague understanding she was stuck to the tower wall.

  Briefly, she screamed bloody murder and struggled physically to get her head free. This only just succeeded, and she deliberately calmed herself down. Focusing carefully on a verbal-only spell, she emitted a burst of acid-based magic outward. This nearly freed her, and a second casting nearly disintegrated the rest of the glue.

  When she got out, she anxiously moved to look down, but Azure wasn’t even visible. Panicked, she went around the tower, hoping she was just at a different angle, but there was nothing. She was likely obscured by cloud cover.

  The instant she reached out mentally, Azure sent, “As Above, So Below, my love. It’s not suicide. Succeed and so will I. Go!”

  “Azure, y-! Azure!” The connection was blocked. Despite this, by focusing on it, Sammy could tell where she was. Way, way down. A freefall was fast, and she had a ton of time to fall.

  Sammy screamed then — couldn’t help but scream, but she poured everything of herself into it, too. Deity was in it, the Righteous Indignation of a goddess. The Goddess’s rage and anger for something precious taken away — put in jeopardy. It shook the tower. Shook the heavens.

  “Come, Sister,” came a clear, feminine voice from above, soft and enchanting even in its demand. “Come, and I will help her.”

  Sammy’s head whipped upward to gaze at the palace and feel the incredible draw again, with the voice only adding to it. The palace gleamed, pulled, reached out with the core of its silver light — out to her. Their meeting was Fated. Irresistible.

  Still, she would have resisted it if not for that promise. Downward seemed to hold no hope for rescue at that point.

  Moving up physically only briefly, the Goddess Samantha — synonymous with the Goddess Rallindin — reached out to the light, to those moonbeams of the palace. Golden glow met silver and merged. She became light and felt the distance become nothing.

  Day and Night were one again.

  ??············???···········??

  Azure freefalled through the sky next to the tower, tears in her eyes at what she had to do to Samantha. She shivered from that terrible scream. It was no small matter, defying a goddess. She silently thanked the clouds that had come out of nowhere to block Samantha’s view. Otherwise, she might’ve been targeted by some long-distance bullshit spell the girl might pull out of her ass. There were precious few things her Pale Beautifulness couldn’t find a solution for.

  Like climbing this tower alone. I’m pleased to help despite the pain it caused me, but she would have handled it without me. I should’ve gone down when I had the chance. I can’t claim ignorance. It was right there in front of my face. Me, staring back. The only way to counter cowardice is with bravery. Whatever it is, I must face it.

  First, she had to get there. At least she felt like she had her wits back. Trying to crawl after Samantha into the baking atmosphere was one of the most painful things she’d ever done. It had been like taking a dip in a sea of fire. That sky rejected her absolutely. She was simply not worthy to pass. Samantha would never understand or believe that, but it was true.

  The area swarming with the Cat Heads loomed below her. Some of them noticed her, but the palace above seemed to be especially drawing their attention. That or they only found prey below them irresistible.

  Azure positioned the spell shield that still persisted directly in front and below her, and wrapped her harness arms around it, grabbing it in six places and creating a buffing frame. She then pulled out a potion and smashed it into the shield with her hand. It was enveloped in a cackling blue aura. Extra protection, but mostly aided a ‘shield charge.’ Not something in the inventory she ever thought she’d use, but she could think of no greater shield charge than descending at maximum velocity.

  The Meteor Azure! Hopefully, we can drink to this one day and laugh.

  She fell down into the zone of the beasties. Many looked like they were ready to attack or intercept, but misjudged her speed by a mile. Three of them nonetheless managed to get right in the way.

  The shield crashed into and past them, their anchorage to anything not strong enough to budge her momentum much. One impact did dent the shield.

  All three Cat Heads went spinning and falling, but to Azure, it was more like they were still flying, because she zipped right beyond them. She thankfully didn’t need to touch the shield so did not feel the impact beyond a mild vibration and whoosh. But two of the Cat Head bodies rolled into her bracing harness arms, jarring her and causing her to struggle to keep the shield on point.

  Come on, come on! Almost home-free!

  The small horde of beasties zoomed past, a great number adjusting to her but unable to reach. Finally, though, one took a favorable angle and slammed into her. Azure braced for the impact at the last second, shifting her arms to make sure they were hit instead.

  She was jarred violently and knocked immediately, sent into an uncontrolled spin so fast she lost all sense of the world for a few moments. Thankfully, her real arms weren’t needed to brace the shield and — doubly thankfully — she didn’t hit anything else, her tumbling form angled away from the tower.

  She finally stopped spinning, though her brain lagged a while longer in dizziness. When she finally blinked back into her senses, she looked up to see the Cat Heads above, dozens diving for her, slowly gaining due to her chaotic spin slowing her somewhat (and their general expertise) but her still with quite a lead.

  If I dive to stay ahead, I’ll hit something in the tangle and die. Hmm…

  Cause I'm freeeeeeeee... free fallin...

  Next Chapter...

  Everyone has to face this particular foe in the journey...

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