Elion drifted in and out of sleep, a state of near feverish unreality. In the darkness, nothing marked the rotation of celestial bodies to provide a sense of the passage of time. He thought he woke occasionally, hearing or imagining sounds in the midnight darkness, but it was impossible to decipher dream from reality.

  He replenished Save a Friend, keeping Keyla suspended in that peaceful, painless state as best he could. He dreamed of healing, of Gorman’s garage filled with green tendrils of power, of the soothing strength with which they filled him.

  Gorman’s garage morphed into a massive cave, a vast hollow within the earth. Hundreds of pipes and tunnels opened up into it, and massive stalactites dangled from the ceiling, some of these joining up with stalagmites to form mighty columns of stone.

  These columns became tree trunks, vivacious green foliage blooming from stalagmites, woven of green Heranan magic. Rancid water transformed into a crystalline pool of fresh water. Colorful fish swam around inside of it, and jeweled butterflies fluttered in the air.

  Magic thrummed through Elion’s dreams.

  Elion fell in and out of sleep until his body and mind recovered. He found himself lying on the stony ground, listening to the shallow breathing of Keyla beside him, the incessant dribble of water echoing in the distance, and the beating of his own heart.

  His eyes were open. He hadn’t realized it; the total darkness of the cavern masked the fact. And he was hungry. He wondered how long he’d laid here on the ground in this cave. He needed to do something. Keyla’s arm needed treatment. Another sludge could pass through. The light was nearly dead.

  Elion sat up and stretched. He turned on the light, its dim bulb barely illuminating a faint sphere around him. Glowing eyes stared back at him. Elion jumped, and relaxed as Snickers prowled into the light, nuzzling his head against Elion’s chest.

  Snicker’s touch brought a wave of relief.

  “Good boy,” Elion said, scratching the cat’s head. “Somehow you always manage to slip away when there’s a fight. Maybe you can teach me that trick sometime.”

  Snickers nipped at Elion’s fingers, then moved to paw at the backpack.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know, you only love me because I feed you,” Elion said. He ignored the cat and bent over Keyla, checking the splint he’d placed on her arm.

  One of the bandanas had shifted, the stabilizing metal bars coming loose. He untied the strap around Keyla’s wrist. To his amazement, the bruising and swelling had entirely disappeared. Prodding the arm, he felt for the bulge of broken bone, but discovered nothing.

  Elion gazed around in amazement. Had he really been asleep for that long? Impossible. He would have died of thirst. Some magic power had done this.

  The thought of water called Elion’s attention to his dry mouth. He found the canteen in Keyla’s bag and sipped from it, then drank deeply, draining nearly a quarter of their water. Another thing to add to his list of problems.

  Snickers mewed loudly as Elion drank, reminding him to break out the food. Elion recovered some of their rations, then turned out the light. They sat together in the darkness, eating, pondering.

  An indeterminable amount of time later, Keyla stirred, the change in her breathing and the soft shifting of her clothing thunderous in the void.

  Elion switched on the penlight and saw her dimly illuminated form sitting up.

  “Keyla!” he whispered. She turned to him, holding her arm up and examining her wrist. The remnants of Elion’s makeshift splint dangled from her elbow.

  “I had the strangest dream,” Keyla said. “But maybe… Did I break my arm?” Confusion furrowed her brow.

  “Yes,” Elion said. “You did. But it’s hard to keep track of what’s real and what’s imagined in this darkness.”

  “But it’s not broken,” Keyla protested. “It’s… fine.” She grabbed the splint, pulling it from her arm. “I must have passed out for a long time.”

  “You didn’t just pass out,” Elion said. “I used my ability to suspend you. I have no idea how long it was though; probably a day or two judging by how thirsty I was.”

  Keyla glanced around their small pool of light. “Where are we now?”

  “Deeper. I had to find some place where we could sit and rest, away from that toxic sludge.”

  Keyla took a deep breath, seeming to accept this. “Hand me that light.”

  Elion tossed it to her. She turned it off, then used a skill, signaled by a teal flash, blinding to Elion’s dark adjusted eyes.

  Keyla switched the light back on, and it flared a hundred times brighter than it had been before. Elion shielded his eyes.

  The recharged light reached out across the cavern. Hundreds of pipes drained into a central catch, water flowing out through a huge tunnel. Other large tunnels opened up into the large room, but Elion couldn’t tell which one he’d come through.

  Stalactites and stalagmites littered the room, mighty stone formations built up over hundreds of years. Overhead, structures that looked like bridges dangled over the cavern. Elion recognized the room from his dreams.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  *Or did I actually see it, glowing and green like that? Did I somehow heal Keyla?*

  Keyla used the light, inspecting her arm. Perfectly healed, no bruising or swelling remained to suggest the injury. She flexed her wrist in wonder.

  “How did you heal it?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” Elion said. “I dreamed; it was like in Gorman’s tower, when Kasm was healed.”

  “I had that dream too,” Keyla said. “Maybe you have a dual ascendency?”

  “Wouldn’t I know that?” Elion asked. “Wouldn’t Praxis give me those options?”

  Keyla shrugged, turning her light so it blinded Elion. “Toss me some food,” she said. “I’m ravenous.”

  Elion passed some rations to her, and she set the light down on the ground. It illuminated her face from underneath, giving her a strange, otherworldly cast. Snickers curled in her lap, nipping for scraps as she ate.

  “I already fed him,” Elion said. “He’ll eat everything if you let him.”

  Keyla fed him more anyways before putting the food away, packing it back into the resealable bags it came in.

  Elion watched her, his mind shooting back, recalling the overwhelming, momentous events of the last few days. They’d fought Sludge in the Karin Tol sewers, escaped Venya and Dorian’s warlocks while destroying a Skyskimmer.

  Elion took a shuddering breath.

  “A lot of stuff has happened recently,” he said.

  The image of Gorman’s smoking body flashed across his vision, his crumpled body and destroyed arm strewn across the floor of his room. Domas drove over the bridge, Artefin pieces crumbling as he reached the distortion field of the crystal. A bomb exploded. The skyskimmer destroyed the Aurelian Altar.

  “Yeah,” Keyla agreed. “I still can’t believe it.”

  Everything had moved too fast.

  “Should we… talk about it?”

  Keyla glanced over at him, her eyebrow raised. “I just keep seeing Gorman in my mind,” she said. “His body, lying there on the floor. I can’t believe he was lying to us like that.”

  “I know,” Elion said. “I see it too. Gorman. And Domas.”

  Keyla stroked Snickers softly. “He was like a second father to me,” she said. “And after my mom left, he was all I had left.”

  Elion sat quietly, letting her talk.

  “I think I knew something was wrong with him. He hid his Festrin powers, but I could have figured it out. I just didn’t want it to be true. I didn’t want to believe it, so I ignored all the signs.”

  “I liked him too,” Elion said. “He seemed honest, genuine. Nicer to me than anyone else, at first. Besides Domas. But I heard him making a call on his radio one night, and… I think he ratted me out. I think he told Dorian where to find me.”

  “He told me that he did it all for the dream of New Kairn Tol, of restoring peace and order to the city,” Keyla said. “He always told me, ‘this is for your own good,’ and I think he really believed it. He told me he loved me like his own daughter.”

  “He was wrong,” Elion said. “He might have felt like he loved you, but a good father would never do what he did to you. Or try to put a mind control chip in your brain.”

  “Maybe I deserved it,” Keyla said, lowering her eyes to stare at the ground between her legs. “Maybe it would be better if everyone followed all of his commands.”

  Elion wanted to protest, to disagree vehemently, but Keyla’s posture brought him up short. She didn’t need an argument right now.

  “Why did you come with me?” Elion asked.

  “I had to get away from that place. There was nothing left for me in Aterfel, not after… And then I… You were the first person who I ever felt safe around,” Keyla said. “I thought that if I went with you, I could keep that feeling.”

  “Oh,” Elion said.

  “Another mistake,” Keyla said, and Elion’s heart fell. “A selfish decision. Gorman is right. Was right. I’m not responsible enough to make my own decisions.”

  “Stop beating yourself up,” Elion said. “You saved my life from that Sludge back there. I couldn’t have gotten here without you. I would have been caught by the warlocks without your help.”

  “You’re the lost heir to the Throne,” Keyla said. “I have to help you.”

  Elion rolled his eyes. “Don’t be like that,” he said. “I’m not special.”

  “Sure you are. The Throne is super powerful. If what you’re telling me is true, then your sister is the only one who can operate it. Then it’s you, then Dorian.”

  “I don’t really matter, then,” Elion said. “Dorian already has Liora.”

  “I’m just saying, you and your sister are the only two people between Dorian and control of the Throne. If you and she were to die or abdicate, he would become the rightful ruler of Erod, and have access to the power of the Throne.” She punched him in the arm. “Dorian has a lot of power already. And you’re important to him. That makes you powerful.”

  Elion sighed. “I just hope Liora is okay. Every time someone talks about the throne, it sounds like there is no reason for Dorian to keep her alive. I don’t know why he didn’t just kill us on our front lawn and have it over with. Why bother kidnapping us at all?”

  “I don’t know,” Keyla said with a shrug. “But it’s probably a good sign; for your sister.”

  Elion grabbed his hair and pulled on it. “There has to be a reason. There has to be a reason for all of it. Why Dorian killed my parents. Why he kidnapped Liora. Why the portal brought me to Aterfel.”

  “That one was probably because of Kasm’s rune circles,” Keyla said. “He talked about them for months. He found an old book that talked about runic power, and decided he was going to try it. Everyone in town told him it wouldn’t do anything since he wasn’t Ascended, but that didn’t stop him.”

  “Maybe,” Elion said. “I don’t really know how all of that works. Like that weird distortion field back there in the tunnel. Could that have been something from the warlocks? Or maybe Gorman experimenting?”

  “Who knows,” Keyla sighed. “It could have been any of those things. It could have been a Tephalian.”

  Elion clutched his head in his hands.

  Keyla sat back and sighed. “I’m sorry I judged you so harshly,” she said. “I was really rude to you, and you had no idea what was going on. I thought you were just another pompous, charismatic, good-looking Aurelian come to our town to lead people away with empty promises.”

  “You think I’m charismatic and good-looking?” Elion said, looking up and grinning. She hit him again, but hard this time.

  “Ouch!”

  Keyla stood up, stretching her arms over her head. She shone the penlight around the cavern.

  “We need to figure out what we’re going to do next,” she said.

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” Elion said. “I think we need to try to retrace our steps.”

  “What if that leads us back to Venya?”

  “At least we wouldn’t be lost anymore,” he said. “I don’t know what else to do. We can’t keep wandering deeper. Besides, I need to get my knife back. That machine they have… it captured it somehow. I can’t summon it.”

  “Don’t worry,” Keyla said, brushing hair behind her ear. “We’ll get it back. And we’ll upgrade it. I think I can help make it better than ever.”

  “It feels like a part of me is missing, somehow,” Elion said. “And something about my power has changed it. It’s got those golden highlights now, and it’s way sharper than a butter knife should be.”

  “Like the vacuum. Your Ascendency does something to it.”

  Elion nodded.

  Keyla scanned the cavern. “Do you even remember which tunnel we came through?” she asked.

  “I think it’s that one,” Elion said, pointing.

  “You think?”

  She swept the cavern again, searching. She gasped, a slight intake of breath as her eyes widened. “I have a better idea!”