We’re not the only ones looking to take the lift down–the line to Cadivu’s surface stretches around the lift’s perimeter. I have no idea how people already assembled so fast–there was no queue when we emerged from the palace a few minutes ago.

“Guess we’re not going down on the lift after all,” I remark. “I don’t intend to wait around for two hours.”

Seraph Windflower chooses that moment to make her reappearance, emerging from the crowd of people exploring the grounds with renewed gusto. She smooths down her pale tabard and bends forward into a bow again, one hand sweeping around to hold her long, thin braids. “Hello again. Did I hear correctly that you wanted to take the lift down?”

Maria nods.

“Alright, follow me–as guests of Suncloud herself, albeit indirectly, you can skip the line.”

People don’t seem upset that we’ve cut ahead, their gazes mild once they realize that a seraph is guiding us. From the queue we have a clear view of the platform as it ascends, turning from a small speck to a massive disc packed with bodies.

After the platform is clear, we’re first to board. The white marble lift is covered in a golden mandala, a pale white glow illuminating the inscriptions.

“The lift is considered a natural wonder of Cadivu,” Windflower explains as people file into the lift. “No one understands how it works aside from its creator, our god.”

Something like this would be normal in a world with practitioners. Here, it’s like magic, inscrutable, cryptic.

Soon we’re surrounded by a crush of bodies–they’re clearly trying to fit as many people as possible at a time. “That’s the limit,” a seraph operating a small obelisk at the head of the queue bellows. He waves his hand over the top of the obelisk and the platform shudders. The gate closes as the lift disengages from the boarding area; it then spins in a circle, stopping after one rotation. “Going down!”

The platform’s inscriptions shine with elevated intensity. As they dim down to their previous level, the lift begins to plummet. The descent from the cloud layer is smooth, the ground slowly coming into greater focus as we approach.

Without warning, the sky tears open twenty feet above us. Karanos emerges from the portal butt naked–why?–and forms a sphere of energy between his fingers, blasting it behind him. Nobody around me seems to have any idea that this is going on, the platform passengers conversing as usual, their gazes fixed on Cadivu below. Even Maria appears unfazed.

A chuckling seraph with massive black wings darts from the portal, Karanos’ attack breaking on her downy feathers. A black tiara hovers above her head, more ornate than those worn by the other seraphs. The dark wings unfurl to reveal a nude woman wearing a frenzied grin. Her slanted black bangs are as sharp as the predatorial eyes she focuses on Karanos.

What the–

“You call that punishment?” the woman purrs, pumping her wings.

Karanos snorts, his abdominal muscles tensing as he twists his body around and extends his leg into a kick. Red ascendant energy blisters around his foot. When it impacts the sky, a bright, fiery beam erupts out.

As the woman comes near, Karanos extends and grabs her hand, their fingers interlacing together delicately. The world seems to slow down as their faces come close, their lips almost touching in an undeniably intimate gesture. There’s no need for them to get that close–it’s almost like their actions are choreographed.

The moment of intimacy ends with Karanos twirling the woman back. He then kicks her into the hole his kick tore in the sky. Something between shriek and laughter falls from the woman’s lips as she whips through multiple planes of reality.

The seraph woman’s hand suddenly emerges from the torn sky. Karanos grabs it and hoists the woman up, slamming her body onto the razor-edges of the veil, effectively sawing her body in half. Viscera spills onto the sky and drops of blood spatter like rain.

Karanos puts his head in his hands and sighs, blood streaking his cheeks.

The woman’s death marks the moment that the crowd screams. Someone points to Karanos from where he floats in the air, red energy spiraling languidly around his bare legs. Soon the crowd is staring and murmuring in bewilderment.

The body and droplets disappear. Suddenly, the screaming cuts off and the crowd calms down, preternaturally pacified. They act like Karanos is invisible–or more accurately, like he never existed. Karanos tenses, his eyes narrowing, a plasma orb spawning in his hands.

Despite his preparations, the same winged woman returns, swooping downward. Red energy spirals around her body and she slams into Karanos like a hovergloss. His body splits down the middle. Aghast, I watch as the two halves disassemble in the wind, Karanos’ brain, lungs, and intestines clearly visible.

I behold the black-winged woman with elevated respect. She’s obviously an ascendant if she resurrected. But not any ascendant could kill Karanos with a single body check, let alone split him in half. Y’jeni, don’t tell me...is this Cayeun Suncloud?

Next to me, Maria’s eyes are wide like saucers.

“Can you see now?” I ask.

“Uh, yeah,” she murmurs. I didn’t realize even Karanos’ ass was so perfect. Oh, did I think that out loud?

I narrow my eyes. What’s her game? She can see vitality now–she shouldn’t be surprised. Clothes hardly cover up anything.

“Funny,” I mutter.

Maria smirks. Sorry, I couldn’t resist–you’re ogling the ascendant woman.

“She’s not just any woman,” I whisper. “I think that this is Suncloud.”

Maria gives me a knowing look. Obviously. But she’s just one ascendant of many that we’ve met. Her being beautiful doesn’t change anything.

The lift has been steadily descending since Karanos and Suncloud started to fight, Suncloud growing further away. She dives down, closing the distance, then hangs off the lift’s side. Her wings fold behind her body, framing her hourglass figure. I sense Windflower’s heart go into crisis mode, her pulse racing. I guess she can see what’s going on as well.

“Suncloud,” Windflower says, voice shaking. Her head is bowed. “Apologies, with all these people, there is no space to prostrate myself.”

Suncloud ignores her completely, her gaze focused on me. “You know, staring isn’t polite.” A smile playing on her lips.

I blush. First Maria, now Suncloud. I can see under people’s clothes–it’s ludicrous to think I’d be staring at someone just because they’re naked.

“You’re Karanos’ boy,” she continues. “I saw you through the eyes of others, but I wanted to take your measure myself.”

Karanos suddenly emerges from a slash in the sky. This time he’s wearing his normal vestments and has all his rings. “Cayeun,” he says, sighing and gritting his teeth. “Haven’t you done enough already?”

She glares at him. “You come into my realm and make your demands. Now you try to take away my fun?”

Karanos looks completely helpless. “But...your punishment,” he says weakly.

“I never said we were done,” she retorts. “This is a break–a quick, convenient detour.”

Karanos shakes his head, but doesn’t say anything else in rebuttal.

Suncloud grins, then pushes herself off the lift, her wings catching the wind. “Follow me, Ian, if you want to speak to your companions back home.” She sneers. “Leave the woman behind.”

This woman is crazy, Maria transmits over our bond.

Nothing new, I muse bitterly.

“You said you haven’t taught him anything yet?” Suncloud shouts gleefully.

“Cayeun–” Karanos interjects, exasperated.

“Let’s see if you’re the quick study Karanos says you are. And what better way to learn than through experience?” She suddenly swoops up and around toward Karanos. He rebuffs her attack and spins her around, throwing her through a nascent tear in the veil that leads to a stormy ocean.

He slams the torn veil together and exhales sharply before giving me an uncharacteristically sympathetic look. “I apologize, she’s...difficult.”

The sky opens up like a gaping maw beneath me, its throat a fiery lavascape, smelling of smoke and charcoal.

Shit.

Suncloud’s long, painted fingernails snare around my ankle and pull me down. My stomach drops as she slams me into igneous rock, my reflexive use of ascendant energy to reinforce my body the only reason I’m still conscious. I choke on blood rising in my throat. The rock is like a stovetop, searing my skin. The sulfurous yellow sky stitches back up, the way to Cadivu closed.

“Most men are rather enraptured by my body when they see it for the first time,” Cayeun muses. My limbs twitch as I struggle to repair them. “Are you uninterested in women?”

I use my practice to force myself upright and wipe the blood from my lips. “If I got excited over every naked body, I’d never be able to leave the house.”

She laughs, then darts forward and grabs my wrist, holding my arm up. “You know there’s a difference between what you sense and what you see with your eyes.”

I swallow, heat building in my stomach. “You said that you wanted to take my measure, but never specified the scale.”

She takes a step forward. I recoil, but her free arm wraps around my back, preventing my retreat. Her eyes are exotically brilliant, like neon green lights, reminding me of a cat’s. My breath catches in my throat as her head slides next to mine, fine black hair tickling my cheeks–she’s tall enough to stand at my eye level. She slides my finger down the valley of her chest, stopping when it rests over her sternum.

She whispers in my ear. “Make a rift for me.”

With her holding my wrist in place over her skin, I’m not sure what she’s expecting me to do–poke a hole in the veil, piercing through her? She literally laughed as Karanos sawed her body in half. What do you think?

Blue ascendant energy crackles around my hand. I frown as the energy halts over Cayeun’s skin, unable to cut it. Taking this as a sign I’m supposed to use my practice, I carve a hole through her flesh with ascendant-empowered Death energy. I feel my finger reach through to another plane, this one icy cold.

Suncloud gasps, the arm wrapped around my back tightening. I sense her flesh tearing apart as she breathes, the hole in reality carving a growing hole in her chest. She moves my hand back away from her torso, guiding it to the side. “Karanos excels at navigating through the planes. You can learn much from him if you choose to, Ian.”

Suddenly she’s standing behind me. I stare at the empty space in front, stunned at her swiftness. Her bare torso presses into my back, her arms wrapping around my stomach and pulling me closer. “You don’t have to suppress your desire with your practice,” she purrs. “I don’t bite.”

By some miracle I’m able to keep a straight face. “I’m sure you don’t.”

She roars with laughter and wraps her wings around us. Her floral scent and heat is everywhere, insulating us from the harsh external environment. “Karanos came to me and asked that I lend you a very precious artifact, little Ian.”

My chest tightens. I know that Karanos promised he’d do it, but seeing his side of our agreement come to fruition almost feels too good to be true.

“I saw your mind when you looked into my mirror,” Cayeun continues. “Mortals often make the mistake of conflating eccentricity and instability. Karanos and I are both eccentrics–we have our particularities and issues that we’ve learned to live with. At times, we may give in to our lesser natures and do things we regret, but such is to be human.

Instability, on the other hand, is a state of inward affliction, a rottenness that pervades all thoughts and actions. You, dear boy, are unstable.”

My expression hardens. I don’t know what point she’s trying to make–I know I have issues, but those can take a backseat until I’ve fixed the time-sensitive issue of my world’s extinction. “I’m trying my best.”

“You place a great responsibility on yourself,” Suncloud observes. “I understand why–it gives you purpose, a goal, a reason to keep moving forward.” Her hands reach lower, stroking my hips. At least I’m wearing clothes. “I created Cadivu because I wanted to die but also wanted a reason not to. What comes next after saving your world?”

“I might stay for a while,” I reply. “Appreciate the place I’m trying to save, live beside the people I love.”

“They will die before your eyes,” Cayeun murmurs. “There is nothing that hurts more. Are you prepared?”

“Not today,” I admit. “But I trust that I will be, when those days come.”

“And after all your loved ones are gone, what then?”

“I’ll return to Eternity and find a new way.” I wish I had a more dramatic, purposeful answer to give her, but there is none.

“And then?”

I snort. “One day I’ll seek my end, as seems inevitable.”

Cayeun sighs. “So fatalistic. Don’t plan for the present and lose sight of the gift you’ve been given–plan for Eternity. I created the closest thing I could to paradise.” She chuckles. “It’s not a paradise for everyone, but it’s a paradise for me. That’s the true beauty of Eternity, boy–it grants us the freedom to create our own deliverance or damnation. Immortals should never fear forever.”

While I see what Suncloud is saying, I also can’t help but think of Floria. If she’s done and wants an end, I can’t fault her.

“I agree that some people are right to want an end,” Cayeun qualifies, not even trying to hide the fact that she’s skimming my thoughts. “But with the right preparation and planning, such a fate can be avoided.”

“How do you know Karanos?” I wonder.

“Do I have permission to show you?” she asks.

“How polite.”

She grins. “Karanos was very annoyed at me for the mirror vision. I don’t want to upset him too much.”

“Why not? I’ll be the first to admit that he can be infuriating at times.”

“I like Karanos,” she scoffs. “He actually visits from time to time.”

I can’t deny that I’m curious to see what Karanos was like in the past. Given his relationship with Cayeun, I’m inclined to believe they met long ago. “You have my permission.”

The world shifts.

I find myself in a plane with ice floes covering cold water. The night sky is filled with an aurora.

Exploring the icy wasteland, Cayeun scans for sapient minds. I have a vague understanding that her goal is to locate interesting mortals, humanoid or otherwise.

Rather than mortals, she comes upon a group of ascendants. She opens her wings and takes flight, red energy coursing along their lengths to keep them from freezing. As she gets closer, Karanos comes into view. He’s fighting three others over a corpse. A bear the size of a house with savage injuries lies unmoving on the ice.

The four ascendants have different affinities–Karanos sends out beams of fiery light, while one ascendant uses spears of darkness; another seems to be attacking via vitality, and the last one relies mostly on ascendant energy, though her movements are notably prescient, suggesting Beginning or Regret affinity.

Suddenly, Karanos makes his move, cutting a thin slit in the veil and slipping through it, a flash of light hiding his passage. His opponents look around in confusion, but quickly re-engage one another. Must be Beginning, then, else the woman would have predicted his disappearance.

The fight ends in the next five seconds. Karanos emerges from beyond the veil like an assassin, silently slitting everyone’s throats. While they respawn and run back, Karanos heads over to the bear and cuts its heart out, sending it into his lone storage ring.

Looking once behind him, he pierces the veil and escapes.

Cayeun Suncloud follows immediately after.