An indicator that my spear had broken brought me back to reality, and I pressed ‘full’ before I swiveled around to look at Endra’s cocoon. It still wasn’t moving, which was good for me, but it also meant that I had to start moving. There was no possible way that Endra emerged weaker than she had been, and by the time that happened, my consumables would have run their course.

“Sorry for this.” I whispered to Nia’s corpse, reaching down under her knees to pull her from the glass sand. She was far too light. I rose to my full height as my gauntlets roasted Nia’s flesh, looking around while I tried to decide which way I was going to run. Walkalong would be beyond dangerous, since there was a good chance someone attacked first and asked questions later if I showed up carrying the body of their Matria.

The coral forest wasn’t much better, though, as I’d just be a sitting duck whenever Endra emerged from her cocoon. The Floodforest was far too far away for me to reach it, and even then, I didn’t know if Endra would be able to follow me through. And running out into the desert seemed like a recipe for dying alone, so I crossed that out as well.

{If I hide, can Endra find me?} I asked The End, already beginning to make my way towards the edges of Walkalong. {I don’t know what to do.}

//I CAN ATTEMPT TO CLOAK YOUR PRESENCE.

//THOUGH YOU WILL HAVE TO FIND SOME WAY TO ISOLATE YOURSELF, AND THAT PROTECTION WILL NOT STRETCH TO PERSEPHONIA.

{Okay, then that’s a last resort. Do you have any other advice?}

//WAIT AND LISTEN.

//I WILL INFORM YOU WHEN ENDRA BEGINS TO STIR.

I nodded to myself and sped up, the outer fence of Walkalong growing closer and closer by the second. My feet melted the glass below into slightly slippery hardened masses, an annoyance that made the trek much more difficult than I’d expected. I shifted Nia in my arms and tried to pick up the pace, but a massive plume of fire rising from Walkalong gave me pause. I assumed that had to be from Inopsy, which meant that someone was putting up a resistance.

Had Endra already called in reinforcements? The image of a watermelon flashed by my eyes, and my question changed. Now I wondered if they were always here, keeping an eye on Nia in case she ever tried to… step out of line? I shook my head. I didn’t know anywhere near enough about the situation to go making assumptions.

{Where the hell am I supposed to go?} I asked in exasperation as pillars of rock began erupting through the buildings on Walkalong’s outer rim. {Is there anywhere safe at all?}

I ran along the fence for a few dozen seconds while I waited for The End’s answer, but ended up finding my own before it responded. It came in the form of a man dragging an eel carcass through a hole in Walkalong’s fence. An eel carcass that bore a striking resemblance to the one that I’d killed.

Okeria grunted and muttered something to himself as he tried to make away with his prize, but as far as I could tell, he hadn’t noticed me yet. I wasn’t quite sure what I was supposed to do here, since I didn’t trust Endra’s claim that he was her chosen, but I did know that the bastard had done something with that eel.

I shifted Nia’s body so it looked like I was carrying her in a piggy-back, then walked right up to Okeria and cleared my throat. “So much for the endangered animal.”

He froze for a split second, then shrugged and turned to look at me. “It’s not my fault ya two never came ta get yer share. The meat don’t sit well for so long, and I had some people come asking about it. Ya can’t blame a guy for trying ta make a profit, can ya?”

“Oh, nooo, of course not.” I drawled and leaned in close to Okeria, making sure he noticed Nia’s body on my back. “So how’d you have people come asking for it if nobody knew you had it?” I shook my head. “Doesn’t seem very possible to me.”

“Drowned smart ones.” Okeria muttered. “Alright; ya got me. I started selling yer ‘eel’ the moment ya left it with me. But I don’t have a part in anything that’s going on right now, ya hear me? I just brought a little old lady here ta see her granddaughter, and everything just went ta the abyssal depths when that declaration of war went through.”

I hefted Nia’s body up as it began to slump down. Her spine had to be severely damaged. And Okeria hadn’t attacked me yet, even though he now had a reason to, so maybe he wasn’t one of Endra’s. Actually, I had a pretty good way to check that.

{Is Okeria one of Endra’s chosen?}

//HE IS NOT ANYONE’S CHOSEN.

//THOUGH IT MAKES ME WONDER WHY ENDRA TRIED TO LAY CLAIM TO HIM…

//PERHAPS IT WAS TO LIMIT YOUR OPTIONS ON WHO TO TRUST.

//I WOULD RECOMMEND CONTINUING WITH CAUTION, BUT CONTINUING NONETHELESS.

“Alright, let’s say I believe you. I need to get out of here, and I don’t have any clue how I’m going to do that. I’ll overlook the whole…” I gestured at the eel Okeria was dragging, “eel thing if you can get us somewhere safe.”

Okeria slowly nodded, then gestured at Nia. “What happened to her?” He asked reluctantly. “It wasn’t because of the eel, right?”

“Unless that eel summoned Endra, no.” I answered with a shake of my head. “So will you help or not?”

“Only if I keep the rest of the eel.” Okeria said with a gesture for me to hold my tongue. “I’ll split the profit with you and that friend of yours three ways, since ya killed it and I’m going through the rigors of selling it. Do we have an agreement?”

I grimaced and looked down at Okeria’s outstretched hand. I really didn’t want to shake it, but I wanted to live more than anything else. All I’d have to do now is find Jun. “Fine.” I grudgingly said, grasping Okeria’s hand and letting him lead the handshake. It worked just as every other hand shake I’d done. “What’s your escape plan?”

“I’m doing it right now.” Okeria grunted, slinging the eel’s tail over his shoulder and resumed dragging it along the ground. “You’ve got thirty minutes ta find whoever ya want me ta take ta Rainbow Basin and bring them ta me. If ya show up before that, I won’t be there. If ya show up after that, I won’t be there.”

I watched in fascination as Okeria struggled with the eel for almost a minute, then shook my head to clear my thoughts and turned away from him. “Where are we meeting?”

Okeria pointed off to where the desert slowly transformed into the coral forest. “I’ve got a bunker under the first big blue one off that way that connects ta my way out. We’ll make for Rainbow Basin once everyone’s inside, but ya need ta know that the tunnels aren’t safe at all. If they were, I couldn’t be using them ta smuggle.”

From a glance, there was only one obvious blue coral tree that I could see along the edge of the forest. As if it had been artificially planted as a landmark. “Thirty minutes. We’ll be there.”

“I don’t care either way.” Okeria called back, dragging the eel I killed down the glass desert towards what would hopefully be our haven.

A supply building detonating three feet from my face reminded me that I wasn’t safe. The shrapnel that pelted me and threatened ro desecrate Nia’s corpse reminded me that I wasn’t wanted here. I took a deep breath and checked on the remaining duration of my //ENDLESS ribbons, seeing that I only had three hundred seconds until the fire bled out of my bones and into… well… hopefully into the atmosphere.

The alternative was very unpleasant to think about. I looked over my shoulder at Nia’s limp body and made the decision to do something that I really didn’t want to, since it felt like I was reducing what was once Matria Persephonia to a mere corpse.

I almost didn’t want it to work, if only for the hope that I could somehow revive her. But when my inventory accepted her corpse as a simple item, that hope died.

“Corpse of Persephonia Persephonia.” I read quietly, looking at my bloodstained gauntlets against my pristine interface. The symbolism wasn’t lost on me.

I slunk through the back alleys for as long as I could, the sounds and sights of battle slowly intensifying. At first it was two groups of simpy-armored people slapping at each other with weapons above their skill level, their cries of effort only matched by the clashing of metal on metal and the screams of pain. I recognized Harvester and Scalovera’s armor among the crowd, but I didn’t even make an attempt to reach out. They’d shown what they thought of me and Nia when they sided with Inopsy and the other Matria.

As I got closer to the massive plume of fire, I saw Lavender and Scrap along with a much smaller group of more skilled fighters pushing back a monotone army of icy dark blue. Each and every blue fighter that fell melted into a puddle of oily water, slithering off towards the center of Walkalong. They were being stalled, and nothing more. Lavender caught a glimpse of me and stared directly at me for a moment, then turned away and focused once more on the icy constructs.

If I’d had anything on my mind except for the single-minded desire to get Jun out of there, I might have wondered why nothing attacked me. I might have wondered what a war between two specific Embodiments meant, and what that meant for Jun and I who weren’t aligned to either of them. Hell, I probably would’ve wondered how Okeria managed to drag that entire eel out of the settlement without getting caught.

It would’ve made my day a whole lot easier, even if it greatly complicated everything else. But I couldn’t waste a second of my ribbons’ time, which had dipped just below one-hundred and fifty seconds, if I was wading into another fight. Yet I made it to the circular building that I’d called home for a few weeks without fighting a single thing.

Somehow it seemed quieter than anywhere else. A proverbial eye of the storm, even as ashes fluttered through the air like snowflakes from the inferno that reached towards the heavens and into the burning clouds above.

I quickly checked for any patrols before darting to Nia’s office, gingerly opening and closing the door as I slipped inside. I walked straight through the center of the room without noticing what was wrong, then paused right before I opened the door that led to Nia’s living quarters.

“Wasn’t this place cluttered to all hell just this morning?” I muttered to myself, looking around at the completely bare room that I found myself in. I stepped up to the doors and ran a hand down the wood. If I didn’t recognize the colour and grain of these doors, I would’ve thought that I’d gone into the wrong room. But no; this was Nia’s office. Someone had just ransacked it.

I cautiously sidled up to the door and pressed my face up against it, glaring through the smallest of cracks to try and see if anyone was on the other side. Unfortunately the room was airtight. I wondered how someone had managed to break in and move everything out without damaging any of the doors, then paused as I heard hushed whispers carrying through the wood. I thought I recognized two of the four voices I heard, but the other two were completely foreign.

I pressed my helmet to the door to try and listen, then caught a glimpse of how long my ribbons had left. There wasn’t time to waste waiting. Either the people on the other side of that door were going to kill me, or they weren’t.

With a deep breath, I reared back and slammed my shield into the door. I used the burning shards as cover to dive into the living area, my entire body burning with anticipation and physical fire. I finally got eyes on the people who’d invaded our temporary home, and the one person who had every right to be here. The one that I hadn’t heard speak whatsoever.

Jun looked at me with an initial horror that turned to elation the moment she recognized my armor’s colours. “Seb! You’re Alive!”