For eight months we’d flown on, seeing nothing but ocean. Many fell ill; some died to monsters or misfortune, but in the end we three pressed on. The ocean was merciless, the sky dangerous, but at last we saw a light in the distance. We shifted our course, daring to hope we’d finally found another land. But to our dismay, it was only our own homeland from which we’d departed so long ago.

It was then we concluded that there is nothing beyond. Nothing but ocean in every direction. We are the sole beacon of light in an endless sea of darkness and monsters.

-An Explorer’s Journey

I landed on Pelys’s balcony in a crash of pink lightning. I hadn’t realized how fast I’d been moving until the power flared and faded, leaving me worn and ravenous. I stumbled to the door and knocked. Aneeyha wasn’t here to open the door this time, and his sitting room was dark and empty.

My power ached, the empty strain of being stretched beyond its limits for too long. I leaned against the door for support, then slid down until I sat with my back against it. I couldn’t fly down and there was no external stairway.

That was fine. I could wait for Pel here. Just … rest a minute …

“Astesh? What are you doing here?”

I snapped awake, instantly alert, pulling my power up into an aura bubble before I’d even consciously recognized my surroundings. Pel’s voice had that effect on me. The power grated, taking a whole extra second before whipping around me and settling into place. My head felt like I’d been smacked around the river a few times and left without Pel’s healing. It was still dark out, but the blue and rainbow glow of the city provided sufficient light to figure out my surroundings.

“Astesh? You alright?”

I exhaled and leaned back against the door, my power dissipating with a feeling of relief as I let it fade. Pel wasn’t attacking, which was better than I’d hoped.

“What’s wrong?”

I shook my head, not sure where to start.

“You look terrible. Come inside.”

He pulled the door open, and I followed him in. I wordlessly fished out Desten Oros’s threatening note and passed it to him before collapsing into the nearest chair.

He read it with a frown. “Myen. Huh. I didn’t know you were out-family. Is this going to be a problem?”

I shook my head. “It’s not that. It’s everything. Only, I can’t—”

“Here, wait. Take a minute, relax. I’ll have some food brought up. You don’t need to rush through anything.”

I nodded gratefully, wondering at how Pel could sometimes be so brutal and yet so caring. He’d make a good parent someday. Or a good brother, perhaps. Yes, that was it, wasn’t it? He’d considered himself Fylen’s big brother, or as close as. That was why he had fixated on this investigation.

And I’d lied to him. I shared just enough information to make him trust me, to convince him to help me, and held back everything that actually mattered.

So when he returned, I told him everything. Haltingly, brokenly at times, my mind instinctively trying to skitter away from reliving what I’d seen, but I told him. About my false lineage, about Reirn Ushan’s suspicion, and about exactly what I’d witnessed the night Fylen was killed.

The first day we’d met, it had been reasonable to hold back. I hadn’t known him back then, didn’t know if I could trust him. But he’d proven himself time and again since then. I had no one else to turn to and I was in so far over my head. I couldn’t do this alone.

Pelys listened, his face growing grimmer and his scowl more pronounced, but I pressed on. I told him everything I could remember, my notes on the Destens from Varon and my trip to Oros. Desten Oros’s threats, my mother, all of it.

It was such a relief, to hand that burden over to someone else, instead of trying to carry it all myself. I wasn’t sure what part I could have left to play in this farcical affair, but I was done trying to play the hero. One person couldn’t do everything alone. I should have realized that from the outset.

When I finished, he sat in silence. I turned my attention to the neglected tray of sandwiches and began awkwardly working my way through them while I waited.

I couldn’t look at him. Couldn’t bear to imagine what he’d be thinking, feeling about me now. But I was hungry, and that problem I could deal with.

The tray was half empty before Pelys spoke.

“Astesh Myen, I challenge you; for the vengeance of one you’ve wronged, on behalf of Fyless Sarosa.” Pelys’s voice was strained, I could hear the pain in it, the anger. Only then did I notice the dome of blue power that surrounded us. I slowly swallowed what may well be the final thing I ate in my life, heart suddenly racing.

“Can I say no?” I asked, hesitantly climbing to my feet.

“You have confessed. There can be no refusal.” There was no note of lightness in his tone, no hint of compassion; no echo of our friendship remained.

“Then, uh, Pelys Sarosa, I accept your challenge. Um. What are the terms of this fight?”

He was within his rights to kill me. Tear out my power stone in case there’s any way to return it to Fyless. Or simply crush me into the ground.

“No terms.” His aura bubble sprang into existence, so thick it distorted his form like water.

My own power felt sluggish, drained and weak. Try as I might to pull it into action, the power did not slide effortlessly through my body to lend me its lightning. I’d flown too far, used too much. I was in no shape to fight.

Then Pelys slammed himself into me, so fast and hard I never saw him move before the impact with his outer shell sent me flying across the room. I crashed through a table and into the solid blue dome beyond before I could even think to bring up my own shield. I fell to the carpet, dizzied by the impact.

“You lied to me. Lied to us all.”

I tried to get to my feet, but a sudden deluge of water pressed me back down, slamming me against the floor before I could stand.

“Fyless nearly died,” Pelys snarled. “Even if she continues to live, you have stolen her future.”

The water pressed me down and held me in place, unable to speak. Then it began to solidify, shifting to ice.

“You’ve done just as much harm as Desten ever did.” The cold fury in his voice sounded wrong, verging on madness. I couldn’t help but recall the way killer Desten had sounded as he tore Fylen apart.

I wanted to refute his words, to protest that if Desten hadn’t started this, none of it would have happened. I’d only been there by accident! I didn’t ask for any of this!

This was all a terrible mistake. I should have trusted him from the beginning, or else hidden the truth forever. But it was far too late to start second guessing my decisions.

I’d seen Pelys in training enough times to know how he used his power. Always before it had been to push, to teach, even at its most extreme.

This was different. If I didn’t think of some way out of this, he’d really kill me.

Come on stupid power, if I’m going to live, I need you now!

Pink flickered into the air before me, scything through the blue of Pelys’s ice block and melting me free as my own aura spun into a sphere around me. I gasped for air, trying to think of any way to stop him.

Before I could do anything more my bubble vanished as Pelys spiked it with his disruption, like so many times before. Only this time he didn’t retreat and allow me to recover my breath. He pressed forward as I frantically tried to spin my bubble back into place. Water gathered behind him into a half-dozen deadly spikes of ice, each thicker than my forearm, narrowing to jagged points; all aimed straight at me.

“I’m sorry!” I shouted desperately. I scrambled to my feet and backed away from him, following the inside edge of the barrier. “Do you think I wanted any of this? I would never ever have touched it if I’d known! If there were any way to give it back, I swear I would. I want Fyless to be safe and happy as much as you do!”

“No. You. Don’t.” A spike of ice slammed into my aura bubble. The attack shattered into watery splinters without reaching me, but my bubble vanished, completely expended by the collision.

I flinched away; that had been pointed right at my face. An instant later another spike shattered against the outer barrier just where my head had been a split second before.

Desperation turned to full panic. Lightning flickered along my body as my power finally decided to show up, and I did what Pelys had always told me I should do if I ended up fighting a superior foe. I ran.

The world slowed and blurred around me just in time; the remaining four spikes of ice were already in the air, flying directly at me. Even with my power running, I barely managed to dodge them.

Pelys never moved this fast in our training. I hadn’t even realized how much he was holding back.

I ran for the balcony doors, hoping that the barrier didn’t extend into the outside. If I could slip away, gain enough distance, maybe think of something to say—

Pelys flung himself forward faster than I could react. He smashed into me bodily, his bubble deforming as we collided, and we hit the doors with the full force of his charge. The frames splintered, the hinges buckled, and we exploded out onto the balcony. To my dismay, the opaque blue duel barrier continued outside as though the wall were no obstacle, forming a complete circle around us. There was no way out.

“Pel, stop, please.” My voice shook; I knew I was about to die.

Pelys pressed me against the balcony railing, the metal behind me digging into my back, the force of his aura pressing in on me from the front. For a moment we stood unmoving, then he raised one hand. Water began crystallizing from thin air, a deadly blade forming drop by drop.

“P-please don’t. We’re both on the same side here. We both want justice for Fylen. I— I can help.”

“I don’t need your help.”

My power flickered faster as Pelys began to stab downwards, his icy sword perfectly in line with my heart. I couldn’t move, crushed between his power and the solid railing behind me.

I don’t want to die.

I don’t want to die!

Orange flickered in my peripheral vision. Without warning the railing behind me collapsed, dropping me off the balcony. I fell backwards, slowly enough to watch Pel’s expression shifting slowly to surprise and the tip of his blade dissolved into mist. The railing had melted; I felt the searing heat of it across my back where I’d been in contact with the suddenly-hot metal, but I’d rather spend weeks recovering from burns than have Pel carve my heart out on the spot.

Water chased me down, but my power was flowing faster now. My bubble spun into place in time to deflect the wave; it flowed around me and downward, splashing harmlessly against the street below.

Then I hit the ground. My bubble shattered into nothingness and I slammed hard against the stone.

I must have blacked out for a second, because next thing I knew Pelys stood above me, flying in midair, his bubble still pristine and undamaged. I bitterly wished I’d been able to learn his disruption technique, but it was too late now.

“Give up,” he said, water rising to reform the crystal blade in his hand. He leveled the blade at my throat. “Go on. Run away. It’s the only thing you’re good at.”

“I— I can do that?”

“Concede your defeat and dishonor, and you may flee.”

If I were braver, if I were stronger, maybe I could have stood up. Maybe I could have defied his derision, faced him down, and forced him to acknowledge that my honour was as true as his own. Perhaps he would kill me, but perhaps I would earn back his respect.

But I’m no brave warrior.

“I concede,” I whimpered.

The duel barrier immediately drifted apart into glittering dust, then evaporated entirely. Without its barrier, the evening wind gusted in on us. I shivered in the sudden chill.

Pelys snorted derisively, his blade and bubble dissipating in an instant. “You’ve never belonged here. Leave.”

Without another word, he flickered with blue light and flew upward and out of sight.