What a strangely unnatural color...?

Was my first thought, and the second didn't come that soon after. You see, trying to string words together was like thinking through pudding, and I had the surreal experience of being able to feel my thoughts forming, though I was in no position to affect them beyond my normal capabilities. It was as though only my perception of the world had stayed the same, but that my mind was slowed down to a crawl.

Throughout all of this, I kept humming my part of the little melody, because if it worked thus far, would it not continue to do so?

Someone alive!

And there was a second thought, by my later reckoning about 10 seconds after the first one.

The Fey was looking at me with a very amused expression, though there was an edge of cruelty in his grin that I didn't like the look of. When he spoke, it was in a surprisingly deep voice, but that's human speciesism for you, assuming that all fairies have high voices. Not that he in any way resembled a fairy, but I still drew the connection.

"And who might you be? A lost little girl, wandering the Fey lands?"

His voice followed an odd pattern, and it only took half a minute for me to figure out that he had replaced his part of the hum with words spoken in the same pitch, which should have sounded weird, but somehow wasn't. Perhaps I'd become jaded to strange shit lately. That seemed likely.

"Is it too much for you? I am impressed you managed to shoulder this much. Thank you for that."

His words conveyed thanks, but his tone did anything but. It refined the cruel edge of his expression into a point, which he proceeded to stab me with.

"Come to gloat, have you? Finally wiped out those 'damn tricksters'?"

At this one I drew a very slow blank. 'wipe out those damn tricksters'? What the hell was he on about? Didn't he see me struggle to help him, here?

"So you found me, but I was busy, and you attempted to touch the stones to rub it in my face, is that it?!"

His voice rose into a bellow with the last few words, and the grin morphed into a grimace of hatred. He opened his mouth to shout something else, when the room suddenly began to fill with tension.

He glanced around wildly, then closed his eyes and went very still - and the buildup of tension slowed somewhat, but didn't stop. The tension made it even harder to think, and I didn't know what to do, until I tried to think about it, failed, panicked, and retreated back to where the majority of my mind was located.

***

The circle was in chaos.

Where before it had been somewhat tranquil, it was now sparking and hissing things into my mind. I checked over the threads connecting me to the circle, and found several frayed edges and nearly broken connections, but managed to stabilize them just so. However, that wasn't the main problem - I discovered that when I tried to feel for the other awareness occupying the grid, which was thin, thinner than it had been before, it's connecting threads straining and weakening, I quickly shifted my own awareness around the circle, trying to find where he'd gone, and discovered something horrifying - there was a tear in the circle.

It was massive, and the other awareness was struggling against it, bending and shifting in ways I couldn't even comprehend, but it was still losing. Whatever the fuck was on the other side, it was fighting back just as hard.

Without knowing exactly what to do, I simply pushed from all sides against the tear, hoping to do something, anything...

And the other awareness shifted again, pausing for the briefest of moments, before solidifying further and continuing its onslaught.

Through our combined efforts, the tear eventually collapsed with an ear-shattering CRACK, and I was back inside my body, the other consci- being regarding me warily.

***

"I do not know what you are playing at, girl, but I don't like it."

You can say that again. I didn't like it either. I didn't like anything about this situation.

"I have been too hasty accusing you, but perhaps you were simply acting for your own purposes."

Why was he so suspicious? What the hell was going on?

"I do not think you had anything to do with the extinction of my people - but that does not absolve you from anything else."

Like hell, I'd lost my people too! like mum... a- and dad...

I began to tear up a little at the repressed feelings, but managed to get a hold of myself before completely breaking down.

"I believe you have made a grave mistake. You should not be here, not at all, but especially not now. This city is doomed, and I do not know why you entered it."

I needed to find the anchor stones, didn't I...?

"Unless... no, that would be madness... but it's the only possibility..."

So tired...

"You are mad, little lady, quite so. However, if I were to consider things from your... unique human perspective, then I could see how it makes sense. Hold on for just a moment longer."

He closed his eyes again, and fell back into the unnatural stillness, before the crystal in the middle of the room began to glow with power, and he tumbled backwards off his slab.

Not that I noticed, because I had done the same.

***

Waking up in strange and/or unfamiliar places had become somewhat common in the last few weeks, as such, it wasn't as much of a shock to me this time.

What was a shock was the unfamiliar voice saying "Here, drink this."

Drink I did, if only to soothe my very dry throat, and I immediately felt better. I spend a few seconds amazed at the speed of my thoughts for some reason, before recalling the strange ordeal in its fullness.

The parts where my awareness had sort of... disconnected from my body (still didn't know how it did that) were blurry and vague, as though I was only remembering a retelling in text, but the rest was comprehensible, if very strange, because remembering the slowness of my mind made me feel slightly unpleasant.

"I must apologize, for I have misjudged you gravely."

Turning toward the source of the voice, I saw the same man as before, though he looked a lot more disheveled. We were still inside the slab-room, and the crystal had dimmed slightly, but it was still shining bright.

"You thought I was responsible for your people, didn't you?"

"Indeed. Us Fae have never exactly seen eye-to-eye with the humans, and when I saw you there, opposite me, hooked into the dome, I thought you had come to gloat at the only survivor."

"What changed your mind?"

"Three things. One, you were struggling supremely, something I did not immediately catch. Two, you helped me contain the breach from within, and Three, your strange mirror-self cussed me out quite badly."

"Ref? Where is she?" I asked quickly, not seeing the mirror shard anywhere near me.

"I'm here," came the reply from the ground, and I incredulously leaned over a puddle, only to see my mirror image waving at me. "The mirror shard cracked because your hands cramped up, and I didn't have time to figure it out, so I manifested into your spilled water and shouted at the guy instead."

"Damn, can the mirror be fixed?"

"What? Oh yes, a little bit of glue and it'll be alright. For the meantime though, can you stow the smaller part? trying to manifest inside two mirrors at once is disorienting."

I did so, and the Fey man spoke up.

"As touching as this reunion is, I need to know why you are here. This city is doomed, I am the only one of my kind left. There is nothing for you here."

"Well, to tell you the truth... I'm the last one too. So is Raven. I don't know about the mirror ghost."

There was a somber silence, until Ref piped up quietly.

"We were hoping to use the circle to return back up."

"Ah, I see. You thought the city would be empty and the circle dead, and that you could simply use it to go back into the human world."

"Yes. But when I tried to step into it from below, there was a... barrier preventing me. Then we saw the circle change, and the dome spring up, and we knew that there was someone here."

"And then you found me, I see. You could not have come at a more inopportune time."

"Why is that?"

"Because I was planning to die here."

We fell back into a stunned silence, until finally, he began to speak in a halting voice.

"I...I lost someone close to me. When it happened, I travelled to the capital, hoping to bring it before the Seelie Court, but there was noone left. Not a soul. That's when I saw the Demon."

"Demon?" my voice was a whisper.

"The thing out there. The Demon. I call it false names because I do not know its true one. It was hovering above the city before speeding off in a random direction... on second thought, that may have been you, and I immediately went into the control spire and activated the circle."

"At first, it was quiet, and I only had to refresh it a few times a day, but eventually, the Demon came back. It started small, probing the circle, jumping back, but it succeeded in requiring my constant attention. I held out for as long as I could, the dust on my armor is a testament to that, but eventually, it magnified by a thousandfold. The violence, the power... I've never seen anything like it. It was like a hurricane of darkness outside the circle... and then you came. I was certain you had brought the Demon, until you helped me keep it out, then I thought you were helping yourself. The rest has already been said."

"Before you came, I planned on holding out as long as possible, and then overloading the circle when the Demon had exerted itself as much as it would, detonating it... and hopefully taking the beast with me."

With that, he finished his story.

"I'm so sorry for you loss. My story is similar, but I had the fortune of meeting two others, one of which has guided me this far."

"Your mirror image, I know. She has told me of your story. I simply wanted us to be on equal footing, Amelia."

"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage, I don't know your name."

"I am Erci. Nothing else."

He quickly looked away at the second part, and I could have sworn I saw something glisten in his eyes. Deciding to let him have his dignity, I waited until he had himself under control again.

"You know, if the circle functions as Ref said it does, you don't need to die here."

"Do you not think I know this? It was my choice. I have nothing left, my only hope rests in the Beyond. Perhaps there, I will see... I will see her again."

I didn't know what to say to that, but he looked resolute while saying it, more resolute than the entire short while I'd known him. 'Letting Go' is one of the many, many things you have to learn if you want to become a doctor, like I had been planning to, but theory is always easier said than practice. I found myself unwilling to let him kill himself. Why should he have to die so I could live? There had to be another way.

"Erci, I refuse. Come with us. I won't let you kill yourself."

"Who are you to question my choices?"

"I am your equal, for one! I also lost everyone close to me! Don't you think that I had friends or a family? Do you want to know what I did? I packed a bag and started walking!"

"But I have no hope left, I accepted my fate long ago!"

"How dare you! How dare you disrespect their memory, their sacrifice! Out of all the fey, you were the only survivor, and you plan to kill yourself? You're a coward!"

"How dare you call me a coward?!"

"Because you are one! You refuse to face a world without her in it! I won't have it. If you don't come quietly, I will knock you out and drag you to the human world myself."

"But... I don't know if I could carry on with my life."

"Think about her, about her face. Her voice. Would she want you to kill yourself? Or would she want you to escape, to carry on her memory? If you die here, there will be noone left alive to have known her. Do you want that? Would she want that?"

"No. No, you're right. She wouldn't."

He hung his head and sighed deeply.

"Very well."

***

"Alright," Ref said, "action plan. We wish to use the circle. However, the circle is currently being used to contain a- contain that thing out there. If you shut it down, it will most certainly implode and kill us all."

"Indeed, though I doubt it would be that quick of a death, judging from its intellect and capacity for cruelty. I suspect that it would slowly torture us for..."

"Yes, thank you, Erci, for the enlightening commentary. I can see two ways this would work, and one is no good. That one would involve one of us remaining and shutting down the circle, after which the rest could escape. This is obviously unacceptable."

"Thank you, Amelia," Erci whispered quietly to himself.

"Okay. Then the plan is as follows. Amelia, you gather all your crap and lug it down to the circle's edge. Erci, do so as well, but please only what you can reasonably carry. When the thing turns off, you get inside as quickly as possible and follow my directions to the letter. We will have but seconds."

"One problem remains - how do we trigger the circle?"

Everyone fell silent.

"I might know a way," Erci's voice was contemplative.

"Well spit it out, will ya?"

"I'm not sure if you're aware, but the entire world is held together by the anchor stones. Specificially, some of the sporadic ones. If we were to knock one of them loose, it might collapse the entire network, overloading the stones and destroying the entire Fae realm. Though I would be saddened by its loss, killing the Demon would be worth an empty world."

"Then all that remains is turning off the circle from below."

"That is quite easy as well. I am... moderately proficient with a bow, and may be able to shoot out one of the conveyance crystals which carry a mental imprint into the circle - which would engage a failsafe designed to avoid the disassociation of mind and body. In theory, the circle would shut down. But this room might experience some feedback."

"Alrighty, then," Ref's voice was full of trepidation, "Pack your bags, kids! It's time for operation Thermonuclear Asskick!"

***

Before leaving, I packed everything back into my bag, swung the elven blade over my shoulder, and grabbed my staff in one hand. The antimemetic cloak went into the very bottom of my pack, and quickly vanished from memory after that.

We descended the tower in silence, treading down and down the spiral staircase. I reached the bottom floor, and looked outward into the spectacular square from within. Finally, I stepped outside, and Erci shrugged off his bow, and pulled an arrow from a quiver built into his pack.

Nocking the arrow, he crouched down, aiming high - he held his breath, then began exhaling, and loosened the arrow, which flew true. With a bang, one of the windows on the control spire shattered, and there was an explosion within.

Sure enough, after a few seconds, the lights began to dim, the sky began to darken, and we quickly ran to the center dais, the static still dancing around us, but lessening quickly. Plonking down on the central stone, strewing my worldly goods (as well as Erci, who was jangled into the string of his bow after I'd grabbed him) onto the dais, I assumed the position and quickly reached for the now familiar trance-state, which made all my senses fall away as one. Perks of this circle, I guess.

I suddenly became hyper-aware of the area inside the square, which was woefully turbulent, though lessening with each of the concentric stones - as well as small areas around the randomly placed smaller ones. Above, the massive crystal construct gave its last, blinding flash, burning away the darkness grabbing for it, before shattering into a cloud of glittering dust.

With its shattering, the entire city began to rumble, and buildings on the outer edge were the first to go, disintegrated or torn apart by the raging darkness speeding inward.

I saw none of this, for I spent these precious few seconds delving deeper and deeper into the worldly structure, just as I had done when trying to enter this realm. The circle allowed for much easier sight, perhaps because it was more advanced, perhaps because of my experience, it mattered not.

Delving down, down, inwards, into the deep, toward the darkness between worlds, I spied the fragile structure holding together this realm. Threads of light, branching outward from the circle like a spiderweb, I nudged the one point which held the most connections none too gently. Where I touched it, the node immediately darkened, and the threads snapped as one - continuing to break on and on and on, beyond my perception. Cascading reaction started. It would only be a matter of time before the anchor stones couldn't take the unused energy, and without a control room, they would overload and then explode violently, hopefully taking the shadow monster with them.

Past the now darkened threads I went, past the matter and force holding the island together, past the stones and glass and metal itself, into a direction no mortal human has ever been able to perceive, one so logical and yet so inaccessible - the direction of bending inwards.

I sped toward the layer around me, so unfathomably diffuse, and yet so integral, until I was more falling into the warp and weft of space-time than gliding along it, my awareness delving deeper into the structure of the world than it ever had before.

I felt a cold encroach my mind from outside, and paid it no heed, only went deeper inwards, the connection to my body becoming ever less and faint.

I registered a low rumble, and my descent slowed considerably, before I gathered myself up into a point and tore through the skin of reality, into the void below with a brilliant flash.

Space - or what was left of it, imploded inside the circle, infusing itself with energy and encasing everything on the central dais in a sphere of disconnected fabric.

Darkness - from outside, crashed into the hole the space had left, bleeding through into a void older than even it.

Blinding light - from everywhere at once, shattering reality into fragments, vaporizing, atomizing, energizing and annihilating everything in its wake.

A tortured, inhuman screech -

and then silence.