The walk was spent in silence and contemplation I would like anyone to think deeper than it truly was.

I was really just keeping myself busy figuring out an appropriate word for the concept Rilu kept referring to that I couldn't quite put into English. We didn't quite have anything like it.

I'm not sure how, but I eventually settled on the word 'Imprint' after posing a few questions for basic descriptions. He most likely saw me as an idiot, which stung a bit, but it was probably true. Both in general and in regards to this reality's common knowledge.

In any case, Imprint probably wasn't entirely accurate, but it got the point across.

It was like a conceptual weight an object had over the fabric of our reality. It could be considered a soul, and it represented the very essence of one's being, though it had certain important parts to it.

At least apparently. Those 'important parts' were all concepts I had no knowledge of, so I couldn't explain them. Especially after Rilu began rambling again. With him, it was difficult to know if he was trying to prove himself better or merely really into the subject.

Well, motive was rarely perfectly pure or impure, so it really could be both.

I didn't know enough about him to really say, but I needed something to think about, and the only thing I recognized in this place was people thus far. Hard to grasp onto anything else. So, my amateur psychological profile would have to do. Anything to give me at least some illusion of control.

But I digress.

Wait, was I as bad about rambling as he was?

Regardless, I think I was beginning to get Imprints and Catalysts. I had been given a few items to poke at and prod. My favorite so far was a blob of liquid metal that apparently could be reshaped at will with attunement and hardened with mana (what I decided to call the energy Rilu referred to since that was the word that came to mind). I still didn't know how to actually access mana, but apparently, in any case, there was no way for me to do so quite yet.

The problem is that apparently you weren't supposed to be able to sense them, but I could. I think, at least. It was strange, I couldn't feel it, but the more I thought about and considered it, the more I could tell what was right and wrong about my mental model. I was getting a bit closer to what would tie it together as I dissected Rilu's observations.

It very well could have been placebo, so I didn't bother mentioning it to him yet. If I engaged beyond questions, it would just give him something to make fun of me for later about how stupid I was to make observations when I knew so little.

Huh. Later.

The word tasted acrid to the tongue of my inner voice. I don't think the reason was particularly difficult to see.

Because I knew it now. After all of this, I was going to die.

I wondered what it was I did wrong. Did I not push myself hard enough? Did I go the wrong way? Have the wrong encounter?

I could accept bad luck, but the first option terrified me. That my resolve to live was still flimsy, more a defiant spark than a hearth. The idea that I could have done something more was everything I no longer wanted,

In the end, it didn't really matter. It wasn't anything I could perceive, humans just didn't think on this scale. Maybe some creature in this universe did, but that creature just wasn't me.

It was just me trying to think rationally about a fictional game against life, the universe, and everything. But it didn't matter. Why try to grow when faced with impending doom?

But it felt like I was admitting defeat to just make my peace. I... Didn't have another option, though.

I slapped myself in the face and kept walking. We were approaching another small stretch of rock, with Rilu walking further ahead than usual. Well, usual with regards to the short time we had spent together. I was happy to step onto more solid ground, but my legs still felt weighed down. I took a breath and didn't let myself stop me.

"If you were alone, how long would it take for you to make it out of here?"

He hesitated for a moment, no doubt moving his thoughts through a complicated framework of emotion and intent.

"...Not long," he replied simply.

It was a bit less detail than I had hoped for but altogether expected. He hadn't gone into any specification on his capabilities, likely not wanting to startle me, conscious of my situation and standards.

I wondered why someone like him would care. I supposed he did save me, so there was either a part of him I couldn't see or he had something to gain by doing this.

What I did know was that he could most likely get out of here in a few hours if he was that far ahead of me in scale. Maybe even less than that. For all I knew, every dragon could move at Mach 10.

But for one reason or another, he either couldn't or wouldn't take me. He had done enough, so I didn't mind if it was the latter.

"I know I won't make it, you know," I called forward, confronting the idea we had both been ignoring.

He tilted his head, looking away from me.

I spoke again as we reached the rocks.

"Let's take a break, I'm getting tired."

"Very well. Make it quick."

I sat down on a particularly comfortable-looking rock before replying.

"Sit down with me. I don't know if I'll be able to make this quick. Can I vent to you a bit?"

He didn't bother responding to that, I took that as a go-ahead. I leaned back and threw up my hands, releasing an angsty groan all too reminiscent of my middle school years.

"I'm really tired. In general. I feel more driven than I ever have in my life, but I've lost my destination at the same time."

Rilu looked conflicted for a moment. But he seemed to be paying attention, at least, based on his next question.

"I take it that you're trusting me with your memory?"

"Good to know the person's smart, at least," I said as I weakly grinned at him before sighing and continuing, "I... Lost a very good friend recently. Someone who was always there for me in my worst moments. I only realized after she took her own life that the connection wasn't two ways. I regret it. I regret everything about it. It's all over, and all I could do for so long was look to the past and think about all of the signs I didn't see, all the times I should have actively reached out to her as she did for me."

I took a deep breath.

"I guess I've been caught up with people a lot more interesting than me from the start. I never really wanted to go out of my comfort zone, but they all gave me that momentum. My life felt like an illusion, and it was hard to not feel like a side character as drama I thought meant the world happened around me. But we still stuck together, even if sometimes we fell apart..."

I knew I was trailing off. It was difficult to find the words to say, a way to say I always felt like I was being given something I never earned, and that became the nail that broke the fleeting mirage of my life, with her death the sledge.

"I don't know where I'm going with this. I don't know what the hell I want to say. What the fuck do I do in this situation? Reflect on how the life I promised myself was just getting started was torn away from me before I could even begin to realize I didn't have the resolve or passion for it? There's never been a simple answer, and it's selfish to rant about that frustration to someone who can't know the depth of it all," I spoke, letting my thoughts free. But it didn't feel like I was really expressing them. I wanted to say something, but I couldn't translate that into words. But my voice was both tentative and full of passion, dripping with self-doubt.

I hated it even more than usual.

There weren't even tears welling up in my eyes. I wasn't sad. I just didn't know how to cope with a fresh start. I just had no idea what I wanted. And I was whining about it to someone I didn't know the slightest thing about personally, circumstantially on the verge of death.

I was just afraid.

"Old Gods damn it," this time, Rilu spoke, "I get it, but I don't like all this put on me. I said I'd remember for you, but it'll be hard if you're not just a bit better at expressing yourself."

Oddly, I wasn't disheartened by this. Usually, even if I agreed, the truth still tended to hurt. Maybe I knew my annoyance wouldn't change anything. That never seemed to stop self-destructive emotions before...

I just sat there, looking at him. And he looked back, with a fiery gaze. The sort of gaze that came from someone who desperately wanted to seem flippant and easygoing, but got easily caught up in things when their attention was caught. I should know about that well. After all, I'd looked in the mirror.

So, I stayed quiet. Maybe if I got his two cents, I'd be able to begin to string something together.

"I'm a Duelist," Rilu finally said, breaking the silence, "I know you don't understand classes, but know that they're all meant to fulfill a certain role so that they can grow, or so that their Records can fuel our Imprints."

I understood 1/3 of those concepts now, which was an improvement. I knew the question the dragon wanted me to ask.

"Then... What's a Duelist meant to do? Duel?"

He seemed relieved. Apparently, he had been severely doubting my ability to pick up on social cues. Which, well, fair enough, honestly.

"There is purpose to them as well. The role of a Duelist is to represent all of dragonkind, all of the Nexus, in single combat. It requires one to embody the power of their people in skill and intensity. Because of this, the growth of the class is... difficult for those not in a position of power in our society."

"So you're some bigshot noble, then? Why're you out here?"

"The answer to the first question answers the second. I was a 'bigshot noble', as you so eloquently put it. I was the heir of my family, known for their unique practice of the dragons' Intrinsic Skill."

Through context clues over the past day or so, I gathered that an Intrinsic Skill was something everyone in a species had the disposition to awaken. It would make sense that humans were particularly good at vivid creativity, at least, if Visualization was actually our Intrinsic Skill. It seemed a bit useless compared to magic powers, but I always did feel we were at our best with our creativity, what I would consider the core of anything that could be considered human greatness. If that were true, I would have no complaints.

It felt really strange thinking of humans in the context of other species. And also, again, maybe a bit racist. It was hard to say, considering, unlike humans which were all essentially the same at their core, these weren't just different societies, but peoples with different paths to power.

And it wasn't as if that comprised every dragon, or every human for that matter, since there would need to be something other than an Intrinsic Skill if the distinction needed to be made.

Ah, whatever, I'd figure out my morality regarding sapient species another time. Or never, which was more likely, but it was very low on my list of priorities in any case. It wasn't something I needed to worry about in my last moment.

"I wish I had a guide for growing my Skill," I half-joked so Rilu didn't feel like he was just rattling off. But I still felt it was my position to say something a bit... more. I didn't have much to comment considering my utter lack of knowledge. In the end, after some awkward silence, I decided to refocus. "So... Why is your status a 'was'?" I asked, a bit strained. Maybe this was a sore subject, and Rilu expected more out of me at this point.

"It was a long process, getting my class. Thankfully, dragons have access to many classes even with the same Skill, since it's a part of our physiology," he said, and I generously let him continue without a question on how what I assumed was fire was a part of their bodies, "this means we can grow it a bit before we take our first Class. Like yours, though we aren't gated off from it entirely beforehand like you seem to be."

I breathed an internal sigh of relief at his response. Perhaps I was doubting my own ability to read social cues as much as he was.

"I think you're trailing off again," I cut in, and he gave me a short cough that was just close enough to apologetic to seem genuine.

"Right, anyway, I didn't agree that dragonkind should be represented in the way a Duelist did as a child. I thought we should be represented through our raw might, that tricks and styles were too cautious to represent what I saw was our essence, what made us unique. What made us the greatest. But the Class isn't unique to dragons, and its Records aren't compatible with that," he said before pausing and thinking for a moment.

He probably knew I didn't get much of what he said.

"In essence," Rilu continued, "I got my class with an incompatible skillset. And I, in a position to represent all of dragonkind, became a failure. So I left, not wanting to be hidden away as the shame of my people."

"Fuck, are you sure you should be telling me this?" I ask before really responding, even if I already knew the answer.

"I don't expect you to live through this either."

It still hurt to hear it from him. But, well, I had resolved myself to this fate. At least it was a more interesting way to die than starving or overheating.

"Well... I guess you could say my background is the opposite of yours. No stakes, and no interest in it. Above average and content. I found friends because of daydreaming I didn't dare to admit to, and they gradually wormed their way into my heart. Daydreams just like my reality now, funnily enough. Leo, Mason, Autumn, and... Olivia. She's the one who died. She could care for everyone but herself."

I rambled in my reminiscence. It was less than a month ago we were all together, being the entire spectrum of teenage emotion. Dramatic, silly, horny, kind, and most of all passionate. It all felt so far away now.

"And now I'm stranded. And I hate that I got to say goodbye."

I looked down and waited for Rilu to say something. I'd never had to open up to anyone I had known for so little like this. But I was confronting my own mortality here, and it would be better to at least have someone know my love in my final moments. Even if I couldn't die in the company of those on the receiving end.

"Did you... Know you would end up here?" he asked, and I just laughed.

"It's almost like I did. No, I planned to do the same as her," I spat back, my voice tasting dull as it passed my lips. I didn't know what expression to use, so it was just deadpan. The words were an empty weight.

"And you didn't?"

"I'm starting to think I should have. I'd have less to explain if an afterlife exists."

He laughed at that, and it made me feel a little better. It didn't lighten the mood, nothing could have at this point. Then, his face became serious, moreso than I had seen before, dropping any facade of light adventurousness.

"Yeah," I continued, "I found something to live for, something I still can't really grasp, but something, just as I'm given the reality I had dreamed of."

He probably expected it, the story was leading up to that point, after all.

And he apparently knew very well what he thought.

"And, after going through all that, you want to give up? You don't have enough of a spine to do anything more than whine to me?" Rilu said, anger welling up in his voice. I wondered if he was struggling with the same thing, finding a purpose in life after everything he cared for was taken from him.

It didn't make me feel bad, however harsh it was. Not just because I agreed, and had been thinking that this entire time, but to know there was someone just as stubborn as I am.

And, hell, he was right. I was moving backward. Rilu still needed something to fight for, but I needed something to fight with.

But if I gave it everything that I had, there would at least be a chance. A chance of a critical hit, for it to all go right. There was no other option- I couldn't have prevented this, and I couldn't change anything I had already done. I had to give up my quest for the time I had already lost if I wanted to get through this.

"But what the hell do I do?" I asked Rilu and Nobody In Particular at the same time.

This time, the latter responded. And they responded with a thin cloud of smoke swimming out from the mountains. The prelude to the Firestorms.