The look on Cross's face was one of insult, rather than shock or pain. He glared at Yunkef and gripped the handle of the ritual knife, then easily pulled it out of his stomach. Blood began to pour from the wound, staining his clothes. His twin reeled at the sight, but Cross himself was unbothered. He twirled the knife with a flourish of his wrist.

"Why did you think that would work, Yunkef?" Cross asked as if it were a simple question between friends. "You don't have the spine to really mean it."

Yunkef was cold and shaking, but he stood his ground. Eyes wide, mind racing, he kept glancing between Cross's face, the wound, and the knife. "What do you mean?"

"You have to really want to hurt me, offer me up to the darkness, stuff like that." Cross laughed. "I can see why Lady Black chose me instead of you; you'd make a terrible zealot."

"So you have to have the intent to harm someone."

Cross cut him off, tutting. "You're stalling. Really, I don't know how you got this far without getting killed. You're lucky you're fast and skittish."

Cross advanced on Yunkef, but faltered. Something had grabbed onto his ankle and held him back. With a startled yelp, he looked down. Anre had Cross's ankle in an iron grip, matted hair covered in blood and small rocks.

Yunkef immediately made for the knife. Grabbing Cross's wrist and twisting it, he lost his grip on the knife handle and Yunkef wrenched it away. Stepping back just as quickly, he held the knife away from him with a shaking hand. "You're right, I am fast."

"Damn Anre!" Cross said in frustration, kicking at Anre's head with his other foot. "I thought I killed you!"

Anre gritted his teeth and pulled himself across the cave floor to grab onto Cross's ankle with both hands and bodily hold himself against his attacker's leg.

There was a movement, and Red roughly pushed past Yunkef. She charged straight at Cross and collided with her twin, causing him to lose his balance from Anre and fall heavily onto the ground.

The ritual knife was embedded in Cross's chest.

He looked up at Red, shocked, and saw no mercy in the eyes that looked so much like his own. Blood poured out from both knife wounds, and now his hands shook as he tried in vain to staunch the flow.

Red shook her head, her face streaked with tears leaving trails in dust, and grabbed Cross by his armpits. Taking heavy, measured steps, she dragged him to the edge of the cave and shoved her twin over the precipice.

There were no screams, just the sickening thud of a body falling and crashing onto the rocks.

The boys were stunned: Anre from his head injuries, and Yunkef from shock.

Yunkef found himself collapsing onto the floor of the cave, sitting heavily on his backside, and staring at Red in disbelief. The young woman didn't say anything and made no sound save for the sobs she tried to stifle.

It took a long while for the three to gather themselves. Yunkef recovered first, unharmed and only shocked as he was. He tended as best as he could to Anre's injuries, instead of attempting to leverage his darkness-touched blessings to heal the wild-man. His hands had been healed at the Citadel before, surely the same could happen with Anre. He stayed silent while tending to his friend, saving the burning questions that were running through his mind till later.

Anre slowly came to his senses, though was still light-headed and weak. He attempted to brush small stones out of his matted hair, but the motion brought about another wave of nausea, and Yunkef had to hold his hand down to his side.

Red said nothing and did not move for a long time. She stared down, past the edge of the outcropping. After a while, she stopped trying to stifle her cries and began to sob. She shook, each sob shaking her to the core. The two boys let her be for the moment. Yunkef kept his focus on Anre, and tried not to think of what Red was staring at; for it was surely the broken, bloodied body of her twin brother dashed upon the rocks.

Eventually, Anre was well enough to stand without feeling lightheaded or nauseous. Making sure he had Yunkef's attention, the wild-man pointedly tilted his head in Red's direction. Hesitantly, Yunkef approached.

"Red..." he started softly.

"It's fine! I'm fine." Red retorted angrily. She wiped at her face, smudging the dust that had mixed with tears on her cheeks. "It had to be done. He wasn't... What wasn't Cross. He would never have done that."

Yunkef held his tongue and let Red finish her outburst.

"He would never have tried to hurt us." Red continued. "Or hurt me! He wouldn't — that wasn't him!"

"Red," Yunkef said again, firmly.

"I just... I don't know, Yunkef. Let's just go."

"Are you sure you're alright to move on now?"

Red shook her head. She stole one last glance down at the rocks before turning away. "We have nowhere else to go, Yunkef. I have nothing left but you two and whatever it is that lies at the end of this. I don't know if it is worth it. I don't think it will ever be worth losing Cross." she paused, taking a shaky breath. "But it's all the three of us have left."

Yunkef looked at her sadly. Emotions flicked across Red's face, and her eyes were still wet with tears. She angrily brushed them away with the heel of her hand. Under the anger, grief, and sorrow, was a hollow emptiness. Helplessness.

Yunkef sighed. They were tired, wounded, and stranded away from any camps without supplies or weapons. "You're right. It's just the three of us left. Let's try to see it through.

Returning to the climb so soon was not the smartest choice, Yunkef realized immediately. Every muscle in his body screamed in protest as he slowly but surely hauled himself up. He wanted to hold onto his determination and curiosity — the two things that had spurred him on till this moment — but it felt impossible. Despite the protest from his limbs, he forced himself through the motions. Anre and Red followed suit, slower than they had been going previously, but there was progress.

Time seemed to both stop and move too slowly as they climbed. Everything seemed to cease, and nothing else existed save for the burning in their limbs and lungs, and the feeling of heading into a void of uncertainty, helpless and clinging onto a vague hope that something, anything, will come from all this suffering.

Yunkef began to lag behind as they climbed, with Anre taking the lead with his stronger, fitter build. Red gravitated towards Yunkef, going at the same pace so that he wouldn't feel left behind.

"You don't have to wait for me." Yunkef wheezed as he pulled himself up, struggled to find somewhere to put his feet, and searched for the next handhold.

"It's alright," Red said simply. "I want to. Can't have you falling behind. What if you fell?"

Yunkef's chuckle was more like a rasp. He struggled to wipe the hair out of his eyes by using his shoulder. "You're getting tired too, aren't you?"

"Of course! I stopped having feeling in my arms and legs ages ago."

The two shared a laugh which was quickly cut off by Anre's scream.

"Anre!" Yunkef strained to find the wild-man, higher above him. "What happened?"

"It hurts!" Anre said between pained gasps. "My back, it's too hot!"

It took Yunkef a while to find Anre against the rock after he involuntarily shut his eyes against the light. Anre had moved past a clearly defined line between light and darkness. It was faint at the border at first, then began to grow stronger in intensity the higher up the cliff they went. But there, past Anre and where the light seemed too bright to focus, the cliff seemed to stop.

"Yunkef! Red!" Anre's voice was agony.

"Don't let go! Whatever you do, don't let go!" Yunkef shouted back. "Keep climbing Anre! You're almost at the top and we're right behind you!"

"Are you sure? He sounds like he's in pain!" Red protested.

"We can't go back down in the state we're in, and if he let's go, he'll fall to his death. I can see the end, it's right there!" Yunkef looked up to the edge of the cliff and into the bright light. It burned his eyes and he squinted hard but did not look away. "We're almost there, so don't give up now!"

It took all of Anre's willpower to keep moving despite the burning that only seemed to grow worse, but eventually, his shaking arms flailed at the air as the crested the edge of the cliff. Pulling himself up and rolling away from the edge, he struggled to catch his breath and lay facedown, keeping his face away from the bright light that was everywhere now.

Yunkef and Red followed soon after, biting back their own screams and gasps of pain as the heat bore down on their bodies. It was like being held up to a fire, but finally pulling themselves up and coming to flat land was worth bearing the scorching light.

"Where are we?" Red rasped, keeping her eyes shut and her face away from the light. "What is this?"

"I don't know and I hate this." Anre's voice was muffled. "Even the rocks are hot."

While the two kept their heads down and their eyes closed, Yunkef kept his head up. He opened his eyes slowly, going from fully shut into a squint, and held his arm in front of his eyes. If the light didn't burn his eyes so badly, he would have opened them wide in shock. Several feet away from the rock of the cliff was an expanse of a bright, vibrant color he had never seen before. Thing stalks of something waved in the wind, rustling gently as they moved. There were things that looked like no plant he had ever seen before, bristling with brightly colored...things. Yunkef stared at them, at a loss for words. He crawled cautiously to the short stalks and brushed his fingers against the sections of the thing that jutted out from an earth-colored center and had the color of fire. They were soft in his fingers and came apart easily when he tugged.

"Yunkef!" Where did you go?" Red called, still with her eyes shut.

"I'm here!" Yunkef replied, still in shock. "There are things here. Thing's we've never seen before! And..." he turned his face upwards, towards the light and heat that was bearing down on him, and tried to open his eyes even a crack. There was a great, endless expanse of blue, high above their heads. And there, so bright he could barely glimpse it, was a glowing disk in the sky. He gasped and threw himself back. The image was so clear in his memory, he couldn't help but stammer the words through awe and disbelief. "The Eternal Flame! It's the Eternal Flame!"

"What? From the Citadel? It can't be, they made that up."

"They didn't, it's right here! It's why it's so bright and hot here!" Yunkef barked out a laugh in disbelief and shock. "We've found the Eternal Flame!"

"Excuse me?" A voice said, incredulous.

Yunkef, Red, and Anre immediately stilled. Red risked opening her eyes just a bit as well, while Yunkef was more ready to look.

A young man was standing not too far from them, dressed in a light-colored tunic. His skin was a darker color than anyone Yunkef had ever seen, and he was staring at them in confusion, concern, and just as much shock as Yunkef squinted back. "Who are you?" the young man asked.

"Us?" Yunkef stammered. "We're from Settlements in--"

The young man cut him off. "I've never seen anything in the crater before! Don't tell me you climbed out of it!" He turned his head and shouted over his shoulder. "Ma! Pa! Come quick!"

Yunkef looked towards Red, and Anre raised his head to listen in their general direction.

"The smells and sounds here are so different," Anre muttered.

Red was slowly seeing more and more in the light. "There are people living here, under the Eternal Flame?"

"This is it." Yunkef breathed in disbelief. Three more people came running over the short, brightly colored stalks. They had the same dark skin and confused, shocked expressions as the young man. But as they drew closer, Yunkef was sure he could see the kindness in their eyes. Free of the madness and darkness that clouded those down below. "This is what Night wanted us to find."