He had only ever witnessed the bright emerald beam once before... but he knew what it meant.

Silent One wished that he could float away into a lovely, obsidian-clad dream; let the emerald have it’s frenzy while he found his peace in far off memories. He tried with all his might to conjure images of mother’s wide smile or father’s strong arms held out to pick him up. There was nothing he wouldn’t give to hear his brother’s sweet laughter after some expertly lewd comment. Unfortunately, there was no escape. Silent One would witness all of it, just like before, like some distant specter.

Muffled, blurry, and downright sickening sights bombarded him the last time he had encountered the emerald. Only after he’d escaped the mines was Silent One able to piece together the full picture of what had transpired.

Sorzon, the man who had taken Silent One into his secret, humble lair among the cave walls and fed him mixes of restorative herbs after long days of laboring. Who’d sweat night after night cleaning and healing the young Ta’s wounded stumps for months on end. Sorzon who had been right in front of him before the beam appeared for the first time. Before the emerald engulfed everything around him. Silent One sobbed then, amidst the utter darkness, entirely helpless as he watched the man he considered to be his second father- his dosan Pa’d- disappear. Sorrow was thick around him in his internal prison.

Laying there trapped on the floor of sir Schuri’s shop Silent One felt only an escalating rage. Obsessive fury aimed solely at the pure White blur fashioned before his tunneling vision. More memories screamed for escape from deep within the black that had become Silent One’s domain and though he could not conjure them within the emerald’s nothingness, Silent One knew exactly what memories they were. The same he’d seen every night for years after the last Ta’ Hun. His dear brother lying limp, lifeless, like a helpless newborn curled to one side, at the feet of Grand Councilor White. Behind both the Ta’ and their lands rose to the sky in ashes.

The more he thought about it the more his rage grew. The thicker his obsidian prison pressed upon him. The wider the searing emerald beam at the edge of his blurred sight became. It fed off of his rising heartbeat, his roaring desire for a vengeance. He could feel it coalescing with his own wishes, merging with him in an overwhelming display of force, granting him the power to do what he needed. There, in the moment of their brief union, he felt it, the emerald’s own desire. It’s presence had its own extreme fury about it, a powerful hate that kept it moving forward. At any cost.

Almost any.

Like Silent One's own thought it resounded about him, adrift in his unbeing, but the voice was not one he recognized. Still, his heart leapt and nearly throttled out of his chest. His chest. Silent One felt it. Not from a distant blurred world at the end of his sight, but in his body, there floating among nothing. And once he realized it, it was all over. Within a sickening instant, the distant blurred world became far too close and exquisitely real.

Silent One gasped a harsh breath that seemed to burn his lungs to a crisp and felt warmth follow it back up as he coughed and vomited. Luck would have it that his bandaged upon his face were entirely intact. Through his own disgusting hacking, he heard it. A familiar, distinctive click told him that his sight had shifted back. Back to what he knew. To what he could control. Before even taking another scorching breath in Silent One activated his sapphire sight and took everything in at once. His eyes were cast to the ground just before him but he knew could follow the essence without moving. With his own will-power he could guide essence down each visible path until he found what he needed. Silent One cast consciousness into his own life essence and split it.

There he was for a moment dancing among the fervent, speedy essence of flame. Then he became the quickening coolness about one of the many corpses he’d made moments before. He found himself having to fight the urge to slow, to settle. From there his essence rode the waves of air itself to the speck of warmth he desired. Just behind Lord White’s imposing array of pure essence.

In so much time as it took nearby flames to crackle, he’d seen everything he needed and had a plan. Silent One allowed one clear breath before he moved. Resolute and full of desperate rage, still bewildered at the turn of events, he cast his eyes up to meet White’s eerie gaze. Silent One instead found his face mere inches from someone’s sweat laden ass. Someone he had not sensed there. That the sapphire hadn’t seen.

Amberosin... That's right!

In all his rage and confusion Silent One had forgotten she was the one who saved him from White’s savage grasp. He could see on the side of her right thigh a gash, seared shut from where the emerald beam had clipped her. From what he could tell his head had swiveled as the beam came out, tearing through the floorboards, shopfront, and ceiling before stopping just as it hit her leg. Silent One was mortified with himself- and severely impressed with Amberosin.

She stood tall with muscles teeming, knotting up visibly on her arms and shoulders, full weight on her singed leg. Smiling. Her eyes were not even on Lord White. No. Not the biggest threat in all of Noctra… They were on Silent One. Even as her body began to slide backward across the floor, aided by Silent One’s and Lord White’s blood, she kept her goggled eyes on his wrapped face. He couldn’t read her eyes or her essence but he felt Amberosin was asking him something.

But what? Maybe she is asking herself if this- if I- am worth dying over?

Silent One thought that Amberosin should drop her small daggers and leave him to his fate, but he knew she wouldn’t. She felt that she owed him for saving her life. He couldn’t shake the feeling that this was his own fault. This was his mess and he was going to clean it up, damnit. Silent One was going to get her out of here alive. And Patri, of course, who-

Who was gone out of the back door that still swung from his surprisingly swift exit.

No matter... one less person to worry about. Patri’s absence, hopefully, made his goal that much easier. If they could get out of the crumbling shop that had begun to slowly pull away from its foundations without getting caught in any quickly rising flames, they may just be able to get out of sight and disappear long enough to live another day.

First things first.

Silent One tethered red essence behind Lord White to the stump of his leg and pulled them together with all his force. The severed portion slid across the floor, gathering clumps of Trallenblade dust before it slammed into his shin bone, painfully rebinding with a jarring speed. His vision shook and he wanted to vomit again but the warmth in his leg was more than welcome. As Amberosin slid back, level with Silent one who crouched with his rebound leg hidden beneath his torso, he propelled himself straight up. He knew he would regret overexerting his leg so soon but Silent One saw no other alternative.

The top of his head and right shoulder rammed directly into Lord White’s abdomen, pushing through his unbelievably thick cloak. Silent One had never felt such a feeble, grand sense of euphoria as when he heard the air leave Lord White’s body. Luckily the impact was powerful enough to knock the massive man back a few strides as well and Amberosin took the chance to land a quick cut on White’s left arm, which gave Silent One just enough time to land beside her. His leg screamed upon impact with the ground but he choked it down, grabbed her arm, and ran. Silent One would have to deal with the pain later. He was just glad to still have the leg attached while they burst through the shattered glass threshold of the former shop's single window.

In perfect stride with one another.