Felicia snapped her eyes upward as she tried to figure out where she was. She had blanked out again, maybe for a few seconds, maybe for a few minutes. It all was a blur with nothing making sense. Ray was still with her, his back turned and hair blowing in the breeze. He was leading them somewhere, somewhere that was hopefully safer. She tried to recall what had happened in between finding Floyd and Aldrich to where she was now, but nothing came up.

Something was wrong with her, not that everything was right to begin with, but she felt so odd, like she was constantly adrift. With her mind woozy, she followed Ray’s footsteps. He glanced back with a flicker in his eye, but turned away without saying anything. Part of her flinched and the other part didn’t react in time. Thoughts slowly trickled through her mind, ones about the city, about her childhood, about the stars. A small smile crept onto her lips as she reminisced about it all, wondering if all of it would still be there if she got back home. It was so hard to tell what would stay anymore.

Everything started to swirl as her head panged with agony, forcing her to stumble. She clutched onto herself, trying to keep up with Ray.

Homesick, are you?

“... Huh?” She whispered underneath her breath while trying to keep her eyes open.

She’s still alive you know, still searching for you.

The voice beckoned to her, urging her to stop and listen as the pain started to worsen.

You’ve broken yourself down so far, how much of your body is corrupted? You have more blighted ether than pure, maybe you’ll degrade yourself.

The tone was verging on mockingly cynical, almost insulting. She shook her head and trudged along while murmuring aloud. “I won’t.”

Oh really? How do you know?

“I don’t, but we’re going back.”

How? Do you even know how to travel between worlds?

She didn’t answer and lowered her head.

I’ll give you a hint, your mother is the key.

“Where is she then?”

Searching for you.

“Really?”

Find out for yourself.

A voice from in front of her “Felicia?” Ray leaned down to meet her gaze, his eyes tired. She stared at him for a second before quietly apologizing. “Sorry, were you saying something?”

“Yeah, who were you talking to?”

“... Some voice, the one that we heard when we came here.”

He stared at her and nodded, turning back around. “Let’s keep moving.” His glaive rested on his shoulder, glinting under the small amounts of light from the sky. The atmosphere above was brighter than it should’ve been, but maybe that was her eyes playing tricks on her. She was so tired, so ready to collapse onto her bed.

They moved into a small clearing surrounded by broken pillars. A stone path led to a chapel which seemed to tower over them. Looking up to it, Felicia stopped in place, feeling an unsettling tingle rush through her body. Her eyes moved down to the entrance and she whispered under her breath. “Ray?”

He continued forward, his steps falling heavily to the earth.

“Ray.” She rushed forward, almost stumbling. “Ray!”

“Hm?” As he turned to her, a quick rattling of chains echoed through the air. Ray whipped around just in time to deflect the blow, pushing a length of metal away from them. Felicia stumbled backwards, reaching for her sword with unready hands. It stung even more than before as she panicked, trying to back up.

Tylocke emerged from the entrance while raising his hand, pulling the chains back. Ray shifted his foot back while keeping his glaive in a defensive stance and locking his eyes onto Tylocke who smiled at them. “Well, fancy meeting you here.”

Ray grit his teeth and hissed. “Get out of my way.”

“Oh? You have somewhere better to be? Is that why Aldrich and Floyd aren’t with you anymore?”

“Shut up.”

“You know, I told Haureulman he should’ve taken his time-”

“Shut the fuck up.” Ray held his spear even tighter, his eyes wide and blazing with anger. Tylocke chuckled and circled his chains around his body while crossing his arms. Felicia shuddered, realizing that he wasn’t limiting himself anymore. He emanated corrupted ether, almost the same signature as a monster. She tried to ignore the fact that she was terrified, but was unable to move. Whether she was exhausted or petrified she didn’t know. His voice slithered towards her, echoing in the hollow air. “You sealed your fate as soon as you started hunting us. Haureulman, as much of an idiot as he was, was my friend.”

His voice soured and in an instant, two lengths of chains shot out at them. Ray blocked one and almost dodged out of the way of the second, but stopped before he did while looking back to Felicia. The links glanced off his shoulder pauldron, skittering outwards. He grunted as the chains came around, almost wrapping around his arm before he batted it away. Regaining his stance, he murmured under his breath. “Run.”

Felicia took a moment before she realized he was talking to her. “What?”

“Get out of here.”

“No, I-”

“Felicia, listen to me and run. Now.” He almost growled, glancing at her with a glint in his eye. She recoiled away, almost running just from his tone. He didn’t get to continue before Tylocke attacked again, flinging more chains his way. He charged toward them, trying to only deal with one attack at a time. Felicia watched helplessly as a wave of nausea from her ether blight hit her, almost making her faint. She needed to help Ray in some way, but she wasn’t sure how.

More chains flew through the air, hitting Ray’s armour and forcing him back. He still didn’t have his glaive ignited and was only blocking while advancing. Felicia saw the exhaustion on his face as he continued to keep his ground, not willing to falter. She stumbled forward, watching him and hoping she would do something when she eventually got there. Tylocke pulled his chains back once again, and Ray suddenly leaped forward with his glaive ignited as he prepared a thrust aimed at Tylocke’s chest.

The ground erupted from underneath Ray, a chain shooting up and whipping him across the chest. He flew backwards, hitting the floor with a cough. Another chain raised upwards, preparing an overhead strike. He raised his glaive, trying to block the blow as it launched down. A snap echoed through the air as the shaft broke in two. The links flew to his throat, wrapping around and slowly dragging him upwards. Felicia bolted towards him, drawing her sword and ignoring the pain.

An attack came from her left which she ducked under, maintaining her footing while jumping closer to Ray again. More links slinked along the ground, jumping up to her body which she tried to bat away without losing her step. She raised her sword, slamming it down onto the chain that was pulling on Ray’s neck, but it only bent and turned taut again. The chains behind her quickly approached, too quick for her to try and free Ray herself. Moving her arm upwards, she braced herself and let what ether she could muster loose.

The blast echoed in a thundering thoom, hitting Tylocke directly in the chest and knocking him backwards. The chain around Ray’s neck released and he gasped for air, coughing and rolling to the side. She knelt down, struggling to stay conscious as she held his shoulders. “Ray, we need to go, Ray, please!-”

She didn’t finish her sentence as metal wrapped around her right arm, yanking her backward and to the ground. Her hands fumbled for her sword as she tried to pull it upward, not knowing what she would do with it. She cried in pain as she was lifted up to her feet by her arm, feeling it groan and stretch. Tylocke grumbled and dusted himself off while sending another chain to wrap around her waist and chest. A laugh echoed outwards as Tylocke made the metal pull tighter. “Oh, they weren’t kidding when they said you were a prodigy, how much ether do you have? I shouldn’t have bothered with your mother, you would’ve been such a better test subject.”

Felicia tried to struggle, but found herself immobilized. A different chain picked her sword off of the ground and waved it through the air as Tylocke dismissed her with his hand. “Well, it’s too late for that now.”

Her arm was suddenly yanked outwards, pausing for a second before a sickening pop sounded and excruciating pain shot through her. She screamed out as her skin and muscles stretched, the bone no longer connected as her sword floated through the air as Tylocke held the arm taut. The sword swung upward and the pressure from her arm released. The blade moved downward and into her stomach, pushing itself through her and up to it’s hilt. She stared at it for a second and felt the chains release, letting her fall to the floor. The sword was ripped from her stomach and thrown onto her as she fumbled with her hand, grabbing onto it. A tingling sensation flooded through her body and a hand grabbed onto her shoulder. A bright flash enveloped her vision, turning it completely white.

Felicia coughed and felt her body hit grass. Something moved under her waist and arm, pulling her upwards. “Stay with me.”

She looked around drearily, spotting Ray above her. It took her a second to realize she was being carried in his arms. It was weirdly comfortable, pleasant even. “Ray… are you alright?”

“It’s going to be okay, just hold on.” He looked down to her and then around them and Felicia scanned the area as well. There were flowers surrounding them on all sides as far as she could see, glowing with blue and white. It was beautiful, serene. She looked back up to Ray and raised her hands up to his face. Only one rose as she realized the other must’ve still been dislocated. Looking to the side, confusion hit her as she spotted nothing. Shifting her gaze down further, she saw where her arm should’ve been. It was a perfect cut, the red muscle and flesh completely flat against her shoulder blade. Another few seconds passed as it finally hit her. She looked down to her stomach where Ray had his hand, spotting the wound that wasn’t healing as fast as it should’ve been.

“Ray?” Her voice quavered as she grasped onto him.

“I’m here.”

She shook her head, looking up to the sky. “Look…” Above them was a collage of lights, with greens, cyans, blues, and purples mixing among each other. She almost laughed and smiled, realizing that in a way she didn’t miss the festival. “Do you remember… do you remember the first time we saw the festival?”

“What?”

“It was half a year after we met, and you took me… took me to one of the islands. It was so crowded, and… I remember watching the colors turn while staying next to you and…”

“It’s going to be okay Felicia, stay with me.”

“I… I only caught a glimpse of the light, but I was so happy, because you were the one who took me there, and I… I knew that I had fallen for you then.” He stared at her as she moved her hand to his face, knowing it would be the last time she would be able to do this. “I love you Ray, I’ve loved you for so long.”

“... Felicia, I-I… please, just hold on, we can…”

She smiled at him and tried to keep the tears from her eyes. “Thank you, for everything you’ve done.” Her voice was so quiet that she wasn’t sure if he heard it anymore. Her body felt so light, so incredibly light. “Ray… you need to live.” She looked over to her sword which lay on the ground and then back up to him. “You can’t die here.”

“No, I won’t-”

“Please Ray.” She tried to grab onto him but barely was able to keep her hand up. “It’s okay.”

“I can’t lose you.” Ray shook his head while clutching onto her. “Please, I can’t.”

“I… enough people have died today, you don’t…” Her voice trailed off as she felt herself slowly losing strength. If this was how it ended, it wasn’t the worst. She was laying in Ray’s arms, maybe not in the exact way she dreamed of, but she could’ve been alone, scared and by herself. She was still terrified, so terrified of what was to come, but for now she could be happy. Maybe it was all some sort of karma for her causing everyone else to die, or maybe it was the universe forcing her to confess, but nonetheless, death didn’t feel as bad as she expected. Her vision blurring and ears ringing, she felt her hand go limp as Ray caught it, holding it tightly.

“I love you so much.” She wasn’t sure if the muscles in her face were responding, but she wanted to smile at him so badly. Everything started to go black as the final bits of ether in her body failed her, dwindling and blinking out.