“Oh well… It was bound to happen,” Soulthirst said without a tinge of remorse.

Flaming scythe Sayhas cursed as his mind ebbed away it could have at least pretended to be sad.

From the rose, a sinister tremor pulsated rhythmically. The feeling of Soulthirsts warm metal faded away. Emptiness shrouded his vision, closing in until he could only see through a narrow slit. The last thing he saw was a white glimmer under the mysterious woman's shawl.

Blackness.

Something crawled into his mind, burrowing deep inside, like being bucked from his Alouette. The thing pushed down on his brain, evicting him from his own body until it seemed Sayahs had fallen out of it.

“Hello,” Soulthirst said cheerily, “who are you?”

Silence.

“Wha—what—wait—No. Stop it. Sto—” the scythe cut off, “It. N—op it,” Soulthirst commanded, with a frantic quiver in its voice. “No. Please stop. Stop. I wi—”

Soulthirst never spoke again.

“Who awakens me?” a reverberating voice rang from Sayhas’ mouth.

“The Red Garden must return,” she said.

“Have you forgotten what happened last time?” the voice asked, sounding genuinely confused.

“I remember, I am probably the only one who remembers. That’s why I want the other one.”

Something started to crush Sayhas. Not his physical body but whatever was left. It encroached from all sides like a cloth smothering a flame.

“Now you’re stuck with me.”

He heard the sound of crystal globe shattering.

Pain shook every nook and cranny of Sayhas’ consciousness. He felt himself shatter into millions of pieces, each one flung to the farthest corners of the world. He felt it all, the sensation of his skin being stretched until there was nothing left.

At the same time, the millions of pieces squished together, rubbing against each other. It burned a cold burn. Sayhas screamed—or tried to scream, nothing came out—as he got stretched into paper-thin sheets and compressed into dense rock simultaneously.

“Pity,” the mysterious woman said her voice fading strangely. “Wonder where I went wrong. Are you not the one?”

And everything stopped.

. . .

“And suddenly, they both just lost the trail. Oldum, the self-proclaimed master of the wilds, the man raised by elves, just lost the trail. And Sayhas, who apparently can sense the smallest amounts of Discord from over a mile, failed to find something hidden behind a rock,” Mizu complained over the galloping horses, retelling the story of what happened. For the… fifth time? Sixth?

Sayhas rolled his eyes, stroking Alouettes mane to distract himself from Mizu. It was a hard ride from the splinter to rejoin the group. Luckily, the splinter didn’t move during the fruitless search, so they didn’t have to cover that much ground. Mizu was silent the entire ride, not even sparing them a glare. Ever since they rejoined Clive, she hasn’t stopped retelling the story of their failure.

He was still confused about how they both lost track of the wolf. He had the Discord signature memorized but somehow, it’s presence slipped like water between his fingers. Although he didn’t show it, Sayhas was angry with himself for losing the trail, albeit not to the extent of Mizu, who had the anger management of a child.

On his side, Oldum rode in a terse silence, his steed looking unnaturally small compared to Odlums large frame. His ability to hide his emotions was even better than Sayhas; his outward composition betraying nothing. But Sayhas could hear the strident tones in his Discord, his heavy heartbeats and uneven breaths. Oldum was mad, even more so than Mizu.

“We should have given chase, but these⁠—”

“Mizukana,” Clive said, “please.”

The barren landscape of the Yelendor Plains slowly shifted to the greener Yelendor Highlands. Cracks in the ground welded together, as trees began to sprout up. They thickened as the group travelled, growing taller and wider from the dirt ground which muffled the clatter of their galloping horses. Soon, arrived at the base of a rocky slope, dead trees hugging the edges of a narrow ledge, barely wide enough for their horses to scale.

Mizu trotted up to Sayhas, eyes unfocused and far away. The rest were already ascending the slope. Dreamis nudged Alouette playfully with her head when she got close enough. Alouette slipped in front, scaling the narrow ledge cautiously. Dreamis trailed closely, her owner still silent and distant.

“I really wanted the ash wolf you know,” Mizu began when they were halfway up the slope. No anger in her voice. No acrimony or accusation either.

Sayhas stayed silent, continuing to ascend the slope.

“It’s just that… just that…” she sniffled lightly, “I don’t know,” she whispered, her voice on the verge of breaking.

“Mizu?” Sayhas asked, doing his best to convey that he cared. He turned his head to see puffed-up eyes and red cheeks.

“You have Maaier Speal and your hearing gift,” she said softly, wiping her eyes with a finger before continuing. “Oldum is literally one with the wild and only Conclave knows what shield aspects he has. Both of you have such control over your Discord while mine is just a raging mess. I blame you two for losing track of the ash wolf, but I can’t even track it. I’m inattentive and selfish and crude and and—”

She trailed off, pausing as if in thought. Sayhas opened his mouth. “Don’t placate me with your patronizing altruism,” she said glaring with bloodshot eyes.

“You’re exaggerating,” Sayhas cut in before Mizu could continue. “Sure, you are what you say you are. But it’s not bad, it’s human. We all have flaws.”

“Maybe so.” Mizu clenched her fists and smacked her lips together, trying to find the right words. “We started off, all those years ago, as equals.”

Ah, Sayhas thought this is the heart of the problem.

“You have a god aspect, and the ability to use it well. Oldum is stupidly resourceful and he has enough shields to make that quality shine. And I’m here trying to play catchup. Oldum has one Resonance. So do you. Do you know how many I have?” It wasn’t a rhetorical question.

Sayhas held her eyes, pondering, “I don’t know, you’ve never told us.”

“Guess.”

Sayhas tried to remember every time he felt a Resonant aspect from Mizu, “three?” Sayhas guessed.

“Four,” Mizu replied, expression dead serious, and if I want to keep up with you guys, I’ll need a fifth soon. The ash wolf’s soul was supposed to give me a much-needed boost, to help me keep up with you two.” Her eyes became, pleading, desperate for help or some sort. “I don’t want to lose myself. I can handle four, probably five. But six? Seven? I don’t want to lose myself.”

“You can’t seriously think yourself weak after saying that you can handle five Resonant aspects. I might be able to handle two, but three is impossible for me, I don’t even need to think about it. You have four and are speaking of more. If that isn’t strength, I don’t know—”

“It doesn’t matter how many Resonances I have,” Mizu cut in, her voice close to a shout. The others could have probably heard her just now. “If they don’t make me stronger, what's the point?” She shook her head, red bangs shifting across her face, covering her shimmering eyes. “I want to grow stronger. I want to be able to stay by your sides. I don't want to be left behind. But if I lose myself while getting stronger, then why would I even try?”

She shook her bangs away from her eyes, hazel eyes bleeding into Sayhas, imploring him for a solution, an answer. Words of encouragement, or even a grunt of acknowledgment. Another day she might have gotten some.

Not today.

Sayhas peered back, staring down a crying Mizu. When was the last time she cried? He could count on one hand the number of times she cried in public. Tears welled up in her eyes as she let out a stifled sob. Although she passed the point of hiding her tears in front of Sayhas, she no doubt still had enough self control to maintain her flippant facade lest the others hear her cry.

Vulnerable. Sayhas never thought Mizu would look that way—she was always the strongest of the three. She was the one who’d leap into the fray first, while still maintaining a conscious awareness of all who fought with her. A fearless, witty leader. Today, vulnerable. A perfect day to exact a promise from her.