They had to set up camp right there; any closer, and it would’ve been too late. They were on the brink of the algafae’s influence, their intoxicating touch, unseen and unfelt until it’s too late. They had planned to rest, but instead were gathered around Pippy, tossing and turning in a bed. They wondered if, for her, it was already too late.

She would lapse in and out of consciousness, surfacing for mere moments at a time only to scream in terror before being dragged back beneath, where her screams would reduce to panicked mumbling. “No… no, no, no, NO, NO! WRONG! WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! IT’S WRONG! It’s all… wrong…”

“This is as still as I can make her,” Ponima lamented. “Her soul is running wild, churning chaotically. If not for me, she would’ve died the moment she saw the incongruence.” Her teeth clenched, and her entire body crackled with pink lightning. “Faeden…” she rose from the bedside and dug her nails into her scalp. “FAEDEN! WHY DIDN’T BRIGHTBRAND JUST LET ME WIPE IT OFF THE MAP?!”

“Ponima!” Phyrn’s voice acted as a call back to quietude, now able to pierce the psychological storm that encircled Ponima constantly, thanks to her chosen dispelling the frenzy that had seized her at the moment of the severance.

Ponima growled, trembling, and dropped back to her knees next to Pippy’s bed. She took the poor girl’s hand tightly, and muttered frantically. “On my name as Ponima Tearcry, I swear the misbegotten beauty of Faeden will not take you.” She rose to her feet again, squaring up to Phyrn. “Nor will it take anyone else. We should blow it up, right now.”

“Ponima…” Phyrn laboured to speak. “You know why we cannot. We are not destroyers.”

“WE ARE GODS!” Ponima howled. “THIS WORLD IS OURS TO DO WITH AS WE PLEASE!”

“Pippy wouldn’t want you to,” Livia interjected, both goddesses snapping their gazes onto her. “She’s not a destroyer either, but she’s strong; whatever this is, she’ll make it. I know she will.”

“Livia is right,” Emilie concurred. “We should have faith in her, and in ourselves.”

“I can’t help but wonder if torching it would actually be the better course of action in the long run,” Krey hummed.

“Trust the vindicated human knight to leap at the first opportunity for violence and purification,” Bel nearly laughed. “I think you’ve all got it backwards. If anyone has the cure for what ails the girl, it’ll be the algafae themselves. We should be asking them for help, not conspiring to scorch their land.”

“Unlikely,” the knight rebuffed. “They revel in the spreading of their colourful corruption; they’d be overjoyed at Pippy’s condition, and try to convince us to let them carry her off into the depths of their domain to turn her into one of them.”

“Oh yes,” Bel said incredulously, “I’m sure the Knights Berodyl hammered that rhetoric into you good and proper, didn’t they? Tell me, knight; how high is your algafae body count? Tens? Hundreds?”

“Your point?” Krey spat.

Bel pinched the bridge of his nose briefly before using the same hand to gesture stiffly. “My point is that, perhaps, due to past experience, you are rushing to conclusions.”

“Funny… I could say the same about you.”

“Enough.” Phyrn’s voice had the motherly blend of sternness and concern. “This bickering is not solving anything. We must act, and we must act soon, so… let’s decide how to proceed. I would like us to all agree on a plan before we execute it.”

“If it weren’t for things already said and done,” Ponima seethed, “I wouldn’t be listening to anything you have to say, Phyrn. I’d be glassing the incongruence and Faeden all. But…”

“But?” Phyrn encouraged.

“But Brightbrand is somewhere in there, and I have no desire to destroy him.”

“You think you even could?” Phyrn scoffed. “You truly are mad.”

“Mad I may be,” Ponima’s voice trembled with a violent arousal, “but I am not stupid! Have you forgotten from whence the golden god of unity draws his power?”

Phyrn’s eyes widened. “From… from us… and our now-dead comrades.”

“If I obliterated Faeden - as I SHOULD - I would likely destroy him too, in his currently weakened state… and we need him.”

“Agreed,” Phyrn nodded, “but… how do you know he is in there?”

“I put him there, using the same soporific charm and spacial rift that I used on you.”

“What?!” Phyrn nearly grabbed Ponima by her hooded robe. “What were you thinking?!”

“He’s still strong enough to resist the algafae’s influence!” Ponima insisted. “And it was the safest place I could send him to hide him from Fyren while he recovers! It’s the one part of Berodyl the executioner won’t touch! Just like me, he can barely stomach looking at it, nevermind going in there.”

Phyrn took a moment to recompose herself. “I suppose you’re right. Then it’s settled: we must cross it normally and find Brightbrand, add him to our number. No spacial rifts; no shortcuts of any kind. We go straight through.”

“Wait, wait,” Livia waved her hands, “I thought we were all going to agree on a plan first.”

“The gods have decreed,” Bel mocked. “And so we shall obey, it seems.”

Krey and Emilie both eyed him sourly.

After taking time to rest and prepare in whatever small ways they could, they packed up camp, dispelled the traveller pavilion, and stepped forward into the faintly humming atmosphere of the incongruence.

Danu had a hard time even manifesting so close to it; it seemed even that deific spectral summons had trouble coping with the bizarre presence of Faeden and the algafae. However, after some time to allow for adjustment (and some help from Phyrn), the great mare of the earth was able to stabilise her form and bare the incapacitated Pippy upon her back. Ponima saw to making sure she did not fall from the horse, working magics to keep her sedated and motionless.

“I can feel her pain,” Ponima moaned, clutching Pippy’s hand as they walked. “Her body sleeps, her mind is dark, but her soul… it’s in agony. I cannot stem the turmoil anymore than I already am.”

“You’re keeping her alive,” Livia said, “and for that, you have my eternal gratitude.”

The air was more humid in this place, but thankfully nowhere near as hot. That being said, it was far from cool, and the thickness of the saturated flora choked the flow of fresh air; the strange smells exuded by the equally bizarre flowers and other plants were so thick that they were almost visible. The swaying grass was too green, the twisting trees looked almost pliant and flesh-like with their smoothness and sheen, and, at times though only briefly, the sky above flickered into shades of pink and orange and green instead of blue.

“It’s almost weirdly pleasurable to be here,” Livia said just above a whisper. “I don’t think I like it.”

“I’d be worried if you did,” Krey said with effort, pushing his fringe back to stop the sweaty hair forming a blindfold in front of his eyes. “This place makes my chest heave with its overbearing presence, nevermind the humidity.”

“Looks like the stories my people recite about Faeden are true,” Bel mused, unburdened by the same things weighing down on his human companions. “Our demonic heritage protects us from the worst of it. I’m starting to wonder if the rest of the rumours are true too…”

“If you believe this place to be the legendary promised land the ancient stories of the pact-born purport,” Phyrn interrupted, “I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. Given time, even moralim and ephenim both will succumb to the fyre—”

“Fyre…” Pippy echoed unconsciously.

“And turn into demifae. The ancient influence of demons and angels is not sufficient to ward you forever, I’m afraid.”

“Demifey…” Pippy murmured again. “Wrong… fae… wrong… fey… angels… holy… ghosts… WRONG! AAGH!” she began thrashing again, and quickly lost her balance on Danu’s back. She fell, crashing into Ponima on her way to the ground, knocking her down as well. Before they could help her up, Pippy rose to her feet herself, though still unconscious. She floated up on wisps of red light, still limp like a doll, but now upright and hovering just above the earth. Her head tilted back as if being pulled by an invisible string, and her eyes were flung open by a burning, violent red that completely clouded them. As if something else spoke through her, her voice formed words that echoed in the mana itself: “Terra Rubra!”

A burst of red aura erupted from every point on her body, exploding into a dome of red that encircled them and swathed the ground in a red, purifying mist, incinerating the Faeden grass but leaving the group untouched. In that instant, the air thinned and cooled, and the violating presence of the incongruence became a shade of its former self. Pippy dropped onto her knees, but so too did she regain her consciousness. However, in that same moment, Ponima and Phyrn were knocked out cold.

“Goddesses!” Emilie put herself equidistant between them, torn between who to aid.

“Relax, Emilie,” Pippy cooed. “They’ll be fine. I can’t sustain this spell for long anyhow, and when it goes away, I’ll go under again.”

“Pippy!” Livia fell to her knees as well, keeping her legs far enough apart as to be either side of Pippy, getting as close to her as she could and hugging her tight.

“Livia…” Pippy whined painfully. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have much time. Listen; I know Ponima is trying to stabilise me, make me able to tolerate this place… but she can’t. Nobody can. Not the way she’s trying to, anyway.”

“Are you saying even the goddess’ power cannot overpower this insidious place?” Emilie gasped.

“I’m afraid so, but there is a way… though I’m not sure how keen Ponima will be on this plan.”

“Just tell us,” Livia insisted, “we trust you, Pippy. We’ll convince her to go through with it.”

“Okay,” Pippy nodded. “There’s an arcane aspect that we can use to bring me round, but… it requires multiple participants. It’s the fusion attribute. If Ponima and I fuse, I’ll be able to endure the pressure of this oh-so-wrongful place. If she doesn’t… I’m not sure I’ll make it to the other side. I can already feel my soul wilting.”

Livia bit her lip, and gripped Pippy’s arms tenderly. “I’ll make sure she does it. I’ll do whatever I must to convince her.”

Pippy kissed her. “I know.”

The red earth spell lost its integrity, leaving them in a circle of sand that quickly muddied into earth again, baring new sprouts of grass in almost no time at all. Pippy fell unconscious again, and the two goddesses returned to the waking world.

“That power…” Phyrn cursed as she stumbled to her feet. “I was unprepared, and already much occupied resisting the incongruence. What happened while Ponima and I were disembodied?”

“Pippy momentarily regained consciousness,” Krey reported. “And… she has a plan.”

“A crazy one,” Bel stipulated. “But it involves Ponima, so…”

Ponima allowed Phyrn to give her a hand in getting up. “A crazy plan, eh? Well, luckily for her, I’m all about crazy. What’s the plan, then?”

“Fusion,” Livia put simply.

“What?!” Phyrn blurted. “She can’t be serious!”

“Phyrn, relax!” Ponima laughed. “I know you and Nativus always disliked fringe magical practices, but don’t you think its time to take the leap? You are divine, Phyrn; you should embrace all of magicdom, not stay in your comfortable little corner.” She sighed. “I miss Rajata.”

“Rajata…” Emilie mumbled.

“You knew her, did you, hierophant?”

“She was one of the Decakon I heard in my dreams,” Emilie smiled, “yes. Phyrn's is the most prevalent voice that reached me, but Rajata’s was frequent as well. We also met her shortly before…”

“Yes, yes,” Ponima waved her hand, “please, that’s enough.” She sighed again. “I could use her expert touch right about now.” She perked up a bit, raising a finger and waving it around as she began to reminisce. “You know, I have laid with all nine of the other Decakon, but out of all of them, Rajata was easily the best… and the only one who lived in my heart.”

“Ponima!” Phyrn blustered, yellow-green warmth rushing to her cheeks.

“Oh, don’t worry, Phyrn,” Ponima lilted, “I shan’t discuss the details of our encounter… mainly because it wasn’t that good.”

“PONIMA!” Phyrn squealed like a teenage girl. “Cease at once!”

Bel nearly doubled over cackling, and the others were having a hard time restraining their own amusement— even Emilie!

“Okay, okay,” Livia managed to say without her voice bubbling over, “enough chitchat. Let’s get to it, shall we? Fusion time. Let’s go.”

“Yes! Absolutely!” Ponima cheered. “And before you share anymore exhausting protestations, Phyrn, she asked for it! So, just sit back and let me work her magic, okay?”

“Wait,” Emilie said, “her magic?”

“This won’t be an equal fusion,” Ponima explained. “I want her to be the dominant participant, and to retain herself in our joined form. In equilibrium, a fusion produces an entirely new persona, more than the sum of its parts, but the purpose of this fusion will be to empower Pippy; we need her to awaken, not some blend of her and me. I will fade into her subconsciousness for the duration, lending her my power, and will emerge as myself when we later split.”

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing, Ponima?” Phyrn asked with resignation, knowing it was pointless to object any further.

“Nope!” the mad goddess worryingly replied. “But with the arcane, that’s always an inherent risk.” She placed her hand upon Pippy’s tummy, and with a flare of pink and red, announced: “FUSING!”