Eulyn's Will

Gritting his teeth, Cay dug his fingers into the porthole rim. His arms ached all the way to the shoulder blades, and the icy wind battering his body did nothing to help.

But at least he was still alive. Rain's needles had melted into water after they'd struck, though he had the nasty feeling that wasn't the only source of the liquid soaking the front of his robes. The white-hot pain stabbing into his muscles suggested as much.

All the same, he was lucky he'd managed to grip onto the slightly recessed frame of a porthole. Even so, it was a temporary solution at best. Sooner or later, his strength would give up.

As his feet swung back and forth, his head spun. Climb, he had to climb, but even the slightest attempt to move made his chest feel like it was being torn apart.

Yet he couldn't stay here forever. Not when letting go meant falling to his death.

And not when the fight was still raging up above.

Gathering his resolve, Cay clenched his teeth and clamped his fingers down tight. Ignore it, the pain flaring in his chest. All he had to do was lift one foot, and then….

A torrent of Levia flooded his body, knocking the breath from his lungs. His fingers slipped.

For a dream-like moment, he felt oddly weightless, suspended in midair. But then his stomach jerked and wind rushed past his ears as he plummeted into the night sky below.

'No! NO!' It couldn't end like this!

Pink light flared from above, almost blinding him. Then something wrapped around his waist, jerking him to a stop.

Wheezing for breath, Cay dangled limply in the air. All he could hear was the heartbeat throbbing in his chest.

As it slowly calmed down, he became aware of something cool and soft pressing into his abdomen. Looking down, Cay saw a translucent blue tentacle digging into his robes.

His heart skipped a beat. Blue?

Before he could figure out what was happening, the tentacle began to lift him. As it did, the pink light grew brighter, making his eyes widen. With it came a powerful Levia, the same one that had startled him in the first place.

As the Levia throbbed in his bones, he realized he'd felt this before. An endless blue sky – no, soft dawn light – no, a star-studded cosmos – no –

A silver star.

No way. No way. He was imagining things – it had been more than five years –

At last, the tentacle lifted him high enough to see the decks of both skycraft. The breath caught in Cay's throat.

A diagram glowed upon the Blue Sky's deck, shedding rays of pink light across the night. Floating above it, also engulfed in light, was a small figure. His arms outstretched, the Star of Miriel floating in front of his chest and glowing just as fiercely.

And – hold on. The pink light glowed the brightest behind Theo's back, spreading in a shape that almost reminded Cay of...wings?

Yet that wasn't the most amazing thing about the whole scene. No, it was the silhouette wrapped in Blue's tentacles. Though the dawn light obscured her features, the diamond on her forehead blazed like a silver beacon.

Astonishment wiped Cay's mind blank. 'This isn't real. I can't be seeing this.'

But the Levia throbbing through his bones didn't lie. Dimly, he felt it spike, and more of Blue's tentacles unwound from beneath her bell and shot towards the Himmelsfestung.

One zipped past Cay's side, close enough to rustle his robes. Numbly, he watched as it arced down to the Himmelsfestung's deck and wrapped around a group of soldiers.

Faster and faster they came. Some snatched Ulrich's soldiers and lifted them into the air, shaking them to make them drop their weapons. Others, blazing with Levia, slashed through the scarlet tentacles holding the Blue Sky as if they were made of paper.

Soldiers scattered, but not quickly enough. As they ran Ulrich stood fast, gesturing wildly and summoning a diagram beneath Rain.

But the instant it appeared, a tentacle caught him by the ankle. Yelping indignantly, he kicked and thrashed as it hauled him up. The scepter spilled from his fingers, clattering onto the deck, and the spell went up in sparks around Rain.

The silvery Levia pulsed through Cay's body like a heartbeat. So warm, so gentle, yet firm with resolve.

And a voice came with it, echoing through the night sky.

"You will harm them no longer. My friends, my family."

A voice Cay hadn't heard in years. A voice that haunted his dreams every night.

The last time they'd spoken, she had sounded just like this, hadn't she? Just as determined. "If I can help, then I will. That's why I became a sage."

Tears flooded Cay's eyes, fracturing his vision into a colorful blur. He hated them for obscuring Eulyn from his sight, but he couldn't stop them from flowing. And even if he couldn't see her, it didn't matter. He was closer to her than he had been in years.

Shame, relief, joy – so many emotions his body couldn't contain, swelling inside him until he thought he might explode. All these years, he'd been a complete fool. Thinking Eulyn was beyond his reach when she'd been here this entire time.

The day she had left the temple, he'd felt more abandoned than he had in his entire life – even more than when his parents had left him at the mountain as a scared, lonely child. The forbidding stone walls, the solemnly robed sages, had terrified him. He couldn't imagine making a life in this place.

Until an older girl held out a hand of friendship to him. Just like that, warmth flooded the temple's bleak halls and the future no longer seemed so uncertain.

Every time she praised him, encouraged him to keep studying, he felt more confident of his path. He would become a great sage just like her.

So when Eulyn had turned her back on the path of a sage, it had struck like a blow to the heart. Amaro's letter was full of lies; she couldn't have thrown it all away out of pity for one medusid. He had to have seduced her, lured her away with charming lies.

But the truth had stared Cay in the face all along. He simply hadn't wanted to acknowledge it. For the sake of a dying medusid – that was more than enough reason for Eulyn. Far from renouncing her vows as a sage, it was the truest way she had of fulfilling them.

And she was fulfilling them even now. Fighting not just for Blue's sake, but everyone's. Including Cay's.

The tears came harder and faster, hurting far more than any physical wounds. When his stomach lurched, he realized the tentacle was swinging him forward.

Wait, he wanted to cry. Not yet, he still needed to apologize to Eulyn –

Her Levia fluttered through his chest, almost a teasing tickle. Even without words, he understood her intention. 'There's no need to apologize.'

Of course Eulyn would say that. Despite himself, a smile twitched up Cay's lips.

His feet brushed solid metal, making him lurch. The next thing he knew, the tentacle gently set him down on the Blue Sky's deck. When it unraveled from around his waist, he almost protested, but that was when Eulyn's Levia flared brighter than ever.

Then it died into nothing – along with the pink light. Just like that, the world plunged back into darkness.

But before his vision fully adjusted, he saw something tumbling from beneath the medusid's bell. 'Eulyn,' was Cay's first panicked thought, but no – she was still securely wrapped within Blue's tentacles.

Then –

Cay's heart pounded. As fast as he could, he took off running.

He made it just in time. Right before Theo hit the deck, Cay stretched out his arms and caught him. The force of the impact knocked him flat, banging his chin against cold hard metal. Pain flared anew through his wounds, but judging by the weight pinning down his arms, he'd managed to cushion Theo's fall.

Slowly, Cay blinked to clear his vision. Theo blinked back up at him, his gaze bleary. With his hair disheveled, Cay could see both of his eyes.

Hold on a minute. If Cay wasn't mistaken, those eyes...weren't the usual brown. Instead, they had become deep purple, so dark it was almost black, pinpricks of light swirling within them like stars in the cosmos.

Cay's Levia churned, pressing uncomfortably close beneath his skin. Trying to tell him something, but he had no idea what.

Then Theo's eyelids slid shut and his body relaxed, all the tension draining from his muscles. Just like that, Cay's Levia quieted.

Maybe he had imagined the whole thing.

But one thing was clear. The silence reigning across both skycraft, the Himmelsfestung's tattered tentacles waving like banners of surrender. And though Eulyn's Levia no longer pulsed inside him, he could feel her gaze on the top of his head.

"You did it," he whispered. "Thank you."