What Lies Beneath

Seren

Seren found Nephis by the firepit, reading something. It was hard to tell what it was. The flames cast jagged shadows across the woman's features, Seren hesitated, twisting the hem of her tunic between her fingers.

"You're blocking my light," Nehpis said matter of factly, not looking up.

Seren swallowed hard and stepped closer. "I need to ask you something. About your healing."

Nephis paused and looked up. She shut the book and gave a slight nod as a go ahead.

Seren had practiced what she was going to say, so she spoke in a rush. "My grandfather, Saint Daellan… well, um, one of his retainers had an aspect that allowed him to know stuff about someone's body. He took me and Kallen's blood and left, we didn't really think much of it at the time. My father told me he was trying to predict if we would be infected with the spell or not… it doesn't matter." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Kallen's came back fine and there wasn't much evidence to support that he'd be a carrier. The same thing with me. But he did find something wrong," her voice dropped, and she enunciated slower. "He found something wrong with my soul. An… uh, my grandfather said it was an imprint. He said it would kill me before I reached adulthood… unless I became an Ascended."

Nephis set the book down and inspected Seren. She frowned. "That would explain why you're already a Sleeper at your age."

Seren waited impatiently.

"My aspect isn't potent enough to fix something like that just yet," Nephis said, judging Seren as though she could see into her very soul. "But I don't see why I wouldn't be able to once I rise through the ranks." She tilted her head. "Does your brother know?"

Seren shook her head immediately. "No, and you can't tell him! He'd—"

"Lose his mind and do something stupid?" Nephis finished. "I know. I won't."

 ~~~

Kai

Several minutes ago.

"Drop me," Kallen said, as if it were that simple. As if Kai could just let him sink into that abyss and wait patiently.

He adjusted his hold, fingers digging into the boy's hands. He could feel the tension in the Nightwalker's body; the coiled readiness of someone who'd faced down death before and was ready to do it again.

You'd better come back. The thought was sharp as he let go, watching the boy freefall into the abyss. Kallen barely made a splash by the time the dark sea had stilled. 

Kai was annoyed at the boy for diving into hell without a second thought. He was annoyed that he had met Kallen's family, only to be tasked with making sure the guy made it out of here alive. So much responsibility gained in such a short amount of time. He found it was strange that he cared, perhaps he shouldn't, but he did and that was that. 

It was just who he was. 

It was a twisted sort of world that forced two siblings into the dream realm. Especially a region unclaimed by humanity. Kai fidgeted as he waited in the air. The Crimson Spire loomed in the distance, making him uneasy. 

A great deal of time passed as he floated idly. How long had it been? Minutes? Hours? Time stretched weird when there was nothing to do but wait.

Kallen had been outwardly confident when they'd met at the wall. He had a cool sort of confidence with a hint of arrogance that Kai often saw with Legacies. There was, however, an undertone of nervousness behind that self-assuredness. 

It was as obvious as the tremble Kai had felt when he'd carried him here. Perhaps Kallen wasn't as in control as he pretended to be?

Kai halted that train of thought, instead looking down at the black sea, which devoured light itself. There could be a war going on down below and he wouldn't have a clue. As time went on, he considered dipping into that sea and summoning the Memory Kallen had given him. Just to check and nothing more.

But the Nightwalker had warned him not to descend until he broke the surface.

Then there was a flash of light. 

A streak. It came crashing down so fast that he'd missed the actual construct, only catching the after image. A loud crash. Then again. Another crash. Then again. Bolts of destruction rained from the heavens, piercing through the black sea instead of dispersing at its surface.

Had it been an act of nature? Kai had certainly never seen lightning behave that way. 

Had it been Kallen? 

No. It couldn't have been. His aspect is related to water manipulation.

Kai watched the surface of the glassy sea intently, judging for any obstruction in the status quo. Breath held, he waited.

Then there was a flicker. A heartbeat later, the ocean exploded. The shockwave reached him, forcing him to stabilize himself mid-air.

Should I go in just to check? 

Kai dipped down hesitantly. He stopped, considering the firmness with which he'd been ordered not to go into the sea. He shook his head… it wasn't an order—that man, that guy, didn't have any power over him. Kallen wasn't his manager, or captain, or anything like that.

But still, when one of Gunlaug's men told you to do something, you did it.

To hell with social norms. Kai dropped from the sky. 

The water swallowed him whole. Darkness pressed against his eyes as the Memory Kallen had given him flared to life. The bronze circlet sharpened his vision with eerie clarity. The black sea didn't become translucent, but Kai could make out the general details revealing the nightmare below.

What a nightmare it was.

A dragon, massive as a warship, thrashed in the depths. One eye wept golden where something had punched through it. The other burned mad with hatred, locked on the small form that slowly fell deeper into the water.

Kallen. He wore no armor, and appeared to have little control over himself. In the distance, the dragon inhaled, its throat glowing like a forge.

No time. 

Kai rushed downward. The water resisted him, but he broke through, pushed past and rammed into Kallen, shoving him out of the way.

The water boiled suddenly behind him. His back burned from the oppressive heat… in fact, all of him did. He hadn't noticed, but the very water, was stifling. Kai's skin was burning. He wrapped his arms around the teen, holding tight and using his momentum to carry them away.

Then, he activated his aspect and began to ascend, aiding his upward movement with desperate kicks. Kai was no expert swimmer, but he must have been making record breaking time.

Fear and panic rose up within him. It scalded hotter than the presence of what must have been at least a Terror, maybe even a Titan below.

For a moment, there was only the muffled sound of the quiet sea around them. Then Kai broke the surface, black liquid trailing down him as he gasped for breath. 

His lungs were on fire. But he laughed… he laughed anyways, the sound coming out as a wheeze more so. Blood trickled from Kai's nose but he didn't even notice.

"You… moron," Kallen rasped, fingers digging into Kai's shoulder, grip weak. The Hunter was slung over his back like a heavy sack. "What part of 'wait for me to surface' was unclear."

Kai began to respond, raising higher into the air, but stopped himself, hearing hoarse, gasping breaths from his companion. He decided to ask the more pressing question. 

"Did you… did you smite that thing with lightning?"

Kallen responded with a groan that might have been affirmatory, but it wasn't clear. In fact, nothing was. 

A roar from below shattered the surface of the sea, sending plumes of black water geysering into the air. Kai didn't need to glance back to know the dragon had breached the surface. The sudden boiling heat told him everything.

"Higher!" Kallen forced out, his voice sudden and raw. "It's wing… it can't—"

Kai cursed and dodged to the side as a gout of flame went shooting past them. 

I'm gonna die…

His soul screamed in protest as he pushed his aspect to his limits. His face took on a wild expression. The surface was probably hundreds of yards below them already, but judging by the heat, the dragon was closing the distance.

"Hit that thing with another bolt of lightning!" Kai shouted, risking a glance downward. The Titan's terrifying, gaunt form was gaining fast.

Kallen's grip tightened on Kai's shoulders. "I can't."

"Why! Why not?"

"Because we're running away," Kallen wheezed. He coughed afterward, blood dripping from his nose onto Kai's back. "I think my lightning finds that cowardly." 

Kai's flaw allowed him to know when someone was lying. The strange thing was, despite Kallen's joke, he was telling the truth. Or at least, he was saying what he believed to be true. 

His lightning finds it cowardly… what does that even mean?

"Can you try harder please!"

A pained groan came from the Hunter. "I'm…" he inhaled, out of breath. "I'm having performance issues. Give me a moment."

Kai wanted to shout at him for joking in their current situation. He wanted to drop the boy into the Dragon's maw and be done with it all, but his own moral code stopped him. As much as he might have wanted to, he'd never do something like that.

Beneath them, the Titan took a deep breath, glowing orange spreading through its body, visible through the gaps in its scales. Kai shouted for his aspect to move him faster, each frantic yard gained sent waves of exhaustion through his mind. He could feel Kallen's grip weakening, the Hunter's breathing coming in ragged gasps.

But then he moved. He shifted and then said something completely insane, "Drop me…"

Kai gaped for a moment. "Do you want to die? Are you insane!"

"No," he said. "I want to live. So after a few seconds, drop me and then wait."

"What are you—"

"I'm going to try…" he lingered, catching his breath. "I'm going to try something. If it works, try to catch me. I think I'm going to pass out when I'm done."

Kai began to argue again, but he shut his mouth and nodded. Then, as the sound of air whooshing past him narrowed to nothing, he sighed, and let go. 

Kallen pierced the air. He fell, his path aimed straight for the open jaws of the towering Nightmare Creature below. 

What is he thinking!?

For a few seconds, nothing much happened. Then, something formed into Kallen's outstretched hand. A golden trident—glowing with energy—was suddenly in his grasp. The next breath, a streak of white-hot annihilation split the sky, so bright it seared Kai's vision for a brief spell. A thunderclap followed, shaking the air itself, vibrating through the depths of his bones.

The bolt struck the Titan's face with the force of a falling star. Its roar was cut off mid-bellow, replaced by a sickening gurgle when arcs of golden electricity danced across its frame. Its body convulsed midair, momentum lost, one shredded wing folding inward as a broken sail.

Kallen went limp. His weapon dispersed in a rain of sparks. He tumbled end-over-end through the sky, unconscious. 

Kai dove.

Wind screamed past his ears as he shot down, arms tucked, eyes fixed on the plummeting Sleeper below. Every beat of his heart felt like an hour. The obsidian sea rushed up to meet him.

The dragon hit first—its bulk slammed into the ocean with an impact that sent waves soaring skyward. Thousands of gallons erupted in a plume of steam and darkness.

Moments later, Kai caught Kallen just above the surface, arms locking tight around his torso. The force drove them down a few yards into the air just above the sea, slowing their fall. Heat rolled off the tumultuous surface.

The steam hissed, rising up around them. It curled across Kai's face as he rose again, Kallen slack in his arms. His slow breathing and the strained beating of his heart were the only things that signaled that he was still alive.

Beneath the waves, Kai could see glowing proof of the Titan's roughed silhouette still writhing. It was recovering from the devastation, but then a dark shadow crashed into it from the side, stopping it from doing anything.

Not that it would be flying in those conditions anyways. It was done with them. For now at least.

Kai didn't stick around. He surged upward again, his adrenaline-pumped body begging for rest, despite the fact that he'd only been part of the action for a minute or two.

Still, a minute of sprinting at full speed was just as tiring as anything. 

"Hold on…" he muttered, more to himself than his unconscious companion. "Come on, hold on…"

The wind roared as he climbed. Kallen's weight was a leaden drag on his ascent, and his head lolled useless. Kai was careful not to let him slip.

The sky above greeted him with the silent grey. When he reached a height he deemed safe, he took off southwest—the direction Kallen told him to go in the case that things went poorly. Something about a spiders nest?

It didn't matter at the moment. For now, he angled toward a stretch of solid ground, muscles trembling as he lowered himself. The cool wind was a pleasant change of scenery.

He touched down on a narrow ledge of coral high above the waterline. For a moment, he didn't move, just sucked in air, lungs working overtime. 

"You're insane," he said to the unconscious boy, panting. "You're absolutely insane."

Kallen didn't respond.

Kai lowered him gently onto the ground and knelt beside him, checking his pulse. Still there, slow but strong. That, and the fact that they both weren't on fire or in the stomach of a dragon, was an absolute win as far as he was concerned.

A/N: For those who don't remember, Kallen's trident is his aspect legacy relic.