The situation outside was quite different from before they'd entered the tunnel: the dome overhead had completely disappeared and the currents where back to their normal behavior. If it weren't for the countless castles still around and that the being remembered the entrance - and its traces of bramble - very well, it might believe they'd come out somewhere else, far away.

  Following the little light as it bobbed away joyfully felt more than a bit dissonant, and not only because of the clash with its memories of the surroundings: the currents might be moving as they should up above, but they weren't idle.

  There were disturbances in their flows when the being walked beneath them. Tendrils reached down in greeting, and if it weren't consciously holding them back, far more might descend.

  It could have been a funny and peculiar means of traveling, if not for the enormous uncertainty whether the being could actually control a current to that extent, and the very likely fact the little light would be annihilated immediately.

  The orb's mood plummeted so suddenly that the being worried something horrible was about to happen. Yet a quick look around revealed no threat of any kind. Though there was something familiar in the distance...

  Their new friend!

  The being immediately changed direction, heading straight there: it had promised that it would come back for its new friend, and it would.

  But there was something strange: a growing feeling like a great weight pressing down, or the bramble catching onto its things, slowing its progress.

  Despite the absurdity of the thought, the being knew: it was the little light.

  Why was he trying to stop the being? Was he really still hang up on... whatever they'd communicated about before that had angered him? Couldn't he see that their new friend didn't feel well? That it needed help!

  Yet the strange binding only grew stronger and stronger, until the being couldn't move forward anymore.

  It turned to look affronted at the orb, trying to communicate how not right this was. But there was no reaction. The little light pay it no mind.

  And clearly he could understand this time, even if the being couldn't really communicate as clearly as he. Their connection had grown strong enough for that. He was just consciously deciding to ignore his friend's emotions and, even worse, what was right.

  The orb swerved away almost in the opposite direction, clearly intending to give their new friend a wide berth, no matter what.

  With nothing else to try, the being reached for a spike on its back, pulled it out, and started to-

  a force seized its body, and the spike returned to its place.

  ...

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  ...

  ...

  The being was beyond astounded.

  That was the little light using the safety cage they'd just formed, through their connection, against it. To force it to do something against its will! Since when could he do something like this? Since when did he think this was right?!

  The being could break free, of course. The little light only had as much control as he was allowed to, after all. But that would mean the cage would unravel, and the thing inside go wild.

  No, it shouldn't condemn its oldest friend with so little. Even if this felt like a betrayal...

  ...

  ... there must be a reason he was behaving like this. Something beyond the being's knowledge.

  Even though this hurt, it would follow to the epicenter and solve the most pressing problem. The orb would have changed his mind by then, surely. And if not, there would be no need for a safety cage anymore then, and the being would be free to come back for its newest friend.

  Yes, it would go peacefully for now.

  But the fact that its friend would resort to this brutal measure, without even a vision to explain...

  Stuck there as she was, vegetating until the realm collapsed under its own weight and the pressures from outside, she had nothing else to do but reflect on her recent past - as everything farther back had already mostly faded - and look around at the now deceptively peaceful, bleached landscape of rocks, dust and little else.

  She saw when the poor lost soul and the curious thing came out of the tunnel. Of course she did.

  They didn't try again to put her out of her misery. In fact, they steered very clear of her location. Just as she'd advised them. So there was no reason to feel offended.

  They needed to make it out. And something told her they would.

  Especially that cute little monkey. Such a gentle creature, for such bizarre and unapproachable appearance! Her senses were too far gone to know for sure, but it was just so different from the other inhabitants of this realm, that it might be the true recipient of the nucleus!

  Hopefully the lost soul could temper the evil hiding - not so - deep in his heart, and help it along, for the good of them both. And for...

  No. Her last safety line would not survive.

  Though the little monkey had received it in a... peculiar manner, it would have decayed to aspected prana already, and denaturated entirely by time they made it out. At best, it would be a boon for the gentle creature's future.

  Yet it was undeniable that she shouldn't even have been able to create it in the first place, after what had been done to her, so maybe it wasn't so unlikely that... No! Speculation on such ridiculous things was useless. She would not do herself the cruelty and indignity of still believing in empty dreams.

  She'd come here for the useful properties of this realm, that would give her at least a remote chance to ensure the artifact was passed on. And nothing else. Deep inside, she'd known help was never in the cards.

  She fought for freedom. And true freedom was never so from consequences.

  Still, she couldn't help but stare after the strange pair until they'd disappeared beyond the horizon, and kept looking in that direction long after.

  What she should really hope for was that the fragment she'd left with the gentle creature would be carried outside.

  Chief let Urrant scrape her sidhi so very easily... they obviously wanted to avoid her popping out somewhere else and beginning her escape anew. And they'd eagerly believed she was trying to bargain for her life.

  They thought she was full of herself, planning to keep fighting them directly, and that she'd consequently utterly failed. They would never expect her to have sacrificed herself.

  Just as they would never expect she would be foolish enough to count on a humble creature from this dying realm to safeguard a piece.

  They must be patrolling outside, destroying every last fragment that had escaped through the rifts. Then they would leave, to clean up after those she had left far away, sure that the realm's end would bury the rest here.

  They would know that something that was not even a sidha could never escape alive from a collapse. And they would be perfectly justified in their judgment, for it made no sense.

  That would be their undoing.

  ...

  There was no sound on the gravel, not even a small pebble disturbed.

  But she knew it was here.

  And turned to look.

  The naradha was staring down at her.

  It was the first time she took such a close look, through normal eyesight.

  Gaunt and emaciated like it was hours away from starving to death. Yet with a gracefulness... one that suggested this might have been a woman, long ago.

  Disquieting, scraggly blue lines criss-crossed the dark grey of its skin, vaguely converging around its chest, and perfectly showcasing what type of naradha it had been, before a terrible fate that nobody should be subjected- before their now shared punishment befell her.

  Greed, for something that could never be hers.

  There was also something peculiar, shining on its wrist, that hadn't been there before.

  But what really caught her interest, were its eyes: emptier than expected. Yet, somehow, burning much brighter. Looking down on her with none of the pity she had felt for it not too long ago.

  Their roles had swapped. Which was only appropriate.

  Now that she was feeling first-hand what this horrible condition meant, this creeping emptiness rushing to take from her everything she had ever held important, until she was not just a shadow of herself, but a shadow made of the ugliest, most vile recesses of her memories and personality... she couldn't fathom ever getting up again.

  Yet this creature was not only up and about, but was actively fighting for something.

  In some measure, its inner fire must be a consequence of the differences in what exactly they'd put into their sidhi and what they'd kept separated, but it could not be just that.

  This one must be braver than she could ever be, and it deserved respect. It probably deserved to hear that spelled out. Not to mention that such recognition for a 'mortal enemy' would make for some fine, badass last words.

  Alas, she just didn't feel like talking anymore. She'd said her piece already.

  As the fellow, lonely wretch leaned down to her, she could only wonder why it was doing this.

  Was it some form of gloating over a natural foe? Was it mercy? Did it even have any meaning at all?

  But when the former naradha completed the motion, it didn't stab her or anything. It just delicately touched her chest, just below her neck, and a familiar violating sensation begun, if a bit different, with tones of draining and usurpation.

  Even though she'd obviously never experienced its like before, there was no doubt in her mind: this was the forbidden, vile, greedy ability which made this naradha what it was.

  And the former vedraka was so completely astounded she forgot to even feel indignant or wronged.

  The creature was just as crippled as her.

  So how was it doing this?

  And what was it even trying to take, when she'd already lost everything?!

  But no matter the impossibility, the violence of the process was very real, and she could distinctly feel life leaving her.

  Slowly, the naradha helped her head down onto the ground, in a gesture so unnecessarily delicate, that she simply gave up trying to understand.

  The only bright spot was that, at the very least, she might not be alone in her bewilderment: as awareness left her completely, she held the naradha's gaze.

  And saw a perfect mirror to her own confusion.