Emrick was an idiot and that was the truth, no matter how hard he studied or what he discovered or what people told him, he was an idiot. Over and over again for the last two days, he'd called himself that. And it only got worse whenever he looked at Isiah, his mind drifting back to his stupid actions that night in the barn.

So, instead of allowing himself to think about it, he avoided Isiah as much as possible, which wasn't that much. They had to travel together, eat together, sleep together, there was no way Emrick could just run off, not when he had one of the stones. Isiah needed them to open the doors and that could only happen if he was holding the fear stone, if Nyat's Sanctum was anything to go by.

But he didn't want to be around anyone. After his silly affection towards Turian, he had decided not to pursue anything with anyone, but then he'd met Isiah and, like the idiot he was, got way too attached in a short space of time. Of course, it hadn't ended well for him, why would it?

It made travelling awkward, but there was nothing they could do about it. Isiah didn't want to talk to him, made a point to look away from him whenever their eyes met. Honestly, Emrick felt bad for Rina, who had to deal with it all without knowing what had happened. She hadn't said a word about it though, just walked with them in relative silence.

The morning after the worst conversation he'd had with Isiah, he and Rina scoured the map for the fake Sanctum of Askrune. It lay south halfway between the border and Ziya. From their position, not far from one of Minisia's border towns, they could make a beeline straight for it.

The thing was, they had no idea where the Ishini army was. If they were unlucky, they could walk right into them, but they were so far ahead of them that it was unlikely unless something serious happened. They should be able to get to the Sanctum of Askarune without much issue.

After that, it was a matter of finding answers. There was a high possibility that no one at the Sanctum knew about the Beast or anything to do with him. It was worth a shot at least, seeing as they had no other leads to go on with Nerin stuck in Ishmar with his brother. But there was a large part of Emrick that doubted they would find anything useful.

The Sanctum of Ishin near Ishmar had been fake and that could very well be the same for the Sanctum in Minisia. But with no other ideas, it was the only thing they could try. It would take them a while to get there at the pace they were walking at and it did worry him, but with him and Isiah as injured as they were, there was nothing else they could do.

The strength stone helped some. Isiah told Rina that it was like the flame stone, giving them all a little bit of strength to keep moving, Emrick just happened to overhear it. Without it, they would have been stumbling, exhausted and sore, until they passed out. With Isiah's slow practices, it meant they would be able to stay awake longer.

They were heading downhill, stumbling through the snow and tripping over buried roots and rocks. Emrick held the fear stone in his hands, something he'd done every moment he walked. He wanted to understand how it worked, something he had vowed to do from the moment he had met Isiah, but even with one in his possession, they still made no sense. If anything, his ability to use it made everything even more confusing.

Still, he had to practice with it. He couldn't tell Isiah what he needed to do and then not follow his own advice. None of them knew how fear could be useful for them, but that wasn't going to stop him from trying to figure it out. The Gods wouldn't have given it to him if they didn't think it would be useful.

Over the last two days, he'd only been able to manifest his worst fears again and again until the night before, when he'd been able to manifest a cockroach in his palm. It was disgusting and made him shiver, but it wasn't real. The fact that he could do it, control the amount of power he put into the little illusions, was amazing, but he didn't say a word to Isiah or Rina.

Never in his life had he expected to be able to cast illusions. Ever since he was a child, he'd known that the powers of the Ishini and the Askari were not his. But there he was, casting illusions far more powerful than any Askari alive. He could place himself in them, put himself in an entirely different world, or cast small things that scampered through the snow. It was small work and he couldn't do it for long, but it was something.

The only downside was, he only knew how to do it on himself. He could only manifest his fears. When it came to anyone else's, he was lost. There hadn't been a chance to try it on anyone else. Isiah may have said that he could use it on him, but after that night in the barn, he'd decided against it. They didn't need to speak, they were working fine together without it.

Above him, the sun was dipping towards the horizon. His stomach grumbled loudly and he sighed. They would have to stop soon, not even the strength stone would stop him from being hungry. Ahead of him, Rina and Isiah walked in silence, their arms brushing together every now and again. Sometimes, Rina would glance at the man next to her, a frown on her soft face, but Emrick didn't bother to address it. It was obvious that she had noticed their issues.

Thanks to the war, there were many abandoned buildings to stay in. People got scared, living on their own, and ran to the nearest town. They were probably safer on their own, but people were stupid and thought staying with others would keep them safe. But it gave Emrick and the other two a place to stay at night instead of sleeping in the snow.

By the time the sun had completely set, they had found someone's abandoned home, still fully furnished with only a thin layer of dust on everything. There was a little bit of food in the pantry, stuff that had to be eaten straight away, so he pulled it out to cook up. Better to use someone else's food than their own.

With Isiah's help, he got a fire started on the hearth, but the instant he looked at the other man, he ran off to the other side of the room. Anger flowed through his veins and his fist clenched around the vegetables he was cutting up. A stew would do them well for the night, made up of days old meat and vegetables.

"That looks disgusting," Rina said over his shoulder, her eyebrows raised at him.

"I'll have you know that this is proper border town cuisine," he replied, smiling when she laughed. At least one of them was happy. "It will be ready soon... Actually, Rina, could I ask you a favour?"

She frowned at him and crouched in front of the hearth. "What is it?"

The fear stone sat in his pocket, feeling far heavier than it ever had before. "I need to practice with the stone. I need to be able to use it on other people. Isiah won't use his to hurt people, but if I can, I will. We need more assets like this if we're going to win," he explained as quietly as possible. He didn't know why he was being so quiet, but part of him told him that he needed to be.

Rina stared at him for a moment, her fingers tapping against her knee. "I... I don't think I can help you," she whispered and sat back on the hardwood floor. "I don't feel like I would be able to handle it all that well. It's all still really fresh in my mind. I don't want to relive that."

"It would only be minor fears," he replied.

"Can you guarantee it?" she asked. He couldn't, he hadn't had enough practice yet and she could see that in his face. "Then, I'm sorry, but I can't. Not now. You'd have to ask Isiah."

The man in question sat near the house's tiny window, watching the snow fall through the darkness outside. He wasn't paying attention to either of them and looked lost in through, almost sad. "I'll ask him later," Emrick said as the other man leaned his chin on the palm of his hand. "Food comes first."

And so, when the rushed stew was ready, they sat in the small sitting room, guzzling the food. It was the richest thing any of them had eaten in weeks and they slurped it up as if it were the last thing they would ever eat. None of them spoke, but Emrick wasn't surprised. Things had changed since Huton, and not for the better.

Afterwards, Rina left to sleep in one of the two bedrooms, giving Emrick a pointed look as she went. At some point, she'd probably confront one or both of them about what was going on and he had no idea what he would say. He wanted to believe that it wasn't any of her business, but when it was starting to affect how they travelled.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, placing his bowl on the floor next to him. The fire in the hearth still crackled, but it was slowly going out. They didn't need it once the food was cooked. All the stew was gone too, gobbled up like it was going out of fashion. It hadn't tasted the best, but compared to the bread and jam they usually ate, it was of the same calibre as the food the royals ate.

Isiah sat on the couch across from him, still watching the window. Emrick could see in the stiffness of his arms and legs, in the white of his knuckles against the armrest, that he wanted to be anywhere else. It wouldn't be long before he decided to get up and take the final bedroom, leaving Emrick to sleep on the couch.

With a deep breath, he stood and stopped in front of the other man. "Isiah," he said, wincing at the wide-eyed expression that met him. "I need your help."

"With what?" Isiah asked, looking like he wanted to be anywhere else.

"The stone. I can use it on myself, but I need to be able to use it on other people. You told me..." he trailed off, his gaze falling to the floor. "You told me that you would help me. I promise I won't delve too deep, but I need to learn."

Isiah's eyebrows furrowed and his jaw clenched. "I- I promised you," he said and grabbed Emrick's wrist to pull him down onto the couch. The contact was warm and a small part of his mind whispered for him to shift his arm down and take his hand, but he couldn't.

"Just the basic fears, alright? Spiders and bats," he said as he fished the stone from his pocket.

Isiah looked nervous, his eyes wide and a lip between his teeth and despite how much Emrick wanted to comfort him, he couldn't. There was a line now and any kind of physical touching was sure to break it. They could have been great friends, if he hadn't been a complete idiot about things.

Then again, Isiah had been the one to kiss him first, the one to make him think that there had been something. He couldn't pin all the blame on him, not when he hadn't tried to talk to him about it, just leaned in for another kiss. He should have asked first, but either way, he would have gotten an answer he didn't want to hear.

A whisper pulled him from his thoughts. "I trust you," Isiah said. It hurt to hear, made his chest and stomach ache. If he trusted him, then why didn't he...

He shook his head. There were more important things to focus on. They weren't there to talk about their failure of a relationship and friendship, but to work on the stones, which were far more important than anything else. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Emrick focused, trying to concentrate on both Isiah and manifesting something he was scared of.

Using the stone on someone else was far different from using it on himself. He knew what his fears were, they were his, but he didn't know another person's. The stone made quick work of it though, telling him as though it were a person whispering in his ear. The voice sounded eerily like Askarune's and he didn't like it, but he listened nonetheless.

Spiders, bats, snakes, the dark when he was a child, court jesters. It came to him in a list of whispers and images in his mind. Without taking a moment to think about it, he pictured a snake sitting coiled in his free hand, slithering across his fingers and running up Isiah's arm.

A yelp pulled him from his thoughts and his eyes widened. Winding around Isiah's wrist was a thin black snake, hissing and flicking its tongue out. "How- How did you know? I only told you spiders and bats," he said, glancing up from his shaking up to meet Emrick's eyes.

"I saw it," he replied and made the snake disappear as if it were made of ash, falling into nothingness between them. "The stone showed me."

"What do you mean?"

He shrugged and gestured with the stone. "I don't know, it just told me what you were scared of. Snakes and court jesters," he said.

"That's all?"

"That's all. Can I try again?"

Reluctantly, Isiah nodded and in an instant, a miniature version of a court jester danced across their legs, a creepy grin on its face. "Did you have to make it smile like that?" Isiah asked and tried to brush it away. His fingers fell through the illusion and it disappeared like the snake.

"The smiles are what scares you."

"You couldn't sound anymore creepy if you tried."

"I'm sorry."

"No," Isiah said and sighed. "That was a joke. I'm sorry."

Emrick shook his head. "It's alright. Did you want to stop or keep going?" he asked, ready to put the stone away.

"Keep going. You can go a bit deeper. You need to learn, don't you?" Isiah answered, but he wasn't looking him in the eye.

"Are you sure?" Emrick asked and frowned when Isiah nodded. He wasn't sure if he should go any deeper. Isiah had told him only the basic fears back in the barn, but there he was, changing his mind.

He urged the stone to look deeper, past the snakes and spiders and creepy jester smiles. It was like peeling back the layers of an onion, revealing something more and more specific. It was invasive and wrong, but he needed to learn. Once he figured out how it all worked, he'd never use it on his friends again.

Beneath the snakes and the dark was something he hadn't expected. Loneliness. But the stone didn't tell him how to manifest it, so he had to find something else, something on the same level. The deeper he went, the clearer the images in his mind became, until Isiah was experiencing them as he saw them.

Loneliness, death, not being forgiven by the followers of the Old Gods. He couldn't stop, no matter how much he wanted to. The stone showed him more and more until there was only one fear left, his worst fear. Without meaning to, Emrick closed his eyes, the images focusing on the figure of Isiah in his mind.

He stood in the void, but somehow he could still see, and he wasn't alone. There were strangers around him, dressed in armour with their swords ready for battle. The familiar glow of the flame stone made their silver armour shine with orange. All of them were silent, but there was a look in Isiah's eyes, something dangerous, something he should never have. They were the eyes of a murderer.

In a quick flash, the knights were ablaze, screaming and flailing. It didn't take them long to fall, their armour scorched and their skin completely black. There was nothing left of them and even in his mind, Emrick could smell the scent of burning flesh. Isiah stood above them, staring down at the bodies with something akin to pride.

There was something more, lying beyond the bodies of the knights. Isiah ran towards it with a loud gasp, one that sounded as though it were right next to him. He was dressed in the grey robes of the followers of the Old Gods, something Emrick had never seen him in before. They billowed behind him as he ran and fell to his knees near a set of familiar crumpled lumps.

One of them was a woman he had never seen before, old and dressed in similar robes. The other three he knew. One was Nerin, his frail body pale and lifeless, his hand reaching out towards the body of Rina, who was covered in blood. Isiah didn't sit with any of them, but cradled the fourth body in his arms and screamed. The sound was awful, as if someone had stabbed him, ragged and choked.

The head of the body lolled towards the ground and Emrick stared at the wide-eyed expression on his own face. Blood dribbled from between his lips, running down his cheeks and dripping into the endless void below them. Again, Isiah screamed and pulled the body closer, holding it as if that could bring him back. The sobs were so loud, almost deafening but Emrick couldn't find it in himself to let Isiah know that he was there.

Everything made sense now, why Isiah wouldn't be with him. He was scared he'd die, he was scared all of them would die. That was what he had seen in Askarune's trial, the deaths of all of them, even him. But why cradle him, why not the people he was closer to? Hadn't he said that they barely knew each other?

"Emrick!" a familiar voice yelled and his eyes flew open. Rina stood behind the couch, her face pale and her eyes wide, hands on both his and Isiah's shoulders. On the other side of the couch, Isiah's eyes were red with tears and his cheeks were wet. A sob burst from his lips, choked and he clambered from the couch.

The stone in his lap glowed fiercer than he had ever seen in and the realisation made him pale, his heart plummeting into his stomach. "Isiah, did you- Did I show you that?" he asked and stumbled to his feet. The other man took a step away from him and, unthinking, he threw the stone onto the couch. "I'm so sorry! I lost control! I didn't-"

But Isiah didn't give him a chance to explain. He ran, slamming the door to the second bedroom behind him. The room fell into silence as Rina stared at him, her eyebrows furrowed in worry. "Emrick," she said gingerly.

"I didn't mean to," he whispered and collapsed back on the couch, head in his hands. He'd messed up. He shouldn't have gone any deeper, but he hadn't meant to go so far. The stone just kept pulling him further and further, showing him everything Isiah wanted to hide. "I lost control of it."

"Just give him time. He'll understand. He's lost control before too," Rina said in her language as she came around the couch to sit next to him.

"Not as bad as me," he muttered, even though it was a stupid thing.

Rina let out an incredulous laugh. "He's killed people when he shouldn't have. He burnt down your house, Emrick. And you forgave him for that. He'll forgive you for this," she told him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "I heard him crying so I came out to see what was going on. I thought you guys were talking about whatever had happened between you, but I was wrong."

"Thank you for stopping me," he said and leaned against her shoulder. Without her, who knew how long it would have gone on for. Far longer than it should have, that was for sure.

"Of course," she replied and ran her hand down his back. "I'm going to check on him. You should get some sleep."

He wasn't tired, but he nodded anyway, lying back on the couch when Rina stood. It wasn't comfortable in the slightest, but it was better than the hard ground outside. He lay with his head on the armrest and the fear stone in front of his face. Somewhere behind him, the door clicked open and shut and soft voices drifted from the room, but he didn't pay any attention to them.

With a groan filled with anger and despair, Emrick grabbed the stone and with as much strength as he could muster, threw it towards the dead hearth. It clattered against the stones and ashes, before settling in the middle of them and glowing as if nothing had happened. He turned away from it and the first tears fell down his cheeks.