Astra relayed a telepathic message to her twin brother, Lux, "How're things on your end?"

Another Deathless sprang from an alleyway beside Faehaven's orphanage. The creature was smaller than the others—apish and fast-moving—which made it difficult to track between the failing light and heavy downpour. Astra blasted it with a bolt of electricity from her fingertips and cut off the magic current before it could strike the surrounding puddles.

"Just mopping up a few stragglers," Lux replied. "You?"

"Same. We should move out—"

"—before more show up," he interrupted, intuiting her thought. "Agreed."

It was only a matter of time before Astra and Lux lost their magic. As half-fae, they would soon be rendered catatonic like the others like them—a fate arguably worse than the pure-blooded fae who simply died after their magic left. Without the human mages' ability to cast, the twins were effectively the last line of defense in the city. Astra suspected the only reason she and her brother had held out as long as they had was their unique ability to quickly pass magic between one another, like a game of keep-away. But she doubted their luck would hold out forever.

Astra brushed strands of wet, matted white hair from her face and pounded on the double doors of the main entrance. "Get ready to move!"

The group of humans sheltered inside—the last in the whole city, for all she knew—was comprised mostly of the women and children who lived there. Evacuation would be chaotic and slow-going, but the building wasn't fortified, and it was only a matter of time before the Deathless overran their position and broke in. They needed to find somewhere safe.

Astra could sense Lux lingering on the opposite side of the building where he stood guard. "Where should we go?" he asked.

"How the hell should I know? Your guess is as good as mine! All I know is we can't stay here!"

"Those things came from the north... What about—"

"—south?" Astra asked. A winged Deathless screeched, diving for her from above. She destroyed it with a bolt of lightning. "You don't run in a straight line—"

"—when a tree is falling down. Yeah. I know."

"We should head east to the nearest stronghold."

A pulse of Lux's irritation bled through their connection. "You're assuming they're all heading in the same direction—they could be targeting Arcanarium territory! We should try to steer clear of the fighting!"

"Do these things seem capable of planning a war to you? We need walls made of stone, not wood!"

"Listen, bickering—" Lux started.

"—isn't going to get us out of this. I get it!"

"Help me solve the problem! Don't—"

"—I'm not piling on!" she growled, taking her frustration out on another Deathless flying overhead, reducing it to a shadowy plume with a wave of magic.

"The back is clear for now," Lux said. "I'm coming around."

Astra took advantage of the reprieve to open the nearest door, but when she pulled, it held firm. She pounded on it. "Come on! We have to go!"

A terse, muffled argument broke out inside.

Lux appeared. "What's going on?" he asked aloud, slicking his wet white hair behind his pointed ears. "I thought we were leaving."

"I thought so, too," Astra replied. She gestured at the door. "Apparently, they're undecided..."

"We don't have time for this." He beat on the door. "Hey! Open up!"

A man's voice rang clear from the other side, "How do we know you aren't leading us to those things?"

Lux's youthful face reddened, aging him instantly. "Because we're fighting them, you—"

Astra raised her hand and shook her head. "You can't coax a hare by shouting at it. Let me handle this." She didn't wait for his approval. "Listen, we can't protect this place forever. Eventually, we will make a mistake and die out here. Then the Deathless will break in. You're welcome to stay, but you should let anyone who wants to come with us. The best chance any of us have is getting far away from here!"

There was commotion, and the door shook. "No!" the man called. "Don't! It could be an Unseelie trick!"

Astra heard Lux's thought, "Seriously? Bigot..."

"He's afraid—they all are."

Shouts rose from inside the orphanage as the humans quarreled.

"I knew it was a bad idea to stop and help them," Lux complained.

Astra's violet eyes met his. "You wouldn't have been able to live with it, and neither would I. This is the right thing to do—trying is what matters."

Lux grimaced and nodded. "Trying is what matters... You're right." He breathed deeply, shaking off anxiety through his fingers. "I still have a bad feeling about this."

The door swung inward, and a flood of women and children poured out. A short and stocky middle-aged woman stood arguing in the doorway with a lanky young man. "Stand aside, craven!" the woman shouted.

"Fine! Go! See what good it does! Mark my words: they'll all be dead come morning, and it'll be on your head!"

The woman slapped the youth. "Coward!" Turning, she picked up a toddler teetering past and exited the orphanage, approaching Astra and Lux. "Never you mind that ungrateful git... You're godsent, you are—thank you! Have a mind where we're off to?"

"Southeast?" Lux asked.

Astra nodded. "You taking—"

"—the rearguard, yes." Lux managed a smile. Aloud, he said, "We're heading to Alatyr if we can manage it."

The woman paled. "Alatyr? Blessed be! So far! We'll be lucky if we make it as far as Sylvanfall!"

"Which is why we'll need you and your sisters to carry the little ones," Astra said. "And we'll help, too, when the fighting stops. It'll be a long march."

"And longer still if we keep nattering here," the woman groused. The toddler in her arms whined, and she readjusted her hold, rejoining the throng. "Right then... Everyone! Come, come! Stick close together! Right this way!"

"Fools! The lot of you!" the man cried. As soon as everyone was out, he spat at the twins and slammed the door.

Astra and Lux leaned toward one another. They closed their eyes, and their foreheads met.

"I'll find the path," Astra thought.

"And I've got your back."

"Together!" they thought in unison.

Astra took off at run, heading for the front of the group. As the last to hold the majority of their shared store of magic, she carefully parceled it out between herself and Lux as she took the lead of the small crowd. An even distribution of magic wasn't as effective as a sole caster wielding the sum of it all, but it at least guaranteed a better overall response rate when defending against ambushes on the move. After over a century of practice, the twins could transfer magic almost instantaneously should either require more firepower.

"How's it going?" Lux asked as the group snaked through the city streets.

"So far so good."

"Well, that's good... Any chance you could pick up the pace?"

A prick of fear sent a chill up Astra's spine. Checking in, she read a snippet of his thoughts before he shut her out. Nonsensical patterns of thought had started repeating over and over in Lux's mind. "We're going as fast as we can. What's wrong?"

"I'm—"

"—No, you're not," she interrupted, his fear compounding with hers. "We've been at this all day. You're just tired."

"Astra, you have to—"

"—No, Lux! We'll keep bouncing it back and forth until we need it. It's been working so far, no reason it shouldn't—"

Shrill screeches filled the air, and the humans cried out in terror.

Astra swallowed the rising gorge in her throat, hastening forward through the narrow, winding streets. She could feel her brother's mind slipping as magic left him. He started to panic—not just for his sake but also for her's. "Lux... Lux, stay with me!"

"Can't... There's a horde approaching."

"If one of us goes, we both go!"

"I have them contained a couple blocks away from you, but I can't hold them off for long. You need to give me the rest."

"Lux!"

"Don't...pile on..."

An image of her own childhood face flooded her mind, looking down at her from a tree in the afternoon sun. It was a memory—Lux's memory.

"Miss?" the woman from before asked. A hand gripped Astra firmly by her forearm. She felt weightless, and then her elbows and knees struck something hard. The woman's voice came again, muffled, "Miss! Miss, are you okay? You have to stand up!"

"Give it to me, Astra!" Lux's childhood voice called. "I'll catch you if you fall!"

His defenses crumbled, and she caught a stream of his thought: "Starlight guides the way, keeps the shadows at bay. Starlight guides the way, keeps the shadows at bay. Starlight guides the way..."

"No... Lux, stay with me!"

Then, she felt it.

A tug, like someone pulling the end of a rope tethered to her chest. Whatever was stealing magic from Lux now threatened to steal more from her through their connection.

Lux's thoughts became more erratic, yet despite it, Astra could sense he was still fighting the Deathless—his movements guided more by muscle memory and instinct than conscious thought even as his mind slipped into insanity.

"Have to say sorry," Lux said, calling to her from the recesses of his rapidly deteriorating psyche."Sorry. Couldn't be...better. You've always been...my...starlight..." Another memory flashed in Astra's mind. She was standing in front of herself, hands waving erratically as she stormed out of a tavern while he drank himself into a stupor. "Did best I could," Lux continued. "Promise I did. Just sad. Angry. Didn't belong anywhere. Thought no hope." The memory shifted. Lux, sobbing while Astra held him, shivering in an alleyway as his body detoxified from months of drugs and alcohol. "But you see hope. Always. Best part of us—your hope. Your starlight."

The pain of magic being forcibly removed from her body sent a shudder through Astra's limbs. Despite it, she attempted to stand—refusing to give her brother the rest of the magic as it was being ripped from them both. But she knew that every second she tried to maintain the connection was another second lost for what Lux had planned.

The Deathless shrieked, closer than before. Astra caught glimpses of a child's feet stepping around her prone form. The woman's voice was distant, "Miss, please! You have to get up! They're coming!"

Astra groaned. "Run... Keep going."

"Try for me," Lux said, his thoughts fading. "Find the path..."

"Stand up, miss! We have to leave!" More hands reached out, dragging Astra's dead weight across the pavement.

"Try...life..."

A young girl filled Astra's hazy vision in the waking world—toe-headed, dirty, and pleading with her to stand—her little knuckles bone white from strain and scrapped raw as she pulled Astra's leathers at the shoulder.

"Trying..."

Another bout of pain wracked Astra's body.

"Trying...matters..."

The little girl pulled, even as an adult hauled her away—their expressions of remorse and terror penetrating the darkest reaches of Astra's consciousness.

A memory struck.

Lux hugging her. They were children again. His bright voice rang in her mind. "I love you, Astra!"

"I love you, too..."

She let go of magic one last time.

And the waking world rushed back to her.

A concussive boom shook the ground, followed by a shockwave. Pulverized glass rained from above, glimmering in the fading light.

Somewhere in Faehaven, Lux had self-immolated—taking the Deathless with him.

Rough hands gripped her by her arms, hauling Astra to her feet. "What in the hells are you laying the street for?"

Disoriented, ears ringing, she lifted her head to see who'd come to help and recognized the young man from the orphanage. "You..."

"Can't believe I'm sticking my neck out for the likes of you but your brother proved his mettle. Half-blood aside, he got me clear of those demons. Made me promise I'd find you," He shook his head and scoffed. "A promise is a promise... And here I am, at the end of days, making pacts with faefolk—the whole world's gone mad!"

She couldn't help but agree.

"Where did the others go?" the man asked.

"Alatyr..." Astra replied, barely above a whisper. "Heading for Alatyr."

"Can't promise we'll make it that far. Doubt any of us will. Can you walk?"

She managed a step forward, and another, attempting to support her own weight. She faltered but caught herself on the next step.

"There you go, that's it," the man said. "Think you can try on your own? I can't carry you all the way there."

Trying matters, she thought, numb.

She took another step, feeling more confident in her footing and willing to face an uncertain future without magic—without her other half—even as her thoughts echoed unheard through the deserted landscape of her mind.

⊱─━━━━⊱༻●༺⊰━━━━─⊰

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