I'm cast out of my vessel to see the full view in front of me.

Lindon's blond hair is matted down over his glowing irises, skin coated in a thick grime and dirt he cannot wash. His sweats are tattered and fraying into oblivion and both eyes are so bloodshot you cannot see white.

The room matches mine, webs and all. Though his chamber doesn't appear to have any markings or sarcophagus. Even then, each growing mossy crack in the wall faintly glows with Mana as if trying to reach out and cradle Lindon's dying form.

The broken man's face scrunches in astonishment, mindlessly getting on shaky footing and wrapping his wrists around the steel cords. A frost spreads over each individual link and intensifies into a thick ice mold. Layers and layers crust together on top of one another until the metal shatters like fragile glass upon the floor. Pieces tumble into my hair and slide against my skin, the refreshing scent of his power luring me into complacent rest.

The freezing sensation only lasts for a few seconds before the last of my soul escapes that body.

In minutes, I will not be able to return to this form. In minutes, she will be a corpse and I will be doomed to corporeal life.

He falls to his knees beside me, shaking my arms and pulling my empty frame into his lap. Lindon's hands steal my legs and then my back, lugging me up into a firm grasp and stumbling slightly as he picks me up off the ground. Eyes full of panic, he mouths words without a sound and pushes for the door.

The barrier stops him, but with irises searing gold, he kicks the thin wall of magic in on itself and feels the water rush past him.

"Fuck," he finally says. "It's the water, it's the fucking water."

Lindon takes a deep breath, trying to draw in my spirit. Instinctively, I reach out to touch his shoulder and he flinches, turning to stare where I would be dead in the eye.

He knows.

He knows I'm still here.

He knows exactly what's happening to me.

The sea begins to churn in front of him, clearing a path at first on the ocean floor, then manifesting into a hurricane around his very being.

Soaking now, the gross debris is bathed from his flesh quickly and into the water around. Racing as fast as possible, Lin sprints to the shore in a rush of wind and ice, throwing us onto the hot beach above only a hundred yards from where Remi, Meika, and Daniel gather anxiously.

My faint attention catches Shai' somewhere else, scanning for people and predators.

But the three of them are stiff, unsettled.

Each eye the storm with great fear, shocked when the man throws us onto land. I linger as close to my vessel as possible, feeling the warmth of Lindon's arms almost as if they wrapped around me.

"Ira," he beckons, grabbing up each of my cheeks in his hands and squeezing slightly. "Ira please..."

Tears start threatening to fill his eyes and I fear the worst when my companions draw closer. A frustrated growl escapes him and he notices the people almost instantly. Without recognition, ocean water crashes to shore, swirls around us and freezing in a thick dome.

I hear footsteps running and the quiet pleading of the witches voice. "Lindon, you have to reforge the bond."

"What?" His words scathe, scalding hot with rage and pain.

He only appears vaguely aware that other souls exist until now, but the frustration inside him builds.

"I don't have time to explain... Find her soul..."

Her silhouette disappears from behind the thick wall of frost and he starts muttering something profane in another language. Trying to clear his head, I watch Lin take a calming breath and place his hand on my chest. A thin spiral of Mana leaps from my sternum and dances around into my own spark. His focused gaze is trained on the chord. He wraps his palm around the tether and follows it gently away from my physical body and into my soul's chest.

His fingers dance around the pumping of my heart before they shift over the entire organ. A faint smile traces the agony in his eyes. I reach forward and touch his spark, familiar with the twists and gentle curves of energy. It feels like home when I trace the edges before grabbing it tight and squeezing it into my hand.

Lindon mimics the sensation on my own before aggressively shoving the spark straight back into my body.

The impact is excruciating, wind and weight slamming every inch of my soul back into this cramped form.

I wake up choking.

Finally able to blink, I open my eyes to the beautiful man in front of me and the blue sky behind him. Miles of it, as if he's literally destroyed the ash out of our sky.

Unable to control myself, I weakly launch my arms around his neck and pull him down into my chest. I feel Lindon's body begin to shiver uncontrollably, his arms slipping beneath my back and trapping me in a tight chokehold. Lin's cries are silenced in my soggy clothing, my own tears burning into steam and melting our small sanctuary.

"Foolish," he mumbles, pulling back and cupping my face. "So foolish to swim below, Ira."

"What of it," I whisper with a sly grin spreading over my lips. "Permanent separation? You'd rather that?"

He huffs, breath brushing across my face in a warm, soothing moment.

The capsule melts into the sand and the waves behind us calm down substantially. Our eyes burrow into each other, once again memorizing every mark, line, and scar on the others body.

A familiar surge of power spikes through my veins, the endless well of mana pooling up inside me and pouring out everywhere.

Though Lindon likely hasn't suffered the same fate of complete drain, he looks overcome with heavy exhaustion and the weight of our souls connecting again.

"I love you," I whisper, deathly still.

"I love you t-"

A shift in the sand disrupts him, eyes locking directly on Daniel and glaring with mistrust. Clearly afraid, the now shirtless and soaking Demi-God draws closer and I tense, noticing the dagger forming in Lindon's hand almost too late.

Why...? Why does he want to kill him?

Lindon lunges, but our blades clash as I throw myself in front of Daniel. I almost don't make it. Almost.

"No Lin," I hiss through gritted teeth. "Not him, not this one."

Daniel stumbles back a little bit as my quick positioning brushes all three of them in a cloud of debris. The girls continue stepping away, Meika reaching an arm out in front of Remi and looking off into the distance. My guess warding off an angry wolf. 

Lindon's lips pull into another snarl as he withdraws partially. "That Man is nothing more than a Destroyer-"

"He saved my life."

With stoic rage, he does not cave against my defense. "That Man put us in this position in the first place, Iridian!"

My heart seizes, throat tightening.

What? What's he talking about?

I find myself turning to look at the Demi-god once more, eyes critically piecing together everything I'd heard for the last several months. Every apology. Kiel's sardonic growls.

Daniel pleaded with me, as he was running out of time.

Running out of time, because we were about to find Lindon.

Lindon, who would recognize him immediately for some reason or another.

It was too late.

"He saved my life..." I manage again, so weakly. Even my arms begin to shake as the foundations in my chest fall apart. As though I'd let Lindon end his life right here, right now.

Daniel's eyes are hollow, body frozen in defense. After saving my life - multiple times throwing away his own wellbeing - this is what I find. That he was likely protecting me simply to punish himself. The lies begin tangling together, choking themselves. He'd fight for his life willingly or be so suffocated by guilt he'd let Lindon kill him.

All the lies...

I would've forgiven all these lies if only I had known...

"Saved you from what?" Lindon growls, pulling back ever so much before lunging again. "Himself?"

I slam him into the ground, taking another stance in front of Daniel.

Our strength, our power was equal. A fight could destroy the peninsula.

"Daniel, what is he talking about...?" I murmur, scared.

Give me a reason, Daniel.

Instead, the boy says nothing. He looks at Lindon with his head lowered as if he is prepared to pay a debt.

"If you don't tell her, I will," Lindon smirks, evilly at that. Far from something he ever would normally. There is no gentle love there, no compassion or justice.

Unless this is the Just thing...

The Temples have destroyed us both.

"I don't want to cop out, Ira. I deserve the consequences for my actions."

"That's not an explanation, Daniel."

His eyes turn even softer, shot down. "Kiel made my siblings and I do horrible, wicked things. Many of them were only to attain his power and control... But when he began hunting Gods, I..."

His voice gives out at the end.

Hunting Gods...

I feel my lips frowning, but the exhaustion gripping me is casting aside tolerance by the minute.

Lindon scoffs in demented laughter, before giving me a proper once over. "He's gotten to you, he's told you lie after lie hoping that someday the truth would not exist. That Man was controlling whatever that hellish contraption was when we were separated, Ira!"

He's wrong.

I know it's true. I feel it inside my bones.

In my heart.

But he has to be wrong.

I stare at the boy in question one last time.

Daniel meets my gaze, holding it in stride. Level, with respect.

"Is it true?" I ask.

"Yes," he answers.

A tear falls down my cheek.

Turning to stone, I feel my mind and heart closing off from reality, away from even Lindon as my eyes narrow down on him. "How do you know this?"

"Because I woke up when the son of a bitch was locking me up. On the way here, to this very Temple."

My jaw clicks, teeth grinding together in frustration and some strange betrayal. "You will not touch him."

An order.

And a promise of pain.

"Ira-"

"You do not touch him, Lindon," I snap again. "This is now between me and him."

The cold, distant chuckle Lindon gives me is stabbing. I've hurt him now. Betrayed him only minutes after being reunited.

But even as I twist that dagger in his chest, he rights himself and dusts off with dignity. "As you wish, my love."

While he stands down within the boundaries, I know it's killing Lindon inside. Watching me defend Daniel. Watching me protect him.

The boy who lied to me for so long.

Lindon's love for me, his respect is far superior to my own. The foundation is so much more powerful than his drive to kill.

He truly is life.

Lin's gaze is softer but no less threatening. He turns his back to them and stalks a few paces away, stretching his body in the clean sunlight.

Overwhelmed. Containing his internal turmoil and temper, leashing himself.

Reminding me of the restraint he truly resembles.

Not to mention remembering what it's like to be free.

I find myself painfully avoiding eye contact with anyone. Even Remi and Meika who were quieted by the scene in front of them. Either scared of getting caught in the crossfires or respectfully withdrawing, I'm not sure.

And Daniel...

He stands behind me, close. I can feel him, feel his hands clenching in the air and his body shaking.

Feel the pain and fear.

I can't even look at him.

Kiel is hunting Gods...

And this whole time Daniel knew everything and continued to play dumb. He followed me around the world to relieve himself of this grief.

The guilt.

It was Daniel who put us away. It was him who tore us apart and ruined everything...

"Go," Meika says at last, interrupting my thoughts and looking between Lindon and I. "We will set up camp here."

I don't know what is scarier, confronting Lindon or the painful tension between Daniel and I now. But I'm grateful the decision is made for me.

I'm grateful to look at him.

To smell him, even from just over here.

So I cut my losses and chase after the love of my life for the first time in 97 years. 

Good Marrow, My Dear Destroyers!

I feel like I need to draw Daniel in nothing more than dark jeans and depict all his pensive badassery. He certainly wasn't the golden child today, but most of you knew this was coming. Surprised?

As much as you might wonder, this wasn't the entire plan from the beginning, no. But it warped and twisted its way into a masterpiece. A little plot-twisting is good, right? Let me know what you think. Is Dan the Bad Guy? Is he guilty?

This week's Dedication goes to CelticWarriorQueen17 for so many reasons. She is a wonderful gifted writer, friend, and reader. Out of almost every person who stayed with ISEA, she never took a break, never disappeared, and was almost always the first person on a chapter. Her insane support has brought me so much joy and she deserves all the love in the world for it. <3 

You're phenomenal, Gwyn.

I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! Don't forget to vote and comment if the spirit moves you! <3