They walked in silence through the forest, occasionally glimpsing the peaks of the Goldhorn Mountains and using them as a guide on their trek north. The night was cold; it had been cold, but with all that had occurred that night, they hadn't acknowledged the weather until now.

Reo generated a small dome of warmth around them. Without the sun, it took most of his strength to do so. But it was a necessary risk to keep their bodies from freezing. Maeyune thanked Vaius for lending him that added energy--if the planet was capable of listening.

They collected a few more resources along the way and tore apart bulbs from the fallen motherships. The bulbs were constructed from a dense material analogous to glass and were attached to short, metal rods. With the light still alive inside the bulbs, they looked more like magic staffs than anything.

Maeyune wasn't sure what sort of energy kept them lit, but they functioned well as makeshift lanterns in the night. As she and Reo walked, she was grateful that nothing in the forest had come to inspect the origin of their light.

Upon further rummaging, they had come across patches of tattered cloth. They tied the ends together and used them as knapsacks for their tools and weapons. Their sacks now hung over their shoulders and across their chests like bandoliers.

Maeyune had also acquired a Wobeck energy shield. It was a short rod of metal that when she held it in her palm and used her thumb to fling on its small switch, the ends of the rod split open. Tiny plates of metal flew out to coat her forearm in a sleeve of armor. A flash of light expanded into the air from the sleeve, forming an ovate shield of violet energy that was as tall as she was.

The materialized shield was heavier than she had expected, but its length was adequate enough for her to set one end on the ground and still have more than enough coverage.

She flipped off the switch, and the energy and shards returned inside the rod.

Without her powers, she had to resort to using any weapons she could scavenge.

She at last remembered the device band on her left forearm, a tool that she had grabbed from the Bresnian celestial base. There was a deep crack across its surface, and she felt her stomach flip in dismay.

She had used it to track the Beran recon team inside Eastwood Forest. If she could still use it...

She ran her fingers across its surface, anticipating with some luck that the holographic panel would activate again. When it didn't, she sighed in defeat.

The recon team, Meera, Clover, and Deric--she had left them all on the battlefield.

Where were they now? Had they made it out of the ambush alive?

Shivra is gone. Aerylis is gone. Trix and Benny are gone. All those soldiers are gone.

You failed them. You are a failure.

Unacceptable.

Her throat emitted an involuntary croak, and Reo, who walked a few feet ahead of her, turned at the sound.

"What's wrong?"

She shook her head and masked her face with impassiveness. "Nothing," she said.

It was so easy to lie, to pretend.

Be strong.

Reo seemed to take her word. Though, something thoughtful passed over his face. He appeared ready to speak, but he decided against it and continued walking.

Out of his line of sight, she closed her eyes tight to push out the grief. Again, she let willful anger quell the pain.

Unclipping the metal locater band from her arm, she discarded it and turned her attention to the path ahead.

She thought of Shivra.

It was not death that had claimed the Moon God. He was not entirely gone; it was his soul that kept her alive.

But even though he still lived inside her, she had lost all connection to him. With his source of power destroyed, he had disappeared beyond a point where she could not follow. She was alone, and she had to be strong without him.

Be the moon warrior, she thought, heart clenching. Just without the moon.

You must live.

Those had been Shivra's first words to her. And they had also been his last. She would make them count.

Somehow.

Practical, Reo had called her. He had made her sound so...uninteresting.

She wanted to let out a humph.

As they hiked in silence, Maeyune's eyes fell on the broad pane of Reo's back. She realized she was studying his warrior's build, and she averted her eyes toward the trees, fearing that he could feel her gaze on him. When he didn't turn to apprehend her, her eyes roamed their way back a few seconds later.

He had carried his plasma rifle against his chest for some time, to be ready to fire when necessary, but now his arms were relaxed, or tired. Every once in a while, his head turned to the sides to survey their dark surroundings.

It was not long into the night when she wondered if the silence was more than just companionship silence. During the entire trek, he refused to hold her eyes for more than a few seconds at a time, and she grew aware of that familiar awkwardness between them.

There was no doubt Reo was thinking about it, too: the tension from their kiss still hadn't resolved, and neither one felt comfortable enough to bring it up.

It felt so long ago when she had kissed him. Heavens, she thought with tiredness. It had only been yesterday. Assuming the Overlord had kept them since the afternoon, it had only been a day since she'd done the most idiotic thing she could possibly do.

Her thoughts travelled back into the night, to when she had once considered him a traitor, when he had stood beside Jaysek. Reo had driven Jaysek's dagger into her aunt's back, and she had watched it, had believed it. Thinking of it now sent a curl of unease down her spine.

It had only been an illusion, a mind game. It hadn't been real, and Reo hadn't betrayed her.

But, what if he did?

What if he turned around in that moment and wiped her off the face of the planet? He was the only one with power now.

I cannot think like that, she chided herself. Not right now.

And yet, despite the tug of war in her mind, she couldn't stop the paranoia from invading.

That was the lesson in the mind game: it made her deliberate the what if's.

It had hurt her to think that Reo had betrayed her. She never wanted to feel like that again.

And what made it worse? She had kissed him. In an uncharacteristic lapse of judgment, she had ultimately declared her affections for him. He wasn't that big a fool to neglect it--but he certainly hadn't made any attempts to reassure her feelings.

She thought it was quite simple, really: he didn't feel the same way she did.

Something came to her just then, a vision of skin and sand and lavish pillows. It was the tent from the dream, from Reo's dream.

He had been kissing Sera in that tent, and if Maeyune hadn't walked in on them...

Of course, she thought with scorching embarrassment. How can he feel the same way about you if his heart already belongs to another? He betrayed Sera's trust because of you.

Maeyune remembered that evening after she had kissed him. She had seen him with Sera. He'd held the fire celestial close in his arms. Sera must have discovered his betrayal, and he had apologized.

Maeyune's chest grew tight with shame.

Before that kiss, she had lost two of her dearest friends and had murdered three Iron Prophet members in retribution. She would have done the same thing to those Beran scientists had Reo not stopped her.

Some part of her had desperately yearned for comfort, and she realized now that she had wanted him to be the one to provide that comfort. Not her living friends, not Aunt Lyn, but the sun warrior.

Fate had chosen him to be her ally and--had things gone a lot smoother--her friend. He was supposed to be her equal in this world. And because of that life-long expectation, she had grown emotionally attached to him.

Her mind reeled as she tried to organize her thoughts. When they refused to cooperate, she decided to tuck everything inside a box and shut its lid, then cast a sheet of unfeeling over that box. She would open it again when she was ready.

It was hours later when Reo was the first to break the silence between them.

"It's going to be another half day's walk to the base," he explained. He glanced at her over his shoulder, and they both recognized the shadows under each other's eyes. "The terrain's not getting any easier, so we should probably find somewhere to camp and rest up."

Maeyune looked passed him. The terrain had slowly transformed from a soft, forest floor to one filled with jutting tree roots and hazardous rocks. Just up ahead, she could see a section of a rocky cliff poking out above the trees.

A probable obstacle, she speculated with weary trepidation.

She didn't want to stop. If the Wobeck continued their attack, any delay meant more lives were lost. But as much as she was reluctant to admit it, Reo was right. They would risk their lives attempting to traverse the perilous path, especially since the last sort of rest they had received had been on the Overlord's ship, when they had dreamed of desires and wishes fulfilled. Though, even that hadn't been rest.

With all the events that had happened in an astonishingly short amount of time, she was surprised they were still walking.

Reo stopped them right as trees gave way to boulders, and Maeyune felt her exhaustion trample over her. She resisted the urge to collapse right where she stood and waved him over to a thick overgrowth of brushes nearby. It looked like a good spot to camp for the night, and perhaps provided enough shelter to hide a small fire.

She set her weapons and sack aside. She was collecting the nearest dry branches she could find when Reo nodded at her unspoken idea. After she piled the meager amount of wood together, he waved a palm over it. His heat shield flickered as he channeled his magic into something else, and a baby flame sparked at the center of the woodpile.

Maeyune let out a quiet breath as she sank to the ground. She hadn't realized how tired she was until she sat. Numbness bit at her legs, her ankles, the soles of her feet. Her entire body ached, more than it ever had in the past.

However, she was, after all, human without the strength of a dragon god.

After urging the flame into a small blaze, Reo settled on the ground across the fire from her. He dropped his heat shield, but the fire was adequate enough to keep them warm for the night.

It was her turn to avoid his gaze, if he ever looked at her. Silence was a welcomed third party--or unwelcomed, she could not decide.

He was sitting with one knee propped up and an elbow resting on that knee. His eyes were lost in the fire, unfocused. All she could see on his face was a detachment from the world. She wondered if he, too, had placed all his emotions inside a mental box and had tossed aside the key.

Was he thinking about what had happened between them yesterday? Or was he running through all the events that had transpired that evening? So many of his countrymen had died in that short battle. She only had to imagine her own people in their place, and she understood what that anguish was like.

From the evening's stillness came the fragile shroud of peace. Despite the crackling flames and soft, nocturnal chatter, nothing was right with the world. Offering words of reassurement or optimism didn't feel appropriate. They would only be lying to themselves.

That box in her mind rattled. Remorse took advantage of her exhaustion, and the lid sprung loose.

I cannot prolong this any more, she thought, and inhaled an uneasy breath.

If there was a first step to take, it would be to confront the challenge that was already in front of her.

She swallowed. "Reo?"

Focus returned to his eyes, and he met hers in an even gaze. "Yes?"

(Continued in Part 4)