NEVEN

It broke apart in a spiny fiber in his ears. Pages torn apart to cut off the truth from his fingertips. Magick clashed into ice and soil, spreading dirty lies at his feet. Blood skittered along the ground with a spider's intent, and it swirled into a drain of Infernal murk. He reached out to the light of truth, always out of his grasp. Stones dripped down his arms, and he sank deeper and deeper into his nightmare. Someone called his name. Over and over, a memory of the song in his heart, which carried the fires of his wyvern ancestors.

Over and over, he tried to answer back, but his voice left him. His song failed him. Air left his lungs as it crushed in his chest, and he snapped up into the darkened light. A lamp hung over his head, whispering with the flickers of fire. Two shapes sat by on the other seats, blurred against the sharpest edges of the world. Arm against his brow, he attempted to sit up, but the closest shape pushed him back down.

"I wouldn't do that just yet, Neven," Maria's voice broke obscurity's mist.

Water swam against his temples as he investigated the shapes. Kemal sat there, with both arms and legs folded with annoyance pulling on his lip. Neven groaned and carefully sat up when Maria handed him a cup of steaming essence. "Did something happen?"

Maria sat across from him. "First, what do you remember?"

Neven frowned then tried to take steps back. "I woke up... was it this morning?" he questioned. "I know I woke up and went to the athenaeum, but after that it's a blur. I must've come back—"

"Oh, you didn't come back," Kemal interrupted. "I had to carry you back."

Neven lurched up, and another tsunami of nausea punched him back down on the couch. "What do you mean? I think I would've remembered that."

"Not unless you've been reading Obscura texts," Maria said, and he jolted. "Kemal told me everything, Nev." Arms folded in reflection to Kemal, he had two Hanekans on his case.

"If he told you everything, then you must understand why I had to," he argued, and the crimson obscurity clutched at the edges of the world. Around the flames in the lamp, which spread a hue of blood. "I was close, it was going to lead me to the source." Both of them fell silent, and stared at him with no understanding. Neven sat up to rub his back, but frowned when Kemal held out a ribboned scroll. "What's this?"

"You were down in the Obscura section since last morning," Kemal explained as he unfurled the letter, and his heart fell at the Yusari's name penned at the bottom of the letter. "You missed mail coming from headquarters. I came down to check on you, and I guess you didn't appreciate that." Kemal rolled his shoulder with a slight wince. "You attacked me."

"I — what?"

"You. Attacked. Me," Kemal repeated. "Gods, you don't remember that either?"

Neven clutched onto the letter of reality. "I... I'm so sorry, Kemal. I wasn't..." It hurt to taste the word on his tongue, but he knew the dangers, and took the risk. "I wasn't myself."

"I hear a but," Maria said to his left.

"We need to find this cult activity," Neven told her. "Ever since we came here, they've been toying with us. Always out of range of what we can do, but close enough to know that they're out there." He sighed, then shook his head. "I had hoped in consulting the obscura text we found in the disappeared village, it'd give me answers." But like them, it's always out of my reach, and I swear each page brings me closer, but then...

"You think I sit on my arse all day?" Kemal asked, getting out of his seat with a huff. "We've been making strides, Nev. My team scouted those old ruins you mentioned top to bottom, and Julis might have a lead. The answers you want aren't going to be found in a book that no one but an Aurus can dependently read." He glared down at him with sharp, brown eyes. "We'll find them by getting out there and following whatever they leave behind." Kemal smiled. "Derelicts always leave traces. We both know how to look for them. Follow them, and we find the cult."

Neven frowned up at Kemal, then at Maria. "I'm sorry for causing trouble." He tipped himself forward, but the crimson tendrils latched onto every object. "I—"

"You won't be going back down there," Maria said. "You've already been under its murky influence for long enough." Her hand rested on his shoulder. "Give yourself some time. Let your mind clear. If it gets worse, we're going to have to have an Aurus Healer take a look at you."

I was so close. He held Yusari's letter. It slips away. He leaned on the couch, realizing the futility of trying to get away from the two, to learn the truth of the world. "Thank you for bringing this letter to me, Kemal." He pressed it against his head, hoping it'd provide the clarity nothing else gave. Everything pickled with crimson flames along his skin, tugging him to find answers no one else knew. "What did you find in the ruins?"

"Aine's certain there's some runes denoting a portal, but we can't seem to find where it is," Kemal reported. "I'll keep a lookout for it, Nev. For now, you should get some rest, and try not to attack me next time." He raised a hand of departure, then left out the front door.

Neven thumbed the edges of the letter, though Maria hadn't followed Kemal. "Is there something else?"

"Why did you resort to that? You know the dangers of those texts."

Neven found himself unable to look at her out of his own shame and lack of self-control. "I..." His breath caught in his chest, but he pushed through the blizzard's bloody haze. "It is hard to wonder if there really is an answer to the problems you face. If there is an easier path to the truth." He gripped the letter harder, though tried not to rip it apart out of frustration, like the black-bounded book in his dreams. Deja vu struck him with a green glyph. His attack on Kemal as it slowly crawled back into his mind. "How can I not resort to that, when it may have an answer?" Jaw clenched, he set the letter aside to keep it safe from his reach. "Fas'ta vel... It's frustrating."

"It is."

"I'm surprised you struggle to understand where I come from."

"I don't struggle. I know exactly where you're coming from," Maria said with a cold bite, though her expression softened. "But it's like Kemal said, the answers you're looking for aren't in the pages of a book sometimes. It's what you can find for yourself." She curled her fingers, then mused, "You want to know something, Neven?"

"Hm?"

"My research on the corruption led me many times to the Obscura texts," Maria admitted. "Once or twice I debated it, to open their pages and see the truth for myself. If the research I can comprehend won't give me a solution to my problem, then maybe something I won't fully understand will." She took in a steady breath. "Then I remembered something Yuo used to tell me. That if I have to resort to questionable methods to help others, then I may do more harm than good not only to them, but to myself." Maria brought a hand up to her chest and the oath necklace. "And that the answers to heal the corruption aren't in those books, it's what I can find for myself. A better way to help others."

Neven smiled at her. "You speak with his wisdom, that's for sure."

"Yuo is a good teacher," Maria joked. "I know all I do because of him, not because of an Obscura text." She clapped her hands together. "In fact, me and the other healers are getting close to a breakthrough. We know the corruption is caused by the Derelict core dug into someone's soul, stretching through their magick systems. Istal wondered if it was possible to remove it, but we're still working on that." Maria shrugged her shoulders. "We'll find a way."

Neven chuckled. "I believe, and I'm sure Yuven will be glad to hear it."

Maria stood to head for the door. "I left you some essence in the cupboard." She indicated to the kitchen. "Try to refrain from going back there, Neven. The first little while will be difficult for you, but I implore you to do whatever you can to stop yourself." Her gaze hardened back into the healer's unwavering stance with patients. "Too much exposure to the Obscura texts can lead to much worse than what you experienced with Kemal."

"I shall try."

Maria closed the door behind her, leaving him in the silence of the treehouse. The crimson edges flicked at the place he sought shelter in. He got up, his feet almost taking him straight out the door, but he bit down on his tongue. Back outside, some Storm Wardens nearby considered him, but he headed in the opposite direction of the athenaeum, towards the western gate of Asairai. Out of view of the lodge, he left the town and its obscura text behind. An ocean breeze ruffled his feathers, into his hair. A soothing touch different from the stagnation he grew accustomed to. He passed the training field Kemal often took his Trainees, but no one populated it as he took the path to the beach. Clouds crawled along the sky, sprayed along the reflective blues of sky and sea.

Waves pushed and pulled against the soft sand. I know you told me to rest, but I want to have a clear head when I read Yusari's letter. He raised his hand to pull at the water, creating an elongated shape made of shifting ice. I need to hear the song of water... instead of what I've been hearing. He nudged it to float among the waves, stepping onto it before creating a shield of sprinkled mist around himself. One last breath, he pushed himself off the wind, steadying his legs as he let the water carry him further out, though never left the beach's sight. He tipped along the smallest crescents of the tide, trying to test out their strength for himself. No Derelicts swam to take a chomp out of his ankles, so he assured himself with the dance to come.

What better way to clear my head, than in the throes of my magick?

Neven tipped back when a larger wave grew in strength, keeping himself balanced as it took shape. Different from boarding along snow, but it gave him a sense of home. Something familiar. Heart set free from the crimson chains, he fell down the crescent, never fighting against where the water guided him. He stretched out his magick when he grazed his fingers along the water, drawing it back to create an icy tunnel for him to slide along as the water crushed it back again. Water sprayed into his face, but he relished in the touch. The wave continued to roll closer to the beach and the cove nearby, where the path led to the ruins the book had shown him.

A pulse of crimson went through his world, and he almost stumbled on his iceborn board. He steadied himself, solidifying his feet on it as he twisted and turned on the curl. It evened out the closer they came to the sand, and he drifted off its shoulder to come to a rest along the calm. He wiped his brow as he pushed with magick back to the beach, allowing the water to reclaim what he borrowed. His misty shield wisped off his shoulders. Dry from its embrace, he took a seat on the sand.

"I figured," Kemal said.

Neven grinned as Kemal revealed himself with a shake of his head. "Well... it's better than me stewing, isn't it?"

"I suppose." Kemal sat beside him, taking out a book, though not bound with the same leather of the obscura text.

"I'm still sorry, Kemal."

"I'll get over it. Apology accepted."

Neven raised an eyebrow.

"Don't look at me like that, Nev. I came by here to tell you that I've already sent out the border patrols," he said, chewing on a nutrient bar. "Hopefully they'll find something on their routes. Oh, and—" He shuffled with his leathers, taking out a small piece of paper. "Little Fenris has a message for you. Think it might cheer you up."

"I have a lot of messages I haven't been responding to," Neven said as he took it into his hands.

"You haven't read Yusari's letter yet?"

"I plan to when I return to the lodge."

Kemal finished his nutrient bar while Neven unfurled the small piece of paper from Fenrer, though Kemal stubbornly called him Fenris every time. Maybe it's a local dialect... like how Irimount and Volaris have different words for different things. He gazed down at the neat scrawl of Fenrer's writing. "He says he is doing well, and that they found an..." He peered closer. "They found an Anima confluence?"

"There were rumors," Kemal said with a shrug. "Seems like Fenris pinpointed something even the Auro Cardinals couldn't." Pride filled the deep browns. "Good, I always found the Elder Conclave too stuffy and quite high up on their pedestals when it comes to Aurus."

Neven continued to study the slip of paper. "Yuven is doing the same in all ways." He smiled. "Excited to reunite with Maria, though he's sent his own letter." He furled it up. "I know contact between the two continents is slower than it is between the land couriers, but I'm glad to see that for the most part, they're hale and whole."

"Told you it'd cheer you up," Kemal said as he stood back up. "Just came to check on you. Left my Trainees at the field, and one of them saw you surfing — which, by the way, any Derelict attack?"

"No."

"More good news." Kemal stretched. "Might tell the fishermen that for now this part of the sea is clear. I bet some of the Wardens need a refresher for their sea legs." He sent another wave before heading for the training field. Neven walked along the beach to Asairai. Back through the gate, his mind unfettered, though the call of crimson was never too far away. He spotted Maria and a couple other of the Healers sitting underneath one of the larger boughs, texts piled around them.

The answer... is around us.

Neven hauled himself back to their housing, back in the door as the song grew louder in his ears. Not the song of blood, but of home. Yusari's letter back in his hands, he went upstairs to read.

And to rest.