YUVEN

"Any Derelicts on the rails ahead?" he asked as he stood over the map.

"It's clear for once, Captain Traye," a young Warden reported with no small hint of relief. "We're coming up on the Burning Abyss in thirty chimes." They reached forward to point its forked scar on the map, following the set route of the train. "Once we've reached the edges, we'll strengthen the wards on the middle cars. If any Derelicts do begin to crawl out of the abyss, we'll be ready for them."

Yuven nodded. "Good, then get back to your posts. Switch Watchers out as we come closer. If the star wills it, our..." He licked his lips and frowned at the wall behind the young Warden. "Our fortuitous luck will continue up until we're through the Summit's wards." Behind one of the Wardens, Fenrer narrowed his eyes at him in curiosity. He clicked his teeth to dismiss them back to their posts, and the milling Storm Wardens bustled away. Save for one, who held a letter close to their chest. "What is that?"

"It's a letter, Captain Traye," they said and held it out to him. "It arrived just before the train left the station. I only managed to get here in time, but couldn't find you until now."

"From...?" Yuven thumbed the edges of the envelope, testing the magick sealing it. Winter's warmth called out to him, and he knew who penned it before it left the courier's throat.

"Captain Lotayrin."

Yuven gripped the edges of the envelope, where the wintery touches crawled against his fingertips and unsealed the letter. "Thank you for bringing this to me. You're dismissed." He looked down at it as the Warden left him and Fenrer alone in the meeting car. "I'm surprised a letter got here before we left. The courier paths must be having the same good fortune that we are." Yuven turned to one of the windows which gave him a viewpoint of the distant crack in the world.

"You sound skeptical, Yuv."

"And you are not? It wasn't so long ago that we had to deal with a horde and a hatching Goliath." Yuven waved his hand at the distant family of gorges. "It would have sent a ripple effect through the rest of the echoes."

Fenrer joined him at the window. "I can take a look when we pass over the abyss, if it'll help."

"You should sleep, or at least make sure the Ani— Adara isn't up to any trouble. She's more responsive to you than she is to me."

Fenrer pursed his lips and said nothing in response to the truth. "I truly do wonder why that is," he mumbled. Yuven sent his fist into Fenrer's shoulder, causing him to smile at him. "I'll get some sleep after I've confirmed your suspicions. You should read that letter." Fenrer sent his own fist into Yuven's arm, and he tried not to stumble as he couldn't make Fenrer. "If you're going to scold me about not resting, one should make sure their sails are not impeded by the same." His hand clapped his back, and he ignored the rust crawling back into his throat to mix with the rainwater of new springs. "I'll see you topside when it's time."

Yuven opened his mouth, though Fenrer had turned away and headed through the car and took the suppressive rainwater with him, but it was too much to ask his Oathbound to take within him the darkness which followed his life. He sucked in his lips and huffed. "'Make sure sails are not impeded by the same,'" he attempted to copy Fenrer's way of speaking, but again, potatoes were left in his throat instead. "Please." Yuven stuck his tongue between his small fangs before slipping open the letter.

No, I will not ask that of Fenrer anymore. He already intakes too much by simple proximity... What is to say my darkness has not already imbalanced his soul beyond any sort of help? He peeled open the letter, where scratched Navee scrawl greeted him from his Guardian, whose penmanship was not as neat as his. It was the usual worries, his mother hen of an adoptive parent had, but with a new twirled pair of words.

'You and Maria need to talk, face to face. Song to song.'

Waxing poetic? It's like I can't find a Naveeran who doesn't know how to not... Yuven pressed the letter against his chest. I do. I will. I'll come home while I have the time afforded to me and talk. I do not wish to make her wait. He resealed the envelope and pocketed it in a safe place. Fortuitous luck... as if I was ever that lucky. He sighed and made his way through the corridors of the train, past Adara and Fenrer, who chatted animatedly. He fell into his spatial distortion to hide his presence the best he could to view the spectacle. His Oathbound spoke with his hands, and for the first time in a long time, excitement dripped from the greens as the two talked. Yuven pursed his lips and stepped past them to focus on the duty Fenrer could ignore without a time limit.

She's a distraction.

Every cabin held people without an overhanging time limit. They laughed. They spoke through the spatial silence. Storm Wardens passed him on their patrol routes. Isolated from their happiness, he stomped past them all as he dedicated what remained of his life in the service of the light. He stopped in front of the doorway into another car, where a Dyrin guard stood at the entrance, spear in hand, with their gilded armor which would stand no chance in the maw of a Derelict. Two amphitheres spun on their crest, in the sign Dyrin's eternal guardians. They stepped aside once their gaze met his crest, spear close to them as he stomped into the car of a monarch. Fancy artwork plastered itself where there were no windows. Footsteps sounded behind him, but he allowed the 'protector' to follow. He came to the largest cabin, fit for anyone who put themselves on a pedestal.

Hirishi, the Dyrin sovereign, sipped at a small teacup as they sat in the gilded mattress. The monarch wore the same sigil on the guard's breastplate down his grey robes, but instead of the spinning eternity, they wound their way up their arms to twist around their neck and down their chest with sparkling blues and purples, representing the umbral flow. They lifted their head of black hair, tied up into a knot as the guard opened the door with a muttered word in Dyrenji. Hirishi responded, then nodded at Yuven to enter. He made his way to sit across from the monarch, wasting no time in getting to the point.

"We are approaching the Burning Abyss," Yuven said as they continued to sip at their cup. "We are going to slow down so as to not further give off a magick signature, but we should be at the Plains of Light before long. I suggest you have any of your people refrain from... frivolous activities until we are safely across."

"I understand," Hirishi said and set their teacup down in a holder. "You will hear no arguments from me, Warden Traye."

Doubtful.

Yuven folded his arms, but before he could continue, Hirishi blinked. "Ah... my manners. Would you care for some tea?"

"I take my tea in a very specific way with very specific ingredients," Yuven grunted, causing the guard to shift. "Unless you have some stardust on your person, I'm afraid I'll have to pass. I am not here to trade pleasantries. I also have to inform you we have an Anima onboard."

"I heard."

Of course you did. Was it the Elder Conclave that couldn't keep quiet?

Yuven waited for the inevitable barrage of requests and curiosity, but Hirishi returned to sipping their cup before a breath left their sharp nose and they smiled at him. "I'm sure it'll be discussed at the Summit, but I have no intention of arguing with the Order, if that is what you're worried about." Another sip, and Yuven tried to ignore the dry rust inching up his throat, with no rainwater to smother it. "I can safely assume King Reyn will have the same thoughts on the matter."

Yuven scowled. "The Elder Conclave worked fast."

Hirishi set their empty cup down. "I did receive a messenger and a Keeper both," they explained. "Quite the conflicting experience, I shall say. One was nervous to say even the word 'Anima'. The other was quite cordial and insistent that the Anima was no threat to the security of magickae."

Keeper Blackwall... I'm starting to think my fortuitous luck is a sack of cowpies. Yuven narrowed his eyes. "Well, I came here to apprise you of the possibility of a threat. Anima magick is stronger than most, and surely if Derelicts catch a whiff of it they will come. So, be ready for anything as we pass over the gorge." Yuven ignored Hirishi's second, but silent attempt for tea. "... No, thank you," he forced out. "I must make sure this ride goes smoothly." He pushed past the guard, who eyed him in dismay as he returned to the familiarity of the cars without gilded chairs and painted art.

Right to the back car, where a step ladder led up to the top. One Storm Warden crawled their way down as Fenrer stood there, no longer with Adara.

"Fenrer," he muttered before Fenrer could make the climb.

"Yuv." Fenrer turned to him, one hand on the step ladder. "You ready?"

"We're slowing down, Captain," one Warden said in a shadowy corner, back pressed against the wall as wind whispered around them.

"I guess I am." Yuven climbed up before Fenrer, straightening himself out on the roof of the car, able to see the entire length of the train as it trucked along the rails, where flames sparked underneath the windows to keep it in motion. Cracks in the earth billowed into view, stretching into darkness as the train crawled its way over them. Huge spires, rippling with the storm's energy hung over the abyss and underneath the bridge which held up the rails. Electric sparks flashed between the pairs, sending out pulses of magick to suppress whatever infernal beast grew deep in the gorge. Yuven stepped up to the side to look down the first with Fenrer. Derelict viscera dripped from small tears within the jagged rocks. Further, no light pierced to reveal the bottom of the abyss. Another Storm Warden joined them, but took their post near the end of the train, watching the back of the train.

"Well?" Yuven asked as Fenrer knelt down and gazed into the abyss. It took too long for Fenrer to respond, so Yuven knelt down beside him, though no opalescent flames burned into his irides. "Fenrer?"

"I'm not sensing anything concrete, but... there is something," Fenrer said and leaned closer, and Yuven grabbed the back of his shirt to hold onto him. "It's deeper."

"Deeper?"

"Yes, and sinks into the land like tar." Fenrer blinked a couple times, then sat down as the gorge moved underneath them. Yuven never retracted his hand from the back of his leather armour. "There's something growing in there, Yuven... and I don't like the way it shifts with the flow." Fenrer peered closer. "There is something feeding it. Empowering it."

"Can you get a closer look?"

Fenrer shifted so he sat on his knees. "There's a powerful presence deep within the gorge, but I cannot pinpoint where it is," he admitted, then his gaze drifted to the side. "It is... humming."

"Humming? Are you sure you're not hearing a spirit?"

"Yes, no spirit hums like that," Fenrer said. "While it hums, crimson spreads throughout the ground and through the flow, tearing into the flow's infection." Yuven held on tighter as opal flames took over his friend, though Fenrer never swayed. He fell silent, staring into the abyss.

It never stared back.

As they passed underneath a patch of darkness, fleshy masses spurt out from the small caves within the gorge, but never hatched for an attack. Fenrer shook his head. "It's too thick within the center," he said as he closed his eyes. "All I can tell is there is a Derelict feeding on the others that hatch."

"Goliath?"

"Bigger."

Yuven sighed. "Is it awake?"

Fenrer kept his eyes closed. "No." Open again, the greens returned as he nodded to a storm spire. "They're holding. They're suppressing the flow of magick enough that our presence is negligible."

"So, it's feasting on its own kind and regurgitating..." Rarely he let himself feel any sort of relief, but it slipped into his heart all the same. "Good, as long as it's not intaking magick, it can stay where it is until we're equipped to dispatch it. The fortifications should be enough to handle the storm spires for another few Turns before we have to do this all over again." He stood up, keeping one hand on Fenrer as he followed to make sure he didn't tip over from his trance. "Go to sleep."

Fenrer rolled his eyes. "You too."

Yuven stepped out of the way as Fenrer headed for the step ladder, he glared down at the abyss, which stared back from within his own soul. "Fenrer." He switched back to his Oathbound, who stopped at the ladder. "Thank you... for humoring me."

"Of course." Fenrer smiled. "I'm here if you need anything."

Yuven nodded and rubbed behind his feathers, allowing them to drift along his fingers. None fell out, so he dropped his hand back to the side as the train made its journey across one small part of the gorge which dug itself through the land of Dyrin like a long, rocky scar.