A long time passed before Valena found any signs of civilization, or at least the ruins it had left behind. Ancient, withered structures jutted from the sands like the bones of some long forgotten titan, their walls long since toppled, their foundation seemingly all that remained.

She and Sulana stepped carefully through the ruins with their weapons drawn, the sound of their crunching feet impossibly loud amidst the deadly quiet that surrounded them. Here the wind did catch amidst the ruins, leaving only a heavy silence that seemed to howl in Valena's ears, leaving her twitchy and afraid. More than once she thought she saw a figure move amongst the shadows, but found only rubble and empty air a moment later.

"What was this place?" She asked Sulana, but the woman could only shrug.

"Hard to say. Places like these are a dime a dozen when you travel like I do. No doubt it was once a place of importance back in your Link, but now, well, you can see for yourself."

Valena licked at her dry lips as she contemplated Sulana's words. It felt strange to stand on the other side of history, when the golden era of time had long since passed, and now she stood amongst the ghosts. Had this place once been Villdesong, or had it been something else? A new settlement, a principality, a duchy even, serving under the flag of the once great Crimson City-State?

It was hard to say. All the ruins looked the same, their crumbled stones piled high atop one another, weather beaten by the winds and bleached by the stillborn sun. Like the carcass of some desiccated animal.

"Look, over there!" Valena called out as she pointed. There was something up ahead, some tall looking structure standing in the middle of the half buried street, mounted on a craggy looking plinth. She ran up to it, her curiosity getting the better of her, but she slowed down as she began to realize what it was, before finally coming to a dead stop.

It was Saint Friar, or at the very least, his statue. He stood there charismaticly, one hand on his hip, the other pointing off into the distance. Even with how faded his features were from the winds and sand, there was no mistaking him. The length of his beard had been chiseled elegantly down past his belt line and nearly touching the base. The port-wine stain on the left side of his face had been meticulously crafted from cinnabar and bronze, the splotches practically blazing out in the sunlight.

"Goddess above," Valena whispered. She stood there gaping up at the monolithic statue, her mind racing to comprehend what she was seeing. So entranced was she that she did not notice Sulana standing beside her until she'd started speaking.

"Even with that flop of beard there's no mistaking him," Sulana spat at the base of the statue with resounding disgust. "Reathe Vallune. You were a nasty man even before the voice took you. At the very least I can take comfort in knowing that you're rotting in the ground right now."

"How is this possible?" Valena glanced over at Sulana, confusion etched all across her face. "I thought you said the Links were eons apart from each other, but the Saint's statue looks practically unblemished."

"I can only presume," Sulana said. She rubbed at her chin, her brows knitting tightly in concentration. "But it could be that the portal we jumped through dumped us earlier into the next Link. Either that or...," she trailed off, either not knowing, or not wishing to say.

"Or what?" Valena demanded.

"Or the Link we left on was close to its end."

Valena felt her heart sink at that. She looked up at the statue, stared into the Saint's uncaring eyes as he peered out over the distance. "If all that is true, then this statue. These ruins, it can only mean one thing."

Sulana nodded gravely. "This must have been Villdesong."

"Goddess," Valena had to sit down for that one. She nestled against the stone plinth and slithered to the ground. Already she could feel the tension beginning to creep up her arms and legs, leaving her fingers numb, her head one rattling thought after another.

"You all right?" Sulana bent towards and held a flask out.

"Yes, I just need a little time to process this. It's not every day that you get the chance to stand amongst the ruins of your fair city," Valena took the flask and uncorked it, sipping at the lukewarm water till the numbness left and she could feel her fingers once again. She handed the flask back to Sulana and picked herself up off the ground, dusting the sand from her trousers.

"Come on," said Sulana, waving her hand towards farther in the city. "Let's keep going then. Best to not overstay our welcome. We'll leave the dead where they lay."

Valena stepped around the plinth, being careful not to let her gaze stray back towards the statue. It was hard not to think of Friar with some reverence, but the truth in Sulana's words still echoed in her mind. He'd been a conman all along, masquerading as a Saint only to figuratively, and quite literally, rot the city to its core.

"Where are we going anyway?" Valena asked having walked a few paces. She stepped past a group of broken stones that had once been a singular pillar, the ribbed surface long since faded, leaving only faint lines behind.

"To the Reathe within this Link. They are somewhere up ahead, past the ruins." Sulana pointed up ahead, where a shimmering stack of rubble towered up over the horizon.

Valena cupped a hand over her eyes for a better look. Even from so far away it was hard not to mistake what lay up ahead. Even with its crumpled black iron walls and broken metal spires, the visage of Castle Sang Noire was still a sight to behold.

"Well if I were a possessed lunatic who was rot-bent on destroying the world, I'd stay in the creepy castle too."

Sulana snorted at that. "The Reathes were never the most imaginative bunch. They take to the grandiose the same way rats take to ships. Find the biggest, tallest building around and no doubt you'll find a few of them stalking around inside."

"What will you do once we find this Reathe?" asked Valena curiously.

"Easy," Sulana hefted the strange jeweled weapon in her right hand. "I'll blow their bloody brains out with this and be done with them."

"And then we'll find the Cronno?"

Sulana nodded. "Indeed, and with any luck it should be close by. They tend to gravitate towards humanity, or maybe it's even the other way around. Either way, I made you that promise and I...,"

"And you'll?" Valena asked expectantly, but Sulana did not answer. She'd paused from walking, her body teetering ever so slightly as she spread her hands out as if reaching for something to hold onto. Before Valena could ask if she was okay, Sulana pitched violently to one side.

"Shit!" Valena grabbed the woman by the sleeve of her coat before she could fall over, but the fabric was nothing more than rags now and it ripped in her grasp. Sulana tumbled to the ground, her eyes glassy, her mouth gaping. Valena fell to her knees beside Sulana, hands searching frantically for her flask, when something gave her pause.

Wrapped around Sulana's forearm was a strange, metallic sheen. It looked almost like quicksilver in substance, with clots of dark blood swirling in the mixture. Valena hesitated and then reached out and poked the strange liquid substance.

The liquid metal rippled against her touch and then with a wet ripping sound, peeled off Sulana's forearm and splattered onto the sand. Valena gasped. A ragged puckered wound lay rent across Sulana's flesh, the skin an angry red, the meat inside weeping with pus and remnant quicksilver.

It seemed the cut that Rouse had given Sulana had only gotten worse. Whatever that thing was wrapped around her arm, it had not been enough. The wound had not closed up and had now become infected. No doubt Sulana's blood was already beginning to sour.

"Shit," Valena took the flask and poured some of the water onto the cut, trying her best to clean it as best she could.

Sulana sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes flickering back to consciousness. "Stars above, that stings like the void." She hissed.

"Oh thank the Goddess you're awake." Relief came over Valena then as she breathed a sigh of relief.

"What happened?" Sulana sat up, her eyes grazing over the cut on her arm then down at the strange blob of silver on the ground. "Oh no," She slipped her hands underneath the liquid metal, cradling it in her arms, fresh blood dribbling from the cut. "Silv, no, come on, wake up."

Valena watched as Sulana shook the liquid silver, but as far as she could tell, it wasn't responding. Eventually, Sulana seemed to realize this as well. Gently, she lowered Silv onto the ground, burying her chin into her chest.

"What...what happened?" Valena asked.

"The blood must have gone bad," said Sulana with a slow shrug of shoulders. "It must have poisoned him. I...shit," A single tear fell down her cheek and onto the sands, giving a single hiss before evaporating completely.

"Sulana," Valena swallowed through the lump in her throat. "I'm sorry. Was it..was Silv one of the children?"

Sulana sucked in a hard breath. "No, he wasn't sentient enough for that, but he was a good boy. Like the family dog in a way." With a few swipes of her hand she dug a small trench into the ground and placed Silv in, spreading the sand over him until he was buried completely.

Sulana stook up shakily, clutching at the wound, her eyes dark and glittering as she stared at Silv's burial mound. "Just another death," she muttered. "Just another failure. Come on we should go."

Valena rose after her. "But, what about your wound?"

Sulana looked over and gave a weary smile. "Nothing we can do for now. Best to find the Reathe and put them down before things get worse, eh?" She turned back and continued walking, blood dripping from her forearm and splattering into the thirsty sands below.

*

Sulana knew something had gone wrong the moment her arm went numb. After everything that had happened, she'd completely forgotten about Silv and now she was paying the price for her negligence. He was dead now and soon so would she. Her blood and gone bitter. The infection was starting to take its toll.

"You're dying," Vox reminded her once again.

"It's fine," said Sulana reassuringly, but the voice was having none of it.

"No, it's not. I can feel your body starting to shut down. We need to find a healer."

Sulana waved a flippant hand. "A bit late for that."

"Sulana," Vox pressed.

"Is everything all right?" Valena appeared close by, her orange eyes glinting with curiosity."

"Just grand," Sulana smiled through the bitter ache crawling up her forearm. "Vox and I were just having a bit of a heated discussion. Nothing to worry about."

Valena pursed her lips into a tight, hard frown. "Who's Vox?"

Sulana slapped a hand to her forehead. "Of course, I almost forgot. That's the name I gave the voice in my head. Came up with it last night when you fell asleep." It was only after speaking that she realized how crazy she sounded just then, but crazy had long since become the new norm.

"Right," Valena said. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"You're not." Vox growled.

"As fit as a fiddle," Sulana assured her.

Valena narrowed her eyes before finally relenting. "Fine, whatever you say. She padded up ahead past a ruin that no doubt had been a house once. Looking over her shoulder she asked, "By the way how do you know where the other Reathes are? Do you just know?"

Sulana shook her head. "No, but Vox does. It's still connected to them in some way. Knows where they are at all times. Makes for a handy compass."

"Uh-huh," Valena tip-toed over the remnants of a fountain, the basin long since swallowed up by the sands. "Where did Vox come from anyway? You said it just appeared in your head one day?"

"Tell her the truth." Vox demanded.

"I don't honestly know," Sulana called out. "I've searched the other Links for answers, but so far I've turned up nothing. It's still one of the bigger mysteries in all this mess."

"You're lying to her."

"She doesn't need to know," Sulana muttered under her breath. "At least, not right now."

"You say something?" Valena asked.

"Oh no, just having another lively discussion with Vox," Sulana padded over to catch up. "Sometimes it'll ask the strangest questions."

"Hmm," said Valena thoughtfully. "Must be nice always having someone to talk to."

Sulana stifled a laugh. "It can be, but I have to admit," she said, the next few words aimed more at Vox then at Valena. "I do miss the silence sometimes."

"Now that's just rude."

They stepped past the petrified tressels of what had once been a labyrinthine rose garden. Here and there Sulana could see them sticking out of the ground like grave markers, aligned in straight even rows that stretched across the ground.

Up ahead the first few steps of Castle Sang Noire yawned wide to greet them. The dark metal glinted dully in the stillborn light alongside blemishes of scabby looking rust. Sulana ascended the steps without so much as a blink with Valena dogging at her heels. Already her body was starting to ache all over, her fingers going numb, her skin prickly from the constant drip of blood flowing down her arm.

A paces up and the entrance to the castle lay baring open like a gaping wound, the door having long since been ripped from its hinges. The darkness within was thick and nebulous, a solid mass that seemed almost alive. Sulana felt only the briefest hesitation pass through her before she steeled her nerves and stepped through.

It was quiet inside, unnervingly so in Sulana's opinion. Castles were meant to have people living inside them, but in here the dark halls merely echoed the quiet song of the dead. Silence. Sulana had always hated silence. It represented absence, the missing, the forgotten. It represented everything she fought against. The Whole One. The Great Ender.

"Sulana," Valena's voice echoed through the chamber, bouncing off the walls as it faded off deeper and deeper into the castle. "There's something up ahead."

Sulana peered through the darkness. It was faint, but the girl was right. She could see something flickering up ahead. Light. From candles perhaps, but it was hard to tell. Either way light meant life, and only one thing lived in this Star forsaken castle.

Off in the distance someone began to clap. The thick, heavy sound echoed all around, reverberating off the walls till it filled the entire room. Sulana stepped closer and from the curtain of darkness a man emerged into view. He sat upon a heavy throne at the far side, heavy hands applauding, his bull doggish eyes gleaming. He wore a familiar red and white coat, deeply stained and barely hanging on him by a thread. In his lap was a dark lump of grooved metal, settled precariously on his haunches.

Valena gasped. "No, there's no way."

Sulana turned. "How do you know this Reathe?"

The young girl shook her head. "That's not a Reathe, it's Prefect Gabbon."

"Apprentice," Gabbon rose slowly from the throne, clutching the metal object to his chest like a jealous lover. "How good it is to see you. I'd have thought the assassin had killed you as well," He smiled cruelly. "What a lovely surprise."

Sulana felt the color drain from her cheeks. "You're no Reathe," she hissed. "But how is that possible? Vox, you said the voice would be here."

"It is," Vox said

"Then how—,"

"Because when you killed the saint, Sulana," Prefect Gabbon interrupted. "The voice came to me next."

"That's not possible," Sulana hissed.

"Oh but it is," Gabbon assured her. "Did you really think it would simply leave once you killed the host, to jettison back from whence it came? Oh no, no, no. The voice has a plan you see, and it will find whomever necessary to make it happen."

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Valena demanded. "Why the fuck is Gabbon here?"

"We stand upon the precipice between Links, you and I," Gabbon held up the strange metal object in his hand. "Our Link was ending soon Valena and now the new Link has died with it. Strangled in its own crib, its potential snuffed out before it could even begin. It's almost poetic."

Even from so far away, Sulana realized what Gabbon held, and it made the pit in her stomach sink further. "That thing in your hand. It can't be, but how?"

Gabbon chuckled as he drew his hand back, cradling the object in his heavy mitts. "Did you really think you could hide this from me? We are all connected by the voice. What you knew, I soon found out. And so I searched for the Cronno just like you and I ripped its heart out, turning this world into dust and ash."

"No." Valena's voice sounded so distant then. "No."

"The Link is broken!" Gabbon laughed and he tossed the heart to the ground. It bounced off the floor before crumbling to pieces.

Someone screamed. At first Sulana thought it was her, but she was simply standing there, jaw slack, mouth twisted in silent horror.

It was Valena who was screaming. She charged at Gabbon, the sword in her hand radiant even in the cloying darkness. He stood there smiling like a madman, not so much as moving a single muscle as she raised the sword and brought it down upon him.

The blade sliced through Gabbon's flesh like an axe splitting wood. It sheered through his skull, down past the meaty tendons of his neck, and clean through his left armpit. Blood splattered in all directions as the blade pinged against the floor. Gabbon did not even have the time to scream before his body crumpled in two bloody pieces.

"Fuck!" Valena swung again, chopping at Gabbon's dead body, cursing and screaming like a mad woman . "You prick! You bloody bastard! You damned dogging swine mucking son of a whore!"

Sulana could only watch on as Valena turned Gabbon's body into ground meat, spitting blood all around till the carpets were practically soaked with him. With one final hack, the young girl tossed the sword aside and clutched at her thighs, breathing heavy.

"I just wanted to go home," Valena whimpered, her whole body trembling violently. "But even that's just too much isn't it?"

Sulana dared to take a step. "It's going to be okay."

"It's not!" Valena screamed, turning to her with tears rushing down her cheeks. "Even if we found another Cronno it wouldn't matter! You heard him," And she kicked at the pile of bloody meat that had once been Gabon. "My life in the Link was nearing its end anyway." She stood up and wiped the snot from her nose, hocking a glob of spit onto the blood floor. "There's nothing to go back to. Not anymore. Not after what I know."

"Then come with me," Sulana found herself saying."

"What?"

Sulana held out her hand, a chore that left her whole arm burning. "You said so yourself. There's nothing to go back to, so come with me and help me stop the Chain from breaking."

Valena winced, looked away, and Sulana could not blame her. It was a hard choice to make for someone so young. To abandon everything she'd ever known towards an even greater unknown, it was a calling that not many could take.

With slow, heavy steps, Valena picked up her sword and sheathed it back at her side. She stared at the broken remains of the Cronno, the metal shards like pieces of obsidian compared to the dark iron floor. And then, to Sulana's surprise, Valena chuckled.

"Promise not to die on me before then?"

"Don't make promises you can't keep." Vox reprimanded, but she paid him no mind.

"I am surprisingly hard to kill," Sulana said. "I think I'll manage."Stepping past the bloody remains of Prefect Gabbon, she produced one of the Cronno's matches and lit it. A large, purple and gold flame erupted from the tip, filling the hall with a surprising amount of dazzling light.

"Last chance to back down," Sulana said.

Valena merely shrugged. "Where else would I go?"

"Hmph, fair enough." And Sulana blew out the match

The End