Floating. The sensation was calming, warming, loving. But there was something missing. The white ribbons that had been her constant companion since she could remember were missing. In their place a flickering white energy that ebbed and flowed to the rhythm of her heart beat.

Her heart beat. Its steady thrum sounding in her head telling her she was alive. She had survived. But she had fallen, was she mistaken in her interpretation in the prophecy? She had not thought to take it so literally. A nagging tick at the back of her mind told her that she had been right all along. One of them had fallen, one of them was dead. And it was not her.

She was aware of a cool breeze floating over her in waves, but she was not cold. A gentle hum of noise grew louder, voices talking in hushed tones not wanting to wake her. But she was waking. The flickering of her eyelids sending the room into silence, the pressure of someone holding her hand and soft murmurs in her ear finally pulling her from her sleep.

The bright light of the two suns suspended high in the sky forcing her to close her eyes, blinking until they adjusted. Eboni looked around. She was laid in her bed, Kas sat on one side holding her hand and Bren on the other. They both smiled when they saw her looking. But Eboni knew that they were not smiles of happiness. They were smiles of sorrow.

"Who?" She whispered. Her throat dry and ragged from not being used, for how long she did not know.

Kas looked over to Bren, who was stood by a bowl of water, collecting it in a goblet for her.

"Not now. You have just woken up. You need to get your strength back." Bren mumbled, handing her the goblet.

Eboni accepted it reluctantly, her eyes narrowing harshly at her brother. Chugging the water down quickly to sooth her throat she discarded the goblet beside her.

"Tell me, Bren." She forced as much strength into her voice as she could muster.

"I will go and get the others" Kas said, releasing her hand with a final squeeze before disappearing out of the door.

"I was so worried. I thought that I would lose you too." Bren collapsed to his knees next to her bed, cradling his head in one hand while seeking out her hand with his other.

"How long have I been asleep?" She asked. In her past experiences of using up all of her available energy, she had only ever been out for one or two days. She looked closer at her friend and brother. His hand was shaking in her own, hair matted and skin pale and dull.

"Bren?" She asked him again, gasping quietly as he looked up and met her gaze. There were black circles underneath his eyes, ones that only ever appear due to prolonged lack of sleep, and his eyes- usually vibrant and happy- held within them the most innate sadness she had ever seen.

"Two weeks." His answer was short and lacked emotion, as though he was afraid of showing any sadness around her.

Sitting up, Eboni silently wrapped her arms around him. Holding him. Comforting him.

"Why? Why did you do it? You knew what was going to happen. Why?" He whispered, his breath tickling her neck followed by the wet drops of silent tears.

"We were all dead if I didn't. I was ready, I would have given my life for all of yours's- I tried." She whispered back.

She heard voices on the stairs nearing her room. This was it. She would learn in a matter of seconds who had survived and who had died. Her heart lurched and thudded in her chest as Kas walked in, heading straight for her side.

Iasa entered first, going to sit beside Bren who was wiping away his tears before she saw them. Kimi and the Commander entered together, Kimi giving her an empty smile and hug before sitting at the edge of her bed, the Commander nodding hello, holding his usual steely gaze as he stood behind her. Arianna poked her head around the door, coming in and sitting on the edge of her bed, observing her from head to toe checking to see if she was ok.

Kas cleared his throat, holding her hand again, bringing her gaze to him as she looked for answers.

"Atu is downstairs, he is healing from his wounds." He looked at her then, his eyes pleading with her not to make him say it.

Taking a deep breath, Eboni looked around catching the eyes of everyone in the room.

"No." She said. Her eyes welling up with uncontrollable tears that cascaded down her cheeks. "Raus. Where is he?"

No one answered. Instead they all looked around, anywhere but her. Anything but the truth.

"Where is Raus?" She asked again, raising her voice. Searching between them all for the answer she needed. It couldn't be Raus. It just couldn't. He was the youngest. The happiest. He was innocent. Completely and utterly innocent. Not Raus.

"He's buried by the shore. Close to the ocean." Kimi said, finally breaking the silence.

"Why? How?" Eboni asked, no longer able to stay laying aimlessly in bed, she sat up, tucking her legs under her as she grasped onto Kas's hand as though it was the only thing keeping her sane.

"He saw you falling. None of us had any power left. I tried. I promise, I tried. But he did. He used everything." Kas said, stoking her hair as she continued to cry.

"I was ready. I knew what was coming, why?" Questions spun through her mind, she needed to see him. She needed to make it right, she needed it to be her.

Collapsing back into her bed as her newly recovered energy failed her they all sat in silence, sharing in their sadness.

"Who else?" Eboni asked.

"Orlan" Iasa answered.

Eboni nodded. Words failing her as her mind grappled with the concept of never seeing Raus or Orlan again.

"How?" The question slipped from her lips. She had not meant to ask it. She did not want to imagine it. But she needed to know if he had suffered. If he could have been saved.

The Commander shuffled forwards, catching Kimi's eyes before looking to her. "Sword through the chest. He would have been in no pain."

"Thank you." Eboni replied. He had answered her questions as though he could read her mind. The thought of him not suffering, brought a little peace to her tormented mind. Only the dead would know the peace that should come from war. Of that she was sure.

"I am sorry to bring this up. But we all need to know. What happened in the tower, Sister Eboni? The Darkness? Is it gone?" The Commander asked, looking at her nervously as he said what everyone wanted to hear, yet no one wanted to ask.

Memories washed over her as she thought back to the tower. Her mind replaying the moments she first realised who he was and that she had a chance to end it all. The last glance at the Darkness shattering into millions of little pieces before disappearing into oblivion as she fell from the tower.

"It's gone. It's over." She said, looking back to the Commander and meeting his eyes. The relief in them was evident.

"Good." Kas said, his hand still wrapped around her own. Everyone nodded in agreement.

Eboni couldn't smile with the others, or feel any hope for the future knowing her friend had died for her. She moved the covers from her aching legs, being asleep for two weeks had taken its toll on her body.

"What are you doing, you need rest!" Kimi said reaching over to push her back down.

Eboni waved her hand away and swung her legs out of the bed.

"There is nothing you can do now, Eboni. Kimi is right, you need rest." Bren said kneeling in front of her so he could look into her eyes.

"There is somewhere I need to be." She replied. She looked down, finding herself in a white, long nightgown. Her eyes watering as she thought about her friend. "Where is he?"

Kas stood from the other side of the bed and walked to her side, offering her his hand. "Come."

The others fell silent as she walked out of the room, her weight supported by Kas's arm that was tightly wound around her waist.

They wound their way down the tower, the ground floor room that had once held the large planning table was now clear apart from stacks of boxes waiting to be loaded into the waiting ships.

She could see the ships that had survived had been sailed closer to the shore, the soldiers had made camp once more on the battle ground.

She stopped, looking around.

"Looks a bit different to the last time we stood on this ground together doesn't it." Kas murmured, watching her as she surveyed their surroundings.

The ground had hardened, no longer mud and bloody. She stopped her gaze at an open expanse of land no one had pitched a tent on.

"That is where all those who fought for the light are buried. The Dark Ones have been buried on the other side of the tower. Iasa's father has vowed to return with a large marker to honour those who have fallen. It shall have their names on, so their sacrifice will never be forgotten."

"That is a thoughtful gesture." She replied, glad that the King would be doing something. Someone should.

"Come on, this way." Kas said, nudging her forward.

They walked silently side by side through the open land, her feet bare, a light breeze whipping around her nightgown. They were beginning to attract attention, soldiers standing to acknowledge her, nudging and gawping at her apparent resurrection.

"They were all scared for you, and for the knowledge you might have given us. The fact we are not now running around in a panic will bring them comfort." Kas whispered, leading her further into the land, closer to the ocean.

They stopped as the earth lead away to craggy rocks and foaming ocean. A small mound laid alone by her feet. She squeezed Kas's hand, and he let her go, knowing that what came next was for her and her alone.

They had all had their goodbyes. They had had two weeks to come to terms with their loss, experience their grief. For her, he had been alive when she had first closed her eyes, and dead once she had opened them.

She laid her hands down on the turned earth, silent tears dripping from her cheeks. There was no energy left in her to match the torment that was cycling through her mind.

"Kimi will return here, this time next year, to bring with her a water bush. She said they can only be harvested this time of year, otherwise she would return sooner. It will mark his grave, along with a stone the Commander is having commissioned. They will be fitting tributes."

"Yes." It was all she could say in reply. "I will meet you back at the tower." She sat back on her legs, staring out to the horizon.

"Are you sure? I don't want to leave you alone." Kas said, looking down at her, his eyes sad and searching.

"I am not alone."