Part 1
When Amirlyn and Mazrim fell silent, it went unnoticed at first.
For most Woolyne, if you asked them to describe the gods, ‘talkative’ would not be the first word that came to mind. Interpretations of the god’s messages came from deciphering omens, or dreams; symbols that could portend a favorable luck or a devastating blow. Words, however? Besides the favored few, most Woolyne only expected such happenings after their soul moved beyond the veil between worlds. Warnings of the god’s silence were dismissed as rumors and doomsayers. If they were to be believed, no wool had power to do anything about it. For who could? When the gods stop speaking who could get an answer from them on why. The two moons of Andras rise high into the night sky. It was only those who remained awake who saw the Rift take over the sky.
It started with a roll, not literal, but the sense of being on a selpie or ship in the middle of choppy waves. The feeling of a tide that turned their stomachs even for the woolyne who stood on flat solid ground. A rumble, then a persistent ever-growing whine grew louder and louder. Then came a drop. Those who were asleep were thrust to wakefulness by the sensation of falling, jerking from their beds and in some cases tumbling out and repeating the feeling. Tej sat up in his bed, pouring sweat, his nikyak heard awake and lowing. An old woolyne pressed a hand to her heart as it shuddered in her chest while she tried to make her way to her telescope, knowing in her old bones that something was wrong. Asajj, still awake and intently working on a new invention, knocked her chair over as she shot up from where she’d been sitting before swaying as the rolling tide seized her. Deep under the oceans, the council of Lathule felt seasick for the first time in their lives and sent investigators to the surface.
Those with a view of the night’s sky saw it jump.
Even Saki, wise, witty, and well-learned as she is, would be unable to perfectly describe it when asked to recount it later. The closest she could explain was that it looked like the entire sky shifted to one side momentarily before being shunted back into place.
Such a movement does not come without its consequences.
Woolyne rushed from their homes, in groups filled with rampant fear, trying to figure out what was happening. A jagged line began spreading its way across the sky. From one end of the horizon to the other, great rifts split the sky like broken mirrors. Stars from an unfamiliar sky peered through the cracks splitting the heavens. With a final snap the rift pulsed, shivered, and settled.
The sky had cracked.
The Swarm
The forest was buzzing. Not the usual type of hum that one would expect, the song of many different birds and insects. No, this was a low discordant buzz that overtook everything.
Tiny shifted from foot to foot uneasily. This was supposed to be an enjoyable bug hunt set forth by Saki and the Etymology guild but something felt...wrong. They’d seen many regularly sized beetlyss and they were sure they were on the trail of one of the supposedly mount-sized ones but...did they really want to go further into the forest with that buzzing? All the other creatures in the forest had fled or were hiding. There was that awful event a few days earlier too, and even now the sky didn’t feel right.
Pushing through a clump of underbrush they pulled up short and gasped at the scene in front of them. It looked like a wild fire had gone through the land, but it was cold. A swath of the forest in front of her was barren and brown. Not a single leaf on any tree could be seen or a blade of grass on what should be a vibrant forest floor.
There’d been no wildfire to go through this area though, as a fire forger Tiny knew it looked off. There was no ash, no embers, no smoke rising from the dead ground. It was simply dead. Ravaged. It looked like it’d been picked clean before anything living had simply shriveled up and died. Snags stuck up from the ground, the bark on them dark and peeling from white interiors. Tiny shuddered-they looked like burnt bones.
The buzzing suddenly surged in volume, enough to make Tiny’s fur stand on end. Teeny squeaked and tried to bury its poor sootmus body into the hair on Tiny’s head.
From above the treeline on the opposite side of the dead zone a cloud rose. Black threaded with red. Tiny knew in every bone of their body that it, whatever it was, shouldn’t be here. Shouldn’t exist. The cloud shifted and flickered like a scrying mirror with the lyss running out. It felt nauseous even trying to look at it.
As their mind tried to grasp the sight in front of them, Tiny became aware that they were running-as fast as they could back into the forest and away from that awful, buzzing, flickering cloud. In their peripheres they could see the forest on either side of them dying as tendrils of the swarm grasped and overtook the foliage. Plants withered as the sky darkened overhead. This was no simple cloud of bugs like Tiny, or anyone else in Andras for that matter, had ever known.
“Oh nuts…” Tiny whispered as the swarm overtook them.
Don't Panic
“There is a moment in every dawn when light floats, there is a possibility of magic. Creation holds its breath.” -- Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Smoke spirals up from the small camp of refugees hitchhiking on the back of another world. From this far away, they really looked quite small. Little pieces of ash float. The light filters hazily down from hundreds of skies, held together like so many pieces of broken glass. Bellacoste and Andras were up there, too, if you only looked hard enough. Time ticks backwards. How many weeks has it been now? They’ve lost count.
It was Avalon’s turn to guard their camp. Every night-- or what they decided was night in the perplexing twilight-- they took shifts. In all of the pendulous days they had not run into another living soul, but Axel complained intermittently of apparitions. She wasn’t sure if she believed in all that, but their young charge Tiny seemed to believe the vespire, so begrudgingly she sets up for another lonely watch. Axel’s ghosts, as always, fail to appear. The Old King and spectres on two legs he complained of never came for her. The vespire would bump his head against Tiny’s, and late at night they would talk of Andras’ villains. The vespire said he’d seen them, too. The farmer listened with mild interest, but whatever foe they saw she was blind to. Nothing haunted her peripheral vision.
Perhaps it was for the best. One of them needed to retain their sanity and strength, right? Whatever had happened to Axel and Tiny had left them seeming shockingly frail to the plucky. Perhaps that’s what the corruption did to you, even once it healed? Thank the stars she’d held her own back. Someone has to keep them safe was the last thought Avalon had before her fatigue caught up with her. Heavy eyelids close and the plucky drifts off to sleep.
“FALL BACK!” King Ericius shouts, a lance of magic spearing another creature as it slips from the rift. “WE HAVE TO DO IT NOW! GIVE IT EVERYTHING!”
Dozens of capricorns swarm the rift, their collective magic sweeping over the pulsing wound and strangling it. It burns, the water bubbling as the ocean boils. The heat washes towards them even as the king forces them back. It was now or never.
“FOR AEQUOR!” Naia rallies, the crowd echoes her roar. The rift fights back, cooking the water around it and pushing out unbearable heat, even at a distance. Together, through sheer power of will, the denizens of Bellacoste face fate and tell it No, I don’t think so. Not today.
As their souls rush towards the rift, the collective will of Bellacoste constricts in a dizzying array of color. Together they stare down the barrel of the heat death of everything they love and they tell it again, No.
This isn’t how our story ends.
In that moment, their souls shone so bright, like scattered stars on the backdrop of the infinite universe.
The rift stabilizes.
The water cools down.
“Did we do it?” somelon asks breathlessly.
We certainly did.
A guard hurries along the halls of Andras’ highest security prison, stopping to huff and puff and wipe his brow before taking off again at a sprint. He slaps the lockdown alarm as he runs, sending Arcton into high alert. Alarms blast as doors lock and gates come crashing down.
“WHAT THE HELLS IS HAPPENING?” bellows a lookout as the guard sprints past.
“THEY’VE ESCAPED,” the guard calls back, doubling over and wheezing. “All, all three,”
“A-... Arcanum’s dogs,” spits the guard after a moment. The lookout stares breathlessly before she smashes her fist down on her own alarm.
The news gets out, despite their efforts to stop it.
Tooth, Tail and Nail were nowhere to be found.
Far to the north, an expedition pushes forward through the snow. The news travels fast, but not fast enough to catch the intrepid explorers. Nikyaks carve paths through the drifts, but the most treasured cargo is held by Queen Asajj herself-- a single Lunar Flower. The flowers had proven effective against the strange swarm destroying their crops and their livelihoods.
Sadly, it was rare-- and with precious few blooms, they had thus far been unable to turn the tide. The logical next step was to find the source-- something she trusted few to do, and so with a determined set to her jaw she set out herself.
A small contingency forges their way through the mountains far north of Ur-Bahn, the fire licking along the queen’s horns and lighting the way. Her guard Kilau sticks close by, eyes shifting towards the small woolyne riding upon the nearest nikyak.
Titan had insisted on coming, despite their protests. The child had gone so far as to stow away in their supplies, and when discovered, it was far too late to send him away. It couldn’t be helped, Asajj sighed. Of course the boy was distraught, with Tiny missing. They’d all seen the posters.
“Getting close to Myrrka,” two tagalongs murmur to one another. “Surely she wouldn’t take us all the way there?” whispers one. “Those lands are cursed,” scoffs another.
“I didn’t take you all for being so superstitious! Don’t believe those fairy tales,” the Queen calls back. “Eyes on the prize,” Kilau grunts, gesturing at the crack shooting through the sky before them.
It shouldn’t have an end, but the lights play against the flurries, golden and violet. The rift almost sneaks up on them, shrouded as it was in the snow. The expedition gathers in its glow, just south of the deadlands its members had so feared.
Titan nearly slips past them, diving for the glittering jewel-- if he’d been a little quicker, he would have certainly made it, but Kilau sweeps the child up, holding him in her arms as he begins to sob.
“Tiny’s in there,” Titan wails, “I know it, I know it, I just know it.”
“Shhh,” the guard whispers. “We’ll go. But you can’t go without us.”
The kitten curls his fingers in the heavy fur of the queensguard and nods his head silently.
The rift beckons, unflinchingly.
A hand closing over Avalon’s mouth wakes her with a start. A husky, feminine voice warns, “Don’t scream,” as the pouflon realizes she’s restrained. The plucky thrashes and a lighter, masculine voice chides, “Did you have to be so threatening about it, Tejat?”
Avalon’s eyes roll wildly, trying to see beyond the violet arm holding her head down. Her captor grunts with annoyance at the second voice, and after a moment a hoof hits her periphery. A dark unicorn lowers his head, glittering eyes sizing her up for a moment before he smiles, assumedly to calm her down. What a shame it wasn’t working!
“Don’t be afraid,” the masculine voice-- so this was him-- soothes. “We just didn’t want you alarming your friends before we could talk to you. Fell asleep on watch, huh? I get it, it’s really boring out here.”
Avalon glares, struggling under the impossible weight of the accomplice on top of her. The unicorn sighs, looking past her. “Tejat, could you let her go? It’s not like she can hurt us.” He pauses. “Look, we’re here by accident just like you! We already have something in common. No need to treat each other like enemies, is there--”
“AH!,” Tejat shouts, pulling her hand away. Avalon spits and bucks, throwing the second assailant off her back. “IT BIT ME,” she hisses. The unicorn’s ears lay back and he reaches a hoof out as if to soothe Avalon. “...We really don’t mean you any harm, I’m sorry, Tejat can be kind of…”
Avalon snorts and lowers her head, ramming full force into the unicorn and bowling him over. So much for diplomacy! “AXEL! TINY!” the plucky cries, bucking her legs before running full tilt back towards the camp. There she found a similar scene-- a two legged creature like Tiny, a woolyne, and another unicorn.
Their colors were swapped.
“Shit,” the woolyne with the masculine voice swipes his hand down his face. “Tejat, I told you this was a stupid idea.”
The violet unicorn tosses her head and stares defiantly across the smothered campfire at Avalon. Then, she shrugs. “Fine, do it your way.”
The black and teal woolyne immediately plops on his butt, right between a startled Tiny and Axel. He snaps his fingers and the magical gags holding their tongues dissipates. “This looks bad, doesn’t it. Look, I’m defenseless, so you don’t have to worry.” He holds his hands out, palms empty. “No weapons. We just want to talk.”
He looks sidelong at the violet pouflon before very purposefully patting the ground beside him, sending up a puff of ash. “Why don’t we all just… sit down and relax, have a little chat? Okay? Okay.”
Bewildered, Tiny and Axel look at Avalon-- and not at her, but behind her. The unusual woolyne beckons. “You, too. All three of you.”
Avalon startles, looking behind her. There were the other two-- mirror images of the ones at the fire. What the hell was going on?!
“You must be confused-- listen, I get it. It’s really confusing! I’m Jishui…” the woolyne jerks a thumb at the violet pouflon. “That’s Tejat…” he points at the violet woolyne, “THAT’S Tejat… and…” finally he shrugs helplessly at the black and teal unicorn, “That’s Jishui.”
“What the heck,” Tiny mouths. Axel shrugs at him as Avalon begrudgingly joins them at the remains of the fire. She remains standing, stamping a hoof and flicking her tail nervously.
“I was surprised, when I saw your fire,” the pouflon Jishui says just behind her right shoulder. “It was very helpful, actually, led us right to you. We didn’t think anyone else was here.”
Woolyne Jishui nods, stroking his chin. “Maybe they’re locals, I said to Tejat. But of course, nothing lives here anymore.” The violet woolyne-- Tejat-- inspects her bite wound before crossing her arms with a huff. “So I was wondering, actually, just how the three of you got here?”
“Why should we tell you?” Avalon snips back. “Appearing in the middle of the night and accosting us, why would we--”
“Avalon,” Axel says quietly, eyes averted. The pouflon immediately stops, looking at the vespire. His claws fiddle with a piece of charcoal. “I think…” he says, slow, ponderous, like he’s pulling the words out of his throat, “...I think it’s okay."
The plucky huffs before she slowly sits down, staring hard at the strangers. Jishui sits next to her, and Jishui smiles at her from across the firepit. Why did they have the same name? What was going on?!
“You’re wondering what’s going on!” the woolyne Jishui claps his hands together. “So are we, actually! How long have you three been here?”
Tiny pipes up, cradling Teeny in their hands, “...A few weeks? We aren’t totally sure…”
At Avalon’s shoulder, the pouflon Jishui nods, peering intently across at woolyne Jishui. “...Are you from the same world?”
“Are we… what?” Avalon grumbles. “No, we’re from Bellacoste, Tiny’s from…”
“...Andras,” Tiny adds, brows furrowing. “Are you from…?”
“Interesting! Interesting. No, we’re from--” pouflon Jishui starts, but before he can finish he winces in pain, glaring sidelong at woolyne Tejat who had unceremoniously stomped on his tail. “Is that necessary?” he hisses, and she waves a hand at him.
“Is this necessary?” she replies. “They clearly don’t know anything, so I’m not sure how this little interrogation of yours is meant to help.”
“It’s not an interrogation! It’s like… an interview, at best,” the woolyne Jishui sighs. “So you were pulled here somehow from two different worlds. Tejat, don’t you see? It’s happening again.”
Both Tejats glare, malevolence wafting from them in spades. Jishui’s ears fold back against his head and he spreads his arms plaintively. “What Tejat doesn’t want me to tell you is that we’re in danger here-- and so are your worlds. See, Tejat? This involves them too, why shouldn’t they know?”
“Do what you want,” the violet pouflon flicks her tail impatiently. “I hope your little pets are able to help you.”
Avalon whips her head towards the woolyne Tejat and snaps her teeth again, pointedly. “Run along then!” She looks back to Jishui-- well, between the Jishuis. “What do you mean we’re in danger? Is Bellacoste…”
Jishui arcs his eyebrows, shrugging his shoulders at Tejat before flicking his hand in a wave. “Still there, so far as we can tell. There’s a rift about…” the pouflon Jishui squints before finishing the thought, “40 clicks west. And another to the east, that must be yours?”
Tiny sits up straighter. “There’s a way back?”
“Yes and no,” Tejat mutters. “...What she means is that… well, there is, but they aren’t stable. We could use your help, you should be able to attune yourself to them-- it’s, well,” he waves his hands, “...complicated. I could explain, or we could set out now. If we hurry we could get it done by morning, and who knows, maybe you can all go home.”
Tiny leaps to their feet as Avalon protests to deaf ears, “What do you mean maybe!”
“Magic, I’ve found, if we can call it that, is never a sure thing,” the Jishui by her side says quietly, and when she looks over at him she was surprised to see kindness in his eyes. “Let’s split up in groups then, shall we? Bellacoste and Andras?”
“Bellacoste and Andras,” Axel agrees.
They take a chance, trusting their strange new companions. The trio ventures with Jishui and Tejat into the night, and just before dawn they arrive at the edge of the universe. Avalon and Axel stand at the eastern precipice, Tiny at the western.
“You’re the keys,” Jishui explained on the way. “If we use you as a conduit, I believe we can bridge the gap between the worlds, and if we’re lucky, that means you can go home.”
It didn’t feel real. None of this did. As they stood at the end of everything, Axel looks into the abyss. This world was crumbling. It had always felt dead, but here on the edge they could see that all that was left of this place was the husk, and even the husk was deteriorating. Avalon calls to him, and though the vespire hesitates for a moment, he comes away from the rim.
“This may sting,” Jishui warns. “But it won’t kill you. Are you ready?”
At opposite ends of the deadlands, Avalon, Axel and Tiny nod.
The twins join hands, and together their power flows through the conduits. Jishui had been right. It did sting. It hurt as the corruption had, tearing through their insides and robbing them of their voice.
It doesn’t last long, their bleary eyes clearing as the pain ebbs. The rifts, once jagged and obscure, now looked like smooth mirrors. Avalon and Axel look on in awe as Aequor appears to them.
Tiny, on the other hand… “TITAN,” the woolyne cries, holding their hands out as Andras reaches back for them. Titan, hearing his name, squirms free of Kilau and sprints for the portal, jumping through and straight into Tiny.
The pair fall to the ground, embracing each other as tears wet their cheeks. Jishui looks down at them before commenting to Tejat, “Looks like it worked.” The way was open.
Twin Stars
“Sometimes the moon is light and sometimes it's in shadow, but you should always remember it's the same moon.”
― Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky
The Bridge was more full of life than it had been in a thousand thousand years.
Days pass in paths forged across the old battlefield. Like ants, heroes march across the back of nothing, bringing fresh steel where once only rust existed. Magic whispers amongst the blades.
Reunions sing sweetly, tears salting the earth as the lost are once again found.
The patchwork sky reverberates, time passing before their eyes. Day in some, night in others, and still more that were golden evergreen.
Almost imperceptibly, something that was once balanced shifts.
A piece of the world crumbles, cascading into the endless abyss below.
[ Recommended listening: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPtB1WOzf5g> ]
They’d all been quite busy since the rifts stabilized. Traffic wasn’t a problem that any of the intrepid travelers had expected in such a distant place, yet the wait to traverse through the portal in both Bellacoste and Andras had increased exponentially.
A discovery of this caliber was unheard of for their like-- of course they all want to be a part of it, Jishui thought. There had been many days of introduction already to vaunted and illustrious pouflons and woolyne alike. It was dizzying, really, how many titles these mortals assigned themselves. Still, he found their great variety a spectacle. Their lives were short, but the way their souls shone-- they really lived them to the fullest, didn’t they?
Now- where was…
“Tejat?” the darker twin calls, but the more dour twin was nowhere to be found. The darkstar pouflon stamps a hoof and looks up at the woolyne who was running a hand through his hair. “I’ll go east?” the pouflon offers.
“And I west- you know, I’ll miss this, at least. Tejat always said I should get out of my own head, and here you are!” The pouflon snorts and rolls his eyes good naturedly.
“Good hunting, Jishui,” one facet wishes to the other. “Likewise,” the other replies.
It did Tejat no good to go off by herself. She knew that, and he knew it too. Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen her in hours. That was an ill omen, indeed. Well, with two of him, he could cast a wider net.
The unicorn smiles. “Tiny!” he calls. “Oh, and…”
“Queen Asajj,” the fiery woolyne supplies, placing a hand on the younger woolyne’s shoulder. “I hope you don’t need this one for much, I was hoping Tiny might tell me more about their adventures here?”
The heat billowing from the queen ushered a wave of nostalgia in Jishui. The unicorn shakes his head. “Oh, dear me. No, honored Queen Asajj, I only hoped to ask if either of you had seen Tejat. Looks just like me, a little… mmm…” He flicks an ear. “...Purpler?”
“...Grumpier,” Tiny mutters, their muzzle scrunching up. “No, uh, I don’t think we’ve seen her, sorry Jishui.”
The unicorn smiles and sweeps in a grand bow. “That’s alright, that’s alright. Well, don’t let me take any more of your time.”
Tiny watches as the unicorn departs, frowning. The warmth from Asajj tingles on their shoulder. After a moment the queen squeezes and says, gently, “Don’t worry. I have a feeling that one can handle himself. Now, why don’t you tell me all about these strange companions of yours?”
Despite Asajj’s assurances, Tiny wasn’t so sure. It shows in how their ears quiver, but the young woolyne smiles despite this.
“Oh! O...of course, Queen!”
The heads of Bellacoste’s leaders were bowed as King Ericius welcomed Queen Nouvel to The Bridge. There had been quite a bit of to-do about this, Jishui recalled. Naturally there would be, amongst world leaders, though he wondered how they felt here, in a place with no borders. He could taste the tension at times, thick in their voices and stiff in their shoulders.
It was always the same story, wasn’t it? Nevertheless, he did not find Tejat in this parade, nor in the onlookers. With his head above the crowd, it should be no problem to spot his twin, and yet…
“Avalon,” the woolyne whispers, calling the farmer’s attention without drawing too many eyes. The plucky looks at him, and for a moment he can’t help his smile. Oh, she practically glowed. Amongst her people Avalon thrived. It was beautiful, wasn’t it?
“Jishui?” the plucky says after a moment. “Yer starin’, y’need somethin’?”
“Oh!” the woolyne spreads his hands as much as the crowd would allow, smile shifting to apologetic. “I was just thinking- you look happier. It’s nice. I’m glad, really.”
Another plucky peers over Avalon’s head, heavy brows set and mouth twisted with distrust. Ah. The father. He best be quick, hadn’t he?
With some confusion, Avalon glances back at the brick wall by her side. “Thank you? I am?”
The woolyne brings his hands back together but not before waggling fingers in a little wave to Avalon’s father. “Sorry, just thinking aloud! Anywaaaaaay… you haven’t seen Tejat, have you?”
The pouflon’s face wrinkles with obvious disgust. “Her? No. You’d have better luck with Axel, y’know she an’ I don’t see eye t’eye.”
Jishui sighs from his nose. Now that was an understatement. “Now that’s a shame, but one of her own making. Thank you Avalon and… sir.” He nods to the farmer’s father, fingers tapping impatiently against his own knuckles. “I suppose I had better keep looking! Enjoy the… whatever this is!”
Before Avalon could explain, the woolyne was already strides away, nervous energy bubbling in his gut.
Where was she?
Even in the expanse of space, one twin would always find the other. It was only the magical signatures of dozens of others that kept Jishui from Tejat for so long, but their collision, as always, was inevitable.
He found her far from the crowds. The facets sat together and stared at the broken sky. That in itself was nothing to worry about, not just that moment.
What worried him more was the circle of disturbed ash around her. Perfectly shaped and wider in circumference than something her size-- pouflon or woolyne-- should be able to create. The pouflon Jishui frowns-- he’d been the lucky one to come across this, eh?
A star spirals from his coat and zips off. It would find the other piece of him, and then they would settle this, wouldn’t they? Still, he could not simply stand here and wait. The unicorn takes a deep breath before venturing, gently, into Tejat’s circle.
Both heads snap around at once. Two sets of eyes glare daggers, and for a moment, that is enough to hold the unicorn. He shuts his eyes against her displeasure and sighs. “Tejat,” he croons softly, “How long have you been at this?”
“If you could rip yourself away from your little pets, you might know,” his other half retorts. Oh, her tongue was sharp, and he was so unlucky as to have to deal with two of her. “Leave me be, Jishui, I do not want to talk to you.”
“Well, that’s a shame, isn’t it?” the unicorn takes a step further into her domain. “For all I want right now is to talk to you. Tejat, come on. Did you think you would be able to hide this?” Oh, he hoped his counterpart would arrive soon. “I know what you’re trying to do.”
“You know nothing,” spits his twin, and before he could react the stars were branching from her, spinning and twinning with the shared stars on her doppleganger. The constellation snakes far beyond her size and the air aches trying to make space for her. He wanted to- he wanted-
No, Jishui tells himself. No. No, no no no no no no, “STOP,” he screams, unfamiliar legs tumbling beneath this small, cramped body. They collide, as destined, and the air snaps back into shape with a crackle.
“YOU,” Tejat snarls, clawed hands curling in his fur and a sharp horn threatening to spear him. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t. He stares at her defiantly, fur rising in a ridge along his back.
Still, his voice was gentle, “Tejat, you can’t. Please listen to me. Please.”
Her brows snap together, the pouflon muttering something rude. The woolyne tightens her grip on him before she tosses him off. “Oh, you think you can boss me around, do you Jishui? You’re as sick of these bodies as I am.”
“I am,” retorts the woolyne Jishui, just now stepping into her ring. “But you’re going to burn yourself out, and everyone else on this stupid disc. Now listen to me.”
Tejat bares her teeth, but she backs away, ears against her head.
“Have you considered the consequences? How could you so… so glibly reach, knowing what would become of everyone here? I’m sick of it too. I know you can’t stand it, but I can’t allow you when their blood would be on my conscience, too.”
“You’re so fond of your little mortal toys, aren’t you, Jishui?” Tejat sneers. “They are doomed if we can’t find a way out of this, anyway, you know that. So what is your grand plan to save them?”
The woolyne rumbles, growling deep in his chest. The pouflon was stiff, too, but he shoots his counterpart a look. “If we were to return their skies, I believe it would cut them off from this place entirely, and then-”
“If,” Tejat echoes. “You haven’t got a plan, and you never have. I’m so happy you’ve enjoyed playing house with these animals, but I’m ready to go home.”
“I won’t let you,” Jishui snips back even as Tejat turns from him, again drawing from her wellspring of strength and reaching to the swirl of skies above them. As the stars reach back for her, he calls, “This is your last chance to stop this, Tejat!”
“Or what, JISHUI?” snaps Tejat.
“You’ll face the consequences,” speaks his soul, two voices joined as one. Ash sweeps away from them as something titanic reaches from within the darkstar. Nebulas swim between them, a great heat widening the distance and melting what weapons remained. Stardust gathers as Tejat turns to face him, a grin twisting her features.
The sky seems to draw closer, reaching, watching, wanting.
“You wouldn’t,” Tejat goads.
“I would,” Jishui responds.
“...Uh. Sorry to interrupt,” a third voice cuts through the tension like a knife. “But you’ve caused quite a stir.”
Jishui’s head twists towards Axel and at once, his magic falls away. There were no stars. The cosmos, again, seemed unobtainable. Tejat scoffs but the heat falls away from her as well.
Much to Jishui’s chagrin, it wasn’t only Axel. They’d gained quite an audience while they were preoccupied, hadn’t they? Onlookers craned their heads to look, eyes as wide as saucers.
“They called the stars,” one murmurs to the other.
And just like that, the farce falls apart.
“We should explain,” Jishui mutters to Tejat as the circle tightens.
“Do what you want,” Tejat grumbles back. “I’m done dealing with you.”
“Don’t say that,” he begs, but it was too late for them to quibble now.
The eyes of two worlds on him, Jishui welcomes them closer. He could not go back now, and the longer he thought of it, they deserved to know, didn’t they? He and his sullen twin were stuck here with them for the time being, and- well, it would come up sooner or later, wouldn’t it?
“Sorry,” he apologizes to those curious, worried faces. “Sibling squabble. We…” he looks towards Tejat. His twin glowers at him before turning her face away. “...We… how should I put this.”
“...In the simplest terms possible, probably…” Axel suggests before smiling encouragingly.
Jishui blinks at him. He’d wondered about Axel. He’d have to ask later if the vespire had always known. “...Right…” the woolyne ventures, glancing towards his pouflon half. “Alright. Okay. Shouldn’t be too hard, should it? Gather round, then, because I don’t want to have to say this twice.”
“We,” he gestures between himself and Tejat, “Are not like you.” He waves broadly at the small crowd that had formed. Curse Tejat-- it was likely the disruption in the air that had called them here. “Well, we are just now, in these bodies, but…”
His expression sours, “As some of you may have guessed, we are native neither to Andras nor Bellacoste. Or this place, for that matter. Your people and your cultures- what I’ve learned so far- are lovely, so I do not mean this derisively, but we are…” he looks again to Tejat, plaintive, asking for help. She offers him nothing.
“...We’re stars,” he says at last, plainly. “Travelers. And our true forms are far too large for this place to accommodate.” He doesn’t look at her again, but he can feel Tejat stiffen. Good. Let her squirm. She nearly caused a catastrophe.
“How did you get here?” someone asks. There was grumbling in the crowd, murmuring as mortals exchanged the facts for rumors. This always happened. Perhaps Tejat’s caution would have served them better? It was too late now. The only road forward was ahead.
“By accident,” Jishui admits. “We were trying to visit elsewhere, but… well. This place pulled us to it much like it did your own worlds, I imagine. Trust me, we’ve tried to leave like we might usually, but there’s something…”
“...Something is holding us here,” Tejat adds finally. “You should leave while you have the chance,” she adds darkly.
“You know, she may be right,” Jishui sighs. “There is power here, and I’ve felt it shift since the stabilization. Perhaps it’s time for you all to return home?” He smiles hopefully.
“...And leave you here?” it was Axel who spoke, pneumir leaking from his mouth. Ah, the vespire was kind, and knew more than he should. Jishui smiled sadly at him and shrugged helplessly. What more could they do?
“Not much choice, is there, my friend?”
Once they had spiraled through the cosmos. Jishui couldn’t remember when consciousness found them, but one day he had awoken. The warmth of his sister still kindled his spirit to this day. Oh, how they romped the stars, constellations chasing like a comet’s tail. He wished he could go back to those days, endless wonder and discovery.
It was still there, of course, in small ways. In the light of the sun setting on a new world. In the desire that pulled two beings together. In the love and tears spent day by day by the countless thousands. Tejat could not always see that. But he tried, all these years later, to find that spark everywhere they went.
It would be better, still, if these little universes returned to their own homes, wouldn’t it? Surely they had all been brought here for a reason, but the thought of it prickled the hairs on his neck. Something else lived here too. He had felt it from the very start.
Something in Axel told him that the vespire could feel it, too.
The darkstar reaches for the warmth in Axel’s heart and the vespire looks to him, mouth parting as if to speak. But something there shifts too, friendliness changing to horror before Jishui’s eyes. Slowly he pulls back.
“They’re coming,” Axel manages, voice tight.
“Who?” Jishui asks.
“The swarm!”
To the east, alarms are raised. The first gnut to drift through the portal had been easy enough to deal with, but dozens more followed, then hundreds, then thousands. The plague that had blighted Andras disappeared in an instant, their skies clearing to reveal only the ugly wound.
Farmers breathed a sigh of relief. But what had finally turned the swarm back? Had Queen Asajj finally deciphered the secret of the flowers? Oh, Mazrim was surely on their side. Perhaps they would be able to harvest something that summer after all!
In The Bridge, the outlook was grim. The tide of corruption pouring from the Andras rift could not be stemmed. Returning home, at least for the woolynes, was no longer an option. To try would mean their death against the beating of wings and gnashing of teeth.
The swarm rises, the sky growing dark as thousands of bodies rallied together. It happened so fast. Jishui could only gape as the blight shifted before his eyes.
Knights fumbled for their sweet, fresh steel. Mages mumble the words of protective charms. The swarm doesn’t hold still, already moving to overtake them. Where there was life, it would flush it out.
The swarm washes over them like a tide. There was no end to them.
“FIGHT,” shrieks Tejat. “FIGHT OR DIE!”
Ah, Jishui thought. I didn’t get them out fast enough.
Time to see what they’re made of!
