Tosono remembered his homeland.

  The broken mountains were covered with dead zones, places where ancient weapons of war had fallen from the sky and killed everything they found. The broken mountains were a place of hardship, where long ago, they had been fertile and beautiful.

  Tosono often mused that the people themselves were more broken than the land. At least the light of prosperity would eventually reclaim the deadzones, but there was no type of healing to be found in the niortak tribes that called these mountains home.

  But it could not be helped.

  Tosono remembered having been one of those broken people. He’d tricked and deceived his fellows. He’d killed his brothers and exiled his sisters. He remembered the hate and the greed that had overwhelmed his heart.

  Even his last brother, his twin from the womb itself had betrayed him in the end. He’d told his enemies important information and Tosono had been brought low. But he’d been destined for greatness, the stars themselves had told him so.

  But Tosono had eventually destroyed even the one thing that actually made him special. He wasn’t a twin anymore; his brother was dead and with him the blessings of Rendai and Atharian.

  So when Ruirel had arrived with his airships and might—the grandson of the great conqueror—Tosono hadn’t hesitated to leave all of that behind. He left behind the betrayals and backstabbing. He left behind the mistrust and greed. He left behind his own terrible deeds and vowed to follow a better path.

  Tosono didn’t regret it in the slightest, but as he thought of his new life, following Ruirel around and aiding him in his goals, he reflected that the fear was still there. The fear that his fellows were plotting against him. The fear that another betrayal would come from some strangers he didn’t really know. The fear that Tosono himself would betray them first, just to keep them from hitting him first.

  But he wouldn’t let himself stoop back to that low.

  So Tosono followed Ruirel’s words as best he was able. Keep the suiki safe. Come back before the city falls.

  Tosono gritted his teeth and descended once again into the depths of the city.

  Keshel drew in a sharp breath, his eyes opening to the familiar sight of that strange metal creature peeking over him. It was making all sorts of worried whirring sounds and Keshel honestly felt bad for having thought it was so strange before.

  He put a hand to his head and sat up, belatedly feeling the rumbles of the ground below him.

  Teisel was still falling.

  He gritted his teeth. She wouldn’t be falling. Not if he had anything to say about it.

  Keshel pulled himself to a sitting position. “Arez you operazional?” the now familiar zzt noises welcomed Keshel back to himself.

  “Yes, sorry, how long was I out?”

  “Perhapz… an hourz?”

  Keshel balked at that. Apparently time had still been moving, albeit slower than before. He stood up sharply, “How close are we to the ground?!”

  “Very cloze, I don’t think Teizel couldz ztop even if zhe waz awake.”

  Keshel gritted his teeth, glancing back up at the floating panel of metal in the center of the room. “Alright, I’m going to try again then. Do you know if I can take over the city through this? I might be able to… try to pilot it myself.”

  The metal creature made a gesture that reminded Keshel of a shrug.

  Alright then, so it’s got no idea. He strode over to the panel, nearly losing his balance twice as the ground quaked beneath him. Part of him really didn’t want to know how close to the ground they must be.

  ~Teisel!~ he shouted in the direction of her mind. He could feel it, drowsy, silent, almost completely unresponsive. She stirred slightly at the message, but Keshel frowned as Teisel continued to ignore him. ~Teisel I need your help, please!~

  Teisel did not respond.

  Keshel sighed, opening his eyes and connecting his antennae to the floating device. He tried again, louder. ~Teisel I need your help.~

  Fora opened her eyes, confused as to what in the sparks her rebirth was thinking. That should have taken far, far longer to happen. She frowned at the ceiling, surrounded by scrolls, books, maps, and catalogs.

  It was probably the way she’d died. Either that or…

  Fora sighed as a silver figure stepped into her view, “Sparks I tried to contact you about half a million times earlier, were you literally just ignoring me?!” She sat up sharply, giving him her second best glare—my best glare is always reserved for a different god.

  Astral tilted his head, “I was busy keeping up that dilation.”

  “That’s a load of dragoncrap and you know it.”

  He shook his head with amusement and stepped closer, picking up one of the fallen books, “You’re going to want to hurry, there’s no way Keshel can do this on his own and Reiav was evacuated. She’s fighting them on it but she needs help to get back to Teisel. I’d assumed you would need the other three too but my expectations were surpassed.” He flipped through the book, finding an empty page near the back and tearing it out.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  The part of Fora that was a book loving nerd cringed at his defilement of such a fount of knowledge. But sparks, it was one of those useless pages near the back. She’d have to simply live with it.

  He waved his hand in front of it and the page itself changed, lengthening, adopting writing. After a moment, Astral handed it to her, “After you’re done, I’d like you to give this to Teisel.”

  Fora stared at the page, eyes wide, “This is…” She sighed and pocketed it, knowing he wouldn’t tell her even if she asked the question, “Sparking gods and their sparkingly low explanation rates… I’ll have to say no out of principle one of these days.”

  “And I’m prepared for that inevitable day.”

  “Sparking god of balance and your sparking pretentious face…”

  He simply raised an eyebrow and disappeared. After a moment, Fora was gone too, rushing in the direction of the falling city of Teisel. What? I wasn’t going to just not help, that would be stupid. Even if Astral was a manipulative butt, he’d saved my life a long time ago.

  She drifted, feeling the ground grow closer with every blink of Lamariel.

  It wasn’t that she wanted to die, really. But she was just so tired of barely existing. She thought that perhaps things would be better after it was over; there was no way the afterlife could be any worse than this.

  She tried again out of habit to connect to a mind—any mind—but there was no response, just… nothing.

  Teisel sighed mentally, remembering how strange the last hour had felt. Was there really someone trying to help? If so, where were they? Part of her seemed bitter at that fact, but Teisel ignored it, looking down at the ground once again.

  Who would even want to help someone like her?

  She was useless. She was barely real anymore; she was a piece of a lost time that no one wanted to remember. The suiki were happier without reminders of their past like herself. The niortak were happier without her erratic path that constantly followed the sun.

  Teisel watched the ground grow closer, wishing it would end faster. Part of her deep down was screaming at her to stop, to restart the thrusters, to open back up the flotation, to do anything.

  But if she did that, she would have to keep barely existing.

  And so Teisel fell.

  -

  ~Teisel I need your help, please!~

  Teisel barely heard the cry. It was so quiet… barely there, just like she was. She was… barely there. She stirred at the sound though, wondering in the back of her mind who that might be. Someone was talking to her, didn’t that make her more real?

  ~Teisel I need your help.~

  The second time, it was much clearer. Teisel felt her mind sharpen at the intrusion, the words, the connection. She hadn’t forged the other side of it, but then again, she hadn’t had to do that since she’d been trapped here. ~Who are you?~ she belatedly sent back.

  ~I’m Keshel, I’m a friend. I need you.~

  ~What… do you need?~ Teisel asked, confused. She was falling out of the sky, how in the stars could she possibly dream to help this stranger? And in fact, why would she? He was a stranger, why would she help a stranger? She couldn’t trust anyone.

  He sent peace, ~I need you to live.~

  Teisel paused in surprise. ~Why? I’m useless.~

  ~Teisel, I know that’s how it feels, but do you have any idea how many people have better lives because of you?~

  She was silent, because she didn’t know. How could she know how people lived these days? She could only sense their minds, shape the city, and change the trajectory of her route. She couldn’t do anything else. ~I’d like to know, I think, but it’s too late, don’t you see? The ground is right there. Just… go away, it’ll be easier that way.~

  ~I will remember this day for the rest of my life no matter what happens. If you die I will remember, I will mourn, I will always look back on today and try to think of what I might have done differently. If you live I will still look back, glad that it happened. I’m not going to leave and forget about you.~

  Teisel felt pain. Stars above, it had been so long since she’d felt pain… it hit her with a shock, like electricity or a hivemind attack. If Teisel had still had her body, she might have reeled at it, but as it was, the city only rumbled more at the hurt.

  The stranger kept on talking. He sent his own pain when he sensed hers. It was the pain of loneliness; the pain of uselessness; the pain of sorrow; the pain of his own betrayal to those he cared about. ~Teisel you aren’t alone in the darkness, I can see it too. I don’t understand all of it, but I can see it.~

  ~That doesn’t… change anything.~ Teisel said, feeling as the distance between the city and the ground shrank from miles to meters… How much farther could it be? ~We’re about to…~

  She felt as he peeked in at her mind, sending an apology as he did so. That was strange. He’d completely bypassed her mental shields and everything; how had he…

  ~How do I turn the engines back on?~

  Teisel found herself unable to refuse. Curious. She directed his mind to the engines, thinking, ~How are you doing that?~

  He paused, ~I have… a weird gift. I didn’t think it would work on you.~ He took the engines and started them up again, barely even pausing. He located the snail fuel area, and reactivated the flotation properties of the mucus.

  The fall slowed dramatically, but it didn’t stop. They had perhaps a few more minutes. Teisel shuddered at the feeling as Keshel withdrew from her mind, sending an apology again. ~Teisel, I’m going to save you whether you like it or not, alright? So you might as well cooperate.~

  She was still in shock though, the ease, the absolute afterthought. Ashes… She sent curiosity, ~If you can do that, why do you need me to agree? You could just make me cooperate.~

  Keshel sent disgust, ~That’s horrible, no! I… I decided a long time ago that I’ll never force anyone to do anything if I can possibly help it. Teisel I promise that things will be different soon. I have a friend who can take you out of this city, she can get rid of the modifiers they put on your gift, and she’s willing to do whatever she can to help you.~

  ~You’re trying to give me hope. I… I don’t want it. It hurts too much to hope for something when all I get from it is more pain.~

  He sent apology, ~Alright, but I know you can reshape the city, I know you can keep it from being completely destroyed when it hits the ground. If you do it right, people might even still be able to live there after this. All the niortak who called that place home will have a place to live.~

  Teisel mulled that over, feeling as something began to scrape against the base of the city. Trees. They were trees. She sent pain again, ~I want it to be over…~

  ~I know.~

  She cringed internally. He was still here; almost all the other minds had evacuated the city, but he was still here. He was ready to go down with her. She didn’t want him to die, even if he would make it worse.

  Teisel moved her focus to the city, molding it beneath her touch. She strengthened the base, liquified the stone, drained the reservoir, and turned up the snail fuel to its highest setting.

  And then the city of Teisel fell.