The Choice

As the wind continued to slam against my back, I braced myself for the end. It felt like I had been falling far longer than I should have, but I assumed that was because my perception of time was warped in the moments before death. It felt similar when I jumped off the bridge, after all. It wasn't until I felt my feet gently touch down to a solid surface that my eyes were forced open.

I suddenly stood at the top of the spire, with no idea how I got here. It was frigidly cold up here, and I struggled to catch my breath completely. I looked around in confusion, and saw Faye laying on the ground not far from me. In an instant it seemed like my exhaustion disappeared, as I shouted in surprise, "Faye!" and ran to her side.

She appeared to be breathing, but seemed to have passed out. My immediate guess was that she burned herself out, when I realized she must have lifted me up here. I couldn't remember hearing her, but then, all I could hear was the wind.. I still had some mana in reserve, though not a lot. I would have to be careful infusing it into hers.

I shakily lowered to my knees next to her and placed my hand on her back. I focused as intently as I could, imagining cutting my remaining mana in half and giving her part of it. I hadn't done this before, but I was taught the concept behind it. It took me longer than I would've liked, with each second ticking by feeling like one second closer to losing Faye. I couldn't think of that though, I had to focus.

My hands were shaking violently, from a combination of the cold and intense muscle fatigue. I still hadn't steadied my breathing, but after a moment I felt a sudden pull on my mana, as it began to flow into Faye. I barely stopped it in time to avoid burning myself out, and fell backwards, my muscles unable to keep me upright anymore.

I stared into the searingly bright, cloudless sky. What was I even doing this for anyway? My eyes hurt, but I couldn't bring myself to close them, it was too much effort. Everything hurt, really. That sort of pain that comes in waves with your pulse and makes you wish you didn't have one to begin with.

I wasn't sure how long I stayed there. Faye hadn't moved, but at least she was breathing, and I was managing to force some more oxygen into my lungs despite the height. I forced myself to roll to my side, and I looked off the edge of the tree of ice. The world was hidden by a thick layer of clouds, but through small cracks I could see a blanket of white spreading further and further out from the tree.

I rolled to my other side, looking toward the centre of the tree. For some reason I expected something to be there, some sort of magical orb or even Mari floating there, but.. there was nothing. Why did I feel so compelled to come up here?

I pushed myself to my feet and staggered toward the centre. My vision pulsated and my head throbbed. I stumbled, hardly managing to catch myself before I fell face first into the ice. Ice-cold sweat dripped from my forehead, freezing the moment it hit the ice below me. I saw a pulse of white light through the small droplet of sweat, and cleared away the layer of snow on the ice.

I felt a sudden wave of Mari's mana as the glow within the tree pulsed, and another layer of ice grew over top of what I had just cleared. I stared down at it. I was out of mana, I had no strength, no tools.. how was I meant to get to whatever was causing that light? How was anyone meant to stop this?

I felt a hand on my back, and heard Faye's voice seemingly from a distance. "Marin.." she gasped for air between words, "Are you.. certain about.. this?"

I didn't know what she meant, but I nodded my head. I had to get to that light, there was nothing else I could do.

I felt a sudden and intense heat begin to build. I turned to Faye, and watched as her arm began to turn charcoal black. She had released her wind, the only thing keeping Anare's lingering mana from going out of control. She pressed that blackened hand to my back, and in an instant I felt a searing blaze claw through my skin and nestle into the essence of my being.

I screamed in agony. The pain was immense, greater than anything I'd experienced before, but at the same time, the surge of mana was invigorating. Steam began to billow from my eyes as tears instantly vapourized. It was a wild heat, uncontrolled and severe in every measurable way, but it was a heat I could use.

I clenched a fist as tight as I could, my nails pushing into my skin and forcing a warm trickle of blood through the creases of my palm. Over my other hand, I formed a spike of molten earth, and began to push through the ice. No matter what happened from here, I couldn't turn back.

* * *

I felt as though I was suspended in an endless world of ice and stillness. I heard no sound, I felt no mana but my own. Finally, the screaming had stopped. I was alone, just like I wanted to be. At least if I was trapped here, on a dead world, I wouldn't be able to destroy a second.

My mind drifted languidly, bouncing from one random subject to the next, with no singular thought carrying any particular meaning in and of itself. This would be reality for years to come, perhaps centuries, perhaps even longer. I was okay with that. At the very least, I could feel the faintest presence of Miss Anare's heat in my hand, which I squeezed as tightly as I could.

Marin could live in my stead, grow old working alongside Miss Anare, experience a life she wouldn't have gotten to live otherwise. That was enough for me.

That was, until, I felt an all too familiar heat beginning to grow, descending from above like a ray of sunlight had chosen to shine only on me. I felt her mana, wild and uncontrolled, growing stronger and stronger, closer and closer. Hope blossomed in my chest against my will; I would have to tell her to leave me, that I couldn't be trusted not to destroy everything. There was no way I could live a normal life after all of this, after killing so many.

Her blazing flame only continued getting closer. I hoped that my uncontrolled pulses of mana would be enough to keep her away, but she only got closer with every passing second. I wanted so badly to scream, but ice filled my throat from the inside out. I felt truly helpless for the first time.

I braced myself for the disaster she was about to unleash by opening the ice I had sealed myself inside. She had somehow gotten to this world, and she would do everything to take me back to ours.

I suddenly felt a sickening pull, as though the whole of my existence was being warped and twisted. I tried to cry out to stop her, but even as the ice melted from my body inside and out, I couldn't find my voice. I tried and tried, as that hideous warping sensation got stronger and stronger.

The last thing I heard was me, shouting my own name in desperation.

*Author's Note: Sorry for the sudden slow pace of chapters; I've been sleeping very poorly lately so I haven't had it in me to write. We're nearing the conclusion though!