FAM, MEET FAM

“I can assure you the relationship does indeed go both ways, or else why would I be here? If anything, you should feel sorry for me. She’s the one that keeps kicking me out to only tempt me back in. But I don’t plan on leaving this time.”

The threat lands on deaf ears, the creatures walking forward without pause now, taking great effort to lift their heavy limbs. They’re rather easy opponents. Their movements are slow and it’s easy to dodge their efforts but, if a blow were to land, it would shake someone down to their bones, their bodies preferring sheer power over anything else.

“You know, if you weren’t so rude, I’d invite you to join us. I have invited so many people to join us but, in the end, they refuse and this is what they become.”

If she had a form to motion, she would be towards the creatures but, even so, the point gets across.

“Standard humans are such boring little pawns. I can only imagine the pretty little specimen you’d be cover in crystal, but none as pretty as my Fengari.”

Her tone is oddly seductive and she seems at least halfway invested in Shand as a person, but nothing catches her attention quite like her unnerving obsession with Luna. Still, she invites him forward.

“Come find us, Shand. Fight your way through and find us. I can’t wait to meet another sparkling little toy face-to-face.”

Off in the distance a light shoots up towards the sky like a beacon, signaling, rather flamboyantly, to Shand where he should go.

Upon the new invitation, a different creature materializes from the ground to face-off with Shand. It looks nondescript as it forms, crystal spikes shooting out of its figure. A low growl rips through its chest, large paws slam down on the ground, shattering it, sending splinters up into the air, knocking aware some of the lesser beings without a car.

It’s the fox from the island, which feels like an eternity ago, the one that led Shand back to Nameless, but it’s different than how he saw it. It towers like a house over him and its form is distorted by the crystals piercing through its skin and fur, eyes completely crystalized over and the black markings drip like poison down through the fur, staining the surrounding areas gray. It’s not here to guide him, not this time.

“Ah, Ears, we meet again,” Shand feigns warm familiarity, though the tiredness and irritation still seeps through his voice.

“I️ know I’m irresistible, you just couldn’t stay away.”

As the creature moves menacingly overhead, Shand can feel his vision start to the flicker and blur and fade to black around the edges like a slowly burning and crumbling piece of paper.

The spikes of crystal shatter the earth around him, and Shand uses his blade to knock one away. The crystal is stronger than his metal alone, though, and it is barely diverted from its path so that Shand still has to tumble out of the way.

“Fine, Ears, have it your way.” Shand tells up at it, tone close to that of a petulant child. “Why not open up a vein for you, too. I️ wish Nameless could be here. He’d just love this.”

Shand tosses each curved knife up in the air, catching each by the blade and slicing his palms right across the middle. He rolls the blades over in his hands for a few moments, coating them well in the thick liquid that, upon contact with the air, starts to glow ice blue.

“Here, kitty kitty.” Shand flips the blades around to grasp them once more by the handles and takes a wild, unnerved, uncontrolled swing at the fox, who avoids he blow quickly and bats at him in return.

Shand stumbles back, becoming fully aware that he is being held back, knowing that unless he can summon the height of whatever kind of power he has, he’ll end up stuck in this ice world right along with Luna.

He banishes that fear for the time being, and as the fox lunges at him again, he swipes the bloody blade upwards, finding a small spot in its chest unprotected by crystal.

The creature screams as the crystals penetrating its skin and clinging to its fur start to dissolve into puddles the color of Shane’s blood, and the creature itself starts to melt along with it.

“Ew,” Shand watches with a cringe as the creature melts away into a gel-like substance completely with one final, agonized howl. “I️ did not foresee that happening, but okay.”

He peers pasts where the giant fox had stood before, charting his path through the forlorn, sparkling and icy-looking terrain to the location where the light had originated.

Shand takes a moment to catch his breath, aware more with each passing second of the toll the corruption is taking presently elsewhere, on his physical form, in the small building in the alternate dimension with all the others.

That feels like a lifetime, worlds away now, though, and he sidesteps the puddle formerly known as Ears and starts to gingerly move through the sharp outcrops of crystal, hacking at them to form a path to Olvreign and Luna.

“Oh~ He thinks he banished my little pet, does he? How utterly adorable. He’s so foolish, I can see why Name took such a liking to him.”

A woman stands with long blonde hair that sprawls out on the floor behind her like a cape, pieces of crystal twisted in the locks for decoration and show.

“What do you think, Fengari? I quite fancy him, myself.”

Slowly, she turns, walking away from her spot on the ledge of a tower crystallized mid-collapse. Her long robes dance across the ground, fluttering around her like the wings on a butterfly. The way she walks is more of a glide, never showing any indication of a gait.

Sitting down on the ground, Luna stares at her lap with lifeless eyes, the blue color nearly black and soulless. The only reason she’s even upright is the large mass of glowing crystals coming from the entire left half of her body growing and fusing with the crystal of the wall behind her. Despite the screaming, her mouth is barely open, just leaving enough room to take shaky breaths, and she is eerily quiet. The screams are an echo of the reality beyond her mind.

She doesn’t even look like herself.

“Oh my dear, don’t get jealous. Even if I have a new sweetheart, no one could every replace you. You are my heart.”

Kneeling, her slender hand slides over the rough texture of the crystal of Luna’s body, stopping her hand over the portion where Luna’s chest, right where her actual heart should be for emphasis.

“Now, let’s both play nice, hm? He should be here soon.”

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Shand carves a path of blood, his own, through the crystal all the way to the base of the tower. He looks up unsure, hoping this is the origin of beacon light and wondering how much more he has in him and if it will be enough for whatever is waiting up there for him.

By the time he’s climbed to the top of the tower, all the blood letting has his head spinning and the world around him along with it.

When he normally gets to this point, he dreams. His body shuts his brain down, forces it into a twisted, metaphorical version of the future, and repairs itself while he faces nightmares elsewhere.

But here, there is no compulsion to dream, as if there is no future to banish his brain to. At the top of the winding stairway, he leans against the crystal wall and takes his surroundings in as his horror grows.

A woman with impossibly long blond hair kneels by Luna, who is stuck to the wall increasingly as the crystal takes her over bit by bit.

She sits silently, as if in a limbo state of her own, dark eyes eerily void.

And the woman, Olvreign, hovers in uncomfortably close to her, petting her like a doll or a pet.

“Uh,” Shand holds a hand up in greeting, pushing himself off the wall and ignoring several drops of blood that trickle down his arm and fall to the floor, creating small puddles of goo where they melt only the thinnest, top layer of crystal.

“Hi there, it’s me, Shand- also, I’m assuming nobodies ever told you that you come across kind of rapey? I️ mean, from one weirdo to another, if I️ was you, I’d wanna know.”

Olvreign looks over at Shand, her tropical green eyes scan him before she allows herself to speak and, when she does, she’s clearly ecstatic he’s made it to them.

“It’s you!”

Taking an audible gasp, she throws herself to stand up, covering her mouth like a joyful school girl watching her crush walk towards her.

“Fengari, look! He made it!”

Her movements are so fast that she appears to be teleporting around, vanishing before his eyes, appearing behind him, then fades away again to appear uncomfortable close in front of him, levitating herself off the ground so he has to look up at her, her robes flaring, looking more like a snare beginning to enclose around Shand slowly than cloth. Olvreign gently rests a hand on his cheek, running her finger tips along his facial features, her smile only growing as she takes the sight of him in further.

“You’re stunning. You’re very different than Fengari. Frankly, she’s in a different league, but you have your own sort of unique charm to you don’t you?”

Leaning over, she leans over, bringing her face closer to his, staring deeply into his eyes as if mesmerized by them.

She’s absolutely gorgeous. The embodiment of ideal human beauty, and she’s obsessing over him.

“Thank you for coming, I really do appreciate it. I enjoy growing my collection.”

Abruptly, she leans back, intentionally dragging her fingertips over his face as she removes her hand from him, leaving behind a soft tingling sensation on his skin. She’s obviously ignoring his comment, not bothered by his friendly warning.

“Fengari!”

With another vanish and reappear trick, she’s on her knees in front of Luna again, caressing her face in a twisted display of affection, far more absorbed in that action than she was with Shand, like it’s her favorite pastime. Her eyes are gentle as she gazes at Luna’s lifeless face, not minding the crystal that grows on Luna’s skin below her hands.

“You brought me a new toy. I knew you cared.”

As soon as she turns from him, Shand sticks his tongue out in a sort of silent gag.

"I️ can only imagine what kind of childhood you must have had," he mutters to himself.

She's absolutely consumed in her interaction with the despondent Luna- obsession doesn't even begin to describe it. Shand takes advantage of Olvreign's attention being so focused elsewhere and scans the room.

There is only one way out- the way he came in. Or really, two, if Shand counts the balcony-like ledge jutting precariously out over the rest of the crystal-covered world. But Shand would really prefer not to count that as an exit option, if at all possible.

The most alarming thing is the solidness with which Luna is trapped against the wall, growing into it. Shand's not sure how long this crystal takes to grow, but in time she'll be locked in the crystal completely, an ornament encased in the glassy walls.

Olvreign is completely focused on Luna, and everything outside of that seems not to matter in the slightest.

"Luna," Shand hisses, almost threateningly. "I️ swear to God, if I️ get us both out of this alive, I'm gonna kill you."

Suddenly, the paths that Olvreign's touch has left across Shand's face explode with heat, and he cringes. There is a flash of blinding light, and the tracks across his face split, small fractures running down his cheeks, bright light burning from inside them like it's pushing at his torn skin to get out.

"As stunning as I️ am, this better not scar," Shand barks at Olvreign, his hand pressed to his face but not preventing the light from knifing out.

“As stunning as you are, you are still a dog.”

Olvreign’s tone drastically drops, her hands on Luna’s face pause, nails digging deep into the still exposed skin and the crystal grows a bit faster.

“You are a mutt compared to her and I will not tolerate you speaking so to her.”

She whips around, flicking her wrist. Nothing happens at first but, after the initial display, a supernatural force throws Shand across the room towards the precarious opening in the wall.

“I am the only one who understands her. She belongs here with me. If only you had someone who cared for you this much.”

The sight of Shand on the ground brings a graceful smile to her face, pleased with her quick work of pushing him around. She wants to do it again.

“I don’t think you understand how alone she is. No one cares about her. I am all she has. I am what keeps her alive. Don’t try to think you understand.”

Snapping her fingers, Ears appears from the shadows, drool dripping from its mouth.

“I see you’ve met my pet. Yes, Nameless’s sister was a perfect start to my collection, but she’s far from perfect. In fact, she’s rather dull. Easily jealous constantly hungry. Wish I had gotten the younger sibling instead but here we are.”

She focuses her attention back on Luna, digging her nail so deep into her cheek that she draws blood and it only takes a quick motion and then she’s left a long cut in the wake of her nail. Luna flinches but Olvreign tenderly shushes her.

“Now, now, it’s ok. I’m here. Don’t worry, no one will bother you or use you ever again once’ I’m done, I promise.”

With an affectionate pat on the head, messing up Luna’s dull hair, Olvreign stands, examining the other woman’s blood under her nail like it’s a precious resource, steam rising from where it begins to burn at her skin.

“So, Shand. Did you come here to die or play hero? This mind space already has a martyr, we don’t need another, so run home little lamb.”

The blood rises up and, even with just the few drops that it was, they expand and float around above the menacing goddess like a snake ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"If I️ had a penny for every time someone's called me that," Shand spits some blood out of his mouth onto the floor, where it hisses and eats away at the crystal. The light still shine out of his torn face, growing stronger and flickering and struggling to burn brighter as he pushes himself up onto his feet.

Shand knows he's in trouble. He knows that off in another reality, his body is probably shutting down, trying to push him to dream, to save itself, not knowing that it is nothing but a vacant shell.

"Also, totally just joking," he holds his hands up good naturedly. "You think you're the only one that cares about her? Nameless almost killed her earlier today and I'm the one that went in and saved her. Granted, it went slightly sideways, but that's the only reason I'm here now..." he glances out the side of his eyes toward Luna, still staring downward with unblinking eyes, unresponsive.

"If I️ could only talk to her, hear from her that she's okay and she wants to be here, we'll be good," Shand keeps his hands up unthreateningly. "Shove me down in a little glass case and poke at me for all eternity, I️ don't care. But the thing is, Luna's body is dying and mine isn't. So I️ think you should reconsider how you're caring for your pet."

He looks back and forth between her and Ears, who snarls with foaming jaws closer than Shand would like. Something about the fall, about the landing on the hard floor has jolted something strange in him, and in response to Ears' snarling, a deep, thundering growl rumbles in Shand's throat and shakes the entire tower.

His eyes widen a bit as he realizes the sound has just come from him. He glances back at Olvreign. "So is it a little beastie death match your after? Because if I️ remember correctly, when that blood was last on the menu, I️ rather favored it."

“Talk to her? What of value could you possibly have to say to her? Filth like you is the reason she’s been contaminated and I’m having to purify her. It’s a painful process that I regret but it is necessary.”

She places a hand on the towering creature, eyebrow slightly arched at the bizarre noise. The response causes more snarls to rip through Ears’s throat as if attempting to carry on a violent conversation with whatever creature just sounded from Shand.

“Nameless has told you, hasn’t he? I strip people of will and emotions, all the things that cause you pain. I bring people relief they can’t find anywhere else and all I want is to give someone who has only had things taken from her a chance to no longer feel that suffering.”

An intentional pause and Shand already knows what she’s going to add and she knows that he’s aware, but it doesn’t stop the sickeningly sweet smile from tugging the corner of her lips up, tilting her head to rest her jaw against her index finger.

“I could do the same for you. It’s what I did for Nameless’s sister, what I’m doing for Luna... I don’t mind helping you too. In fact, I aim to free all of humanity. Under my guidance, there will finally be peace.”

Her lips part into a sinister grin that looks misplaced on her soft features.

“People under my care never die. We would all live forever together. Death would be no more.”

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“Dying isn’t something I’m currently preoccupied with,” Shand says, forcing himself to appear nonchalant when Olvreign’s words are rippling through his mind and pulling at every corner.

Maybe Nameless really has found he only way to survive immortality. And the thought of death destroyed, of never having to lose the ones he loves and be left behind in cold nothingness is appealing.

It’s beyond appealing. It quenches every fear that ravaged through his mind at the very thought of living forever.

He watches Olvreign’s face, trying to make sure the allure of her offer isn’t written all over his face.

“And another thing... you can free all of humanity whatever way you want, but I️ don’t think that includes me. I️ don’t know what I️ am exactly yet, but I️ doubt its fully human.”

Almost in confirmation, a deep growl comes out of him suddenly, and his teeth are bares and covered with leftover blood from his fall. In response, a thick pillar of lightning strikes right outside the overhanging ledge, leaving smoke in its wake as it obliterates formations of crystal at the base of the tower and the structure shifts suddenly.

“Awh, but I know. I know you aren’t human.”

The shift of the tower means little to her as she levitates herself off the ground, but it does throw Ears off quite a bit, the creature nearly toppling over, a chunk of its crystal body cracking. Olvreign casts a disgusted grimace at the creature, but only for a split second. Her attention shifts back to Shand.

“Why do you think I made the offer? I know what it’s like to outlive those you know and love. In fact, Fengari does too. You’re in good company, Shand, don’t feel so threatened.”

As she makes grand friendly gestures and utters warm words, she has failed to notice the shattering of the crystal formation that’s keeping Luna pinned to the wall. She’s not completed free, but enough that she slumps forward slightly, the destruction of the structural integrity of the building weakening the trap’s strength.

“I see that you want this, I see it all over your face. Knowing your loved ones will never die, that you won’t ever be forced to say goodbye… It’s appealing isn’t it? No one can blame you for thinking that way, especially if they were in your shoes. So, please, stop this silly rebellious act. We can work something out.”

Ears stands back up finally, its large paws shaking the floor as it clamors back up to its previous defensive position, and the tower sways.

The more Shand can peer around the two forces standing in his way, he can finally notice that Luna actually isn’t breathing and hasn’t been this entire time. It’s alarming, to say the least, but confusing more than anything because she doesn’t appear dead. The crystal pulses steadily like a heartbeat around her. It appears to be suppressing, not only her mind, but her body’s ability to function on its own, the crystal having taken control to keep her alive on its own.

Shand braces himself against the tower’s rumbling, his teeth still slightly bared and a consistent undertone of a growl spilling from
his mouth.

He doesn’t want it to be appealing. He doesn’t want to be tempted. He knows this is just her way. But she is more right about him than she can possibly know.

Now is not the time to deal with all the turmoil and terror bubbling up inside of him that this place, this witch, this topic has brought to life.

But he keeps his eyes trained on Luna, still stuck within the crystal ever so slightly. He peers deeply into Olvreign’s hypnotizing eyes and feels like his soul is being drawn in, like he can’t look away.

And the more time elapses, the more enraptured he feels, as if he’s slipping into a trance. The crystals start to look more and more beautiful and her proposition starts to seem more and more logical. He starts to feel like an idiot for standing there and not taking it.

He starts to move, to take a step forward towards her when he looks down and catches sight of his arm, where he’d injected Luna’s blood into his own. The faint glow of his veins has been suppressed greatly, but it glints of a broken shard of crystal clinging to the open wound and glints terribly in his eyes.

Somehow, he sees his father’s face. Lunath’s. Dakara’s. Thinks of how stripping them of their emotions would help them all so much- ease so much pain.

But then, they-he- would be rendered unable to love. To hurt so much that it overflows them and proves that they lived, that they’d grown and changed and make a mark on the world.

That thought ignited a fire in Shane’s bones without warning. His eyes meet Olvreign’s again, this time menacingly.

His pupils are gone entirely, and his eyes have been taken over entirely by the bright, glowing blue, an his veins are growing brighter to match.

The lightning plays at his fingertips again, stronger, wilder, as it dances in the sky outside the tower, bringing with it deep thunder.

When he speaks, his voice is deeper, louder, fuller than he could ever imagine, as if he is a lion and he is roaring: “you’ll have to take me over my cold, dead body.”

Her pink lips pull down into a frown, pouting like a child, acting like she didn't see this coming. In a way, she didn't. She thought her offer would have given him more pause than it did.

"Pity. You would have been such a nice trophy."

Ears steps forward to challenge Shand but Ovreign shakes her head, halting the creature from proceeding further. In a second she's gone and the next she's beside Luna, propping her back up against the wall, fondly holding Luna's head against her shoulder, gently humming. It's a recreation of a child book drawing of a mother cradling her child.

"If he takes you back, you know what will happen. I know you better than any of them... You say you've accepted it but it scares you, doesn't it? So don't let him take you. Stay here. Whatever world you run to will only and always be the same."

She combs her fingers the length of Luna's hair, relaxing some of its natural wave. Her whispering is gentle and appealing, hard to resist, smooth like velvet.

"A hundred years, you remember, don't you? It doesn't have to be like that again. Ah-ah, don't cry."

A few silent tears slip from Luna's empty eyes, staining her blank face, and soaking into Olvreign's robes. Despite her comforting words, the distress pleases the goddess who hides a confident smirk on the top of Luna's head, her eyes snapping back to Shand with sudden intensity.

"Fight for me."

The blood that was floating in the sky from before erupts like hundreds of bombs explode at once and the sky sudden ignites like the sun. The explosion flings the fox-creature clear off the tower but Olvreign doesn't seem to care. She seems like a completely different person as she rises to her feet, keeping steady eye contact with Shand.

"I have waited too long for this moment and you will not ruin it for me. I've given you a chance to leave and a chance to join me. Aside from killing you where you stand, there is no other choice. This is the end your precious will and feelings brought you to."

Shand can see the bright light shining off his own face, burning from his eye sockets and he feels the power surge within him to match Olvreign’s anger.

Shand smirks now too, a newfound energy coursing through his veins more quickly than it ever has, following a crazy and thundering heartbeat that doesn’t match the one in his chest.

“Part of me wishes you could kill me, witch. But sadly, you’ll never get that satisfaction.”

Shand doesn’t know what to do next, but his body seems to move on its own entirely, like its muscle memory for an action he can’t actually remember doing before.

His arms raise out to the side, arms held wide open, balls of flickering and exploding lightning materializing in both his hands above the deep cuts in both his palms.

The lightning is feeding off his blood now, jolting light in and around and from his open wounds, growing and growing as the lightning moves deeper into his body through his hand.

Again, his voice is morphed. It is still his own, but it is animalistic and much bigger than himself, much more regal than he has ever been.

“Luna knows the truth. She knows that there is pain in humanity and agony in emotion, but she also knows that life is not worth living without them. Eternity is cold and harsh with or without emotion, but it is not worth abandoning one’s identity... not to mention, have you even met Nameless? He’s not exactly good publicity for you.”

Shand is feeling cocky again, tossing up the balls of lighting that grow larger and larger and in several moments, they grow to fill the high ceilings of the tower and Shand lets them go. They hover overhead, crackling and firing lightning strikes that hit the crystal floor, causing deep rifts in the floor.

Shand flicks his eyes over to Luna, and the lightning naturally follows, striking the wall and freeing her completely from the confines of the crystal. She falls on the floor, but Shand cannot keep his eyes on her as Olvreign springs forward toward him.

Luna topples over from the wall like dead weight and it's only the shock from the initial impact with the ground that shakes her to. Air rushes into her lungs and it burns every single inch down her throat, forcing a string of violent raspy coughs out of her chest. It feels like she's breathing for the first time.

Clearly disoriented, she rolls from her side to her stomach clutching at her throat, some blood dripping from her mouth onto the ground and she thinks she's never going to catch her breath. The light coming from both the sky and the ground demand enough attention that she's able to force her eyes open much to her shock and horror, seeing the crystal all around.

The moment her eyes open, the sky goes dark again, the fire disappearing. Olvreign stops her rush at Shand, looking up at the sky.

"It can't be."

Her head whips around, her hair flying out wildly behind her, eyes fiercely narrowed, shifting all her attention yet again on the only person here other than Shand.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

Her voice crackles and bombs like fireworks, echoing across the space, enraged as she watches Luna struggle onto her hands and knees. Luna's eyes widen and she turns to look at the blaring voice demanding her attention, quick understanding, regret, and fear contorting her face.

She has little time for anything else. As Olvreign shrieks in blinding anger, she sets off in her teleporting-like speed towards Luna.

What happens next is completely unexpected, at least to Olvreign.
Luna throws her arm up, blocking a quick swipe from the left, somehow knowing which direction Olvreign was coming from without being able to properly see her movements.

Luna's eyes meet the green pair of the other woman's with a cutting glare all their own. In a movement nearly as fast as Olvreign's, Luna throws a nasty right hook into the goddess's side, flames bursting upon impact, throwing Olvreign clear through the crystallized wall of the tower, plummeting down not too far from where the fox-creature fell.

Shaking out her fist, she hesitantly stands to her feet, swaying, but she catches herself on the wall behind her. As she goes to wipe away the blood dripping from the corner of her mouth, she finally notices Shand standing there and the state he's in.

"H-How... Again?!"

She questions his presence in her mind once again.

“Yeah, don’t ask, I️ have no answers,” Shand replies, relieved to see Luna breathing in her own and then some, but still standing under the masses of lightning overhead drawing off the energy in his veins.

“Please tell me you know a way out of here,” he yells over the noise of thunder and electricity crackling. His eyes are still lit up bright, like they’re made of solid light.

All around them, the tower is shaking and pieces of its crystal crumble away, which seems to make the lightning strike even harder and quicker.

Shand gives Luna a quick once over and she seems to be none the worse for wear, despite the blood dripping from her but hey, it seems to be the nature of her subconscious world to take a bit of blood from everyone.

Shand tries to move toward her, but the huge writhing accumulation of lightning seems connected to him, threaded through his veins, keeping him from moving.

He grimaces, using all his energy to jerk his outheld arms downward, severing the lightning from his person.

Overhead, the mass of lightning explodes and crystal goes shattering everywhere, raining down on them.

“A FAST way out of here!”

She covers her head, glancing up at the apocalyptic sky then back at Shand's glowing eyes with obvious confusion.

"Yeah, the window! That's the only way out. It's probably buried in the crystal somewhere, we'll have to find it."

The tower starts to collapse right from under then but she doesn't seem to panic. In fact, her demeanor is completely different than how most anyone has seen it since getting thrust into this limbo hell saga they've all been stuck in.

Neverminding the potential electrocution, she runs past Shand and leaps off the open edge of the tower. Her feet hit a little ledge part of the way down and she uses it to change direction and start slowing her momentum, kicking off of it and backflipping down to another piece of crystal jutting out from the building. She continues this for several different platforms, creating her own aerial path down to safety. Before she can connect with the ground, a rush of air blows from below her, negating the rest of her velocity and she safely floats the remaining couple of feet down.

She's surprisingly capable, the quick determined look she shoots up back at Shand, still on the top of the tower, says as much, if her throwing a goddess-like creature through a crystal wall with a fire-punch hadn't already.

"Let's go before you get even more involved!"

She motions up at the swirling lightning storm above.

"Before I️ get even more involved, you're a funny one," Shand scowls at her, looking down from the open ledge.

He surveys the way down the tower and realizes he doesn't have many options, being much less of a ninja than Luna appears to be. Instead, he pulls his knives from their hip sheaths and smear the last of the blood remaining on his palms onto the already bloody blades.

He follows her path, falling backwards off the ledge just as the tower begins to crumble. He manages to twist himself around and wedge each knife into the crystal facade on each side of him like grappling hooks, while the blood residue on the blades melts the crystal just enough to carve a pathway for Shand to slide down the side of the tower pulled by his weight.

The tower is falling at the same speed he is, and before he ever hits the ground, he is yelling to Luna, "RUN, RUN RUN!"

As soon as his feet are on solid ground, he takes off running (and somewhat stumbling because of an unflatteringly awkward landing)  immediately in order to not be crushed by tons and tons of sharp, falling crystal that is being cut even more jaggedly by stray lightning strikes.

Luna is directly ahead of him and they are running for their lives, a landslide of jagged crystal hot on their heels.

As they run, Shand calls up to her. "I️ never got a chance to say sorry for the lamp, so I'm saying sorry for the lamp now. Sorry."

Luna forces out a small laugh, more because the situation and comment demands it than it’s funny to her.

Much like Olvreign, she glides a bit off the ground in her retreat, small clouds of dust rolling after her and she keeps looking back over her shoulder at Shand to make sure he’s keeping up.

“I think the lamp is the least of our worries. We just need to find the damn window and get out of here. The lamp can wait.”

She goes quiet for a couple of long, thought out moments.

“Maybe not. Maybe don’t come back in here if this is how it’s going to be.”

A large shard of crystal comes flying down at them, landing right in between them, splitting the two up as it causes a large portion of the land to rise and splinter like a small mountain range at the sheer force of its impact.

“Shand?”

Some of the smaller splinters shoot out and she can feel them dig into her back, easily tearing through her clothes, blood quickly flowing out, but she doesn’t stop despite the pain. All she gives to indicate any pain is a sharp his through grit teeth and several internal swears.

She continues in the direction they were both heading, calling up over the gradually declining newly formed mountains, unable to see him and worried how he faired in the whole ordeal.

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The crystal that separates them is HUGE. But Shand is tearing through Luna’s subconscious so fast, trying to keep up with her, trying to keep his footing, trying to stay conscious himself, that he doesn’t even see it coming until it’s too late.

He stops just short of the initial impact, and as he hears Luna call his name, the crystal splits, half of it creaking before gravity takes it toll and sends it plummeting towards him.

Shards of crystal fly at him from the other side, and as he holds his arm up to shield his face, splinters of the stuff lacerate his whole arm, but worse yet he feels a gust of air against him where the larger crystal is headed straight for him.

He turns to look at it at the same moment it strikes him, pummeling him right into the ground.

He can still hear Luna calling for him, but his lungs feel flattened and he can barely manage to breathe.

This is it, he thinks. Since he can’t die, he’ll be doomed to spend the rest of his days in Luna’s subconscious after all, trapped underneath a giant sparkly crystal.

Clearly it hasn’t been his day. The pain of the crystal crushing him is infuriating, and he can feel a swell start in his chest.

He starts to yell, and as he does, he can see bright light explode above the crystal as if he’s watching it from underwater, and the lightning splits the crystal in two just enough for Shand to pull himself out from under it.

When he emerges, brushes himself off, and shakes away the fog of pain, he can no longer see Luna in front of him.

But then as he scans the landscape, he spots a small form moving, dodging more crystals in that impossibly lithe way.

He doubts he’ll ever catch up to her now, with her running like that, but bloody damn if he doesn’t try.

With the mountains gone she looks back and noticed how far off Shand is from her, much to her surprise. She turns to watch him and make sure he’s okay.

“Hey-“

Pausing was a bad idea. A form rushes in from the side and tackles her down in a blur. The two tumble and roll until the large form pins her down with or large paw, the force is enough to take her breath away.

A large snout snarls down at her, snapping towards her face. Throwing her hands up, she defends herself by grabbing the two large fangs and keeping the fox at bay mere inches from tearing her apart.

Her muscles strain and her arms shake, the weight of the creature on her pushes the crystals in her back further into her skin.

“Why can’t you just give up-“

The fox growls, saliva dripping and soaking into Luna’s clothes while it looms over her.

Rather foolishly, and she knows it as soon as she does it, she thrusts an arm into the creature’s mouth. Teeth clamp down on her arm and she fights the urge to scream knowing she did this. A loud shriek sounds from deep in the fox’s throat, rolling up into its mouth and it spits out her arm, backing up and whining in pain as black smoke rolls out of the fox’s mouth like a smoke stack.

It doesn’t run away but it is obviously distracted and enough so that Luna can stand, clutching her arm. She scans for Shand to make sure he can make it past the fox while its attention is elsewhere.

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Shand hears the high pitch of the fox’s whine from a long way off and figures that after what he’s seen, Luna can mostly take care of herself.

Buuuuut, then again, Shand’s kind of salty at Ears and who knows when his next opportunity will arise to screw with the offending fox.

He approaches the flat plain where the fox stands, gasping for breath and spewing smoke, still not willing to give up its position near Luna. Quietly, he finds the shortest crystal spire in an outcrop of several tall formations and hoists himself into the top of it

“You’re completely insane,” Shand yells down to her in veiled admiration from the top of the crystal formation, putting two and two together to realize why the fox is currently howling in pain.

“Seems like it wouldn’t be that off base to call you a...Luna-tic.”

Shand shoots her an incredibly annoying smile before his eyes flash over in blue light and a lightning bolt strikes the tallest crystal spire in two, sending both parts tumbling down directly onto the fox, pinning it down completely.

Shand hops down from his crystal outcrop and sighs with his hands on his hips, surveying his handiwork as he turns to Luna.

“Please tell me we’re almost there. I️ need a bottle of rum and a nap something fierce.”

“You’re telling me. A stupid pirate keeps possessing me today and he’s super cocky and loves bad puns. It’s been torture.”

She does offer him a faint smirk for his joke but nothing more, not willing to give him complete satisfaction.

Still clutching her arm, she looks back in the direction they had been running towards and the large black frame can be seen in stark contrast to the bright crystal. The window panes are blown out and the crystal slivers around it like vines, emptying to keep the exit contained and controlled.

That doesn’t stop her, however. She closes the distance without much warning and grabs hold on the pane dividers, the broken glass slicing her hand but, out of everything else today, this pain is very minor. Mentally, she counts herself down then pulls, snapping the divider clear off the window. Repeating this process several times, she makes a hole big enough for them to fit through, hand sliced to high heaven and back.

“We have to jump, I’m sure you remember...”

She trails off uncomfortably, taking in her work.

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“Ha. Ha ha.” Shand frowns at her, although a hint of a smile still lurks around the edges of his lips. He watches her clear up the window and decides better of interrupting the process to offer her some of his blood to clear up the gashes in her arms.

There’s been a lot of blood today already, and eh, the wounds aren’t life threatening. And beyond that, according to Nameless, some people find the random offer of someone else’s blood to be somewhat gauche.

Speaking of which. Shand brings his hand to his face and remembers the gashes. They’ve closed some already, thanks to his fun magic show, and are now only several deep scratches across the side of his face.

“Not gonna lie, I️ wasn’t paying a lot of attention last time cause I️ was holding on for dear life to this dragon I️’d just turned into a huge crystal popsicle,” Shand rolls his eyes.

“But we jump and it’s over, yeah? Before we go, are my eyes normal again? I can’t tell. And my dad will flip if he sees me like that.”

Turning from the window, she looks over to observe him and look for anything off but her reaction tells him everything he needs to know.

"U-Uh... Hang on."

She takes a moment to close the small gap between them and it's completely unknown what she's going to do to help him. Chant something? Cast a spell? Shoot him with fire? As Shand said, it's par for the course to offer blood in this world, so is she going to smear some of hers on his face? Her unreadable expression makes him think it could be one of or all of the above.

It's none of the above.

Quickly, she slaps his cheek with her good hand, not hard enough to cause a lasting stinging sensation but enough to shock him and make him reel back in surprise.

"That's for the lamp."

Her eyes suddenly tell him that he was, probably, fine to begin with, she just needed an excuse for payback.

Quickly retreated, she crawls out of the hole she made and stands on the outside window sill but doesn't yet jump, rather stays there staring down at the ground a fatal distance below.