“Hey sweetie, you ready to go to Ker—

  You’re right, let’s stay in, just the two of us. That place makes me uneasy anyway, for some reason. I’ll get dinner started, you just get comfy…”

  The Volcanic Wastes stretched before them, a scarred expanse of blackened stone and sluggish rivers of molten fire. The air shimmered faintly, but the heat was not what Ariel expected—it was a muted warmth, as though even the land’s fury had been dulled by Gloymr’s corruption. Every step required care; fissures cut jagged paths across their route, and rivulets of lava hissed as they slid between fractured ridges.

  Ariel walked with her staff in hand, eyes scanning the ground ahead. Fornaskr followed close, the Firechain coiled across his shoulders, his movements cautious but unhurried. Shika trotted along between them, sometimes bounding ahead only to scurry back when a crack in the rock forced it to pause. At one point, the little red panda leapt onto Ariel’s shoulder, curling its tail around her neck like a scarf, chuffing into her ear until she laughed despite herself.

  Their conversation meandered like the lava flows. Ariel asked Fornaskr if he had ever crossed the wastes before; he admitted he had only skirted the edges, never daring so far without purpose.

  Fornaskr, in turn, asked Ariel what she missed most from her old world, and she spoke of simple things—coffee in the mornings, the hum of her computer as she worked, Holly’s warm hands sliding a plate of food in front of her when she had forgotten to eat. The words brought a pang, but also a steadiness, as though keeping Holly present even in this bleak place.

  Shika interrupted with a squeak, pawing curiously at a cooled basalt formation that jutted like jagged teeth from the ground. Ariel crouched, scratching behind its ears, and the creature chirped happily before bounding ahead again. Fornaskr chuckled, remarking that Shika had more courage than either of them to treat the wastes like a playground.

  Hours passed beneath a sky of pale ash-clouds, until at last, they reached the far edge of the island. The cliff dropped sharply into open sky, an endless chasm that separated the volcanic land from the next island: an expanse of endless ocean, its blue surface glimmering faintly even from this distance. The view stole their words for a long while. Ariel stepped close to the edge, wind tugging her hair as she peered outward.

  “How are we supposed to cross that?” she whispered.

  Fornaskr frowned, shading his eyes. “Your vines carried us across the last divide. Could they not again?”

  Ariel shook her head slowly. “There’s nothing over there for them to cling to. No trees, no stone outcroppings. Just water. A bridge won’t hold.”

  They sat near the edge, throwing out ideas as the winds howled in the chasm below. Fornaskr wondered if the Myndsmíer might have forged a means of crossing, but no such thing had been given. Ariel thought about weaving a glider out of leaves and branches, picturing its wings catching the currents of air, but quickly realized the span was too great. She would exhaust herself keeping it aloft long before they reached the distant island. Every solution seemed to falter before it could take root.

  At last, Fornaskr exhaled and leaned back on his hands. “Perhaps we are thinking too hard on it. The Wisp guided us before. Perhaps she will again.”

  Ariel nodded reluctantly, her gaze lingering on the ocean island across the void. “You’re right. And we need to ask her what the Myndsmíer meant about her anyway.”

  With that decision made, they rose together. Shika bounded between them once more, and the three turned from the endless sky, retracing their steps back across the scarred wastes with the Wisp’s grove once more in their thoughts.

  They crossed the bridge of vines and roots Ariel had conjured days before, its living surface swaying gently in the wind. Fornaskr walked steady and sure, though his eyes flicked to the vast drop below. Ariel’s steps were lighter, her staff pulsing faintly as if encouraging the vines to hold firm. Shika bounded ahead fearlessly, pausing to peer over the side before scampering back to press close against Ariel’s leg.

  As they left the sulfurous air behind, the breath of the forest swept over them, cool and damp, tinged with pine and blooming flowers. Ariel inhaled deeply, closing her eyes for a moment as if she could drink the freshness into her bones. Fornaskr gave a low chuckle. “Better than ash and stone, is it not?”

  “Much better,” Ariel said with a smile. “I never thought I’d be so grateful for the smell of moss.”

  They walked side by side beneath the shade of the towering trees, the volcanic heat fading like a dream. Shika darted off the bridge into the underbrush, reappearing with a chirp and a mouthful of leaves. Ariel laughed, gently petting Shika. “You must have been so hungry,” she said with a chuckle. Fornaskr only shook his head, amused, and the three of them pressed on toward the heart of the forest and the waiting Wisp.

  But suddenly Shika stopped, its fur bristling, a low growl rumbling from its chest as it stared into the deeper woods. Ariel paused, frowning, and crouched to stroke the creature. “What’s wrong, Shika?” she asked softly.

  A sing-song voice slithered from behind the trees. “Ooooh, how precious. The beast growls, the girl frets. Did you miss me?”

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  Ariel stiffened, eyes flashing green as she pulled her staff forward. Fornaskr’s hand went to his dagger, the Firechain unfurling in his other hand.

  “Trega,” Ariel hissed.

  “Ohhh, she remembers my name!” The voice rose in glee.

  A scythe’s chain whistled through the branches, the blade embedding in the earth a dozen feet before Ariel. It went taut, and with a shriek of manic laughter Trega swung down, landing in a crouch. Her eyes were wild, her grin wide.

  “Poor, poor Dreyfa,” Trega crooned, tilting her head dramatically. “Snuffed out like a candle. Oh, it breaks my heart… HA-HAAA!” She burst into laughter, high-pitched and jagged.

  “Did you weep for her, sweet flower? Did you watch her break?”

  Ariel’s grip on her staff tightened. “If you think I’ll flinch at your games, you’re wrong. You’re nothing but a coward hiding behind your toys.”

  Fornaskr stepped forward, voice low and sharp. “If you’ve come to mourn, you’ll find no quarter here. If you’ve come to fight, you’ll find us ready.”

  Trega clapped her hands in delight, her chains rattling with the motion. “Ohhh, so serious, both of you! I love it when the prey pretends to bare its teeth.” She leaned forward, eyes glittering. “Tell me, flower-child… will you snuff me out, too? Will you plant your roots and your vines in my corpse and watch me rot?”

  Ariel raised her chin, her voice steady despite the fury in her chest. “Try me, Trega, and you’ll find out exactly how deep these roots go.”

  Trega gave a delighted shudder, her shoulders rolling as though she were savoring the tension. Her grin spread wider, eyes gleaming with feral amusement.

  “Mmm, yes, yes! That’s the fire I wanted to see! So angry, so certain. But I wonder...” she hissed the words with a tilt of her head, “...how long until doubt gnaws through you like rot in wood?”

  “You think your words can shake me?” Ariel shot back, her staff pulsing with a green glow.

  “Oh, not shake. BREAK!” Trega laughed sharply, almost a scream. She dragged her tongue along the chain of her scythe, humming at the taste of cold steel. “You’re all brittle glass, flower. One crack, and you shatter.”

  Fornaskr’s eyes narrowed. “You talk too much.”

  “Ooooh, brave Sylari,” Trega crooned, circling a step to the side, the chain dragging behind her like a serpent. “Your little Firechain looks heavy on your shoulders. Will you drown in it like Dreyfa? Will you crumble when you see your savior bleed?”

  Ariel’s jaw tightened. “Keep underestimating us at your own peril.”

  Trega shuddered again, then threw her head back and cackled. “Yesss. I do so love when the pig squeals before the slaughter.”

  With a sudden shriek, Trega launched herself forward, chain scythe flashing. Ariel was ready. She slid her staff into the bend of the striking blade, twisted, and in one fluid motion flung Trega aside, the chain snapping taut before the madwoman caught herself with a laugh.

  Ariel’s free hand summoned a vine that coiled tightly around her own arm, thick and supple. She snapped it outward like a whip, its length cracking through the air as the forest floor quivered with her command. The staff glowed in her other hand, twin weapons now alive at her sides. Trega only giggled, eyes flashing as if delighted by the sight.

  The air erupted with motion. Scythes whistled through the branches, chain-links gleaming as Trega hurled them with feral abandon. Ariel and Fornaskr moved in tandem, whip-like weapons lashing. Ariel's green tendril cracked through the air, deflecting one scythe. The Firechain snapped outward from Fornaskr’s arm, striking another aside with a burst of emberlight.

  “Left!” Ariel called, sliding back as another chain came screaming down. Fornaskr met it, sparks flying where his weapon struck.

  “You’ll tire long before I do!” Trega shrieked, her voice climbing into hysteria.

  “Dance for me, little heroes! DANCE!”

  Ariel’s jaw clenched as she whipped a vine outward, coiling around one chain and hurling it into the earth. “You won’t break us, Trega. Not here.”

  “Ohhh, you sound so sure,” Trega crooned, eyes gleaming as she advanced, step by step, each fling of her scythes driving them backward. “But certainty crumbles, flower-child. All things crack. All things bleed.”

  Fornaskr’s fire-wrapped chain cracked against another strike, his voice calm despite the strain. “Then bleed first, mad one.”

  Trega threw her head back and laughed, the sound echoing like glass shattering. “Oh yes! More, more! Let me hear your defiance while it lasts!”

  The clash continued in a storm of chains and vines until one of Trega’s scythes slipped around the Firechain’s defense and cut across Fornaskr’s chest. He stumbled back with a grunt, the cut shallow but enough to stagger him.

  Ariel surged forward, rage boiling up inside her. She planted herself in front of Fornaskr, staff flaring with emerald light. With a roar she swung it overhead, channeling her fury. Behind her, a tree erupted from the soil, its roots tearing loose as the trunk hurled forward like a spear toward Trega. The madwoman barely dodged aside, laughter breaking for the first time with a gasp of surprise.

  Not stopping, Ariel swept her hand and summoned a torrent of leaves. Charged with searing energy, they spun into a stream that battered Trega in a relentless cascade. She staggered, knocked onto her back, then rolled to her feet again, panting. Her grin was strained, her limbs trembling, a shallow wound marking her side.

  Ariel’s voice tore through the grove in a scream, words laced with fury: “You will not take anything else from me!”

  Trega chuckled between ragged breaths, still managing an amused smirk. “Ohhh, that’s it, flower. That’s the bloom I wanted to see.”

  She lifted a chain as she began to speak again...

  ... but a pale arm slid out from the shadows behind her, fingers brushing her shoulder. Trega froze, eyes snapping wide.

  “No!” she screeched, twisting to glare at the unseen figure. “This is MY prey!”

  The pale hand’s fingers snapped. A flash of blinding light consumed the grove, drowning sight and sound alike.

  Until only silence remained.