Naomi took another bite of dry bread and thoughtlessly skimmed another page of her equally dry textbook. She hadn’t been chosen as the Lightbringer without having read many books on magic, most of which were plain, but she swore this one was deliberately trying to be uninteresting. To cast light magic, first you need a source of magic and a source of light, unless the caster is using the light source as their magic source. Not only was this painfully basic, she’d read the word source so many times it’d become completely detached from any context.

“Source!” she said to the empty room. Then she said it again, dragging out every sound. “Sssssssoooooorrrrrrrsssssse.” This book would be the source of many well-rested nights, she figured. She made sure to lick her fingers before turning the page, an act not of habit but of petty vengeance against the text.

The force of the shaking tower threw her to the bed. The page held between her fingers tore in half. Naomi had only a moment to wonder was that an earthquake? before the quiet halls of the Order erupted with noise. First the ear-splitting crack of breaking stone, then the slam of thrown-open doors and running and screams. She tossed the book aside but held on to her small loaf of bread as she ran to the door. When she opened it, a blue-masked proselyte shoved against the door as they sprinted past, their collision not slowing them at all. Dozens more clerics ran down the hall. Away from something. Instinct took over, and Naomi ran too.

She followed the crowd, though their collective running soon slowed as they gathered around something. Naomi forced herself to stop but still shook with adrenaline. For a moment she thought they were waiting for the lift, but soon saw that it was actually mere feet behind her, though there was no platform - nothing but a thin wooden railing in front of empty blackness and a straight fall. A dim light came from the other end of the hall. They’d cut a perfectly square hole in the side of the building, presumably leading to some kind of ladder or bridge. But she was near the back of the crowd. She had a long wait.

The crack of splintering wood replaced the crashing of the stone. Down the hall, just beside the room she’d run from, the wooden ceiling buckled. A mass of shadow burst through. The tower trembled. The Absentia was here. Naomi didn’t know how it got here, but that question didn’t cross her mind. She needed to run. Even if there was nowhere to run to.

“Grab my hand!” she shouted, thrusting her arm out towards the people nearby as she moved to the lift. “I know a spell that can help!”

The other clerics - strangers though dressed like the people she knew at home - backed away from her arm, pressing themselves into the crowd. There wasn’t time to wait for them to decide if they trusted her. She kept running.

The incantation was a simple one. Novice, even. The other clerics in the building likely knew it as well, unless they were like the intake proselyte downstairs and had apparently forgotten everything they’d studied in class. But she supposed she couldn’t blame them for not following her, even if they understood what she was doing. Like her, they’d probably only ever practiced the spell on chicken eggs. Never on a person. It would be difficult and risky - the casting had to be sustained. That was the problem with light magic. Though after a long period of exposure it could permanently change something, one could rarely actually do anything with light for longer than the spell was actively being cast. She’d need to cast it the whole way down.

Naomi began chanting as she closed her eyes. She took one last bite of her bread, dropped it, hopped the railing, and leapt down the inky black chasm where the lift had once been.

She kept the magic words running in a loop on her lips and at the forefront of her mind while the primal voice in the back of her head screamed I am going to die! Air pressed against her eyes until it nearly forced them open. It rushed between her teeth until the words were hard to speak. But she kept at it. And she slowed. The air didn’t press against her as harshly. Her heart - which she hadn’t even noticed beating desperately inside her chest - calmed a little. Soon the air resistance was nothing more than a gentle breeze. Her fall was not graceful, and the landing against the hard black stone would still hurt, but it wouldn’t be fatal.

Yet instead of stone, she felt herself drift into two outstretched arms. A sinking, heavy darkness rushed through her as her weight returned. And while the sensation sent a wave of shock, it also filled her with surprise and relief.

“Kylie?” she asked, opening her eyes.

The wolf girl set the cleric down on her feet, only to grab her hand and start running. “Come on, we have to go now.”

Naomi followed her lead, noticing that Asalya was right behind her. She quickly picked up speed and hurried out of the tower. “How did you find me?” 

“You were glowing again. Wasn’t hard. Let’s keep moving.” 

“No, I mean...” Naomi let it hang there. It didn’t actually matter how Kylie had found the building, especially not now. She was just thankful she had. But as she looked behind her, that feeling turned to dread. Above them, dozens of clerics ran from the tower on bridges of light. Though their attention was on escaping, they could see her.

On the bridge above, a red-masked figure turned their head as he watched them go. Grand Cleric Arket saw Naomi escape with the friend she shouldn’t have. Tension stopped Naomi’s heavy breath. This was it. It was over. They’d choose a new Lightbringer. They would cast her out. 

Naomi felt an impulse to scream at Kylie but held it back. It wasn’t her fault. Behind them, the massive shadow smashed through the stone on an upper floor, its great arm reaching out and clawing at the tower’s exterior. Kylie had run into that danger to help her. She wasn’t to blame for their lies being revealed. Or for those lies being necessary to begin with. The blame laid with that thing. 

Another shadowy arm shot out from the building. The moment the Absentia’s red eyes emerged from the hole it had made, Naomi thrust her free hand out towards them. A flash of light appeared directly over the monster’s eye. The Absentia recoiled, losing its balance. The weight of its front half slid down, and dragged the entire rest of its body out of the crumbling tower with it. Snow and shattered bits of stone went flying in all directions as the Absentia smashed into the ground.

Naomi laughed a deep, mean cackle. It would recover from that fall, she knew. But, skies above, that felt so good. She hoped the Grand Cleric liked that part of the show.

Asalya sunk her head low, ran between Naomi’s legs, and lifted up. The cleric stumbled onto Asalya’s back. She sputtered in confusion, but when she realized she easily rode atop the wolf, she instantly liked the plan. Naomi leaned forward, wrapped her arms around Asalya’s neck, and gripped tight with her legs. Now with only the wolves running, they could really pick up speed.

The Absentia shook its head as it spun around onto its arms and legs, kicking even more dirt into the air. Its red eyes, looking the same as always but seeming filled with even more fury, locked onto them. It gave chase. The wolves may have been fast, but it was faster. It leapt into the air and crashed back down with each step, gaining on them with every mighty leap.

Naomi threw her hand back, creating another light on the ground in front of the Absentia. She chanted, holding the orb of light in place. The monster turned and pounced on it. The light turned black and vanished the instant the beast’s claw collided with it, but the change in direction slowed it for a moment before the chase resumed.

“What are you doing?” Kylie could hear the chanting, but was too focused on running forward to look behind her.

“Just a little spell. It’s how I got away from it back in the woods. It used to distract it for longer, though. I think it may have gotten stronger.” Naomi shouted through the wind rushing past her face.

“It’s more powerful now? Is that why it’s bigger?” Kylie’s boots slid in the muddy streets but she easily found her balance.

“Maybe. We refreshed the Light. If the Light is stronger, the Absentia may be able to hunt it easier.”

Kylie lowered a single ear, confused. “What?”

“It’s somehow been hunting the Light the whole time. So if the Light acts like a beacon to it, then we might have made that beacon even brighter. It might have even gotten bigger and stronger in response to seeing that the Light did too. That’s my theory anyway.”

“Great.” Kylie could hear the Absentia leap closer to them. She looked up to the mountain’s peak and guessed they’d made it about halfway to the gondola. They were running low on tricks and still had a long way to go. “Could you use magic to shrink it or something?”

“If I could cast at it for like seventeen hours, then yes.”

“Teleport it?”

“Kylie.” Naomi snapped, barely-contained fury in her eyes. “Do you think literally any of this would be happening if I could teleport?”

“Sorry, didn’t think that one through, trying not to die.”

“Yeah, fair, sorry.” Naomi cast another ball of light. The Absentia barely turned its head.

Kylie was shocked how much the crowds had cleared out. There were still some people on the street, but they’d clustered towards the entrances to buildings and against the mountainside. Up ahead, four people in green coats directed people where to run. One of them scooped someone else up in their arms and sprinted inside. Two others ran towards Kylie. It didn’t take long to see that one of them had ram horns.

Merritt and Jules split up, running to either side of the charging wolves. Kylie slid forward until she stopped, ready to ask what they were doing here. But they paid her no mind. Instead, Jules made a series of signs and thrust their hands to the stone road. The Absentia’s momentum stopped all at once as it lifted into the air. 

“Merritt, how-?” Kylie started to ask, but Merritt cut her off, sticking xir hand in her face without looking at her.

“Kid, I’d love to chat, but there ain’t anybody in the mountain safety team who knows what this thing is or how to fight it. Jules is gonna buy you maybe like a minute, so get running to the gondola now.” 

“Yeah. Okay. Stay safe!” Kylie said as she started to run. She didn’t want her new friends getting in any more danger than they’d already put themselves in. Still, there was little she could do but take the chance to escape. She signaled for Asalya to keep going as well. 

“Don’t worry, we ain’t gonna pick a fight with it!” Merrit shouted, xir eyes still focused on the monster ahead of xem.

“Thanks! We owe you.”

“You don’t owe us anything, kid. But maybe tell us the whole story next time you’re in town? Love to hear it.”

“Definitely!” Kylie considered that a promise, one she’d be sure to make good on. But for now, they had to leave this city, and as long as the Absentia was chasing them, it’d be hard to return.

They heard the beast fall back to the ground just as Merritt and Jules disappeared from sight behind the curvature of the mountain. It resumed its thunderous chase without a pause. But now the kids had a lead on it. They could see the gondola ahead.

Kylie ran past the table where the adults had been playing cards. It was abandoned. They must have gone somewhere safe. Asalya and Naomi beat Kylie to the gondola; Naomi jumped off the wolf and hurried to the bell. She waited just a moment for Kylie to leap inside before hitting the bell with an open palm.

The beam of light shot from above the gondola down to the base of the mountain. The wooden floor beneath them shook as the beast pounced closer. The gondola jerked as it lifted off the ground. Kylie grabbed a seat for stability but none of them sat down - even now the flight instinct rushed through them. Escape relied on the gondola’s magic now. Internally, Kylie begged for it to work faster.

Within moments they were off, dangling over the mountainside, inching further away from Crescentia. Kylie looked back through the window. The Absentia was just behind them, showing no sign of slowing as it approached the edge. Its legs hunched back. It jumped.

Kylie held her arms over her head, knowing that the gesture would fail to brace her for either the incoming monster or the now several-story fall to rocky cliffs below. The Absentia soared through the air. Its claw connected with the flat platform on the gondola’s back. The cart tilted upwards, hard. Naomi slid. Kylie grabbed for her but was too late. The cleric collided back-first with the gondola wall - a thin wooden layer saving her from both the plummet and the Absentia’s maw. The monster’s claw buried deep into the wooden base, which held strong despite the creature’s weight. It pulled up, its head and hateful red eyes raising into view, its other arm slashing wildly at the air above. 

That’s when the platform, marvel of craftsmanship that it must have been, finally buckled. With a loud crack, it bent, then broke. The Absentia fell. 

The gondola lurched the other way. Kylie tumbled to the floor. Asalya hunched down to stop from sliding while Naomi took little steps to try and stay on her feet as her momentum suddenly shifted. She tripped over Kylie, her arm landing on the nearby Asalya. All three lay in a pile, sliding across the floor as the gondola swung back and forth.

Naomi managed to look up, out the front window. “Oh no. Oh no no no.”

Kylie picked up her head just in time to see the beam of light that held them in the sky darken. Bits of black drifted and disappeared into the air.

“I think it touched the bea-” Naomi’s words gave way to screaming as the gondola fell. Her hair and clothes lifted up with air rushing past her face. She felt as weightless as she had in the lift shaft, with the same thought of we’re going to die! She clutched at Kylie’s hand and Asalya’s fur and screamed, “GRAB ON GRAB ON GRAB ON.”

She began the spell, hoping it would be enough. As the wisps of light swarmed around her, she closed her eyes to help concentrate. They lifted up above the gondola floor, only for the roof to catch up to them, crashing into Naomi’s back. She winced, but kept the spell going. They weren’t slowing - the ceiling dragged them down - but Naomi desperately hoped her magic would somehow save them.

Kylie smacked into the ceiling as well, bracing herself slightly with her free arm. It took Kylie seeing Naomi’s chanting to realize what she was doing, but soon the three of them began to glow. She looked down - there was no telling how much further they had to fall. They needed an exit.

Keeping a tight grip on Naomi’s arm, she kicked at the nearest side window. No luck. She kicked again, as hard as she could. The window didn’t break, but a corner slipped from its frame - enough for the rushing wind to catch it and tear the glass pane completely from the side.

“Asalya!” She screamed to be heard over the wind. Asalya was already in the process of getting her paws planted on something solid, though now she was upside-down. With strained steps, the wolf made her way to the open window, dragging the cleric and the wolf girl behind her.

“Hang on!” Kylie yanked Naomi’s hand, placing it on Asalya’s back. Kylie let go for a moment before latching on to Naomi’s ankles. Naomi, eyes still closed, held as tightly as she could to Asalya. The wolf leapt out of the gondola, pulling the kids out with her. The window frame scraped against Kylie’s stomach as Asalya pulled her outside. She gripped Naomi’s ankles hard to keep from letting go. She’d have to apologize later. Kylie opened her eyes to see the open blue sky. Chilled wind blew her hair into her eyes. She was falling backwards through the air, face turned towards the sun. Asalya, with Naomi on her back, was upside-down as well, though slowly spinning to right herself.

Naomi’s eyes stayed shut; opening them would risk her concentration, which was now only maintained by the will to survive. Kylie, now the vision for the whole team, examined what she could see. She looked down just in time to see the gondola smash into the mountain and instantly splinter into uncountable pieces. Snow and wood kicked up high in the air. The sound of it hit her a moment later - alongside the dread they only barely avoided being in there. They quickly left the wreckage behind, the gentleness of their fall apparently mixing with their forward momentum to carry them quite a distance. They flew over miles of mountain and snow, towards a ground that grew ever larger. It would have been majestic if it wasn’t terrifying.

Kylie looked back and growled. It was still there. Still chasing them. Even from miles up in the sky, Kylie could see the glare of its red eyes. It rushed at them with everything it had. And though they had the speed advantage in the air, they wouldn’t on the ground. It was approaching fast. As the field of soft white snow at the foot of the mountain rushed to greet them, Kylie shouted, “Brace yourselves!” 

The landing, though far softer than it could have been, still forced Kylie to lose her grasp. She bounced off the snow and skidded through the ice as she separated from Naomi and her weight returned. The stinging cold rushed to meet her all at once. Her landing was sore, but nothing felt injured. She shook the snow off her tail and sprung back to her feet. The others had drifted through the snow a few yards in front of her. Kylie waded through the cold to catch up with them as they picked themselves up. Her teeth chattered and her hair stood on end. As she ran, Kylie took the pack off her back and rooted inside of it, finding the dragonfire stone. Warmth returned to her the moment she touched it. The snow melted beneath her. And seemed to keep melting. Instead of solid ground, there was only more ice. Kylie scowled. Of course they’d land on the frozen lake.

She found Naomi in the snow, her spell diffusing, ice in the hair of her unravelling braids. She’d gotten to her knees by the time Kylie grabbed her forearm and pulled her to her feet. Her eyes opened wide. With breathless wonder she said, “Kylie, I can’t believe we’re alive.”

 “Not safe yet, gotta keep moving.” Kylie struggled to talk through her heavy breath. “That thing’s still chasing us and we don’t have ground to stand on.”

Naomi didn’t reply. She tried to run on the melting surface under her feet. But Kylie suddenly stopped, and she did as well. 

Kylie’s ear twitched. It was here.

A wave of snow cascaded down as the monster pounced on the lake behind them. Kylie turned; it was only a few leaps away. Once again, it’d caught them in the snow with nowhere to run, and no dragon to save them this time. Her feet slipped on the ice. Naomi was barely steadying herself. There was no point in running anymore. Kylie clenched the dragonfire stone tightly in her hand, as though crushing it would unleash its wrath and destroy the Absentia. Then she placed it in Naomi’s hand.

“Here, take this. Hold still and start casting that spell again.” Kylie slid her travel pack off her back and tossed it at Asalya. She shouted to the wolf. “Take the pack and run!”

Asalya caught the strap in her teeth but didn’t move. The Absentia jumped closer again. Kylie screamed, “Go! Stay safe, we’ll catch up.”

At that, Asalya took off. Kylie hoped what she said would be true.

Naomi glanced down at the stone in her hand. She didn’t understand what Kylie was asking, but didn’t have time to question. A soft glow wrapped around her as she closed her eyes and chanted again. She felt Kylie grab her shoulders. As she chanted, she sank lower - the stone’s warmth melting the ice and snow beneath her. There was a crash that shook the ground. The Absentia was almost there.

“Keep chanting, and when I say jump, jump, okay?” Kylie shouted to be heard over the noise of the rushing beast. It was mere feet from them - the mass of shadows and razor sharp teeth would tear them apart. If this didn’t work.

“Jump!”

It all happened at once. Naomi jumped up at the same time Kylie leapt forward, the spell giving them added height. Then Kylie shoved her - what would have been a gentle push now sent the glowing cleric through the air at the same time that the Absentia’s massive front claws slashed down right where they had been standing moments ago. The claw smashed through the weakened ice with a sickening crack. The ice shattered in jagged lines, sending chunks of it and drops of water shooting upwards. Ice under Kylie’s feet threw her into the sky. She tumbled through the air, flipping upside-down. She saw the Absentia sink into the lake right before her face and left side smacked into the freezing water.

 The air in her lungs escaped in a stream of bubbles the instant she sank under the ice. She felt a cold greater than anything she’d ever experienced - a chill that dwarfed that of the blizzard. Though she clenched her mouth tight to keep water from getting in, the stinging on her face and rush of unbearable, painful cold were more than she could fight against. She dragged her heavy arms and legs through the water, but her movements slowed. A numbness set in. 

From the darkness at the bottom of the lake, a clawed hand of pure shadow reached up for her. Red eyes glared at her. The cold did not allow her the strength to move. But the claw sank deeper - the eyes drifted further away. The Absentia sank completely out of sight as Kylie’s vision became blurry and dark. She didn’t know how she felt about it being gone. It was hard to think about anything. She was losing the power to even keep her eyes open.

And then, the numbness in her hand suddenly went away. Warmth and strength and the will to keep going spread from her left wrist to the tips of her ears and tail. She felt her arm being pulled. Dragged, upward, to safety. When she finally had the energy, she turned to see Naomi, in the water with her - one hand on Kylie’s wrist and one hand on the dragonfire stone. Kylie feebly attempted to aid in her own rescue, and started to swim towards the light above her.

The two kids burst through the surface of the water, gasping for air. Naomi paddled toward the ice, dragging the wolf girl behind her by her wrist. The ice surface melted away by the time she reached it. Naomi swore. She wouldn’t have the energy left to swim the whole lake, especially not while helping Kylie. Then she heard a splash. A large plank of dark, heavily-lacquered wood, a remnant of the smashed gondola, drifted beside them. Naomi grabbed on to it, and lifted her head above the water enough to see Asalya, standing on the ice’s edge where the plank had landed. Naomi smiled at her. She was a very good girl.

Naomi pulled herself onto the plank, then dragged Kylie up. The wolf girl sprawled out with her back flat, still breathing heavily. They stayed there for a moment, drifting on the only watery chunk of a frozen lake, letting the dragonfire stone work its magic of warming and drying them.

“Don’t...” Naomi finally spoke, but a small coughing fit and her own heavy breathing stopped her from continuing. She tried again. “Please don’t do anything that risky ever again. Not for my sake, at least.”

“Sorry. Didn’t go as planned.” Kylie stretched her neck as she tried to sit up but quickly decided the effort wasn’t worth it and lay back down. “Not that there was much of a plan. I messed up.”

“It’s okay, thank you for saving me.”

“No, I really really messed up.” Tears welled in Kylie’s tired eyes. “I’m so sorry, this was all my fault.”

Naomi didn’t understand. All she could think to ask was, “How?”

“There was this thing in the city. A wall - or actually a dome but I was on the outside of it so it felt more like a wall. I couldn’t see it, so I just ran into it, and when I hit it, it started glowing.” By now, tears were rolling down her face onto their makeshift raft. “I kept pressing just because I was so confused, and then I pressed right through it and the whole thing came down. The sky got dark - that thing showed up on your building. I- I think I summoned it? Naomi, I’m so so sorry.”

“No, no. Kylie.” Naomi quickly placed her hands on Kylie’s shoulders. “You don’t have to worry, you’re okay. I don’t think you summoned it - I’ve never even heard of an accidental summoning before. You did nothing wrong, and I’m not mad. You saved me again. Thank you.”

Kylie wiped away her tears and tried to ground herself. “Alright. Alright. Okay. And, yeah, hey, you saved me and Asalya a bunch there too. We’re even.”

“We are. Please don’t worry about me being mad at you.” Naomi sat upright again, her gaze turning toward Crescentia - which was once again now high above them, in the distance. “I have a ton to be angry about right now, and you are definitely not on that list.”  

Now Kylie sat up to comfort her. “What happened in the city?”

“First things first, did that dome reveal a series of yellow sigils when you pressed it?”

“Yeah, but they turned black and vanished once I broke through.”

Naomi held her chin in her hands. “Then it was likely a curse ward - a very complicated spell to keep dark magic away. There must have been several clerics somewhere in the sanctuary casting that while we performed the ritual. But why would they-”

The cleric punched the plank, sending a wave of pain from her knuckles. She gritted her teeth through the soreness and frustration. “Of course. I told them about the Absentia, so they cast a ward to keep me safe. But then you literally smack into it, it comes crashing down, and the light show attracts the thing right to me.”

“So,” Kylie placed a hand on Naomi’s clenched fist. “Then it was my fault?”

Naomi tore her hand away. “No, of course not. You ran into some weird magic I didn’t warn you about, in a city I wasn’t supposed to let you follow me to, that was cast because I told them the wrong things, which I told them because I haven’t been able to stop messing up since the first day I started.”

Kylie reached out a hand again, her eyes wide with worry that Naomi’s anger at herself would only get worse. Naomi, without looking at Kylie, reached out a trembling hand to let the wolf girl take it.

“They were going to take the Light away from me. Make someone else the Lightbringer, have them go through all this. Because I wasn’t good enough. And after all I’ve done wrong - after all that’s gone wrong - I can’t help but wonder if they were right.”

“They’re going to what?” Kylie bared her fangs at the mountain. “After everything you’ve been through they’re going to act like you’re not responsible enough? You? The girl who just dove into a freezing lake to save me? Who’s dealt with being chased by a monster for what, months?”

“It’s at least felt like it.” Naomi mumbled.

“They treat you like trash. They can go jump in this lake for all I care.” Kylie slashed at the water with her claws. The lingering frantic energy of the chase metabolized into anger. “They want to tell you you’re not good enough? Screw them. You’re better than they deserve.”

“It wasn’t a certain thing. And they had their reasons, their own logic behind it.” Naomi idly rubbed a finger along one of Kylie’s claws. “But, honestly, thank you for helping me be mad. I think I need it right now.”

Kylie kicked at the water a few more times, as though it would hurt the Order, the lake, or the monster beneath it. Her outburst finished, exhaustion reached her, and she let herself fall back, lying flat against the plank again. Their little raft drifted across the lake, the ice that would be in their path melting away. Without words, they’d both decided to take this moment to rest. The mountain was shrinking bit by bit, so they must have been heading in the right direction anyway. They’d earned a moment to let the gentle breeze do the movement for them. 

But when Kylie glanced again at the mountain, she noticed a black speck rushing down the side. Though it was very far away, it must have been very large for her to see it at all. And it moved with a speed that was all too familiar.

“Naomi?”

“I know, I see it too,” Naomi sighed, as though this revelation was merely tiring. “I’m not sure the Absentia did actually grow. There’s apparently more than one. “

“So what now?”

They sat with the weight of that question for a moment, staring at its gradual but still-far-too-quick decent.

Naomi closed and opened her hand. “I don’t know if I’m cut out to be the Lightbringer. I may even have failed at that goal long ago. But I’ve had another goal - to stop this from happening to anyone else ever again. I don’t have to be the Lightbringer to do that. It doesn’t matter if I’m cast out.”

She turned to Kylie, her face full of wide-eyed solemn fury. “I’m going to stop that thing.”