As Riven charged forward with all the Sept he could reasonably carry, he made peace with the fact that he was never going to catch a break. Having just rescued Franry and Arrilme from the bowels of a fiery death, he was owed some rest and recuperation right about now. But the Scions had seen fit to make him exhaust himself and who was he to argue against their divine dictation.

So Riven huffed and puffed forward as best as he could, sweat streaming down his forehead and making his undershirt stick uncomfortably to his skin. Why couldn’t his wonderful magical Essence help with fatigue as well?

He struggled on. The fight was becoming clearer and clearer, and it made him try to step faster too. He didn’t go too fast though. No point getting there, only to drop dead from exhaustion.

The battle was still raging as strong as ever, though things had started to shift. Glaven’s tornado had died down and Riven couldn’t see his floating rock anywhere, but Weathering’s red Essence was rising high like a storm of gaseous rubies. Riven hurried forward as fast as his legs could carry him. His damn brother had better not have died already. Riven had all this Sept now. The tide was about to turn in this stupid battle.

Riven froze at the gate, the vista of the fight opening up in all its glory.

Where Glaven’s tornado used to be tall, it was Weathering’s Essence that swirled everywhere. Glaven was rushing around, evading Olsten’s gunfire by diving between rocks and using them as cover. Two of his golden orbs swirled high in the air, thin red and blue lines glimmering off them.

Olsten fired, the momentum imparted by the teal-and-gold bullet making the rock Glaven was hiding behind explode. But Riven’s brother wasn’t there. He had already moved at some point in time.

Weathering was hot on his tail. Her red Essence seemed to roar as it rushed towards him, and he ducked away from the next rock he’d gotten behind. Lances of the red Essence shot towards him, heralding Weathering’s approach, but Glaven avoided them all. Riven blinked. Glaven was running. His brother was actually giving ground before his enemies, shedding his vaunted pride and just trying to survive.

He was about to rush forwards when one of Glaven’s golden orbs landed in their midst. “Show!”

The orb exploded in a net of red, blue, and the occasional violet where the red and blue coincided. There was a momentary shimmer as everyone paused but nothing else happened. All was the same as before.

Glaven stood frozen. Maybe he was surprised that his Essence hadn’t done what he wanted. He didn’t see Weathering shaking off her own shock and resuming her charge.

“Glaven!” Riven shouted voice turning hoarse at the volume. “Get away!”

It didn’t work. Riven’s heart clenched again, tight as though it was being squeezed by Olsten’s Essence again. Weathering’s Essence overtook Glaven and he didn’t emerge from the blazing swirl of red, and there was a horrible snick, like Weathering’s sword had just sliced through something soft and wet.

Riven’s mouth opened to scream, but he froze again. Glaven wasn’t dead. There was another shimmer in the air and suddenly, Glaven was standing behind Olsten, his arms wrapped around the Secondmarked’s head and neck. Olsten struggled furiously against Glaven’s grip, but it was impossible to get away. Riven grinned. He had felt that grip before, that chokehold from the back which allowed no escape routes save depending on his brother’s non-existent mercy. Olsten was as good as dead.

Brilliant. Riven almost laughed. Glaven must have used his Essence to Command the orb to take control of the light and show his enemies what they expected to see. They’d fallen for it. With Olsten unable to make any sound, Weathering was lost in her fake triumph. Of course! Her Slowing Essence couldn’t control something so elusive as light.

Olsten kept struggling, but Glaven’s grip was implacable as a cliff. He was dragging his victim backwards and to the side, maybe hoping when Weathering did burst out of her oblivious bubble, she’d be too late to act.

Riven decided he’d been a spectator for long enough. He hauled the Sept bottles higher on his shoulder and rushed forwards. Apparently, he was a harbinger of awful luck. Soon as he’d taken a dozen steps, Weathering’s Essence storm parted and she swept out, her sword held before her. Riven had come close enough now to read the expression on her face, and it was pissed.

“You kill him, and I’ll gut you like a pig, Morell,” she said.

Glaven only grinned. “He’s already dead.”

Olsten wasn’t. He was still struggling, though it was feebler than before, and his face had a nasty blue tinge to it. No way was he going to survive for long. Riven wanted to cheer Glaven on. He’d better kill the bastard before Weathering did something insane. He stayed silent though.

No need to alert them to his presence. Not when he had the element of surprise on his side.

Apparently, Olsten being already dead wasn’t going to stop Weathering. She swirled her sword before her, and red Essence blazed out, a crimson surge splashing toward Glaven and Olsten.

For a second, it looked as though Glaven would kill Olsten no matter what, even if it meant getting swamped by the Firstmarked’s Essence and whatever it did to him. But then he let go of his victim and dashed back. The red Essence wrapped around Olsten like a warm blanket, slowing his fall to the ground, and probably slowing his passage to the afterlife.

Weathering wasn’t through with Glaven though. Her red Essence charged at him, and Glaven fell back towards the car, throwing himself behind it as though it might be a suitable cover.

Riven ran forward. That car wasn’t going to stop Weathering’s Essence. What was his damn brother thinking?

As though he’d heard Riven’s silent question, it became clear what Glaven had planned the next second. “Rise!” he yelled. Riven jerked to a halt as Glaven’s last orb fell to the ground and sunk in. Just as the red Essence reached the tires of the car, the ground broke and another huge chunk of rock floated in the air like it had gained invisible wings, soaring high above his enemies, and above Riven too. Damn it, couldn’t the bastard have waited until Riven was close enough?

There was a sudden scream, and Riven turned to where Olsten had fallen. The edge of the hole created by the floating rock was very close to where he had lain, and he’d plunged in, floating slow like he was being pulled upwards by some invisible force weaker than gravity. Flickers of red still danced around him. Weathering’s Essence was slowing his fall. Had Glaven known there was a deep hole underneath the rock he’d pulled into the air, or were the Scions simply smiling on him today?

Without hesitation, the Firstmarked jumped towards the hole, reaching for her fallen comrade. She lay flat on the rim of the hole, halfway inside herself in an attempt to reach as far as she could, extending her sword by the tips of her fingers.

Somehow, Olsten was close enough to grab it. His fingers closed around the blade, though his sudden weight tried to pull in his would-be rescuer down too. No problem. Weathering’s red Essence fell in like a smoky waterfall, slowing their descent into the hole.

Glaven was having none of it. “Fall!”

His floating rock obeyed. It didn’t sink or descend, it fell, just as Glaven had Commanded.

“Let go, Firstmarked!” Olsten shouted.

Weathering did so. Before the falling rock could strike and quash them all, she pushed herself off the edge of the hole and fell along with Olsten into the hole. Riven stared. Why? They’d both just doomed themselves.

The rock fell, but just before it rammed into the hole it had risen from, there was an enormous shout from the bottom. Teal Essence flared up, rising up and out like a geyser. It stopped the rock’s fall and wrapped around its bottom like the tentacles of an octopus. Everything froze just for a moment. All poised as though getting ready for a race, tautening of the bowstring before the arrow was released.

“Glaven!” Riven shouted. “Get away!”

This time, his brother heard. He stared at Riven as though he was seeing a ghost, sudden shock freezing him in place. Then the rock was thrown away.

Shit. Olsten’s Essence was powerful, his Exchange shifting the momentum of all it touched so that the rock was now powered by the moving world beneath them. The whole planet might have risen and thrown Glaven’s rock, considering the speed at which it flew.

Riven closed his eyes for a moment to focus. No time to waste. He opened his eyes, locking his sight on Glaven growing smaller with every passing heartbeat. The pressure burst out of him with the force of river rapids, golden lines jetting straight at his brother.

It worked! A golden shield formed around Glaven, and though his brother didn’t stop flying backwards with half his shield buried into the rock, the ensuing explosion didn’t kill him. Riven hoped not, at least.

There was no time to check on Glaven though. Weathering jumped out of the hole as though she too had invisible wings. “Look, it’s the littler whelp who finally decided to crawl back out of whatever hole he was hiding in.” She looked at her companion, tutting all the while. “I thought you said you’d killed him.”

Olsten grinned at Riven. “Well, I said I threw him back into the buildings and then the buildings exploded and burned down, probably not in that order. It’s a reasonable assumption.”

“You need to stop assuming so much, Olsten.”

“Of course, Firstmarked. “

Weathering stepped forward, her blue Coral sword dancing with a sharp light. “I think it’s time you actually died, little Morell.”

Riven took an involuntary step back. What was he doing? Armed with all this Sept, he’d be good enough to take any of them on. But then, all his Sept wouldn’t help if his Essence was Slowed down like everything else that Weathering’s red Essence touched.

“No one’s killing anyone,” Glaven shouted from the back. They all froze, turning to stare at Glaven making his way out of the cloud of smoke that had arisen at the rock’s crash. How did he get out of Riven’s shield? “If anything, you two are the ones about to die. You couldn’t even touch me before this, and now with my brother beside me, you’re both mincemeat.”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself, Morell,” Weathering shouted back. She glanced at Olsten. “Looks like the whelp is all yours. Actually kill this time, will you?”

“Promise, Firstmarked.”

Weathering nodded, punched Olsten lightly on the shoulder, then jumped across the large hole as though it was no bigger than a puddle left behind by rain. Great. Riven was back to dealing with that bastard who could throw him in any direction he wanted with his Exchange Essence making everyone and everything move any way he wanted with the world’s rotary power. Worse, Riven hadn’t even been able to give Glaven his new Sept yet.

He had no more time to worry about such things. Olsten had his gun out, pointed straight at Riven’s chest. He could already tell how it was going to go. That bullet would come from nowhere, but Riven would protect himself with his Essence and it was just that momentary shift in focus that Olsten would need, would hunt for, to take advantage of and throw Riven.

What a great idea. No, Riven wasn’t going to allow that.

Behind them, Weathering restarted her fight with Glaven, swinging her sword this way and that to land a hard strike on him, but Glaven did an excellent job as usual, parrying her blade with his Coral knife.

Olsten fired. The pressure shot out of Riven to form a spherical golden shield around him, and Olsten’s bullet fell harmless to the ground, after pushing Riven’s shield a mere fingerbreadth with the momentum it Exchanged. Olsten was going to fire again but Riven didn’t give him the chance. With this much Sept at hand, Riven’s Essence was boiling, the pressure filling him to the brim until its release was all he could think about. Scions spare him, all this Essence had better not be doing something to him.

With a moment’s focus, Riven’s shield expanded. The expansion wasn’t a gentle blowing of a balloon. Instead, it leapt out fast, going from the size of a car to the size of building in a fraction of a second.

Olsten never had a chance. Before he could even think to point the gun properly again, Riven’s rapidly expanding shield threw him back, straight towards the hole he’d worked so hard to get away from. Riven had the sudden urge to laugh, but he wasn’t done and he needed to focus on the next phase.

As expected, Olsten didn’t fall. Even as he flew back, he was still too close to the ground and his weird teal Essence imparted momentum one way or another to stop his fall before it even happened. But that was fine. He’d been pushed back and thrown off balance. That was all Riven had been looking for.

With a little focus, Riven formed a shield around Olsten. The Secondmarked screamed, firing his guns at the golden sphere he was encased in. He attacked it directly too. His fists rammed into the structure and tiny cracks popped up all over, but it didn’t matter. With all this Sept at hand, Riven was easily able to stop his Essence shield from breaking part, fixing the cracks with more Essence as pressure continued to flow out of him in a steady stream.

Then he constricted.

The shield collapsed inwards like a swarm of bees that had gone insane. It grew smaller, closing in on Olsten who screamed even louder now. His Essence flared and he shot again, all of it to no avail. He wasn’t going to be free of Riven’s shield no matter what he did.

Riven’s heart pounded. The shield grew smaller and smaller, and now he was bigger than it. Olsten was being squeezed and craped to death. It was horrific. Disgusting almost, but Riven looked on, heart pounding louder than war drums and blood rushing by his ears like a waterfall. If he was the one doing the killing in such a brutal manner, the least he could do was give his victim some proper respect. And it wasn’t like looking away was going to absolve him of all blame. He was still the one doing this. Still the one seeking to find out just how far a human body could be compressed.

Red flashed, and all of a sudden, Weathering was standing between Riven and the golden orb crushing the life out of Olsten. Edged with glowing crimson, her sword sliced through Riven’s Essence like it was no stronger than satin. Olsten tumbled to the ground, uncurling slowly, switching between coughing and groaning with every breath.

Weathering tutted again. “You need to stop letting this little boy get the better of you, Olsten.”

Olsten only coughed in reply.

Riven looked to the side, stepping back again. Weathering’s red Essence had claimed everything, and there was no sign of Glaven anywhere. No, he couldn’t barge in like that. Not without more Sept to use his Essence and not when the red cloak would have slowed him down upon touch. It would make it too easy for Weathering to cut him down. But was the bastard still alive? Riven glanced back at the woman, who was approaching with her sword held out ahead of her. No sign of any wounds, though there were a few tears on her navy uniform.

Faith. That’s what Mother said. He needed to have faith in his brother, believe that the bastard wasn’t dead just yet.

Riven dug his foot into the ground. No more running, no more stepping back. Weathering was just another Essentier, one Riven would have to defeat just as he had nearly done Olsten.

His opponent grinned. She saw it, noted that he was done retreating, and she no longer had to keep an eye on him trying to slip away. So she charged. Too fast. Chasm, way too fast. Even as Riven dived to the side, Weathering’s sword nearly took off his arms. As it was, she left a long cut stretching from his upper arms to his wrist. Blood streaked the ground, read spots that rivalled the crimson floating everywhere.

Weathering didn’t let up. Her next slice left a groove in the ground, right between Riven’s legs which he’d splayed to avoid being hit. Riven rolled away before the next blow took decapitated him. He pushed himself up and ran, but nearly stumbled and fell as a cut to his back left a burning line.

Enough. He’d run enough. Riven turned, his Essence shield forming around him again. Weathering’s Essence-edged sword rammed into his shield again, the red forcing its way in by eating through his gold. But no. He had all his Sept to back him up, and the pressure rising from within was stronger and more powerful than ever, even against that Cataclysm. He focused, pushing out more of those golden lines to make his shield as thick as possible. Weathering’s sword had cut a deep groove, but it didn’t pierce in. It even stopped going any further, and her eyes widened in surprise. Riven grinned. Fast as her Essence was able to dissolve his, Riven was able to replenish it just as quickly.

The pushing contest went on, and Riven took a deep breath to focus harder while Weathering’s face tightened as she pushed with more strength. Then he jerked to a side. He let go of Essence, letting her ram forward with no control. It was easy to grab her sword with his Essence wrapped hands, then kick her back to send her tumbling to the ground. All of it happened too fast for her to use her Essence.

She didn’t let go of her sword. As she fell back, her grip pulled the blade from his hand, the edge of her Essence slicing through Riven’s armour and the sharp edge leaving a gash on his palm.

Riven didn’t retreat. He jumped at her. She was fast, positioning herself so that her sword was pointed up in such a way as to ram into his guts as he fell on top. But she was too close to the ground. Riven dug a feet into the ground, and pinioned around the sword as he grabbed the blade and threw his shoulder on top of Weathering.

Their Essence collided against each other, and Riven’s whole weight was Slowed down so Weathering didn’t feel the entirety of his pressure on her. But she couldn’t use her sword on him. Not at this angle. That was all Riven needed. Keeping the sword in place with one hand, he rammed his fist at her face, though the cloak of red Essence covering her Slowed that too. But as with Olsten, it didn’t stop him completely, and his continuous application of force meant he broke through her barrier and grabbed her by the neck.

“Get off,” Weathering choked out. She dug her knees into Riven, but he wasn’t about to relent. Her hand reached round, and there was a burning sensation on the back of his neck as his Essence was eaten away.

 Riven rammed his head down too. He never made contact for her red Essence Slowed him down, but she did flinch. A momentary distraction, and that was all Riven needed. He moved his leg to trap the blue sword under his heel, then used his other hand to fend off her hand that was digging into his neck from behind. He focused, powering up his Essence with all the Sept he had gathered, expanding his armour into a shield that pushed down on Weathering with the weight of a mountain.

Her eyes widened. She was being crushed between his shield and the ground and Riven wasn’t going to let go until she was no more than paste. Glaven hadn’t come in yet, which meant only one thing.

No way in the Chasm was Riven letting Weathering come out of this alive.

Teal Essence flared around them. It rose around them too fast for Riven to think as he was bent on the act of seeking retribution for his brother’s death. With no warning, he was flying the air again, his death-grip on Weathering’s neck pulled free as she went flying at an angle to him.

“Screw you to the Chasm, Olsten,” Riven shouted. He flailed in the air focusing for a moment to regain his Essence armour all over his body.

His eventual fall to the ground didn’t hurt him. The golden Essence did a good job of keeping him safe as always. When he got back up, he spotted Weathering falling gently as she was buoyed by her Essence.

Olsten, meanwhile, was already up. “Screw you to the Chasm too, Morell,” he shouted. “In fact, I’m going to send you there personally right now.”

Teal Essence flared, and Riven jumped on a platelike golden shield to stop himself from being thrown again. Unfortunately, that left him open to Weathering’s assault. She charged in with her sword drawn and bared like a tiger’s fangs, red Essence flickering like blood, and Riven’s many wounds seemed to spasm in warning. But what was he supposed to do? Damn Essence of his wouldn’t pop up in more than one spot at the same time.

He jumped off the shield as Weathering’s sword sliced right through it, and as soon as he landed, Olsten shot his Essence forward. It surged around Riven, throwing him back again using the momentum of the earth. It didn’t work on Weathering. She had her Essence to Slow down Olsten’s. What a perfect combination.

Riven quickly focused to pull on his golden armour, but even as he whirled around to confront his enemies, Weathering was rushing at him. All the Sept he had meant her sword was stopped for now, though he had to expand his armour into a spherical shield again. And he couldn’t pull off the same idea as before, not with Olsten looking for the first sign of thumping Riven back again. Damn bastard needed to give Riven a break.

Weathering stopped pushing. Her Essence swirled around her, and instead of stabbing her sword into Riven, she opted for a flurry of strikes.

With a gasp Riven fell back. Too many, and too fast. Her sword flickered in the air like a blue blur, so quick that it seemed to strike everywhere all at once. Riven had no idea where to look, and worse, he had no idea where to focus his Essence. It was bad enough she was chipping away at his shield from every possible angle imaginable with her sword, the waves of her Essence was also eating his shield away like voracious termites on wood.

He had to stop this. With a moment’s focus, Riven let go of his shield. Weathering didn’t get the chance to strike him directly. The pressure from within was faster than lighting, faster than thought, and his armour reformed even as the sword blurred towards him. He grabbed with one hand, her Essence cutting through his armour but the blade stopping as it dug into his palm.

“Shit!” Riven screeched, the pain forcing him to blink away tears. No matter. He’d stopped her damn sword for now.

Weathering only grinned. “Now, Olsten!”

The teal Essence barged into Riven with the force of a battleship, faster than he could react. Riven was once again pushed by the force of the whole world. The red Essence cloaking Weathering protected her, but she had grabbed onto Riven’s fist , and suddenly, he was pulled in two directions by two immense forces.

Riven screamed. He was being torn into two. Chasm! The throw of Olsten’s Essence, propelled by the momentum of the spinning planet, tugged on his whole body, but the inertial Slowness of Weathering’s Essence on Riven’s arm meant he wasn’t free to fly off.

Not unless his arm was ripped free, as it looked like it was about to be.

Olsten didn’t let up. Streams of teal Essence charged into Riven over and over, imparting more momentum as though one world’s push wasn’t enough. The agony increased, and Riven was sure he heard something pop.

With a moment’s focus against the pain, Riven expanded his armour into a round shield again, but Weathering’s red Essence had dissolved his own and her grip was right on his arm. Despite that, the rest of his expanding shield pushed her back, the fingers she’d sunk into Riven’s arm leaving burning red grooves in his flesh.

He and his shield flew back again, but it didn’t last. Waves of red flowed behind him and pressed in from the back. Riven was caught by Olsten’s push from the front and Weathering’s inertia at his back. He was going to be crushed. Even as fast as he replenished the cracks popping up in his shield, the force was too strong. His shield was going to crumble soon enough.

“Show!” A shout came from nowhere. “Why didn’t you tell me you had more Sept, you idiot?”

Half a dozen golden balls flew into the area, one of which exploded into lines of red, blue, and violet. Light warped like it had last time, and the two Essences pushing from front and behind disappeared. The surprise made Riven drop his shield too.

Glaven was here! Bastard was still alive, and he’d come to rescue Riven from these two Essentiers bent on killing him. Damn, but he’d taken his time too.

“Don’t be fooled, Olsten!” Weathering shouted. “It’s just a trick of the light. He’s not really dead!”

What? Had Glaven shown that they’d succeeded in crushing the life out of Riven? Bastard. But at least he was free.

Riven drew himself back as Olsten and Weathering brought up their Essence again. Not that they got much time to go after him. Two of Glaven’s orbs sunk into the ground near them, and the ground shook hard.

“Leech!”

Riven couldn’t even begin to parse what in the world Glaven meant by that, but it became clear in moments. The ground was breaking apart, a hundred thousand cracks growing and propagating until Olsten and Weathering were standing on large beds of wet-looking sand. They made to charge off, but Olsten’s attempt made him stumble. Weathering fell outright.

Glaven laughed as he walked in, a single golden orb hopping over his head. “Quicksand feels nice, doesn’t it?”

“Bastard!” Weathering screamed. She struggled but the quicksand only dew her in further.

“I’m sinking!” Olsten shouted. He struggled, but then he fell and in moments was half-buried in the quicksand. “Let me out!”

Riven couldn’t help grinning. It would be so easy to deal with them now.

“Stop!” Weathering shouted again.

“Why?” Glaven said, his face colder than midnight in midwinter. “So you can kill us instead? I don’t think so.”

Olsten’s screams had given way to blubbering sobs. When Riven looked back, he was still sinking, but his struggles had finally ceased. The Secondmarked had given up. Riven’s grin died. He couldn’t help the flood of images that possessed him at that—liquid sand closing in around him from all sides, cutting off his breath and any light, throwing him back under the dead Sept mountain from all that while ago. His grin died.

“I won’t let you,” Weathering shouted.

The world froze. Riven’s vision turned red. What in the Chasm was going on? He tried to turn his head around to see what was happening but even that was a chore, as though it now weighed more than a boulder of lead. His breaths were sluggish, and his heartbeat slower than ever before.

“Gla… ven.” His words came out disjointed and slow, his mouth refusing to move. Not that he had much breath to spare for words. “Wha… hap…”

His brother didn’t reply. Glaven didn’t even move, didn’t even look like he’d heard. He was frozen as though he’d been encased in invisible ice. What in the actual Chasm was happening?

Movement caught Riven’s eye, and though he couldn’t turn to see, the corner of his eye revealed enough to make his heart quiver, slow that it was. Weathering was charging in. Her sword was bared, and she was rushing in fast. Too fast for Riven to properly register anything besides the fact that he was going to die.

Somehow, Glaven managed to eke out on word against whatever the red Essence was doing. “Shoot!”

As Weathering charged at Riven like a tiger ready to pounce on her kill, the last golden orb shot right at him. It weaved through the red of the world like the Essence—there was nothing else it could be besides Weathering’s Essence—was little more than air, and broke apart inches from Riven’s face. His would-be killer screamed in frustration. Fast as she was, the orb split faster, a colourful net enwreathing around Riven and throwing him back as though he’d been fired from a cannonball.

Shoot. Glaven had said shoot. He had been shot, or at least the space around him had. Glaven had prioritized Riven’s safety over his own. The bastard. He’d put himself in harm’s way for Riven’s sake.

Weathering saw it, knew it, took advantage of it. Glaven still wasn’t free from Weathering’s implacable Slowing grip on the whole world. He was in the line of death.

Riven screamed. Somehow, for something that Glaven’s orb had done maybe, his body betrayed him as his breaths sharp and fast, and his heart pounded faster than a galloping horse. The pressure, frozen before by Weathering’s Essence, now came roaring back with enough force to rival the world’s push that Olsten performed. A golden shield shot from him, fast as a fired bullet. It expanded too quickly for Riven to see, blasting apart Glaven’s net around him and pushing back the red aura, its front colliding with Weathering as she charged at Glaven.

But it wasn’t fast enough. Even as both Weathering and Glaven were both thrown back by Riven’s expanding shield, the blue sword was buried hilt-deep in his brother’s chest.

The impact with Riven’s shield had broken Weathering’s concentration and the world returned to normal. Riven fell to the ground but didn’t feel the pain of landing hard. He drew in all the breath his lungs had been denied, then screamed. And screamed again.

Glaven had fallen.