By Lyra Zwahn
Featuring: Lyra Zwahn, Kaetu Farther, Ku Obake, and Talia Ethos
Content Warning: Action, Death, Injury, Romance, Violence
A distant voice called out to Lyra with words too weak to discern. She walked slowly through the mist and jagged stones on the other-worldly plane – a forest of sharp crystals with a glow both soothing and soaking. Her breath fogged in the chilly air as she neared the end of the path.
Stones crunched beneath her boots when she slowed to face a giant, azure crystal. Its large, angular surface jutted out from the regolith, and Lyra looked closely through its glassy edge to see blue minerals webbed like arteries. Aether pulsed through those channels and pooled within the sparkling form.
“Lyra,” a familiar voice whispered.
A warmth filled her chest – one absent for decades. It was a warmth of comfort, yet it was startling in its familiarity. It was the voice of her former commanding officer, Nim quo Valius. He was a regal Elezen promoted to Centurio in the Garlean army, and Lyra served as his personal guard, as his Optio. In dreams, Lyra watched him perish during her long slumber in the crystal caverns.
It was a scene she witnessed many times over, and it left her forever swimming upstream in a river of grief.
Yet, somehow, it was his voice calling out to her then; she was certain. She placed her hand on the stone as if to reach out to him. However, her touch sent the stone into darkness. She recoiled her hand in alarm, only to be met with a loud and terrible rumble.
Rocks shook from their resting places all around, and it felt like Lyra’s very atoms might break apart. Suddenly, the crystal’s glow was revived, but it was then a deep red – a red like blood.
Lyra woke at her desk.
It was that dream again. She’d been pouring over documents for too long, and it was all day and through the night that she sat there, digging for any bit of information she could find on her lost friends. She had little food with mostly hard spirits to sustain her. To make matters worse, most of what she found was of little use and every bit tragic.
She tried to freshen up by splashing water onto her face from a basin on the counter. She peered into a low-hung mirror and sighed. Her silky, black hair was a wreck, and even the fur on her tall, Viera ears looked disheveled. She did her best to re-tie her ponytail, brush her ears, and resolve to put herself to bed properly. But just as she pulled the Linkpearl from her ear, it began to pulse on the shelf.
It continued as she glanced over to her Garlean uniform on display in the corner.
…
Kaetu slid against the stone wall in the dim light. He and Ku Obake were deep under Stone Vigil, trying to gain access through the base of the fortress. “Okay. After this hall, we should be under the main complex,” he whispered as he put his crinkled map back into a leather pouch. “I’ll pick the lock, and…”
Without a word, Ku stood and kicked the door to splinters.
“Holy goosefish!” Kaetu shouted over the explosion.
He took cover against the wall; wood and metal bits ricocheted violently across stone. The chaos stunned the guards inside who cowered in shock. Ku launched through the cloud of debris before it had even settled, and with a single swing, effortlessly chopped the first guard down with her massive sword – a slab of cold iron embellished with golden trim.
The remaining guards scrambled to find their footing around her as Ho landed in the hall. She stood there in the middle of the chaos like a prismatic specter – a ghost of purest white – and watched from the corner of her silver eye. She smirked.
Kaetu popped into the doorway to fire perfect shots at the enemies from his diamond ice bow. Glittering snow hung in the air, tracing the path of the deadly strikes.
“The direct approach. Love it!” he barked.
…
It didn’t take Lyra long to reach the Coerthas region. Her Magitek Predator was outfitted for flight several months prior by friends at Garlond Ironworks, and its cerulean tanks were nearly full. The twin turbines roared as she zoomed over treetops, and the air became progressively colder. Mountains of Ishgard rose from the horizon and cradled her within narrow passages in little time. Snow accumulated on the vehicle’s nose, and Lyra patted its frosted metal skin affectionately.
Camp Dragonhead was just below. A stone firepit radiated orange light out onto the crossroads, and Talia Ethos, a powerful Au Ra Black Mage and fellow MAMBO member, stood next to it for warmth. Her imposing staff, with its overlapping horns wrapped in red linen and murky crystal sphere, was planted in the snow beside her. She looked upward and caught sight of Lyra encroaching on the camp from above.
Talia waved a wide and slow wave.
Lyra landed the craft and hopped down to straighten her uniform. The Predator’s components ticked cool in the frigid air while snow crunched beneath Lyra’s boots. She looked up toward the vehicle. Its menacing claws were certainly intimidating, but it had always been reliable transport, even if a bit rough and antiquated. She patted its metal skin again.
Talia almost seemed to float over. She lifted the silken hood from over her brow, revealing her braided clay brown hair and ivory white horns that adorned the sides of her head. Her pale skin sparkled in the firelight, and she had an eerie sense of calm about her. It was if any disturbance might cause an eruption of destructive force. The irises of her green eyes featured golden rims that seemed to glow on their own.
“Greetings,” she said softly.
“Talia, very good to see you,” Lyra replied.
“Likewise,” Talia said with a smile. She nodded slowly; her jewelry jingled with the movement. “Thank you for answering my call.”
“So, we have a new primal on our hands?”
“That’s correct,” Talia’s expression became pensive as she continued, “It is complicated.”
”Kaetu mentioned Garlean forces were wiped out and their equipment stolen,” Lyra said as he checked the hydraulic lines of her vehicle. “Why would a primal, or rather, its thralls be interested in Magitek, of all things?”
“We don’t know,” Talia answered with a frown. “However, Stone Vigil, here in Coerthas, was … overtaken by this selfsame primal.”
“Overtaken? It captured an Ishgardian fortress?” Lyra asked in disbelief. Her focus returned completely to Talia.
“Yes,” Talia answered with another slow nod. She spoke clearly and calmly, “Though, captured may not be the best description. It seems this primal can add new thralls quite easily. They may have simply walked unscathed through the fortress threshold.”
Lyra frowned, “Hmm, I do not like the sound of that.”
“Neither do I. Faer insisted we act quickly for that reason, even with our limited knowledge. At this moment, both Kaetu and Ku are entering the fortress from a secure area.”
“Then we must hurry.”
…
The window boards collapsed without much effort. The building interior was painfully cold and so dry that it nearly caused Lyra and Talia to cough when they took their first breaths of the air inside.
Lyra’s Predator provided access to a high balcony via flight while Ishgardian forces waited below. With her remote, she instructed the machine to slowly inch toward the window. Its nose sealed the portal behind the two, and with another button-press to halt its movement, they were enclosed within the darkness.
Their only light was the faint glow from Lyra’s crystalline Gunblade, so Talia raised her staff to illuminate the room further. It was littered with broken and deteriorated furniture. A bookshelf stood nearly collapsed beside them, its contents were spilled across the floor. Giant cobwebs hung about from the ceiling, and they were frozen stiff.
“I feel better about my quarters now,” Lyra whispered with a smirk.
Talia covered her mouth to conceal a giggle.
The old chamber door creaked open to an even darker hall. Lyra listened intensely to the silence, scanning with her impressive hearing to detect movement from below. The heavy stone blocked most sound waves, but she heard a faint hint of combat from deep below.
“This way,” Lyra hissed.
She charged through the darkness; her brass-trimmed uniform clinked with each step. The jagged crystal blade on her weapon glowed enough to light the path with an ominous, blood-tinged redness. Talia jogged silently just behind.
A rogue burst from the shadows in a swirl of black smoke, but his knives met with Lyra’s blade in a bright spark. For a moment, she saw his eyes through a Garlean helmet and then shoved him away. She slashed him across the chest, just hard enough to cut through the fiber armor. The impact sent him flying backward to slam against the wall.
Talia began an incantation just as the first enemy collapsed, and another rogue attacked Lyra’s left. Lyra caught his hand when he thrust a blade at her abdomen, and before he could strike with the second knife, Lyra twisted his arm, sent her knee into his chest, and struck him unconscious with the handle of her weapon. He slumped to the ground.
A third attacker wielding a spear burst in from the ceiling shadows. He aimed the sharp tip at Lyra’s face, but he was met by a bright blast of ice from Talia’s staff. It struck him directly in the chest with a painful crunch, and he crashed to the ground in a twisted mound of limbs and frost.
Lyra glanced backward for a shocked but thankful nod to Talia, who offered a playful wink in return. Lyra took another quick look at the fallen thralls’ equipment and continued to run. They were already making good use of the stolen provisions. One would undoubtedly think they were a Garlean force.
The two rounded a corner to the sounds of combat. Ku and Kaetu were battling a circle of soldiers in an open room. The sky was slightly visible through a hole in the roof, and the moonlight glared in like a chandelier. Kaetu launched a Blast Arrow and struck straight through three unfortunate soldiers nearly in a perfect column. The purple wave behind the shot brightened the dark space well enough that the heroes all noticed one another.
“You’re finally here,” Ku growled as she swirled her massive sword in a circle over her head and brought it down on a soldier attempting to parry. She broke through his short sword and struck his torso. Kaetu hit the ground for cover just as Ku cast Stalwart Soul; the attack blasted the remaining enemies to oblivion.
“Whew!” Kaetu exclaimed as he popped up from the floor. “Oh, wow, we’re all here together! This is great!” he said with genuine excitement.
“Yes,” Talia said as she greeted him with a gentle smile, “hello, Kaetu.”
Lyra offered a wave and turned her attention to the dispatched enemies. “I see you two have been busy,” she quipped.
Ku peered over from the corner of her eye and eventually turned to face the group. “An interesting situation,” she said. “A primal’s thralls steal and use Garlean weaponry.”
“Yes. It is very odd, indeed,” Talia agreed. She walked over to one of the downed enemies to inspect their armor. She held out a hand to feel the status of their corporeal aether, if any remained.
“What have you learned?” Lyra asked.
“Nothing, really,” Kaetu replied. “We hoped you two could tell us more. Or, well, I hoped anyway.” He scratched his head.
“It seems we nearly have a full roster,” Ku concluded after looking the group over. She switched her soul stone from Dark Knight to Astrologian, and with that, her equipment swirled from one form to another in a blue wash. What was a black, leather ensemble with matching cap became a flowing white gown with white, leafy crown. Her appearance was surprisingly like that of a Lightwarden.
“Wow,” Kaetu whispered, “you’re so beautiful, Ku! I just want to hug you.”
“Do not,” Ku hissed. Her eyes glowed momentarily with a menacing, bright white.
Kaetu recoiled in fear, ears tucked.
Over by the corpse, Talia frowned and retracted her glowing hand. She glanced at Lyra, with whom she met eyes, then looked to the floor awkwardly. She stood with a jingle. “Lyra, have you…” she began.
A burst of blue lightning appeared at the far end of the room. Clouds of smoke rolled out from the source of the aethereal fissure. In the center, a bright doorway split open, and a tall, Elezen man in full, Far Eastern Garlean armor, similar to Lyra’s uniform, stepped out into the room.
Several soldiers filed out of the portal behind him and lined the walls. There was an eerie blue glow in the room as the heroes readied their weapons. The primal had come directly to them.
“What is your goal?” Lyra shouted.
The man – or, rather, the primal – said nothing and slowly reached up to grab a weapon from his back. It was a long Gunblade featuring segmented blades. The serrated edges were connected by a blood-red crystal core that ran the length of the menacing blade. The metal surfaces were scarred with marks from many battles.
The man snapped his fingers, and the soldiers around drew their weapons. They charged in for attack.
Lyra flung a Lightning Shot at one attacker and sent him airborne.
Kaetu released a Quick Knock attack right after, and the barrage of arrows was enough to injure a few of the enemies. Others continued to charge.
One soldier fired shots from his hand cannon across the space; the rounds ricocheted from the stone at Talia’s feet. She cast Scathe instantly to strike him down.
The Elezen, unamused by the scuffle, turned to walk through the newly reopened aether gate. Seeing this, Ku cast Exaltation on a surprised Lyra to boost her protection. “Get him,” Ku growled.
Lyra attempted Rough Divide and launched to strike down the Elezen as his back was turned. She flew to him but was instantly met by his blade; their weapons clashed in an intense flash. Lyra bore down on her blade, and the man looked up with radiant, silver eyes to meet hers.
“Hello, Lyra,” he rasped, sending a chill down her spine.
Ku, Talia, and Kaetu nearly froze, despite fighting their own battles with thralls.
“Nim!?” Lyra gasped. She immediately backed off. The shock took strength from her legs, and she dropped to the ground for a moment, nearly breathless. She attempted to pick herself up only to be struck across the back with the blunt side of Nim’s weapon. It sent her crashing back to the ground, but she rolled to dodge the next slash that gashed the stone flooring.
“You mustn’t give in this early,” Nim shouted in a mocking tone, “We have so much to talk about!” He continued to attack and tried another downward strike, but Lyra tumbled backward to safety.
She wobbled onto her feet. “Nim, how!?” she pleaded.
Nim slashed almost playfully at Lyra, toying with her, cackling at her in cruelty. She barely deflected his attacks in her stunned state. Realizing this, Nim hopped backward to unleash a Burst Shot.
The wave struck Lyra as a direct hit, and she flipped backward in the roiling flame to slam hard onto the stone on her back. On the ground, she rolled over to wheeze and spit blood on the floor.
The attack shattered ribs and nearly punctured her lung.
Nim walked over. “So pathetic! Has your broken heart worn you down this much, my dear?” he sneered and reached down to wrap his gloved hand beneath Lyra’s chin. He raised her up by the throat, and she clawed feebly at his grip.
As Lyra began to lose consciousness, a strange warmth flowed through her body. Startled, Nim threw her limply aside. His hand burned as if was submerged in boiling oil, and he flexed it while he charged back through the open aether portal.
The rift snapped shut behind him and vanished.
In the aftermath, the group rested in a dark corridor. Talia tapped her staff against the floor, and it started to glow gently in whirling purple – just enough to light their immediate space. Lyra fell against the wall and slid down it to a seated position. She sat there panting and wiped blood from her face. The pain from her ribs was excruciating, and she was in shock from the realization that Nim somehow lived.
Ku began a healing spell while Kaetu knelt to Lyra. “What happened back there?” he asked softly. He handed her a healing potion from his satchel.
Lyra received it with a shaking hand and gulped the concoction down quickly. The pink, fizzy liquid almost glowed, its taste strangely like an overly sweetened dandelion tea. First, a medicinal sting traveled down her throat, and then a hot, burning sensation filled her stomach and spread out to her limbs. She could feel her ribs popping back into place.
She returned the empty bottle, and Kaetu tucked it away. He placed a reassuring hand on Lyra’s shoulder.
Ku had just finished her spell to help heal the group. The glow from the sapphire orb at the center of her planisphere slowly faded. Its cards of golden foil still swirled beneath banded rings. “Lifestream,” she whispered and turned her back to everyone.
Lyra clutched her fist.
Kaetu fixed his gaze on their pale companion – whose pure, white hair shimmered in the torch light. “The Lifestream? What do you mean?” he asked.
“I saw it before … in the Far East. Something similar,” Ku replied. She turned to look at Lyra, who continued to stare at her clenched fist. “The ethereal sea. Its current bends through you. You warp it like a lens.”
Lyra’s wounds simmered closed, and she tried to stand. Kaetu helped lift her to her feet.
“Thank you, my friend,” Lyra whispered. The wobbling in her legs subsided.
Kaetu chuckled. “Did you hear that, Lyra? I think that makes you a walking aetherite!” he joked and slapped her on the back. She winced.
“Yes, that blade. Your aether. It all makes sense now,” Talia confirmed. “Nim reacted to your touch…”
“Exactly. I suspect, because of our … walking aetherite, we now have this primal on our hands,” Ku huffed. “I can feel it. I can smell the despair on you. It was you who summoned him, wasn’t it!?”
“Hey, now! Let us all calm down a bit,” Kaetu interjected. “I’m sure Lyra wouldn’t do something like that, right?” He looked at his friend with increasing concern while Talia stared at her own feet.
“It’s my fault,” Lyra admitted. She released her clenched fist and continued, “I brought him back.”
Kaetu recoiled in shock, ears tucked down.
“Was it … intentional?” Talia asked and chewed on her fingernail.
“No,” Lyra replied, “I don’t know how, exactly. I think it was a dream.”
Kaetu deflated in relief.
“A dream? I wonder… To summon a primal through dreams,” Talia thought out loud.
“I thought as much,” Ku said. She huffed again, “Whatever history you have with this man – this shadow of a man, whatever is holding you back – forget it.” She straightened her crown of leaves and brushed strands of cobweb from her sleeve.
“And you must either harness that … gift,” Ku continued, “or close the door on it forever.” She offered Lyra a cold glance. “Either way, I came here to fight,” she said and strolled deeper into the darkness of the hallway.
“Well, there you have it,” Kaetu quipped. “She really is terrifying, isn’t she?”
Talia and Lyra nodded sheepishly in agreement.
…
The team jogged down a corridor with Talia holding her staff above the group. “I will trace Nim’s aether signature. We should be able to follow it to where he teleported.” She took a second to catch her breath while she ran, “He cannot have gone far!”
“It’s like a primal detector, wow!” Kaetu said in excitement. He fired a shot to kill a charging rogue.
“Dying like mindless drones,” Ku hissed. She cast Malefic on a thrall who threw themselves down from a windowsill high above.
Lyra fired a lightning shot at a group blocking the doorway ahead. They scattered like bowling pins. “It’s like boundless devotion!” Lyra guessed. “They die for him without a second thought.”
“Creepy!” Kaetu replied.
The chamber door exploded to bits. The four heroes launched through the chaos and landed in the entrance to the large ballroom. Inside, rotten furniture and tables were scattered about, and many stolen Garlean supply crates littered the walls. Faint torches burned on towers of stone leading to a high throne on which Nim sat, surrounded by an army of thralls outfitted with Garlean equipment.
“I am impressed with your persistence!” Nim rasped and glanced over to the Magitek Reaper weapons that hummed on either side of his seat.
“Shut up, you creep!” Kaetu shouted in reply, having established his dislike. He fired a Stormbite arrow directly at Nim, who slashed it apart with his Gunblade.
Nim snapped his fingers, and suddenly, black smoke crawled across the floor. The soldiers began to twist and bend in unnatural ways, deforming and warping into dark forms. Their bodies blended with their weapons, their flesh and metal made one into horrendous, threatening creatures. The Magitek machina became towering beasts of plasma fire, steel, and cermet.
Then, the dark army charged.
Ku cast Collective Unconscious, a spell to generate a protective ring around the group. Talia began an incantation, and Kaetu fired Rain of Death to bring a shower of flaming arrows down onto the encroaching masses. The creatures howled and spat; their jaws opened wide like rabid wolves hungry for flesh.
Lyra used Fated Circle and burned a ring of flames around the group, sending several crawling creatures flying away. Talia’s spell was complete, and she unleashed a massive cloud of thunder across all the enemies. The bolts chained from one to the other, forming a destructive web of continuous pain. They spasmed and shivered in high voltage.
Lyra charged ahead, spiraling with her blade extended to dice and deflect all the creatures along the way. Her target was Nim, and he knew it. She launched at him with a howl, and their blades clashed in a shower of flames from twin Burst Shots. When her feet touched the floor, she attempted to stun him with a kick. He blocked her leg with his hand and punched her in her sore ribs.
Lyra coughed but returned with a hypervelocity shot. The loud bang was deafening in the stone structure, and the explosion was enough to briefly separate the two. They both cast Regeneration shells on themselves at the same time.
Lyra dove forward and swung her Gunblade upward for a Jugular Rip, just missing Nim’s chin. He followed the blade with his eyes and flipped backward to dodge. He landed against the wall, then crouched and launched forward again. Lyra swung a mighty strike in a full arc to meet Nim’s Gunblade edge-to-edge upon descent. The blades met with such force that the impact blasted all debris and furniture away from the epicenter.
The two bore down on their weapons, gritting their teeth in a test of strength. Sparks scattered from the edges as the fighters’ raw power flowed freely and rose a torrent of wind around their bodies. The ground began to shake, and walls of the fortress began to crumble.
Large stones broke free from far above and fell in thunderous booms. Lyra and Nim broke apart in a flash just before a massive block landed where they once stood. It cracked in half when Nim used it as a launchpad. He flew upward into the darkness, and Lyra followed immediately after.
The floor of the room started to collapse behind them.
Rumbling continued while the two met blades in mid-air. Violent flashes of sparks illuminated the tubular structure through which they ascended, jumping from falling block to falling block, inching upward, travelling higher and higher in combat.
Lyra unleashed a massive attack with Double-Down that Nim was unable to dodge. He raised his weapon to parry the blasts, sending him backward through the stone canopy. His body crashed through and opened the structure to the early morning light outside.
Nim landed on the roof of the structure. His breath fogged as he recovered from the hit, and snow blew loosely across the scene and sparkled in the rising sun. Lyra passed up through the opening in a blur and landed on the opposite side.
“You’ve been practicing,” Nim chuckled, catching his breath.
“I had a little free time,” Lyra quipped after landing.
As if synchronized, the two popped open their weapons to eject the spent crystal shells. With speed-loaders, they refilled them and snapped the mechanisms back together. They bolted forward and clashed mid-air once again, passing each other in a roiling explosion of two clouds – one red, one blue.
They touched the surface on opposite sides, then launched ever higher, soaring upward above the frozen fortress. Their blades clashed on ascent.
“We don’t have to do this,” Lyra shouted.
Their weapons clashed again.
“No, we do,” Nim yelled, “And, if we don’t, then I’ll rot this world through!” He slashed the air and unleashed a giant Burst Shot from his blade, sending it roaring down to Lyra. She barely deflected it to the side.
“Stop this!” she shouted, “I’m begging you!”
“I’m merely a shade, remember!?”
In an instant, Nim was upon her. Time slowed as their eyes met – their bodies only ilms apart, unable to touch. A flood of memories washed back through Lyra’s mind in that moment. The inescapable reality ripped her heart to shreds.
“I can save you,” Lyra whispered, her eyes pleading.
“No, you can’t.”
…
An explosion of incredible magnitude erupted above the fortress. Kaetu rushed up the stone wall just as the shock wave from above sent debris whipping about. He let loose a shower of crimson arrows in Rain of Death to strike down the aether-engorged creatures swirling about. The expanding flames above highlighted their jagged maws, opened wide to reveal multiple rows of teeth.
Still, the well-placed arrows from Kaetu’s bow burst their bodies like balloons filled with burning lamp oil. A beast crawled up the side to attack, but Talia cast Scathe to instantly bash it to a pulp.
Ku, leading the pack, switched her soul stone to Samurai, and her equipment phased from one form to the next in a bright swirl. She drew her katana in a flash and slashed a monster that popped up to block her path. It halved and burst into slime and then ethereal flame. She slung the filth from her katana and sheathed it in a snap. For a split second, she glanced down at her father’s sword and the tiles broken beneath her feet.
“Up there!” Kaetu shouted. He pointed at objects falling from the flames above.
The group looked up to see Lyra and Nim tumbling downward in the sky. Talia gasped, and they all watched as the two tanks clashed blades at the edge of their abilities – his, an artificial power sourced from the Lifestream, and hers, a blood-red flame born from a broken heart.
The sorrow from the struggle wept out into the atmosphere and seemed to make it harder to breathe.
Nim kicked off from Lyra’s weapon and whirled away to land on the other side of the rooftop once again. Lyra nearly crashed on the other side, panting. She was wounded but soon joined by her friends with their weapons drawn. Ku switched back to her Astrologian soul stone with a whirl and began a healing Benefic II spell to seal Lyra’s wounds quickly.
“Back off, creep!” Kaetu shouted. He launched a barrage of attacks with Ladonsbite at Nim, who ran through them in a blur.
Talia readied her scepter swirling in darkness.
Ku completed her healing spell just as Nim rounded the side of the rooftop. Lyra launched away from the group in a gust of wind to meet him head-on in a violent clash. Much to his surprise, she stopped him in his tracks, enraged and back to full strength. With her friends behind her, she felt empowered once more.
Talia cast Xenoglossy, and Lyra dodged to the left. Nim was struck straight on with a gleaming purple sphere of charged black stones. It hit like a cannonball and burst into a thousand cinders; it struck with such force it sent Nim flying back across the gap once more.
Just as his feet touched the ground, Kaetu blipped into view to the side. Before Nim could escape, Kaetu struck him with Foot Graze and bound him to the stone. He struggled to move and began to unleash more of his power. The ethereal chains began to groan and creak as if they might snap.
“Stay still!” Ku hissed and cast Gravity. An orb of black sucked the light from the space and collapsed on Nim’s form. It crushed him down in place with the pull of a miniature black hole.
Talia could not spot the target but showered the entire area with High Blizzard following a Triplecast; the gravity well drew all the ice down into a singular point. Light returned to reveal Nim was frozen over, leaving him within a solid mound of ice.
He burst from it with an extreme rage, howling like a beast – his eyes blackened and weeping shadow down his face. He roared in fury and pulled at the chains that held him in place. By then his weapon had melded to his body. It became part of his arm, and his body deformed from Elezen to a shadowed monster of blades. He slashed the chains apart with his raw power.
Kaetu used his harp to cast Radiant Finale, and it showered the team in light – Lyra especially.
“Do it now!” Ku shouted, “Send him back!”
Lyra launched forward once more. Her Gunblade was a streak of red light as she flew. It was a red born from her blood infused within the crystal shard. It was the energy of the Lifestream, warping through her, bending through her like a lens, indeed. It was the grief and sorrow she carried manifested into its purest form – not as a detriment, not as a restraint, but as proof of her love and her humanity.
She crashed into Nim with such force it shook the entire fortress to its base. Their blades met, and in a final test of strength cradled within a storm of flames, Lyra opened her heart fully to the Lifestream.
“Goodbye, Nim,” she whispered.
The open door allowed Nim’s aether to bleed back to the planet. With that, he was sufficiently weakened, and Lyra’s weapon cut through his bladed arm. The crystal edge traveled diagonally through his torso to deliver a mortal blow.
Then, there was quiet.
Nim dropped his weapon as his warped form faded. He fell limply into Lyra’s arms. She held him while false life bled from his body on that rooftop. She held him as sparkles of aether floated upward into the morning air. They rose higher as her tears fell.
“Live your life,” Nim whispered.
And, with that, he was gone.
…
Back at Camp Dragonhead, Lyra held Nim’s Gunblade before the stone firepit. She watched the fire’s reflections flicker on the segmented blade and felt the warmth on her fingertips. The Ishgardian forces had already cleared out, and the apricity of the mid-morning sun was enough to coax some drips from rooftop snow melts.
Lyra sighed and relaxed her shoulders. The ordeal was over; the world was calm again.
A hand rested gently on Lyra’s arm, and she looked over to see Ku standing beside her. Ho offered a gentle smile, “Be strong.”
“Oh, my goodness, Ku! This is so emotional!” Kaetu howled with a quivering lip. “I always knew you cared,” he sang as he dove in for a hug.
Ku struck Kaetu over the head with the bottom of her planisphere, sending him head-first down into the packed snow. “No hugs!” she shouted.
Talia laughed hysterically, and Lyra couldn’t help but join her.
#
Zwahn Tales 