Placing his dagger between his teeth, Jaysek took out a rag from his pocket and carefully unrolled it with his fingers. Hidden inside the rag's folds was a thick, black paste which Maeyune could have sworn was writhing and bubbling. She watched him as he swiped his dagger through the paste, coating the silver blade with the black substance.

Then, looking apologetically at her, he said, "This might hurt."

"What are you--"

He pressed the tip of his soiled blade against the curve of her neck and slid a quick cut into her skin. She gasped, the pain sharp, and she felt the thin trickle of blood that trailed down her collarbone. A swear was ready to fall from her lips, but her voice caught when the room began to change. The walls wavered—the same way a disrupted hologram would waver—before they solidified again.

A sound of metal cutting through metal came from the door. What followed after was a blast of golden light.

The door rocketed off to the side, and a tall figure arrayed in gold armor stepped through. His antlers nearly reached the height of the doorway's arch.

Reo.

Maeyune's breath caught. His radiant light was a pure contrast against the ship's dark, foreign metal. Having been trapped inside the alien environment for some time now, she felt the flutter of glee at the sight of a familiar, friendly face.

But his expression was far from friendly. His gold eyes darted to where she was attached to the machine, then he gave Jaysek a frown.

Out of relief, she tried to call his name, to warn him. But nothing came out. Her neck began to throb.

"If it isn't the golden boy himself," Jaysek called. With a grin full of grace, he extended his arms out to the sides and bowed at the waist. A second later, he snapped up and hurtled his dagger in Reo's direction.

At least, Maeyune thought he had thrown his dagger. She watched it stop in midair only a foot from Reo's face, but then it disappeared, and it was back in Jaysek's hand.

The wound in her neck burned, and the room began to twist and shift. She blinked, then blinked again, wondering what had gone wrong with her eyes. A dizzying headache soon took over, and she shook her head in an attempt to get rid of it. It only worsened, drilling needles into her skull. She let out a cry as she squeezed her eyes in pain.

Then, it stopped--just stopped, and when she opened her eyes, she could see everything clearly again. But when she did, she wished that she hadn't.

She stared as Reo's gold skin and armor mutated, dripping away to reveal his former, malevolent crimson form. His gold antlers melted to black, and his eyes turned to that horrifying blood red.

After his transformation was complete, his shoulders drooped, and he appeared exhausted—or bored.

She heard him utter a deep sigh. "Did you really have to put her up like that, Jay?" he asked.

Standing in front of her, the wind celestial shrugged, the movement long and slow. "The Overlord said she needs to be inside this thing in order for the conversion to work."

With slow strides, Reo walked forward. Faint, black smoke trailed after him. Confused, Maeyune watched as the crimson sun warrior ascended the dais's ramp. His gaze on her was steady and piercing.

"It's strange seeing her as a prisoner," Reo murmured, as if she were not even in the room. "Never thought it would be this easy."

"She's a tough one," commented Jaysek, smirking.

Reo came to stand by Jaysek's side, and together, both young men speculated her from head to toe. And instantly, she felt like a strung-up piece of merchandise facing the scrutiny of two colleagues.

She frowned at them, feeling more turmoil than anger. "Reo..." she uttered, her voice weak and brows deeply furrowed. "I don't understand. What's going on?"

For a split second, his dark red features warped to gold, and instead of a scowl, she saw a vivid expression of concern on his golden face. But then it disappeared, and she was once again staring into the face of his demonic vision.

He smiled--a conniving smile. "Shh," he whispered. "It'll be over soon."

She glanced between the two young men. Without realizing it, she shook her head, unable to believe what was happening.

"Remember our deal, Reo," Jaysek said, quirking a single eyebrow. "She's mine when this is all over."

"Whatever," Reo replied, rolling his eyes in disinterest. "I never liked her anyway."

I never liked her anyway.

His words were a thunderstorm in her ears. Just like that, the world turned over on its side.

Maeyune felt something tear inside her, something she had never noticed before. She tried to hang on to it as tight as she could--whatever it was--but it wriggled and contorted into an aching pain.

"Reo," she breathed, confused—so very confused.

Had he and Jaysek been working together all along?

No, she thought in desperation. No, it can't be true!

He was the sun warrior. He was her ally. Despite all the anger and grudges he held onto, he was a protector. She trusted him. She trusted...

The one person she never wanted to doubt--the same person in whom she'd placed complete faith--was now responsible for the dying light inside her.

She had trusted the sun warrior. With heart and soul, she had trusted him.

And now, he leaned his armored body against the machine, arms crossed and foot propped back. He glanced around the room with weary eyes, looking like there was somewhere else he would rather be.

She had trusted him.

"Reo," she breathed, her insides churning with outrage and hopelessness. "What is this? What have you done?"

He didn't answer--didn't look at her. He only straightened from the machine when his attention diverted to the torn doorway. Several figures shuffled into the room.

Three Wobeck filed in, but they were not alone. Constrained as captives in their grasps were three, shorter shapes--all of whom were human.

When Maeyune saw their faces, her heart plummeted to the floor.

"Where are you taking us?" Clover demanded as he was shoved forward.

Beside him, Meera let loose a shrill howl. "Ow!" she yelped, twisting her head to glare at the Wobeck who held her. "Are you trying to break my arm?"

Their captors pushed them into the room, and both celestials stumbled to keep their balance. The third captive remained quiet and composed, running her old hands down her day dress and throwing her shoulders back to stand tall.

Aunt Lyn.

"Maeyune!" Meera cried, and all three turned their eyes up to the moon warrior. Shock registered on their faces as they beheld her.

"Bring her to me," commanded Reo. He gestured a hand at Lyn.

Panic tightened its grip around Maeyune's throat. "Reo, what are you doing?" she demanded, raising her voice.

One of the three aliens stepped forward and siezed Lyn's arms.

"Let her go!" Maeyune shouted.

"Release me, you monster!" Lyn yelled. The old woman squirmed in the Wobeck's hold, but the alien moved her as easy as he would a bag of feathers. He walked her up the ramp, up to the dais where Reo waited impatiently.

"Jaysek, if you please," the sun warrior drawled, and extended an arm toward the wind celestial. Jaysek tossed over his dagger.

Maeyune's panic turned to bile. "No," she heard herself utter. Driven by fear, her voice found strength. "No! Leave her alone! This is my fight and yours, Reo! Let her go!"

Reo glanced over his shoulder at her, twirling Jaysek's weapon around in his fingers. He said nothing—only smiled.

"Reo!" Maeyune screamed. "Don't you dare touch her!"

She channeled all her strength into her limbs, tugging and pulling at the shackles around her wrists and ankles. Still, they did not budge, but she refused to stop.

Her aunt was so close, so close! She needed to do something, anything!

"Reo!"

Reo came to stand behind Lyn, resting one hand on her shoulder and holding Jaysek's dagger at his hip. He trained his blood-red gaze on Maeyune's face.

Lyn's cheeks were wet and glistening now, but her old body stood firm. "I love you, Mae," she said. Although her words were clear and strong, her bottom lip quivered.

All Maeyune could feel was fury and terror ravaging her body. The exigency to escape consumed her and compelled her to continue her violent battle against her restraints. Recuperated power exploded into her veins, and she fed it from her body, whirled it outward at the enemies—at the traitors.

The runes on the machine lit in reaction to her power, and yet still, she refused to stop. She endeavored to overload it, hoped that with continual effort, she would be successful. She was going to do whatever it took to escape and save her aunt.

But nothing changed. Her power plateaued as her energy was sucked into the machine, and it was only a matter of time before she felt her effort begin to diminish.

"Reo! Please don't—"

Her aunt made a sudden jerk as Reo drove the dagger into her back. He pulled it out a second later, and with her veins drained of energy, Maeyune stared with dazed eyes as Lyn's body crumpled silently to the floor. He threw Jaysek back his dagger, the latter who merely caught it and cleaned his blade with his sleeve.

And all the while, Reo's eyes never left Maeyune.

With all the wrath and pain of the heavens, Maeyune screamed.

She screamed until her throat grew coarse, screamed until her lungs gave out. Her skin underneath the shackles had turned raw from her wild struggles, blooming with tiny spurts of blood. But she didn't care. She continued to punch and kick, to pull and shove in order to escape and run to her aunt's side.

She continued her fight and her roars, even when exhaustion kicked in and her vision blurred with tears.

"Bring the others," Reo called down to the Wobeck.

"No!" she sobbed. "Please, stop! I will do anything! Just let them go!"

Clover and Meera hardly resisted. They ascended the ramp, their faces sheer white as they gaped at Lyn's fallen body.

Maeyune screamed again.

Then, a single word cut across the room.

"Alright!"

The shout startled Maeyune, and her voice grew quiet. The word had been so loud and full of passionate grief that she felt it pierce her head. It filled her mind with clarity—if only for a moment.

The shout had come from Reo.

But he hadn't opened his mouth. He hadn't moved a muscle.

She blinked at him, the action sending tears streaking down her face. But she shed no more tears when a numbing sensation settled in her head. His red armor began to flicker, and for a second, she had a glimpse of his human form.

Bronze hair, olive skin, and dark eyes. There was no denying the pain in his eyes as he looked at her. He was dressed in his battlesuit as usual. Then, he was the crimson nightmare again.

Maeyune blinked a second time, her tears drying as disorientation overcame her.

That was when the thought hit her. It came as an arrow of transparency gliding through the strange fog in her mind.

Something isn't right.

"I will kill your friends like I did your aunt," Reo said. But at the same time, he also spoke, "I will surrender."

His voice had split into two.

As she fought to understand what was happening, her headache escalated again into that gnawing torment. However, she held back an outburst of agony, clenching her teeth tight and denying the temptation to give in.

"Please," the crimson Reo beseeched, breaking out of character. He turned away, but he hadn't spoken to her. "I will surrender if you stop hurting her."

A moment later, a bright, white light filled her vision, and she felt a familiar ache in her neck.

Her neck. The cut. The poison.

She remembered.

Her wound began to warm, intensifying enough to make her squirm in discomfort. The ache ebbed away, and unable to stop her calming sigh, she was relieved when the pain from the wound disappeared entirely.

Her vision cleared.

Reo's red ascension vanished. Lyn and Maeyune's friends vanished. And in their place, the Overlord appeared, his glowing hand pulling away from Maeyune's neck.

Behind him, she saw about a dozen Wobeck bodies scattered across the floor; several had been decapitated. There was no Aunt Lyn.

Jaysek stood off to the side, his fingers nursing a dark blue bruise underneath his left eye. There was a vicious scowl on his face.

"Maeyune, are you alright?"

She pivoted her gaze to follow Reo's voice, but she could only see his head, which poked out from inside the second torus machine beside her. He was shackled to it, and he was leaning forward as far as he could to see her.

He was no longer in his red armor or his gold ascension. He was human and just as powerless as she was.

Now he was prisoner.

"You...I watched you kill my aunt." The words were out before Maeyune could stop herself.

Shock swept over his dark features. He gaped at her, speechless for a long time, before his expression dissolved into sorrow.

"It wasn't me," he responded, his voice weaving a crescendo. "They made you see things. If I didn't surrender, their poison was going to kill you."

When all she could do was stare at him warily, he continued, "Maeyune, I had nothing to do with it! You have to believe me!"

Believe him?

She swallowed her condemnation.

The poison, he had said, had made her see things. The vision had been so real, too real. And even though the poison was gone now, why could she still not retain her sense of reality?

She had watched her aunt die. She had almost watched the last of her friends die. She had felt the brutal despair of Reo's betrayal—and it was like he himself had driven that dagger through her chest.

But it had all been a lie, an illusion, an act that—in the end—had forced Reo to yield.

So then why was her heart still torn in two pieces?

"You could have healed me," she heard herself protest. "You could have burned them all and healed me." Unwittingly, there was a bite to her words.

"No, he could not," the Overlord stated. When she turned her eyes upon him, he went on, "Your wound was not entirely physical. Only another with telepathic strengths could restore your mind."

That was it.

Fear.

That's what the poison had done to her. Fear. It had shown her her greatest fears, her worst nightmare. What she had once done to others when she was younger, had just been used against her.

The whole idea of it raised gooseflesh on her arms.

Glaring at the Overlord, she seethed, "So, you have us now. What do you want with us?"

Without offering an answer or so much as a facial expression, the sapphire giant turned and made his way down the ramp. He spoke to a few Wobeck before he exited the room, and Maeyune quickly caught the translation in their heads.

"Have the dead gathered for reclamation," the Overlord had ordered. "Now, we begin."

While the Wobeck collected their fallen, Jaysek strode over to Reo's machine. In a movement so fast that Maeyune hadn't seen coming, he swung a fist and caught Reo's left jaw. Maeyune heard the sickening crack of bone against bone.

"Just wanted to know what that felt like," the wind celestial said, stepping back and flexing his hand. "Kind of satisfying, actually."

Reo spat blood onto the floor and stretched his jaw and neck from the strike. Then, showing bloodied teeth, he grinned at the wind celestial. "Aw, come on, Jay. Is that the best you've got?"

"There's no point. You'll be dead when this is all over," Jaysek replied, casual in his demeanor. "The Wobeck don't want the sun dragon sticking around."

Maeyune was about to ask him what he meant, when he sauntered over to her. He seized her chin between his thumb and forefinger and leaned up for a kiss. Revolted, she twisted her head out of his grip. His lips landed on her jaw instead, and a chill bounded down her spine.

"Leave her alone," Reo snapped.

Jaysek ignored him and offered Maeyune a chaste smile. "See?" he whispered. "Mind games are much more destructive than fire."