Higher Plain Ch 36: The Edge of the Horizon!

The waves stretched endlessly, dark and heavy, dragging long lines of foam against Kaelira's shins. She stood like a mountain in the ocean, her hair whipping against the wind, her voice cutting across the waters like steel. Faylina lingered nearby, arms curled lightly around herself, her golden locks glinting faintly in the low sun. Between them the sea hissed, restless, as if it too was waiting for the decision neither sister wanted to make.

Kaelira's gaze was fixed down on her. Fixed was the right word—her expression was hard, unflinching, carved in stone. "You must come with me, Faylina," she said for what felt like the tenth time. "There is no more time to wander in this realm. You've seen what's happening. The earth stirs beneath us. Fragments of Vorlith are already moving. If you linger, you feed them."

Faylina lowered her eyes to the water, watching little whirlpools dance around her thighs. Her chest ached. Kaelira's words were absolute, heavy, yet they scraped against the guilt Faylina couldn't let go of. She inhaled slowly, like it hurt to draw breath, then lifted her head.

"Is there truly no other way?" she asked softly.

The sound was nearly lost in the racing wind, but Kaelira heard. The titaness turned slightly, shoulders stiff, and let out a long breath through her nose. She shook her head once. "There isn't."

Silence stretched between them. Faylina's throat tightened, her heart pressing against her ribs as if it wanted to climb out and flee. She thought of the lands she had razed to the ground, the kingdom she had unknowingly crushed beneath her feet, the screams she never heard until the wind carried them too late. Could she walk away from that? Could she truly just... leave?

Her fingers dug into the soft flesh of her palms. "And what if the threat doesn't disappear?" Faylina asked, voice shaking with equal parts defiance and fear. She raised her chin, meeting Kaelira's gaze. "What if Vorlith awakens despite us leaving? What if fragments stir and rise anyway? What then?"

Kaelira's lips pressed into a thin line. For a moment her strong features softened, just enough to show that even she didn't like the weight of her own answer. "Then it will not matter," she said firmly, though the firmness was almost too deliberate. "The fragments are only restless because of us. We are the spark that stirs them awake. Once we leave this plain, they will return to their dormancy. That is the truth."

The truth. Faylina let the word sit in her chest, heavy and sour. It should have been comforting—knowing her absence would let the world breathe again. And yet...

Her eyes drifted toward the far-off coast. She could just barely make out the spires of smoke where fires still clung to ruins, carried on the horizon like thin scars in the sky. The memory of her bare foot crashing through roofs and stone and fields rose in her mind, unbidden, unrelenting.

She swallowed hard, forcing her shoulders to straighten. Her voice when it came was low, quiet, but clear enough that Kaelira leaned in slightly to hear it over the sea.

"I understand."

The words lingered between them like a final note struck on a harp string. Faylina didn't say she agreed, not entirely. But she understood the weight of Kaelira's certainty, and perhaps that was all she could give.

Kaelira's stern face softened—just a fraction, just enough to be seen by one who had known her since birth. She nodded once, the gesture sharp but meaningful. "Good. Then prepare yourself. The Upper Plain awaits. We leave soon."

Faylina turned back to the horizon, her gaze stretching toward the human lands she had scarred. She said nothing more, but deep inside, a small ember of doubt refused to die.

The waves rolled hard against Faylina's thighs as she and Kaelira turned, both gazing back toward the distant stretch of land that peeked through the misty horizon. The air hung heavy, briny and restless, yet beneath the ocean's roar was something else—an unease neither titaness could ignore. Their steps slowed. Both felt it at the same moment: a pulse in the air, foreign and sharp, like the crack of a blade scraping against stone.

Kaelira's eyes narrowed. Faylina opened her mouth to speak, but the warning never came.

"Watch out!" Kaelira's voice boomed across the sea as she thrust her hand against Faylina's shoulder, shoving her to the side.

A streak of violet light tore across the air, slicing through the clouds before slamming into Kaelira's chest. The sound was deafening—like thunder cracking inches from the ear. Kaelira's body jerked backward as the impact flared with a blinding flash, and the next instant she was hurled through the spray of the ocean. Her massive form crashed down, water exploding upward like a mountain breaking apart.

"Kaelira!" Faylina's voice trembled as she stumbled through the violent churn of waves, sprinting across the surface with impossible speed. Her feet splashed foam and salt behind her as she rushed toward her fallen companion.

Kaelira floated half-submerged, her great chest heaving as though some terrible weight pressed upon her. Faylina dropped to her knees over her friend, her golden hair sticking to her face, her gaze widening in shock. A glow—sickly, pulsing purple—burned against Kaelira's chest, right where the projectile had struck.

"What?" Faylina whispered, breathless, eyes narrowing at the sight.

The glow flickered, dimmed, then weakened again, as if its strength were bleeding out into the air. Faylina leaned closer, her brows knitting as she realized the light was not simply fading—it was condensing, coiling inwards.

Until finally, the impossible revealed itself.

Right at the very center of Kaelira's chest, perched atop her skin as though claiming it, was a speck. A figure. A human figure—so small, so fragile it was almost lost against the vastness of her flesh.

Faylina blinked. The waves crashed. For a moment her mind faltered, unable to reconcile what her eyes were telling her.

"What the..." she muttered under her breath, staring at the lone human male who stood upon her companion's body, glowing faintly with the remnants of that violet light.