Time: 10 // 00 Fade (The Warning) Location: The Resistance Bunker / Rulljah Undercity

The reunion had settled into a hum of tactical urgency. The emotional shockwave of the twins reconnecting was still vibrating in the air, but the reality of Vaelor’s approach was a cold bucket of water.

Sarode moved to the tactical table. He signaled the ide who had guided them in, Olajn.

"Olajn," Sarode said, his voice carrying a new, terrifying authority. "I am stepping off the board for the next three cycles."

Olajn blinked, wiping charcoal from her brow. "Sir? Vaelor is invading the North. We need you on the wall."

"You have the wall," Sarode corrected. He pointed to the map. "Track their movements and ensure you follow protocol if they enter our lands."

"And where will you be?" Olajn asked.

Sarode looked at Val. The purple and grey aura around them was still faintly visible, a tether connecting their souls.

"We are going to build an army," Sarode said. "Val, let's open the door."

Time: 10 // 15 Fade Location: The Deep Cavern (A secluded chamber below the bunker)

The team gathered in a quiet, damp cavern Sarode used for meditation. It was far away from the noise of the refugees.

"The Inbetween is unstable because you were forcing it," Sarode explained, pacing around Val. "You were holding the door open with your shoulders. That’s why you drained."

"How do we fix it?" Val asked, sitting on the cold stone floor.

"We don't hold it," Sarode said, sitting opposite them. He took Val’s hands. "We give it somewhere to remain. With the both of us we have enough energy to power a direct door."

"Like interflow? But we've never tried it with the same element." Val whispered.

"In theory..." Sar rose from his position, quickly sitting alongside Val. "It should be more potent than pure. Primordial almost."

The pair looked at one another, allowing silence to linger between them, before nodding in unison. They closed their eyes.

They both focused on the waters, both growing very differently with it. Yet their focus, their inspiration, their drive was the same. Channeling the energies Li left within them. 

Val focused their energy into Sar. Sarode didn't consume it; he sculpted it. He used his mastery of water, the ability to give shape to nothingness, to build a permanent structure directly to the inbetween.

SNAP.

The air in the cavern shimmered. A tear opened—not jagged and violent like before, but a perfect, stable oval of clear water. Quite misleading for what lied ahead. They stared back at their reflections through the opening.

"Time moves slower inside?" Sarode asks, standing up and pulling Val with him.

"One ark here is a day inside." Val began. "We can rest. We can train. And our bodies should now all be able to enter. We just need to worry about," Val lifted their fingers to gesture, "closing the door behind us."

"Well... You always close doors behind you so... Into the Water," Wren said, stepping through without hesitation.

Location: The Inbetween / The Constructed Sanctuary

They didn't land on a featureless ocean this time. They landed in a memory.

It was Rulljah—but not the ruined, bombed-out city they had seen outside. It was Rulljah as it was roughly 18 years ago. The obsidian buildings were polished and gleaming. Lanterns of violet spirit-fire floated in the streets. The Twin Suns were gentle overhead.

"This..." Val whispered, looking around the ghostly city. "I remember this street."

"I thought you said it was all misty and such in here," Sarode said, his voice echoing slightly in the dreamscape. "It's easier to train when you feel at home I guess."

"We've actually only had the opportunity to train in here once. It was misty but when the training started the fog subsided. Though it was a different memory in Rajas."

"That's where mom wanted to have us," Sar explained, "she planned to move there with some of the others,"  

"I actually didn't know that," Val raised their head to see the other. "You always knew so much about her it always felt like she told you those things herself."

"In a way she did. She'd come into my dreams and sing to me. I could hear her near the waters when we were little. Maybe I always was more connected to the spirits than the waters. What are the odds Selu-" Sarode began to finish the joke yet their confidence failed them. "I mean't what I said before. I just always felt connected when you were there."

CRACKKKK

A noise sent a wave through the group, everyone taking a step back and a defensive pose. Val raised a hand, signaling everyone to take cover behind a nearby group of shade trees. 

"Saje, can you do something about this?" Val turned to the other, already beginning their soft, almost inaudible humming. 

"I can locate them." The former gardener quickly rose from cover, getting a view of the open space. 

Hmmm,

Waves of sound began to bounce off everything in front of Saje. The sound bouncing back painted a 3D image within his mind. He could see everything that returned to him, almost like a painting with the edges not yet painted. He quickly returned to the group, taking cover. 

"Okay, deep cool skined ide," Saje closed their eyes as they recalled their mental map. "Tall in stature wearing traditional Mmirabe healing robes. I couldn't get a good look at their face not did I get vocal signatures from them." 

"Did you get how far they were?" Sarode questioned. 

In his mind he walked, counting each step from his position when humming his signal. "About 30... no 31 strides from the clearing." 

"This can't be another test can it?" Val questioned. "Aeliana?" Val tried keeping their voice as low as possible, yet their cried fell short. "Aeliana!" They tried a little louder, maybe louder than intended. 

"I think that's a yes." Wren added. 

"So what do we do?" Emerjn began, holding their hand out. 

"We can't just storm in, we're running into foreign territory expecting monsters. Let's just come out on gua-" Val was interrupted by a crunching of grass from right at the edge of the trees. 

Everyone began to urgently call a weave, the air around palpable with energy. However once the team got a look at the other, everyone stopped. 

"Tama?" Valode whimpered, tears began to form in their eyes. 

The twins ran towards the other, their tama embracing them with hunger only a starved wild cat could feel. 

"How are you here? Are you real?" Sarode questioned with urgency. 

"We've missed you soo much," Val added. Not a single eye in the space was spared grace. Yet Li didn't speak. They held them in longing, yet they uttered not a word. That didn't go unnoticed. 

Li covered their mouth, looking down in pain. 

"She can't speak. That's why there were no sound signatures. She's not even breathing," Saje explained. 

"How is she here? Are all spirits connected here?" Gwen asked. 

"No, this 'area' is specifically the space the elders created. Neither the beginning nor the end... but as beginning as it gets. Tama..." Val began to think, recalling and pausing to pull the thoughts to the surface. "Tama was elder in training. And when they... evolved, Tama would have been assumed elder before her passing. She must be here to guide us in the waters as elder."

"But, why can't she speak? Aeliana spoke to us. Why is this different?" Talia commented. 

Li turned from the group, quickly walking through the town. 

"TAMA!" the twins screamed in unison. They all quickly chased after her, after entering the clearing, she was gone. 

"What the eclipse is going on?" Sar cursed. 

"Maybe it's a movie! Like the very first ones that didn't have lines, just sound and music! What all do you know about your Tama's time here?" Gwen suggested. 

"So we're now part of a memory?" Irame finally spoke. 

"Actually maybe. I do remember selu talking about this. This must be where they lived. It was a little town just outside central square." Sarode began to recall, walking through the architecture. The dark stone buildings stretched far into the sky adding to the darkness. Ousujan flags hung proud in the window fixtures. The twin suns now stared perfectly at the reunited. 

"During the first invasion most fought back. Shadow knows Tama would have been on the front lines. But she had us. So they hid. They spent the rest of their time fortifying hope. She left Rahmori us..." Sar finished. 

"She's over there," Ouhan called out. The gang quickly snapped up.

Her hands were incased in balls of water. Her posture dangerously on offense. 

"Tama?" Val questioned with fear in their eyes, "Are you okay?"

She raised her hand and stared intently. 

"Whatever she isn't saying she isn't kidding guys, I think she's going to attack us," Wren began to raise their hands, weaves beginning to manifest. 

"WHOAA WHOAAA" Valode and Sarode said in eerie harmony.

"My tama is not going to attack us, there's something clearly wrong," Val protested with confidence. 

Just as Val concluded, Li threw a hand in the air, a rapidly spinning ball of water ascending. As it came down she spun around, feeling the waters get closer, and in perfect timing, she back-kicked it towards them. The deadly raindrop whipped between Sarode and Valode, cracking the stone pavement behind them.

"Yep..." Sarode muttered, ducking instinctively. "She wants us to fight her."

Li didn't wait. She moved like a dancer, her robes fluttering. She didn't summon water from the air; she became the water. Her body dissolved into mist and reformed ten feet to the left, launching a volley of high-pressure needles at Gwen and Romar.

"Scatter!" Gwen shouted, diving behind a planter. "She's trying to kill us!"

"She's teaching us!" Val corrected, raising a wall of water to block the needles. "Watch her feet! She never stops moving!"

Li spun, her hands weaving a complex sigil. The water from the fountain in the square rose up, forming three distinct humanoid shapes. Reflections.

They didn't just stand there; they adopted fighting stances. One mimicked Wren, glowing with a pale blue bioluminescence. One mimicked Ouhan, blending into the shadows. One mimicked Talia.

"Cute," Sarode growled. He lunged at his own doppelgänger, slashing with a shadow-blade.

The Water-Sarode ducked, moving with fluid grace, and countered with a whip of water that wrapped around Sarode’s ankle, yanking him off his feet.

"Don't fight the reflection!" Val shouted, dodging a strike from the Water-Wren. "Disrupt the surface!"

Saje understood. He stood in the center of the square, ignoring the chaos. He closed his eyes and listened. He heard the hum holding the Mimics together—the frequency of Li’s will.

Saje hummed a counter-note. A low, grinding bass that vibrated the very air.

The Water Mimics shivered. Their forms destabilized, turning from crisp soldiers into wobbly puddles.

"Now!" Saje yelled. "Talia! water them!"

Talia slammed her hands onto the cobblestones. "Thirsty roots!"

Vines erupted from the cracks in the street, piercing the destabilized Mimics and sucking the water out of them. The Mimics collapsed into splashes.

Li paused. She looked at Saje and Talia, and for a second, her eyes crinkled with pride.

But she wasn't done.

She turned to Emerjn and Irame. She pointed at Irame’s ice arms, then at her own chest. She tapped her heart.

Internalize.

She allowed Irame to land a hit—a shard of ice that grazed her arm. Instead of bleeding, the wound glowed blue. The water in her body rushed to the site, knitting the "flesh" back together in seconds. Rapid Hydro-Regeneration.

"She's showing us techniques," Emerjn realized, watching his blind eyes widening with spiritual sight. "Don't just use water as a weapon. Use it as blood. Keep it moving inside you."

Li turned her attention to the Twins.

She raised both hands. The entire memory-city began to tremble. The humidity in the air condensed into a massive, swirling sphere above her head. It was heavy. Lethal.

She threw it at them.

"Sar!" Val screamed. "Interflow!"

"On it!" Sarode shouted.

They didn't just block. They combined.

Val (Water) caught the sphere, matching its rotation to stop it from crushing them. Sarode (Spirit) injected darkness into it, turning the water heavy and solid.

They spun together, throwing the massive sphere back at Li.

It hit her.

But there was no impact.

Li smiled—a sad, beautiful expression.

She dissolved. The sphere passed through her as she burst into a billion tiny bubbles. The bubbles floated in the air, catching the light of the twin suns, turning the battlefield into a glittering galaxy of foam.

"She's gone," Gwen breathed, lowering her rifle.

"No," Val whispered, catching a bubble on their finger. It didn't pop; it chimed softly. "She's everywhere."

The Quiet After the Storm

They continued this routine for what felt like a week. In the waking world, only about twenty arks passed.

They were exhausted, bruised, and sharper than they had ever been. But the training was done. The memory-city of Rulljah was beginning to feel thin, like a painting left in the sun too long.

The group gathered in the square to rest one last time before the transition back.

Sarode was pacing, restless. He picked up a discarded training staff—a piece of solid shadow-glass. He spun it, testing the weight, but his grip was too tight. The stress of fighting, of feeling too much caused his control to slip.

CRACK.

The staff shattered in his hands.

"Damn it," Sarode hissed, looking at the shards. "Clumsy."

"You're not clumsy," a voice said. "You're just vibrating at the wrong frequency."

Saje walked over. He knelt by the shards. He didn't touch them. He just hummed—a low, mending note.

The shards vibrated. Then, they flew back together, fusing seamlessly until the staff was whole again.

Sarode stared at it. Then he looked at Saje. A flicker of recognition crossed his face—deeper than memory.

"The glass garden," Sarode whispered, half to himself. "I broke a flower once. A blue one."

"It was a huniper," Saje corrected, standing up and handing the staff back. "And you cried because you thought tama would be mad."

Sarode blinked. "And you fixed it before she came home."

Saje grinned—a lopsided, familiar smile. "I always fix what you break."

Sarode laughed. It was a genuine, startled sound. He clapped a hand on Saje’s shoulder. "Good to know some things don't change over lifetimes... Does... does Valode remember?"

"Get some rest, Sar," Saje said gently. "The Kassaj's redirecting and we have to know where they're headed."

The group slept in the conjured shelters. Only the Twins remained awake, sitting by the memory-fountain under the light of the false suns.

"She still hasn't spoken," Sarode murmured, throwing a pebble into the water. "Why, Val? If she's here, if she's a spirit... why can't she talk to us?"

"I think..." Val hesitated. "I think she made a sacrifice. Aelianna specifically said each of them made a grave sacrifice to form the weaves of this realm."

A heavy wave of fog swept through the square.

"Have you ever considered why the pair of you are as gifted as you are?"

Aeliana appeared from the shadows. Her form was translucent, fading as the connection to the Inbetween waned.

Sarode rose quickly, defensive, but Val held him back. "It's okay. It's Aeliana."

"Your gifts are not random," Aeliana said, her voice echoing. "Li felt the urgency of the coming times. She knew the Kassaj would hunt you. So she gave you everything."

Aeliana stepped closer. "She sang a weave of unimaginable protection over the pair of you. She poured her voice into the gifts and wisdom you'd need to be exactly where you are this very moment. She spent her words to buy your lives."

Sarode looked at the water. A single tear rolled down his cheek. "She silenced herself so we could be protected."

"And now," Aeliana said, her form dissolving into mist, "you must be loud enough for both of us."

She vanished.

Sarode wiped his face, his expression hardening into resolve. "I'm going to check the perimeter," he said, his voice thick with emotion. "Make sure the door is stable for the exit. I need a minute."

He squeezed Val’s shoulder and walked off toward the edge of the city, leaving Val alone by the fountain.

Val sat there, watching the water, feeling the weight of their mother's sacrifice settling into their bones.

"You're drifting."

Val looked up. Saje was standing there. He hadn't been sleeping.

"Just thinking," Val said, scooting over to make room on the fountain's edge.

Saje sat down. He didn't ask what was wrong. He just took Val’s hand.

His skin was warm. Real. Even in this dream world, Saje felt more solid than the stones beneath their feet.

"You're scared to go back," Saje stated softly.

"I'm scared I'm not enough," Val admitted. "Sarode is a general. You're a resonator. Gwen is a soldier. I'm just... the glue."

"The glue is the only thing keeping the house from falling down," Saje said. He turned Val’s hand over, tracing the lines of their palm. "And you're not just glue, Val. You're the heart."

He looked up, his amber eyes locking onto Val’s. The air between them shimmered.

Saje leaned in.

CONTACT.

Their lips met.

It wasn't just a kiss. It was an Interflow.

Val (Water/Memory) crashed into Saje (Resonance/Vibration).

The world dissolved.

...They were standing on a cliff of red rock under a different sun. Val wore armor of white bone. Saje wore robes of gold. They were holding hands as a comet fell from the sky, marking the end of an era...

...They were in a library made of singing crystal. Val was old, their hair white as snow. Saje was reading to them, his voice rasping with age. "I will find you," Saje promised, kissing Val’s wrinkled hand. "In the next turn. I will always find you."...

...They were two sparks of light floating in the void, dancing around each other before the universe was even born...

...They were children in the Tsujan garden, hiding from a tutor. Saje tucking a flower behind Val’s ear. "For you, Rumi."...

SNAP.

They broke apart, gasping for air. The memory settled over them like a warm, heavy cloak.

Val stared at Saje, their eyes wide with the weight of a thousand lifetimes. The love they felt wasn't new. It was ancient. It was the bedrock of their soul.

"You found me," Val whispered, tears streaming down their face. "You always find me."

Saje smiled, wiping a tear from Val’s cheek with his thumb. "I promised, didn't I?"

He pulled Val into his arms, holding them tight against the phantom chill of the Inbetween.

"I'm not going anywhere, Val," Saje whispered into their hair. "We have a war to win. But this time... we win it together."

They stayed like that for a long time, holding onto the one thing that hadn't changed in a million years.

Suddenly, the sky of the memory-Rulljah turned purple. The buildings began to flicker.

"Our connection is weakening," Val murmured, pulling back but keeping Saje’s hand. "Let's get that door open."

Sarode walked back into the square, looking composed. He saw them holding hands and nodded—a silent acceptance of the bond that completed their trio.

"Everyone ready?" Sarode asked.

"Ready," Val said, standing up. They squeezed Saje’s hand one last time.

"Let's go home."