The Endless Solvent

The ruins of the tower exploded. ‘Smoke’ or something that looked like smoke filled the space within. It bulged out from the cracks and holes of the crumbling build as Ral, Camaz, Rask, Laell and Verne all escaped before the foreboding substance could consume them. Like a water skin filled too full, the tower strained to keep this strange smoke contained until finally the structure burst apart, letting the gray tendrils seep into the air of the forest.

Ral hurled himself through the forest, thinking maybe the dense trees would provide some amount of protection. Sprays of dead pine needles and other foliage scattered in his wake. He had to bring her away from the rest of the group at least. Then maybe he would know what to do.

But to his shock he saw the grayness at the corner of his eye. Whatever Aris had turned into - this cloud of smoke that churned like something both organic and not at the same time - was able to catch up to him. Swearing, Ral scrabbled at whatever training he had retained over the past few years. The stillness. The speed.

His mind was too frazzled to be still. A part of it screamed at him at how he failed to talk Aris down from whatever madness she had climbed into. Another part wailed at the possibility that he had to kill her. Yet another part scorned him that a Sekrelli was more eager to preserve her life than he was. All of this rattled in his brain as he struggled to keep ahead of the terrifying gray smoke that twisted and swirled after him.

A tendril of smoke solidified into a gray, spike claw and it shot down, pointed end aiming to pierce. Ral dodged it, braving the sharp scratches of a bush as he crashed through it. He unhooked the staff Rask gave him at his hip and expanded it, forcing the metal tip into a spike as he found his balance and kept running.

Another gray column came down beside him and this time he shifted so he could plunge the staff into it. The claw that formed simply dissipated back to smoke at the contact and the metal tip of the staff sunk into the forest floor. Swearing again, Ral swung himself up using the now anchored staff and dodged another swing from Aris.

He could see twin glowing green eyes halfway up the trees in the thickest part of the smoke. Ral pulled himself up on branches of the nearest tree, hands scratching the rough bark and letting dried flakes of it rain down to the forest floor. He pulled out the staff from the ground at the same time and used it to fend off another solidified column of smoke seeking to swat him like an insect. Two firm pushes off the trunk propelled him into the air where he became face to face with his sister’s levitating body. He angled the staff across himself, tip pointed at the direction he traveled. It pierced through any offending tendrils Aris put between them, rendering them back into smoke.

In the quarter of a heartbeat he was in the air, he saw Aris’s eyes widen in shock. He wasn’t sure if she could even see him (or rather, see him in the regular sense) but she could surely sense him well enough to know where he was. Another smoky tendril knocked him off course such that the sharpened tip of his staff couldn’t hurt her as he crashed into her.

They tumbled through the trees in a mad mess of foliage, broken branches, swearing and smoke. Ral thought with satisfaction that the impact was enough to knock his twin out of the air so they could at least be on evenly on the ground. Ral was able to grasp a branch and stop himself from crashing to the ground at breakneck speed. He saw that smoke gathered to catch Aris, her impact on the ground merely disturbing the layer of dead leaves on the clearing they landed into.

Almost immediately after finding her footing, Aris narrowed her eyes in his direction and willed a column of smoke towards him. Ral launched off the tree onto the closest one as the column crashed through the trunk of the tree he was on, splintering it at the base. The upper part of the tree groaned and crashed down. Ral cursed and swung into the next tree, narrowly dodging her next attacks.

“Stop it Aris!” he screamed at her over the sound of trees falling around them. “This doesn’t have to happen!”

“Doesn’t it?” Aris’s voice was soft but also strangely loud, as if she was speaking right in his ear. “You could have joined me in taking back what’s ours. But even you… you abandoned me. I won’t have you tell me how to live my life - no one can tell me how to live anymore. Not you. Not Camaz. Not even the gods.”

“You always were able to live your life,” Ral shouted. He grunted as another huge column of smoke decimated the tree he was clinging to.

“You don’t know anything,” Aris hissed. “You weren’t with me. You don’t even care anymore about our broken home.”

Ral swung again to fend off another claw aimed at him. “Is this what this is?” he vented. Exhaustion was quickly catching up to him. He just wanted this to be over. The smoke coming off of Aris may not be very fast, but there was a lot of it and constantly kept him moving in every perceivable direction. “You’re thirsty for revenge?”

“And why wouldn’t I be?” Aris shot back at him. It sounded like a clap of thunder. A splay of eight claws solidified around her from behind and she lurched towards him. Like a giant clawed hand, she reached to him. More tendrils forced him back onto the ground and Aris approached like a twisted spider launching itself over him. Ral struck one of the eight claws but it didn’t dissolve like the other times. It resisted his strike as if it had turned into stone. A green spark flashed as the strike hit.

Ral quickly turned the staff to protect his throat as two other claws honed into his neck. Aris loomed over him, gemstone eyes glowing. “Is this even about revenge anymore?” Ral said. He sounded strained as he fought to keep her smoke-claws away from piercing him.

“It’s always been about revenge.”

“No, you’re doing it for yourself,” Ral spat. Sun curse it. If he was going to die, at least she should hear it. “You’ve caught onto an idea and now you don’t want to let go. You no longer have any idea what’s right or wrong because you’re doing it for your own ego.”

“No.”

“Admit it, Aris,” Ral gasped. The claws crept closer. He wasn’t sure how long he could hold it off. “You’ve completely lost your way.”

“No.”