Tread Lightly

*************

Wyatt Graves

My partner's voice fades into obscurity as I feel the secondary heart beside my real one ceases to beat. Blood Nexus fails without Blodwyn to govern it, and that leaves me lacking a large portion of our power. Still, I am not without his aid, nonetheless.

I'm not sure what he's done, but I can tell it's something to do with a Concept. And... by everything I've known, it is strong.

The lingering effects of his Ether remain in our heart, pumping through our frozen veins as they don't unfreeze but instead acclimate to the cold. The blood moves past the icy crystals in the tunnels, delivering strength to the hand I have gripping Flint's insides.

Even that hand is affected. Knives dig into my fingers and bones, the chill diving with the pain, but with each passing moment... we adapt.

I meet Winter's eyes as she attempts to freeze me in return. I concentrate my mind even as she digs deeper into my chest, finally wrapping her fingers around my heart, around Blodwyn.

Bone spurs erupt from my palm, piercing through the ice and tearing into the Goddess of Winter's insides. It's a brutal, visceral exchange of mutual destruction as I force Bone Orchard to form out of my hand as the rest of me is still frozen. Shiver turns my vision vibrant as I shift to the left, barely stopping the Goddess from removing the aorta.

Flint's hand tightens around my heart, her touch like a vice grip of frost, but she fails to sever the arteries or veins. I grit my teeth, ignoring the numbing cold and spreading sharp crystals of ice. With a grim determination, I focus on the bone spikes embedded within her, driving them deeper, feeling the resistance of her frozen flesh.

The air around us crackles with tension, the chill of the poles emanating from Flint's very being. Her breath is but a fog of icy mist as she growls into my face. Her gaze is like daggers, sharp and cold, as she lowers her head, her intent clear.

"Why won't you just die? You are just human! DIE!"

With a sudden burst of power, Flint attempts to end me swiftly, clenching her fist closed, and I feel my heart endure the force for only a moment before it bursts.

Blodwyn deflates as the organ that his existence resides in and is destroyed. But that is not enough to kill us. We are two.

And we are Graves.

Winter assumes that I am sentenced to death without a heart, pulling her hand out of my chest, yet I catch her mid-way through with my other hand. Her eyes widen further, in awe of my remaining strength.

Little does she know...

Bone already regrows the organ within my chest. As I tear the hand out of her chest and spin her around, I pin the Goddess to the earth. Ice emerges, shooting for my free hand as it wraps around Lily, but it doesn't go for the weapon itself. Instead, the ice places itself between her and me to act as a shield.

Little does she know...

She was never the target of the Blooming Spider Lily. I need a burst of rejuvenation to restore Blodwyn, even with the Solid Ether I am using to rebuild his organ before his soul vacates the medium. Flipping the Colt around, I point it at my own chest.

Lily shouts within my mind, screaming that it won't work, but I know that it will. After all... I'm giving it to her without resistance.

Blodwyn gives his all for me. And I would do the same. It is, without question, without hesitation. We are partners to the end. Since that day in the forest where I buried Edmund, we have never left each other's side. If he is to die, then so shall I.

If he is to live, then so shall I.

Pain explodes through my chest, searing and relentless as the Blooming Spider Lily fulfills its grim purpose. I can feel Lily pulling away, attempting not to devour my life, but she is only a weapon in the end. Without Godhood, she cannot be her own. Once upon a time, she could not hurt me because she could not sense my true soul; she could only communicate with the bits she could feel. But I give it all to her, forcing her to take and heal my partner.

My body sags as I feel my vitality draining away, my lifespan unraveling like a thread pulled from a spool. It's as if time itself is being torn from my grasp, slipping through my fingers like grains of sand. The vast river of darkness connects me back to myself, a bizarre loop that sends a rush toward me of pure life and creation.

As the world begins to blur around me and Flint strikes again, I redirect the river toward Blodwyn, letting my vitality reach him. As my skin grays and recedes, I feel my heart pump once more—the entire organ now covered with bony armor.

"Wyatt! What? What are you—?"

Immediately, I shout back at Blodwyn, not letting him finish his thought as Flint throws me off her. I bounce off the ice limply before my nails catch the permafrost below.

"No time. Use Blood Nexus. Return some of that vitality. This is it. We need to combine them. We will not get another chance."

Blodwyn nods without a second of hesitation, with that secondary heart already reigniting into a torrent of rhythm. But it is more potent than ever as Blodwyn is now fueled by the many years I still have left to live.

"You... hahahaha! You are mad! I see now. All you mortals are insane! Immune to reason and logic, positively prone to madness! Sacrificing decades of life!? Of such a short life nonetheless!? For what!? A little strength!? Idiotic. You are already dead."

I push myself to my feet as I stumble forward, struggling to move correctly, and then Painsforge and Blood Nexus beat in sync. Instantly, my back straightens, and the flesh around my chest closes.

"Sorry, Wyatt! I thought I couldn't hurt you! How did you do that?"

I answer the little girl as I move my Ether with more purpose than ever before. The plan that forms in my mind is overzealous. It's absolutely batshit insane, just as Flint believes me to be.

And yet, from what I've seen, that is the only way we survive this.

"I changed my soul to mimic another's. That let you devour me without issue."

Bonfire is soon to break out, yet we've just been at a stalemate at best. Emmet might be a perfect counter against Winter, but that also means she is a balance against him. He has to be careful not to be caught, limiting how thorough he can be with his strikes. Furthermore, her raw output is simply beyond him. He is not capable of keeping up with her quite yet.

The Goddess of Winter raises her hands, preparing another barrage of hundreds of degrees below zero, and I focus inwardly instead of externally.

I have many Dzils. Painsforge, Bone Orchard, Blood Nexus, Shiver, and Excavator. That's three or so more than most other Dominions possess. I don't think it's enough to simply combine Blood Nexus and Painsforge. That's too superficial. I need more. I can do more.

An avalanche strikes me, and I take it head-on, being sent hurtling away as Bonfire breaks from his prison of ice. Emmet Knox rushes for Flint, but she only holds focus for me.

The Goddess pursues me as I fall just into defense, no longer even deigning to attack once. Instead, I focus wholly on my Ether, taking a gamble that even Earl would scoff at.

Spears of frost stab into my flesh as Blodwyn slowly pushes Blood Nexus toward our heart, gradually forcing the construct to meld with our now bony core.

Swathes of agony rush through me as Blodwyn and I struggle to contain the beating of Painsforge and the added Dzil. It's far worse than we expected.

I fall to my knees, piercing the earth with a palm to bear my weight as I groan in pain. My chest bulges ominously as our heart contorts and breaks down. Yet, as Blodwyn's body is destroyed, it is quickly reforged by the life from Lily.

This is the best chance we will ever get.

More ice attempts to grow over me, but Bonfire covers me with a flame while he tosses a pillar of invisible fire from above at the Goddess. The heat burns my flesh in such a sway that calms me, but the chill negates most of the relief, leaving me heaving for air.

Still, my ribs bulge and beat out of my very chest as an idea comes to mind. One that... will let me use all my skills together.

"I got an idea. Just... roll with it, okay? Use whatever vitality is left to heal us while I do it."

Blodwyn is skeptical of my idea, but we don't have much time.

"You sure—oh, you're doing it already!"

Alabaster mist rises from my flesh as the Ether saturation in my flesh is expelled by the outermost layer of my soul. It hurts deeply to use the skill for the third time in a day, but I don't let that stop me. Coralling the bits of my soul, I forge bone within my chest, using the bony heart as a core. Thanks to Blodwyn pushing the two 'hearts' together, I have the focus to do another.

Painsforge. Check. Blood Nexus. Check. Bone Orchard. Check. Two more.

The next is a little bit more difficult. Juggling two Dzils is impossible like this, but Blodwyn takes care of Bone Orchard for a second as the two within his focus begin to snowball, falling in on each other. It is prohibitively lethal, but it's the only way forward.

Excavator rips another use of Burdenless from my flesh as Blodwyn sheds some of his soul, too. And I use his, taking it and wrapping it around my body like a duster. Doing so should help our soul's perception of danger, elevating Shiver's usefulness as the skill itself has my body moving with rigid and creaking movements. The slight adjustments must look to anyone else like a dead man coming back to life, but they majestically allow the Ether to coordinate and flow. Additionally, I keep my Dominion in use, moving the sliver of a soul as it adapts to the cold, acting more like a proper coat or shield.

In the end, all of my Dzils come together in their own ways as Bonfire holds off Flint for me. Nevertheless, the Goddess of Winter still slips some things past my friend.

A crashing wall of frost falls for me. I catch wind of it from Bonfire's scream, and I look up just to see the avalanche shift into possessing a thousand spikes.

Agony rushes through my whole body from the variety of skills battling each other for supremacy, a balance not yet made. But I take advantage of the torture, striking out at the danger.

My fist reaches a spike of frost, utterly breaking it and continuing into the ice behind it.

A moment later, I stand on the other side as a crippling spark comes from my chest. Again, I fall to the ground, holding the recently healed mark where Flint grabbed my heart.

It's bulging outward.

"Wyatt. This isn't good! I don't know how much more I can take!"

Exhaustion finally reaches me as the bullet from Lily catches up. My lungs struggle to inhale as my chest seizes up. Freedom won't save me here, no matter how many gasps.

I start to panic for a second, feeling my insides expand and prepare to detonate. What can I do? I can't stop the combination of Painsforge and Blood Nexus. The merger has already begun. That's that. Either they manage to work together, or... they implode.

But can I do anything to help?

No. No, I don't think I can.

Instead... This one is one Blodwyn. His Concept... and his being.

"Let it blow. Add more. Then... as the bony heart explodes out our chest, adapt to it. Use whatever remnants of the bullet to keep yourself alive. We'll force the Ether to work together, even if it has to blow us up first."

Blodwyn is downright antagonistic to this crazed idea, but he doesn't refuse.

"Madness. Do you want us to try and die? Fine. It might just work. Just... hold on tight."

I sputter out some air, attempting to laugh just as Bonfire is slammed back into the earth, snow and ice sent leagues into the sky. Fire rages against the cold, but he's losing. The man isn't the most analytical thinker in the world; he simply fights with all he has.

Over time, he's gotten better, his flames hotter, and his regeneration faster, but we don't have forever. We need to be back in Onyx Gate soon. Very soon.

Winter strides toward me in a hurry, knowing that I am doing something I should not. Her hands rise, and her mouth sentences me to a final breath.

"No. I will not allow a Sirza to be born. Mother declares you as an Outcast. Forbidden from ever embracing her warmth."

A javelin of ice soars toward my paralyzed eyes, but the projectile never reaches me. A wreathe of flame blocks it as Bonfire places himself between me and the lethal strike.

Crushing the ice, Bonfire laughs aloud, pointing right at the self-righteous Goddess.

"Screw you! He'll do whatever the hell he wants! And who wants her 'warmth'? I bet you my fires are way better! You ever have a 'smore at a campfire!? Wait... I need to fo—"

Again, Emmet Knox is batted away by another construct of Winter, but he immediately darts back with a body of flame. Still, I can see that ice hangs onto him, not melting immediately. Fire-like blood drips to the permafrost as Bonfire ducks an attack, actually dodging. Yeah... He's not doing good. Bonfire doesn't do evasion. Not when he can do without. He won't endure for much longer without me. He's hung on for a long time in this battle, just as long as me without any of the helpers.

Shuddering and begging my body to laugh at his antics despite the very real danger he and I are in, I feel my heart bulge out of my skin. Bones start to peek out of my flesh as I feel the conglomeration of two Dzils touch the third.

Bone Orchard's core, the Soulful Ether that coordinates the growing alabaster, is overtaken instantly and joins the mass of bone and flesh and bursts out of my chest. A relief is taken off my mind while another is added to my soul as Ether is ripped from my body at prodigious rates.

Three Dzils work on their own, shunting forward at maximum speed while bone spurs eject from my chest in all directions haphazardly. Some stab back into me while others reach into the sky. Several even pierce into the film of Blodwyn's soul, causing him a great deal of pain on top of it all.

But as it all wreaks havoc on our form, I feel something, a hint at something beyond the physical. I can't reach it due to the distracting crimson all around, yet I grasp something similar.

Shiver is more than just movement.

I reach toward my Ether and move it instinctively, hauling it toward the best way to survive. The method with the greatest success. It isn't built for damage. It's built for survival and a counterattack.

All the bones that grow outward dangerously are ripped backward, and they stab back into me. At first, I rush to stop the movement, but I quickly see the reason why Shiver leads to it.

The bones that stab back into me eject Ether and blood into my system once more, reigniting the process all over again. This is it. The loop of Ether that grows on its own.

I did it. We... We did it.

I only wish it wasn't so... fucking painful. The monstrosity I must look like right now... How I'd pay to see Virgil's face.

"You feeling okay, buddy?"

My focus quickly turns to Blodwyn, as he is the core of all of this. It is his body, my heart, that is used as the medium for the Sirza. Blodwyn reassures me, but he definitely is under some serious pressure.

"Yeah... I got it... Not sure for how long... We'll need to find... a way... to stop it..."

Right. How did the others stop their Sirzas? I never got the chance to ask my father how his worked in depth. Shit. It hurts so bad.

Looking forward, I see Bonfire practically eat another avalanche that leaves a foul taste in my mouth. I need to help. He's been on his own for too long. With each passing fraction of a second, he gets injured again and again, pushed closer and closer to his limits. My friend can hold his own. I've always known that, but he is only an 8th Sigil. I haven't had the time yet to help him advance, though I'm not sure if he even needs it with his affinity to his Sigil. And I thought I had high resonance.

Each time I sense him receive a wound, my stomach twists, knowing that he might not recover from it. Of course, he does, but soon, he will not. I can tell.

His fire is losing heat. Some bits of it can even be seen as a blue flame, no longer invisible. I need to move. Now.

With a grunt, I rise to my feet, feeling the difficulty in doing so rapidly vanish. By the time I take my first step, it isn't impeded at all. By the second, I'm faster. By the third, I'm... really fast.

Earth explodes beneath me as I hurtle across the ground at such swiftness that Flint only has time to look in my direction, not react in the slightest.

But as I raise my hand to punch her, the Ether coiling within and rising to enough heights to worry me, I feel a voice enter my mind. The Ether itself speaks to me as I realize just how dangerous what I've done is.

I made a never-ending loop of Ether within my own body as we finally used all of our talents simultaneously. It just consumes more and more without letting any out of the circuit. And it's all within me. My Ether saturation...

Still, my woes are cast aside as pride fills my pores and time slows for the words to have their full effect on my surroundings. Ice recedes from my sheer speed, breaking and shattering as I can't hear anything but my heartbeats, every inch of bone eliciting one as the stretching material cracks and shifts to match my figure. The Ether speaks to me, just as it does to the rest of the world. But as I hear it talk to me, personally, for the very first time, I feel on top of the world. I feel at peace with everything. I feel as though Blodwyn and I have never been closer.

I feel... like...

One Heart Beats For Two.