The briefest moment of disorientation and disbelief evolved into a devastating and explosive grief for that which her gaze couldn't capture. She knew he was there. She couldn't see him. That was enough to rip her soul to pieces. Her own shrieking put the agony that had swallowed him to shame.

"Josiah!" Octavia wailed. "Josiah, Josiah, Josiah, Josiah!"

Nothing.

His name was on every anguished note, her plea upon every despairing harmony. It didn't bring Josiah back, nor did her light deliver unto her his silhouette. Panic was an understatement. There were precisely two people within the Hell of the Cursed City for whom isolation instantly flipped an hourglass to demise. His clock was ticking. It was the only thing she was supposed to have prevented.

Octavia had been to Velpyre one time and one time only, a voyage which she had wished on every star in the sky to never repeat. Without her missing guide, she, too, was absolutely lost. It was far from her primary source of panic, the true Hell of loneliness in the dark settling onto her shoulders. It took everything in her power to strike a balance between saving her strength and screaming his name as she ran aimlessly.

She considered begging for Stratos' blessing once more, eager to be consumed by his light and send it back tenfold into the abyss. That would leave the concern of being bound in place, a singular and localized assault with no known finite radius. By the time she was through, her path cleared once more, Josiah could very well already be dead--or worse. He might not have even been in her vicinity anymore, provided he'd managed to break free of the wrathful fog that had laid claim to his body. From her angle, it had seemed brutal. Octavia knew this scenario to be eerily similar to one he'd endured not so long ago. She clung to the idea that Josiah could outrun agony a second time over. It was all he had.

It was all she had, too, given the lack of luminosity that was adjacent to her current position. Every flickering glow and spark in the distance was opposite to Josiah's last location, and she was again stumbling blindly about in the dark. Her cycle of self-preservation was still just as endless, the Dissonance still just as deadly.

Octavia cast her eyes high in desperation, begging for the slightest pinpricks of sunshine from above to penetrate the ruthless pain below. Even now, the screaming smoke rose far too high, blotting out the crumbs of light she could've been granted. She had half a mind to wonder if it could slip through cracks so tiny, speckled as they were. It was a problem she could only leave in the hands of the Velrose Acolyte alone, should the girl make such a discovery.

Octavia had no idea how long she'd been running. She had no idea how long they'd been fighting. She had no idea where she was. Stradivaria, in her skilled hands, came bundled with confidence. It wasn't her life she feared for. It was those she couldn't see, those she struggled to hear, those she knew to be defenseless. Was he running? Was he scared? Were his eyes still just as fearful and his determination just as fabricated? Tears pricked at the edges of her own. She wasn't quite sobbing as she played, but she could hear the audible sizzle each time one plopped upon the burning strings.

"Octavia?"

It was a voice she'd only heard a handful of times over, meek and sorrowful as it was.

It was diagonal, closer and closer as its owner found her right flank. Octavia had to guess, initially. It wasn't one with whom she was well-acquainted, and it certainly wasn't one she'd expected to find alone. There was no song for her ears to latch on to, nor any luminescence she could've begged for. There was only the swish of a skirt that grazed her own dress with every hurried step, somewhat slower than her own. Octavia's eyes widened. For her and her alone, she absolutely needed to make an effort to slow her sprint.

"Celestina?" she yelled.

"Are you alright?" the woman called above the Dissonance, her voice somehow still just as soft.

Octavia never stilled her hands, although stemming her tears was a different story. "I-I'm fine!" she struggled to stammer. "How are you here? Where's your--"

"Hey there, Heartful!"

She found her luminescence in words alone, her heart igniting with sparkling solace. The former acolyte wasn't truly alone, trailed close by a grin nearly bright enough to challenge the darkness on its own. There was no sigh of relief to breathe. She could at least conjure one in her head.

"Mina?" Octavia cried with surprise.

Mina nodded, even with her steps hurried and her hands occupied with tiny metal. "Did you miss me?" she teased.

Octavia blinked what sorrow she could from her eyes, sending at least some of her radiance swirling and spiraling around Celestina's body. She doubted her Maestra partner had the legacy privileges to offer the same protection. "How did you find me?"

"I didn't!" Mina shouted. "She did!"

The woman in question was silent, content to trust in Octavia's luminous defenses as she ran onwards. Octavia eyed her with significant confusion, even if she couldn't claim the same focused gaze for herself.

"What do you mean? How did you know where I was?"

"We got separated!" Celestina yelled back. "There's not a lot of us le--"

"Yes, but how did you find me?"

"I knew where you were!"

"How?"

"I could sense you!"

Octavia stared her down. "You're not a Maestra!"

"I know!" Celestina cried.

"Figure it out later!" Mina interrupted. "Eyes forward!"

Octavia understood her point immediately. She'd been lucky to make it a solid minute uninterrupted in a straight line. Her streaming light had largely been a deterrent for the billowing violet that sought to press her from the sides, and she was grateful. Her luck had run out, as could ultimately be expected.

She nearly skidded to a stop in the face of the Dissonance that barred her path forward, yet another barrier of writhing, shrieking agony that greeted her with only malice incarnate. She stood up well enough to the dizziness and exhaustion that followed its proximity. Celestina wasn't quite as lucky, staggering and nearly losing her balance. Even within the minor safety of Octavia's swirling radiance, it wasn't enough to shield her senses.

Celestina was frail, somewhat. Octavia had her work cut out for her, offense and defense cleaved clean down the middle yet again. Sweat dripped from her brow in place of what was once tears, still fizzing out on the superheated bridge of the violin. Her obstacle wasn't stationary, nor was it squarely before her eyes alone. So, too, was her peripheral vision compromised. The way she took several steps backwards was instinctive, and she braced herself against the ground. Managing two types of light at once was going to be a trial by fire.

"Let's take 'em out!"

Mina never pushed her to that point. Neither did the Ensemble member who put Octavia's speed to shame, her eyes razor-sharp as she kicked hard off the ground. In reality, there was another person in Octavia's own circle, too, that Mint could challenge athletically. [♪]

Whether or not that was secondary to what was possibly not mortal prowess was semi-irrelevant. Just as Octavia had learned to keep her light in reserve, the breathtaking display by which the thunderbolts surged and crackled around the girl was unfathomably impressive. It was a first impression of true mastery of a legacy, the likes of which Octavia had never seen granted to the wrathful plasma streaming about her body.

How Mint wasn't shocking herself with every effortless vault onto her hands and every unflinching tumble across the open air, Octavia couldn't begin to wrap her head around. She wasn't nearly as forceful as Renato, nor did her momentum carry her anywhere even slightly as high. Her flexibility was on a different level entirely, and she didn't hesitate to put it to incredible usage. Even as the Dissonance grazed her in passing, it never once touched upon her skin. Instead, it met only the surging discharge that flickered around her entire being.

Mint raised her arm high the moment her feet touched solid ground one more. All it took was one shake, one seemingly-innocent little rattle, and a forceful downward swing of her wrist. She struck agony down, her lightning crashing deep into the cloud that absolutely screamed in turn. It was given no reprieve, and each rattle and tap that followed birthed only more of the same. They trailed her every motion, guided by skilled fingers that left Octavia briefly convinced the girl was harnessing such power on her own.

From a distance, the legacy appeared to be almost hers to keep, with how perfectly her Harmonial Instrument served as an extension of herself. Every sizzling flourish, crowned by feats of evasive speed and flexibility that sent her tumbling both airborne and not, was mesmerizing. Octavia couldn't look away, not with the honed precision by which the girl beat upon the wailing violet again and again and again. She was perfect.

"You're killing it out there, Sunstryke! Knock 'em dead!" Mina cheered.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Mint grinned devilishly.

It was a face not her own, a look Octavia would sooner expect from Mina instead.

"Naturally."

It was the first word Octavia had ever heard leave the girl's mouth. It was achingly familiar.

"And you, child, will you not stand your ground? Come, prove your worth and show the Ambassador the brilliance of your legacy!"

In the heat of battle, the dripping, cocky charisma wasn't as annoying. Mint was moving too quickly for Octavia to hunt down the Apex in her eyes. The voice was enough. She had to wonder how much of the Maestra's movements were truly her own, as suspected. If Madrigal's several instances of surrender to a greater power were anything to go by, there was at least some component of personal prowess to be considered. It was still an absolutely spectacular sight.

Mina answered the Apex's challenge without fail, an all-too-eager grin of her own spreading rapidly from ear to ear. "Don't need to tell me twice!"

If it was Mina's first time fighting in earnest, Octavia never would've guessed. Her eyes were as sharp as the lightning that coursed through her blood, for how quickly she chased down the plague of writhing smoke that threatened her back. So preoccupied was Octavia with guarding Celestina that she hadn't noticed its approach. Mina wasn't even slightly as athletic as Mint, whether augmented by the magnificent power of an Apex or not. It didn't impede her determination one bit, her hurried flight towards the Dissonance rather than away commendable in its own right. Octavia had wondered for days how such a little Harmonial Instrument could do any true semblance of damage. As it turned out, Mina was a beautiful conduit.

Savior's Resplendence wasn't dissimilar to Stradivaria, really, at least in how Octavia recognized that firm and confident grip. In the wake of the sizzling bolts that were born upon every tender tap of a tambourine, the glimmer captured along each metal edge was majestic in its own way. There was something so like Mina in how she wielded the tiny rod as a weapon itself, its size notwithstanding between her rigid fingers. It was so small, truthfully, that the buzzing sparks crackling in her hand almost appeared to be hers to keep, too. Only Mina's delighted grin, unbending and growing ever brighter with each measured step towards the darkness, was more electric by comparison.

She skidded to a halt before the plague of murky purple, well-illuminated by both Octavia's residual radiance around Celestina and Mint's thunderous assault. The luminescence between the three of them was a blessing, growing yet more splendorous. Mina's contribution couldn't be dismissed in the slightest.

The cute, innocent little ting of the rod striking upon iron brought with it the most explosive golds Octavia had ever seen.

The blessing of Mina's legacy quite literally erupted forth, splintering thunderbolts raining from on high haphazardly before her. They were plentiful, distributed, and not limited to a single billowing target. The Dissonance outright scattered. The craters she'd blasted deep into the violet speared into each cloud with such ferocity that even the glow from within prompted Octavia to squeeze her eyes shut. The sound was intolerable, the screeching far outmatched in volume. Even from here, Octavia could sense the aura of pride that rippled around the Maestra.

Mina turned her head to face yet more of the same, undaunted and just as elated in the face of agony itself. Once more, with a flick of her wrist, the very air around her seemed to dry to a crisp. Octavia could feel the stray hairs of her braids standing on edge as the atmosphere began to crackle. Mina, too, wasn't immune to frazzled hair and sparking fingertips. With another ting, she brought the full prowess of the essence of lightning smashing down into the fog below. This, in its own way, was breathtaking. Octavia huddled closer to Celestina as she played, encircled of her own accord by lightning that struck against false darkness again and again.

Octavia bore witness to the spectacle for a solid minute, steeped in awe at the stamina and skill of both Essenced Maestras. They worked incredibly well in tandem, filling in what gaps the other had silently left. Their lightning often crossed paths in much the same way, wordlessly taking turns beating upon the earth whenever one's sharp focus had shifted somewhere far more important. If there was a partner Mina would've done excellently down here with, it was surely the one that would've forced her to break the luminescence rule. That was, too, surely worth it.

"Where's your little boytoy?" she heard Mina call above her crackling storm.

"What?"

"Lightning bug! Where is he? He was with you, right?"

Her heart had never stopped pounding, and she had never forgotten about him for a moment. Still, Octavia cursed herself for becoming occupied with Celestina's protection over Josiah's, even essential as it was. "I-I don't know! We got separated!"

"He's Essenced! Can you see his lightning anywhere?"

Octavia winced. "Mina, he's not a Maestro!"

Mina's eyes widened, even as she maintained her focus. "What?"

"I guided the Muse in his Harmonial Instrument! He was a Maestro before, but he's not anymore! He's defenseless right now! I need to find him or he'll die!" she cried.

Mina clicked her tongue. "Guess that explains why he wasn't planning to fight," she muttered, just barely audible. "And here I thought we were a match made in Heaven!"

Mina cast her eyes back to Mint. "Help me out!"

"As you wish," the Apex's charismatic voice came on Mint's behalf.

Mina pinched the tiny string firmly between her fingers, the iron below it glistening as it dangled freely. "You okay by yourself? We can't leave Celestina! Where River and Francisco ended up is anyone's friggin' guess!"

Octavia didn't want to say yes. She didn't particularly have a choice. "I'll be fine!"

Mina bent her knees slightly. "We're gonna give you somethin' to work with! You're only gonna have it for a few seconds, so make the most of it! Good luck, Heartful!"

Octavia didn't get to question the Maestra. Still, she withdrew her light, trusting in Celestina's momentary safety beneath their skilled defenses. Given their legacies, the Ambassador, too, saw fit to brace. Against what, she was unsure.

"Prepare yourself, child!" the Apex called.

"Hit me!"

Mina arched one arm far back, her knuckles nearly scraping the ground. With impressive force, she lobbed the edged iron high, high into the air above Octavia's head. Octavia's eyes followed instinctively as it rose ever higher, initially puzzled by Mina's sudden surrender to utter defenselessness. She figured out the girl's wild rationale in the most startling way.

Mint, with yet another rolling rattle and firm tap of her palm atop the skin of the tambourine, brought her brilliant bolts sailing just as high. The collision was devastating, the makeshift lightning rod that was Savior's Resplendence splintering the girl's electricity like a river. The sound was borderline unbearable, the resulting boom surely stretching far and wide across Velpyre.

The luminosity that followed was practically blinding in turn, fleeting as it was. It crackled and lingered, echoes of sparking thunderbolts jittering through the atmosphere in the aftermath of the strike. Celestina had squeezed her eyes shut. Octavia had to fight to keep hers open, the intent of Mina's actions dawning on her at the last possible second.

Her eyes darted frantically in every conceivable direction, her way newly paved by the brief dome of lightning that had crowned her sight and the earth beneath her. The way the Dissonance screamed under the weight of the assault was the least of Essenced successes, her illuminated and accessible paths far more important. Octavia clung to every last fizzling spark that evaporated into the air, each crumb of fleeting light just barely enough to bless her for seconds more. Blood rushed through her ears, just as adrenaline rushed through her veins. Her window was shrinking.

Far, far to her distant left, she spotted what she believed was the main road. Octavia recognized the streetlights, dim and useless as they were. She couldn't quite see the church over the buildings and houses, although it wasn't even slightly her priority at the moment--ironically. She made the absolute tiniest of mental notes as to its location, provided she could stay oriented long enough to follow in that direction again.

In her peripheral right, by comparison, trailing the absolute outskirts of her vision, she could've sworn she saw the canvas of a bag. She recognized the color, so out of place amongst murky violet.

She was sprinting before Stradivaria had even touched her shoulder. She didn't bother with Josiah's name, clinging to the last vestiges of Essenced luminosity for dear life. The path that had opened in that direction would surely close with the imminent coagulation of the Dissonance once more. As darkness came down upon her, the residual radiance of guiding thunderbolts fizzling out for good, her own begging light was all she had left.

With every slash of the bow, Octavia begged for his face and his safety. She begged it was him in the first place rather than a trick of the light, temporary as it had been. As to how long he'd been alone in here, she'd lost track of time. It felt like an eternity of her own making.

Slowly but surely, she was becoming aware of the congealing agony she'd feared, the darkened walls closing in on her again with screeching she couldn't block out. She ran faster. She played harder. Alone, her speed served her well. If time was of the essence, if she couldn't play with everything she had, then she could absolutely run with everything she had, instead. Whether or not she could outrun Dissonance remained to be seen. It was a feat she would have to share with another, should she pull it off.

Octavia did what she could to balance her radiance and her frantic sprinting in equal measure, as difficult as it was. Her blood boiled and burned, her brilliant beams sailing deep into the mist that again rose to threaten her skin and singe her body. Should it hurt her, it would do little to impede her desperate search. So, too, did her wide eyes dig deep into the same darkness over and over.

With a passing ray that spiraled into the billowing clouds, she could've sworn she saw his flannel shirt. This time, she opted to hurl his name from her lips. "Josiah!"

She got nothing in return. She repeated her motion, the same brilliance punching a uniform hole into the screaming fog as it gave way in the slightest. Octavia confirmed her sightings, a familiar canvas bag meeting her eyes once more. "Josiah, I'm here! I'm here! Josiah!" she cried at the top of her lungs.

Again, she got nothing. He was on his feet, if not stationary. She'd feared the worst in the form of the boy dead on the ground, and her eyes flooded with tears of relief. As to why he refused to run further from the clouds that gained on him, she wasn't certain.

Octavia did everything she could to fight on his behalf, launching her scathing light with desperation at each writhing plume of smoke that came too close for comfort. She found success in their shrieking, although the way by which she was forced to do so time after time was incredibly disheartening. Part of her wanted to plead with him to run. Most of her was solely fixated on his well-being as she drew ever closer.

"Josiah, are you alright? Are you okay? I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Octavia wailed.

There were a multitude of gazes he could've given her, although some she would've preferred far more than others. The piercing, icy glare, she could live without. The harsh, devastating lightning, she'd do anything to avoid again. The kind warmth that wrapped her up and eased her soul, she would die for. In the end, any variant of that calming stillness she'd found in his eyes time after time would've been welcome in her desperation.

Initially, why Josiah would choose to raise his pitiful little blade into the darkness was beyond her. There was nothing to be done against the agony that descended upon them with weapons of this world. She knew he was aware, and at first found the gesture to be symbolic. It wasn't high, although his grip was notably firm. She looked to him with great confusion.

She lost her peace. In its place, she found only violet, seizing the calm in his eyes she admired. For how low Octavia had plunged into Hell, there was perhaps no deeper she could go.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.