Priscilla shuffled through a ruined coastal city; the wind beneath her feet gave her figurative wings that carried her across the rooftops. The dark-lit sky hung overhead as Shademauls screeched behind her in a frenzied pursuit. The shore trembled as the waves recoiled off it. Sythmorans crawled onto the land with bloodthirsty eyes. Shademauls swarmed her from behind, but Priscilla flipped in the air, leaping gracefully down the side of a building before she thrust a dozen flaming needles from her palm at the creatures.


    Shademauls erupted in a blaze, illuminating the darkness and stifling the Sythmorans who dragged their venomous javelins from the sea toward the city. Priscilla eyed the scene silently, shifting into the dark and weaving through the narrow streets; when she reached the sand, she slapped her hand down against it. The marks on her body glowed and shifted before the sand rose in a glimmering display of sand and glass that pierced through the Sythmorans. They howled in a gurgle as their water-decayed lungs cursed the woman.


    Before Priscilla could breathe a sigh of relief, the sand churned near her as large dome-like insects swarmed, their pincered mouths clasping with an intensity that thundered across the night sky.


    "Ah! Not the Skriythe!" Priscilla cried out with disgust as a four-foot-long insect lunged out toward her. Priscilla''s eyes glowed with azure as the moisture condensed, her chilling disgust enhancing the water to a breaking point as it chilled into a blade of ice. She thrust it down at the creature, but it deflected with its pincered mouth, breaking her frost blade in half.


    Priscilla snorted; the Skriythe were one of the races she disliked the most of those Zae-Rin had shown her. She kicked out toward its domed carapace, forming an icicle on her foot as it pierced through, drawing a deluge of green blood. The Skriythe retaliated, its pincers snapping toward Priscilla''s foot, but the girl pushed her body back with the wind, causing the bug to snap at empty air. Before it could collect itself, she moved again, but this time forward. Her body reappeared before the creature as she kicked out again straight through the Skriythe''s temple.


    She had not finished with the battles as the city continued swarming with different creatures; Zae-Rin''s trials were always creative, simple, and effective. They put Priscilla on a thin line where a single mistake would chuck her back to Zae-Rin''s garden in failure. Priscilla continued like this for another hour before she cut down the final creature within the coastal cityscape. Priscilla stood over a Sharlac that extended deep out from the sea. Blood gushed out onto the pale white sand, contrasting with the glimmer of her blue gown.


    Priscilla blinked and returned to the tranquility of Zae-Rin''s space, "Ah, I can feel the stable ground beneath me again!" Priscilla chirped as she sat down next to Zae-Rin. She grabbed a pastry off the table, indulging in it with a smile. "The ground was so shaky when the Sharlac slithered out of the water! I didn''t know they could even get that long!"


    Zae-Rin laughed as she sat leisurely, "Sharlacs are constantly eating the nigh-infinite resources of the sea, so they tend to grow quite large in their matured state. One of the longest I''ve seen was perhaps almost a thousand feet long."


    "The night is young, child. Shall we go for a walk?" Zae-Rin asked.


    "Mhm! Let''s!" Priscilla nodded happily.


    The two women walked through a path of wondrous flowers, small butterflies fluttering all around them, painting a magical scene. Priscilla latched her arm around Zae-Rin''s, just slightly above her elbow.


    "I''m so glad to have met you, Rin," Priscilla uttered softly as her gaze drifted toward the shimmering stars overhead. Even if she knew they were not real, she loved their presence and the normalcy they gave. "I never would''ve known how magical the world was and still is without you. I would''ve been trapped without hope, always struggling to satisfy everyone''s greed and hypocrisy."


    Priscilla''s eyes reddened as her emotions piled up. Zae-Rin''s support had reminded her countless times of her pitiful mother, the unwavering and infallible care that had no strings attached.


    "Oh, child. Don''t cry." Zae-Rin replied softly as her steps halted; she placed her hand on Priscilla''s cheek, wiping off the tear that had formed. "Life is an enigma beyond our control. The past may have been bleak, but the future is still long and just ahead. The darkness can only last so long before the dawn of starlight illuminates the sky."


    "Soon, you''ll be ready to return. My power has nearly gathered to release you from the binding shackles of purgatory. And your trials are close to done; your mastery of the four elements has been incredible, and while your use of duality is still rough, I believe you''ll master it."


    "Only reality and falsity... will take far more time, but that is normal. The two are the greatest laws of creation, so don''t feel bad about not resonating with them." Zae-Rin added reassuringly.


    "Can you... leave with me?" Priscilla questioned, her voice quivering as the words left her. She knew the answer, but she still needed to ask again.


    "No, child. Even if I were at my strongest, I would not have the strength to leave here. You shouldn''t focus on that; your second chance is far more important." Zae-Rin said with a smile as she caressed Priscilla''s cheek.


    Priscilla sulked, knowing that when she returned, she would be all alone. She would return and be alone, with no friend or family to call her own. Zae-Rin understood what was on Priscilla''s mind, but there was nothing Zae-Rin could do or say. The girl had to leave, and she had to fight. It was the only hope they had.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    The two women sat on a slight slope blanketed in crimson lilies, their hands behind them as their backs arched, gazing into the sky in silence. Melancholy and understanding wafted in the air, for they both knew their time together was approaching an end.


    <hr>


    As the days rolled by in blissful togetherness, the time came when Priscilla would experience her final trial. Zae-Rin stood amidst the flowers, her hands behind her back. The woman''s posture was upright and rigid for the first time that Priscilla had seen. "Priscilla Valentine. Are you prepared for the final trial?" Zae-Rin asked, with her back turned toward Priscilla. It was the first time she had ever used Priscilla''s name— a fact which did not go unnoticed by Priscilla, who felt the tension increase.


    "I''m ready!" Priscilla yelped, her nervousness getting the best of her. She understood that the trial would not be easy based on Zae-Rin''s tone. But Priscilla also knew that the time for weakness and powerlessness was over. She would clear this trial and return to life with a fury.


    Zae-Rin only grinned as she began waving her hands intricately, forming shapes in the air as markings manifested along her body, not much different than the marks that would wrap around Priscilla.


    "Priscilla, impatience is natural, even more so in your situation, but you must free your mind of burden and focus on the course of your life." As she spoke, the garden trembled with fervor, Zae-Rin''s powers agitating the space that enveloped them. Zae-Rin pulled her hands down, causing a swirling, ethereal aura around the two women. "But my nagging doesn''t mean much, for I believe in you, child." Zae-Rin smiled as the boundary between reality and falsity melded in a blurred state, and Priscilla blinked into her trial.


    <hr>


    A loud thud echoed as sand billowed into the air. Priscilla lifted herself from a mound of course sand that latched to her skin. Her eyes slowly scanned the landscape, witnessing the dawn of the pale bronze that coated the entire horizon. Dunes spread— a vast and numerous culmination of countless weathered storms. The closeness of the starlit sky overhead burned with wrathful indignation that left no shadow unturned.


    Priscilla moved— shuffling awkwardly through the sand and shriveled remains of nature. Her feet stumbled as her toe caught on a gnarled root that prodded dryly from the earth. She resisted the pull, avoiding falling flat. With every step, her face reddened as the midday wind blew across it.


    It was deliberately unhurried— and enjoyable. Priscilla took her time, feeling the grains against her feet. The sand was abrasive to the touch but not irritating. It was a soft roughness that brought with it comfort.


    Before Priscilla managed to get far, the thundering roar of war chants filled her ears. Dust clouds rose toward the heavens as men on horseback rode past her with belligerent negligence. The men flailed their scimitars in the air with wanton abandon, charging over a large dune that blocked Priscilla''s sight.


    ''Who was that?'' Priscilla wondered as she hastened her steps. Pushing herself through the sand and reaching the top of the sandy dune. As she stepped atop the sandy peak, her gaze glimmered with awe as the sprawling city filled her vision.


    It was not as glamorous as the empire she knew; it was not constructed of the finest marble or used the wonders of steel-craft. It did not even use the dazzling materials she was familiar with— and yet, regardless of everything. It carried with it an aura of civilization. Unmolested by the perversion of society— a true mecca of culture.


    The city gates were colossal, adjoined to stone walls that brought shade to the citizens. A singular path of carefully lined bricks coursed through the cityscape''s heart. Stretching out toward the upper trenches of temples and palaces, which nested beyond a web of delicate canals that divided them from the commoners.


    Priscilla saw the contingent of men that rode past her dismounting; their horses beamed with valiant pride as they huffed and kicked, lifting themselves off the ground. The man tied their horses to a series of wooden railings that latched to the shadowy reaches of the wall before trotting off toward the city''s upper reaches.


    The girl knew the time had come as she took to the unknown city. Priscilla''s steps hastened as she covered her eyes with her hand to block the starlit warmth that blanketed her face. Once she reached the gates, she could truly see the detail of the divine city; columns spread outward from the gate, stabbing toward the heavens as they ascended into the clouds. Upon each column were scenes etched into the stone, depicting battles and the prosperity of the city''s people. Priscilla walked the paved road calmly as she soaked in the depictions of the columns. It was a never-ending conflict as the warriors on horseback rode through the sand aimlessly in pursuit of evil to vanquish. The forces encroached upon their territory with a viciousness unparalleled; they wanted to devour the people and burn them alive. But such a thing was easier said than done as the people fought with their souls lit ablaze.


    "How divine..." She uttered softly, a breath escaping her lips. She caressed the column softly, feeling the gritty stone against her fingers. "These people were incredible compared to the people of the empire I knew. When faced with such despair and evil, instead of turning against one another, they fought their bitter battles as if they were the last."


    Priscilla continued on the path; once she reached the halfway point, she began to see masses of people. Devout— It was the first word that came to mind. The people prostrated on the ground with their heads bowed and arms outstretched toward the hanging star above. Men marched between the rows of people, fanning them with an overgrown leaf drenched in water as the water coated their flesh; they lifted their heads to the star before bowing again. Priscilla had never spent too much time studying people, yet she could still feel the inherent emotion in these men and women. There was fear and unwillingness— even the dimmest of hope.


    "Hello..." She uttered in a hushed whisper as she approached a woman near her. "Can you hear me?"


    "Hello..." She repeated; Priscilla knew that the people Zae-Rin had manifested before had some vitality in them, fake as it may have been, but they still responded to her presence. She reached out, placing her hand on the woman''s shoulder, but the whole city shuddered the moment that she did.


    Priscilla jolted her hand back, but it was too late. The woman turned toward Priscilla, her eyes hollow— and gouged of life. She wailed— silent and eerie. It was evident she was crying out, so why was it quiet? Priscilla shivered, taking a step back, but the woman followed with a crawl. Blood gushed from her emptied eyeholes, and her flesh began to crack; the life drained from her as she crumbled into sand.


    The ocean of people jolted as the woman crumbled; they turned toward Priscilla one after the other. Howls gushed from their mouths, quaking the paved earth beneath them. This time, to Priscilla''s dismay— she heard their wails perfectly. The blood flowed profusely from their eyeholes the same way the woman bled. They squirmed with unknown insanity, lurching toward the heavens. Finally, the last dregs of vitality bubbled within them as they roared a fervent chant, "Azzi-Dahka! Azzi-Dahka! AZZI-DAHKA! AZZI-DAHKA!"


    And then there was only silence— and sand.