Like the curtain at the end of the show, the column of overlapping black silk fell to the ground around the two Saints. Flying inside, Noble twisted the top shut above her in barely the blink of an eye. The cone drowned out the light of the moon.
"No!" Mae shrieked. Her body seemed to fade slightly. "I am not Nothing!"
'It's a lie!' Noble kept the thought to herself lest she confuse Syrce, who had not heard the claim.
Maelys was nothing, or at least believed she was. Reflections were nothing but a mirror image, after all.
Nothing…why did that tug at something in her memory?
'Keep going!' She sent Syrce a rush of her own emotion.
The Transcendant core of energy landed on the bear, pinning her to the ground. She seared the fur and skin of the Other as she repeated the words with dire force.
"You…are...nothing!"
Small wisps of black mist pushed through the overlapping tapestries of thread to heal the polar bear, but Noble tightened the seal to cut them off.
"Stop! Oh!" Mae gasped as she looked up at the floating Master in shock.
The bear was no longer being rejuvenated, and for the first time in her short existence, Mae felt fear.
"You!" Her eyes fell on Noble as she reached fruitlessly for the mirror hanging from the Master's belt. "Give that to me! NOW!"
Noble shook her head and looked away. She would not acknowledge the creature's existence with her gaze. Her second sight, however, was trained on the scene below.
Continuing to pin the bear to the ground, Syrce battered her fake sibling with her glowing satellites.
She had exhausted herself of her language, but the sentiments remained. The Other should not exist!
Mae thrashed against the assault. She would not be denied. Ignoring her own pain, she scratched, ripped, and crushed any part of the Syrce she could reach.
The battle raged on, Syrce trying desperately to snuff out the life of the reflection.
'Just die!'
Syrce's will and desire were potent, but they were not quite enough. Despite the ancient Saint's efforts, the Other remained.
The orbs of energy glowed, filled with all of Syrce's emotion. The Saint was on the precipice.
And who better to help someone with their emotions than a friend like Noble?
'Allow me. Get ready!'
Noble had more than enough emotion to spare. She took all of the anger of herself and the rest of the group, letting it ignite like a coal in her soul.
Syrce lifted into the cone, preparing for a final strike.
'Ready.'
'Now!' Noble pressed all of her emotion toward Syrce. Like a lit fuse, the Saint began glowing with an otherworldly incandescence.
'Here goes nothing!'
Syrce blazed to the ground, crashing into the earth with the force of a comet.
The two Saints collided in a blinding radiance. The ruins shook as the core of energy burst, sending shockwaves in all directions. The silken tapestry shredded under the pressure, and Noble was thrown up among the stars. Her head pounded as her vision blurred.
'I can't…lose consciousness!' Noble fought to keep control of her faculties.
She had been thrown through the thread as it tore, and pieces of it hung from her armor.
Thankfully, it didn't seem to be affecting her. Not yet, at least. She shook off the silk.
"The mirror!" Checking, Noble heaved a sigh of relief as she felt both the cloak and the mirror still tucked snugly in her belt.
Securing it, Noble found that it was still intact. Part of her had hoped the impact would have shattered it. There was no such luck.
As the light dimmed below, Noble tried to see what had become of the two Saints. A collision like that would have destroyed a city block of the NQSC, killing hundreds of mundanes. If Noble had been any closer, she wasn't sure if she would have survived either.
A deep crater in the ground was beginning to fill with water from the mirror lake. Fissures all around were leading the water toward the gaping hole in the landscape. Pieces of white hair and bones were being washed around by the flowing water.
But not for long. As Noble flew closer, black mist flowed into the air, erasing any sign of the polar bear. The Nothingness seeped through Mirage's cape, making its home inside the mirror.
Mae was gone, and this time it was for good.
But where was Syrce?
The world looked so dark after the explosion, and Noble struggled to make sense of the carnage. The hillside had been reformed under the not-so-gentle urgings of the energetic Saint to the point that the topography was unrecognizable.
If not for the Dragon still wreaking havoc at the top of the fortress, Noble would have been tempted to believe that she had been transported to a third version of Bastion.
At least none of the soldiers had been near enough to be affected by the blast. They had surely seen it, though. Were they as worried as she was concerning their commander?
Using her Kingdom Keeper attribute, Noble frowned. The connection between her and the Saint was present, but it did not pull her in any particular direction. That was worrisome.
"Syrce! Can you hear me?" Noble called.
She did not care if the rest of the Others, the Dragon, or anyone else paid attention to her. All that mattered was her friend.
No response immediately came.
Noble touched her ear. The Memory! It was still there. It hadn't been destroyed.
'Syrce!'
Still no answer.
The hole was filling quickly with water. Soon, there would be a beautiful pool where the stables had once been. While the Pink Ones might have liked a place to bathe, they were not here, and time was running short.
Noble flew across the water, collecting the last of the black mist before it could find a home in one of the remaining Others. Something caught her eye, reflecting the moonlight.
"The Other's Voice!" Noble dove to retrieve the other half of her Memory. She lifted it from the ground, and her heart sank.
Three fingers peeked out from the muddy ground. Now she knew why her attribute was being less than cooperative. Her friend was not missing. She was buried under mystical rubble.
"Helie!" Noble called, unsure if the other Master could hear her.
The tide of water continued to rise, seconds away from being even with their position.
Gritting her teeth, Noble pressed her hands into the dirt. Her flaw activated mercilessly. She hissed, pushing back the rubble to find the Syrce's slender arm. She gripped it, pulling on the Saint with all her might.
For a moment, it seemed that the earth would not release its captive, but Noble refused to take no for an answer. She scraped away large swaths of earth, each armful delivering another excruciating dose of soul damage for her recklessness.
"Bel?" Helie's voice broke across the chasm.
"Help! Syrce's buried!"
Noble needed to say no more. The earth split, and the body of Syrce was laid out for Noble to lift into the air. Leaving the pool, the floating Master met Helie at the edge of the crater with her charge in tow.
Syrce was paler than snow, and her skin was covered in lacerations.
Worse than that...she wasn't breathing.