Pantheon

Earthstar

They leave Myriad with Thess's usual painfully inexperienced jarring yank, but Moa thinks she's finally starting to get used to this teleporting thing. Of course, she's used to doing it by herself, but it's a different story with a – with a weird little human-magic-something – something –

Only then the universe doesn't swirl back into being around them like it's supposed to.

Okay, something does, but – Moa blinks, trying to orient herself. They're – she can see each segment and bridge of Earthstar, but everything's against a backdrop of empty black...

No. No way.

"Hey Thess, was that part you?" Aur asks.

Earthstar hangs suspended in front of them. From this angle it has the shape of a star within a pentagon. The five miniature Realms that form its points each appear a different color, depending on their environment. White is Froststar, green is Woodstar, blue is Seastar, and the like. The great shining bridges that give it its name stretch between each segment, connecting each to the others with a brilliant trail of light.

"Which part?!" Thess sounds close to breaking down again. "There are several!"

"No," says Igan in her slow, soft way, not so much appearing as becoming apparent out from the void in front of them. Thess gasps. Moa doesn't blame them. She's full-on giant, taller than the ITU market, with the constellation skin and omniscient white eyes. She doesn't get more imposing than this. "I'm afraid I influenced your destination a little."

Anger takes a sudden control over the rest of Moa's emotions. "Are you kidding me?!" she exclaims. "We're in the void, they can't breathe out here! They could have died!"

"If Thess could not survive the void, they would have been compressed from existence the nanosecond they entered Envah," Igan replies.

"Okay, well. I guess you're right." She can't argue with that. "You saw that?"

Igan smiles at her kindly. "Give me a little credit, Moa."

"What are we doing here?" Thess asks without preamble, swishing their arms and legs and marveling at how they drift in the lack of gravity. Moa feels a surge of pride. Look at them, asking questions so easily. They've come so far.

"I am not sure what your destination would have been on Earthstar if you'd continued to travel," Igan says. "No doubt you'd have performed some great magical feat, and received the gratitude of the entire segment, if your current pattern holds." She sounds vaguely amused at that, but it's always hard to tell with Igan. "But I'm afraid that no matter what you would have done, what I pulled you here to do is far more urgent."

"What's up?" asks Aur.

"Look for yourself," she says, gesturing them closer to the glowing bridges.

They don't even have to approach before Moa can see what she means. The light is spread through with tiny hairline cracks that fragment the bridge into honeycomb-like fragments. It's still shining bright, though, way too bright actually. As Moa gets closer it gets harder and harder to look without squinting, as if it's purposely blazing through its magical fuel faster and hotter than it can maintain. She blinks and looks away, yellow shards stamped on her vision. Beside her, Thess sucks in a horrified gasp.

"Yeah, why's it doing that," Aur deadpans.

"Same reason everything's doing something weird right now," Igan deadpans right back.