The clawed sun was getting hotter, and below, the dry expanse of red soil stretched out before them: Spheris and Cerene... and Linne the Abyssian.
Their countenances were very different. On Spheris's face was a blank expression, a phlegmatic one a person might say. His thoughts were swirling as he processed the situation.
Cerene, on the other hand, was bristling. She could barely contain her anger and it showed. Her jaws were clenched, her fists tightened at her sides and her usually pacific blue eyes were flashing with fury.
The betrayal was still fresh in her mind, and seeing Linne alive only reignited the flames of her rage.
Linne didn't look very threatened, but she was nervous. A tentative smile played on her lips as she looked up at the Bearers, one after the other. "Fancy seeing you guys here... he-he!"
Spheris and Cerene exchanged their silence, eyes fixed at the traitorous girl.
"Uhm... let me just start by apologizing about the whole sacrifice thing." Linne spoke queasily. "You see the Abyssians, we were a family and as a family, we needed to survive any way we c—"
"How are you still alive?!" Cerene demanded, not having any of the girl's horrible attempt at an apology.
"Uh, I ran."
"You ran!?"
"Yeah, I mean..." Linne darted her eyes to Spheris who was still silent. "Only a handful of us managed to escape."
Cerene scoffed. "It's very unfortunate that you're amongst the handful."
The Abyssian smiled. "I know you probably hate me."
"Probably?"
"Okay, definitely. But wow, you two were magnificent. Thank you for saving my life."
"You can save your thanks." Cerene hissed. "I wouldn't have bothered if I knew it was you who needed help."
By her side, Spheris watched the exchange between the two girls. At this point, he had gotten used to seeing Cerene angry: The night of the heist when he had entered in on her half-dressed, the time he had saved them all from the Gorgolith snare, and just some minutes ago when he had bravely called her naive.
But in his opinion, her anger now was the most justified. After all, she was the one who had agreed to joining forces with the Abyssians, only to be betrayed in the end.
However, Spheris felt her anger was still a little exaggerated, which led him to his very first, honest opinion about her. Cerene Mauldyrie was an extremely emotional person, and not just emotional but notably moral as well.
She believed in good, a lot of it. Which was why she desperately believed that the Celestials were good, and why she gets extremely upset when people — especially someone she's close to — acts in a way that is well... not good.
"Come on, Spheris, let's go." Cerene nudged him with her elbow.
'Let's go? What happened to the believing in good thing!?'
"Wait, wait!" Linne cried. "You Bearers want to destroy this realm, right? I'll help you, I'll show you the way. All I ask is that you protect me and take me with you when you leave."
Spheris and Cerene exchanged glances then returned back to her. "I thought the Abyss was your home, why would you help us destroy it?"
"The Abyssians were my home not the Abyss." she replied briskly. "I have no people, so now, I have no home. If I stay here any longer I'm going to die." Her gaze turned stern. "Help me and I will help you."
"How stupid do you think we are?" Cerene immediately replied. "What makes you think that we're ever going to trust you after what you guys did to us before? You're the very reason we're separated in the first place."
"And I'm sorry for that, but can't you see what I am offering you?"
"I don't care about what you're offering!"
Everywhere fell silent for a while, only loud panting caused by the energy spent in arguing was heard. Then slowly, Linne shifted her eyes to Spheris, a pitiful cast on her face.
"And what about you?" she asked. "You're ever quiet, but you must have an opinion on this."
Cerene immediately turned to him, a warning look in her eyes. But Spheris was unmoved, he only looked away and regarded the helpless, wounded Abyssian with a scrutinizing gaze.
Her offer was invaluable in all honesty, Spheris couldn't deny that. Not the information on how to survive in the Abyss, since they were already doing that on their own, but the information on how to destroy the Abyss. That held undeniable appeal, especially knowing that they had no other way to find that out.
And about Cerene, who was she kidding? Spheris could see that she was angry, yes. But at the same time, he could see in the very same eyes a glint of hope that Spheris would say yes to Linne's offer.
He was right, Cerene was good. And one day, inevitably, she will be too good for her own good. Spheris could see clear as night, she was angry but she didn't want to abandon the girl irrespective of what she had done. So she placed all her hope on Spheris's kindness, which to be honest, wasn't the best of places to do that.
And that got him thinking again. Maybe she hadn't placed all her hope on his kindness, maybe she had placed it on his resourcefulness, his survival instincts. Which meant one thing... had Cerene been studying him?
"Spheris?" her angry voice dragged him back to the present.
He slowly blinked his eyes at her and her figure materialized in front of him once more.
'Hmm.' Ignoring the thoughts in his head, he looked down at Linne. "How about a show of faith? Tell us one valuable piece of information and we will consider taking you with us."
"Uh... what valuable information? If I tell you where to go to find out how to destroy the realm you could decide to abandon me right here."
"True." Spheris agreed. "But think harder, there must be something."
Linne took a head down as her thoughts pranced. "Okay, uhm... you said you and your team got separated? How?"
Spheris and Cerene shared a look.
"Trap caves," he replied.
"Yes, yes! I can help you find them."
"You can?"
"Yes!" Linne grew excited, it seemed she was going to survive the Abyss after all. "If your friends have managed to escape through the walls, they're going to find themselves in either of the four checkpoints in the Realm."
"What are they?" Spheris asked, his eyes turning grim. "These checkpoints."
"They're the regions in the Abyss where the most bizarre anomalies occur; Frozen Sands, Rising Rain, Floating Rocks and — "
"Falling Grass." he completed her words as he and Cerene shared a grave knowing glance.
Linne looked up at the both of them. "You both fell into trap caves as well?"
"Yes," Cerene replied. "My checkpoint was Floating Rocks."
"And mine was Falling Grass."
"Well that means the rest of your friends are in Frozen Sands and Rising Rain. I can take you there."
With an apathetic breath, Spheris said: "That won't be necessary, Cerene has a map."
"A map..." Linne's voice trailed off, and fear suddenly overshadowed her earlier excitement. "We... made a deal."
"Scared already, are we?" Spheris let an evil smirk escape from him. "Now you see how it feels?"
In that moment, the terror in Linne's eyes was vainly satisfying. Seeing her feel the same way he and the other Avatars felt when she had betrayed them. It was tasty, too tasty. But in no time, he caught Cerene's watchful gaze as well and the darkness vanished.
He sighed. "But, a deal is a deal. So yes, you can come."
"Thank you!" she praised. "Thank you so much."
"Whatever, hold still!" Cerene ordered, getting on her knees to heal the wounded knee. Spheris watched with a blank expression on his face — which by his standard was a humored one. It was endearing, seeing Cerene pretend to be angry just to hide her relief.
She conjured some water out of her flagon and after a moment of waiting, made the water glow into silvery blue. Then she placed it over the wound carefully.
"Ouch! That stings!" Linne cried.
"Shut up."
"Ugh!... oh... oh." The Abyssian let out a breath of relief. "That's quite relaxing."
Soon after, Cerene was done and the laceration had vanished. Not even a scar.
'Impressive.' Spheris thought.
"Wow. You Bearers sure are something, huh?" Linne said with a nervous chuckle. She found herself to her feet and said a thank you to Cerene that was not reciprocated, then she smiled.
"So where to now?"
"We need to get to a cave if we don't want to scorch to death." Cerene said.
Spheris frowned. He'd had enough of caves, but unfortunately, Cerene was right.
"That one looks suitable enough." Linne suggested, pointing to the opening beneath a very small plain-peaked hill.
Cerene and Spheris gazed at the cave then turned back to look at Linne.
"I mean whatever you two decide, it's up to you." she immediately said in retreat.
"Let's go," Cerene decided. "By the time this sun goes down it will already be late, so we might need somewhere to rest the night."
Starting to walk, Spheris turned to his left and saw that Linne was standing and staring at him with the widest grin he had ever seen in his life plastered on her face.
"Commander?" she mused.
His straight face folded with suspicion. "You... are gonna walk in front of us," he simply replied.
Still smiling, Linne ambled forward. "Cool raven."
Talon cawed back in reply, appreciating the compliment.
Spheris sighed. "She's a human, Talon. You're a bird."