Wren leaned against a railing overlooking the sea wall, he stared past the shallow sea and the stone barriers that encircled it. His gaze was transfixed on the rising moon, the symbol that the sending was about to begin. The evening air was starting to take on a bitter chill, a sign that winter was fast approaching.

  Below him were the tens of thousands of people gathered for the sending. He glanced over the crowd with a feeling of bittersweetness. When he was young he used to love the sending, it had filled him with pride to see his people come together to pay respect to the dead and dying. That was until he had been conscripted into the crimson hunt. Memories came flooding back of those horrid times, the weeks of marching without stop, the wet miserable nights of restless sleep, the cave systems filled with deadly traps, and the horrors that they had seen inside. Wren found himself gagging at the memory of the burn pits, his nose began to sting at the thought.

  He slammed his dead hand into the stone railing, the blacked husk didn’t feel pain, but it still helped to center himself. After everything he had seen and done during those accursed years, It felt wrong to come back and take part in a ritual that treated death as something noble. His own sister had been lost in the hunt. Without thinking, he reached a hand up to touch the cold metal band around his brow, despite its small size the metal band weighed heavy on his head. Wren whispered aloud to himself. “I wish you were here to share this burden, Lylah.”

  Someone cleared their throat behind Wren, causing him to turn and see the source. Before him stood Cyrus, his brother in all but blood; who happened to look rather sheepish at interrupting Wren’s moment alone. Cyrus cleared his throat again. “Is something bothering you brother?” He said with his usual thunderous cadence.

  “I was just recalling less pleasant times.” Wren said with a mirthless smile.

  “Any time in particular?”

  “The events that lead to our meeting.” Wren saw the blood drain from his brother’s face. He raised a hand to stop the inevitable apology. “All is well Cyrus. Let's focus on better things. The sending is about to begin, where are the children?”

  “I’m not sure, I had honestly thought they were still with you. They might be off with Rosel?” Cyrus looked down into the crowded seawall, scanning his head back and forth.

  Wren shot a glance over his shoulder. The moon was quickly rising above the stone reef, this wasn’t the time for the children to be off playing. He gestured to the guards that were standing at the other side of the viewing platform, the pair jogged up to him quickly and snapped salutes as they came to a stop. Wren nodded towards them. “Do we have eyes on Rosel or my children? They seem keen on missing the ritual tonight.”

  The guards both closed their eyes as they checked in with the House of whispers. One of the guards grimaced. She looked up with a frown as she responded. “Your majesty, Rosel has been spotted down in the seawall. Alone.”

  Cyrus turned on a heel. “What! Those little… Of all the times for them to sneak off!”

  Wren rubbed his eyebrows with one hand. “They’re twelve; I can’t say I didn’t do the same with Lylah when we were at that age. We will have to find them after the ritual.” He grumbled.

  The other guard glanced to the side, his mouth fell in shock. “My lords! Look!” The man pointed toward the cliffs that stretched past the sides of the seawall. Wren looked over to see someone waving, their dead hand was wreathed in the green flames of the Night Father. From the clothing he could tell it was his daughter Tayla, she was waving frantically. Wren felt anger, he had told the kids not to go near the cliffs, time and time again. Oddly, he could only make out Tayla; where were the other three?

  Tayla pointed down towards the shallow sea below. Wren felt his heart stop. His eyes darted down, dreading what he would see. There, dangling from the cliffside were the rest of the children. Alnur was hanging by a single arm, his other hand was holding Lillian from falling into the shallow sea some fifty feet below. Fel was further down, their slight frame holding on for dear life.

  Without a word Wren and Cyrus broke out into a sprint.

  Cyrus spoke frantically. “Wren, the ritual! If we don’t get to them in time they’ll be-”

  “I Know!” Wren screamed. His heart was exploding in his chest as he ran, his head felt like it was about to burst. From where they were, they would be the only ones that could make it to the kids in time. He scrambled up the paved roads, taking side alleys and shortcuts to try and save precious seconds. He slammed into a wall as he tried to take a corner too quickly. There was a soft jingle as he glanced back and saw his crown on the stones behind him. Without a second thought he continued sprinting.

  Soon he was at the rock walls that encircled the sides of the city, he and Cyrus climbed like madmen. As they pulled themselves up to the raised cliff, Wren saw the sky darken. The sending had begun.

  The stars and sun vanished, the air itself was sucked away; without light and sound, the world was thrown into complete darkness. Wren didn’t stop, the Lifeweaver had designed his people for this. His eyes adjusted to see in pitch blackness, his body frantically shifted to backup organs to function without air. It was nothing short of a miracle of bio engineering. Ahead he could see Tayla sobbing as she pulled at her hair. As they neared the cliff Wren pulled out his bladed thresher whip from his belt, he began tying it around his waist, ignoring the serrated blades that sank into his flesh. The cliff was right before them, he tossed the other end without looking and leapt. Cyrus managed to grab the whip and wrapped the end around his arm as he braced himself.

  Wren flew down the cliff side, he saw Alnur and Lillian below him, Alnur looked to be barely holding on. Fel was further down still, they looked terrified, but at least they seemed to be holding on well for now. Just as he was nearing Alnur and Lillian, he kicked off the cliff and flipped to right himself. The force of such a maneuver should have left him shaken and disoriented, if not for the improved vestibular system the Lifeweaver had seen fit to give his people. He knew that he was nearing the end of the whip's length so he braced his legs outwards. Even knowing it was about to happen didn’t stop it from hurting any less, he jolted to a stop, the blades in his waist biting deep, causing him to scream a silent shriek. He had come to a halt just beside Alnur and Lillian. Both of them had streams of tears down their faces, relieved to see him.

  He quickly reached out and scooped both of them up in his arms. Taking a moment to kiss them on the foreheads as his own eyes welled with tears. A moment later two ropes fell down the cliffside. Glancing up Wren could see the pair of guards had caught up and were ready to lift the children. Wren gave his thanks to the gods that they had managed to find some rope for the kids. He quickly tied the ropes around the kids. He waved when he was done, the pair were slowly lifted up the cliff to safety. Now Wren just had to wait a moment, as soon as the pair were safe they could toss down the ropes again and he could get Fel.

  Looking down, Wren saw something horrific. The water beneath them had turned jet black. The Nightfather was collecting the dead; if they fell now, they would be destroyed and ferried to the Endless Ocean. He saw Fel looking up. Their eyes started to flutter rapidly as they went limp.

  Fel let go of the cliff and began to tumble to their death.

  Wren screamed, he held his dead hand on the whip and poured his emotions into it. The whip disintegrated in an instant as he kicked off the cliff to throw himself down towards Fel. He reached a hand out as he slowly gained on his child. The water below coming up to meet him at a breakneck speed. Fel was almost in reach, just a few inches were between them when Wren felt a sharp stabbing in his ankle, he came to an abrupt halt, slamming into the cliff with his chest. He looked up to see another thresher whip around his ankle, the blades biting deep enough they had almost severed his foot. Cyrus hung from one of the ropes, holding the other end of the whip.

  Frantically turning to look down, he saw Fel hit the water, engulfed by the void itself. He clutched at his hair as he beat his other hand against the rocks. Wren screamed in his mind for the Nightfather to show mercy. Beneath him, a sliver of light appeared. A pinprick of green light shone from beneath the blackness. The light grew until it was a small ring maybe ten feet in diameter, right where Fel had hit the water. The shallow sea was called such because it was only two or three feet in depth, yet Fel had been completely swallowed, perhaps there was a chance.

  There was no time to hesitate, Wren locked his free foot under a rock and pushed with all his strength. He felt the thresher whip sink deeper and deeper and in a moment it went slack as it had ripped completely through his ankle. He was in free fall again, nearly blacking out from the pain. His body quickly sensed the lack of pressure, seeing the gaping wound as a substantial threat considering he was essentially in a vacuum; it went to work to quickly seal the wound to prevent any further blood loss.

  Wren aimed for the ring of light with the last of his strength as he came crashing into the water below.

  A hand gently tapped Wren on the arm, waking him from his slumber. He shot up befuddled and groggy. The suddenness of his sitting up garnered a surprised gasp from the person next to him. He looked over to see his wide eyed woman. He knew that face.

  It was his wife, Gabriel.

  He had been laying down using her lap to rest his eyes and must have fallen asleep. “I’m sorry dear, I didn’t expect to fall asleep.”

  Gabriel laid a hand on his shoulder. “Did you have a nightmare? You were fidgeting in your sleep like a madman.” Wren took a moment to look around, he felt disoriented after his nightmare. He was sitting in the main plaza at the top of the city, the Keel loomed overhead, the dark purple spire of crystal that was his home. Gabriel was wearing one of her loose fitting night dresses. They had been on a walk and came out of the Keel to get some fresh air before bed.

  “Yeah, I had this incredibly vivid dream. How long have I been sleeping? We need to get you inside, you must be freezing!” Wren said as he rambled.

  The light laugh that came from Gabriel filled Wren’s chest with warmth. He loved her laugh. “You were asleep for only a few minutes. Now, tell me about your dream!”

  He tried to recall his dream, but it seemed to slip away like sand through his fingers. “I can’t remember now, must not have been that memorable.” Laughing as he turned to stand. He put his feet down and froze, something about his foot seemed off.

  Arms wrapped around him, holding him in place as his wife leaned in to cuddle. “What’s the rush? Let’s just stay here for a while.”

  “That would be wonderful, but we have to put the triplets to bed.” Wren moved to break free from Gabriel’s grip, but she didn’t budge.

  “Triplets? What are you talking about Wren? That dream must have really frazzled your head, we don’t have kids!” She said with concern.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Wren snapped around. “What?” He looked at his wife in confusion. “Of course we have kids! Their names are-” His mind went blank. Panic gripped him, what was happening? Was he still confused from his dream? He needed to stand up and clear his head. He broke away from Gabriel despite her protests, standing on his left leg, he put his right foot out to step forward and his leg gave out as he shifted his weight on it. He fell to the ground, knocking the wind out from him. His right foot was numb, he must have slept with it in an odd position and it lost circulation.

  Gabriel stood up. “Wren! Are you okay?”

  Rolling on his back Wren sat up and braced himself with his arms. He looked up at Gabriel, her night dress looked odd, the fabric around her waist was folded and bunched up. Something in the back of his head was itching. Like he was forgetting something important.

  Gabriel reached a hand down to help him up, he tried to grab it but stopped. “You shouldn’t do that when you’re pregnant dear-” He froze. He remembered where he saw that night dress, it was the one Gabriel wore when she was late in her pregnancy, she had complained that nothing fit anymore and resigned herself to wearing loose night dresses as they were the only thing that felt comfortable. Looking up slowly he felt tears welling up in his eyes. “This isn’t real is it?”

  “What? What are you talking about dear? You’re scaring me!”

  Wren forced himself to stand on one foot, he looked his wife in the eyes, reaching up a hand to her cheek. She was just as beautiful as the day he lost her. “You died during childbirth Gaby. I held you in my arms as you breathed your last breath.” His voice trembled as he spoke, his face streaming with tears. His wife's face contorted in fear and sorrow. Wren looked around, the plaza had never been this silent and still. The clouds in the sky were frozen in place, it was like time had forgotten to move. Maybe this was all in his mind, his brain frantically stitching together something to calm him as he was dying. Or perhaps this was the Endless sea, the resting place for his people, either way, he had to resist its call, Fel needed him.

  As Wren tried to pull away Gabriel cried out. “Please don’t leave me Wren, I’ve been so alone! I waited so long to see you again!” She was hyperventilating, shaking violently. She leapt forward to wrap herself around Wren.

  “I have to go, our children need me. I wish you could see them Gaby, they’re all so wonderful.” Wren ran his hand through his wife’s hair. He could smell salt water in it.

  Gabriel broke away slightly to look up at Wren. “What are their names? Did you use the ones we talked about?” There was a hunger in her eyes, a need to know more.

  Wren took a deep breath, if this was a place made by his mind, perhaps he could use that to his advantage. Closing his eyes he brought back his most cherished memories; the triplets' first steps, their first words, their smiling faces. As the memories came back, the plaza around him crumbled and broke into pieces, rearranging itself into the Keel’s interior, the memories playing out in front of them. “The eldest is our son Alnur, named after your father, like you wanted. Our daughter is Tayla, I wanted a name similar to Lylah’s to honor her, and our third child is Fel. The name just kinda came to me.” The three stood in line, smiling towards their mother.

  “They’re perfect!” Gabriel said between joyful sobs. “I wish I could be there with you all!”

  “I know dear, I wish you were with us too, but I have to go back, they need me, Fel needs me!” It took all of his willpower to pull away from his wife. “When my time comes, I will see you again my love, but for now, I need you to let me go.” His voice was shaking.

  The illusions of their children began to crumble, the world eroding into dust. Gabriel looked Wren in the eye. “Take your time, I’ll wait as long as I have to.” She broke away from their embrace, her figure slowly turning translucent. “Tell them I love them!”

  Wren nodded as he turned away, the edge of the plaza had vanished, revealing an endless chasm. Holding out his dead hand he summoned the Nightfather’s gift, his hand erupting in green flames. The ground swallowed him as he fell into the waiting abyss.

  Wren’s eyes shot open, he found himself floating weightlessly in a dark ocean, surrounded by something that was at the same time both water and not water. His dead hand was attached to coral that was holding him to the seafloor. Thankfully he was still holding his breath; his record was forty minutes, but that wasn’t while running around exerting himself. He had maybe a few minutes of air left until he passed out. He looked around the ocean-like floor for Fel. There to his left was the glowing light, he tried to make out the source but couldn’t see it past the spires of coral. His vision adjusted a bit, he had to fight not to gasp at the sight.

  The ocean floor was covered in hundreds and hundreds of mounds of coral reaching up, each one was capped with a bloated corpse held in place by their dead hands fused to the spires. The bodies themselves seemed to be pulled upwards by some unseen force but were unable to escape from the coral prisons.

  Looking back at his own dead hand, the coral was rapidly trying to grow over it. Fear gripped him, he couldn’t afford to be trapped like those other poor souls. He poured the gift into his hand, beams of green light emerged from the gaps in the coral as it quickly disintegrated around his hand, he pulled away quickly, swimming upwards away from the sea floor.

  Turning quickly Wren swam with all his might towards the green light further ahead. He had never been allowed in the ocean, but strangely enough it felt perfectly natural to swim, it came to him effortlessly. He made his way through the spires of coral, taking care not to touch them lest he get trapped again. Rounding a spire he finally could see the source of the light, it was Fel. They hung there in a ball of light, every inch of their body was covered in blackened clawed hands, holding them in place. The twisted hands stretched from the very seafloor itself, slowly pulling Fel down towards the hungry coral below.

  Wren surged forward, closing the gap as fast as he could, the light was warm on his skin, soon that warmth was replaced by a wildfire that threatened to burn him to a crisp. He willed himself forward as he finally reached his child; frantically he started ripping at the claws that held Fel with all of his fury. For every one he removed another two came to take its place. He wrapped his hand in flames, burning through swathes of the nightmarish hands with every wave. It still wasn’t enough. His skin began to blister and boil. His lungs were starting to reach their limits.

  Inside the cocoon of light Fel was undergoing rapid changes. They seemed to be growing taller, skin rippled like liquid as the muscles underneath rapidly tore and healed at such a rate that within seconds they went from frail and thin to toned and defined. Bones snapped and broke as they shifted size and density. Fel’s long black hair was slowly glowing and changing to strands of pure white. In their chest was a ball of fire that seemed to be raging uncontrollably.

  Screaming in his mind, Wren opened the link. His sister was long dead and couldn’t respond, but he prayed that something, anything, would hear his cries for help and save his child. Nightfather! All Mother! Anyone! Please, save my child!

  Somewhere off in the murky darkness, something heard his cry. The sound of crashing stone and scrapping coral caused him to turn and look. There, just at the edge of the light's reach was a monstrous shape, a thing with countless mouths, jagged gnarled teeth, with tendrils of darkness that crept and crawled out towards Wren.

  Wren quickly moved between the beast and Fel. He couldn’t hope to stop such a voidborn, but he would die before he let it hurt his child. The thing for its part came to a stop, eyes of starlight burst to life from its body. The thousand mouths sang in unison, forcing their voices into Wren’s mind through the open link. The voices were gibberish, the tongue of dying stars, already ancient before the first living being crawled from the primordial ooze. Wren’s brain fought back, trying not to bleed itself to death. It was useless, before such a being he was as insignificant as an insect.

  His death was assured.

  There was a shifting from within the cocoon, a glowing hand stretched out towards the voidspawn. A phrase was spoken in the inhuman tongue, this time from within the light. A shockwave ripped through the water as a spear of pure light pierced through the body of the monster, freezing it in place as a second wave of energy poured out. The ancient evil shook as every atom of its being was ripped to pieces, a million trillion explosions rang through it as it was reduced to oblivion.

  Shaking violently, Wren tried to steady himself as he turned to look at the light. Fel was still engulfed in the clawed hands, but between them he could see their eyes burned with anger and a steel that he had never seen in them before. Their eyes turned to meet his, and took on a look of sadness.

  He understood that look all too well; as a triplet, Fel was seen as an ill omen to their people. Many thought that Gaby’s death was because of them. Fel was always worried that Wren resented them, seeing them as the thing that had taken away his love. Wren saw that look in their eyes, Fel was afraid he would fear them.

  Wren reached up and held Fel’s blazing hand with his living one. His skin burned and seared, but he still held on, not breaking eye contact. He mouthed the words. I will always love you.

  Fel’s face was one of anguish and relief. They mouthed back. Help me dad.

  The clawed hands had almost dragged them down to the seafloor. The coral was growing rapidly to embrace Fel. Wren didn’t have time to think, he swam underneath Fel, putting himself between Fel and the sinister coral tomb awaiting them. He braced his legs as he fought to halt the claws from pulling his child any further.

  It was futile. Wren’s legs began to buckle, his lungs burned from overexerting himself, his ankle was bleeding again, the temporary seal broken, his skin was burnt and blistered. He fell to his knees, the coral biting into his legs. He gritted his teeth.

  This was how he died.

  The claws and coral were blown away, reduced to dust in an instant. Wren looked up and saw a wall of blackness slowly moving towards them, as it moved it swallowed the light from the cocoon. Seeing this as his only chance, he wasted no time, he shifted to grab Fel; who were still in the throes of whatever transformation was happening and couldn’t move. He grabbed them with his dead hand and started to swim up towards the surface with all the speed he could muster.

  Some part of him knew he should have already been dead, but perhaps there was something about this place that was keeping him going. As he swam, he could feel the darkness creeping in, this had to be the work of another voidspawn, he didn’t feel like waiting around to see if his hunch was correct.

  A few painful moments later, they were almost to the water's surface, he only had a couple more feet to go; he risked looking over his shoulder and immediately regretted it. Before him was oblivion itself, a wall of nothingness aside from a single shape at the ocean floor, a hunched figure with a bone white mask staring up at him. He froze at the sight, primordial fear gripping him. Just a scant few inches away from his hand was salvation. The masked thing looked up slowly, the weight of its mere existence suffocating. Yet it didn’t move, it merely stood there, staring, waiting.

  The moment finally broke as Wren felt arms grabbing him from behind, pulling the pair up from the depths. As soon as he surfaced, some part of him finally had enough, his mind went blank as he passed out, finally succumbing to his injuries.

  The first thing that he felt when Wren awoke was that everything hurt. Every inch of his body screamed in protest at the abuse he had put it through, even parts he didn’t know could hurt were in pain. The second thing he felt was the cold ground he was laying on. Around him were muffled voices yelling and arguing. He fought to open his eyes, only one responded to his request as he swept his blurred vision over the smudges that were crowding around him.

  There was Cyrus, barking about getting him medical attention. Alnur, Tayla, and Lillian were all crying around him; he fought to turn his head slightly. Thank the gods; there beside him was Fel. They looked nothing like they did when they had fallen in the water, but so long as they were okay, it didn’t matter. Knowing that they were all okay, he could finally close his eyes and rest.

  ◆◆◆

  It opened its eyes. The transfer had been a mess, but at least they were in one piece. It slowly sat up taking in the scene around it. On the ground, bleeding and barely hanging on was this body's father. The sight of him laying there caused its heart to ache, the body was still reacting on its own for the time being. Still, they owed the man for saving this life, it would be a shame if he ended up dying before they could repay him. Slowly turning it saw this body’s siblings, they were huddled and crying. They looked up, it was time for the usual fear and resentment on their faces. To its surprise there was none, they lunged forwards and pulled it to the ground in an embrace.

  Between the sobs they were muttering about how scared they were of losing this body. How glad they were that it had survived. The body responded with tears of its own. That was going to take some getting used to; actual caring family members.

  How rare.

  It thought it should probably respond before they got suspicious. What were their names again?

  Slowly moving its jaw to get used to it, it spoke. “I’m okay, really. Alnur, Tayla get up, we have to get father help!”

  Alnur looked up, frowning as he quickly shook his head. Its second sight saw the child's doubt, but it had only been for a moment. The poor boy must be rattled. It thought. The siblings got up and started to watch over their father as aid finally arrived.

  It looked down at its new hands. With a deep breath, it forced its mind to shift, completing the transfer process.

  Fel opened their eyes.