Conscious, Conscientious

The orange hue ignited brighter in Deon’s eyes. It was time to move.

Everyone in his path would perish.

But his first obstacle already arrived: once again, Skrili seized his arm.

“Wait!” she urged.

Deon tried to shake her off. With his vision blurred in an orange haze, all he could see was what was on his mind: saving Lammy, or unleashing revenge in the worst way possible.

“Former Princess Zayza: we find you guilty of treason, of the murder of King Zed, Queen Violet, and Queen Vayva, of the attempted murder of Queen Layla, of attempting insurrection, and of terrorism against the Kingdom of Azvaylen.”

Skrili wrapped herself around Deon desperately, grasping even tighter.

“Not like this! Stop, Deon!”

Her uncharacteristically frenzied tone perturbed him, but not as much as the fact that she was holding him back.

Releasing only a fraction of the fury he felt, his mind conjured a hand that snatched Skrili from behind and yanked her towards the ground. Barely able to catch herself, she tumbled against the grass beside the wall.

“Are you stupid? Get out of the way!” Deon spat.

“We have to be smart about this!” Skrili insisted.

“Screw strategy, I’m going in!” insisted Deon. “You have no idea what I’m feeling right n—”

He froze.

Suddenly, the heat in his eyes cooled. He could finally see Skrili’s face as she lay on the ground from his lashing out, her cheeks wetting.

Her fingers dug into the grass.

Frantic, Deon plunged towards the ground and landed beside her.

Of course she knows…

…She knows exactly what this feels like…

I’m the stupid one. I’m an idiot.

He crouched low and hurried to help Skrili stand back up, apologies spilling out endlessly. Thankfully, she seemed unhurt.

Then before she’d even gained her balance, Skrili grit her teeth and bashed her fists into Deon’s chest. Deon didn’t wince: if she’d wanted to really hurt him, he knew what her real punch looked like.

…Though this stung almost as much, and he knew he deserved it.

Skrili grabbed him by the shoulders and tugged him close, so all he could see was her cutting purple eyes. The tears welling within them didn’t make them any less lethal.

“I’m not letting you screw this up! Get a hold of yourself!” she shot. “If you fail and let Akri die…that weight…it never goes away. Never.”

Deon didn’t bother correcting her on Lammy’s name. He softened.

“If they suspect any threat, they might drop Lammy and Zayza before we can act. We only have one window to do this, and that’s right when they’re falling,” Skrili pressed. “Phillip was behind them on the balcony. He’s expecting us—he can use that moment of shock to his advantage. We can’t have any pauses.”

Deon’s welling rage finally met a ceiling. Blinking to cut back through his foggy vision, he mentally kicked himself:

Once again, he’d let his powers bring him an instant from ruining everything.

But there was no time to waste on regret now. He could tell Skrili had already shifted to formulating their plan. He needed to meet her there—to match her precision.

Deon brainstormed. He tried to picture Skip huddling there with them.

Just catching Lammy and Zayza with pillows won’t cut it this time. Like Skrili said: no pauses. We can’t give anyone a chance to react or fight back.

It’s gotta be our main team technique, then. And my flying plank.

I’ve got Lammy. Skrili’s got Zayza.

In and out in a second.

He didn’t need to vocalize any of it: he could see Skrili had reached the same decision through her subtle expression.

“We got this,” Deon tried to convince himself just as much as her, reaching up to grab Skrili’s shoulders. “Though the timing’s gonna have to be completely—”

“The conspirer known as Lammy: we find you guilty of assisting in the escape of former Princess Zayza, of conspiracy to overthrow the Royalty, of conspiracy to murder Queen Layla, and of terrorism against the Kingdom of Azvaylen.”

Deon and Skrili’s eyes widened equally as the charges reverberated against the wall.

They couldn’t prepare any further. It was already time.

As the Queen’s voice was pouring out the convictions, Deon and Skrili hopped back onto imagined wooden planks and ascended up the wall once again.

“On account of the severity of your atrocities, we have decided not to grant either of you moments for final words.”

Deon cursed. If he hadn’t wasted time almost ruining their chance and forcing Skrili to quell his rage, they would have had more of an opportunity to ready and aim the attack. Now, they were on their heels.

But he couldn’t focus on that. Everything had to go perfectly.

This was about to be a split-second attempt.

Deon began picturing the necessary objects in his mind: the springs, the planks, the pillows…He tried remembering the layout of the execution, but he wouldn’t be able to position everything with precision—not until the moment he could lay eyes on it again.

Wait a second…NO!

He reviewed his memory again. He was almost certain:

This wouldn’t work.

“Now I, as Queen of Azvaylen, order the execution of former princess Zayza and Lammy.

Kill them.”

Deon and Skrili rose from behind the wall. In the single second he had to aim, Deon knew he was probably right:

They planned it wrong. This wouldn’t work.

It was too late to shout the necessary adjustment to Skrili.

They both heard the ropes snap.

~~~

Zayza’s restrained cry was the last sound Lammy heard before the pressure around his wrists vanished.

His gut crawled upward, and they freefell to the spikes.

Slamming his eyes shut, Lammy found unexpected respite in his final contemplation:

I know he tried. We both did.

The spikes didn’t feel quite like the piercing he’d dreaded. Instead of sharpness, it was a blunt, pounding sensation. He’d felt as if he’d totally changed directions.

Wait…I did.

It happened again. The inertia pulled him forward. But this time, even the pain he could only compare to crashing into someone was absent. This time, it felt as if they’d merely bounced against a mattress.

Why are we…

Why…are WE??

A presence was with him.

It was wrapped around him.

A person.

A person was squeezing onto him so much he couldn’t move or see.

Wind blew through his hair.

It blew through theirs, too. This person’s hair brushed against his face.

Are we flying?

No…

They’d ricocheted off of multiple more soft surfaces, which all seemed to propel them further.

Were they going up or down?

A softness greeted and enveloped Lammy’s back, and the person landed on top of him. He finally remembered what stillness felt like.

Lammy tried opening his eyes once more, only to find dark fabric covering his face.

“It’s okay, you’re okay, you’re safe with me…”

The person finally released their tight clutch and climbed up from him.

Considering the words she’d just uttered to him repeatedly, she appeared surprisingly upset. Tears trickled down her cheeks and dampened parts of her midnight blue bangs.

Lammy sat up slowly, struggling to balance—they were atop some sort of gigantic pillow. Checking his arms and legs, he found she was right: he was okay.

But for some reason, her tears continued. And her eyes stayed totally fixated on him.

Maybe she’s not convinced? wondered Lammy. Or is something else wrong?

Scrambling, he resolved to try consoling her. “Uh—um…You don’t have to cry anymore. It’s alright…”

The young woman fell forward and embraced him once again, crying even harder.

Crap…that actually made it worse.

He opted to hug her back.

“I’m so happy…” she muttered. “I’m so happy you’re okay, Lammy.”

When she released, the warmth of her smile turned Lammy into the one who needed to fight back his own tears of relief. Everything welled up at once.

Then he blinked.

She knows me?

Finally coming to the rest of his senses, it clicked. Though she hadn’t appeared nearly as expressive the few times he’d watched her at Gloat Center, there was no questioning it.

Obviously she’d know who he was.

“Hey…you’re Deon’s girlfriend!” Lammy exclaimed. “You’re Skrili!”

For some reason, her eyes darted around for a moment. She shrugged.

“That’s right.”

Skrili leaned closer and helped Lammy make his way towards the corner of the giant pillow. Together they stepped off of it onto the grass. But even as they stood and Lammy gathered himself, Skrili didn’t release his hand from hers.

She held on unyieldingly, as if he might float away at any moment.

Finally, Lammy’s mind had stopped racing enough to pause and observe exactly where they’d landed. Flower displays and statues were spaced out artfully all around them, and nobody was in sight.

The increasing roar of a crowd finally caught his attention. He and Skrili turned to find the long wall at the opposite end of this garden, dulling the outrage: the courtyard was on the other side.

“He managed to get us out of there, and even estimated where we’d land without being able to see it,” Skrili learned.

Lammy’s heart leaped. “Deon sent you, then?”

“It was our team technique,” she clarified. “But…I was convinced he’d try to catch you himself, while I went for Zayza. He must have found something wrong and made a last-second change.”

She squeezed his hand a bit tighter.

“He decided he trusted me with your life.”

Whoa…Deon? Strategizing on his own? pondered Lammy. Clearly, he’d grown quite a bit spending all these months with pros like Skrili.

But she searched around, each turn of her head only growing more anxious.

Lammy almost didn’t even want to ask.

“Then…where are they?”

~~~

Moments before…

The snapping ropes were the only indicator Deon had to go off of. Altering Skrili’s planned course at the last second, he launched his creations into existence.

Two seconds.

At the height they’d just begun falling, that was the most time he guessed he and Skrili had to get there.

He heard his teammate bounce against the first pad and zip into action. Simultaneously, he landed atop a new, wider wooden plank and used his mind to propel it forward.

Deon darted through the air at a slight curve and incline, cursing in his head all the way.

This better work.

He had no doubt that, as long as he aimed his bouncing pads for Skrili correctly, she would catch Lammy. He knew he could count on her—even when he didn’t communicate the abrupt change in plan.

The real question was his own speed and precision.

If there was anything new his sparring with Skrili, his fights with Pang, and especially their training with Skip taught to him over the course of his time in the Multiverse, it was how to recognize his own weaknesses.

And today, he picked up on it.

In that split moment he laid eyes on the courtyard, he knew he wouldn’t be able to fly to Lammy in time on his floating plank—he hadn’t focused enough practice into the amount of speed he would need from this distance. And his bouncing pads were designed only for Skrili’s anatomy. He hadn’t even begun designing a version safe enough to attempt on himself.

Only their team technique had a shot at bouncing Skrili to Lammy in time.

Zayza, however, was falling closer to them. If he was saving anyone right now, it would have to be her.

But am I fast enough?

He’d propelled many an imagined object forward. But he’d only begun floating on top of them in Legend Training.

The only answer was to keep plowing forward.

I swear, if they kill this girl…

His eyes ignited, and he ignored everything around himself—the hundreds of spectators, the castle, the guards—nothing else mattered as he focused in on the falling, wide-eyed girl.

He burst faster.

But then, in a brief glance, one more person caught his hyper-focused eyes—maybe because of his immediate familiarity.

Up on the balcony he was fast approaching, Phillip and another man stood erect at sword point.

It felt like a suspended moment, but it must have been a blink. Praying his currently-heightened power would provide the strength, he took a chance and imagined two hands to shove the guards back.

He could only begin to see Phillip spring into action before he had to refocus.

Deon was close—but Zayza was nearing the spikes.

All he could hear was her scream increase.

COME ON! COME ON!!!

He reached out.

Colliding with her in the air, Deon immediately wrapped his arms around her waist and squeezed with everything. His heart skipped as he fought to correct his balance and keep the plank from descending from the weight.

He felt its very bottom scrape the spikes.

But then, recovering, he sped forward.

What had felt like an infinite moment immediately shifted. With Zayza now in his grasp, time accelerated.

Deon remembered the route he’d planned for Skrili, so he swerved to avoid any potential impact. He observed the sea of wide eyes before him as he made a soaring break for the opposite courtyard wall.

Phillip returned to his mind, but there was no time to look back yet: he had to trust the Illusionist’s instincts.

All at once, Zayza let out a long gasp. She pressed against him, holding on for dear life with her eyes slammed shut. She tried to gain her footing on the plank with him, but slipped and rocked to the side.

“Whoa! Hold on!” Deon cried.

They narrowly cleared the courtyard wall, but his balance had finally been knocked loose. Struggling to stay atop the plank would probably lead to a crash.

Instead, Deon de-imagined the plank. Holding tight to the concessions-lady-princess, he fell with her towards the grass below.

“I got you!”

He felt his anger-fueled power fading. But by now, Skrili’s attempt would have run its course. He deemed it safe to risk imagining one more object: a pillow on the ground beneath them.

Zayza almost began another scream, but it turned into a startled grunt instead: they sunk into the pillow and came to a stop.

Deon could feel her whole body shaking. But her frantic gasps began easing up.

He helped the princess sit up gradually. She rocked backwards for a second, seemingly in a daze, but managed to catch herself.

“Hey, you okay? Are you hurt?”

Zayza blinked several times until her eyes finally focused on him. “Deon,” she breathed.

“Yeah,” Deon laughed, offering his hand. “Here. Can you stand?”

Deon escorted her towards the edge of the cushion. Zayza’s composure seemed to recover as the paleness in her face subsided.

“He never stopped believing you would reach us,” she shared.

Even in such an urgent setting, her voice was just as calming as he’d remembered from back in Gloat Stadium.

“We bet everything on that belief, and now: here you are,” she added as they set foot on the grass. “Deon, Lammy was right about you—and knowing him, I cannot say I’m surprised.”

Deon’s smile beamed, but Zayza didn’t notice. Her gaze began darting around with the same urgency as an older sibling.

“Where…?” she started.

Looking around as well, Deon found they’d landed in the opposite garden to the courtyard, just as he’d hoped. But they were near its end: the stone road began only steps away, just past a row of trees.

He turned around and peered farther into the garden.

“Don’t worry; he’s with my teammate,” Deon promised, her protective panic only warming his heart further. “Come on—they should have landed this way. Stay close!”

Zayza nodded. Linking arms, they hurried across the decorated garden. Deon imagined the pillow away, along with every other object from their strategy. But the uproar and confusion just on the other side of the courtyard wall continued billowing—clearly, Lammy and Zayza weren’t out of danger yet.

His heart pounded—every additional second he was away from Lammy meant all of their efforts could still fall apart.

He tried tracing back Lammy and Skrili’s location based on the landing he’d mapped out for them moments ago. But since it was out of his view at the time, he hadn’t been able to see where he’d actually positioned their pillow—he’d only aimed it using the angle of his final bouncing pad. Visuals proved nearly useless, now.

But then, ironically, his guidance came in the form of the enemy.

“Hey!”

Two Azvaylen guards emerged from behind a statue, but their backs were turned: they were charging away at an angle, after someone else.

Deon felt weightless.

“Ha. Thanks.”

Zayza slowed for a moment, but Deon kept her running. There was no need to worry.

He imagined two rocks, which swooped from the sky and nailed both guards on the helmet. Rushing past them as they fell, he followed their intended path with his eyes.

The world stopped just beyond a few more bushes.

There, hand in hand, stood his two favorite people in the entire Multiverse.

“DEON!!”

Lammy’s voice sang through his head. There was no hill between them to scale this time. There was no shadowy figure creeping up from behind to take him away again.

He was right there. Steps in front of him.

“LAMMY!!”

The cousins released from Zayza and Skrili and darted forward. They practically tumbled into an embrace.

At last, everything was right.

“Lammy…”

“Hey, Deon.”

“Lammy—what the heck are you doing way out here?!” Deon bellowed.

His sudden bewilderment froze Lammy’s welling tears. At first, he wasn’t quite sure what he meant: wasn’t Deon the one who set it up for them to land here?

Oh—like, why am I out HERE…he realized. Like, the Multiverse…

“Uh…I tripped,” Lammy said. “Sorry.”

Deon’s booming laughter reverberated against him, so he couldn’t help but join in. This was the sound he’d yearned for since the moment he toppled into No Man’s Land.

Besides, that single misstep had somehow led to evading powerful hunters, traversing magical lands, and standing up against a corrupted kingdom, all before Deon found him again.

Upon reflection, it was pretty ridiculous.

Just past them, Deon noticed Skrili approach Zayza both softly and swiftly.

“Skrili Kay,” came Zayza’s warm greeting.

Skrili nodded. “Princess. I’m sorry, but we don’t have a lot of time. We’ll need to find the others and get you all out of here as fast as possible.”

Deon and Lammy released each other and faced their companions.

“Right—we still don’t know if Pang’s here, too,” Deon remembered.

Lammy and Zayza caught each other’s sorrowful eyes.

“What?”

“She’s not…” Lammy revealed. “Phillip told us Proscious took her somewhere completely different. He found out when he defeated Irma.”

Deon noticed Skrili’s eyebrows furrow just the slightest. He could see her mind racing even before she met his stare.

This isn’t over yet, he knew. Not until we save her, too.

“For now…let’s regroup with the rest,” Skrili decided, her tone a bit hollow. “And let’s get you two far away from here.”

But as Deon and Skrili began leading the way, Lammy and Zayza stayed put.

“Wait—I can’t leave yet,” Lammy pressed.

Deon spun back around. “Why? We kinda need to make this fast.”

“I have to help save Layla. She’s counting on us,” his cousin insisted.

“The Queen?” Skrili recalled. “She’s alive?”

“Proscious took her to the Dreamer Chamber to steal her powers, but the process will kill her,” Zayza explained. “If we hurry, we might make it in time.”

Her normally gentle composure hardened.

“I must stop Wei.”

“We’re a team. I’m gonna help,” Lammy said immediately.

Deon couldn’t help but hesitate to behold his cousin’s sudden bravery. Without even a blink, little Lammy was ready to run over and challenge Wei—of all people—to a fight?

Where did this come from?

The princess was almost the same: her confidence appeared out of place. Had she not seen Wei’s strength? What did she plan to do?

Deon and Skrili wordlessly reached a joint conclusion. They nodded to each other.

“Show us the way,” Deon requested.

“We’ll take him on,” added Skrili.

Before they could plan any further or begin their pursuit, a metallic stampede resounded from the front of the garden.

The four consciousnesses turned to find a river of soldiers darting their way: they’d finally pushed past the confused crowd of citizens to begin their chase.

Lammy’s eyes narrowed. At the front stood the commander who had seized them in the tower.

“A TRICK! A TRICK! SEIZE THEM!!” he roared.

A blue arrow zipped through the air. Skrili sidestepped it with ease as it sank before her toes.

Deon pounced into action, imagining four planks of wood before each of them.

“Come on! he directed. “You’ll have to balance, so be careful!”

He cursed himself for not mastering an approach that could fly them away more securely. But this would have to do.

“Actually…” stammered Lammy. “N—no offense, but I might have a better idea…”

Deon’s mouth dropped as his young cousin’s eyes burst bright.

“Loozooloozeux!” he cried.

“Loo—huh?!”

The air before them filled with rainbow colors, which took the form of fur, and finally, morphed into a dragon.

Loozooloozeux flapped its magnificently strange wings and touched down onto the grass in wait.

While Deon’s mouth dropped even wider, Skrili probed towards him expressionlessly.

“Where’s your furry dragon?” she questioned.

“What—something like this is super complex! It’s not that easy to—to—Lammy, what the heck did I miss since I left?!?!”

“A lot! Hurry!” Lammy cried. He and Zayza were already nearing Loozooloozeux’s saddle, and Skrili raced behind them.

Steadying his spinning mind, Deon leaped and joined the others. He secured his grip around Skrili just in time before the dragon took to the air, narrowly evading another blue arrow.

To his relief, Lammy’s imaginary dragon ascended at a much less nauseating speed than the real deal. The courtyard, increasing troops, and scores of bewildered citizens shrank behind them while they gradually joined the Azvaylen sky.

Deon only wished he could remain blissfully focused on his pride in Lammy’s new ability. But their impending encounter kept his mind grounded, and his breath unsteady.

Wei.

“I’ll navigate us there,” Zayza said.

“Right,” muttered Lammy. His chest tightened, but he refused to let it slow his steering. “Hold on, Layla…”

Loozooloozeux raced across the wind, and the newly-united friends braced themselves for the worst.