*COMPLETE* "People don't believe in us anymore. They don't believe that in the end we will do what is right. We can't let them down. We can't let Ben win."
Decisions made on top of the lonely, wind-swept cliff of Lethinor reverberate around the five...
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"Lei-Lei, darling," his sister calls as she climbs over the ruin of the corridor, the dust obscuring her so she is nothing but a cold shadow. "None of your other friends were the Paragon, which means..."
Her boots hit the ground with a thud.
"It's gotta be one of you two," she finishes, and her hands spread out before her. She holds up a little metal device which hangs on a chain around her neck and a jolt runs through Allayria. She's seen this contraption, knows its cold touch, the unyielding metal and its faint whisper, spoken in a language more human than machine.
She knows it because Ben gave her Serfigue's in Solveigard City.
It beeps.
One of Isati's dark, ringed eyebrows raises and she shakes the thing by her ear as it beeps again.
"Siblings don't keep secrets, Lei," she goads and she stalks closer to them, moving with sinuous purpose. "Why don't you tell me which of you it is before you get really hurt?"
Allayria glances over at Lei, catching the mix of anger and fear that crosses his face, and she turns to him.
"Just out of curiosity: have you got any other crazy siblings I should know about?"
He starts, head jerking toward her, face flooded with disbelief, but the woman's face breaks into a slow smile.
"Is this the Paragon, Lei-Lei?" she says, head tilting to the side as she considers Allayria. "Mom's going to be so happy. Disappointed, of course, that you're not it, but she's used to you being a disappointment."
Feeling that at this point the gig is up, Allayria pulls up a spear of ice to match her sword.
"I really fucking hate your family," she tells Lei and his sister's smile goes manic as she meets Allayria's swing with her own.
"Yes, I like you a lot," Isati says, breath ragged as she slips between Allayria's parries, moving with grace and precision. "If it couldn't be the pretty boy, I'm glad it's you."
She cuts through a slash of Allayria's hand, knocking the strip of metal out of her grasp.
"We're going to have fun, the two of us," she continues and two pale fingers tap at the device hanging around her neck.
"We call them Spirit seekers," she adds, watching as Allayria's eyes fix on the device. "Just some fun, old gothi things I found. Mother thought they were useless—they activate when traces of Spirit are nearby. 'Old junk,' she said. I think I found a pretty good use for them though, don't you agree?"
Allayria would like to snap several things back, but a slice of metal just misses the tip of her nose and she stumbles back, ducking without seconds to spare as another swipe comes for her head. She gets the unpleasant impression that these swings could be faster if Lei's homicidal sister wanted, and she has the sudden sensation of being food that is played with.
