Reeca slammed her sword into the hard walls, generating nothing but a few sparks and vibrations travelling up her arms.

"It's no use," Elred rasped, leaning her head against the wall. "It's lesium. Aside from being generally indestructible, it blocks magic. Give it up."

Reeca shook her head. She still had a life to live, a brother to go back to, and a mission to fulfill. It would be cheating if she disappeared on Rhys without a word. A curse flew out of her mouth as she drew back once more. She had no plans of ending up in a rotting cell in her father's courts, not when Rhys already got her out once. Her feet scratched the cave's smooth floor as she raised her arms again and charged at the huge stone blocking their way.

Metal hit the rock in a shrill ting. Sparks flew but the rock remained immaculate with not a scratch present. Elred sighed. "You're going to burn us alive with those sparks," she snapped. "Sit down."

"Not a chance, you old hag," Reeca growled. She struck the wall again, succeeding in nothing but giving her sword an untimely sharpening. She called for her magic but no warmth answered her. Stupid magic-blocking cave. With a cry, she drove her foot back and slammed the tip of her boot into the rock.

Pain shot up her leg as she cursed like a portmaster. Eventually, she plopped down next to Elred. The shard fairy scoffed. "See? I told you to sit down before you do something crazy and end up hurting yourself," Elred crossed her arms. "You should have listened to me about lots of things."

Reeca shot Elred a withering glare. "Yeah, last time I listened to you, I ended up in a cell with magic-blocking walls."

"I'm not the one who tried to betray her friend," Elred narrowed her eyes at Reeca. "Why did you do it?"

Reeca matched Elred's stance. "I had to save myself," she rasped. "I have no intention of spending the rest of my life in prison with you. Besides, it's your mistake. It's your favor. I merely said the truth."

Something flickered in Elred's eyes. The shard fairy averted her eyes before Reeca could pinpoint what it was. Elred didn't speak. Reeca blew a breath. Perhaps it's the absence of her magic's comfort that's making her edgy. Or maybe it's the fact that she's doomed and there's nothing she could do about it.

What had happened, even?

She closed her eyes. Scenes faded in and out of her mind—Cirasa's face, the mass of soil and rocks, the graveyard of shards, and the map she had already forgotten. "It's so messed up," Reeca leaned her back against the cold ore wall and hugged her knees.

Elred tapped her fingers against her mud-encrusted boots. "War so often is."

Reeca glanced at Elred with a raised eyebrow. "This isn't war," she shook her head. "This is just failing."

"This is war whether you like it or not," Elred's stare on the purple ground could have burned a hole through it. "The thrones, the Virtakios, Synkteros, Cardovia. It's one hell of a war."

Reeca propped her chin against her knees. It would be nice to be like Elred—all composed and always seeing the bigger picture. How could the shard fairy be thinking of the war when Reeca couldn't even see herself outside this stupid mineral hole?

"We have no part in that war. Not when we're rotting here," Reeca rubbed her arms and rocked back and forth. "Now, the whole island knows where the thrones are because of the stunt I played," she raised her head to meet Elred's quiet gaze. Elred's unglamoured face, if Reeca was honest, was quite...ordinary. "I set everything off, didn't I?"

Elred nodded. "It's what I'm worried about," she said, tilting her head at the ceiling. Reeca didn't bother. It would still be the same purple rock. "However, if we want to get a step closer to winning, we need to make a move. We made ours. It's their turn."

"Will territories fall because of it?" Reeca crossed her legs. Already, she could feel the guilt worming into her gut.

Elred shrugged. "Who knows? The future is always so uncertain."

Reeca scoffed and pushed herself up. She knocked on the wall, her fingers barely making thumping noises against it. The ceiling was also a few inches higher than her head. "What are we supposed to do here?" she tried pushing against the rocks and only ended up spasming her arms. "Eat each other for breakfast? Consummate?"

"Shut up, Torlin. I have a husband," Elred's face fell. "I think," she shook her head and splayed her fingers in Reeca's direction. "Empty your pockets."

Reeca blinked. "What?"

"Just do it," Elred waved her hand in a dismissive gesture.

Reeca exhaled through her mouth. One by one, she emptied the compartments between her armor and her normal clothes. Out came the maximizer, the unused sleeping potion she stole off Nyxis, the dwarven knife the Depandes thief left, a bag of versallis with nothing but a nosa sigra as the highest amount, and lastly, two packs of ilkai.

Elred raised her eyebrows at the Helinfirth delicacy that Reeca had come to love. Reeca shrugged despite the blood rushing to her face. "Helps me think."

"Just where do you store these things?" Elred passed Reeca the bag of versallis. Huh, the shard fairy barely blinked at the sight of coins. Understandable. Elred probably grew up being swaddled in versallis.

Reeca laid a finger to her lips and winked. "It's a secret."

Elred snorted with a chuckle. "Keep them then," she picked up the dwarven dagger. "Is this Dwarven metal?" Reeca nodded. Elred tossed it to her and Reeca barely caught it at the hilt. Elred pointed to a random direction. "Chip away a small hole on the wall."

Reeca knitted her eyebrows. "Did you see how my sword was ineffective? What damage could a dagger do?"

Elred's leveled gaze told Reeca that she just spouted the stupidest thing in history. "That sword is made of cheap silver," the shard fairy jerked her chin at Reeca's hands. "Dwarven technology is far more advanced than anything. It's worth a try."

"Okay, fine," Reeca hefted the dagger and drew it from its makeshift sheath. She turned around. "Where do you want me to start?"

Elred knocked on the south wall with her knuckle. "Lesium mines were on Helinfirth's west, with entrances positioned in the same direction," she muttered under her breath. Reeca watched Elred take the sleeping potion. The shard fairy poured some into the floor. "Mines generally slanted east, deeper into the mountain's heart," she pointed at the liquid snaking to one side. Elred pointed to the west wall. "Start there."

Reeca knelt in front of the wall in that direction and struck the wall with the dagger. She gave a dazed laugh when a small chunk flew out of the wall. "Gods, it worked."

"You're not the only one with clever theories," Elred smirked. "Chip away. Once we get a small hole, fire up this little device here."

Reeca glanced up to see Elred holding up the maximizer from the pile of Reeca's things on the cave's floor. "That's the maximizer," Reeca narrowed her eyes. "You want me to blow up the wall?"

"If you please," Elred bowed mockingly. Reeca nodded. She got what Elred was trying to do. Soon, they spent the next hour taking turns in striking the wall. Just a small dent was made after many strikes. They're going to be here for a while.

"How did you blow up the entire plateau?" Reeca asked as she rested her limbs. She passed Elred the dagger and the shard fairy began hacking at the wall.

"Are you familiar with the story of how the Glass Mountain was formed?" Elred grunted as the dagger's point made contact with the rock.

Reeca shook her head. "Is it in history books?"

Elred scoffed. "It's a tale passed on from one Queen to another," she wrinkled her nose. "History books could only do so much justice to the sacred history of our race."

"Which is?"

Elred hacked at the wall one last time before passing Reeca the dagger. "After the Hundred Years' War between the species, we know as much that the Fairies settled in Umazure,'' her voice bled in Reeca's ears even through the shrieks of the dagger against lesium. "Then came the Great Divide of Races which I'm sure you know of."

Reeca nodded, recalling a story she read once in a book. Before, Fairies could perform all kinds of magic without being limited to a single synnavaim. Then, they plotted to take the island's heart but they were stopped by the island itself by limiting their magic's reach thus making up the first sub-races of Fairies.

"Selna was the first Shard Fairy," Elred continued after recognition passed in Reeca's eyes. "When she discovered her power, she set out to find a place to stay. Eventually, she came to what was now Helinfirth and others like her would find their way there. Soon, they were able to form a territory.

"Without borders, it was hard to secure resources and the first shard fairies faced exactly that. She obtained a magical wand that would help establish the might of Helinfirth and with their battle with the pixies because of the borders, she had to use the wand's power. That huge blast of magic was what built the plateau.

"Then, after that, she crowned herself Queen of Helinfirth, establishing the House of Selnaris," Elred nodded.

"How come the Valkalins are in power then?" Reeca chipped off more rock from the wall with the dagger.

Elred crossed her arms. "That's another story for another time," she massaged her temples. "Before Selna died, she instructed her successor to bury the wand so it wouldn't be stolen or misused."

"Talk about selfishness and trust issues," Reeca chuckled when Elred rolled her eyes. The dim light in the cave gave Reeca enough view of the deepening dent. How much more of this?

Elred shrugged. "Well, we really can't blame her. Fairies are messy," she blew a breath. "Anyway, the successor did bury Selna and her wand inside the plateau. According to some theories, the wand solidified into this mass of magic that became the life force of the entire plateau."

Reeca raised an eyebrow. "That's how the powerful blast came to be?"

"In a way," Elred tapped her chin. "When I was still on speaking terms with Mother, she told me the secret passed from one Queen to another as the prospective heir of the crown," she leaned her head against the wall. "Monarchs can call to that magic if Helinfirth is endangered once again. I still have my mother to thank for that knowledge."

Reeca ran a finger in the dent she made. Still a long way to go. She passed the dagger back to Elred and they switched places. "Where did Selna get the wand in the first place?"

A strike. "Recorded history isn't as accurate as we wanted it to be. Chroniclers were hard to come by in Selna's time so we can only rely on varied accounts of what happened," Elred rolled her shoulders as she raised the dagger again. "There's one theory that she got her wand from journeying to the island's heart herself. There are others claiming she carved it from her own magic. No one knows, really."

Reeca pursed her lips. That wasn't exactly an answer. "Alright, what about the island splitting the synnavaimis?" she crossed her arms. "How's that possible?"

"We can summon glass out of nowhere, you varichriais can weave magic into things," Elred inclined her head and snorted. Another strike against the wall. "Are you really in a position to ask what's possible and what's not?"

The shard fairy had a point. Reeca scratched the side of her face. "Okay if there were tons like her when she first started the territory, why was she the first shard fairy?"

"Maybe because she's the first one who utilized her power for something good? Or maybe history's just flat out wrong," Elred rubbed her nose with her free hand before wrinkling it. "Your choice."

Reeca stretched her legs and crossed them by the ankles. "Well, I'm no chronicler."

"My brother always wanted to be one," Elred's voice suddenly turned tender and soft. "He wanted to study literature and history."

Reeca's mind unwittingly took her to the moments she spent with Cirasa. Her face heated despite the coolness of the cave. "Why was he in Rabante if he's a Valkalin all along?"

"He didn't want to be involved," Elred shook her head and struck the wall again. "Mostly because everyone in the family thought he was...defective."

Reeca nodded. She did hear Cirasa say that. "How so?"

Elred's fingers tightened around the dagger's hilt. "He spent most of his childhood shut in a room," she said with a clipped tone. "He was always sick, always in pain. We tried to console him but he was having trouble distinguishing reality from his hallucinations. You know how that went on with the relatives that liked to gossip."

Of course. Those people always find the time to mind others' business more than their own. Elred sighed. "We couldn't do anything about it but whenever Cirasa had enough energy to talk I would ask him."

"What did he say?" Reeca leaned forward. Why in the world was she interested in this?

"He told me he was having visions," Elred blew a shaky breath. "Those visions would always hurt him when they came and he didn't know why. We hoped it would come to a point in life where he could control it but...even now, he still couldn't."

Reeca examined her nails and frowned at how dirty they were. "How old is he anyway?"

Another shrill strike. A small clatter told them that there was something that was dislodged. "A little over fifty-two," Elred answered.

Reeca choked as her saliva went earlier than expected back at her throat. "That old?" she rasped as she hacked.

"Wasn't even half a lifetime," Elred shrugged again. "I'm eighty-three."

"Oh," Reeca squeaked. Even if she was a fairy, it was still quite intriguing how they wouldn't age past twenty but they could live hundreds of years later. "Did you ever find out what his visions meant?"

Elred shook her head. "Most of them were snippets about mundane things like shoes in the mud or one of our uncles dancing in the bath," She passed Reeca the dagger once more.

The only sound was the dagger striking the rocky wall around them for a few more minutes. Finally, Elred inhaled loudly. "Can I ask you something?"

Reeca struck the wall. She nodded. Elred tucked her hair behind her ear. A single ring-like earring glinted in the shard fairy's lobe. Did she always have that piercing? "What do you plan on doing after getting out of this cave?" Elred asked.

Reeca slammed the dagger. More sparks lit up the cave. "Find the thrones," she grunted as she struck the wall again. And again. "Take down Cardovia and Synkteros," Strike. "Protect the island."

A hand swept for the dagger and Elred hefted it out of Reeca's grip. "I'm going with you," the shard fairy declared. "I've got nowhere to go, anyway."

Reeca crossed her arms but she backed off to let Elred try her luck on the wall. "You're one of the reasons why I still believe in fairies," Elred clicked her tongue when the sparks generated from her strike flew close to her eye. She faced Reeca. "You have my full allegiance," she placed a hand on her chest. "I will help you."

It's like a thousand varichriais went alive inside Reeca's stomach. A genuine grin crept to her lips. "I hope you're making the right choice this time."

Elred returned her grin. "I intend to."

They jabbed the dagger against the rock wall for a long time after that. Often without a word and a gigantic series of grunts. Time bled in Reeca's perception. Was it days? Months? Years?

All she knew was that after countless strikes, the last chunk of rock leaped off the wall, giving way to a pupil-sized hole. Air blew from the outside and whistled inside the cave, bringing a sliver of magic along with it. Reeca clasped the maximizer between her fingers and grinned at Elred. She splayed her fingers towards the hole in a mocking bow.

"After you."