FENRER

"FENRER!" Yuven screamed across the abyssal echo.

Bubbles fluttered through the curled waves. Foam sunk into his throat and filled his lungs with their everlasting tempest. A son of the sea, the darkness embraced him with weightless arms. Voices without faces, a mighty bridge with the other side full of hearthlight. Shadows cheered and sang to the beat of a drum.

Little Wolf, Kon said through death's comforting whispers. Loathe am I to use your body thus. Loathe am I to ignite our pyretic blood. Taste the first flame, little one. I shall raise the dawn of your young life, as per our covenant, our promise. Survive. Leashes of light whipped across the darkness, points of stars when it bounced and reconnected with a gasp, pulsing, enlarging. On the words of those I have once loved, I rise again, and give my remnants to this cause. Over the waves of sand and water, breathe, Little Wolf.

It sprang into the sun, with him at its swirling core.

A scream tore through his mind. Stars writhed and coiled in pain when he tried to open his eyes. His lungs refused to expand, and bubbled with sticky mucous driving into his throat. It swelled into a maelstrom, and the flicker of fire pried open his eyes past the foam. Huh...? Kon's voice went silent when he wriggled his limbs, from toes to fingers. Darkness pulsed at the edges of the world when he twisted his head to investigate the fuzzy environment. Fire. It burned in his blood once more. It spit embers into the runes and recycled its warmth. Elbows in the mattress, he tore himself through the sea of swirling dizziness and blinked out his weariness. Ow... He dragged his finger down his nose, pinching the bridge when nausea slammed into his head. The ocean turned into a room, clearer than the abyss.

Wolven banners hung across the walls.

Ah... am I... Am I back at Sungrove? Fenrer patted his childhood end-table for a hint, a reality check for the scream in the throes of death's darkness. A moan escaped his lips when he sat up. No. No... I'm not... Hand against the side of his pulsating temple, he shifted his legs over the bed. Bubbles of stickiness webbed his throat, and he coughed, wet as water. Across from him, an arched window with a beautiful view of the stone monument of the first flame, Pyren, his ancestor, who held out his hands to carry the dawn through the Great Crimson Dusk. "Hmm..." Fenrer brushed strands of hair off his brow, then pulled his hand back when it slid on the bedstand, and a small metal pin clinked to the side.

The wolf of his family.

Fenrer rubbed the longer strands of hair, and winced when another wet cough bubbled in his throat. Lost in the thoughts and the birdlike shriek, he lifted himself out of the bed. Pinpricks swept through his knees. A box of his personal effects sat underneath a large desk, where an old chair custom made for a person of large stature hugged the corner. A chair for giants who tore trees out of the ground. Candlelight joined the dance of the hearth, never a lesser flame.

A beautiful, silver pyre. Auroras set the darkness into a calming inferno when he stumbled to the desk. His fingers drifted over the lacquer finish of the lordly lectern. Paper bit at his palm, and he drew it in front of his face. A picture. One, a giant of a man with black hair and a thick, well-trimmed beard and a beaming smile on his face while he held a little boy, no older than five, maybe six. Beside him, with her arm wrapped around both, a woman with deep brown locks fashioned into two crown braids. He placed the picture back in the safety of its holder before wandering the entire length of room in an attempt to chase away the needles against his lower limbs. Another cough escaped his lips, and he grimaced at the thin layer of mucous sticking to them. Warm stone tickled his soles when he dragged himself to the glittering washing bin.

He cupped the water and rubbed it against his face.

It sparked with a scream.

Yuven's hand out of his own.

Jaws of foam.

A cracked barrier, and his bones shivered at the impact of darkness.

Ancient's given sunlight.

Kon's presence overwhelming him all at once, a whispered word of comfort as he raised his hands to the foam and set them on fire. A familiar, but at the same time, unfamiliar figure treading water for him. Reyn's voice, mixed with others. Fenrer clasped the edges of the bin with a nauseating shudder in his heart. Droplets of water bounced from his face and plopped into the bin, echoing fast, sharp footsteps as they escaped across the cliffs. It came closer. Closer.

He whipped on his heel, washing bin in his hand and threw it at whoever approached him.

With a hard, metallic thunk and a whisper of air magick, the world sharpened at the collapsed figure. A static glyph levitated a cup over them as they groaned and lifted themselves out of the sopping puddle the washing bin, now on their head, scattered across the floor. "Ancient's forfend, Fenrer," Reyn's voice became clearer when he hauled himself off the ground and held his arms out. Water soaked his armor, and he sighed, lifting the washing bin off his brow. "What are you doing up?" He grabbed the cup, and the levitation glyph disappeared with a ripple of lightning.

"Your Grace—Reyn—I—" Fenrer rasped and fought against the tempest. Globs of stickiness captured his throat and tightened his chest. It swelled the darkness, and the numbness dove onto his head in one quick, cruel wave. He flailed for support, and found himself on the ground with Reyn guiding him closer to the solid stone.

"Don't overexert yourself," Reyn instructed. "Bryn will be here to check you over. I just thought of bringing this mixture to you beforehand."

"But, Reyn—Your Grace—" Fenrer strangled his collar. "Yuven and Adara, where are they? Where am I? Ancients, how long has it been? You must tell me." He shook the king of Haneka for answers. "You must tell me what happened. How—?" He moaned at the swirl, and Reyn patted his back.

"Easy, Fenrer, I know we have a lot to discuss, but you need to lay down before we do that. I have questions of my own, but I won't feel right dragging them out of you when you can barely form a coherent thought," Reyn said and hauled him off the stone floor.

"I am so sorry about—" Fenrer motioned at the puddle.

"It's fine, I shouldn't have snuck up on you. I can get it, and myself, cleaned up," Reyn said and prodded him back to the bed. "Bryn will get on my case if they find you aimlessly wandering in a circle." He helped him sit back down on the mattress, which sank underneath him before he found a cup pushed into his quivering hands. "Drink that. Bryn said it'll clear up any agitation in your throat and soothe your lungs, although you're going to have to ask them the details." Reyn straightened himself out and rolled his neck. "Good to see you can still toss things with enough force to pull a muscle," he said, then smiled. "I'm heartened to see you're alive, though. We were worried for a while."

Fenrer swayed with the distant pounding of the drum, then stirred the contents of the cup. "I shall ask them... when I can leave. I must get to Yuven and Adara—" It struck his brow when he went to stand up, but Reyn placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. "Reyn, I have to. I have to go make sure..." Air stuck to his chest, and he winced.

"Whatever danger you experienced is now gone from Sivaport, but we'll talk about that soon," Reyn whispered. "Drink."

Fenrer drank at a king's command. A spicy tingle swept through his sinus' and he coughed when Reyn took the cup from him and set it to the side. Sweat stuck to his shoulders as he sniffed and washed out the numbness with exhausted tears. "Ancient's forfend... at least tell me how long it's been, Your Grace."

"Near a week," Reyn admitted.

Yuven's scream pounded in his ears and rattled the stars of their connected souls.

A different set of footsteps echoed outside the chamber, and Fenrer lifted his brow out of his hands at the arrival of who he suspected was Bryn. They held a chirurgeon's bag close to their side, and they gazed at him. "It's good to see you sitting up, Pyren." They set the bag down on the giant's chair, then headed for him. "How are you feeling?"

Fenrer wrestled for words, but Bryn took that as an answer enough. "You still need a ton of rest," Bryn remarked. "I've been monitoring you, trying to stem the onset of pneumonia. As long as you don't overexert yourself, you'll recover without issues." He put a phial on the end table. "May I have your leave to examine you?"

"Huh...? Go ahead..." Fenrer held his swimming temple, and sat still. Fiery glyphs glimmered off Bryn's palms, and they reached forward to cup his face, frowning. Another wave of exhaustion slammed into his cheeks at the flames. "Well? When can I go?"

Bryn scoffed and rifled through their bag once they finished their examination, handing him a cloth. "You're not going anywhere until I say so, Warden Pyren," they said and drew another glyph made of air. Fenrer shifted when they pushed it into his chest. Rapid embers bit at his lungs from the point of contact, and he coughed into the cloth. He smacked his lips when Bryn let go of the glyph with a shake of their head. "Here." Yet another phial pushed into his hands, in a single moment, he understood Yuven's annoyance twicefold. Another swig, and he stuck out his tongue at the bland, stale taste. It spread warmth on his tongue, and he sighed through the stuck clarity.

"You'll take a dose of sunbloom every morning until it's all gone. All of it," Bryn repeated. "I'm done for now. Get resting." They bowed to King Reyn before departing from the lord's chamber.

Fenrer eyed Reyn, who took the giant's seat. "I do owe you some answers first."

"No, I—" Fenrer coughed.

Reyn raised his hand, powerful, authoritative finality. "My questions can wait until I'm done answering yours," he said, and sent another plume of flames into the fireplace. "Before I found you drowning at the base of the cliffs, I saw a beam of silver light pierce the storm, and when I arrived, I stumbled upon what appeared to be an ambush. There were several dead Naveeran's scattered about the clearing, but I also found something else." Reyn shifted to the drawer, then pried something out from its side.

Icy maelstrom gathered with silver might, a glaive of sheer, sharp strength. It glimmered at its pointed tip, where old blood crusted. Though made of ice, it stood strong as metal. Wisps of white fell off the shaft, sending misty water droplets back to the flow. Remnants of their auras, clinging onto the world, the truth of their lives Reyn held it out to him, his own aura tightening against a strange pressure forged from a crown. "I found this, and then... I saw some magick and followed it to you. I'm afraid Adara and Yuven were nowhere to be seen when I arrived." He put the glaive on the windowsil, where it shone in the morning light. "Now, if you're up to it, maybe you can answer some of mine." He returned to the giant's chair and slapped his hands against his knees. "Who did this to you? Do you remember?"

"Uh..." Fenrer strained. "Yes... we were attacked, but it's..." He pushed his finger into his temple and scowled. "It's all blurry. I know I-I fell, no, I slipped and Yuven tried to grab me and..." His breath caught in his chest, and he fought for clarity. "I'm sorry, I wish—" he swallowed another sticky gulp and coughed into the cloth. "I know it'll come to me, Your Grace, but I need to think on it and start planning on how to get to them—" He tried to drag himself up once more at the flaring anxiety in his limbs.

Reyn matched his rise only to push him down again. "Fenrer, no. Please give yourself another day before we discuss things further. If you can't remember at this point in time, I'll give you time. You've given me something to think about, and if you recall anything about what happened, you can send for me—not get up and find me on your own—" Reyn enunciated. "Send for me."

Fenrer drove his fingers into the mattress. "Very well." He slumped into the bed and threw the blankets over his body. Static irritation almost kicked them off, but he chewed on the shivering stars when Reyn headed for the door.

"Bryn will bring you breakfast," Reyn said at the threshold. "Make sure to eat it. You've been fed essence while you were in and out, but you need to regain your strength."

Fenrer winced. "Reyn."

"Yes?"

"Thank you for saving me," Fenrer whispered.

Reyn smiled, full of youth war stole from them. "It's the very least I could do, Fenrer. It is my solemn duty as king to be a protector of my people, to not err on that as my father had done. Now, go get some sleep before Bryn tans both our hides." He stepped out of the room, and the oak door closed behind him with a comforting rumble.

Fenrer slacked into the fluffed pillows and counted his breathing until a different darkness held him close, humming a waving lullaby.