The soundtrack you need for this one is Twilight of the Gods from Fire Emblem Echoes.

25: The Day the World Ended

Their time in Southsun came to an end all too quickly, and Caoilfhionn left with a heart full of beautiful memories and a burning desire to never have anything to do with the Consortium again. Not that they'd been treated poorly personally – they were paying customers, after all – but learning later what Annhilda had learned about the refugees' abuse had been infuriating. The corporation hadn't deserved that second chance. They'd not be getting another from him.

Still, their vacation as a vacation had not been spoiled. He'd spent as much time with his lover as would fill his heart and mind with lovely thoughts for ages, and those memories were precious to him – he wouldn't let them be tainted by external corruption. Trahearne went back to Fort Trinity with more energy than he'd seen in him for some time, and Caoilfhionn rejoined Hope's Legacy in Lion's Arch, happy to see his friends again.

Though a few weeks later, he was able to call Trahearne out once more, for a day, to see Dragon Bash with him and celebrate the first anniversary of Zhaitan's demise. They wandered the city hand-in-hand, Caoilfhionn constantly keeping himself pleasantly tipsy at the frequent beer stalls, dancing whenever there was a minstrel handy to carry a tune – he loved festivals! At least, he loved it until the effigy exploded and killed two people. Then he sobered up quickly to help, though now it was Wegaff's turn to shine here, eagerly making himself of use as Marjory Delaqua's assistant and pinpointing the culprit with astonishing efficiency.

After the festival, he went with Wegaff to his lab. "You were brilliant, helping Marjory track down the murderer."

"Aye, well, it was progeny's play once you knew how to work the box. Almost boring, really. Still, watching you take on the Aetherblade base was… I still don't know how you do it. I can hold my own in the wild, but fighting coordinated adversaries like that…"

Caoilfhionn put his head on one side. Wegaff didn't normally compliment him this much unless he was about to ask a question, so…

"I want you to tell me how to do it."

Not exactly, a question, but- "I'd be happy to!"

It was not easy, having such an analytical pupil. "First of all, perhaps you should think less," Caoilfhionn suggested.

"But…"

"You don't think about breathing, do you? Or walking?"

"Actually breath is quite a fascinating topic…"

Caoilfhionn picked up a ball nearby, a toy for Damara's hound, and threw it at the Asura. "Catch!"

"Gah!" Wegaff cried, barely deflecting the ball from his face. "I was still thinking about breath!"

"The Risen wouldn't let you finish that thought either," Caoilfhionn said. "You may be able to calculate a stability matrix in two seconds, but two seconds isn't fast enough. So stop overthinking everything." He breathed, and sat cross-legged on the floor. "Let's start simple. Sit down with me, and close your eyes. Now, breathe in slowly, and deep, until your chest is filled with air. Don't think about why. Just slowly and evenly let all that air out, until it's all gone. Feel the air flow. And then breathe in again, just as before."

He opened one eye to check on Wegaff, only to find his friend missing. "…Wegaff?"

"Just a moment," came from another room. "I just had this brilliant idea on the importance of air pressure on biochemistry. Where's pen and paper when you need it?"

This was going to take more time than he'd thought. Caoilfhionn got up and went looking.

"Okay, done!" Wegaff cried triumphantly, just as Caoilfhionn found him. "I can work this out in more detail later. So, where were we?"

"While you're thinking about theory, I was curious about something myself," Caoilfhionn said, giving up any sort of structured exercise for the time being. "I was wondering, do you think it would be possible to wield two elements at once? To weave them together, in a sense."

Wegaff scoffed. "Ludicrous. The elemental pulse signatures would absolutely prevent that. The polarity interference alone would tear the spells apart before they could be cast. Not to mention I've never met a geokineticist who could channel their energy into two separate flux fields simultaneously. It's one or another, and anything else is reattuning – and you can't reattune that quickly."

"I wonder, though," Caoilfhionn said. "If you could separate your mind, your concentration – like a musician playing a lute, each hand doing a separate task – a couple spells might be possible."

"Even if you could do that, it'd never work in a combat scenario," Wegaff said. "And the logical conclusion – casting a spell with both elements at once – would be actually impossible."

"So you don't want to help me look into it?" Caoilfhionn asked, eyes dancing.

Wegaff raised an eye ridge at him. "I never said that. I just don't think you should get your hopes up."

"Understood. But let's talk more about it later, tomorrow perhaps. Come breathe with me now?"

Nearly a year later, Caoilfhionn was walking briskly through Lion's Arch with Damara, breathing in the sea breeze, enjoying the sunshine and the jollity of the centre of town, when a shadow crossed over the sun. A big one.

He looked up and a chill ran down his spine to see ominous crimson airships descending upon the city. "Damara!"

"By the Gods!" Damara cried. "Everyone, get down!"

At first no one moved except to look in surprise at the screaming Human.

Then the airships opened fire.

Caoilfhionn and Damara had run for cover behind a nearby fountain, and a missile exploded in the building next to them, showering them in burning splinters. Now everyone screamed, and ran, though no one seemed to know which way to go.

Neither did Caoilfhionn. "That attack is upon us… and now what do we do?" he cried, drawing his daggers, though there was nothing to strike at.

"Get everyone out of the city!" Damara shouted back. "The civilians, anyway!"

"All right. Everyone, follow me-!" Caoilfhionn began to shout, and stopped as the ground began to buckle and burn nearby. "Get back!"

The burning pavement burst and a giant flaming figure burst out – and another, and another. They said nothing, only charged, roaring. One of them fell to an arrow from Damara, and her hound sprang upon another. Caoilfhionn charged, stone surging from his heels and crashing outwards, knocking them down. Heat and hostility was all around him, and he switched to lightning, shielding himself from them as he dashed back to Damara. "We need Annhilda!"

More missiles crashed into buildings, and he couldn't hear her answer. But she was pointing towards the gate into Gendarran Fields. "Just go!" he made out over the deafening sounds, and she loosed another arrow.

He waved at the remaining civilians who had not yet fled, and ran with them towards the gate, dodging debris and Molten Alliance, smiting any enemy who got in their way with lightning, taking the hands of those who stumbled and helping them to stand. Everything was on fire, everything was exploding, and-

A deep rumble rippled through the ground and air, and he looked over his shoulder – and then wished he hadn't. A massive flying mechanical… thing was entering the harbour, a vast inverted cone with a huge drill on its underside. He shook his head hard, trying to stay focused, and grabbed a small Human child who had tripped, swinging her into his arms.

"Caoilfhionn!" There was Annhilda, and Rhyoll with her, holding a turret under his arm. "Keep doing what you're doing! I'm going to rally defenses!"

"Yes!"

The Lionguard at the gate were as terrified as any of them, but he was glad to see them as he delivered his civilians to them. "Get them to safety, I'm going back in!"

Lion's Arch was under attack! And was falling swiftly! He was still fighting shock, the urge to simply fall to his knees and watch with grief and horror – as he saw others doing. Asura, Humans, other Sylvari, he ran to anyone he saw staring and shook them, pointing them towards the gate. The Molten Alliance was running wildly through the city, killing anyone in their way who didn't fight back, and now he saw krait and Sylvari of the Toxic Alliance swarming in too. There were still too many civilians in here! Everything was chaos. His head was spinning. His last experience with real war, back on Orr, had not prepared him for this. By the Pale Tree, the Asura Gates had been destroyed. No one was escaping that way. What was Scarlet after!? Total annihilation!?

There was some resistance – pirates, drunken and not, who absolutely would not sell their city at any price, there was the Lionguard, and those of the Vigil and Priory and Whispers. Though Scarlet's forces ran amok, heavily armed and armoured, killing whoever they could, they had no coordination. But neither did the defenders, not yet at least. And the longer they floundered, the more people they lost.

Caoilfhionn fought his way back to the centre of town, to the fountain where Annhilda was, red hair flying, battling a krait twice her size. Rhyoll was there with her, and so were Rox, Braham, and Phiadi. They were being pressed hard, yet the more enemies bogged down at their position, the safer it was elsewhere, wasn't it?

Caoilfhionn rode lightning to the giant krait and lashed it with Air magic until Annhilda stabbed it through the gut. "What's happening?" he asked in the half-second of breathing room they had. "Where are the others?"

"I know Damara, Marjory, and Kasmeer are somewhere to the east. Wegaff, I don't know."

"By the Tree-" He checked himself. This wasn't the time to interrupt.

"Captain Magnus and Ellen are over to the west. We're not going to hold this position for much longer. How many civilians are left?"

"I don't know, the destruction is too great. Still too many. I'll keep looking."

"No!" Annhilda stopped him. "I'll get Braham and Rox to do it. I need you to check on Fort Marriner. You're fast, they won't catch you."

"Yes, guild leader!" Caoilfhionn saluted her and dashed southwards – the bridge had been destroyed! It was not surprising but it was one more thing that hadn't yet registered through his shock.

No time to worry, only to dive into the water from the broken edge and evade the krait, carving his way across the channel to the walls of the fortress. It had largely been left untouched so far – why assault a fortified position when the soft belly of the city was right there for the taking? The gate was even open, and he ran in. "Is there any way I can help!?"

"Caoilfhionn of Hope's Legacy," exclaimed the Asura captain, Shud, from the midst of a crowd of frightened citizens making their way through the Asura Gate that led to Vigil Keep. She made her way to the edge of the group to speak with him better, and pointed at the gate. "We're taking these civilians to the Vigil Keep-"

Evon Gnashblade stomped past them with a train of dolyaks. "Get outta my way, runt. I gotta get merchandise through that gate."

Shud glared at him. "Hurry it up, Evon. I have citizens here who need this gate." The dolyaks were large, and slow; no civilians could make it through while he took up the space. "Evon, move your dolyaks. I need to get these people out of the city and shut down the gate."

Evon snorted. "What? That's your problem? Don't worry, Shud. I got you covered." He stepped through the gate, and before anyone else could walk into it, it flickered and ceased to glow.

Shud cried out in outrage. "That greedy…! How did he shut down the gate? Never mind. Get to the city exits!"

"I'll go with you!" Caoilfhionn cried, though his sap was boiling over. How dare he-! How could he be so spiteful-! If any of these people died because of him-! He must have broken the gate, for the Vigil would have turned it back on as soon as they noticed… Or he'd probably fed them a lie that the enemy were right behind him. That was more likely.

If he saw Evon Gnashblade alive, he would strike him with his hand and call him an honourless coward to his face. Which probably wouldn't work on a Charr… but killing him was probably not an option right now.

He escorted the civilians beyond the southern hills to Bloodtide Coast, then hurried back. The fortress was still intact, but it wasn't going to be much use as a staging ground, not with the bridge down. The sky was turning black with smoke, black as night, but night never caught in his lungs like this. Annhilda and her team had withdrawn from the fountain square, the Lion Fountain fallen and smashed to bits – and that grieved him as much as the loss of life.

He tried to find civilians, but there was no one alive here now besides dredge and Charr and Sylvari and krait, and he couldn't fight an army alone. The corpses sprawled through the streets, the gathering pools of blood, sickened him. He could hardly look, but he had to – what if he saw someone he knew? He had to find Wegaff and make sure he was safe! His steps turned in the direction of the guild hall, quickly and quietly, trying to avoid detection.

He cried out in sorrow when he saw it – it had been struck full on by a missile, and was now a heap of rubble, of twisted wooden planks and broken glass. "Wegaff! Wegaff, are you in there!?" He couldn't help calling out, hoping, hoping…

A bit of rubble was shifting! He sprang towards it, wrenching boards away, heedless of how his hands bled, of how his shoulders protested – yes, Wegaff was under there! "I'm getting you out! Hold on!"

"Cauliflower… you silly… blueberry…" Wegaff's voice was faint, but he could hear it. He grabbed the edge of a wall and lifted, straining his whole being. "Why are you not… using an Earth G.U.E.N., you… idiot?"

Ah, he was right! Though he didn't want to crush Wegaff by accident. With the golem to lift the wall for him, he could reach down and gather up Wegaff in his arms. "Are you badly hurt?"

"Not as bad… as I could have been," Wegaff whispered. "Managed to… put on stone armour. Like you… showed me."

"All right, we're getting out of here," Caoilfhionn said. "Hold on, you'll be safe soon-"

A clockwork machine dropped in front of him and he almost screamed. This was too much! No, he had to keep it together. He was a Valiant, a knight! He had to fight for those relying on him! Trahearne would do no less, even in the face of these overwhelming odds.

There was no more time to think, only to move or die. He took to Air and darted past the clockwork abomination, sprinting for the gate. The city was truly lost. Nothing friendly or peaceful yet lived within its bounds, and all else was burning, burning…

And then he inhaled, choked, and almost stumbled to his knees, coughing. What was this!? Poison? Wegaff was coughing too. He couldn't run if he couldn't breathe! He heard the clockwork monster clattering up behind him and staggered on, choking, eyes blinded by tears of pain, expecting any moment to get slashed in two. The gate was close, and-

A rifle shot rang out, and the clockwork monster flinched. "Caoilfhionn! Wegaff!" Annhilda was there, picking both of them up in her strong arms and taking them to the gate, past Rhyoll reloading, though she too was coughing in spite of the underwater breather mask she'd put on. "Get out, this miasma is going to poison everything."

"And you…?" Caoilfhionn managed, as she deposited him on the bridge out of the city.

"Just a couple more minutes," she said. "Get to camp! There are medics there!"

"Yes," he said, though he could feel his body growing numb to his commands. But he could still walk, and walk he did northwards, in the direction of the growing camp of white tents. Everything was a daze now, a weary shambling march punctuated by shallow coughs. Wegaff was limp and heavy in his arms. He hardly knew what was happening by the time Lionguard medics swarmed him, taking Wegaff gently from him, giving him something to drink, wrapping him in a blanket and sitting him down by a fire.

He stared blankly into the fire, he didn't know how long. Those horrific images he'd witnessed were burned into his mind, and all he could do was see them, again and again, until he heard someone large sit down near him.

"How are you doing?" he heard Braham ask. "You look terrible."

"Everything's gone," he murmured dully. "Everything."

"Not everything," Braham said. "We're still here."

"Not everyone," he said. "So many died…"

"It's like when Cragstead got attacked… but so much worse," Braham agreed. "How old are you again?"

In this moment, could he even remember a single-digit number? "Three summers, or near enough…"

Braham nodded in understanding. "No wonder you're in shock." He felt a large hand pat him on the shoulder. "Hang in there. I know it's rough. Hi, Captain Kiel!"

"Braham, Caoilfhionn." Ellen greeted them, squatting down by their fire to speak, but she seemed busy. "Annhilda told me you went to Fort Marriner, what was the situation there?"

"Quiet," Caoilfhionn said. He couldn't look up, but he could talk. "Captain Shud was helping civilians through the portal – until Evon Gnashblade shut it down."

"He did what!?" Ellen exclaimed. "Oh, that… Hmph. So he's at the Vigil Keep now, is he?"

"Yes, I think so. He had several dolyaks of merchandise. If I see him again it will be too soon."

"I agree with you, but unfortunately, he's not stupid; he'll be around for a while yet. What did you do after that?"

"I helped escort the civilians to Bloodtide Coast, but there was still no significant pressure on the fort when I returned. I don't know what the miasma will have done to it, though…"

"Thank you, that's very helpful," Ellen said. "Get some rest. I have to send someone up to the Keep…"

"What for?" Braham asked.

Ellen chuckled darkly. "Going to use some emergency powers to conscript Gnashblade into pulling his weight. He'll have no choice but to give us his wares… or be executed."

"Damn." Braham sounded impressed, and Caoilfhionn was too, turning his eyes up to her in astonishment. "He deserves getting roped in."

"He'll whine and complain, but we'll get what we need to fight Scarlet, and take care of everyone, and I don't care if he hates me more than he already does."

"You're amazing, Ellen," Caoilfhionn said. "I wish I could see his reaction."

"Me too, but there's too much to do here. All right, take care of yourselves. Rest up, because as soon as that miasma blows out to sea, we're heading back in there. We still don't know what that drill thing is doing, and I don't like it."