"They started building the city from here?" Lincoln asked Shade.
The two sat on the edge of the large fountain in the middle of the roundabout. They were eating lunch—some sandwiches—as Ray frolicked about, already finished eating his.
"Yeah. This very point," Shade said, about to take another bite. "As a guillotine. That's why the fountain is named Guillotine."
Lincoln blinked with a flat look. "Ah."
"According to the history books anyway. They supposedly took it down a long time ago. Probably wouldn't work on anyone dangerous enough to deserve it anyways."
"Energy, right?"
She nodded.
"And nobody deserves something like that."
Another nod.
Lincoln was moments away from engulfing the last of his sandwich. A bird with blue and purple feathers flew in and dropped near them, so he broke a piece and tossed it at the bird.
"So, you have any plans?" he asked as the bird started pecking at the fallen food.
Watching the bird, Shade shrugged, "Be with Ray as much as I can for now. Try and make up for all the time we lost."
"You two still have plenty of time." Lincoln smiled. "What about things you want to do?"
She looked at the ground in thought. That never came up in her head—something other than being with Ray.
Flicking the last of his sandwich in his mouth, Lincoln placed his hands at his sides, gripping the fountain. "It's important to know what you want too, but I'm sure Ray appreciates you for thinking so much about him."
She looked at him, then back to her sandwich. It was such an unusual feeling not being able to come up with a concrete answer. She started playing with her food.
Lincoln scooted closer to her. "You like working on tech. Maybe start from there?"
Of course. Shade always enjoyed working on technology—even as a naive child, even for fun—which may still hold true. Technology interested her; it carried endless possibilities, which was overly exciting.
"I wouldn't mind making something the world has never seen," she said. "Or spreading technology across the lands so everyone can access it, making the world easier to live through."
Lincoln nodded. "That would be nice. As a bonus, you'd be known across the world too."
Shade chuckled. "A nice perk. What about you?" She always wondered what Lincoln's goals were. He was too broad about them in the past. "You said you wanted to travel or explore or whatever."
He nodded. She didn't notice the slight shift in his smile. "Yeah. There are plenty of places I haven't been yet."
"What about here? Have you traveled much in this world?" Surely he didn't, right? He was as young as her, perhaps a little younger.
Lincoln kicked his feet back and forth, humming. "I've been to the Mall Continent, some villages, and the Magiforge."
Shade tilted her head to the side. "Magiforge?"
"Oh," Lincoln smiled. "I just call it that. It's better than the Master's Assembly Guild for Inscribed and Conjured arts."
She lowered her brow. "Oh, the magic city." She turned back to the city, watching two kids chase each other. "It is a stupid name."
"Yup. I only ever visited each of those places for a week or two. I'm definitely going back someday to sightsee again. And I also want to visit everywhere else here too, like the Urgis Kingdom. Does this world"—He gestured wide with a hand—"all really not have a name?"
Shade shrugged. "The cities, kingdoms, villages, and whatnot weren't ever connected. Sure, some people do private trade with others around the world, but not major cities. If someone did name this world, then it's definitely not official. Maybe locally, but it's currently not agreed upon."
Lincoln nodded. "What about you? Are you gonna travel?"
Shade finished the last bit of her sandwich. Ray was staring through the front window of a store. He would probably ask her to buy something there in a few minutes.
"With Ray, of course."
She nodded. "I don't know yet. I just want to enjoy my time with him here for now. One day we should."
"He's lucky to have you."
"Thanks." She smiled at that. "He's… my life."
Lincoln hopped off the fountain, dusting off his pants of bread crumbs.
Shade followed suit and gazed at Ray in the distance. Nothing was going to take this away from her—this current life she was satisfied with.
But then, an odd thought appeared. Something that confused her while also making her stomach tickle.
Atlas—who saved them—meant a great deal to her and Ray. While Ray was her priority, Atlas was right behind him. She didn't only owe him her life, but he was also caring, gentle, and heartwarming to be around, even if he was strict at times.
She was fond of Atlas to the point where she might have held him beyond a friend. He cared for her, and she expected herself to do the same for him. The same would be true if Baba were around.
She could never hold him in the same regard as Ray. It wasn't fair. Although she spent most of her childhood with him, she only met Atlas a month ago. There was no comparison.
Despite all of that, she didn't want to lose Atlas either.
"Shade, come on! Let's talk, at least!" Lincoln held his hands out as she stepped towards him slowly.
She snapped her aim at him.
Lincoln sidestepped the first shot. The second hit his leg, letting pressure appear.
He swayed his head when a metal rod approached, and time slowed; his eyes went wide only after that. The metal rod passed his eyes to the left, inches from touching.
In that one missed strike, Shade was faster than anything he'd experienced until that point.
He dodged some follow-up slashes, then caught an iron jab, pulling Shade close.
"Calm down for a second!"
Shade reeled back, lacking any emotional response. She jumped up and kicked him in the chest, pushing herself off and landing some good feet away.
Lincoln rubbed his chest, where pressure started to rise. That kick was strong. It wasn't as strong as Dr. Barker or Lenora, but for such speed, it made him look at Shade in shock.
Shade fired some energy bullets rapidly.
Grunting, Lincoln dodged them and leapt behind a beam for cover.
Keeping her aim locked onto the pillar, Shade walked forward.
There had to be a way to talk to her. He found the entrance to the building.
"Why aren't the front doors locked, Shade?" he asked. "That's you, right? You don't really want all of this, do you?"
Shade dashed from his left, extending her arms and trying a back jab.
Lincoln swerved to the side, the taser cracking the beam. Reaching forward, he grabbed the rod and pushed her away with a powerful surge of energy.
Skidding to a complete stop, Shade stared at him for a flat two seconds.
She sighed.
Lincoln brought up the rod at the ready.
Shade's body lit up red, energy spasming and flickering on the edges. Gearing up, she rushed Lincoln.
She was even faster than before.
Before he could blink, the rod teleported out of Lincoln's hands—and into hers.
Lincoln's eyes widened in alarm as Shade tased him directly in the stomach. Tightening his jaw, he gave a short yell, sending a blast of energy from his palm and sending her flying.
As he tried to recover, Shade landed a bit away from him in a crouched state, dusting off her suit like she was in a business meeting. Standing straight, she stared at him. "My personal, modified taser delivers shocks up to a little over 10,000 TS. Even Edward Barker wouldn't be able to stay standing straight. In other words, Lincoln—you're a monster. Like me."
He didn't know what "TS" stood for, but his long-lost taser couldn't even tickle Dr. Barker during their fight. If she was telling the truth and her taser could put Dr. Barker down to his knees, he feared how many more raw shocks he could withstand.
She dotted towards him again, flickering red.
Lincoln stepped backward and dodged as she swung rapidly. If only he had at least one of his twin swords to defend himself easily.
He knocked the rod away a few times with his hands. The third time he did, he fired a blast point-blank.
Shade knocked it away with her rod and fired her pistol.
Lincoln did a quick backward dash and blocked all those shots with the palm of his hand covered with energy.
With a spin of her rod, Shade shot a spark ball into the air, shooting it with her energy pistol. The spark burst into pieces and flew down at Lincoln.
Lincoln sprinted off, running through the small gaps as the sparks fell.
Shade intercepted him with a fizzled dash, jabbing Lincoln in the arm. Since she stopped him, a few sparks hit him on his back.
This time, however, he cloaked his entire upper arm with energy. It helped enough for him to withstand the shock, reach around, and grab her neck with his arms.
Holding her firm, he said in an equally strong tone, "I don't want to fight you!"
"I know." Shade sounded bored or tired. "That's why you lose."
Buzzing out his grasp, she appeared above him in a split second.
Lincoln avoided the rapid iron jabs, shots following shortly after.
Shade landed on the ground, throwing another couple of jabs before Lincoln grabbed her rod, this time using white energy and snapping it in half.
Shade jumped back and narrowed her empty-looking eyes. She stared at her broken weapon, which she only held half of.
Lincoln tossed the other half to the side, looking at her.
"Hm," she said, her voice dull. "I saw you use the same type of ability when fighting Willy Ryser." She tossed her half aside as well, locking her eyes on Lincoln. "It's obvious I can't use niche weapons to fight you."
She bent low, and her form disappeared.
Lincoln followed her with his eyes as flashes of red dashed around the room insanely fast. He quickly understood how she kicked off the walls seemingly in random directions. She was trying to overwhelm him.
When one of her dashes came straight towards him, he leaned to the side and dodged it.
Shade repeated the flashing pattern around the room, trying to get a hit on Lincoln. It always came to the same result—Lincoln blocking or evading it entirely.
By the third time, Lincoln furrowed his brows. Whenever she went into that jittering state, her body couldn't turn. She had to turn it off whenever she wanted to change directions. It was easy to read.
So when she came in for a fourth time, Lincoln raised his hands and got ready to intercept her instead of blocking or dodging.
When he reached forward, his brows shot up in utter shock when she changed direction mid-dash, and he grabbed air.
Shade was above his arms.
"Predictable."
She delivered a kick straight to Lincoln's cheek, sending him soaring.
As Lincoln was thrown through the front desk, he regretted admitting something.
He underestimated Shade.
He threw some part of the desk off and barely had the time to stand as Shade came in pursuit.
Shade's fists were swift, with jittering red trails behind them. It was disorienting and kept him on a backpedal. He kept his arms up as it became trouble to keep up with her.
"Come on, Shade!" Lincoln yelled. "I know Atlas helped you, but think for a second!"
"How could someone like you ever know how it feels?" she asked. "Life stops moving for you, and you feel stuck forever! Meanwhile, no one will lend a hand to pull you forward!"
Her punches were too fast to spot openings.
"Atlas did that for me!" she said, her tone hard. She landed a punch to his shoulder, kicked him in the stomach, and shot a red beam, pushing him into a wall.
She glared at Lincoln slumped against the wall. "I won't let you take this away from me, Ray, or even Atlas. You have no idea what it feels like to be alone at the bottom."
But when Lincoln lifted his gaze, his expression wasn't one of sympathy or solicitude she was sure would appear. His eyes looked very peculiar. They held something that made her stop.
Her eyes widened, and she loosened her fists as she tried to think of anything else that look could entail.
A look of understanding.
It was as if Lincoln knew throughout his bones what it felt like to be pushed away and abandoned.
They say there are many ways to become strong, and there are two main factors.
Your personal training, where hard work pays off the longer you keep it going. There were countless examples of people doing the work and becoming something great. But training wasn't alone in that endeavor.
Fighting against living itself. When the world seems to hate you, pushing forward and coming out alive will make you grow beyond conception. It's how Shade grew to be this powerful. No matter what life threw at her, she faced every single mountain that was life and climbed every peak.
However, Lincoln's strength was comparable to hers. She shrugged it off at first. But now, lines of recognition started to code themselves into her head.
Ray got ill, and she had to provide for both of them alone. Every day, she was constantly running away. Every day, she had to live with looming fear—fear that she would return home and Ray wasn't breathing.
Every day, she had to deal with all of that alone. It was so hard all alone.
The same thing could have happened to Lincoln. But Lincoln had always been so happy and cheerful. He walked everywhere with a sparkle in his eye.
Lincoln couldn't have a tragic past. There was no way that was possible! No one could be that happy after dealing with such hardships. His strength had to come from physical training. She refused any other possibility.
But then, what was the meaning behind that look?
She looked away from Lincoln, shut her eyes, and clenched her teeth.
Lincoln stood up.
No. She had to focus on Atlas and Ray.
With a short cry, she pounced at him, readying a fist.
Lincoln prepared a fist of his own.
The two clashed with their punches, and everything around them blew away as the room shook and lit up with their combined pulsing energy.
Lincoln flinched for a moment. The pressure built up on his fist as they stayed clashing. It kept growing, bursting inside the end of his fist, making him feel something very familiar that he hadn't felt for quite a long time.
With wide eyes, he pulled back, and Shade did the same. The room returned to its normal hue.
He rubbed his fist, which now bled life, the blue essence sparkling and rising to the air before fading away.
Looking over to Shade, she was just as taken aback as he was. She held her punching hand gently and looked directly at him.
It hurt.
There was actual pain.
Until now, Lincoln thought pain didn't exist as a concept. It could have been replaced by pressure. For so long, he forgot the horrible feeling or lack thereof.
Shade's stunned look didn't last long. She seemed more surprised than confused. Like she knew this was possible.
At first, it didn't make sense, but their clash was powerful. While one's own energy never inflicted damage on oneself, Shade's energy held power. Because of that, he deduced that for pain to appear, a certain threshold of power was needed to make the sensation possible.
He'd ask Shade, but he doubted she would answer them anyway.
"Stop!" a new voice shouted.
Lincoln and Shade raised their brows and looked over to where one of the staircases was. Standing there, panting like he ran down every step, Ray stared at the two of them, looking between them.
Atlas had chastised Ray for destroying a wall the last time he did.
"Ray?!" Shade shouted in surprise.
"The building was shaking, and I felt your energy! Why are you two fighting?!" he asked, looking angry, especially towards Lincoln.
"Ray…" Lincoln tried to come up with something but trailed off too long.
"Ray." Shade turned to Lincoln. "Lincoln took Atlas' keycard. He betrayed us."
Ray's eyes widened, and he looked at Lincoln with a scowl. "What? Why?" He'd been playing a video game with headphones on and hadn't heard Atlas say that on the speakers.
"No! I..." Lincoln gritted his teeth. Ray wouldn't understand even if he told him. It was simple to understand that Ray thought Shade was always right. He would always stand at her side no matter what happened. There was no point in trying to speak with him.
"But stay put. I'll deal with him." Shade was about to continue, but she flinched momentarily and held her hand. It was bleeding Life.
Ray saw that and looked as if he could massacre an entire city. His body began surging purple, and he pounced at Lincoln.
"Ray, wait!" Shade yelled.
Lincoln widened his eyes as Ray flew towards him in less than a second. He swerved to the side and dodged. Thankfully, Ray wasn't as fast as Shade.
But then, Ray touched the other side of the room, cracking the well, and kicked off, charging at Lincoln again. He was even faster.
Lincoln jumped above Ray, letting him pass, but once again, Ray kicked off the other end of the wall and became even quicker.
Lincoln narrowed his eyes. He couldn't dodge anymore lest Ray got even faster. Bringing his arms up, he took on Ray's energy charge with them, getting dragged down the room.
Once again, shock hit Lincoln as pain spread through his arms. Along his arms, streaks of Life escaped his bruised skin.
They slowed down, and Ray jumped back, gearing up for another jump.
"Wait!" Shade yelled, her voice final. She dashed forward in a red blur and grabbed Ray's wrist. You're not supposed to be fighting! You know that!"
"But Shade, he hurt you!" Ray glared at her as well.
Lincoln lowered his arms, staring at the two.
"I'll take care of it." Shade took a few steps forward, not letting Ray leave her sight.
"But you always take care of everything!" Ray shouted, throwing his hands up. "Let me help you for once!"
Shade frowned. "Your energy wasn't made for fighting! I still don't know how stable it is!"
Lincoln caught himself nodding at that. A few times during their relaxation period, Ray would have random outbursts of energy. It seemed harmless, but it never hurt to be safe. Shade even promised Ray that he could fight whoever he wanted in a ring when he was stable enough to do so.
"And don't even begin thinking about Evolving!"
Lincoln snapped back to the present and stared at Ray entirely still.
"But Shade!" Ray whined.
"Listen to Shade, Ray." Lincoln didn't know why he spouted that, but the response he received was expected.
"Shut up!" Ray yelled at him. "You hurt her! Don't talk to me like you're still our friend!"
It hurt to hear Ray's words, which were understandable, but they still hurt more than his arms and fist.
Frowning at Ray, Shade said, "Ray, that's enough!"
"But he…" He looked lost, pointing at Lincoln. "You guys were fighting! He took the keycard!"
"We're in a disagreement," she explained. "That's it. I don't need you doing any unnecessary risks!"
Lincoln looked on, but this was a great chance to escape as Shade focused on Ray.
However, the moment he was about to bolt towards the door, a spark of purple energy spasmed around Ray, and he let out a small cry and dropped to his knees.
Lincoln froze as Shade was at Ray's side instantly, holding him by the shoulders and yelling, "Ray! Are you okay?!"
Ray slouched still, looking towards the ground in a daze but nodding nonetheless.
Standing silently, Lincoln debated whether he should take this chance now to run. But he couldn't help but take a step forward.
He saw Shade go still and lift her head when his step made a sound. Realizing she wouldn't do anything more, he approached them.
He needed to leave. Now was his chance.
Why wasn't he running? Was he stupid?
He crouched down on the other side of Ray, looking him over with his senses. His energy levels looked fine, but there were still random outbursts. Thankfully, they were small enough not to be worrying.
Shade turned to Lincoln. Her body was tense, ready to explode with red energy when Lincoln tried to do anything.
Lincoln tensed up as well, albeit with soft eyes. The last thing he wanted was to Evolve since it was these two he was fighting. He didn't wish to fight them in the first place. If only Shade would listen. She had to know that Atlas was in the wrong here.
"Did you know Atlas is from The Other?" Lincoln asked, his volume suited for a close-up conversation. "You had to have known since he sent you around with their undead army."
"Another?" Ray raised his head, still half-glaring at him.
Shade's eyes were a bit more dull now. "What of it?"
"Their people attacked an innocent village. Threatened to hurt or even kill little kids younger than us! I know Atlas helped both of you, but sometimes people aren't what you expect. You know that this is all horrible, so why are you still helping him? I know you feel guilty about this!"
"It's called trust." Shade glared again. "Atlas hasn't done a thing to make me stop trusting him. I owe him my life. He… He saved Ray, and he saved me, while the entire city ignored us like we didn't matter—like we were the same as trash lying on the street."
"So you don't trust me?"
Shade's hard look faltered momentarily before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"I know you wanted me to stop him, deep down," Lincoln said, softer now. "Otherwise, why would you tell me he was the one who started the domino effect?"
He extended a friendly hand, mixing it with a smile of the exact nature. "So come on. Let's all stop him together."
Shade stared at his hand, turning to Ray for a second, who simply looked back at her, not knowing what to say.
There was a crash in the front of the building, dust blowing everywhere.
They all looked over and, through the glass doors, saw the silhouette of some giant creature with long arms.
Before the smoke blew away, the creature started to snap, twist, and turn smaller, and sounds of metal clanking and grinding appeared. It became one smaller thing coming towards the door.
Opening the front door, a tired-eyed Atlassian rolled into the room in a brand-new wheelchair, shining even though it had to have collected dust when it landed.
While Ray leaned around Shade to get a better look, she froze. She didn't even twitch a finger.
Narrowing his eyes, Lincoln stood up and turned his whole body to him. He walked forward and took a spot in front of Shade and Ray.
"One last chance, Lincoln," Atlas said, his tone filled with boredom and fatigue. "Give me the keycard and walk away."
"No," Lincoln said. "Admit you're wrong."
Atlas sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "I liked you."
His eyes opened wide, and Lincoln felt a giant wave of energy blowing in his direction.
This was Ambition, Lincoln realized.
No, it was more than just a simple wave of energy. It completely surrounded him. It was overwhelming. He couldn't move as he tried to will his body to engage Atlas.
He realized that too late after he felt it sinking into his body from head to foot.
Atlas' eyes glowed dark purple, which was the sole focus in Lincoln's vision as Atlas' pupils were projected large above him.
It was heavy, crushing while stretching him apart at the same time. He couldn't breathe. It felt like drowning. He couldn't hear anything but the loud, coarse scream of Ambition. There was even a terrible taste in his mouth. However, he still managed to make out Atlas' voice.
"You helped us come to this point, Lincoln. Because of that, I won't do more than I need to."
Everything was vibrating, and he couldn't do anything but stand still, his muscles frozen to the core. The space around him started to spin, and he felt as if he was tossed across the city and around the planet at superspeeds.
"This is goodbye. I wish you the best. Truly."
Then everything crashed in on him. The screaming stopped, and the terrible taste disappeared, but his mind felt squished to a single atom.
And then, nothing.