Lyle leaned against the jagged bark of a crooked tree, breathing slow and deep.
The fog had receded, but its influence still lingered—like a damp thought at the edge of his mind.
Juno knelt beside him, gripping his shoulder harder than necessary.
"You were gone too long."
"I was gone thirty seconds."
"You were gone," she said again, like the word meant something more.
He looked up at her.
And for a moment, he saw the mask slip.
Not off.
Just tilted.
---
They moved in silence, deeper into the broken glade.
Each step was a negotiation.
The ground shifted.
Landmarks rearranged.
This wasn't just illusion—it was designed instability.
"You've been here before," Juno said finally. "Haven't you?"
He hesitated. "Not physically."
"In your dreams?"
"Yes."
She didn't mock him.
Didn't scoff.
She just kept walking.
That was new.
---
They reached a crumbling spire near the center of the map—or what passed for a map in a warped simulation.
A spiral staircase curved upward along the outside wall, narrow and cracked. One misstep, and you'd fall straight into mana-saturated thorns below.
Lyle moved first.
Juno followed.
"Why didn't you ever ask me for help?" she said suddenly.
He paused. "When?"
"Any time. Since the beginning."
"I thought you hated me."
"I did."
"…That tracks."
She smirked, then sobered.
"I don't now."
Lyle glanced back. "Why?"
"You don't act like someone with power," she said. "You act like someone who knows what it's like to have it taken away."
That hit harder than expected.
He didn't respond.
Didn't need to.
She kept talking.
"I thought you were arrogant. Just hiding it better than most."
"And now?"
"Now I think you're dangerous. But honest about it."
That almost made him laugh.
"I lie constantly."
"But not about who you are," she said. "That's what scares people. You know exactly who you are."
---
At the top of the tower, the seal waited—glowing faintly in a bed of crystal roots.
Lyle stepped forward, reaching for it—
—and the room exploded in whispers.
Not words. Not thoughts.
Just raw, twisted emotion.
Juno stumbled back, clutching her head.
Lyle dropped to one knee, bracing himself.
It wasn't pain.
It was grief.
Memories surged unbidden—his mother's final smile, his father's blood on the pages of the Codex, the cold weight of that ancient wizard tome in his lap while the world turned upside down.
"Lyle—!" Juno's voice pierced through it.
He looked up.
And in that moment, she saw all of it.
Not visually. Not telepathically.
Just felt it.
Everything he'd buried.
Her hand closed around his wrist.
And she didn't let go.
---
Together, they pulled the seal free.
The whispers stopped.
The fog vanished.
And the world returned to stillness.
---
Back in the waiting room, neither of them spoke for a long time.
Finally, Juno leaned back, eyes closed.
"If you ever disappear again like that… I'll find you and kick your ass."
"That's fair."
"…And I'll be pissed if someone else figures you out before I do."
That made him smile.
"I'd hate that too."