The Echo -

The basic ability that defines a ‘Warrior of Light’; this simple thing realized at the start of the journey carries much more meaning than the empathic memories it enables. This shard of identity connects one to the persona of the past, as part of a larger whole, and as a result strengthens that identity past the point of requiring a physical vessel for security.
This is the compass on the aetherical sea; this echo of identity keeps its grasp beyond the limits of mortality. The mortal form, the body, is just a ship with which one navigates the world at hand.
Ships can be replaced.

The Shard -

The world, as a space one exists and resides in, is a mirror of perspective that returns experiences based on subjective expectations. This mirror, however, is not whole; the broken pieces of this source mirror show other worlds, other perspectives. When a piece of that mirror is rejoined, the unique perspective it once had is lost, never to be seen again.
How long can one mourn the end of something nobody else has ever known?

Mortality.

Setting aside permanence of the body and finite nature of shards of the world, with the last fragments of identity held together by the echo of reality, the passenger must find a new ship. The compass leads to something familiar. Something else too is lost, as the anchor is cast, and the new sail rises; crafted to preference, now ready to observe an unfamiliar world.
***
This of course, is all much too far in the past.***

• Arrow Left

Water.

As far as she could see in every direction was an engulfing blue; a chaotic, expansive landscape, swirling and moving. The sky was dark, just barely allowing light through, punctuated with flashes of light from the storms that seemed to have forgotten this small, last bastion of solid ground. The horizon attempted a contrast, with far-off silhouettes standing against it as the last remains of something manmade, not proudly, and barely at all. Not proudly anymore, anyway.
Behind, the remnants of a small boat pushed beyond its limits, now here too in its final resting place. A companion like this might have been some solace, had it been the only one. Now, it stood as an afterthought, much like a gravestone.

Water.

The gap in chaos ended and rain filled the air around as well, fighting to share the same space. Land’s battle was worse as it seemed to melt away underneath, grave fading with it. The sky cracked and lightning shot across air, offering the brightest, final light, before the crack grew louder and the ground itself failed. Quickly, it was gone, not even remaining for the eulogy to the battle air had now lost.

Water.

Surrounding. It swallowed everything.
Suffocating. It invaded everything.
Enclosing. No more space.
Nothing. Can’t reach.
Chaos. Reaching..
Calm. Numb.No storm, no air, no land, no light. Nothing left.A hand.
Here, at the end, just this…Two hands. Finally.. if only this.
The calmness from lack of senses is silently destroyed as they’re ripped from one another.
Something else rips. Something.. intangible. Attachment is gone, and both of them fade.. two bodies drifting away into nothing, as she just watches from farther and farther away.

Water.

Then Tessa wakes up.

• Arrow Left

Age of Blood.

Serenity pierced the chaos of dark night, with her feet the only movement in the silence. The opposite fringes of perception were framed with the sounds of distant water and shuffling movement. She pushed toward the water. She was acutely aware of each step. The movement of her legs was evidence of the last traces of her willpower. Her arms hung as passengers to the struggle of her stumbling past one tree after another, one side more weighted by the lifeline that was her sword.
What remained of her world was closing in on her. The water and the pursuing sounds grew closer. She dragged forward with traces of a pained expression, too focused on the effort to walk to put energy into her face. With no other paths left, water seemed better than the alternative. Striving toward the most comforting sound that remained; something that still that clearly thrived and flourished either regardless or because of its nature to do as it pleases.“You’re almost there.”Finally, she could see it; the flashes of moonlight reflected in the waves, showing her the finish line. This was the obvious end, in every way. She had come out on the other side of all the chaos defined her life up to this point, only to for it to all feel condensed in this moment as her pursuers burst from the tree line she had barely left behind.“What is it you want?”Turning, back to the cliff, she barely managed to raise her sword. The emerging torches flickered, and her tattered robes waved in response. Mouths moved, but she heard nothing from them. Nor did she care to; their dispute had long since moved past words.
“I want them to pay.”
“Is that why you’re still standing?”
She shook her head, her short dark hair shaking as water droplets began to come down her face. She looked up into the starting rain, screaming to everyone but herself.
“I WANT THEM TO PAY!”
“…At any cost?”
Her head came back down, a fire in her brown eyes that contrasted how cold her struggling body stood. The sounds had all disappeared for her now. Her vision showed nothing but rain and enemies, startled but not deterred. Her assailants readied themselves for what would surely be her final struggle; she was easily outnumbered, but they did not approach carelessly. Her determination was clear.
“Take what you want. Just make them pay.”
“Then I will.”
Her body shuddered for a moment, and her eyes went wide. The fire quickly gave way to terror before she realized the approaching spears easily moved past her failing arms.
But she felt nothing. She looked down, and watched herself take each one, and felt nothing. She could do nothing. It felt so distant, so suddenly detached, losing hold of sensation as realization replaced it. She could only watch; that pain wasn’t hers anymore. Her body fell back toward the water as her lifeline slipped from her fingers. She felt no pain, even as she saw her body still carrying the spears that caused her demise. Her vision was fading. The only thing she had left was hate.
“MAKE THEM PAY.”
As her body fell silently, her mouth moved.
“I will.”
With a splash, her vision pulled back. That wasn’t hers anymore. She watched the arms and legs of her body start to move, like a marionette being tested. First awkward, then gradually more confident as the body righted itself in the water. It looked down as color started to fade from the hair that seemed to flow with the water, dragged with the current to grow longer. Its gaze landed where the spears still found themselves sheathed. It carelessly removed one, a cloud of red bursting from its chest in the water. It tossed it aside, and pulled the next, discarding it as well. Looking unbothered while pulling the last, it inspected this one closer, then gripped it firmly as it looked up at the retreating surface of the water. The eyes of this body shifted, glowing a golden yellow that had not been there before. She looked up with determination.
Back above the water, the group looked down over the edge of the cliff, watching to confirm their kill. They lingered longer than normal because of the fading visibility from the growing storm. One waved the rest back with an air of command, clearly recognizing the futility at this point, and they started to head back.
Then there was another splash.
They turned back quickly as a unit, raising weapons defensively, barely catching a flash of white as water shot up from the edge of the cliff. The crash of thunder followed, nearly all of them lurching forward as the tree line behind them seemed to explode. Scrambling to regain composure, each of them turned around, and froze in awe.
The trees nearest to the edge of the cliff were gone. Others lay flat, fanned out from that central impact point. In the center was the lightning, still lingering after striking. As it waved chaotically in the wind, it became more obvious that this was the long flowing white hair of the small body that now stood up from the crater, standing over the lower half of what had been the man waving his hand over the cliff moments ago. She turned back, looking over her shoulder at the group, surrounded by burning forest, flames seeming to glow with a purple tint in the rain. She tightened the belt of her torn and bloody robes that now seemed to be just slightly too big and retrieved her spear from the ground.
Some of them were beginning to realize they were a smaller group by half a person. Cries of anger rang out, and a few of them began to charge. She didn’t see a reason to listen to their words.
Another splash.
Red painted the ground in an arc as she turned and swung the tip of the spear, tracing a swipe of purple past three men that quickly crashed to the ground past her. Her weapon settled at her side, gripped roughly in the middle, looking expertly handled regardless of how much bigger it was than her. She stepped forward with an imposing aura that greatly contrasted her size, her expression blank and unchanging.
“Kill them! Kill them all!”
She rolled her eyes, and in a white blur pounced on her prey with a loud crack; landing in the middle of the group, a body snapped back and crumpling like wet paper underneath her. Pulling her spear back with a twirl, the spinning white blur sprayed red in a spiral around her as two more torsos dropped, followed by the splats in the mud of ownerless legs.
The last three stopped as the realization of what was happening around them fully sank in, a mess of terror and confusion that showed the straining limit of what they could comprehend. In fear, they turned and ran, each fleeing directly away from what they could only hope to define as sentient lightning. She watched them go in separate directions, and shrugged before leaping straight up in the air, up above the trees, seeming to hover a moment at the arc of her jump as she took aim. Like an arrow, she fired, and crashed into a scream of plants and blood as the group was reduced to two. Sliding to a stop, she narrowed her eyes as she lined up the trajectory through the forest, then kicked off the nearest trunk with enough force to snap it behind her. She flew direct, and hit with precision, flying right over the shoulders of the now headless second target before spinning in flight to fling her spear with enough force to throw herself back. She landed, legs spreading to absorb the impact of the landing, then stood up, flipping her hair back as the weapon found a new home pierced through meat and bark.
“Yes!! Kill them! Make them pay!”
“That was all of them, I’m pretty sure.” She looked around, assessing her surroundings. “And with that, I’ve paid my price. This is mine now.” Gesturing to herself with one hand with mild amusement, which quickly shifted to slight annoyance.
“And I’m done with you.”
“Kill the-“
With a snap, the remaining spirit of hatred in her head faded from existence.

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Forgotten.

She stepped inside the house.She pushed past the door; no sense of urgency, but no hesitation. It wasn’t her house, but who owned it didn’t seem to matter. She stepped through the room all the same. Moving past the furniture, disregarding the lack of light; none of the context mattered, none of it was important.A clatter of utensils from the kitchen, and her path changed, pace still holding. One step after another, like this was the path to begin with. This small frame moved, holding more presence in the room than anything else.She arrived; a small figure framed by a much larger doorway, but barring exit all the same.Finally, she stopped.Standing there, a man holding a large kitchen knife, bits of silverware reflecting the moonlight on the floor around him.“WHY!?” He screamed. His hand shook from the intensity of his grip on the handle. Everything he had went into this simple question.Nothing.“I trusted him! I had no reason not to trust him! You trusted him too, didn’t you?!” A swing of the knife, cutting away at his own doubt.Nothing. She stared.“What about everyone else?? They had no idea.. what happened to them? Are they all gone now?!” His eyes flared as the accusation in his question was made clear.She just stared. She said nothing.His eyes widened in realization. “..I’m the only one left? I don’t understand.”Stepping back, arms dropping, resignation washed over him. He backed up to the counter, tripping over himself as he reached it unexpectedly, barely managing to catch the counter with his free hand.“I DON’T UNDERSTAND!”Lunging at her, he sprung forward with all of the energy that had seemed to fade. Ferocity growing as he closed the distance in an instant, his charge loomed over her drastically smaller frame.Wincing for just a moment, hesitating…And then his blade came down.His eyes wide in ferocity as he committed to his strike, and wider in recognition as he felt the blade find its target. Staggering back, he let go of the kitchen knife, now sunk straight to the handle in her shoulder. He never imagined he could do such a thing.. especially not to her. The weight of sinking into living flesh, and the weight of stabbing through the connection they had shared; both seemed to drag his shoulders down. Shaking his head to regain his focus, he looked back up.She stared.Frozen in place, he forgot to breathe. He forgot to blink. He just looked on in shock as his brain tried to process what he was seeing. The knife was there. She was still there.And then she stepped forward.“W-wait.. wait how?! Is this what you meant?” Stepping back, her approaching presence only escalated his desperation.Another step forward.The room seemed to shrink around him, backed up against the counter yet again. The kitchen felt smaller to him than ever before. Her calm approach simply removed the space he had available to him. He was trapped.She stood in front of him, looking up at him.Looking down, his eyes met hers; a shining yellow that drew him in, bright and somehow darker than he ever imagined they could be.“I’m.. so-“Wind blew through the window, a strong gust that sent the curtains flapping out of the opening; the room itself was finally given the chance to stop holding its breath, exhaling the energy it had been holding back. The moonlight flickered through the room as the curtains settled back into place, casting a single shadow on the ground.Dropping her gaze, she reached up to the knife in her shoulder, grabbing the handle firmly. Unflinching, she pulled it out, her eyelids not daring to cover her piercing vision. With a flick of her wrist, she tossed the knife aside; no audience but the house itself to miss the sound that should have been heard as it faded away in the air before hitting anything.She stood alone.The energy of the room dissipated, settling into a cold peace seemingly distant from the events of moments ago. Moonlight reflected off the scattered silver on the ground, like lost stars to the darkness of cabinet shadows. The curtains stood still, content to let the moonlight pass freely, as it claimed what it could; nothing left but shadows to battle for dominion of the room.Nothing at all; the house stood empty of life.