The white seam behind them sealed like a wound closing.
Suddenly....
The world returned.
The cliffside air.
The familiar village smells.
The distant crash of waves.
But the Arbiter's decree hung heavier than the sea itself:
No touch.
For one full day.
Solance stood trembling immediately.
Its glow flickered uncertainly as if already pulling inward in panic.
Lioren stood rigid,hands clamped together to keep herself from instinctively reaching out.
Aurelianth stood between them,both hands fisted at his sides,shoulders tight enough to crack stone.
Lioren whispered,voice shaking:
"How do we do this.…?"
Solance's voice came out small:
"….I....don't know how to exist without grounding."
Aurelianth forced a breath.
"We stay close.
We talk.
We watch each other.
But we don't reach."
Solance blinked.
"….Even if one of us struggles?"
Aurelianth's hand twitched outward.
He stopped it barely.
"We talk through it."
Solance swallowed its light.
"….Talking isn't touch."
"No," Aurelianth whispered.
"It's not."
The First Hour — The Rune Flare
They walked back toward the village.
Every villager watched them as if expecting the Arbiter to strike again.
The Prevention leader whispered loudly:
"He's losing control again, look he's sweating his chest is glowing...."
Aurelianth fought the urge to snap.
His rune pulsed painfully silver and gold colliding like two stars trying to share one sky.
Lioren noticed first.
"Aurelianth….your chest it's overheating"
He steadied himself against the wall of a hut,breathing sharply.
"It's nothing just reacting Solance is stressed"
Solance froze.
"….I am causing this."
"No...." Aurelianth growled,but his voice cracked with pain.
He couldn't touch Solance.
He couldn't hold Lioren.
He couldn't receive their grounding.
Lioren reached toward him then jerked her hand back as if burned.
"Aurelianth what do I do...?"
He braced himself.
"You listen.
You talk.
Just stay close."
Solance crouched several feet away,bowing its head.
"…I am sorry…"
Aurelianth gritted his teeth.
"Don't apologize.
Just breathe."
Solance shook.
"…Breathing doesn't work on light…"
Lioren whispered:
"Try matching Aurelianth's rhythm.
Just….mimic it."
Solance focused its glow rising and falling slowly.
Aurelianth's rune calmed gradually.
He wiped sweat from his brow.
"That's it…
That helped."
Solance's glow softened in relief.
"…We did it… without touching…"
Lioren exhaled shakily.
"One hour down."
The Third Hour — Solance's Panic Spiral
Solance's first task of the day was with the stone-keeper.
But this time Aurelianth and Lioren could not correct its hands,adjust its stance,or catch it if it stumbled.
Solance lifted a fragile shard of slate too light,too slippery.
The stone crumbled.
Solance gasped.
"…I broke it...
I broke it...
I broke it..."
The villagers murmured nervously.
Lioren stepped forward.
"Solance...hey look at me you're not failing breathe"
But Solance shook violently.
"…No anchor...
no grounding...
I cannot feel myself...
I cannot...
I cannot..."
Aurelianth's hand shot forward then froze mid-air.
He dragged it back shaking.
"Solance focus on my voice...on only my voice nothing else."
Solance clutched its glowing hands to its chest.
"What color is my light...
I cannot see myself...
I cannot see..."
Aurelianth shouted:
"You're glowing softly...you're stable...you're here...Solance, you are HERE."
Solance's glow flickered,then steadied in thin trembling waves.
"…I am here...I am here…"
Lioren breathed out.
"That's it….stay with us."
But the villagers' whispers spread like wildfire:
"It's unstable."
"It can't manage emotions without them."
"The Arbiter will remove it."
"It's too dangerous."
Solance's glow dimmed further.
Aurelianth growled at them:
"STOP TALKING."
Solance whispered:
"…I am trying so hard…"
Aurelianth whispered back:
"We see that.
We see everything."
The Fifth Hour — Lioren's Breaking Point
While Solance trained,Lioren began her rune-reader duties for the day.
But without touching Aurelianth or Solance,
her mind drifted.
Her hands shook as she traced lines on ancient rune-slates.
Her instructor frowned.
"Lioren, your thread strokes are uneven."
She froze.
"I...I'm sorry..."
"Focus."
But her thoughts spiraled :
What if the Arbiter is watching me alone?
What if I falter and ruin the trial?
What if Aurelianth collapses again and I can't hold him?
What if Solance spirals and I can't calm it?
Her instructor touched her shoulder.
Lioren jolted violently away as if the touch were burning.
"You're shaking," the instructor whispered.
Lioren blinked fast.
"I can't...
I'm not...
I..."
Her breath hitched.
She stepped away from the runes.
She dropped to her knees behind a storage barrel,silent tears falling.
"I can't help them...
I can't touch...
I'm failing...
I'm failing..."
A voice whispered behind her.
"Lioren…?"
She didn't have to look.
Aurelianth.
She wiped her face quickly.
"I'm fine."
"You're not," he said softly.
Lioren covered her head with both hands.
"I want to hold you...
I want to help...
I want to ground you...and I can't do anything..
I feel useless..."
Aurelianth leaned against the wall beside her,
close but not touching.
"You're not useless."
She shook her head violently.
"What if I break the trial?
What if the Arbiter sees me fail?
What if..."
Aurelianth whispered:
"You don't have to be perfect."
Lioren sobbed harder.
"But if I'm not you two could be unmade and it will be my fault."
Aurelianth closed his eyes.
"Then….let us carry you too."
Lioren stared at him through tears.
"How?"
"By listening," he said simply.
"By being here.
By breathing with us."
She sobbed again,but this time softer.
They sat side by side,shoulders inches apart,
hearts almost touching.
After a long moment,
Lioren whispered:
"….Thank you."
Aurelianth smiled.
"Always."
The Seventh Hour — The Arbiter's Warning
Near sunset,the sky split open.
A thin seam barely visible.
But bright enough that everyone in the village lifted their heads.
A voice slid down through it:
"YOU ARE HALF A DAY THROUGH."
Solance trembled.
Aurelianth looked up sharply.
"We're doing fine."
The Arbiter's voice dropped colder:
"AURELIANTH'S RUNE
HAS DESTABILIZED
THREE TIMES."
Aurelianth flinched.
Lioren whispered:
"That's because he can't receive grounding"
The Arbiter ignored her.
"SOLANCE'S EMOTIONAL THREAD
COLLAPSED TWICE."
Solance winced, lowering its head.
"I….am trying…"
"LIOREN'S ANCHOR STATE
HAS FALTERED."
Lioren stiffened.
"I...
I'm still here...
I'm trying too..."
The Arbiter's voice pressed like cold iron:
"TRYING IS NOT ENDURING."
Aurelianth snarled.
"Then give us time..."
"YOU HAVE UNTIL SUNRISE."
The seam closed.
The world dimmed.
Solance whispered:
"…We are failing."
Aurelianth grabbed a fistful of grass his fingers digging deep into the earth to keep from reaching for Solance.
"No.
We keep going."
Lioren wiped tears.
"We last until sunrise."
They stood,hearts pounding like war drums but not touching.
The Ninth Hour — Solance's Collapse
The third collapse came suddenly.
Solance had just finished arranging rune-stones when a villager tripped nearby,crying out in pain.
The sound hit something in Solance a protective instinct it had learned from Aurelianth.
Solance lunged forward instinctively...
Aurelianth screamed:
"STOP...!!"
Solance froze inches from the villager glow spiking,limbs shaking,breathing wrong.
"…I wanted to help...
I wanted to...
I forgot...
I forgot the rule...
I forgot..."
Aurelianth was gripping a tree trunk so hard
the bark cracked.
"Solance listen you didn't touch you stopped that counts..."
Solance hugged itself so tightly its glow flickered violently.
"…I HATE THIS...
I HATE NOT HOLDING YOU...
I HATE NOT BEING HELD...
I HATE BEING ALONE IN MY BODY...
I HATE..."
It folded to the ground, shaking.
Aurelianth lowered himself several feet away.
"Look at me."
Solance didn't.
"Solance," Aurelianth repeated,voice fierce but trembling.
"Look at me."
Solance raised its head slowly light trembling like a candle in rain.
"Good," he whispered.
"You're doing this.
You're surviving.
Stay with me."
Solance whispered:
"…I want to hold your hand."
Aurelianth's voice cracked.
"I want to hold yours too.
But we wait.
Just until sunrise."
Solance shut its eyes.
"…I don't know how to wait."
Lioren knelt nearby,hands shaking.
"Then we breathe."
The Twelfth Hour — The Rune Crisis
Near midnight,Aurelianth's chest surged with heat.
His breath hitched.
The world tilted.
Silver streaks raced through his rune like lightning.
His knees buckled.
Lioren cried out:
"Aurelianth...!!!"
She reached for him her hand froze midair.
"No...no no no...
I can't...I can't touch...
Aurelianth...!!!"
Aurelianth panted,vision blurring.
"Back...get back...
I can't...I can't control..."
Solance crawled closer on shaking hands.
"…Aurelianth…"
He opened his mouth....
And light erupted across his chest.
The rune flared blinding bright gold and silver spiraling wildly,like two galaxies colliding.
Solance sobbed.
"…Aurelianth is breaking...
he is breaking...
he is breaking..."
Lioren screamed:
"I CAN'T ANCHOR HIM...
WHAT DO I DO...?!"
Aurelianth could barely breathe.
"Talk to me...just talk—"
Lioren leaned closer.
"You're here...you're with us, you're fighting, you're not breaking not while we're breathing"
Solance's voice joined hers.
"…We are with you, you are not alone, you are not lost, you are not breaking, you are not..."
Their voices wrapped around him like invisible hands.
The rune dimmed.
Aurelianth collapsed forward,catching himself on shaking arms.
Breath returned.
Barely.
Solance sobbed glowing tears.
"…Please don't break…"
Aurelianth whispered, breathless:
"I won't.
I promised."
The Last Hour — The Arbiter Watches
As the deepest part of night settled,the seam cracked open again.
The Arbiter's faceless form leaned down like judgment incarnate.
It watched them.
Silent.
Unblinking.
Waiting for collapse.
Aurelianth struggled to stand.
Solance forced itself upright.
Barely.
Lioren wiped sweat and tears from her trembling chin.
The Arbiter whispered:
"ONE HOUR REMAINS."
Aurelianth spat blood.
"Then watch."
Solance's glow flickered.
"…I am so tired…"
"You're almost there," Lioren whispered.
"…I want to hold someone…"
"I know."
"…I want to feel someone…"
"I know."
"…I want to exist with weight again…"
Aurelianth swallowed hard.
"You will."
They sat in a triangle,inches apart,breathing slowly,fighting to stay whole.
The Arbiter watched.
Every tremble.
Every flinch.
Every ragged breath.
The seconds dragged like cold stones.
Solance whispered:
"….Aurelianth….Lioren….please….stay awake.…"
Aurelianth whispered:
"I'm here."
Lioren whispered:
"We're here."
Solance whispered:
"…I miss holding your hands…"
Aurelianth's throat tightened.
"So do we."
The sky began to lighten.
The Arbiter's sigil rotated.
The first ray of dawn appeared.
The Arbiter spoke:
"THE DAY IS COMPLETE."
Aurelianth exhaled.
Solance collapsed in relief.
Lioren sobbed.
Then the Arbiter finished:
"YOU MAY TOUCH."
Aurelianth didn't even breathe he surged forward Solance leapt at the same moment Lioren flung herself into them And the three collided in a desperate, shaking embrace.
Solance sobbed light.
Lioren cried into Aurelianth's neck.
Aurelianth held them both so tightly it hurt.
Solance whispered:
"….Never again…."
Lioren whispered:
"Never."
Aurelianth whispered:
"Never."
The Arbiter vanished.
But the echo of its judgment lingered like a scar.
The day without hands had ended.
But the next trial waited in the shadows.