It came from Hadal Forest

She didn't even have to consider her response. She wanted out, and fast. Me? I wanted answers.

We both rushed toward the vacuous hole I'd conveniently opened in the wall before us. All of the flames were mostly concentrated in one spot, still, but it would quickly spread to the rest of the house. Even so, speed necessitated the risk.

With Rilah in my hands, I leapt toward the open air, side-stepping a tongue of flame in my path, before vaulting a bed of embers to my left. Several strides remained. Then abruptly, they were gone, and I was outside.

I took a deep, invigorating breath. It was rhapsodic. Cleansing. Fulfilling — but it wasn't enough. The smell of caustic smoke still clung poisonously to my throat.

I nearly threw Rilah to the earth, in my eagerness to be rid of the flavor; which found me collapsed onto my hands, and knees, coughing, hacking, and spitting with every bit of remaining energy that remained left after the exhaustive ordeal I had just survived. She hardly seemed to notice. She was retching, and drooling, just as miserably as I was — if not worse. It was enough to permit concern.

In between gasps, I managed to ask, "Are you okay, Ri? You were breathing that smoke way longer than I was."

She couldn't reply. Her reactions were too extreme at the time. Tears flowed from her bloodshot eyes, and she shot me a look that seemed to say "The hell are you asking? Does it look like I'm for'ging okay?!" If looks could kill.

I chuckled a little bit, and nodded, approaching her slowly, before grabbing her lapel. In the crook of my free elbow, I continued the expulsive process, while I stubbornly dragged her supine form away from the growing fountain of smoke belching from the impromptu sally port behind us.

She lacked the energy to protest. As undignified as the posture was, all she wanted was to get away from the loathsome smog, and admittedly, this was working. What was the point of manners, anyway?

Soon enough, I decided we'd traveled a sufficient distance. So, I let myself fall on my back, beside her. Exhausted.

Were it not for the dangers of nature at night keeping me feeling anxious, I may have even fallen asleep. Even laying there, drenched in sweat, my eyes and ears remained at attention. Nothing would escape my notice.

I wasn't sure what I could do to defend myself, in the physical state I was, but I would not be caught unawares. I craned my neck to and fro, waiting and watching. Surely, some terrible thing would saunter up, attracted by the dulcet tones of Rilah's gruesome glottal expiration. Surely, They would find us wanting. Surely, She'd be so unlucky. Surely, We'd fall. Surely.

I kept waiting for the moment I'd know. Rustling grass. A blur of white fur. Padding footsteps. A flash of gleaming tapetum in the distance, as carnivorous eyes catch the meager light of the moon.

I sat up when I could. It was more out of obligation than anything, but it felt nice to pretend that I still stood a fraction of a whisper of a chance. Really, though — who was I kidding? It took all I had to turn my head. Even then, when I scanned the horizon too rapidly, my head swam with dizzying nausea.

Would it be now? I looked to my left, and there was nothing. Now? I cupped my ear, to discover only echoes of Rilah's coughs dying on the wind. Maybe... now!

I waited, and waited, but eventually, their window shut; and the nightmares never came.

I didn't say anything. Rilah understood the point of that silence, and climbed up to her feet. Together, we enjoyed the miracle of the stillness that followed a desperate gamble. By all accounts, we were offerings. Even a raptor could have mortally wounded us in that state. We shouldn't be here. We were beckoning the forest. We shouldn't be alive, even uninjured; but we were.

I extended my hand to Rilah. After a small start, she smiled, and took it. Her hand was so warm... I forgot the night.

That liminal period of harrowing, disquieting, impregnable silence that we shared, walking in lock step on that chilling, desolate night, was more treasured than any riotous ballad, or soothing word, or lighthearted, mirthful rejoinder could ever be. We shuffled away together, from the smoldering wreckage of my previous life, and into a new one. Now, fertile with promise; and potential.

Together, we rounded the corner, toward the glade's center. The progress was slow, and the night air was bracing to feel snapping against my windpipe and the inside of my lungs, but I hadn't found a good excuse to give up on the possibility of further survivors; just yet. We leaned upon each other, and continued to scan the wreckage.

"No signs of life," I murmured. "At least, nothing that I can pick up in this darkness..."

"I considered lighting a torch with that fire you started, but I thought it might attract more cassocks," suggested Rilah.

I sighed. "Maybe you should've! I haven't seen anything stirring around ever since we left my house. Where is everything?!"

She just shrugged. "Let's not jinx our luck, because it could always turn, again. Badly."

"That reminds me, you were going on about 'integration,' or something. I was hoping you would explain that to me."

That caused her to stop dead in her tracks. Her eyes lit up, and she bounced spritely on the balls of her alternating heels, as she exclaimed in an astonished cheer, "Oh, yeah, I almost forgot! You're a lightbearer, Zozi!"

"Wow, that's incredible! I always wanted to be one of those!" I said, with a jaded smirk. She didn't seem to parse the hint.

She continued, "Me too! I've only ever heard of them before. Grandatha would go on, and on, about how rare it was to find someone who was capable of handling the intense concentration of force inside. Of all the different integrals, I always thought this one was the coolest. It's the one with the greatest flexibility, after all, the power of flight, telekinesis, the ability to make your own light whenever you want, instant fires, invisibility, some kind of weird extra sense that lets you see in all directions at once or something, and my favorite of all —"

I cleared my throat, to bring her back down to the real world.

"Oh..." she blustered, feeling her cheeks grow red. "You were just making fun of me, weren't you..?"

I rubbed the back of my neck in solidarity, before I nodded.

"You don't actually know what a lightbearer is, do you?"

Still too discomposed to dare attempt to make light of her zeal, I shook my head. Then, I managed "To be fair, I didn't realize you would fall for my little joke; that hard. I feel kind of guilty, to be honest. I wish I knew enough to get all those things you said now."

"Well, I forgive you." She huffed, punching my shoulder.

"Ow! Hey, considering how close I was to losing this arm, I thought you be a little gentler! And I didn't even apologize, stupid!" I stuck out my tongue.

"Yes, and that's the problem, stupider. I deserved an apology after that terrible little prank!"

"'Stupider' isn't even a clever comeback!" I tried to pull my hand out of her grasp, but she held it fast. "Ugh! Why do you always do this?!"

"What's the matter?" she grinned. "Can't shake free from the hold of a weak little girl?! I thought you were supposed to be a big strong integrator, now, but I guess you'll always be my cute little Zozi." Then, she started making exaggerated kissing noises, and pulled my face closer down.

"Augh! Come on, stop that..." I groaned, flailing my free arm madly in an effort to fend off her teasing. "Don't be gross, Ri. Aren't you going to explain all this lightbringer stuff to me?"

"Lightbearer." She corrected, with her face halfway shoved into the dirt. "Pay attention, dummy!"

"I'll show you attention!" I started to shout, before I folded her into a headlock. "Are you convinced yet?"

She just sighed so dramatically, and tucked her body into an acrobatic moon kick. From there, she transitioned into a sort of leg grab that trapped my head in her thighs. I was so shocked that I fell into the momentum of the new weight differential, with my hands involuntarily flying out to catch our momentum; releasing the hold I was so proud of. Suddenly, I was the one in a choke hold. She had me right where she wanted me.

"Nice try, but no. You'll have to tap out to convince me of that."

I tried to pull her legs off, but — of course — they wouldn't budge, and I was all out of options. I patted her leg.