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The rift tore through the sky. At first, a rip in space, as though the atmosphere had torn. Impossible rays of teal bled through the smallest crevise superimposed above. The heavens cracking like stone.

Then, at once, it burst. A flash. They stumbled back against the rush of cold that consumed, swift and disorienting and wrong. The shiver clung to them—a feeling of invading, of trespassing, was all that grounded them in the moment their eyes adjusted. From the darkness to a pure radiance, the rift stared down at them. Swirling chaos in the sky. A greedy, dangerous warp between realms of being.

Their breathing was visible, weak, as though the act of living would suck them right through, but while they adjusted to this looming deformity, Kai didn't pause.

He fell forward, stomping, catching himself on the barely tangible arm of a ghost. He couldn't care less if his final breaths were of pathetic, desperate pleading. His eyes were trained ahead, praying against surprised green.

"Just go through the Rift of Return. Please… I'm begging you, Morro…"

Kai's defining confidence broke, the edge in his voice crumbled to a childish pleading. The sense of shame they once shared was missing. Morro saw only a desperate, clinging boy. Months had passed since they were one, yet Morro grew uncomfortable in his presence. Had they truly ruined Kai this much?

Morro looked past him to the wide eyes of his team. The apologies and reassurance and explanations all died in their throat. They couldn't bring themself to humiliate Kai further. They knew the crushing shame awaiting him just for this act alone. They knew Kai better than the fire elemental himself.

"Let me do this," they said simply, tearing their arm away. "It's the best I can do."

Kai stumbled forward, catching himself on unsteady legs. Before he could swing his heavy arm to catch Morro once more, the specter had descended from the ship's edge to aid Cole in one final stand.