"And that's my problem, is it?"
"I would say it is." Sir Theodore Prillam leaned forward in the chair. "I would say it is all of our problem." The man sitting across from him, one of the eclectic Formers, scoffed and waved a hand.
"Let it crumble. Let it all crumble. Let it all crash and makes waves." Theodore opened his mouth to respond. "I mean, it can't be you ignored my warnings! You did what I asked, didn't you? You kept off certain places, you reinforced others, didn't you? I sent messages!" the Former said. "I sent warnings!"
"Yes, and you shouted them in streets where people thought you a madman!" Theodore said. He stood, drawing up to his full height. In his armor, and with his sword and shield, he cut a figure all-too imposing. "You have given your answer. If you will not help us, I am wasting my time here." He moved through the Former's small, darkly-lit home. A single candle flickered on the table against the wall. The floorboards creaked under his weight. "If you happen to find your conscience, come to the Apex. We need all the help we can."
"You do!" the Former shouted as Theodore exited. "But I shan’t be the one to forget all the wrongs you have done. I shan’t be the first to bow to the idiot whim!"
"Idiot whim," Theodore repeated, standing outside. He hefted his tower shield up and clanked to the side of the walkway the Former's home was on. The city rose and fell around him. Far in the distance, higher than anything else, he saw the pyramid known as the Apex, the seat of the government. Above, far above, the sky-sea seemed a solid sheet of gray, though he knew it splashed and flowed just as the sea far below did.
He began clanking his way to the next Former's home, through the crowded and moving bridges spanning the gaps between buildings. He waited, head and shoulders above those around him, for the bridge to connect with the next section of stone built up out of the sea under them. The people around him moved out of the way automatically as his huge form stepped forward.
As he walked, sweating under his armor, arms burning as they lifted his weapons, he kept glancing up. Many people were. The sky-sea had never been so close, and it was all-the-while getting closer, if the scientists could be trusted. Theodore hadn't the barest clue how they could tell. It was his job to carry his armor, not spend his days and nights with his neck craned up, or down, so he looked ahead again and put on a burst of energy.
The next bridge began moving while he was walking on it. The sirens sounded, and the barriers appeared to keep people from falling to their wet doom thousands of feet below. A track hidden below the sea's surface took him away from the direction he had been going. "Drown it all," he said into his helmet. He tried to figure out the best route to his destination, as well as attempting to recall the schedule of the bridges. He came up with a rude path, and as he walked he cast his eyes downward, through the slit in his helmet. The sea below them was rising. Their city was trapped in the shrinking space between the two bodies of water.
After an exhausting trek, he banged his fist on the door to the last Former of the day. All the others had turned him away. The door cracked open. "Former Kalimbah, I am Sir Theodore Prillam. May I speak with you?" The door opened more and the doorway showed an old woman. Her puckered lips pulled together, and her eyes narrowed.
"And why-" she crossed her arms "-do you need to speak with me?"
"The Apex has bid me contact Formers in an attempt to garner their assistance."
"Assistance against what?"
Theodore tried to remember. "Against the growing threat of collapse, and the approaching seas of both the sky and ground."
Former Kalimbah tilted her head. "How interesting." She moved to shut the door. Theodore put his hand out, and she might as well have tried to knock a wall down with a slap. The door bounced off his gauntlet. "Must you be difficult?"
"It has been a difficult day, Former. You are the last one I have to speak to. You can determine my success from all the people standing behind me."
The Former peered around Theodore's huge body and saw no one. "And why should I help? You didn't pay attention to us when we told you about the weak stone. And what can we do against the waters? What can anyone do?"
"More minds make for mightier musing," Theodore said.
"It even repeats like a parrot," the Former said, turning away. "How long did it take you to memorize that line? A fortnight? Go, darken my door no more."
In a moment Theodore found himself standing on the step in front of the closed door. His eyes were narrow, his mouth pressed together in a grim line. He looked around.
The home was small, probably just two or three rooms, no more than anyone else of similar means. It was constructed of the gray-white stone making up everything else, as well as a few lingering boards. He stepped around the perimeter of the house, trying to make as little noise as possible. He listened carefully, trying to remember what he'd seen of the inside. There had been a door here...and that meant a room here...she was probably...
He went to one heavy knee. He started fiddling with the stones under the Former's home, shifting or removing them. After a few hours he finished, and removed his helmet to wipe the sweat from his face. He stepped away carefully, and waited.
The light was gone before it finally happened. The stones, moved and removed in such a way to make a racket and the sensation of giving way, made it seem as if the Former's home was about to pitch into the sea. It creaked and groaned, and frantic shouting came from inside. Just as the house began to roll onto its side--though Theodore knew it would settle in a moment--he stuck his armored fist through the weak wood and wrapped it around a wrist, yanking with all his might.
Kalimbah Tah, Former, dangled from his hand. Her house cracked and grumbled, but failed to do anything more than shift a few feet.
Her eyes were wild, spinning and darting in every direction. Theodore let her drop to her butt as he took a step toward her house. "It looks like you're lucky."
"My house..." She looked up at his armored shape. "How did you know? How did you grab me?"
"I'll put in a work request tomorrow," Theodore said. "Shouldn't take more than a day to fix." He crouched, as if inspecting the damage. "Do you have anywhere to stay?"
"No. Not after this." Kalimbah waved a hand toward her shifted house. "It wasn't even that bad."
"There's plenty of space in the Apex," Theodore said, standing slowly, shifting the massive weight of his armor. "After me."
"I don't want to go to the Apex." She crossed her arms, laying them over the beads around her neck. "I'd rather sleep on the street."
"And wake up with stones piled on top of you," Theodore said. He wasn't looking at her. "Your choice then." He started clanking away, using his shield as an impromptu cane. He knew enough not to turn around and look at her as he pulled away, but eventually he heard her voice behind him.
"Fine." He stopped and rotated, placing each foot carefully. "I'll come with you." She was looking up with a natural scowl. His head bobbed forward.
"You won't be able to stay long. Not unless you promise to help."
"Help. Help against the water under my feet? And the water above my head? Help how? No wait, let me guess: more minds make for mightier musing?
Theodore said nothing.
"But I suppose I don't have much of a choice," Kalimbah said. "Only if you answer my question. How did you know my house was in danger?"
Theodore peered at her through the slit in his helmet. She couldn't see his eyes, but she continued to glare as if he was a chastised child. "I wanted to be a Former," Theodore said. "I did not succeed, but I still learned enough to notice the stones under the corner of your house had worn away."
"And so you just waited?!" Kalimbah said. "You didn't try and warn me?"
"You wouldn't have believed me." Theodore pointed himself toward the Apex. "I waited until you would."
"I could have fallen! Everyone already thinks I'm cursed!" She spat. "Superstitious goblins."
"You wouldn't have believed me."
"So sure of that, are you?" Kalimbah sneered. "I know how to take care of myself! I actually am a Former, so I'm sure I could have spotted the same thing you did! I bet I could have even fixed it! You just had to-"
Theodore knocked her in the head with his shield. With his free hand he dumped her limp body over his right shoulder and started walking across the stone span the Former's house was on in the direction of the Apex. Her shrill screech was still echoing inside his helmet as she stirred. "Don't move too much," Theodore said. "You fell and hit your head. I'm taking you to the Apex."
"Why did I fall?"
"You must have slipped on a stone. They are treacherous."
"I know they're treacherous, you simpleton."
Theodore attempted to tune her out, but now her mouth was even closer to his helmet--it fairly rung with each word she said. The Apex grew in the deepening, aimless twilight until it was a shadow over them. He entered the pyramid, the center of the sprawling stone bridges, buildings, and plazas suspended between the increasing seas.
Inside was cool stone lit by braziers and a few special bricks, providing gray illumination in the cramped hallways. Theodore's huge frame came close to filling the doorway. He allowed Kalimbah to dismount and had her lead the way, telling her which direction to turn. Still, he found himself getting lost in the narrow corridors, despite the amount of time he'd spent inside. Luckily, Kalimbah failed to notice his confusion, and he managed to lead them to a large inner room from which he could orient himself. "It's about time we got somewhere that's more than just dirty rocks," Kalimbah said. "Where are you taking me, anyway?"
With his helmet tucked under his arm, his bald head shining with sweat, Theodore glared down at the Former with all the patience he could muster. "To the pinnacle."
Kalimbah's mouth hung open, and Theodore blessed the silence. "Why am I going to the pinnacle? I didn't do anything wrong!" She put her hand over her mouth.
"It's just to talk. You aren't being charged with anything. I already told you why. We want your help."
"Well, you're going about it like a lout! Scaring a poor old woman, tearing her out of her home at night!" Theodore knew he wouldn't be able to get away with knocking her out again, but the thought was there. "And now you tell me I'm going up to the pinnacle. Can you blame me for being skittish? Are you going to be at the pinnacle too?"
"Yes ma'am. I am part of the committee."
"Oh, brilliant. You're going to be saving the world, are you?"
"No ma'am, I just tear old women out of their homes at night."
Kalimbah's eyes narrowed, and she spun. "I need to get freshened up before I go up there. I want to be taken to my room first."
Theodore nodded and grabbed the arm of a passing Apex worker. "Take this woman to an empty bedroom and then escort her to the pinnacle once she's ready." The worker, whose arm had been swallowed by Theodore's hand, nodded.
Theodore took a deep breath and made a furious face at Kalimbah's back as she disappeared, already talking the worker's ear off. As her form dwindled his body loosened. His shoulders dropped and his neck bowed toward the ground.
"Theodore!" He turned and saw his comrade in armor, Sir Mettian Havoc, nearing. "What luck?" Mettian asked as they clasped hands.
"I was able to convince one Former to assist us, and even then I had to use a few tricks."
"Better than I did anyway," Mettian said. The smaller people inside the Apex walked around them, as if they were pillars. "What's his name?"
"Her, actually. A foul little beast named Kalimbah Tah. She only agreed to help because her house happened to shift underneath the stones a few hours I asked her."
"A simple coincidence, yes?" Mettian grinned.
"Nothing more. I was just doing my job as a protector of the people when I rammed my hand through the wall of her home and snatched her up. She could have fallen into the water! Luckily, her house only settled a bit." The smile fell from Theodore's face. "Which reminds me. I need to submit a work request."
"After the meeting. Come. Noros told us there was to be no delay. As soon as we return."
"I just needed a moment to collect my thoughts," Theodore said as he placed his helmet back on his head. "That accursed Former talked my ear off."
They made their way through the cramped stone corridors of the massive building to the large set of stairs running all the way up, and climbed, putting one heavy foot in front of another until their knees and legs burned. By the time they reached the intended level their breath came in ragged gasps, and they were forced to gather their breath before continuing on.
They were high enough to walk past one of the Apex's few windows. Through it, Theodore could see the endless stretch of stone walkways, massive pillars, and all the other bits of civilization. In every direction, from all points of the compass their world spun away, stuck in the space between the waters.
Theodore realized he had paused, gazing out the window. Mettian urged him forward, and they resumed clanking down the hallway toward the meeting room known as the pinnacle, at the top of the Apex.
A number of men and women were already inside. Kylin Noros, leader and ruler of the Apex--and thus of humanity--presided over the room from the front of an oval table. He raised his chin and gazed at the two armored titans, welcoming them with a sweep of his hand. "Prillam. Havoc. Finally you have returned. Were you successful?"
"I was, your highness," Theodore said, bowing at the waist. "I convinced a Former named Kalimbah Tah to assist our efforts. She will be along shortly; she is preparing for the meeting."
"Then the group is assembled at last." Noros sat, and waved the others in the room to join him at the table. "We will begin and clue her in when she arrives." Mettian and Theodore sat, shedding what armor they could to make the process more comfortable. Next to Noros were Abigail Lilian, an elder stateswoman, and Doctor Ulysses Chor, the lead scientist of the Apex. Nearer to the two armored knights was the head of the knights, Commander Vayne Wilde, and an unknown woman with her hair wrapped in a scarf.
"First, a bit of information," Noros said. "You may not know the woman sitting there." He indicated the woman with the scarf. "Would you do us the honor of an introduction?"
She stood. "You may call me Remy." She looked around the table. "I am aware of all your names. I have come to the meeting at the bidding of his highness. I am the matron at an orphanage far away from the Apex."
"For what means are you among us?" Theodore asked, letting hardness slip into his voice. "Surely a watcher of children has no place here."
"Silence, knight. If you had the patience to let her speak, you would know." Noros said. He nodded at Remy, who continued, unheeding of Theodore.
"There is a young man in my charge who believes he can help us." She raised her voice. "Simon."
A boy no more than ten stepped out from one of the hallways leading into the room. He came to stand next to Remy, who put her hand on his back. "Simon believes he can see strange things."
Next to Theodore, Mettian scoffed quietly. "We all saw things when we were children, your ladyship," Theodore added, louder.
Noros was about to chastise Theodore again, but stood, looking at one of the exits. Theodore turned in his seat and saw Kalimbah standing at the entrance, looking much recovered.
Theodore stood slowly. "Everyone, the Former Kalimbah Tah, who has so graciously elected to assist us."
"My house is broke, that's the only reason why," the Former said, walking down. "Now what's this all about? I didn't do anything wrong! I know I'm not in trouble!"
"Former." Noros motioned to one of the empty seats near Theodore. "We are assembled to discuss a potential solution for the encroaching waters and deteriorating stonework."
"Not to be rude," Kalimbah said, and Theodore knew exactly what was coming next, "but it would have been nice to have the Former's warnings heeded back when they could have helped."
"Their squares wouldn't have fit in the round holes," Simon said, bringing all eyes toward him. He was short and small, an orphan to the eyes. His sunken face and black hair went together perfectly.
"I'm sorry," Kalimbah said. "I don't remember asking your opinion."
"The boy does so," Remy said. "If he has something to say, he says it."
"What's this about squares?" Noros asked the child. "And holes?" Simon shrank away a step. "No need to fear. Nothing you say will get you yelled at." Noros cast a glance over the rest of the table to make sure everyone understood. "Nothing."
Simon nodded. "I see shapes." The room was quiet for a moment. "In the air."
"Your highness, you can't truly-" Doctor Chor began, only to have Noros silence him with a thunderous look. Noros gently motioned for Simon to continue.
The boy swallowed. "I know they aren't supposed to be there. They just...hover. Above everything, sometimes below. They move around, and rotate, and sometimes they change. From a pyramid flying across the sky to a ball bouncing down the road."
Theodore saw Doctor Chor scowl. "Sometimes they make pictures."
"Pictures?" Noros asked. "More detail, please."
"A few of the shapes will collide." The boy laced his fingers. "Once I saw them make a shape like a person, taller than the tallest building. A few times they turned into monsters." The boy looked at his feet.
"I'll hear no more of this nonsense!" Chor shot to his feet. "At best he is simply confused. At worst, he looks to maliciously mislead us!"
"Chor." Noros said. "Sit. Sit or you will never enter this room again."
Chor's face went white, and he drew the chair toward the table, face caught between anger and fear. "You will not speak until the boy has finished. Am I clear?" Noros waited for Chor to nod. "Simon, please."
"The shapes come out of the water." Simon quickly scanned the people at the table. "Above and below. Like fish leaping out. They linger at some places...and those places always crumble."
Theodore sat up. Others around the table focused on the child, and he shrank back, clutching the hem of Remy's shirt. Remy placed her hand on his head. "I am the only one who knew of this before now," the caretaker said, keeping her voice low. "When I heard of an attempt to combat the crumbling stones, I used every favor I could claim to introduce you to Simon." She looked at the boy. "Go on."
Simon took a breath. "I guess there's not much else."
"Simon," Remy said, and he looked up at her. "You promised you would tell them everything."
Simon looked at his feet. Theodore saw a look in his eyes he couldn't help but recognize. "The shapes stay around me and..." He shifted his feet. "I think they know I can see them."
Theodore nodded, looking at his hands set on the table. "That's everything, your highness," Remy said.
"Thank you. Please, allow us to discuss. A servant will see you to comfortable rooms." The pinnacle was silent save Remy and Simon's steps echoing off the stone as they departed. The torch-staves around the table provided flickering illumination. The window above them, which during the day gave light a view of the sea above them, now allowed only darkness.
"Let us first see who believes the boy." Noros raised his hand. "Those who do not believe Simon can help us--whether that is because he is lying, he is deluded, or his skill is useless--raise your hand."
Theodore watched as nearly everyone raised their hand. Doctor Chor had his arm stuck into the air like an arrow. Only Theodore and Abigail Lilian kept their hands down. "And those who believe he can help us?" Theodore and Abigail raised their hands. "Interesting. Prillam, could you explain why you believe so?"
"A look, your highness. I would be surprised if the boy was lying."
"And you, Abigail?"
"I have spent enough time around my children to know when one tells the truth," Abigail said. "I believe the boy was telling the truth. Or, at least, he believes what he said."
Noros sighed. "Chor?"
"Your highness, I must protest even allowing the child inside the pinnacle." Noros speared the doctor with an incredulous look. "Surely you see the nonsense he was spouting! Seeing shapes in the air? Monsters? The shapes know he can see them?" Chor crossed his arms. "It's unthinkable to condone the fairy tale he tells."
"Does anyone else have another reason to doubt the boy?"
"I am surprised only the caretaker knew," Commander Vayne said. "Surely the other children? Friends of the caretaker? Now, suddenly, the story appears."
"To protect the boy from pain, perhaps," Kalimbah said. "As a Former I understand the thought. Others would mock or look down on him." She crossed her arms and lifted her chin. "We Formers told you all what would happen unless you took action, and now we're blamed for the very things we tried to stop!"
Noros nodded. "Sir Havoc. What say you?"
"I am unsure, your highness. The story is incredible."
Noros stood. "I agree. Regardless, it's our duty to find a reason why these things are happening, and a manner to halt them. If the boy's story is even partly true, we'd be foolish to ignore it." He paced. "Sir Prillam, tomorrow you will take the boy and attempt to find out more. If there is any demonstration he can devise, see you witness it."
Theodore squared his shoulders. "Of course, your highness."
"Somebody should go with you." Noros' eyes scanned the other people at the table. "Former Kalimbah."
Her mouth dropped open. "Your highness!"
"You have a strange kinship with the boy. Plus, you are already acquainted with Sir Prillam. Chor, you and your group will speak with the boy's caretaker to see if you can find out more. Yes, I know, it is superstitious hogwash, etcetera etcetera. Put your minds to it as a chance to grow as scientists." Noros paused. "Sirs Havoc and Wilde. You will hit the streets to see if anyone else has such a story to tell."
His eyes scanned the room. He saw faces angry, resolute, dismayed, and loyal. "Dismissed."
"I'm no happier about it than you are," Theodore told Kalimbah. "You talk too much."
"Oh, I talk too much, is it? Well at least I don't have people saying I'm cursed just cause I tried to help them, or a house that's fallen over!" She paused, and lifted a finger to her chin. "Sorry, I suppose I do have those things!"
"I will send someone to gather you at first light," Theodore said. "I must speak with the boy Simon before the night ends. Can you see yourself to your room?"
"I have a better memory than you." The Former took a few steps away. "It's not really a very complicated building. It's just big."
Theodore watched her disappear, then hailed a servant. "The woman that just left, follow her. If she appears to be lost, offer assistance."
In a few short minutes Theodore knocked on the door to the room Remy and Simon slept in, trying not to let his heavy gauntlet create too much of a racket. Remy cracked open the door, and Theodore bowed at the waist. "I have come to speak to Simon. Is he still awake?"
"Yes, though not for lack of trying."
"If the boy needs sleep..."
"Please, come in. I'm sure he'd like to speak with you."
With only his helmet off, Theodore sat in one of the chairs in the room. The armor and his big size made him seem like a giant to the boy who entered. His eyes seemed darker and more shrunken than before, though they grew wide when they saw Theodore. "Simon. My name is Sir Theodore Prillam. Has Remy told you about tomorrow?"
"I'm going to go out with you."
"Why?"
"To prove I'm not lying."
Theodore nodded. He glanced at Remy. "Could you afford us a bit of privacy?"
Remy shifted, then nodded, slipping into the next room and shutting the door. Theodore gestured at the other chair, and Simon sat. While Theodore's knees came up to his armored chest, Simon's feet dangled off the ground. "I believe your story."
"It's not a story," Simon said as he looked at the ground.
"No, you're correct. I believe you see shapes. But his highness would be foolish not to get better proof, so tomorrow we're going to go out and try to find it. Do you think you know how you could do that?"
Simon did nothing for a moment, then nodded. "Um, sir?" He looked up and met Theodore's eyes. "Why do you believe me? Remy said no one would."
Theodore knew the question would come up. "Do you know why I wear this armor? Carry this sword and shield?"
"Your one of the police knights."
"I didn't want to be one of the police knights. I wanted to be a Former." Simon's eyes widened. "I was in the Former school for several years. I knew the stone well, but I wasn't smart enough to succeed. I had just started to practice building my own stone when I had to leave. After I left, I had to return home, to my family. They told me I would fail, but I didn't believe them. They tried to convince me not to try, but I wouldn't listen." Theodore swallowed. He was not ashamed of his past, but it felt strange telling such details to just a boy. "When I arrived home, I had to tell them the truth: I had been kicked out, and they were right. There was no way to avoid it. After the talk, I caught myself in the mirror. I had the same look you had an hour ago, when the leader and everyone else stared you down. The look of someone forced to tell the truth. I saw it plain as day on your face, just as I had seen it on mine."
Simon blinked. "You believe me because you saw my face?" Theodore nodded. "And you just believed me?"
"I do. I remember knowing I had to tell them but dreading it. Did you feel the same?"
"It was embarrassing. It's weird."
"Perhaps it is. Perhaps also it is perfect."
The next morning Theodore gathered Kalimbah, and then Simon, and after promising Remy no harm would come to the boy they left the Apex, landing on the streets of their civilization in between the seas. Theodore, in his imposing and shining armor, could forge through the crowds without effort. Simon and Kalimbah followed. When they got a short distance away from the Apex Theodore turned and asked Simon how he could prove himself. The boy opened his mouth but made not a sound.
"Well come on, out with it!" Kalimbah said, putting her hands on her hips and glaring down at Simon. Theodore sighed as Simon shrank back.
"Kalimbah, please, the boy needs his time."
"Some of us think faster than a crawling stone!"
"I look for some of the shapes," Simon said, clipping the end off of the Former's insult. "If I see them gathering somewhere it means something is about to break there. Would that prove it?"
"I think it would." Theodore looked at Kalimbah. "Would that be enough? Or would you need more?"
The woman's wrinkled face wrinkled further. "I might need to see it more than once, but...I suppose it would help convince me."
"Our plan is set. I expect you to lead us, Simon."
"They...they move really fast."
"I also move fast. You'll notice I left my shield today. If we need to move fast, I can pick you up." Theodore eyed Kalimbah. "I assume you can keep up."
"Keep up?! I'll leave you in the dust!"
"Then you'll get lost! Only Simon knows where the shapes are!"
Kalimbah's eyes narrowed at Theodore's sudden volume. Theodore turned back to Simon. "Do you see any now?"
He nodded. "A few. They're just floating around." He pointed over the Apex. "There's a cube. It's kind of wiggly. Like it's flopping around."
"Any more?"
"There's a ball bouncing around." Theodore watched Simon's eyes track something, moving up and down. "It's bouncing on the air." Kalimbah snorted.
"Build me an image," Theodore said. "Tell me how you see it. Its direction, its motion. Help me understand."
"It...just looks like a circle, since there are no corners, but somehow you can tell it's a ball."
"A sphere," Kalimbah said, standing behind them with her arms crossed.
"A sphere. It comes down quickly, always between bridges and buildings, in the open space. It bounces about at the level of the bridges, goes very high-" the boy's finger tracked an unseen object "-and stays very still at the top before it drops again."
"Is it going in a straight line?"
Simon nodded. "The wind doesn't affect it. Sometimes it-" He halted, eyes widening.
"What is it?" Theodore asked.
"It just changed direction. When it was in the air." He looked around, head spinning. "There are more shapes! They're following it!"
"No time to waste." Theodore wrapped Simon's pointing hand in his gauntlet and started jogging, heavy armor thudding on the bridges. Kalimbah hurried after them. "Keep us pointed in the right direction."
"It could be far," Simon said as he panted. "It could be anywhere."
"Then you will fly on my shoulders," Theodore said. He saw the boy smile for the first time, and he could not but return it.
They cut through the morning crowds in the markets and streets, following the path Theodore constructed as Simon pointed the direction the ball went. "A lot more shapes just appeared," Simon said, face flushed with color. Theodore had to drag him forward. "They're moving quicker."
"And so shall we." Theodore halted and bent down. "Climb on. Watch the metal plates. They can wound if they catch your skin. Arms around my neck, there we are." He stood, and barely noticed the extra weight. "I will move too quickly for you," he said to Kalimbah, "but I think you will be able to follow."
"Why do you keep saying that?" Kalimbah said. "I'm just as fast as you!"
In seconds Kalimbah had disappeared behind him as Theodore released all the pent up energy in his bones and muscles. His arms pumped along at his sides, and his wide boots lifted off the ground with prodigious strides. He did not need to push through the crowd; people leaped out of the way or they would have been crushed. A path cleared itself as soon as he took off.
Simon's hair whipped behind him as he hung on to Theodore's neck and sword. He had never moved so fast.
"They're getting slower," Simon said. Theodore hadn't kept up with the shapes, but they would have been left far behind had he not started sprinting. "I think they're going to land."
"Just keep me in the right direction," Theodore said.
A minute later Simon shouted to stop. "There! They're landing there!" They stopped on a bridge, and Simon pointed over the gap at a building, hundreds of feet away. "They're swarming around it!" His shouts attracted others.
"Try and keep your voice down," Theodore said under his breath.
"Fegging hell!" they heard Kalimbah shout behind them. "How do you run so fast in that getup?"
"They're doing something," Simon said. "They're landing on it."
"Does anything else happen?"
The boy shook his head. "They land on it, like a swarm, and then-"
Across the gap they heard the stone crack. A few small bits of the stone spun off, like a mallet had struck it, then a powerful and deep sound made them flinch. A huge crack, visible even at their distance, jabbed downward through the building from where Simon indicated the shapes had gathered, and peeled walls and floors away from the building, sending them tumbling the harrowing distance into the water. To Theodore and Kalimbah, and the people around them, the building crumbled, but to Simon it was eaten, devoured by the shapes. They roved down the building's height, smashing it up and ingesting the remaining clouds of dust and pebbles, until they reduced it to a barren nub jutting up from the platform it stood on.
"Evidence enough?" Theodore asked Kalimbah, who still panted.
"I guess it-"
"The boy!" they heard. "He did it! He pointed at the building and said 'there,' and it came apart!" Theodore looked behind him and found an angry man jamming his finger in Simon's direction. "I saw it!"
A cry rose. Others agreed with the man, some shouted for an explanation. Others simply came forward.
They froze when they heard the grate of Theodore's sword leaving its sheath. The knight took a step forward and moved Simon around behind him. He settled the point of his sword on the stone under him, and the people began to realize just how big Theodore was. His sword was taller than many. "The boy did nothing."
"What was he talking about?" the man who had pointed Simon out asked.
"It's a complicated matter. I am on a mission from his highness of the Apex. The boy is under my protection." Theodore lifted his titanic, double-edged sword with one hand, appearing to lift a small branch. "If you attack you will be cut down."
"He...he did something!"
"Oh, go on!" Kalimbah said, waving her hand. "What do you know? Are you a Former? I am! I can say the boy didn't do anything!"
"Was it you?" the man asked.
"For the last time, no! Formers don't destroy things! They create things! Maybe if you had listened to us, this wouldn't be happening!"
"The shapes would still be there," Simon said. "It doesn't matter what we do!"
"Perhaps now is not the time, boy!" Kalimbah turned away from him.
"He's speaking some strange things," the man said, and a few people behind him muttered.
"So does a baker, if you know not how to bake bread," Theodore said. "I give you my word, the boy has done no wrong."
"And mine!"
"The word of a cursed Former," the man said. "And an armored fool." Still, the crowd seemed to be shrinking. A few people were backing away. The man turned and stalked off, shoving his way through. The rest of the gathered crowd dispersed.
Theodore sighed and allowed his sword to drop until its point brushed the ground. He carefully hoisted it over his head and slipped it back into its sheath until it clicked to a rest. "Thank you for sticking up for Simon," he said to Kalimbah. When she remained silent he turned, wondering if she was still there.
She was standing with her mouth open, one hand on top of her head. A drop of water, like a tear, was making its way down her forehead. Theodore looked in the direction she was, but saw nothing. "What's wrong?"
He felt something small and semi-solid strike his helmet, making a dull ring. He spun quickly, looking for the thrower, putting his arm in front of Simon again. The boy grabbed his hand. "Sir. It's water from the sky."
Theodore looked up, and a drop sliced through the gap in his helmet to strike him in the eye. Cursing, he tore off his helmet and blinked the water away. More drops pinged off his armor, turning him into a towering musical instrument.
More people began to notice. They looked up, searching for someone throwing water. A few people began to point up, at the sea suspended above them.
Cries rose as the drops became more frequent. Kalimbah, her eyes wide, had both hands covering her head. Simon looked unbothered.
"Has this ever happened before?" Theodore asked. The waves of the sky-sea danced and jumped. His heart pounded. "Did the shapes do this?"
Simon shook his head. "They aren't anywhere near the water. They're just flying around like normal." He paused, watching the sky. "I think they're gathering again."
"Oh, good," Kalimbah said, her hands still trying to cover her frizzy hair. "Let's follow them and get blamed again. I'm surprised no one's blamed us for the falling water!"
"The shapes are going toward the Apex," Simon said. "There are a lot of them."
Theodore stood still. We kept wanting to look up, but every time he did so it seemed he was drowning in lines of water.
"Pick the boy up, you dolt!" Kalimbah said, raising her voice over Theodore's clattering armor. "The shapes are going to tear down the Apex!"
"We can't go in it!" Theodore said.
"Of course we can't! But if we get their quickly, we can warn people!" She took off, not looking to see if he was following. The beads around her neck bounced with each step.
"Simon!" Theodore knelt. "Hang on tight!" As soon as the boy was prepared, Theodore thundered after Kalimbah, reaching her in less than a minute.
People panicked in the streets. They ran to get under cover; some tried to wipe the water off them as soon as it hit but they could never move fast enough. Theodore thundered past them. His speed did nothing to convince people there was nothing wrong, and he saw a number of people yell to him for assistance, but he didn't stop. The water added weight, and the exertion finally began to tire him.
The water increased, blurring his vision. People too far away became ghosts struggling against invisible forces, and when they got close they became zombies fueled by fear and a nameless power, dripping as if they skin was melting and pooling around their feet. Hair became dark, tangled sheets. Clothes became sodden masses. Rivers ran across the bridges and small lakes collected in some areas; those running through kicked up wet wings. People cried, their tears mixing with the water from the sky.
Theodore ran through all of it. His boots sloshed through deep patches, and the breath he sucked mingled with drops coming down his face. He couldn't put his helmet on--he could see almost nothing with the small opening and the rain.
"There are hundreds," Simon said over his ringing armor. "More than I ever seen before! They-" The water, adding to itself with a furious drumming, drowned the rest of Simon's words. Theodore could no longer see the Apex as he ran, and the water began to disorient him. It was getting darker. It had never gotten darker.
"Which way?" he shouted. "Which way?"
"I...I..." Simon stuttered and halted. "I don't know!"
"Which way are the shapes going?"
"I can't see them anymore! There's too much water!" Theodore slowed, trying to remember the proper path back.
A water-logged Kalimbah showed up next to him, sputtering, shivering, and furious. "What is going on?" she said, water flicking out as her mouth moved. "Why've you stopped?"
"I don't know which way to go," Theodore said.
"Can't rely on you for anything, can we?" Kalimbah looked around, trying to keep the rain out of her eyes. "It's this way! Don't go running off if you're just going to get lost!" She hurried away, and Theodore picked up his speed, splashing after her. The falling water seemed to abate a touch, and they made their way through the empty streets, following Kalimbah's memory. He began to recognize the area but kept behind the Former.
"I can see the shapes again!" Simon shouted. "They're everywhere!"
Theodore slid to a halt and almost toppled forward. "Is the bridge going to crumble under us?"
"They aren't gathering at a certain place, they're just all over the place! More than I've ever seen!"
"Are they still going to the Apex?" Kalimbah said.
"I think so."
"Then no time to wait!" She started running again, pushing her soaked hair out of the way. In a few minutes they reached an area Theodore recognized, and he quickly blew past Kalimbah on his way to the Apex. The water lessened further, and the Apex's towering pyramid shape became visible.
"They're all over!" Simon said. "They're covering it!"
"We can't go in," Theodore said. "If we go in it will fall down around our ears."
"We have to let them know!" Kalimbah said. "I'm not going to stand here and watch a thousand people fall into the sea!"
"Is there a way to tell them without going inside?"
"They won't believe you!" Simon said. He let himself go from Theodore's back and fell over. After he picked himself up, he said "they don't know about the shapes!"
"The boy's right. They'll think we're crazy." Kalimbah wiped her face. "Especially with all this water. There are probably more people in there than there ever has been before!" She slipped into a puddle and released a string of dire curses, rising above even the sound of water hitting Theodore's armor.
"People are still going inside," Simon said, pointing at the nearest entrance. People ran in from under the falling water, covering their heads with anything they could.
Theodore rushed forward, missing the familiar weight of his person-tall shield in his left hand. "Stop! Stop! Don't go inside!" he shouted. A few people stopped a turned, surprised. "Out of the Apex!"
"But the water!" someone near him said.
"The water is because of the Apex!" Theodore strode forward, getting the attention of more people. "If you're in the Apex it will only be worse! Out now, while you still have a chance!"
The lie took hold, and people retreated out of the Apex, running through the puddles and streams to whatever other cover they could find. Water cascaded down the Apex's stepped sides in unending rivers, most of it making the long fall into the sea far below.
The water grew heavier. They could see no more than a hundred feet in any direction. Simon grabbed Theodore's hand. "They've stopped appearing!" the boy said. "Get away!"
Theodore scooped Simon up with his left hand and drove through the growing puddles back to where Kalimbah stood, under a stone overhang. "What does it look like?" Theodore asked Simon, placing the boy on his feet.
"They're all over it. They're covering it. I can't even see it. Is it gonna be destroyed?"
"Of course it's going to be destroyed!" Kalimbah said as Theodore opened his mouth. "What do you think is going to happen, they're going to lift it into the sky, and the rain will stop, and everything will be alright? Boy, you know what's going to happen."
Theodore pressed his lips together and nodded. Simon moved his eyes back to the gigantic structure just as it started to crack.
They were light at first, like the sound Theodore had heard when training to be a Former, the sound of small bricks splitting apart. Next came thunderous booming cracks, nearly driving them back. The parts of the Apex they could see shifted, puffs of dust and sprays of water shooting from the windows and gaps caused by the destructive shapes.
"Farther!" Kalimbah said suddenly. "We need to get farther away!"
Theodore didn't argue. He picked Simon up again and followed the woman as she hurled herself past flowing water and gaping people. Others noticed their flight and came to the same realization. The falling water lessened and they stopped, standing in the middle of a deserted bridge, the water falling over them without cease. Theodore looked up at the roiling sea over them, but got nothing but water in the eyes for his trouble. "It's going now," Kalimbah said, her voice noticeably subdued. More cracks, loud enough to feel deep in the stomach, plowed through the air, and Theodore wondered if the water suddenly falling in a different direction was only a coincidence.
One of the Apex's side sloughed away, crumbling down and out of sight. The guts of the huge building were left exposed, and Theodore's stomach clenched when he saw tiny forms struggling to keep from being washed away. The supports, pillars thicker than ten of him laid end-to-end, cracked and toppled, and whole quadrants of the Apex began crumbling into the sea. Stone pieces of all sizes, from pebbles up to massive squared boulders, fell out of sight.
Theodore turned away. The highness, Noros, would have been inside. So too, he realized, the boy's caretaker Remy. He stepped in front of Simon and spun, so he was watching the Apex crumble while the boy stared at him, eyes dark and hopeless. He watched every part of the Apex, root and stem, fall into one of the seas encroaching on them. When the stones finally settled, nothing but a huge square gap remained, into which water poured.
"Now I have nowhere to live!" Kalimbah said. Theodore's hand clenched into a fist on its own accord. He realized, with a belated thought, neither did he.
"The shapes are gone," Simon said. "I don't see any of them." He looked around, the water washing down his face. His hair had long ago become a sodden mass. "I can usually see some, but there aren't any."
"Perhaps they've done their final task," Theodore said. Then the sky opened up.
If the earlier falling water was heavy, this was stone piled upon their heads. It came down in sheets, wiping Simon and Kalimbah off their feet and washing them away; only the barrier on the edge of the bridge kept them from following the Apex down. Theodore's heavy armor and trained might kept him from falling over as well, but the sudden fury from above made him stumble and soak his foot in a deep puddle. When he lifted his hand to take up Simon, the water worked to push it down. When he paused to breathe he choked. When Kalimbah opened her mouth, he heard nothing but the assault of the water on his armor and the stone around them.
Though she was only feet away, he could hardly see the Former as she pointed at the closest building, mouth opening and closing and nothing but water leaving it.
"I feel like I can't breathe," Kalimbah said, holding her arms out to her sides, dripping water. Her clothes stuck to her skin, and her hair had lost its normal frizzle, instead turning into a cap on her skull and down her neck. The water pounded the building they hid in with several dozen other people, who for the most part huddled together, trying to keep away from windows or doors. Simon hadn't said anything since watching the Apex crumble.
Theodore was trying to shake loose water out of his armor and the clothes underneath, but kept glancing at the boy. Surely he knew what the Apex's destruction meant for him, but if not Theodore was reluctant to approach the subject. With all the water on him, the boy appeared to be a melting ice statue. Theodore wondered what would have happened if the water had started falling when it was cold enough to freeze the sea. Would sharp arrows of ice pierce Kalimbah and Simon, and burrow into Theodore's armor, finding the few gaps where he was vulnerable? The water would wash his heavy corpse into the sea.
"What do we do?" Kalimbah asked. "There's chaos in the streets now the Apex is gone. Or there would be if this water wasn't coming down." She looked out the nearest window. Water sliding down the side of the building dripped past to contrast the driving streams falling from the sky. "Will it stop?" she asked, keeping her voice low. She didn't or couldn't take her eyes away from the window.
"I've never seen anything like it," Theodore said. He removed one of his gloves and stuck his hand outside, cupping it. What little water he'd managed to catch he sucked into his mouth, eliciting a gasp from the Former. "Not salt water. It tastes like anything we might drink."
Kalimbah shuffled her feet for a second, then joined him, sticking both hands out and bringing them back in with a small puddle. She dipped her lips to her hands, taking her time. She smacked her lips and nodded. "Small victories, I suppose." She turned back to Simon. "Boy, how are you?"
Simon shrugged.
"Come have a drink. It will help you feel better."
Simon walked over to them, his feet scraping on the stone floor. While he reached his hand into the pounding water, Kalimbah dragged Theodore away. "What do we do with him?"
Theodore raised an eyebrow. "He's no danger to us."
"No, I mean-" she checked over her shoulder. Simon was still drinking. She lowered her voice. "Who do we saddle him with?"
"We don't saddle him with anyone. He is our responsibility."
"Oh? Until when? Until he grows up? Until we get washed over the side of a bridge into the sea? The Apex is gone. The highness is dead, as is the boy's guardian, presumably. So is anyone else who held a semblance of power."
Theodore perked up. "No, not everyone. Commander Wilde was searching the city with Sir Mettian."
"More knights. Fantastic. You can't glower this enemy to death."
Fury finally rising to the top, Theodore shouted. "And I suppose you have hundreds of terribly clever ideas stored up in that jabbering head of yours! They must take up so much space they push all of your words out as soon as they come to you!"
"Don't you speak to me that way you idiot! You came to me for help, as I recall, and what help have I been so far? Not a whit! You might as well have let me stay in my ruined home!" She wrenched away, eyes wide and blazing. She glanced at Theodore when he didn't respond. "What's that face?"
"Sod me for a fool!" Theodore said. "Kalimbah, you're a Former! You could create safe passages!"
"Sorry?"
"Something to cover the bridges so the water goes right into the sea." Theodore's voice was full of intensity and charged with excitement. "Or...or you could..."
"I could create drain holes in the floor," she finished. "Too small for anything valuable to fall through, but the water could pass!" She laughed. "The Formers are cursed no longer! I'll have to focus a bit, I haven't-"
"The shapes are back," Simon said. "They're all around the building."
Kalimbah paled and Theodore raised his voice. "Everyone out of the building!" he said with as much volume as he could muster. "Now! Unless you want to topple into the sea!"
The people around them, who had listened to their argument, ran to the upper levels to notify everyone else in the building. Theodore grabbed Simon away from the window, where he looked to be reaching for more water. He carried the boy out of the house among the river of people fleeing the building, Kalimbah behind them.
"It's not the same," Simon said. The falling water had lessened but still charged down at them. "They aren't gathering around the building like they're going to destroy it. They're just...everywhere. Circling around, sort of like they're-" he stopped and took a step behind Theodore, placing his hands on the man's back like a shield. "They all just stopped moving. They're looking at me."
"The shapes are looking at you," Kalimbah repeated.
"They're getting closer." Theodore recognized the line of fear burning in the boy's voice. "I don't want to be destroyed!"
"No one is being destroyed today," Theodore said, though the falling water covered it up. "On my back again, child. Hold ever tighter."
Once Simon had his arms around Theodore's neck, the knight looked at Kalimbah. "Your skills as a Former...how quick are they?"
"How quick are they, he asks." The woman stood tall, though the water kept her from keeping her balance. "Even faster than you can run."
"Follow." Theodore started off, hitting the ever-deeper puddles with his heavy boots. "Simon. Are the shapes following us?"
The boy looked behind them, and saw the ethereal wire-frame shapes floating after them. He knew how fast they could move, and was surprised they weren't keeping up. "Yes. Slowly."
Theodore nodded. "Keep an eye on them. Kalimbah."
"Eh?"
"Form defenses to keep them away from us."
"Won't they just knock them down?"
Theodore turned his head and eyed the woman. "Slowing them down even a small portion is your goal."
Her frail chest swelled. She slowed and cast her eyes behind her. She closed her eyes and tried to remember a time when the people held her abilities as a Former in high regard. She remembered the rush of blood as she wowed them with her control over the stone, and the eyes of the children lighting up when she made statues of heroes or legends. She remembered the first time someone struck her, thinking she was cursed and it was her doing the bridges and buildings crumbled. She combined the energies from both.
"Let the stone dance again!" she shouted, though the wind and water tore the words away, so only she could feel them. She threw her hands behind and over them as they ran.
The wide, long, empty bridge, constructed of the same gray stone as everything else, shuddered slightly. The barriers on the sides stretched up, cracking and groaning like dusty trees. Walls slammed up behind them, following their feet only moments after stepping. The walls grew in together, forming a ceiling decorated with fine designs. Simon watched them with wide, wondering eyes as they blocked the falling water.
Kalimbah laughed. The growing walls and roof constructed themselves along the bridge they ran, faster than any man. The ceiling thickened. The walls grew buttresses, sinking into the deep sea. Turrets grew, spiraling up. A peaked great hall appeared alongside them, full of stone benches, tables, naves, and cloisters. Theodore heard the constant rumbling and grinding of stone but it was a healthy, natural sound compared to the cracks and groans the invisible shapes created as they tore the buildings down.
"Fie on them all for believing me cursed!" he heard Kalimbah shout, now the pounding water was out of their ears. "I curse them back!" He smiled.
Something punched a hole above them, sending stone chips on their heads. Simon shrieked and Theodore increased his speed. Kalimbah struggled to keep up, even with her newfound adrenaline. She let her hands fly, closing the breaks in her creation as quickly as the shapes could break through. She felt like the same material she was manipulating, steady and unshakeable. Even unseen forces would not frighten her.
They hit the opening at the end of the bridge and Simon looked behind, the water returning. The bridge was a building in its own right now, with towers and structures spanning off from it.
"Are they still after us?" Theodore asked the boy.
"Yes, they-" The rain increased further, pelting them with droplets like tiny stones. Theodore's armor raised a clatter as the air darkened. The puddles and streams were now tiny lakes.
Kalimbah saw and instructed the stone to part with tiny holes, and the water began to drain out. She ran into Theodore when he halted, slamming to the ground.
A funnel of water, shooting down from the sky-sea, had created a deluge in front of them. The wave hit them and washed them over, and their eyes filled with water. Kalimbah swallowed a mouthful before her flailing hand broke the surface of the water and she grabbed fresh air. The wall she struck stunned her and left her reeling, and she tumbled in and out of the water as it swept her toward a newborn waterfall.
Before it could carry her over, Theodore's huge hand wrapped around hers, pulling her away from the distant death. Simon clung around his neck, soaked. "Kalimbah!" Theodore roared with all his might. "Kalimbah wake up!" The woman stayed still. He put her body over his shoulder, free hand hanging onto a spur of stone with all the might his tired muscles could rally. He tried to take in breath to calm himself, but they were always half-full with moisture. Another wave struck him, knocking him against the spur. Simon watched the building Kalimbah had struck, across the small square, explode with water and vicious attacks from the shapes.
Stone and water all around him, Theodore attempted to clear his mind. Water pounded on him from all sides, and waves washed over him, drenching whatever part of him not submerged. He thought of the stone, of the many lessons from his instructors. He thought of Kalimbah's joy as she bent it to her will minutes ago. He had been a slow learner, but a studious one. He could not keep up with the other students, but he had still learned a few things.
More funnels of water had appeared, seeking to drain the sky-sea empty. A bigger wave than before loomed, growing over them and spilling over the sides of the platform he huddled on. "Hold her tight!" he shouted to Simon.
He didn't need flawless form, as Kalimbah had exhibited. He needed speed and strength. As he held onto the stone spur, his remaining hand rose out of the water around him, palm flat, fingers spread.
A stone wall shot up, blocking the wave. Water crashed to both sides and above, spraying them with freezing water, but he held on. He breathed out, trying to keep his head. The floor of the square ten feet away exploded, and water drained out through the huge gap. He imagined a platform under them rising out of the water, a strong roof above and strong sides to keep them from being washed away. The floor was a large grille, to drain the water. He saw it happen, and as the platform rose he was able to see a little farther through the destructive water.
As water drained from his armor, and Simon let go from around his neck, Theodore looked out over their home. Sheets of water, dark and light, assailed. He could see spouts, great huge rays of water, emptying from the sky-sea into the water under them. He heard a smack, and a fish flopped past the roof he had constructed.
He put his head between two supports, and tried to look up, using his hands to shield his eyes from the water. The sky-sea was a mass of motion, and it appeared to Theodore as if the whole of it was boiling.
He drew his soaked skull back under his roof. "The shapes. Can you see them?" he asked Simon. The boy nodded. "Do they still seem to be after you?"
"They're everywhere," Simon said. "But they've stopped attacking. They're just going 'round in circles."
"They don't need to destroy anymore," Theodore said. He patted Kalimbah's face with his hand. "We're likely to find our new homes in the sea before too long."
Kalimbah groaned. She took in a deep breath, and then began coughing and sputtering, eyes wrenching open. She turned over and coughed out half a mouthful of water on her hands and knees. Only after a few moments of careful breathing did she notice the grille and rub her hands on the rough-hewn stone. She looked up, saw the uneven roof, the tilted supports, and Theodore's face.
"What did you do?" she coughed out before taking in a ragged breath. "Where...how did..."
"Theodore was training to be a Former," Simon said.
Kalimbah continued to do nothing but suck in breath, sitting against one of the shoddy supports. She looked around, then flicked her wrist, like cracking a whip with her hand at the end of it.
Their tiny tower shook and fell into place. The roof straightened, the supports stood tall, the barrier around the floor shifted and ground itself into uniform straightness, and the grille under them bubbled until every hole was the same size. Theodore had failed to notice any of these errors, and the instant they fixed themselves had Kalimbah glaring at him with superiority. "It's a shame all your power and skill couldn't keep you from being swept into the sea," he said, and the proud face fell.
"Theodore," Simon said. "The water."
Theodore looked, expecting another wave come to sweep them out of their tower, but instead he found the water falling from the sky-sea abating. He could see a longer distance, and realized the spouts of water were much farther, and more numerous, than he first thought. "They must be massive," he said. "So much water. If one of them was dumping onto us we would be destroyed."
"I would be able to build something strong enough," Kalimbah said.
Theodore pointed at one of the spouts. A bridge was moving toward it, wheeled along its path by tracks far below them. When the spout of water struck it, the bridge was torn into pieces, sliced by the driving water.
Kalimbah watched it disassemble with an open mouth. "Oh." She held her head at an angle for a second then looked at Simon. "Are the shapes gone?"
"No." The boy looked around, then he seemed surprised. "They aren't moving."
"Are they...looking at you?" Theodore asked.
Simon shook his head, then stood up, using the supports to pull himself up faster. "They're going away!"
"Where?" Kalimbah asked.
"They're just...disappearing! Fading...like dreams."
"Nightmares." The woman shivered.
"The water is going away too," Theodore said. "Except for the big spouts."
"But what were they?" Simon asked the air. He stuck his head out from between two supports, out from under the roof. "What are you? Why can I see you?" he shouted. "Where are you going?"
The shapes failed to answer, but turned to gaze in his direction. Their wire-frame forms thinned until all remaining was just a memory in the eyes, lost once Simon looked away.
"The Formers won't be cursed for much longer," Theodore said. "They'll be instrumental in draining all this water away."
Kalimbah nodded. "Finally."
Theodore stood up, looking out. His body told him it was still morning, or perhaps noon, but it looked dark enough to be night.
When all the water had finally drained out of the sky-sea, the survivors of the torrential water looked up in at wonder at the tiny white lights twinkling in the sky. It took weeks until the water finally stopped falling--there was so much the level of the ground sea rose up to just a few feet below the level of the bridges and squares. Kalimbah and the other Formers began reshaping the stone to their new situation, growing up into the thing formerly the sky-sea, growing up now their space was no longer shrinking, but bigger than their minds could have imagined. To make their world better, much had to be washed away.
"I would say it is." Sir Theodore Prillam leaned forward in the chair. "I would say it is all of our problem." The man sitting across from him, one of the eclectic Formers, scoffed and waved a hand.
"Let it crumble. Let it all crumble. Let it all crash and makes waves." Theodore opened his mouth to respond. "I mean, it can't be you ignored my warnings! You did what I asked, didn't you? You kept off certain places, you reinforced others, didn't you? I sent messages!" the Former said. "I sent warnings!"
"Yes, and you shouted them in streets where people thought you a madman!" Theodore said. He stood, drawing up to his full height. In his armor, and with his sword and shield, he cut a figure all-too imposing. "You have given your answer. If you will not help us, I am wasting my time here." He moved through the Former's small, darkly-lit home. A single candle flickered on the table against the wall. The floorboards creaked under his weight. "If you happen to find your conscience, come to the Apex. We need all the help we can."
"You do!" the Former shouted as Theodore exited. "But I shan’t be the one to forget all the wrongs you have done. I shan’t be the first to bow to the idiot whim!"
"Idiot whim," Theodore repeated, standing outside. He hefted his tower shield up and clanked to the side of the walkway the Former's home was on. The city rose and fell around him. Far in the distance, higher than anything else, he saw the pyramid known as the Apex, the seat of the government. Above, far above, the sky-sea seemed a solid sheet of gray, though he knew it splashed and flowed just as the sea far below did.
He began clanking his way to the next Former's home, through the crowded and moving bridges spanning the gaps between buildings. He waited, head and shoulders above those around him, for the bridge to connect with the next section of stone built up out of the sea under them. The people around him moved out of the way automatically as his huge form stepped forward.
As he walked, sweating under his armor, arms burning as they lifted his weapons, he kept glancing up. Many people were. The sky-sea had never been so close, and it was all-the-while getting closer, if the scientists could be trusted. Theodore hadn't the barest clue how they could tell. It was his job to carry his armor, not spend his days and nights with his neck craned up, or down, so he looked ahead again and put on a burst of energy.
The next bridge began moving while he was walking on it. The sirens sounded, and the barriers appeared to keep people from falling to their wet doom thousands of feet below. A track hidden below the sea's surface took him away from the direction he had been going. "Drown it all," he said into his helmet. He tried to figure out the best route to his destination, as well as attempting to recall the schedule of the bridges. He came up with a rude path, and as he walked he cast his eyes downward, through the slit in his helmet. The sea below them was rising. Their city was trapped in the shrinking space between the two bodies of water.
After an exhausting trek, he banged his fist on the door to the last Former of the day. All the others had turned him away. The door cracked open. "Former Kalimbah, I am Sir Theodore Prillam. May I speak with you?" The door opened more and the doorway showed an old woman. Her puckered lips pulled together, and her eyes narrowed.
"And why-" she crossed her arms "-do you need to speak with me?"
"The Apex has bid me contact Formers in an attempt to garner their assistance."
"Assistance against what?"
Theodore tried to remember. "Against the growing threat of collapse, and the approaching seas of both the sky and ground."
Former Kalimbah tilted her head. "How interesting." She moved to shut the door. Theodore put his hand out, and she might as well have tried to knock a wall down with a slap. The door bounced off his gauntlet. "Must you be difficult?"
"It has been a difficult day, Former. You are the last one I have to speak to. You can determine my success from all the people standing behind me."
The Former peered around Theodore's huge body and saw no one. "And why should I help? You didn't pay attention to us when we told you about the weak stone. And what can we do against the waters? What can anyone do?"
"More minds make for mightier musing," Theodore said.
"It even repeats like a parrot," the Former said, turning away. "How long did it take you to memorize that line? A fortnight? Go, darken my door no more."
In a moment Theodore found himself standing on the step in front of the closed door. His eyes were narrow, his mouth pressed together in a grim line. He looked around.
The home was small, probably just two or three rooms, no more than anyone else of similar means. It was constructed of the gray-white stone making up everything else, as well as a few lingering boards. He stepped around the perimeter of the house, trying to make as little noise as possible. He listened carefully, trying to remember what he'd seen of the inside. There had been a door here...and that meant a room here...she was probably...
He went to one heavy knee. He started fiddling with the stones under the Former's home, shifting or removing them. After a few hours he finished, and removed his helmet to wipe the sweat from his face. He stepped away carefully, and waited.
The light was gone before it finally happened. The stones, moved and removed in such a way to make a racket and the sensation of giving way, made it seem as if the Former's home was about to pitch into the sea. It creaked and groaned, and frantic shouting came from inside. Just as the house began to roll onto its side--though Theodore knew it would settle in a moment--he stuck his armored fist through the weak wood and wrapped it around a wrist, yanking with all his might.
Kalimbah Tah, Former, dangled from his hand. Her house cracked and grumbled, but failed to do anything more than shift a few feet.
Her eyes were wild, spinning and darting in every direction. Theodore let her drop to her butt as he took a step toward her house. "It looks like you're lucky."
"My house..." She looked up at his armored shape. "How did you know? How did you grab me?"
"I'll put in a work request tomorrow," Theodore said. "Shouldn't take more than a day to fix." He crouched, as if inspecting the damage. "Do you have anywhere to stay?"
"No. Not after this." Kalimbah waved a hand toward her shifted house. "It wasn't even that bad."
"There's plenty of space in the Apex," Theodore said, standing slowly, shifting the massive weight of his armor. "After me."
"I don't want to go to the Apex." She crossed her arms, laying them over the beads around her neck. "I'd rather sleep on the street."
"And wake up with stones piled on top of you," Theodore said. He wasn't looking at her. "Your choice then." He started clanking away, using his shield as an impromptu cane. He knew enough not to turn around and look at her as he pulled away, but eventually he heard her voice behind him.
"Fine." He stopped and rotated, placing each foot carefully. "I'll come with you." She was looking up with a natural scowl. His head bobbed forward.
"You won't be able to stay long. Not unless you promise to help."
"Help. Help against the water under my feet? And the water above my head? Help how? No wait, let me guess: more minds make for mightier musing?
Theodore said nothing.
"But I suppose I don't have much of a choice," Kalimbah said. "Only if you answer my question. How did you know my house was in danger?"
Theodore peered at her through the slit in his helmet. She couldn't see his eyes, but she continued to glare as if he was a chastised child. "I wanted to be a Former," Theodore said. "I did not succeed, but I still learned enough to notice the stones under the corner of your house had worn away."
"And so you just waited?!" Kalimbah said. "You didn't try and warn me?"
"You wouldn't have believed me." Theodore pointed himself toward the Apex. "I waited until you would."
"I could have fallen! Everyone already thinks I'm cursed!" She spat. "Superstitious goblins."
"You wouldn't have believed me."
"So sure of that, are you?" Kalimbah sneered. "I know how to take care of myself! I actually am a Former, so I'm sure I could have spotted the same thing you did! I bet I could have even fixed it! You just had to-"
Theodore knocked her in the head with his shield. With his free hand he dumped her limp body over his right shoulder and started walking across the stone span the Former's house was on in the direction of the Apex. Her shrill screech was still echoing inside his helmet as she stirred. "Don't move too much," Theodore said. "You fell and hit your head. I'm taking you to the Apex."
"Why did I fall?"
"You must have slipped on a stone. They are treacherous."
"I know they're treacherous, you simpleton."
Theodore attempted to tune her out, but now her mouth was even closer to his helmet--it fairly rung with each word she said. The Apex grew in the deepening, aimless twilight until it was a shadow over them. He entered the pyramid, the center of the sprawling stone bridges, buildings, and plazas suspended between the increasing seas.
Inside was cool stone lit by braziers and a few special bricks, providing gray illumination in the cramped hallways. Theodore's huge frame came close to filling the doorway. He allowed Kalimbah to dismount and had her lead the way, telling her which direction to turn. Still, he found himself getting lost in the narrow corridors, despite the amount of time he'd spent inside. Luckily, Kalimbah failed to notice his confusion, and he managed to lead them to a large inner room from which he could orient himself. "It's about time we got somewhere that's more than just dirty rocks," Kalimbah said. "Where are you taking me, anyway?"
With his helmet tucked under his arm, his bald head shining with sweat, Theodore glared down at the Former with all the patience he could muster. "To the pinnacle."
Kalimbah's mouth hung open, and Theodore blessed the silence. "Why am I going to the pinnacle? I didn't do anything wrong!" She put her hand over her mouth.
"It's just to talk. You aren't being charged with anything. I already told you why. We want your help."
"Well, you're going about it like a lout! Scaring a poor old woman, tearing her out of her home at night!" Theodore knew he wouldn't be able to get away with knocking her out again, but the thought was there. "And now you tell me I'm going up to the pinnacle. Can you blame me for being skittish? Are you going to be at the pinnacle too?"
"Yes ma'am. I am part of the committee."
"Oh, brilliant. You're going to be saving the world, are you?"
"No ma'am, I just tear old women out of their homes at night."
Kalimbah's eyes narrowed, and she spun. "I need to get freshened up before I go up there. I want to be taken to my room first."
Theodore nodded and grabbed the arm of a passing Apex worker. "Take this woman to an empty bedroom and then escort her to the pinnacle once she's ready." The worker, whose arm had been swallowed by Theodore's hand, nodded.
Theodore took a deep breath and made a furious face at Kalimbah's back as she disappeared, already talking the worker's ear off. As her form dwindled his body loosened. His shoulders dropped and his neck bowed toward the ground.
"Theodore!" He turned and saw his comrade in armor, Sir Mettian Havoc, nearing. "What luck?" Mettian asked as they clasped hands.
"I was able to convince one Former to assist us, and even then I had to use a few tricks."
"Better than I did anyway," Mettian said. The smaller people inside the Apex walked around them, as if they were pillars. "What's his name?"
"Her, actually. A foul little beast named Kalimbah Tah. She only agreed to help because her house happened to shift underneath the stones a few hours I asked her."
"A simple coincidence, yes?" Mettian grinned.
"Nothing more. I was just doing my job as a protector of the people when I rammed my hand through the wall of her home and snatched her up. She could have fallen into the water! Luckily, her house only settled a bit." The smile fell from Theodore's face. "Which reminds me. I need to submit a work request."
"After the meeting. Come. Noros told us there was to be no delay. As soon as we return."
"I just needed a moment to collect my thoughts," Theodore said as he placed his helmet back on his head. "That accursed Former talked my ear off."
They made their way through the cramped stone corridors of the massive building to the large set of stairs running all the way up, and climbed, putting one heavy foot in front of another until their knees and legs burned. By the time they reached the intended level their breath came in ragged gasps, and they were forced to gather their breath before continuing on.
They were high enough to walk past one of the Apex's few windows. Through it, Theodore could see the endless stretch of stone walkways, massive pillars, and all the other bits of civilization. In every direction, from all points of the compass their world spun away, stuck in the space between the waters.
Theodore realized he had paused, gazing out the window. Mettian urged him forward, and they resumed clanking down the hallway toward the meeting room known as the pinnacle, at the top of the Apex.
A number of men and women were already inside. Kylin Noros, leader and ruler of the Apex--and thus of humanity--presided over the room from the front of an oval table. He raised his chin and gazed at the two armored titans, welcoming them with a sweep of his hand. "Prillam. Havoc. Finally you have returned. Were you successful?"
"I was, your highness," Theodore said, bowing at the waist. "I convinced a Former named Kalimbah Tah to assist our efforts. She will be along shortly; she is preparing for the meeting."
"Then the group is assembled at last." Noros sat, and waved the others in the room to join him at the table. "We will begin and clue her in when she arrives." Mettian and Theodore sat, shedding what armor they could to make the process more comfortable. Next to Noros were Abigail Lilian, an elder stateswoman, and Doctor Ulysses Chor, the lead scientist of the Apex. Nearer to the two armored knights was the head of the knights, Commander Vayne Wilde, and an unknown woman with her hair wrapped in a scarf.
"First, a bit of information," Noros said. "You may not know the woman sitting there." He indicated the woman with the scarf. "Would you do us the honor of an introduction?"
She stood. "You may call me Remy." She looked around the table. "I am aware of all your names. I have come to the meeting at the bidding of his highness. I am the matron at an orphanage far away from the Apex."
"For what means are you among us?" Theodore asked, letting hardness slip into his voice. "Surely a watcher of children has no place here."
"Silence, knight. If you had the patience to let her speak, you would know." Noros said. He nodded at Remy, who continued, unheeding of Theodore.
"There is a young man in my charge who believes he can help us." She raised her voice. "Simon."
A boy no more than ten stepped out from one of the hallways leading into the room. He came to stand next to Remy, who put her hand on his back. "Simon believes he can see strange things."
Next to Theodore, Mettian scoffed quietly. "We all saw things when we were children, your ladyship," Theodore added, louder.
Noros was about to chastise Theodore again, but stood, looking at one of the exits. Theodore turned in his seat and saw Kalimbah standing at the entrance, looking much recovered.
Theodore stood slowly. "Everyone, the Former Kalimbah Tah, who has so graciously elected to assist us."
"My house is broke, that's the only reason why," the Former said, walking down. "Now what's this all about? I didn't do anything wrong! I know I'm not in trouble!"
"Former." Noros motioned to one of the empty seats near Theodore. "We are assembled to discuss a potential solution for the encroaching waters and deteriorating stonework."
"Not to be rude," Kalimbah said, and Theodore knew exactly what was coming next, "but it would have been nice to have the Former's warnings heeded back when they could have helped."
"Their squares wouldn't have fit in the round holes," Simon said, bringing all eyes toward him. He was short and small, an orphan to the eyes. His sunken face and black hair went together perfectly.
"I'm sorry," Kalimbah said. "I don't remember asking your opinion."
"The boy does so," Remy said. "If he has something to say, he says it."
"What's this about squares?" Noros asked the child. "And holes?" Simon shrank away a step. "No need to fear. Nothing you say will get you yelled at." Noros cast a glance over the rest of the table to make sure everyone understood. "Nothing."
Simon nodded. "I see shapes." The room was quiet for a moment. "In the air."
"Your highness, you can't truly-" Doctor Chor began, only to have Noros silence him with a thunderous look. Noros gently motioned for Simon to continue.
The boy swallowed. "I know they aren't supposed to be there. They just...hover. Above everything, sometimes below. They move around, and rotate, and sometimes they change. From a pyramid flying across the sky to a ball bouncing down the road."
Theodore saw Doctor Chor scowl. "Sometimes they make pictures."
"Pictures?" Noros asked. "More detail, please."
"A few of the shapes will collide." The boy laced his fingers. "Once I saw them make a shape like a person, taller than the tallest building. A few times they turned into monsters." The boy looked at his feet.
"I'll hear no more of this nonsense!" Chor shot to his feet. "At best he is simply confused. At worst, he looks to maliciously mislead us!"
"Chor." Noros said. "Sit. Sit or you will never enter this room again."
Chor's face went white, and he drew the chair toward the table, face caught between anger and fear. "You will not speak until the boy has finished. Am I clear?" Noros waited for Chor to nod. "Simon, please."
"The shapes come out of the water." Simon quickly scanned the people at the table. "Above and below. Like fish leaping out. They linger at some places...and those places always crumble."
Theodore sat up. Others around the table focused on the child, and he shrank back, clutching the hem of Remy's shirt. Remy placed her hand on his head. "I am the only one who knew of this before now," the caretaker said, keeping her voice low. "When I heard of an attempt to combat the crumbling stones, I used every favor I could claim to introduce you to Simon." She looked at the boy. "Go on."
Simon took a breath. "I guess there's not much else."
"Simon," Remy said, and he looked up at her. "You promised you would tell them everything."
Simon looked at his feet. Theodore saw a look in his eyes he couldn't help but recognize. "The shapes stay around me and..." He shifted his feet. "I think they know I can see them."
Theodore nodded, looking at his hands set on the table. "That's everything, your highness," Remy said.
"Thank you. Please, allow us to discuss. A servant will see you to comfortable rooms." The pinnacle was silent save Remy and Simon's steps echoing off the stone as they departed. The torch-staves around the table provided flickering illumination. The window above them, which during the day gave light a view of the sea above them, now allowed only darkness.
"Let us first see who believes the boy." Noros raised his hand. "Those who do not believe Simon can help us--whether that is because he is lying, he is deluded, or his skill is useless--raise your hand."
Theodore watched as nearly everyone raised their hand. Doctor Chor had his arm stuck into the air like an arrow. Only Theodore and Abigail Lilian kept their hands down. "And those who believe he can help us?" Theodore and Abigail raised their hands. "Interesting. Prillam, could you explain why you believe so?"
"A look, your highness. I would be surprised if the boy was lying."
"And you, Abigail?"
"I have spent enough time around my children to know when one tells the truth," Abigail said. "I believe the boy was telling the truth. Or, at least, he believes what he said."
Noros sighed. "Chor?"
"Your highness, I must protest even allowing the child inside the pinnacle." Noros speared the doctor with an incredulous look. "Surely you see the nonsense he was spouting! Seeing shapes in the air? Monsters? The shapes know he can see them?" Chor crossed his arms. "It's unthinkable to condone the fairy tale he tells."
"Does anyone else have another reason to doubt the boy?"
"I am surprised only the caretaker knew," Commander Vayne said. "Surely the other children? Friends of the caretaker? Now, suddenly, the story appears."
"To protect the boy from pain, perhaps," Kalimbah said. "As a Former I understand the thought. Others would mock or look down on him." She crossed her arms and lifted her chin. "We Formers told you all what would happen unless you took action, and now we're blamed for the very things we tried to stop!"
Noros nodded. "Sir Havoc. What say you?"
"I am unsure, your highness. The story is incredible."
Noros stood. "I agree. Regardless, it's our duty to find a reason why these things are happening, and a manner to halt them. If the boy's story is even partly true, we'd be foolish to ignore it." He paced. "Sir Prillam, tomorrow you will take the boy and attempt to find out more. If there is any demonstration he can devise, see you witness it."
Theodore squared his shoulders. "Of course, your highness."
"Somebody should go with you." Noros' eyes scanned the other people at the table. "Former Kalimbah."
Her mouth dropped open. "Your highness!"
"You have a strange kinship with the boy. Plus, you are already acquainted with Sir Prillam. Chor, you and your group will speak with the boy's caretaker to see if you can find out more. Yes, I know, it is superstitious hogwash, etcetera etcetera. Put your minds to it as a chance to grow as scientists." Noros paused. "Sirs Havoc and Wilde. You will hit the streets to see if anyone else has such a story to tell."
His eyes scanned the room. He saw faces angry, resolute, dismayed, and loyal. "Dismissed."
"I'm no happier about it than you are," Theodore told Kalimbah. "You talk too much."
"Oh, I talk too much, is it? Well at least I don't have people saying I'm cursed just cause I tried to help them, or a house that's fallen over!" She paused, and lifted a finger to her chin. "Sorry, I suppose I do have those things!"
"I will send someone to gather you at first light," Theodore said. "I must speak with the boy Simon before the night ends. Can you see yourself to your room?"
"I have a better memory than you." The Former took a few steps away. "It's not really a very complicated building. It's just big."
Theodore watched her disappear, then hailed a servant. "The woman that just left, follow her. If she appears to be lost, offer assistance."
In a few short minutes Theodore knocked on the door to the room Remy and Simon slept in, trying not to let his heavy gauntlet create too much of a racket. Remy cracked open the door, and Theodore bowed at the waist. "I have come to speak to Simon. Is he still awake?"
"Yes, though not for lack of trying."
"If the boy needs sleep..."
"Please, come in. I'm sure he'd like to speak with you."
With only his helmet off, Theodore sat in one of the chairs in the room. The armor and his big size made him seem like a giant to the boy who entered. His eyes seemed darker and more shrunken than before, though they grew wide when they saw Theodore. "Simon. My name is Sir Theodore Prillam. Has Remy told you about tomorrow?"
"I'm going to go out with you."
"Why?"
"To prove I'm not lying."
Theodore nodded. He glanced at Remy. "Could you afford us a bit of privacy?"
Remy shifted, then nodded, slipping into the next room and shutting the door. Theodore gestured at the other chair, and Simon sat. While Theodore's knees came up to his armored chest, Simon's feet dangled off the ground. "I believe your story."
"It's not a story," Simon said as he looked at the ground.
"No, you're correct. I believe you see shapes. But his highness would be foolish not to get better proof, so tomorrow we're going to go out and try to find it. Do you think you know how you could do that?"
Simon did nothing for a moment, then nodded. "Um, sir?" He looked up and met Theodore's eyes. "Why do you believe me? Remy said no one would."
Theodore knew the question would come up. "Do you know why I wear this armor? Carry this sword and shield?"
"Your one of the police knights."
"I didn't want to be one of the police knights. I wanted to be a Former." Simon's eyes widened. "I was in the Former school for several years. I knew the stone well, but I wasn't smart enough to succeed. I had just started to practice building my own stone when I had to leave. After I left, I had to return home, to my family. They told me I would fail, but I didn't believe them. They tried to convince me not to try, but I wouldn't listen." Theodore swallowed. He was not ashamed of his past, but it felt strange telling such details to just a boy. "When I arrived home, I had to tell them the truth: I had been kicked out, and they were right. There was no way to avoid it. After the talk, I caught myself in the mirror. I had the same look you had an hour ago, when the leader and everyone else stared you down. The look of someone forced to tell the truth. I saw it plain as day on your face, just as I had seen it on mine."
Simon blinked. "You believe me because you saw my face?" Theodore nodded. "And you just believed me?"
"I do. I remember knowing I had to tell them but dreading it. Did you feel the same?"
"It was embarrassing. It's weird."
"Perhaps it is. Perhaps also it is perfect."
The next morning Theodore gathered Kalimbah, and then Simon, and after promising Remy no harm would come to the boy they left the Apex, landing on the streets of their civilization in between the seas. Theodore, in his imposing and shining armor, could forge through the crowds without effort. Simon and Kalimbah followed. When they got a short distance away from the Apex Theodore turned and asked Simon how he could prove himself. The boy opened his mouth but made not a sound.
"Well come on, out with it!" Kalimbah said, putting her hands on her hips and glaring down at Simon. Theodore sighed as Simon shrank back.
"Kalimbah, please, the boy needs his time."
"Some of us think faster than a crawling stone!"
"I look for some of the shapes," Simon said, clipping the end off of the Former's insult. "If I see them gathering somewhere it means something is about to break there. Would that prove it?"
"I think it would." Theodore looked at Kalimbah. "Would that be enough? Or would you need more?"
The woman's wrinkled face wrinkled further. "I might need to see it more than once, but...I suppose it would help convince me."
"Our plan is set. I expect you to lead us, Simon."
"They...they move really fast."
"I also move fast. You'll notice I left my shield today. If we need to move fast, I can pick you up." Theodore eyed Kalimbah. "I assume you can keep up."
"Keep up?! I'll leave you in the dust!"
"Then you'll get lost! Only Simon knows where the shapes are!"
Kalimbah's eyes narrowed at Theodore's sudden volume. Theodore turned back to Simon. "Do you see any now?"
He nodded. "A few. They're just floating around." He pointed over the Apex. "There's a cube. It's kind of wiggly. Like it's flopping around."
"Any more?"
"There's a ball bouncing around." Theodore watched Simon's eyes track something, moving up and down. "It's bouncing on the air." Kalimbah snorted.
"Build me an image," Theodore said. "Tell me how you see it. Its direction, its motion. Help me understand."
"It...just looks like a circle, since there are no corners, but somehow you can tell it's a ball."
"A sphere," Kalimbah said, standing behind them with her arms crossed.
"A sphere. It comes down quickly, always between bridges and buildings, in the open space. It bounces about at the level of the bridges, goes very high-" the boy's finger tracked an unseen object "-and stays very still at the top before it drops again."
"Is it going in a straight line?"
Simon nodded. "The wind doesn't affect it. Sometimes it-" He halted, eyes widening.
"What is it?" Theodore asked.
"It just changed direction. When it was in the air." He looked around, head spinning. "There are more shapes! They're following it!"
"No time to waste." Theodore wrapped Simon's pointing hand in his gauntlet and started jogging, heavy armor thudding on the bridges. Kalimbah hurried after them. "Keep us pointed in the right direction."
"It could be far," Simon said as he panted. "It could be anywhere."
"Then you will fly on my shoulders," Theodore said. He saw the boy smile for the first time, and he could not but return it.
They cut through the morning crowds in the markets and streets, following the path Theodore constructed as Simon pointed the direction the ball went. "A lot more shapes just appeared," Simon said, face flushed with color. Theodore had to drag him forward. "They're moving quicker."
"And so shall we." Theodore halted and bent down. "Climb on. Watch the metal plates. They can wound if they catch your skin. Arms around my neck, there we are." He stood, and barely noticed the extra weight. "I will move too quickly for you," he said to Kalimbah, "but I think you will be able to follow."
"Why do you keep saying that?" Kalimbah said. "I'm just as fast as you!"
In seconds Kalimbah had disappeared behind him as Theodore released all the pent up energy in his bones and muscles. His arms pumped along at his sides, and his wide boots lifted off the ground with prodigious strides. He did not need to push through the crowd; people leaped out of the way or they would have been crushed. A path cleared itself as soon as he took off.
Simon's hair whipped behind him as he hung on to Theodore's neck and sword. He had never moved so fast.
"They're getting slower," Simon said. Theodore hadn't kept up with the shapes, but they would have been left far behind had he not started sprinting. "I think they're going to land."
"Just keep me in the right direction," Theodore said.
A minute later Simon shouted to stop. "There! They're landing there!" They stopped on a bridge, and Simon pointed over the gap at a building, hundreds of feet away. "They're swarming around it!" His shouts attracted others.
"Try and keep your voice down," Theodore said under his breath.
"Fegging hell!" they heard Kalimbah shout behind them. "How do you run so fast in that getup?"
"They're doing something," Simon said. "They're landing on it."
"Does anything else happen?"
The boy shook his head. "They land on it, like a swarm, and then-"
Across the gap they heard the stone crack. A few small bits of the stone spun off, like a mallet had struck it, then a powerful and deep sound made them flinch. A huge crack, visible even at their distance, jabbed downward through the building from where Simon indicated the shapes had gathered, and peeled walls and floors away from the building, sending them tumbling the harrowing distance into the water. To Theodore and Kalimbah, and the people around them, the building crumbled, but to Simon it was eaten, devoured by the shapes. They roved down the building's height, smashing it up and ingesting the remaining clouds of dust and pebbles, until they reduced it to a barren nub jutting up from the platform it stood on.
"Evidence enough?" Theodore asked Kalimbah, who still panted.
"I guess it-"
"The boy!" they heard. "He did it! He pointed at the building and said 'there,' and it came apart!" Theodore looked behind him and found an angry man jamming his finger in Simon's direction. "I saw it!"
A cry rose. Others agreed with the man, some shouted for an explanation. Others simply came forward.
They froze when they heard the grate of Theodore's sword leaving its sheath. The knight took a step forward and moved Simon around behind him. He settled the point of his sword on the stone under him, and the people began to realize just how big Theodore was. His sword was taller than many. "The boy did nothing."
"What was he talking about?" the man who had pointed Simon out asked.
"It's a complicated matter. I am on a mission from his highness of the Apex. The boy is under my protection." Theodore lifted his titanic, double-edged sword with one hand, appearing to lift a small branch. "If you attack you will be cut down."
"He...he did something!"
"Oh, go on!" Kalimbah said, waving her hand. "What do you know? Are you a Former? I am! I can say the boy didn't do anything!"
"Was it you?" the man asked.
"For the last time, no! Formers don't destroy things! They create things! Maybe if you had listened to us, this wouldn't be happening!"
"The shapes would still be there," Simon said. "It doesn't matter what we do!"
"Perhaps now is not the time, boy!" Kalimbah turned away from him.
"He's speaking some strange things," the man said, and a few people behind him muttered.
"So does a baker, if you know not how to bake bread," Theodore said. "I give you my word, the boy has done no wrong."
"And mine!"
"The word of a cursed Former," the man said. "And an armored fool." Still, the crowd seemed to be shrinking. A few people were backing away. The man turned and stalked off, shoving his way through. The rest of the gathered crowd dispersed.
Theodore sighed and allowed his sword to drop until its point brushed the ground. He carefully hoisted it over his head and slipped it back into its sheath until it clicked to a rest. "Thank you for sticking up for Simon," he said to Kalimbah. When she remained silent he turned, wondering if she was still there.
She was standing with her mouth open, one hand on top of her head. A drop of water, like a tear, was making its way down her forehead. Theodore looked in the direction she was, but saw nothing. "What's wrong?"
He felt something small and semi-solid strike his helmet, making a dull ring. He spun quickly, looking for the thrower, putting his arm in front of Simon again. The boy grabbed his hand. "Sir. It's water from the sky."
Theodore looked up, and a drop sliced through the gap in his helmet to strike him in the eye. Cursing, he tore off his helmet and blinked the water away. More drops pinged off his armor, turning him into a towering musical instrument.
More people began to notice. They looked up, searching for someone throwing water. A few people began to point up, at the sea suspended above them.
Cries rose as the drops became more frequent. Kalimbah, her eyes wide, had both hands covering her head. Simon looked unbothered.
"Has this ever happened before?" Theodore asked. The waves of the sky-sea danced and jumped. His heart pounded. "Did the shapes do this?"
Simon shook his head. "They aren't anywhere near the water. They're just flying around like normal." He paused, watching the sky. "I think they're gathering again."
"Oh, good," Kalimbah said, her hands still trying to cover her frizzy hair. "Let's follow them and get blamed again. I'm surprised no one's blamed us for the falling water!"
"The shapes are going toward the Apex," Simon said. "There are a lot of them."
Theodore stood still. We kept wanting to look up, but every time he did so it seemed he was drowning in lines of water.
"Pick the boy up, you dolt!" Kalimbah said, raising her voice over Theodore's clattering armor. "The shapes are going to tear down the Apex!"
"We can't go in it!" Theodore said.
"Of course we can't! But if we get their quickly, we can warn people!" She took off, not looking to see if he was following. The beads around her neck bounced with each step.
"Simon!" Theodore knelt. "Hang on tight!" As soon as the boy was prepared, Theodore thundered after Kalimbah, reaching her in less than a minute.
People panicked in the streets. They ran to get under cover; some tried to wipe the water off them as soon as it hit but they could never move fast enough. Theodore thundered past them. His speed did nothing to convince people there was nothing wrong, and he saw a number of people yell to him for assistance, but he didn't stop. The water added weight, and the exertion finally began to tire him.
The water increased, blurring his vision. People too far away became ghosts struggling against invisible forces, and when they got close they became zombies fueled by fear and a nameless power, dripping as if they skin was melting and pooling around their feet. Hair became dark, tangled sheets. Clothes became sodden masses. Rivers ran across the bridges and small lakes collected in some areas; those running through kicked up wet wings. People cried, their tears mixing with the water from the sky.
Theodore ran through all of it. His boots sloshed through deep patches, and the breath he sucked mingled with drops coming down his face. He couldn't put his helmet on--he could see almost nothing with the small opening and the rain.
"There are hundreds," Simon said over his ringing armor. "More than I ever seen before! They-" The water, adding to itself with a furious drumming, drowned the rest of Simon's words. Theodore could no longer see the Apex as he ran, and the water began to disorient him. It was getting darker. It had never gotten darker.
"Which way?" he shouted. "Which way?"
"I...I..." Simon stuttered and halted. "I don't know!"
"Which way are the shapes going?"
"I can't see them anymore! There's too much water!" Theodore slowed, trying to remember the proper path back.
A water-logged Kalimbah showed up next to him, sputtering, shivering, and furious. "What is going on?" she said, water flicking out as her mouth moved. "Why've you stopped?"
"I don't know which way to go," Theodore said.
"Can't rely on you for anything, can we?" Kalimbah looked around, trying to keep the rain out of her eyes. "It's this way! Don't go running off if you're just going to get lost!" She hurried away, and Theodore picked up his speed, splashing after her. The falling water seemed to abate a touch, and they made their way through the empty streets, following Kalimbah's memory. He began to recognize the area but kept behind the Former.
"I can see the shapes again!" Simon shouted. "They're everywhere!"
Theodore slid to a halt and almost toppled forward. "Is the bridge going to crumble under us?"
"They aren't gathering at a certain place, they're just all over the place! More than I've ever seen!"
"Are they still going to the Apex?" Kalimbah said.
"I think so."
"Then no time to wait!" She started running again, pushing her soaked hair out of the way. In a few minutes they reached an area Theodore recognized, and he quickly blew past Kalimbah on his way to the Apex. The water lessened further, and the Apex's towering pyramid shape became visible.
"They're all over!" Simon said. "They're covering it!"
"We can't go in," Theodore said. "If we go in it will fall down around our ears."
"We have to let them know!" Kalimbah said. "I'm not going to stand here and watch a thousand people fall into the sea!"
"Is there a way to tell them without going inside?"
"They won't believe you!" Simon said. He let himself go from Theodore's back and fell over. After he picked himself up, he said "they don't know about the shapes!"
"The boy's right. They'll think we're crazy." Kalimbah wiped her face. "Especially with all this water. There are probably more people in there than there ever has been before!" She slipped into a puddle and released a string of dire curses, rising above even the sound of water hitting Theodore's armor.
"People are still going inside," Simon said, pointing at the nearest entrance. People ran in from under the falling water, covering their heads with anything they could.
Theodore rushed forward, missing the familiar weight of his person-tall shield in his left hand. "Stop! Stop! Don't go inside!" he shouted. A few people stopped a turned, surprised. "Out of the Apex!"
"But the water!" someone near him said.
"The water is because of the Apex!" Theodore strode forward, getting the attention of more people. "If you're in the Apex it will only be worse! Out now, while you still have a chance!"
The lie took hold, and people retreated out of the Apex, running through the puddles and streams to whatever other cover they could find. Water cascaded down the Apex's stepped sides in unending rivers, most of it making the long fall into the sea far below.
The water grew heavier. They could see no more than a hundred feet in any direction. Simon grabbed Theodore's hand. "They've stopped appearing!" the boy said. "Get away!"
Theodore scooped Simon up with his left hand and drove through the growing puddles back to where Kalimbah stood, under a stone overhang. "What does it look like?" Theodore asked Simon, placing the boy on his feet.
"They're all over it. They're covering it. I can't even see it. Is it gonna be destroyed?"
"Of course it's going to be destroyed!" Kalimbah said as Theodore opened his mouth. "What do you think is going to happen, they're going to lift it into the sky, and the rain will stop, and everything will be alright? Boy, you know what's going to happen."
Theodore pressed his lips together and nodded. Simon moved his eyes back to the gigantic structure just as it started to crack.
They were light at first, like the sound Theodore had heard when training to be a Former, the sound of small bricks splitting apart. Next came thunderous booming cracks, nearly driving them back. The parts of the Apex they could see shifted, puffs of dust and sprays of water shooting from the windows and gaps caused by the destructive shapes.
"Farther!" Kalimbah said suddenly. "We need to get farther away!"
Theodore didn't argue. He picked Simon up again and followed the woman as she hurled herself past flowing water and gaping people. Others noticed their flight and came to the same realization. The falling water lessened and they stopped, standing in the middle of a deserted bridge, the water falling over them without cease. Theodore looked up at the roiling sea over them, but got nothing but water in the eyes for his trouble. "It's going now," Kalimbah said, her voice noticeably subdued. More cracks, loud enough to feel deep in the stomach, plowed through the air, and Theodore wondered if the water suddenly falling in a different direction was only a coincidence.
One of the Apex's side sloughed away, crumbling down and out of sight. The guts of the huge building were left exposed, and Theodore's stomach clenched when he saw tiny forms struggling to keep from being washed away. The supports, pillars thicker than ten of him laid end-to-end, cracked and toppled, and whole quadrants of the Apex began crumbling into the sea. Stone pieces of all sizes, from pebbles up to massive squared boulders, fell out of sight.
Theodore turned away. The highness, Noros, would have been inside. So too, he realized, the boy's caretaker Remy. He stepped in front of Simon and spun, so he was watching the Apex crumble while the boy stared at him, eyes dark and hopeless. He watched every part of the Apex, root and stem, fall into one of the seas encroaching on them. When the stones finally settled, nothing but a huge square gap remained, into which water poured.
"Now I have nowhere to live!" Kalimbah said. Theodore's hand clenched into a fist on its own accord. He realized, with a belated thought, neither did he.
"The shapes are gone," Simon said. "I don't see any of them." He looked around, the water washing down his face. His hair had long ago become a sodden mass. "I can usually see some, but there aren't any."
"Perhaps they've done their final task," Theodore said. Then the sky opened up.
If the earlier falling water was heavy, this was stone piled upon their heads. It came down in sheets, wiping Simon and Kalimbah off their feet and washing them away; only the barrier on the edge of the bridge kept them from following the Apex down. Theodore's heavy armor and trained might kept him from falling over as well, but the sudden fury from above made him stumble and soak his foot in a deep puddle. When he lifted his hand to take up Simon, the water worked to push it down. When he paused to breathe he choked. When Kalimbah opened her mouth, he heard nothing but the assault of the water on his armor and the stone around them.
Though she was only feet away, he could hardly see the Former as she pointed at the closest building, mouth opening and closing and nothing but water leaving it.
"I feel like I can't breathe," Kalimbah said, holding her arms out to her sides, dripping water. Her clothes stuck to her skin, and her hair had lost its normal frizzle, instead turning into a cap on her skull and down her neck. The water pounded the building they hid in with several dozen other people, who for the most part huddled together, trying to keep away from windows or doors. Simon hadn't said anything since watching the Apex crumble.
Theodore was trying to shake loose water out of his armor and the clothes underneath, but kept glancing at the boy. Surely he knew what the Apex's destruction meant for him, but if not Theodore was reluctant to approach the subject. With all the water on him, the boy appeared to be a melting ice statue. Theodore wondered what would have happened if the water had started falling when it was cold enough to freeze the sea. Would sharp arrows of ice pierce Kalimbah and Simon, and burrow into Theodore's armor, finding the few gaps where he was vulnerable? The water would wash his heavy corpse into the sea.
"What do we do?" Kalimbah asked. "There's chaos in the streets now the Apex is gone. Or there would be if this water wasn't coming down." She looked out the nearest window. Water sliding down the side of the building dripped past to contrast the driving streams falling from the sky. "Will it stop?" she asked, keeping her voice low. She didn't or couldn't take her eyes away from the window.
"I've never seen anything like it," Theodore said. He removed one of his gloves and stuck his hand outside, cupping it. What little water he'd managed to catch he sucked into his mouth, eliciting a gasp from the Former. "Not salt water. It tastes like anything we might drink."
Kalimbah shuffled her feet for a second, then joined him, sticking both hands out and bringing them back in with a small puddle. She dipped her lips to her hands, taking her time. She smacked her lips and nodded. "Small victories, I suppose." She turned back to Simon. "Boy, how are you?"
Simon shrugged.
"Come have a drink. It will help you feel better."
Simon walked over to them, his feet scraping on the stone floor. While he reached his hand into the pounding water, Kalimbah dragged Theodore away. "What do we do with him?"
Theodore raised an eyebrow. "He's no danger to us."
"No, I mean-" she checked over her shoulder. Simon was still drinking. She lowered her voice. "Who do we saddle him with?"
"We don't saddle him with anyone. He is our responsibility."
"Oh? Until when? Until he grows up? Until we get washed over the side of a bridge into the sea? The Apex is gone. The highness is dead, as is the boy's guardian, presumably. So is anyone else who held a semblance of power."
Theodore perked up. "No, not everyone. Commander Wilde was searching the city with Sir Mettian."
"More knights. Fantastic. You can't glower this enemy to death."
Fury finally rising to the top, Theodore shouted. "And I suppose you have hundreds of terribly clever ideas stored up in that jabbering head of yours! They must take up so much space they push all of your words out as soon as they come to you!"
"Don't you speak to me that way you idiot! You came to me for help, as I recall, and what help have I been so far? Not a whit! You might as well have let me stay in my ruined home!" She wrenched away, eyes wide and blazing. She glanced at Theodore when he didn't respond. "What's that face?"
"Sod me for a fool!" Theodore said. "Kalimbah, you're a Former! You could create safe passages!"
"Sorry?"
"Something to cover the bridges so the water goes right into the sea." Theodore's voice was full of intensity and charged with excitement. "Or...or you could..."
"I could create drain holes in the floor," she finished. "Too small for anything valuable to fall through, but the water could pass!" She laughed. "The Formers are cursed no longer! I'll have to focus a bit, I haven't-"
"The shapes are back," Simon said. "They're all around the building."
Kalimbah paled and Theodore raised his voice. "Everyone out of the building!" he said with as much volume as he could muster. "Now! Unless you want to topple into the sea!"
The people around them, who had listened to their argument, ran to the upper levels to notify everyone else in the building. Theodore grabbed Simon away from the window, where he looked to be reaching for more water. He carried the boy out of the house among the river of people fleeing the building, Kalimbah behind them.
"It's not the same," Simon said. The falling water had lessened but still charged down at them. "They aren't gathering around the building like they're going to destroy it. They're just...everywhere. Circling around, sort of like they're-" he stopped and took a step behind Theodore, placing his hands on the man's back like a shield. "They all just stopped moving. They're looking at me."
"The shapes are looking at you," Kalimbah repeated.
"They're getting closer." Theodore recognized the line of fear burning in the boy's voice. "I don't want to be destroyed!"
"No one is being destroyed today," Theodore said, though the falling water covered it up. "On my back again, child. Hold ever tighter."
Once Simon had his arms around Theodore's neck, the knight looked at Kalimbah. "Your skills as a Former...how quick are they?"
"How quick are they, he asks." The woman stood tall, though the water kept her from keeping her balance. "Even faster than you can run."
"Follow." Theodore started off, hitting the ever-deeper puddles with his heavy boots. "Simon. Are the shapes following us?"
The boy looked behind them, and saw the ethereal wire-frame shapes floating after them. He knew how fast they could move, and was surprised they weren't keeping up. "Yes. Slowly."
Theodore nodded. "Keep an eye on them. Kalimbah."
"Eh?"
"Form defenses to keep them away from us."
"Won't they just knock them down?"
Theodore turned his head and eyed the woman. "Slowing them down even a small portion is your goal."
Her frail chest swelled. She slowed and cast her eyes behind her. She closed her eyes and tried to remember a time when the people held her abilities as a Former in high regard. She remembered the rush of blood as she wowed them with her control over the stone, and the eyes of the children lighting up when she made statues of heroes or legends. She remembered the first time someone struck her, thinking she was cursed and it was her doing the bridges and buildings crumbled. She combined the energies from both.
"Let the stone dance again!" she shouted, though the wind and water tore the words away, so only she could feel them. She threw her hands behind and over them as they ran.
The wide, long, empty bridge, constructed of the same gray stone as everything else, shuddered slightly. The barriers on the sides stretched up, cracking and groaning like dusty trees. Walls slammed up behind them, following their feet only moments after stepping. The walls grew in together, forming a ceiling decorated with fine designs. Simon watched them with wide, wondering eyes as they blocked the falling water.
Kalimbah laughed. The growing walls and roof constructed themselves along the bridge they ran, faster than any man. The ceiling thickened. The walls grew buttresses, sinking into the deep sea. Turrets grew, spiraling up. A peaked great hall appeared alongside them, full of stone benches, tables, naves, and cloisters. Theodore heard the constant rumbling and grinding of stone but it was a healthy, natural sound compared to the cracks and groans the invisible shapes created as they tore the buildings down.
"Fie on them all for believing me cursed!" he heard Kalimbah shout, now the pounding water was out of their ears. "I curse them back!" He smiled.
Something punched a hole above them, sending stone chips on their heads. Simon shrieked and Theodore increased his speed. Kalimbah struggled to keep up, even with her newfound adrenaline. She let her hands fly, closing the breaks in her creation as quickly as the shapes could break through. She felt like the same material she was manipulating, steady and unshakeable. Even unseen forces would not frighten her.
They hit the opening at the end of the bridge and Simon looked behind, the water returning. The bridge was a building in its own right now, with towers and structures spanning off from it.
"Are they still after us?" Theodore asked the boy.
"Yes, they-" The rain increased further, pelting them with droplets like tiny stones. Theodore's armor raised a clatter as the air darkened. The puddles and streams were now tiny lakes.
Kalimbah saw and instructed the stone to part with tiny holes, and the water began to drain out. She ran into Theodore when he halted, slamming to the ground.
A funnel of water, shooting down from the sky-sea, had created a deluge in front of them. The wave hit them and washed them over, and their eyes filled with water. Kalimbah swallowed a mouthful before her flailing hand broke the surface of the water and she grabbed fresh air. The wall she struck stunned her and left her reeling, and she tumbled in and out of the water as it swept her toward a newborn waterfall.
Before it could carry her over, Theodore's huge hand wrapped around hers, pulling her away from the distant death. Simon clung around his neck, soaked. "Kalimbah!" Theodore roared with all his might. "Kalimbah wake up!" The woman stayed still. He put her body over his shoulder, free hand hanging onto a spur of stone with all the might his tired muscles could rally. He tried to take in breath to calm himself, but they were always half-full with moisture. Another wave struck him, knocking him against the spur. Simon watched the building Kalimbah had struck, across the small square, explode with water and vicious attacks from the shapes.
Stone and water all around him, Theodore attempted to clear his mind. Water pounded on him from all sides, and waves washed over him, drenching whatever part of him not submerged. He thought of the stone, of the many lessons from his instructors. He thought of Kalimbah's joy as she bent it to her will minutes ago. He had been a slow learner, but a studious one. He could not keep up with the other students, but he had still learned a few things.
More funnels of water had appeared, seeking to drain the sky-sea empty. A bigger wave than before loomed, growing over them and spilling over the sides of the platform he huddled on. "Hold her tight!" he shouted to Simon.
He didn't need flawless form, as Kalimbah had exhibited. He needed speed and strength. As he held onto the stone spur, his remaining hand rose out of the water around him, palm flat, fingers spread.
A stone wall shot up, blocking the wave. Water crashed to both sides and above, spraying them with freezing water, but he held on. He breathed out, trying to keep his head. The floor of the square ten feet away exploded, and water drained out through the huge gap. He imagined a platform under them rising out of the water, a strong roof above and strong sides to keep them from being washed away. The floor was a large grille, to drain the water. He saw it happen, and as the platform rose he was able to see a little farther through the destructive water.
As water drained from his armor, and Simon let go from around his neck, Theodore looked out over their home. Sheets of water, dark and light, assailed. He could see spouts, great huge rays of water, emptying from the sky-sea into the water under them. He heard a smack, and a fish flopped past the roof he had constructed.
He put his head between two supports, and tried to look up, using his hands to shield his eyes from the water. The sky-sea was a mass of motion, and it appeared to Theodore as if the whole of it was boiling.
He drew his soaked skull back under his roof. "The shapes. Can you see them?" he asked Simon. The boy nodded. "Do they still seem to be after you?"
"They're everywhere," Simon said. "But they've stopped attacking. They're just going 'round in circles."
"They don't need to destroy anymore," Theodore said. He patted Kalimbah's face with his hand. "We're likely to find our new homes in the sea before too long."
Kalimbah groaned. She took in a deep breath, and then began coughing and sputtering, eyes wrenching open. She turned over and coughed out half a mouthful of water on her hands and knees. Only after a few moments of careful breathing did she notice the grille and rub her hands on the rough-hewn stone. She looked up, saw the uneven roof, the tilted supports, and Theodore's face.
"What did you do?" she coughed out before taking in a ragged breath. "Where...how did..."
"Theodore was training to be a Former," Simon said.
Kalimbah continued to do nothing but suck in breath, sitting against one of the shoddy supports. She looked around, then flicked her wrist, like cracking a whip with her hand at the end of it.
Their tiny tower shook and fell into place. The roof straightened, the supports stood tall, the barrier around the floor shifted and ground itself into uniform straightness, and the grille under them bubbled until every hole was the same size. Theodore had failed to notice any of these errors, and the instant they fixed themselves had Kalimbah glaring at him with superiority. "It's a shame all your power and skill couldn't keep you from being swept into the sea," he said, and the proud face fell.
"Theodore," Simon said. "The water."
Theodore looked, expecting another wave come to sweep them out of their tower, but instead he found the water falling from the sky-sea abating. He could see a longer distance, and realized the spouts of water were much farther, and more numerous, than he first thought. "They must be massive," he said. "So much water. If one of them was dumping onto us we would be destroyed."
"I would be able to build something strong enough," Kalimbah said.
Theodore pointed at one of the spouts. A bridge was moving toward it, wheeled along its path by tracks far below them. When the spout of water struck it, the bridge was torn into pieces, sliced by the driving water.
Kalimbah watched it disassemble with an open mouth. "Oh." She held her head at an angle for a second then looked at Simon. "Are the shapes gone?"
"No." The boy looked around, then he seemed surprised. "They aren't moving."
"Are they...looking at you?" Theodore asked.
Simon shook his head, then stood up, using the supports to pull himself up faster. "They're going away!"
"Where?" Kalimbah asked.
"They're just...disappearing! Fading...like dreams."
"Nightmares." The woman shivered.
"The water is going away too," Theodore said. "Except for the big spouts."
"But what were they?" Simon asked the air. He stuck his head out from between two supports, out from under the roof. "What are you? Why can I see you?" he shouted. "Where are you going?"
The shapes failed to answer, but turned to gaze in his direction. Their wire-frame forms thinned until all remaining was just a memory in the eyes, lost once Simon looked away.
"The Formers won't be cursed for much longer," Theodore said. "They'll be instrumental in draining all this water away."
Kalimbah nodded. "Finally."
Theodore stood up, looking out. His body told him it was still morning, or perhaps noon, but it looked dark enough to be night.
When all the water had finally drained out of the sky-sea, the survivors of the torrential water looked up in at wonder at the tiny white lights twinkling in the sky. It took weeks until the water finally stopped falling--there was so much the level of the ground sea rose up to just a few feet below the level of the bridges and squares. Kalimbah and the other Formers began reshaping the stone to their new situation, growing up into the thing formerly the sky-sea, growing up now their space was no longer shrinking, but bigger than their minds could have imagined. To make their world better, much had to be washed away.