[ME] the dream doesn't end when our eyes open

Zavien

The day arrives with no shortage of nerves. Rumors have begun to spread through the city, tension taking hold as some people begin to flee in a panicked frenzy. He'd hoped to catch it beforehand, but there's no denying the city's precarious state, and he can't blame people for being mistrusting of their home after everything it's been through. However, Zavien hopes that the clear communication might give them a chance to process it all without panic or doubts.

At the appointed time, he gathers everyone to the base of the Tower, standing atop a wooden platform in order to project his voice. His hands shake slightly, sweat easily visible across his brow when he swipes a hand though his hair. People cluster close, a hushed whisper falling silent in anxious anticipation of the news. His chest feels too tight despite the loose white shirt he wears, but Zavien doesn't torture them by delaying. Clearing his throat, he rallies his emotions and starts, "The news I share today is not something I carry with ease..." He explains the gravity of the situation, the future Safrin sees, as well as the Void-rooted cause of it all. Zavien does his best to lay out everything as simply and sensitively as he can, taking long pauses to allow people to process the shattering reality, doing what he can to address any fears they may have over the coming weeks. "I wish there was more to be done, but our priority is to get everyone somewhere safe." 

Shifting the focus, his chest swells. "We have survived wars and devastations and coups and dictatorships that no other region has. I am proud to have called this place home for so many years, and I thank you for giving me a chance to serve you in its final days." 

Quiet stretches and Zavien takes a moment to soak in the range of emotions on each citizen's face. "The fall of Stormbreak doesn't mean the end of Breakers or my responsibility to all of you. Our bond is not so easily broken." His smile is equal parts sad and hopeful, a final gift he grants the people along with his fondness for the community that raised him to believe in the good of the world. "We will continue to support each other, no matter where life takes us." 

"So, one last time, I would like you all to put your trust in me. We've organized transportation and assistance for those who need it, as well as supplies to get you settled in whatever region you choose. The leaders have been made aware and will be expecting your arrival." His eyes find any leaders in the crowd, offering appreciative nods before he briefly explains more in depth on the details of notifying the admin booths on where they will be settling so that space and accommodations can be made in skyships and temporary housing. 

Pausing, he concludes the speech with a vote of confident faith, voicing the words despite knowing they would already step up for each other. "Do not hesitate to ask for assistance - or provide it. We will get through this like we always have: as a people united." That's what it means to be a Breaker.

Stepping down from the platform, he begins to mingle amongst the citizens, offering reassurances and directing people to the booths that have been set up around the plaza. Some contain supplies to get people through the period of furlough: food, water, clothes, or other daily items. Others contain assistants with paperwork sitting before them, jotting names and locations to organization wagons and transportation wherever needed. And still more are set up to offer guidance or receive concerns that may have gone unconsidered, a safe place to ensure the pain of loss is not aggravated by things that could have been alleviated. 

---

This is the announcement for the End of Stormbreak that shifts into evacuation plans and efforts. 

All citizens are encouraged to attend to receive the news and make their preparations. Any people who wish to aid in the efforts are welcome to join! There are stations to assist with coordinating skyships/wagons to each region as well as efforts to prepare food, water, clothes, and other supplies for the unhoused.

There's some good in this world,

and it's worth fighting for.

Wren stood at the edge of the crowd, close enough to hear every word and yet already feeling distant, as if the ground beneath her were thinning with the memory of each quake. Zavien’s voice carried across them, and each sentence landed like a small, precise blow to her chest.

Her fingers curled into the fabric of her shorts, knuckles whitening. Stormbreak had always been a constant, even when her own memories were not. The familiar stone paths and salt-swept air were anchors to a life she knew she had lived but couldn't remember, proof that she existed somewhere, that she belonged to a place even when she could not fully belong to herself.

Now even that was being taken.

Around her, people murmured, some crying openly, some clinging to one another. They had families, friends, destinations and plans already forming in their minds. Regions with names and histories and connections. Wren had none of that. Stormbreak had been the one fixed point in a life full of gaps and blurred edges. Her breath began to come too fast, shallow and tight in her chest. The idea of stepping onto a skyship bound for somewhere unfamiliar made her stomach twist. New streets, new faces, new expectations. No one who knew her. She imagined herself shrinking in some distant city, overlooked, unremembered, just another displaced soul in a crowd that had no reason to notice her.

Nothing inbetween me and the rain

code by sky

the gray sky was vast and real cryptic above me

I'll just take a little sabbatical, they said. What could possibly go wrong? they said.

Everything, as it turns out.

Koa joins the milling crowd as unobtrusively as he can, a hat pulled low over his eyes, his handsome features slightly obscured by an unfortunate attempt at a beard. He hadn't fully believed the mess of letters that had been waiting for him, had truly believed - had to believe his family and friends were exaggerating. But now as he listens to Zavien's impassioned speech the reality of the situation settles like a brick, its finality like hands squeezing his shoulders. He cannot bear it. They must endure it.

He holds his position while Zavien finishes, feeling a swell of pride for his friend despite the dire circumstances. After the announcements are done he'll seek out his family, his regiment, and his friends. He'll throw himself into this evacuation the way he throws himself into everything. And, somehow, they'll survive.

Koa

I wanted you to love me like you used to do

Mateo

champagne, cocaine, gasoline
and most things in between

Mateo arrives ashen-faced and without his usual flamboyance; even his outfit is toned down to a light tank top and a pair of floral linen pants. He'd heard the news from Flora a couple of days prior, and already he's been packing up anything sentimental, anything important, and transferring it from his shop to his schooner in preparation to make the trip down to Torchline. He doesn't need the admin booths or the supplies or any other assistance, but he's still warmed to see it offered.

Nodding quietly once Zavien finishes and glancing across the crowd, he thinks he spots someone doing a bad impression of Koa, but the milling people snatch him up in the press of bodies before he can get a proper look. Making a mental note to collect some flyers to take to give to Ever's parents, the botanist lingers for only a few minutes more before he heads for the stalls to do just that. There isn't anything left to say - not with their world literally about to go crashing out of the sky.

I roam the city in a shopping cart
a pack of Camels and a smoke alarm

Zavien

Scanning the crowd like a battlefield of wounded soldiers, Zavien smiles politely and moves to those who appear the most panicked. A young woman clinging to her child, uncertain how to contact her traveling husband. An older gentleman in a wheelchair, worried of how he'll get to a new home - and how to pay for it. A crying boy who got separated from his parents when they'd rushed to claim supplies. 

Each situation, he does what he can to help, reassuring, offering advice, and pointing people towards others who may be of better assistance. 

When the crowd directly around him starts to thin, Zavien does another sweep, eyes catching on a young woman (Wren) who stands frozen. He might have dismissed her if her eyes weren't so distressed, her breathing faster than normal. While others with similar expressions have family or friends comforting them, she appears completely alone, trying to process the news. 

Without hesitating, he weaves his way through the throng of people to approach her gently, his voice soft and calm despite the overwhelming noise of the square. "Hey, it's Jesse, right? You work at the hospital?" He thinks he recognizes her from the dedicated staff of healers, having been there plenty of times, although he could be very wrong - which would be very embarrassing. But she looks to be in shock, and his open palms are lifted in a silent gesture of aide. "How can I help? Is there someplace I can walk you?" Maybe the hospital or a quiet spot where she could breathe.

There's some good in this world,

and it's worth fighting for.

the gray sky was vast and real cryptic above me

In the aftermath of the announcement people mill and mix, hushed voices and panicked whispers occasionally interrupted by a wailing sob. Koa greets a few reassures others, then spots a familiar mop of black hair bobbing toward the stalls. "Mateo!" he calls, picking his way around a burgeoning prayer circle to try and reach his friend.

Koa doesn't hesitate to wrap the botanist in a hug once he reaches him, heedless of the mess he probably looks (and smells). "Good to see you, man." A final clap on the back and Koa pulls away, head turning to survey the crowd, a frown between his eyes. "This is fucking nuts, right? I keep expecting Ludo to pop out and say it's all a messed up joke." Or Mel, though this feels like a little much even for the Zombee.

Koa

I wanted you to love me like you used to do

She hadn't expected to be approached.

Wren startled slightly when he addressed her, as if she hadn’t quite realized she’d been seen. The sound of her name pulled her back into herself, back into the present, and she drew a shaky breath as her eyes lifted to his. For a moment she just stared, caught between gratitude and a rising, suffocating fear that tingled like bile in her throat.

“I, um,” Her lips parted, then pressed together again. She shook her head faintly, a reflex more than an answer, hands still holding the fabric of her shorts tight. “I’m sorry, I just --” Her hands came together at her waist, fingers worrying at each other. “You’re -- yes. I do work at the hospital. Jesse. That’s -- that’s me.” But had she really worked there? Could what she did be considered that? She clung to the hospital like it was a toddler's blanket, for it was the only thing she knew. Could running the laundry up and down, without pay, be considered work?

Her eyes dropped and she blinked several times, brows knitting together as she tred to focus on the cobblestone at their feet. Were those cracks? “I don--" Her voice wavered, and she had to swallow before trying again. “I don’t think there is a place. No, n-not like that.” A nervous breath slipped out of her, almost a laugh, but there was no humor in it, that she pushed through her lungs up through her throat and out of her mouth to dispel every last whisper of it. “Everyone else has somewhere. Someone. A region, a family, a plan.”

“Stormbreak is -- it’s the only place I know. The only place that feels --” Real. Safe. Anchored. The words tangled and refused to come. She looked back up at him then, eyes bright and a little desperate. “So when you ask where you can walk me, I don’t know how to answer.” Her breath hitched. “Because I don’t have anywhere to go.” She was missing the piece where Zavien meant somewhere in Stormbreak, perhaps to pack up her belongings, but she was too lots in the vortex of it to truly understand.

The admission seemed to hollow her out, leaving her shoulders slumped, small in the space between them.

Nothing inbetween me and the rain

code by sky

Zavien

At least he got her name right, but Jesse (Wren) surprises him by confessing the reasons for her distress. His eyes soften, a comforting hand reaching out to rest on her shoulder. "That's okay, Jesse. You don't have to figure that out now." He hadn't expected people to know immediately where they would go and what they would do. He'd just told them their city was going to fall. Unless they'd already planned or feared this outcome, most needed a moment to make the big decisions - him among them. 

Shrugging his shoulders, he offers her a sympathetic smile. "And not everyone has a plan. I have no idea where I'll end up." He tries at humor, something adjacent gleaming in his eyes even if it doesn't brighten through the anxiety beneath the admission. Still, he falls back on what time they have, encouraging people not to panic or make hasty decisions. Zavien squeezes her arm gently, trying to infuse some of his own strength in her. "But that's something you get to explore later. Let's start by getting you packed." Content to assist where he can, he'll let Jesse determine what that looks like for her. 

---

The tremors have gotten worse, the cracks spidering through the city's infrastructure in a dangerous warning. There have been reports of missing pieces and silent splashes below, sections of the Grotto and Falling being broken off by the quakes. The week leading up to this point was a logistical nightmare, people attempting to change their travel plans last minute, or hoping to bring more than they originally projected. It required coordination and finesse that Zavien didn't possess, but the people around him rose to the occasion, adjusting schedules and loads in order to accommodate each citizen and their needs. He's proud to have worked with them and called them fellow Breakers.

When he finally stands at the skyport overlooking the last group of stragglers, Zavien knows the moment is near. He can feel the aching of the earth beneath him, the desire to release its burden as the magic fails, to tumble into the sea below. It won't be long now, and despite the grief that has been processing since Safrin's news, a sharper sensation stabs at his chest, the reality needling deep into the tender memories of his home. He pauses for a moment, soaking in the empty city, the vacant windows, dusty streets, and cracked foundations. There's a hollowness that he can only bear for so long before turning to the group to ask, "Is that everyone?" Tension coils through his body, quiet and controlled, resolute, remaining steady even as another small tremor shakes the ground beneath his feet. His lips thin, concern mounting as he says, "This is the last ship. We need to make sure no one is left when it falls."

---

The last skyship is about to leave! This thread will close in 48 hours when Zavien will channel Safrin to make sure no one remains behind!

There's some good in this world,

and it's worth fighting for.

Everyone wants to see heaven
But no one wants to say goodbye

There were so many people at the meeting, so many Breakers whose faces crumpled at the news that Zavien shared. Soh stood nearby, listening to their Commander and doing her best to keep her face as neutral as possible. When people began indicating a willingness to help, she was there taking notes and making charts. And over the coming days, she was in the thick of things, helping to get folks packed and moved, encouraging animals to flee, and preserving as much of Stormbreak’s relics and paraphenalia as she could.

On the last day, the ground shook more than it didn’t, and eventually, Soh took to the skies to scan for stragglers. It was spooky to see Stormbreak so devoid of life, and when Soh finally landed beside Zavien and shifted back into her human form, she couldn’t quite repress a shudder despite the warmth of the day. ”I didn’t see anyone left,” she said quietly, ushering first one person onto the skyship, and then another. ”I think… we’re as ready as we can be.”

Everyone wants to see heaven
But no one wants to die

Sohalia

the gray sky was vast and real cryptic above me

Some days later, they reconvene.

Haggard and drawn, the last group gathers at the Skyship docks. The tremors have turned into rolling waves, and Koa's footfalls are unsteady as his world shifts and moves and cracks and fissures beneath his feet. He and Pip have swept their quarter, ensuring that nobody lingers in the Nest or on the Road. Only when they've double and triple checked do they make their way to the Edge.

And even then, it's agony.

The final assembly of Stormbreak is a solemn affair, a last lingering assembly of mourners once the casket is in the ground. All that's left is to throw in those final handfuls of crumbling earth. Koa doesn't smile at his friends; he has no smiles left. They're ushering the last stragglers onto ships as he draws into their midst. "Our quarter is clear," the Dragoon tells Zavien and Sohalia. "I think we're all that's left. Are you ready?"

Of course they're not. They never could have been. But they'll get through this, together.

Inhaling deeply, Koa reaches out to that shimmering thread that connects him to the divine. He hasn't seen his goddess in too long, but now he calls for Safrin in his heart, willing her to come and see the end of the world at his side.

---

Koa co-channels with Zavien

Channeling (Accepted) : Allows an Accepted the opportunity to channel one of the gods during a time of crisis (2x a season). Can be combined with other accepted channeling to increase power. If combined with another mastered channeling, increases the odds of a Big God answering to 15 %
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered | Cost: Action

Koa

I wanted you to love me like you used to do

Wren flinched faintly at the touch, then stilled, as if anchoring herself to the warmth of his hand. The gentleness of it, the steadiness in his voice, loosened something tight and trembling inside her. She nodded once, a small, fragile motion, and drew in a shuddering breath.

"Okay," she murmured, then quieter still, "Thank you."

She let him guide her through the streets she knew by heart. The room she led him to was tucked away and modest, its door opening onto a space that looked more like a pause in someone else’s life than the center of her own. Light filtered in through a narrow window, falling across a neatly made bed, a small table, and a single chair. A canvas bag lay folded at the foot of the bed, and she picked it up and smoothed it flat. From a hook on the wall she took down a thin jacket, the fabric worn soft at the cuffs, and folded it with careful precision. A pair of shoes waited beneath the chair, scuffed at the toes, laces knotted from habitual use. She loosened them, tucked them side by side into the bag. On the table sat a chipped mug, its glaze spiderwebbed with fine cracks. She hesitated, then added it too, fingers lingering as though committing their texture to memory. Last, she reached for a simple necklace resting near where the mug had been. Instead of putting it in the bag, she put it on. When she looked over to Zavien, he had made short work of the rest of her space and was holding another canvas bag.

Neither were heavy.

---

Wren had stayed near him since the sun first crested the horizon, a quiet shadow at Zavien’s side as the final preparations were made. She carried messages when his hands were full, guided the elderly toward the right lines, and any other thing she needed to do to keep moving, and to prolong her departure from her home as long as she could. The ground’s constant shudder had long since stopped startling her -- it only made her cling more firmly to the task, to keep the fear from swallowing her whole.

Now, at the edge of the skyport, she stood a step behind him, her small canvas bags slung across each shoulder. She was quiet, and as the last of what she assumed was his council (a soldier, most assuredly by his looks, and the blonde woman who had helped her in the alley), Wren listened but stayed quiet, feeling like a shadow more than a person.

And when it was time, she boarded the last ship, and saw the city -- the only thing she knew -- for the last time.

---

Wren stays until the last ship and boards when it is time! Wren out ~~~

Nothing inbetween me and the rain

code by sky

Zavien

His eyes connect with each person, Sohalia and Koa and even his recently shadow, ensuring that none had found signs of stragglers who might be caught in the final fall. When the reports come back to the negative and Sol returns to his side from his own sweep of the city, Zavien gives them all a nod, confirming that the preparations have all come to this moment. They're as ready as they're going to be.

Ushering everyone onto the last skyship, he steps off the shaking earth and onboard the vessel. He takes a deep breath and braces his hands against the railing, joining Koa's silent call to the goddess. "Safrin, can you help in these last moments?" His eyes scan out again, heartbreak painting the scene in sorrow as he waits for her to appear, to be there at the end as she had been for all the other moments, to give them the certainty that no one remained, along with the peace to move on as they leave the crumbling region.

---

Zavien co-channels Safrin.

Channeling (Accepted) : Allows an Accepted to channel a herald/demigod/spirit during a time of crisis (2x a season). Can be combined with other accepted channeling to increase power.
Type: Light | Rank: Upgraded | Cost: Action

There's some good in this world,

and it's worth fighting for.

every bait and switch was a work of art

Starlight answers them; not faintly, not distantly, but all at once as Safrin appears upon the edge of the skyship as though the collapsing world itself has drawn her in, her arrival cutting clean through the tremors and the roar of stone and sky. Light spills outward from her in a radiant tide, washing over the deck and the figures upon it. Where it touches Sohalia, Zavien, and Koa, exhaustion loosens its grip, muscles steady, lungs draw fuller breaths, and the bone-deep weariness of weeks of fear and grief is eased just enough to stand tall through what comes next.

She looks at them in turn. There is a smile on her lips—soft, proud—and beneath it, a profound, aching sadness that does nothing to dull her brilliance. The stars cling closer to her form, as if even the heavens are unwilling to look away from the end unfolding below. "You have done so well," Safrin says, her voice carrying easily over the shuddering city, warm with unmistakable approval. "All of you." Her gaze lingers briefly on Sohalia, then on Koa, recognition flickering in her eyes, before settling fully on Zavien. When she speaks again, it is with intention, with weight. "But most of all...you."

She steps closer, the light around her intensifying as the city groans beneath them. "A man is never defined by what he does in his best moments," Safrin continues. "He is revealed in his hardest." Her eyes search Zavien’s face, seeing every choice he made against his own heart. "This strength—the kind that puts others before what you love—is one you should be proud of."

Taking a breath, Safrin closes her eyes as light pours from her, brilliant and boundless, spilling outward across Stormbreak like dawn breaking through the end of night. It threads through fractured streets and hollowed towers, through broken halls and empty homes. Any who remain are gently gathered, guided away from falling stone and failing magic, carried safely to their new homes elsewhere in Caido. Animals still lingering are lifted in that same luminous sweep, transferred whole and unharmed to the Celestine, where they will endure.

The city is emptied.

When Safrin opens her eyes again, she looks back to the three who remain on the deck. Three motes of starlight bloom before them, small, contained suns hovering patiently, waiting only for consent. "I can take you as well," she says quietly, nodding once. "If you are ready." Behind them, Stormbreak shudders, the sound of its imminent fall rolling through the air like a final, grieving breath.

you're the one prize i'd cheat to win

Everyone wants to see heaven
But no one wants to say goodbye

Sohalia was not prepared for Safrin to appear, but she supposed she should have been. She nodded respectfully to the goddess, clasping her hands before her as she stood, a woman in solemn mourning, as still as she could be with the waves of roiling ground beneath her. A brilliant, boundless light spilled forth, ushering anyone who had been missed, any animal who had lingered, out from their hiding places and to safety. The city was suddenly and irrevocably empty.

And so was Sohalia, who had poured so much of herself into the region that she was now poised to leave behind.

Her gaze skimmed over Koa, a brief acknowledgement that he, too, was there, was hurting - and settled on Zavien. Their Commander, her friend, and the one person with whom she had truly shared the burden of Stormbreak’s imminent fall. As three beacons appear before them, Soh glances from Zavien to Safrin, then nods. ”I’m ready when they are,” she said. ”Thank you, Safrin.”

—-

Soh will allow Safrin to take her when the boys are ready!

Everyone wants to see heaven
But no one wants to die

Sohalia