Su’s lungs burned with every gasping breath, a stark contrast to Resplendent Feather, who glided beside her with grace. The "Path of a Thousand Regrets" was a misnomer; it felt more like the "Path of a Thousand Places Su Would Rather Be."

  "Remind me again why we couldn't just... I don't know, get a magical eagle taxi?" Su grumbled, her claws scrabbling for purchase on the slick, windswept stone.

  "The Aerie is a sanctum, not a tavern," Resplendent Feather replied. "Its approaches are meant to purify the spirit."

  "My spirit is plenty pure. It's purely pissed off and my feet are freezing."

  "Your cacophony is a constant affront to the sacred silence."

  "Your face is a constant affront to good taste."

  They rounded a jagged outcrop and the Aerie came into full view. A breathtaking cluster of crystalline spires that grew from the mountain itself, catching the weak sunlight and fracturing it into a million rainbows. It was, Su had to admit, disgustingly beautiful. And it was under attack.

  Dark, jagged shapes swarmed the crystalline towers. Shadow-Tainted Sky-Dancers. Their screeches were the opposite of Resplendent Feather’s resonant calls; they were the sound of silence being ripped apart. At the base of the main spire, a familiar, loathsome figure directed the assault: Alistair Vane.

  "He dares!" Resplendent Feather’s thought was a thunderclap of rage. His entire body tensed, his plumage flaring so brightly it hurt to look at. "He is defiling the heart of my people!"

  Before Su could form a sarcastic comment about real estate values, a squadron of the shadowy flyers broke off from the main assault and dove straight for them.

  "Okay, not great!" Su yelled, ducking as a shadowy talon swiped where her head had been.

  Resplendent Feather met them head-on. He was a blur of light and motion, a celestial tornado. He moved with a grace and power Su had never seen, his every strike a burst of solar fury that sent shadows shrieking into nothingness. He was magnificent and also, very clearly, one bird against an army.

  "Get to the lower spires!" he commanded, deflecting a blast of dark energy with a shimmering psychic shield. "There will be shelter!"

  "And leave you to have all the fun? Not a chance, Feathers!" Su squawked. She couldn't fight these things, but she could be a distraction.

  As one of the shadows swooped low for another pass, Su focused her Mimicry.

  She projected the sound of Resplendent Feather’s voice, filtered through her own sarcastic lens, directly into the shadow-bird’s mind.

  "Psst. Your commander's feathers are looking a little... moth-eaten. And is that a spot of rust? So undignified."

  The shadowy peacock faltered in mid-air, its head whipping around in confusion, looking for the source of the insult.

  Resplendent Feather took advantage of the opening, vaporizing it with a concentrated beam of light. He shot her a look that was equal parts exasperation and grudging approval.

  "Do not... do that with my voice."

  "Hey, it worked, didn't it?"

  They fought their way down the path, a bizarrely effective duo. He was the sword and shield, a master of cosmic combat. She was the pocket sand, the whoopee cushion, the master of psychological warfare. She mimicked the sound of cracking foundations to make the shadows hesitant. She projected the feeling of an untied shoelace (or its avian equivalent) to break their concentration. At one point, she convinced three of them they were flying upside down.

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  But for every shadow they dispelled, two more took its place. Vane’ machine was a conduit, pouring endless waves of corrupted energy into the Aerie. They were being pushed back, closer to the edge of the precipice.

  It was then that Vermilion Plume descended. He landed between them and the Aerie’s entrance, his eyes fixed on his brother.

  "It is over, Resplendent Feather. The Chancellor’s new world has no room for your stagnant light."

  "You have traded our birthright for power, brother. You become a slave."

  "I am a pioneer!" Vermilion shrieked, and launched himself forward.

  Their battle was a thing of terrifying beauty and horror. Light against shadow, brother against brother. They moved faster than the eye could follow, a dazzling, deadly ballet. But Resplendent Feather was exhausted from holding off the swarm and Vermilion was fresh, fueled by stolen power.

  A whip of solidified darkness caught Resplendent Feather across the chest. He cried out, pained sound that was worse than any psychic scream. He stumbled, his light guttering. Vermilion pressed his advantage, summoning a spear, aiming for his brother's heart.

  Time seemed to slow down.

  Su saw the spear form. She saw the triumphant gleam in Vermilion’s dead eyes. She saw Resplendent Feather, her cursor, the source of all her misery, the arrogant bastard... about to die.

  And a feeling, vast and nameless and terrifying, erupted in her chest. It wasn't just about survival anymore. It wasn't about the curse. It was something screaming NO that bypassed all thought, all reason, all her carefully cultivated cynicism.

  There was no time for bureaucracy or clever mimicry. There was only instinct.

  With a squawk that tore from the very core of her being, she launched herself forward. She put herself directly in its path.

  It was the stupidest, heroic and most profoundly Su Ian Hoo thing she had ever done.

  The spear of void-energy took her square in the breast. There was only an all-consuming cold.

  She felt her borrowed life, her stubborn will, her glorious cacophony, being systematically erased.

  Resplendent Feather’s scream was not psychic. It was a cry of denial that echoed through the mountains. The light that erupted from him then was not the light of stars, but the light of a supernova. It incinerated the shadows around them and sent Vermilion Plume reeling back, his form flickering.

  But it was too late for Su.

  She collapsed, the world tilting on its axis. The vibrant colors of the Aerie, the shimmering light of Resplendent Feather’s plumage, everything began to drain away, fading to grey.

  He was at her side in an instant, his magnificent head hovering over her, his starry eyes wide with a horror she had never seen in them.

  "Why?" his thought was a broken whisper, laced with pain, "You foolish, stubborn, impossible creature! WHY?"

  Su tried to form a thought, but the cold was eating her from the inside out. She managed to focus her fading vision on his face. The arrogance was gone All that was left was a devastating anguish.

  With the last dregs of her energy, she pushed one final, feeble thought into his mind.

  "...Because you still owe me a refund... you glittering... asshole..."

  A fading smile or maybe a wince, touched her beak.

  And then, Su Ian Hoo, the speckless pedant, was gone.

  The silence that fell was heavier than the mountain itself. Resplendent Feather threw back his head and let out a cry of such profound, cosmic grief that the very crystals of the Aerie resonated with his sorrow. The remaining Shadow-Tainted Sky-Dancers faltered, their dark energy sputtering in the face of such loss.

  He rose, his light no longer brilliant, but burning with fury. He turned his gaze towards his brother, towards Vane, towards the entire machinery of destruction.

  The war for the Aerie was not over.

  But for Su, the story had reached its end. A stupid end. She had finally died.

  But in a universe with reincarnation cycles, curses and a system that loved a good loophole, an end was never really just an end. It was a loading screen.

  SYSTEM OVERRIDE: HOST DEMISE CONFIRMED.

  CAUSE OF DEATH: HEROIC SELF-SACRIFICE (UNEXPECTED PROTOCOL).

  ANALYZING SOUL SIGNATURE...

  CURSE PROTOCOL: DESTABILIZED. CONTINGENCY PROTOCOL: TRIUMPHANT.

  FINAL MEMORY LOGGED: ‘...glittering asshole...’

  INITIATING EMERGENCY REINCARNATION CYCLE...

  DESTINATION: [ERROR: PARAMETERS UNCLEAR]

  PREPARE FOR NEW GAME+

  words.