Dust was falling.

This wasn't such a bad thing; one of the unspoken powers of a platform video game protagonist the Sen-Mithrarin was the ability to fall incredible distances without harm. Heck, considering he was falling upside-down, he didn't even have to worry about his hat blowing off. But the rest, the path this had taken --

Was it right?

"Tyzias," Dust said, his voice quiet but somehow carrying over everything. "I'm the first to admit I don't know what's going on... but I had to deal with something like this before I came up to you. You can't destroy it, not outside of you. It's part of you. This all...."

He opened one hand, taking in the fiery arteries and the shredding nebula and the uncomfortable pulse of power around them. She wasn't trying to kill it, but was "blowing the whole circus apart" right?

"It's a bit much."

Dust tilted his head back slightly. Just a fraction of an inch was all it took for his eyes to meet hers.

"Let's put an end to it, Tyzias. That part of you up there... we'll take it on together, but not with swords and spells. Just life, and living."