Part 1; The Faults and The Fall

"...no..."

A dirty arm and a delicate hand were barely visible beneath the pile of jagged, prismatic boulders and razor-edged glass rubble blocking the tiny stream that snaked through the ravine. Not two feet away, a crudely crafted doll was already collecting sand on the brash wind, a sheer blanket of fine, metallic grit sparkling faintly against its cloth.

"...no, no..."

Tears welled up, bringing that familiar sting to his eyes. His legs refused to move, though the pounding in his chest shook him as if he had just sprinted a mile.

The child who, not twelve hours ago, couldn't hold still or stop asking endless questions about how the world worked now lay eerily silent. I can get those rocks off her. I just have to make my legs move. His stomach fluttered and his head swam, his lower lip trembling as the tears spilled over. Move!

Just yesterday, she had been clambering all over him—scaling his back and trying to ride his shoulders, giggling whenever he shook her off and sent her sliding on her belly down his tail to the ground. She couldn't wait for the upcoming festival of the full moon. "It's on my birthday, Na-Na!" she had gushed. "My birthday is special this year because everyone will celebrate! Right, Na-Na?"

The echo of her small voice finally broke his paralysis. He stumbled forward and dropped to his knees before the mound of fractured crystal. The fluttering in his gut twisted into a cold knot, as if a glass-eel had swallowed the dust-gliders in his stomach and coiled tight to strike. Wild-eyed, not knowing where to start, he let panic lend sudden strength to his gangly arms and began heaving the shattered blocks off his sister.

If only he hadn't caught me! Damn it! How did he see me? How was he faster?

A jagged shard sliced his palm, the sting blurring into the humiliation of the previous night. All he had wanted was a couple of rolls to feed his sister. Yet the split second his fingers brushed the bread, a meaty hand had wrenched his wrist, hauling him out from under the table. The boy could still smell the stench of the rotting meat caught between the grizzled old baker's teeth as the man sneered down at him, spittle wetting his chin.

"Got you, Nakaru..."

Rage fueled his bruised hands, making him dig faster through the glass. That fat idiot had dragged him through the street and hurled him into a cramped, murky stone outbuilding, laughing heartily as he threw the deadbolt. "Yur gunna work fer me now, boy..."

Nakaru had spent the rest of the night throwing himself against the solid door in futility. Only the sheer terror of leaving his sister alone so long had allowed him to channel his underdeveloped Novaspirit, coaxing a dribble of power into the iron hinges. After hours of straining in the dark, the metal had finally weakened enough for his battered shoulder to barely bust the door open. Dawn was already breaking when he stumbled home to an empty den.

The crystal plates along the ravine's edge must have collapsed hours ago. A paste of sand, dust, and tears caked his face, and his bloody fingers throbbed as he clawed deeper into the pile. She must've been so scared when I didn't come home. Scared, and hungry, and lonely.

His mind flashed to the night their parents never returned, a year and a half ago. She had been only three, sobbing for hours because she couldn't fall asleep without Muma and Papa tucking her in. He had held her and promised they would be back by morning, a lie she had never forgotten. She came out here looking for me. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have gotten caught. I should've broken out faster. The knot in his stomach hardened into a stone as heavy as the slabs crushing her small frame.

At last, he wrenched the final boulder aside.

Even uncovered, the mangled remains beneath the crystal were barely recognizable. The sight of his tiny sister turned his insides to water, and he barely twisted away in time before vomiting onto the stones. Violent tremors wracked his frame as the shock and exhaustion crashed over him, draining him into a hollow numbness. Without thinking, his bloodied fingers closed around the grit-covered doll. He pushed himself to his feet, backed away from the stream, and bolted into the blinding glare of the salt-crystal flats surrounding the town.