Yasen knew the feeling. She had felt it once before. The strange shivers on her back that felt like someone else’s fingers, the way her body would move and the way her hands clenched and unclenched. The hollowness of her breaths, the faint sounds just on the edge of her hearing and the encroaching sense that death was following.

Fear.

Cassil was after her, she was certain of it. The thoughts broiled in her mind as she tried to think of a way out of this scenario. Cassie’s vision had bought her time, but Cassil was coming just as inevitably. Head home? No; if she went back, Cassil would find her. But the other option… going deeper into the Reaches? She’d get lost. Maybe even become a lost one. But if she could keep hold of sanity, and somehow lure Cassil… maybe Cassil would be lost.

My quarrel isn’t with Cassil, though, she thought. I punish the wrongdoers. Currently, she has done nothing wrong… murder with intent, perhaps, but I’d rather not let her get close enough to actually try and kill me. I have wronged her. That fact cannot be changed.

Yasen sighed. She wasn’t sure what was best to do, besides continuing to run. Cassil would give up eventually, right? What was keeping her so invested in payback?

I want to go home. Cassil knew that she would go to Zion. But Cassil didn’t know exactly where she lived. Another thought sparked in her head. One month. Just one month and then Antumbra would come. It would take a week or so to travel back to Zion from here. Cassil would only have three weeks to find her apartment, and after that…

What would happen?

Yasen groaned and held her head in her hands. It was starting to hurt, having all of this weighing on her mind. Would Antumbra’s approach stop Cassil? It would depend on what exactly happened. If it went well and Raziel’s plan was correct, then they would find the power to slay Antumbra in the Incubator. If the Officials’ plan was correct, then the universe would be destroyed and replaced. And… nothing would happen. Either way, it wouldn’t affect Cassil at all, unless she was involved in any of the battles.

“Dammit.” Yasen hissed. “What am I supposed to do?”

Go home.

It would be difficult to reach the edge of Zion without Cassil heading her off. But once she was home, she could lay low for a few weeks. After that… something would be figured out.

Yasen spotted an island in the distance moving in roughly the direction she wanted, and leapt through the mire to reach it.

She was going home.