Binary Stars

This is a love story.
A story about two beings, tied together into immortality, who were given choices and always chose each other over and over and over.
They circle each other, like planets in a precarious dance of gravity that sends them spinning towards one another only to miss and continue their dance once more. Sometimes they are close, sometimes they are far. Sometimes new players enter the dance, but they always leave. These two are always there, orbiting each other and coming back to each other as their love pulls them together once more.
Nengrel and Midna met each other at the start of a new age. An age where the edges of darkness were being peeled away by the inhabitants of Ishtar. An age they would help to pioneer. A golden age at the dawn of time. But when they met, they were but children meeting each other on the windswept plains of Heroc with the smell of the ocean in the air.
Nen's family had come to the eastern coast to trade wares with the town on the ocean. A band of orcs who valued family over all else as they roamed the plains of their homeland living off its bounty. The exotic goods that came into this small town were worth trading their finest furs and wares that they could make from what they hunted. They were happy with their life, and they enjoyed the assistance they could receive from the traders of the coast.
Midna's family had come to the eastern coast in a boat, a trading vessel really that had the grace to allow them passage across the rough waters between their homeland and here. A family of Silvali, three partners raising twelve children who had lived in the mountains and were well adapted to their stony lifestyle. They were escaping from a rift of magic that had cracked open in the latest earthquake. They still could feel the heat released by the veins of magic that had been exposed and flowed across the land at their backs. They hoped to find charity in this land, to restart their life.
After the first night of trading, Nen's aunt had come back to tell a story of Silvali who had escaped a calamity. They were weary and beaten up, but they wanted to earn their keep here in a new land. They were not accustomed to the ways of the Orcs, but they could hunt and live in the wilderness. They could make excellent additions to their group, bolstering their number in the summer to be trained by the harsh winter time.
The family was large as far as families go. A trio of Silvali, all pledged to each other, were raising twelve children. They all had similar features, and they all exhibited a earthy skin tones that made them look like rocks when they stood still. All except one, a child Nen's age who had veins of blue and skin of warm brown like fresh clay on a river bank. Their hair was a collage of colors, all the colors of the rainbow cascading down their back and adorned with a braid of flowers they had found in the fields outside of town. They were touched by magic when they were born the adults would say, but Nen could tell otherwise. They were as vibrant as a fair jewel and their body could do nothing except reflect that.
One of the adults came back to their encampment to tell of Orcs trading from the plains. They were a loose band, a family that had split from a larger clan not long ago and who could use the extra bodies. Grandparents, a few couples and another dozen children. They were hardy folks, their skin tough to weather the harshness of the plains and their hair braided with the trophies of their many victories in various battles. One who stood out was one of the children, a girl with brooding eyes and strong muscles for her age, already carrying her mother's old sword on her back. Her skin was streaked with red, a sign some whispered that she was marked for war and battle, the blood of her enemies already on her skin. Midna could tell otherwise, those showed just how much she showed her heart on her skin and how much love she showed.
Midna took a liking to Nen right away. As their families met and arranged their path forward, Midna pestered Nen to come play with them as Nen practiced fighting with a stick she had found on the ground. This young orc girl was not like the others, already big for her age and sporting a steely demeanor. Nen tried to shoo them away with her best glower, but that only made Midna giggle and tug on her arm even more to come play. When Nen finally relented, it was with the greatest annoyance a young child can muster before giving into games of exploration and fantasy as the two of them ran around the outside of the camp. And every time after when Midna would come to bother Nen she would try her best to pretend to be doing something else, making a game between them of her denial.
Soon it was clear that Nen enjoyed Midna's compony just as much as the two families came to an agreement and stared to make their way back into the mainland. They often fell in step as they made their way from camp to camp, talking to each other or just enjoying the other's compony. Sometimes Midna would tell Nen of stories from their homeland. Sometimes Nen would tell Midna techniques she had learned to survive the harsh lands they were venturing into.
As the years passed, they found their paths starting to divirge for the first time. Nen would go off to hunt with her mother and learn the ways of the animals with her father. Midna would sit with their parents and learn of the stories of the homeland, or wander off on their own to feel this new nature around them and create the stories themselves. When they could the two would share a tent, burning through the nighttime hours telling each other of what they had discovered of the world in hushed tones. Yet they both yearned for the other's compony silently when they had to part the next day, sad that their friend could not just see the world their way for a day.
There were problems too. They were young, and youth is a time of change and new beginnings. Sometimes they would argue about what was important to them, attempting to use their new wits to gain the upper hand. Sometimes Nen would go off on her own to hunt for longer than was truly necessary. Sometimes Midna would retreat into the few books the group had managed to trade for and valued highly, absorbing herself in scripts that she could barely decipher. They would approach the other, angry that they were isolating themselves from them. What had they done wrong? Why will you no longer see me?
Was it my fault?
They were different from the others their age that they knew. The others that they would encounter across their travels were strange and alien, not able to understand the private world that Nen and Midna had built without even realizing it. They would whisper to each other after meeting new people, unable to understand why they were like that, glad they had someone who did understand. Even their siblings would give them space, either because they could see something they could not or simply that they were too entwined to be reached. The adults knew though, and tried their best to prepare their two brightest children for the harsh world that was ahead of them. It was a hard place, but at least they would always have each other.
That all changed when they went to the spire.
Nen had brought her younger brother, the only one permitted to even glimpse their hidden world together. He was also quiet, a kind soul who enjoyed hearing his older sister and her friend tell him of what they had discovered in the boundless plains of their homeland. He was old enough to come with them, or at least thats what they had convinced the adults. He knew of the spire that they had passed before, and was as curious as his sister to see what was inside it. It was tall, multicolored and glimmering in the noon sun. Its jagged sides reached up into the sky and captured the mind at its peak. And the door was wide open, waiting and inviting.
They knew not why they were allowed to enter the opiline structure. They did not know that their souls rang with the pitch of those who had created it, so long ago. There were Angels watching from on high, waiting to see what they would do.
The dusty corridors were not immune to time, and the wind from the outside world swept through them for the first time in millenia. The trio did not know what to expect on their first adventure. Midna had advised them that it was told to hold the treasures of the gods, lost to the ages and hidden away. Nen could feel the magic wrapped around the structure like a fine web, thrumming around them as they descended. Nen was cautious, and Midna was curious, while their brother was simply happy to be with them. The feelings mounted as they wound downwards, surrounded by crystalline walls that reflected the light of their torches back at them in a myriad of colors. And then their feelings gave way to a collective awe as they entered the main and only chamber of the structure.
A wide cavern, domed above with a smooth glassy floor bellow. Scattered throughout were many marvels, although they could not even start to comprehend what they were looking at. They walked silently between items raised on pedestals, objects floating lazily in the air, creations whose simple looks betrayed their overwhelming auras. The curiosities of Midna and Nen were aglow as they looked around. Their fears started to ebb and their minds were aglow as they started to poke and prod at what was around them. Nen found a greatsword, almost as tall as her and thrumming with untapped potential. Midna found a mask made of a single purple crystal, it's surface smooth against their face as they held it up and made them feel like they were seeing the world for the first time.
And then time shifted.
It was slow and gradual. Like all things with time, it happened at its own pace. Midna had their hands around a floating amber orb, thinking about what a simple object could be doing here. They started to poke and prod at it with their magic, and then the whole room shifted. Like water sliding down a drain, time gathered at the point in their hands. They were transfixed by it, but Nen and her brother could feel the shift around them like pressure dropping before a storm. The brother was closest, and moved before Nen had the chance. Maybe it was a river of time he moved along, or maybe he knew the danger in store. A wordless cry ripped itself from Nen's mouth as she reached out at the same time as her brother pushed Midna out of the way.
In a moment, like the universe snapping back into place, time slid to a halt.
There was her brother, suspended in the air before her, her arm outstretched and reaching for him. Midna lay dazed on the floor, their rainbow hair covering their face. They looked up, their face a mask of anger at being interrupted, before it all came crashing to the ground. Fear washed over them both as they could feel the magic surrounding them, encapsulating their sibling. Nen attempted to move back, but her hand was stuck. The scene was fading, growing dark. They shouted to each other, desperately trying to understand what had happened. Midna rushed over and tried to help, but Nen's arm was held fast by a force neither of them could struggle against. Slowly the darkness was closing around her arm and her suspended brother.
They struggled for hours, teeth gritted and the feeling no longer in her arm that was trapped in the dark oval that hung suspended in the air before them. Midna tried all the magic they had learned in the books they had read, but it did nothing to change what was before them. They raged and they cried and they bargained, but in the end they slumped next to Nen defeated. They locked eyes, and they knew that they would have to leave, and come back to save their sibling another day. But there was only one way that Nen could fulfil such a task.
When they arrived back at their camp, Nen was leaning on the smaller Midna for much needed support. The adults rushed forward when they saw the torn shirt wrapped around the stump of her elbow. They would not explain what had happened, but they would not release each other either. They fell asleep with Midna draped across Nen's lap, desperately clinging to each other after their defeat.
The time after was hard. They only told their parents that they had lost their sibling and Nen's arm to an accident, and that they structure should be avoided at all costs. They did not talk after, but they held each other through the nights like they had when they were children. Then the thoughts started to seep in, their minds crafting new experiences out of a shared truth that began to diverge. Midna wanted to know more, delve back into the depths of the structure and see the magic that swirled around them again. Nen wanted none of it, no more magic unless it was the key to releasing her brother. They fought for the first time, a real fight about what they had seen and what it meant. Anger they had felt for years bubbled up, amplified by magic that had snaked its way into their minds and the events of the days before. They both left, feelings left said and unsaid as they resolved to figure out the problem they had encountered on their own. They would force the world to give them the answers their own way, even if it meant pushing away their greatest ally.
The earth was lonelier than either of them ever imagined. They found their own ways, delving into veins of interest that neither of them had been able to do before. Nen delved the secrets of the natural world around her under the guise of being a bodyguard or adventurer for hire. She honed her skill with the sword she had taken from the spire, a silent reminder of what she was searching for. She wore her hair back in long braids, a reminder of the friend she had left behind all those years ago, weaving in multicolored trophies to add to the effect. Midna retreated to civilization, finding books and libraries and elders who would tell their stories to an eager audience. They strove to unravel secrets of magic and honed their body to handle the experiments they would carry out. The mask morphed subtly while they used it, shifting and changing according to their mood and showing them the world as it truly was, or at least as what it could be. They kept the sides of their head shaved and their hair short, ready for battle, a reminder of the friend they had left behind all those years ago.
They first met once more five years after their departure. Their paths cross as they enter a mine said to contain wild magics not seen before. They had been following different leads, but they stumbled into the central vein of magic at the same time. There was shock and silence between them, a person they had been trying to think so little of while failing the entire time. They exchanged few words, instead deciding on an uneasy alliance to explore the cave system they were. While there was wild magic here, magic they categorized separately for their patrons, but it was not what they were looking for. When they emerged once more, it was night. Unsure of the course they should take, Nen suggested they at least set up camp before they go their separate ways.
In the darkness, the gulf between them shrunk. Nen came to Midna's tent, not surprised they they were awake. They lay together, much like they had when they were children, words unsaid between them. Sleep did not come, and instead careful touches increased between them until they were intertwined. Desperation was poured into their dance, a deep seated desire for the other to understand through their touches. When sleep at last consumed them, they were inseparable once more.
As they slept, there were visitors in their minds. Patrons they called themselves, sponsors to help them find the answers they both desired. Angels that had seen them and saw themselves reflected in them. They offered a choice. Work for them, and they could help save their brother. The two of them had already taken their artifacts, they were tied to the Angels whether they liked it or not. And yet there was something holding both of them back. A certain persistence of being mortal and being young, as well as the everpresent sting of what the Angels had already done to them. So they both declined the offer, but as they woke they were promised this would not be the last time they would talk. An Angel can be patient when it has all of eternity before it.
They did not tell the other of their dream, for they did not truly remember it for what it was. Even as they tried to think of it the details slipped into the deepest parts of their minds, mingling with their deepest thoughts that can not be comprehended by the rational mind. They were both cold, and yet hopeful. They shared more words, but it quickly became clear that they were not on paths the other could follow now. They parted once more, each holding the ember of the night before in their chest.
The paths they were on were too similar to ignore now however. They started to hear whispers and talk of the other, recollections of the other up and coming adventurer. They would sometimes be right behind each other, other times they would take a job because they knew the other would follow their discovery and trail. Midna was more of a fan of the second tactic, looking for excuses to drag Nen to them. And just as many times Nen would follow tips about Midna in the hopes of stumbling into them once more.
It all comes to a head almost ten years after their encounter in the vein of magic. But this time it is not either of their doing, as much as they have tried over the last decade to meet face to face once more. It is a job offered to Nen by an enigmatic client to preform a simple task. A task that results in a major religious artifact going missing and her in custody. A search ensues, and Nen is dragged into the first turning point of the Elven age, the start of the Great Schism. They arrive at the holding place of the artifact to only have it stolen under their very noses as well.
Their search takes them back to Nen's homeland, farther north than she had traveled in quite some time. She remembered this path they were taking, having taken it the opposite way when she first left her family all those years ago. How hard it seemed to finally be on her own, taking on the world with all the skills she had mustered and learned from her parents. Learning to hear the stories of the trail and the whisper of the wind. It felt odd to be traveling the path once more. While she walked she was given dreams once more. She had received visitations from the Angels, but now they were more frequent. This was important, and she was working for them wether she liked it or not already. She could always reconsider their offer.
When she arrived at the destination of the artifact, she could tell what had led her here. Who had led her here. A field that expanded over the horizon, devoid of light. A perfect sphere surrounding where their prize should be. And it radiated the same kind of energy that had trapped her sibling all those years ago. She had spent so long looking for this type of magic, and now it was in front of her. She knew what it was, and the whispers of all her past dreams of Angels told her where she would find the answer.
The spire was not far from where the artifact was. Just like before, it was open once more, although she had a feeling that her employer was more the cause than her. They descended once more into the bowels of the structure to find the place untouched from before. And there was the identical floating bubble, the source of all her pain an anguish from the last decade and a half. She would come back for him, she swore. Deep down she knew that nothing had changed from before, a moment perfectly preserved. No, she was here for something else. A portal of deep colored gems that sat on the other side of the room, its glassy surface smooth enough and polished so cleanly their party could see themselves in it. It belonged to one of them, and they would use it to move behind the world.
All you need to know is know where you want to go.
It was as easy as walking through an open doorway. And then she was standing in darkness, punctuated only a dull glow beneath her. Her companions joined quickly, but Nen had eyes for only one person. They they stood, their long rainbow hair billowing in the updraft of magic around them. The veins of blue across their skin glowed in the dull light as they channeled the might of gods into the monument bellow them. They were surrounded by dwarves, staring in awe as they gripped the Bident of the Sun and plunged it deeper into the creature they stood on and filled it with divine fire.
They looked up and locked eyes with Nen, a manic grin on their face as they released the weapon and stepped back.
Tendrils of magma spread across the creature, its veins filling with the energy of the sun. It shuddered to life as the onlookers stared in wonder, its ancient heart filled with warmth once more. Its three heads uncoiled from its great bulk and stretched into the sky. Its triple tail extended in long, languid motions. Three sets of legs shuddered as they pulled themselves from under the beasts great bulk. The field around them dissipated, and time resumed its steady course around them allowing the cold wind of night to wash over the onlookers as the great war machine tasted life once more.
This was not something that could be easily controlled however. Midna knew this, and yet they did not care. They could only yell in elation as the creature started on its way into the distance, back south along their path. The dwarves begged them to bring it back north, where it belonged, but all Midna had wanted to do was to bring it back to life. They knew that this was not a thing to be controlled.
Those with Nen did not believe this however. They were forced back south, along the path it left in its relentless wake in pursuit of the artifact powering it. Ahead of them was Midna, gleefully carried onward by the very force they had animated. Back across the mountains, back across the desert. And the entire time Nen's patron lost more and more of their sanity, the personality of a god forcing itself onto the mind of mortal. Whatever game Midna was playing needed to end as far as Nen was concerned, and yet she could not help admire them for what they had pulled off. Most of all, she wanted to be able to study the creature and learn from it in order to fulfil her long time objective with the closest thing she had seen of the same kind of magic.
The creature returned to the location of its heart, where Nen had started her journey. Her party had split, and now she cared for an insane vessel and a simple cleric who refused to abandon them. Their elven captor had abandoned them in order to seek greater power and capture the object for themselves, turning against their order to fulfill selfish desires. And in a moment of clarity, brought about her insane ward, she realized where she needed to be. She could see how her denial of everything she actually wanted had led to where she was now, stagnant and with no ability to do what she needed.
On the back of the creature, Midna could feel the doubt gnawing at them. They knew why they had done what they had done, but nothing was going to plan. They had been so caught up in the elation of realizing their deepest dreams that they denied themselves their deepest desires. They had been so intent on blocking off their soul to the influence of everything that had led them here they they lost sight of who they really were.
All you need to know is know where you want to go.
The dance brought them together once more.
They found themselves together once more, perched on the back of the very beast that had seemed to drive them apart since they had finally found each other again. They were both surprised to find the other there, but there was little to say in such a situation where the heart already knows more than the head. And while they now knew that they had much to resolve between them, they also knew deep down that they were on the same side of the fight brewing within a society that was not their own.
When all was done, they had fought a pitched battle with a creature of legend at their back against those who had fallen from grace and had lifted one who was rightful to a place of divinity. Such feats of wonder would be seen as impossible and miraculous by anyone else, but they knew the truth of who they were and the opportunity they had. And in the end, they only cared that they had found one another once more.
It is said that they spent time in the personal realm of the gods after the battle, reconciling over the course of a year. Others claim the flames of their hearts melded together once more in a night of passion, dispelling any lingering doubts they might have held between them. None of these are full accounts, and it is possible that the truth may never be known. But there is a single account, hidden deep within the archives of a hidden library where it is said that they simply traveled once more north, back to their homeland. They took their time and arrived seasons after their ordeal. But they had taken the time to finally let down the barriers of their hearts to the other, and when they arrived at the camp of their combined families they had come to a shared understanding.
They had been spared in their time until now, but there were forces beyond the world that had their eyes on the pair. The dreams started soon after they had reunited with their families, and they were given an invitation. Meet at a place of great power, a monument to the power of the true guardians of their world. If they made their way there some day, they would be given a proposal that had only been offered sparingly in all of history. All they needed to do was make their way there.
They were hesitant at first. They did not trust the Angels, they had seen the things they could do. But there was something that burned deep inside both of them that demanded that they seek it out. There was only one thing getting in the way. They had only just found each other once more, and there was so much of the world they still wished to see. They knew not what kind of offer the Angels extended but they wanted to live before they found themselves under the yoke of such beings.
It was resolved between them that they would only submit to such an offer after they had accomplished what had separated them so long ago. They would free their brother, even if it took their whole lives and a missed chance to walk with gods.
Traveling together was something new for a pair who had spent so long traveling alone. There were small hardships as they acclimated better to time together, but there was still something that strained at their bond. Different worlds held in check with a mutual commitment are hard to maintain. They meandered north, unsure of where to go and which of their many ideas they wished to pursue first. Each wished to appease the other, and each wished to do things their way.
In the end they resolved to do both. After an encounter with a holy order that counseled them on the path to take, they diverged once more. They worked well together, a trust borne of years with souls exposed to the other and tempered with time apart and the fear of loosing the other. But they were still separate people, pulled on different paths by the string of fate. There was something between them this time though, and using magic they had salvaged from their years apart they exchanged items of importance to cement their commitment to come back together once more when they felt their hearts grow lonely. With one last meal together, they went separate ways with the warmth of knowing they would see the other to keep them going.
Their pilgrimages took them to opposite ends of the globe. Nen traveled to the place Midna had been born, a wild place filled with strains of magic that almost acted of its own volition. Perfect to understand a type of magic Nen had only seen twice before. This was a place where gods walked the earth and battled as much as any mortal. A place where the rules of nature seemed to change overnight. A place where Nen could immerse herself in the land and soak up its knowledge. She now sported a new addition to her sword. A braid of multicolored hair wrapped around the hilt in silent reminder.
In comparison, Midna led a pilgrimage across the ocean, far away from where they had grown up to the land of humans and a mythical library said to hold all the knowledge of the world. At the center of the humans expansion across the ocean stood the equinox tower, a place for scholars to join and exchange ideas and leave their wealth of information behind. It was the perfect place to look for clues to an ancient and mysterious group of gods that had not been seen anywhere on the planet before. In their possession now was a long flowing green scarf, made from the wool of a creature from their home and as soft as a cloud. She wrapped the extensive cloth around her and surrounded themself in the craftsmanship of it, a gift as soft as its giver.
Two years pass before Midna feels magic wash over them. Time had passed by in what felt like an instant, but the feeling of such familiar and intimate magic washing over them brought them back to the present quickly. Nen was calling to them through their scarf, calling them from across the world to meet once more. While Midna had learned little in their time, despite the vast trove of knowledge before them, they had enough that they left the next morning without a second glance at the wonder of the tower they had spent two years in.
It takes a full season to arrive at their destination, but when they summit the war torn hills of the northern elven lands and see the great form of the beast they had raised all those years ago they knew they were in the right place. They meet in the shadow of the creature, a highly forbidden practice if they had not personally known the god whose holy grounds they now stood on. Nen was more weathered, but the soft smile on her face when they saw each other once again seemed to make the years fall away. Midna smoothed their hands over the new scars on the others body in the light of their fire while imparting what they had learned from their years of study. Nen listened carefully, her head laying on their lap with her eyes closed before imparting them with a story they had learned while traveling the wilds. They finally fell asleep when the sun was first rising, a signal of a new dance between them.
They stay there for one cycle of the moons, sheltered in the shadow of their greatest victory. They are visited by their friend, the elvish sun god, who provides what insight they can give since their time apart. They conjure notes and fill in tomes worth of information on their findings. They debate about the Angels and what they are and their goals. There are many times they sit in quiet contemplation on what it would mean to accept their invitation, wondering what kind of reward they would receive from such beings. And when they finish, they decide on something they have never done before. They create a plan.
When it comes to unknown magics, they had an edge. Even if they did not leverage it, they were still guided by those that looked over them, those that wished to see how they would overcome the obstacle set before them. They knew of things that had been lost to the common folk, aided with years of research and exposure to the occult and divine alike. They worked together this time, delving into ancient temples and exploring abandoned mines to find the components of a spell to counteract the works of a god. It took them even more years, and they were weathered and beaten when they made their way once more to the flowing plains of their childhood.
The door to the spire was open once again. They had talked to others who had been here, and the story they heard every time was that there was no door, only a featureless spire. It knew them, and they knew it. And now they were here to conquer one of its many mysteries.
The oval of darkness was there, just like the last time they had been here. Nothing else had changed, the contents of the room pristine in their arrangement. They went to work, arranging the many components they had collected diligently over the years. A collection of metals from Midna's homeland that warped the world around them. Pure gems that they had gathered from the deepest mines in the dwarven north. A staff, made from a sacred tree of the elves. A vial of lava from the center of the human kingdom, preserved with sacred bonds. And a battle ax of shimmering metals, fallen from the heavens into the plains and shaped into a regal weapon of war. All of these would deliver them another great victory.
They do not know how much time passes as they prepare, weaving together the intricate magics of the gathered artifacts to deliver the outcome they desire. There is something about the solitude of the room they are working in that starts to play tricks on their minds. Figures moving in the corner of their vision. Objects glowing with energy only to darken once more. Whispers in the silence between their conferences together. The room is as alive as they are, and it adds a weight to the actions they are taking as they work.
When everything is ready, they take a moment to appreciate the gravity of what they are doing. Everything was still for once. And then they took their places. They drew up on all the knowledge they had accumulated since they had first arrived here, and started to let the magic flow into them.
Words have power in the Orcish tradition of magic. Ones body is the greatest tool at ones disposal in Silvali society. They combined their forms of magic and channeled it all into their goal. The room hummed and buzzed as the powers of mortals and gods clashed and mingled in the space. They were fighting against infinity, and slowly they clawed back at the edges of infinity to claim a finite goal. Blood boiled and wind whipped up hair as they pulled back the layers of time itself, causing them to evaporate into the aether around them. Years compressed into sheets were released and sent shockwaves of magic ricocheting around the room. And yet they held their ground and fought against the oncoming tide.
And then time shifted.
It came down like a curtain, soft and billowing as it alighted on the ground. The final folds that had wrapped themselves around a scene from two decades ago were no more, finally joining the river around them in it's journey once more.
The noises of the past caught up the the present, a shout let loose so long ago echoing around the room as their brother fell to the ground, his fall no longer slowed by the person he was trying to save. A hand still rosy lay still on the ground, oozing warm blood.
Confusion is overshadowed by relief and happiness, and they rush to embrace their family once more. Their brother is surprised to find them much older and much more weathered than they had been moments before. Explanations would come later, but the fulfillment of their life's work so far was at hand and all there was to do was celebrate.
The three of them made the return they had meant to make all those years ago. Their families were shocked, surprised, and elated as they made their way into camp. Tears flowed freely at the reuniting of a long lost family member. There would be much to work out, and many questions that needed answers. But when Nen and Midna fell asleep together that night it was the first peaceful sleep they had experience in a long time.
When the dreams arrive, they accept them for the first time with open arms. They offer an intriguing new goal for them to work towards. An invitation is once more extended, a call to a distant land where no mortal has set foot since the ancients had walked the earth. A poisoned place that was also a pinnacle of transformation. They could take their time, but all parties knew that they would make their way there in the end. And when they woke up, they decided on a new plan. One that was filled with less danger than before and yet just as exciting.
When they arrived on the coast of the southern most continent on the planet, they were well and truly ready. They had commandeered a boat and piloted it with magic learned from the humans on their travels. The elements no longer bothered them, equipped with the skins of animals that counteracted the climate around them. They carried provisions from across three continents on their travels. And with all of this they made their way across the snowy wastes of the south to the highest peak in the world.
They knew deep down this was a place of great power. It was filled with the energy of religions that had died on its slopes and with the birth of new gods from their ashes. They were filled with the echoes of a long dead god that had endeavored to touch the stars and had found their light baleful and harsh. This was as much a monument to the Angels power as it was a warning of the same. It was a harrowing final test to be mortal and walk its slopes, and yet they were already beyond the concept of mortality.
At the peak there were gathered the Six. All they had seen in their dreams, some they had seen reflected in the world and even a couple they had met in their travels. They were different here though. Pure expressions of their power, radiating under the aurora above them that danced in the sky. No longer bound by expressions of mortality, they were here to present the possibility of these two mortals joining them.
They explained what they wanted, and what they could give. They saw themselves reflected in these two mortals, each showing traits of the whole and yet tied to this world closer than the Angels ever could be. They wished to offer them their ultimate secret. Immortality, freedom to preserve themselves in the sea of magic that mirrored their world in order to carry out their goals for eternity. It would be as easy as falling asleep they promised. Their price was not heavy in their eyes. They needed agents, harbingers and helpers for their avatars here on this planet. They knew not when their influence may be needed to be felt in these lands, but they needed pawns to carry out their orders when it was. And these two, the pinnacles of all that it meant to be mortal in this dawning age of the planet were the perfect pawns.
In a sense, they were being given the ultimate freedom. They could untether from the limitations of mortality to carry out all their mortal desires. In exchange they were to submit when needed to the Angels, becoming their actors on this stage. They would become part of a greater family if they so choose.
Over the course of a night they deliberate and debate between each other. It is what they both want, but they need to work out the details of what it meant for them separately. They know that eternity is a long time, and in the end they realize that there is only one thing that can make such a daunting task doable. And so when the sun shines on them once more, they have their answer ready.
They would accept the offer put forward, on one condition. They wished to be tied together, their divine essence springing from the same well. They wished to be joined on the deepest level possible, a connection between two souls that still had the freedom to be independent. They would be free from the direct control of the Angels as well, acting as their agents freely and not as slaves or minions. They would be equals in debt to their peers for all of time. And it was with these terms that the Angels agreed to give them immortality.
It was painless really. Having ones mind encoded into the fabric of reality was really as easy as falling asleep. They did not dream, in the gulf between life, death, and eternity. And when they awoke, they could feel it in their beings. It was there, deep down. The font of their powers, similar and yet distinct where they were joined in their souls. For the first time, but not the last, they felt the peace of having their greatest friend there with them always. They rejoiced in this knowledge, exuberant in their newfound bond before they turned their attention to their new peers, ready to learn the ways of their world.
Time no longer was an enemy. Instead it was an old friend, winding along their path with them like a pet or trusted companion. They walked together too, and when their paths diverged like before they knew that they were truly not that far away. How can you be alone when you share a soul with your greatest love? They delved into their aspects, relishing in the lost years they had used leveraging them to overcome the obstacles of their family.
And they were able to fully enjoy their time together. They were never truly apart, but there was still something special about meeting up in a solid form to waste the nights away like they did when they were mortal. They would build houses in secret grottos across the lands and take decades off from their adventures to enjoy to other compony, or spirit away to the edge of an ocean to watch the sun rise above the frothy wave while they held hands and delight in the momentary fleetingness of it all. They had all the time in the world, and they took liberal advantage of it.
Their stories became a strand that wove through the collective imagination of the world, even if no one could pick it out in the grand tapestry. They became a link between the aloof Angels and mortals across the world. Agents between an incomprehensible ancient race and the fledgling races of Ishtar. And over time they would even adventure to other worlds, as mortals made the leap themselves. They were there the whole time, pushing the boundaries of what it meant to be mortal from Ishtar without the burdens of mortality. They were free.
And they were free together. Forever.