8. Sizzlefish

Feria found Eeris first, who still refused to leave her Withered Willows area. The Bacteria Barricade had grown so tall and thick that only she, with her long neck, could still place more bacteria on top. She had not taken any Marker Stones.

“Probably Darus,” she said. “He said something about going underground. He thought he’d be able to bypass the wall that way—we hadn’t tried it before.”

Silly Darus. Foolish Darus.

They soon found pawprints in the sand and traced it to a large hole in the floor, not far from where Bella was. When Feria tried to enter, dirt flew in her face. Otherwise, the tunnel was already impressively deep and completely dark.

“Darus?”

“Yes, my favorite foxie?” said his cheerful voice.

“Are you okay? Do you have—”

“Yes, yes, just a bit tired. It’s fine. I know stone. I was born in it, molded by it. I can handle the Marker Stones.”

“I don’t know if—”

Darus’ tail moved faster than it ever had, cutting out large chunks of dirt. The wolf was out of her sight, even deeper into his tunnel, before she could ask more questions. She was hesitant to follow; she didn’t have Darus’ powers and would be blinded and in danger.

Darus achieved something. Bella’s cries for help were suddenly audible. The tunnel acted like an amplifier for it.

“Bella! We’re coming. We … we … we might have a way …”

Might. Maybe. Perhaps. She couldn’t bring herself to lie to Bella, nor tell her the truth about their miserable situation. She couldn’t forcefully tell Darus to stop his dangerous operation, but also wouldn’t pick a side and jump in.

Always the middle-woman between her siblings running to different extremes.

Then Bella cut out again.

“Keep going, Darus! Don’t stop!”

Cosmo helped Eeris reach the tallest points of the bacteria barricade. They’d achieved so much. It cast a shadow so tall it even darkened the Throne of Tomorrow far away from here. While working on that wall, night felt permanent. They’d used all the bacteria that lived and connected them with their busy Mitos counterparts.

Their wall buzzed with excitement. The Enyrgias streamed from it at all times, as bacteria shifted, converted sunlight into a tiny bit of energy, or replicated themselves.

Yes, the regular bacteria didn’t create energy, they converted it too. When Feria focused on the sunlight, she could see tiny Enyrgias traveling in its rays. As if the straight sunrays were a track through the solar system and the Enyrgias were forced to move along it.

But it was not enough. The invisible wall held firm. With every movement, bacteria broke again, and the Mitos lost their oxygen supply.

“We must collect all the Marker Stones and those boulders,” said Feria. “We must hedge our bets.”

Lacking Ardex and Bella, she wasn’t actually the eldest godchild. Darus, Eeris, and Cosmo outranked her. The way she assumed command, though, was as natural as can be.

Gulvi and her traveled as fast as they could. Boulders were rolled towards the foot of the Impossible Wall. The Stone Markers were thrown into the many rivers—neither of them wanted to touch them ever again—and fished from them just in time.

She tentatively placed a Marker Stone against their bacteria barricade.

Instead of giving more energy, however, it violently sucked it away again. The number of Enyrgias actually shrunk, and rapidly so.

“Must be it,” said Feria. “If you already have energy, it will take it from you. It only gives it away if you lack any. Powerful magic; dreadful magic.”

“We must roll a boulder uphill again,” said Gulvi. He eyed the waterfalls that Darus had carved into his Impossible Wall; the only way for a dolphin to get up. “Maybe this time we’ll get to the top and we can unlock our cage with the boulder as the key.”

“It’s a far stretch. That lock-key idea is just a theory. You laughed the first time I explained.”

Gulvi had found a tiny spot through which Bella was still visible. Her body had vanished, turned into smoke and ghostly tendrils. Her face was all that remained, and it looked pained.

“Energy is also just a theory!” cried Gulvi. “We need any solution we can get!”

And then Ardex returned.

He was furious. Every step shot fires from the earth. His bright red eyes almost spit fire themselves, and his tusks scraped the stones as he walked past.

He roared, and roared, and burned everything around him until only ash blew in the wind.

Ardex would never change, would he? Feria yelled at him to stop, but he didn’t listen. His fire had already burned a slight hole in their barricade.

“This won’t help! Stop getting in the way!” yelled Feria.

“I am helping! I am not in the way!”

“It’s—”

“We are gods. We should be able to create more energy!”

“We are gods, yes, we’re supposed to understand the universe’s limits.”

Ardex’ anger spilled over into her. This was all his fault! A hole he created, because he’d destroyed something to breathe fire, is what made Bella stuck on the other side. He always did this! He always just did stupid things and thought being a god meant being selfish! He always—

As Feria wanted to scream at him, she noticed her Marker Stone had recharged.

And she felt hollow. As if a black hole was growing inside her, suffocating her heart. Her anger had sucked the energy from herself and given it to the stone.

She realized what Ardex was doing.

“No! Stop!” she shrieked. “You’re destroying yourself!”

“I know what I’m doing. I am not as dumb as you all think!”

“We don’t think you’re—it doesn’t matter. Stop it!”

“See? Bless you, Feria,” he said the kindest words in the most aggressive of ways. “Even now you can’t lie to me!”

He crafted his most threatening fire yet. And in the distance, the Throne of Tomorrow groaned and crumbled. He’d drawn the energy precisely from that location, and one of its towers sunk into the earth.

He kept piling on the anger. The Marker Stones recharged happily. Even the boulders, which hadn’t really cared before, buzzed with energy and rolled away of their own accord. They shone their own light now, and almost looked like the first birds taking to the sky.

Ardus groaned and shriveled. He fell on his side, too weak to stand, but kept his anger. He was well-trained; he could stay angry for days. He cried in pain and couldn’t move his legs anymore, but still he aimed his fury at the bacteria barricade.

It shimmered, and danced, and moved, and even seemed to fly, as he was able to set the invisible wall ablaze without coughing a single flame in its direction.

The bacteria turned translucent in their power. They saw Bella fully now; writhing on the floor just like Ardex. The two eldest gods about to wither away like they were never there, all because of stupid Father and their stupid banishment and their—

“NO! No! Ardex! Please!”

Feria jumped on top of him and tried to push him out of his daze. Tears welled on her cheeks and fell heavily on Ardex’ snout.

Just a single teardrop was enough to shake Ardex out of it. It sizzled on his fur, as if boiling in a pan. His eyes met Feria’s and saw his younger sister crying for him as if she died herself.

All the anger was gone. All the conviction that this was the right thing, and his family would thank him for the sacrifice and move on, was instantly gone.

Feria sniffed and gave Ardex a kiss. “Are we really willing to die for each other, but not willing to live for each other?”

Silence.

“But what then?” croaked Ardex. “I can’t let Bella die. And whatever we try, the wall bends, but never breaks.”

Gulvi, Cosmo, they all confirmed it. Even Eeris had left her throne when she heard the bone-chilling plea of her Green Sister.

They all returned to say that, despite massive energy from the recharged Enyrgias, the current still pushed them back and godly birds still fell back to earth. Despite two types of bacteria working together, keeping each other energetic with their oxygen handshake, a miraculous new development for Somnia—it wasn’t enough to push through.

Ardex remembered Mother’s tales about Sizzlefish, a cursed being performing a useless task they could never complete. He knew what was happening. Father had designed his cage to make it seem as if you could get close. To make it feel like you were almost able to escape.

But in the end, you never did.

He was right all along. Father had banished them to Hell—so he’d show him Fire in a way he didn’t expect. His children, his family, actually working together and overcoming his punishment.