The plume of destruction was narrow and tall. Had there been clouds, it might have touched the clouds. Crimson dust and chunks of ground.

It took forty seconds to a minute before the shards began raining down around them.

“Fuck me,” Marcial said. “The—”

The other detonations occurred further away. At points on the distant horizon. The initial blast to their ‘west’, two more to the east now.

Cracks spread along the already shattered landscape.

“I didn’t really think of how fucking hellish it would be to be inside this thing as they cracked it open!” Marcial finished. “I thought we’d be clear of it!”

“We are,” Rain said.

“Hey,” Hanson said, pointing.

The images on the crystal were frozen. Every facet of the crystal had a different image, and each image was presently a flickering, snarling face.

Rain hurried between pillars, checking, searching. Everything was locked into place.

“This is our distraction?” Cox asked.

The prior detonations were dwarfed by what came next. The plumes of dust and debris had been like the eruption of a volcano, before. At the first site of detonation, there was a second explosion that shattered three-fifths of that particular island. For a moment, the cloud of dust was tinted gold from a light from within.

“I know I’m fucking distracted!” Marcial said, clearly nervous.

The entire landscape tilted. It was a question of two or three degrees, but that was enough to send a carpet of tiny shards sliding down some slopes.

“I need the people with powers they’re familiar with to focus on those powers,” Rain said.

“I see what you’re doing,” Colt said. She put a hand against one of the pillars. Rain picked up her hand and moved it to another face of the same crystal. “I think so, anyway.”

Off to the side, Love Lost closed her eyes.

The landscape had already been a plain of red crystal, segmented into islands by cracks that ran impossibly deep. Now sections sloughed off and dropped away into the abyss. Islands subdivided. Lights danced everywhere, like lightning crackling along the surface and finding nowhere to go.

Distant figures were highlighted. Some evidenced cracks. Others toppled. Giants hidden in the darkness.

Gilpatrick jumped as a flash of light emitted from where they were, back in the direction they’d come.

“There,” Rain said.

The light continued to travel its route, having to reroute, dodging around.

That particular island, which Gilpatrick could view as the peak of a mountain with a chunk of crystal atop it, saw segments break away, leaning away from the center mass.

“That’s a thing we can do,” Rain said, watching. “I’m not sure if it’s a good thing, but… it feels right.”

Love Lost reached over, grabbing him by the upper arm.

“What did you do?” Marcial asked.

“I disconnected you guys.”

“You took these powers we never got to use?” Gilpatrick asked.

“I don’t think I could do that,” Rain said. He looked at Love Lost. “But I don’t think you’ll be sucked into the dream every night. I wanted to spare you that, at least.”