The being stood on top of a rocky outcropping, staring over the chasm. Sort of staring, as it was a complete void in its senses, and couldn't really be looked at so much as perceived through the 'absence' it caused.

  What it could actually see, and very clearly, was the true epicenter, and the 'rift' it held, according to the little light.

  This was it. No more wandering around. No more deflections. Because there wouldn't be time even if it had wanted to.

  The world had grown tremendously unstable, and they'd only avoided the consequences until now because they were the farthest possible from here. But walking closer, the ground had kept splitting under their feet, the air shaking almost every moment.

  And now, if not for being's enormous conscious efforts in stabilizing at least the surrounding area, they probably would have trouble even standing on their feet, let alone building whatever crazy contraption the little light was trying this time. Alas, its friend's attempts were conflicting badly with the being's.

  A harsh and unyielding grip yanked the being's safety cage, its hold over the thing within contested, and the one over the surrounding currents disturbed.

  Ultimately the being always won, but not without consequence: far from diffusing throughout itself, as it ultimately should, the thing inside was drawn further and further to the surface, so close that it couldn't be long before it broke skin.

  Yet no matter its efforts in containing the after-effects of the little light's shenanigans, they didn't seem to be making any actual progress, and he kept getting more and more frustrated.

  Yet another outburst, and the orb lost control over the tendrils it had drawn from the being's flesh. Whatever he'd been trying to make deformed, badly out of shape.

  Worried, the being started to-

  A shove made it stumble away and fall onto the rough gravel. At least its trajectory had avoided any pointy rocks, but if that was intentional or happenstance...

  Message received.

  As it stood back up, pulling the sharper pebbles out of its skin, and walked away, the being seriously wondered, not for the first time, if it should try to run away.

  Sure, it was not alone anymore. But the little light had stopped any kindness since they'd left its new friend. He was only harsh and demanding now.

  Still, another part of its mind fought back: though maybe not recently, the orb had been good to it, on average. He'd provided companionship and dished out many gifts.

  So why fight? Was it worth it to reject its only companion over some little differences? Was it worth it to choose the hard way, when there was a perfectly good one at hand? The important thing was that it reached the destination.

  Right?

  Still, this pacifying part of its mind wasn't as convincing as before, and its feet were unconsciously carrying it farther and father-

  A violent tug yanked its body back violently, not so different from how the owl would have grabbed it. The being was initially panicked by the association, but the owl was no more, and its instinct caught up in time to land gracefully and roll with the motion, turning to face what creature still had the gall to stand against it, even after it had gained control over the currents!

  ... but there was nothing.

  And soon enough, with the landslide of negativity pouring through their connection and its control over the cage and the currents slipping even more, the being couldn't deny the truth anymore.

  It had been the orb.

  He didn't really feel like a companion anymore. Let alone a friend.

  However, neither had he truly betrayed the being. It was not the bison, yet.

  And unless it decided to bet everything on its control over the currents - or on its luck, by jumping over the floating masses, now that its sight was a bit better - the orb was the only guaranteed way through the chasm, which the being absolutely needed to reach.

  That strange protrusion that had lowered and then extended onto the void was undoubtedly the little light's doing.

  Already, the vast majority of those creatures that made it this far were crowding on top of it... to still fall to their deaths when it ended. But if it could grow more, it would make the difference!

  To think it had ever doubted that the orb could deliver on-

  The being felt it coming.

  The same way one could look at an enormous boulder close to the edge, see the rocks below crumble, and understand what was about to happen.

  It tried to hold back, grasping for the currents to stabilize at least the area immediately around their castle... but it was much stronger than usual. And when it tried to draw more deeply from its strength, the little light fought back.

  And, soon enough, it couldn't hold anymore.

  In a failure that the being hadn't experienced since that first time after climbing out of the ravine as the frog, it didn't even process the humming happening. It just suddenly found itself on the ground.

  It was a testament to its progress that as soon as the initial daze diminished, it could manage to slowly pick itself up.

  Even the orb had fallen this time. And there was no need to even look at his contraption to know it must have failed, resetting their progress to nothing. But that was least of their problems. Though the being could now think, somewhat, the humming wasn't over by any means. And it probably wouldn't ever be. Not until it happened. And they absolutely needed to be beyond the chasm before that.

  Which was obviously not happening. Not unless the being acted immediately.

  And so act it would.

  Uncaring of the little light's protests and thoughts, it spread out its will to the currents, commanding them to stabilize the area, and grabbed the caged thing tighter, trying to push it down.

  Yet, while it struggled to save both their hides, the little light only fought back harder, showing once again that it couldn't be depended on.

  It didn't care about the being's feelings and thoughts. It didn't care about anything important. Only this caged thing inside, apparently, and the being was tempted, more serious than ever, to indulge him. But it regretted the emotion immediately.

  How could it even consider letting the orb erase himself for such a little inconvenience? After all they'd been through together!

  No, there was no need: its control was still greater, when push came to shove.

  It skillfully shifted power between the two of them: enough to the little light to appease him, enough to itself to start calming down the world.

  Slowly, the humming diminished, the shaking receded...

  And then the being saw a terrifyingly familiar figure looming nearby, and its control slipped badly. Which immediately caused it to lose ground, allowing the little light to foolishly surge forward

  While it was stuck fighting for enough command over itself to avoid the end of them all, the dark one was approaching slowly.

  The being argued and poured all its panic and frustration through the connection with the orb: they were both in terrible danger. As a matter of fact, all three of them were.

  This was not the time to fight!

  But while it knew that the little light would eventually understand their predicament, it couldn't determine the dark one's reasons in any way. Though that calm, menacing, familiar approach was indicative enough.

  The being felt better and stronger than ever, far along in more than one path to strength. But it wasn't ready. It hadn't yet crossed, in any of them, that fundamental threshold that could allow it to triumph in a fair fight.

  But what if it did not fight directly?

  Judging by the deep, painful abrasions on its skin, the dark one hadn't crossed through the ball's terrible pressure unscathed.

  Even now, it wasn't immune to the humming, and the essence unleashed by the being's and the orb's clash was visibly corroding its body, digging deep enough to allow for a clearer look on it than ever.

  So what would happen if an entire current fell onto it?

  Now, if only the little light would relent and

  understand what was happening.

  Luckily, the orb seemed to have caught that last, loud plea.

  He darted closer as the being's thoughts rushed to how it could command a current to emerge from the dome above and move exactly where it wanted and nowhere else.

  Ideally, despite its previous belligerent thought, it could avoid engulfing the dark one directly, and only scare it away. Because, despite everything, the being still felt mostly respect and gratitude for the creature.

  Such a precise command while holding back the humming and avoiding breaking the safety cage would be extremely hard.

  But now that the little light had seen the situation they were in, it would allow the being to wrest enough control for-

  Yet absurdly, ridiculously, fully aware of the terrible situation they were in, the little light fought back.

  Worse, he started to reach for more than the safety cage: tendrils of flesh burst out of the being's body, slashing every which way.

  There was no point to them, as they were far to thin and weak to do anything. No strategy. Just pointless, frustrating flailing that accomplished nothing but to create even more chaos in their already messy situation.

  The being was really tempted to do away with the cage now, and let go.

  ... but then the little light would surely die.

  But he was behaving like a simple critter, and at the edge of betrayal.

  But he'd been a friend for so long, and done so much for its benefit...

  But he'd become so cruel and harsh lately, and it felt like that was only going to get worse...

  But the being couldn't just turn its back on-

  Something shoved the being forward, and tripped it. Honestly not that surprised by the betrayal, it rolled with the fall and-

  The dark one pushed it back onto the ground and held it down with a leg. The being found itself with one arm caught against the rocks and the other seized firmly by an unyielding grip.

  Without time to struggle, or to even feel bad, the being just stared up, waiting for a deathly strike against its neck...

  But felt only a delicate touch on its chest.

  And then something absurd happened.

  With strength far beyond the little light, so far beyond that it wasn't even a contest, the safety cage was pulled... and disappeared.

  Its contents gone with it.

  Emptied, the being collapsed onto the ground, motionless.

  The orb burst forward in a mad, nonsensical anger, while the dark one distractedly raised a hand toward him.

  One lazy, uncaring slap and the little light disappeared into thin air.

  He was no more.