"I have a [i]responsibility[/i], Euphie!" the words are ripped from her soul by a magic more terrible than she has ever encountered before. "It doesn't matter what I want! Someone needs to watch the dark, someone needs to ward the liminal gates with spear and bronze, and it has to be me! This world is so unready, so precious, so vulnerable, you have no idea the heartbreak - you don't know what it's [i]like[/i] out there. In just two hundred years another like me has already found this place, shattered Illumina, attacked [i]you[/i], brought this world to its [i]knees[/i]. I can't! I can't stop! If I stop -!"

All the iron is bent, rusted, eroded with water. "But I did! I let it happen despite everything I sacrificed! I couldn't mobilize my army, couldn't march out to face the threat, couldn't [i]abandon[/i] you. I have a responsibility, Eupheria! And I've failed it because of [i]you[/i]! The world is on the brink of defeat and all I care about is that you're safe. I can't..."

Trust no one. That includes herself. The bronze is thick with verdigris, her shining soul dimmed and dark and sea-sky green. She could never be a part of this world and it got to her anyway. What a terrible place that corrupted even its guardian spear.