• It was time.

    The Sentinel stepped out into the no-man's-land between the two camps. The Overseer did the same. They walked toward each other, the older resolute, the stronger energized. The Gaians on each side watched from afar with bated breath as their leaders squared off, the power they had worked for weeks to restore rushing through their bodies.

    Almost at once, they raised their weapons. What happened next was too fast for anyone to follow as they furiously attacked and defended repeatedly at lightning speed, both magically and physically. They were both immensely powerful, more so than they had ever been. They continued their duel, neither gaining the upper hand, much to everyone's chagrin. But nobody was more determined for a clear-cut winner than the two demigods themselves.

    Hours later, a victor was still unclear. While the Overseer was tiring and his attacks were losing force, the Sentinel was growing frustrated and her offense was losing accuracy. They stood at a deadlock, staring each other down. Neither wanted to give up, but neither had it in them to continue.

    "This is all your fault," hissed the Sentinel. "If it weren't for you locking me in that accursed prison to be tormented for a thousand years, we would not be having this problem."

    The Overseer shook his head. "I? I was not the one to seal you away. You cast your spell in aggression, and so you have nobody to blame but yourself."

    "Aggression?!" she screamed at him. "I try to give that stupid worm the ability to defend itself from being eaten, and this is what I get?! Well, fine! The damn thing deserves whatever it got!" She huffed. "Probably went extinct a long time ago. No thanks to you."

    The Overseer sighed. "Sentinel...retracing the same disagreement will do us no good. The true problem lies deeper than a simple creature. Your philosophy was flawed."

    "Oh?" she retorted. "You didn't think it was flawed when we used to travel together. When we agreed to make the world better...you never had a problem with my methods any other time. You never thought I was flawed! So don't you dare try and...and retcon our partnership, Overseer!"

    "Sentinel, this has nothing to do with the dynamic between ourselves. We worked well together once, but you chose to oppose me."

    "I oppose you because you locked me in a box to be tortured for centuries, you imbecile! You, you just sat around in that shell all millennium, sat around defining the phrase 'happy as a clam'! You know nothing, nothing, of the horrors I endured in my captivity, and you have no right to calmly lecture me on my aggression!"

    "As I said before, I did not--" Suddenly, he broke off, staring at the ground in amazement. The Sentinel followed his gaze, and her jaw dropped. On the ground, peacefully oblivious to the fury above it...was an earthworm, nearly identical to the one they had fought over that fateful day.

    "It didn't need us," whispered the Overseer, more to himself than to his former companion. "It rejected our spells...and survived without our interference. It didn't need us at all."

    The Sentinel dropped to her knees, staring at the worm wide-eyed. As she watched the small creature inch along the ground, her mind spun. This...this was what had started the whole fight? This was what had driven the two from friends to enemies? How could something so...so insignificant have caused so much damage between them? How could it have split Gaia itself into two desperately warring factions?

    Was it true that they had done all this to themselves?

    "Sentinel?" Her head snapped up, and she realized she was shaking. The Overseer, still standing, looked at her with an unreadable expression.

    "I..." She put her head back down, clutching at her hair. Her breathing came in shallow gasps. "I never wanted to be enemies...how did something so small...turn into this?" She gritted her teeth, trying and failing to fight the hailstorm of emotions she hadn't felt in centuries. "How did we let ourselves come to this?"

    "We were both at fault," he said, with more than a hint of sadness. "I was too proud. I thought myself more rational, more logical, and that my solution was best solely because it was pacific."

    "You are more rational," she choked out. "You tend to deliberate. I prefer to act." The Overseer knelt down beside her, and they both stared down at the worm. "It didn't need either of us. But I think..." Her words caught in her throat, and she stopped.

    "We need each other," finished the Overseer, almost inaudibly.

    They stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity. Then, slowly, simultaneously, they turned and embraced. As tears streamed down the Sentinel's face for the first time in millennia, the people of Gaia disappeared from around her until they seemed to be the only two beings around for miles. As her followers looked on, as his army watched, their lips finally met.

    They were whole.