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For a moment, there was only our ragged breathing and the warm trickle of blood down my temple.
Eshlyn's staff flared so bright I had to squint as the tomb steps came into focus. Stone walls slick with moisture, spiraling down into darkness.
"Everyone good?" I tried to stay upright, but the world tilted sideways.
Val caught my arm. "Easy. You hit your head pretty hard when I…" He grimaced with guilt. "When I shoved you through."
"Better than leaving me for Dagenbord," I muttered, though my skull throbbed like a drum.
Lyssa knelt beside me, hands glowing faint orange before shifting green. "You’ve got a concussion... I can repair the worst of it, but you need to take it slow."
"Great," I breathed, leaning back against the wall. The stone was cold enough to cut through the pain for a second. "Just what I needed."
Eshlyn pulled the numbing tincture from my satchel. "I don’t know why you put this off, but you're in no condition to refuse. It's time to take it."
I eyed it a moment as Lyssa continued patching me up. I was saving it for Dent.
"Here," Val said, catching my hesitation before pulling out his own vial. "Bottoms up."
I exhaled sharp and took it despite myself, hands shaking slightly, and drank. The bitter-sweet taste spread across my tongue, then warmth followed, dulling the edges of the pain, smoothing out the worst of the nausea with Lyssa’s help. Not gone, but I almost felt... normal again.
"Powerful stuff." I wiped blood from my face with the back of my hand before they helped me to my feet.
Val steadied me with a hand on my shoulder. "Sure, you're okay?"
"Yeah," I said optimistically. "Let’s find our friend."
Eshlyn's light swept down the staircase, carving shadows from darkness. The walls still pulsing with those faint, fleshy veins.
And somewhere below, Dent was waiting.
…
The staircase seemed endless in the lantern light. My ribs still ached with every breath, and my skull had that hollow, fragile feeling that came with getting your head knocked into stone, but Lyssa's healing and Selene's tincture had done their work. I wasn't good, but I was functional. And functional would have to do.
The first chamber opened before us like a cathedral built for something that had forgotten how to pray. No Durnan or sentinels in sight. It was empty, like I hoped, but different this time.
The black tendrils that webbed the walls pulsed with a faint, sickly glow, pale green edging into midnight blue like bioluminescent rot under a lampshade. They pulsed slower now, sluggish and thick. The light they gave off made everything worse. Shadows didn't sit right. The air tasted heavy and metallic. It felt more active than ever before, more than even a few hours ago. The sight of it settled deep in my gut, gross and un-nerving.
"Gods," Lyssa whispered, her lantern catching on the glowing veins. "What the fuck is happening?"
"It's transforming," Eshlyn said quietly, fingers flexing on her staff. "More organic than it was."
“It looks almost…” Lyssa whispered, jaw tense. “Alive.”
Val and I shared a look. "Let’s keep moving," I muttered, sweeping my gaze across the empty chamber. Not a sound except the wet, rhythmic pulse of the walls. "We need to get to the slide."
Val stayed close to my shoulder, eyes scanning. "They’ve got to be past the lower corridor."
I nodded. "It’s the only place we haven’t explored.”
“Perhaps Durnan, or whatever's waiting, won’t be expecting us back so soon.” Eshlyn followed up. “First time we’ve ventured in the dead of night, that is.”
I met everyone's gaze a moment before nocking an arrow. “One can only hope.”
We crossed the first chamber quickly, boots echoing against stone slick with moisture. The corridor beyond curved with that same unnatural bend, plasmic and deliberate.
The second chamber was just as empty. No corpses. No husks. No scattered weapons or shattered bone. Just the glow, the pulse, and the oppressive weight that felt like something was watching us from a place we couldn't see. I constantly scanned for ambushes and traps, but there was no time to case the place properly.
We moved faster through the third chamber, alcoves branching off into darkness on either side. We didn't bother checking them. We'd been through this before. Every path ended in stone and silence, all but one.
The slide.
We found it in the middle alcove, same place as before. A rope descended into the slick tunnel, yawning downward into blackness, steep and treacherous, coated in that same slimy sheen. Only now an eerie glow followed it down, faint streaks of luminescent green tracing the edges like veins lit from within.
“Damn.” Val stopped at the lip, peering into the dark. "I wish there was another way down."
I stared into the tunnel, feeling the pit in my stomach pull me towards it like gravity. "Not fond of the slide, hmm, Val?" I tried for humor, but it didn’t land.
"Nothing but abysmal memories in that chamber," Eshlyn said, taking a deep breath as if to steady herself. "You nearly died after all."
“We all did.” Lyssa took a step, peering down next to us. "And…" She trailed off. We all knew what she meant. “...You know.”
Val met my eyes. “I remember carrying you out like it was yesterday…” Then took a step back, contemplative. “...Me, Bram and Dent put y'all on our backs, limping for the surface… Tovin and Nico were barely able to stand.”
A silence stretched before I broke it. "Dent’s down there," I muttered, voice flat. "He’s gotta be."
“No other way,” Lyssa muttered, as if speaking for the room.
We all let out a slow breath. "Alright then.” Val motioned, “Let's take a minute. Catch our breath before we go down."
"Good idea," Eshlyn said, already lowering herself to sit against the wall, staff across her knees. "Once we're down there, we may not get another chance to rest."
Lyssa dropped her pack with a soft thud, rolling her shoulders. "How long do you think we have till sunrise?"
"A couple of hours maybe," I muttered, checking the tunnel one more time. "It’s enough… If we're fast."
"And if we're not?" Lyssa asked, though we all knew the answer.
Val tilted his head. "Let’s just make sure we are."
Silence settled over the alcove, broken only by the faint heartbeat of the walls and the slow drip of moisture somewhere deeper in the dark.
“Right,” I said before moving away from the group. “I need a second.”
“Don’t stray too far, please,” Eshlyn called out after me.
“Yeah, yeah,” I called back, a bit sharper than I meant to be.
For whatever reason, I felt like I had to be alone to think clearly, so I took a seat in a small alcove just far enough for relative privacy, then set my pack down and pulled out the null-aether knife from my bag. Unfurling it from the cloth sent a shiver of dread through me. I almost wished I’d thrown it away when I had the chance, but I knew how much it meant to him. Remembered how hard he fought me on it. It was his freedom to choose. To be himself in the end. Everything he was willing to die for wrapped up in a knife too far out of his reach.
It won’t come to that. I thought… We’ll find something. I had to believe it. We’ll get him out. Make him healthy again. Put all of this behind us. So I put it down.
The scroll came next, coiled around the soulstone. What he called a prison. I knew what it meant. Stolen agency. His freedom stripped. Something he’d never want for himself and that I understood. I knew it wasn’t hope. Not really. It was a parasite in its own form. A fate he’d never accept. I thought about what Val and Eshlyn said. How they wanted to destroy it… I need to honor his decision. Whatever that might be.
A shallow breath escaped as I took the lid off my lantern, watching as the small flame poured upward into smoke. Just burn it. I repeated to myself, inching the scroll toward the flame. Let it go. My hand stilled an inch from the fire. Just get rid of it… Please.
I stared until my posture broke, head resting between my knees, scroll tight in my grasp.
“Rem?” A voice echoed from a few paces out.
“Uhh.” Shit.
I stowed them both frantically before Val sat down beside me, resting back on his shield. "Hey."
“What do you want?” I tried to steady my voice, but it came out sharp. “...I mean…” My head shook. “What's up?”
He passed me a canteen. "How ya holding up?"
I sighed something honest before taking a swig. I wanted to answer, but the words never came.
He nodded once, then took a long drink himself, staring into the eerie darkness. "I keep thinking about what we might be walking into."
I waited, not sure where he was going with this.
"We don't know what we'll find down there," he continued quietly. "Or how much him is still…” He cut himself off, jaw tight.
"He's still in there," I said. "He's fighting it."
"I know." He turned to face me, eyes worried. "But Rem…” He shook his head. “I just need you to hear me out for a second. Can you do that?"
The careful way he said it made my stomach drop. "...Alright… "
He sucked in a steadying breath, then. "I need you to consider that this might not end the way we want. That we might be walking into a goodbye, not a rescue.” His voice was gentle but firm, “and if that's the case… Then that may be the best thing for him, and I just… I need to know you’re ready for that.”
The words hit like a punch to the sternum.
"He's not beyond saving," I was on my feet before I could stop myself. “What the fuck are you talking about?"
"It’s not that." He stood too. "I know you, Rem. You're beat to shit, still hoping there's a cure. That we'll save him, and everything will be fine, even if the odds are impossible, but...” He struggled for the words.
"So what?" I shot back. "We give up? Write him off?"
"That's not what I'm saying..."
"Then what are you saying?" My voice cracked. "That I should stop hoping? That I should accept he's already gone?"
"I'm saying we need to be prepared." His hands raised like he was trying to calm a spooked horse. "We’re down here because we believe in him… We'll fight until there's nothing left, all of us… but look around... “ My throat tightened at the green glow of writhing tendrils that pulsed in the distance. “...sometimes the real war is knowing when to let go."
Anger began suffocating the hurt burning in my chest. Crashing hard against the part of me that knew he was right but would never accept it. “Don't you say that shit to me.” I stepped closer, voice sharp as a blade. “Don’t act like this is hopeless.”
“It’s not hopeless, but Rem…” Val's expression hardened. "We need to be realistic… "
"Realistic?" I laughed, bitter and sharp. "Just because you don't give a fuck doesn't mean I have to stop caring, too."
The words hung in the air like a slap. Val's face went still with the kind of hurt that cut deeper than rage. His voice was quiet now, dangerous in its restraint. "You think I'm down here, breaking the law, risking my life, because I don't care?"
“That's not…” I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. That’s not what I meant. I tried to say, but the anger was still there, hot and jagged. Laced with the kind of grief I didn't want to look at. I knew I didn’t mean it, but letting go of the rage meant I’d have to face the truth. That this whole thing may be nothing but a hard fought farewell.
"I'm just trying to protect you," he said, voice tight. "Because if we find him... when we find him, and he's too far gone, someone is going to have to make the call, and I don't want it to destroy you."
"Maybe it should," I said, breath shuddering. "Maybe that's what it means to actually give a shit about someone instead of just… "
"Instead of what?" Val stepped closer, eyes blazing. "Instead of preparing for the worst, so I don't completely fall apart when it happens? Instead of trying to keep my head on straight so I can actually help instead of making everything worse?"
My chest heaved, fists clenched. “Dammit, Val…” The words crawled out of me. “I can't let him go.”
He wrapped me tight against his chest. “I know…” He whispered. “…that’s why… ” He didn’t finish, just curled his arms tight as I pressed into him harder.
Footsteps approached from my left, Eshlyn and Lyssa. They pressed into my back without a word, arms wrapping around both of us.
"I'm sorry," I said, voice muffled. "I know this is hard on all of us."
"It's okay, Remy. It's okay to have hope," Lyssa said softly.
"Whatever happens," Eshlyn added, head resting against my back, "...we're here. We'll get through this."
A long beat of silence stretched between us. Then something small and furry rubbed against my shin. I looked down, heart stopping before I saw what it was. "NYLA??" I let my arms go for a moment. "How the hell did you get here?!"
She chirped, completely unbothered, and before I could stop her, she was already climbing, claws digging into my leather pants, scampering up my side until she reached my shoulder, settling there like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Are you kidding me?" Val stared, then chuckled in disbelief. "How the hell did she follow us?"
"Sneaky rascal," I muttered, but I couldn't help the small smile tugging at my mouth. Nyla nuzzled against my neck, warm and present.
Eshlyn shook her head, lips twitching. "Gods help us. She’s just as reckless as you are."
"At least she’s committed," Lyssa said, reaching out to scratch under Nyla's chin. The little furrball leaned into it, purring unapologetically.
I wasn’t happy she was endangering herself like this, but if she was sneaky enough to get here, I guess she could weather the storm of whatever awaits us.
For just a moment, standing there in the dark with my ridiculous stowaway cat and the people who'd run through hell by my side, I felt something close to okay. Then the tomb pulsed around us, the green glow brightening for just a heartbeat, and reality came crashing back.
"Right," I said, voice steadying. "We should get going."
They each nodded, breaking apart slowly. Nyla remained perched on my shoulder as we gathered our gear in silence. Then Val grabbed the rope, testing its weight one last time. "Everyone ready?"
…
Val went first.
He dropped into the tunnel without a word. The sound of his descent, boots scraping slick stone, the whisper of armor against wet rock, faded into darkness.
Then silence. I counted to five. No shout. No scream. Just the faint throb of the tomb around us.
"Clear," his voice echoed up from below, hollow and distant.
Eshlyn went next, staff strapped to her hip, descending with a practiced calm. Then Lyssa, who hesitated at the edge before committing. I took one last look at the alcove we'd been sitting in, the faint impressions in the dust, the lingering warmth of a moment that already felt fleeting.
Nyla chirped from my shoulder, claws digging in slightly.
"Yeah," I muttered. "Here we go." Then grabbed the rope and dropped.
The slide was worse than I remembered. Steeper. Slicker. The bioluminescent glow from the tendrils painted everything in sickly green and blue, casting shadows that moved wrong. My stomach lurched as gravity took over, pulling me down faster than I wanted, the rope burned through my gloves as I tried to slow the descent.
Val caught me as I hit bottom, steadying me with one hand.
"Thanks," I breathed, finding my footing on the slick stone.
The circular chamber opened around us, vast, hollow, and eerily empty.
The horde that had lined these walls, hundreds of undead, packed in rows and rotting ranks, were gone without even the trace of shattered bone. There was nothing. Just... absence. The creeping quiet of hollow death.
"Where is… everything?" Lyssa whispered, lantern raised.
"I don't know," I said, scanning the chamber. The tendrils that had hung from floor to ceiling were still there, pulsing faintly, but different now. Swollen. Like a leech that's had its fill.
Eshlyn's staff-light swept across the space, revealing something that made my breath hitch. Jagged bones jetted out of the walls like spiked ornaments. Ribs. Femurs. Skulls cracked open and hollow. All of it coated in a faint residue that glittered in the light.
"This is what’s left of the horde," Val said quietly, voice tight. " ...Debris scattered to the walls like a mural."
"Let’s just… keep moving," I said, stepping forward. Eying the bones that lined the edges, brittle and hollow. "The corridor's on the other side."
"I remember passing out with the final frostfire," Eshlyn murmured, noticeably uncomfortable. “I had to believe that was it. That we’d done it.”
“It did,” Val reassured her. “All of the undead clustered in one place… It was over after that.”
“I was out long before then.” Lyssa shivered. “I remember the numbness spreading… The black dots swarming my vision. Knowing I was going, but unsure if I’d ever wake up again.”
I said nothing, only shook my head in a desperate attempt to shove the images aside.
We crossed the chamber in silence, glancing our way through the graveyard of what we'd fought. Every step felt like wading through a memory. Val’s sword gleaming, Dent’s bear form tearing through the ranks, Tovin’s bubble and Sierra's fire exploding in the dark. I'd been so desperate to get what we needed for Dent. I pulled everyone into this nightmare, but now it was just ash and bone.
I stopped a dozen feet into the corridor ahead, lantern raised.
Footprints in the dirt told a story. The crazed sprint of bony sprawl on one side. Black craters in the stone on the other. Long streaks where fire had licked the walls and a pocket of resistance between the two. A dark stain spread across the stone below. Not black or brown but somewhere in between. Old blood mixed with necrotic energy.
"This is where he died," I said, voice barely above a whisper.
Val stopped beside me, then Eshlyn.
Lyssa crouched low at my feet. “Kael… House Vanguard.”
I lowered down beside her, fingers hovering over the stain. I could still see him there, slumped against the rubble, chest caved in, blood soaking into the dust. That smile like he’d done something worthwhile. “I didn’t know him very well.” I started. “We never even got along… but he believed in me.” I shook my head, voice barely a whisper. “More than he should have."
Eshlyn’s soft hand found my shoulder without a word. We stilled for a moment before Val tilted his head toward the corridor ahead. Dark and narrow. I nodded and we moved on. The air still tasted faintly of sulfur and rot, but we kept moving. Studying the scorch marks that lined the far wall.
"This is where you fought the mages," Eshlyn said softly, coming up beside me.
"Yeah," I said, throat tight. Kael and I.
I could still see it. The two skeletal mages, green energy crackling at their fingertips. The rangers flanking and moving, arrows whistling through the dark. Kael deflecting shots with his halberd, me firing until my quiver ran dry. “We chased them, trying to close the distance until they cornered us behind this rock.” I pointed to a formation along the wall. “Kael ran out, knowing he’d get obliterated… the idiot.” I almost laughed, but it was dry. “That’s when I teleported us from here to there.”
“You never told me how you figured that out.” Eshlyn followed my gaze, studying.
“I’d tell you if I knew,” I admitted. “But that’s not really how it works for me.”
Eshlyn only nodded, but I caught something in her eye before she turned. Something like jealousy.
The corridor stretched ahead until we passed the furthest point I’d seen, and every step became a new foothold into the unknown. The path remained straight, until it didn’t. The corridor opened into a wider space, less hallway, more antechamber. And there, ahead of us, the path split into three tunnels. Each one nearly identical. Each one descending deeper into the dark.
"Of course," Lyssa said, breaking the silence. "Couldn’t make it easy."
I stared at the three openings, dread coiling in my chest. “Shit.”
“Hold on.” Eshlyn stepped forward, staff raised. “We can figure this out, just let me try something."
She closed her eyes, murmuring an incantation under her breath. Pale blue light flickered in her palm, then jetted outward in a quick pulse like an echo. It washed over the three tunnels like water seeking cracks. I knew she could do it, but never saw it in practice. How she tracked aether signatures. The same way she found me holed up in my bunker of shame so long ago. What alarmed her when Lawrence whisked me away.
After a moment, her gaze snapped to the right. "There," Eshlyn breathed, almost a smile. "Right side. It's faint, but it's him. We’re close."
Relief crashed through me so hard I almost staggered. "You're sure?"
"Positive." I saw the flicker of hope in her eyes. The same hope clawing its way up my throat, but something else caught my attention. A pressure at the edge of my awareness, heavy and wrong, pulling my focus to the left. "Wait," I said, voice tight. "There's something else.” Then stepped without thinking, reaching out until the weave opened for me. Peering into the tapestry of strings and will, and there it was.
Massive. Beating. Sinister and wrong.
I'd felt the corrupted aether before, unstable, raw, and unsettling, but this was different. I couldn’t make out its shape, but it was dense and concentrated. Giving off an aura like I was standing too close to a forge, feeling the heat press against my skin. “Something huge is down the left tunnel."
Eshlyn turned, frowning. "You're sure?"
I gestured toward the opening. "You don't feel that?"
It's impossible to miss, like standing next to a bonfire.
She paused, taking a moment to concentrate, then her eyes widened. "You're right. Gods. That's… that's not just ambient energy.”
"It's fucking massive," I interrupted. "Isn't it?"
“It is.” She looked at me as if wondering why she didn’t sense it before I did. “Honestly… It could even be the core."
"It’s bigger than the heart we killed."
Eshlyn nodded slowly, staring at the left tunnel. "Yes, that was likely a node. This seems more… central."
Val moved between us, jaw tight. "You can tell all that from here?"
"Not for certain," Eshlyn clarified. "But it’s the biggest concentration of aether we’ve found thus far.”
"It could be exactly what we need," I added, heart hammering. "For the cure."
The words hung in the air like a lifeline thrown across a chasm.
“Holy shit,” Lyssa exclaimed, eyes brightening.
“Okay.” Val patted my head before scratching under Nyla’s chin. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“That’s right.” Eshlyn's grin fell to a hopeful smile as she set a hand on my shoulder. “No matter how promising, we should run some tests before we make assumptions.”
“It’s what we need.” I almost laughed. “It’s got to be.” A smile spread across my face as my eyes flicked between the three of them, all sharing a grin of disbelief. I couldn’t stop the hope surging through my chest at the prospect of it all.
Lyssa smiled, “Okay then… thinking optimistically…” She held my gaze then motioned between the two tunnels. "...Dent's to the right. The cure's to the left."
"We don't know that it will produce a cure," Eshlyn cautioned, but even she didn't sound convinced. "It could just be a… concentrated parasitic mass."
"Butttt…" I shot back, pulling the words out of her.
She chuckled. “It’s definitely worth checking out.”
“Yes!”
A giddy silence stretched between us, like we were at the summit of a mountain, peering over the edge. Excited, sure… but the weight of choice still pressed down like the stone walls around us.
Val broke it. "But we should still go right."
I turned to him, brow furrowed. "What?"
"We go right," he repeated, steady and sure. "We get Dent. Then we come back for the core. We don't leave him down here, alone, any longer than we have to."
Eshlyn nodded slowly. "Agreed. Dent is our top priority and there is no certainty for what the left will mean for us.”
Lyssa followed suit. “Right.”
I looked at the left tunnel one more time, that concentrated mass of aether still tugging at my senses. Right there. The answer we'd been clawing for since the moment Dent saved me from that troll. So close, yet just out of reach, but they were right… Dent comes first.
Always.
"Okay," I said, turning toward the right. "Let's go get him."
…
We moved as one, lanterns raised, weapons ready. The tunnel sloped downward, narrow and damp, the walls slick with moisture and lined with those same pulsing tendrils. Swollen and thick. Moving like feeding tubes, or sucking arteries. The air grew warmer. Thicker. The smell of rot and earth mixing with something dull like copper and sulfur. Then underneath it all, faint but unmistakable, was the sound of breathing. Ragged and wrong.
Nyla shifted on my shoulder, claws digging in slightly, a low rumble in her throat.
"I know," I whispered. "I feel it too."
My pulse quickened as the tunnel opened into a small chamber ahead, and the light from our lanterns spilled across stone walls slick with glistening growth. Finally, at the far center, suspended by thick tendrils that coiled in and around his body like embedded chains…
Was Dent.
He hung there, head slumped forward, chest rising and falling in shallow, uneven gasps. His skin was pale as snow, veins dark and spreading like cracks in glass. The infection had progressed. Badly.
But he was alive.
"Dent," I breathed, throwing caution to the wind and rushing forward. My bow clattered against stone as I nearly dropped it. My hands rose just shy of touching his bare skin, eyes wide, taking in the dozens of tendrils now embedded in his body, through his arms, his chest, his back, disappearing beneath torn fabric and into flesh. His chest pulsed with the rhythm of the tomb, visibly pumping like a heart too big for the cavity. "What have they done to you?"
His head lifted slightly. Eyes, still his, barely, focused on me through the haze.
And for just a second, I saw recognition.
"...Rem?"
"Yeah." My voice cracked. "Yeah, it's me. We're here. All of us."
His eyes moved past me, taking in the others. Something like relief flickered across his face. "You came back."
Lyssa moved to his other side, her voice already breaking. "Of course we did."
"You... shouldn't have." He struggled against the tendrils, and I saw them tighten in response, digging deeper. "They know. They know you're here."
"I don't care," I said, jaw set. "We're getting you out. We’re going home."
"Remy…"
"Don't." I drew my dagger, hands already moving toward the nearest tendril. "Don't say it. Just hold still."
The blade bit into the thick black mass, slick, organic, beating, and Dent screamed.
Not a human sound. Something raw, agonized and alien, torn from somewhere deep in his chest. His whole body convulsed, the other tendrils writhing in response.
I stumbled back, nearly dropping the knife. "Shit! I'm sorry… I…"
"Stop," he gasped, chest heaving. "Please. Rem. They're... part of me now."
Lyssa's hand flew to her mouth. "Gods, Dent..."
He forced something that might have been a smile, looking at her. "Hey. At least... I got to see you... one more time."
"Don't," Lyssa said, shaking her head as tears began streamed down her face. "Don't you dare."
I stared at my blade, blood, or something like it, black and writhing dripped from the edge. Then at the tendrils. Dozens of them. Maybe hundreds, embedded so deep I couldn’t tell what was him and what wasn’t.
There has to be a way.
Then it hit me.
"Wait." I sheathed the dagger and reached for my pack with trembling hands. "The knife. The knife from Lawrence."
"Remy… " Eshlyn started.
"He said it would be painless," I interrupted, pulling out the wrapped blade. My fingers fumbled with the cloth. "That's what he said." I unwrapped it, the blade cold in my palm. Black enough to absorb the lantern light. "This won't hurt, Dent. This won't hurt."
I pressed the blade against a tendril near his shoulder and cut with one swift motion. Praying I was right. It parted like silk. Clean. Effortless. No scream. No convulsion.
Dent exhaled, a shuddering, relieved breath. "That's... better… like… a numbness."
A laugh escaped me, half-sob, half-desperate hope. "See? We can do this. We’re getting you down."
"Remy..." Val's voice was quiet. Heavy.
"We found something," I said, cutting another tendril. Then another. Moving faster now, hands steadier. "In the other tunnel. It could be the cure, Dent. We just have to… "
"It's too late… I can feel it." His voice was fading, words coming slower. "I'm losing... Piece by piece." His eyes were glassy now, unfocused. "I’m tired, Rem… There's not enough left."
“Dent.” Eshlyn stepped forward, her own voice breaking. "We can try. We can still… "
"Eshlyn." He looked at her, and for a moment, his expression was so gentle it hurt. "You're brilliant… You know how this ends."
She covered her face, shoulders shaking.
"Val." He breathed.
Val jaw was tight as he moved closer, fists clenched at his sides. "What do you need, brother?"
"Take care of them. When I'm... when I can't."
"You know I will." Val's voice cracked on the last word.
Dent's gaze shifted to Lyssa. "I'm glad... we had that time. Under the stars. I meant... everything I said."
"Me too," Lyssa sobbed openly. "Gods, me too."
"Rem."
I was already cutting another tendril, frantic, refusing to look at him. "No. I'm getting you down. We're leaving. Right now."
"Remy. Look at me."
My hands stilled, blade trembling in my grip. "Don't."
"I need you... to let me go."
"I won't." The words came out fierce. Desperate. "I can't."
"You can." His eyes softened, still his, still Dent, even now. "You're the strongest person... I've ever known."
I shook my head violently. "I'm not strong enough. Not for this."
"You are... You have to be." He paused, gathering what little strength remained. "I love you, Rem… I need you... to know that."
The blade slipped from my fingers, clattering against stone.
"No." My voice broke completely. "Not like this. Not as goodbye. We found it. It’s not over."
"Remy, I know... How hard this is." A faint smile touched his lips. "I love you for it."
My knees hit the ground. "I love you too. I love you. You stupid, selfless… " I couldn't finish. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't think past the crushing weight in my chest.
For a moment, there was only mournful silence. The four of us and Dent, suspended in the dark, in a grave that had already claimed him. Val placed a warm hand on my back, eyes glassy with grief. I shook my head.
Then Dent's eyes widened, looking past us toward the tunnel entrance. His voice changed. Urgent. Warning. "They're here."
We turned as one.
Durnan stood at the tunnel entrance, backlit by the faint glow of the corridor beyond. He looked exactly as he had in the first chamber, tall, gaunt, coat blackened with age and rot. Flanking him on either side were the two sentinels in full plate, greatswords drawn and wreathed in sickly green flame.
"Back so soon," Durnan said, voice like a chorus of grinding stone. "How persistent... How idiotic."
Val raised his sword, stepping in front of us. "Try us, and I’ll bash your fucking teeth in."
I nocked an arrow, adrenaline burning through the grief. "Durnan, you piece of shit."
"Name-calling already." Durnan grinned, resting his axe on the stone floor. "How brutish of you."
"We're not here for you, and we're certainly not interested in joining your creepy collection," Eshlyn said, voice cold and steady. “So go back the way you came.”
"And miss out on the gracious gift you've delivered?" Durnan countered. "Tempting, but we’ve grown to appreciate what the living can do for us… Your friend here has been very worth it."
"You'll be buried under rubble by morning," I said, arrow trained on his chest. "Maybe you should be worrying about that instead."
He chuckled with unsettling confidence, then tilted his head, studying us like specimens. "Fascinating how you've come so far. Fought so hard. And for what?" His gaze shifted to Dent, still hanging in the tendrils. "For him?"
"For him," I said flatly.
"I'm sure you'll be happy to join him then."
The sentinels moved in unison, driving their greatswords into the ground. Fire erupted, green and writhing, cutting off the chamber entrance like a living wall. Heat already radiated through the small chamber, pressing against my skin.
"And you won't be escaping," Durnan said simply. "Not this time."
"It's four on three," Val muttered, cracking his neck like a primed fighter. "We got this."
"Don't push it, Val. You're running on numbing tincture and bandages," Eshlyn warned.
"Yeah, yeah," he shot back. "I know."
The sentinels took a step forward, but my arrow was already there. It zipped through the air, aimed center mass at Durnan, and shattered against an aether barrier that appeared without so much as a gesture.
"Shit," Lyssa breathed, dropping into a boxer's stance at Val's side.
"They'll... close you in... Rem," Dent struggled to breathe out the warning.
Val was already moving, sword and shield raised, closing the distance with Lyssa close behind. He slashed hard at the nearest sentinel at the same point her gauntlets crashed. Both impacts rang like bells, snapping against the invisible glass.
The undead didn't stagger. Didn't flinch. Just took another unified step forward, their greatswords erupting in flames that roared brighter, casting the chamber in hellish green light. The temperature spiked. Sweat already beading on my brow.
Val rammed his shield against the encroaching barrier, heels digging into stone. "God-damn, this thing's tough!"
"No kidding!" Lyssa threw another punch, then braced her shoulder against it. "It’s like punching a brick!"
I nocked another arrow, drew, loosed. Clean shot. Right at Durnan's thick skull, but it splintered against the barrier, just like the first. "You've got to be kidding me." I thought of Tovin, how the brute had threatened to shatter his barrier like a battering ram. "It's not invincible. Sync up. Same spot. Same time."
Eshlyn was already chanting, lightening condensing in her palms. "On three!"
"One!" Val braced.
"Two!" Lyssa readied.
"Three!"
Val's sword struck. Lyssa's fist crashed. Eshlyn's lightning arched with my arrow, all at the same point, centered on the wall of force.
The barrier cracked, a small spiderweb fracture spreading from the impact point, but it didn't break. The splinters began closing, and the sentinels took another step forward, Durnan just behind. The heat doubled, singing the hair on my arm as the air shimmered.
"Again!" I shouted, already nocking. "Harder!"
We struck again. Same spot. Coordinated. Desperate. Another crack. Deeper this time, but the barrier held, repairing itself quickly. Another step. The chamber was shrinking. Translucent walls closing in like the doors on an oven.
"It's getting hotter!" Lyssa's face was flushed, sweat dripping.
Eshlyn tried to counter, lacing the chamber in frost, but it evaporated just as fast as it appeared. "The heat is too much."
Val threw his whole body against it, roaring with effort. His shield was so hot the metal nearly glowed, but the barrier didn't budge. We were being pushed back. Slowly. Methodically. Durnan just watched, cocky grin splitting his infuriating face. We needed something bigger. Something with the raw strength to shatter it in one blow, like the brute had done to Tovin's barrier.
I looked to Dent, still suspended, head slumped, barely conscious. The knife was in my satchel. I could cut him free. But then what? Even if we only needed one big hit for him to break it, he was using every bit of strength just to maintain control. He couldn't help us. Not like this. I could jump Val past the barrier. Let him attack the sentinels from behind; maybe they’d drop it. But that would cripple me, split us up, and isn’t guaranteed to work.
Eshlyn said as much. One high-focus spell is all I’ll get.
If that's it, then I should make it count. Take everyone past the flame wall. Straight to the hallway. They could run for the core. Get the cure. It'd be far. Four people. At this point, It might kill me to try… but as long as Dent got out... I'd die happy.
"I know what to do," I said, louder than I meant to.
Lyssa glanced back, breathing hard. "What's the play?"
"I can get us out. Into the hallway. Past the fire." My voice was steadier than I felt. "Go for the core from there."
Eshlyn's eyes widened, blood already dripping from her nose. "Remy, you're in no condition for a jump like that. With four people, you'll pass out for sure."
"Then get ready to finish this without me." I met her gaze, then Val’s. "We're out of options."
"Rem… " Val started. "I got you," he said, voice firm. "I won't leave you behind."
"Then I'm trusting you." I turned toward Dent. "Get ready to run."
Durnan's voice cut through the chaos, amused. "Oh, I can't wait for this."
I ignored him, moving to Dent. My hand found his cheek, cold and clammy despite the heat pressing in around us. "I need you to stay with me. A little longer. Okay?"
His eyes opened, just slightly. Brown. Still his. "Rem..." His voice was barely a whisper. "You have to… go without me… I can’t."
"Not gonna happen," I interrupted. "I'm getting you out of here." then turned to Eshlyn. "Buy us some time."
She didn't question it. Just nodded, staff slamming into the ground. Ice erupted from floor to ceiling, a crystalline wall between us and the advancing sentinels. It wouldn't hold forever, but it didn't need to.
The null-aether knife drank in the light, cold in my grip. Dent's eyes tracked the blade, recognition flickering.
"Almost there," I murmured, pressing the blade to the first tendril.
It parted like silk. One after the other. Behind me, Eshlyn continued feeding the ice wall as it dissolved. The sentinels were heating it, green flame licking up the surface like melting glass, distorted and dripping.
"They're coming fast, Remy," Lyssa shouted, healing Eshlyn as she dropped to one knee, straining to keep the wall intact.
"Just do what you can." More tendrils. Faster now. My heart was hammering, but my hands were steady. Each cut dropped another black coil to the ground, slick, swollen, and twitching.
"Go ahead," Durnan called out, watching through the melting ice. "Free him. See what happens."
I didn't answer. Didn't look at him. Just kept cutting. Kept pulling aether. It fought me like hot coils, but I didn’t care.
"Not the tendrils… Rem." Dent's eyes met mine with an honest plea. "You have to end it… While I'm still me."
I shook my head. Not now. Not when we're so close. I paused only for a moment. Then Eshlyn dropped, and the ice wall shattered.
Val and Lyssa braced as the sentinels surged forward. Eshlyn's eyes dripped blood, but she recovered, hands shaking as she threw up an aether barrier to meet theirs. Harder than ice, but I knew what it meant. It wouldn’t hold long, and I was right. She coughed, hard and guttural, as blood quickly pooled in her mouth.
Lyssa pressed a green glowing hand to her back. "Times up, Remy!"
Last tendril.
The blade sliced clean, and Dent's weight collapsed forward. I caught him, arms wrapping around his shoulders as he hit the ground. He was so cold. Damp and clammy. But he was free.
"I've got you," I whispered into his hair. "I've got you."
For a moment, he held me back. Arms wrapped, weak but real. They laced around me like I might disappear. There were no words, but I didn’t need him to say anything. “Hang in there… I’m taking you home.”
…
Then his grip changed.
His loving arms turned to a vice, locked around my ribs like iron bands. Air rushed out of my lungs in a sharp gasp. Nyla hissed, claws digging in once before launching off my shoulder. I tried to pull back, but he was impossibly strong, stronger than I’d ever seen before.
"...Dent… " I choked out, knife clattering to the floor as his eyes snapped open. Black. Completely black. No iris, no white, just endless void staring through me like I was already dead.
"...Shit… " I grabbed at his arms, trying to pry them loose, but he didn't budge. The pressure increased. I heard something crack, my ribs maybe, or the air itself, and pain lanced through my chest. The coppery tang of blood touched my tongue.
Durnan’s voice came out sharp. “Oh there it is. My favorite part.”
Val roared behind me. Hands grabbed Dent's shoulders, yanking backward, but Dent didn't move. Lyssa was there too, pulling at his arms.
"Get him off her!" Eshlyn shouted, voice raw, barely keeping the sentinels from closing in on us.
But Dent's grip only tightened. My vision swam. Couldn't breathe. Could hardly think past the crushing pressure and the horrifying wrongness of those black eyes staring at me like I was nothing.
No. Not like this.
I reached for more aether. Let it spill into me like a dam breaking, desperate and clawing. It ripped like jagged shards on my skin, too much, too fast. The weave resisted, screaming at me that I was empty, that I was dying.
I didn't care.
They can still cure him. At the core.
“Lyssa, she needs healing!” Val snapped, turning from yanks to blows. I felt her hands press into my back, but it was slow. Relief warring like a distant memory fighting for presence.
“Sorry, Dent,” Val muttered, before bashing his shield into the side of Dent’s temple. It cracked against his skull like a hammer, but hardly had any effect. The next punch broke Dent’s nose, but his grip didn’t wane. He just stared back at me with unfeeling eyes.
I opened myself to the weave. Latching onto Dent’s form. Strings and will. Grabbing Val, Lyssa, and Eshlyn with pure intention. And there, down the left tunnel, through stone and distance, I felt it. That massive concentration I'd sensed before. The core. Dense, corrupted, and unmistakable. Our last hope at a cure. I’d take us there, even if it killed me. I pushed the thought into the aether, and the room trembled. Dust sifted. Chunks of stone broke free from the floor. I felt something crack deep in my chest, but I kept pushing. It felt like wading through melting mud.
You’re coming with us, you lovable… fucking…
"Remy, stop!" Eshlyn's voice was distant and muffled. "You'll kill yourself… "
Didn't matter.
If I’m dying, then I’ll get us there first.
Through the haze, I saw Val’s hand close around the knife I’d dropped.
A sorrowful breath escaped as his gaze fell to Dent’s, eyes gone black, crushing the life out of me, and then at the knife in his hand. My vision blurred, but I knew he’d do it. Hate it, sure. Wish to the gods he didn’t have to, fine… But he would. “Don’t make me do this, Dent.”
"Don't!" The word came out strangled, a raspy whisper. "Don’t you… fucking dare… Val."
His jaw clenched. "Remy… he's killing you."
"The core… " I gasped, vision darkening at the edges. "I can still… get us there."
"You won't make it."
“We’re losing her Val.” Lyssa breathed, voice cracking.
“I’m sorry Rem.” The knife shook in Val’s hands, but his eyes were steady. His jaw clenched, pressing the blade against Dent's ribs. The tip broke skin, just barely, a bead of black blood welling. “I love you, brother.”
NO!
I reached again, pulling all of us to that mass of aether. The room shuttered. Shaking hard enough to stagger Val. Cracks spider-webbed across the stone floor. I was pulling so hard it’d rip the room apart and me with it, but I couldn't stop. "DON’T!" I forced the words out even as Dent's arms crushed tighter. "I'll never… forgive you."
He froze, blade hovering over Dent's ribs, grip trembling. Val's eyes met mine. I saw the war there, the same war we'd fought before, when he'd dragged me out kicking and screaming. When I hated him for it. When we'd sworn never to override each other's choices again, no matter the cost.
"I can't lose you both," he said, voice breaking. “I won’t… I won’t lose you both.”
"Please!" I gasped, blood dripping from my mouth. “I can do this.” The room was spinning now. Black dots swarmed by vision. Another large crack split the ground under his feet. Everything coming apart.
He looked at the knife. At Dent. At me. Breath shallow. “I’m sorry.”
NO!
"Wait!" Lyssa breathed. "His eyes… "
Dent's grip loosened. Just slightly. Just enough for me to drag in a half-breath. His eyes flickered. Black to brown to black to brown, like he was fighting something deep.
"He's still in there," Lyssa said, green glowing hands firm on my back. "Fight it Dent!"
The pressure vanished all at once.
I hit the ground hard, Lyssa's hands still on my back as we both went down. Breath came like glass shards, gasping, lungs burning, ribs screaming. Aether still ripping across my skin.
Dent stood there shaking, his face contorted, both from the blows and a deeper battle we couldn’t see. Before he could even speak, Val was tackling him to the ground.
“Stop!” I half screamed, half rasped out, still fighting my lungs for space. “Please, it’s him! It’s Dent!”
“We don’t know how long he can hold it!” Val pinned Dent's shoulders, voice tight.
“I can jump us…. I can…” I tried to crawl forward to him, but every bone in my body screamed in response.
“Stop Remy! I'm barely holding you together as it is.” Lyssa pleaded, pulling at me, but I didn't care.
"I’m sorry, Rem," Dent whispered, voice cracking. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… "
My eyes found his, and I could see it. The struggle, horror, and guilt all wrapped into one. Brown, and flickering, but still his. Still here. His gaze shifted to the knife that had tumbled to the floor, only inches away. The blade that could give him a clean death. Separate him from the parasite, painless and complete. Our eyes met back up. Just for a second.
"NO!" I screamed, pushing myself up, but he was faster.
His hand shot out, fingers closing around the onyx hilt. "I love you," he said, looking at me one last time with those clear, brown eyes. "All of you." Then twisted and drove the blade down deep into his own chest.
Time slowed as I got to my feet, stretching into an eternity with every step.
I remembered the first night we met, freezing in the forest, how he let me rest without a word, his warmth lulling me into the first good night’s sleep I’d had in weeks.
I remembered him flopping out of the river as a fish, landing with that stupid, proud grin like he'd just performed the greatest comedy in history.
Him and Lyssa in the medical tent, sparring like two love birds without a care.
Every time I'd punched his arm for some terrible joke. He'd just grin wider, like my annoyance was the best thing for him.
How his goofball energy pulled me out of the darkest of places.
How he always looked happy. Even when things were awful. He found a way to smile. To make the rest of us believe we'd be okay.
He made me believe it’d be okay.
Then the world exploded.
Something fundamental tore open like the universe itself had finally exhaled. I felt it rip through me, through the stone beneath my feet, through the air itself. All the aether I'd been desperately channeling, all the impossible will I'd been pouring into the weave. It finally surged like a tidal wave. The chamber walls stretched thin as parchment as distance collapsed into nothing. Someone was shouting, but I couldn’t hear it.
Space folded without grace. More than that. It ripped. I knew I’d caused it, but there was no control. There was only the pull, brutal and absolute, dragging us through walls of stone. Dirt and distance.
The aether scorched my veins like liquid fire until there was only one thought I could cling to. Home. Take him home. More instinct than command, more desperate than will. And for a moment there was nothing. A blank sheet of blinding light, like stars had consumed my vision and rattled my skull.
Then…
I gasped, crawling through soft grass, damp with morning dew. The smell of earth, water and wildflowers flooded my senses, so distinct from the rot and sulfur that I nearly choked. My lungs burned, everything screaming to fall unconscious. Sleep or die. Darkness clawed, but I couldn't let go.
Not yet.
I forced my eyes open as golden light painted the sky in soft oranges and pinks. Dawn breaking through familiar trees. A river murmured, constant and gentle. Nyla's distressed chirp came from somewhere nearby. Birds sang somewhere in the trees.
Camp.
Dent's camp. The place where we'd first met. Trained and rested.
His home.
"Dent..." My voice was weak. Raspy. But my eyes finally focused, just enough to find him lying on the grass a few feet away, the knife still buried in his chest. Eshlyn was there, hands hovering over the knife like she wanted to take it out, but knew better. Lyssa was already crying, green light flickering weakly at her fingertips but fading almost immediately.
"Don't," Dent whispered, looking at Lyssa. "It's done."
"No," she sobbed. "No, I can still..."
"Lyssa." His voice was gentle as he took her hand. "It's okay."
"It's not." Her voice cracked. "You deserved so much more than this."
His head shook. "Got more than I ever thought I would." He squeezed her hand weakly. "Got to love you... for a whole week." A small smile creased his lips. "Best week of my life."
A sorrowful chuckle escaped before she pressed her forehead to his hand, shoulders shaking. "I love you too... every bit."
Val helped pull me close, and I could see it. The black veins were fading, receding like shadows burned away by light. His skin, pale and sickly just moments ago, looked almost... warm.
His eyes found mine. Clear and brown. "You did it, Remy... You brought me home."
"This isn't..." I managed, voice breaking. "This isn't what I wanted."
"No." A faint smile touched his lips. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, but he didn't seem to feel it. "It's perfect, Rem… You kept your promise."
"Dent, I'm sorry." The words tumbled out, broken and desperate. "I should have... if I'd just..."
"Don't." He reached up with trembling fingers, brushing my cheek. "You gave me... everything. A family. A purpose." His breath hitched. "I'd do it all again."
"So would we, Dent," Eshlyn said softly, her voice breaking on the words. "So would we."
I wanted to say it too. Wanted to mean it. But the words died in my throat, choked by the weight of every choice that had led us here. "I've made so many mistakes."
"No." His thumb brushed away a tear I didn't realize had fallen. "You're flawless, Rem. Don't change. Not for anyone."
I couldn't speak. Could only nod as something in my chest cracked wider.
"I can't do this without you," I whispered, meaning it with every shattered piece of myself.
"You can," he said gently. "Just lean on these losers... They got your back."
I choked out a laugh. “Gods damn it, Dent.” My heart was breaking, but I forced the words out anyway. “They really do.”
“That’s right.” He smiled, gaze drifting past me for a moment, taking in the golden sky, the sound of the river, the way the morning light painted everything soft and warm. "It's beautiful here."
"Yeah," I whispered. "You're home."
"I'm me again." He said it with something like wonder, looking down at his hands. "That’s what matters."
"You never stopped being you," Val said, voice rough. "Not where it counted."
“Hey...” Dent's eyes moved to Val, a faint smirk touching his lips. "Don't let Remy push you around, alright?"
Val choked out a faint chuckle. "I never do."
"Good man." His gaze shifted to Eshlyn. "And keep those two out of trouble for me, will ya?"
Eshlyn almost chuckled, wiping her face. "It won't be easy."
"I know." He smiled. "They're a bunch of knuckleheads... but their heart’s in the right place."
"Of course," she said quietly. “I'll do my best.”
His eyes moved back to me, taking in every detail. Val, Eshlyn, Lyssa, all of us. "Thank you," he breathed, eyes glistening. "For coming back for me. For trying. For not giving up. Even when you should have."
I wanted to say I never will. Wanted to promise I'd keep fighting, keep searching for a way to get him back. But looking at him now, clear-eyed and whole, I understood. The only thing that mattered was his choice. To be free.
"I love you," is all I could manage.
His smile widened just slightly, that familiar warmth breaking through even now. "I love you too. All of you."
The words hung in the air, soft and final. His hand fell from my cheek. The light behind his eyes flickered once and went out.
"No," I breathed. "No, Dent. Please..."
But it was too late. I knew he was gone. The silence that followed was absolute. Even the birds stopped singing. The knife in his chest began to dissolve. Fading. Turning to smoke that drifted away in the cool morning breeze, and the moment it did, something inside me shattered. Something that had been holding me together through sheer force of will. I felt it pour out of me, grief, rage, desperation, love, all of it twisting into something raw and primal I couldn’t contain.
I held onto Dent's body as death cascaded around me like blood from an open wound. The wildflowers withered, petals turning black, stems curling inward like they'd lost the light. The grass, the trees all browned, life draining away like spilled ink.
"Remy… " Eshlyn started, but her voice sounded distant. “What are you…” She paused as something else stirred.
The scroll.
Wrapped tight in my pack. Forgotten in the chaos, began to glow. A silver light seeping through the fabric. Val reached for it, but it disintegrated into ash, and I felt it. The soul stone humming with new presence.
What have I done?
"I didn't..." My voice broke. I didn't mean to.
The world tilted. Darkness closed in from the edges of my vision. I heard Val calling my name. Felt someone catch me. And then…
Nothing.