I looked on in amazement as my forces rushed to evacuate back into the entrance tunnel. “Go!” I shouted with a beaming smile, parrying another pair of Serathids simultaneously. “Seal the tunnel! Go!” The smile stayed on my face as I returned my focus to my final battle. My foes seemed entirely uninterested in the echoing horns or the commotion at the cave entrance; every beast in the cavern had turned its attention towards me and swarmed in my direction. “Come and get me!” I laughed, rolling under a pair of horizontal blades. “Our fates are sealed together!” I felt the blessed energy fading from my limbs with every movement as my army retreated. My duty is complete. I have served my purpose.
The tide of the battle shifted in seconds; without the blessings of the Primevals, I was forced to act entirely in defense to avoid being immediately overwhelmed by the teeming swarm of Serathids. My shield whirled and clacked as I parried strike after strike, each movement just a bit slower than the last. I felt oddly at peace as the circle of beasts closed in on me. I have made my amends. Pain blossomed in my left shoulder, and my arm instantly fell to my side, limp and unfeeling. Despite my failings, I will die knowing my last action was truly just. My knees buckled as I blocked an overhead blow, and I fell to the floor beneath the weight of the attacking beast. Perhaps it can serve as my absolution.
The world froze around me as a deafening crack rang in my ears, and my right arm screamed in pain. After all this time, it has finally broken. I let my arm fall, and my shield landed across my lap, marred by a massive fissure across the stained glass face. A fitting end for the King’s Shield. I closed my eyes as a shadow covered my face, and my chest tensed in preparation for the inevitable falling scythes.
My ears registered the sound of blood splattering across the floor, but I felt no pain. Death is more kind than I imagined. As I waited for the agony to come, I heard the sound again to my right, this time paired with a light scuffing of leather against stone. Before I could open my eyes to find the source, it came again from my left, then right, then left again. A burst of hot ichor splashed across my face, and a tremor shook the floor beneath me. My eyes stung with a mix of human and beast blood as I wiped my face and attempted to scan my surroundings.
When my vision returned, I found myself face to face with a dead Serathid. The beasts were slain in a perfect circle around me, all shattered, limbless, and eviscerated. I stared at the corpses in uncomprehending awe. Impossible. My eyes followed the line of slain beasts farther into the cavern, and I caught a faint blur of movement in a shadowed tunnel that led into the mines.
The buzz at the base of my skull sparked to life, and I heard a familiar voice in my head. Get out of here before they seal you in, you damned fool.
“Lux!” I cried out, lunging to my feet. “Wait, please!” I stumbled across the cavern in pursuit of the fleeting shade. I felt a faint pop in my neck, and his presence at the back of my mind began to fade. “No!” My legs burned as I lunged into the darkness, and I quickly collapsed as my shins connected with a Serathid corpse. I bounced off of the tunnel floor, rolled to my knees, and immediately began my chase again. “Come back, pl—”
I tripped over a second slain Serathid and crashed into the ground face-first. Pain erupted throughout my body as my injuries from the previous battle flared up; my faded adrenaline and Primal blessings no longer protected me from the agony, and I clenched my jaw to keep from screaming. “Please,” I begged pitifully, reaching out into the darkness, “do not leave me here.”
A faint light appeared on the tunnel wall ahead, and I fought to stay conscious as it grew brighter. From around a bend in the passage, a vibrantly glowing blue sword appeared from the darkness, followed soon after by a matching pair of radiant golden blades. Pure joy filled my chest as I watched the glowing weapons approach. “Lux, Lia,” I choked out as tears filled my eyes. “You came.”
***
21. THE DARK BELOW
“You came.” Val’s voice wavered as she stared up at us from the floor, her face a bloody, broken mess.
“Of course we came,” I muttered. “These damn beasts are invading Lybesa; we can’t just sit around while Kaldan ruins our home. Again.”
Lux, Lia scolded me silently, you know she’s not our enemy here.
I gave an annoyed grunt in response. “Get up, Val.” Her body shook with exertion as she struggled to meet my demand, leaning heavily against her cracked shield to regain her footing. My Detection was still blocked by the swarm of monsters that filled the mine ahead of us, and my presence at the back of Val’s mind hadn’t given me an accurate idea of the extent of her injuries. Despite the resentment I held for her, I couldn’t help but be impressed that she was still conscious, let alone moving, based on my initial estimation of the wounds covering her body. “Come here.”
She shuffled towards us until she was only an arm’s length away, then attempted to straighten her posture, resulting in an immediate wince that knocked her forward another step. I steadied her by her shield and ran my thumb along the fissure in its face. Mana rushed down
