“We cannot hope to face that many Serathids at once,” Val protested.
“Yes, we can. If we hold this hallway three wide, they won’t be able to flank us, and the ceiling is too low for any of their acrobatic maneuvers,” I answered. “If things go south, we can retreat to this room; their numbers won’t mean anything when they’re forced to face us through the doorway.”
“You may be right,” she replied, biting her lip, “but...I am unsure if I can face that many at once. I do not possess the skills in combat that the two of you do.”
“Val, I watched your fight at the entrance. You do have the skills, you just need to use your—” I cut myself off with a cough before I could finish the thought. I won’t teach her our magic, I said to Lia, the betrayal I felt raw and irrepressible through our mental link.
We need her, Lux.
I know we do, but she’ll be fine without it.
But she would be better with it.
I wouldn’t even have time to explain it.
You don’t have to. Just give it to her yourself.
I paused as I considered the thought. I’ve never done that before.
Time to try. If it doesn’t work, we’ll just make sure to keep her safe during the fight.
I scowled at the idea, but I knew she was right. Fine. “Val, come here,” I said, waving her over. She followed the order obediently and stood at my side in the doorway. “We need you if we’re going to win this fight. I swear to you, Lia and I won’t let you die,” I promised her, placing a hand on the edge of her shield. “I still have more questions for you before I let that happen.” Mana surged into the shield and bolstered the reserve I had left previously, then continued on to suffuse her entire body. I walked through my list of combat enhancements, activating them in the fashion I had first learned in Alderea. Greater Strength. Greater Agility. Pain Reduction. Greater Windstep. Greater Combat Acceleration. Heighten Senses. Each rune along my sword flashed in turn as I activated the mana within her shield.
Val gasped as the energy took effect and tried to step away, but I held her firmly in place. Watching carefully, I was relieved to find my deposited mana draining as it fueled her enhancements without further attention needed from me. “There,” I said with a labored breath, cutting my connection with the extended energy. “Now you can fight like us.”
“Lux, what have you done? I...I do not understand,” she stammered, clenching her fist into a tight ball to test the new power..
“You don’t need to,” I countered, already turning to prepare myself for the assault. “You’ve fought like this before, but you believed it was some sort of holy blessing. If it makes you feel better, you can just pretend it’s that again.” Lia gave me a knowing smile as we readied ourselves, and I gave her a quick eye roll in return. “Now, you’ll hold the center of the hallway, while Lia and I hold the left and right, respectively. It’ll be easier for both of us to cover you if you’re between us.”
There was a long moment of silence behind us as Val processed the situation. “I will do it,” she said eventually, all uncertainty gone from her voice. “We will not fail.” Her olive eyes burned with overwhelming confidence, matching the look Marin had given me before every sparring match during our month of training.
“Alright then, let’s go.” I stepped through the doorway and immediately fell to one knee as a powerful wave of death energy punched me in the chest. Dark smoke began to seep out from my gloved hand as the force threatened to overwhelm me, and the color in my vision began to drain. Lia stumbled as a shock of sympathetic pain rushed through her arm, and she immediately dropped to the floor to aid me. “No,” I hissed through clenched teeth, “stay back.”
You can’t keep going on like this. You’ll burn yourself up.
Lia, I won’t let you get corrupted like me. It’ll kill you. It already has, once. As I struggled to maintain control of my body, I absorbed the remaining darkness that lingered around us into myself, groaning from the effort. I can do this.
“Lux, your hand,” Val whispered fearfully. “You are unwell.”
“I’m fine!” I snapped, clearly lying. I knew that she had seen the smoke once before in Attetsia, moments before my rampage in the courtyard, but I couldn’t find the focus to convincingly assuage her worries.
Lux, please. You won’t survive.
It’s the only way.
No, it isn’t. She reached out and held me by the chin, forcing me to look into her eyes. You can use it.
The icy grip of fear squeezed at the back of my neck as I desperately tried to hide the memories of my rampage from Lia. I can’t do that. I can’t let you see me like that. If I embrace the darkness, I could...I could hurt you.
You won’t.
You don’t know—
Lia leaned in and kissed me, and a burst of strength surged through our bond. You won’t. You never would.
It felt as though my chest were about to explode as Lia’s light pushed against the encroaching darkness. I knew that if we battled farther into the mine, the void energy would continue to increase and, eventually, find its way out of me one way or another—the annihilated Lybesian forest polished in smooth, black glass was all the proof I needed of that. Even still, I shuddered as my ecstatic dance of death through the Strategist’s soldiers played out behind my eyes. The rush of memories left me trembling as I accepted an unavoidable truth: if any of us were to survive the night, I would have to once again embrace the darkness.
Don’t let it take me, I begged
