I awoke to a sharp impact to my ribs and grudgingly pried my eyelids open. Elmidath was standing over me, drawing her leg back for another kick when she realized I was awake.

“Oh good. Can you stand?”

I got up with her help, pain shooting through my body with every movement now that my senses had returned and the adrenaline had worn off. Slowly panning my gaze across the chamber, I saw that the winged beast was dead, with a large puncture wound in the back of its head. The mouth on legs was still alive, albeit with at least three crippled limbs that meant it could do little more than drag itself slowly along the ground towards us.

“What happened? Did you close the rift?”

“Not yet. I thought I should probably rescue you first.”

“I was fine, you should’ve just kept going.”

She arched an eyebrow at me. “You were lying on the ground about to be eaten or dissolved, that is most assuredly not fine. But you’re right, I should’ve kept going and I did try to. The only problem is, I couldn’t actually reach the rift.”

I shuffled down the slope toward the centre, trying not to fall. “Why not?”

“I could get through the shadows around it, no matter what I tried.”

“I thought Erstanos said the crystal would disrupt their power or something.”

“It does remove most of the darkness, just not the solid parts that actually stop me going through.”

“Oh, great, so it does everything other than the one thing that would actually be useful.”

“Yeah, I’m not too happy about it either, but we can complain once we’re done here. I think with your help I can open enough of a hole to get the crystal through.”

“Alright, what’s the plan?”

We reached the lowest part of the chamber and the darkness did indeed dissipate before us, leaving only a relatively thin layer of living shadow. It writhed in place, providing glimpses of a cleft in the stone. This had to be the place, now we just had to figure out a way in.

“I’m thinking we force a small gap open, then I’ll push the crystal through with my sanguis and guide it to the rift.”

“Are you sure we’ll be able to do that with our bare hands?”

“Nope. Have you got any better ideas?”

“No.”

I could use my aura to hold it open once we got to that stage, but it wouldn’t be much use in creating an opening.

“Then I guess we’re going with that.”

She approached the rift until she was right next to the barrier surrounding it.

“Alright, so, we wait until there’s a hole in the shadows somewhere we can reach, then we need to both get our hands in and try to force it wider.”

I watched the shadows shift and slide over each other for a moment. Despite their seemingly insubstantial nature, they moved with considerable force and speed. If we were going to do this then we’d have a minuscule amount of time to secure a hold.

“That seems like a great way for one of us to lose some fingers. How about I start with my sword? That should be able to keep it open.”

“Ah, I hadn’t thought about that. Yeah, you should probably use your sword.”

I raised it until it was horizontal, pointing the tip toward the mass of shadows. “Okay, give me a hand with this then.”

Though I could lift the sword easily enough by myself, it was quite a different thing to guide it as precisely and quickly as possible like this. Elmidath took hold of the other side and we watched for an opening. Spotting one that wasn’t too far away, I lunged for it, with Elmidath following a split second later. The sword tip penetrated perhaps a thumb width before the gap closed and the weapon was knocked aside.

We tried again with another gap, only to be repulsed once more. The concept seemed sound, but we simply weren’t fast enough to reach the holes before they closed.

“Okay, I think we need to wait until one appears right in front of us.”

Elmidath nodded, eyes fixed on the swirling shadows. “Got it. I’ll leave it to you then; I’ll just follow up once you find one.”

That was probably the best way to go about it, there wasn’t much point in both of us trying to direct the blade. It took a lot longer this time to locate a suitable opening, but I reminded myself to remain patient. After about a minute, a hole appeared that would only require a slight adjustment and I went for it. This time the blade went right in without issue, forcing the shadows to move around it.

“Okay, okay, just keep it there.”

Trusting Elmidath to hold the blade, I took my hands off it and reached for the gap. While I wasn’t looking forward to having my hands pushed against a sharp edge, this seemed to be the best way. Hopefully my gloves would provide sufficient protection.

However, as I moved into position, I realized an unseen flaw in our plan; there was no room for my fingers around the blade. The shadows clung tightly to it, leaving me no opportunity to widen the gap. I was about to stop and rethink our strategy when I noticed the shadows movements momentarily created small openings around the blade. They weren’t much, but they’d have to do.

“Try to keep it steady for a while longer.”

“Got it.”

Holding both my hands beside the flats of the blade, I waited once more for the right moment. The instant there was enough room for one of my hands, I went for it. There was a bone wrenching impact and struggled to pull my hand out, sure that it was going to take my fingers off. However, my hand was stuck fast and I was starting to panic when the shadows diverted, going around my hand instead. They still exerted immense pressure, but it was somewhat bearable.

Working slowly and carefully, I manoeuvred until both my hands were in the same hole. Then I paused to take a few deep breaths and regain my strength. Short as these bursts of activity were, they were taking a lot out of me. Having expended so much energy earlier must be taking its toll.

Once I felt about as rested as I could be without taking a much longer break, I grit my teeth and pulled as hard as I could against the solid shadows. They didn’t budge in the slightest, remaining precisely where they were before I started. Disheartening as my failure was, I kept up my efforts, alternating between resting and pulling.

Eventually, perhaps because of my persistence or more likely because the shadows shifted at the right time, I pulled the hole downward. The resulting bit of empty space was tiny, but large enough to get the crystal through.

“Okay, put it in. Go, go, go.”

Elmidath took one hand off the blade, reached for the crystal, and the sword was promptly ejected, forcing me to yank my hands free before they were crushed amidst the shifting shadows. Once they were clear, I took a breath.

“Damnit, we were so close.”

Elmidath lowered her head in shame. “Sorry, it just slipped out.”

“It’s not your fault, we need to hold it more securely somehow.”

I was contemplating our options when I heard a great rush of wind. Glancing over, I saw hundreds of living shadows sweeping towards us. We had perhaps thirty seconds before they reached us; almost no time at all.

“We have to get the crystal through right now.”

I was already clutching the sword once more, looking for an opening. Elmidath didn’t argue with me and we both focused on seeking another opening. Seeing a potentially viable option, I immediately went for it only for it close when we were a hairsbreadth from jamming the blade in.

I went for the next closest one I saw after that, only to fail again.

By that time, I knew the shadows were nearly upon us. With no hope of our current plan succeeding anymore, I pulled out my sword and drew the last of the power remaining within it. The bright blue of my aura appeared to hold back the tide of death crashing down upon us, but it wouldn’t save us for long.

“I don’t know how, but you’ve got to do something on your own.”

“I know.”

From the corner of my eye, I could see Elmidath was already gathering her blood for one last effort. Her skin paled as she extracted more and more of her lifeblood. The seconds ticked by while the shadows around us grew yet numerous. They pressed themselves so forcefully against my aura that I could no longer tell them apart; they were like one dark homogenous mass.

My heartbeat thundered in my ears, while my hand shook though whether from fear or exhaustion I couldn’t say. Elmidath still wasn’t done and my aura grew visibly thinner with every passing moment. There were already patches where I was sure I could see the shadows worming their way through.

After what felt like an excruciatingly long wait, Elmidath formed an orb larger than her head. Only then did she grasp the crystal in her other hand and hold them both before the rift’s protective barrier. Meanwhile all I could do was pray to nothing in particular that my stolen power held long enough to keep the shadows at bay just a little longer.

Her blood shot forward, seeking a gap to pour through, while most of it remained in reserve. Only when the leading elements found their way through did Elmidath finally drop the crystal into the waiting stream. The rest of it was surging through when my aura failed and the darkness overtook us.