Chapter 19

The Portal

The drop was longer than Terrill anticipated, the core of the Shadow being higher than the rest of its writhing appendages. And they were writhing indeed, thrashing this way and that from the wounds sustained. As Terrill fell, his hand still in Krysta’s, he could see countless severed limbs and burning flames. The wood of the trees was gone, leaving a barren wasteland that the Shadow continued looming over, eating away at whatever was left of Adversa. That was something impossible to tell by virtue of the land being covered in shadow.

Chancing a look up, Terrill could see the wound they had created with Krysta’s light. Golbrucht wasn’t patching it back together, but instead the creature that was the very basis of the Shadow was oozing out from the gap, its jaw wide with the intent to eat them and bring them back into its despair. It was a wonder it hadn’t tried that already for those on the ground. To Terrill, it was confirmation of how desperate the creature was growing.

Regardless, it was on his companions that Terrill put his attention, hoping they would see the two of them plummeting without a safety net. The core of the Shadow, its eldritch creature in pursuit notwithstanding, pulled back, and as it began to shrink in size, Terrill saw the massive gash across the sky, the shadowy substance pouring into it. Krysta saw it, too, squeezing his hand and uttering what he knew all along.

“That’s your way home. Back to Dimidia.”

“The real problem is if the Shadow gets there first. We’ll have to kill it before then and drive Golbrucht out.” It was an easier thing to say, but Terrill had no idea how to really do it. He hoped Krysta or those on the ground would have some idea, but he didn’t even know how to get back to the ground in the first place. Not without splatting himself upon the dirt and dust.

Thankfully, Torry was highly observant.

“Walter, let’s create a wind curtain. Floyd, keep your heat up so we can lower them safely!” Terrill grinned down to the girl who winked at him, her promise to get them safely to the ground allowing him to focus on the Shadow chasing after them. Krysta turned her hand upon it, and sent a shard of light firing at it. It missed, but pierced a nearby appendage, causing the creature to scream and halt its pursuit nonetheless.

The wind rose around the pair, Torry and Walter managing to combine their magics into a singular force that kept them suspended. Floyd was underneath, creating and fanning flames to keep the air hot. He slowly cooled them, until the pair touched down, safe and sound. Krysta found herself hugged by Torry within seconds, but Terrill wasn’t about to allow the same from Floyd. Now wasn’t the time for emotional reunions. There was a fight ahead.

Brushing off Floyd with a clap on his back, Terrill found his discarded sword, still intact and ready to rejoin his hands. Next to it were the two unconscious bodies of Lumen and Charles, their battle inside the Shadow having taken its toll upon them. Terrill frowned as the screeching of the Shadow died out, but he bent down to pick his sword back up nonetheless. When he straightened, Walter was at his side, staring at the two, his eyes lingering on Charles.

“They collapsed soon after making it out,” he said. His lips were curled, but his hand didn’t dare to run Charles through. “I can understand. If it wasn’t for Floyd holding me up, I might’ve collapsed, myself. I still don’t know how to fight on, or what to do about him, but I…”

“You still have time, after we finish this thing off. Can I ask you to protect them in the meantime?” This time, Walter didn’t hesitate in nodding, confirming he would do just that, even for the man that he hated. It was something for him to hold on to.

The sky suddenly brightened, the sun rising and illuminating the Shadow that was curling in on the night sky. It was still large enough, but most of its energies appeared to be funneling towards the creature that landed on the ground. Its quavering body started to look jagged, as if the darkness that clung to it was shifting elements in its need to feed. It chittered, looking every which way it could before its red eyes found Terrill and then Krysta, identifying them as its two greatest threats. Many of the appendages remained in the body above, snaking out across Adversa, but their act in freeing Lumen and Charles appeared to have loosened the creature’s hold over the world. Seeing the severed appendages and the cracking cocoon over the Abyssal Palace told Terrill that his observations were right.

“Give me your…despair. Give me! Give it to me! I will…swallow soul! Swallow all souls! Play with me!” The Shadow lunged, only for its humanoid body to be hit in the shoulder by an arrow from Torry. A snap later and the Shadow’s entire side was engulfed in flames. It screeched, the deafening sound echoing wide across Adversa. More of the dawn revealed itself.

“Is the Shadow…shrinking?” Floyd asked, pointing up. He wasn’t wrong, the dark creature’s armor slowly getting smaller. It was beginning to lose its hold.

“Without its main source inside the body, it will gather everything, switching from defense to offense, all to make sure nothing can threaten it further,” Krysta explained. Her eyes were still drawn skyward, to the rift pulsing in the sky. The longer Terrill looked, the more he could see the particles of shadow drifting through it, attempting to reach Dimidia as it ate through Adversa. “No matter what, it will hold to the Lifebloods. That’s the only way to keep the rift open.”

“Wait, is that how a rift to Dimidia is created?” Torry asked, finding a new study of research, but casting it aside in favor of the present threat. “So…what does that mean for Adversa? What does that mean for all of the souls?”

“They’re still trapped inside the Shadow. We were drawn towards the center, but the rest of them would be consumed by all of…those.” Krysta’s hands waved around, indicating the undulating tentacles the creature had. “If we cut them loose, we can save the people, but it will continue to feed until the body, itself, is destroyed.”

“Guess we kill that thing, then,” Floyd said, a grin cracking his face while they looked to the Shadow. It had finished extinguishing the fire, but was now smoking with pain.

“That won’t be enough,” Terrill confirmed, his sword cutting through the air. It felt right to be back inside his hand, ready to cut through this monster of untold proportions. “So long as he’s here, he’ll just try to tie it all back together again. And as long as Lumen and Charles remain, he’ll have that ability to. We have to force him through the rift to Dimidia, cutting off his access right here and now.”

“But then…what does that mean for Dimidia…?”

“If we can kill it before it reaches the physical space, then the damage should be minimal,” Krysta said, rolling up her sleeves. The crystalline surface of her skin got Torry’s attention, but with the tendrils drawing back, readying itself for either another attack or to escape into the rift, she dropped whatever question was on her lips. “Terrill is best suited for that task.”

“So, we force it through, but…how? How can we guarantee…?” Torry lost herself in thought, but Terrill thought it wasn’t the time. The Shadow was recovering, its bulbous red eyes finding the four that stood ready for battle. Its mouth creaked ominously, its body crouching low in preparation to leap for them.

“My light. I’ll open the rift wider, and let it suck everyone in.” Her newest declaration was joined by her hands glowing. The crack in the sky pulsed, and one of the severed appendages reached for it, siphoning itself deep inside. Already, it was trying to escape to Dimidia. By the time it would on its own, Adversa would be lost. This was no more evident than by the land disappearing in a shimmering blaze of souls. “You should all be fine. You’re all Blessed. I can hold the fort down here.”

“So, you’re not coming with us,” Terrill said under his breath. He knew this would be the case. He didn’t need to ask a single thing about it, and her look conveyed that he didn’t, as well.

“We can still meet again, Terrill, on the other side. You won’t be in a world without me, I promise. So…I know I haven’t been entirely forthright, but right now, I need all of you to trust me if we’re going to push Golbrucht and his Shadow out of this world!”

Floyd had no problems accepting this as a good enough answer, and Terrill was prepared, as well. Only Torry had enough pause to ask a question. “Krysta, just…how do you know all this? And what even is this thing?”

“That’s… Torry, my answer to you is for another time. I don’t want to lie or withhold the information from you anymore. We’ve come too far for that now,” Krysta said, her breath labored. It must have caused her pain to put it off further, but Terrill believed in what path she had chosen. It was, at the very least, her choice. “So, please, wait a little longer until we’re all together in Dimidia. I’ll tell you everything there.

“And for the Shadow…it is an eldritch creature, born from the splitting of two worlds. It has no form, but always exists. Fifteen years ago, Golbrucht tried to form it through the war, but he failed because it could not thrive on its own within Dimidia. Now, however…”

“That’s good enough for me!’ Terrill shouted, his increased volume warning them of the incoming threat. The Shadow had recovered, and with brimming, black, razor claws, it charged for Terrill. He brought his sword to block the blow. It hissed at him. “The only thing that matters is driving this thing through there, and that means we need all the firepower we’ve got to finish it off! From here on out, we’re fighting against Fiends, monsters, even fate itself! But that means whatever future is to come, it’ll be made by us! By our own choices! Not some force outside our control!”

With Terrill’s rallying cry, he spun his sword, and brought it slashing straight up the Shadow’s midsection, causing it to stumble back. It didn’t like that. Eyes glowing red, the armor of the Shadow reacted, all of its writhing appendages stopping as it zeroed in on the threat. Whatever part wasn’t being absorbed upwards was now aimed directly at their entire group.

“Cut the appendages,” Floyd said with a smirk.

“Drive it home,” Torry replied in kind, nocking an arrow.

“Let’s end this!” The Shadow shrieked and tore across the ground, each footstep eating more of the land. Terrill intercepted its path with a stone wall. It broke through, but Terrill was ready and waiting with his sword. The impact of the creature’s blow was enough to drive Terrill into the dirt, but he held on as Floyd bounded upwards, using the beast’s head as a spring.

“Acceleration Burn!” the redhead shouted, steam pouring from his body as it heated up. The mist covered the Shadow’s face, obscuring its vision and providing Terrill the opening he needed. His blade jabbed towards the ground, creating a stone spire that pierced through the shadowy flesh of the creature. It cried out, and its appendages fired for Floyd while he zipped through the air.

“Torry, mark ‘em up!” The girl had already been on it, firing arrow after arrow towards the racing arms of the Shadow’s armor. Floyd grinned at seeing her so swift, and he flipped to one of the arms, running up it as Torry finished marking them. While she did so, Krysta swung around Terrill’s spire to strike the Shadow’s body in the face with a kick. Her rapier appeared in her hands as she jumped back to Terrill. Behind them, Walter stood guard in case any further attack came his way. “Now, let’s blow ‘em sky high! Combo attack! Prominence Acceleration!”

“Burning Cage!” Torry’s hands let go of her bow, clapping together. The second she did, each individual arrow was lit aflame. They were columns that pierced the rising dawn, joining together in an effort to twist, tangle and burn all of the appendages. Floyd was just as fast, his hastened feet running across the cage with a white-hot blaze, severing the appendages as he went. Soon as most of them were gone, the boy flipped off, but one he had missed went soaring for him. “Wind Javelin!”

From Torry’s bow was a great spear of wind, anchored by the arrow spinning inside of it to impale the last of the appendages. It exploded in a shower of lightning, and the Shadow recoiled. The cocoon over the Abyssal Palace cracked further, the energy needed to sustain itself disappearing.

“No. NO! Give me souls!” The Shadow’s main body opened its mouth, the black saliva dripping to the ground and burning a hole through it. With less and less sustaining it, the creature was being driven into a frenzy, and it attacked without any thought for what was in front of it. This time it was Krysta who held the beast off, her rapier flashing upwards and slicing its arm off with the utmost impunity. It sensed her threat and backed off, but Krysta pushed in on it and Terrill was right at her side.

The arm grew back, just in time for Terrill to bring his sword crashing on it. The blade rebounded, but provided an opening for Krysta to send a thin ray of light through the heart of the Shadow. Even that was not enough to kill it, and once its howling came to an end, both of its arms extended. With it was a flood of shadows.

“Stone Shield!” Terrill cried. His shield was erected from the ground faster than the Shadow could blink, and the darkness crowded it, blasting around it, but never through it. Terrill held his hands out, and Krysta got the drift. “Let’s hurt it enough that it’ll want to escape. Then we follow it straight to Dimidia.”

“Ever the quick tactician, Terrill.” She leaned forward as her foot placed itself on his hands and pecked him on the cheek. Then he threw her upwards over the shield. Torry skidded into view, her winds spiraling out to provide Krysta a quicker way down, and she wasn’t alone. A different tailwind came from behind, Walter supporting them even while he looked over the fallen ones. Krysta spun in midair, the tip of her rapier brighter than the rest of its body. “Rend!”

“Weep!” The Shadow had turned in time to see her attack coming, and light clashed with darkness. The singular slash of light fought with the blaze of shadows coming off the creature, locked in a stalemate.

Terrill ended that stalemate. His hand thrust against his own shield, turning it into rocks that flew out and battered upon the Shadow. The distraction of the attack allowed Krysta to pierce through, breaking the fires and jabbing her sword straight through the beast’s head. Had it been any other creature, it would have been dead, but the head reformed, and the Shadow’s claws slashed upward.

“Might want to pay attention!” Floyd shouted, his burning feet carrying him to intercept. His daggers flew straight into the path with a cross-guard, deflecting the Shadow’s blow. His weapons were lost to him, and both Floyd and Krysta were thrown to the ground.

The Shadow’s claws descended once more, but they were slower this time, their sharpness dulled. Terrill intervened, slashing it up. He stepped forward, his sword beating a path that the creature couldn’t catch up with. It was sluggish.

“That’s it!” he shouted, turning as Torry helped the other fighters up. “Attack the armor! That’ll slow it down! Crack the armor just enough, and we’ll send it flying before it has the chance to retaliate!”

“Leave that to me!” It was Walter’s words that caught Terrill off-guard, yet he couldn’t refute them. If there was anyone good enough at canceling something like a protective armor, it was the man whose wind had paralyzed even a Fiend. “Krysta, imbue my wind with light! Let us shatter despair!”

“Floyd, pull back to Lumen and Charles. Torry, the second they crack it, you and I are sending this thing flying!”

“D-d-d-die first!” The Shadow’s speech was even more distorted, fearing for its very existence. Whatever limbs it had left came charging from the armor in the air, all looking to consume Walter. He whipped his spear out, its tip blazing with enchanted light that could have only come from Krysta. She was left defenseless, and the Shadow saw this, its main body slow, but moving to attack her.

“You first!” Torry shouted, her arrow whizzing through the air to halt its path. The Shadow pulled back, red eyes wide while it avoided the projectile. Torry never had any intention of it hitting, and soon as it got close, she snapped, the wood breaking into water that sprayed all over the Shadow’s body. Another snap later and it was encased in ice, buying them a few moments to strike.

Walter continued to fly through the air, his spear spinning at a rotation Terrill couldn’t follow. He beat his way through the tentacles and limbs that stood in his path, some of them diverting course once smacked away and aiming for Floyd. The boy was too fast for each hit, burning every limb as it grew close. Walter didn’t stop, breaking free of what was left. The sun rose at last, illuminating the air and the warbling Shadow that had shrunk, its cocoon only three people wide now. It had become even smaller than the rift in the sky. The hunter flew through, like a blazing bullet of light that was going for glory.

“King of the Dark, your shadow ends here! Armorbreaker Gale!” There was nothing left to stop Walter, and he drove his spear into the very core of the Shadow. It stopped before hitting the center, no doubt a result of Golbrucht protecting himself, but it mattered little. The armor cracked, its chinks made of light until, with a mighty roar, that protective covering broke apart. Walter fell, but no one despaired, seeing inside the mess of strings that Golbrucht wrapped himself up in, tying himself to the creature that was shivering. “Now! Knock it sky-high and end this!”

“Gaian Column!” Terrill and Torry shouted in tandem, their fists bumping one another while they slammed the ground. The ground cracked and rumbled beneath the Shadow, its spiderweb of fissures spreading out, until the fist emerged. It slammed the iceberg of the creature, and sent it flying straight towards where the rest of its body lay. Within the pulsing core, Golbrucht’s eyes widened, but for a moment he was unable to act. Atrum was still fighting back.

“Burns… They burn… Must kill! Must be FREE!” The howling became torturous screams that rocked everyone there. The Shadow fled, crawling upwards for the rest of its body. It dove into the darkness, coming out the other end and breaking into the rift to Dimidia. The light shined out from it, each for one Lifeblood that was funneling into it, creating the way home.

“Blast it apart, Krysta! Now or never!” Terrill shouted.

She swallowed, steeling herself for the act that would come next. Her feet planted themselves on the ground, standing resolute, as what formed in her hands was an orb of light. The Shadow looked down, and Golbrucht with it, fearing the light that was there. The Fiend of Darkness raised his hand, but was unable to form the spark of darkness necessary to snuff out her light. She glared up at him. “Go back to your shadows, Fiend! Begone! Luster Beam!”

She fired, the great cannon of light searing the very air around them with blinding luminescence. Atrum’s body screamed, and the Shadow screeched with him, each knowing how damaged they would be when it hit. They still could not move, and Terrill watched the great beam burn through the air and run itself through Fiend and Shadow both. The cannon of light hit the rift in the sky, and Terrill felt the energy created from it threaten to pitch him to the ground.

Next came the tug.

“It’s open…” he called, but couldn’t be heard over the howling of the wind. The great crack in the sky shook, and from it there was an outpouring of energy, all of the elements contained. Just like that, his body began to be pulled upwards, as if it knew that he no longer belonged in Adversa. “Is it…sending us home? Krysta!”

“Don’t worry, Terrill, you’re going where you belong! All of you!”

“DIE, YOU FILTHY LIGHT!” The Shadow had lost all semblance of intelligence. While its body was starting to flow into the rift, its final appendages pulled back, the cocoon around the Lifeblood of Darkness fading. They were free from the hold of the Shadow as it raced for Dimidia and attempted to snuff out Krysta’s light.

She was unfettered, and with one hand, created a shield that the Shadow rebounded from, howling with pain. Terrill felt himself rise further, the rift calling him back home. The pieces of the Shadow that weren’t attacking Krysta with hatred were trying to escape on through. He wouldn’t let it.

As the Shadow struck Krysta’s shield, driving her backwards, the broken trees were tossed into the air, and Terrill saw his path forward. He landed on one and bounded up, allowing the road home to carry him towards the creature. Below him, Floyd, Torry and Walter were rising, Lumen and Charles’s bodies floating upon the wind.

“Krysta, I’m holding you to your promise, got it?!” Terrill roared, flying through the air towards the unprotected Golbrucht. More and more of the Shadow was fleeing into the rift that was shrinking before their very eyes, the power of the Lifebloods no longer holding it open. “We’ll meet on the other side, and you’ll tell us everything!”

“Yes! I promise, Terrill!” A last, singular appendage struck for her, but she deflected it to the side, and with her free hand, cast one more spell. Terrill’s blade glowed with holy light.

“Promise us, too, then!” Floyd shouted. He was swimming on the air, but failing to reach Terrill. He was soon tangled up in Lumen and Charles, the three Adversan souls pushing them off and towards Terrill. “We’re just souls, so promise us that we’ll meet on the other side!”

“Then we can be friends for real!” Torry shouted. Terrill twisted his head around, but his sword remained straight as an arrow.

“There was never any doubt! I’ll find you when I get home!”

“There’s no home for you, Terrill!” His vision snapped back, and the last remnants of the Shadow wrapped tightly around Golbrucht. They were almost at the rift, but the Fiend would not let him through. His strings shot for Terrill, looking to thread him into a carcass.

But Terrill wasn’t alone.

Walter soared through the air, his spear using the last vestiges of its light to split the string in two before his and Torry’s wind sent Lumen and Charles flying for the rift, soon sucked inside of it. Terrill followed suit. As their bodies began to reach the gate to Dimidia, the way out of the otherworld at last, the three souls began to fade, returning to their counterparts in Dimidia as they passed through, their Blessings activated. “You better keep that promise, Terrill. Help me…find that hope.”

“Yeah, I’ll make good on it. I always keep my promises!” Terrill shouted, and with one last support from the winds of his friends, Terrill leapt for Atrum. His blade kept itself from the boy, but his fist soared out in an uppercut smashing him and the Shadow both into the tunnel that led home. “And I promised you, Atrum! I’m taking you home, right now!”

“Terrill!” Two voices called at once, one of anger, and one of gratitude, but Terrill heeded neither. He kept soaring forth, through the crack of the sky, and before it closed upon him, his fist carried them into the last passage of the Lifeblood he would take from Adversa.

His body squeezed in on itself, the familiar tightening of the passageway pressing upon his chest, but Terrill continued on. His hand let go of Atrum, and his feet slammed upon the boy’s chest, knocking the wind out of the Fiend that controlled him. The Shadow was just ahead, running from the light.

“You wanted to trap everyone in their fears? Well, have a taste of your own! Begone, Shadow!”

“NOOOOOOOOO!” The curdling scream was the last thing it could utter. Terrill’s blade shined with its holy light, blinding the creature, and before it could retaliate, Terrill plunged into the beast’s very heart.

The strings snapped around it, no armor left to protect it. The light cracked its very body apart, the scream crying through the air, mixed with those of Golbrucht’s as his creation fell to pieces before his very eyes. Light surged through the Shadow’s body where Terrill kept pushing through, until, with a final scream of effort, Terrill tore through the Shadow’s body. The slash expanded, becoming an explosion of light that scattered the Shadow into the air. It hung for a second, and like a wind, it faded away into nothingness.

Then, the journey came to its abrupt end.

Terrill’s body hit hard ground, rolling across it with a sickening thud. His breath was knocked from his lungs and his ears began to ring. A cough rose from his lips while his eyes adjusted to the bright light of the sun, cresting over the sea. His fingers dug around, searching for the hilt of his sword which he soon found, just as he heard a wave crash on the island where he found himself. His other hand dug at the earth, using it to pull himself up, the mess that was his head trying to orient itself to his new surroundings. Terrill retained but one presence of mind to give a voice to his thoughts.

“Lumen! Charles!” His hurried cry was met with groans, ones that signified they were alive; a condition good enough for Terrill. Feeling reassured, Terrill finally came to stand, and when his eyes took in what he was seeing, he almost dropped his sword. “I know this place…”

It took a moment, his feet scraping across blackened land caused by the Shadow, to realize that he knew the ruins upon which they stood. It was the familiar bricks and mortar of the castle that once belonged to the Fiend they had just been fighting. And across the sea were the similarly familiar castle and docks of their home. They had made it to Sayn.

“Are we…home?” Lumen choked out, awakening at long last. “Is it Dimidia?”

Terrill didn’t know, and couldn’t produce the answer, but there were three souls missing that confirmed it beyond a doubt. It went doubly so for the fact that Atrum was already gone. Where they had landed, too, the small rift that had brought them home winked out of existence, leaving nothing but the sea, island and ruins behind. However, when Terrill looked down, he also saw the great burn. Beyond, the hills of Sayn looked equally charred.

It had bled over.

“What now? If we’re home, what comes next?” Charles asked. He sounded ready to pass out again, but he waited for Terrill’s response to their newest conundrum.

The Shadow had left its mark, even upon Dimidia. Golbrucht had failed, but this one definitive sight said that he wasn’t done yet. The Lifebloods remained in danger. Dimidia and Adversa both were threatened by his continued existence.

The course was clear.

“Next…” Terrill said, slinging his sword around and sheathing it, his determination imparting itself to the others. “Next, we take the fight to them. Let’s play offense. Let’s save Dimidia.”

In his soul, Terrill knew: the final act in the battle against the Fiends had begun.

TO BE CONTINUED…