Despite her growing fatigue, Melanthina felt oddly safe. Maybe that was actually because of the mental fatigue, messing with her brain. How could she be safe, here in a place where even the environment wanted to kill her? Even if Nik kept the light element away from her, she wasn’t actually as safe as if she was with someone… stronger. No offense to him, but he was only a match for herself- and she knew she wasn’t powerful in the grand scheme of things.

“Do you recognize any landmarks?” Melanthina asked.

“Unfortunately, the Prismatic Chambers shift with time. The last time the Combining Luster Sect came here, there were clouds of insects lighting a path. And a shaft of light coming from the depths of the earth. The rest is just crystals on stone walls,” he gestured vaguely, “Which could only possibly guide someone if they had seen them before.”

“We haven’t run into anyone…” Melanthina frowned. “But your sect was heading here, correct?”

“Assuming we haven’t stumbled onto an entirely different an unconnected series of light chambers,” Nik confirmed. Upon looking at Melanthina’s response, he quickly clarified, “But there’s been no records of such a thing. We just have to find somewhere familiar. Or someone who would let us follow them out. As long as it’s not the Gleaming Sun Sect.”

“Or the Righteous Flame League.”

“Or them,” Nik agreed. “I wonder what happened to Zoubida.”

“Why?” Melanthina asked, accidentally tightening her grip.

“Because if she didn’t get herself killed running off alone, she might not have nice things to say about me.”

“That’s because she’s stupid.”

“That won’t actually change how people react,” Nik shrugged.

Silence dominated their time, even though they weren’t actually attempting stealth. Speaking took energy, and something to talk about. Melanthina didn’t do much chatting with anyone but her siblings and to a lesser extent other family, and talking about their current situation was just depressing. Nik didn’t initiate much either, simply commenting on features they came across.

They came across a chamber, empty except for the ever-present light element. It was actually rather nice, not too bright. Upon the walls danced patterns that seemed to come from nowhere. It was like sunlight in the clear ocean around Pualani, dancing on the sandy floor.

“This is caused by luminescent strings,” Nik explained. “A form of spirit light, but it actually had some solidity and surprising durability.”

“Do people weave them into clothing?”

“People have tried it,” Nik said, leaning his staff against himself then stretching his free hand out, grabbing at nothing. “Tell me, does this seem like good material?”

“Does… what?” Melanthina asked.

“Here, feel it. It’s non-volatile.”

Melanthina sheathed her dagger and took the nothing from Nik’s hand. In it, she felt perhaps the softest thing she’d ever experienced. Shadowsilk could only just match it. “Wow this is… amazing.”

“Right? Would you wear it?”

“Well, it is light element so… probably not?”

“That’s the only reason?” Nik raised an eyebrow.

“Why else would-” Melanthina blushed, “I mean, obviously there are other factors that make it poor as a material. Perhaps a cloak of gloves might do.”

“Good idea,” Nik admitted. “People find things to do with it anyway, so it’s still valuable. I don’t suppose you have a spool?”

“Fresh out,” Melanthina replied.

“Hmm…” Nik frowned, rummaging through his storage bag. “This will have to do, I guess. My backup staff.”

“I think I saw that one before. During one of our duels,” Melanthina clarified.

“It’s a shame to just throw out a perfectly good weapon. And you never know when something will be destroyed.” Nik let go of Melanthina to use both hands spooling up as much of the practically invisible thread as possible. The patterns in the room faded away, leaving a pleasant glow around the staff. Nik did something to tie off the ends. “That’ll have to do.”

He put it away, then naturally reached out for Melanthina’s hand again. She considered refusing, but it was more efficient and less awkward than him simply hovering around her trying to deflect the light element. And though this particular chamber was fairly timid, others could be quite draining.

-----

“... What conflict do you have with the Gleaming Sun Sect?”

“Historical sect squabbles,” Nik replied. “Why?”

“I was just thinking maybe we shouldn’t allow fire and light cultivators. The Righteous Flame League is also awful.” Then Melanthina cleared her throat, “Also I sense them up ahead. The Gleaming Sun.” Now that they were brought to her mind again, Melanthina remembered they weren’t exactly on good terms with the Tenebach clan either. They were significantly weaker so that wouldn’t be a problem except that she was the young mistress of the clan off by herself. And a second Foundation Phase cultivator wouldn’t change the odds any. They had more than a handful in the group up ahead, and twice that in the Spiritual Collection Phase.

“Now that you mention it,” Nik frowned. “I can sense them. I think… they’re coming this way.” He looked at Melanthina. “Do we run? I don’t think fighting is an option.”

“Running would just get us caught,” Melanthina said. “At the very least, I stand out in this place. If we split up-”

Nik began to pull her down a side tunnel, with haste but not such speed that it required outputting spiritual energy. “Maybe they haven’t noticed us yet. I’m sure they could be distracted by something shiny.”

“What’s this way?” Melanthina asked.

“Nothing of interest. Which is the point.”

“... Is that supposed to include no tunnels?”

“Dammit,” Nik also sensed the end of their tunnel up ahead. “It most certainly was not. Alright, what if I go back and-”

“Can you follow my guidance?” Melanthina asked. “Perhaps we can camouflage ourselves among the light element here.”

“Light isn’t much good for hiding,” Nik pointed out.

Melanthina kept them walking forward. “We have to try. And darkness cultivators know how to conceal things.”

“If this doesn’t work-”

“Then we’ll have to hope they get distracted by something else. I think they’re already at the entrance of our little tunnel here.” Melanthina pulled Nik up against the wall, keeping their connection. “Work with my flow. We want to match the surroundings.”

“They’ll just be able to see us.”

“I heard from my father that light can be bent around people for invisibility.”

“I don’t know how to do that,” Nik admitted.

“Then we’d better figure it out quickly.” Melanthina reached out for Nik, her spiritual energy wanting to react destructively with his. That certainly would not be allowed. She’d spent a lot of effort learning how to make it not do that, but actually working with light would be… new.

Strands of energy intertwined like fingers, and the two of them managed not to kill each other. Neither of them could spare the attention to determine if the Gleaming Sun Sect was approaching or not. They had to focus entirely on their efforts.

First the outer flow of energy was made to match the surroundings. Then they began the complicated process of bending the light. Melanthina kept her voice low as she gave verbal guidance. “We need to make sure that the light from the wall behind us reflects back to their eyes, and the same in reverse.” They were wedged into a divot in the wall so the angle they had to deal with was less, at least. “Focus on the flow of energy, since small visual aberrations will likely be ignored by cultivators if the spiritual energy is as expected.”

Nik was good at this. Then again, he should be. He had plenty of practice dealing with darkness just from fights with her. He knew what people would be looking for. “... Is it supposed to go dark?” he whispered.

“I’d assume that’s from the light no longer reaching our eyes,” Melanthina replied. “Quiet now. I think I hear someone approaching.”

Footfalls on stone soon became clear enough, and they couldn’t do anything but hope their concealment was effective.

“I swear I sensed someone,” said a masculine voice.

“Well there isn’t anyone here now,” replied a feminine voice. “Just a dead end tunnel.”

“... Maybe there’s a hidden passage?”

A sudden burst of energy sent the tunnel to trembling, a wave of heat washing over the two hiding individuals. “Doesn’t feel like it. Seems solid. Let’s return to looking for something tangible instead of chasing ghosts.”

Melanthina wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but she knew that was exactly the wrong time to do so. She continued to control her breath, never actually holding it so she would not become lightheaded. She felt Nik’s breath following the same pattern.

After the footsteps receded, she wasn’t sure how long it took for Nik to say something. “When can we stop? I don’t know if I can hold this.”

“You can drop the visual,” Melanthina said. “Hold onto the other. I’ll try to sense how far they’ve gone.”

Suddenly, two faces were looking at each other up close. Too close. Melanthina distracted herself with what she’d said she would do, picking up senses of light mixed with fire as subtly as possible.

“They definitely moved past,” she confirmed. “If you can maintain this while moving, we can slip down the tunnel they came from originally.”

Melanthina led the way, choosing where they stepped and their pace, her clasped hand trailing behind. She was pretty sure her fingers were numb, and Nik’s would be too- or aching, perhaps.

Soon the feeling of the Gleaming Sun Sect faded behind them. The tension slowly receded from them, and pins and needles flowed into Melanthina’s hand. But she didn’t want to let go, or she’d have to face the light element around them.

“Finally,” Nik sighed, dropping the extra concealment. “I don’t know how you keep that up.”

“Practice,” Melanthina shrugged, “And perhaps darkness is better suited for such deceptions.”

-----

Sometime after their next rest, they sensed another group incoming. “Powerful,” Nik commented. “I don’t know if we can avoid them. They’re also… an odd group.”

“I can’t quite pick them out,” Melanthina admitted. “What’s odd?”

“Pure light element cultivators. Mixed with pure fire cultivators, and pure earth cultivators.”

“Really?” Melanthina’s eyes lit up. “That might be-” she stifled her enthusiasm. “We should try to find out who they are.”

“What were you going to say?”

Melanthina shook her head, “That’s the same configuration as part of our group. Can you tell the styles?”

“Just the elements from here. There are… multiple Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators.”

“We have to approach,” Melanthina said. “If they’re enemies… they might already have sensed us. If they’re neutral, I can buy our way out.”

“With what?”

“Promises of clan funds,” Melanthina admitted. “I don’t have enough of value on me to bother killing me, if they’re not already enemies.”

“Sounds nice,” Nik admitted.

“You’d be coming as well, of course. I couldn’t just leave you.”

“How nice. I suppose we have to determine if they’re friendly or not, first.” Nik frowned, “They seem to have turned towards us.”

Tension filled Melanthina. It could be an unknown alliance of enemies- the Tenebach clan had more than a few groups that would want to kill her. But it could also be friendly. She could pick them out now, through the light element. Then she began to recognize their aura. Her steps sped up.

“Are you in a hurry for something?”

“It is them,” Melanthina confirmed. “The Golden Tomb Guardians, Milanovic clan, and the Amber Heart.” Tears slowly rolled down her face. “Right?”

“Seems so,” Nik said. He also seemed relieved, though he was clearly less immediately relaxed with the incoming group.

Flames. Suddenly in front of them was a whirlwind of blue fire. “Who the hell are you, kid, to make this nice young woman cry?”

“Uh, I-” Nik stammered.

“That’s her boyfriend,” said a feminine voice that pulled back the blue flames with some green.

“Oh, that guy,” flames faded, revealing Lucanus and Yustina. “‘Sup, kid?”

“He’s not-” Melanthina dropped Nik’s hand. “He was just helping me fend off the light element.”

“Sure thing,” Lucanus said.

“I mean it!” Melanthina frowned. “But I’m sure he’s quite fatigued so… perhaps I could get assistance from someone else…?”

“Of course,” Yustina said, looking back towards Deirdre. “I don’t suppose we could give an explanation of why you’re here with just him?”

Melanthina hung her head. “It’s complicated and… long.” If only she’d dodged the correct way. Or watched her feet. Or chosen a different path. But at least she’d survived. Melanthina didn’t even realize her knees were giving out until Nik was propping her up under her elbow. Her consciousness slowly faded away as others caught up to Lucanus and Yustina.