Elia slumped, shoulders trembling. “The timing, there’s so much to do to seal it.” She whirled on Ser Loran, voice shaking as understanding dawned in her. “You said we could close it from the outside with my mana. But that would take a minute, maybe more. You’re not planning to hold off those bears yourself, are you?”

The knight gave her a level stare with a somber expression on his face, eyes downcast but resolute. “That was always the plan. You knew that deep down.”

She let out a half-choked sob tears forming in her eyes. “I can help you fight if we hold them at the threshold for a few seconds, long enough to collapse the rift behind us. There has to be a better way.”

“We have no time for a standoff Elia” Ser Loran retorted. “The portal is too unstable. If even one of those spined monsters pushes through, it could blow up the entire exit opening it wide and dooming us all. We’ll lose everything, i've seen it once before Elia. Tellemoria’s farmland or any place beyond could be ravaged by those beasts with impunity and I won't have that happen on my watch.”

Elia’s tears spilled over. “Then... then let me be the one to stay,” she whispered, voice trembling with determination. “You’re worth more to this realm than I am, Loran.”

James watched, stunned. Part of him wanted to say something, to protest that neither of them should be left behind. But the logic was brutal: a wave rift sub-exit required time to close, time that was measured in heartbeats of life or death. And behind them, an echoing snarl coming from the ravine below reminded him that those hearts might stop beating very soon.

A new, terrible roar rumbled from somewhere on the slopes below. The beasts were near. Very near.

Ser Loran inhaled sharply. “Elia, your job is to get to the other side and seal this rift behind us. Nothing can disrupt the closing, or you and everyone else are doomed. And it will take at least a minute to close.” He steeled himself, locking eyes with her. “You must follow my command, Elia. This is not a debate.”

She shook her head vehemently, tears streaming down her cheeks. “But...”

“Enough.” The knight’s voice was cold with finality. “Do not defy me in this.”

James felt a wave of sympathy and horror rising in his chest. He had never heard Ser Loran speak to Elia like that in the short time he's known them, so commanding, so absolute. And from the devastation on Elia’s face, she had never heard it either.

“Please,” she whispered, but Ser Loran gave a small shake of his head.

He said in a softer tone. “The portal is ready. Go, now.”

Elia’s shoulders rose in a shuddering breath, and then she gave James a haunted look. The battered young man could only stare back, numb. Elia brushed at her tears, turned on her heel, and forced herself to walk to the portal. Each step seemed to cost her every ounce of will. The swirling curtains of mana reflected in her tear-blurred eyes.

She paused once, face twisted in grief, but Ser Loran’s expression did not waver. And so Elia stepped through the sub-exit. Her figure rippled, then vanished.

For a heartbeat, the portal flared so bright that James had to shield his eyes. When his vision cleared, Elia was gone and the portal’s surface was dimmer, crackling with arcs of stress. With every crossing, the sub-exit’s instability grew.

James realized that only he and Ser Loran were left. And the monstrous bears would be here in within the minute.

A frantic question burst out of him. “What about me? I can’t fight them, not like you”

“You’re not going to,” Ser Loran said quietly. He swung one leg over Starfall’s back, dismounting. Dust billowed around his boots. James stared in confusion as the knight handed him the reins. “Take her,” Loran murmured, giving the mare’s flank a reassuring pat while looking intently in her eyes. “She’ll obey you.”

James’s eyes widened. “What? Are you crazy? You’re leaving your aethermare behind?”

Ser Loran didn’t answer at first. He simply pressed a small ring into James’s trembling hand. it was a silver band etched with an intricate crest. “You keep this safe,” the knight said softly. “And remember this day James, son of Anthonellis and Ariebel. My debt is paid.”

James blinked down at the ring, confusion blending with dread. The crest depicted a stylized sword crossing a starburst, Ser Loran’s personal insignia ring, James saw him fiddling with around the fire when they were resting. “But I... I don’t understand”

The knight’s voice dropped, urgent as he glanced back at the incoming Bears, less than a mile away. “Listen to me James. You cannot let vengeance or bitterness guide you, no matter what you’ve suffered. Live for the sake of life. For your friends, and for the chance to be better. The world is cruel, but also beautiful. Don't let it harden your heart boy.”

James could scarcely breathe. He knew Ser Loran had hammered that lesson into him before, don’t let revenge hollow you out, but to hear it now, in this seemingly final moment, made James’s throat tighten. “But—”

Ser Loran closed James’s hand around the ring. “Survive, James. That is the only order I give you. Survive, and do better than we who came before.”

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Then, in one swift motion, the knight smacked Starfall on the rump. The mare jerked, let out a shrill neigh, and surged forward. James let out a startled yelp, his grip tightening on the saddle horn as Starfall barreled straight for the portal. He tried to turn the horse, tried to protest, but the powerful mare was well-trained under Ser Loran’s commands. She leaped into the swirling veil of mana.

For a split second, James felt his body compress, as if the entire world folded around him. The sub-exit’s dimensional warp seized him, spinning him through a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes. Then, with a bone-jarring lurch, he broke through.

He gasped at a sudden rush of cold, fresh air. Starfall landed on grassy earth, stumbling slightly before regaining balance. They were on a field with waist-high grass, patches of farmland visible in the distance. Evening light painted everything in dusky gold. It was such a stark contrast to the half-light and jagged rocks inside the wave rift that James nearly fell off the saddle in shock.

“Fates,” he breathed, heart pounding. He whipped around in the saddle, expecting to see Ser Loran behind him. Instead, he saw only the swirling sub-exit, still open but trembling at its edges.

Nearby, Elia staggered, staff in hand, tears shining on her cheeks. Marcus had collapsed on one knee, holding his bloody side, while Joey stood by with a horrified expression. Betsy and Elia’s mare stamped the ground nervously. Jackson was no where to be seen.

Joey pointed. “Look! Ser Loran’s still, still in there!”

James stared, horror surging in his chest. The monstrous roars carried through the portal, echoing faintly, as though from the bottom of a well. He could see the silhouette of Ser Loran inside the rift, sword raised, confronting at least eight of the spined bears that lurked at the edges of flickering mana. The beasts roared, spines crackling with dark energy. Their hunger and rage seemed to distort the air itself.

Elia let out a choked sob, swallowing hard. “I- I have to close it behind him, or they’ll come through. He told me to. H-He commanded me.”

James’s voice shook. “But he’s going to die if he fights them alone!”

A sudden spike of anger flared in him. Anger at the man who had flung him through the portal, anger at the monstrous predators, anger at the insane cruelty of this entire situation. But even as that rage lit his veins, he remembered Loran’s words: Don’t let vengeance be the only thing driving you.

Elia raised her staff, chanting. Mana swirled around her in faint ribbons. “Ser Loran said the portal needs a full minute to collapse so nothing bleeds through. Nothing can disrupt me,” she managed, voice cracking.

Marcus, pale-faced, forced himself upright. “I’ll guard you,” he muttered, unsheathing his sword with a trembling hand. Looking around there was no immediate threat, but Marcus didn't look like he was in shape to fight off a bunny in his state. “Hurry.” He said, eyes half closed.

Joey clutched the reins of Elia’s mare, tears streaming. “He can’t handle so many. This is, someone has to help...”

Marcus’s gaze flicked to James, who was frozen with helplessness. “Don’t you dare, boy,” he hissed, interpreting James’s twitch forward and his hand reaching around to the Trident strapped to Starfall. “If you jump back in there, you’ll only get yourself killed, and Loran will have died for nothing.”

James clenched his fists, trembling. Through the portal’s wavering membrane, he could see Loran bracing himself, sword glinting in the half-light. The bears circled. James didn’t know how the knight could stand against eight of those horrors alone.

Yet Ser Loran had always seemed to be able to do the impossible.

A savage roar reverberated, shaking the sub-exit like a cloth in a storm. In that moment, the beasts lunged and James' breath caught in his lungs. Ser Loran parried the first blow, dancing back in a swirl of dust. Another bear raked at him from the flank, he deflected, but the momentum drove him stumbling. James bit down on his lip, watching in horror. Each monstrous swipe looked strong enough to pulverize bone. But Ser Loran refused to yield.

Inside the rift, the knight’s sword flashed in a quicksilver arc with glowing mana pouring off it, cutting deep into one bear’s muzzle. Blood spattered. The beast toppled with a shriek, but two more barreled in from the sides. Loran pivoted, splitting them with a cross-slash, though he took a savage blow to his chest plate. He staggered. Even from this side of reality, James could see the dent in the metal.

Elia’s voice rose, chanting in a staccato rhythm. Arcane symbols glowed around her staff. Wind whipped her hair. “Close... close! by the laws of Thesra, by the binding of the Aether, I banish this rift!” The words spilled out, dripping with power.

The sub-exit shimmered, edges beginning to shrink. James’s heart lurched, Loran was still locked in combat. If Elia finished the incantation, the portal would collapse around him, leaving him trapped. Or worse, it might sever him if he tried to leap through at the last second. A sob tore from James’s throat. “Come on, Loran, get out of there, jump through!”

But the knight wasn’t trying to escape. With each passing second, he drew the bears’ attention deeper into the rift’s interior, away from the portal mouth, ensuring they wouldn’t slip around him to cross over. Blood streaked Loran’s armor, testament to vicious hits that would have killed a lesser fighter. Still, he slashed and stepped, controlling the flow of battle with masterful footwork like a painter sending beautiful strokes onto canvas. Each second was a second Elia needed to finish sealing them off.

Joey let out a pained whimper. “He’s not coming. He... he’s really going to—”

Marcus inhaled sharply, face contorted with grief. “He’s buying us time. That’s all we can do now. Don’t let it be in vain.”

Elia’s chanting grew louder, tears coursing down her cheeks. The swirling edges of the sub-exit flickered like a giant bubble of shimmering water about to burst. Inside, Loran roared, parrying a bear’s strike so fierce that sparks shot from his blade. Another beast clamped its jaws on his shoulder guard. Metal screeched and Loran drove his sword into the creature’s neck, prying it off, but a new set of claws raked his back. James’s nails bit into his palms as he watched the knight’s body spasm from the impact.

Time slowed. Loran’s gaze flicked up, seemingly meeting James’s eyes across the diminishing threshold. Despite everything, a faint smile tugged at the corners of Loran’s mouth. He lifted his sword one last time, ignoring the fresh wave of agony. That look told James more than words ever could: Live. Please. Live.

In a final flurry, Loran hacked through the sinewy foreleg of one monstrous bear, forcing it to collapse. Another lunged, he turned, sword raised, but it hammered him in the flank. Loran stumbled to a knee, blood streaming. The rift’s corruption seemed to twist the air around the monstrous forms, fueling their rage. They closed in like wolves around a wounded stag.

James screamed, but he didn’t even hear it, only felt the ragged burn in his throat. A swirl of azure mana enveloped the portal, crackling in arcs that danced along its surface. Elia’s staff flared white-hot, her voice hitting a crescendo. “By the power of the Aether, I cast you out!” She drove the staff into the ground. A visible shockwave rippled outward.

The sub-exit collapsed, shrinking to a pinprick of electric blue before winking out entirely. The last thing James saw was one monstrous bear rearing up, claws aimed at Loran’s exposed torso, and Loran bracing for impact. Then... there was nothing. Just the empty hush of farmland at twilight.