You have dominated the third floor!

You have vanquished the Cult of Balek!

Amareth blesses you!

Your name has been etched on the stone of Olderund—The eyes that see for all time!

You have been recognized as the Heroes of Gaora!

David stared at the messages from where he sat. His legs hurt, but most of all, he was bleeding from five other places. Some were minor injuries, but his shoulder wound was bad. In front of him, the remains of Krak was a heap of black sand. The man was completely corrupted. David groaned when he tried to move. All the pain he was able to ignore before now felt like a living organism within him. And it was spreading. He dragged himself to a pillar and put his whole weight on it. There, he thought. The throbbing didn’t stop, but his back wasn’t on fire anymore. That was better.

“David,” Tara said, limping over to him. Behind her, Jeremy held his bleeding hand. They looked terrible. David didn’t see much of their fight, but he had thought they would take down the golem faster than that. Then he saw the shiny orb in Tara’s hands. An essence core. Which meant their golem had been able to heal and fight endlessly too. David sighed.

“Are you alright?” David asked as Tara crumpled in front of him. Her hair was a mess and her face was covered in dirt, and so was the rest of her body. She’d been slashed, but they all seemed like grazes and shallow cuts. Jeremy didn’t look bad either. His blonde hair was stained with blood, but his eyes were as stoic as ever. He gave David a nod and sat next to him, resting against the pillar.

“Where is Tez?” David asked. Elisha was bringing Chloe over and Hanna seemed to carry Claire's weight as they walked over. Zoey was the brightest of them all. Her Vjognir perched on her hair, his voice coming out in whispers as they got closer. She gave David a seething glare and then sighed as if giving up on whatever scolding she had planned to give him. David gave her a childish grin, knowing that what he did had scared her and it probably wasn’t going to be the last time.

“He has his own hidden world, like Galan?” Tara asked and David nodded. He remembered the world and its emptiness. It felt like being in a vacuum. How had Krak felt powerful there? It was nothing like Galan’s. He moaned when he moved his head to look at Chloe. Elisha set her down in front of David. She looked peaceful. Her chest heaved up and settled down slowly, but there must be something else. David banished the memory of what Nurend had said. He had won, it wouldn’t make sense to lose his sister just after he had won. He placed his hand on Chloe’s chest and eliminated every sound and sensation. It came slowly to him, the silence. The last noise was the thudding of his own heart. It was difficult to quieten the panic.

Chloe’s heart gave slow, labored thuds. But that wasn’t what David wanted to see. He pushed further, willing Chaos to help him, but the boy was gone. The backlash of using so much essence had almost killed him, but Chaos made himself immaterial at the last moment, removing further pressure on David. That had saved him, but now he felt alone.

Calm down, he thought to himself. He didn’t have to fear, he didn’t even know what was wrong yet. He reached father him, trying to calm his other senses so he could see–more like feel–the essence channels in his sister. He had a better affinity for something like this than any of them. He could do it. David sighed and inhaled.

He repeated it slowly, trying to push himself to a state of nothingness. But whenever he felt closer to it, his panic rose to tamper with the peace he’d tried to achieve. Fear, David thought. He was too scared. There was so much to lose and that was impeding his progress. So many questions caused chaos in him, blocking his path. He was a leaf being whisked in a windstorm. His body shook with the stress of what he was doing. There was no wind, but his sweat felt cold on his back, making him shiver. Fear was a malignant vermin, burrowing into him, leeching at his strength. And he tried to banish it.

He could insert essence into Chloe, and use it as a guide to assess what was wrong with her. He could do that, but if he wasn’t sure how essence was moving within her, he could kill her. Your simple knowledge of essence…That was what Ignis had said and the dragon was right. They knew so little and understood even less. It was by luck that they had survived so far.

“David,” Zoey called, placing her hand on his shoulder. David’s neck snapped to her, his eyes opening with a burning glare. Then his eyes softened and pain pushed up his chest and spine and that roaring fire spread all over his back. He bit down the moan and turned back to his sister in his arms. “You are overthinking again. Your brows move like a madman’s when you do that.”

“Yeah, like Dad. You have that crazy look too,” Elisha added and David chuckled darkly. He was going to knock Elisha for that later. But they were right, his mind was a whirlpool and he was sinking fast. He had to calm down and let things work smoothly, on their own. He was simply a tunnel, not a wave. He could guide the essence, and move it, but he couldn’t create the power in it. He had to stop trying.

“Alright,” He whispered, trying again. Their breathing was sharp in his ear after a while. He could hear the sighs, the clipped moan of pain and Hanna cursing. He winced when he felt Chloe’s heartbeat under his palm, it had kicked up hard. Something was wrong. David caught himself quickly, pulling back from the panic that would have drowned him and ruined everything. He silenced the fear and the questions, letting himself feel at ease as essence soaked into him through his pores and channels. He let himself ride the wave of pain that echoed all over his body, being one with the sensation until it was almost too familiar to be a hindrance. The worst of them he let essence soothe away.

Then he pushed on Chloe, adding a little bit of pressure and letting his senses expand. He pushed her breathing to the back of his mind. The soft, barely audible moans too. She shivered in his arm and he pushed that away, burrowing deep within, searching for the problem. It was annoying. Usually, it was easier to sense essence, but now it was like a wisp, fading in the distance. He pushed farther, reaching. He had to. Somewhere in the recess of his mind, he knew he was bleeding, worse than before. He could feel the warmth of it slide out of his nose and on his lips.

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He ignored it. He could, so he did. A small prick of elation filled him. He thought he felt a single strand of warmth, an energy within Chloe. Then it was gone. Hold back the panic, he thought. He reached again. Giving up was not an option. He had to reach her and help her. A rush of memories came and he blocked them. Focus, David. Focus on what is in front of you. He could tell he was almost there, like a light at one end of a dark space, guiding him. He poured all of himself into it. His body shook, and the pain in his head intensified until it was more than a series of distracting throbs. He held still. He stayed true. Somewhere within, he feared this was his last chance to save her. If he lost this, Chloe would be gone forever. The thought pushed him and gave him a rush of urgency that when he reached what he wanted to find, he almost lost it again.

Davis gasped. It was chaos. Essence moved in a frenzy within her. And David could finally see why Chloe’s tower rings were growing faster than the rest of them. She was filled with it. It was like peering into a storm of light. But now, it was infected. The taste in his mouth and the way his body crawled with gooseflesh made him feel like he was in Krak’s hidden world again. He held onto his connection to Chloe while his mind whirled with thoughts on what to do. He wasn’t sure he could use the Chaos’ gauntlet anymore. He didn’t have the essence to summon it and holding on to Chloe was putting so much on him already.

Chloe’s own essence might be able to fight the corruption, but he wasn’t sure about it. He knew almost nothing about it. And he wasn’t liking the idea of leaving Chloe to battle this on her own. He was running out of options.

“Zoey,” David said, breaking out of the trance. His shirt was soaked through and the pain was blinding but he didn’t have time to stop and take a breath. “Some of Krak’s essence got into her. She is trying to burn it out, but she might die before it is finished.” He looked at Tara, but he could see that she was reading something, and Jeremy too. They looked pale, stunned. David turned back to Zoey. “I will try to pull it out of her and into me. I would like to say it will be easy, but it won’t. Tell her to heal me as fast as possible, I will need all the strength I can get.”

Zoey nodded. She tried to look strong, but David saw the fear in her eyes. He was terrified too. He wasn’t sure how Krak had done it, or if he could fight the taint, but he had to try. He took a deep breath and exhaled. Then he held Chloe’s hands and laced their fingers together and pulled himself under.

“David?” Someone called, but their voice was so far away. He let it go, even though it was so familiar. He latched himself onto Chloe, pulling like he’d done before. It wasn’t smooth. It was new to him. He’d learned how to siphon essence from things, the atmosphere. This was completely out of line. It was like stealing a person’s life force. He felt himself shudder.

At first, nothing happened. He almost panicked, almost broke out of the connection, but he couldn’t. It seemed like Chloe was pulling on him too, dragging him under with her. That scream came again, but this time they didn’t call for him. They called his mother’s name. David continued pulling, willing Chloe’s essence to flow into him. He didn’t know how to trick it, so he used brute force of will.

The harder he pulled, the more Chloe pulled back. She was supposed to feed him the tainted essence, but somehow she was trying to drown him—he could die. This time the panic bloomed and he tried to detach, but nothing happened. Perhaps because he didn’t have much essence, his will was being overshadowed. Chloe was too strong and he was going to be overwhelmed by her.

“David?” The voice came again, calling for him pleadingly. David ignored it. There was something more important to do. He saw strands of essence like tiny luminous tubes sink into him. His vision was blurry, but he didn’t have to see what was happening to know he was in trouble. He felt himself hollowed out. Chloe kept taking from him.

“Chlo…” David tried to speak, but his words came out in whispers. His head was heavy and when he tried to open his eyes, all he saw was a blurry black. “Chloe…stop,” he managed before everything turned pitch black. He couldn’t tell if Chloe was swallowing all that he was, or if he was simply dying. He cursed himself for being weak and at the last of his consciousness, he whispered a prayer to Amareth.

A small crack of light broke the darkness, then more golden cracks appeared until David was blinded by the light. He groaned, feeling his skin prickled by the heat of the light. It was like staying close to an open forge. From the haze, something descended. It was completely obscured, but David knelt before it nonetheless. If it was Amareth who came to save him, he had to show respect. But then the light and the figure vanished and David opened his eyes weakly to see Zoey’s face.

“It is working, David. She is coming t–”

The real torture started then. It was not just pain. It was a suffering of the mind. David howled as faces appeared in his mind, their skin peeled to bare the flesh beneath, eyes drooping down their cheeks like large blobs of bulbous tears. People hanging by their arms, half pulled off their sockets. Their pain was eternal. And in the back of it all, someone was laughing.

Another face screamed as hot iron was pushed through its chest. Man, woman? David couldn’t tell. Only the screams, the agony of their suffering filtered into him as voices hummed one name: Balek. David folded into himself, trying to get away from such horror.

Come, and I will give you rest! Then the laughter continues. Raucous, like that of a drunk slaver. David curled away from it, trying to protect himself from the insanity it carried. But the farther he veered, the closer it got. It was in him. He wanted it to end, wanted his life to end. If he knew how he would have followed the voices and sold himself just to make the suffering stop.

“Make it stop,” He cried. No one answered. He was alone in the thick of the madness. The faces came, crowding his sight, blotting out any source of sanity he could find. Some were hollowed out, and others were slashed and alive. They all cried together, pleading for David to save them. And he wondered who was going to save him too. He was becoming like them, joining them. Soon he’d be just as trapped as them–stuck in this hellscape.

Then he gasped and air flooded his lungs. He tried to fight away from the arms around him. Fresh pain filled his mind, but these were different.

“David, David…” Zoey called. “Elisha, help me hold him down!”

David growled at her, and Elisha’s shadow wrapped him quickly, pulling him down before he could summon his sword. Their faces came into focus slowly. He frowned, wondering if they had all joined him in that hell. Then he heard Zoey’s sobbing, her face wet with tears. Elisha looked worried and Chloe was kneeling next to Hanna, her fingers on her lute.

Amareth’s wrath will begin in twenty seconds!

“What?” David asked, staring at the message. “What does this mean? What is going on?”

“It is for us,” Tara said. “We are being punished for forsaking the task for so long.”

“Why? But we won!”

“Yes,” Tez said, staggering forward slowly. “But we left the path he set before us. We are unworthy.”

“No,” Claire whispered, sobbing. She was staring at Tara. “I don’t… I don’t want to die. I don’t want to be gon–” She stretched for Tara and gasped as her fingers began to peel and flake away. She disintegrated slowly—from her hands to her arms until finally her face. Tez was next and then Jeremy and Tara.

David and the others watched in silence until nothing was left of the four. No one spoke. Not even Hanna. There was nothing to say.