I activate the Energy view again, and just as I’m about to start in on stitching, my instincts scream at me, tearing me back to reality just in time to take a rock to the face (much to the delight of the shades). My head snaps back and spots dance in my eyes, a warning or something flashes past my eyes but I ignore it as I quickly drag Lauren to the first room, taking a few more stones to the back in the process. My ears are ringing and my face is raining blood from what I’m sure is a nice gash across my forehead. My health was reduced to ¾ by that first volley, and I think some other things too cause I’m not feeling so hot. I won’t win. If I stay here, they’re going to jump over here and kill us. If I stay out there, they’ll just throw stones till I die. Fuck. Fuck!

I drag Lauren into an open sarcophagus and stick my head back around the corner. Two of them were getting ready to jump, but stop when they see me and start howling loudly. Immediately, the two who weren’t ready to jump launch stones at me with absurd accuracy, and I barely pull my head back in time.

This is going tits up in a hurry.

My concussed brain, once again, comes up with a perfect plan.

Baseball.

So it is with my head held high and blood in my eyes that I step around the corner again. More howling, more launched stones, but this time, I dodge further from cover.

As the stones pass through where I was standing mere fractions of a second before, I slam my stick into one, skillfully deflecting it into the ceiling and doing no damage to anything other than my stick. The process repeats several more times before a lucky hit both dents my ‘bat’ and smashes a rock back into the unfortunate pitcher. The rock collides with the shade’s shoulder with a sickening crunch, and the howling turns from excited to pained and enraged. The two who were going to jump before also pick up rocks and start firing near me while one of them still targets me where I’m standing. I can’t track three speeding objects at once, so my next dodge not only doesn’t allow a counterattack, but also fails to completely avoid one of the adjacent throws, hitting me right in the stomach. My vision swims, and it’s only with great effort that I don’t immediately vomit, and I manage to limp back into the adjacent room before they get off another volley.

In answer to my earlier question: they are working with a fair amount of brain power. They adapted to that idea way too quickly, and now I can’t prevent them from crossing. I did manage to hurt one, hopefully enough that it can’t cross, but I’m at half health now.

And there is no time. Stand and fight? Run and die? Both are terrible. Even against three I don’t have much hope, I’m out of tricks. Kaythe can’t fight, Lauren is dying, I can’t use Mana (Damn it RAV) and I have A FUCKING STICK as my only weapon because I threw the other one to get myself into this mess in the first place!

I look at Lauren in the sarcophagus, thinking of something, anything I can do to get us out, when it clicks.

The sarcophagus. A life or death shell game.

As quickly as I can, I place the three stone slabs back over empty sarcophagi, and climb into the same one as Lauren. I remember to rip the dagger she’s holding out of her hand before I do. It’s impressive how hard she was holding it while being totally unconscious and *actively* bleeding to death.

Stick in one hand, dagger in the other, I lie on top of her and move the final slab into place over us.

For the love of god, and all that is holy, PLEASE don’t let her wake up until this is over.

It would be impossible to explain this.

The sounds of me moving all that stone were drowned out by the frantic howling from the Shades, so they likely have no idea what happened in here.

A small part of me has the courage to hope that the residents of this dungeon take issue with their rudeness and drive them out for me, but…

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Barring the idea of miracles from my thought process, I put my faith in ambushing the fuck out of the first thing to open my sarcophagus. Best case? They think we vanished and don’t bother checking. Worst case? I take one out of the equation with an ambush. It’s better odds than before, and that’s the best I can do.

The howling gets even louder for a few moments before rapidly dying off to absolute silence.

The change shocks me to my core. I’d forgotten how quiet this place is when nothing is making noise, and the only sound from outside the slab is gentle stepping as the shades move around the room. Lauren is fortunately too unconscious to be terrified, so her breathing is quiet, but it’s taking an active effort for me to maintain mine being even, and I still feel like I’m hyperventilating. I don’t dare move a muscle lest I make any noise. This plan becomes certain death the moment they know which one we’re in, and-

*WHAM*

Ok, they just opened one of the sarcophagi. Maybe they’ll give up?

*WHAM*

Shit. Shit. I realize the fatal flaw in my plan. In the shell game, you get to move the ball between each guess, but this game has unlimited guesses. They must have figured out we’re in one of these, so if they open the next one and it isn’t us, it’s just as damning as if I had tipped them off!

Whatever happens next, it’s going to be a fight for both of our lives.

My whole body tenses in anticipation; I’m already putting pressure on the slab so the moment it moves I can fling it off and stab.

Waiting.

Waiting…

There isn’t a sound.

A long while ticks by without any indication of whether we’re alone, or if all the shades are poised to strike the moment I try to move the cover. The air inside the sarcophagus gets worse and worse, and I know that sooner or later I’ll lack the strength to open the lid again, and we’ll just suffocate in here.

Every breath burns my lungs. My head has started to hurt less, and I’m pretty sure that’s bad. It was a hard blow. I’m losing consciousness.

Do or die.

I muster the rest of my flagging Stamina and launch the cover off me, towards the door, immediately stabbing to my left with the dagger. The cover explodes into stone fragments as hit collides with the floor, and my stab whistles through the air, missing… because there’s nothing to hit.

My breath comes in huge gulps as I try desperately to listen for any sounds of danger…

But I hear nothing. We’re safe, for the moment.

I collapse back into the coffin, relief flooding my body before immediately bouncing back up as I remember Lauren is *still* dying and might already be dead and I really need to fucking work!

My shirt sticks to her as I get out of the sarcophagus because HOLY SHIT THAT’S A LOT OF BLOOD. I place my ear next to her mouth, listening for anything…

A slight whistling. How the fuck is she still alive.

She’s right on the edge. There’s no time.

I check the hall just to be sure we’re clear, and run back, immediately forcing all the green Energy I can into her without keeling over. Having flooded her with 20 Energy, almost my entire pool (while keeping a few points in me for safety), I set to fixing her. I feel like I should have more available, but whatever, can’t focus on it now.

Stop the bleeding.

Seal the outside wounds.

Knit together broken organs, intestines.

Repair the abdominal muscle, return functionality… less strong than before. It’ll heal.

The void inside her is constantly sucking at the Energy I’m using, pulling it away midway through repairs, and I don’t have any to spare!

What is that void!? Why is it there?! What is WRONG WITH YOU!

But the void is quiet, and only consumes.

I can stabilize her.

I can do it.

My Will shudders as I dedicate every ounce of it to the task of keeping my Energy from being sucked away.

There is only one, single thing in my mind: ‘save this person.’

It is all consuming. Without even realizing it, I reach for and use the rest of the Energy I need to accomplish the task.

Directly from my pool.

The last of the bleeding is stopped and I’m moving on to musculature when I’m forcibly ejected from the view and immediately floored by a crippling headache.

Energy exhaustion… did it again… fuck… me-

The last thing I see is the empty Energy bar blinking tauntingly at me before I slip into unconsciousness.