The air was bitterly chill, and the taste of metal wormed its way around their tongues as Renzen and Kelek groped their way around the vast cavern interior. The bluish light from the rod illuminated a cave floor overgrown with moss that oozed a salty spray of mist under each of their footsteps. Even with Renzen’s superior night vision, he could not make out the walls of the cavern. The rod’s light spread out almost twenty feet from its garnet crown, but the remainder of the cave was obscured by a darkness unlike any the pair had seen before. They picked a direction and inched forward through the moss together. After several paces, a cool sensation surrounded Kelek’s foot as he reached the edge of the moss and stepped into a puddle. He leapt and shrieked at the sudden change of terrain.
“Calm yourself man, it’s just water. Looks like it goes for quite a depth too.”
Renzen knelt at the edge of the water and plunged his arm in. The ground beneath the water sloped steeply and disappeared into the murky depths after just five inches. As he sunk his arm near to his shoulder, his fingers were met with a rough texture that protruded from the submerged wall. He let his fingers explore the object, and discovered a crevice in the back that would provide leverage. Without hesitation, he pulled. His elven strength made the task a trifle, but he was surprised by the amount of resistance the object put forth. As it breached the water’s surface, the reason was made clear. Kelek scrambled backwards as he beheld a scaly head, nearly two feet in length, lined with jagged teeth that peered from its jaws. The eye sockets were devoid of contents, and a massive gouge was torn into the beast’s neck, where Renzen was grasping the fearsome creature. The remainder of its body was nearly identical to a traditional alligator, save for the long and muscular hindlegs that would normally allow it to ambulate bipedally.
“Good Gods, warn me before you fish a lizardman out of a pond!”
Renzen chuckled and held the corpse with the pride of an angler catching a tournament winning bass.
“Be happy it’s dead. I’m sure he had friends that are still alive, and I’m not keen on fighting in their territory. I think it’s safe to say that kid is probably dead, we should focus on getting out of here.”
Priming his arm behind his head, Renzen launched the dead lizardman across the water. The murky pond proved to be shorter across than he anticipated, as the crunching of bones echoed throughout the cave while the body impacted the stone wall in the darkness. A clumsy splash resounded shortly afterwards. The pair turned opposite the water and resumed their search for escape. Thoughts of the young boy meeting a grisly end at the hands of a lizardman plagued Kelek, and forced him to converse to keep his mind from the matter.
“So, that thing you did with the meadow. How did you do that?”
Renzen gripped the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger while gazing at the ground but continued forward.
“It’s just like when you had the nightmare. You were a nervous wreck, and it didn’t bode well for our odds of survival. So I projected myself into your subconscious, calmed your emotions, and provided a safe place for you to think up a spell that wouldn’t turn us into a fine red paste.”
“Right, and thank you again, for both of those. I don’t know if we would’ve made it out of that mess without you. But how do you do that? You said you don’t use magic, right?
“No, I don’t use magic. I simply tune my body’s flow of energy to match yours. Doing so essentially lets me trick your body into thinking I am part of you, and offers me the same control you would have. Think of it like me taking the reins of a stagecoach, but the horses are your entire body.”
Kelek shuddered at the realization of his vulnerability. Renzen’s abilities were truly alien to him, and without even needing the aid of magic.
“I will say though, it normally isn’t so easy to attune myself to someone like that. I fully anticipated to just shake you out of your sleep and berate you for interfering with my rest. But as I approached you, I could feel my lifeforce instinctually shift to match yours.”
Renzen stopped walking and turned to face Kelek.
“That has never happened before… And I have a feeling it has something to do with the spell you cast on me in the woods…”
“Spell? I told you, I don’t know what you felt that time, I wasn’t trying to-”
“I believe you. I believe you weren’t trying to do anything. But I think, much like your first time healing, you accidentally cast magic. Magic that has bound me to you in some inexplicable way. I normally keep others very distant, but something about you keeps forcing itself to the forefront of my mind. It’s like I’m compelled to be your friend or something. You must have a rare talent indeed to cast such magic by sheer accident. Talent like that could be very dangerous in the wrong hands.”
Kelek stood, matching Renzen’s icy glare for a few painfully long seconds as errant drips of water echoed throughout the cave. The two of them were statues, illuminated in a hazy blue and surrounded by a suffocating darkness. Kelek swallowed twice before his nerve regained.
“Look, I am sorry if I enchanted you somehow. I’ll try and take it back if I can, I don’t want you to join me under false pretenses. I want to be friends, sure, but please don’t think I’m brainwashing you into being some thrall.”
Renzen absorbed his words and contemplated them for a brief moment before responding with a nod. He turned and began to continue walking, but his leg stopped midair, and an alert expression spread across his face. Kelek furrowed his brow at him for a second, before hearing himself what caused the alarm. The resonant echoes of crashing water reached his ears just as the wet cacophony of squelching moss surrounded him. Before he could react, his legs were yanked from underneath him. His jaw slammed into the ground, mercifully cushioned by the thick moss, and he was dragged back toward the murky waters by a thick coil of slick muscle. Renzen called out to him and began sprinting toward the retreating light in Kelek’s hands. Whatever monstrosity had hold of his legs possessed horrifying strength and speed. Renzen could barely keep pace with the fleeing tentacle. Kelek’s heart sank as he was dredged into the brackish water. His body twisted around and another tentacle wrapped itself around his arm holding the scepter. Before the light was snuffed out by the undulating mass, Kelek saw the core of the wretched horror beneath the water. It appeared to be a massive octopus, but within its centrally located beak, a pulsing iridescent tumor bulged and spilled out in tendrils along its arms. The single eye he could see was glazed over in a gray hue, and easily four times its normal size. The entire creature could pass for a whale in shadow. Before he could make out any more details, a torrent obscured his vision. Renzen had dove into the water, nails first, and implanted his hands wrist-deep into the beast's spongy forehead. Kelek’s tentacle fetters were loosened while the beast writhed in pain. Seizing the opportunity, he clambered to the water’s edge. He broke the surface and filled his lungs with air. After a gasping breath he pointed the scepter toward the ceiling and shouted.
“Illuminate!”
The dim glow around the rod vanished for a split second before a brilliant bolt of energy shot from the garnet and affixed itself to the roof of the cave in the form of a radiant orb of light. The cave burst into color, and the top of the abyssal dweller’s head could be seen protruding from the water. Kelek scrambled backwards on the moss, continuing to catch his breath and gather his senses. The beast thrashed about wildly in protest to Renzen’s stabbing hands. After a moment, it lurched upwards, lifted by the sheer force of muscle in its tentacles, and slammed its head against the mossy rock floor, quashing Renzen against it. The horrible shrieks and guttural cries that were emitted from the creature tortured Kelek’s ears, but he was more concerned with his friend’s safety. Careful to not break concentration on the orb that offered him vision, Kelek devised a spell to save Renzen from the abomination’s suffocating body press.
“Repel!”
At his command, the rod expelled a wave of force so great that Kelek was blown backwards onto the floor from the recoil. The invisible shockwave surged toward the beast, and impacted with a squishing thud against its rubbery hide. It could hardly let out a screeching retort before it was hurled across the cavern. The overwhelming force lifted it entirely out of the water and dashed it against the rear wall some fifty feet away. Renzen laid on his back, hands covered in black and blue blood, and breathed heavily.
“Renzen, are you alright? Do you need me to heal you?”
Kelek hurried over to meet him. HIs concern clouded his thoughts, but as he ran his hands over he elf’s bruises, his own pain began to set in. His arms burned as if they were laying in an over, and his right shoulder felt dislocated from the forceful blast. Sweat mingled with the saltwater all around his body, and exhaustion hung over him like a heavy blanket. He was unsure how much of his spellcasting was being carried by the garnet rod, and how much was being drawn from him, but he knew that he would be wholly incapable of performing the previous feats unaided. Renzen opened his eyes and gave him a reassuring nod before returning to his feet and assuming a battle-ready stance.
“Be careful… Don’t cast more than you’re capable of…” Renzen’s voice was alarmingly labored.
“I’m fine. Let’s just worry about the squid.”
They nodded their heads in consent and turned to face the pool that stretched to the other end of the cave. In the radiant light from Kelek’s orb, they could see that the water was unnatural. It shimmered with an ephemeral blue haze that seemed to weave throughout the depth like a sentient stream of oil. In the further depths, large concentrations of the iridescent substance appeared to collect in sac-like structures. As they cast their gaze further back, they witnessed the abomination gather its tentacles around its body and fling them behind, shooting itself through the water toward them. As it closed the distance, two tentacles shot upright through the water and started toward each of them. Renzen reacted by leaping into the air and grappling one before it found purchase around his legs. Kelek was distracted by his and the tentacle’s thrashing, and was not quick enough to respond to the other tentacle that buffeted him to the floor. The beast took advantage of the momentary victory, and coiled its thick arm around Kelek’s body. The scepter was pressed hard against his ribs by the coiling appendage, and he let out an agonizing cry as two of his lower ribs began to splinter from the crushing pressure. Renzen was occupied with the other sparring tentacle, flailing wildly in the air. He managed to wrap his legs around it to keep his body from whipping back and forth, and sliced away at it with his diamond-like nails. Looking down, he noticed Kelek’s predicament, and jumped down to assist him. He plunged his arms into the spaces between the coils and attempted to pry them apart. Kelek’s consciousness began to waver. He could make out Renzen’s silhouette as he leapt to his aid, but he was too weak to warn him of the second outline that rose behind him. Another tentacle bashed Renzen’s head from the left and threw him across the mossy floor. The creature rose from the water and faced Kelek’s paralyzed body. The hideous abomination wrenched open its jaws, and the aberrant tumor within began to pulse and glow with an ominous rhythm. Kelek’s mouth filled with the taste of rusted iron, and he felt as if he was vomiting. Renzen observed the vulgar interaction from a short distance away as he regained his faculties. A cloud of glimmering sapphire fog seemed to rise from Kelek’s mouth and flow into the beast’s. In a rage, Renzen careened toward the beast, but his sprint faltered when it shrieked in pain unexpectedly.
The tentacle that bound Kelek’s body loosened slightly, and he turned to the side opposite Renzen, shocked by the sight. Three blurry, humanoid figures stood, two of them wielding man-sized spears. As his vision cleared, thanks to the lessened pressure of his binding, he identified them as lizardmen. Casting his gaze around, he saw what became of the third spear. It had embedded itself several feet in the left eye of the mutated octopus. A ceaseless discharge of black bile dribbled from the cratered eye socket, and the beast was forced to turn its attention to the lizardmen. As it turned its head to face them, Renzen leapt onto the back of its skull. He assaulted it with a flurry of meteoric jabs, causing spouts of abyssal fluid with each blow. The central, unarmed, lizardman let out a guttural warcry, and the others advanced with their spears at the ready. The beast was assaulted on all sides, and the tentacle it used to bind Kelek now reached toward its back in an attempt to remove Renzen. Kelek used his freedom to meekly roll aside and crawl to safety, away from the ensuing violence. He clutched at the short clumps of moss to aid his escape. Each pull forward produced a burst of agony from his chest. His ribs had been broken in multiple places, and his throat was coarse with a metallic tinge that felt as if he had made a grave error in a sword swallowing attempt. After a dozen half-hearted crawls away, he turned back to spectate the carnage.
The unlikely allies were a much needed boon. The beast had caught two of them in grapples with its tentacles, but it required two of them for each, leaving only four tentacles free. The third lizardman had reclaimed its spear from the beast’s eye and was repeatedly harrying its hide with powerful thrusts. Two tentacles struggled to keep hold of the lizardman’s legs, while a third followed the head of the spear in an effort to deflect the stabs. The last tentacle frantically searched the back of its skull for Renzen, who danced around gracefully; planting surgical strikes with each movement. A hopeful smirk grew on Kelek’s face as the tides of battle seemed to shift in their favor, but it vanished when his gaze lowered and he spotted the garnet rod lying in the moss only five feet from the violent display. He was so preoccupied with escaping the creature’s clutches, he had completely forgotten it.
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I’m not going to be any help without that! I can’t cast anything beyond healing on my own, and even then it’s barely anything without a focus!
His panicked thoughts grew more intense as he weighed the dangers of crawling back to retrieve the rod. A piercing roar shook him out of his stupor as one of the pinned lizardmen had its torso ripped from its legs by the overwhelming might of the beast’s tentacles. Kelek observed the viscera covered vertebrae limply sway in the air as the light in the lizardman’s eyes faded. The tentacles flung the mangled halves of the corpse into the water with dispassionate cruelty, and began to work on the other pinned gator. It had no hope of resisting the combined might of four of the creature's massive limbs. Inhuman barks of fear and pain eked from the lizardman’s scaly snout as it was squeezed to death between the tangle of constricting tendrils. Kelek forced himself to look away from the gory scene. He knew he had to act quickly and clearly if they had any hope of escaping with their lives. He gingerly placed his right hand over his lower ribs and whispered.
“Heal…”
The familiar warmth that ran down his arms when he cast magic now felt like a branding iron pushing to escape the confines of his skin. It worked its way down his arm with painstaking slowness before it transferred into his chest. A soothing wave of relief washed over him as the heat dissipated, and the dull aching pain of his ribs vanished. He rose to his feet, pleased that his body seemed functional, but still wracked with exhaustion. He stood twenty feet from the writhing mass of gore and combat, but still trembled with fear at the thought of approaching to retrieve his scepter. An epiphany revealed itself in his mind, but he was unsure if it would be possible without the rod’s influence. Nonetheless, he knew that he had to try. He extended his open hand and commanded the abandoned rod with an authoritative shout.
“COME!”
His fingers trembled, and for a moment he thought the spell was a failure. But a surge of burning magic ran down his arm and flew toward the rod, causing a miniscule explosion that forced the rod toward him like shrapnel. He caught it with delight, and a beaming grin painted his face. He knew his affinity for temperature control would allow him to weave such magic without a focus, and devised a spell that would combine matter in the air and heat it to the point of explosion. He need only concentrate it in a specific area such that the force would send the object directly toward him. The cleverness of his ploy renewed his confidence, and he faced the brutish creature with fresh resolve, despite his flagging endurance. The searching tentacle along its back had finally managed to grab hold of Renzen, and it flung him into the alien water. The remaining lizardman had lodged its spear into a lump of the beast's arm flesh, crippling the tentacle that grew from it. With another guttural warcry, it clamped its crocodilian jaws around another tentacle, thrashing its head wildly in its vise-like grip. Renzen recovered from the water and climbed to the mossy coast. HIs eyes were closed as he rose, and he cradled his left arm near his torso. Then his eyes shot open, shooting a piercing glare at the occupied beast. He reared his left arm back, and a whorl of air twisted around his wrist. A vicious scream escaped his throat as he thrust the arm forward. The whorl of air condensed at his knuckles and shot forward across the gap between him and the creature. It did not stop upon impact. Kelek gasped as the javelin of energy punctured the beast’s flesh and drove clean through the other side, scattering into a cloud of rubble and dust against the far cave wall behind him. The horrible abomination now sported a gaping hole, over a foot in diameter, in its elongated forehead.
“How is this bastard still standing!?” Renzen was in awe of the creature’s tenacity. The lizardman had finished its chomping with a final rip that tore the tentacle from the body of the beast. Two tentacles were now fully disabled, and one wholly detached, but the alien creature seemed to completely ignore the call of death that solicited it. The lizardman crawled backwards from the creature on all fours, growling like a territorial bear. Hope began to wane for the combatants but another surprising development rekindled their spirits. Almost imperceptibly, an arrow flew into the beast’s remaining eye, causing it to fling its working tentacles into the air in defense. Renzen and Kelek turned to the source of the arrow and saw their savior. Imp was barreling toward the surprised creature, halberd in hand, crying havoc. The crazed look in her eyes was clear from a distance, but a string of screams and curses laid to rest any assumptions of sanity. As she reached the creature, she jabbed the head of the halberd deep into a raised tentacle, and used it as an improvised pole vault to launch herself onto its head. Landing directly above the hole Renzen had just punched through it, she unsheathed two daggers and began carving at the inside of the flesh like a mad butcher. The halberd-pierced tentacle seemed to be disabled, as it hung limply over the wooden handle. The lizardman saw the opening and crawled over it with surprising speed. The gnashing of teeth and clamping of jaws could barely be heard over Imp’s hysteric cackling. The weight of her body forced the octopus’ head to dip down toward Renzen, who stabbed his nails into the sides and wrenched it to the floor with his body as an anchor. The grapple forced the creature’s maw open toward Kelek. Within its blood-soaked beak, the putrid, egg-shaped tumor quivered in front of him.
“Kill it Kelek! I can’t hold on forever!” Renzen cried frantically.
Kelek nodded to himself, and aimed the rod directly at the cancerous growth.
“Explode!”
Kelek’s senses seemed to halt. It was as if he had stopped time, like Bayin. The creature’s tentacles stood motionless in the air, attempting to defend it from attackers that its blinded eyes could no longer detect. The lizardman had chewed through half of another tentacle, but its wild thrashing was still, and the heavy heave of its chest had ceased. He could no longer hear Imp’s screaming. The sounds that came from her unnerved him. They were part unrelenting anger, part unconsolable fear, and part twisted delight. But in this instance, he could only see the hair that was strewn across her face, one arm lifted wielding a bloody dagger, the other lost within the ruined flesh of the beast. Renzen was completely hidden from view, holding back the unnatural bulk of its head. Yet directly in front of Kelek, the growth in the creature’s maw continued to writhe and pulse at him. The way it squirmed almost seemed like a plea for mercy. But the spell had already been cast.
The heat of an erupting volcano started at his shoulder. It was already far too much for him to bear, but it was too late to stop. The wriggling mass shrinked back into the beast’s bowels. Kelek screamed in agony as Ether was drawn from the tumor and brought into the unfathomable heat of his arm. The magical essence followed the flow of the down to his elbow. His mouth filled with the taste of metal yet again, and in this instance he realized that the beast was wringing the Ether from his body earlier. But now the table had turned. He was siphoning the Ether that impregnated the growth and using it to power his own magic, allowing him to cast a spell that would surely kill him alone, even with the aid of a focus. The revelation turned his agonized screams into a hysterical laugh. The invisible conflagration had now reached his wrist and began to cause the garnet within the rod to emit a blinding aura of red light. Just as the corona of scarlet light had totally filled his vision, the rest of his senses returned.
The cacophony of battle could be heard for less than a second before the nova of energy coalesced into the tumor. The beast’s flesh expanded rapidly from the sudden force. A radiant mote of fire writhed within its beak before exploding in every direction. Chunks of putrid flesh splattered across the ceiling and across the water. Renzen was flattened to the ground as the top of the skull careened over him. Imp was sent skyward, and crashed against the rocky roof along with the lizardman. Kelek’s quick thinking of the spellcraft afforded him safety from the blast, as it was directed outward. Several tentacles that had been blown from the body wriggled unnervingly in the water after splashing down, while the remainder acted as a cushion for the falling bodies of Imp and the lizardman. After observing the fruits of his labor, Kelek’s vision began to fade. He thought he would faint, but his vigor suddenly returned as a dense cloud of Ether drifted toward him. It seemed to be the remains of what was captive within the growth. The condensed Ether drifted up toward Kelek’s face and suffused him with energy. The cloud entered through his nostrils and mouth, eventually completely disappearing within him. He felt the process was very unnatural, but the sudden revitalization he felt was too welcome to question. Shaking the strange experience from his head, he looked at Imp, who was rising from the bed of destroyed tentacles.
The lizardman had fallen with her, and was looking at her with a wary expression. Imp gritted her teeth and drew her handaxe. Before either Renzen or Kelek could stop her, she had unleashed a lethal slash across the lizardman’s throat. With her free hand, she unsheathed her shortsword and buried it in the fresh wound, twisting it to ensure a brutal death.
“Imp, what are you doing? He helped us! We might be dead if it weren’t for them!” Kelek pleaded and approached. As he did, Imp withdrew the sword and leveled it at him with such speed that hot drops of blood were flung onto his face. Her eyes were wild with bloodlust, and her mouth hung open like a rabid animal. She moved to make a strike at Kelek, but Renzen had sprung forth to hold back her arms before she could. She raged against his hold and kicked backwards into his shins and groin. Renzen grunted in pain and effort, but managed to maintain the hold.
“What’s wrong with you!?” Kelek reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. Much like his encounter with Renzen in the forest, a tingle of warmth fled down his arm and into Imp. He had no intentions of casting a spell, and after the warmth retreated, he snatched his arm back in guilt. Imp’s frenzied thrashing slowed after his touch. She hung her head limply toward her chest and shook it a few times before finally looking up at Kelek. Her face had regained the cheerful and calm demeanor that he first saw in the Guild. She gave him an apologetic smile and said sheepishly.
“Sorry you had to see that. I normally can control myself better… You can let go of me now, big guy. I promise I won’t stick you.”
Renzen had a pensive look on his face, but relinquished her anyway. Imp gathered her scattered weapons from the explosion while interrogating the pair about the day’s events. Despite his relatively healthy outward appearance, Renzen was too winded to indulge her questions and deferred to Kelek for explanations. He informed her about the bill they took from the Guild, and the unfortunate timing of the tide that forced them into the deep cave.
“I’m glad I’ve still got enough guile to track an elf without him noticing then. I saw you guys walking down the beach like a honeymoon couple and wanted to see what you were getting up to. I almost stopped you when you went down just before the tide came in, but I didn’t think you’d actually be going down so deep. Naturally I followed down once the tide ebbed down some. You’re lucky the path naturally empties out here further up the cave. Guess you guys jumped out in a crack up above. I can take us back up and out, don’t worry!”
Imp had an uncanny cheer to her, as if the deadly combat that just threatened them was a distant dream.
“I can’t thank you enough for coming in and helping with that thing. Really, both of us are eternally grateful, right Renzen?”
Renzen shrugged his shoulders and replied.
“Could’ve come a bit sooner. Better late than never I suppose.”
Imp gave him a light jab in the ribs with her elbow, which seemed to pain him more than either expected, but he tried not to show it. Kelek was elated that they were safe and returning to the hall. After they had escaped the reach of the shining orb, Kelek resumed the minor light spell on his scepter, which impressed Imp. The three of them chatted about the nature of the beast and the unnatural ability it had to keep fighting through fatal blows. Kelek was about to mention the mysterious cloud of Ether when a small corpse came into view. Dread overcame him as her rushed toward the body.It was lying face down in the moss, but even without seeing the face it was clear; the corpse was a child. Turning it over with tears in his eyes, Kelek confirmed that it was their quarry, Benjamin Leeson.
“No…No, why did he come down here!?” Kelek knelt and cradled the boy’s cold body in his arms.
“I told you he was likely dead. Sometimes life is cruel, and there is nothing you can do.” Renzen stated coldly, standing behind Kelek.
Kelek clenched the sleeves of the boy’s tunic in anger at his words.
“No, I won’t accept it. I came to do a job, and damn it I am going to do it!”
Imp laid a hand on his shoulder and said
“She will want a body to bury, and give him peace. It will be alright.”
“NO! There will be no burying.”
Kelek gently laid the body across the moss and grasped his garnet scepter in an iron grip.
“Just what are you trying to do?” Renzen now joined Imp in laying a hand on his shoulder.
Kelek’s tongue darted in and out of his lips a few times as he worked out the intricacies of his spell. After a few silent moments, he nodded to himself in satisfaction. He pressed the polished garnet sphere into the boy’s chest and spoke his incantation with all the authority of a judge condemning a man to death.
“Resurrect.”
The garnet hummed to life with a brilliance even greater than the explosion from earlier. Kelek gasped in disbelief at his own ability. However, something was different about this spell. Instead of a burning rush of energy, his arms felt cold. It was as if his body heat was being sapped from him, and drawn into the rod to power the brilliant shimmer. Shortly, more than his arms were growing cold. His legs, head, and finally torso all felt as if they were being submerged in an icy lake. He could feel his companions shaking him, and shouting protests that he could not hear. His eyes were focused on the blinding light in front of him.
He focused on it so intently, the entire rest of the world ceased to exist. All of his being was consumed by the omnipresent white shine. He found himself standing alone in a white void, overwhelmed by the vast expanse of space that seemed to stretch into eternity. As he gawked at the incomprehensible infinite well of light, a small shadow popped into his view. It was no bigger than a flea, but impossible to miss with the pure white surroundings. The shadow did not move at first, but after a moment it began to expand. Another dark spot appeared in his view, larger than the first, and continued to expand in a similar manner. He sat down in the vast expanse of white, mesmerized by the dreamlike shadows as they multiplied. Before long, he found himself laying amongst more shadows than light. The sensation did not cause him alarm, instead, it soothed him. He laid back and blinked his heavy eyelids as the long distant pinpricks of light hurried away from his view. He was so perfectly content and ready to rest.
But his slumber was interrupted. In the distant light, no bigger than the furthest star at night, a figure emerged. It hastened toward him like a man falling from a great height. As it approached closer he could make out that it was Renzen. His arm was extended, and behind him was Imp holding Renzen’s other arm in a similar fashion. Kelek smiled weakly at their approach. His friends would surely love to indulge in this ambrosial slumber. He extended his own arm to meet Renzen’s. For a moment, it was unclear if they would connect. The pair’s pace had slowed greatly as they approached the reposing Kelek. But with a great strain of effort on their behalf, Renzen clasped his hand around Kelek’s and hefted him from the abyss.
Kelek’s senses returned to the cavern, where he was hunched over the boy’s body. He felt tremendously weak, far greater even than the aftermath of the battle. Renzen was gripping Imp’s hand who seemed to be unconscious. In his other hand was Kelek’s. Sweat poured profusely from his brow, and his eyes remained shut, but he seemed to be more awake than Imp. Kelek silently thanked his companions for saving him from whatever mess he had invited. A shudder ran down his spine and the ear that was pressed against the boy's chest twitched. He heard the small thumping of a heartbeat.