Residing in what had once been my sword wasn’t so different to the limbo I’d been trapped in, but it did provide some awareness of the outside world. I could tell my body was still in possession of Shotensho and that we were still underground. Everything else beyond that was hazy.

We travelled for a time through the subterranean blackness, during which I tried unsuccessfully to contact Elmidath, before coming to a halt. There we waited in silence for many minutes until it was finally broken by impacts upon the stone.

At first, I took them to be the sounds of digging or some such, but then something passed close by the blade. It struck the ground and I realized it was not work I was hearing; it was the people around me dropping to the ground.

Though I couldn’t see them, I knew they were dead. They were dying at the will of their dark master, without so much as a whimper, to some unknown purpose. Surely it hadn’t brought them down here just to kill them. Or at least, I hoped that wasn’t the case. For all I knew though, that might be exactly what was happening.

The sounds continued until our number was reduced by more than half and relief filled me. I was not among the dead, which meant neither was Elmidath. Though I felt bad for the villagers, I didn’t know them and I had no responsibility towards them. They might’ve chosen this, unlikely as that seemed.

There in the lightless depths, surrounded by the dead, the darkness deepened and the fell presence grew strong once more. It paid me no mind this time; I wasn’t sure if it even remembered my existence. Instead, it reached out to something else and the rumble of shifting stone filled the air. Was that what it had come here for? To dig?

I passed the time imagining all manner of terrible things it might be searching for down here, most of which were patently absurd. And yet when it finally stopped, light streamed down from above and I realized its destination wasn’t below ground at all.

My body clambered stiffly out of the hole, emerging in what appeared to be a large cellar lit by dim yellow lights. As the darkness faded, so too did the presence behind it, but it did nothing to weaken it’s hold on my body which continued its shambling advance.

It staggered through the cellar and climbed the stairs with the rest of the poor enslaved creatures. They were reaching the top when a cry of alarm rung out and then we were surging forward with murderous intent. I caught a glimpse of the broken and bloodied body of a servant, and then we were past it.

The dull thud of steel striking flesh could be heard ahead, which was exactly where my body was headed when one of the villagers hit it from the side and pulled it to the ground. Despite the struggles of my former mortal shell, it was dragged away from the combat and out into the sunlight beyond.

It continued to fight for a time, but eventually stilled. I was worried my body might’ve died when I heard the villager’s voice. “Are you in there?”

He was kneeling beside me, holding my limp body in his arms. Trying to communicate from the sword got me nowhere, so I turned to Shotensho for help. “Is there any way you can talk to him?”

“That is beyond my power. You are the only one I can contact.”

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Well that wasn’t much help. Was it possible for me to take my body back? Whatever had been controlling it earlier seemed to have left, so now was my best chance. I reached out once more, doing everything I could to focus my mind on my own body, and willed myself to return to it.

My senses cut out instantly, like someone had flipped a switch. Had the darkness taken me once more? I was starting to panic when my vision returned and I found myself back in my flesh at last. Even after my short absence it felt strange to be back, but it still came as an immense relief.

I looked up into the concealed visage of my saviour and saw my joy reflected in their eyes. “Thank you so much. Without you I would’ve still been trapped.”

“I’m just repaying a debt. If not for you, I would have remained lost.”

I blinked. “What did I do?”

“When you swung your sword at that thing, it gave me a chance to break free.”

I thought the stunt that allowed the darkness to take me in the first place had been for nothing, but I’d saved at least one person. Suddenly I felt a whole lot less stupid for what I’d done, even if it had nearly gotten Elmidath and I trapped forever. Recalling Elmidath’s fate sent a shock through my body. “Where’s Elmidath?”

“Who?”

“The woman I was with when I saved you. What happened to her? She should’ve been with the others.”

“You were the only one I could pull out of there, I’m sorry.”

He kept talking, but the moment he confirmed that Elmidath was still in there I tuned him out and focused on what to do. After an instant’s consideration, I decided the best choice was to reach her as quickly as possible before she was killed.

Without any further thought to the consequences, I willed myself over to Elmidath. A quick jaunt later and was engulfed in darkness and I lashed out in blind terror. After all that I was caught once more. However rather my limbs waving ineffectually around in the abyss, my elbow struck soft flesh and Elmidath cried out in pain. “What the hell are you doing?”

I took a few deep breaths and tried to regain my composure. “Sorry. What’s happening? Where are we?”

“Underground still.”

“What? But how? I thought we all left. And how are you back in control of yourself?”

“I’ll explain soon. For now, let’s just get out of here.”

She pulled me along and we made our way back through the rough tunnel. Thankfully it was a direct path with no branches, otherwise we might’ve been lost down here forever.

It was a little after dawn by the time we reached the village head’s house. Elmidath stopped to speak, but I pre-empted her. “Let’s get out of the village first, no sense hanging around here any longer than we have to.”

She nodded and we continued in silence until we left the accursed place behind. Only once we were out of sight of the houses did we stop. Now I could finally get some answers out of Elmidath. “How did you free yourself?”

She frowned, shifting uncomfortably. “I made a deal.”

I’d suspected something was up, but I could still scarcely believe my ears. “With the same thing that enslaved your father?”

“Not exactly the same. I made contact with an entity named Drozor, which is just one of many.”

“Alright, that doesn’t make it a whole lot better. What was the deal?”

“If it agreed to release me, then I would bring them someone better.”

A chill went down my spine. “You didn’t ask them to release me?”

“They offered me the same for you, but I didn’t think you’d want me to condemn someone else on your behalf.”

She was right about that, and yet I still felt betrayed. “Then you were just going to leave me?”

Elmidath looked down, unshed tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know what else to do. I was planning on going after your body and trying to keep it safe until I could come up with something better, but it seems like you figured things out on your own.”

So that was it then. If not for the unlikely assistance of that villager, I would probably be dead by now and Elmidath hadn’t done a thing to save me. It was a thoroughly depressing realisation, especially when it came right after I’d rushed off to save her.

I wasn’t even really angry with her; she probably had made the right choice. It was all just hard to accept. “Let’s go find the others, there’s no point talking about this any longer.”

“I never would have abandoned you unless I absolutely had to. You know that, right?”

I turned away. “I don’t want to talk about it.”