(Feydon’s point of view).

The creature, now a mangled mess of bone and flesh, was held together only by a strange purple energy. It no longer even resembled the baby beasts from which it was created. It had a wide maw and churned flesh in place of a face.

Several bone spikes protruded out from the purple energy along what should’ve been the beast’s spine. Each hand had two sharp bone claws, like little daggers, cloaked in the purple energy. Its hind legs lacked any solid substance, but were powerful enough to launch the beast around at speeds I could barely follow.

With a series of powerful leaps, it flashed around the room then landed among our group.

“Ahg!” Byron let out a hair raising scream as the creature brushed past him.

He clutched at a nub where his left arm should’ve been. Blood sprayed from the wound, dousing me in crimson.

The beast appeared in front of me, waving an arm that knocked me through the air, into the cave wall. I tried to get up, but a sharp pain in my ribs demanded I stay prone on my back. I had a broken leg for sure and probably several broken or cracked ribs.

The ground burst apart near the group when frozen chains sprang up like weeds around Mai. Most of them acted as a barrier, while some whipped towards the possessed creature. The chain's relentless harassment succeeded in beating back the beast, but failed to latch on to the creature or do any real damage.

Fin scrambled away from the group and activated his CAD.

Before a blue saber could fully form, he had already clad its blade in lightning. With a swift motion he used the point of the blade to direct the bolt to a point on the creature's mangled face.

I’d never seen anyone use such a tactic, but I’d also only ever seen my sister train.

Audrey seemed overwhelmed by the beast's presence. She collapsed almost immediately after her warning. I knew she was still conscious by the way her eyelids squeezed tightly together. When the creature got close to her, she placed her hands over her eyes as well.

The beast stomped around her, as it fended off Mai’s chains and took swipes at Byron.

“Fuck,” Fin shouted when his lightning missed the beast.

Lightning must be hard to aim.

When the bolt hit the cave wall, everything rumbled. The walls quaked and shook until what was left of the cave started to crumble. Large chunks of rock fell all around the room. Above me, a group of stalagmites broke free. There was no way I could move, even if I did, I’d just roll under another boulder or falling spike.

I reached for my mana sword, but it wasn’t on my belt loop. My ribs jabbed and pinched like claws inside my chest as I rooted around for the device. Instinctively my eyes squeezed shut when I realized I was about to die.

So this is as far as I go?

I tried to picture what face my father would make when he found out how I died. Would he be disappointed that I was useless, or pleased that I died in battle?

Then I thought of my mother. She would cry for sure. Kyla would probably try to comfort her, but dad would probably bury himself in more work.

Small vibrations and the sound of stones clattering around me told me that the stalagmites had reached the ground, but the expected piercing of my flesh never came. There was no pain that didn’t come from within, not even the thump of a pebble landing on me.

My eyes eased open to find that the mass of flesh and energy was standing over me. The stalagmites that should’ve killed me, were protruding from the beast’s back. The beast standing over me didn’t have eyes, though I felt like it was looking at me. There was silence and stillness, like time had stopped, while I stared back at the strange creature. My heart pounded rapidly as my thoughts became chaotic, trying to make sense of what happened.

My body jolted with an electric current that pulsed through my veins when the creature extended its fleshy jaw towards me.

Something blue struck the beast’s head, drawing its attention and knocking a chunk of mutated meat into my mouth.

With a single bound, the monster was back across the chamber, pounding away at the others.

Sydney was trying to defend both Byron and Audrey. Byron lay motionless, clutching at his missing arm, while Audrey tried to scoot away from the group, still keeping her eyes tightly shut.

The energy weapon formed by Sydney’s CAD struggled to develop a basic form. When the creature made contact with the weapon, it dissipated entirely, leaving Sydney completely vulnerable.

The creature hissed with joy as it thrust one of its arms through her stomach, hoisted her into the air and shook its arm wildly until her body flew off.

She landed, with a squishy thud and choked off grunt, only a few feet from me.

I don’t know what I expected, but I looked to see how she was doing. When our eyes met hers pleaded with me for help, or death. Blood gurgled in her throat, spilling from her mouth as she tried to drag herself toward me.

My stomach churned at the sight.

Would this still have happened if we’d entered the cave sooner?

I squeezed my eyes shut to escape the sight, but the horrible image was burned inside my eyelids.

“I want to help, but there’s nothing I can do.” My voice came out in weak bursts, fading between words and probably not loud enough for her to hear. “If I could use magic… I would…” I didn’t know. I didn’t even know if I was trying to console Sydney, or myself.

I didn’t want to just watch her die choking on her own blood. If I was capable of even basic spells then I might’ve been able to do something to either help her or if necessary I could’ve…

Why is this happening? Everything seemed fine until that guy in black showed up!

I knew that placing blame was only a way to move my thoughts away from Sydney’s situation; I had to though, I couldn’t stomach the guilt I felt otherwise.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

The electric pulse from before happened again.

“Do you want to live?” an unfamiliar voice asked in a calm gentle tone. I looked around to find the person speaking but all I saw was my friends barely managing to fend off the beast.

‘Just lie still’ I told myself, convinced that the voice was a hallucination caused by my fear. I was either going crazy, or bleeding internally to the point that brain function was being affected. ‘Don’t panic, just lie still.’

“That spirit won’t leave you alone even when you stop breathing.” The same voice chided. “Think boy! Why didn’t it just kill you like it did with that girl?”

Guilt tugged at my heart. The image of Sydney’s pale face immediately returned to torture me. In death, desperation stayed etched on her face, as it would forevermore.

Thinking that perhaps the voice was just my guilty conscience I tried reasoning with it. ‘But Byron wasn’t killed either. So maybe it was just—’

“Coincidence? No! That boy was certainly lucky to lose only an arm, but you have him to thank for the opportunity you have now.”

I didn’t understand what the voice meant by this. I replayed the events in my mind a few times. Even then I wasn’t sure, but when I saw a severed arm on the ground with, still clutching an activated CAD I understood what had happened. Byron had tried to protect the group. He tried to stop the monster's charge but instead he lost an arm.

The purple beast let out a roar drawing my attention back to the battle. Mai had managed to entangle the creature's fists in her chains, but the beast was still pounding violently at something on the ground.

Fin was attacking the beast with random elements, though none had any effect. As far as I could tell, his magic was absorbed by the purple energy surrounding the creature.

The strain of constant casting must have been immense. Before long Fin was leaning against the cave wall and I guessed he must’ve been hanging on by a thread, trying to stave off mana overload.

I was no mage, but his situation devolved so rapidly that it seemed safe to assume he’d used an element for which he didn’t have any affinity.

The mysterious voice whispered again, “Your friends won’t last if you don’t help them.” Frustration and impatience echoed in every word.

I was certain this time. The voice was real, but it didn’t make any sense. ‘What can I possibly do in this condition?’ I thought.

“Use my power.”

Having no prior experience with spirit relics, I couldn’t be sure, but it seemed logical to guess that the voice was coming from one.

“How the hell can I use your power when I can’t even use regular magic?”

Several moments passed without another word from the voice. Then the monster roared again. Mai’s chains had started to creep up its arms. A little longer and she might even be able to immobilize the beast.

“She will fail.” The voice muttered.

I ignored it and kept watching.

The beast was yanking at the chains and roaring at Mai. She didn’t back down. More and more of her icy chains wrapped around the creature, twisting over themselves like multiple threads sewing together to form an icy prison.

From behind Mai, Fin readied another focused lightning bolt. He aimed at the beast's meaty head and fired lightning straight into its open mouth. The blot split the beast's head apart, but the two pieces were quickly wrapped in purple energy and pulled back together.

My heart pounded with panic at the sight and I realized this creature was something beyond our understanding. The voice might’ve been right, this situation was hopeless if we didn’t get help.

“You should be able to sense it by now, use my power or we will both die here!” The voice pressed with great urgency.

“I don’t feel— wait, what’s…”

Something changed, I couldn’t quite put it into words, but it was like I was seeing the world through new eyes, or more accurately like I’d developed an additional sense. With it I could sense currents of energy flowing in the atmosphere. “Is this… mana?”

“Mana is a crude term, but for now it will suffice.” The voice sounded disdainful and condescending but I was too excited to care.

The spirit whose arms were almost completely wrapped in Mai’s chains became more erratic and aggressive. Taking control of Mai’s chains the creature lifted its bound arms and spun in a circle. Mai was yanked into the air by her feet and slung in a wide arc until she collided with a stone pillar. The chains dissolved into the air and she fell unconscious.

Fin stumbled a few steps forward and tried to shoot another lightning bolt, but the magic didn’t activate. He fell on his face in the middle of the room. I feared they’d both be killed, but the creature had no interest in them.

Each step the creature took towards me felt like a step closer to my death. Despair gripped me in an iron grasp, making it difficult to focus on anything. My thoughts raced like meteors speeding through my mind and burning away before they could take shape.

“Calm down and follow my instructions!” The voice commanded.

“What do I do?” I said through panicked labored breaths.

“First, you breathe.”

I closed my eyes and tried to forget the circumstances then took a deep inhale. I exhaled them repeated two more times.

“Reach out with your hand and take control of the energy in this place.”

I followed the instructions, though I wasn’t exactly sure how I was supposed to take control of energy. ‘Obey me’ I thought pleadingly, almost begging for the energy to follow my command. ‘Can it even hear me?’

“Control it!” The voice demanded.

‘Right… control!’ I repeated, realizing that control didn’t necessarily require agreement.

I felt a rush of power as the energy responded to my will. There was a sense of hope and excitement until I opened my eyes and saw the dreadful beast standing only inches from me.

My grip on the mana faltered. As the energy slipped away from me, the creature began moving.

Then it occurred to me it had been completely still while mana was following my will.

Steeling myself, I grabbed control of the mana again.

As I expected, the beast stopped with a hand outstretched towards me. After a few moments it was still frozen in place, unable to advance and I knew I had been successful.

“Now take as much of that energy as you can, and absorb it. The rest of it you have to send away.” The voice instructed.

Again I followed the instructions and watched in disbelief as the purple energy that held the creature together began to flow into me.

When there was only a thin film remaining around the creature I started to feel funny.

‘Wait, what about mana overload?’

The voice didn’t answer, but I guessed this must’ve been my limit, so as instructed, I made what was left dissipate and leave the area. Every drop of remaining mana fled as if it was running from some mana eating monster.

Once it was all gone the cave returned to normal. The mutilated beast fell in small heaps of goopy meat, some of which landed on me.

Both Fin and Mai remained unconscious.

I couldn’t tell if Audrey and Byron were alive or dead and it was only now that I realized I had no idea where Cole and Carletta were.

Did they run before the fight?