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Tenah didn’t have time to thank Aeyis for the quietude because something whooshed through the bell tower. Turning her head, she caught Gireth shouting and aggressively waving her to the stairs. Then he was gone, ripped from the tower in a flurry of black wings and gnashing teeth.
Her stomach dropped out of her body as she ran to the splintered railing.No. That couldn’t be Gireth hurtling to the ground, tangled up in a feingrot. Its talons were latched around his shoulder plates as it drove him into the ground with a sickening crunch.
She tore for the stairs, vital things inside of her twisting and snapping. Breaking from the cathedral doors, she paid no mind to the Corrupt and feingrot tearing apart the camp. Ruzgorn blades were efficiently hacking them apart.
Tenah shoved the now-dead feingrot off Gireth’s body, leaving his glaive in its torso. Her shaking fingers pressed against his neck first.
A pulse thumped back, and she allowed herself to breathe again.
“Don’t you ever scare me like that again,” she scolded, hot tears streaming down her face.
When she clasped his hand to help him up, Gireth brushed her off. “Tenah, I…I don’t think I can move.”
The raw fear in his voice stabbed at her. She reached again for his hand. “You can. You just have to try.”
“Ican’t.”
Terror surged through her as her mind hooked on the thought of his spine possibly being broken. Her eyes skimmed the camp frantically.Healer, she screamed down the mental link with Aeyis.We need a healer.
You are the only healer in camp,Aeyis replied solemnly.It has to be you.
Her throat was ragged as she stared down at Gireth. His eyes were vacant as he gazed up at the sky. She wanted to shake him.
He’d survived Dreaddix. He could live through this too. But she knew his spirit had been broken too. She didn’t try to move him again.
“Don’t cry for me, pretty girl,” Gireth said with a faint smile. “You’re too good for that.”
Arguing with him would only result in Tenah dissolving into a puddle of sorrow. She looked to the rift, desperate for the healing magic she knew it hid. Too far away. Too overburdened with monsters.
She risked another doorway into the Void, large enough for her to crawl inside. With a protective shield of fiery energy pulled tight around her body, she sprinted for the temple. There was no time for second guessing. Not when Gireth might provoke an attack with enemies, despite his condition.
She raced into the dark entrance, grateful to find it blissfully empty. Cirel was most likely preoccupied with orchestrating his doomsday march. Charging down the pitch-black stairs, plummeting into the heart of her nightmares, she prayed Rama would be enough to save her friend and close the rift.
Corrupt shadowling. Chaos boomed all around her, its words repeating like a fragmented memory.Such unholy acts you have committed. Shameful, unforgivable acts.
Recognizing the parasite’s attempt to stall her advances, she forged on. Insectile legs scuttled over her boots, flowing in a steady stream. Her vicious flames met them before they had a chance to crawl halfway up her legs. She burned and burned and burned at the heaving mass of them, never allowing her heartbeat to stutter.
Chaos shifted gears. The assault of creatures halted abruptly. Silence fell. A lone torch ignited with blue fire, revealing a dozen stone tunnels, all smeared with dark, metallic blood.
She cursed. The hesitation cost her. Liquid pooled under her boots, slithering along the cracks between tiles like miniature snakes. It was too dark to be blood but felt just as thick as she stepped through it. Too soon, it lapped at her shins.
Tenah thrust her horror down. Just how far did this temple fucking span?
Sloshing through the foreign liquid, she headed for the farthest tunnel. It was her best guess. Chaos would assume her too frightened to cross that far. And itwasimpossible to stamp out the sour kernel of fear in her gut. The liquid had risen to her waist now, staining her exposed stomach. She fought back a wave of nausea.
Chaos has no physical hold on me. It cannot win.Not again.
She waded up to her chest. Her breaths came quicker. Her eyes watched for ripples beyond the ones she created with her movement. What lurked beneath the surface?
Fear surrounded her mind like a vice. What if Rama wasn’t even here? What if the source had dried up or withered from the concentration of Chaos here?
Chaos tore into that uncertainty. Dragged it out with sharp claws as the liquid rose to her chin.
Movements frantic now, she threw herself into the final tunnel. Something wrapped around her ankle and pulled her under with a jerk.
Tenah couldn’t help but scream. Liquid flooded into her mouth. It filled her nostrils. Coated her eyes until she could no longer blink against the viscous fluid. She kicked her legs as hard as she could. Her hands slapped against narrow stone walls, her broken fingernails digging into them.
She had to keep going, despite the burn in her lungs. Despite the part of her mind telling her this was surely the end. Death was done playing games with her. The time had come for her to rest for good.
