[Skell]
…Y-you may unhand me, now." Penelle's head laid against my chest. "Your timely intervention is appreciated, but I can carry myself well enough."
I gave her wobbly legs a slit-eyed glance. "For some reason, I don't believe you." I swept her off the ground.
"What are you doing!?" her world turned sideways, eyes swimming between exhaustion and alarm.
"You pushed yourself to the limit there; I'm surprised you've got the energy to yell. But really, walking in your state's a bad idea. I'll take us somewhere we can rest."
"I'm not… ugh, very well," she conceded with a sigh as another wave of exhaustion rolled over her features. "Now isn't the time to risk a bad fall, and respite does sound appealing. Let us go then, away from all the incessant booming and buzzing beyond that wood-stone… amalgamation you created."
"Way ahead of you." I banged a shoulder against my ear. "They're gonna deafen me at this rate."
Dangling in my arms, I carried the fatigued fencer into the hall beyond the door, leaving behind the sounds of undead who'd never really understand that their attempts to break in were pointless. Thoughts shifted from my kin to something thankfully much simpler: a spot to lay Penelle. Unfortunately, that wouldn't be found in the rows of rotting pews I passed, or on the termite-gnawed rug laid between them that crunched underfoot.
I looked around. What the heck is this place?
"That… reminds me," muttered Penelle, who up 'til then seemed loathe to share eye contact. "I could've sworn - in all the earlier mayhem - you lost an ear."
Abyss.
"I lost a… what?" I acted confused. "Far as I can tell, I've got both right here. Unless you're saying I started off with three?"
"Th-that's not what I-
"Don't take this the wrong way, but things got serious out there. Close call after close call. I'm still a little on-edge, myself."
"You believe my mind plays tricks on me."
I shrugged, lifting and dropping her an inch.
"…Sun above," she closed her eyes. "I feared as much. That brutality was nothing like the regulated matches I'm accustomed to. It cannot have done my psyche any favors."
Whew.
She went on. "Countless fangs, claws, that sunforsaken buzzing, and now the humiliation of being carried through the First Ordeal like a bride-"
Penelle shifted in my arms. Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me, but for a moment I almost thought I saw her pale cheeks go red.
"Um," she continued quickly, "a-at any rate, I see something!"
Her finger thrust ahead to steps that climbed to a raised platform. Atop it - in miraculously decent condition - stood a high-backed marble chair that overlooked the rest of the hall.
I was just as glad to change subjects. "Huh. Guess if anything can stand the test of time, it's marble. Though I can't promise this'll be the most comfortable sit you've ever had."
Against its ornate backing, I propped up Penelle. "There. Better?"
"It's not my divan back home," she nestled herself into it, "but it's miles better than the floor. I… should thank you. After securing the door, you could've left me to labor on my own."
"Yeah? Well, both of us need to stay in prime shape if we're gonna win this."
"A pragmatic perspective. Except, I cannot for the life of me get something out of my head. That dark art," she uttered 'dark' with a hint of distaste, "the one that allowed you to escape the undead, does it have to do with the shadows?"
Don't know where she's going with this, but there's no point hiding it.
"Something like that. I can dive into darkness, swim through it like water. Easier than water, actually."
"And as logic would dictate, a shadow is untouchable. Ubiquitous too, in this pitch cavern."
"Which means?"
"Which means it must have occurred to you: the idea that you could've left me behind. Left the horde behind." She studied me, troubled. "You didn't."
"Of course I didn't," I thought quickly. "You're no slouch with that épée; why would I go it alone without your sword-arm?"
That was only the partial truth. But it's all she needed to know.
"Hunting for seven more points alone…" I continued, "well, even with Shadow Form, it'd be risky."
"As risky as leaping back into the horde's path?" she needled. "Whatever advantage I bring couldn't possibly equal the risk you took. If I faltered in holding back the undead, they could've been on top of us before you ever uttered the incantation."
My eyes narrowed. "Is there something you want me to say? That I helped you out of the kindness of my heart? I came through that door because it served me. I'm the dark mage, remember? Isn't looking out for myself what you expect from me?"
Offense sharpened her features… before a pensiveness smoothed them. Her pink eyes, though? They pierced right through me.
It was awhile after that pause that I noticed my raised voice booming off the broad walls. "I… I'm gonna take a look around. Get a feel for this place. Give me a shout when you're ready to get back into the thick of things."
I turned away from her gaze, starting down the steps. Shade. This hand I was dealt, this role of the wicked dark mage…
Why's it so difficult to play?
—————————————————————————————————
I looked closer. Like I thought: dried blood. And it's not black.
Between Penelle's raised chair and the foremost row of rotting pews, I knelt over an open section of the stone floor. I'd been there for the better part of ten minutes, not just soaking in what'd happened, but where we were. And what that meant.
My mind should be focused on getting points, then getting out. But this place is so strange. A town buried under the capital? Undead roaming its every corner? Now this? Human blood? And it's ancient - no applicant spilled this.
When looking for a place to put Penelle, I rushed by the blood without even noticing it, but in hindsight, it wasn't exactly hidden. That in itself was worth noting; to still be visible after so many years - and to stain stone - meant that more must've spilt than I could imagine.
And somehow, that wasn't what stole the brunt of my attention.
No. The thieves were the impossibly-complex shapes along the floor. Long-faded. Redder than the blood beside them. Part of a larger tapestry of similar patterns - the few that remained implying a circular shape to the design. What I was looking at, I couldn't tell. I'd never seen anything like it.
…So why does it feel so familiar?
A sound from behind drew my attention. I spun.
"Penelle," my eyes followed her down the steps. "How are you holding up?"
The fencer touched the bottom, then stepped over a fallen lectern. "Before, my arms shouted expletives at me. Now they merely grumble," she stretched them, as if to pop life back into her veins.
"Good," I turned back to the odd shapes.
"What are you up to, Skell? I've watched you mutter at the floor for some time now."
"Just trying to make sense of this place. I figure we're in some sorta age-old town hall - it'd fit with us being in the middle of town, too - but these markings on the ground are-"
I stopped, stood up, and shot back to Penelle. "What'd you call me?"
She blanched. "Skell? You took issue with me saying 'dark mage' before. Don't tell me you despise your own name as well?"
"…Oh. Er, no. Skell's all right."
Didn't know she even paid that any attention…
Suddenly having lost track of my thoughts, I fumbled for something to reground our conversation. "Anyway, are you ready to make tracks?" I walked toward her. "I've got just the idea for finding an escape route."
A look entered her eyes. The kind that always seemed to herald bad news. "That's what I came over to discuss, truth be told. While I was up there, I mulled things over."
"Like what?"
She took a breath. "I don't know how quite to approach this, but… I am strongly considering my immediate forfeit."
Ice fixed my bones in place. "F-forfeit? Why?"
Penelle craned her neck, revealing a red slit along the side of it previously covered by pink hair. "This is why. One reason among many."
I leaned in for a closer look.
"Only a graze, I understand, but imagine a world where I was a hair slower, or the husk an inch closer. In that world I am just another corpse outside." She shivered. "Gorged on. Torn open and splayed about the blood-soaked soil like a gutted deer."
I hesitated. I couldn't pretend the possibility wasn't there; I'd even said so myself.
"You're right. But at the same time, you… you were incredible out there," I said truthfully. "Slicing through the horde, holding them back - you were a warrior."
"…What if I'd rather be anything but?"
The fencer turned away before I could reply, pacing back up the steps with her gaze on the floor.
"Penelle? Wait!" I followed after her, reaching the top. "At least tell me what you're on about."
She continued to an arched stone entryway past the high-backed chair, leading to a spiral staircase. "Do you truly care to know?" she stopped under the arch.
"…Yes, yes I do. Okay?" I held out my hands. "So let's just… talk things out. Before you do anything rash."
"Rash?" She found that funny. "I suppose I'll tell, then. You may very well be one of the few to understand. But in this dreary hall I can still hear the pounding of those monsters outside." She motioned up the stairs. "The steps, at least, would be a better place for sober conversation."
Sweat started to build on my face. I wiped it away before it showed. "Sure, all right. Let's head up."
—————————————————————————————————
"This should be far enough?" the fencer stopped, seating herself on a stone step like she was sitting at a banquet.
Me? Well, the spiral stairway wasn't exactly spacious. I plopped myself a few steps down from her, back against the wall. "Well, I'm ready when you are. Where we left off, you made it sound like you don't wanna be a Templar."
Penelle set an elbow on her knee and a chin in her palm. "The most lauded position in Lumerit. Riches. Prestige. Idolization. Lifetimes are spent pursuing such goals." A hand touched her wound. She winced. "Death often arrives first."
"I see the criticism in your eyes," she continued. "Look. I knew applying to become a Templar would be dangerous. I thought I'd come to accept it. The stories I was told, however? Of chivalry and glorious battle? They were never as macabre as the last hour."
In a way, I could understand. Never did I expect a nightmare like that. It was the First Ordeal, and our job wasn't even half finished. For me, I had no choice but to face it. But her?
"I don't understand," I said. "It wouldn't take a genius to figure you come from money."
"…You could say that."
"Then," I hesitated, ultimately deciding to say it anyway, "why are you here? Putting your life at risk when you could be living the cushy life? You know, being fed grapes and crapping in a golden toilet?"
She gave me a barbed look. "We're not that wealthy. In fact, I… I mentioned my father earlier. See, he was born into poverty. Begging for scraps on the streets of Selem's slums. Short and lean. Until he grew tall and lean, and made rounds laying flat those who owed them. That evolved into a career as a mercenary."
"Right. You said something about him owning his own company?"
"For twenty-two years, yes. You could imagine how his poverty vanished in that time. Yet for all his effort, we hardly stand among the ankles of nobility."
I eyed her curiously. "You're telling me there's levels to all the rich people in the capital? I always figured it was the King, then you guys, then all the regular people."
"Would that it was so simple, in father's eyes. No, our family does not attend lavish parties or converse among the elite. We are in essence rich commoners. They say merit takes you far in this land. I believe them. But mercenaries can only rise so high, it seems. Templars, however, have the map to the mountain's peak. They rub elbows with the richest and most powerful in the capital and beyond. Father is too old to apply."
Penelle's gaze hardened. "I am not."
"So that's why you're here."
To act as a stepstool for your dad.
She nodded. "…Perhaps I shouldn't ask this, but your opinion is the only one available. Should… should I continue? Don't misunderstand, I want to help father, but more prestige isn't the answer. We live comfortably enough, and," she looked to her bloodstained clothes, "I don't want this. Any of it."
Looking into her eyes, I had little issue forming a response:
To the Abyss with what he expects of you. Walk where you wanna walk, do what you wanna do. Your life isn't a poker chip to play in someone else's game.
And yet… my lips held it back. I knew if Penelle forfeited now, that'd leave gathering the next seven points to me and only me. I'd become much stronger thanks to my training. But going back out there? Alone?
This is your life - your past life - hanging in the balance, here. I told myself. You need every advantage you can get.
But what if her next cut goes deeper. Too deep to heal?
Don't pity her! She tried to stop you from taking the Ordeals, don't forget that. Everything will work out in the end. Just tell her what you need her to hear.
I opened my mouth.
Then shut it tight and clenched my knee. All while Penelle's eyes traced the ridges of the wall beside her.
"…Skell," she didn't shift her gaze, "I'm no fool."
"What?"
"You only stand to gain if I stay. And you only stand to lose if I don't. I haven't forgotten the connection between our fates. Yet… you've chosen to say nothing." She pinned her eyes on me. "Not what I expected."
Penelle stood. "Nevertheless, in speaking my mind, I've found my answer."
I rose nervously. "Which is?"
"Family… is only given once in a lifetime. As the only daughter of mine, it should come first." She spoke quietly. As if the words were meant for her own ears instead of mine. "Even… even if such work is not to my liking. Father seldom smiles. Perhaps coming home with the Templar plate on my shoulders, it could put him in the most joyous mood. He may even throw a party for the occasion. All I must do is persevere."
"But Skell," she extended me a hand, "I cannot do this by my lonesome. Let us endure this Ordeal together."
I looked to the hand, then her, with a reluctance I was surprised to have. Ultimately though, there was only one surefire path to survival.
So I took it.
—————————————————————————————————
"This is the escape route you mentioned?" Penelle climbed the spiraling steps, glancing back incredulously. "The only way off this tower would be with shattered legs, no?"
I followed behind. "This isn't the escape route - this is the way to scope one out. Up there we'll be able to survey the area, see which direction gets us away from the horde so we can deal with more manageable numbers. Then we drop back down to the hall and I use Hand of Decay to carve through whichever wall leads us the way we picked out."
"The high ground? Hm. A keen strategy."
Round and round we went, rising through the neverending pitch, 'til we saw it overhead: the distant roof of the Dross.
We poked our eyes, then boots, out of the staircase, finding the tower's peak, rising higher than anything else in the ruined town. Up there I could see just how sprawling the cavern really was. Countless stalactites hung from above, cut across by the transparent hall we entered the Ordeal in, the light inside it like a beam in the sky - the only source in sight.
No, can't think about safety now; we've got work to do.
My attention dropped to ground level. Quickly I noticed more than homes, streets, and rotting once-greenery. While most parts seemed relatively developed, some struck me as more pastoral. Like the faraway farmland, covered in dried-up rivers and rows of trampled dirt where crops grew lifetimes ago.
Silhouettes of applicants and undead dueled in the distance. Arts were slung in brief flashes, before darkness returned. I couldn't tell if they were successful.
"What in the…" Penelle said with audible discomfort. "Look."
My eyes eventually honed in on a wide rooftop several streets away. On it stood two familiar figures: Soleil and Yamui.
And they weren't alone. Eight yellow lights surrounded them on the rooftop. All husks.
Soleil gave her flail a casual flick as she sized up the bloodthirsty monsters. "Outnumbered four to one, looks like." The studded ball revolved through the air with building speed. "Sit this one out, bird boy. My portion's not big enough."
"Get serious, you orange eyesore." Yamui drew his weapon, revealing an azure blade that shimmered like sapphire in the darkness. "We acquire ten points. We leave. Slaying more than five will waste time."
The fly-covered husks shambled around them, using their scraps of intellect to sniff out the best angle to tear out their throats. One slipped right behind Soleil's blind spot, whose flail continued to whirl at a blurring crescendo.
"Running so fast?" she licked her lips, seemingly more focused on the shining metalwork of Yamui's weapon than her own surroundings. "C'mon. Only losers take the easy way out."
She's still focused on that sword? I tensely approached the tower's barrier. Now of all times?
Suddenly the husk rushed her from behind. She didn't turn to see it. As it closed in I wanted to yell her name - warn her. The words wouldn't reach her ears in time.
Then I noticed her eyes crawling along Yamui's blade.
Soleil's flail reached a fever pitch. "I say," she twisted under lunging claws, "we kill 'em all!"
Acting on all the built-up momentum, her flail exploded into the undead's chest.
Gore soared like confetti. Brain matter, bones, rotted organs - all lost in a meaty mist as her studded ball punched though the undead's upper body like paper.
The following crunch forced me to blink. When my eyes reopened, dead legs hit the ground.
She watched its movements in the sword's reflection!?
Time didn't stop for my amazement. The rest of the undead pack charged the applicants, three hunting Yamui and four pursuing Soleil.
The swordsman stood blasé as the husks leapt at him. So blasé, in fact, that he slid his blade back into its sheath - a brainless move when claws raced for your throat.
At least that's what I would've thought. If I hadn't started to notice a pattern.
"Flash Iai!" Yamui thundered through the incoming group of undead, body closer to rushing vapor than solid mass. His blade split the two closest husks at the waist, rancid organs pooling at their falling, bisected bodies. The last husk, far away enough to be out of range, jerked to face the swordsman.
At the same time Soleil leapt high above the pack of husks reaching for her. Her fiery eyes dropped to meet the four lifeless pairs below. Based on her jump's trajectory, she'd land right in the middle of their fangs.
Apex of her leap, though, Soleil spoke of flares with flair. "Pyro Lance!"
Manifesting in her hand was a bolt of flame in the flickering shape of a short lance. She slung back an arm. Winked. Then hurled the bolt into the pack below. Immediately engulfed in the ensuing explosion were the two closest husks - bodies and surrounding flies rendered silhouettes in the flame, then ash. The further two were launched to opposite sides of the rooftop like tumbleweed.
Harmless smoke and ashes were all that remained when Soleil touched down. Orange toes poked out of the cloud first, followed by the rest of her flashy outfit.
Another incantation and a second lance filled her grip. One of the husks teetered to its feet - directly in her sights - and she reared back to blow it to smithereens.
Yamui already sliced his last husk to ribbons with effortless swordplay, and again clicked his blade back into its scabbard. A prerequisite for casting Flash Iai, I was sure of it.
And he aimed it at the same undead Soleil targeted.
The lance fired before Yamui moved, though they arrived simultaneously. Yamui's speeding body - now definitely aware of Pyro Lance thanks to it warming his face - curled down to narrowly avoid it, dropping his attack and crashing into the husk. Both tripped to the ground as Pyro Lance streaked past the roof's edge and exploded into the side of another building.
Yamui sprung up and quickly checked himself for burns. Not on his skin, but his silk jacket: covered in violet strokes that depicted a three-legged crow. The very ends that hung at his waist were singed to smoke.
"You slow-witted, cretinous… look what you've wrought!" the swordsman shouted with more emotion than I'd ever seen from him. "This haori is a priceless heirloom. Charred with your ignorant Lumeritan magic!"
"Oh, please," Soleil rolled her eyes. "Just tear the burnt parts off. Thing'll look better ripped, anyway."
His entire expression narrowed. "The only thing that warrants ripping is your tongue…"
As if on cue, the husk that collided with Yamui rose, approaching him from the side.
"Agreed." She shot him a corrosive smirk. "But no one's cut it out yet. This sharp silver tends to strike first."
The husk she blew away before had gotten up too, creeping to the pyromaniac's flank.
Yet the two applicant's eyes only bored into each other. Soleil flicked her flail, letting it spin, building power. Yamui stowed his blade and set his feet.
Both frowned.
"Damned distraction!"
"Outta the way!"
Yamui's blade flashed through his husk's thighs - then belly - then throat - then eyes - to drop the husk one fleshy layer at a time. All without looking.
Soleil's flail plunged into her husk's skull like a crushed watermelon, pounding its flattened chin to the cracked floor. All without turning.
Their power was incredible. Abyss, they might've even rivaled Amara. But for as impossible as that seemed, my mind couldn't help but think something else.
These two are nuts! They're partners - are they really gonna fight each other over some misunderstanding?
"The foreigner and that peculiar girl," Penelle stood beside me, watching with discomfort. "Quite the interesting duo."
"Shh. I'm listening."
"Listening?" she scoffed. "As if anyone could hear those two from here."
Yeah? Maybe you've just got lousy ears.
"In any case," she continued, "attention should turn to ourselves; our escape route will not reveal itself."
…She's got a point. No time to gawk at others. Just gotta assume those two freaks don't maul each other down here.
Penelle and I stepped away from the barrier, moving to opposite sides of the tower, eyes running along the desolate, lifeless streets below, searching for the path offering the least resistance. A classic example of something easier said than done. Turns out we really were in the dead center of the Dross' longtime residents - even the least populated streets crawling with collars. Thanks to our hectic escape, those below seemed restless, awaiting the warm flesh they'd been narrowly denied.
"See a path?" Penelle's tone implied rotten luck on her part.
"None worth taking. Even if one opens up through the horde, it closes up the next minute. Urgh."
I looked to the sky, or at least where it would've been. We could play the long game. Sit and watch. Chances are they might disperse. Then again, what if they don't? Valérie didn't mention a time limit, but I doubt we can run the clock all night. Second Ordeal is tomorrow morning, and-
A glint in the corner of my eye is all that kept my jaw attached. I leaned back out of instinct as a claw nearly tore it off.
My gaze snapped down to a husk with one claw trenched into the tower wall and the other flailing for me. Fingers lifted my staff and spiked the undead between the eyes. The force pried its hand out of the wall and sent it plummeting down the tower and crashing into the roof, then rolling along its slanted surface until it fell back into the overrun town square.
The myriad undead below all turned to their broken-legged kin.
Then, they gazed up to me.
"What was that noise?" Penelle questioned from behind me. "Are you hurt?"
"A-a husk must've spotted us earlier," I backed away from the barrier. "Now they all have…"
Already, several husks dug claws into the building side and started their ascent. Further husks from nearby streets noticed them and staggered over to do the same. Even more noticed them.
"Pardon?" Penelle hurried past me, taking a quick glance over the barrier. The face she pulled back was about what you'd expect. "They're climbing!? I didn't know they could-" she cut herself off. "What do we do?"
"Shade, I don't know! We could take on several, but-"
"That's hardly several! Dozens approach and we cannot battle them all on this meagre tower! What if… what if we hurried downstairs?"
"And get trapped inside?" I questioned. "We'll have nowhere to go!"
"Then what other option do we have?"
I didn't have an answer for her. Though I did have one for myself: Shadow Form.
Cast it, and I'll be away from here in a flash. But, just me… My fists tightened. I leave her behind and who knows if she'll press her button. For her father and family, she might fight tooth and nail to get the last seven points. Alone.
And die in the process.
Flies rose with the husks; their buzzing growing louder. Some started to clamber over the lower rooftop, attaching their claws to the base of our tower.
Silently, Penelle needled me with an anxious none-too-stealthy glance. She knew what I was capable of. And she knew I was considering it.
Abyss, if it's dying with her, or escaping alone, the second option's the only one that makes sense. Getting the rest of my points will be tough, but its better than staying up here and getting overwhelmed.
So why can't I? Just speak the incantation and don't look back. Be the selfish dark mage everyone thinks you are and make the smart choice.
But I held my own words back. Instead, a sudden idea sprung to mind.
And I said something really stupid.
"P-Penelle!" I uttered with half-hidden shame, "come hold my hand!"
"Excuse me!? I don't believe I've ever seen worse timing from a suitor!"
"That's not what this is, all right? I've got an idea - I just need to experiment with something."
"Experiment!?"
"Abyss, listen! You either hold my hand or theirs - which is it?" I thrust out a palm.
Penelle stared at it nervously, before the approaching, nonstop buzzing pulled her mind firmly to the present.
She presented delicate fingers. "N-no funny business, am I clear?"
"Crystal," I held it. "Shadow Form!"
Sinking into the dark floor of the roof, I felt my body dissolve into shadow.
And as I'd hoped… Penelle's did too.
Did I expect this to work? Not with much confidence. Sure, when casting Shadow Form, whatever I held onto - like my clothes and staff - came along for the ride. But as I wracked my brain for a solution to pull us both out of danger, an unassuming thought nearly sneaked past.
It'd be so much easier if we could both cast Shadow Form.
Then the question hit me: if I could take an object with me… could a person come too?
As I looked across the ground at a vaguely Penelle-shaped shadow, I discovered that, thank the stars, they could.
Our murky fingers interlaced, and my first instinct was to pull her and myself to safety. But something was wrong. Unlike every other time, I couldn't move an inch. It was like an immovable weight was tied to me. And I don't mean to my entire body.
But to the other end of my grip.
She's not budging! It's like… she's resisting my magic!
I leapt out of Shadow Form quickly, the fencer coming too.
"Sun above!" Penelle's face exploded into panic as she adjusted to sudden ground. "What the- how did-" she snatched her hand away, pressing it defensively toward her chest. "Th-that was your dark art, wasn't it?"
A rhetorical question. I couldn't even put together an answer before she continued.
"And you cast it without a word of warning? What were you thinking?"
Before I replied, buzzing filled my ears. My gaze slipped over the barrier and I froze. The tower was littered in husks, the highest of which were half a minute from reaching the top.
I shot back. "You've gotta take my hand again!"
"What!?" she jumped away, holding her hands close. "You cannot be serious - become one with that foul magic again?"
"Abyss, Penelle! This isn't the time to lump me in with whatever you think about dark mages!"
"It's not you, Skell!" she clarified. "But dark magic, the things I've been told-"
"Dark magic is trying to save you!" I thrust out my hand.
Sweat slid past her troubled eyes - as a claw peered over the rim of the roof behind her. Next was the howling face of a husk.
"Penelle!" I kept my legs still, for as much as I wanted for them to melt into shadow. "I can't force you!"
The buzzing almost drowned out my voice as the fencer's gaze darted between the husks clambering over the tower's barrier, then to her button, then to her partner.
She shut her eyes.
Then ran to me.
On her heels lunged the husks. Coming from all directions. There wasn't time. I rushed for the fencer. And our hands met, as claws descended upon us.
"Shadow Form!"
Undead crashed into one another over our shadowy heads. We'd made it. And this time, Penelle didn't dig her heels in.
Within the flat world of shadow, she followed my hand under the husks populating the top of the tower. We slipped over the barrier. Then down the length of the tower, past more husks that had no clue their prey swam beside them. Our speed turned breakneck as we shot down the side of the town hall too, and hit a hard angle onto the ground of the town square.
Collars blinked past as we rushed ahead to a destination I'd chosen on the spot: the "x" shaped chasm from before. We crept at the precipice.
Then, flung ourselves into the darkness.
The world quickly flipped upside-down, our forms floating along the ceiling of some sorta smaller cave within The Dross. Still holding on tightly to Penelle for fear of losing her, I directed us along the rugged, bumpy ceiling 'til we wrapped around to another wall.
Soon the ground came to us again. After checking our surroundings - surprisingly unoccupied, if a little darker than above - I deactivated my art.
As we materialized, I saw beside me the forming of an unexpected smile from Penelle.
"Well?" I found her expression infectious. "How was it? As terrible as you imagined?"
"…Wow," she more breathed than spoke. "The first time, I hardly had the time to realize what was happening. But then? I don't rightly know."
"Know what?" I cocked my head.
"How to put it into words. Believe it or not, there's a certain je ne sais quoi to losing the corporeality of your entire body."
…Je ne what?
"One might assume it to be a scarring, nightmarish experience, but when I became… shadow, it was as if I was untethered. Like an endless sea separated me from all my fears. It was…"
"Heavenly?" my grin turned smug.
"Horrendous!" she blushed.
"Horrendous?"
"I… no, not horrendous," she looked away. "Not in the slightest. It was… nothing like I'd been told. Dark magic was always described as destructive, and violent, and scary. But in that moment, it rescued me, protected me, and calmed me. You did that."
Smugness was a lot harder to maintain when you were the one blushing. "Me? No, you just, er, keep misunderstanding! I'm trying to keep you around to help me out."
Penelle giggled. "You're awful at this, you know?"
She let go of my hand, something I didn't realize she still held onto. "I should thank you. For keeping me in this twisted game."
My mouth suddenly struggled to pick out the right words. 'Til I decided to drop it. All of it. My deceits. My fears. My defenses.
"We're in this together," I smiled. "Long as I can help it, these monsters aren't gonna hurt you. Or me. We've still got two more Ordeals to crush after all."
"That we do," she nodded, "and you can count on my protection as well." She looked past me. "However, there's one matter I don't quite understand. Why did you lead us into this chasm?"
"Here? Well, from the tower I got a bird's eye view down here, noticed there was solid ground within. Figured it'd be the closest thing to a refuge from above. Plus, I didn't want to risk something going wrong with Shadow Form. I've never used it to travel, let's say, long-distance before. Especially with company."
"With company?" the fencer echoed. "Perhaps another trip…" she cut herself off.
"What? What were you about to say?"
"Ah, nothing. A foolish idea, nothing more."
"Come on, now I'm curious."
"I-" Penelle's eyes snapped wide. They weren't looking at me.
I spun around to see what she stared at. My expression quickly matched hers.
Out of the cave's darkness emerged two lights. Two red lights.
And the faces illuminated in them were nothing like we'd ever seen before.