"And now because of you two rushing things, all my power's gone and I'm half a ghost again," Elria complained, dragging her words like a sigh. She floated more than walked, her feet occasionally touching the ground only to fade back into mist again. Her body shimmered faintly between flesh and incorporeal glow, like light bleeding through cracked glass.

All five of them trudged ahead. The dirt path had become less earth, and more paved marble. Wherever they were going, it seemed definitive that they were heading to something. Elria herself mostly lead the way.

"Lucky for you," Elria continued, "I still know how to control the Dullahan at the very least. All the wraiths here would have torn you two apart."

Pell groaned. "You've been complaining for the past hour."

"I should complain," Elria snapped, gesturing to herself. "Look at me. I had a body again! Skin, warmth, hair that wasn't mist! And now—" she waved her transparent arm through the air, "—now I'm part stupid fog again! And you are complaining too!"

Pell's skull tilted. "You think anyone here's having a better time than you? We're five things stupid things—a kid who was forced to become a necromancer, a dashing merchant who took a massive detour from his revenge story, a crippled bear, a tin can, and a completely naked ghost who won't shut up!"

Elria rolled her eyes and conjured a faint mist around herself, swirling up into the shape of a translucent cloak. "There. Better? Will this stop your endless whining?"

Pell stopped walking. "Wait—you could've done that the whole time?"

"Yes."

"Then what are you, an exhibitionist?!"

Elria turned, giving him a slow, murderous stare. "No. I just thought you wanted to see me like that. You were the one begging for your life and blabbering about how 'divine' I looked and what a 'great' body I had. I was being nice since you two were my ticket out of here! Sorry for being generous! And didn't you even propose at one point?"

Enya's ears perked. "What?" she asked, voice small but curious. "I thought you liked Elara."

Pell glanced down at her so fast his neck bones creaked. "I do! I mean—no, I don't! Wait—shut up!" He pointed a finger at Elria. "That was a ruse! A trick, you old hag! And one that worked, thank you very much."

Elria's laugh came out as a misty hiss. "Mhm. Yeah, yeah sure. That's what it looked like to me."

Pell muttered something under his breath about haunting her grave just to spite her.

The group continued onward. None of them trusted each other completely, but for now, that didn't matter. They were all trying to escape. Elria, who had the upper hand, was now relying on them to escape once more. Likewise, Enya and Pell needed her help and expertise with witchcraft to leave. Since she didn't command the Dullahan to kill them, they could at least trust her for the time being. Otherwise, there was no way they could beat her if she was actually trying.

Pell didn't think she was lying when she mentioned that she had no intention of fighting. If she did—she could probably melt the both of them down into paste. She had eliminated high-level wraiths with ease. That wasn't even factoring into consideration the fighting force of the Dullahan.

Enya walked a few steps behind, eyes lowered. Elria had mentioned something earlier—about her power, and the way it felt. That it wasn't her own. That it was something divine.

Something belonging to a god.

Enya wasn't sure how much Elria truly knew, or whether she'd ever met Nekron herself. But she was relieved that the witch hadn't asked again. Because if Elria pressed, if she forced the question, then Enya might have to tell Pell the truth—about where she came from. Her origins.

How she wasn't Lia, but a fake.

She wasn't ready for that.

They walked for a while without speaking, the only sound the clatter of Pell's bones and the dull, steady stomp of the armored knight ahead.

After a few minutes, Pell finally grumbled, "How come none of the wraiths are rushing us anymore? Thought we were supposed to be getting ripped apart by now."

Elria didn't look back. "Because I told the Dullahan to keep its domain active."

"Domain?" Pell repeated, wary. "Like, what—some fancy invisible wall?"

"Something like that," Elria said, her voice almost bored. "A domain is a high level ability. Basically creates a space around you that makes the area more convenient. For the Dullahan, it's spread its domain so far out that it's preventing the wraiths from coming in."

Pell stared at the armored knight's back. "So it's just… what, scaring them off?"

Elria shrugged. "Basically."

Pell and Enya didn't notice any major change around them. The world was still the same dull gray, same drifting mist, except that it had been pulled back. Enya, however, did notice something off, but she couldn't explain it. The air felt like it had grown thicker, but it wasn't any less harder to breathe.

"How strong is the damn thing?" Pell asked.

"Strength is relative and—"

"Oh just—out with it," Pell interjected.

She sighed. "It's strong enough to fight me or Felicity at full power for ten minutes."

"That tells me nothing. You got your ass handed to you by a kid."

"I'm not at full power you dolt. Also, I wasn't even trying to fight you two."

Eventually, the fog up ahead thinned, revealing a massive wall. An enormous mountain of dark rock that seemed endless; the sky was even stopped like it was a barricade.

At its base, a cave yawned wide, deep and dark.

"Hmm. Lucky. Pit of the Veined Moths."

"Moths? Doesn't sound too bad," Pell chimed.

They approached the cave entrance.

"Veined moths are soul-burrowing insects. They burrow into your spirit on touch. Each one can hollow out a person in seconds. They're called veined moths because they look like translucent things with their veins pulsing, like a luminous fish."

"Soul-eating insects. Great. Sounds absolutely wonderful and riveting. Also—luminous fish?" Pell asked.

She turned to face him. "What? They all go extinct or something?"

"Never heard of a glowing fish."

"Me neither," Enya chimed.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Elria shook her head. "Whatever. It's not important."

Elria turned to the Dullahan. "Keep your domain active," she ordered. "They won't come near us if his presence fills the cavern."

Pell frowned but didn't argue. He wasn't about to suggest another plan.

As they reached the cave mouth, Elria knelt beside the knight's massive blade, her half-solid fingers tracing its black edge. "Let's make this easier." She whispered a few syllables in an old tongue.

The greatsword pulsed once, then began to glow from within. Its blackness turned translucent, light spilling through the metal until it resembled molten glass and reformed black metal.

"The carrier's light," Enya whispered, recognizing it. "The sword was the light the entire time?"

Elria floated back up, holding the light. "No. It's just witchcraft. A simple conjuring trick." She looked down at it. "Things almost out of power though. Needs more witchcraft power."

Enya reached inside her robe and pulled out the small teddy bear pressed against her side.

They refilled the Carrier's Light, this time—Elria took the lead instead of Enya, transferring the power.

The bear's stitched mouth opened, voice hollow and distorted.

"It's dark in here," it said, eerily cheerful.

Pell shivered. "That thing is a bundle of nightmares."

Enya looked at it. "I think it's cute."

Elria and Pell both said at the same time: "Of course you do." They glanced at one another for a second before turning their heads the other way.

"Alright," Elria said, straightening. "Stay close and don't touch anything. If you see something move, it's probably real. And it probably wants to crawl into your soul."

"Wonderful pep talk," Pell muttered, hefting his scythe. "Let's just get this over with."

They stepped into the cave.

The inside was vast and uneven, filled with broken stone pillars and thin veins of silver light that ran along the walls. The air hummed faintly, alive with an insectile buzz just on the edge of hearing. Noises came, but they saw nothing. None of the soul-bugs appeared. Not even once.

The Dullahan's aura that was supposedly there, was keeping them all at bay.

They walked in silence for roughly half an hour. When they finally emerged from the far end, Pell exhaled loudly. "Well. That wasn't so bad."

"No, it wasn't," Elria agreed. "Because I'm here. You two would've died without me, so remember that."

Pell grumbled something about witches and arrogance, but his voice faded as the fog ahead cleared completely—revealing something immense.

Behind the mountain: a pyramid of stone rose before them, each side made of massive square blocks stacked like a staircase reaching for the heavens. Lines of pale energy ran between the seams, and at the very top, a storm of light and dark clouds coiled around something that pulsed like a heartbeat.

"The cauldron," Elria breathed. "Finally."

Enya stared upward. The air here was heavier, even more so than the Dullahan's aura. Something pressed down on them, like gravity had doubled.

"So that's it? We bring the bear up there and we're good to go?" Enya asked.

Elria laid back on the air, staring up at it. "Yeah. The cauldron and athame are powering the soul-prison. We just need to replace it with the bear. Felicity had probably been fueling the bear with witchcraft the entire time, hoping for our current situation."

Elria's gaze lingered on the storm at the pyramid's peak. "The process is simple," she said, though her tone didn't sound confident at all. "We bring the bear to the top, and I'll perform a link between it and the cauldron. Then, little by little, I'll sever the cauldron's connection to the prison and replace it with the bear's. If it works, the prison will stay intact, and we can leave."

Pell tilted his skull upward, staring at the whirling light. "Simple, huh? Looks like suicide to me."

"It's dangerous, yes," Elria admitted. "The closer we get, the more unstable the flow will become. The cauldron won't like being touched. It'll try to reject us."

Enya frowned. "Then who's going to go?"

Elria's misty eyes turned toward the Dullahan. "I'll send him. He's strong enough to resist the pull. The rest of you stay here."

Pell's sockets flared. "Yeah, no. I don't trust you enough to play fetch with a god-tier bomb. For all I know, you'll just grab the cauldron, steal the athame, and leave us to rot."

Elria crossed her arms, rolling her eyes. "Oh, please. If I wanted to kill you, I'd have done it while you were consoling your crying necromancer."

"You know, that's where you're supposed to say 'I wouldn't do that,' and not give us an example of the best time you would do that."

Pell's gaze returned to the pyramid. The air shimmered around it, distorting like heat. The dark clouds swirling flashed with light, miniature lightning strikes all in a small, localized zone. He could feel the pressure even from here—a gnawing pull that clawed at his soul. Still, he lifted his scythe and rested it on his shoulder. "I'll do it."

"What?" Enya said, her eyes widening. "You can't. You'll die up there!" Enya's eyes flickered up to the tip of the pyramid. She could feel a violent energy up there. Even without absolute focus, she could tell things were distorted, a powerful force to repel intruders.

"Kid," Pell said dryly, "I'm already dead."

"That's not what I meant!" She ran forward, hugging his leg with both arms. "You can't. I can't bring you back if your soul gets destroyed! Don't leave me!"

For a moment, Pell looked down at her—at her small hands clutching his bones, her wide, terrified eyes. His jaw tightened. "You know I can blink if things go bad. That boarbear of yours can take the hits if I screw up. Besides—" He tilted his skull toward Elria, "—I'd rather trust myself than some ghost witch with a terrible history of trust and misdeeds. We might both die if we leave her be."

Elria rolled her eyes. "Charming. But you'll never make it through that storm alive."

"Maybe. Maybe not." Pell flexed his bony fingers, then jabbed a finger at her. "I'm doing this for the kid. You just worry about doing your magic part right."

He pried Enya off gently, her grip trembling. "If things go wrong, just unsummon me. But don't do it unless it seems like shit is really going bad, alright?"

Enya shook her head, voice small. "But—"

"No buts. That's an order, kid." He turned, taking the bear out of Enya's hand. "We're ending this damn prison today."

Elria sighed, the faintest hint of worry showing behind her smirk. "You're stubborn, I'll give you that. Fine. Let's start climbing then. But if you can't make it, I'm sending the Dullahan instead. Once we get up—I'll say 'now,' then you touch both the cauldron and the bear. Don't let go for a full minute, no matter what happens."

Pell grunted. "Yeah, yeah. One minute of hell. I've had worse."

He stepped toward the base of the pyramid, the storm's glow reflecting off his bones. The air crackled. The teddy bear twitched once in his grip.

"Careful, mister skeleton," it whispered softly. "Watch your back. Ha. Ha."

Pell froze, looking down at the teddy bear he was holding. "… I really hate this bear."

Pell grunted, digging the edge of his scythe into the stone for balance. The climb was worse than it looked—each step higher made the pull stronger, the air denser. It felt like climbing into a storm made of weight.

Elria followed close behind, her half-corporeal body flickering between shadow and substance, the wind ripping through her hair.

"Keep up, skeleton!" she called over the roaring gale. "I can't shield you if you lag behind!"

"Then maybe make a better damn shield!" Pell shouted back, his voice half-swallowed by the wind. He lifted one foot, forcing it onto the next block with visible strain. "It's so damn windy!"

Elria was using her witchcraft to form a shadowy barrier in front of them. It pushed back against the torrent, dulling the force—but to Pell, it barely helped at all. Each step was like trudging through a hurricane.

"That's because it's not wind, it's the ley current fighting us," Elria said. "The soul prison has ley lines running from each corner, all converging here at the cauldron. The closer we get, the more of them overlap."

Below them, the others looked small. Enya stood alone, her robe whipping around her in the current. Ted.E—half-broken, dragging his shattered frame—climbed a few blocks at a time, too far to redirect any more damage. The Dullahan waited at the cave's mouth, motionless but vigilant.

Elria exhaled, mist curling from her lips. "We're close. Don't touch the light until I say so."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Pell muttered.

The final steps leveled out into a medium-sized platform. The air up here screamed. At the center hovered the Cauldron—a massive basin of blackened silver, cracked through the middle like a broken heart. From the fracture jutted the Athame, its blade buried deep in the wound, feeding a torrent of blue-white flame that spiraled into the sky.

Elria's shadowy barrier spread outward, forming a dome around them as Pell trudged closer.

"Walk faster! I'm burning through too much power!" Elria snapped, her voice edged with strain. Her body flickered between solid and spectral, looking more ghost than flesh.

"This isn't exactly easy!" Pell barked back.

They pressed on. A bolt of lightning ripped past, slamming into the barrier. The impact cracked the air and left Pell's bones ringing.

By the time they reached arm's length of the Cauldron, Elria's form had almost completely dissolved into mist—her energy spent holding the barrier intact. Pell shifted the bear under his arm, steadying his grip.

The bear's stitched head twisted slightly.

"Don't leave. Let's play together forever!" the bear said.

"Shut the hell up, you creepy abomination," Pell muttered.

"Alright," Elria said sharply. "Hold my hand and touch the Cauldron. I'll link them both together, but you can't let go. Not once. If the connection breaks before I'm done, the entire prison detonates—with us in it."

You tell me that now? Pell thought, but there wasn't time to argue. "Fine, just hurry up!"

He pressed the bear against the Cauldron, his other hand locking into Elria's. He barely felt her touch—it was like grasping smoke.

Elria began to chant. Her voice didn't sound normal. It shifted, twisted, full of phonetics that were all foreign. He could feel something shift around them. Like a secondary tornado forming inside the hurricane.

That's when he felt it—the pressure. It doubled, then tripled. His joints creaked, cracks spreading along his ribs as the vibration rippled through him. The stone beneath their feet shuddered.

"Damn it… a whole… minute?" he grunted, jaw locked as the storm howled around them.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.