The Breaking Point
Darkness always finds a way to break people. It feels isolating and depressing. When something scares you, the dark only makes it worse. The thoughts that run through your head before sleep can be terrifying, especially when they brush up against life and death.
I stayed up the whole night replaying what Doya had told me. I couldn't wrap my head around it. I couldn't believe it. He was fine. He was healthy. I couldn't find the words to say to him. Maybe it was fear. Maybe it was anger. Maybe both. I just couldn't lose him. My mind was on a loop, over and over, refusing to stop.
I sat in a corner, holding myself in the dark. There were other people in the room, but it still felt like I was alone. Only heavy breathing filled the space, broken by small sobs and quiet winces.
Corvessa and Soren still hadn't returned. I didn't even want to think about what might've happened to them...
---
The morning sun slipped through the cracks in the ceiling. I had remained where I was since the night before. The others were asleep. I counted about seventeen of them, not including Kumbuye, Doya, and Giselle.
Giselle.
I wasn't even interested in hearing whatever story she had now.
The hunger from yesterday had dulled — though not in any good way. I was still hungry, but there was this bile sitting in my throat, making it hard to even think about food.
One after another, the others began to wake. Tiredness and exhaustion were written all over their faces. Low chatter started to rise among the group, but it stayed hushed and quiet enough that no one would hear beyond the walls.
Then a sharp voice from the group spoke.
"You're the guardian, aren't you?" he said, looking straight at me. "Then do something." he demanded.
A few heads turned at that. Not everyone, but the majority of the group.
Another voice joined in, this time more reproachfully. "Yeah... if you're supposed to be leading or protecting us, then start acting like it."
I had never been that speechless. They all looked at me like I was the cause of their problems. Well, maybe I was, but I was trying my best.
"Hey," Giselle snapped from her corner. "Don't talk like that. She's doing everything she can. Give her a break."
I wondered why she was defending me. I didn't need her to stand up for me. I hated that fact.
"The guardian needs no break," the first voice shot back again. "All she needs is to do her job, which she's clearly failing at."
Their voices must have woken Doya up. The moment his eyes opened, they landed on me.
"We're hungry and wounded," the man continued to lament, only a bit louder now.
"Would you keep your voice down," Kumbuye groaned, staring straight at him.
"Or what?" the man fired back.
War does this to people. It puts everyone on edge, like there's no hope left, so everyone turns to anger. But now the difference was that all that anger was directed at me. The one they looked up to.
What could I do? I couldn't promise them safety. I wasn't even sure I would make it out of this mess myself. I couldn't tell them they wouldn't die any minute. Who knows where the next explosion would happen, or the next violent attack? Who the hell knows when Balshak would decide to show up?
"I'm sorry..." I blurted out.
"Sorry?" The man spat. "You're sorry?" He repeated harshly. "Oh, everyone's in danger, but the guardian is sorry, so now we're safe." He mocked me with a bitter laugh. "We don't want your sorry. We want out of this mess!" he lashed out.
"You're being unreasonable," Doya said coldly, addressing the man. "You're in danger, and all you can think to do is attack the one person who might save this entire Temple?" His eyes darkened. "No, I take it back. Unreasonable is too kind. You are foolish. If you think it's such an easy task, go out there and fight the enemy. Save the Temple yourself, and you'll have all the praise."
The man opened his mouth to respond, but Doya cut him off before another word could leave it.
"Speak again," he said quietly, "and I'll cut out your tongue."
That alone was enough to silence him. The room went still.
Then suddenly we heard fast footsteps approaching. Kumbuye was on his feet in an instant, ready to fight.
Before Corvessa appeared at the entrance.
She looked worn down. Her eyes swept across the room quickly, taking in every face.
"You made it," she breathed out, relief slipping through before her expression changed. "Where's Soren?"
---
Kumbuye, Doya, Giselle, Corvessa, and I gathered together just outside the space. Another room within the half-collapsed building, though separate enough for privacy.
We had to decide where to keep the others safe before moving on to our next course of action.
"How's the Old Watchtower sound?" Corvessa suggested.
"That's where they captured Giselle and me," Doya said immediately, shaking his head in disagreement.
"There are some districts that weren't attacked," Kumbuye proposed instead. "We could take them there."
"I really don't think that place being safe is a permanent situation," I reasoned.
"I agree with you," Corvessa muttered, "but we don't have many options at our disposal."
That was true. We didn't have many options, and we couldn't carry the burden of fighting the enemy while trying to protect everyone too. That was just dead weight.
"I'll take them personally to Syrofin District," Corvessa decided. "The cellar we stayed in."
Everyone agreed. Without a doubt, it was the only decent solution we had.
So she left with them.
"We need to get these collars off," Giselle muttered, referring to the ones around her neck and Doya's.
I reached toward hers to examine it, but she jerked her head back quickly.
"No. Don't," she snapped.
I pulled my hand back, staring at her blankly.
"It reacts if someone touches it," she explained.
"Well, if we can't touch it, how are we supposed to remove it?" I asked.
"There's a spell book," Doya interjected. "We can use that. Though it won't work for me because mine has an anchor."
"An anchor?" I repeated.
"Yes," Giselle answered. "Without Darveth's blood, we can't remove his collar."
"Darveth is the anchor? Oh, gods..." I pressed my fingers to my temple, rubbing slowly. "Where do we get this spell book?"
"It's in the Old Watchtower," Giselle muttered. "Well, it was there before they took us, so it should still be there. That's where you got the urn, right?"
I nodded, still rubbing at my temple.
"I can get the spell book," Kumbuye spoke up from the corner.
"Okay," I sighed, nodding. "About Doya's collar... we'll have to get to Darveth."
"We get the book first," Doya said, "then we go for Darveth."
Kumbuye pushed himself off the wall and adjusted the daggers at his sides, making sure it sat loose enough to pull quickly. He moved fast toward the exit before he stopped and looked back.
"If I'm not back before nightfall, don't come looking for me."
Then he left.
After that, the room fell into an uncomfortable silence. Nobody spoke or dared to utter a word. Giselle stayed at her corner while Doya sat, leaning against the wall. I kept my attention anywhere but him.
---
It was hours later when footsteps finally echoed through the structure again. All our heads turned instantly.
Kumbuye had returned.
"You got it?" Giselle asked, already moving toward him.
He raised the book with a rough sigh.
She collected it and flipped through the pages quickly. "Yes," she breathed, handing the book over to me. "Here it is. I need you to do the spell."
I took it, studying the different kinds of collars drawn across the pages, until I found one that resembled the ones on the Ascend.
The collar that glows.
"This one..." I mumbled, approaching Doya to show him. "It's the same one he used to keep the Ascend bound in the Sanctum."
His eyes scanned the page. "That's an ancient concealing collar," Doya muttered. "One of the same kind used on Anthos to neutralize him. How was Darveth able to get his hands on six of them?"
"Not six," I corrected quietly. "Five. He has five Ascend in the Inner Sanctum powering a black stone he's using to control the guards and the rest of the Bound. While Ascend Kaelric is locked in the Upper Room."
Doya's eyes widened slightly in realization. "He bested everyone," he scoffed, followed by a short, bitter laugh. "He actually bested everyone."
"Could we get this off my neck first?" Giselle interrupted.
I looked at her coldly. "Perhaps it's best you keep it on. We don't know if you'll betray us the moment it comes off."
Shock crossed her face. "I think I've proven myself worthy of your trust, haven't I?"
"No. You haven't."
"Oh, come on. Doya, won't you say something?"
My eyes shifted to Doya, but he only shrugged.
"We need all the hands we can get," he said. "And if she can't channel with that around her neck, she's practically useless to us."
I sighed before stepping closer to examine the collar. Giselle tilted her head slightly, allowing me a clearer look. I studied the inscriptions carefully, trying to figure out which spell would undo it.
Then, I exhaled slowly and placed my hands over the collar, careful not to actually touch it.
The inscriptions were layered and complex, but I followed them anyway, isolating the sequence needed to break the binding spell.
As I activated the first symbol, the collar pulsed with light. I muttered the spell from the book under my breath.
Doya straightened instantly. "That's it. Keep going."
I continued the sequence, moving through the markings in order.
The collar tightened for a moment, making Giselle flinch... then it began to loosen. When I spoke the final word of the spell, the clasp at the back snapped open, and the collar fell to the ground, going dark.
"Ah yes," she shrieked. "Finally." Her hands lifted briefly, as fire sparked in her palms, before she closed them. She glanced at me, still smiling. "Thank you."
I rolled my eyes and shut the book. "Now, how do we get to Darveth?"
No one responded. Obviously, we had no clue. Thyr Vael was an enormous place, with twenty-four districts. He could be anywhere.
"I don't know if we can get to him though," Doya commented.
"True," Kumbuye agreed. "I suggest we draw him to us."
"How the hell do we do that?"
Silence fell again as everyone thought it through. I hated this. Bad options were way better than none at all.
After a short pause, Giselle spoke.
"What if we break down what makes him invisible? He'd have to react, right?"
I narrowed my eyes. "What do you mean, invisible?"
"His defenses," she clarified. "We break all of them."
"She's right," Kumbuye chimed in. "He probably kept all those people in the Sanctum to keep you isolated out here. We're outnumbered. That's the plan, he wants you broken."
"So you're saying we release them first... and get his attention?"
"Yes," Giselle nodded.
"If we can get the Ascend back, the other High Bound and the rest of the Bound, it would help us a lot," Doya added.
"We don't even know if the Ascend were anchored too," I muttered.
"Ascend Kaelric might be," Doya said, "but the others won't be. That collar in the book has a specific function — neutralisation and control. If it's the same one, the spell should free them."
"Um... one problem though," I said quietly. "They're inside the Sanctum. It's basically suffocating in there."
My eyes moved between them. "And what about the guards and Bound being controlled?"
They all went quiet again. Gods this was frustrating.
The silence returned, more uncomfortable. I opened my mouth to speak, but a sound above stopped me before I could.
Something slammed into the ceiling.
We all froze and looked up at once. Cracks spread across the ceiling, until the center gave way and broke open.
Dust fell through, stinging my eyes, making me blink hard. Then something dropped from the opening and hit the floor with a heavy, wet thud that made me jolt up.
At first, I couldn't make sense of what I was seeing. Then the shape rolled slightly. And I saw the face.
It was a severed head, the eyes were open and empty, staring at nothing.
It was Soren.
Shock locked my feet to the floor. Before I could even reach for my blade, the rest of the ceiling gave way.
The Forsaken rushed in through the entrance, moving so fast it felt like they were already inside before we had time to understand what was happening.
A cold black mist followed them into the room, carrying the smell of rot. I tried to mutter a spell for cover, but my breath caught in my throat.
My legs finally gave out and I hit the floor.
The last thing I saw was one of the Forsaken stepping closer, looming over me with a heavy mace raised high.
Then it came down, striking my temple, and everything went dark.