Arthur Leywin POV
"Lias!" I cried as the black mass of the twin Snarler queens descended upon him.
A brilliant golden light erupted from him, illuminating the cavern as their forms crushed him. The flash was so brilliant that I had to shield my eyes. Heat washed over my face despite the freezing air.
BOOM!
The entire space shook.
Crystals groaned around us. Shards of ice rained from above as the floor beneath my feet lurched violently.
The queens ploughed through the cave floor and vanished into the darkness below.
I took a dazed step towards the gaping abyss. "Lias…" I muttered as I wobbled another step towards the gaping black.
I barely caught myself as I stumbled forwards, nearly falling face-first onto the jagged sheets of ice that crunched below my boots.
Chaos continued behind me as my classmates… my friends… Tess… fought off the ever-growing swarm of snarlers that had ambushed us.
But I couldn't care less about that, not now.
Not after…
I pushed onwards. One shaky step after another until I stood at the edge of the abyss.
Falling to one knee, I stared into the dark as it stared back at me in kind.
It's too deep, too dark.
I can't see beyond its mouth.
I can't see him…
"No…" I breathed. "He couldn't…"
My hand trembled around my sword.
He couldn't be…
He's not…
A shaky exhale left me. It quivered with my lips.
"Arthur!" a voice called, pulling me away from the black.
Her tender, soft hands pulled me back away from the dark.
Tess pulled me close, wrapping her pale arms around me.
"Arthur…" Her voice trembled.
I couldn't answer her, let alone meet her eyes.
He's down there.
Alone.
I pushed against her arms.
"I need to go."
"Arthur, wait-"
"I need to get to him!"
I tore myself free from her embrace and staggered towards the edge.
She snatched back my wrist.
"Arthur, please… You can't," She pleaded, tugging at me.
"He's down there!" I shouted, my voice cracking. "Did you not see that?! Those things-"
"I know!" she shouted back. "I saw, everyone saw!"
My eyes drifted back to the dark as my hand extended towards the abyss as I tried to reach for where…
My face soured as I thought the thought. The thought I desperately avoided in any attempts against manifesting it.
She tugged my forearm once again, pulling me towards her and into her embrace.
Tess pressed my head against her neck as she ran her fingers through my hair.
My classmates fought against the horde, slowly pushing them back, spell after spell, slash after slash. Lucas's reckless flame smashed against the shifting waves as Claire and Curtis began to cleave a path through their shaken and deformed lines.
"He's…" She swallowed. "He's strong, Arthur."
Her breath came heavy as she held me even tighter.
She wished it to be true.
I wished it to be true.
"He'll be okay." She murmured.
"Tess, I…" I exhaled, pulling away from her slightly.
The twin emeralds of her eyes met mine, glistening under the distant crystalline light that enveloped the dungeon.
"Princess!" a voice cried.
Tess' head snapped towards the cry.
In the brief interlude, the horde had swelled as Snarlers poured from every crevice in the cavern. They climbed over crystal formations and crawled from the smaller tunnels scattered around the walls.
"Arthur!" Curtis shouted, blood running down his arm.
My eyes returned to the dark as I staggered back to my feet.
"Lias…" I breathed.
My chest hurt.
Every fibre of my being screamed at me to jump.
To go after him.
He's my brother.
My little brother.
I clenched my fist as I withdrew Dawn's ballad from my dimension ring.
"Art? What are you…"
Tess climbed back to her feet. She still held me, gripping my sleeve as she looked up at me.
"Y-you're right." I stammered, "He's strong."
"He is," she said behind a weak smile.
She let me go as her own weapon flashed silver as it reappeared from her dimension ring. She flashed me one last smile. Her gunmetal hair waved with her body as she joined the fray, summoning a volley of vines at the small beasts.
"I'm sorry Lias… Please stay alive…"
I said a silent prayer to whatever God brought me to this world, to this life, so that they may watch over him in my absence.
With an exhale, I spun my sword in my hands and joined the fray.
---
Elias Leywin POV
Cold… It's so cold.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
It's so cold and… wet.
The dripping monotony of water persisted against my forehead as I slowly edged closer to consciousness.
My head throbbed with a dull ache, and every breath felt thick, as though my lungs had forgotten how to work. My arms groaned as they hung heavy over my head.
Over my head?
My eyes flickered open, and my vision slowly swam, trying to make sense of the darkness that consumed me.
For a long moment, I saw nothing.
Then, slowly, shapes began to emerge.
Jagged crystal. Dark stone. Blackness.
And more blackness…
Huh…
"Why's everything sideways?" I rasped, thinking aloud.
I tried to lift my head, to move in any sort of way that felt right... that felt more natural.
Pain exploded through my body at the attempt.
A violent shiver wracked my frame as sensation finally returned to me. My chest ached. My back burned. Every muscle screamed as if I had been trampled by a herd of mana beasts.
"This isn't good…" I groaned, suddenly aware of the pooling of blood towards my head.
With much struggle, I forced my right arm up so that, one, I could inspect it, and two, I could use it to... help me?
After much groaning and effort, I hoisted it up and held it just before my face.
Golden flames danced weakly along my skin, illuminating the dark around it ever so slightly.
My arm looked wrong.
The forearm bent slightly where it shouldn't have, and several fingers remained little more than bloody stumps.
"Oh…"
"Hmm… How didn't I feel that? I should've definitely noticed such a mangled mess… Maybe I haven't regenerated my nerve endings yet? That sounds awfully convenient if so…"
I followed my arm back to the rest of me, using its flame like a candle.
One of my legs dangled uselessly beneath me, twisted at an angle that made my stomach churn. My chest was soaked in dark blood, and every breath sent sharp stabs through my ribs.
I looked like a right mess…
I let out a chortle that I immediately regretted.
"Uhmmm," I groaned with a sharp exhale.
I stared at my hand.
Well… what was left of it.
The golden flames licking across my skin flickered weakly, almost lazily, as if they were just as exhausted as I was.
"Come on…" I muttered. "Do your thing..."
"It's already working overtime just keeping me alive, let alone repairing my body…"
A stabbing sensation bloomed behind my eyes.
"Uhhh," I groaned.
"Before… I do anything else… I need to sit up properly… and figure out where I am…" I breathed between bursts of blazing pain.
"First I need to…" I looked to my hand and focused my entire attention on it.
As though hearing my desperate plea, Avalon's warmth brightened ever so slightly.
A sharp sting bloomed in my hand.
I watched, equal parts fascinated and horrified, as pale bone pushed from the ragged flesh of my hand. It stretched slowly, inch by inch, before tendons began to weave themselves around it like threads being pulled by invisible fingers.
"Eugh…"
That never got less disgusting.
I flexed my wrist and instantly regretted it.
A blistering pain shot all the way up to my shoulder.
"Right… broken arm," I reminded myself with a wince. "Okay… one more time…" I exhaled as I forced golden light to re-fuse bone together in a way that wouldn't leave me malformed.
With a sickening sensation, the shattered pieces within my forearm shifted. Bone scraped against bone as they slowly aligned themselves.
Crack.
I hissed through my teeth as warmth spread across my limb.
With one final bright flare, the flame died and returned to a low simmer across the rest of my form.
With a heave, I forced my arm back towards me.
Despite the Abyss that consumed me, I could still see immediately in front of me.
After a quick check of both the front and back of my hand, I flexed it. I pressed my thumb to each of my fingers, changing up the order after each completed cycle.
"Perfect…" I sighed.
Though, from how heavy my eyelids suddenly felt, perhaps I was not.
I let my arm fall onto my chest and took several deep breaths.
"Okay, okay."
I took another moment to centre myself as the darkness almost watched me.
It was dominating.
All-powerful whenever its luminous overlord wasn't present.
Arthur once told me that light was the fastest thing in the world… though that didn't make much sense when darkness could exist…
"I'm really losing it down here… Uhhh… I really need to get out of here."
Tap.
Another droplet struck my forehead.
"Where is this incessant dripping coming from!" I shouted into the void as I swiped at the trickle that continued to fall upon me.
"No!" I groaned, "I can worry about that later; I just need to find some solid ground."
"Solid ground?"
"Oh right, I'm floating… or hanging… or something… uhhh"
With my good arm, I reached around me, feeling the dampness of my form, likely a result of water, blood and other bodily fluids I'd rather not think about for too long.
I continued to feel around me until my knuckles struck stone.
After a few more confirmation taps, I pressed my palm to its cold surface.
"How didn't I notice this… Oh right, my nerve endings…"
I ran my hand along the stone, tracing lines across its rough surface.
"Maybe I can find some kind of foot or hand hold… Wait, how am I even suspended in the air like this…" I exhaled as I looked around into the dark.
"If both my arms are free and I can see my leg dangling at…" Bile built up at the back of my throat.
I extended my arm as far as it would go, wincing as my ribs protested.
"Then it must mean that my other leg must be held or trapped or crushed under something that was big and heavy enough to anchor my weight…"
I arched my body towards my feet as another droplet struck my forehead.
I swiped at it irritably.
"Seriously! Where are you coming from?"
With a grunt, I reached upward using my legs as a ladder.
My hand brushed against something rough. I froze as I slowly patted at it again.
"…That's not rock."
It was warm in contrast to the stone, moist and gave a grim squelch whenever I prodded it.
A dull shiver ran up my spine at the sound.
"That better not be a tentacle." I groaned as it shifted at my touch.
"Ughhhh, get off me, get off me, get off me!"
I squirmed at the movement, flailing my body about.
I gathered mana towards my fist, engulfing it in golden flame. Winding my arm back, I readied myself to…
I let out a low exhale as I took in what had been holding me and its distinct plant-like form.
"It's just a vine…" I breathed as I dismissed the flame.
I reached towards it hesitantly and followed its length with my hand.
My fingers eventually brushed against my ankle.
I let out a breath I wasn't aware I was holding.
"Thank you," I smiled as I patted the green, or rather the plant I assumed to be green, like a dog.
"How far did I…"
I craned my neck and peered into the darkness below. A continuation of the endless black stared back at me.
I slipped slightly at my sudden movement; the vine gave way as I sank half a foot lower.
"…Oh no you don't… Please don't do that."
The vine continued to groan as another droplet struck my brow.
Tap.
"And you." I reprimanded, pointing into the dark above me, as if I were speaking to a child.
As expected, it ignored me.
The vine creaked as I felt its grip loosen around my mangled left leg.
"Okay… don't panic… Vines are strong… Tess said that they-"
I slipped down another foot.
"Right, Right…" I breathed. "Uhhh… New plan… uhhh… fuck fuck um… I've got arms! I can climb! Oh, Elias, you beautiful genius!"
I gathered mana to my good arm as I slowly wrapped my hand around the vine.
"Okay…" I exhaled as I tugged at the vine.
With that yank, the vine gave way from whatever rock it had secured itself with and began to unravel.
"Wait! Wait! Wait!"
I grabbed desperately for it as my fingers closed around empty air.
"No, no, no!"
The vine whipped past me, vanishing into the abyss above.
The world spun as gravity reclaimed me.
Cold air screamed against my face.
I reached for the cavern wall, desperately clawing at the jagged stone. My nails scraped uselessly against crystal, sending sparks dancing into the dark.
"Not like this!" I shouted as I rammed into the wall with my shoulder.
The agonising impact spun me again, and I bounced away from the cliff face, headfirst into the wall opposite.