Caleb stared up at the taunting face of Chelsea’s other. But despite all his pain, he couldn’t lie still for long. Instinct alerted him to danger, and he grabbed Chelsea’s battered owl Summon, cradling him in his arms as he rolled over Chelsea, pulling her with him out of the way of a sudden attack.
Dark, wicked spikes pierced the ground where they’d just been lying. Though the pair of them and the Summon were battered, bruised, and bleeding…
They couldn’t sit still.
Chelsea’s other laughed. “The darkness will set you straight,” she said, her voice coming from the darkness, her actual self hidden in the shadows. Caleb and Chelsea struggled to their feet, supporting each other as best they could. “You’ll surrender. Or you’ll die. Rather than complex attempts to seduce you, it’s a simple weighing of options. Do you value your lives? Or your self-righteousness?”
“How about both?” Chelsea asked through gritted teeth. This time she pulled Caleb away as spikes shot out of the darkness, nearly running him through. Both of them let out a hiss of pain, and then started walking as best they could. Caleb made use of Enhancement Magic. He and Chelsea were both trained in it on a basic level for improving their physical abilities, but another use of it was for blocking out pain — something that was more valuable than ever now.
But even with Enhancement Magic, it was all Caleb could do to keep his feet beneath him as he stumbled along with Chelsea.
One attack’s all it took to put us in this state? What do we do now?
“Don’t go losing hope on me,” Chelsea said. She raised a lighter with her free hand and clicked it once. Emerald flames roared forth, turning an oncoming storm of shadow swords to ash. The sudden burst of light also made it clear the shape of this place which was…
Flat. Endless. Void.
There was no terrain. No walls, no ceiling. Just an endless floor of shadow. The attacks that came at them could come from anywhere, could be anything. And it was little more than Hunter-honed instincts that alerted them to incoming attacks. Otherwise, they were blind, lost, fumbling in the dark and hoping for the best.
They were fighting an endless foe, a foe they couldn’t properly see, a foe they probably couldn’t properly fight.
Wait. Shut up. “Don’t go losing hope,” right?
Okay. If what we need is light, then…
Caleb didn’t need to touch his pocket watch to draw on magic — its chain was always in contact with him. Without a free hand, he could still form dozens of Mobility Discs, scattering them in a wide dome around him and Chelsea. Their white light was beautiful and brilliant against the darkness, and that white light seemed to revive the owl in Caleb’s arms a bit, the gleaming feathered creature poking his head up, wide black eyes blinking at the brightness.
“You’re gonna be okay, little guy,” Caleb said, stroking the Summon’s chin. The owl was in a sorry state, but even so, Chelsea didn’t dismiss him. She’d never dismissed him, and she’d often chalked it up to her Summon being obstinate and rebellious.
But even now, so wounded and worn? This wasn’t simple stubbornness.
Chelsea’s Summon wouldn’t leave her. Not in the best of times. Not in the worst of times.
You’ve done a lot better than I have on that front, buddy.
It’s about time I stepped up.
Dark, writhing blades and spikes tore at Caleb’s discs, shattering them one by one, but he formed more, layering within them some of his bounce discs to reflect incoming attacks, and that seemed to work against the darkness, repelling an attack or two before getting shattered like the rest. Chelsea, using Caleb’s gleaming discs as guides, blasted away at the darkness left and right and above with gouts of green flame.
And all the while, they limped along, holding tight to each other. There was no road. There were no landmarks.
But they wouldn’t stand still. Not as long as darkness still surrounded them.
On they walked, and laughter from Chelsea’s other rang around them, coming from the left, then the right, then in front, then behind. They never saw her, but of course they didn’t.
“She’s nothing but a coward,” Chelsea said, continuing to blast away at the darkness that tried to assail them.
“Coward?” her other asked from the darkness. “Now, you know that’s not true. I’m just having fun.”
“Taking delight in hurting others, in watching harm be dealt to them… that’s cowardice to the core,” Chelsea said. “But you don’t care about that. You’re just the darkness within me.”
“The best part of you,” her other said in a singsong voice. “And now… let’s shake things up.”
Caleb and Chelsea both staggered, like an earthquake had shaken the ground.
Wait…
It’s not an earthquake!
It was worse. Either the world was turning upside-down, or gravity was coming undone. But Caleb and Chelsea were suddenly released from the floor, falling upwards. Chelsea blasted green fire ahead of them, the flare revealing the shadowy, fang-filled maw of a massive beast.
“Caleb!” Chelsea cried, holding tight to him.
“On it!” Caleb said, forming a Mobility Disc to bounce them away. It shattered before their feet could touch it, so Caleb formed another, and another, as the jaws of the beast drew nearer. As each disc was shattered to pieces as soon as it formed, Caleb started stacking them on each other, overlapping them with each other, piling on disc after disc, dozens of them, then hundreds. They kept shattering, blasting apart, until…
There!
One disc managed to hold, shielded by so many others, and it launched Caleb and Chelsea far away from the beast. But though they’d fallen so far…
They both cried out in pain and surprise as they hurtled right into a solid floor, gravity flipping once more to make their collision more painful. Head spinning, stars in his eyes, Caleb struggled to stand steadily. Chelsea took his hand, leading him on. Desperation spurred them from limping along to a staggered run, ducking and dodging as blades and spikes shot at their faces.
Gravity flipped again, and Caleb and Chelsea went spinning and tumbling through the air, but only for a few moments. Gravity did a full revolution, so they fell upwards only to get dragged right back down to earth, lying in a heap. Gasping for breath, Caleb threw himself over Chelsea to shield her, only to have her push them both into a frantic roll, barely avoiding a crushing hammer of darkness that slammed into the ground so hard it shook the earth, setting Caleb’s teeth to rattling.
“We’re both getting out of this alive,” Chelsea said, gripping Caleb’s collar tightly with both hands. “No sacrificing yourself for me.”
“Right,” Caleb said.
Of course. After what’s happened before, and what she’s been through…
There’s no way I’m dying here.
And neither is she.
Somehow they got back to their feet, racing along through the dark void. Chelsea’s owl stirred more, reviving enough to cling onto Caleb’s arm. The chains around his talons added to the defensive endeavors, joining Chelsea’s fire and Caleb’s discs in fighting back against the shadowy weapons that came for them.
Gravity flipped once more, and Caleb immediately responded by forming a series of discs to hold the pair in place. For a moment, nothing happened, as if the darkness was considering what to do next.
He felt gravity realign itself with his own orientation, so he could fall normally, and as he and Chelsea stepped down onto solid ground, for a long while there was silence. The pair stood there, gasping for breath, holding tight to each other.
“We need to find the Light,” Chelsea said in a soft voice. “That’s the only way we escape.”
“You’ve found it before,” Caleb said. “Which way do you think we should go?”
Silence stretched between them again. After a few moments, Chelsea started leading, holding Caleb’s hand. Her owl nuzzled Caleb’s cheek, warm softness bringing life back into Caleb’s weary bones. And then the Summon hopped over to Chelsea’s shoulder, doing the same to her.
On they walked, hand-in-hand. An orb of white light and an orb of green fire hovered over them, adding their glow to the owl Summon’s, casting whatever gleam they could into the dark land.
After a while, Chelsea came to a sudden stop. It took Caleb a moment longer to hear what she’d heard.
Crying. Soft, distant, but with the sound of total despair. These were the sobs of one with no hope.
And Caleb knew the voice.
“Let’s just ignore him,” he said, giving Chelsea’s hand a squeeze. She nodded, starting forward again, but the crying grew nearer. After a few more steps, they stopped.
A streetlamp had appeared, shedding dark light on a crumbling staircase. There sat Caleb’s other, his smiling mask a stark contrast to his slumped posture and the way he shuddered with mournful sobs.
“It’s hopeless, you know,” the other said, shaking his head. “This isn’t like the Shadowland you saw, Chelsea. This is the worst there is. The Shadowheart, they call it. The heart, the core, of all shadow, the darkness beyond Earth, beyond the Enchanted Dominion. This is a realm where those trapped within give themselves over to the Darkness… or perish.”
He waved his hand, and the crumbling staircase illuminated further, leading up a short way to a small graveyard, populated with seventeen small, ruined gravestones.
“Not many perished,” Chelsea said.
“Because most recognize the value of their lives,” Caleb’s other said. “Hundreds, thousands, have come here. And only these scant few have lost their lives. Can’t you see why? They made the right choice. They chose —”
“Cowardice,” Caleb said, glaring at his other. “They had a choice, and most chose wrong.”
“How is it wrong to save your own life? How is it wrong to take the guaranteed way out of suffering and pain? Haven’t you two suffered enough? Doesn’t it hurt? But you can be free of all of that, and all it takes is a few words.”
“Is that what Sal did?” Caleb asked. “He chose to serve darkness, rather than die?” His other was silent. “But then… those aren’t the only choices.”
“Maybe in the rest of Shadowland,” Caleb’s other conceded. “But not here. Not in… this horrible place…”
“Someone’s gotten out before,” Chelsea said. “There’s always someone. But you won’t tell us, because that might give us hope that you think we don’t have, or that you think you can steal away.”
“There really is no one,” Chelsea’s other said, skipping onto the scene, stopping next to Caleb’s other and resting her elbow roughly atop his head. “It’s not a lie. You two would always know if we were lying.” Her grin widened. “No one leaves. The ones who died thought there was the same hope you cling to. But light doesn’t reach down here. Can’t you tell? This is a place the Light has forsaken.”
“The Light won’t abandon those trapped against their will,” Chelsea said. “And if you’re going to try and say the darkness is too powerful here… but you won’t. Because I’d know you were lying.”
“Then find your exit,” Chelsea’s other said with a dismissive wave. “Find your hope. Or try. Try, try, try, because that’s all there is. There isn’t success down here.” She sighed. “This is what you get, though. Holding onto so much rage and vengeance, planning such horrible things… it doesn’t matter if you’ve let all that go, if you’ve given it up. Too little, too late. You —”
But Chelsea and Caleb’s others vanished as Chelsea blasted fire at them, scorching the stairs but no bodies. But the laughter of Chelsea’s other remained, echoing from a great distance.
“This way,” Chelsea said, leading on past the stairs, past the graves.
The ground was strange beneath Caleb’s feet. It was too flat, too smooth, too hard. There were no imperfections. No give or bounce. Not even the slightest ridge, texture, or line.
And everything else was empty. It was unnerving, unsettling.
No. Don’t get caught up in that.
Everything this place does is designed to defeat us. Either kill us, or make us submit.
It tried to kill us. It probably will again. But this…
“Don’t get rattled,” Caleb said softly, giving Chelsea’s hand a squeeze.
“Who’s rattled?” Chelsea asked, squeezing his hand back. “We’ll find something once it gives up.”
“Gives up?”
“Yeah. When it’s convinced we’re not gonna get spooked by the emptiness, it’ll try something else. And it’ll have to drop the emptiness act to do it. One thing after another. We beat everything it throws at us, and we’ll find our way.”
Caleb grinned. And that small act — a smile — made him feel light and warm. His strength was returning, despite the lack of food or drink or rest.
Don’t think of this place like Earth, or the Dominion, or anywhere normal and physical. This place… it’s physical. We’re physically here. But it doesn’t operate the same as everywhere else.
Just like how Time-state screws with the laws of reality, the darkness has a place that can do the same.
The Shadowheart…
It was many more steps before Caleb noticed that breathing was becoming more difficult. He was sweating, and he tugged at his collar. Why was his mouth so dry all of a sudden?
“There’s something ahead,” Chelsea said in a hoarse voice, pointing. In the distance was a red glow, soft and low to the ground, as if coming from something over a ridge or in a pit. They walked a bit faster, holding tighter to each other’s sweaty hands to keep from slipping out of each other’s grip. It was hot — way too hot. And as they drew near to the red glow…
“Wait,” Caleb said, pulling back, nearly losing his grip on Chelsea. “It’s so… hot. Don’t you think that maybe…?”
But at that moment of realization, the Shadowheart made its move. Gravity was upended, and too long without immediate danger had left Caleb with his defenses slightly lowered, enough that he and Chelsea were tossed, pitched end-over-end towards the red glow.
It was a pit. A pit that housed in its depth bubbling, molten lava. Plumes of red flames burst up from the depths, closer and closer as Caleb and Chelsea fell.
“Caleb!” Chelsea cried, her hand slipping from his. He stretched, grabbing onto her sleeve, and her onto his, and then he called forth discs. They shattered, bursting into ash, but he kept calling more and more, until finally one stuck, just long enough to bounce them away —
“Whoa no!” Caleb cried, flipping and calling forth a new disc to hang in the air, arresting their trajectory, adhering to their feet so they could hang upside-down. He and Chelsea stood, gasping for breath, getting a tighter grip on each other and taking in their new predicament.
The pit was no longer an open pit. Instead it did the impossible, closing up with a replica of itself on either end. Down was a pit of molten lava. But up…
Was also a pit of molten lava. And there were no seams in this impossible trap, no openings anywhere.
“Even if we don’t fall,” Chelsea said, sucking at what saliva she had left to moisten her dry voice, “we’ll die if we don’t get out of this. It’s… way too hot.”
Caleb nodded, not speaking. It was hard enough to think even now, and it was taking a measure of concentration to keep his disc steady so they didn’t go careening into a hot, bubbling death.
“Could you… Phase Step out of it?” Chelsea asked.
“It’s too risky if I don’t know what’s on the other side,” Caleb said, trying and failing to draw in a full breath afterwards. “I can’t… see through walls. So if it goes on too long…”
“We’ll just get trapped,” Chelsea said, nodding. “But what if… could you go through the lava? I mean, if that way was up…”
“It was,” Caleb said. “But now… how can we know? It pulled an impossible trick. Whichever way is up… or down… we have no way to know.”
“Then let’s just smash through it,” Chelsea said. She held up her lighter, leaning into Caleb, wrapping her free arm around his waist and hugging him tight. “Right there. Just throw everything we’ve got against that wall.”
Caleb couldn’t see the point, but he didn’t speak at first. Something wormed his way into his mind, and took hold. What Chelsea was suggesting… what she was pushing for…
It doesn’t matter if it makes sense. This trap doesn’t make sense. And it’s designed…
…to extinguish our hope.
“I’m with you,” Caleb said, pulling out his pocket watch and gripping it tight, pointing it ahead with her. His free arm he used to hug her tight around her shoulders. Chelsea’s owl Summon cooed in readiness.
“One sec,” Chelsea said, looking up. Caleb smiled, and he looked down at her for a moment, and then tilted his head down, kissing her, holding it for a long moment. When he pulled away, Chelsea’s eyes were shining.
“Let’s do it,” Caleb said. With a nod from Chelsea, both looked forward, at the rocky wall glowing with the light of boiling, bubbling magma.
And together, with voices raw and rough from thirst and heat, Caleb and Chelsea yelled as loud as they could. Defiance at the darkness, defiance at the hopelessness, defiance at the impossibility of their escape.
Refusal to surrender.
Green flames leapt forward in a spiraling lance of hopeful fury. White chains joined them, and also the shining blue of Time, fierce and rapid currents that poured forth from Caleb unbidden, joining the attack. As their combined assault drilled into the rocky wall, Caleb shifted the Mobility Disc that still held their feet fast, until it was poised to launch them at the wall they were blasting a hole into.
Complete insanity. That was this plan, in any other circumstances.
But sometimes…
Sometimes life calls for a leap of faith.
Caleb and Chelsea’s roars of defiance reached a fever pitch, and fire, chains, ripples of Time Magic wrapped around them. The Mobility Disc launched them forth, and neither closed their eyes or even blinked at the oncoming wall of solid, unbroken rock.
In the midst of their magic, all the colors and power surging forth, there was something else. A lance of brightness, small but sharper than any sword, appeared at the center of their attack. Rocketing forward, Caleb and Chelsea focused on that small lance of brightness, letting it lead their attack.
The sound of glass shattering filled the air, and a rumbling of the earth, and a rushing blast of wind.
Caleb and Chelsea’s magic both failed them at the exact same time. They were exhausted of all their strength, and they tumbled out of the air…
Into water. They were submerged for a moment, but while Caleb couldn’t use any more magic, swimming was second nature to him. He held Chelsea tight, kicked his feet, drew them both up to the surface. Chelsea’s owl shook himself off, spraying water everywhere.
“Where are we now?” Caleb asked, treading water. There was something about this place…
It wasn’t so dark. The sky wasn’t pitch black, but rather the deep blue of pre-dawn, just before the transforming of night to the gold and orange of sunrise. All around them, the water stretched on, with nothing on the horizon in any direction. Slowly, they spun in a circle, and when they were facing back the way they’d started…
There was something new. A tall wooden structure, like a Japanese shrine gate, stood only slightly submerged. Shorter pillars in front of and behind the gate’s posts bore cylindrical lanterns emitting soft, greenish-white light.
Caleb’s hand brushed against stone, and he realized there was a walkway next to them, submerged only a few inches. He helped Chelsea up and then climbed up after her, both standing and staring at the gate.
“Is that…?”
“Yeah.” Chelsea nodded, giving Caleb’s hand a squeeze. “We just… go through.”
Slowly they walked forward. The whole place was so peaceful. A part of Caleb didn’t want to leave. It was tranquil, the cool night air and endless water sapping all the tension and fear out of him.
But he was drawn forward. He knew that hope and escape lay beyond.
So on he walked.
Together, Caleb and Chelsea passed through the gate.
All was suddenly white, so white, so bright. Caleb couldn’t feel Chelsea’s hand in his, but when he reached and grasped, he realized he couldn’t feel anything at all, not even his own movements. He couldn’t hear anything, couldn’t see anything but the overpowering white glow. There were no shadows here. It was too powerful for darkness, and too powerful for any human sensation.
Caleb closed his eyes. Something… a feeling, a voice, he didn’t know… told him that was the right action. The small glimpse he’d seen…
That was enough.
A moment later, he opened his eyes. He stood on a stone stairway, Chelsea beside him, her hand in his.
Both were battered, bruised, bloodied. Exhaustion was seeping in, and it was all they could do to stay standing.
But ahead of them, just one step further down the stairway, was a doorway. And through it…
The Seat of the Seven. Mister Midnight. Adelaide. Ingrid. Mineria.
Caleb looked at Chelsea, and she at him. Both of them smiled, and then, supporting each other with all the strength they had left, they took the one step needed, and left the darkness behind.
——
Addie had fallen asleep.
She’d been doing that on and off for quite some time now.
It wasn’t her fault, though!
She refused to go anywhere else, to turn away from the space where Caleb and Chelsea had disappeared, so she sat on the stone floor, doing her best to stare ahead.
But as time wore on, she needed something to keep her from going nuts. Mister Midnight seemed to be the same. He often rose, pacing around, sometimes muttering under his breath. Every now and then she caught him grinning, as if he’d had a really exciting idea.
For Addie, though, she couldn’t pace around. She needed to sit here, and wait.
But she had Chelsea’s music player. So with Ingrid next to her, the girls each popped an earbud in an ear and listened to music while they waited.
A lot of time must have passed. Addie got hungry multiple times. Mineria had Conjuring Magic, and apparently that’s where she stored a great deal of tasty treats which she shared with the group. And Addie fell asleep multiple times, sometimes for much longer than a nap.
She’d needed to go to the bathroom for a really, really long time. But she held it, no matter how hard it got to do so.
Because she was waiting. And she wasn’t going to leave her spot until Caleb and Chelsea came back.
The last time she’d fallen asleep, though, she’d been closer than ever to giving up. Not on waiting entirely, of course not! But she’d been really close to giving up on holding it, and hurrying to find a bathroom somewhere and then coming right back.
But when she woke up this time…
Her eyes went wide. She was on her feet before she realized it, the music player falling into Ingrid’s lap, along with the other earbud.
“They’re back,” she said softly, breathlessly, staring at the pair who’d appeared before her.
Caleb and Chelsea emerged from a shadowy portal that vanished as soon as they were out. Both of them were bloodied, covered in cuts and scrapes and bruises. Their clothes were horribly torn, their faces sticky with soot and sweat. They swayed on their feet, supporting each other with trembling arms.
But they were smiling.
“You’re back!” Addie cried, racing forward. She ran straight into them, hugging them tight, but that was enough to knock the pair backwards. All three of them were falling, but then Mister Midnight was there, behind Caleb and Chelsea, propping them up.
“Gotcha,” he said.
“You’re back,” Addie said, burying her face in Chelsea’s stomach, not minding all the blood and grime that got on her face and in her hair. “I knew you’d come back. I knew it.”
“Yeah, kiddo,” Chelsea said, and her voice anchored Addie. Now she knew for sure, more than ever, that this wasn’t a dream. When a shaky, trembling hand gently stroked her hair, tears poured forth, and she couldn’t make them stop, even though she was smiling so much.
“Good to see you,” Caleb said, patting Addie’s shoulder. Addie looked up at him, blinking away grime and tears, and she beamed at the smile on Caleb’s face. “You waited for us, huh?”
“Uh-huh,” Addie said, nodding emphatically. “I knew it. I knew you’d come back.”
“She sure did,” Mister Midnight said. “And it looks like…”
He trailed off as Caleb and Chelsea both closed their eyes and finally collapsed. Mister Midnight held both of them up easily, chuckling. “It looks like you’re both ready for a long rest.”