Delilah managed to get a Mobility disc under her feet before the rippling, writhing floor sent her flying. She floated forward, and Alice did a pirouetting flip, landing neatly beside her on the disc.
All around them, the Fallen Bastion was revealing its true form. Walls, floors, and ceilings were rippling, writhing, convulsing. Alice said something, but Delilah couldn’t hear her over the booming, rhythmic groaning that echoed through the air.
No, not groaning, Delilah realized.
Laughter. The Fallen Bastion was laughing at them, a deep, malicious laughter that came bursting up from a dark, devouring depth that threatened to consume all that it could. “All belongs to Darkness,” it had said. And it was determined to prove it.
“Just when I finally killed him!” Alice repeated, nearly shouting in Delilah’s ear in order to be heard.
Jormungand. Alice had finally slain him, had finally put an end to the one who had tried to make her into a tool for his own ends. The Dark Eater had chosen a different path — to be Alice Greyson, Paladin of Revue Palace alongside Delilah.
But just as she’d put an end to Jormungand, just as she’d been celebrating with Delilah…
The Fallen Bastion had swallowed Jormungand up. He was dead, Delilah was sure of it, but…
He’d only just been killed. There might still have been residue of his power that had yet to fade.
Now it belongs to the Bastion.
“You still did it!” Delilah said. “Don’t let it take that from you!” She took Alice’s hand and, in the midst of all the chaos, managed to flash a smile at her. Alice grinned right back, nodding once.
“More importantly, we fell right into their trap, huh?” Alice asked.
Delilah nodded, angling her disc up and away from a sudden surge of Darkness, the floor itself morphing and reaching up as a wide, fang-toothed maw. The snapping jaws missed, just barely, and then Delilah was flying forward, casting all about for Marcus, Isabelle, Maribelle, Terevalde, and Emmeryn.
She didn’t need to look for her Felines. She could feel them, and they could feel her, and swiftly they found her. Felix, Redmond, Nekoma, and Reginald leapt up onto the platform, followed closely by Rabanastre. The Summons were safe, nimbly evading the Darkness long enough for Delilah to get to them.
But what about their non-Summon teammates? Maybe Marcus could protect them all, but his power was unclear, and he’d hinted that his power wasn’t as potent here as it had been in other places. The Fallen Bastion was fully given over to Darkness, alive with it, a part of it, and they were in the belly of that unfathomable beast.
And it was all Delilah could do just to keep herself, Alice, and their Summons alive right now. What had been a vast open chamber was now a weapon on all sides, constantly shifting in size and shape, attacking them from every direction. When she could, she looked around for the others, but most of her attention had to stay focused on danger — which was everywhere. Her heart pounded in her chest, visions of the walls choosing to simply close in and flatten them flashing in her mind. If the entire Bastion was alive, if the entire Bastion was their enemy, what hope did they have now?
“There!” Alice shouted, pointing. Delilah barely heard her voice, but her tone said just as much as that one word, and the pointing immediately grabbed Delilah’s attention. She saw, then, Marcus, an island of light in a rippling, roaring sea of Darkness. And in that light were… but the Floors rose up, the walls twisted, the whole chamber rotated, and Delilah lost sight of him. There had been some people in that bubble of light, shielded by him, but how many? Who? Had he saved them all? Maribelle had been fighting Dullan; was she still out there somewhere struggling to survive all alone?
Delilah tried to pursue, but she immediately lost her sense of direction. The entire chamber seemed to flip, and she barely managed to veer away from a sudden grasping, taloned claw of Darkness that surged from a wall to her left. Her maneuver tilted the disc halfway to vertical, and she was sent tumbling. Her heart lurched into her throat as she felt her feet slip out over the edge, tumbling to free-fall over unending, all-consuming Darkness.
And then Alice had her by the wrist, and Delilah gripped her tight right back. Alice pulled her up, Delilah righted the disc, and then breathed a sigh of relief to see all of their Summons still aboard as well.
“How come the place didn’t do this earlier?” Alice asked, not letting go of Delilah’s hand, leaning close so she could be heard above the din.
“I don’t know!” Delilah said. She’d been trying not to ask that same question. She feared what the answer might mean. Why had the Bastion waited so long to spring this vicious trap? It had almost been like…
Like it had waited for Jormungand to die.
Was that some sort of trigger? But why? What does it gain from swallowing up Jormungand’s dead body? Wouldn’t Jormungand or Dullan grant greater power if they were still alive? I don’t understand what’s going on here. But as hard as it is to stay afloat and alive right now, I can’t just react.
I need to be thinking. Always. Consider the facts, consider the questions. Find the answers.
There’s a reason for this. I have a few ideas, and the answer could go either way. This could be really beneficial for us, pointing to a flaw in the Bastion itself…
If we’re lucky. And I don’t want to count on luck.
Just then, a sudden pillar rose up — right beneath them. Delilah pushed her disc to fly faster, but she’d never trained for speed. It was meant as a mobile observation platform, not an escape vehicle. The pillar hit the back of the disc hard, and the whole platform rocked back and forth even as it continued its forward escape. Delilah was flung off her feet. Two fuzzy hands grabbed hold of her — Felix and Rabanastre — and as the platform stabilized, they pulled her back, setting her down as gently as possible in this desperate flight.
“Should’ve marked the others!” Alice said.
Delilah nodded. She was kicking herself for that now. She could find Marcus and the rest of them no matter where they were if she’d just marked them ahead of time for her Divination Magic. She didn’t like marking people if she could help it — even when it was a valuable tactical option, and temporary, it still seemed like an invasion of privacy — but for this mission, it would have been a very smart move.
Now, she just had to try and find them with her eyes. While trying to avoid being crushed, impaled, or eaten by the suddenly very, very alive Fallen Bastion.
“Just focus on driving,” Alice said, perching at the front edge of the disc. “I’ll let ya know when I see them.”
It wasn’t just Alice, either. They had five Summons up here, too, all with excellent eyes.
She’s right. I don’t need to be looking for them. I need to focus on keeping us safe.
The longer this went on, the more Delilah felt like she was getting a handle on flying. Her disc seemed to respond especially well to her own shifts in stance and weight, so she leaned slightly in whichever direction she wanted to go, and that gave her more control and speed. She couldn’t adhere her feet or those of the other passengers to the disc — and it was going to get very crowded when they found the others — so she focused even more intently on keeping the disc as level as possible.
Which was not easy. Walls, floors, corridors, whole rooms rearranged themselves all around her. Pillars shot out of nowhere or shattered apart into clouds of shrapnel that came whizzing towards them. The piping that had wound its way through the laboratories now lashed out like monstrous tentacles, looking to smack them off course or constrict and crush them. Delilah swallowed a scream as she cut it way too close in shooting through a closing circle of pipes, shuddering as she came out the other side from the slight contact the pipes had made with the edges of the platform.
The corridor suddenly twisted, angling to the left, and Delilah followed that direction, only to suddenly veer right as that proved to be a feint. The leftward corridor snapped shut, and then exploded in a fury of massive jaws and claws and scything strips of dark metal. Felix, Nekoma, and Rabanastre fought back some projections of the Darkness that came too close for comfort, repelling the most dangerous attacks in time for Delilah to get them free and sailing down the rightward corridor. It corkscrewed around, up was down and down was up and then it was right-side up again and then back — she tried not to think about it, focused on keeping her forward momentum and avoiding any dangers that came their way. The constant basso rumbling was making her head hurt, but she had to concentrate.
We’ve been through all sorts of dangers. The Darkness has come at us in all sorts of ways. It’s not going to win now! Not like this! Not ever!
Marcus, Maribelle, where are you? Please, be keeping everyone else safe until we find you!
“Saw something!” Alice shouted, pointing. Delilah veered right, then left again as pipes came lashing at them — Rabanastre delivered a solid roundhouse kick to the nearest one that cracked it and sent it flying back. Veering right again, Delilah saw a flash of light, bright and beautiful, far ahead of them. She rose, dropping to her knees to maintain her balance, as she skipped the platform across the top of a rising pillar. It didn’t shake and shudder as much as it had before, and everyone else stayed on board.
There! Another flash of light, and then, as she rose over an upside-down staircase, she saw a whole bubble of light, and within it…
Marcus. Maribelle. Isabelle. Terevalde. Emmeryn.
They’d stayed together, and stayed safe.
Relief flooded Delilah, but she couldn’t bask in it. They were together, and safe, but definitely in trouble. Marcus had raised a domed shield of light around them, gleaming brightly. It repelled attacks from the Bastion, and Maribelle backed him up. With one hand she wielded Takina, its bright golden blade cutting through any Darkness, and with her free hand she blasted forth bursts of dazzling white light, repelling the Bastion’s assault.
But the shield was failing. It flickered and wavered under the latest strikes, and as Marcus struck his staff against the ground, all seven bells ringing in harmony, his expression was strained, taut with waning concentration. A sheen of sweat stood out on Maribelle’s brow, and there was a rare flicker of fear in her eyes when a dark, stone claw came particularly close before she blasted it back.
“Rabanastre, back them up!” Alice said. Rabanastre leapt from the platform before she’d finished saying it, punching and kicking through the air, clearing a path to land neatly within Marcus’ shining shield. Isabelle cheered him on as he danced around the perimeter, beating back the Bastion’s relentless barrage.
That maneuver also cleared a path for Delilah to more safely descend to them. It was still a rocky landing, coming in hot through Marcus’ shield, Isabelle, Terevalde, and Emmeryn swiftly stepping aside to make room for her.
“All aboard!” Alice said with a grin. “Gramps, you can keep up that shield on here, right?”
“I believe so,” Marcus said. He smiled at them, and Delilah smiled back at him.
“Let’s go!” Isabelle said, hopping aboard and helping Terevalde and Emmeryn up after her. While Maribelle and Marcus boarded, Rabanastre and the Felines gave the pair a welcome reprieve, covering their retreat. Once everyone was safely on board, the Summons hopped on, and Delilah took off, willing her disc faster than ever before, angling towards a wide, rumbling corridor.
The Mobility disc was twenty feet in diameter. Plenty of room for Delilah. Plenty of room even for Delilah and Alice. It was still workable with all of their Summons on board.
But with Isabelle, Terevalde, Emmeryn, Maribelle, and Marcus all aboard, it was crowded. Delilah called out, organizing their places while she flew. Terevalde and Emmeryn would stay near the center with her. Isabelle chose to do so as well. Marcus stood halfway between Delilah and the edge, planting his staff firmly on the glowing disc, forming a spherical shield that even guarded the platform from attacks from below. Maribelle, Alice, and the Summons took up positions around the perimeter, fighting back against the Bastion’s attacks that came too close for comfort.
“Do you know where to go?” Isabelle asked.
As if I could know where to go in this kind of situation, with everything changing every minute!
But as Delilah swallowed that retort, she realized she did have a sense of where she should be going. She couldn’t explain it, couldn’t place it. But when the corridor suddenly exploded about fifty yards ahead, the shrapnel blasting away to reveal three different branches, Delilah took the leftmost path without hesitation. Shrapnel pinged off of Marcus’ shield. Tubes and pipes came whipping at them, only to be blasted, punched, or slashed away by Maribelle, Rabanastre, and the Felines. Redmond fired several arrows that expanded into glittering green nets, ensnaring and locking down several large rocks that had been dislodged and flung at them.
“I… have an idea,” Delilah finally said. “I’m not totally sure, but…”
They came to a new fork, and just as Delilah was moving to go right, Alice pointed right as well. They were perfectly in sync, totally on the same page. Delilah noticed that Alice’s bracelet glimmered with a soft white sheen, and when she looked down at her own, it was doing the same. She felt a small, comforting warmth around her wrist.
Something’s guiding us. The Light is showing us the way.
She smiled, even as she went through a particularly challenging series of maneuvers. Up, down, left, down, right, up, back to center and up a little, she adjusted her trajectory as swiftly as she could without tilting the platform. It wasn’t easy, but she couldn’t afford to tilt it this way or that now. She could count on Alice to keep her footing, and probably Maribelle and Marcus, too, and she could count on the Felines to save her if she lost her own footing, but…
There are too many of us, now. If something goes wrong, if someone falls…
I can’t let that happen.
The rumbling, Delilah realized, was starting to calm down. The attacks were coming less furiously, and the corridor was less twisting, less warped, slowly resolving into something more solid and ordinary.
“Don’t let your guard down!” she said, even as the attacks stopped coming altogether. The Bastion could just be regrouping, plotting a new strategy. And there was still Dullan out there somewhere. Undoubtedly, both the Furies and the Lingering Will would make an appearance before the day was done.
There was no letting down their guard. Not here.
As the rumbling stopped entirely, and the corridor returned to solid, steady normalcy, Delilah felt a tug at her wrist. Like someone was telling her to land.
She didn’t want to. She didn’t trust the floor, not anymore. But…
“Let’s go ahead on foot for a bit,” Alice said, looking back at Delilah.
If Alice had the same sensation, the same impulse, then Delilah knew better than to ignore it. She came down for a gentle landing, the disc vanishing beneath their feet seamlessly, leaving them standing on the solid floor. Marcus dispelled his shield, and breathed a sigh of relief, his shoulders sagging slightly. Alice offered him a hand, but he smiled and shook his head, leaning more on his staff.
“Is everyone all right?” Maribelle asked. The hand that held Takina trembled as she looked around at the others.
“We’re all good, thanks to you and Marcus,” Isabelle said, smiling as she gestured to Terevalde and Emmeryn.
“Nobody’s hurt,” Alice said. “Just… struggling.”
Delilah knew she meant more than just how Marcus and Maribelle’s strength was waning. Alice was putting on a good front, but she was angry. Delilah could feel it.
She’d defeated Jormungand. It had been such a huge moment for her, a major victory, and just when she’d raced to Delilah to celebrate…
The Bastion had come alive. It had swallowed up Jormungand’s corpse. Whatever it meant to do with it, in the end, that action robbed Alice of the closure she’d felt she’d gained from defeating Jormungand. Her victory felt undercut, unfinished.
“Do we know where to go next?” Terevalde asked.
“That way,” Delilah and Alice said at the same time, each of them pointing with the hand that bore their bracelet — Delilah’s left, Alice’s right. They caught each other’s eyes, and smiled.
“But before we get going again, let me do something,” Delilah said. She went around to each of them in turn, Reginald helping her out as they marked all of them with a magical blue X, invisible to anyone but Delilah. “There. Now even if we’re separated, I’ll be able to find everyone again.”
“Thank you!” Isabelle said, with a charming smile. “I was really worried there when we got separated.”
“It seems like we’ve been completely cut off from Deirdre, Tock, and the others,” Maribelle said, her free hand to her ear for a moment. “I hope no evil has befallen them.”
“I did hear the word ‘interference’ come up a couple times before they fully cut off,” Delilah said. “It didn’t sound like they were in danger. More like someone or something’s found a way to interfere with their signal.” She started leading the way down the corridor, Alice beside her. Maribelle fell in step right behind them, then Marcus. Isabelle, Terevalde, and Emmeryn followed him, while Felix, Nekoma, and Rabanastre covered the rear. Reginald walked beside Isabelle, raising her spirits immensely, while Redmond walked in the center with Marcus, keeping a wary eye out in all directions.
“But interference is going to cause major problems for us once we find the Pedestal,” Alice said. “We need to coordinate, right? Turn the Key at the same time as Fae and Shana, otherwise… well, what happens if we don’t synchronize it properly?”
“Synchronization shows hearts aligned,” Emmeryn said. “If the timing is off, then the Key of the World won’t awaken its full power. And anything less may not be enough to stop the Endless Night.”
“We’ll be all right,” Delilah said.
“Oh? Feeling pretty confident, are we?” Alice asked.
Delilah nodded. “I trust my sisters.” She reached out with her braceleted hand, taking Alice’s in hers. Alice’s fingers were a little cold, and seemed to savor Delilah’s warm touch.
“Yeah,” Alice said. “I trust ‘em, too.”
They soldiered on, turning a corner. The sense was even stronger now, Delilah and Alice receiving clearer guidance on the right path forward. It really felt like things were going to be all right. Like they hadn’t just turned a corner physically, but in this mission as a whole.
But Delilah made sure not to let down her guard. They’d braved the Bastion’s first assault. But a second was sure to come, with as little warning as the first. And there were still —
“Watch out!” Delilah and Alice cried in unison, leaping back. At the end of the corridor, an entrance into a larger chamber suddenly exploded with vicious fury. Shrapnel flew past them, a small shard of stone narrowly missing Delilah’s face.
“Now, then — shall we try this anew?” Dullan murmured, sliding wraithlike to bar their way forward. And he wasn’t alone. Beside him, melting up from the dark floor…
Was Jormungand.