“If you take one more step toward that sparkly thing, I’ll light you up,” Crystal called.

Suddenly, the weird hallways made perfect sense: we couldn’t have arrived in this last room within seconds of each other by chance alone, not after spending nearly a half-hour fighting to get here. I must have been ahead of Crystal for much of this fake-ass “race,” and the aliens had been trying to slow me down.

I turned toward her, not moving from my spot but getting my shield in between us. I was pretty sure that had been a Fire Bolt, and I knew I could Parry those, if I saw them coming. I’d gotten about forty feet into the room before she’d entered, and while Crystal wasn’t moving fast, she was getting closer and closer.

“Don’t move!” she screamed at me, and she raised a hand to launch another missile.

I activated Parry and got my shield up in time to block the Fire Bolt.

“I’m not just gonna let you walk up to me and shank me!” I snarled.

Crystal did pause, seemingly shocked to see her Fire Bolt blocked, but only for a second.

I started backing away from her, up the hill. I didn’t want to attack her, but I didn’t have much reason to stay still if I could block her projectiles. I didn't exactly want to be in stabbing range of a woman who had already killed multiple people.

Crystal didn’t like me moving. “I said STOP!”

“I can’t just give it to you,” I said. “I’ve got kids waiting for me, too. But we can run this like a footrace. We don’t have to fight each other.”

Crystal looked like she was considering my offer. She'd stopped moving, so I did too. She looked uphill, staring at the glittering crystal for a long moment, then looked back at me. She seemed to be considering me thoughtfully, and I once again tried to smile at her. She met my eyes.

Then my world went dark.

My body felt fine. I didn't feel dazed or disoriented - my vision was just completely and unrelentingly nonfunctional. I brought a wrist up to rub at my eyes, trying to remove whatever was blocking my sight. It didn't help. It was like I'd done nothing at all. I felt a moment's confusion before I realized: of course this was unnatural. I’d wondered what ability had let Crystal kill everyone who’d invaded her home.

This would do it.

Against most people.

She entered the range of my Life Sense and I could feel her heading toward me, much faster than she’d been moving before. I still wasn’t good enough with the ability to sense details. I didn’t know where her hands were; I wouldn’t be able to tell if she threw something at me or raised a hand to fire another missile. I raised my shield and crouched down slightly, at least making it difficult for her to target my vitals.

As she got within a few steps of me, she stepped to the side, dodging around the barricade my shield presented.

I couldn’t let her get around my shield with her knife.

I activated both Parry and Assisted Strike as I rushed forward, smashing my shield into her body.

I connected, hitting her hard enough that I knocked her into the air. I felt her recede, and could hear the thud of her landing, but she disappeared from my Life Sense. I must have knocked her quite a distance. I hadn't even been sure I could use both abilities at once, but I'd panicked at the idea of her getting close to me.

I started moving in what I thought was the right direction, slowly, so my inevitable impacts on the surrounding roots and rocks didn’t hurt me or make me trip, trying to focus on my Life Sense so further attacks wouldn’t catch me unaware.

I stepped on something.

Something that didn’t feel like a tree root or a rock or a pile of pine needles.

It felt like a human limb, but I didn’t feel anything on my Life Sense, so-

“No!” The word escaped me as fearful understanding dawned. I dropped to my knees, stretching out my hands, wanting to be wrong, not wanting to feel the familiar roughness of denim jeans or the smooth rubber soles of sensible shoes. My mind turned over, rejecting reality, trying to come up with some other explanation for what I was sensing.

Either seconds or an eternity later, my vision returned.

Crystal’s body sprawled in front of me, her head bent to the side at an awkward angle.

Her eyes were open.

She was inches away, but I couldn’t feel her on Life Sense.

She was -

I had -

I pushed myself away, landing on my injured arm. The pain barely registered. What had I done? What had I done!?

I retreated until her form was out of range of my Life Sense, until the glaring lack of sensation from Crystal’s body could be explained as mere distance.

I’d talked with this woman.

Had… had she even been trying to kill me just now? My eyes flicked to her hands, and, yes, her knife was out… but had she dodged around my shield to stab me, or was she just trying to make a break for the finish while I couldn’t see her? I'd been nearly directly in between her entryway and the finish.

I didn’t know, but the possibility hadn’t even occurred to me in the moment. I’d reacted out of fear. That was all.

She’d mentioned a daughter. How old was that daughter? What was her daughter going to do now?

I didn’t know.

I didn’t have any way to help that kid.

I didn’t have any way to fix this.

No way to make this better.

Like a coward, I backed away from Crystal’s body.

Her corpse, I told myself. Call it what it is.

I flinched at the thought. I turned my back on the scene and moved up the hill toward the sparkling gemstone.

No matter what I’d done, or hadn’t done… My kids were still counting on me.

Just like Crystal’s daughter was probably counting on her.