In the silence of the otherworld, the droplet of water falling into the pool seemed loud. Stathis pushed her hand into the water, the liquid warm on her skin, as her vision flickered and wavered.

Where was she? She dropped to the ground finding solid flagstones beneath her feet. It seemed deafeningly loud – she was surrounded by a vague mob, humanoid shapes flickering in and out of vision, too fast to get any particular details. But in the centre of the crowd were two shapes of slick and gleaming darkness, spines and spikes flowing over their bodies, which looked like they were formed of liquid obsidian, shifting and inconsistent. There was a rapidly-moving streak of lightning, settling into a humanoid shape on the rare occasions it stopped moving, close to a shape of fire, cleaving an axe through the air. Amongst the melee was another fighter, their presence thinner, but still showing as a shimmering streak of pale silver, a thin blade slicing and slashing the air.

She drew her own blade and stepped in, bashing out with a shield at one of the two dark shapes, watching as the spikes and spines retreated from her own glowing aura. Heat prickled against her skin, the flaming aura pressing close, wavering in indecision before deciding against attacking her.

Whatever the dark things were, they moved fast, their bodies shifting and flowing around attacks, their very shapes warping even as they dodged, and they seemed unphased by injuries, even after she struck one of their arms, feeling the shock of a strong impact. Darkness burned away for a moment to reveal rotten-looking flesh, a spike of something metallic and more solid amongst the meat, before the darkness healed over the top of it.

Several bolts of darkness flashed in from behind her, trying to strike various targets and she spun, glancing behind herself for a moment. The darkness of the shifting figures suddenly seemed minor in comparison – it was like staring at a sculptured and chiselled void, an utter negativity save for a few speckled stars. Horns, jet black and razor-sharp spiralled out from hair that looked to be sculptured from flawless black obsidian, save for a forelock tinged a deep, blood-red crimson. Was that Janaxia, or some demon-copy of her? Either way, it gestured, moving with an eerie smoothness, a hand spitting out more bolts of darkness, streaking to either side of Stathis.

A strike rattled against Stathis’ armour, a vicious chill penetrating into her side, drawing her attention away from Janaxia. One of the things of twisted darkness bought their arm back, a sharp and pointed shard of darkness in their hand. Stathis raised her shield to block, the darkness and light crashing together, metal screeching against her shield before she pushed them back with a swift strike – at least they seemed worried about getting hit enough to bother dodging! It seemed as though she couldn’t rest and heal as normal, so would have to be careful to preserve her energy and get wounded as little as possible.

At least she had greater range, able to use her sword to try and keep them away and out of their own striking range, although they were able to simply accept her strikes and then regenerate the damage, lunging in before their claws scratched against her breastplate, accompanied by a piercing, deathly chill. The streak of lightning twisted around and dropped to the ground before spinning and kicking around, a leg kicking high and smashing into a ribcage, breaking apart the darkness for a moment. Was that Semari?

Stathis tried speaking, but no sound came out. Whatever form she had now, she couldn’t speak still. Maybe if she could get a pen or something? But that would have to wait for when she wasn’t in the middle of a fight! The things were fast and tough – she stabbed out, skewering one, as it struck back at her, a blow to her breastplate with enough force to knock her on her heels. As she drew her blade back out, it twisted around, the hole already closing up. What was it? She needed fire or acid, something to try and put it down for good!

The fire (probably Vrintar, if Janaxia was here, and the lightning must be Semari) was dealing out vicious blows of its own, hard enough to kill most opponents, but simply shrugged off by these things. Another chill ran through her, something bouncing off her armour, a lump of something cold and hard. Had someone called up a storm of stones or ice? Another knocked against her head as she blocked a knife-strike, wishing she had a helmet.

Aside from the fighters, all she could see was the vague shapes of the crowd around them, cobblestones beneath her feet, and then nothing else. The sky above her was nothing more than vaguely lit mist, and the slightest suggestion of buildings, a wooden pole looming out of nothing. Was this a harbour? Where the hell were they?

A bright light appeared, fierce and flaming, before splintering into smaller motes of fire, hot enough that she could feel it on her face, as an icy pellet struck her cheek. Was this one of Hakara’s spells? Was everyone working together? What were they doing? Then the falling fireball exploded with sufficient force to part the ethereal mist for a moment, allowing her to see a number of buildings, a flame-wreathed figure stood upon one, too bright to look at directly, conjuring up more flaming spheres.

Stathis drew back and crouched, trying to angle her shield to take the worst of the blast, heat licking around her, at least blasting away the stinging impacts of the falling ice as it hissed away into steam. The dark figures withdrew as well, burning pockmarks fading as they healed, holes through their black bodies simply vanishing. Stathis turned just in time to see Janaxia slash her hand through the air, a passage of darkness appeared through which she dragged Vrintar. She tried to follow, jumping forward as it sliced itself shut.

Her eyes slammed open as she found herself back in her body, able to hear her own breath again. The water had gone still again, the light above seeming somewhat dimmed, her hand all-but-frozen in the water, fingers prickling and burning.

‘Dammit, how do I get back?’ She splashed her hand in the water again, without achieving anything feeling it move, the stuff still making no noise before the cold was too much and she had to withdraw her hand.

‘You are blessed indeed! To be granted such visions!’

‘It’s not really a vision, is it? It’s more like some kind of summoning or projection or something isn’t it? Although I guess that other people can’t see me? I think I was fighting with my friends, against things that looked like they were made of shadow.’ She moved, feeling the wounds she had taken as the energy from fighting faded. They felt like bruises and scratches – nothing serious by themselves, but if she couldn’t heal like normal, then they would accumulate over time and she could only cure herself a limited amount.

She settled back, trying to make herself comfortable. ‘So, Agon, do you know of any other creatures here? I saw a demon, I think, when I first arrived. I’m pretty sure that it was one defeated in my world. How did it end up here?’

He paused, turning his blind eyes upwards in consideration. ‘This is their origin, loath though I am to recall such things. As we were readying our own passage to the new world, many disappeared – I suspect that they were consumed or transported themselves. But they are not mortal as we are, and so when they are destroyed, their essence returns here, to heal and form themselves anew. While I may be blind, the few stragglers I have encountered have been pitiful in their struggles, such that they can be truly defeated. I suspect the few demons left alive here have hidden themselves away rather than face destruction.’

‘Where did they go? The demons and darkness and everything – you make it sound like there was a vast number of them. Were they abandoned and starved here?’

‘Most vanished. Many were slain in our defences, their essence bound away – they will heal in time, but that time would likely be aeons for your world. Others were taken by their leaders, bound away, probably to be unleashed elsewhere, or their essence used to fuel some greater power. We broke their charge, but they managed to break through and breach into the new world. Some of the sages attempted to bind them in some fashion, but I had other concerns, so do not know the details.’

‘So there’s thousands, or hundreds of thousands, or more, of demons or something, just… somewhere? That sounds pretty bad. And your deity, the light, sounds like they were remarkably absent. Were they not worried?’

‘They forged the path, so that we might follow! And we were weak, and unable to live up to their hopes. This Wound is proof of that. We thought it would be our escape, and leave the darkness here to a withering, but they breached our defences. From there, they were able to contaminate the new world. And the Light withdrew herself.’

‘OK. With any sort of prophecy or anything for when she might return? It’d be nice to get back home! Actually, do you have any idea how I ended up here?’

‘Some spell went wrong, perhaps? I am not well tutored in the ways of magic, especially that of the myriad dimensions and realms of the planes. I am unsure as to how you came to be here. Perhaps it is due to your nature? I have not known anyone to return here, and the transportation was designed to be one way. Although the demons are still bound to this place in some fashion. We always suspected that they had some hidden fastness in this place, but every force we dispatched was destroyed without discovering their sanctum, although it was manifest that they couldn’t be permanently destroyed without effort, at least for any notable foes.’

‘Well, generations of war will do that. So you can’t predict when or how I can get back? I might be stuck here?’

‘Sadly, yes. But I had never expecting to see another child of light, I thought our kind long gone! Quite how you came to be, I am unsure of, but the blessing did sometimes skip generations, especially in those of watered-down inheritance.’

‘I’m pretty sure it doesn’t run in the family, at least my family! My Mother was pretty clear she, uh, got it direct from the source. So this place was where the passageway was made, and then the demons did something to it to… make it one way? Lock your physical bodies out?’

‘So I would surmise. I am no theoretician myself, and those with such wisdom had other issues to focus on at the time, as well as being on the other side. So it sounds as though the journey was made, and then we were forgotten, left to the mists of time and the vagaries of memory turning to legend.’ He sounded vaguely melancholic, making Stathis wish all this stuff had simply been written down. It would be a lot easier than picking through vague speech!

‘Well, there are a lot of legends of angels saving travellers and fighting demons and things, so not entirely forgotten. Just the origin I think, kinda got lost somewhere along the line. But it’s been a long time, thousands of years at the least, so it’s not entirely a surprise. Sorry.’

‘It is a sacrifice I made willingly, not something I did to be recognised. That there were survivors was all the thanks I need. But much seems to have been forgotten – it sounds as though your world has fallen far, with scattered domains amongst the wilderness, even if there are mighty heroes protecting them. Your sister sounds like she would have been a worthy ally.’

‘You’ve not had to work with her! She needs to be a bit more discriminating in her attacks. And less enthusiastic about blowing up evil-doers.’ Stathis trailed her fingers in the pool again, feeling the biting cold. Dammit, come on! Make another droplet appear, that way she could hopefully see what was going on again. Was everyone alright? Janaxia seemed to have survived somehow, but it seemed unlikely she had much skill at surviving on her own, and Semari would likely just abandon her if it was funny. Quite what Pajaran thought of it all as well… Assuming she was awake now, although she was at least out of the ice. Hopefully she was sensibly out of it, staying in Per Tolith or something. Or at least trying to keep Carissia from doing anything too excessively damaging.