It moves to grab her hand, but she moves with it, changing her stab into a slice along its upper chest. It’s frown only deepens when I slice the head off the one I had already disarmed. One second, I’m squaring off against it and the other wounded werewolf, and the next, my vision swims, and I have the vague sensation of flying before I abruptly stop against a wall. I’m dimly aware of the leader pulling its hand back and inspecting it, as if confused. I try to get up, but my legs don’t respond. My spine… it hit me so hard that the act of my armor dispersing the force fractured my spine, as well as a fair few of my ribs, and I can see massive structural damage to my organs. If I didn’t have the armor, that would have gone right through me.

The leader’s musings about its hand are interrupted by Lauren appearing behind him, still gushing blood from her arm, and stabbing it in the side. Her blade only gets a quarter of the way in before the thing grabs and breaks her working arm. Before she can even cry out, the others appear, having dealt with the werewolf that went after the archers. Seth and Lorian immediately engage the leader, and the archers try their best to support. The only other werewolf has to contend with Samuel and Tom. It’s not enough, but it should buy time. The leader, still holding on to Lauren, uses her to intercept the first two arrows that come its way, before ramming its arm deep into her stomach and tossing her towards the pit.

She slams into the floor, skidding for several feet before teetering on the edge. She scrambles frantically, but with only one arm, and with that arm being badly broken, she fails to hold on, and her legs fall over the side. Marie runs through the fight, intent on keeping her from falling, and I crawl as best I can towards her. Marie doesn’t make it far, with the leader easily smashing her aside. She tries to keep going, but her body just flails in response. To her credit, she never looks scared, but closes her eyes in calm concentration… why? What is she-

Oh. Purely on a hunch, I crawl with everything I have, even burning Energy to pull myself further and faster, all the while doing my best to ignore the burning pain of the bones grinding every time my back moves. Lauren still manages to hold on, but she’s relying on her upper arm entirely to keep her from falling in, and the blood loss and massive trauma can’t be helping. Without the system, she would have already died three times over. Arduous seconds pass, and with every one, I’m praying she doesn’t slip. I can’t let another one die. Not like Rav. Please not again. Her eyes keep fluttering, but she keeps coming back. Just a bit…

She seizes suddenly, and her arm, slick with blood, slides off the side. I see her desperately try to use he almost nonfunctional hand to grab the ledge, but the pain or the lack of friction… she doesn’t stop herself. I throw myself forward, trying desperately to grab at her before she slips away, but I miss her hand. I’m not fast enough. A deep fear and pain rises in my stomach. No, maybe she’s still alive, even if she’s impaled, I can… just as long as she’s not dead…

I scramble to get a look over the edge, frantically looking into the depth for any sign of life… but she’s not in the bottom of the pit. She’s sitting on a slowly extending platform of rock. Marie, you goddamn genius.

I grab her by her clothing, and, burning Energy far faster than I should be, I just manage to heave her over the side. She screams like a creature possessed the entire time, enduring what I can only imagine is the worst pain she’s ever felt, but it saves her life… for the moment. As if sensing the relative safety of the ground, her mind immediately gives out and she goes limp.

I take a deep breath, activate River’s Source, and heal with everything I have. Both of us, simultaneously. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, or what’s happening around us, because we can’t help if we’re dying, and the others will either stall long enough for us to get back up, win, or we’ll all die. Nothing I can do except… this.

Multiple organ failure, stomach is pulp, leaking acid into the body cavity, clean that, repair the tissue… leave the missing arm for now, stop the bleeding, replenish blood supply, set bones… done. “Give ‘em hell.” I try to mutter, but who knows if it actually worked. I’m too busy turning the powder that was once my vertebrae back into a complete solid, like the world’s worst 3d jigsaw puzzle. Take pressure of the spinal cord, repair the torn neurons, remove excess blood and swelling… like a jolt of electricity, I can suddenly feel my legs again. I set some Energy to healing the rest, cancel River’s Source, and- oh god that’s a lot of blood.

Seth is completely covered in wounds, with some noticeably deep gashes on his face and arms. Lorian looks like one of her arms is barely hanging on to her body, but she’s still upright and fighting. The leader seems aggravated, like something is wrong, and honestly, the fact that neither of those two are dead lends credence to that theory.

I haven’t seen Lorian fight much, but I know she and Seth aren’t gods of war or anything, and that leader kicked the living shit out of me and Lauren. I know we’re pretty competent fighters, so either they’ve gotten absurdly lucky or something’s fucking with it. Lauren must have poisoned her daggers… maybe that’s it?

Lauren, for her part, looks half dead up against a wall. She must have been taken out again while I was healing myself… but she doesn’t look like she’s bleeding. I struggle to my feet, limp over to my sword, and rush to engage again.

“ENOUGH.” The word shakes the very walls. It’s so loud that it immediately gives me… a headache. Uh oh. At first, I have a faint hope that it’s Zathis… not that he could really do anything here, especially without sight on what’s happening, but the voice is wrong. The headache is wrong. Whatever it is, the leader and the remaining werewolf immediately back up, with both creatures looking little better than those they were just fighting. Lorian charges the leader anyway, using the moment of weakness, but then it continues to fend off her blows, just without returning any of his own.

The crowd of Carnine spectators on the far side parts to allow through the most massive, three headed, dog shaped monstrosity I’ve ever imagined… but even more terrifying than that. This is the thing Lauren was talking about all that time ago. The boss. It barely fits in the hallway, and although it moves slowly, it’s easy to tell that that is only because it chooses to. Each of the three heads radiates an aura: one of cold, one of heat, and one of crackling electricity.

“Be still and silent. End this pointless resistance.”

Many of the group start to relax, but Lorian echoes my thoughts: “No.”

“We have what you want, and you’re not getting it.”

“What I want? Escape from this cycle of endless torment? Do explain, creature.”

“...Well, that too, eventually, but baby steps. The Stone of Ascension. That’s what you’re after, right?”

“That trinket is a trivial matter. However, give it to me.” It betrays nothing in the way it speaks, but its intentions are clear. The resounding headache that accompanies that command only hammers the point home.

“I’ve got a better idea: your life, for the stone.”

“MY LIFE?! YOU HAVE SOME TONGUE, WRETCH. KLAVIK, RIP IT OUT FOR ME.”

The leader springs into motion, but substantially slower than before, and it even stumbles on the approach. I light a furnace of Energy in my chest, adding some Light to mask my attack, and the leader stumbles again, but this time because a sword is embedded in its stomach, and frozen in place. “You’ll stop there if you don’t want to end up the same way as the first trash you sent.”

It glares and snarls, but ultimately doesn’t make a move. Smart. As things are, it’ll be eviscerated if it tries.

“As I was saying, your life for the stone. I’ll even throw in that I’ll heal these two-” I gesture at the two living werewolves, “-as an act of goodwill.”

This gives the colossal creature pause, if only for a moment. “Very well, you have made your point. Release them, fix them, and give me the stone. We will leave you and your kind alone.”

“Those ears aren’t very good at listening, are they? If I give you the stone and let you leave, you’ll come back stronger than before. Much stronger. And we’ll all die. It may be tomorrow instead of today, but you have every intent to kill us.”

“You would have me allow you to kill me instead? Nonsense. I have a greater purpose.”

“Yeah, you’re going to ascend and, what, kill everyone in those giant rings so you’ll be free? You’ll be happy to know that that is, in fact, our plan too. So how’s this for a deal: I’ll give you the stone, you allow me to weave our souls together, and humanity will assist you with your ‘greater purpose’. Sound good?”

The giant creature is silent for a while. “Describe this process.”

“It would link the two of us, inexorably, allowing you to eventually level as a creature. I assume that, with the stone, you’d also have the ability to gain and level Secondary Skills.”

“You seek to draw me in so that you may kill me.”

“I think you and I both know we’d be stronger together.”

“I have no reason to trust you.”

“Nor I, you, but the soul bond will fix that. If either of us dies, the other would suffer greatly. Likely die as well.”

“You would try to imprison me.”

“I’m honestly more afraid of you trying to do that to me. The power difference is not going unnoticed.”

“I could simply take the stone from you and leave your corpses for my followers to feast on.”

“Yeah, but you’ll lost this guy. Probably the other one, too. Is it worth it?”

“Anything is worth escaping this. You will understand as well, eventually.”

“I understand now. We’re not joining the cycle, we’re breaking it, and you can help us. You’ll get what you want, we’ll get a village, and we can actually make a proper go of these trials. That, and you won’t have to bother with humans killing your kind anymore. Consider your service to be… the beginnings of paying us back for the thousands you slaughtered.”

“A necessary sacrifice… much like this. I cannot risk the eternal suffering of my people on your word.”

“I… can have your own vouch for me. For the veracity of my word.”

It barks something like a laugh, or a scoff of disbelief. “Who of mine would stand for you?”

“I have the soul of one of your lieutenants within me. It has agreed to serve me, in exchange for me doing this. For forming an unbreakable treaty with you. This is the best way I can do it.”

“Lies.”

“I can show you.”

“Do so.”

“I… need direct contact.”

“No.”

“You know you can take me one on one, so let’s go outside together, and I’ll show you. If I’m lying, or you’re unsatisfied, you can always kill me and come back in here to finish things. However, I think you’ll agree.”

It lets my words hang in the air for several seconds, before slightly inclining its head. “Agreed.”