I ended up having to support both Elmidath and her father, making our progress painfully slow. Somehow, with Elmidath’s guidance, we made it back to where we’d left Tagath only to find him gone. Had he decided he’d waited long enough and gone home? But no, his lantern was still here. Fragments of its glass were spread across the ground and the little core inside was broken.

“What the hell happened?” We hadn’t seen so much as a hint of anyone else being down here, and yet it definitely looked like he’d been taken by someone or something. I carefully inspected the wider area, but there were no tracks or blood. If he was attacked by something, surely there’d be blood.

Elmidath sighed. “Whatever happened, I doubt there’s anything we can do about it now. He’s probably already gone unless he managed to escape on his own.”

Her father made an acquiescing sound and nodded, while I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing. “Then you’re going to just abandon him down here? Just like that?” I turned to her father. “I thought he was your friend.”

Standing up straight, Elmidath faced me head on. “What other choice is there? There’s little chance we’ll be able to find him, particularly with my father in tow. And even if we did, there’s no guarantee we wouldn’t just end up in whatever situation he’s in. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re practically blind and helpless down here.”

“I know, but…” I couldn’t think of any rational argument to make in favour of searching for him; leaving him just felt wrong. We were supposed to be his allies, yet we were going to abandon him just like that? The others didn’t even seem that upset about it. I didn’t want to accept Elmidath’s decision, but what other choice did I have? It was that or let these two to go stumbling around in the dark in the hopes of finding him myself without a map or any way to locate him.

Unappealing as it was, continuing back to the manor without him was the only option that made sense. This is what happens after doing all that work to find her father? This world really does fucking suck. Or maybe I was just an idiot for thinking that things would go well just because I worked hard. I was already in a bad mood from my unrelenting headache, but what happened with Tagath made it that much worse. Why couldn’t I just go back home? Then I could go back to lazing around and not worrying about the world around me. Here I had no choice but to involve myself if I wanted to stay alive.

I was dragging the demons through the dark when I spotted something at the edge of the lantern’s light. Small and stationery, it didn’t seem too threatening, but it was also in the way and I could see no easy way around it. Telling Elmidath to wait there, I crept forward alone with my sword in one hand. I caught a glimpse of grey before whatever it was retreated into the crevice it sprung from. Happy to leave it alone, I went back for my companions and we made our way forward.

I was passing the same spot where the grey thing had disappeared when something brushed my face and I jerked back. Seeing one of the same tendrils that were present near where we found Elmidath’s father, I was about to tear it off my skin in horror when my body froze and the next thing I knew, I was elsewhere.

My surroundings disappeared, leaving me adrift in a sea of darkness. I tried to contact Elmidath, and when nothing happened, I tried to teleport to her instead to the same result. Calling out into the void was every bit as unhelpful, I couldn’t even hear myself, but I kept trying. What else was I supposed to do? And if nothing else, it helped keep me sane. At least for a little while longer.

When, to my relief, a reply finally came, it wasn’t Elmidath who spoke to me but rather Shotensho. It had been so long since I last heard the sword, that it took me a moment to recognise its voice. “You should never have come here. Neither you, nor Lady Sarinknell should ever have set foot down here.”

“It’s a bit late to tell me that now, couldn’t you have said something sooner?” Though I doubt the opinion of a sword would have done anything to change Elmidath’s mind, she had no concern for the danger at hand. Not when there was a chance of getting her father back.

“It seemed foolish to waste my energy on warning you when I had little idea of what awaited, only now do I understand the danger this place poses.”

“Which is what exactly? And where are we? Did you bring me here?” If Shotensho wanted me to leave, then why was it preventing us from doing exactly that?

“In a manner of speaking I did, but only to shield you from where you would otherwise have gone, and where it seems you will end up. A powerful presence dwells here and depleted as I am, I cannot match its strength.”

“Um, okay? What am I supposed to do about it then?” I had no magic of my own, so if the sword couldn’t manage it, then it seemed whatever power held us in thrall would have its way.

“All you need to do is survive. While I cannot defeat this entity, I can free you from its influence. I will destroy its link to you, but I must remove my protection upon you to do so. You will have to resist on your own for a time.”

“I don’t think I can do that.” Resisting a powerful magical entity through sheer willpower seemed quite beyond me, if it was possible at all. “There has to be another way.”

“What you think is irrelevant, you will resist or we will die.”

I was going to argue further and insist that I wouldn’t be able to do it, when I felt Shotensho’s presence fade away. In response, the darkness around me intensified, strange as that may sound. While it had completely inhibited my vision before, now it seemed to seep into my body like a liquid. I felt it working its way into the very core of my being while I floated amidst the endless dark, utterly defenceless.

Easy as it would be to simply surrender, I recalled Shotensho’s words and willed the foreign substance to leave my body. To my surprise, as I concentrated on that single desire, the darkness receded from me. Empowered by my success, I kept it up and I was on the brink of expelling it altogether when its exodus slowed to a crawl before stopping entirely.

I spent a few moments trying to will it into retreat once more before I sensed another presence. Unlike Shotensho’s, which was small and familiar, this was vast and unknown. Even absent any communication between the two of us, I could feel that it wasn’t human or anything close to it.

Acting both on instinct and reason, I immediately tried to flee from it. But of course, I couldn’t move in the slightest. All I could do was hang in the air as the terrible new force enveloped me. What followed was nothing short of a complete and utter invasion of everything that made up my being.

Losing my body to the darkness almost instantaneously, I abandoned it as a lost cause without a thought and struggled for control of my mind. Time slowed to a crawl as I poured my willpower into retaining a sense of self. “My name is Cathal.” My name embodied myself as well as anything, and I clung to that reminder. I repeated it over and over, even as my thoughts slowed and grew less coherent. “My name is Cathal.” Relinquishing all other forms of resistance, I put every iota of willpower I could muster into my declaration.

My desperate, single-minded efforts slowed the invader but it didn’t stop. In a spark of brilliance amidst my collapsing consciousness, I had an epiphany; whatever was consuming me didn’t even know I existed, this was simply the result of making contact with it. Perhaps as a testament to my waning sanity and cognitive abilities, the knowledge brought forth a rush of anger.

I wasn’t going to disappear into whatever this thing was that couldn’t even be bothered to notice me. I deserved better than that, and I shouted within my own mind with all the force I could manage. “My name is Cathal!” I only half-understood the words, but hearing them resound in my head brought me an exultant thrill.

My brief surge of mental strength slowed the being overwhelming my consciousness to almost nothing for a moment, only for it continue on as if I had put up no resistance at all. “My name is Cathal.” For all the good my litany had done, it was not enough. I managed one last whispered utterance, so broken as to be incomprehensible before my mind evaporated and everything went cold.