Svend and I stood in front of six beds inside the impromptu infirmary set inside the walls of Dragon’s Nest. The air stunk of herbs and alcoholic disinfectant. The healer had only left the room in exhaustion a few minutes ago after treating what he could until he recovered again. The only sounds remaining in the room were the gentle breathing of the sleeping patients.

I clenched my fist in frustration as I looked at the injuries that littered my family’s bodies. I had never felt so useless in a fight as I did when I could not protect my own family. A flame roared in my chest, thirsting for vengeance. I wanted nothing more than to tear those Demons limb from limb and yet, there was nothing I could do but stand here.

I knew Svend shared my fury. I could feel the blood lust radiating off of him like a thick fog.

“Wren, I am going to make them pay for this,” Svend said in a low growl.

“Do not charge off in a rampage. The Demons completely outplayed us this time. If it was not for Dragon’s Nest being more dangerous than they expected, we would have lost everything. If we want to keep our loved ones safe, we have to fight smart.”

“Do you really think that will be enough? The Demons know of the rift stone now. They will not rest until it is in their hands. Before this, I would have been confident in my ability to protect the stone, but now…”

“The Demons are stronger than they should be,” I replied, understanding Svend’s thoughts, “I do not understand it either. It has not been that long since our final battle with the Archdemon. I did not face Envy and his Demons directly during that event but I know they were not this strong then. Berith should only be able to see a few minutes into the future, but now she is in an entirely different league. The teleporter can bring people in from outside of our detection range. Even Aym, the weakest of the seven, had a domain corruption on par with an ace. It makes no sense.”

Svend rubbed the stubble growing on his chin as he considered the problem. “Your mother cannot remain in possession of the stone. What do you plan to do?”

“We only have two options,” I said as I bit my lip hesitantly, “Either we destroy the stone before the Demons can get it or we use it now.”

“If we decide to use the rift stone, it will expedite Envy’s invasion. Based on my observations, we still have between two and four months before his doorway into this realm is complete. If we use the stone, that could lower to only a couple weeks.”

“Less if Irene uses the blood of the dead Demoness as she did in the city of Deces. I wouldn’t be surprised if Envy arrived in just a few days after we used the stone.”

“That is not much time to prepare…” Svend said with a sigh.

I sat down on the bed beside my mom and brushed a stray hair off of her face. The healer had been skilled. Not even scars would remain where he had treated her. Reaching down, I pulled the rift stone necklace free from her neck and held it up to the light.

“If we destroyed it, two months would be enough time to completely absorb all the energy Cyra stored for me. I will probably not reach my peak power without regaining my Chronicle but it would still be enough for me to face off against any of the remaining Demons without losing. Unfortunately, that would mean we also cut off our only hope for reinforcements and our escape route if Envy is too much for us to handle. On the other hand, if we used the stone, I could turn one of my old strongholds into an unassailable bastion. Even if Envy came knocking, he would still probably need a week to break it down. Using this stone as the anchor we would only need to persevere one month after Envy creates his doorway for the Divisions to create one of their own.”

Svend shook his head. “Creating a doorway emits too much energy to hide. Envy would find us immediately. At our current strength, we would not survive a month. The only outcome would be us fleeing the realm and abandoning it to the Demons. We would survive but everyone else would die.”

“Then we will destroy it,” I said firmly as a green flame began to creep down the string holding the stone.

“Let’s not be hasty,” Svend interjected quickly, “If Envy comes in two months, what are our chances of beating him at that time? I was barely able to hold off two of his pawns. There is no point in staying and delaying the inevitable if the only difference is that we die alongside the realm.”

The green flame flickered out as my determination faltered. If it had just been me alone, I would not hesitate to destroy the stone. Even if I died, I could be reborn in any realm my undead roamed. However, if I destroyed this stone, my family would not be able to escape when things took a turn for the worse. If everything was perfect. Even if I regained my full strength, raised an army of millions of undead, and had the full support of every kingdom in the realm, there was still no guarantee I could kill Envy. Could I condemn my family to be stuck in this realm on the small chance I might be able to win? Would my family forgive me if we abandoned everyone here and simply fled?

I knew what my parents and Charly would say. They would tell me to destroy the stone.

I looked down at my mom, watching her breath, peacefully unaware of my dilemma. In the next bed over, Charly was much less restful as he stirred in his sleep. As I watched them, I felt my heart grow warm.

I clenched the small stone tight in my hand. Even if the rest of this realm had to die, they must live. Even if they hated me for making this decision, at least they would be alive.

Just as I made this decision, however, the walls of the room faded to a dim purple color. The singsong voice of Mare resounded without any source I could see. “You are still playing into their game, shorty. You will never win if you let them make the rules.”

“And you have a better option or is this just another ridiculous attempt to flip the board, Mare?” I replied with a roll of my eyes, “You know your suggestions are all insane, right?”

Svend looked at me the same way I sometimes looked at Donte when he started talking to himself, “Who are you talking to?”

I shook my head as I realized Svend could not hear Mare. “I’ll explain later.”

Mare’s laughter echoed in my ear. “Sanity is relative. Believe it or not, I consider myself the most rational of my little family. It is the rest of you that make no sense, shorty.”

“You are not helping your case,” I mumbled.

“Does that mean you don’t want to hear my advice? You know, I really am trying to help you here.”

“Fine, tell me.”

“The answer to your dilemma is very simple,” Mare said with a haughty tone, “Honestly, I don’t understand why you cannot see it. All you have to do is give the stone to me.”

“Give it to you?” I remarked in surprise.

“That’s right!” Mare shouted excitedly, “Let me eat it and the stone will be destroyed. With the energy from that stone, many of my lower functions can be restored. These functions would include an emergency realm shift that can allow you and your family to escape if you wish. The destination would be random but still safer than staying here with the big bad Demon you are so worried about. Let me eat the stone and you will get the best of both options.”

“You seem oddly excited about this. How long have you been waiting for me to reach this dilemma?” I asked skeptically, “What will you gain after you eat the stone?”

“Everything!” Mare shouted so loudly I had to cover my ears, “Right now this building is just a shell you use to fly around, but this is Dragon’s Nest! There was once a time when everyone feared that name. Even the weakest of the children that walked these halls would have made that little Demon, Envy, wet himself in fear.”

I rolled my eyes at Mare’s obvious exaggeration but ultimately agreed. “If you can really use an emergency shift, I will let you have the stone.”

“Great! bring it to the core, quick, quick, quick.”

Mare’s excitement left me cautious, but I could not think of a better option than giving in to her idea. I gave Svend only the barest amount of information, and told him that I might have a way to destroy the stone but still let us escape if needed. He was even more skeptical than me but ultimately said the decision was mine to make. I left him in the infirmary and followed Mare’s instructions of bringing the stone to the core.

“So, why did you not ask for the stone sooner if it was so valuable to you? I thought you could see everything in Dragon’s Nest.” I asked through the repeated shouts of the disembodied voice.

“I can not see rift stones,” Mare replied, “They emit the same frequency as the walls so, to me, it just looks like a normal rock. It was not until the Demon said something that I knew you had such a valuable item.”

“Is that why you personaly acted to save us?”

“Yes,” Mare replied simply.

“At least you are honest,” I muttered with a sigh.

I approached the blue crystal core with the small rift stone outstretched. As the stone and the crystal touched, the four lines on the stone began to glow. Mare warned me to quickly stand back and I complied.

The light from the four lines glowed brighter and brighter until it was hard to look at. The blue core began to dim as a purple hue spread across it like ink dropped in water. The purple energy continued to spread even after the core was completely transformed. Every room and every hallway pulsed with that same purple.

A sound like breaking glass filled the room. Four jagged white lines spiraled out of the small stone. I felt a wave of pure chaotic energy rush over me, similar to when Irene had opened the portal for the Demons to come through. For a moment I thought that Mare had activated the stone, completely going against everything she said but before the situation became dire, the rips in space began to shrink until they were completely contained by the core in the center of the room. They were not spreading and Envy would not be able to use them to weaken the path between realms. Despite this, they still released the same tremendous energy all rifts did.

After nearly a minute of violent outbursts of energy, the rifts began to stabilize deep inside the core. It was an amazing sight, almost like a black hole inside a snow globe. The rifts in space acted as an engine, constantly pumping energy into the core, far beyond anything a person would have ever been able to provide.

At a rate visible to the naked eye, the once shattered core began to grow. What once looked like a shard of broken glass was now a perfectly round sphere. The entire building began to shake violently. The walls trembled and twisted as if they had a mind of their own. Pulses of energy raced through the walls like a heart on steroids.

I watched in a mixture of worry and amazement as the aged cracks and battle scars left on the floors and walls closed up. The building had always felt eerily alive but now there was no doubt in my mind. Dragon’s Nest was a living creature.