Caution to the wind. If having a child on his back is slowing him down any, I don’t sense it. The hallways blur by and I have to tense my neck muscles every time Perideen makes the slightest turn to keep my head from snapping sideways. The Blood Rats behind us are building in number. Doubtless with so many squealing monsters in our wake, some of them must be of the exploding variety. Locking my jaw, I can’t resist the curiosity and crank my neck sideways while clinging tightly to the assassin. Behind us, a sea of mutated flesh and red eyes surge along the Mausoleum. The quiet and empty has completely disappeared, replaced by tidal waves of sheer chaos!

There’s a turn coming up. Two absolutely enormous Blood Rats round the corner. Perideen warns me before we get there-

“Don’t let go!” And then leaps up…my world tilts-

Wwwwhhy?!

Suddenly we’re running on the wall, and gravity is pulling my body sideways. The assassin is literally defying physics and I hook my legs in tightly around his waist. Each thump of his legs along the wall, threatens to dislodge me. I see his blade travel out, a long silver line in the light of his gemstone which has become a blue blur at the speed we’re going. He lashes out at the rats with the flat of the blade, knocking their giant bodies back into the horde. Then we’re off the wall and the world stops being slanted, however, normal feels wrong now. Everything spins dizzily as my internal bits slosh around.

“Urgh…” Doing my best to control my breathing, I am grateful that I practiced moving my body with Gust in the past. I probably would have vomited for sure otherwise. Perideen looks back at me with concern over his shoulder, but seeing that I’m still hanging on, he nods and speeds up again. More family tombs pass by, a swarm of Blood Bats appears, but I toss out the remaining holy water vials and detonate them for a low-mana explosion. The bats scatter out of the sky and flop about dizzily as the noise shatters their sensitive eardrums. Up ahead, there’s a grand opening in the main corridor. A plaque on the side is surrounded by burnt out torches.

Tosa General Burial Tomb

“Damn thing better be in here!” Perideen grumbles. Not wanting to be surprised, I slam on the gates to the future and look ahead to see what’s waiting for us in there. My aching arms tighten around Perideen’s neck. “H-Hey, Kid, loosen up a bit!”

What…the…!

OH CRAP!

He doesn’t know.

We’re going in there?

THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!

Perideen can’t see it yet. If what was behind us was a sea of mutated monsters, the place before us is far worse. My eyes widen, and I try to take it all in. Within a second at this speed, we will pass through the doors. And enter…hell.

This isn’t a sea…it’s an OCEAN!

Blood Rats as far as the eye can see. Their snouts sniffle in the air as they hunger for flesh. A huge crypt almost as wide as a soccer field. The walls are lined with broken, rotted, coffins. Their contents have been ripped out of their eternal rest and shredded open by an uncountable number of tiny jaws. And in the very back…a great red wreath, this disgusting silken cocoon which looks like the work of the world’s biggest spider. Woven in blood, mucus, and gore, it pulses sickly. A dark glow illuminates something…turning and squirming in its depths. The crimson cocoon is alone, suspended on the back wall, a regal throne for the Bloodfiend inside. However, its servants number in the hundreds…no perhaps thousands between us and their king.

Why did we even bother luring more of them here?

There’s already WAY too many of them!

*Tap*

I realize that we’re about to pass through the door. Perideen’s eyes are no doubt widening beneath his dog mask. The hound sniffs danger, but the child he bares has but a second to warn him before it’s too late.

What do I even say?

Turn around?

But we found it.

I…

Natalia wasn’t afraid like me when she fought Gatoa. She just rushed in. Absolutely no fear. I still remember the terrible injuries she sustained in that fight. Each shredded cut, every jagged bone. Her plaintive cries as Mark and I worked on her. Romy’s worried breathes as she held her down. She accepted that awful price without a second thought.

I am not like that.

I’m so scared.

I can’t even move.

But I’m getting carried.

And my power doesn’t come from my sword.

I’m a mage!

I can see Glacia’s face smiling at me as I open my mouth.

“JUMP!” I yell and then begin chanting-

[Cold Wall At The End of The Divide,

You Who Guard Against Failing Light,

Sunder This Dark Night!

Bring Me Refuge From All Plights!

Come Forth-Frozen Seal]

My voice trembles but it does not break. I omit as many words as I can, not caring if the spell isn’t perfect. This one is not meant to create a permanent seal. In front of Perideen’s feet, a thick wall of ice rises out of the ground, ice crystals condensing in the air. He hesitates, I can feel him wondering what the plan is-

“JUST TRUST!” I don’t have time to say anything else. Please! Believe in me!

“Haarrgh!” Perideen does it. He puts his faith in a child he barely knows. His boot steps onto the rapidly growing sheet of ice, and we shoot upwards through the gate of the General Tomb! “W-What now!”

“When I tell you, jump! High as you can!” I instruct as we fly up. Behind us, the wave of Blood Rats swells and crashes onto the ice wall, their claws skittering as they try to scamper atop the back. Perideen sees the endless ocean of Blood Rats awaiting us inside the General Tomb and swears-

“Raingods protect me! How many are there!” He screeches, but I just clench my arms tight around his neck, focusing on making the wall taller and taller. It carries us up-

“Wait for it…wait wait wait!” I scream. Perideen bends his knees, as the sheet of ice takes us higher, three meters, five meters. It almost blocks the top of the doorway, when I stop the cast. “NOW!”

And then…he jumps-

*Taka*

We soar upwards, the ceiling of the general tomb is incredibly high, it’s designed to hold numerous amounts of stacked coffins along the sides. The blue light from Perideen’s gemstone shines below and refracts off a thousand waiting pairs of red eyes. Blood Rats see us now. Their mouths open, and I catch sight of glimmers of fang and claw as they squeal out in delight. Our height levels out and my stomach contracts as we reach the ceiling.

“What’s the PLAN!” Perideen gulps out in midair. I chant out loud, knowing that I can’t risk failing a silent spell-

[Frozen Wind of My Soul, Come Forth-Chill]

I conjure with all my soul. Manifest a perfect little climbing handhold of solid ice atop the ceiling. It forms right as Perideen’s momentum begins to fall. His hand reaches out, and with unerring accuracy, snatches onto the handhold-

“GOTCHA!” He yelps, his mask slightly tilted as he laughs, “You’re insane, Kid! FREAKING INSANE!”

Yea.

I probably am.

“Swing over to the cocoon, I’ll keep making more!”

[Frozen Wind of My Soul, Come Forth-Chill]

[Frozen Wind of My Soul, Come Forth-Chill]

[Frozen Wind of My Soul, Come Forth-Chill]

It’s like we’re children on the monkey bars. Perideen vaults us forwards, his incredible arm strength flings us a dozen meters at a time. I summon handholds of ice on the ceiling. There’s a crash as the wave of rats clambers over the top of my ice wall and joins the masses on the floor of the General Tomb. With Foresight I check the ground for threats. There are no Blood Bats in here, but I realize that I may have underestimated the rats!

*Eeee! Eeeee! Eeeee!*

They screech in alarm and then begin to swarm up in these vast, roiling, columns of flesh. Within seconds, thousands of Blood Rats scamper over their own brothers and sisters to form great living spires to reach us on the ceiling!

[Frozen Wind of My Soul, Come Forth-Chill]

“Perideen! Below us!” I shout out a warning as one of the rat pillars gets close. “Do something!”

“Crap!” He yells as he realizes the problem. A hundred pairs of crimson eyes gleam as the Blood Rats laughingly run atop each other’s backs. Several rats jump off the top, suicidally leaping to try to bite us, but fall just short. Too close! TOO CLOSE! Perideen clings to the ceiling with one hand. A thin throwing knife appears in his other. He scans below as I try to cast the next handhold. I realize that he’s waiting for me to tell him which one to hit. I switch to silent casting. While simultaneously working on a Chill, I cast my mind into the future. See him throw his knife at the closest rat. It doesn’t blow up.

[Frozen Wind]

“Target another one!” I yell.

[of My Soul]

“Not that one either!”

[Come Forth]

“Damnit, target them all!”

Rats throw themselves towards us, and one of them comes within centimeters of biting my shoulder. I watch it soar past us in the present, as in the future, there’s an explosion in my mind.

“THAT ONE! HIT THAT ONE!” I scream as I also finish the chant. “CHILL!”

*Phwip*

Perideen lets the knife fly. Even if I had a gun, I’d struggle to hit a single rat amidst the towering, scampering, pillar of rodents rising towards us. But that’s why I’m only an Acolyte. His aim is true.

*Eee?*

A knife lands squarely between the eyes of a particularly mishappen Blood Rat, right atop the tower-

*BOOOOOOM*

The explosion is followed by a series of smaller ones.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

The spire next to us disappears in a cloud of guts and teeth. It’s raining rats in the Mausoleum, and Perideen swings himself forwards to the next handhold. Even still, blowing up one of the rat spires isn’t enough to set off a chain reaction which can take out the whole General Tomb. Within seconds, a second spire rebuilds itself to the height necessary to reach us. Perideen withdraws another knife from somewhere. I start calculating, chanting, wishing I could pray but there’s no time for that-

“Do it! That one!”

*BOOOM BOOM BOOM*

[Frozen Wind of My Soul, Come Forth-Chill]

My handholds under pressure are sketchy. But I don’t mess up. Underneath the pressure, amidst the insanity, I remember fighting against an opponent that I could never beat no matter how I tried. Romy was a hundred times stronger than these things, even if there was only one of her. Sure, I was probably never at risk of dying when I trained with her, but it felt like it. I should be afraid, terrified even since we’re in real danger now. But gradually…my clenched teeth stop shaking and my lips part…I’m smiling?

“Hehehe!” Perideen is having the time of his life, swinging from handhold to handhold. The man is a combative demon. His usual silence has been replaced by the absolute madness of battle! Abruptly, I realize that we’re within one leap of the pulsating red cocoon. Our target…is right in front of us! He cackles, “Get ready! I’m dropping!”

*Whoosh*

We come off the ceiling like mad skydivers. Perideen controls the all perfectly, his knees bending all the way down to absorb the impact for me. I realize that my boots are scraping the floor. He’s so low! And then we rise up, and stare into the Bloodfiend’s cocoon. I take a quick peek behind us to see waves of rats approaching our location.

“One shot! Give it everything you got!” Perideen tells me. I turn off Foresight, and focus my mind, and then realize that I probably wont be able to hold on properly to his back if I use all my mana. Quickly, I cast a spell-

[Frozen Wind of My Soul, Come Forth-Chill]

Handcuffs of ice freeze my wrists together around Perideen’s neck so I literally can’t let go even if I pass out. And then I pull mana through Mephis’s glove, wielding two spells at once. This will be the most devastating spell I’ve ever cast. Let’s see what I’m really capable of!

[Frozen Wind of My Soul, Come Forth-Chill]

[Muddy Stone of My Endurance, Move Forth-Meld]

There is no dirt nearby so I hollow out one of the stones in the floor beside the gloopy cocoon using Meld. With the light of Perideen’s gem on it, the flashing red chrysalis looks almost beautiful. Violet veins run all along its length, and the creature inside squirms, almost ready to come forth into the world. The shadow inside looks rat-like in nature, I catch sight of a pair of distended fangs coming out of its mouth. Its skull is huge, and it floats in an upright position, seemingly almost human. Despite its budding intelligence, it has no idea what’s waiting for it out here-

*Clink Clink Clink*

The ice crystals expand and expand inside the hollowed-out floor stone as I order the cold to grow with all my might! Focusing, I meld the top of the stone shut and then call out to Perideen woozily,

“Go…get us out of here!”

*Swoosh*

He doesn’t waste any time. Running up the back wall, he pushes off the pulsating cocoon to reach the ceiling. I struggle to hold the growing Icebomb together as Perideen retraces our path over the raging rats across my melting handholds. They roar up to reach us, but I don’t have any energy left to use Foresight to deal with them. Perideen performs arial gymnastics to evade the lunging Blood Rats as they suicidally fling themselves at us. My head is jostled from side to side. I mustn’t pass out. Hold it, Myrr…hold…HOLD IT!

Just don’t pass out!

“Stay with me, Kid, don’t blow us up!” Perideen calls back worriedly as I slump on his back. “A-Almost there!” He jumps one last time. Clears the shattered remnants of my ice wall at the entrance to the General Tomb. “Now! Seal them in!”

“I…”

What was I doing?

Why am I holding a spell?

“DO IT!”

Oh yea…there was a plan…

I let out a sigh. Start to chant-

[Cold Wall At The End of The Divide,

You Who Guard Against Failing Light,

Sunder This Dark Night!

Bring Me Refuge From All Plights!

Come Forth-Frozen Seal]

Before I even finish, Perideen is already running. The mana ekes out of me, and a thin wall of ice condenses into the air. Rats immediately begin to beat on the other side, try to climb over the top. Some of them make it and begin chasing us. My head falls backwards, bouncing with each step. Without the strength to pull my neck back up, I watch the rats spilling out into the hallway behind us, upside down. There’s a burning sensation in my wrists, I have no strength, but I’m not falling off. And then my mind shorts out-

I blink.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

*KACHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA*

Ice.

Wind.

Blood.

*SHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAA*

Perideen accelerates so fast it’s like he’s trying to outrun the sound. We shunt through the abandoned tunnels of the Mausoleum at top speed. Behind us, a roaring, raging, demon of shattered spines, gore, and fangs surges towards us. It chases us, and the shockwave threatens to throw Perideen off his feet. He runs sideways on the walls to take turns faster, dancing through the darkness with hell at our back. My eyes close…

I black out…

Then when they reopen, we’re almost at the entrance…

I still hear demons at our back, the explosion blows hot wind on my lolling face.

My eyes close again…

Blackness…

They reopen…

Stairs…we’re going up…

Blackness…

I come to-

Something’s changed…

I can’t hear anything.

My ears are ringing.

Head pounding.

Light up ahead…

Is that…the door?

*Swoosh*

We pop outside and Perideen doesn’t even try to shut the Mausoleum door behind us. He just keeps running away. It must have only been a second, but it felt like an eternity because the assassin took at least five, bounding steps before the explosion reached the surface.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

*Rumble Rumble Rumble*

That great tombstone like door flies off its hinges, several hundred kilograms of rock just sent flying into the sky. Earth trembles, the ground cracks around us, and Perideen loses his footing. We roll in the dirt, my ice-locked hands getting crushed underneath his chin as we bounce along. I cry out, but I can’t hear myself. Everything just shakes and shakes and it feels like the end of days. Pain rocks my body with the impacts, but honestly, there’s so much in me, I’m so numb that it doesn’t matter. Just more insanity atop the insanity. And then-

…

…

…

It all just stops.