Desmond hit the water and went through it.

Once again, he was on the beast's turf. But this time he was so weak that he couldn't take care of himself. Fortunately, he didn't need to either.

For Abigail had fallen nearby and pounced on him, covering him with her arms.

Shortly thereafter the snake arrived.

Cutting through the air and darkness like a cannonball. It came close, but Abigail and he rolled away, bouncing on the snake's scales. Safe, for the moment.

But Desmond felt the vibrations all the way to his bones.

He felt like a pane of glass, slowly filling with cracks. Approaching the point where it would simply burst into pieces.

He had a feeling he was very, very close indeed.

He had to keep going.

He couldn't just give up. He wasn't that kind of person. But even if he didn't give up, there was nothing he could do. He had been lost ever since the snake had bitten him, injecting him with its venom.

He didn't know for sure if his strange weakness was due to that, of course. But it was the most plausible thing.

Abigail propelled them upward, shooting water from her palms.

Desmond was uneasy, though.

He had seen Christina and Amy go down with the boat. They could probably manage on their own. But he hadn't seen Charlotte, and that was worse. It meant, surely, that she was on the lower levels when the snake attacked.

Who would help her, if she had been injured in the fall " unconscious?

They surfaced.

Desmond coughed several times, spitting up water. He threw his head back, brushing the hair off his forehead, his eyes. In many ways he didn't like the water.

He took a deep breath.

He had made a decision. Not an overly smart one, perhaps, but it was what he felt he had to do. The only thing he could do, really. Other than stay in Abigail's arms, hoping for the best. Other than that.

"Keep fighting the snake," he told her.

"What about you? What are you thinking?”

Of course she'd ask that. That she'd figure out that he intended to do something stupid on the first try.

Most of his ideas were stupid in the first place. But he was usually able to justify himself, and it was the same here. If the princess died, they would lose an important supporter. The one person who was more interested in keeping them on their side than putting them in the ground or experimenting on them, depending.

In her case, both.

"I don't... I can't help you." Fuck, how hard it had been for him to just admit that. "But maybe I can get the princess out of there.”

Amy and Christina had fallen, too. Surely they could manage on their own, though. He was worried, too, but he couldn't save everyone.

Maybe he couldn't save anyone, not even himself.

After all, he didn't know where she was. She would be fumbling around down there. Getting weaker and weaker.

He grimaced.

"Desmond. It's very dangerous.”

"I know. I'm sorry for being so selfish.”

"You're not. I didn't say that…”

Didn't say it, but it was the truth. He wasn't doing anything for other people. He was doing it for himself. For his own happiness and satisfaction. Everyone had a right to be happy, but he was pursuing happiness in the most selfish way possible. Maybe he was hopeless.

He was a selfish bastard and he knew it above all else because he wanted Abigail's permission before he did anything. As if to share the blame, when the blame would be his alone.

In any case, it got out of hand.

No, it had never been in his hands to begin with.

There was a shadow in the water. The snake, evidently. It had not yet surfaced nor did it have any plans to do so, it seemed. Instead it was charging for the boat, almost sunk.

It was ignoring them, this time. It had taken the decision out of his hands.

Now there was no time. No time at all.

"No!" he shouted, but there wasn't even power in his voice. He could stop nothing.

His family might not be inside, but if they weren't, they wouldn't be far away either. It was obvious at a glance that they hadn't made it to shore.

A big splash. It was as if a hole had formed in the middle of the channel, right where the boat had been before. But only for a few moments.

The water of the canal rose up in a circle, dragging with it what was left of the boat.

Lifting what little was left away from the snake. But not out of its reach. This one chased him, intent on biting him. To devour him completely.

But it was pushed away. By Abigail, of course, who else?

Then...

For a moment he thought Mom had screwed up, that she'd gone too far. But of course it had been no mistake, just very risky. By that she meant throwing the ruins of the ship towards the shore.

That could kill anyone left inside. But if it hadn't, the snake would have taken care of it, anyway.

Such a risky maneuver was the only possibility, no matter how much it weighed on him.

Still, he grimaced when it finally hit the shore. Bursting into a thousand pieces that scattered everywhere. Among the debris, he didn't see much. And maybe it was better. Maybe it was.

"Holy shit," he muttered between his teeth.

——

A second ago, Amy had been worrying about running out of air again, this time with no air bubble or whatever in sight. No way to escape a terrible end, or at least slow it down.

Now, her worries were completely different.

For one thing, the ship was shaking inexplicably. It had never stopped moving as it sank toward the bottom of the canal, but now it was rocking from side to side.

They must have reached the bottom. Amy didn't get the feeling that the boat was still going down, but rather the opposite. She attributed that, however, to the lack of oxygen.

She realized that it wasn't a mere sensation, but the simple truth, when the water began to trickle down through the multiple holes in the hull of the boat. At that moment, Amy held on to Christina tighter, she wasn't about to let go now.

They fell tumbling in circles.

Then her back hit the wall and the pain was so severe that Amy thought she had been nailed, that she was dead. But it had only been a hard impact, taking away what little air she had in her lungs.

Despite being covered from head to toe in water, Amy was burning. Her head was spinning, and she felt like throwing up. No wonder. She felt even more like throwing up when, looking to the side, they had almost fallen through one of the holes. Dragged along with the water.

While the boat was falling.

Sure, it was falling... She had to do something.

Amy took one hand off Christina, so she could create a barrier of ice around them. That should hold. It should, just. But at this point she had nothing better.

Nothing, except to sit there and wait for them both to come out of this. Amy took a deep breath, closed her eyes. She was already in the hands of fate. Plain and simple.

Tears kept falling down her cheeks. They were burning her, too.

It took a long, long time.

She came to think, almost, that they had been suspended in the air somehow. That the moment would never come. But it did, suddenly. Her whole world shook with the impact.

The ice barrier held, albeit barely. Opening her eyes, she saw nothing but cracks.

Amy bit her lower lip hard. She felt blood in her mouth.

The noises began. Her ears were ringing like hornet's nests, but it was impossible to miss those noises. The ship was coming down on their heads. They had survived the impact, but, since the barrier wouldn't hold....

Amy squeezed Christina even tighter, as if wrapping her arms around her could do anything to protect her, even after the barrier fell.

The rest of her concentrated on reinforcing the barrier.

It was hell, a fucking eternity. But finally the sounds stopped. Anything that was going to fall would have fallen by now. Amy took a deep breath, again, trying to calm her fluttering heart. To no avail. If she had a free hand, she would hold it to her chest.

——

They had survived. Barely, but they had survived this shit.

The snake... It wouldn't be far away, but Abigail must have had her hands full. Or not so much. Who else would have done this? Finished the job.

But that was the least of it.

Yes, exactly.

She unraveled the ice barrier. They were under rubble, but relatively safe. Shouldn't be hard to get out, once they could. Because they couldn't yet.

Amy should have realized that from the beginning.

They weren't really safe yet. Why had she relaxed as if they'd already made it? Christina was still unconscious. She had stopped bleeding from her head a while ago, now only dried blood stuck her hair to her skin, but the real worry was the water.

She had to take care of that.

And it didn't take water magic to get the water out of her lungs, to make her breathe properly. She'd never done it, but she'd studied the theory. It shouldn't be so complicated to put it into practice. She had always been a fast learner.

Mouth-to-mouth.

It was a bit... embarrassing, but....

She'd apologize to her after saving her life.

She got on with it. It wasn't that hard, it would all work out fine. Blowing air into her, chest compressions. She remembered the position, the exact movements, she remembered what to do and why. Over and over again.

Amy wasn't doing something wrong, but it wasn't working.

"Come on. Come on.”

She had to live. She had to live or else... She wouldn't know what to do with herself.

——

Desmond didn't see anything wrong. But nothing good either.

He couldn't be sure they had survived, as much as he liked to believe it. He couldn't blame Abigail for what she had done. He knew, deep down and beyond, that it had been the best possible decision. For everyone, not just the two of them.

That otherwise that serpent would have engulfed them along with the ship.

But that made it worse.

What if they had done everything to the best of their ability, quite literally, and they were still dead? That they couldn't have done any better was no consolation. Quite the contrary. It was maddening.

"They must have survived," Abigail said, and it seemed she didn't really doubt it, that she wasn't just talking to reassure him, although that was obviously a fact to some extent. "We have our differences, but they are clever girls with resources to spare."

They were.

They were, but...

"Yes. Yes, of course."

He trusted them, he trusted mom, but it was still impossible not to get nervous after seeing something like that. At least the snake had stopped paying attention to the boat, as if it couldn't get out of the water, didn't want to. Or maybe as if it had given up on its job.

What mattered was the result.

That the snake's attention was back where it should be, on them. But to him it didn't mean much, except that his friends would be safe, if they hadn't already died.

Because, well.

Abigail had taken the one thing he had thought he could do out of his hands. Now she felt even more useless, if possible. It had certainly been the right decision. Moreover, Mom had had no choice.

But that didn't stop him from feeling useless, now that he literally could do nothing, nothing.

——

It wasn't working.

She was sure she was doing everything right, but it wasn't working, no matter how many times she repeated it. Christina didn't give even the slightest reaction.

She didn't want to look at her face, because she was sure she wouldn't see anything she liked.

She didn't want to see her pallor. She didn't want to see how futile her efforts were.

The act itself was like a mental retreat for her, rather than for Christina's benefit. So she didn't have to think about anything else. She didn't have to pay attention to the shadow of a future without her, a future in which she would have to live with the fact that she hadn't been able to save her. Of having let her slip away.

Amy didn't have to think about anything, nothing, nothing!

They had miraculously survived the fall of the ship, the rain of debris. But wasn't it going to work? Was she going to slip through her fingers, right now?

"Please. Gods, please, if one of us has to die here, take me. Take me.”

Amy kept repeating mouth"to"mouth and compressions as she pleaded. But none of the things succeeded, really.

"Fuck! Fuck.”

She wouldn't stop trying, even if it didn't seem to have any effect. She would never stop trying, not until... until she died. But inside... she was giving up.

Giving in to despair.

(I don't want to go back to the dark)

That monster was dead, but, inside, she was always going to fear going back into the darkness. Was she always going to remain a child looking at the world through a crack in the closet door?

Then Christina finally reacted.

Jumping forward, finally spitting out the water that had been killing her. Amy placed a hand on her back, caressing her, trying to comfort her. With the other hand she laid her on her side, and she let it happen. It was to make sure she didn't drown.

Like everything she'd been doing in this little eternity.

Fuck, how close it had been. How close. Amy's whole body was shaking.

"Amy…”

"I'm here. I'm here, I won't leave you." She wondered how she hadn't burst into tears yet, how she had managed it.

Christina raised a trembling hand. She placed it on her shoulder, squeezing it. Amy looked back at her silently.

"Thank you... Thank you.”

——

"Whatever I do, this thing keeps coming," Abigail said. Desmond had long thought it was useless, but apparently even Mom had given up.

Just as she had said, the snake went after them, relentless.

Untouchable. No matter what she did to it, they couldn't even slow the thing down much. And they weren't hurting it in any way. They still hadn't seen a drop of blood.

The more time passed, the more Desmond became convinced that maybe he was right after all, and that monster couldn't be killed.

The snake didn't reach them.

Instead, its head slammed into a hastily prepared ice barrier. That was what slowed it down the most, the ice, perhaps because it was a creature from the waters. But "what slowed it down the most" meant, in this case, a few seconds.

Better than fire, though. That much was clear.

Abigail had tried walls of fire before and the snake had simply walked through them as if it didn't care. And rightly so, they hadn't done anything to it, not even slowing it down by half a second.

"Nothing works." Abigail was irritated, frustrated. Hopefully she wasn't waiting for him to come up with a good idea to finish off the snake. Because he had nothing.

His only idea was to run away, basically. Basically? He didn't like the word run, as if that made him a coward, as if running away was never the smartest thing to do. But that was just what he intended to do.

If Mom agreed, of course. He could do nothing for himself in this state. Once again he was a useless wreck. A dead weight dragging everyone around him down.

He hoped he hadn't dragged Christina, Amy and Charlotte to their deaths.

He decided to voice what was on his mind.

"Maybe... it can't be killed. Maybe we should give up on that.”

"So what do we do?" It was too bad she had no ideas, or couldn't think of them in the current situation, at least. In his sorry state, he would like to be able to depend on her fully and not have to worry about anything.

He would like that security that little children were given by their mothers, he supposed.

But it was not to be.

Fortunately, the situation was so dire that it was actually simple. Desmond had an idea. If it worked, fine, they'd get out of it. If even that didn't work, then they would end up in the belly of the beast sooner or later.

It was strange that this idea, that it worked or they were lost, made him feel as safe as he wanted to feel. But it did.

At least he was certain of what they should do.

"That place... Maybe, when we're done... it won't have a reason to be here anymore.”

"Maybe." Abigail wasn't convinced. Neither was he.

"It's all we have." But that was the truth.

"All right," she agreed, slowly and after a while.

——

Christina was looking around. There was something strange in her eyes. She couldn't tell what, but she wasn't used to seeing her like that. The first word that came to her mind was guilt, but no, she didn't think it was that, after all. Close, but no.

Human language could be very limited at times. A poor reflection of the unfathomable human heart.

Maybe there simply wasn't a word for what Christina was feeling now.

"How many people have died. And, once again, we were spared?”

"Yes.”

Her words sounded like she felt guilty for surviving, most people would think that. But still Amy was sure it wasn't about guilt. That it was something else. Worse, better, she didn't know, but different.

She wasn't sure what her friend was referring to.

For the first time she wished she could feel other people's emotions. To be able to understand her better. And help her.

"The princess?”

Amy blinked at that change of subject, a bit sudden.

"I haven't seen her. Maybe she's…”

She couldn't finish the sentence.

She wasn't family, she wouldn't die for her if she had to, like with Christina or Desmond. But she'd be upset if something had happened to her, and not just for selfish reasons. He liked her. She deserved better. Like her.

Actually, they were more alike than any of the others. Maybe that was precisely why they didn't get along as well as they could.

"Maybe she'd escaped the ship long before we did. You know, those portals.”

"Yeah.”

Her friend didn't sound too convinced. She wasn't either, to tell the truth. Although her explanation made sense.

Christina tried to get up soon after. Amy had been waiting for that, for her to feel ready. She'd had to help her, but once she was standing, she stayed that way.

Amy didn't want her to push herself too hard after all they had been through in such a short time.

How close they had come to dying.

But they really had no choice. They had only been saved from the water, from the falling boat. The snake was still out there, still a huge problem, in every possible sense of the word.

They climbed out of the wreckage of the boat, towards the shore.

On the way, they saw no one alive. Neither the princess nor the crew. Many had drowned inside the ship. Many other corpses were sinking in the water.

Really, she preferred not to think about that.

Amy thought he understood Christina a little, now. She didn't feel guilty, but she felt....

Strange, thinking about it.

Anyway, once on the shore they saw Abigail in the air, fighting the snake and still holding Desmond in her arms. She said fighting, but by all accounts she was simply managing to keep it at bay. None of the attacks had hurt the huge creature. And if it had, not for long. It wasn't working.

Amy licked her lips.

"What's wrong with him?" Christina asked.

It took Amy several seconds to realize who she was referring to, like a fool. She shook her head. Stirring up a few drops of water.

"I... I don't know. It was just an arm." He'd lost an arm before. And other body parts, recovering faster and faster. "He should be back in the fight by now.”

"Ah, great. More problems.”

Yeah. Good summary, that one.

Abigail headed for shore and landed. Desmond's face, weak and sweaty as he was, immediately lit up at the sight of them. That brought a smile to her own face, even though the situation was anything but good.

Life was a constant war, but some people made it worthwhile.

She didn't usually think of her mother, but now Amy wondered what she would think of the friends she had surrounded herself with. She came to the quick conclusion that she would only care that they made her happy. Period.

"You are alive... Thanks to... Thank you.”

Desmond didn't want to say the gods, huh?

She understood that. They were in this situation because of them in the first place. It was necessary. And historic, if they succeeded, it would put an end to the war. Everyone dreamed of ending it, but no one believed it was really possible, their own had long since resigned themselves, she felt, to keep killing each other until the world was ruins and even then over the ruins of the world.

But, as she was saying, Amy didn't feel much like thanking them for putting them in this situation.

She had been on the verge of losing Christina.

"What's wrong with him?" Christina asked. Amy didn't think it would do any good. If Abigail had the answer, she would have fixed it by now.

She refused to consider the other possibility. That she knew the answer, but Desmond was still like this because it was beyond repair. She still hadn't gotten over what had almost happened to Christina, especially knowing that she had once really died.

She couldn't, just couldn't begin to consider the loss of Desmond, too.

The snake hadn't stopped, waiting for her to finish speaking, of course. Amy brought her hand to her sword, brandishing it, preparing to use her magic. But it didn't give her time to react.

She lacked talent, but that wasn't the point. No mage, past or present, could compare to Abigail.

She created a massive wall of ice, blocking the shore. The snake could simply go around the barrier, but it would mean getting out of the water, plus there were many obstacles in the way. Trees, rocks, sand.

Nothing really important, but irritations.

As I expected, the snake simply crashed into the barrier. Apparently it preferred to destroy everything in its path, not to take detours.

Anyway, the barrier wouldn't stand much of a chance, despite its impressive size. A couple more hits, at most.

Even if Abigail did her best to make it endure. The snake was simply too big. And power came hand in hand with such size.

It could bite through the barrier, if it set its mind to it.

Besides, it didn't have to fall all the way through. It was enough to make a hole to slip through.

Besides, nothing had worked so far and things wouldn't just change.

In short, they were screwed.

"I don't know. And I don't have time to think. Let's go look for that building. It should be in this area.”

Another hit. More cracks, spreading across the ice. But at least it was holding, for the moment. Amy took a few steps back, sword in hand.

Christina didn't move, but made her do so by tugging on one sleeve.

"Charlotte?" Desmond asked. He was barely able to speak, but he had the strength to care about the people he loved. Amy wished, as did everyone who loved him, that he cared more about himself, if only sometimes.

Amy grimaced.

She also wished he hadn't asked that. Because they had no good news to give him. Not bad either, not really, but no news was bad news, in its own way.

"We don't know." Christina was terribly blunt, but there was no way to soften something like that, was there? Besides, she was the one who could feel other people's emotions.

If she had chosen that approach, there was a reason.

She supposed it was better to be direct with Desmond, most of the time.

"We can't... leave her here.”

They couldn't do that, it was true. It would be unforgivable. But, at the same time, could they afford to hang around here with the snake behind them? It would be a very different thing if it were an enemy they could defeat. But nothing so far had had any effect on it. Why should that change?

But they ran out of time to think.

One last blow caused the barrier to burst into a thousand shards of broken ice, which flew, sharp as spears, everywhere with overwhelming force.

——

Desmond fell along with the barrier. He ended up on the sand, writhing painfully, trying to breathe. Chunks of ice were scattered everywhere, very close to him too, buried in the sand.

The snake was towering above the scene, opening its mouth wide.

It could gobble them up with ease. Without batting an eyelash.

It could have gobbled them all up, ship included. Was there really no hope against this enemy? Were they really going to fall here?

Abigail caught him like a sack of potatoes again. The four of them broke into a run, heading deeper into the terrain in search of the final destination. The snake, of course, wouldn't leave them alone, chasing them closely.

But Abigail did her best to keep it at bay.

She couldn't hurt it, none of them could, but she could do that. At least for the moment. He hoped she would be able to do it for long enough.

Because it was going to be difficult. The snake came out of the water.

It went on to crawl on the sand, solely to chase them. It existed for the sole purpose of going after them. Since they couldn't kill it, the only thing they could do was to activate the weapon, but they didn't know where exactly that place was.

In this area, and he would know it when he saw it, but not exactly.

It was going to... It was going to be complicated.

——

Desmond fell along with the barrier. He ended up on the sand, writhing painfully, trying to breathe. Chunks of ice were scattered everywhere, very close to him too, buried in the sand.

The snake was towering above the picture, opening its mouth wide.

It could gobble them up with ease. Without batting an eyelash.

It could have gobbled them all up, ship included. Was there really no hope against this enemy? Were they really going to fall here?

The sword was an easy answer. Too easy.

He gritted his teeth.

No. No. No.

Abigail caught him like a sack of potatoes again. The four of them broke into a run, heading deeper into the terrain in search of the final location. The snake, of course, would not leave them alone, it chased them closely.

But Abigail did her best to keep it at bay.

She couldn't hurt it, none of them could, but that. At least for the moment. She hoped she was able to do it for long enough.

Because it was going to be difficult. The snake came out of the water.

It went on to crawl on the sand, solely to chase them. It existed for the sole purpose of going after them. Since they couldn't kill it, the only thing they could do was to get the weapon activated, but they didn't know where exactly that place was.

In this area, and I would know it when I saw it, but not exactly.

It was going to... It was going to be complicated.

——

"How fast. How fast, damn it," Amy cursed.

The girl must have been looking back, to make sure their pursuer wouldn't be too close. Even in Abigail's arms, Desmond could look back and see for himself.

He preferred not to, though.

Because he was just dead weight anyway, here and now. Since he'd let the snake bite his arm, injecting its venom, the fight was over for him.

So it was better that he didn't see anything.

They continued onward.

There wasn't much around this area, to tell the truth, the odd coastal village that had long since been emptied during the course of the war. Either because the Empire's soldiers had passed through, wiping everything out, or because they had evacuated the people before that could happen.

In any case, it was perfect for them.

They didn't have to worry about anyone else. They hadn't been able to save a single ship from the snake, how were they going to protect so many people?

Obviously, they wouldn't have been able to. Even if they had been willing to die trying, and they wouldn't have been. They were fighting for themselves. Not for the innocent.

They had stopped being soldiers many nights ago.

And that was acceptable, but they had even left Charlotte behind, which was different. She was someone important to them. To him, at least. The princess, they didn't even know if she was alive or dead. But more likely, he had to admit, as much as he hated it, she had shared the same fate as the rest of the crew. Or most of them.

If any had survived that, there wouldn't have been many.

What did he fucking know? They'd barely looked around before they'd run off, before and after the barrier fell. For all he knew, there could have been many survivors.

He hadn't wanted to look.

Like the rest, he'd gone for the easy way out. You could say they had done the right thing by moving the snake away from the ruins of the ship, but the truth was that none of them had thought so altruistically.

Desmond looked, now that it was of no use.

Over Abigail's shoulder, to see what was happening with his own eyes. And he saw the same thing Amy did. Namely, the snake was following them closely. Damned fast, for sure.

Even though it was no longer in the water, but on land, it was moving with a swiftness as if it were swimming.

But it wasn't just its innate speed, it was the nature of the terrain. The difference was there. In other words, nothing was a real obstacle for the white snake, thanks to its enormous size.

It could carry away anything in its path. And that's what it was doing.

Tearing trees out of the ground as if they were toys, just like that. Crushing houses, reducing them to piles of rubble in its path.

Smashing through sheds and other smaller structures.

Anything, without even being slowed down. It left nothing intact in its wake.

Whereas for them the experience was totally different. They had to go around or over obstacles. The snake, on the other hand, had the luxury of always being able to walk the shortest path. In a straight line.

So it was no wonder it was catching them. In these circumstances, the creature would always be faster than them. That they were on flat, unobstructed ground wouldn't help much, but at least somewhat.

They didn't...

He couldn't include himself in that. He was doing absolutely nothing.

He couldn't, except hope for the best, when everything pointed to the contrary. Big deal.

They weren't simply running away, of course.

Abigail was still trying her best to keep the snake at bay, giving it her all and more. And it was working, of course, otherwise it would have been all over them long ago.

But she was only doing just enough. Prolonging something that seemed inevitable.

The situation was grim, and even more so because they didn't even know if they were running in the right direction. Towards the temple. They could be struggling to get nowhere. It could be at the other end of this place, really.

It could be anywhere. The enemy had a very clear objective, very simple, and always in sight.

Their situations were simply too different.

It was maddening.

The snake pluck another tree from the ground. One of many. That's why Desmond only registered that fact, vaguely, at first. Then that malevolent creature coiled the trunk of the tree with its tail, lifting it up.

To then hurl it towards them like some sort of gigantic spear.

Desmond gulped. But it was all right, Abigail would stop the attack. She would defend them, as she had done so far, no problem.

How was such a large target going to escape her? The snake, recognizing that its efforts were not working, had attacked from a distance the only way it could.

That didn't mean it was a good attack.

Quite the contrary.

Abigail didn't stop the tree. She didn't even have to. And not because the shot was bad, but because Christina beat her to it, using the shadow of the tree itself to catch it in mid-air.

Then she tossed it aside, far away, without much care.

Good.

As he'd already said, this area was pretty empty. There were only the four of them here. So he didn't have to be careful not to hit someone. Or at least it should be, there was a chance that there were people living in those fire"kissed, ruined houses.

When one was desperate, any kind of roof was a good roof. He knew that well.

Why did he have to think that? There was nothing he could do, one way or the other. And what was done was done.

"We won't be able to hold on like this much longer," Mom admitted, and Desmond grew even more worried, because she sounded tired. Abigail's power was unimaginable, but it wasn't a bottomless pit.

Sooner or later, it would reach its limit. And then they would be practically defenseless against that monster.

"I don't... I don't think so." No wonder Amy was out of breath.

They hadn't been running that long, although it had certainly taken forever. But he had nearly died. He had narrowly avoided drowning and dying in the fall after Abigail threw the boat ashore. He had been through so much in so little time, with no room to recover.

Other people in his place would not even be able to endure this pace.

They wouldn't have survived all that to begin with.

"Desmond, do you recognize anything?" Abigail asked him.

If he had, he would have said something sooner. Mom knew it too, deep down. But she was beginning to despair. That's why she had asked him that question.

Hoping, against all odds, to hear some good news.

He regretted not being able to give it to her.

"I'm sorry, I... No.”

They were all tired, at the edge of their limits. Desmond was half dead, barely able to keep his eyes open. On top of that, their only hope was to get to a place they didn't know where it was. That's assuming he was right, anyway.

But the snake wasn't hurt, it was tireless, always moving in line, never letting anyone stop it.

Everything pointed to disaster.

——

Charlotte's eyes snapped open.

Coming out of the dream she had been having, but not quite. She still felt detached from her body. She had the feeling that she was floating above nothing, and her head kept spinning.

But, in reality, her back was against a piece of wood.

Of course she couldn't be floating on nothing, not in the real world, not on her own, at least. The first thing she noticed wasn't the ruins of the ship surrounding her, how it had happened in the first place, but the pain.

Pain destroyed any attempt to form another thought. It consumed all her attention.

That lacerating pain, as if she was being branded by a red.hot iron, was coming from one shoulder. There was a piece of wood stuck in it. And blood, of course, on the wood, on her shirt. Enough time had passed for the blood to have dried.

Had she been unconscious?

Everything hurt and she was confused. But she couldn't think about how she had gotten here in the first place. What she was thinking about was the pain, as she had said.

And she was registering the unpleasant sensation of dried blood on her neck, her clothes. Nothing else.

Yes, she didn't quite remember what had happened, but the piece of wood embedded in her shoulder was a more immediate problem. Charlotte took a deep breath, steeling herself. Because she had strength to spare. What she lacked was courage.

"You can do it. You're strong. Stronger than anyone else.”

Still, she gave herself courage that way.

Charlotte grabbed the piece of wood with one hand. Part of her wanted to leave it where it was, not expose herself to pain, not do anything unnecessary. But she knew it was.

She knew it was going to get worse if she left it like that.

For one thing, that pain wouldn't let her move. And she had a feeling she shouldn't stick around for too long, or she'd regret it.

Well, it was a fact. This disaster couldn't have just happened. It was most likely a good idea to go well away, after something like this.

So, to that end, she gripped the piece of wood in her hand. Nice and firm.

Her palms were covered in sweat. And, soon, in blood.

Gritting her teeth, she began to pull, pull. Growls escaped from his throat, but somehow managed to swallow a scream. And finally she succeeded in tearing it out.

Charlotte was quick. Like anyone else she'd rather avoid the pain, but if she'd done it slowly, she'd simply have suffered for a lot longer. She overcame her fear and finished it fast.

Relatively fast, of course. Still, it took forever.

She wasn't used to pain. Not of the physical variety, anyway. Her heart was well and truly trodden on.

The blood had flowed again, naturally. From her carelessness. But it would have bled again, even if she hadn't been so careless.

Charlotte gritted her teeth even harder, placing a hand on her shoulder. Next, she applied a basic healing spell, which wasn't tied to affinity. A spell that any soldier would be expected to learn.

It wasn't a big deal. No affinity independent spell was.

It couldn't save her from any really serious wounds, but fortunately nothing really serious had happened.

The wound was closing as she writhed in pain on the ground. Unable to bear it. Earlier, she had swallowed a scream somehow, she had been able to contain herself.

Now she wasn't screaming simply because it hurt too much for that.

Charlotte couldn't muster that much strength or oxygen.

How tired.

She was so tired, sick of it all. She ran a hand over her face, wiping the sweat and blood from her eyes. She couldn't control her breathing. Bringing it back to a normal rhythm, as it should be.

She glanced around. Really looked for the first time since she'd woken up.

"This is what's left of the ship. It must be. What happened? What the fuck happened?”

Charlotte had no answers to any of those questions.

Her memory wasn't coming back, or she hadn't learned what had happened in the first place. Because it had all happened too fast.

She shouldn't worry about getting answers, she should worry about surviving.

Charlotte tried to get up. The wound had closed, but neither pain nor weakness had left her. It took great effort, it took willpower akin to pushing a red"hot iron against her wound. It was more than enduring pain. It was about hurting herself.

But in the end she managed to rise to her feet, despite the fact that she had nothing much around her to lean on.

She was, yes, in the ruins of the ship....

She could see no one else. It was strange that nobody had come to her aid, so the matter must have been dire indeed. No, if the ship had wound up in this state, of course it must have been dire.

She didn't know what had happened, but she had to find out. Looking for someone was as good a first step as any.

So Charlotte set off.

——

The snake had not yet hunted them down, but the problem was that the situation still hadn't changed one bit. Nor were they able to get anywhere.

If that didn't change, it would eventually catch them. That was a given.

And he feared that had to change soon, if they wanted to avoid a horrible end. Very soon.

They tumbled down a steep hill.

They crossed a river. At that moment, alarm bells went off in his head for no apparent reason. But he had always trusted his instincts. And once again it turned out that he was right, the water came rushing towards them.

Not that it had been moved by the colossal size of the snake as it passed through the middle. Something it hadn't intended, only noticeable by the amount of water moved.

The snake had indeed moved it, but from a distance.

Like when it had pulled the tree out of the ground. It was a sudden long"distance attack, but this one was harder to avoid or block. Would Abigail be fast enough?

The water wouldn't kill them, but if it hit them, they would fall. And they would be on the ground long enough for the snake to get the drop on them. Seconds, only, but more than enough.

Not to mention that water everywhere would make it difficult for them to try to stand up afterwards.

It would be something like a spider's web. A perfect insect trap.

It wasn't Abigail who acted, but Amy.

Turning around, brandishing the sword. Of course, her affinity was ice. And that's what she did: ice. She transformed all the water the monster had thrown at them, with surprising speed and ease. She wasn't as tired as Abigail. Aside from surviving the accident, she had just been running, like the rest.

Not keeping the creature at bay.

Until now, that is. Until now.

But she didn't do it perfectly, revealing that she was more tired than she looked.

The spell itself was perfect.

But she tripped over her own feet in the middle of it, falling backwards on her ass.

A small mistake, but in a situation like this it could cost him everything. Why was his heart racing? It's not like he could get up and go help her.

"Come on." But fortunately, they weren't alone.

Christina bent down to help her up. She hadn't taken her eye off her. Almost at the same time Amy got up, the ice she had created ended up falling to the floor.

Bursting. The ground was nothing but grass and dirt, but the fall had had enough force to make it.

Desmond took a deep breath.

Now that everyone had come out of it fine, he could begin to process what had happened. The white snake had manipulated the river water from a distance. Had it been able to do such a thing in the first place?

Anyone would say it was the only option, it was the reasonable thing to do, but it would be foolish to stick to the reasonable thing to do. Because his current situation couldn't be more absurd. Desmond had another explanation.

The snake hadn't done it before because it hadn't been able to, but now it had, evolving as it went along. It sounded like nonsense. But if it had been created by divine hands, what was so absurd about it?

It could do whatever it pleased.

He saw a fleeting light in the midst of despair.

The building he had seen in his vision, containing the weapon that would destroy the other half of the world, extirpating it like some kind of infection.

The end of the long road. For all of them.

And, here and now, salvation.

"There! There!" Desmond shouted with all his remaining strength in his chest.

They changed direction immediately, and ran with renewed strength. After all, they now had a clear goal, not even that far away. Not just a blind chase ahead.

Just a little longer and they would be through the gate, they would be safe. Just a little longer.

But it had been too good to be true.

Near the door, the snake slammed its massive body into the ground. The aftermath of the impact was like a small earthquake. The ground was filled with cracks.

And they were thrown into the air, chased by a cloud of dust.

Desmond slipped out of Abigail's arms. The fall robbed the air from his lungs. He writhed on the ground, one hand on his chest, amidst the dust. He could feel his own blood in his mouth. Air wasn't the only thing the landing had forced out. He felt more than useless. Humiliated.

Weak. Too weak to change anything.

"Shit. You think I'm gonna... let you do whatever you want?" Even so, he still talked far too much. What the fuck was he saying?

He saw the white snake rising above the dust cloud. Above the building, too. It was incomparably bigger than he was.

Would it destroy the building? The snake could simply lie on top of it, burying the weapon beneath the ruins.

It wouldn't stop Desmond from getting to the weapon, but it would make it harder for him. Besides, it might damage the weapon somehow. He didn't know what it looked like, he didn't know how it worked. So he couldn't say it was impossible.

Anyway, that wasn't what the serpent did.

It went straight for him, his main target. Desmond tried to get to his feet, but he wasn't even able to do that, let alone get out of the way. His legs failed him and he ended up on the ground again.

At the mercy of the creature. He had struggled, he had resisted with everything he had. But the time had come, hadn't it?

Christina stood between him and the snake, unafraid. Desmond's eyes widened like saucers.

It's not like he thought she was sacrificing herself in his place. Of course, Christina immediately erected a barrier of shadows, protecting them both. But the sacrifice thing wasn't too far from reality.

Not even her shadows withstood the serpent's onslaught for long. Nothing could, not even Abigail's magic, which was closer to the divine than any.

For even shadow magic came from the gods, after all. And the serpent was a weapon of the gods. If the shadows were able to restrain it, something would be changed so that it was no longer the case.

"Desmond!" Christina shouted. Calling out to him as if she expected him to do something.

But he could do nothing. Nothing! That was why she was in that situation in the first place.

The shadow barrier came down. He'd known it would happen from the first moment, but it had happened so fast that it still surprised him.

As if time had slowed down, he saw the snake keep moving forward. He saw...

He saw the mouth of that beast, which was about to close around Christina's head. The image of the snake biting her head off like a child might bite the head off its toys, that violent and final, was frighteningly real in his head.

No, he thought. I'm sorry, but no.

Before he knew it, the sword was back in his hands. But not only that. Before he knew it, he found himself in front of Christina, who had fallen to her knees after the barrier had been broken.

A piece of the snake's jaw hit the ground.

He, of course, had cut it off. He had cut its jaw practically in half, in the blink of an eye.

"You're okay again," Christina said, relieved in more ways than one. He had saved her life again. It's not as if he felt she owed him anything. This time, all he'd done was return the favor.

What he meant was that he hated that he had to have done it.

That he'd had to be in this situation in the first place, and that the most horrible thing had come so close to repeating itself. That's why the war had to end. Today.

He would put an end to it all with his own hands, before he lost more.

He had lost enough. He had paid enough. He deserved what he wanted, a normal life.

Okay, she'd said.

Maybe it seemed that way, but he wasn't fine. Not really. Cutting the snake's jaw had been a very natural, unconscious act, but now Desmond was struggling to stand. In fact, if not for the wings, he would have fallen to the ground again immediately afterwards. It was the wings that supported most of his body, not his legs.

The important thing was that, with this sword, he could fight again.

He had done something that he couldn't take back. But he could fight.

"Thank you," Desmond replied, simply. Because she had saved his life first. Evidently.

Everything they had thrown against the snake had been useless. Even Abigail's magic, who was one with nature, the most powerful mage that had ever existed.

Yet his sword had done so much damage in one blow. Even though it had done nothing to the creature before. It went without saying, but something had changed. The blade of the sword was covered in red, throbbing flesh. It was still the sword that Abigail had bestowed upon him that day, but now the blade was like the sword he had brought into the real world from a dream. The sword he had carried as a wraith from an erased past.

The great damage inflicted, and its ease, were his reward for doing what he was supposed to do. That was the main thing.

Now the sword was just as he had seen it in his vision.

Desmond laughed at himself. Now that he had wasted his efforts, he could do nothing but laugh at himself.

Desmond laughed at himself. Now that he had spoiled his efforts, he could do nothing but laugh at himself. His laughter, however, soon changed from being full of self-deprecation to contempt for his opponent. Yes, he even began to laugh harder, watching the large white snake writhing in pain as it reared back, spilling blood from its wound.

Blood that was black... and green, for some reason. Or were the green parts its poison? Maybe the other way around, maybe the black was the poison and the green was the blood.

Well, it didn't matter, one way or the other. The outcome was already written.

It had been written from the beginning.

"You were created only to die. And you will die here.

The snake roared from the back of its throat, raging against its fate. Having lost half of its jaw would not stop it from swallowing him. To make matters worse, as it thrashed about, blood and venom dripped everywhere.

In that sense, the wound had made the creature a little more dangerous.

The last thing Desmond needed was more poison in his system. A little had almost finished him off.

But he didn't worry, because at this point it was completely unimportant. For the creature it was impossible to fight its fate. It was the end of its road.

The snake lunged for him.

Desmond ran to face the snake, to clash in the last battle.

But they didn't clash, not literally. Desmond dodged the snake's massive body and the jet of venom, not a drop of it touching him, turning to the side. He then executed a jump that took him right on top of the snake. He landed without any problem.

There was no time to lose. Standing on the snake, Desmond grabbed the sword with both hands. He raised it, and brought it down hard over his head. The blade slid through scales, through skin, through flesh, and even beyond the skull.

But still the monster did not die. It continued to writhe.

It continued to roar. Rebelling against its destiny. It was a stupid, ephemeral creature. The gods, cruel as they were wont to be, had given it some self"awareness, even though it didn't need it. Or perhaps it was an inevitable side effect of "something" being alive; though just to function as an animal, it needed that bit of intelligence.

In any case, he could argue that it feeling pain was unnecessary. Quite the opposite, in fact. Counterproductive, even.

But the white serpent felt it. Damn right it did.

Was there pain or fear in its screams? He couldn't say...

It was just a stupid animal, anyway. And yet it still resisted him, when it had already lost the opportunity to fulfill its task, the only reason for its brief existence. When everything was finished.

"Die at once! You are not even a living being. You are nothing but a thing.”

Yes, a thing.

Not a human being, not even an animal. Just a thing. An object. It had to get the hell out of his way!

Seen like that, it was a pathetic thing.

Finding it pathetic wasn't the same as feeling sorry for it.

One way or another, it was the last obstacle in Desmond's path. No, actually not even that. That temple, what could happen within its walls, was his last true obstacle.

This snake was nothing more than a way to force him to play the gods' game. Nothing more than that. And that was all it would ever be.

He... He supposed he sympathized with the creature, as it was another doll, though he would never feel sorry for it.

Desmond set about finishing the job.

The size of the white snake was impressive, but ultimately it only made it a bigger, easier target to reach. Otherwise, its body was no different than that of a normal sized snake, or any living thing for that matter.

It had the weaknesses you would expect.

It needed blood in its veins.

Which went hand in hand with the fact that it had a beating heart. His sword sliced through the white snake with ease, even though nothing had worked so far. The gods were serving him their newest creation on a silver platter.

He could get used to this, except that his war would be over soon enough.

The poison was still in his system, wreaking havoc, for sure. But now that he had his hands on his sword, so did the power.

Bringing him back to life, bit by bit.

It was easy.

The creature could be playing dead, but he didn't believe it. It was already over. He didn't have the feeling that the poison inside him had been burned away by the latent power, but.... He had won...

"I feel as good as new," Desmond said, smiling.

Over the snake's corpse. Surrounded by the shattered terrain through which the creature had passed, rolling over everything it had encountered. Surrounded by the ruins that thing had made even worse.

And the temple, the last stop, finally within reach.

He could hardly believe it. That he was so close to ending it all.

Desmond jumped down from the snake carcass. This area would be

Desmond jumped down from the snake carcass. This area would be repopulated in the future, so that would be a considerable problem. But how or when they would dispose of the carcass was none of his business.

And even if it were, it was the last thing he would waste time thinking about now.

It was done, after all. He had a clear path.

He hadn't gotten any help in taking down the snake. He hadn't needed it, either. Only his sword would have served to kill the snake. All other attacks, even if they had had some effect, had been rendered useless the second time.

So they had done what was best. Stay away, stay safe.

Also, well. They had gotten him this far in the first place. If not for their efforts, they'd all be dead. This victory was more theirs than his. Desmond had simply played...

His part.

He was surrounded by complex expressions.

They didn't understand, of course.

How could they understand? He had kept quiet. He hadn't dared to speak.

Mom came over to hug him tightly.

He, like the good son he was trying to be, hugged her back, of course. He put his head on her shoulder. Burying it in her hair. He closed his eyes, drinking in her fragrance. Warmth. Security.

Mom, he thought. Mom.

"You've won. You are free," she whispered in his ear.

Hearing it filled him with pride, with satisfaction, with an inner peace he had probably never felt in his entire life. Not once. But hearing it didn't make it true.

"No... Not quite yet.”

They parted, and Desmond approached, limping slightly, the temple door. He placed his hand on the stone of the door and it opened before her, as if it had been waiting for him.

Revealing a staircase descending into its inner darkness. What secrets did that darkness conceal?

The four of them began to descend, entering the last station.