The Rift.

After everything settled down Lu finally woke up for long enough to go to her own room to sleep, while Airsidh stayed up with me a bit longer until Mara returned.

Sure enough, she walked through the door not long after, her breath visible through the frigid air as she came in from the cold still only wearing her usual clothes like it didn't bother her. "Ah, good, you two are here. Airsidh, you should go ahead and get some sleep, I can take it over now."

He nodded, leaving without a word.

An awkward silence covered the room as she blew warm air into her hands and came over to the fire. 

"So… What's the plan?" I had a few of my own of course, but still nothing for how we were going to finish it off.

"The plan is for you to get some sleep, just like any other night. I'll use this artifact to trick the demon into thinking I am you, then it will fight me instead."

"So we aren't fighting together after all?" I muttered.

"Disappointed?" She asked.

There was no way. Of course I didn't want to fight it again, even if she was there with me. If she could take it down on her own I was more than happy to let her. It was just… "You can win right, how are you going to beat it?" 'And how are you expecting me to sleep through the fight…'

"With strength." She responded with a raised fist.

"I really hope that isn't your serious answer. Do you have to fight it alone? I mean, shouldn't father be here too?"

She pulled her dual swords out of their sheaths, which in itself was a surprise. 'She isn't using a greatsword?'

"Your fathers busy setting up your training. Besides, I'm better at this sort of thing, and only one of us can do it. Demons like this one can war space around us, meaning I'll be fighting it on its turf, not here. Think of it like a pocket dimension that reflects this one."

'I don't have any idea what you're saying… But I guess that's why no one came to help me last night.' I sighed. "Just don't die alright."

"Awe you do care." She said jokingly. They were my own words, thrown back at me like a heavy hammer…

Did I care? Obviously, I wanted her to win, it got a demon off my back, but if that was the only reason wasn't I an awful person? In the end, I concluded that the answer was yes. If she was going to risk her life for mine, not caring at all would have made me a pretty miserable person…

I did care though… A part of me was afraid that she would get hurt because of me. It wasn't as if I had forgiven her, or cherished her, but… In some strange way the fact she was taking the actions she was… It made me feel like we really were family.

In the end, all I could do was hope for the best. She seemed confident, but not knowing what would happen for sure I ended up sleeping with a sword by my side, lying down in my bed, and staring off into space until my eyes became heavy and closed.

I had thought I would be too anxious, or nervous to fall asleep, but having been so tired from the previous two nights, and having lost a decent amount of blood, it was more like I was too worn out to stay awake. As my eyes closed one final time, I could feel a strange rush, as if something had been pinching my nerves, but they had just all been released from whatever was crushing them.

…

I heard a strong wind howling through a canyon. Waking up with a gasp. I reached for my sword, but it was gone. "Mara!" I yelled. 'I don't think this was part of the plan…' Looking around it became more than apparent I wasn't in my bed, or even my room anymore.

Everything around me was black, but somehow I could still see. The ground rippled under my feet but felt as solid as stone. It was like I was standing on a magic plane in a space with no stars.

I could only see in muted color, and my whole body felt like it was under a light pressure, as if I were surrounded by water, submerged in the sea.

Whispers echoed all around me, but they were a far cry from the harrowing shrieks of dying ravens. Instead, they were quiet and feminine, almost soothing as their sorrowful tone carried through the muck of the dark air. The sound was like a lullaby sung by a wife at her child's early funeral.

Dark mist gathered and took shape as a tall pale lady with a dark starlight dress appeared from it, and the many whispers became one voice. It was still too distant to understand, but there was still a relief that I wasn't facing the demon after all.

As she walked closer the humming stopped and the air grew thicker, the pressure increasing around me until I felt like I was drowning, my bones aching from the intensity.

"A human soul? One touched by darkness to be sure, but not yet swallowed by mallice. I haven't seen your kind in a VERY long time."

She stepped even closer until her towering figure stood above me, nearly four times my own height. As she squatted down in front of me I looked deep into her massive eyes, one pitch black, and the other a beautiful soft glowing blue.

"Now then, little human. What business do you have with the abyss? You should know it's dangerous here. Little girls should be playing with flowers, not demons."

The air felt too thick to talk, but I stayed on my feet at least, wheezing as I tried my best just to breathe.

She leaned forward, her wavy white hair flowing past her slender neck as she reached out her hand and rested it on my shoulder.

My breath stopped completely. Still, I stayed standing.

"A little girl with a soul stronger than that of a knight. My you are a strange one. It seems flowers don't suit you after all."

Personally, I took it as a compliment, but for the first time since I laid eyes on her, I saw her expression change from nothing to one of pity.

'Isn't it good to have a strong soul? Never liked flowers much anyway.'

The tension in the air vanished, and my body quickly tried to recover as I was released from its deathly grip.

Suddenly her tone changed. She had let me go, but her voice became aggressive and angry. "I have no need for another mad corpse, why are you here."

I was torn between being in fear for my life or asking her for help. With how terrifying she was though, I thought simply answering her question was probably the safest thing I could do. "I was being hunted by a ghoul. My mother used an artifact to take my place and I ended up here with no explanation."

She raised a hand to her chin. "Yes, the other girl. I see, so that's what happened. She has no chance of winning, of course, she is already living a nightmare."

'What… But she said she would be fine?' I tried to hide my worry as best I could. There were still too many questions. For instance, was she a friend? "Can you help?" I asked, being rather blunt, hoping to find out some answers.

She turned around and started to walk away. "Do I look like a warmhearted Being?"

"An exchange then," I said quickly before she gained too much distance. If it was true that Mara didn't stand a chance it was suddenly about more than just whether or not she could kill it, now it was about whether or not she would survive… I had seen and felt what it was like when it got serious, and it wasn't pretty.

Stopping dead in her tracks the mysterious woman slowly turned her head over her shoulder, not bothering to face me directly. "What could you give me that I would possibly want?"

'Now for the hard part. What on earth would something like her want? Is she a demon? Human? Some twisted combination? There's no point in guessing. I need her to tell me that.' "Surely there's something you want…"