Chapter 53

TRIGGER WARNING: This content might include graphic references to topics such as self-harm, violence, eating disorders, and so on, and can take the form of text.

***

Looking at the abyss of depravity that had donned human skin, Dane's teeth chattered. "GREAT BEAST!" he shouted, but it was too late. The monster raised its left hand, revealing a black bone dagger speckled with white, like a starry sky. Rivers of darkness flowed out and seeped into the ground below and the roof above. The black stone surrounding them looked…different.

As it did so, Jeanne and Flynn ran in separate directions while Dane shed flesh and blood and flew up. Where he should have phased through stone to find sand…he crashed into living darkness and fell back to the floor. The darkness had forced him out of his intangible state.

The Great Beast watched him with amusement, cackling. Dane transformed once more and flew off to the tunnels. What the hell was that? He weaved through the twisting maze and found a crevice that led out of the tunnels. A membrane of impenetrable back barred his path.

With chattering teeth, he took a tangible state, lifted his sword, and struck the dark membrane. The sword recoiled fruitlessly. He struck again and again to no avail.

The sword fell from his trembling hand. There was no way out. No way out with a Great not too far from him…he was already dead. He heard a sound to his left. It was Flynn, hiding behind a wall with wide eyes. He was Psst-ing at him. He picked his sword up and tip-toed to him.

"We can't leave," Flynn said when their minds were linked.

Dane concurred, his eyes fixed upon the evil soul that quietly stalked through the maze…toward them. Jeanne hid opposite them, quite far away. Flynn was breathing heavily. "Is it really a Great Beast?" he asked.

Dane breathed shakily. "Yes."

Tip. Tap. Tip. Tap.

They heard steps. The corpse of Morren drew closer, turn after turn. It knew where they were. Dane grabbed Flynn's chainmail and pulled him away, shivering in the cold. "Follow me," he said and turned into spirit. He withdrew the fog surrounding his sword's tip and illuminated the path forward. 

He summoned the Bandit's Whistle and blew at it, keeping the jangle of Flynn's amulets concealed. "Maybe if we can hold out till morning…the light might do something to that darkness."

Flynn's eyes were dark pools of hopelessness, reflecting against the faint white light, and he nodded lifelessly.

They began moving away from Jeanne, hoping to lure it into following them and leaving her alone. It was the right thing to do; they could tell where it was, and she could not.

Flynn was stiff. He no longer bit his nails or regarded every shadow suspiciously…he didn't care. Dane looked at him drearily, choking on the spit that wasn't there.

Twist after twist, turn after turn, the rock seemed to cave in on them, constricting them and bringing them closer and closer to death…or bringing death closer to them. 

THUD! A head-splitting blast reverberated through the tunnel system, and Flynn shivered. He murmured, "...it will possess them…defile them…and become them…and then it will become you."

He looked at Dane, fear in his eyes once more.

"It's getting worse. It's breaking the walls of the tunnel. It's blocking the way, I know. I can feel the paths to safety dwindling—that thing…Dane…"

Dane let go of his transformation and touched Flynn's shoulder. "...c-calm down…it'll be okay," he said.

Flynn's teeth were chattering in the cold, oppressive darkness. "It won't."

Dane bit his lip.

His apprentice took hold of his hands. "Oil. You have oil, don't you?" Flynn's hands were tremoring. A spark of electricity passed through his skin and into Dane's.

[You have received a Memory: Herald's Light.]

Dane's heart sank. "Don't," he gasped, tears in his eyes, "please, don't."

"You have to," Flynn gritted his teeth, "didn't you read what Morren said? Heavens, Dane! Can't you see? What if it finds a Gateway…with our bodies? All the innocent people."

Dane knew he was right. "D-don't make me do this…it's not honorable."

"To hell with your honor. Think about mine," Flynn said.

Dane closed his eyes, unable to bear with the dagger twisting inside his belly. He gave Flynn his oil. His apprentice stepped back, and with a plop of the bottle cap, he heard oil spilling.

"Summon it."

Dane opened his eyes and summoned the flambeau. The fire was bright and orange. Flynn's face was slick with the flammable material. Dane could see his face on his skin.

Flynn stared at him, visibly avoiding looking at the flames. "It's the only way. If we're ashes, it can't take us." His shoulders shook, and he seemed no more than a child than a tall, strong Sleeper. He broke. Tears came streaming from red eyes, and he cried uglily, sniffing and stammering. "I—I don't want to die. I wish…I wish I never became a Sleeper."

Flynn looked at him, eyes no more alive than a corpse's. He swallowed a sob and said, "Promise me, Dane. Don't let it take you or Jeanne."

Dane could not bring himself to say it.

"Promise me!" Flynn shouted.

Dane jolted. His face was no more composed than Flynn's. He wiped his tears away and nodded. "I–I promise."

Flynn smiled. Oh God, he smiled. What a sorrowful smile it was. "Do it."

Dane did not hesitate. He knew that if he did, he would not be able to do it. He threw the flambeau at Flynn. The fire lit the oil and his apprentice burned. Amidst shrieks, he rolled on stone that provided neither comfort nor relief. He was a beacon in the dark world, a living sign of what would happen to him.

Dane wanted to look away, but he would not. He respected Flynn too much to look away. He cried, "I'm sorry."

With a final shriek, Flynn's soul fizzled into darkness. Yet, unlike in the Nightmare, he could not see any sign of consciousness. It just stayed there, slowly eroding. Dane dismissed the flambeau, picked up the canister of oil, and emptied it in the roaring fires to ensure that his body burned to ash.

[You have slain a dormant human, Flynn.]

[You have gained a Memory.]

Dane dismissed the flambeau, picked up the canister of oil, and emptied it into the roaring fires, to ensure that his body burned to ash.

In the distance, he saw the monster's soul come closer, accompanied by thud after thud. But he did not leave. Even when the black stone around him burned bright and he struggled to breathe, he did not leave.

Eventually, when he could see Morren's blond hair through the flames across the corridor-like tunnel, Flynn had become ash. Dane murmured, "Your nightmare is over."