The line of fire cut itself over the dome in the cavern’s middle, though it did nothing to disturb it, the divine power there too strong. Reeve ran faster, flames licking at him as he slid past, just managing to trap himself on the same side as Celeste.
But Syphon was there too, and he was whole again, only this time his body had cobbled itself together in a plainly human shape. Reeve raised his sword pulsing with his arcana, the distance futile when he had a spell to fling at the entity, but from across the cavern, Celeste raised her hands. “Don’t hit the shield,” she called with a desperation that broke through his chest and stopped him short.
Syphon casually glanced at Reeve and then turned wholly to Celeste. “Pet,” it said in a voice that rumbled with pleasure, “I called, and you came.”
She backed herself into the cavern wall shaking her head, hand going to her locket, and her noxscura attacked. A cloud of dark arcana descended on the smoky creature, and the scene was lost on Reeve, shadows overcoming all as he raced past the silvery liquid trapped beneath the dome.
Light sparked inside the shadows, the glint of orange so like the fire sieve from the forge, and then there was a second, teal and blinding, and the darkness was dispersed all at once as more fire burst in Reeve’s face and sent him flying off his feet.
Once again cut off from Celeste and Syphon, he was laid out on his back, the lake suspended above. Reeve could conjure divine fire, but it wouldn’t put out arcane fire. He would need water for that, and there—so much water.
Without even bothering to stand, Reeve tore the Obsidian Widow Maker through the air before him, releasing every scrap of divine energy he had conjured, and the golden light arced upward. It carved into the pendulous pool, and the arcana holding it back was rent, a cascade pouring downward through his slash and dousing Syphon’s flames.
It was an utter triumph, the fire snuffed out as if it were nothing more than a candle wick, and not even smoke filled the air. Reeve took a heaving breath, arms splayed, shocked at how drained he suddenly felt, but then Syphon roared, and Reeve was on his feet again.
The shadow entity had turned away from Celeste—good—its face twisting to look both more human and not in its abject anger as it advanced. Reeve readied himself beside the cascade he had created but didn’t move. He wanted to draw Syphon away from Celeste, and it was working, but a terrible groaning from above brought him to a stop.
“Might wanna head for the exit there, bud,” politely suggested the sword.
Reeve sheathed Sid and sprinted for Celeste who had seen before the rest of them and was already running toward him. They collided into one another, and then, cold.
Reeve didn’t let go, though the water did everything in its power to try and force them apart. It crashed on them all at once, and as water was wont to do, it filled up the space in an instant, sweeping through the cavern and taking everything with it.
Darkness swallowed them, and Reeve clung to Celeste. The rushing current dragged them blindly away, and stone slammed against his back, but his grip did not relent. Reeve’s lungs burned without air, his vision gone, and there was only an excruciating pressure threatening to tear him apart—threatening to tearthemapart—and then nothing.
Reeve was floating.
And then he was sinking.
With a kick, he was headed upward, dragging his baldric, a woman, and the weight of a heavily laden satchel strapped to his chest. None of it could be discarded, but the surface seemed impossibly far, the dimmest light overhead, and that light fading.
But Reeve had his own light.
His free hand found his pommel, and without even a prayer, help came, pushing the lot of their weight toward the surface.
Air filled his lungs, and though it wasn’t enough, breathing could wait. Celeste’s mass of black hair pooled beside him on the water’s surface, but her head didn’t rise. With another kick, his feet found muddy ground, and he dragged her into the shallows, sweeping her hair from her face.
He called her name and shook her, but her head only lolled heavily to the side. “Valcord, please!” he shouted, pressing a hand to her chest as he dragged her frigid form against him, but Reeve had never been able to heal no matter how fiercely he prayed, and no light shone under his palm.
The noxscura was there, though, and its cold touch wrapped itself around his hand and encircled her chest. There was a squeeze greater than even the pressure of the water in the caverns, and Celeste’s body jolted. She coughed, and more water than her lungs could possibly hold showered him right in his face.
“Oh, thank the gods,” he muttered, hugging her to him as he knelt in the shallows.Or the Abyss, he thought, not caring where the help came from, only that it came.
“Reeve?” she croaked from over his shoulder. “You’re all right?”
He mumbled back that of course he was, shifting her in his arms to inspect her face. Her bewildered eyes searched where they’d ended up, and when it was clear she was breathing normally, he too bothered to look around.
The sun shone on them, though it hung low in the sky. A breeze blew over the field to the west, and somewhere a goat was bleating. It was far too calm for what had transpired, but the only shadows about were the ones cast by the trees at the edge of the wood.
Reeve recognized the lake they’d surfaced in as the one just south of town. A small boat drifted at its other end, an older man inside it, his fishing rod hanging into the barely moving pool. “Don’t let me bother ya,” he called and shifted his back toward them. No one else was about.
“We have to go,” coughed Celeste, and she tried to stand, but her limbs refused to cooperate, and she fell right back into his arms.
The water at the lake’s edge was only knee high, but they were both worn, shivering, and near naked. He was unsure he could stand either. “Wait,” he said softly. “Breathe a moment.”
“No, someone will see. Someone else,” she wheezed, scrambling against him and failing to stand again, freezing fingers pawing at his shoulders in a feeble attempt to pull him along. “They’ll ask questions. They’ll find out.”
“Celeste, please, wait.” He took her more firmly by the waist, and she finally fell still, but her drenched features showed no sign of relaxing. Reeve took a steadying breath, chest still burning. “He’s gone now, but Syphon is clearly stronger. Perhaps it would be best if we did tell someone. We could use help and—”
