“Any exits?” Rynna asked.
Taren shook his head. “No. One way in, one way out. I don’t think he wanted any of the…uh…patients to escape.”
“Okay,” she said.
“And there’s only one place he could’ve taken Guide Fenn. A locked-off room I didn’t have time to breach. He’s got to be there. Everything else is destroyed.”
Rynna closed her eyes for a moment, slowly filling her lungs with air. “Then let’s go get our Unit Leader.”
Please be okay, Fenn.
Taren took the lead, while Rynna and Kaelith followed close behind. As they approached the dome, Taren didn’t hesitate. His foot immediately connected with the hidden door, sending it flying open with a resounding crack.
“Well, if they didn't know we were here, they do know.” Kaelith examined the interior.
“They knew as soon as we approached the structure.” Taren pressed ahead. “Or did you not notice the traps?”
He’s got you there, Kae.
And this is why I don’t like playing with others, he grumbled.Except you, of course, pet.
Inside, the air was thick with the stench of smoke and something acrid. The narrow halls were lined with what remained of small rooms, their contents scorched and twisted. Blackened metal tools lay scattered across the floor, some still partially intact on toppledtables. The walls, once sterile and pale, were streaked with soot, and the remains of shattered jars and glass crunched underfoot with each step.
We’ll get there in time, Kaelith’s voice echoed in her mind, a promise or maybe just hope.
They reached the end of the hallway where Taren slowed, his gaze fixed on a large stone door that loomed ahead. Unlike the rest of the facility, which had a strange, unsettling mix of crude and modern designs, this door seemed older, rough-hewn, and heavy with time. Standing guard outside were two figures, one hulking and familiar. It was the dead man who had fought Fenn. Next to him was another Demon, a gaunt figure whose hands still danced with residual energy, the one who had dragged him through the portal.
Taren’s hand went to his sword.
“Looks like you’re just in time.” Tendrils of darkness seeped from the smaller man, curling up and along the walls like creeping vines. His head bent at an unnatural angle as he stared at them. “I’m looking forward to what Skarn has planned for you, snake.”
“I take it you two have history?” Rynna’s gaze moved to the larger one, who slowly drew a whip from his belt, the coil hitting the ground with a soft thud. Wisps of shadow flickered across its surface.
“I may have betrayed and murdered him. As I said, I don’t play well with others for very long.”
“That tracks.” Taren lifted his great sword from his back.
He closed his eyes, and the blade roared to life with pure elemental fire, illuminating the dark stubble along his jawline.
“Beautiful.” Rynna stared, momentarily entranced by the flames, untainted and raw, without the corruption of the Source.
Taren’s cheeks flushed faintly under her gaze, but he gave a slight nod, refocusing as Rynna shook her head, snapping her attention back to the advancing Demons.
“No time for play now, Kae.”
His arms were already extending in long, serpentine cords. “I will hold them. You two take their heads, then burn them. Let’s make this fast.”
Before their enemies could react, Kaelith’s arms shot forward, extending and coiling around their bodies like living chains, locking them in place.
Rynna vanished, reappearing behind the smaller man as her blade sliced through the air, and before it even realized it was dead or deader, its head was toppling from itsshoulders. In the same heartbeat, Taren lunged forward, the flames from his great sword dancing as the blade cleaved through the larger Demon’s body in a single, fluid stroke.
The fire roared, engulfing the monster’s flesh before it could fall, turning it to ash as its remains exploded outward in a scorching burst.
“Behead…then burn.” Kaelith pulled his arms back, wiping debris from his charred sleeve. “Not behead and burn at the same time, boy.”
Rynna smirked and clenched her fist, the now familiar heat flaring beneath her skin as she tapped into the fire that smoldered deep within her. Easier to touch every time she used it, flames burst from her hands, fierce and wild. It was different from Taren’s flame, and even the Great Phoenix’s, but no less powerful. The name of that fire teased the back of her mind, so close she could almost grasp it, but not quite.
Her opponent burned, and with a slow release of air, she forced the power down, locking it away before it could consume her.
