FENRER

The cavern air grew thicker and time escaped his manacled grasps. One by one, he heard haunted moans in the rocky walls while the four wardens around him slowly died. It pounded against his heart, with Kemal's own aura bathed in crimson lightning. Nearest the door, Tyber in much the same state Kayal had been, unresponsive unless directly manipulated to eat and drink. On his other side, Loto, who out of all of them, disappeared moment by moment, draining into the divot, creating a river of pain. Behind him, Telon, who, like Kemal, appeared to have some modicum of energy when he glanced up at him. Fenrer tried to move, though failed to get far, only the slight adjustment of his knees with his armor caked with mud. The chains tugged at his wrists, but no strength he put in broke them. It only seemed to strengthen his bonds, powered by his own giant's magick.

Each of the Wardens were manacled to their divots, though not as heavily as he. But... considering their states- Fenrer stopped his own thoughts and shook his head out. We're going to get them out of here. We're going to get out of here. Eyes closed on the starry twine which bonded him to the piece of his soul in Yuven, he frowned at the dimming light. "Kemal?"

"Yes?"

"My Oathbound connection is still open. I can tug on it, try and guide them here," Fenrer said, soft so none outside of the room overheard. "You have to open yours too."

"I don't think that's wise." Kemal lifted himself a little bit, and Fenrer flinched at the state of his Guardian. Missing fingers. Wounds criss-crossed his arms and entire body, leaving his armor in tatters. "I know Neven too well for that."

"I know it doesn't seem wise, but—" Fenrer tugged on his chains to close in on Kemal. "I went into his mind. I followed the stars as far as they would take me. I found the corruption around your soul. It tried to consume me too, but then Neven took my place." Tears slid down his throat, but he refused to let go of any more of his faith after it had been ripped away from him one too many times. "We don't want them to get trapped like us."

Kemal's gaze slid over to the mechanisms within the darkness which controlled the chains which kept him in the center of the circle. Fenrer followed the trail upwards into the pulleys, and he tensed his arms and tried to pull again. "You're in better condition than I am, Fenrer," he said, but he held onto faith that Kemal would come back home with them and see his family again. Kemal's expression steeled when he leaned against the back of his divot. "Don't mistake me, though. I'm trying to think of a way to get you out of this."

"Get us out of this," Fenrer insisted.

Telon sighed. "We understood the risks of what we were getting into, Fenrer."

"So did I! Doesn't mean I'm going to give up," Fenrer said and swung himself around. "You said another Warden was with you? Julis? Maybe he got out? He's an Aurus, maybe he—maybe he managed to influence some of them. If it comes to it I can maybe do the same!" It'd break the law... but... surely this is an extreme circumstance. Who else would know but us? It's not like the cultists will talk or even recall. He gripped onto his own chains and turned to each Warden, even Tyber. "You need to have faith."

"It's not faith we lack," Kemal whispered. "We are just prepared to give our lives for the light. I have told Neven that many times — that we knew the risks, and were prepared for it. This is simply the consequence. We aren't giving up, Fenrer." The older Hanekan swung his gaze to him. "Are you able to perform any magick at all? Do you have energy? Can you feel the flow?"

"Yes," Fenrer said. "These chains are keeping it suppressed though." But surely there's a weakness to them? Kon? Unable to quite pick out the flow of the world, it made Kon's voice inaudible and his presence far too distant. When he tried to pull at the connection, he let out a gasp when it burned his skin, and he shivered when the manacles heated up. "I can't." But I can't give up either. We may not get another chance. We have to last until Yuven and the others get to us. It'll be okay. I believe. I believe.

I believe.

"Don't push it. Pick your moments," Kemal instructed. "Their guard shifts change every so often. Derelicts they have leashed don't wander down here either. Only on the lower and upper levels."

Fenrer tried to keep his breathing even and tried to peek through the tiny bars of the door into the massive hollow of the cavern, a single speckle of light which shone through. "We're not on the lower levels?"

"No. I don't know what's down there. Whatever it is, though, it digs in my blood," Kemal muttered. "I don't know what it is, but I can feel it."

Fenrer went to straighten himself out, but a piercing shriek against the walls pounded against his brains and sent him back down to his knees, though from the lack of reaction from the others proved he was the only one able to comprehend it. Temples ready to burst, he tried to catch his breath while the flow stilled and bled. "It hurts," he rasped out. He fought to close his auric sense, but failed to grip onto any sort of clarity among the dying auras and the aura of the mountain itself. He waited for it to quell, but his blood continued its fiery pressure. Sweat stuck to his brow when it swelled in his chest, but he tried to push it down, deprive it of oxygen as the manacles screamed against his skin and seared their mark on his soul.

"Fenrer," Kemal's voice interrupted the ocean of fire's swell.

"Huh?" Fenrer trembled.

Kemal studied him with a quick flick of the eye. "Whatever happens, promise me something."

"What?"

"I want you to live. I want you to continue this fight against the dark," Kemal said. "Protect the light. It is our oath. It is what we promised underneath the light of evenfall. We're as much protectors, shields as we are swords. Never forget that. The destruction of Derelicts isn't our only duty. We protect the light — when we're all that stands against the abyss even as the waves bash into us. We are children of the sea." Kemal leaned forward more. "Remember who you are, Fenrer. We're right behind you."

I am... a son of the sea and the...

Footsteps created a drumbeat to his words though they failed, faltered and the fire died. The lock opened. Cloaked figures swept around them, some of them carrying trays for their prisoners. Fenrer tensed up when a couple unlocked him from the anchor of his chains, though kept them wrapped around his arms. He tried to shove magick through, but he scowled when it refused to answer and he was forced to his feet. His shoulder met one, but they shoved him back. Four. Four people to contain him. Keep him in place. His heart threatened to break his rib cage with his lungs, the air speeding up when they dragged him to the door.

"What are you doing?" Kemal snapped, causing some of the cultists to stop.

"What is it to you, Storm Warden? What did all of you keep saying?" the cultist by the door questioned. "You were prepared for the risks? Surely this one was too. Eat up, Tyronai. We're not finished yet." Tugged out into the tunnels, Fenrer bit on his tongue when the metal door closed behind him.

"What do you gain from this?" Fenrer demanded when they pulled him along, a wolf in chains. "You live in this world too! Why destroy it? You'll destroy yourselves!"

"This world was doomed a thousand turns ago," the cultist said. "And this amalgamation which had been born from the ashes is an affront. The Derelicts are more than what you Storm Wardens believe." Fenrer bit on a gasp of pain when one cultist gave a sharp poke into his spine, almost causing his knees to buckle. "But you wouldn't know that. You destroy them fruitlessly. Ever thought that they are supposed to be here? Ever thought that they've always been here? That they were here before us? What if we're an aberration?"

"That's... you're mad," Fenrer bit.

"We shall see such — or, you will."

Fenrer tried to dig in his heels when they pulled him into a different room. Instruments hung on the walls, with tables filled with papers of anatomical drawings and copious notes. His heart pounded at the sight of a Derelict, slavering in its binds. Its venom dripped into the dirt, staining it red. Fenrer tried to fight back when they placed him in the reclined chair, the wood tough against his back when they locked him into it. Another cultist came forward. "Tell me something, Warden," they remarked, face unseen. "What do you know about the Derelicts?"

Fenrer kept his mouth shut.

"I suppose your answer changes little." They waved a hand, and another came forward with a small box. They took it in their hands then opened them to show him.

Spherical, blue crystals sat in the box, swirling rivers inside them. Fenrer's heart dropped, and he rasped, "That's—"

"The eyes of crystal," the cultist said with a nod. "That much you would recognize, am I right, Aurus?"

"Why-How do you have those?" His gaze flicked over to the instruments on the walls, some of them soaked with dripping, rotted magick.

"Worried that we'll take yours?"

Fenrer snapped his head over to the cultist. "But why?"

"You have no need to fear. Though we need your eyes... we need them right where they are," the cultist said and headed over to the cowed Derelict. Its twisted fangs unleashed from its mandible when its captor came closer, but they held the crystals and shoved them into their teeth. Red crackled around the crystals, and Fenrer bit on his tongue when they melted, though the cultist caught the essence with two phials, allowing the Derelict to feast on the box and what little remnants which remained. "You won't think us mad soon. You'll see our purpose clearly. Derelicts are nothing more than the means to the end. You cannot stop them, right, Warden? You can only ever delay them... but even that delay can't go on forever." The cultist loomed over him, a phial in each hand.

Fenrer went to lunge away, but gasped when two more cultists rushed forward to keep him down. "You have no idea what you're doing!" he pleaded. "You can't do this! This blood you're shedding will only hurt you too!" He writhed to get away, his gut screaming at him to flee. "All you're going to do is unleash a monster on yourselves! We've been at this for thousands of Turns! We're all that's against the abyss! Get off me," he growled at one of the cultists and tried to whack them in the stomach, though they dodged and forced open his eyes. "You don't have to do this."

"No one ever has to do anything." Fenrer raised his attention to the cultist looming above him, swirling the two phials. Blue and red mixed together, and the magick sparked in pain. He flinched at the echo of a scream. "Wouldn't you like to see for yourself? Would it be better that way?"

"You're going to die."

"Everyone dies. Are you afraid, Warden?"

Fenrer sucked in his lips and his eyes watered.

"Perhaps I should phrase it differently," the cultist said. "Is there something worse than death to you?" They lowered the phials closer to his face, keeping them half-tilted. "Isn't there? Don't you Wardens fight because of the world's fear? Aren't you supposed to be the light in the dark?"

"It'd be arrogant to not respect death," Fenrer hissed through his teeth.

"Life is a cycle, is it not?" Fenrer froze at the cultist's words. "Oh? Familiar words? One of the Ancient's scriptures, if I recall. Life is a cycle, but all the Storm Wardens have done was disrupt the cycle of the world for a fleeting moment. Look me in the eyes, in my aura if you wish. Try your best to writhe and fight like a desperate, cornered beast."

Fenrer struck his aura upwards to try and grab onto them, to pick his moment. He frowned when it clung onto nothing but a black cloud, but he grunted when one of the cultists slammed him deeper into the chair, and the phials tilted to unleash the abhorrent essence within.

A single drop from each phial escaped.

Fenrer tried to shut his eyes tight, though he only got half-way before it struck his eyes and made them sting. It lodged in his throat when more joined their brethren, and the sting continued, though the cultists released him. He tried to lunge, but he froze when sweeping numbness started from his eyes and slipped through his veins.

"Time to see the truth, Warden," the cultist said.

Red sparks flashed in his eyes, and rust filled the back of his throat. Red water filled his eyes. Ooze soaked out of the crevices along the walls, and all at once, his eyes put pressure on his eyelids, and though he opened his mouth to scream, the world darkened, pulsed and growled. It raised his skin, and he found his voice when the flames tore at his skin with the fury of the light. It struck him. His eyes.

He reached out into the darkness to grip onto the stars, unable to see through the blood in his eyes, but he lost his grip on Yuven's hand and fell into the jaws of the beasts.