I let my scythe disappear and flicked my left hand, summoning my Cataclyst, gritting my teeth to fight off the pain of shifting flesh and bones. In seconds, Vladimir and his two familiars were with me under the dark hovering creatures overhead. In front of us were the Doors lining the rear of the Gate. Without further ado, I gave them a quick rundown of my plan.

“The binding rope thingy,” I said to Vladimir. “That trick you pulled off in front of the Thomas’ house last fall, can you do it again? But with more ropes.”

Amyr shot me a confused glance over his shoulder as he smashed a wraith onto the ground. “Wait. How’d you.... You saw that?”

I just nodded but didn’t bother to explain. There would be lots of time for that. Given that we all survived.

“It’s risky. I’d certainly do it if Vince was here,” said Vladimir through his ragged, shallow breaths. His face was paler than before, his black metallic Cataclyst trembling limply by his side. “His barriers would be a lot more effective. But seeing as we have no choice, let’s do it.”

He was right. If someone could do exactly what I was asking them, Vincent would be our man. Plus, among the cabal, he would be the only one who could go near a portal to Nirvana without being annihilated. But I couldn’t rely too much on him. I promised to bring his brother back in one piece and I had all the intention to do so. We should get this done on our own.

Mei and Amyr nodded in unison. They knew the dangers but they were willing to place their lives on my hands. If somehow, this plan backfired, I would forever have to blame myself.

“But how do we lure them all in one place?” Mei asked, fending off a creature that had swooped too close to her. In a fraction of the second, the wraith dropped to the ground in eight pieces though I only saw the raven-haired girl slash once or twice.

Swallowing hard, I met her cat-like brown eyes. “I’ll take care of that.”

Vladimir smirked. “Vince is totally going to kill you after this,” he said, giving me an all-knowing look. He seemed to have read what I was planning.

“I know,” I mumbled, grinning wildly before we ripped through the swarm of the dark creatures, making our way to our positions.

The wraiths swam in the air like frayed black jellyfishes, hissing at us as we tore through them. I stopped in the middle of the agitated creatures, just in front of the Gate, facing the barricade of Spirit Doors. They screamed in different dissonant pitches, making me flinch.

I glared at the creatures, wanting to scream my head off. Shriek back at them. Like the muffled hateful shrieking inside of me. With some effort, I pushed the dark entity inside me back into the corner where I knew it couldn’t hurt me. Then I reached for the Transference Link—a weak throbbing thread of light that connected me to Vincent. From it, I could tell that he was still where I left him, safely waiting for the intruder. That was a relief.

Abruptly, I cut the link. My eyes flew open, my heart hammering in my chest. I never thought it would be this hard containing part of Vincent’s soul and mine. Alone. I felt so alone and vulnerable and incomplete.

Aramis! Vincent’s feverish voice reached me from the Diviner’s Charm.

He must’ve realized that the link was gone.

What happened?! Aramis! Answer me! He started cursing and yelling at me to speak up but I tuned him out. His reaction was perfectly expected.

When I looked up again, the swarm was already converging above my head, suddenly alert of the strange force luring them to me. Mei was on the very top of the nearest tree, waiting for my signal. Amyr and Vladimir were perched on the rooftop of a house directly across Mei’s position.

I shook my head lightly at them. Not yet, I thought.

The creatures started to veer reluctantly toward my direction, testing if it was safe. I didn’t move and looked straight at the pitch blackness that loomed over me. Like an enormous writhing blanket of decay about to swallow me whole. I felt so small. Cold needles shot from my spine to the back of my neck, making me tremble. For a second, I wanted to fall back and run away as a few of them dove right at me.

Wait, I told myself. Let them come. I didn’t fight back as they clawed and wounded me. They had to think I was an easier picking. I just dodged and rolled if I could. Finally I was surrounded. Entangled in thousands of grazing warped hands. Knocked down too many times than I could count. The bloodcurdling sounds. The stomach-turning, rotten smell. I felt my life-force slowly seeping away from me little by little and that was exactly what the creatures wanted.

Waiting until most of the creatures were huddled close together and low enough to grab, I nodded to Mei’s direction, wondering if she could spot me in the middle of the swarm. Panting, I ignored the pain all over me and crawled closer to the Gate.

Just a little more. Overcome by the lust for my leaking life-force, the wraiths followed until we were just a couple of yards away from the hole.

“NOW!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

The events happened like flashes of a movie reel through the veil of tainted spirits. Mei speared a couple of wraiths with one of her short blades, the chain connecting them lengthening up to twenty feet. Anticipating the move, Amyr caught the skewered wraiths, the sword still impaled through them. With precision, he threw it hard back to Mei in an arched motion. When Mei caught it back, the chain created a large knot that trapped about a couple of dozens of wraiths.

Exactly as planned.

The girl then kicked off the sapling she was standing on and started running around the swarm, looping the chain. Vladimir rallied the wraiths closer to a tight cluster with his scary-looking Cataclyst.

As soon as the creatures got over the surprise, they started wriggling out of the knot. But it wasn’t the end of the trap. Vladimir began to mutter in the ancient tongue, his gentle face paling as hundreds of glowing transparent threads shot from the tips of his fingers, clinching and weaving through the swarm. Soon, most of the creatures were tangled into a huge tight knot of thrashing limbs and lots of shrieking.

I got up, fighting off the lethargy that came over me. I staggered to Vladimir’s side, barely able to catch a wraith that broke loose of the knot and hurling it across the field, to the blockading Doors.

One touch with the portal to Nirvana and the creature began to sizzle, violently convulsing as though it was electrified. Then cracks started to outline its shriveled eyeless face, its ragged mouth opening as if to wail before its whole figure smoldered and got sucked into the largest Door.

Now I knew the answer to my question. That, I thought, happens.

With Amyr and Mei pulling both ends of the chain, we slowly hauled the swarm toward the Gate. Vladimir and I pushed with all our remaining strength, ignoring the blows from the writhing creatures. We were both out of breath as we reached the mouth of the Gate. Luckily, I was still fueled with the adrenaline rush. Once that ran out, I would be useless so I might as well do as much of the work now. Beside me, Vladimir’s body trembled, his forehead dotted with frozen sweat.

“Not too close to the Gate,” he warned, gasping for breath.

“I got this. Go sit there,” I ordered, pointing my head to a protruding rock within a safe distance from the wraiths, not minding my manners in front of the boy Master.

Stubbornly, he launched a protest, barely even able to shake his head in exhaustion. “I can still—“

“Go sit there, Vladimir! Now!” I repeated firmly, sounding like my mother when she used to get mad at me.

More stunned than insulted, the boy bit his lower lip. Pouting and murmuring silently to himself, he walked head down toward the spot I pointed on and flopped weakly. It wouldn’t be long before he would be able to shake off the confusion and get back at me for my actions. I gulped. I would probably be Bound to death once I get home if these wraiths didn’t kill me first.

“Just… a little more!” Mei shouted as we managed to haul the catch about two feet shy of the Gate.

But brute force wasn’t enough. The wraiths were dead-scared. They were fighting back with all their remaining strength. Trying to survive. I forced back what little sympathy I developed toward the creatures and hastily backed away. Crouching low, I draughted off the ground, hurtling straight to the trapped swarm. My shoulder rammed against them, propelling the whole bunch a foot closer to the Gate.

“It’s working!” Amyr shouted, edgily laughing like a maniac. “Again!”

As soon as I had blinked the black spots that floated in my eyes, I ran far back and draughted against the swarm, this time, more forcefully. The force tilted the huge mass of wraiths into the sinkhole.

“Let go!” I shouted to the other two familiars.

Amyr knew what to do. He let go of the other end of Mei’s chain so that only Vladimir’s Binds, like a net, held the wraiths together. Without being told, he took care of the other creatures that luckily avoided the trap. The chain of Mei’s double-bladed scythe retracted to its original length. She hurried to my side, skipping gracefully out of the creatures’ flailing claws. Together, we pushed the swarm into the sinkhole but the resistance was still too great.

When I readied to give it another draught, Mei shook her head worriedly. “You are too close to the Doors now. If things get out of hand—“

Intruder, highly armed and dangerous, nearing Main Gate seven. Archie’s sudden announcement had me stunned for a while. That was where I left Vincent. Requesting for backup. A.S.A.P.

“I’ll get sucked in and be annihilated,” I muttered to myself, finishing Mei’s words.

But I didn’t pay any attention to that. All I could think of was to finish it off and run back to Vincent. Full force, I kicked off the ground, focusing a large amount of the Bind into my feet for a stronger boost. Again, I hit the swarm hard, pushing it closer and closer to the hole until it finally gave out. Satisfied to see the creatures rolling down the pit, an involuntary smile of relief painted on my face.

Still too early to celebrate.

A gnarled hand broke from the Binds and gripped around my left foot, followed by a cry of surprise from my throat. It took me a moment to realize I was falling. Desperately, I writhed against its hold before it could take me down the pit. Once freed, I spun, airborne, aiming to grab on to the edge of the smoldering sinkhole. But it was too late. I flailed my arms and stretched it as far as I could. But it was no use. I couldn’t reach it.

All I could register was the scared look on Mei’s face as her lips parted in mid-scream. Amyr cursing as he tore through the empty lot to try to get to me. Vladimir on his knees, the shattering terror in his widened pale eyes.

As if in a slow motion picture, I sailed weightlessly with the Doors sucking me in like a vacuum. My left arm had already disappeared into the Door.

Gone, I thought hopelessly as an unimaginable searing pain travelled from the missing limb to the rest of my body.

I couldn’t move. All that talk about not dying didn’t help me at all. The Door continued eating my upper arm as I was resignedly waiting for it to swallow my head, then my body. It was the end of me and all I could think of was, “Oh, crap. Vincent’s going to be totally pissed.”

In the blink of an eye, I saw one of Mei’s blades materialize in front of me.

“Hold on!” Mei’s shrill scream stirred me from the haze that blurred my ability to think.

The blade, I told myself. With my free hand, I caught Mei’s weapon. The lacerating pain in my palm and the blood—lots of it— brought me back to my senses. I tightened my grip around the blade for dear life, before everything went black.