The world warps around us and I fall into a nightmare. As soon as the taste of Factory hits the roof of my tongue, sterile hallways combined with the acrid tang of blood and metal, my body locks up. The hallways are too familiar, their lighting is a repressed memory, and the distant click wants to send me running.The portal managed not to cut us into a wall, which is impressive enough, and my limp body is shoved along by the hundreds of Sentients pouring out behind me. The mass is so thick that we can hardly breathe, and the hallways are small enough to not leave much room for us to spread.

"Coming through!" barks one of our guards, a horned Canira, who guides us through the chaos. Natrina follows behind. I'm numb, all the way down to my paws, and my pads against the ground can't feel a thing. The panic is thick around my midsection and on my tongue. I can't stop shaking.

In front of me, Natrina's form shakes and she falls as if gripped by a seizure. A low whine of pain escapes her throat, cut off by her own indominable will as she returns to her paws, but one of her eyes is twitching. She holds her mouth shut, keeping in her breath.

"Lady Natrina, are you alright?" asks a guard.

Lady Natrina. I hadn't heard that one.

"If anything is the matter, the portal is still open- we can get you home. If you die here..."

The second guard, a short-horned Canis, is cut off by a furious swing of Natrina's tail as she turns to face them. "You will do no such thing. Everyone here risks their life and immortal spirit."

The second guard's eyes harden. "The Auspicia won't like this."
"I'll take no talk about what the Auspicia does and doesn't like. We're wasting time." Natrina says. Our group spreads every time we hit a juncture in the path, our number flooding the hallways even as we keep ourselves from spreading thin. High wailing sounds overhead as the first sentry Obsidians go down, accompanied by the clamor of thousands of beings working as one and the high yelps of those whose flesh have been pierced by shards.

"The Obsidians know we're here. They're a hivemind, so if I had to wager, I'd say they're psyching us out." Natrina shuffles her ears against her head, keeping them sheltered against the noise. "Try your worst. I have waited thousands of years for revenge. Iris! Which way to the Queen?"

Iris gives the regal Canis a slow and calculating nod. "Forwards. We've positioned ourselves past a wall of security, there are several more. Nethera's energy and forces will be greatly divided-"

"Perfect. Can we bust around rooms to clear space?" Natrina asks.

"I would not recommend it. Many rooms have toxic air, in order to accommodate victims, while others are toxic for the sole intention of keeping certain lifeforms out. Many are filled with almost nothing but hazardous material, and none of these rooms are marked. It is a miracle Torch survived long as he did."

Natrina looks to me. My limbs are still not responding, and I'm pressed against the wall as the troops file around my body. "I can only imagine the harm growing up in such an environment must inflict on one's psyche. It was cruel to return you here, although I am grateful for your assistance."

"No one returned us here. We could have made any choice we pleased, and we chose this world and its safety. Now, how would you get around existing security? The walls are liable to crash down on us."

"My associates have their ways of cracking open metal, but for what it's worth..." A tendril of vine unwinds itself from around one of Natrina's horns, its petals opening and releasing a stream of dark liquid from within. It sizzles where it hits the wall, burning a large, scorching streak of metal. "Wyrmflower." Natrina says as it retreats back to the safety of the bases of her horns.

"That will be useful," Iris mutters.

"My abilities are limited, including the speed at which I can manipulate these, but the chemical properties of said plants remain intact. You have an affinity for strategy, do you not? If we surged ahead, towards the next barrier, how far could we make it?"

"Far enough."

Natrina nods. "We should get far up as we can." She dips her head to us both, respectfully. "Don't be afraid. I will protect you best I can."

How am I supposed to be anything but afraid right now?

Iris drapes a wing around me. "Torch. The march continues."

I get to my paws, the cold metal of the wall easing from me, and I lean back into her, eyes half-shut. Her heart is slower than mine, but I still hear its accelerated beat in her chest. Her expression conveys no fear, but I can see the torment in her eyes. After all, the two of us bear twin sets of scars.

Most of our number is going straight forwards now, slowed by the assaults on the front, and Obsidians rush in the sides and out of doorways. One almost leaps over my head in the form of a large, muscular Felis, and is hit straight out of the air by a blast of fire. Shards fly everywhere, some hitting me in the face, though most are too small to do anything but sting like blown sand. I can't even spark up for fear of hitting someone else, so I keep my head down and try to take in Dreamlandian scent, even though the panicked frenzy of the battle is picking up all around us.

On a familiar wall, I recognize the mark where molten metal used to be. A Sorrowful Lily has been removed from this location. Which means we're close to... we could be close...

Swallowing water. Thrashing limbs, calling out for help... no one can hear you underneath the water.

I feel my breathing grow ragged. "I can't do this. I can't go back. I can't."

A Canis, fighting an Obsidian, stumbles into me, and I fall back against a door, which slides open. Iris leaps in after me, along with a few guards, and a thousand eyes watch me in the darkness. I'm choking on my own saliva, trying not to drown in water that isn't there, and the panic overloads my entire body.

"Torch!"

Her voice is far away. I scent metal, feel cold stone against my ear... a predesignated fate. A weapon. I can't even gather up my own courage to go out as a weapon.

"Torch, you need to-"

A door slams shut. I hear banging, my head jerking left and right to detect movement, and my paws tremble as Obsidians creep out of the shadows. Iris holds my side. I cry, "I can't go back there. I can't go- the water-"

The room is full of soft breathing. The Obsidians close in on us, a pack of eight-legged beings with rough, spiky fur crudely replicated by their half-baked transformations, and as my furthest back paw hits a cage, whose bars rattle behind me. I tilt my head up and see rows of cages, spiralling up like the library, all of them filled with other living beings.

Deep in my heart, something hardens.

"Can you activate the manifest now?" Iris asks.

"No!" I yell back, cutting a wide arc around the Obsidian on the far flank as they dive for me. My paws hurt already, and we've hardly fought. The adrenaline isn't kicking in, just the fear, and I want to find a dark corner and a way out. "I can't control it. I- I-"

An Obsidian slams me against the wall, its jaws opening for my throat, and I pummel it with my legs to no avail. The mouth splits far too wide, revealing rows of perfectly carved teeth going back and back into a starless infinity.

My fire kicks in and I blast its head off, the face melting from nightmare into nightmare as it struggles to regain its physical form. I look up to see the metal of the door is ruptured. Something outside is trying to get in. It disappears from view as another Obsidian slices me across the face. I can feel hot blood welling up in the cuts and my snout stings. I retaliate, but my embers have given out to smoke again, their wild inconsistency heightening the growing panic in my throat as I thrash against my opponent.

In the distance, a muffled voice yells, "They're in here-"

The door blasts open and Natrina takes the field, leading a swarm of other Defenders. The Obsidian fighting me is raised on high by a literal branch before Natrina slams it against the ground, again and again, its body shattering bit by bit until it crumbles away. She takes on several at once, plants flashing out in every direction, and her aura alone illuminates the darkness. One of the Defenders, a gray, horned Canis, sends a volt through the room, making the lights surge, and I look out across a calamity of color and darkness, chaos against unfeeling order, before we're plunged back into the dull haze of the unlit room.

There's scuffling behind me and I whip around to see a small Canira trembling in one of the cells. My fire flows naturally from my tail, and I swing around to melt the bars. In the firelight, I think I see relief on her features, mixed with fear.

"Thank you." she whispers. She reminds me of the young Defenders, soft and small, even though if I had to wager a guess she'd be around our 'age'.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"My name is Snow Hare." she offers. "They've taken a few of us in the past, though I'm afraid... I'm not quite sure when the past is anymore. Sentients don't live long here. I thought I might be the only one-"

Iris runs to my side, fur streaked with dust and cut with small lacerations. "Torch. We need to get out of this room. They can shut it down- if we're not careful, they'd be able to poison us all-"

Snow Hare tilts back, then swings down into a bow. I stare at her emaciated limbs and bloated, empty stomach, and I think I'm going to break as she says, "I'm at your service. As are they."

I look back at the rattling cages, thinking of the Hellhound's army. How can I get to you all?

Our own number lie bleeding at the edges of the room, many no longer moving. Natrina fights fiercely in the center, but even she's being overwhelmed. A branch drops from her side, and when the rest of the Obsidians pile on, one in the form of a massive, slack-jawed beast, she looks up with defiance but can not move. They swarm her, seizing on her moment of weakness, and I cry out and run for her but my body is fighting me every step of the way. My sparking goes from non-existent to out of control, an inferno of pain and confusion, and I fill my throat with flame, hoping I can aim true.

A fireball shoots through the air, melding together the bodies of several Obsidians, but it isn't mine. I look to the doorway and see dripping metal and Obsidian stone around the doorframe, in the center of which is a dark shape, covered in foes ground to dust. From their head rise horns like spires of smoke, twisting upwards until they taper into the air. The familiar shape stills the battlefield, and even the Obsidians are frozen in fear.

In a voice deep as time, the figure booms, "I missed you."

(A/N: I literally forgot to post this one! So sorry. :O)