“Gods,” Casek whispered, unable to tear his eyes away from the man encased in crystal. “There are so many.”

  “Try to avoid looking if you can—it’s easier to deal with, then.”

  He glanced her way and saw that she was being true to her advice. She glared steadfastly ahead, out into the darkness beyond the tangled web of crystal.

  “How many times have you seen something like this, Raelynn?”

  She sighed. “I’ve only been an active duty Binder for a year or so—part of the ranger corps for half that. In that time, I’ve only been to two or three places outside of Oreia that were once particularly populated. At each one, there is something like this. Nobody has been spared, Casek. Every city—every town, village and hamlet—has been reduced to this. And we’re forced to meekly scavenge for scraps among the living corpses, functionally dead because we can do nothing to free them.”

  “But we can do something. Right here and now.”

  “The thought has crossed my mind,” Raelynn said, an edge to her tone that Casek didn’t understand.

  “So…Shall I get started, or…?”

  She rounded on him, eyes tight with barely restrained frustration.

  “And then what, Casek? These people have been here for a thousand years. Awake. Seeing everything. Aware of everything. What kind of state do you think their minds are in? Even if they’re still sane—and that’s a big if—what are we supposed to do with them? Do you have the food and water to keep them alive for long enough to get back to Oreia? You and I are the only ones with foci: can you escort them back safely?”

  She shook her head. “If we free these people now, we’re only consigning them to a short, brutal period of freedom before they’re picked off again.”

  “At least they’ll have a chance.”

  “No, they won’t. Look,” she said, placing a heavy hand upon her shoulder. “I’m not saying we won’t free them. But let’s do it right. We’ll get support from back home to keep them safe and fed. We can bring more supplies, more Binders for security. We’ll actually save a lot more of these people that way.”

  The idea of leaving these people here was abominable to him, but Raelynn was right. They couldn’t ensure their safety. Those that didn’t starve would likely be caught again, only this time, they’d be more difficult to find, scattered instead of all together.

  And yet, you have to wonder what they themselves would choose.

  That’s my problem with Raelynn’s solution, Tauph. If it were me, I’d want to take my chances. Better than even another second trapped in there. One thousand years… I’m forever grateful I can’t remember my sleep. C—Can you remember it all?

  It’s different for me. I’m a part of you. When you’re not conscious, things are not the same as when you are. They’re not as clear. As defined. Time moved differently when you slept.

  I’m glad about that much, at least.

  “Come on,” Raelynn said. “We need to move. I still see no sign of Idris, so there must be further chamber where people are being kept.”

  Casek clenched his eyes shut, the weight of leaving these people here making it nearly impossible to move his feet. He opened them again, forcing himself to meet the man’s all-too aware eyes.

  “I’m so sorry. We’ll be back, and when we do, I’ll free you all. I swear it.”

  He touched the crystal again, briefly, before tearing himself away and moving after Raelynn, further into the black.

  They roamed through winding paths left in the crystal webs lined with the still-living townsfolk, who watched them pass with eyes that burned at Casek’s back as he walked on. Deeper and deeper they went, the light of Raelynn’s torch fading to a flicker, before it died.

  The black swallowed them whole. Casek fumbled at his waist for his own torch, pulling it from the belt loop, and fumbling around for his firelights.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Casek,” Raelynn hissed. “What is that?”

  He froze. Casek heard nothing at first. He strained to hear past his own breathing in the pitch darkness, eyes vainly scanning for movement that was not his own. Then he heard it. A subtle scratching of something on stone. The sound trickled around them like ice-water down the back of the shirt, his muscles cringing as they tried to anticipate an attack before it came.

  “Get that light on!”

  His hands jerked back into motion, fingers searching out his flint and steel blindly. The clawing grew closer as he struck at the flint with increasing desperation. It seemed to echo all around him, the close crystal walls casting the sound at him from every direction.

  Mercifully, the torch lit in a burst of amber light in moments, bathing the area in dancing light.

  They both searched vainly for the source of the scratching, even as it grew in volume. Now, there was more than one source. Raelynn turned back towards him, and behind her, he saw it. Spindly black shapes, reaching lithely around the crystal at her back, two at first, then two more.

  Attached, a grotesque black shape was pulled along behind the unsettlingly graceful limbs bearing it aloft. It was in two clear sections, a bulbous shape at the rear, streaked violently with orange and yellow, and a smaller segment at the front that wielded a pair of viciously hooked fangs.

  Casek fought back the urge to vomit again. The entire world narrowed to exclude everything but that hideous shape advancing across the ceiling toward an unaware Raelynn. Raelynn.

  His mouth worked soundlessly, terror pinning the words to the back of his throat. She frowned, realising something was wrong. Too late. Its two most forward limbs reared back. Raelynn’s mouth moved, asking him what was wrong, but he couldn’t form the words, terror stirring his mind into a storm.

  Shit. Desperation spurred him to action, even whilst his words failed him. He dashed forward, blade flaring to life in his hand. The increased strength from the Drau flowed through him, legs working faster than he’d once thought humanly possible. Casek was a blur, salt-dried air stinging at his eyes, and he lashed out, cleaving the two front legs from their owner as they descended to strike.

  The creature shrieked, its lost legs dissolving into mist and being taken in by Casek’s blade. Casek’s instincts kicked in, his battle experience outweighing the fear, and he pressed the advantage, regaining enough presence of mind to feel out the creature’s strength. It was a Drau, and not one of the stronger ones at that. He pushed forward in the face of reaching limbs, and ran his blade through the spider creature without mercy, its power flowing into him.

  A second followed the first, bundling into Casek before he could react and knocking him to the ground. He twisted beneath its writhing legs, avoiding a darting bite aimed at his throat, and responding with his own fang. He drove his sword into its gut, stealing its life away. The effort of killing this one was greater than the first, its more impressive strength more difficult to break through.

  Casek climbed to his feet in time to witness the swarm of arachnid Drau rush into the room. A far larger spider followed too, the magic pouring from this one dwarfing the others. Fortunately, Raelynn had already sprung into action, her foci-spawned blades a whirlwind as she cleaved a path through the horde towards the most powerful opponent.

  His role in the fight was clear—to keep the Drau from interfering in Raelynn’s battle, and he took to the task with a fierceness and spite that could only come from being deathly afraid of the enemy. He would not, could not, allow himself to fall to these creatures. Casek couldn’t imagine a more viscerally perfect hell for him than to be trapped here in a nest of arachnids, even if he could break himself out.

  Casek, behind!

  It was a good thing Tauph was paying attention. Casek threw himself to the side, avoiding a hulking shape’s lightning fast pounce from above. He whirled to face it and blanched, as a second Bel’gor loomed above him. Its spear-like front legs lashed out at him, meeting Casek’s raised blade so heavily he staggered back several steps. A second blow sent him sprawling, draining a frightening amount of his power as it made contact.

  A quick glance at Raelynn drained the hope from him. A mass of Drau surrounded her as she fought her own Bel’gor in a torrent of black mist and shining incorporeal steel.

  He scrambled back as his own opponent rushed at him, legs lancing out as if to skewer him on the ground. Casek found himself in full retreat, desperately doing all he could to avoid it’s too-fast legs. The creature’s size was a cruel trick, an illusion that disguised its unbelievable speed and flexibility.

  Tauph, I can’t beat this thing as I am—what the fuck do I do?

  I’m sorry, I don’t know. I— There was a pause as Casek weaved between a trio of rapid thrusts, avoiding the first two and deflecting the third with a deft twist of his sword, the manoeuvre costing him another portion of strength. Wait. You’re right. You can’t beat it as you are now—but what if you weren’t?

  Less cryptic, Tauph! Casek hissed in his mind, teeth clenched tight.

  You need to focus on the Drau. Stay out of this thing’s range and mop up as much of the others as you can.

  Casek swore, still not understanding, but Tauph had earned enough trust, and Casek had few enough other ideas, that he didn’t question it again.

  He span away from another vicious stabbing, and made a break for the mass of Drau swarming Raelynn. It shrieked, but Casek didn’t slow, sweeping his blade through the first one he came across. It burst into mist, and Casek felt some of the strength he’d lost flow back into him, brightening the seventh gem on the foci on his wrist.

  Suddenly, he smiled as Tauph’s plan became clear, and set off at a sprint away from the rapidly approaching Bel’gor.

  It was a slim chance, but that was all he needed.