Tremors continued to rock the earth as the cavern slowly came down piece by piece. The feeling of claustrophobia become more intense, and one had to watch where they stepped least they be clobbered over the head by falling debris. But even with all the violence and destruction that had occurred, it was not until now that the air itself had rumbled. A loud crack split that quivering air, and The Crone was sent reeling on the flat of her feet. The witch's small body was reinforced by magic and protected by a strong barrier, so she weathered the impact better when it took a wall to stop her. It was just more damage for the mountain to endure. The very foundation of the Sabbath's lair was teetering on the precipice of imploding at any moment, and nothing was going to stop it now.

 

What harm could a few more sledgehammer blows do?

 

The witch was able to take a hit or two without being reduced to a fine meat paste. When she uncrossed her arms from in front of her face, anyone could see she looked far worse for wear compared to a minute ago. The Crone couldn't stay still for long; she fled as Ba'el came crashing into the wall after her like a runaway freight train. The collision spewed more dust and debris into the cavern, and the buckling walls fractured and threatened to collapse that much sooner.

 

The ancient witch's haughty face, twisted by madness, was now full of terror and confusion. Her robes were barely holding together, and bruises covered her body. That giant black hat of her had been obliterated, and the twintails in her green hair—which had long sense lost their silky luster and been dyed with gray dust and red blood—had been reduced by one. Sweat trickled down her cheeks as the demon pursuing her emerged from the cloud left behind by the destruction. Two red orbs emerged first, swaying back and forth in the cloud of grey. Black, soulless and slitted pupils blighted the land of the living with an otherworldly anger.

 

A concussion wave from the demon's point of impact had washed over the cover Rose and I hid behind. We held on tight to a couple of scared girls who were shaking in fear; the possibility they could be blown away seemed real. Looking into the eyes of that demon didn't make things any better for them either so we did our best to shield their eyes. Rose had entertained the thought of testing the demon's mettle once, now even she seemed discouraged from doing so.

 

Their battle was close enough that we could still hear their conversation carry over the occasional rumbling and sliding of the mountain.

 

     The Crone sounded almost as if she were begging when she spoke, “B-Ba'el... stop.”

 

     “It's far too late for that,” Ba'el snapped back without mercy.

 

A sinister second voice spoke along with the little girl's. A deep, warped and evil warble was interwoven with her own words. It wasn't something heard with you ears. They were words that made my brain feel as though it were bleeding from the inside. A pressure built up with every syllable she spoke, and it often did not entirely dissipate fast enough before she started speaking again.

 

     “I've taught you many things, and you chose to ignore the most important parts. Now I have nothing left to teach you, so we'll move onto your final exam.”

 

The Crone wasn't ready to throw in the towel yet. As the demon clopped hoof by hoof closer with a casual stroll, the witch summoned a plethora of red pentagrams. They spun and shone brightly behind the witch and then let loose a barrage of magic missiles. They zipped and screeched toward the demon, but Ba'el was unfazed. She walked among the deadly projectiles as they whizzed past her and exploded all around her in brief flashes of white light. The Crone was tossing them wildly, and the demon was walking through them without a care in the world. Her old student didn't appear to be aiming at all. Panic and desperation seemed to have set in. When one finally did slam into the side of Ba'el's face it left an ugly scorch mark behind, but it didn't even slow her down. The damage was being done, but the demon's body simply wrote a rain check on the consequences.

 

Ba'el pressed onward weathering the occasional hit until she was close and jabbed The Crone square in the chest. A flash of red sparked from the point of impact when Ba'els fist collided with The Crone. The blow sent her flying head over heels before landing flat on the ground with a splat many meters away. Her protective barrier flickered weakly a couple of times before fading back into invisibility.

 

     “Wait... One second....” The Crone begged while trying to catch her breath.

 

     “You blew your load early, but I ain't the kind of gal who is gonna wait around for you to get it up again,” Ba'el snide still rumbled with demonic menace.

 

When the witch finally got to her feet, the demon grabbed her roughly by the collar and lifted her off the ground. The Crone gasped for breath while kicking her feet in vain. She couldn't even protest since what fabric little fabric still clinging to her was wrapping tight around her neck.

 

     “You forget... You can't harm me, “The Crone said, trying to put on a brave face by smiling weakly. “You know that... Not without-”

 

     “-Breaking the contract,” Ba'el replied, getting to the point.

 

     The Crone cackled and smiled weakly with knowing eyes, “That's right. What were those three rules again? Come on. Tell me again for old time's sake. What do they mean to a demon?”

 

Ba'el continued to glower at the witch. With how red and menacing her eyes were, I would not be surprised to see them bore a hole through the little girl she was lifting up in front of her.

 

     “So? Come on now. Just-”

 

Slam. Crack.

 

The Crone's head snapped backward and bounced back to where it was in an instant. It was accompanied with another brilliant flash from The Crone's protective barrier. A barrier which now had a long crack in it. That ancients witch's face shot from smug to mortified; it was though her entire world view was cracking just like her shield underneath Ba'el's superhuman strength. The demon's fist was shrouded in an aura of green flame.

 

     “Question one: How much time does it take to properly repair a guardian ward?” Ba'el asked.

 

The demon didn't even give the witch a second to answer. She threw her fist in a right hook that caught the witch from the side. Her tattered black robe couldn't hold together, and the fabric tore loose from Ba'el's grip. The sound of breaking glass was even louder than before. Flakes of red shot off the barrier surrounding the witch as she flew through the distance in a wide arc. It was a trajectory which only stopped by prematurely smashing through a pile of rocks before hitting the floor.

 

     “Trick question: No amount of time is fast enough.”

 

The two of them were now heading off into the distance, so now was our chance to crawl from out of cover.

 

     “We need to get moving,” I said with urgency.

 

I picked up the orphan and placed the girl on her shaky feet. Rose was not so quick though. She continued to look off into the distance where she followed the movements of the witch and demon.

 

     “Rose?”

 

     “The fight is over,” She said, but it wasn't to answer me.

 

I took a closer look at Rose; her delightful face full of vigor had been replaced by the shadow of lucidity. Her eyes were somber as she watched their fight rage on. Now that I thought twice about it, there wasn't a fight in the world she wouldn't enjoy. Why was she watching what was unfolding now with a look of pity?

 

Rose tore her eyes off of it and looked up at me and finally answered me.

 

     “It was like watching two old friends having a spat. They were trying to understand each other. That's all gone now. It's... ugly.”

 

Now I thought I was hearing things. Rose was telling me the fight between those two had gotten 'ugly'? Her insight into these types of things were sharp... Perhaps the only time she was insightful... But it made me take a second look at those two again. If I looked past the red eyes and fury of the demon and interpreted the shaky voice and pleading of the witch a little differently. Their battle had been violent and brutal since the start, or so I thought. Was I mistaken? If they were merely 'talking' before, then I shudder now to think this is what a real fight is. This is no longer a battle between ideals. This is life and death with a healthy dose of rage and vengeance.

 

Another tremor. It caused my train of thought to crumble. This wasn't just another aftershock; it came from beneath, and it swallowed up a whole section near one corner of the cavern. It left nothing but a bottomless pit behind. This mountain was hollowed out like an ant colony, so it threatened to fold no different from a house of cards. I pried my eyes away from the brutal spectacle and turned back to Rose.

 

     “Let them sort it out!” I shouted back, “We gotta get out of here. Now!”

 

Rose shook her head and leaped up. We were greeted with the crumble and scraping of rock. Leaping off one pile of rubble to the next was Chris. She held two girls under her wings while a third hung from her neck; riding piggyback.

 

     Chris sounded off when she reached us, “Reporting for-”

 

A large rock fell from above and bounced off her skull. It was about the size of a basketball. That had to hurt, but it only caused her to wince once, blink twice and pause for a second before repeating herself.

 

     “-Reporting for duty!”

 

Chris set the two girls down; they refused to stray far and clung to her legs. Maybe because all the jumping around and up and down gave them motion sickness? Just as likely they feared the falling rocks and inevitable doom more than they did the giant wyvern-girl.

 

     She saluted now that her wings were free and continued, “I did one last flying sweep and found these three!”

 

     “You can handle five more?” I asked.

 

     “Yeah,” Chris replied and then looked between Rose and I. “What about you two?”

 

     “Can you handle seven... no... eleven?”

 

Chris looked at me, but she couldn't keep a straight honest face for long.

 

     “Just get the kids out of here. Then get them off the mountain. Getting them out of this cave wont mean a thing if it collapses with all of them on top of it.”

 

     “But-” Chris blurted out

 

She was quickly cut off.

 

     “Leave it to us, Chris,” Rose said pounding a claw against her chest. “I'll get us out of here.”

 

     Hearing that from Rose made me feel a bit better, but I still had to ask, “How?”

 

Rose raised her fingers tipped with sharp and wriggled them in front of me.

 

     She flashed me a smile and replied, “We'll climb out.”

 

It was a better plan than waiting to be crushed to death. I gently grabbed hold of the two kids under our protection and brought them over to Chris. They had watched their friends be carried off, so they didn't need too much prodding and guiding by now. They latched onto Chris where they could: Two for each leg, one piggyback riding and two more clinging onto her tail for dear life.

 

There simply wasn't any more room after that. She wasn't built to handle any more weight and still be able to fly. Even if she had the energy to transform right now, she'd never fit through the small opening in the roof. Despite all that, Chris looked back at me one more time. The apprehension in her face was palpable.

 

     “We're running out of time!” I yelled over the ever more frequent rumbling of the earth. “Get these girls out of here. Tell Minte and Susan to get all these kids off this mountain. Now!”

 

Chris was reluctant, but she turned around, got a running start and then took off. She was getting tired. This last takeoff was clumsy and slow compared to the others. Had we all tried to get out at once, we would have surely fallen back to the ground. The wyvern flapped her leathery wings as hard as she could. Her face was red, and she was sweating, but she picked up enough speed and circled around the cavern while dodging falling rocks. She managed to pick up enough speed at last and shot up and out of the cavern. I breathed a sigh of relief.

 

     “Alright,” Rose cheered and clenched her claw. “It's our turn now. Laven, make for the wall. If ya see any rope on the way, grab it; it'll make this easier.”

 

She started running and rummaging through the debris as she did. I caught myself standing still after everything I had said about getting the hell out here. There was something off. I felt a great deal of tension lift from my shoulders when I watched Chris and those kids clear the cavern, but there was still a lump in my heart and a prick stinging me from the back of my head. I couldn't shake the feeling, and it continued to nag at me. In desperation I thought on it with everything I had. Was there something I was forgetting? There would be no turning back after we left.

 

Those five kids and Chris made it out. Another two with Minte before that. Four more were flown out by Chris and then... Twenty-nine. Twenty-nine in total. Only... Twenty-nine.

 

     “We can't find-”

 

Feena's freckled face came back to me. Gloria's frantic expression followed right after. They couldn't find...

 

My heart stopped. I felt as though time had stopped, but a baseball sized rock bounced off my shoulder. I barely even felt it. The numb stinging only led my imagination down an even worse path. The smallest and most fragile of all the girls was still-

 

     “Laven!” Rose shouted back toward me.

 

The image of a little face, bright with an innocent smile and adorned with golden curls bubbled back up in my mind. The smallest and most vulnerable girl of them all was still-

 

     “Laven! Come on-” Rose bellowed louder than before.

 

I looked up after being called out a second time. Her expression was impatient, concerned, but she read the look on my face immediately. Her voice died off; she knew something was wrong, and she didn't stop to ask. Rose came running back, this time with a length of rope draped from her shoulder.

 

     “Heather...” I said with raspy breath.

 

Before Rose could return, I turned and ran. My mind was full of unpleasant thoughts. So many fallen rocks. Too many collapsed walls and sinkholes. We had managed to do our best to keep the girls safe and get them out, but we had lost track of one. Somewhere near the beginning little Heather had got separated from the rest. In my panic from before, I had completely shut down Feena and Gloria. They were looking for her. There wasn't anyone else she was closer to, and she fled from those two. Why would she? Where was she?

 

Another explosion and wail from The Crone reminded me of one more possibility. Could she have gotten mixed up in the cross fire between-

 

     “Laven! Stop!” Rose screamed into my ear.

 

She had caught up quickly. With just one claw on my shoulder she reigned me in and held me back. There was no time to hear the question; my mind raced to spill the words out of my mouth.

 

     “We're missing one! There's a girl missing!”

 

I turned around and met Rose's eyes. They were opened wide and mirrored my own panic.

 

     “Who? What girl? What does she look like?” She hurriedly asked, slurring her words just as much as I was.

 

     “The youngest one, the smallest one, golden curls for hair!”

 

A rumble, crash and shaking of the earth nearly knocked both of us off our feet. It came from above. While the cavern was still barely holding together, the rest of the mountain above and below us was twisting, crumbling, warping and imploding. The architecture of this place wasn't going to hold on for much longer.

 

     “We're runnin' outta time!” Rose yelled.

 

She didn't need to say it. I threw her claw off and started running again. She gasped in surprise and shouted after me. I had to look. I was surprised I managed to shake her off, but I was more worried about looking for the girl. Chris hadn't seen her while flying over. Maybe she had fallen into- NO... She's hiding. She's been hiding somewhere almost all this time. She wasn't the first or only... There were piles of rubble everywhere...

 

I shook my head and kept running. She was small, maybe she hadn't run too far from where Feena and Gloria had been searching for Heather? Heather was a small girl. She could fit nearly anywhere. I kept that in my mind as I took a sharp right and ran back to that corner of the cavern. It wasn't far, but it had changed. A lot. A whole section of it had already crumbled, and the whole corner had collapsed. There was a slope of pulverized rock three stories down. If she were down there-

 

I didn't dare. I looked to the walls and the rubble instead. Rose was chasing after me and calling out to me the whole time, but I didn't stop for a moment. I kicked off the rocks crowning some piles, I slowed down to look into a few crevices, but I never heard or saw anything. By chanced I spied an alcove in the wall. It was small, it was short, but it wasn't something freshly gouged into the wall. There's no way I'd ever hope to fit into it, but that was far from the point. I ran toward it, then dropped flat onto my stomach and stared inside. It was pitch black, but I could still make out the outline of something inside.

 

     “Heather!” I screamed.

 

Something inside froze still, tried to hold its breath but couldn't hold on for long, and it started to shudder. We didn't have any time to spare, so I stuck my hand inside and tried to reach out for the girl... Except this time I couldn't reach far enough. I had manged to pull that one scared girl along kicking and screaming, but I couldn't force Heather out of her hole.

 

     “Heather. It's me, Laven. Come on. You can't stay in there. We have to go!”

 

The girl was just another couple arm lengths out of reach. It was a tight spot, and my body was much too large to even think of crawling in any further. A dizzy and sickening feeling of claustrophobia made my stomach do back flips stopped me from even trying. It seemed to open up so that she could sit curled up with her knees tucked into her chest, but there was just no physical means for me to crawl in after her.

 

No matter how far I tried to reach with my hand, the girl did not respond. Neither did she move closer. She reminded me of a petrified rabbit deep in its burrow. Then Rose approached and stood beside me.

 

     “Is she really there? We gotta hurry, Laven.”

 

The acoustics of that hole in the wall were something else. An ear piercing shriek echoed off the walls and hit me like a turbo charged drill bit boring into my skull. Heather came to life in an instant and retreated further into the burrow until she could go no further. I had to pull back my hand to cover my ringing ears.

 

Why?

 

I didn't have to think too long. The pieces well into place rather quickly. Rose squat down next to me when she heard the scream, and she became concerned. She also placed a reassuring claw on the back of my head when I writhed in pain from having a sonic lance shoved through my already weary ear drums.

 

     “Laven? What's the problem?”

 

I had to pull back and sit my butt down in front of the opening. The ringing in my ears, the rumbling of the earth and the sound of the battle being waged behind us were all weighting down on me rather harshly. Our time was limited, and I didn't know when everything would come crumbling down. But I couldn't leave Heather here. No matter what.

 

     I looked over to Rose, “You need to step back.”

 

She was a little slow on the pickup.

 

     “You're scaring her.”

 

The look on Rose's face told me that she simply wasn't able to conceive why. That she hadn't done anything wrong was likely what was going through her head right now.

 

     “Just step back. Please.”

 

Rose stood back up and slowly backed away. She looked up toward the ceiling and all around, studying the walls and keeping an eye on falling rocks. Her eyes kept track of the battle I could still hear being waged between the witch and demon. I'd need to convince Heather to come out, and I would have to do it fast. I just had to coax a single terrified five year old that the monster under her bed just wanted to join her tea party. It couldn't be that hard, right?

 

     “Heather. I need you to listen and listen carefully.”

 

Too forceful. My tone was far too forceful to be speaking to a child. I had to take a deep breath to calm down. It was a tall order. The specter of death was looming over all our shoulders. It put a damper on my mood.

 

     “I know you are scared, but you have to come out of there. The roof is going to fall.”

 

     “No!” Heather screamed back.

 

The whine of energy and the sound of artificially pulverized of rock washed from the far side of the cavern to us. Rose had stepped back like I asked, and her voice fluttered back as she kept an eye on it.

 

     “Laven, we need to move,” Rose said, sounding dire.

 

I heard her and pressed on.

 

     “Heather,” I said her name in too harsh a tone again, “I'm sorry. I lied to you and everyone else. I'm not Lola. There was never a Lola. But I did all that for all you girls. I was never going to hurt any of you. You might not believe that, but it's true. And I'm not going to hurt you now.”

 

Silence. It was better than a 'no' at least.

 

     “The headmaster was in on it... Before she went bad... That's why she was able to call me out before. See?... Hey. Remember the cleaning? The piggyback ride? The cafeteria when I made the bully go away?... I need you to trust me. If you can't, you just need to do it one more time. There won't be another time if you don't trust me and stay in there. You need to let me help you... Let us help you.”

 

On the word 'us' I saw the girl flinch. She was still sensitive to Rose's presence nearby. I could see the silhouette of her head shake violently back and forth.

 

     “No! Don't wanna be eaten!”

 

The whine of magic and the sundering of stone was getting closer.

 

     “Laven. Sooner is better than later,” Rose said, her voice gone from dire to deeply concerned.

 

I closed my eyes and knit my eyebrows together. My time at that abbey had been short, and I had missed out on those prayers and lessons those girls had to attend. Now I was starting to understand at last what those kinds of lectures and prayer sessions entailed. These were orphans, the most vulnerable. They were the powerless, and they were all girls. There was a temptation within reach, and the Church knew it. They were terrified these girls might learn of it. The Crone knew about it as well. It didn't take much of a push; and one day later, we had lost ten souls to her without a fight.

 

Who wants to be scared and powerless forever when they needn't be? How do you convince them there is no other option? By filling their heads with misinformation. It worked for The Crone who no doubt promised no strings attached magic powers and youth... It would of course work the other way around. Who would willingly set themselves onto the dinner plates of hungry monsters or offer their souls to damnation?

 

     “Her name is Rose. And she's not going to eat you.”

 

     “No!”

 

She was still stubborn and terrified.

 

     “Do you at least trust me?”

 

Silence again. I decided to take that meant it wasn't a 'no'.

 

     “Good. Then you can trust her.”

 

The little girl's response was slow, but it was the clutch question, “...Why?”

 

I was expecting that question to come up eventually. Somewhere in the back of my head I had already settled on the best way to answer it. Something said which this little girl would understand. That did not make it any easier for me to say it. I opened my mouth, but no words came out. My lips flapped uselessly; a second attempt got a few murmurs out. I took a couple of deep breathes, stilled my beating heart and spoke softly.

 

     “Because she's my wife.”

 

I could feel a neck twist, and a pair of eyes bury themselves into the back of my head. There was an uncontrollable wincing on my behalf, and my face flushed red. I even tried to say it as quiet as I could. Rose hadn't lost her composure and pounced on me, so maybe I was lucky, and she wasn't quite sure what she heard. Still, her instincts and ears were inhumanly sharp.

 

The seconds passed like hours. Heather did not make a sound, and I wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad one. On one hand she had yet to reject what I had said, but she didn't seem to accept it either. But there was eventually a shift and a shuffle. I put myself flat on my stomach again and reached into the hole. Something tiny and fragile placed itself on the palm of my hand.

 

I gently grabbed hold and slowly helped pull the girl free. Heather's nightgown was tattered, torn and dusty. The natural blond curls in her hair were a mess and matted. She looked more like a stray dog than a child. When I pulled her out I picked her up, and she hugged tightly onto my chest. She buried her face as she trembled, and fresh tears soaked my breast. Heather hiccoughed weakly as she tried to hold back from wailing uncontrollably.

 

     “Laven! Move it!” Rose yelled.

 

There was no time to stand around and bask in the glow of reuniting. Rose tugged me hard once by the back of my shirt's collar, and we both ran and jumped over a boulder for cover. A human sized projectile blew away the wall we were just at with the destructive power of an explosive cannon ball. I wrapped my arm around Heather's head when the shower of rocks rained down, and all three of us coughed when the billowing cloud of dust tumbled outward from the explosion.

 

I looked over at the devastation and saw The Crone stuck in the wall. The limestone looked more like drywall given how it gave out so easily from such a small girl. Her chest puffed out and retreated back, so she was still alive, but the red barrier that protected her had many holes in it as it shimmered and shone constantly. It had lost the ability to be invisible; and just like a dying light bulb, it was flickering and soon to go out completely.

 

There was no sign of Ba'el, but that would soon change. We needed to get moving before they returned to exchanging blows.

 

Rose was already getting busy with the rope she had found. When I turned my attention to her, she had already tied a third of the rope securely around her waist. She tossed the other end toward me. With one arm cradling Heather's bottom against my chest, I caught it with my free hand.

 

     “Tie it good and tight. Come on!” Rose said urgently.

 

I studied the end of the rope. My eyes then wandered over the shivering girl who was still refusing to even look at Rose and was smushing her face into my shoulder. Then I looked over to Rose, who was looking up and pointing out a climbing path along the wall. Her tail sparked, but my eye spied it sputter a couple of times. My heart sunk; but at the same time, it glowed warm in my chest. A feeling of calm washed over me, and I had pushed into a second wind within my resolve.

 

A tight knot around Heather's waist is what was needed. I told her to bear with it when she winced in pain. If it wasn't tight, there was a good chance it would hurt a lot later. The fall would kill her, and I would never allow that after being given the good fortune of her still being alive and in one piece. When I finished with the improvised knot and harness I set the girl gently on the ground and stood up. Rose and I stood up at the same time, and she turned to me with one last smile. No doubt she was very proud of herself. It put my mind at ease. She had confidence in a climbing plan she had devised on the fly. That smile didn't last long though. Rose's eyes followed the rope from her waist down to Heather. The little girl ducked behind me when the salamander's gaze reached her.

 

     “Laven?” Rose said with a hollow voice.

 

     “Go,” I said.

 

Rose was confused.

 

     “Laven?” She said again, pleading this time.

 

     “Get Heather out of here.”

 

Nothing but silence from her.

 

     “You're running on fumes, Rose. You don't have to try hiding it. I know you better than that.”

 

Rose shook her head, but I interrupted her when she tried to protest.

 

     “Heather and I are too much weight for you to handle right now... Take the girl.”

 

Rose looked at me with a thousand yard stare.

 

     “We don't have the time for this, Rose. The girl has priority.”

 

Rose's eyes drifted toward the floor; her eyes glistened once again, but only because of the tears welling up in her eyes.

 

     “Rose. I have one more piece of unfinished business here, so take the girl and go. Get her off the mountain.”

 

I slowly closed my eyes. I put a hand on top of Heather's head and gently ruffled her unkempt curls in my hand. There was still a warmth in that girl which gave me the resolve to carry on. I let go out her hair and then clenched those fists at my sides.

 

     “Go to the river. Meet up with the others.... When dawn comes look behind you. It won't be a trick on your eyes, and it won't be a phantom... I'll promise you this: I'll be there.”

 

I opened my eyes, and Rose was already on top of me. Her breast pushed up against my chest, her claws wrapped around my neck and she stood up on the tips of her talons. Rose's lips pressed up my own. Her hot breath tickled me, and an incredible amount of warmth from her internal fire washed over into me. I slowly closed my eyes again and let the feeling of her lips and her scent dominate my senses. My sore limbs and cold blood warmed up on the spot... But I had felt her warmer than this before. She really couldn't hide it. Rose was running out steam.

 

My clenched fists relaxed. My shaking hands went still, and my knuckles which felt chilled came to life once again. I reached up with my hands, and the tips of my fingers grazed her thin waist, barely, but I pulled back. I reached up and placed my hands on her shoulders instead and slowly pushed her away. Rose pulled back as I pushed, and our lips separated. I opened my eyes again and saw our breath mingled in what little room there was between us.

 

Rose's amber eyes looked up at me, they were still wet, but they had not yet broken free into full-fledged tears. I kept pushing her back slowly, gradually. I had to put some force into it, but eventually she rolled back onto the heels of her talons, and her claws unlocked around my neck. She took a few steps backward, very slowly. Heather was still clinging to my leg, and she was looking up at both of us with a stupor of disbelief. That was very likely the first time she had ever witnessed something like that. Perhaps she had only heard why such a thing like that is done. I placed my hand back on her head and guided her so she stood in front of me.

 

     “Heather. Go with Rose now. Your sisters are worried and waiting for you. Tell them... and everyone, that I'll make my way down soon.”

 

The little girl was no longer clinging desperately to me. Rose had turned around and knelt down. She held her claws out as footsteps for Heather to jump on her back. She hesitated for a few seconds, but she eventually climbed up on the salamander's back. Rose stood up with the girl's arms wrapped tightly around her neck. Her fiery tail was still burning, but it sputtered a couple times. Rose did not turn around again. She walked over to the wall and dug her claws into the stone. Her sharp claws made solid holds out of the wall. The talons on her feet made good footholds as well.

 

I watched the girl move up the wall like a gecko. She quickly cleared one story, then two, soon she was above the crumbled balcony. My heart nearly stopped when the ground shook again, and one of her claw holds came loose. A portion of the wall fell out, and she had to swing aside as it fell and crashed into the ground only a few meters in front of me. Heather shrieked in fright; but with the rope connecting them and her clinging for dear life, they kept together until Rose shifted over to the left and got a better hold.

 

The angle of the ceiling got extreme near the end, but Rose clung tightly against the wall and scurried along. She quickly reached the opening in the ceiling from where the pale moonlight shone in. The red moon had finally subsided at last. With one last burst of strength and flare of heat from her tail, Rose crawled out of the cavern with Heather on her back. I continued to stare up at the skylight for a few seconds. Rose made no move to return. We didn't have enough rope to string down so that I could climb up either. Everyone else was busy getting the hell off this mountain like I had asked. I sighed in relief.

 

I continued to stand my ground and looked up with a smile on my face even as the ground shook once more, and an avalanche of rocks from higher up the mountain slid over the opening in the ceiling and blocked it off. A few stones and boulders slipped through the opening and came crashing down in the center of the cavern, but when the rumbling stopped, the only light that remained was a few stubborn flicking candles, lamps and the glowing aura of two ancient beings engaged in battle.

 

There was still one last order of business. I turned around and watched as the illuminated figure of Ba'el was striding toward the battered and bruised body of The Crone.

 

     “Alright... Alright... You win...” The Crone said, wheezing.

 

She sounded as though one of her lungs had collapsed.

 

     She strained to cackle and taunted Ba'el further, “Are you quite done with your temper tantrum by now-”

 

Ba'el grabbed hold of the witch's head in her paw, pulled it back and then slammed it back against the wall. The thunderous splintering stone heralded the ruthlessly strong blow. I studied The Crone's face from a distance, but I could still see the overt pain on her face. A splotch of red remained where her head was resting now. That expression on her face implied to me that the agony she was experiencing was alien to her. Indeed, the shield which had been protecting her until now had been broken.

 

The demon took a couple steps back to let that sink in. The Crone peeled off the wall, slid back down to the floor and collapsed there in a heap. She was messed up. That little girl face of hers, stolen straight from some stereotypical fifties' advertisement, had been on the receiving end of a beating one time too many. It was swollen, blackened, brutalized. She was still completely shocked as her hands reached up as if to hold her head from splitting apart. I'm sure that was it felt like after having one's head slammed into a wall that hard.

 

     “Why?” The Crone wheezed. “What do you gain by taking all your self loathing out on me?”

 

Ba'el's tail swished, and her ears twitched. She grabbed hold of The Crone and lifted her off the ground and pressed her back against the wall.

 

     The witch cracked a smile missing a couple of teeth and cackled, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall. Who is the biggest hypocrite of them all?”

 

Ba'el's paws clenched tighter and made it even more difficult for The Crone to breathe.

 

     “What have... What have I done that you haven't? Huh? I... I just wanted to give back... To all the children. To all the powerless people. I've asked for far less in return than you ever have... Well? What do you say to that, Ba'el?”

 

     “That was a lifetime ago, Hilda.” Ba'el's voice rumbled.

 

The Crone's smile widened to hear the demon respond.

 

     “A demon... Doesn't have lifetimes... Just one long... unending... existence. Something like you does not get to say otherwise.”

 

The Crone's swollen and blackened eyes opened wide with realization.

 

     “Maybe you actually think that,” She couldn't hold back her laughter, even in the position she was in, “Ha ha ha! Then why don't you just go back to the hells and sit there? Huh? Why not? Can you answer that much?”

 

Ba'el did not respond to that; she merely continued to glare at the witch.

 

     “I. Thought. So... Eee hee hee hee. You wake up lost and confused. Missing parts of yourself. Finding something else there instead... Did you actually think for even just a moment you could ever be anything else? A demon takes and takes and takes. Even when she gives, it's only in return for something far more valuable. If I go away, do you think you can really leave the past behind? The past isn't in me. I'm building a new future, the future the Demon Lord wishes for every living thing from this corner of the world to the other. Isn't that what you want? I know that is what you want. You've always had a soft spot, even for a demon. So why not just give into that desire of yours?”

 

The Crone's eyes narrowed, and her voice became deep.

 

     “It's because of the past. The past in you, Ba'el. You carry it wherever you go. That's why the world always seemed to move on while you stayed the same. You hid right under my nose for all these years, but you could never stay put for long. So did you not let go? Give the future a chance. It doesn't have to be so scary. We can still be like we were so long ago-ACK!”

 

Ba'el pulled the witch closer just enough so that she had the room to pushed her back against the wall. I wasn't sure how much of the crack I heard was from the wall or The Crone.

 

     “Go on then!” The Crone howled through the pain. “Finish it like the demon you are-”

 

I stood far enough away that I could not catch every nuance, but even I could see from the glint that Ba'el's red eyes had vanished. Her green goat-like ones had returned.

 

     “No, Hilda,” Ba'el said, missing the demonic murmur in her voice, “We were never the same. You were human, and I was the demon. I made you the way you are now hoping to see a human without chains. Could they ever stand on par with demons? Would demons ever see them as anything more? Those are the questions I spent centuries trying to answer. I could never be human, you're right. But no human could ever truly be a demon either. We'd have to meet in the middle. That's what I thought a long time ago. But then I learned there was no middle. All I managed to create was something twisted. I failed to answer my question. I was defeated. Disgraced. Then I was leashed and let loose upon humanity by a tyrant not even I could deny. I failed to learn what divide there is between a man and a demon... So I simply left everything behind... Then the world changed. I awoke one day, and I felt like a whole new perspective was opened to me. Perhaps there was a middle where I thought one never existed before. It took forty years and the last couple of days for me to figure out the answer to the question that has haunted me for thousands of years. It's funny. I had all the time in the world before now, but it was all just wasted years.”

 

Ba'el lowered The Crone back down so that her feet could touch the floor.

 

     The Crone's face softened, she poked and pleaded for answer, “A-and what did you figure out?”

 

     “Not enough time, Hilda. I told you I have nothing left to teach you. Don't worry about it. You don't need to know the answer. Where we're going now, you won't need it, and it will better there than what awaits us here.”

 

     A lump formed in The Crone's throat, “W-what? You wouldn't. You couldn't! You'll destroy yourself. You can't kill me. You can't take my power away. Those were always part of the deal!”

 

     “I would, and I can... There no future wherever you go. And it's about time for me to clean up the mess that I started. I hope you enjoyed yourself because this free ride is at its end... And if you really want to know what I learned, then you'll just have to figure it out on your own when you arrive at wherever twisted pieces of shit like yourself end up.”

 

     The witch's face went pale, and tears fell freely from her eyes “...Why?”

 

     “You've wasted countless years out of all these girls and boys you roped into your little fan-club," Ba'el raised a single finger from her paw, "You did it for yourself and for no other reason than that. You can't stand not being in control, so don't try to stand on the moral high ground and call me a demon that only takes," She lifted a second finger. "You twisted the lives of beings beyond recognition." She lifted her third and final finger. "You had a lot longer than I had to get things right, and you fouled it all up. You haven't grown or learned anything. And after what I've seen tonight, you never will," she stuck out her thumb. "But the biggest reason of them all... You made one mistake. Just one. You pissed me off.”

 

Ba'el's fingers curled up against her palm, and her thumb crossed those fingers while she cocked her arm back. Her fist became coated in the same green aura of flames that it was before. The Crone looked at it with vacant eyes, but she let out a scream when it rushed toward her at full force. I had to turn and look away. What I couldn't close was my ears. There was a wet thud and crack of stone, and the short lived shriek died. Then there were winds. Powerful scathing winds.

 

I opened my eyes and had to immediately shield my face. Where The Crone and Ba'el once stood together, there was now the demon and the outline of some headless form. There was no mess, but there was something torn in space where a head should be. It was empty, and it was pulling everything in toward it. The blackness of that space reminded me of that cold, living dark matter that made up abyssal energy. It must be abyssal energy. It wasn't exploding upon being released, like I would expect, it was collapsing in on itself.

 

The rest of The Crone's body did not stay for long; it was the first thing to collapse inward into the abyss. Swirls of dust and loose pebbles followed soon after. Ba'el stood her ground and started retreating backward a step at a time while shielding her face. Swirls of gray dust and black mist were being sucked into the empty sphere of nothing like a vacuum cleaner. I could feel the winds rip past me, but I myself did not feel my body being pulled closer. A few rocks bounced painfully off my back as I dared to even see if I could approach closer.

 

It did not take long until the sphere reached critical mass and began to throb. The mountain itself seemed confused as a titanic battle was taking place between gravity, trying to bring the whole place down, and this anomaly, which threw a wrench into the very laws of nature itself. That was when the hole sprung to life and streaks of white lightning lashed out. A thousand whips raked across Ba'el and shocked her.

 

A scream died in her throat as an unfathomable amount of energy from some unknown place electrocuted her. I knew reality had broken down completely when she lit up like an x-ray; I saw her skeleton flash brightly as though her whole body was being broken down to base components and then promptly put back together as it resisted oblivion. A pale blue light shone from her head, and as the magic black hole finally started to die, Ba'el's physical form remained. It did let off smoke as it wavered on her hooves for a couple seconds until collapsing onto the floor.

 

That was the last the cavern could withstand. It simply could not tolerate the abuse anymore. A large chunk of the ceiling gave way in the distance and hit the ground with an earth-shattering bang. There was no time left, but I couldn't turn away from the demon sprawled out on the ground.

 

     I found myself also asking, “Why?”

 

There was no self interest in what she did. Isn't that the core things that guides all demons? She also violated her contract and oath to The Crone. Was all that happened here punishment for that?

 

I caught myself running and dropping down next to the fallen demon. I didn't stop myself. My hand reached out for her forehead which was still glowing with a blue pentagram etched with light. It was warm. She was still warm. I couldn't feel a pulse, nor could I see her flat chest rise and fall. The ceiling was still coming down. If I didn't clear the cavern soon, I'd be crushed. But there was something keeping me here. A pang of guilt?

 

There was no way I'd let things end like this.

 

I still have questions. There's surely an apology I'm owed mixed in there somewhere too. But the image of a defenseless girl being buried alive within the heart of a mountain after everything she had said and done... That was the last straw.

 

It was an impulse that drove me. My reason and common sense washed their hands of it all.

 

She was small; she was light. I slid my hands underneath her and lifted her up. It was as awkward as trying to carry a sack of potatoes, but I turned and ran all the same. The blue light shining from her forehead lit the way a bit, but almost every other light by either fire, magic, or something else was snuffed out by now. I ran and dodged the falling rocks and stepped and jumped over floor giving out. Surely my muscles would tear, but I had just a bit more adrenaline in me to keep going for a bit longer. I had some time, but how was I going to use it? The ceiling was blocked off. There was no other-

 

Wait... There was something... The handkerchief. There was a hole in the wall that lead to the outside!

 

I took a sharp turn and ran for the oaken doors leading into the Sabbath's living quarters. There was no doubt in my mind that the stone frame around those doors was warped, and they would not open, so I ran as fast as I could and threw all my weight into my shoulder. That door would break, or I would. When it cracked and easily blew off its hinges, I stumbled free at last from the cavern. It was a small victory but one desperately needed. It didn't even hurt-

 

I looked down at Ba'el still comatose in my arms. Her horns had a large plank of wood that was stuck on them...

 

     “Whoops,” I muttered, “I'll just leave this part out when I explain myself later... If there is a later.”

 

The halls were empty. Only the ruins of belongings left behind and collapsed parts of the stonework littered what was once the heart of this witches' coven. The rumbling and cracking behind me woke me up and spurred me onward. Everything was dark. and I only had a few meters of very faint light to avoid tripping on anything, or worse, falling through the floor. The whole mountain was beginning to crumble inward from the center out toward the edges. I ran and squeezed through the tight spaces and leaped over everything strewn in my path. There was no time to think. There wasn't even a moment to try and get my bearings. I could only trust my gut and take the right path backwards toward the room we had all been teleported into the night before.

 

I could feel the ground sag behind me as the straight and narrow paths started to decline behind me. Thankfully, I reached the promised land. A pale white light shone ahead in the darkness that Ba'el's blue light tattoo had difficulty banishing on its own.

 

But it was still not much larger than it was before. There was crack had splintered out from the hole which ran down to the floor, but it was much too narrow. A small girl could maybe just barely crawl out, but looking at the horns on top of Ba'el's head killed that idea quickly. A mountain falling apart can make a man desperate enough. I kicked the wall with all my might while still holding Ba'el in my arms. I risked breaking my foot and perhaps the my whole leg, but I didn't stop. There simply wasn't anything else I could do. My grunting became increasingly hoarse as flakes of rock sheered off. That I could hear the few pieces of stone click and clack their way down the mountain on the other side drove me mad, and I kicked even harder.

 

The floor suddenly sunk about thirty centimeters. It was enough to cause my knees to buckle, but I managed to stop myself from collapsing even when carrying Ba'el's extra dead weight. The floor did act as a lever though. The hole in the wall crumbled and gave way. It was still night, and the full moon was actually bright enough after running through the pure darkness to sting my eyes... Maybe my eyes stung because they were tearing up.

 

I scrambled to the edge and looked down. It wasn't a sheer drop, but it was close enough. There was a cliff that reached down until the tree line. If hitting the rocks on the way down didn't do it, hitting those trees would make me a soft and squishy ball in a deadly game of Plinko. Still, my options were limited. Falling did not seem so bad as being crushed to death.

 

I couldn't princess carry Ba'el and try climbing at the same time, so I slung her tiny body over my shoulder. With one of her paws held tightly with my left, I kept my right hand free. It was then time for the leap of faith. I backed up toward the edge, my back facing the first fresh air for the longest time. There was no way for me to know if it was the crisp mountain air or the vertigo that was making my heart flutter. It could also be that I was dreading what pain my body was about to through and whether or not it could handle it.

 

I hopped backward, dropping down and caught the edge afterwards. My body screamed in pain for just the short moment in time when I grabbed hold of the edge with my free right hand. My feet desperately looked for anything to help hold my weight up before I tore a muscle or broke a bone in my arm. Then I hung there... I had no idea what to do next.

 

A mighty crack and roar signaled the start of another titanic shift of earth. I looked to my left and saw a large portion of the mountain crumble and fall backward. The opposite happened to my left as a portion of the mountain fell inwards. My fingers were slowly started to give way, but I couldn't even maneuver enough to look down and see where I was going. Then the solid stone I was holding onto gave way. Ba'el's unconscious body and I slipped free of the mountain and went airborne. I didn't even the time to reflect on how terrible this all was. My train of thought was full of nothing but the sound of rushing air and the sight of that hole in the wall getting further and further away... until we hit the rocks far below.

 

I expected my back to break like a twig, but it was a softer landing than I expected. The shock of impact still reverberated through me, but something absorbed it... It was Ba'el. I had landed on top of her. I was sore and slow to act, but I saw that there was nothing out-of-place or bent in any wrong direction.

 

     “Right. Immortal. Thanks. Forgot about that,” I said in a daze.

 

We had fallen quite a few dozen meters down. It wasn't the treeline, it was at the bottom of the cliff just below that hole in the mountain... Which was actually getting... a bit closer now!

 

This whole side of the mountain was collapsing. The top half was falling inwards toward the center, but the bottom half was being pushed down and outward. There was a giant wave of rock crashing down like a wave of water. I looked around, and there was only a slight groove in the side of the mountain. The only thing I could do was wrap myself around Ba'el, press myself up tight against the stone and hold on for dear life. There was a slim hope it would let us dodge the falling rocks

 

The light of the moon and everything went dark.

 

***

 

My head hurt. I could hardly breathe. The air was stagnant. But there was still light. It wasn't blue. I could still feel Ba'el's body heat, and the pentagram of light on her forehead was gone. The light I was seeing now was still pale moonlight. I hardly had any room to move; I had shoved myself further into the crevice in my panic than I had thought. At least I could move my whole body. I wriggled myself the best I could to set my feet free. A crack of breaking stones rewarded my efforts. An avalanche of rocks clacked off one another nearby. There was no room to stand, I had to grab hold of Ba'el and shimmy my way out of the closed space. Below us was giant slag of debris that had uprooted the forest below. There was only about a five meter drop down to it.

 

Above... well there was hardly much above. A good chunk of the mountain had fallen back in on itself. I could imagine this tall lone mountain was now an isolated caldera in the middle of nowhere with its guts exposed to the world... Had any more of it fallen outward instead of inward, Ba'el and I would have ended up buried and crushed anyways. It was one last stroke of good fortune.

 

Or perhaps not. Ba'el was still out like a light. She was still warm to the touch, but I couldn't tell if she was actually dead or not. She wasn't breathing, and she had no heartbeat. I hesitated to give CPR—I nearly had my skull broken last time doing it—but even when I did so, she still didn't stir awake. Yet, I couldn't conclude that she wasn't alive. Her body was still loose and limber. Ba'el had shown no fear falling from such a height before; I couldn't stop myself from thinking her body somehow operated differently.

 

She was in some kind of stasis.

 

My efforts to wake the demon were interrupted by aftershocks and the sound of the mountain still falling apart in the distance. There was still a lot of this mountain which could come crashing down. It was time to leave. I needed to get out of here before dawn.

 

Navigating through the debris and not tripping and tumbling to my certain death took time. The slew of rocks didn't look too stable. I pushed on regardless. My borrowed clothes were shredded. I was bleeding all over, and just moving agitated the scabs which had formed. There was a limp in my step even if I hadn't broken anything too badly to stop me from moving at all. My skin was completely gray; I had swallowed enough dust to make cement in my stomach and more than enough was in my lungs to keep me coughing for a week straight... I couldn't stop it even now.

 

No doubt my march was like that of the living dead. Most of my strength was in trying to carry Ba'el's lifeless body in my arms; the rest was just to keep myself from falling completely over. I wouldn't say I was walking. It was just an endless effort to postpone falling flat on my face.

 

Through the woods littered with fresh new stonework. I trekked down the foothills and nearer to a river which snaked across the land below me. Past an old base camp composed of an abandoned cabin. The river was the goal. That's what I said. I could die there if I had to. Right now I just needed to keep going as the moon began to set, and the orange glow of the sun beneath the horizon told me this night was near its end.

 

My throat was parched, and the sound of the river's waters drew me in closer and closer. The mountain was far behind me now, and there was only one more rise in my way; beyond it was a bend in the river. It had to be that bend. If it wasn't, then that was the end. I would not have the strength to go on any further. I had been climbing down all this way, I only needed a little more strength to clear one small hill. My thighs and knees screamed in protest, but I forced myself onward.

 

As I crested the hill, I saw the clear calm water carrying some forest debris gently downstream. As my head appeared above the hill, I felt the warmth of the dawn sun on my back. Down below, I saw a silent collection of people waiting with gloomy looks on their faces. They sat under the shade of trees clinging to the river's edge and propped their backs up against them for some semblance of support. Not a word was spoken even though I'm sure there were many words to be had. My head eclipsed the light for just a moment, and the shadow danced quickly across the vision of some of those down below. Their heads slowly turned upward toward the hill, and they were greeted with my dour, beaten and bloody face.

 

I saw Rose's fiery tail spark and flutter as she stood upright immediately. Shoshanah was kneeling amongst the children; her paws rushed to her face, and she barely held back a noise that was about to escape her lips. Chris turned around and heaved a sigh of relief before standing at attention and saluting. Minte... I barely caught her out of the corner of my eye at the edge of everyone gathered together; she actually had a smile on her face.

 

When I stood upon the top of the hill their expressions changed. They saw I was carrying Ba'el in my arms. It was the children this time whose faces lit up. I heard a few quiet hushed voices call out Isabelle. I was surprised they would see fit to call her that. There was no fanfare. Not enough energy remained for celebration. All there was, was a cathartic release.

 

And the sound of water crashing.

 

I knew not where it came from; but following the direction, Minte's antenna swung to pointed me downriver. A splash of water, rhythmic and monotonous. A quieter, but distinct and escalating, sound of trodden wood and clanking iron. From behind the river bend came a boat. A river boat powered by a paddle wheel in the rear. A black chimney spewed a queer green smoke into the air that dissolved completely into the air unlike smoke from a fire... Or soot from coal.

 

It was a riverboat. Just as large as one too. What was it doing out here though? At this place at this time?... I think I already knew, but I refused to acknowledge it without proof.

 

The riverboat quickly pulled up on the shore, and the men and women running about on its decks were scurrying to drop anchor and lower the gangplank. It happened quickly and professionally. A whole platoon of men and women armed head to toe marched double time and fanned out to secure the shore. They huddled around one person in particular.

 

The girls readied themselves, but their movements were understandably slow. There was nowhere to run anyways. Meanwhile, I plodded down the hill and into the camp with the others as the troop of knights, adorned and ready for war, surrounded us all.

 

     “...Grand Cardinal Ulmpher...” I growled.

 

A trio of knights split apart. One with blond hair I remember from before. He had an irritating, handsome face complete with smug smile and overall punchable face. The one who came out was an older woman with bluish-gray, and piecing baby-blue eyes, yet she hardly a wrinkle on her. Her pure white robes embroidered with vibrant golds and reds oozed wealth and importance, yet she seemed not to care at all about the mud and dirt coating them as she approached.

 

     “Mr. Laven,” She greeted me while daring to step beyond her entourage, “Well done. I only dared to hope for such results in my wildest daydreams.”

 

Her old tired face graced me with a smile that chilled my blood.

 

     “I shall take over everything from here.”