As they quickened their pace, heavy raindrops began to patter against the ground. Fierce winds howled through the coral blades, flinging clods of mud and strands of seaweed into the air. Storm clouds massed overhead, dimming the sunlight, and a cold twilight descended upon the labyrinth.
Nephis ran with all her might, just behind Sunless, who led the small party, choosing the most direct path toward the cliffs with the aid of his shadow.
Cassia rode the Echo, its eight legs splashing through the mud at the rear. Ariandel balanced upon the creature's shoulder, his bow in hand.
Freed from the need to dodge monsters and with death breathing down their necks, they moved with breathtaking speed. Side passages and crimson walls blurred past. There was no time to conserve strength: if they reached the cliffs even a minute too late, their lives would end. They had to give everything.
Though ready for battle, as her companion had warned, the labyrinth's denizens were as desperate as they were; the bulky creatures were scrambling to hide within the coral mounds or burrow into the earth.
On the rare occasions one showed aggression, a single arrow from Ariandel—even bent by the rising winds—was enough to deter it.
But however swift they ran, the storm was swifter. Rain turned into a relentless downpour, each drop a torrent. The winds grew more violent, buffeting their bodies hard enough to throw them off balance. Light faded further, reducing visibility to almost nothing.
At last, a blinding bolt of lightning tore through the darkness, followed almost instantly by a deafening thunderclap.
In the chaotic gloom, Nephis heard a voice cutting through the thunder and speaking directly to her soul:
"We'll make it! Keep going!"
She felt water swirling around her ankles.
The sea was returning...
Nephis could not tell from where the water came, but with each passing minute it rose higher. Soon it reached her knees, then her waist, making running nearly impossible. The group's speed slowed markedly.
Then, in a sudden flash of lightning, they saw a dark mass of stone ahead.
They had reached the cliffs.
Almost at the same instant, a terrible, thunderous roar echoed up from the labyrinth's depths. Nephis glanced back, straining to see through the darkness. She heard Sunless shout:
"There's no time! We have to climb!"
Nephis saw Ariandel leap into the water with Cassia in his arms and heard him say firmly:
"Sunny, abandon the Echo!"
Without waiting for a response, he stooped to let Cassia clamber onto his shoulders, then tied himself to her with the golden cord.
Understanding they no longer needed its help, Nephis pressed on. She gritted her teeth and grasped the slick stones of the cliff face.
They began their ascent, racing against time to gain height before the black torrent overtook them. A little while later, Sunless cried out:
"Hold fast!"
In the next instant, a wall of dark water smashed against the rocks just meters below their feet. As Nephis clung with all her strength, the entire cliff trembled. Rocks broke loose from somewhere above, crashing perilously close to her head.
Yet all four remained alive.
But the danger was far from over. The ebony flood continued its relentless climb, now with frightening speed, threatening to engulf them at any moment. They had to keep climbing—and faster than the sea.
To survive, they needed to scale the cliff face with mad speed, yet without error. One slip would mean being crushed against the rock, drowned, or devoured by giant monsters.
The torrential rain and hurricane-force winds made everything worse.
Nephis climbed on with iron resolve, even as her alabaster skin tore against the jagged stones.
When another lightning flash illuminated the tempest, she saw Ariandel already atop the peak. She would not be far behind—but then noticed Sunless lagging.
Ariandel wound the golden cord around his own torso and tossed the other end back to Nephis. She secured it around her arm, spotted Sunless, and flung the rope toward him.
Nephis watched as Sunless's hand slipped from the coral. Just before the black waters claimed him, he latched onto the rope. Feeling his weight yanking at her, she nearly lost her grip.
Wasting no time, they resumed the climb aided by the rope. Soon she felt Ariandel's steady hand. Together, they hauled Sunless up.
Exhausted, Nephis and Sunless collapsed onto the ground, gasping...
After a while, she glanced briefly at Sunless and then at Ariandel, who stood watching the storm on the horizon—his robes dry, his long braid immaculate, his gaze calm.
Cassia stood beside him, one hand on his arm while he interlaced his fingers with hers.
Nephis finally exhaled.
They had survived.
...
For several minutes Sunless lay on the ground, letting the cold rain sting his face. From time to time a bolt cleaved the sky, bathing everything in a blinding light that vanished as quickly as it came. Otherwise, the darkness was nearly absolute. Were it not for his Attribute, he could barely make out the silhouettes of Nephis and Cassia resting close by.
Yet a creeping sense of unease began to stir—slow but insistent. Something was wrong. Sunless frowned, straining to pinpoint the source of his discomfort.
At last he realized: it was his shadow. It stood beside Ariandel and—at Ariandel's request—was trying to draw his attention to something.
'No... please... let me rest. I just want to rest.'
Weariness overwhelmed him, exhaustion crushing both body and mind. He wanted to ignore it. But the ever-perfect bastard and the somber shadow were unbearably insistent.
Ariandel's gentle voice reached him, carried by the bond with the shadow:
{Sunny, we have a problem. My sixth sense detected something... a company. Please, I need your eyes.}
'Company? Company?!'
Suddenly Sunless was no longer so tired. He sprang to his feet, alarm etched in his abrupt movements, and turned to Nephis.
"What is it?" she asked, her eyes fixed on him, a mix of curiosity and alertness.
Sunless swallowed hard, feeling the weight of expectation. He looked through his shadow to Ariandel's iridescent eyes, which seemed to pierce the darkness and stare straight into his soul.
"Ariandel..."
Sunless hesitated, but his Flaw pushed him onward:
"He found company... and wants me to see who it is."
Nephis rose at once, summoning her sword. Cassia, for her part, turned her blind eyes toward Sunless, as if trying to see something beyond his words.
With customary calm, Ariandel added:
{Ah, I forgot to mention: we have eight scavenger corpses here. But, well... the most important thing is to check on the one responsible for ridding us of these unwanted tenants... and, of course, to thank them for their courtesy.}
Sunless froze. Terror consumed him in an instant, gooseflesh prickling the nape of his neck.
"What?!" he exclaimed—only to realize Ariandel could not hear him directly. They were not telepaths, after all.
Noticing his expression, Nephis narrowed her eyes.
"Sunny?"
{Come, my stealthy friend. Bid the ladies farewell and come peer with me at the monster capable of felling eight scavengers alone. I may be invisible, but only you see in the dark.}
Sunless drew a deep breath, gathering his courage. At last he murmured to the two:
"I'll go with Ariandel. I'll find out what it is and return... stay here, and keep quiet."
He moved away, each step heavier than the last. Even so, he pressed forward, driven by the strange mixture of irritation and fascination that Ariandel's exasperating calm always stirred in him.
When he arrived, he found Ariandel seated upon his imaginary chair, the somber shadow resting at his feet as if it belonged to him.
The pupil-less, mystical eyes—rich in color, still vibrant even in the gray world of shadows, their patterns shifting like those of a kaleidoscope—were fixed upon his own.
And for some reason, that was more unsettling than anything that might lurk in the surrounding darkness.