Chapter 10: Fallen

Once we gather our bearings, we continue moving through the Labyrinth. Raksha isn't being talkative in the least, and I can't blame him. If I were him, I wouldn't be able to look at me, either.

"How long as it been since we started?" Marcus asks, and I notice the earth around us slowly turning into a different type of soil, this one having moss all over it.

"At least a few days," Aisha replies, also checking out the moss. "I think we're about to enter a Chamber."

"Down here?" I turn toward her. "What do you mean? What king of chamber?"

"The Labyrinth connects hundreds of them, each one containing something inside of it. It's a magical place, the Labyrinth, always spreading, connecting things that should otherwise remain unconnected. The Chambers inside should mostly be empty, but if we're unlucky, we'll run into something bad."

I don't like the sound of that, but, if we're being honest, there isn't a single pleasant part of this underground hellhole. Forward is the only way. I just hope it isn't one of those Labyrinths that keeps bringing you back to the spot you started at.

As we walk ahead, the ceiling starts getting lower and lower, and the soil slowly turns to cobblestone. Before long, we're in an empty, circular room, with three other exits out of it.

"Perfect," Marcus says, scratching his head. "Anyone know where we should go?"

From one of the exits, a loud roar echoes.

"Not that one," we all agree, and choose the one furthest from that. Within minutes, we're back to the same soil as before, as if the room was never there to begin with. Raksha suddenly grabs Aisha and me, then pulls us to the side, behind a big boulder. Marcus quickly follows.

"What is it?" I ask. I can't sense anyone there.

"Quiet," the djinn tells me, and I glue my eyes to the space next to us. A whole group of the spectres passes us by, a ghoul among them. They pay us no mind, which makes zero sense.

"Don't they home in on mana?" Aisha nods at my inquiry.

"They're following something else right now."

"Arrow?" I hope they get her, but I wouldn't count on it.

"No. We would've sensed her," Marcus replies, then smirks. "They're following Ryan's orders. Wherever she is, they're bound to follow."

I could almost kiss him. "Marcus, you're a genius!"

"I know! I keep telling people that, but no one ever believes me!"

"We follow them, and we'll find Ryan," Aisha concludes. "The assassin is probably with her by now. I don't doubt that Ryan's gonna attempt to get out of here. We follow those spectres, and we'll find the exit. Everyone in?"

Considering we have no other plan to speak of, we all agree, and sneak after them. It takes us a bit, since they're moving at a snail's pace, but we do succeed in reaching a new area. The ground beneath us is slowly changing into something cold, and it's obviously being caused by magic. Whose magic, though? Ryan has her shadows, and Arrow her, well, arrows.

"Someone else is here," Aisha says aloud. Glad to have another thinker on the team.

"You are wrong," Raksha counters, surprising the rest of us.

"Explain," the girl tells him.

"It is not a someone that is the source of the ice magic, but something. This magic is not human in nature, nor is it djinn-" He spares me a glance. "-or fay. This magic is much darker in origin."

"What is it, then?" I ask, and the worried look on his face has me wishing more than ever that I was back home, before this mess happened.

"A devil."

Marcus starts laughing at that, forcing Aisha to punch him in the shoulder. "What?" he says, still stifling his giggles. "Like you guys believe in them? They're the one myth that's not real!"

"What do you mean, Raksha?" I ask again, hoping he'd at least look at me longer. There aren't many bridges I can afford to burn, and he's the one I'm closest to at the moment. Sad? Definitely. We are strangers, and it's like I have some grand expectations of the future, but it'd suck to have to do this alone.

Instead of looking at me, he keeps walking after the spectres. "They were free to roam the earth long ago, but the fairies beat them back and sealed them away. I guess one got loose due to the fairies' extinction."

"Fairies were real, too?" Marcus blurts out, no longer laughing. "I know we've got magic n' shit, but this is a bit too much info." Preaching to the choir, Marcus. Preaching to the fucking choir.

"It seems someone in the upper levels of the kingdom's hierarchy has been keeping secrets," concludes Aisha just as we reach the part of the Labyrinth where the floor is just ice, and nothing more. The spectres are getting harder and harder to keep track of in all this whiteness, but at least the ghoul's still there. A few more steps, and I start picking up on human magic signatures. The stronger of the two is also much darker, and familiar.

"Ryan," I stat, and Raksha nods.

"We'll have to battle them both, and we failed against the assassin alone."

"We don't have to beat her," Aisha responds, peaking around the corner to make sure we don't bump into anything unsavoury. "Ryan's controlling the spectres, right? If so, we just need to get rid of her for good, and then her helper will be in as much danger against the undead as we are. We'll use that as a chance to escape."

"Escape?" I ask, and she points upward. All I see is a ceiling that's getting higher and higher the further one goes in that direction.

"There is a hole on top," Raksha says, holding out his hand. "I can feel a breeze coming from it."

I flex my wings a bit. I could probably reach it, but then Aisha and Marcus would know about me, and I'm not sure that would be wise. I can't well leave them to die, either. Besides, I'd just get shot down by an arrow and soon as they noticed me – assuming they haven't already sensed us, that is. Another option is having Raksha summon winds to carry us, but that would leave us with the same conundrum.

"Hey, Marcus, what kind of magic do you use?" I ask, and the mage smirks at me.

"Took you long enough to realize how awesome-"

"He makes illusions," Aisha interrupts, then smacks the back of his head.

I glance at Raksha, then reach out and touch his arm. You're looking at me one way or another. "You take us up there, and while you do, Marcus can create an illusion to fool Arrow into aiming elsewhere. Once that's done, all we have to do is make sure the hole caves in, ceiling the two in here for good. Obi, too. He deserves it." Not really, but I'm not in the mood for mercy. He opted to save himself, and now I'm opting to do the same. He can't blame me for it.

Suddenly, I feel a dark presence next to me, and a wave of magic hits each of us. Shadows slam into us, sending us flying in several different directions. Raksha and Aisha land on their feed, but Marcus and I both hit the same wall.

"Well, well, well," the remnant of Ryan says. "Look what we have here; The kitties who murdered me." The dark, solid spectre turns to me, revealing her insane grin to be much wider than it was when she was alive. "I'm going to enjoy this more than you-"

A small ball of fire slams into her as she says that, and then a gust of wind blows her away.

"Don't speak so much, moron," Aisha hisses. Marcus gets up before I do, and starts running toward the two, who are somehow getting stronger. How?

Oh.

OH.

Raksha and Aisha are linking. Good. Their magic is compatible. They'll definitely destroy this thing.

However, they're forgetting about someone else. I jump up, then run toward Aisha, and throw myself at her. The arrow that would have killed her pierces the ground, and we move behind a wall before another one can come at us.

"She's slower than before," I suggest. "Otherwise, we'd be dead by now."

"We've got a bigger problem here," Marcus whimpers, and I realize the shadows around Ryan's remnant are growing.

"You can't kill what's already dead, dears," she growls, then waves her arm at me. A wave of darkness surges toward Aisha and I, but we get out of the way before it hits us, giving us a good look at the wall being completely demolished. This, in turn, allows us to see something horrible standing there, a good distance away, where the Labyrinth's walls don't reach.

"Snow." I whisper. He's alive. He's there, and he's standing. She didn't kill him. He's alive. Snow's alive! "Snow!" I yell at him, but he doesn't turn around. Ryan's giggling earns her my attention again.

"You'll find he's a bit different from what you're used to, dears. You see, I've finally tested something Medea and I have been trying out for centuries now."

"What did you do to him?" I reply, getting ready to reach her. If I get her in my dreams, she'll be torn to so many pieces, no shadow will be able to put her back together.

She grins at me again, and her form starts turning back into her human one, albeit completely made of shadows. "Don't you know why we use Amplifiers instead of the lumina crystals themselves? Haven't you heard the stories? I bet your friend has." She nods at Raksha. "Yes, you must have at least a theory about them, don't you?"

Raksha looks solemn, and doesn't reply. Instead, he slashes his hand at Ryan, sending razor sharp wind her way, which gets blocked by a slash of equally sharp shadows. "You've placed a lumina crystal inside of him, haven't you? That's where all this cold is coming from. He had ice magic."

Ryan laughs, and tries to whip him with a shadow, but Aisha burns her attack away. Fire seems strong against shadow, so we might have a shot even without my dream magic. "Indeed! Go on, kid! Tell 'em what's inside the lumina crystal!" I still don't get how the magic can be coming from Snow. He's just a weak little kid. Talented, but weak. There's no way he can do something on this scale – something so dark.

"The devils are sealed within the crystals," Raksha explains as Aisha struggles to burn through the former Apostle's defences. "A demon has taken over the boy's body, using his weakened state to take control." Ryan tries to go on the offensive, but Raksha starts blowing wind into Aisha's fireballs, giving them more kick, forcing the bitch back.

"Why would you do that?" I ask. "If they're literal devils, how could you be stupid enough to play with one?"

"How, indeed?" a child's voice says, and I realize Snow is standing right next to me. Then I realize the obvious difference between this thing and Snow; There are small horns coming out of his temples.

"I did not tell you to move, fiend," Ryan roars. "These kittens are mine!"

The devil inside Snow looks at her with half-assed interest, then points two fingers at her. "A devil will never be your slave, witch." Simply as that, he fires a beam of blue light at her abdomen. It freezes instantly, and the ice starts spreading throughout her shadowy body, cracking along the way. Ryan never gets a word out before she crumbles into nothing, finally gone for good.

Snow suddenly jumps back, and a gust of wind blows past me. Did Raksha just attack him?

"That's Snow's body!" I scream, then sense Arrow moving further away from us. Smart choice. "Don't hurt it!"

Raksha frowns. "It isn't him anymore, and none of us have magic that can separate them." I just stare at him, hoping he gets the message. It's true that wind, fire and illusions can do little in this situation, but those aren't the only forms of magic available to us at the present moment. I might be able to help things, especially if it was fairies who beat the devils the first time. I could have some logical weakness against his magic.

The devil smiles softly, looking exactly as Snow would. "I've waited thousands of years for my freedom. I'm afraid I won't part with this body willingly." He holds out his hand, and a frozen scythe appears in it. "If facing you is what I must go through to finally be free, then so be it." With blinding speed, he moves toward Marcus, then cuts his head off. He cuts it so quickly that none of us react in time to even try to stop it. Aisha counter attacks with a wave of fire, but the devil jumps back too quickly to even be singed.

"The djinn is too young to be a threat, and you humans can't do much." After he says that, the thing turns to me. "You're the only one I have to fear. As such, you'll have to die." One moment, he's standing there, and the next he's next to me. "It's a shame you'll never learn what greatness you could have achieved with a long life. Oh, well." The demon reaches out and puts his hand on my neck. One moment, we're here, and the next we're in a space of endless darkness. A barrier appears tight around my body, just as I picture it, then suddenly expands, knocking the demon back.

"You'll regret taking that body," I tell him, using my wings to lift myself slightly off the ground. "You really should've gone for my head first."

The devil slashes his scythe at me, sending icicles my way, but a wall of fire melts them all away, then flies toward, aiming to consume him whole. I picture him being pulled from Snow's body, but it doesn't happen. Instead, a wall of ice meets my fire, and the two cancel each other out.

"This is your Magus Crown, I take it?" the devil asks as a blizzard picks up around us. I counter it with a hot wind.

"Doubt it," I reply. "I don't know enough magic to use that yet. This one magic, though, is something I'm great at." A swarm of swords comes crashing down on him, but he repels them all with endless blades of ice. If he's running on Snow's mana, I'm gonna outlast him. If he's got his own reserves...

I think of him being pulled from Snow's body again, and he winces a bit, then kicks out toward me, sending a spinning circle of ice with the kick. A barrier appears around me, ending his attempt, and then ten swords surround him, just as the arrows stop. The devil jumps up to avoid being skewered, and lands a bit closer to me. Pull out!

"Enough," he spits out. "You won't drag me out of this. I won't be robbed again." He swings the scythe a few times, but I picture a few iron walls between us, stopping the attack. There's got to be more I can do – something stronger than just objects. Dream harder, Jonah.

"Leave him," I say out loud, then hear groaning. When the walls disappear, I see the devil on the ground, his scythe lying next to him. He's clutching his head, glaring at me. "Get out of his body, or feel the worst pain possible for a living being."

"Never!"

"You will die. Leave him."

"I-I welcome death! Anything is better than that hellish prison!"

The devil stands up, whirling on me. He starts throwing his magic around left and right, first summoning five clones of himself made of ice, then arming them all with scythes, and finally summoning a bigger blizzard than before. My wings start failing at its presence, so I send back a wave of hot wind a hundred times hotter than before. The blizzard stops, but the clones charge. I burn one to a crisp with a regular flicker of fire, then crush a second by dropping a house on it. The third one swipes at me, but my barrier protects me, and then vines appear all over its body and crush it to pieces.

"Leave his body now!" I scream, burning the fourth clone away, then zapping the final one into nothing with a massive bolt of lightning. "That body isn't yours! Leave him be!" Dream, Jonah! Dream harder!

"I refuse!" the devil screams, but I see darkness pouring out of Snow's body. "No, please! Not the crystal again! Kill me, boy! Kill me! I welcome death! Please, not the prison again!" Pull out of him, now!

A giant shadow is ripped out of Snow's body, which immediately slumps to the ground. I picture a blast of fire burning the devil's real self away, but its essence collects itself again.

Please, its voice calls to me. Light. Destroy me with light. I can't go back to that prison again.

I nod, then replicate the magic I've seen Ban do, making sure it's ten times stronger. I put my hands together, and imagine the brightest light possible between my palms. As I spread my hands again, the light envelops the dream world, and the devil dies as the dream fades.

Once I'm back in the Labyrinth, I see Aisha being carried on Obi's back, with Arrow firing at them from a distance. Someone picks me up, and though my vision is blurry, I can feel it's Raksha. "Do not do that again," he says.

"S-Snow," I whisper. Raksha spares a glance over his shoulder, then shakes his head.

"The horns are still there. The devil is inside him."

"No," I reply. "Ba-Banished.."

I see an arrow flying at us from above, but can't do anything about it. Obi is busy running away. Marcus is dead, and Raksha isn't looking. Shit. What do I do?

Before the arrow can connect, an icicle intercepts it. Snow...

"I'm back," I hear the boy say, and Raksha turns around, allowing me to see both him and Arrow. "Sorry I made you worry."

I just smile at him, as he easily wields an icy scythe, blocking all of Arrow's attacks. He's so strong now. It's hard to see him as the same boy he used to be – before he died and all. He's spinning it around like a pro, without getting a single scratch on him. Arrow realizes the futility of her actions, and decides to run for it. However, when she turns around, Marcus suddenly appears there, and slits her throat with a knife he must've had hidden on him. But he's dead...

Then, Marcus holds up a dark purple crystal, and the Labyrinth vanishes. Within moments, all of us are back on the square, where Ozymandias and Seraphina look shaken to the core. The witchy Apostle looks at Marcus, then walks up to him, grabs him by the arm, and lifts it into the air.

"Marcus is our winner, putting him in the lead! One more trial, and we'll have our Child of Light and Shadow!"

As the crowd around us goes wild, I get a massive headache, and my back starts hurting more, too. Raksha is looking down at me, worried beyond belief. "Hang in there," he whispers.

"Y-You're not mad?"

"I'm furious," he replies calmly. "That can wait. You're about to pass out again." Great, I'm gonna lose more time.

Before I pass out, however, I see that one of the people in the crowd also has horns coming out of his head. He grins at me, then comes running forward. Ozymandias goes to intercept him, and then everything goes dark.