Avelihn waves her staff, and I see the air shimmer until it hardens into a barely-visible shield that covers us in a dome. A number of shots ring out, and the bullets impact the shield, sending tiny fractures along it.

“Avelihn.” The Inquisitor says, sounding like he’s greeting the oldest of friends. “It is good to see you. I did not realize you were here. It is a fortuitous day.”

Avelihn does not respond, instead stepping backwards and talking to me.

“This shield is made of hardened air, and it directly sucks the magic out of me to maintain it. We must go now, towards the entrance of the tunnel. Carry me, and I will maintain it.”

I do as she says. I scoop her up by her legs and back, so that I am carrying her in bridal-style. It feels oddly… close in a way that doesn’t fit the situation. I am also briefly distracted by the overview I get of her entire body, and the press of it against me, but I wave it away as soon as I am aware. There is a time and a place, and it’s not now or here.

I carry her, walking backwards, and the invisible wall follows, until we are inside the tunnel towards the dungeon. Elijah and his squad follow me, until they part suddenly. The mech steps forward, and smacks the hardened air with a hammer-like fist, sending cracks running along it.

I am back on Earth, smashing the window to the gun-store. The window cracked, lines running through it. I see the same thing reflected here, and I hate the sight of it. I know what comes next. The glass will shatter, as this invisible barrier will, and then I will be gunned down.

Not again. Please, not again.

I roar, hitting them all with an intimidation attempt, but none succeed. Still, they are stunned momentarily. I will take any advantage I can get. We’re about halfway through the tunnel, but the mech has started pounding on the barrier continuously. Avelihn looks comatose, but she clutches her staff with a white-knuckled grip.

“My overcharge is too high… I’ll burnout soon. I need to vent it, but that means dropping the barrier. Or… I need to vent it into someone by touch.” She says, leaving the question unsaid.

I look behind me. Two thirds of the werewolves are in the dungeon, a bright blue light spilling out from the hole. Aidan is looking back at us, hoping the barrier will hold. “What does that mean?” I ask.

A flurry of bullets hit the barrier, and it starts to fragment more and more with each shot.

“For someone without the ability to cast magic, it’s a very painful experience…” she says, panting. “It’s now or never…”

“Do it.”

Immediately, I am in pain. Every nerve on my body is set alight, my teeth crackle, my arms spasm, and I drop to one knee. I can’t think, I can only hurt. It’s like the opposite of my werewolf-like orgasms. Where there I could feel only pleasure, now I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck, every bone in my body pulverized into mist.

Avelihn shakes as my arms rock her back and forth, but I don’t drop her. I can’t, even if I wanted it. My hands grip tightly, my claws digging into the flesh of her should and her knee. I want to apologize, but I can’t open my mouth. My teeth lacerate my tongue.

And then it is over. I feel frayed, like I’ve been shocked, but it’s over. A few brief seconds at most. I take air into my lungs, all of it expelled from the pain and the muscle spasms.

“Are you alright?” she asks. I don’t respond - I can’t, my tongue is shredded and bleeding. I feel it knit itself back together, slowly. I pick her up and continue to carry her backwards.

“Using an Incarnate as a battery for your power?” he makes a clicking sound. “Avelihn, I hadn’t realize you’d fallen so low.”

He looks at me. “Incarnate, listen to me. You can’t escape. You go into that dungeon, you’re dead. I don’t think you’re even strong enough to clear it, but even if you do, what then? There’s only one entrance, and only one exit, and they just happen to be the same thing. Drop her, give her to me, and I will let you go free. I don’t lie. She is a far more valuable piece to me than you.”

I don’t speak. Avelihn does, weakly. “You should take the deal. Elijah is many things, but he is not a liar. I’m sorry I dragged you into this, Incarnate… Ryan.”

The words of Aidan come back to me. He said that Avelihn seems to only want to protect the Incarnates. I can see it now, and I don’t know why I ever trusted the fox-skeleton man.

It’s now I think I realize what I want. I’m no protector. I’ve always been a gutter rat, always finding anything valuable and taking it, but never being able to truly have what I want because I was weak. Now, I’m not weak. I have a way to get stronger, one that will never stop, one that will allow me to do whatever I want.

I want to take, and I want to have, and I want things that are mine and only mine. I kiss Avelihn, and she doesn’t stop me. I want her. Quite frankly, I want to fuck her again, and I want her aid when I take other things I want. She’s invaluable, and I always hated compromise. I’ll have her, and Fenni, and Nysali, and anyone else the fuck I want, or I’ll die trying.

“Disgusting. Avelihn, is this seriously the best you can do?”

I roar again, and this stops the onslaught of bullets. I look at Avelihn, and my tongue knits back together. “I don’t know what this ‘overcharge’ is, but if it stops you from using the shield, put it into me.”

“I can’t. If you took all of it you would die.”

I look behind me again. There is a tenth left, and we’re probably about 80% of the way through the tunnel. I put a foot back, and catch on a rock, dropping to one knee to make sure I don’t drop Avelihn. “Then some of it, I don’t know, just make sure that damn barrier doesn’t drop.”

She sighs, and my world is pain. I go blind, and the pain comes a second later. My eyes have popped out of my skull. I feel the blood drip down my face. I feel like I’m burning, roasting from the inside out, but I stand, somehow, I stand. My memory becomes hazy, and I can barely tell what I’m doing, but my feet keep reversing.

Pain washes over me again, and I’m deaf. I’m deaf and blind and scared and alone. The only thing I can still do is clutch her close to me, and keep walking. I don’t hear her words, nor see her, and then my touch goes as well. I can’t feel my feet touch the ground, I can’t feel the warmth of her body, nor the press of her weight.

I am completely alone, not even feeling pain anymore. This is how I imagined death would feel. A cold, empty nothingness.

Then, I smell. I smell the acrid scent of dust burning as gunfire reigns down onto the shield, the smell of gunpowder, the dampness of the cave. I smell her, a sweet scent, and I realize that she is still fighting. I let my nose guide me, trusting in it completely.

Something rapidly changes… I can barely understand what happens, but everything goes truly dark.