"Are you really going out there?"
Olivia crouched behind Theo, her hands clasped tightly against her chest. The room felt smaller with the three of them crowded into its center. Two tall bookshelves dominated the walls on either side, their shelves packed with books.
And, in front of them, the only door was slightly ajar.
Theo sighed.
"Yes, Olivia. We can't stay here forever."
Tina poked her head through the open door, carefully scanning the hallway. She glanced down the left side, then slowly looked toward the other end.
"What if those things come back?" Olivia asked hesitantly.
Tina's hand tightened around the edge of the door.
"...Then I'll have to fight them off while you two run."
She glanced back at them before looking down the hallway again.
Olivia's eyes widened, and she subtly shook her head.
Theo, on the other hand, considered Tina's words.
Her reasoning was sound.
Tina was far more experienced in combat than either of them, and the dagger in her hand only made her formidable. Theo didn't know the specifics of her Aspect—only that it involved toxins. Whatever its exact nature, it was certainly more immediately useful than his own [Maximation] Aspect or Olivia's, which was tied to obscuring things around her.
With that in mind, Tina could probably take down a Hag or two. Maybe even a whole group of them.
The real danger would come afterward.
Even if she won, the wounds she sustained would likely leave her bleeding out on the floor.
Because, after all...
They were only Sleepers.
"What about them?"
Tina straightened and stepped into the hallway, glancing back at Theo.
"We worry about ourselves..."
Her eyes narrowed, her voice leaving little room for argument.
Theo tilted his head slightly. Something in him couldn't accept that.
"But he took out the Hag that was keeping us captive. And are you seriously going to forget that Ecludia healed you?"
Tina's expression tightened. She quickly turned her head away.
"Don't."
She shook her head.
"Do you not remember the original plan? We have Mrs. Long Legs to worry about."
Theo fell silent.
The silence stretched between them, but neither needed to say anything more. Tina took their silence as agreement and turned toward the hallway.
Now standing outside the room, Tina raised the Cinquedea, pointing its blade down the hallway to the right.
"The Hags followed us from that direction," she said, then gestured toward the left. "They ran that way."
She tightened her grip on the hilt.
"So if we go right, we shouldn't run into them again. They went left, so they shouldn't be coming back this way."
Theo felt uneasy about all of this.
The idea of sacrificing yourself for someone else was one thing. But deliberately planning to lay down your life was another.
He shook his head, scoffing at himself. Who was he to think that way when he had done the very same thing?
Tina possessed a far more combat-oriented Aspect than his own, that much was true. But the thought of simply standing by—or worse, running—while she fought for them was something he could hardly accept.
He should be able to do something—anything.
But what?
He had already pushed his Aspect far beyond what his body could handle.
And for what?
He had barely accomplished anything.
They had been taken away.
Many of the people who had shared that cell with him were gone now, used up and spent as sacrifices to the Nightmare Creatures.
Everything he had sacrificed, in the grand scheme of things, had amounted to nothing.
And now, because of his Flaw, he was going to be a hindrance.
If he weren't such a burden.
If he had properly prepared for the Dream Realm...
Maybe he could actually have made a difference.
***
It felt as though no matter how many floors they ascended, they would never reach the end.
Yet, Ecludia couldn't bring herself to accept that there was no end.
She forced herself onward.
She had to.
Even in the pitiful state she was in.
The clothes hanging from her body were little more than coarse rags. They were torn, stained with dirt, and painfully uncomfortable.
And her appearance...
She almost laughed at the thought.
She didn't need a mirror to know how terrible she looked. Her short, wolfish hair, once soft and bright, had become filthy and unruly. Dust and grime dulled the complexion she had once taken pride in. She hardly resembled herself anymore.
They raced across yet another floor.
Her eyes drifted toward Zerin beside her.
He was as resilient as ever.
So much so that she doubted he even cared about his appearance. He didn't seem to notice the state he was in, nor did he spare himself a second thought.
His black hair clung to his face, damp and disheveled from whatever horrors he had endured before finding her. Blue blood stained his skin, mingled with red, soaking his clothes and leaving almost none of him untouched.
And yet...
Unlike herself, who felt diminished by every stain and tear, Zerin somehow seemed stronger for it.
More imposing.
Almost like a force of nature.
Her gaze lingered.
His sharp features, the same ones she had once admired, stood out even more clearly beneath the grime. His dark hair framed his face, drawing her attention to his eyes.
She had always thought of them as black. Dull, even.
But now, beneath the filth and blood staining his face, they revealed a new radiance.
Crimson.
A vivid, glowing crimson hue.
They were captivating.
No... They were more than captivating.
Ecludia's breath caught.
Her legs began to stagger beneath her, each breath coming in ragged, uneven gasps as the strain of their escape finally caught up with her.
Her body refused to go any farther.
What was she thinking?
They were running for their lives, and yet she had been staring at him as if—
She froze when she realized Zerin was standing right in front of her, his hand extended toward her.
"If you need it," he said, his voice steady. "I'll carry you."
Ecludia swallowed deeply.
She lifted her head, her eyes unfocused and swimming from exhaustion. For a brief moment, she wanted to deny it.
To continue forcing herself forward.
But she didn't.
"Just one more floor to go... It won't be much trouble with you on my back."
He smiled faintly.
"Come on. Evan and Serenity are still waiting for us to return to them."
A sudden rush of emotion tightened Ecludia's chest.
Serenity...
Evan...
She had almost forgotten them.
She hadn't realized it until now, but after these past few days, they had slowly begun to slip from her mind. This place had consumed everything—her thoughts, her fears, even her sense of time. There had been nothing beyond this place, nothing except surviving from moment to the next.
She had thought she would die here.
She had resigned herself to it, and hopefully, in whatever afterlife awaited her, she could prepare a place for her sister with their mother and father close by.
But then Zerin came.
He had found her when she had nearly forgotten hope, and somehow, he had become it. It only took a few words and that confidence, he reminded her that there was still a world waiting for her.
She nodded, tears beginning to prick at the corners of her eyes.
She stared up at him.
And for a moment, she couldn't think about Serenity.
Or Evan.
Or even the escape ahead.
There was only Zerin.
The way he smiled.
The warmth in his voice.
The certainty that, somehow, he would get her out.
She stared at him as if—
As if there were nothing else in the world worth looking at.