The flickering light at the end of the tunnel

Aruka evaded the Shadow hurling itself at her with an elegant jump, cutting through its side as it passed by, going back into the ground.

Standing next to Helia, Arthem held out his polearm, which was almost out of juice. She gave it as strong of a charge as she could manage in a few seconds, some light returning back to it. With a nod, he ran to join Aruka.

Ceres grew into his regular size, now that the space was bigger, and signaled for Helia to jump on his back, quickly. “This is the last spot where Handling has happened!”

She held on to him, somehow, as the ground around her trembled. He set off, and the Shadow emerged from where she had been standing, rising upwards in a straight line. Having missed her, and not having enough momentum to reach the ceiling above, it fell down the floor of the cave sideways with a loud thump. Now that it was fully outside the cover of the earth, they could see how terrifyingly big it was, its body spanning across more than a hundred meters of pure darkness.

It squirmed angrily, trying to burrow the end that should be its head back into the ground, but Arthem and Aruka got to it first. Arthem started mercilessly slashing at it from the safe distance that his polearm provided him, while Aruka threw Lightning bolts from her now upright long fur. On the air, Ceres took Helia back downwards so that she could join them, firing torrents of Divine moonlight from her hands.

The creature’s wriggling got too violent for the two on the ground, forcing them to retreat to a safer distance for the time being. Faint smoke was rising from the spots they had hit, but it wasn’t enough. Warrior and Spirit waited with baited breath for the monster to start burrowing its head underground to resume their assault, while Helia kept on with her aerial assault.

Instead, its whole body disappeared underground horizontally in the blink of an eye, seemingly not needing to use its head to excavate. Once it was safely a few meters underground, it would presumably be able to reposition itself.

The ground beneath Arthem and Aruka split open, and would have swallowed them both were they not who they were. Using his polearm to give himself a thrust, Arthem jumped to safety, while Aruka leaped above the newly formed hole with ease.

“This is bad”, said Helia, but only Ceres could hear her voice where she was. “It has the advantage down here, but I don’t see how we could all safely get outside right now.”

Near them, the cave wall started shaking much more violently than before. Combining their two Winds with a desperate flap of Ceres’ wings, they rolled to the side as the Shadow emerged slightly above them, diving back into the giant hole it had created before.

“Hey! Hey! Here!”, they both heard Aruka’s voice in their minds, trying to get their attention.

They couldn’t afford to land, as every time they dodged, they had to make use of their Wind, which only provoked the Shadow further. Through their constant maneuvers, they noticed Aruka and Arthem standing near one of the cave’s walls.

Arthem was waving at Helia and Ceres, pointing at the wall, then at his polearm, then at Aruka, then back at the wall. He was clearly trying to tell them something, but Helia couldn't make out what he meant. Before long, however, her doubts were dispelled, as Aruka used her Lightning to hit that wall, and it started glowing.

“Lumiranite!”, exclaimed Helia. Now that the other group had gotten the Shadow’s attention off her, she looked around her more carefully, and realized that most of the walls of the cave were covered in the precious mineral. Below them, the ground where Aruka had been striking their foe with Lightning glowed faintly, too.

The Shadow emerged from the wall, where Aruka had hit it with her Handling. Only this time, it emitted an unsightly screech that made Helia want to tear her brain off. Clearly, going through the charged lumiranite had done something.

Its body was still half into the wall, wriggling and smoking, trying to go back into its previous hole. Arthem and Aruka took this chance to slash at it some more with their charged weapons. Just like before, the Shadow dropped suddenly into the ground in an impossible manner, but this time, Arthem and Aruka were expecting it, and got to safety with a backwards jump.

“Let’s make this place shine”, said Ceres, flying closer to the cave’s walls. Sitting almost upright on his back, Helia started charging the raw lumiranite all around them.

Unable to resist the urge to charge at any source of Handling, the Shadow traversed one of the walls once again, screeching in pain. This time it had enough momentum to keep going, but on the ground, Arthem and Aruka waited for it, having also charged most of the floor below them.

The Shadows massive body started flailing around in protest, throwing itself at any surface available, aiming to escape. But soon enough, they were all shining brightly.

Aruka hit the Shadow with her electrified sword, running up its side faster than Helia’s eyes could see. Meanwhile, Arthem assaulted it with endless stabs, rotations his polearm around his body in a practiced manner, and evading any attacks with masterful footwork. Any time Helia worried that he would for sure be hit, Arthem jumped above the Shadow’s form with inhuman agility, maintaining his brutal assault.

Cornered, it slithered into the lake as its body was evaporating, the only spot in the cavern seemingly not covered in lumiranite, and squirmed about violently.

Arthem and Aruka couldn’t get closer anymore due to the water’s depth, but Aruka kept her electrifying attacks going from a distance. Ceres too flew closer, allowing Helia to join her. Slowly, the Shadow’s body was shrinking, disappearing back into the Mana around them.

Right when Helia allowed herself to think they would be able to defeat it like that, the Shadow emitted another deafening screech, and leaped upwards. A huge wave surged from the water, threatening to flood the entire cavern, but that wasn’t the worst of their troubles.

Not having any other alternatives, the dying Shadow crashed into the ceiling, trying to flee outside, having deemed sunlight a better alternative. With a concerning rumble, the earth around the hole it had just created cracked and started splitting, and with it, the entire ceiling.

In the wink of an eye, Ceres had taken off, dashing towards the opening they had been searching for when they arrived into this cave. Helia held on, laying as low on his back as she was able to, and adding to his Wind. Evading all the falling rocks and debris, he sped up as much as he was able to, and threw himself at the opening with closed wings, judging that he wouldn’t be able to pass through otherwise.

Their trajectory went upwards, until they were once again soaring up in the sky. Ceres extended his wings in all their length, slowing himself down, and turned around to watch for the Shadow.

It had fully emerged shortly before them, protesting with loud, unnatural sounds. Not because of the sunlight, probably, but because his body was slowly, but surely, disappearing. It fell down on the ground, cementing the collapse of the space below.

Helia covered her mouth with her hands, choking down on tears. “Arthem! Aruka!”, she yelled.

“We have to help them!”, she added, making their usual sign on Ceres’ neck, the one that meant he should land.

“It’s too dangerous, we have to wait for it to disappear”, responded Ceres.

“I don’t care!”, she protested, through the tears. “Take me down! Now!”

He didn’t comply, so instead, she just dropped before he could realize what was happening. They were only a couple of meters above ground; she had done much worse while they were training. Slowing down her fall with Wind and a roll, she got up with the momentum and started running to the hole they had taken to escape.

“Helia!”, yelled the phoenix, dropping after her.

Confirming her worst fears, the opening they had used to escape had been completely filled with rocks and dirt. She dropped to her knees, hopeless, as the earth trembled on around her. Ceres tried to forcefully drag her away with his beak, but she pushed him away with her hand.

After a few endless minutes, the Shadow completely evaporated, revealing the form of a giant worm Spirit. Before they could try talking to it, it also disappeared back into Mana, leaving only an enormous crater, and despair.

Helia walked towards the opening and called for her companions once again. “Arthem! Aruka!”

Ceres joined her, projecting his voice as far as he was able to. “Arthem! Aruka! Where are you?”

They waited expectantly for a few seconds, when suddenly, an answer came.

“Here! Down here!”, they heard Aruka’s voice in their hearts, and a distant bark echoing below the debris.

Ceres flew down to where the barking was coming from, and started to move rocks with his body. Taking a more careful path down, Helia joined him shortly after.

They could hear digging and canine whimpering from the other side, and eventually, they were able to make a way. What they found was a hole that had probably been one of those the Shadow had created previously, safely tucked into one of the walls of the cavern, descending deeper into the earth. Aruka was waiting for them there, and she started licking Ceres happily. However, Helia couldn’t join her in her joy, because, behind her, Arthem was laying on the floor, bloody.

“Arthem!”, she yelled, kneeling near him. Her hands hovered over his body, unsure what to do. He seemed to be unconscious, but his breathing was steady. His right leg had been stabbed open, probably by some falling rocks.

“Aruka is sorry”, whimpered the Spirit sadly. “Aruka could not stop Arthem from getting hurt.”

Ceres poked her front with his head. “You saved his life, Aruka. Don’t apologize.”

As carefully as she could, Helia took hold of Arthem’s body, aiding herself by the Wind to compensate for the weight of his deceptively muscular body, and carried him outside the cave. Once they were all far enough, she dropped him back on the ground.

“Sorry, Arthem. I’ll buy you new clothes”, she apologized to him even though he couldn’t hear her, as she tore the leg of his pant open, revealing the injury. Luckily, it was simply a clean cut, nothing too alarming. She cleaned it thoroughly with water, and then applied the antiseptic ointment she carried in her bag, before closing it off with a bandage. Ceres and Aruka watched her work, worried, but unable to assist with this particular issue.

The shock of the ointment working on his wound woke him up, gasping for air. He looked around, confused, but ready to defend himself.

“The Shadow”, he blurted out.

“Hey, hey, calm down”, Helia said softly, holding his hand. “It’s okay, we defeated it. You got a bit hurt, but you are alright. Aruka saved you.”

He felt a sudden pang of pain, and looked down at his now treated leg.

“Thank you”, he responded. “To both of you. You’re both good girls.”

Aruka wagged her tail, but Helia wasn’t sure how to respond to that, probably, compliment. Ceres, however, couldn't help but laugh.

“We did it!”, yelled Aruka as she barked and jumped happily. “Now Aruka will be safe!”

They took a well-earned moment to bask in their victory, smiling happily at each other.

Helia helped Arthem get back on his feet, carefully. “Can you walk?”, she asked.

He tried taking a step, and the pain was visible on his face. “It hurts, but I can.”

“Aruka will carry you home!”, declared the Spirit.

Distress appeared on Arthem’s face. “No racing!”, he demanded.

“Fiiiine, Aruka will go sloooower”, she conceded. “But we get there before night falls!”

By that time, the Sun had surpassed its zenith and was starting to go down. But they had all afternoon for a journey that had taken one hour at full speed.

She laid down on the ground, and Arthem climbed on her back, trying to forget the pain. He took off his belt and used it to try to secure himself further to Aruka’s harness, if only to make himself feel better, at least.

Helia jumped on Ceres’ back, caressing his neck softly with an apology that didn’t need words between them. He rubbed his head against hers and took off, this time at a much more reasonable speed.

A couple of hours later, they had almost arrived back at Aruka as the Sun was starting to set, when the Spirit with the same name started growling all of a sudden.

“What’s wrong, Aruka?”, asked Arthem, now sitting more comfortably on her back.

“Someone is hurting Aruka”, she responded, and they all understood she wasn’t talking about herself.

She took off, running much faster, and Ceres followed after her. When they arrived in view of the village, they saw a spectacle they weren’t expecting.

The whole village was engulfed in crimson flames, merging into the sunset behind it. Screams and pleas could be heard even from that distance, while figures clad in red and white stood out against the scenery.

Aruka shook Arthem off her back, who landed on the ground with a painful yell. Helia jumped down next to him, worried about his leg.

“Aruka has to go”, announced the Spirit as she unsheathed her sword. “Will you help Aruka once more?”

“You can’t, Aruka”, responded Ceres before they could even think about it. “They’re too many, there’s nothing you could do.”

Suddenly, the screams were replaced by silence. Aruka yelped and let her sword go, dropping to the floor along with it. “Aruka is dead. Aruka’s family is dead.”

They saw the foreign figures leave the village as it went up in flames. Helia hugged the Spirit and sobbed, both for Aruka, and being reminded of the same scene she had seen back in her childhood.

“How can you be so sure?”, she managed to ask the Spirit. “Maybe, maybe we can still do something…”

“Aruka is connected to everyone who believes in her, everyone who called for her to come back from the Mana”, she answered. “Now, Aruka can only feel a few of them, very far away.”

Helia was confused at her response. “They called you? You came back… From the Mana?”

Aruka turned around and looked into Helia’s eyes. “Aruka exists as long as someone believes in Aruka. Before that, and after that, Aruka goes back into the Mana. But Aruka remembers every time, and Aruka loves them all. So Aruka will protect them.”

Gently, she let go of Helia’s embrace and got up on her paws, picking her sword up and putting it away in its scabbard.

“So now, Aruka will go to those who still believe, because Aruka is worried about them being hurt, too. But Aruka will protect them”, she declared boldly. “Thank you, friends, for helping Aruka. Aruka wishes she had never left, but now this is all Aruka can do.”

Helia nodded, extending her hand to touch Aruka once more. “Of course, Aruka. Thank you for everything. We will never forget you.”

“Then, Aruka will live forever, and will protect everyone”, and with that, she darted off into the distance, leaving only grief and sorrow behind.