In The Darkness

“Tilaya, can you dispel the darkness?” Calum’s eyes darted back and forth, and he gripped his sword. His friends followed his example. ‘She can strike at any moment from any direction… I have to be ready.’

“I can try, but I’m not sure if I’m strong enough.” Just as Tilaya raised her staff, Mara emerged from the darkness directly next to her and raked her side with impossibly sharp claws. Despite her armor, Mara’s claws cut cleanly through her. She cried out from the pain. Crimson blood splattered onto the floor and disappeared into the dark.

“Tilaya!” Erik charged at Mara, but a pair of hands came out of the shadows to grab hold of his feet, stopping his advance.

Calum was about to run to Tilaya’s aid when he was pulled to the ground. He felt himself sinking into the gloom. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t break free. “Kia, help Tilaya!”

“Kinda busy at the moment!” She was too busy fighting another Mara head-on to even notice Calum’s predicament. She ducked and jumped out of the way of Mara’s attacks, retreating slightly before running in to take the offensive.

Erik cut off the hands holding him in place. The severed hands exploded into jet-black goo, causing him to jump back. “What the–”

The goo launched itself at Erik.

Calum’s vision of his friends disappeared as he fully sank into the darkness. Suddenly he dropped safely to his feet.

His surroundings were still the same, but he didn’t see anyone around. He spun around, but there was still nothing but black.

“Confused, are you?”

He whipped around to see Mara standing a few meters away. “What did you do to my friends?”

“What did I do to them? That’s the wrong question to ask. The question you should be asking is what I did to you.”

“What?”

“You’re the hero, so I just have to fight you one-on-one.”

“Are you the real Mara?”

“Yes, I am. I’ve left my clones to fight your… friends, as you call them…”

The Faestinger began to radiate a deep purple light. “If I defeat you, will your clones disappear?”

“If you kill me, yes. I can’t project any clones if I’m dead.”

Calum narrowed his eyes. “Then I’ll defeat you right here and now.”

Mara grinned and unfurled her tails behind her. “If you can…”

He stormed toward her, but abruptly stopped when he noticed what she was doing.

A black ooze floated around her. A few strands wrapped around her claws while the rest floated around her in circles, as if it was protecting her. “Is that sword the only thing you have? Sure, it looks powerful, but a hero must be able to adapt.”

She raised her arms, and the ooze collected in a large ball above her. Calum launched a giant ball of light straight at Mara.

The ooze formed a wall in front of her and blocked the attack. With the ooze destroyed, Calum leaped forward with his sword raised.

Mara watched him descend on her with a smile on her face. A second before he landed, she jumped back and slashed the air, spraying the ooze that had gathered on her claws at him.

Though he didn’t know exactly what it did, he knew the ooze was dangerous. He flinched when a few drops landed on his face. The black liquid seeped through his skin.

“Now it’s only a matter of time before you lose…” The kitsune stepped back and vanished into the shadows.

He closed his eyes and tried to sense where Mara was, but it was hopeless. Without Tilaya’s detection spell, there was no way to know where she was. “By the grace of the Goddess–”

Before he could finish chanting, he felt a searing pain in his side. Mara had snuck in an attack. Calum did his best to not show the pain. He continued the incantation. “–let judgment rain on this creature!”

A massive sword of light pierced through the darkness and crashed down in front of Calum. A blinding light filled the room, and he was thrown back by the explosion.

When the light disappeared, the room returned to its shadowy state. In the distance, Mara staggered to her feet.

“Impressive, hero… But that’s not enough to defeat me.”

A severe burning sensation started where the ooze had landed and slowly spread. He collapsed to his knees and held back a scream.

“In a few minutes, you’ll be dead.” She leisurely closed the distance between them. “It’s a shame. In the end, you didn’t prove yourself to be worth the Demon Lord’s time.” Once in front of him, she lifted her arm and slashed at his head.

Calum swiftly raised his sword to block the attack.

Mara shrieked and leaped back. Only then did Calum notice the severed arm at his side.

He struggled to get to his feet. The pain had spread to his temples and down his neck. There must have been ooze on her claws when she sliced his side, because he felt the burning sensation there, too. The infected areas were black and swollen. “You think… you won… but you haven’t…” He pointed his sword at her and narrowed his eyes. “This is where it ends.”

With the Faestinger in his hands, he rushed at Mara.

She dashed to the opposite side of the sword and moved in to strike, but Calum had been expecting that. He twisted and cut off her remaining arm the same moment her claws pierced his skin. Mara’s arm flew off, taking a chunk of Calum’s noninfected flank with it. With frightening speed, he got behind Mara and swung his sword, taking her head clean off. He flicked the blood off of his sword. “That’s what happens when you underestimate your opponent.”

The demon-fox’s body fell to the ground and was swallowed by the darkness. The black that surrounded Calum vanished. He found himself standing exactly where he was before Mara had changed the environment.

Kia, Erik, and Tilaya were next to him in even worse condition than he was. Kia’s breathing was heavy and deep gashes ran along her body. Blood actively streamed out of her wounds. Erik was on his knees. His arms, as well as his neck, were black from the venomous ooze. He had a hand over his arm, where a large lump of flesh was missing. Tilaya was in the worst condition of all of them–She lay unconscious on her stomach, the entire left side of her body affected by the ooze. Her entire body was covered in blood, and the hand she always held her staff in was detached from her arm.

Calum and Kia’s eyes met. Kia shook her head, as if to say we’re going to die.

Tears welled up in Calum’s eyes at the sight of his beaten companions. “K-Kia… are you able to heal everyone with your magic?”

“I don’t know if I can…” She dragged herself to Tilaya’s side and started chanting.