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Perhaps crossing the Shadow Fold had been a terrible idea.
Scratch that: crossing the Shadow Fold had definitely been a terrible idea.
Prior to this point, the only Hermits who’d actually seen the Fold were Tango and the gang who’d gone to rescue him, and their descriptions really couldn't do it justice. The looming wall of roiling thunder and pitch-black nothing stretched out ahead of them as far as the eye could see and tall enough to blot out the Sun. Even the trees and foothills nearby were dwarfed by this thing, let alone the Hermits themselves.
Grian was the first person to knock them out of their stupor.
“Okay, so what’s the plan? Are we going over it or under it or…”
“Through,” Xisuma said.
The other Hermits immediately shot him looks, ranging in severity from Are you fucking kidding me to You couldn't pay me to go through there to Ooh, this’ll be fun!
“What?” X cried. “It’s too tall to fly over even if we all had our elytra, and something tells me it goes as far down as it does up.”
“...he has a point,” Zedaph mused. “And, since it’s clearly capable of spreading-”
“Excuse me, it what? ” Gem interrupted.
“-there’s no guarantee that it won’t stretch out to meet us if we go under or over it. Through is our best bet.”
“Hang on, what do you mean this thing spreads ?” Gem asked.
Tango shot her a baffled look.
“How else did you think the First Army tried to kill me with it?”
“I dunno! I assumed they just shoved you in there!”
“Alexei said that Sun Summoners can make it through there just fine, and, well, we’ve got two of ‘em,” xB said.
“Yeah, but did he say anything about anyone else being able to make it through with them?” False asked.
Pearl buried her head in her hands. “He said they can carve a tunnel through the Fold.”
“Oh, that’s good.”
“What if we’re followed?” Grian asked suddenly.
The others fell silent. Some of them exchanged nervous looks.
“I could try to close the Fold behind us,” Pearl suggested.
“The Fold could also heal itself after we’ve passed through,” Zedaph mused. “Which would mean the Sun Summoners’ light would be the only thing keeping it at bay, so we would have to stick together.”
“I don’t think any of us want to go through the giant evil murder cloud solo, Zed,” Cleo pointed out. “Except Cub, probably.”
Cub shrugged.
“Alright. We’ll split into two groups, one for each Summoner,” Xisuma said. “Pearl will stay in the back to close off the Fold if need be. Grian?”
“I’m sticking with Pearl.”
“Alright. Bdubs, you’re in the lead.”
No response.
“...Bdubs?”
Etho nudged Bdubs awake. He spluttered.
“Huh? What?”
“You’re going through the murder cloud first, buddy,” Etho said cheerfully.
“ Why?! ”
“Because Grian got first dibs.”
Bdubs groaned and buried his head in his hands. Grian grinned smugly.
Divvying up into groups wasn’t nearly as difficult as X thought it would be. It was still like herding cats, but it was like herding domestic cats rather than feral ones.
Xisuma ended up in the lead group, along with Team ZITS, Keralis, Etho, Gem, Doc, False, and Beef. The others got stuck with Grian, which they were more than happy about, partially because they didn’t have to go through the spooky murder cloud first and partially because the Hermits had agreed that Grian’s group should have the wagon.
Bdubs grumbled the whole way up to the Fold. They came to a stop at the foot of it and made last-minute checks.
“You guys ready for certain death?” Beef asked cheerfully.
“Shut up, or I’ll feed you to the monsters myself,” Bdubs muttered.
He stepped up as close as he dared to the Fold. Xisuma put a hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him, which worked at least a little; he felt Bdubs relax a bit. He clasped his hands together and closed his eyes, and a halo of brilliant light erupted out of him, surrounding the small group. The Fold recoiled as if terrified of the light, and parted for them as they went.
Inside the Fold, the ground turned from soft, half-melted snow and frostbitten grass to fine sand. The grass seemed to end exactly where the Fold did, like the place just repelled life by its very nature. If X squinted, he could see the skeletal remains of trees outside the protective bubble of light, forever reaching for sunlight that would never come.
Zedaph was humming to himself as they went, sometimes even reaching out of the bubble to brush a hand through the surrounding shadow. Around the fourth or fifth time this happened, Tango swatted his hand away.
“Stop it!” he hissed. “You’re going to lose an arm.”
Zedaph pouted.
Gem poked her staff out of the bubble too, but just as quickly pulled it back. The glow in the crystal topping it had disappeared, swallowed by the shadows.
“I’ve never seen magic like this before,” she said, voice a mixture of fear and wonder. She cupped a hand over the crystal, which slowly flickered back to life.
An unearthly shriek pierced the darkness. Xisuma bristled; the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. The others reacted just as poorly; Tango conjured a ball of fire, Gem stashed her staff away to free up her hands, even Zedaph reached for the splash potion bottles he had stashed away on his person. Those of them with no powers or no powers useful for the situation at hand reached for their swords instead.
“What was that?” Keralis asked uneasily.
“The monsters, probably,” Beef said. “Bdubs, are you-”
The bubble flickered, plunging them briefly into darkness thick enough to choke even the hybrids’ night vision. If he squinted, Xisuma could see the broken silhouettes of trees and houses, and-
Another, identical shriek came from somewhere to their right. It was immediately followed by a scream.
“ Impulse! ” Tango cried.
He flung his fire at something lurking in the shadows, which screeched. Xisuma heard the steady thunder of wingbeats.
“They can fly?! ” Gem cried. “That’s cheating!”
The light bubble flickered back to life, more feeble than before. Bdubs was panting heavily and shallowly, like he was on the brink of a panic attack (which he probably was).
Xisuma hurried over to him, but Etho beat him to the punch, grabbing him by the shoulder. The light flared blindingly bright for a moment before dying down to a more tolerable level. Xisuma turned his attention to Impulse instead, and, oh-
Whatever that thing in the darkness was, it had carved a sizeable chunk out of Impulse’s shoulder. Nothing seemed broken, but the sight of so much blood made Xisuma feel sick. Skizz was crouched next to him, struggling to heal it while the other two stood over them, braced for the worst.
“X, watch out!” False shouted.
Xisuma ducked; he didn’t need to. The creature evaporated upon striking the bubble, which flickered dully.
“We’re gonna die here,” Beef muttered.
“Don’t be a pessimist,” Doc said, drawing his crossbow. He pointed it at a spot just below the bubble’s zenith and fired. Another creature fell from the sky and hit the bubble with a shriek.
Right. Creeper hybrids had fantastic night vision. He’d almost forgotten about that.
“Xisuma!” Etho cried. “We can’t hold it for much longer!”
Xisuma swore under his breath. “Hang on! We’ll think of something!”
“Better think of it quick, then!”
The bubble flickered again, then died out completely, smothering them in darkness.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Xisuma had grown up in the End, where the only light came from the islands and the distant stars. He was deeply acquainted with the darkness of the Void.
This? This wasn’t Void. Void was immaterial, an absence of space that devoured whatever was thrown to it. This was something, a fine, twisting fog that settled on his skin like a thick wool blanket. Nothing - not Tango’s fire or Skizz’s aura or the light of Gem’s staff or Doc’s eye - cut through it. He could still see his friends, but it was only as blurry, black silhouettes he couldn't tell apart from each other.
Panic gripped his chest. No. No, no, no. Why did he ever think this was a good idea? Was the risk of the First Army and the Druskelle and Kirigan really high enough to risk this place instead?
More importantly, was it even possible to make it out of here alive now?
“-isuma. Xisuma! ”
Hands grabbed his shoulders and shook him. The voice sounded like False.
“We have to turn back!” she shouted.
“I-I-I-”
A scream ripped through the darkness. Keralis.
“Shashwam!”
Fuck , he couldn't even see Keralis. He couldn't even be certain where he was by sound alone; sound here was muffled and scattered by the fog.
Another shout, this time from Tango. A burst of heat and flash of light cut through the dark for a heartbeat before it was gone. The fire was immediately followed by the bitter smell of chemicals.
“-e need light-” Gem shouted.
Xisuma was knocked off his feet by claws coming from behind him. His armor had caused him to slip from the monster’s grasp, but the shock took a moment for him to recover from. He fumbled for his lost sword as thunder roiled overhead.
“-drawing them to us-” Beef said.
“I know, but-” Gem began.
A blinding flash, like the burst of a firework, chased away the darkness for one heartbeat, then two. Just long for him to glimpse the horror surrounding him.
Zedaph was lying a few feet away, his back covered in lacerations. His labcoat was soaked through with chemicals, likely from his splash potions. Tango, wreathed in hellfire, was the only member of Team ZITS still standing. Impulse was trying to get up, being dragged down by Skizz, who looked half-conscious with a smear of blood running down the side of his face. Doc was headed right for Etho and Bdubs; the latter clung to the former for dear life, shaking like a leaf. Beef and Gem stood near the center with their backs to X, False behind them a few feet away from him. Her sword dripped black blood. Gem’s staff had been dropped in the dirt beside her, and her sword still hung from her belt, untouched. There was no sign of Keralis.
The darkness rushed in to shroud them before a brilliant burst of familiar sunlight chased it away for good. Gem had her hands clasped together and an expression of pure concentration on her face; Bdubs, once again the source of the light, was now kneeling on the ground with a dazed expression on his face, and Xisuma got the feeling the only reason he was producing light at all was because Etho was still crouched next to him, amplifying him.
Keralis staggered out of the darkness. Xisuma caught him before he could fall; he was covered in claw and teeth marks and stained with black blood and ash.
“Zed!” Tango cried. He dropped to his knees beside his friend, kicking up a small cloud of ash and dust in the process. He reached for Zedaph’s shoulder, but was deliriously swatted away.
“I’m fine,” Zedaph said, dragging himself to his feet. He squinted at their surroundings, clearly still confused and half-conscious.
“Hey, when did Keralis get a flashlight?” he slurred out before falling flat on his face again. Tango groaned.
“Is everyone alright?” Xisuma called.
“Well, we’re all alive,” Beef said. “It’s a lot more than I was expecting.”
“You know what I meant, Beef.”
Keralis shuddered. Xisuma cursed under his breath.
“Gem, Heartrenders can heal people too, right?”
“Little busy at the moment!” Gem cried.
“Gem, I’ve got this. Go help them,” Etho said.
Gem shot him a skeptical look. Etho tilted his head. She sighed and lowered her hands experimentally, tense and wary like she expected the bubble to collapse again. When it held, she headed over to try and heal Skizz, or at least return him to consciousness so she could stop being the impromptu healer. Doc shuffled over to Xisuma and helped him lower Keralis to the ground.
“Those were the worst three minutes of my life,” Doc muttered.
Xisuma gawked. “ Three minutes?! ”
“And twenty-three seconds.”
Before he got the chance to question how the hell Doc knew that, the light bubble flared. He glanced up nervously, worried it was going to falter again, but that worry was quickly replaced by a completely different variant of itself when he heard an all-too-familiar voice.
“Hey, Ex-a-zoo-ma-vo-yee-ad!” Grian crowed.
Xisuma sighed and looked over his shoulder. The other Hermits were piled together on the wagon in every available space not already taken up by their supplies. Grian was sitting shotgun at the front while Scar tried (and failed) to control the horses, Pearl had taken the back, and for some voidforsaken reason Cub and Joe were sitting on the siderails. They looked deeply amused by the sight before them and very much unharmed.
“The hell happened to you guys?” Cub asked. “You look like you went through a warzone.”
“It’s probably better not to ask,” Etho said.