Lani was the new mind, controlling where they went. They no longer had access to Alorans Skills, but they would have to do with their own.

  The first thing to do was move. The Grovyn was closing in on them, and they didn’t quite have the explosive power any longer to break free from its grasp, should it entangle them.

  So they began the process of evading. Quickly, they broke away from its sphere of influence, but a second issue had arisen in the time that Aloran fought the Arachnotaur. The level two hundred monsters were finally beginning to escape, digging through the stone.

  The Grovyn was behind them, they would use their newfound mobility to finish off as many as possible.

  Each monster was level two hundred, a cornerstone for strength. Alone, they wouldn’t pose a threat to Lani and the others, but he didn’t doubt they could be overwhelmed. They could not simply run though, as even fifty creatures at level two hundred attacking the city could potentially kill half the survivors before they were put down. Three thousand demon-kin, and not a single one could make it to the civilians or it would be a bloodbath.

  They began the process of running through every cave, Jasmine dicing them under Lani’s grip, but a new problem quickly arose.

  Though they stayed ahead of the Grovyns expanding domain, it was beginning to reach out mentally towards the remaining demon-kin, coordinating them.

  It planned their assaults. No longer did these grunts go after the city, they all began to converge on Lani and the others.

  It was good that they no longer went to chase after the fleeing civilians, but Lani knew this was a more precarious situation for them. The Grovyn sensed that something was different, that Aloran was weaker somehow, and it wanted to capitalize on that.

  Lani began to lead them around, up and down the cave systems, trying to avoid the swarms of demon-kin, but they were caught frequently at intersections, the monsters coming at them from all angles, from every possible direction.

  They clashed time and time again, but they managed to push through each time, finding gaps in their defenses, escaping each ambush.

  They met every wall of monsters with their full force, cutting them down by tens with each swing.

  Lani believed this situation was even less risky than when Aloran was alive. Without the demon-kin going after the city, they could delay this by several days longer. Hopefully, he wouldn’t take that long against Grim.

  Just when he was starting to get confident though…

  A grayish root shot from the wall, slamming into the side of Jasmine. She let out a scream of pain, showing the damage she’d sustained, but luckily Lani managed to keep his grip on her, pulling back and activating a mental blast to stun the surrounding demon-kin long enough to run somewhere safer.

  Jasmine was in pain, and he felt it. The Grovyn had injected her with a destructive type of mana in that slam, but she refused to complain. She demanded that he keep cutting the demon-kin down with her; they couldn’t afford to have dead weight in this battle.

  Lani complied, simultaneously trying desperately to figure out how the Grovyn had managed to lash out. He hadn’t sensed any of its vines in the wall, and its domain was still a kilometer away. It had to be a stealth Skill of course, but what? What hid it?

  Fighting and trying to figure it out, while still staying alert for more vines, Lani activated one of his mental Skills that shielded him from emotion, putting his panic at bay. He could not afford to see this in anything but objective light, desperation would not help.

  Despite taking on a more efficient route though, vines continued to lash out, striking Jasmine. Each time they did, she would let out an ear splitting scream. Yet each time she insisted they keep going.

  They were pushed back, again and again. They were pushed closer to the city, the Grovyn clearly trying to use its attacks to kill both Lani’s family and the city walls, but Lani couldn’t fall back. There was nowhere to fall back to, the Grovyn just didn’t know that yet.

  He skirted the edges of Alora’s cavern, refusing to get any closer, until…

  A vine struck out. This time not at Jasmine, but at Amaya’s grip on Jasmine. Lani felt the strength in that hand leave his control, and Jasmine was knocked upwards into the air.

  His mental bastion Skill pushed the panic away as he reached out to grab her.

  Three more vines flew from the walls, hitting Jasmine at differing angles. This time, there was no scream.

  She shattered.

  His emotions shut down, the bastion deeming them too much. It did not hesitate, turning and running. The demon-kin were pressing against them, tying them down. Without a weapon, they would not be able to break through if they were immobilized once again. Moren and Amaya were too stunned to act, and that almost killed them all. He sent out a slight mental attack to kick them into gear, helping him escape.

  The bastion continued to run, but they were always cut off. Always cornered. Always struck by those vines. It was targeting him next, slamming into Alorans head to try and break the helmet. Clearly, it had figured out who was controlling the body now. Though it would be more efficient to let some of the vibrations through to Aloran, reducing the strain on Lani’s body, the bastion didn’t try that as a course of action.

  It was already barely containing Lani’s emotional outburst. Any damage to Aloran would break that fragile balance.

  The fury built more and more, the bastion attempting to keep Lani reasonable by totally shielding him from every possible emotion. Moren and Amaya were flagging, despair setting in. The bastion could not let Lani do the same.

  The bastion kept them alive, but Lani was enraged beyond anything he could have imagined. The vines continued to whip him, denting his helmet, and the bastion continued to absorb the blows fully, denting and sparking.

  The bastion was not prepared when the vines grabbed the helmet, pulling back and exposing Alorans neck. A second vine came down from the ceiling.

  It was attempting to behead Aloran and separate Lani. The bastion could avoid it no longer. Time seemed to slow as the rumbling emotions kept at bay by the bastion were finally let in, the barrier lifting from Lani's mind.

  There was no going back now, and he felt the brunt of it all. The grief of losing Jasmine, the despair as they were pushed against the wall, the regret, knowing that it was his plan which killed them. Which failed.

  Lani intentionally detached himself from Amaya, sending one final command to Alorans body that caused it to dodge.

  Moren would have to carry them away now, Lani was already lost to the horde. Like Jasmine.

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  He could not let the Grovyn take them. If they could run, if they could escape, then perhaps he could atone for his sins.

  The stored motions overwhelmed him, threatening to take his mind, and he let it. Lani had exhausted himself completely, it was time to give in.

  He surrendered his soul to Wrath.

  The pulse that flew from his body incinerated every demon-kin, all the hiding Grovyn limbs, and even the rock walls. The only thing spared was his family, not even his anger would blind him enough to hurt them.

  His enraged scream echoed through the cave, and Lani let his madness be known to Moren and Amaya. He did not want them trying to save him now. He was already gone.

  The rabid babble of thoughts burned away all his sensibilities, but letting himself be consumed by Wrath granted strength he did not have before. As Moren carried Amaya and the body away using magic, Lani struck back at the Grovyn, keeping its attention on him. Wrath mana raced down its vines, tearing into the heart of it until it flinched away. The demon-kin tried to pass Lani and get at his family, but the wall of hatred stopped them dead. Instead, they had to give him a wide berth before they could continue the chase, hopefully giving Moren and Amaya time to run.

  But… that did not stop them. Lani could still sense them, in his crazed stupor, as the demons simply avoided him, going around. He tried to reach out with his rage, tried to stop them, but he couldn't, he could no longer sense his family, so he didn’t know if they ever escaped, but now he could only wait.

  The faint vestige of his mind held hope for a few days, that perhaps they would come back and find a way to save him, but the days turned to weeks. Turned to months. Turned to years.

  Each passing moment was agony, knowing that it was his plan that failed. Knowing that he killed Jasmine. That he killed Aloran, and that he likely killed Moren and Amaya too.

  He screamed against everything. He screamed in rage and despair. He screamed his hate to the world.

  But it was indifferent

  * * *

  Dei came back to himself, the pain in his core crippling him. If he was not already on his knees, he would be now. He’d never lost control over his body, having a sub-mind still in place, so he knew of the changes. His Pandora’s Box had evolved again and he knew that Fendrascora was still safe despite the rampant Wrath mana in his body. He’d formed a Fortitude Skill to keep it away from her, and he’d have to look at it later.

  For now, he focused on enduring. Wrath mana was tearing his insides apart, and he could see red cracks forming along his skin, burning him like electricity running through his body. The pain was almost unbearable with the level of Wrath mana coursing through him, but there was hope for the nightmare to end. His Pandora’s Box had a new ability now, and he used it to the fullest, completely devouring all of Lani’s rage.

  All the hate, insecurities, madness, and pain. All of it was locked away inside the fortress of Pandora’s Box.

  Dei felt Lani’s Visible Presence slowly recede, and Dei’s own began to increase in response. The Wrath mana was still… imbued with Lani’s intent, it still wanted the world to know his hate, even if it was no longer within Lani.

  Despite that imbuement though, Dei sensed that its incessant screaming began to quiet. His box was leveling up, repairing itself as it grew to become a match for the absurd mana pool that Lani formerly had within him.

  As it repaired itself, the intent behind that Wrath mana could escape less and less. Dei knew now that the cracks in the Skill didn’t only allow for him to draw on the mana when he needed it to, but it allowed for certain things to… escape.

  He’d never had this issue before because it was his mana that he tried to contain. It listened to him. This was mana that someone else had given him access to, but it didn’t respect him. It fought against his efforts to contain it, but Lani assisted him in guiding it into the box.

  Gradually, the cracks in his Skill receded. As the last bits of Wrath mana were whisked away and the box snapped shut once more, the presence disappeared entirely. The Skill finished repairing itself and no matter how hard that rage beat against the edges of its confines, it would not escape.

  Dei still felt his connection to Lani, and he sensed the mental quivering. For the very first time after hundreds of years, Lani's mind was quiet.

  Dei thought he would be overjoyed, but he sensed a feeling of detachment coming from Lani. He didn’t feel much of anything.

  “Lani, are you there?’ he messaged the inert helmet in front of him, but it was silent. Dei’s hands were still on the side of Lani, so he picked him up and held the helmet to his eyes.

  The connection he had from simply touching Lani let him get a feeling for his emotions, but all he could sense was a weakness like no other. Lani was tired.

  “Lani. Come on, talk to me.” He said again, but there wasn’t the slightest mental response. “Lani, Aloran is alive. I’ll take you back to him, talk to me.” He felt a burst of grief once he said the word “Aloran,” but aside from that, Lani stayed quiet.

  He would have to rest. Like Jasmine, Lani was mentally damaged, and needed time to heal. That was okay, Dei would give him the time he needed. He now had more information on the other two weak spiritual signatures as well. The experience and agony through Lani’s eyes was so visceral that Dei believed he’d never forget the names of Moren and Amaya.

  He studied Lani gently, taking in the dents and scratches of his body. Lani was a red knight's helmet with its visor down. The helmet itself was dented to hell and crumpled in places, but Dei saw that the metal never bent inwards. Instead, it displaced itself outward to avoid crushing the skull of the person who was once within, rippling like a wave.

  After getting a good look at Lani, Dei found his strength sapping. The adrenaline was wearing off, and his muscles were getting heavier. He quickly sat down on the ground, keeping one hand on Lani in case he decided to speak.

  His new clothing was in tatters, and he could still see the blackened marks left by the pure Wrath mana running through him all along his body. Fendrascora was still holding the pieces together along his body, and they didn’t look damaged, but for some reason the seams were open now…

  ‘Wait’ he thought ‘Why don't my clothes fit if there are no rips?’ And quickly messaged Fendrascora as well.

  Uneasily, she began to spread through his body fully once more, rather than pushing herself lower down to avoid the cloud of Wrath. When prompted by his question, she answered “ Did you not realize? You’ve grown larger. Once the Wrath mana began flowing through you, your body accelerated its growth, and began to devour itself. I quickly retrieved your rations though, digesting it and infusing that energy into you so you wouldn’t lose all of your musculature. You’ve grown by exactly this much.” She said, and sent him measurements that translated into “eleven inches” plus multiple decimals that were lost in her communication.

  He’d grown an entire foot, but frankly, he was too tired to care. “Could you use some of the extra Praerel leather to repair the gaps?” he asked, getting an affirmative from Fendrascora as she immediately set about doing so.

  He studied his body once more. The marks left by Wrath were healing quickly, no doubt because his Skill could draw the energy straight from the wounds themselves. The color and chaotic pattern to the wounds contrasted well with the organised white pattern of his [Connection] Skill that still held his Soul together.

  He didn’t pay much attention to the white lines anymore. They’d mostly faded to the back of his mind, but he saw them now.

  If the Wrath burns weren’t so excruciating, he would be tempted to leave them be so it would match with his Connection lines.

  Still, the burns were scarring. Though it wouldn’t be black anymore, the discolored look of the skin after they “healed” told the story of a painful wound that once racked his entire body.

  Running his hands over the parts that were healed, he felt that the skin was no thinner than normal, unlike when injuries would scar back on earth. That was good, because it would be a weak point otherwise.

  The injury reminded him of where it’d come from, making him remember Lani’s story once more. It was one where the good did not prevail.

  As it was, he watched five heroes go to war with a demonic horde, giving their life and dying to protect others. They died clinging to hope, in fear, and filled with regret. Not the “heroic last stand” he so often heard about.

  He wanted to fix that, to get them back together again. He wanted them to have a happy ending.

  He laid back, feeling the chill and roughness of the rock. Lani’s story was tragic, and it made him think of his own friends.

  Would this be their fate too? Would they run into an enemy they couldn’t face, and fall? He hadn’t known Clever, Fang, and Fendrascora for as long as Lani and the others had been together, but he still liked them. He didn’t want to imagine his journey through the world alone. He wanted companions to share it with.

  He closed his eyes. He wasn’t tired enough to sleep, as he’d just woken up, but the world was overwhelming. His decisions felt more weighty than before.