Leo glanced at the rest of his party. Dorian had finally exited Lore’s body and was much smaller in size now, an indication of his loss of power. Kendall’s wolf form also seemed much thinner and less bright than before. Soon both of their symbolized forms would disappear altogether. Ethan was catching his breath while Lore slept. No doubt the toddler was drained by Dorian’s possession. Desdemona was still crying while hugging her mother’s hips. Meanwhile, Diandra’s skeleton kept gently caressing the back of Desdemona’s head. Leo then looked down and saw his own shaking hands.

  Click. Clack.

  The dead started moving again, their desire to possess the children’s lives outweighing their fear of the sealing dome. However, Leo’s team didn’t have the energy to fight back or run away anymore.

  It was Diandra that acted first. She removed Des’s hands, despite her heavy protest, and walked towards the dead. Leo took this moment to reach Des and held her back while Diandra faced her former countrymen.

  Diandra stopped a few steps away from the crowd of the dead, making herself a shield for the children. Still ready to fight for her daughter’s safety—even after death—constantly muttering, “Desdemona must survive.”

  The dead, however, felt no bond of kinship towards the living. All they wanted was to claim their lives as their own. So, one by one, all of them surrounded Diandra, the last obstacle in the fulfillment of their desire. Then, they attacked.

  Diandra let out a mighty scream then grabbed the skeleton closest to her and used it to beat down the others. She twirled around and smashed the bones of many incoming skeletons with the one she held in her right hand. Once the skeleton in her hand was spent, Diandra resorted to hand-to-hand combat. She targeted different joints of the skeletons, hitting hard enough to crumble their bones to dust. It wasn’t enough, though. More and more of the dead came. They tried to overwhelm her with their numbers again and again. However, Diandra stood her ground with nothing but sheer willpower.

  The children, Kendall and Dorian watched the battle unfold before their eyes. Stunned speechless from the display of a mother’s undying love—yet still scared to death. Even in the warm climate of Ragonia, cold sweat ran down the faces of the children. Fear gripped their mind and bodies.

  She can’t hold them off for much longer, thought Leo as he watched more dead approaching them from all directions. Then he looked around at his teammates. All of them were exhausted. Without Diandra, they wouldn’t survive more than a few minutes. We have to act now!

  “Mommy, please, please stop. You have done enough,” Leo heard Desdemona say through her tears.

  “You’re right, Des. She is doing all she can, and we need to do the same. Look here, Des—look here. Do you want your mother to fall here trying to protect you?” asked Leo while turning Des’s head towards him.

  “No,” said Desdemona.

  “Then we need to get on the other side of this shield and relight the First Fire Pit. Ancestors, help us get through,” said Leo.

  Dorian and Kendall exchanged glances at each other before Dorian said, “We can’t.”

  “What do you mean, you can’t? If not you, then who?” asked a panicked Leo.

  Both Dorian and Kendall looked at Ethan. This in turn made Leo and Desdemona look at Ethan too. Ethan, on the other hand, had no clue what to do. He had never been good at using his Gainsworth powers. Things went from bad to worse after Emanuel had restricted the powers of the Gainsworth ancestors for personal use.

  Desdemona, who was on her knees crying her eyes out, finally got up and approached Ethan. She held Ethan’s hand and said, “Ethan, please help. It was your grandfather whose spell has kept the coals of the First Fire Pit warm for us to reignite. Now it has to be you who gets us there. Please!”

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  Ethan wiped away Desdemona’s tears and said, “I’ll try my best.” He then turned to face the sealed dome. The cursed dome was specifically created by Emanuel Cursebinder. Only Anons and Gainsworths were allowed entry. So, he and Lore could enter, but the problem was taking Des and Leo along with them.

  Originally, the Anons and Gainsworth were immune to the toxins in Ragonia’s air. However, as time passed, the toxins mixed with other environmental elements and became toxic to Anons and Gainsworths too. That is why the Anons no longer monitored Ragonia like they do with Yonder. However, this meant both Lore and he were targets of this toxicity. Ethan and Lore would succumb to the toxins if he used the last of the ring’s power to open a path for Leo and Des.

  Even after knowing all this, Ethan pulled out the ring from his hand and checked its power level. Less than one percent! It will be of no use to me. He slipped it inside Lore’s clothes. If I stop using it now, then at least it’ll protect Lore for a while longer. As soon as he did that, blood started flowing out of his nose and his throat started burning. His body that already suffered so much damage inside the machine and was exhausted from all the running, could not hold on any longer. However, Ethan ignored the blood and pain and closed his eyes.

  Eternal Mother Anorea, please help me! I know my clan has sinned. We have destroyed so much and so many. Yet now that I’m trying to rectify our mistakes…I can’t. I’m powerless. I cannot make the others enter this dome with me. But you can! Please give me the strength to make it happen! Please make my Gainsworth powers work. Please grant me enough power to allow the rest of my team to enter the dome. I do not ask for this strength to benefit myself; I ask so that I can aid others. Please, Goddess Anorea, creator of all, help me help others.

  As soon as Ethan finished asking for help from the Goddess, an image of a gap within the dome appeared inside his mind. Ethan then opened his eyes and imagined the same gap appearing in front of him. It worked! A gap opened up in front of him!

  “Quick, everyone, enter!” yelled Leo as he pulled Des inside the dome. Once everyone was inside, Leo told Ethan, “Now close it. Hurry!”

  “No! My mom is still outside!” protested Des.

  “It’ll all be alright once we light the fire, but we’ll never get to do that if the dead follow us inside. So, close it already!” said Leo.

  “I can’t,” replied Ethan.

  “What? Why?” asked Leo.

  “I don’t know, but I’m trying,” said Ethan as he tried to make his vision of closing the gap into a reality. However, it didn’t work.

  By this time, the dead had seen the opening and were bypassing Diandra to get to it. Diandra tried to stop them the best she could. However, a lot of them got through.

  “Ok. Don’t worry. We can still turn this around. Des, make a run for the First Fire Pit. We’ll hold them off here for as long as we can for you,” said Leo.

  “Yeah, but what do I do once I get there?” asked a confused Des.

  “Imagine transferring the fire burning inside you to the pit,” said Leo.

  “Wait, there is a fire burning inside me?” asked Des while hugging herself.

  “You’ll be able to figure everything out once you get there. So, get going already!” said Leo as he finished making a pile of rocks to be used as projectiles. “Ethan, forget about closing the gap. It’s not working. Instead, throw these rocks at their legs. Breaking their legs will slow them down. Ancestors, you get more rocks to throw while we do that. Also, attack the ones we miss or just can’t bring down.” Ethan gave a nod of approval and gave Des a supporting glance before doing what Leo said.

  Des stole a look at her mother, who was being overwhelmed. Then another at her fatigued teammates. Ethan was bleeding from his nose and ears. Lore was out cold while Leo was shaking all over. Leo’s ancestors, on the other hand, had gotten much smaller in size and were losing luminosity. They could disappear any time now. None of them will survive if I don’t do anything soon. Please help, Anorea, thought Des as she started running towards the First Fire Pit.

  Des ran with all her might. She was all out of breath and sweating profusely when she finally reached the pit. She imagined a fire burning within her that magically flew out to light the fire pit, but it didn’t work. She looked back to see a group of the dead pilling over her mother to stop her from moving. Des also caught a glimpse of Ethan’s unconscious body falling to the ground. A lot of blood was coming out of his mouth. Leo and his ancestors were moments away from falling prey to the claws of the dead too. Des then turned back to the deep, dark pit in front of her and did the only thing her instinct told her to do. She jumped.

  Her fragile body hit the bottom of the pit with a loud thud. Blood flowed out of her and onto the coals kept magically warm for a decade. A sacrifice. That was the spark needed to ignite the fire. Suddenly, an explosion happened. The shockwaves of the blast blew away the sealing dome and everything else for miles around. Kendall and Dorian used the last of their energies to protect the children. Then all went silent.