For a brief moment they were all still. The Ashen Cult woman held the knife in her shoulder. There was a fury in her eyes that wasn’t present in the fight before.

  Brook didn’t look well, but she was at least able to move. Mae was on the ground and fading, CJ could feel her growing weak. If he didn’t hurry up and get her help then… well he didn’t want to think about it, it couldn’t happen. He didn’t come this far just to lose Mae before getting her revenge.

  Larl kept his distance, and CJ kept his sword at the ready. Without Mae, he lacked the coordination required to corner their enemy. But he saw how Brook fought before, there was the chance that was enough to overcome what came next. He just needed to pay attention and make use of his resources.

  The cultist woman tossed another spray of ash at him, it came across like a slice of energy, following the arc of her arm as she whipped it out toward him. CJ ducked it, though he couldn’t avoid it completely. Small flecks of hot ash still found him.

  As he hoped, Brook took that as an opportunity. The clone rushed in, a dagger in hand. CJ got to see the moment that she rolled her wrist and a dagger appeared there from nowhere after a small surge of soulflame. The clone leaped in, and when the cultist dodged, she leaped into the path of another thrown dagger from the main Brook.

  The dagger was deflected, just barely. CJ dashed in, sword drawn back to attack. Then he stopped, slowing in time before he would be too committed to end his attack gracefully. It was advice from Alyss, he remembered her drilling it into him back in Scaleback.

  Overcommitment could be a death sentence. There were fighters who fed on those who left openings, whose guards opened up for brief moments. He couldn’t take many more hits, Larl couldn’t produce many more shields. Instead he skid to a stop, and watched as the cultist took a stance ready to guard against him. She watched him for a second, then her eyes tracked Brook’s clone charging her again.

  Real Brook ran as well, letting out a desperate yell as she forced her body to move. Another dagger in her hand, she partnered with her clone. Together they slashed at the cultist woman, wild swings high and low. Most were deflected, until one cut at the woman’s arm, and a second cut into her stomach. Instead of blood there were large flecks of ash.

  “Useless!” the cultist yelled as she slid away from another ash shell and escaped their onslaught. She slid back through the dim dungeon room, watching Brook and clone for their follow up attack.

  CJ saw his opening. He drew on Mae’s fading power, her new facets.

  |Building Heat|

  |By taking time to build up soulflame within the soul, the next attack unleashed strikes with significantly increased impact and pierces soulflame defenses. Can only be used once per Cross, reduces strength by 2 for the rest of the Beat. A weapon powered up with White Hot can use this without the build up time.|

  When he moved earlier he started charging the attack. He knew why Mae didn’t try to use it earlier, it was a one and done style attack. Her hesitation translated to his hesitation, he didn’t even consider it as an option when it was the two of them fighting. But now, they agreed that the fight needed to end on the next blow.

  CJ was in range before her eyes flickered to him. He was fast, his equipment was lighter than it should be after all. She stabbed at him with her dagger, and Larl’s shield appeared, stopping the attack cold.

  He released his swing, across her body, angled to go after those marks on her neck. He knew what it meant if he got a clean hit, he knew this meant trying to kill someone. It was life or death, he couldn’t hold back.

  His sword glimmered with light, hit her starting at her shoulder, and met that ash shield. He felt the impact, it was like slamming his sword into a brick wall, as if his sword strike was faster and stronger than anything he was usually able to accomplish. Then it kept going, and before he knew it his sword was through to the other side, slicing past her neck.

  He released his breath.

  The cultist woman fell backwards, her hand going to her neck again. This time in a desperate attempt to hold herself together. She fell against a wall, her hands clinging over each other as she seemed to fight for breath.

  CJ watched her with. He could feel his muscles quivering, but the hate he felt for her and her cult made him willing to strike again.

  Brook came in to attack, swinging a blow to the woman’s temple to finish her off. But instead the cultist stared at CJ, and dissolved into ash.

  “No!” CJ shouted. He was sure she was dead, but she fled just like the one before.

  “Did you think you won?” The woman’s voice echoed through the room, without any discernible source. “I’ll admit I underestimated you, but all you’ve done is inconvenience me, and doom yourself.”

  Larl rushed up to Mae’s side as she lay still on the floor. Her energy was fading, CJ could feel her dying.

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  CJ watched the room, waiting for her next move. “That’s exactly the kind of speech someone makes after they just got their ass whooped. Come on, come out here.”

  “I think not,” the woman said. CJ couldn’t help but notice her voice didn’t sound the same, it was almost creaky. “What is your plan, to stop our activity? Report us to the Earl? You don’t seem to understand how far our influence goes. Actually, now is a good time for me to give the guards new orders.”

  CJ felt a cold chill. “You seem to think we’re revolutionaries. I got who I’m after, and now we’re going to escape. You can have the city. I don’t know these people.”

  Silence for a moment, then she returned. “I don’t believe you. I recognize your sort. But regardless, I have to minimize losses. I can’t have people speaking of Ash work in the Earls, so I’ll kill you, I’ll kill the prisoners, then I’ll kill the guards, and maybe I’ll leave some survivors in the city.”

  CJ’s strained as he squeezed the sword. “What the hell is wrong with you people?!”

  “Let this teach you, if you want to expose someone, no one hears the opinions of the dead.” Her voice went low like gravel at the end, and faded out. Her presence was gone.

  Brook fell to her knees, and the clone dissolved into smoke.

  CJ knelt beside Larl. He could barely feel Mae anymore, she was almost gone. That woman’s attack burned away at her, and then kept draining her as they fought. He didn’t even want to use her facets, out of fear it would take away the last bits of her strength. But he knew from before that while they are connected, while the true bond was up, the extra strength they got from their connection could help give them the power they need to survive.

  “How is she?” CJ asked, “we need to move her, we need to get out of…”

  Larl lifted a hand to silence him. “Calm, CJ, calm. I’ve got her.”

  CJ saw it now. Larl had a hand on her, and part of his soulflame energy was touching hers. He was keeping her stable. Mae wasn’t moving, but it was because she was being kept just alive. CJ remembered reading about the facet before.

  |Stay Death's Hand|

  |Feature Facet|

  |By imparting some of their own Soulflame to a person whose Soulflame is fading, this ability will put them into a slowed state where their remaining health fades at a sluggish pace. A person on their last breaths can last for nearly an hour, plenty of time to find stronger healing. But everything about the target is slowed, and any attempt to resist this effect will break it immediately.|

  “We need to think about how we’re getting Brook out of here,” Larl said, “and we need to tell the others that the situation has changed.”

  Larl was right, like usual. Alyss went to Welma and she wasn’t back, they were heading to other prisoners. If the guard was alerted and the place swarmed with armed enemies, he wasn’t sure they could get out.

  Worse, if that cultist was telling the truth, she wouldn’t stop there. The prisoners on the stage outside were waiting to be executed, there were innocent people out there, and prisoners inside they still hadn’t freed.

  “I’ll have to run,” CJ said.

  A bell started ringing. It echoed through the halls, and then was joined by another bell, and another. The whole prison was going on alert. It took so long to get as far down into the prison, the chance he could get back out, it felt impossible.

  “Hell,” CJ said. He started stripping off the top layer of his armor. “I don’t know if I’ll make it in time, but you guys here-“

  Larl interrupted him again. “If you leave, our bond weakens CJ. I don’t know if we survive that. Besides, I can’t fight my way past any guards that find us.”

  “Then what should I do?!” CJ yelled, “I can’t go but I can’t just… I can’t leave Alyss and Welma up there alone!”

  “You know where she is right?” Larl asked.

  Of course he did, he could feel her location. It was a vague sense, he could probably track her down with time, but that didn’t help.

  “Maybe you can connect with her from here,” Larl said.

  CJ looked at Larl. The priest was looking up at CJ with a strange expression, a hopeful desperation.

  “You know that isn’t how it works, Larl.” CJ said.

  “I know, but maybe the distance isn’t bad, maybe you could, just maybe.”

  The distance was too far. Even then, she would just have a vague sense of the situation. It wouldn’t help. “You know I can’t. You know it doesn’t work like that. Why are you always suggesting stuff you know I can’t do, Larl?”

  The older man turned his head down. “I’m sorry. I really am. I guess I’m just hopeful, you know? The hero generals are supposed to bring about miracles, and change the world. I guess I just think, there is always a chance.”

  “Well there isn’t,” CJ said. He looked at Mae, face down on the floor of the dungeon. Larl kept his hand on her, and couldn’t look CJ in the eye anymore. Brook was using a wall to pull herself back to her feet. “I’m sorry.”

  He thought back. Before when he sent Alyss to go get Mae, she said she felt like she was needed. He didn’t think about it then, he didn’t want to. But now he didn’t have options. There were no books yet that described a bond like Greywind’s. Controlling so many people, even unliving creatures like Ash Walkers, it wasn’t possible with a normal Soulstone.

  There was a chance. There was a chance it was their only chance.

  He closed his eyes. He knew where Alyss was. She was higher than them. He could almost feel her emotions, distant but present. She was frantic, resolved, but afraid. But she was too far, he couldn’t make her part of their true bond, the energy couldn’t reach.

  So he focused on her. He tried to work with her abilities anyway, tried to access one of her facets that she had but he lacked like Hold Fast. But he couldn’t, it just didn’t work like that.

  Someone was talking to him, Larl. He ignored it, for just a moment. He had to really try, he had to confirm with himself that it really was impossible.

  Soulstones, as far as his research showed, were just a solidified chunk of the energy that powered everyone in this world. The energy connecting them was something else. He didn’t know if it was a gift from their god, or just a natural part of living creatures here.

  Their souls reached out to each other, and shoved energy across the gap. The energy cycled around, which probably gave them enough power to maintain the loop until their soulstones couldn’t maintain the additional soulflame anymore. But was it that simple, just forcing his energy toward another person?

  He knew where she was, the rules said he couldn’t reach her at that distance, but he was supposed to be a hero, and he was supposed to break the rules.

  CJ felt his fingers and toes go cold, his chest roiled like lava was flowing behind his ribs. He needed to send the energy to her, he needed to reach Alyss no matter what, he needed a bond stronger than any other!

  ‘CJ? Why can I hear you?’