“It’s still burning . . .”
Elin Far’mys hiked up the moist ladder, trying her best to ignore the lava-like sensation the metal object produced in her throbbing arm. Every now and then the sheer humidity of the well would force fitful bouts of whooping coughs from her aching chest, and her leg wound from her nasty encounter with the changeling Dagger cramped her leg up periodically. In short, the climb gave little more relief than the battle before.

‘Steel yourself; the path ahead requires great fortitude.’

Kehi. Kehi’s voice rang through the rungs of the ladder: a Morse code of memory. The voice of her dead lover had been present throughout her journey, floating through the recesses of her mind, expelling strange bits of advice and rattling off riddles all the while—but for the first time, Elin felt a dead cold chill slice through her spinal cord as she heard his warning . . . Kehi’s ethereal voice had never been this direct before.
“Steel myself, steel myself.” She chanted silently to herself in rhythm with her climbing. The blackened opening above her grew in size with every step until finally the last of the ladder met her feet and she climbed out to survey her new surroundings.
The new room was massive and circular, no light of any sort emitted from any direction; it was as if the eerie grey of every object glowed enough to provide sufficient illumination. In the middle of the room stood two large rectangular tables loaded with vast arrays of different foods and drink; much like a last-minute feast prepared for those who would come to this room . . . and have any desire to consume black and white meat.
“This place smells stale, so very stale.” Elin whispered to herself as she walked the length of the room and traced her fingers across the smooth oak of the table edge.
After a quick once over of the room, she happened upon the same angelic statue that had watched over her endeavors so many times before; arms crossed smugly across the stone chest, the angel smirked with eyes shut gently.

It looked—HE looked so lifelike.

CREEEEK!!
A loud cracking sound emitted from the ceiling high above, soon accompanied by an ominous whooshing sound of a large object about to thunder to the ground. Looking up just in time, Elin dove hastily out of the way of a massive slab of something just before it hammered to the ground with a sharp thud.
“What is this trickery? Booby traps?” Elin gasped. In her rush to save herself she landed hard on her bad arm, pain blasting across her rotator cuff.
It didn’t take long for Elin to recognize the deathly metallic bindings of the Grimoire of Turiel as it rose by its own accord to a standing position.

CRUUNCH!!
Behind the content statue the granite of the wall violently carved its features to resemble a gated archway so much like the archway from the antechamber long ago. The gateway, however, remained in Elin’s line of sight for a brief moment before thick black smoke billowed from beyond the grating and obscured the exit entirely.

WHOOOM!!
The Grimoire Blasted open its cover with enough force to fling Elin sharply on her rear end with the gust of nasty stale air. On the blank page it opened to, large scarring letters carved themselves on the page, the scratching sound echoing down the well behind her.

‘Sight, speech, motion – all these and more a human make. Motion I lack, and thus one mortal must take that gift away from the other, and gift it to me, that a fitting receptacle my body shall be.’

“‘Gift’? A gift of sight, speech and motion?” Elin wondered aloud, rubbing her sore behind and getting back up. How exactly would one go about giving sight, speech and motion?
“Those without sight are blind . . . those without speech are dumb, and those without motion are, uh . . . paralyzed?” Elin said to herself, pacing and tapping a finger to her chin.
“Blind, dumb, paralyzed . . . all these things are disabilities. So if Turiel requires a gift to bring about a cure for his disabilities, I assume this involves taking it from another source.” Elin concluded.

“By the gods— I have to cripple my opponent!” She shouted in astonishment. Saying it aloud gave it an unknown sense of foreboding . . . a horrible sin it was to do such a thing to another sentient being.

“How am I to do this? It’s atrocious.”

********

“Tunnels and wells, I’m so bloody sick of it ALL!!”
Charybdis slipped for the umpteenth time on the rickety ladder, the structural integrity was greatly reduced after the shadow-girl decided to go ballistic in the previous room. Every step taken on the ladder weakened it further, causing it to buckle and detach itself from the wall at random intervals.
“This wish is really starting to eat away at me, this whole thing is going to kill me or drive me superfluously loony . . . and right about now the former sounds quite appealing!”

KA-CHUNNGG!
The ladder down-shifted violently for a second, leaving the frightened Charybdis to cling tightly to the rungs, holding her breath—only for the ladder to completely disintegrate beneath her, metallic poles and rungs dismantling themselves before plummeting down into the abyss.
“AHH! NOT NOW!!” Charybdis shrieked. Before the metal death-trap could claim her, she leaped high above and gouged her way up the wall, stone crumbling under her nails like moldy cheese.
For a harrowing full minute, she leaped and clawed her way to the top, trying with all her might to avoid the inevitable slipping and stumbling that came with scaling a sheer surface at full speed.
Finally her fingers met a ledge of some kind, with all her strength she catapulted herself from the opening, high into the air, and down onto a table.

CRAASH!!

Splinters and juices, porcelain shards and jagged bone fragments all blasted from the point of impact like the delectable shrapnel it was, decorating the yet-to-be-seen room with all the contents available.
“No! Not this time!” She bellowed, leaping swiftly to her feet and sending more bits of debris flying about. Charybdis refused to let her explosive stumbles leave her prone and disoriented any longer.
Manic vigor coursed through her veins, she whipped about, gathering as much information about her surroundings as she possibly could.
“I’ll be prepared this time,” She hissed. “I’ll be—”
She had little time to survey anything: In front of her already was her opponent.

********

“I’ll be—”
The girl stopped dead.
Elin stared at the strange creature, so filled with energy she was . . . that is until she met eye to eye with Elin. The girl stood absolutely motionless at first, but when Elin took one step closer, the girl’s breathing quickened and her overall demeanor shifted rapidly.
“Who are you?!” the girl demanded.
“My name is Elin, Elin Far’mys. I’m not here to hurt you.” She responded, hoping her calm attitude would quell the girl’s nervousness.
“HA! Hardly, I know how this game is played!” she retorted. Before Elin could speak another word the girl darted away from her crater and backed up to the opposite wall as if afraid Elin would backstab her.
“Just calm down, I truly mean no harm.” Elin assured.

‘Do you really?’ Kehi’s voice echoed in her mind. She tried to ignore it.

“No harm, no harm for now, I guess. I’m not too keen on—AAHHH!!” The girl continued to backpedal as she spoke until she bumped into the large Grimoire, startling herself quite thoroughly. When she looked behind to see what she ran into, she must’ve not liked it, for she issued a shrill squeak and jumped a foot in the air.
“Not this bloody thing again . . .” She groaned.
Elin deliberately approached the cowering figure. No need to keep her in the dark, might as well come clean.
“Listen, uh . . .”
“Charybdis.” She responded robotically despite her fear.
“Yes, Charybdis. Listen, Charybdis, our next task involves the crippling of our opponent in order to continue. Now, as much as I would like to continue, I find this particular task to be unusually cruel, so I suggest we find a more peaceful way to resolve this matter before we’re overtaken by this madness.”

Hoping for a positive response from Charybdis soon dwindled to an improbable dream as said individual shifted her dead grey eyes directly into Elin’s.

********

A horrible rush of energy hammered through Charybdis’s bones.
Every subsequent round of violence she had partaken in usually involved her lucking out in some obscure way—an unforeseen “Deus Ex Machina” of sorts. And every time she managed to squeeze by within an inch of losing, a taxing weight was added to her psyche.

In the end, such lucky breaks were eating away at her, eating away with such frightening speed that any more would surely be the end of what sanity she still clings to.

“Crippling, a crippling is what’s needed?” Charybdis hissed violently.

“Charybdis, be reasonable, there is no need for violence.” Elin warned, reaching for her short sword.

“There’s only one way through, and I need to get out of this place.” Her voice was trembling.

“Charybdis, what is wrong with you? This is sensless, this is insane!”

“True, Elin Far’mys . . . but I try not to think about it too much!”
And so with blinding hysteria and nervous desperation driving her very being, Charybdis pounced forth and slammed heavily into Elin, knocking her sword from her hand.

A rush of glee radiated about her body, with Elin being so much more physically weak than she, Charybdis found that keeping her pinned to the ground was surprisingly easy, this fight may be hers yet!
But no person is without surprises of their own: Elin spewed a title wave of icy water from her mouth, hurling Charybdis into the other table and repeating the process of spraying deathly debris from the impact.
No, not this time, not this time. Charybdis would rather die than have to lose here and now . . . she had to get out of here. With a hefty leap she rocketed herself into Elin, breaking both her arms in the process.
“I’ve got this, I’ve got this!” Charybdis breathlessly shouted.
Finally, after all she’s been through, she now has the advantage, she is now actually winning. Her hands began to tremble in the anticipation of it all.

She just needed to not screw it up.

********

The harrowed breathing of Charybdis echoed throughout the room, and so did the pain in Elins arms.
“What are you doing?” Elin gasped. “This is madness, you don’t need to do this.”
“No, I’ve got this!” She cried back hysterically.

Surely this would be the end . . .

‘mmmmmmMMM-These actions must cease.-MMMmmmmm’

An atonal chorus of haunting voices hammered through the room, it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. Charybdis leaped back as if she were electrified and clapped her hands to her floppy ears, whimpering painfully.

Elin herself felt a horrid chill down her spine, the voices tickled her eardrums and vibrated her wounds . . . it was mild discomfort that was utterly unbearable.

Through teary eyes, Elin managed to look to the now-glowing ceiling and the source of the terrible melody:
Three shapes, angelic, androgynous and child-like undulated about each other as they descended to the center of the room.
Their elongated bald heads turned to Elin.
‘mmmmMMM-You must turn back, these atrocities must never be commited.-Mmmmm’ The creatures buzzed in an operatic choir.
Every time they spoke, Charybdis would writhe on the ground, screaming.

“I mustn’t turn back, I need to fulfill my journey!” Elin weakly replied.

‘mmmmMMMM-No, this cannot happen, no harm must befall the mortals, regardless of the goals they set.-MMMmmm’

Elin grimaced. This divine intervention proved to be the stopping point for her escapades, and nothing she could do now could stop it.

********

It burned and froze all at the same time.
Charybdis couldn’t stand the sensation of her eyeballs vibrating violently in her skull any longer, but how to extinguish her suffering and continue on? How?
“I have to get rid of them, I have to!” She sobbed silently. With the floating humming beings distracted with their conversation with Elin, Charybdis knew this was a now-or-never deal.
Hobbling to her trembling feet, hands still scraping into her ears, she eyed the statue . . . that horrible disgusting statue. It had to go.
“I must either be a lunatic—or a genius for what I’m about to do!” she giggled deliriously.

She dug her toes deep into the carpet, gritted her teeth so hard they cracked, and tore her hands away from her bleeding head. As soon as the ethereal humming stabbed her eardrums, Charybdis shrieked a piercing howl and barreled full-speed right into the statue.

It crumbled much like the stone from the well; very soft, almost flesh-like. The impact didn’t even hurt at all, but the reproductions of her actions could very well compensate for that fact.

Tears, blood, and ghostly ectoplasm exploded from the impact and rained down everywhere. So sudden was this action that even the angelic creatures halted their humming aura to observe the events that took place.

The viscera of the statue pulled themselves together. The glowing blue ectoplasm bonded fiercely together to form a disgusting fusion between knife-wielding man . . . and the infamous Narrator from the antechamber.

The Deep crimson blood coagulated together to created a bastardization between a changeling boy of some kind, and the violent spear-wielding elf Charybdis encountered in the burnt village.

Yet most shocking of all were the tears that rained down gently like snowflakes. They formed two separate entities, not a disgusting fusion. The two beings formulated themselves into crystal replicas of Elin and . . . herself: Charybdis.

‘mmmmMMM-Foolish mortal, these abominations must never see the light of day, what have you done?!-MMMmmm’ the angels berated. The chords they sang stung Charybdis more than their chagrin.

The angels sprang into action. The ectoplasmic blob and the bloody goop wildly battled the floating apparitions as the latter valiantly staved off the attacks with precise shots from their light arrows.
But Charybdis had little time to watch the battle, for the blade of a crystal short sword slashed its way across her chest . . . the crystal Elin was now attacking her.

********

She couldn’t believe her eyes—even if she had the time for it.
The newly formed crystal Charybdis that manifested from the carnage caused by the real Charybdis was now clawing and biting with a calm viciousness not exhibited by the original. With two broken arms and limited control over her water magic, this battle proved exceptionally hard.
“I can’t even destroy her body! That must not be normal water!” Elin panted, exhaustion and pain building in her body. She could now do little more than narrowly avoid the swipes and slashes.
But suddenly, a brief stroke of genius struck. Eyeing the furious bout between the angels and the monsters, she sprinted right into the middle of the skirmish—and the crystal Charybdis followed according to plan.
Light arrows whizzed by her head as Elin leaped over a bloody kontos and ducked under an ectoplasmic machete, both swiping madly about trying to damage the first thing they come in contact with. And that first thing happened to be crystal Charybdis.

The clear doppelganger absorbed just about every blow and arrow exchanged between the monsters and angels. Jostling about, crystal Charybdis nearly fell apart from the devastating force of the flurry of blows.
“Like a watery punching bag!” Elin mused to herself. This could potentially buy her enough time to formulate a good counter attack.
But her train of thought was broken as the real Charybdis flew past her face, followed by a very determined crystal Elin. The battle between them was like nothing she had ever seen before: her crystal clone used her water magic and short sword in such perfect harmony that even Charybdis’s physical superiority proved little match to the onslaught.

“Wow, I really need to learn how to fight like that! I should train more aft—”

What happened next was a mystery even to Elin; Her body went totally numb very suddenly, her vision began to cloud, and even her breathing diminished.

Crystal Charybdis had run her claw through Elin’s spine.

********

Beating after beating had now begun to tax on Charybdis’s consciousness. Never had she felt such a direct fury from a single target. She couldn’t even keep up with crystal Elin’s lightning-fast union between sword and magic.
After another staggering water-whip to the face, Charybdis fell roughly to her knees. Scrambling to her feet once more, she attempted to smash crystal Elin’s head in with a spare platter she found on the floor.
Crystal Elin made no attempt to dodge, block, or anything. She just stood there and absorbed the full impact of the strike without even blinking.
“What’s wrong with you?!” Charybdis demanded, voice wavering with exhaustion and fear.

It was only just then that Charybdis noticed the deathly silence in the room. Crystal Elin, crystal Charybdis, the monsters—even the angels’ perpetual humming stopped dead cold . . . and all eyes were on her.

‘mmmmMMM-Your actions must now be punished by your own device; we have other matters to attend to.-MMMmmmmm’ the angels hummed, flying high into the ceiling and disappearing.

Now every creature, save the real Elin, Charged forth to rend Charybdis asunder; screaming bloody murder, Charybdis turned twitching tail and sprinted for the nearest exit in hopes that it would lead anywhere but in this room . . . and as if reading her mind, the black smoke dissipated from the grating behind the decimated statue, and Charybdis bolted into the awaiting hallway.

Her feet patted the hard ground with a rapid rhythm. Panting and sobbing, she tightly shut her eyes and prayed that nothing followed her into the black.

********

Silence. Just silence.
No humming angels to help her, no sign of Charybdis for a parting word—not even the white glow she recognized as the loser’s ticket to escape. Just silence.

How long would Elin Far’mys lie crippled in that room? How long?

How long until she could at least hear the voice of her lost lover?

‘The path that most fear to tread is feared for a reason.’