Mary's vision blurred, darkness seeping into the edges of her consciousness. The pain in her body, especially her arm, was a dull ache that throbbed with each heartbeat. She could feel the weight of the world pressing down on her chest, and for a moment, she thought she might drown in it.
The explosion had been massive—its force still reverberated in her ears, the ringing a reminder of the catastrophic energy released from the shattered crystal. She felt as if the very air around her had been shredded, leaving nothing but a vacuum of silence in its wake. The rift, the thing that had haunted them for so long, had been struck at its core. But at what cost?
Her heart thudded painfully in her chest, and she forced her eyes open. The landscape around her was a haze of smoke and dust, the once vast sky now streaked with an unnatural red, as though the world itself was dying. The spire where the crystal had once stood was no more—it had collapsed in on itself, a jagged ruin of fractured stone and glowing embers.
Slowly, painfully, she pushed herself upright, her vision swimming. Every movement sent a shockwave of agony through her body, but she refused to fall. She had come too far to let the fight end like this.
"Mary…" Lela's voice came through the fog, a whisper of relief and fear, the two emotions tangled together. Mary's head snapped toward her sister, finding her standing, though clearly shaken. Lela's face was smeared with dirt and blood, but she was alive—thankfully, they all were.
Loosie, ever the energetic one, was the first to rush over to her. Her usual brightness was dimmed, her face pale with concern. She knelt beside Mary, taking her hand gently.
"Mary, are you alright? What happened?" Loosie's voice trembled, her concern palpable.
Mary swallowed, her throat dry and her head heavy. She could feel the blood rushing in her ears, her heart pulsing against her ribcage like a drum. She forced herself to sit up straighter, to focus on her surroundings. The world around them was still collapsing. The rift wasn't gone. It hadn't been destroyed.
"It's not over," Mary muttered, her voice hoarse. She grimaced as she looked around. The debris from the destroyed spire was still falling, settling in the wake of their battle. There was no sky now—just swirling clouds of crimson, as though the atmosphere itself had been infected by the darkness of the rift. The ground beneath them was cracked and twisted, jagged stones jutting out like teeth ready to consume everything.
"But the crystal… you destroyed it," Lela said, kneeling beside Mary, her hand resting gently on her shoulder. "We should be safe. It should be over."
Mary shook her head, her brow furrowed in concentration as she tried to gather her thoughts. "The crystal was only part of it. The rift—it's still there. The energy is still pulsing. It was never just the crystal—it was the anchor for something much larger."
Loosie looked up at the sky, her brows furrowing as she saw the swirling black energy above them, still gathering strength.
"That's what I've been trying to say," Mary continued, her voice growing stronger despite the exhaustion weighing down on her. "The rift was never just about one object. The crystal was a conduit—a key that held it in place. But the rift itself is a force, something older than anything we've ever faced. We only weakened it. We didn't destroy it."
Lela clenched her fists. "So what do we do now? We can't just leave it like this. It's worse than we thought."
Mary's gaze hardened as she looked around them. The energy from the rift was beginning to move, almost like it was searching for something, as if it was alive. Dark tendrils of magic spread out, grasping at the air, reaching down toward the shattered land. The rift was restless, and it was only a matter of time before it came for them again.
"We finish what we started," Mary said, the determination in her voice returning. "We destroy the heart of it all. The rift isn't just an object. It's a source of dark power, a well that draws from something far older than anything we've encountered. The crystal was just one part of it. But there's another piece—the core. That's what we need to find."
"How do we even find something like that?" Loosie asked, her voice laced with doubt. "This is beyond anything we've ever seen."
"We'll have to track it," Mary said, pushing herself to her feet, wincing slightly from the pain. "The rift is a living force. It will have a heartbeat, a center—a place where its energy is focused. We just need to find it before the rift can completely reassert itself."
Lela nodded grimly. "I'm with you. We have no other choice."
They began to move as one, carefully navigating the uneven terrain. The air was thick with dark magic, and Mary could feel it pressing in on her, its weight heavier now than before. Each step felt like a battle, but they pushed forward. Loosie kept glancing nervously at the sky, while Lela remained vigilant, her sword ready in her hand.
Time seemed to stretch as they moved deeper into the wasteland left in the wake of the rift's explosion. The ground was cracked and scarred, but there was a subtle pull to it, as though the energy from the rift was drawing them in. Mary followed that feeling, her instincts telling her that they were close.
After what seemed like an eternity, they reached a plateau, and before them stood a darkened cavern, its entrance framed by jagged rocks that seemed to twist in on themselves. The air around the cave hummed with a deep, resonant energy—a pull that sent chills down Mary's spine.
"This is it," Mary said, her voice a whisper. "The core is inside. It's where the rift's heart lies."
"But the energy…" Loosie said, her eyes wide with fear. "It feels so much stronger here."
"I know," Mary replied. "We need to be careful. The closer we get to the core, the more unstable the rift will become. We might not make it out of here once we destroy it."
Lela stepped forward, her expression unwavering. "We don't have a choice. We finish this now."
Together, they entered the cavern.
The inside was dark, but not silent. The walls thrummed with an eerie resonance, the energy from the rift flowing through the stone itself. It felt like they were walking through the very veins of the earth, the pulse of the rift calling to them.
At the far end of the cavern stood a massive, shadowy figure—a swirling mass of darkness that seemed to devour the light itself. It was the core of the rift, its power palpable in the air around them.
Mary stepped forward, feeling the weight of it press down on her. She could feel the core's heartbeat—a rhythmic pulse that echoed in her chest. It was both overwhelming and all-encompassing, a sound that threatened to crush her. But she would not falter. Not now.
"Let's end this," she said, her voice steady.
And with that, they charged forward, ready to face the heart of the rift, knowing that this would be the battle to end all battles.