"Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile." — Hiccup, How to Train Your Dragon

You wouldn't believe how much snow there is at my place! It's ridiculous for almost being March!

Chapter 10

Damnation

No one kept watch that night, mostly because we were all asleep within fifteen minutes after Junior had emerged with the Master Sword. I fell asleep last, making sure Junior didn't wander off anywhere and do anything stupid, especially since he had a new sword. Unfortunately, the sleep I got that night wasn't enough to restore my energy. When I woke, the sun was already above the tree line, and no one else was awake. Sighing, I pulled a chunk of bread out and started nibbling.

Louise awoke next, stretching like a cat. Which she was, of course, but her lithe movements were abnormal. Soon after, Anghenfil and Epona woke up. Junior slept contently near me, showing no sign of waking any time soon. None of the adults were very happy.

"So, now what?" Epona asked grumpily.

"Well," I started, yawning. "I take it no one really wants to travel all the way to the Underworld?" I was answered with groans and protests. Raising my hands for peace, I began again. "If that's how you all feel, I can warp us all there."

"Where exactly is the Underworld?" Anghenfil interrogated.

"You'll see," I said mischievously.

"You keep zaying zat," Louise protested. "Juzt tell uz, pleaze!"

"Okay," I agreed, then summoned my power. With a mental gesture, we dissolved into particles that were then warped to our destination…

"Snowpeak?" Auru raised his brow. "The Underworld is in Snowpeak?"

"Yeah, I know," Link took a long drink from his flask. They had been traveling for a few hours, keeping up a light jog, and had arrived at the base of the waterfall that led to Zora's Domain, near the tunnel entrance to Snowpeak.

"All this time, and I never knew that such a marvel existed!" Ashei exclaimed, referring to her obsession with Snowpeak.

"Well, dear, there are a lot of things Link knows that we don't," Shad said bitterly. "Like how you knew that you could travel to the City in the Sky and didn't even tell me! It's only been my life's work!"

Link grimaced. During their trip, Link was forced in to telling his comrades the story of what had happened all those years ago. When Shad had found out that Link had visited the City in the Sky, the city of the Ooccas, Shad's obsession, and hadn't told him, he had become furious. (And Link knew that having a scholar as your enemy was a bad idea.)

"Look, I'm sorry. Hey, after this, I promise I'll take you there," Link swore, screwing the lid back on the flask. This seemed to cheer him up immensely.

"So, where is it in Snowpeak?" Rusl asked. "Because I really don't want to search the entire province."

Link sighed. "I know this sounds horrible, but I'll know—"

"—when did we get here?" Junior asked groggily.

"Oh, less than an hour ago," I said, handing him a blanket to keep the blistering cold out.

"But I thought we weren't traveling until morning," he blurted.

"Well," Louise said, shaking violently despite having three blankets wrapped around her thin shoulders. "We…all woke…up earrrly in…ze night, zo…we dezided to…juzt get it overrr wiz."

I glanced at her, concerned, but she averted my gaze. "I guess we should get going then," I said, straightening.

"Where to now?" Epona asked, rising from the snow-covered ground where she had been sitting with Anghenfil.

I smiled. "Since you three don't have weapons, I thought we should stop by at an old friend's place first. Plus, they'll help us get to the Underworld."

"'Old friend'?" Anghenfil inquired. "Oh Goddesses, who is it this time?"

"Just Yeto and Yeta," I responded.

"Wait, aren't those the huge monsters that my father had to fight?" Junior asked fearfully.

I cast a dark look in his direction. "Yeto and Yeta are not monsters, they're yetis. And he did not fight them, he fought the possessed Yeta." Junior cowered, and I realized I had summoned a bit of power. "Let's go."

I shouldered one of the packs and started walking toward the icy tree on the hill, not looking back to see if my party was following. However, I could hear their footsteps as they crunched through the snow. I was already out of breath when I reached the tree; I steadied myself of the trunk, and looked toward the path that led to the Snowpeak Ruins, a crumbling mansion that served as the home for the yetis. And, trudging through the snow towards me, were the yetis.

Yeto was the male, a gigantic, white monster with fangs and a large, wide, almost quilted tail. Yeta, his mate, was a slight figure, roundish in the middle, but, besides her fur and supposed lack of arms, could have passed as a human. Despite their strange appearance, they were actually quite nice and sweet. They had offered their assistance all those years ago, when Link and I had been searching for the shards of the Mirror of Twilight.

My party plodded up behind me, Junior breathing hard from trekking through the feet upon feet of snow. We waited in silence as the yetis approached us, each wandering in the dark corners of our minds. I was thinking of what Link and Alfonzo were doing now, but, though I should have felt some sort of sadness or overwhelming sense of longing, I only felt a slight tinge of regret. I knew Junior was wondering nervously if the monsters would attack us because of the look of fear in his eyes. Louise was still violently shivering, and her teeth were chattering.

Yeto saw us first, and let out a cry of delighted surprise, jogging heavily toward us. His large feet allowed him to easily run on top of the snow. It was kind of frightening to see a large, furry, white beast running toward us, but for some demented reason it made me smile. Junior cringed and tried to hide behind me for protection, but I dragged him out in front of me and clasped his shoulder reassuringly.

"Friends!" Yeto cried, reaching the hill. "Wolf-rider!" He grabbed me and hugged me aggressively.

"How—did you know—it was me?" I asked, gasping for breath.

"Yeto smell you! What wolf-rider and little hero doing here?" he asked, putting me down and hugging Junior, who had tried to run away.

"Another quest," I explained, dusting off the white hairs clinging to my blanket.

Yeta waddled up behind her husband. "Greetings, wolf-rider. What about quest, uh?"

"We're looking for the Underworld," I said. "Perhaps you've heard about it?"

Yeta paused, her fur going limp, perhaps the yeti equivalent of paling. "Friends look tired, uh. You will stay night at home."

"Zankz, but we arrre in a hurrry—"

"You will stay at home!" Yeta interrupted Louise, her eyes turning red and her mouth sprouting fangs.

I covered Louise's mouth with my hand and said, fearing Yeta would turn into Blizzeta, her possessed form, "We will gladly spend the night. We are in no hurry at all."

"Ah, good!" Yeto exclaimed, clapping his hands as his mate returned to her normal form. "Friends will come with us to home!"

Yeto slammed the tree with his fist, and the remaining leaves fell out of the tree: three ice-coated leaves that were used to sled down to the ruins of the mansion.

"I am not doing that again!" Anghenfil vehemently protested. "Not after the cucco episode!"

I looked at Louise and Epona, but they both shook their heads. "Fine, you three will go with Yeta," I instructed. "Junior, hop on."

Yeto jumped on his leaf with one foot and started pushing himself toward the first ramp at the bottom of the hill. "What?" Junior exclaimed.

"Just follow me!" I said, stepping onto my leaf and pushing off with one foot, gaining speed with each push. Junior followed behind, being cautious.

I sped down the hill and flew off the ramp, passing Yeto as I crouched to gain speed. It felt exhilarating and childish at the same time to go sledding like this, but, at the moment, I didn't care. The speed and adrenaline made me feel like I was leaving all my problems behind. I tilted around the corners, narrowly avoiding the hard, rock ledges. The broken bridge came into view next; I skipped across it, still gaining speed. Then I aimed myself for the next ramp, and flew into the air, landing on the tops of the pine trees in the little valley below. Jumping from tree to tree, I finally descended, using my power to lessen the impact. On the ground, I jumped onto a side burn of snow and glided over the path on the side trail. I jumped over the gaps between rock islands, and finally found myself back on the path. Around one last, sharp corner and I had reached the entrance to the mansion. Jumping nimbly off my leaf, I landed on the stone pathway before thee leaf shattered into icy bits. Moments later, Junior skidded up behind me, his face red from the wind. Not prepared, his leaf shattered from under him, causing him to stumble, but I caught him in time. Finally, Yeto rumbled into view.

"Ha ha! You win!" he said heartily, clapping us both on the shoulder. "Come, come! We wait for wife and friends inside!"

The large yeti tramped up the stairs to the grand double doors of the decaying mansion. Junior and I followed behind. The darkness of the mansion was eerie, even for me. It almost seemed colder in here than outside, perhaps because of the emptiness. The mansion was almost as grand as the castle, with cold suits of armor lining the corridors and dim or unlit torches along the walls. Frayed carpets attempted to warm the floor in vain, and massive, tarnished chandeliers hung from the grand foyer. Yeto led us to a side room, a smaller room with a hearty, warm fire that somehow managed to make the room hospitable and homey. Plush chairs surrounded the hearth, and side doors surrounded the room.

"Sit, sit!" Yeto commanded us, and then headed for his kitchen.

With no reservations, I chose a chair at random (not Yeta's chair, though) and sat, my legs tucked securely under me. Junior, however, still wasn't certain about the yetis. He stood shyly at the door back to the foyer, ready to bolt at the first sign that the yetis would turn hostile. I grinned in amusement.

"Junior, take a chair," I instructed sweetly. "It's okay."

Hesitantly, Junior sat in a fluffy chair nearer the door. A minute later, Yeto burst through the door with a tray of mix-matched bowls filled with steaming soup.

"Here you go!" Yeto presented me with the tray.

I took a bowl, thanked him and smelled the hot soup. Reekfish (that odor was hard to miss), cheese, pumpkin, onion, cream, and… garlic, with something that smelled vaguely like water chestnuts. His soup had changed since I had last been here with Link.

"Soup good for little hero! Yeto made it himself!" the yeti exclaimed, giving a bowl to the suspicious Junior.

"Junior, drink the soup," I commanded a little harshly. "It wouldn't do to insult our host."

Grumbling, Junior snatched the bowl and sipped hesitantly. I smiled again and sipped the soup as well. Besides the strong smell, it tasted pretty good. Junior seemed to like it, too, because he continued drinking the soup. Satisfied, Yeto returned to the kitchen.

A few minutes later, the double doors in the foyer opened with a loud creak. Junior bolted up, almost spilling what was left of his soup. Yeta waddled through the door, followed by Anghenfil, Epona, and the shaking Louise.

"A firrre!" Louise exclaimed thankfully. She bounded over to me, touched the Beast Stone and, as a cat, curled up in front of the fire and started purring.

"Husband, we here, uh!" Yeta called out.

"Ah ha! Sit, sit!" Yeto burst out of the kitchen again and embraced his mate. "Yeto fetch more soup for friends!"

Yeta sat with a sigh in her large, oversized chair. Anghenfil and Epona followed suit, Epona sitting near Junior and Anghenfil sitting near Epona. Yeto appeared again with more soup and offered it to the two horses, both of whom accepted gratefully.

"Want soup, delicious-looking kitty?" Yeto offered to the purring Louise. She cracked open one emerald eye and said, very bluntly, "No."

Yeto raised an eyebrow, clearly not hearing her. "She said, 'No thank you'," I told him.

"Well then, no soup for you!" Yeto said, offended, but Louise just closed her eyes again contentedly.

We lounged comfortably for a while, enjoying the warmth of the fire. Yeto joined us a few hours later with his own bowl of soup. Eventually, we grew tired again. Louise was fast asleep by the time our hosts noticed we were about to nod off.

"Come, come, I show you rooms. But, we have few guests, so rooms not good, uh," Yeta said, wriggling out of her chair and leading us to a door.

We all arose with grumbles of protest, but we were all pretty tired. Epona was leaning on Anghenfil sleepily, and Junior seemed to be making a conscious effort to stay awake. I myself was close to losing consciousness. Louise stayed by the fire as we were led by Yeta to a colder part of the mansion. The roof was collapsed or sagging in places on our route. I only hoped that wasn't the case with our rooms.

We stopped at the door to a room. "You two," Yeta gestured to Epona and I with her head, "sleep here, uh."

I opened the door cautiously. Luckily, the roof here was intact. The room had one large, almost six-person bed as its sole furniture. However, there was a fireplace, though it was empty.

"Oh, thank heavens!" I exclaimed and lit a fire with my powers out of the ash.

"I didn't know you could do that," Epona commented sleepily.

"Neither did I," I admitted, then dumped my pack and collapsed in the bed.

Epona followed, but she sneaked under the covers first. I managed to somehow get under the blankets, and then I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I fell into a dreamless sleep, but was awakened later by a creaking noise. I bolted up, only to find Louise sneaking into our room.

"It'z zo warrrm in herrre," she said, jumping up on the bed and curling up on my feet.

I fell asleep again, my feet now warm because of Louise. It wouldn't be the last time I awoke that night.

Later, probably in the middle of the night, the door creaked open again. I sat up slower this time and saw Junior creeping in.

"It's cold in our room," he complained.

"Fine!" I plopped back down as Junior climbed in the covers between Epona and I.

Then, again about a half hour later, Anghenfil creaked the door open.

"What?" I snapped.

"I—I was worried about Junior," he tried explaining.

"Oh, just get in!" I laid back down with a thump.

Feeling awkward, Anghenfil climbed in the covers at the foot of the bed. Epona unconsciously pulled up her feet to give him room, as did I. Louise, of course, moved with me, rumbling as she purred. Luckily, he fit lengthwise on the bed. Finally, I was allowed to sleep.

At long last, after hours of trekking through the deep snow, Link and his party had made it to the yetis' cavern passage.

First, as they were climbing down the cliff at the end of the tunnel leading to Snowpeak with a rope, Auru slipped and got rope burn. Then, Shad slipped as they were crossing the ice floes and fell into the deathly cold water. Luckily, Ashei had managed to grab his belt as he fell in, and they had managed to pull him out before he had died. However, he had gotten hypothermia, so they had to stop there and kindle a fire before he died, which somehow they managed. After about an hour of constant worry, Shad had gotten warmer, so they had started moving again, but slower to accommodate. After that, they had spent almost three hours battling a constant stream of white wolfos while trudging through almost impassable snowdrifts. As if nature itself didn't want Link to get to the Underworld, they ended up in a white out halfway up the mountain pass. Finally, they managed to reach the caverns, where they unanimously decided to spend the night.

"I'm going to sleep. Good night, honey," Ashei kissed a still-blue Shad gingerly, then rolled out her bedroll and fell asleep.

Link raised an eyebrow at this unexpected display of affection, but Shad just looked away and blushed.

"So, how long have you two…?" Link asked hesitantly from across their fire.

"Well, I got her to kiss me about… seven and a half years ago," he responded shyly. "Then, I got her to move in with me almost four years ago."

"But, you aren't married?" Link wondered.

"He hasn't worked up the nerve to ask her," Auru interjected. "I think I'm going to turn in, too. Have a night."

He rolled out his bedroll as well and laid down. Link gave Shad a meaningful glance, then Auru started snoring softly.

"So, really, were you going to ask her to marry you?" Link asked curiously.

"I was going to, but…" Shad sighed. "I'm waiting for the right time."

Link looked at the crackling fire. "Look, I know I'm no expert on love, but I do know this: I've spent a decade regretting not asking… a girl… to stay with me. And as soon as I find her, I'm going to ask her to marry me."

"Is that why we're going on this quest?" Shad inquired. "To find a girl?"

"She's not just a girl," Link said darkly. "She was the one."

"Who was she?"

Link sighed. "I never told you all the full story of that quest ten years ago. It all started when an imp named Midna found me as a wolf in Hyrule Castle, which had been cursed by Twilight. Well, it turned out she had been the princess of Twilight but had been cursed, too. To defeat her usurper and get back to her kingdom, she enlisted my help. I, however, only wanted to save Ilia, but instead ended up saving both Hyrule and Twilight, and returning Midna to her realm. The thing was, she was actually quite beautiful, and I… sort of fell in love with her. But, I didn't realize it at the time. Only after she left."

"Wait, but if she left, how did she get back?" Shad wondered.

Link looked up. "I don't know. And, she had shattered the only connection between our worlds…"

They sat in silence for a few minutes, pondering this.

"Do you think someone could have repaired the connection?" Shad speculated.

"No, because she was the only one that could shatter it, I think it would have been impossible for anyone to repair it. Plus, only three people know about it, besides the Sages," Link refuted.

"Then, how did she get here?"

Again, I was the first to wake in the morning. Anghenfil had been stripped of blankets, and lay sprawled over the foot of the monstrous bed. Epona lay in a similar fashion, with one arm draping over the side of the bed. Junior was curled in a ball with Louise laying on top of him. So that's why my feet were cold this morning, I thought. The fire had also gone out, but the mass of bodies in the bed had kept everyone warm. Somehow, I managed to worm my way out of bed without disturbing anyone.

I used my power to open the door silently, knowing well that it creaked loud enough to awaken everyone. Then, my stomach led me to the kitchen. Strangely, I felt refreshed, despite all the intruders last night. As I sneaked into Yeto's kitchen, I had the feeling I was the only one awake in the mansion. Not that I minded, of course. I searched the cupboards for something not rotted and unspoiled enough to eat. Finally, I found a block of cheese that appeared not to have too much mold growing on it. I scraped off the moldy parts, began eating, and proceeded to search the mansion for supplies.

It was fortunate that I had my dual blades on me, because enemies were everywhere. The first bedroom I entered housed a variety of ice creatures that decided to attack me on sight. After defeating them, I searched the room for anything useful, only to find a few moth-eaten blankets. I left them there. Even the hallways were infested with creatures. So, I passed the morning exploring. Actually, it was quite fun, besides the collection of cuts and bruises I received.

In the end, I returned to the hearth room with several armfuls of goods, including eight blankets, six coats, two empty but dusty glass jars, several small pillows that were miraculously lice- and moth-free, and an entire armload of possible weapons for Anghenfil and Epona. Content, I kindled a fire in the cold hearth and settled down in a chair to wait. A little while later, the yetis entered.

"Good morning," I greeted them.

"Morning, wolf-rider!" Yeto responded. "What are piles for?"

"I was actually wondering if we could perhaps borrow some of those things," I explained.

"Friends can take whatever they need!" Yeto generously offered.

"Thank you."

"Now, husband make breakfast, uh," Yeta said, waddling to her chair.

"Yes, Yeto make breakfast for friends!" he exclaimed, and headed into his kitchen.

I was quite contentedly eating a Reekfish fillet with caviar and toast for breakfast before my friends decided to join us. I wasn't exactly sure where the yetis had managed to get the bread from, or how Yeto had toasted it, but I wasn't about to complain about an excellent meal. All four of my companions lumbered in, stretching sleepily. Yeto reappeared moments later with more food, which they all gladly received. Louise jumped up on my lamp, touched the Beast Stone, and hurried to get her plate. What is it with cats and fish? I wondered absently.

"So, what is all this?" Anghenfil asked between bites, gesturing to the supplies scattered on the floor.

"Oh, yeah," I stood up, setting aside my empty plate. "That is some supplies I gathered from the mansion. I found you two a nice selection of weapons, if you want them."

Epona approached the pile first, to my surprise. Bending down, she searched the pile and pulled out a gladius with a sheath, a double-bladed short sword used for slashing and stabbing. Anghenfil came up behind her, selected a fine steel broadsword, and strapped it to his back.

"These are great," Epona spoke for both of them. Anghenfil nodded in agreement.

"Glad you like them," I smiled. "Oh, and feel free to pick out a coat and some pillows. I'll be right back."

I grabbed the two jars and headed to the kitchen. "Yeto, do you think I could wash these?"

"Melted water right there!" he pointed to a large, wooden bucket in the corner of the kitchen, then turned back to his cooking.

Indeed, the bucket was filled with water. Fearful of dirtying the water, I searched the kitchen for a spoon, and, finding one, used it to put water in the jars. Then, I found a towel to clean the jars with. I polished the jars until there wasn't a particle of dust left.

"Can I fill these with soup, Yeto?" I asked sweetly.

"Of course!" he said, pounding over to his massive cauldron of soup. With a large ladle, he spooned the hearty soup into the bottles. "There you go!"

"Thank you," I thanked him as I headed back out to the hearth room.

"Are we ready?" Anghenfil asked, standing.

"Yeah," I responded, picking up my pack.

"You go to Place of Death now?" Yeta asked, her voice high with panic. "Why not stay longer, uh?"

"Thank you for the offer, Yeta, but we must get to the Underworld," I told her.

"Friends must not go to Place of Death!" Yeto boomed from behind me. "Dead cannot be killed!"

My party exchanged glances, then looked at me expectantly. "What?" I asked.

"Is it true?" Junior wondered.

I paused, thinking. Then, the answer came to me out of the depths of my mind. "No, I know a way to kill them."

"And that would be what?" Epona asked skeptically.

"This," I took out the red velvet pouch the Goddess had given me in the darkness. "I was told it brings life to the dead. If that's true, we can kill them again."

"What is it?" Junior asked curiously, leaning forward from his chair.

"I have no clue," I said honestly. "Yeto, Yeta, can you take us to the entrance to the Underworld?"

The yetis exchanged glances, but Yeta sighed and said, "We take friends to Place of Death, uh."

My party gathered all the things we needed and followed the yetis outside. Louise grabbed a coat and slipped it on as we stepped into the arctic chill. The yetis led us to a hidden, almost invisible side path off the mansion that led down the side of the manor that bordered a deep chasm. A staircase carved into the sheer rock of the cliff face led down the side of the chasm. The yetis proceeded down with balance and grace born of a lifetime in the mountains, despite the staircase being small and narrow. My party and I were more cautious, since if we slipped, we would go tumbling into the deep chasm below. The staircase seemed to go on forever, always downward. At last, we reached the chasm floor. The yetis stopped in front of us, their backs facing us. I took the opportunity to look around. The ground was pure sheets of rock with a coating of ice. No snow had fallen here. Rocks projected at strange angles and shapes out of the ground. A portion of the wall of the cliff was engraved with strange, glowing, red symbols that did not appear to belong to any race I knew of. The yetis turned around to face us.

"Now, we leave friends, uh," Yeta said.

"Thank you," I responded.

The yetis walked around us, heading back up to the mansion. In front of us was a rock arch with a glowing blue portal inside, like a doorway to another world. The same red symbols were etched in the rock of the arch. Junior approached it in a trance as everyone else just starred at it. He vanished with a whoosh as he stepped inside the portal. That awakened us, and we stepped into the Underworld.

Blackness followed for a few brief seconds before we stepped out onto an ice floor. We were in a rock cavern, with a ceiling that was higher than the Temple of Time in the Sacred Grove. Huge icicles resembling stalactites hung from the ceiling like a deadly chandelier, and ice stalagmites rose from the floor to meet them. A thin rock ledge surrounded the pool of ice we were standing on. It seemed like the pool was solid ice, all the way down to the ground, however far down that was. The only exit from the cavern seemed to be a river of ice that led out from the pool, almost as if we were standing at the mouth. The portal shone behind us, still open to my surprise. I figured it didn't allow the spirits out. That brought up another thing: I couldn't see any spirits. This was the Underworld, so shouldn't it be overflowing with the dead? The only thing unnatural in the pool cavern was an old ferryboat imbedded in the ice, covered in cobwebs from decades of disuse, with a skeleton ferryman at the stern, pole still in hand, with rags draping over its bones.

"Ziz iz ze Underrrworrrld?" Louise complained. "Zo dizappointing."

Ignoring her comment, I began walking toward down the river of ice. My party followed, unsure of what kind of danger we were in. The cavern narrowed to a tunnel over the river, winding as it wound. I followed the river's twists and turns for a few minutes until it came to a fork. I sat down, contemplating which way to take. One fork, the left, had a slightly red tinge of light to it, while the right had a whitish glow. Both made sharp turns in opposite directions about fifty meters in, preventing me from seeing where the tunnels went. Truthfully, I had no idea what I was doing. My party approached from behind. Junior, always curious, sat down beside me and imitated my pose, trying to understand what I was doing.

"So, which way do we take?" Anghenfil asked from my right.

"I don't know," I truthfully told him. Though, I was kind of leaning toward the left…

A garbled noise came from the right passage. I stood, whipping out my blades. Silence followed, but my party was still tense. Then, a monstrous being flew out from around the corner. Skinny and malnourished, it had four arms, a tail with spikes, and one, human eye. Its face still resembled what it had been in life, but now it had the look of insanity and rage. Each hand carried a large rock, ready to crush in our heads. We had met our first spirit.

I quickly pulled out the pouch, hoping for some kind of weapon, but when I pulled it open, all it gave me was light. Anghenfil and Epona unsheathed their weapons and started attacking the spirit, but each blow slid through it, like it was made of air. Junior stood still in shock, unable to attack from fear. Luckily, Louise hovered near him, ready to protect him. Light? I was confused. What could light…

Then it came to me. "Junior!" I called out. "Stab it with the Master Sword!"

Junior looked at me with paralyzing terror. I realized he couldn't move. So, it was up to me. I just hoped my blades lived up to their name. Leaping into the battle, I managed to land a blow in the spirit's back. The spirit dropped its rocks and opened its mouth, releasing a horrible wail that echoed through the tunnel complex. Then, Anghenfil stabbed it through the chest. Blood seeped out, and the creature dissolved in a spray of fine dust.

"How did you kill it?" Anghenfil asked me.

"Light," I responded simply.

"That was a spirit?" Epona gasped.

"Yes, it was," a new voice said. "Welcome to damnation."

I turned toward the figure and gasped. "Colin?"