The rumble of feet against the earth was terrifying. This was no simple drow raid, after all, but an army moving into battle. Lirayne stood where she could see everything, prepared to cast orders in faerie fire above the heads of those under her command. Yvonnel stood next to her. Soldiers were looking to her as the demonic horde flooded out of Niar'hannenlyn in a hulking wave of twisted creatures wreathed in filth and flame spawned from vast pits of amorphous flesh and sin at the desire of a demon lord. And opposing that host were the ordered ranks of the army of drow with duergar forces reinforcing the flanks. They didn't shine or shimmer like surface dwellers with pennants flapping in the breeze. Instead, intent with grim purpose, they waited with shields raised and weapons drawn.

"Val..." Lirayne breathed, looking over at her sister. Valyne was a silent, stern figure at her side. "This is your battle, your army. We wouldn't be here without you. Say something that will make this better."

Something in Valyne's eyes was ancient when she looked over. "Find your courage, sister. You'll be Matron someday. Prove to them why now."

Lirayne tightened her grip on her mace and looked over the soldiers braced in their defensive positions, then carefully wove a cantrip that would amplify her voice to be heard over the roars of the oncoming danger. "I know this is a foe like nothing you have ever faced before, but you are drow! We are the children of the Spider Queen herself. We have survived exile and wars beyond counting. We are as strong as the living stone beneath our feet and I promise you, the demons will break themselves on us. The Goddess is watching us now. Fight for her favor! No retreat, no surrender!" Lirayne shouted, hearing the crowd roar back. It sent a tingling chill down her spine. For the first time, she was beginning to understand what it really meant to be Siniira's daughter. Never before had she lead a force like this.

"Short and to the point. I like it," Yvonnel muttered softly to Lirayne. She flashed the younger cleric a brief smile before turning back to the field, already starting to weave her first offensive spell of the battle while other casters focused on bolstering their forces. There was a crackle and then a hissing boom as the raw power of the Spider Queen soared out over the empty space and hit the demonic lines in an explosion of magical force that flung bodies of even the massive hezrou like they were toys. "Come to me, spawn of the Abyss!" she called, her own voice amplified enough by the acoustics of the cavern that the demons could probably hear it. "I am Death, servant of Lloth!"

Galen was impressed despite himself, drawing his blade. Still, now was the time to focus. "Cessair, be safe."

"Of course, brother," the half elf said softly, hugging him tightly just in case she never got the chance to do so again. "Val, you ready?"

Valyne clasped Lirayne's hand, her gray eyes searching for a long moment. "I've never been so proud to call you sister," she said softly to the priestess. "If your daughter is even half the woman you are, House Duskryn will stand for another thousand years unchallenged."

"You may be gone, Valyne, but you will not be forgotten," Lirayne said fiercely, not allowing herself to crumble again. Not while she was in command. Duty came above everything else. "Now go. Make Shami-Amourae rue the day she ever challenged the Goddess and our House."

Val nodded, turning and bolting away with Cessair as the two armies met with a deafening crash of steel. Thousands upon thousands of lives now hung in the balance and she would ultimately be responsible. She and the rogue ghosted along the edges of the great caverns into Niar'hannelyn itself. The city was nothing better than a ruin now, the stain of demonic corruption blackening the stone and profaning the very air itself. Cessair's surefooted run turned into a stagger.

"This place," she gasped out. "I can feel it leaching into my lungs. Gods!"

The drowess grabbed her friend's arm and towed her forward and forward, ever towards the heart of the city where the feeling intensified. Despite her resolve, Cessair wanted to beg to be released, to just run. The barrier between planes really was torn, the teeming mass of the Abyss forcing its way across into the material world. "Remember, the sigils," Val said sternly. She saw a familiar flash of red hair above them—Malcanthet on wing.

"Keep going, sweet thing!" that smoky voice called encouragingly, the succubus's laughter and delight at the battle spilling out. "And I'd hurry if I were you. That army won't last forever, not with more demons constantly crossing over."

"Vith," Val cursed, tapping into her demonic blood to move even faster. Her new, loping stride almost jerked Cessair off her feet. "We're going to be too late."

"No, I can see the rift!" Cess said, pointing.

Like a giant, oozing wound, the opening to the other side stood in a circle of powerful and ancient sigils. Darkness spread from the tear which showed only flashes of the Abyss itself. For the most part, it was a black and yawning chasm into the unknown. And spewing forth from it were dretches and ofher varieties of demon, even the occasional balor.

Val leaped off the edge of a crumbling building to the street below that lead to the portal. "Cess, can you stay out of their sight?" she asked. "I know it'll be the hardest thing you've ever done, trust me."

"Once I start smashing sigils, the cat'll be out of the bag," Cessair said, panting as she sprinted to keep up with the caster. "Val, you sure about this?"

"Not really, no," the drowess admitted, sliding to an uneasy stop when Malcanthet dropped down in front of them. "But are we ever really sure of anything?"

"I wish," Cessair said. She looked at Malcanthet, then back at Val. "You've been a good friend. I'm going to miss you. Now go make your choice. Whatever you do, I'll look after Lirayne and the little one."

Valyne took a deep breath and nodded, unable to say anything in response to that. Instead, she walked slowly towards Malcanthet. Time seemed to be slowing down the closer she got to her mentor. "I'm ready," she said thickly, nerves knotting her throat. She stopped maybe a foot and a half or two from smiling succubus.

"Do you accept the gift I offer?" Malcanthet asked, her eyes serious even if she was still smirking just slightly.

That was the question. Val lingered for a moment on all the thoughts of her family, all of the memories happy and unhappy that had made her who she was. Could she sacrifice everything, all of that, for an abstract and distant future? She bit at her lower lip until blood welled up, eyes looking at the ground. Finally, she managed to put everything together to speak.

"I do."

Malcanthet grinned and brought something in a vicious, stabbing arc. A black, gleaming shard of something punched right through Valyne's sternum and into her heart. The drowess let out a cry of such pain and horror that it was barely recognizable as the kind of sound to come out of any sentient being. "Wha...why?!" Cessair blurted out, running to her friend's side as Valyne doubled over. All she saw was a betrayal.

"Look yourself, mortal," Malcanthet said smoothly. "That was no blade. That was a shard of the Heart of the Abyss."

The wound was closing as rapidly as it had been made, bone knitting together even as skin closed over the top without leaving any trace of a scar. Valyne threw her head back and let loose a demonic howl of agony as her blood seared in her veins like the most potent venom in the world. She could feel the shard settling into its new home, pumping with soft, steady, alien beats. The scent of blood, battle, and fear was sudden clear in the air. It was like she had been shut away in a dark, empty room for her whole life and now she had been set free.

She'd sprouted fangs, a barbed tail, and massive black bat wings while her fingers and toes twisted into claws. The eyes that opened again were a blank white from corner to corner. Now she wielded a connection far more powerful than one any mortal and most demons could ever even dream of—to the Abyss itself.

Cessair backed away, looking from Val to Malcanthet. "The same thing that lead to Asmodeus's fall," she whispered softly.

Malcanthet grinned. "Very good, mortal. But don't you have some sigils to destroy? I know my sweet thing here has a demon to slay."

Valyne nodded and turned towards the rift, wings flexing before suddenly snapping open and sweeping down in a leap through the planar gate. When she landed, it was in the Wells of Darkness. It was black and filled with twisted obsidian trees, the gnarled and subtly wrong forest breaking only when it reached a basalt stone circle where Shami-Amourae was waiting in the form of a stunning brunette succubus. Hers was a face so beautiful it was almost painful to look at it.

"I knew it would come down to the two of us. The exiled queen and the prodigal daughter. Doesn't that seem so fitting? Both of us have lost too much to lose now, but one of us has to," Shami-Amourae said with a fierce smile, rising from the altar she reclined on. "Shall we dance?"

Val snarled and lunged forward, raw dark magic crackling in her claws. They were equally matched now, so the battle could easily go either way. She would have to give this everything and hope Cessair did her job.