As Bela and Kyia ascended the stairwell, a muffled explosion down below caused them to momentarily halt all movement. The blonde stopped with a gasp, while the brunette beside her leaned over the rail with the torch held out in front of her. The darkness below was too dense to be pierced by the glow of the flame, shielding the events within the abyss from her eyes.

Bela already knew what the noise signaled.

I'm so sorry, Webb.

"Kyia," she urgently said, "we can't afford to stop now."

The slender woman backed away from the railing; her green eyes now pointed up toward the top. "When is this going to end?"

"I don't know." Bela remained honest, uncertain whether they would see success once they got there. Still, she could not allow the man's sacrifice, nor the loss of everyone else who came before, to have been in vain. There had been so much death leading up to this moment that there had to be a light at the end of the tunnel for someone.

I'm going to save you, Ethan. Please, be okay.

Their journey played out over the course of the next fifteen minutes. The constant twisting and turning of the sets of stairs tested the limits of both ladies as they ran up them. The fibers of their muscles roared under the strain, tense from exhaustion. Both were sweaty, gasping for breath during each short-lived pause that they took. To sit around for too long wasted time, and it also invited the possibility of yet another ambush.

With her goal just above her head, Bela could not stop. She had to continue moving.

The radius of Kyia's torch eventually highlighted the ceiling that loomed over the final flight of steps. Bela's amber eyes widened in awe at the sight of it as she finished rounding the corner of the last string. The woman was nearly out of breath, but between her heavy draws, there was a small smile that formed on her face.

Kyia was not far behind, and the closer she got, the clearer the finish line became. Bela could just see through the gaps in the steps, noticing a door against the wall.

"That must be it," she said.

Kyia leaned her back against the rails as she shook her head. "I'm so thankful." She stumbled forward, shaking her thin legs. "With all this advancement in technology, surely you'd think that this city would have done away with these dreadful things."

Bela peeked over her shoulder. "What are you suggesting?"

"Oh, I don't know," Kyia remarked as she began to walk up the last flight. "Perhaps a platform that simply goes up and down? Nobody would ever have to exert themselves again."

"An elevator?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?" Kyia briefly stopped and looked up at her with a lifted set of eyebrows. "What is that?"

"Uhm…" Bela wasn't sure how she would break the news to this Victorian woman. "Something in my world that does the same exact thing that you just described."

"Hmm," Kyia mused as she rolled her shoulders. "I would have named it something better than that. Still, at least your world doesn't have any stairs."

"Well…"

"Ugh." Kyia groaned as she resumed her walk. "You've got to be kidding me."

It earned a slight chuckle out of her as she made it to the ending platform. Sure enough, just as the sign at the entrance had described it, the door before them was labeled 'Overseer's Quarters.' This had to be the location of the fragments, she thought. Even more so, the location of Ethan.

As soon as Kyia was at Bela's side, the blonde sighed as she maintained her stare at the entrance to the next leg of their path. "I guess the Overseer was the head of the clock tower?"

"You'd be correct." Kyia held her torch out, highlighting the dust-covered rust that bordered the edges of every letter on the metal placard. It appeared to have been neglected for quite some time, which heightened her concerns that no living person was to be found here. This would surely lead to Vikcia's domain.

Her only hope was that they would be able to find Ethan and the rest of the fragments before the witch caught up with them.

Kyia leaned in, reaching out with her petite hand and taking hold of the handle. With a slow pull, the woman was able to break the threshold. The edges of the door parted from the frame with relative ease, causing a faint gust of cool air to rush out and flow through her curly locks.

With a subdued tone, Kyia let go and stood back, keeping her torch on the door. It prompted Bela to raise her rifle, but the brunette was quick to dismiss her concerns. "No need," she said.

"What do you mean?" Bela continued to keep her gun on the entrance, fearful that the infected Overseer would immediately bolt out and ambush them.

It was almost as if Kyia could sense her thoughts. Maybe it was the uncontrolled nervousness that showed in those amber eyes. Or perhaps it was the pattern of events that they endured up to this point. Every new area was always fraught with some sort of danger. It would be outside of the norm for the two to meander around as they pleased without anything seeking to kill them.

"Everyone inside this clock tower died on the first day of Vikcia's arrival," Kyia stated.

"Were you there?"

"I got a tour of this place once." She pressed her lips together, reflecting on every bad memory that this city had given her. "On a better day, I would have been quite amazed to see such a marvelous structure. There is nothing like it in my region, but... leave it to the city folk here to spoil my day."

Kyia hummed as she reached out again to take hold of the door. "When this all began, I watched the clock tower become consumed in darkness from inside the constable station, where I was kept. The entire structure appeared to be in flames, but then I realized that those flames were black shadows. The sky birthed an equally dark portal, and then came the clouds. I promise you, if anyone was inside that clock tower when the event kicked off, they are long dead."

She glanced at the placard once more before she opened the passageway. "Besides, the Overseer was a frail old man. Quite polite, I must say, but kindness does not matter to something like that beast. I saw her holding a severed leg that night as she danced around the streets. That white-laced shoe, with the yellow-leather panels on it, belonged to him."

The door connected with the wall nearby, just as Kyia offered Bela enough space to head on in. "Like I said: dead."

"I guess we won't have to worry about him, then," Bela remarked as she searched around the next room that they were in. The area was connected to the shortest hallway, which trailed only several feet before the Overseer's office came into view.

Kyia carefully shut the door behind her, ensuring that it was locked.

Bela heard the metal handles connecting, which ignited her curiosity. "Hey, why was that door unlocked in the first place?"

The brunette was just finishing up on ensuring that the locks would hold for the foreseeable future. "I'd wager the old man left his office, thinking that he would be able to return. Chances are, that's when Vikcia scooped him up. Which means…" She moved closer to Bela, highlighting the rest of the room with the torchlight as she frantically began to search around.

What is it with this woman?

"Kyia, what are you looking for?" She slung her rifle over her shoulder as she approached her. Kyia's green eyes were sharper than ever as the woman crouched down and waved the bundle of fire along various shelves and tables.

She did not answer Bela; she only kept looking.

Something isn't right.

"Hey!" She raised her voice, which caused the lady to halt all movement. Kyia nervously rose at that instant, her eyes gazing in all directions.

"What?" She whispered. "Do you see Vikcia?"

"No. I just see you. What are you doing?"

Kyia shook her head, her hand brushing through her thick hair. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to find those fragments before we did anything else."

"We need to find Ethan." Bela reminded her of the greater mission at hand, but Kyia was quick to argue their objective.

"Do you think I do not care about him?" Her brow pinched at the perceived accusation.

"No, Kyia, stop it!" Bela had enough of her attitude. "I'm just saying that if he is here, then we need to find him first before we get torn apart."

"That is why I am looking for the fragments!" Kyia insisted through her teeth, growing ever more aggravated as she explained herself. Capping off her stress with a grunt, the woman settled her tension with a breath before she glanced at the blonde who stood nearby. "If we have them, then Vikcia won't be able to see us. I'd rather spend another minute or two if it means we are protected. You and I both may have enough to get around her, but Ethan doesn't. We take greater risks if we divide them amongst ourselves. It practically invites her to come kill us."

She's right. As much as she gets on my nerves, she's right.

"Then let's find them, then." Bela waved her on, encouraging the torch's glint to hopefully guide them to their prospective treasure.

Kyia was noticeably somber, hanging her head shamefully as she joined her companion. The woman spoke with a meek tone, as if she had just realized the way she had come off, "Forgive me. I just get frustrated when people talk to me like I am always doing something wrong."

"You brought up a great point, Kyia." Bela did not wish to dwell on whatever personal matters this lady was experiencing. All she wanted was to just find those fragments and give them to Ethan, pronto. "Let's just worry if they are here or not. Now, you said you got a tour of this place once before, correct?"

"Correct."

"Do you remember where these fragments may have been stored?"

The brunette walked around the room, her eyes already zeroing in on the desk before them. It was just like the captain's office inside the constable station. A setting like this was sure to hold a vital piece of the puzzle. "Well, the old man wasn't giving out tours of his personal quarters, so I'd imagine that they must have been kept around here. The rest of the tower was mainly off-limits to practically everyone, including the Peak Bishops that walked around this place."

"Why was it off-limits to them? Weren't they the most privileged?" Bela could only think back to Malcolm. That sick bastard had to have obtained the fragment through some means. She was under the belief that it may have been a gift to him by his superiors or, likely, from someone below him.

"Unless they wished to fall to their deaths, they had no business venturing too far," Kyia told her. "The interior of this tower is not home to much. All the life happens at the top, and it is there that the four faces of the clock are."

"And how do we get there?" Bela moved around the desk, and Kyia began to search through it, opening drawer after drawer in her pursuit of the next clue.

Undeterred, despite her lack of success, Kyia sighed as she moved over and sat down on the Overseer's chair, leaning back as she tried to figure it all out. "Well, when it was me and that group of people, they had another flight of stairs somewhere else in the back that led to the clock tower faces. It was a nice, large room with a beautiful view."

"Then do you think Ethan is being kept there?"

Kyia stood back up, still waving her torch around as she felt through the shelves nearby. "I doubt it. Once daylight hits, that creature would have been exposed then and there. Plus, it is the only section still adorned with light after nightfall, remember?"

"So, what do you think?" Bela was beginning to grow inpatient, but she knew that Kyia was onto something. For the sake of progress, she chose not to voice her growing displeasure.

"No," Kyia said, talking to herself. "She can't be there, but we saw her emerge from the tower while we were on the carriage."

"Yes…"

Kyia's finger pointed ahead, then down, and then just a little bit back. "I have no doubt that she resides nearby, but if it is not behind either of the four clock faces, then it must be at the center of them. It is the only place where she may have darkness to keep her safe."

"What if she is inside the body of the tower, where you said nobody can go?"

"I saw the opening to the body when I was viewing one of those faces," Kyia added, coming off as a helpful wealth of information. "Quite hazardous to leave it unguarded, yes. Somebody could fall. But if those rooms are still powered by light, then the light must be cast into there as well. She wouldn't be able to just fly out on her own without running into it."

So, Vikcia is possibly hiding at the very center of the top of the tower, away from all the light that is still around her. Okay, that checks out.

Bela nodded as the pieces of the puzzle began to form. She couldn't believe that Kyia had known so much. "Why didn't you tell me all this before?"

That familiar look of shame washed over her face as she lowered her narrow shoulders. "Well, to be honest, I didn't think either of us would make it this far."

Bela's expression fell as soon as she heard that. "Thanks, I guess."

"I'm sorry, Bela," she added. "Plus, I only got to see so much of this tower. I knew she wouldn't be behind the clock faces, anyway. But seeing the Overseer's office is helping me figure this all out." Her eyes then turned to the next doorway behind them. She reached out to test it, but unfortunately, the barrier was locked shut.

Bela considered shooting it like Webb had done with the entrance to the structure, but she feared that Vikcia would become alerted to the sound. There had to be a set of keys around here, somewhere. Her mind raced with a hundred possibilities, wondering what the best course of action was.

"Kyia, just keep looking," she said, joining her in the effort to locate the keys.

However, it did not take long for a terrible revelation to befall the brunette as they investigated the office. "I fear that the keys may have been in the possession of the Overseer when Vikcia killed him. We would have found them by now had they not been."

Bela couldn't hold back her anger. "Damn it!" She kicked the chair over, aggravated to all hell. She felt like no matter how far they got, it was always roadblock after roadblock. It had gotten ridiculous at this point.

I'm about to shoot that door! I don't even care anymore!

In a fit of anger, Bela spun around and aimed her rifle at the lock hole of the exit, ready to press the trigger and unleash a wall of lead straight at it. Hopefully, it would decimate whatever bolts kept it sealed, allowing them to bypass it.

But just as her finger took up the first ounces of pressure, Kyia's urgent voice called her away. "Bela! The chair! Look!"

The blonde craned her neck over her shoulder, spotting a mid-sized, jagged-toothed key holstered under the base of the seat. She nearly threw her weapon on the ground at the sight of it. "Are you serious?!"

Kyia plucked the key out casually before she rose to her feet. "In his defense," she muttered, "you can misplace a set of keys, but you cannot misplace a chair."

…

"I don't want to hear that right now, Kyia."

With both hands up at her shoulders and the key wedged between her nimble fingers, Kyia tilted her head and rolled her eyes as she walked past the woman beside her. "Very well, then." Her arms came down as she set the key into the lock and engaged the system with a much-anticipated cronk of the heavy metal bars. "Shall we move on?"

"Glady," Bela grumbled before she let out a breath, turning her attention to the door that led out of the overseer's office. "Do you think Vikcia can get through that?"

"I'd imagine she could," the brunette answered as she held the torch ahead of her. "Let us not wait for her to do so."

We've already been here for far too long.

As soon as the door opened, the two women were greeted with the sight of what appeared to be a small conference room. At the center of the space was a long table, surrounded by multiple chairs and stained with dust. Kyia tightened the rag around her face as she proceeded forward, visibly cautious.

"Wait!" Bela stopped to reel her back. "What if the dust gets to you?"

"Then you kill me," she replied.

.

The aftermath of the grenade explosion had left Vikcia in a state of total disarray. As the smoke cleared, her body slowly began to reform from the scattered dust that lingered in the air. However, the nearby flames posed a significant obstacle to her regeneration, keeping her particles from being able to bond. Unable to fully gather her composition in the presence of the light, the cloud was forced to slowly push forward at the mercy of the current around it.

When she got far enough to begin reassembling herself faster, she had to wait until the process was complete, only speeding up when she was nearly formed. Her immediate reaction was to conjure up her cloak to further protect her from the light. As it materialized over her, Vikcia curled up into herself while she stood there, still fighting off the pain that had been inflicted upon her body.

It ached with a radiating sting, a reminder of how close she had come to contacting the illumination. Had she been closer when that device exploded, she could have been gravely injured. But she wasn't completely out of the park. Despite her survival, it hurt to move, and it would continue to be that way until she could repair herself in the shadows.

With a glance down at Webb's dismembered body below her, Vikcia hissed in anger, wishing that she had gone in for the kill sooner. She hated the way the living acted toward her, even if her wish was to free them from their afflictions. She offered that man the gift of her spirit, attempting to infuse her dust with him, thus allowing him to still roam free.

But he denied her gift, choosing instead to threaten her very existence. This was not her world. It was filled with nothing but loathsome creatures, who only attacked her at every turn.

Recovering from the scuffle, she knew she couldn't linger here any longer. The fire had overtaken the portion of the hallway she had entered from, and she needed to find darkness to regain her strength.

Choosing to move in the opposite direction of the flames, Vikcia pressed forward. As she distanced herself from the light, she felt her strength gradually returning, though not as quickly as she would have liked. The encounter with Webb had shaken her, and she couldn't stop thinking about how unlikely it was that he had been the only person inside here.

The living often had great trouble seeing in the dark, but this man had made it that far without any incident. In fact, she felt like she should have caught on to him way sooner, given where he was when she located him.

The memory of the sparks from the wires flashed in her mind, making her question how effectively she had crippled the power to the building. Only certain rooms had been left unaffected, but those were the ones consumed by a light that she could not reach.

She debated the truth of her suspicions, her mind racing with possibilities.

If there were others in the clock tower, then they would soon be found. Vikcia kept her ears open as she walked along, listening to the burning that went on far behind her. The sound of the sparks had long ceased, as if they were nothing but passing energy. It was a strange notion that defied her knowledge of how this place worked, but one that stoked her curiosity.

Still recuperating from the fight, the witch tempted fate with a single stroke of her claws. With a swift motion, she slashed at some more of the wires that surrounded her, jumping away with the expectation that they would spark up.

Nothing. She had only witnessed something return to power when she was trailing Ethan as he ran toward that dwelling—the same one where she got to feast upon that screaming bald man.

When Ethan suddenly stopped, straining under the pressure of something she did not understand, the street lamp beside him briefly flickered. For a second, it worried the carnivore, nearly causing her to retreat, fearing that her hold on the skies was weakening and that the three orbs would return.

But then the lamp cut itself short, just as Ethan continued to move on. She then began to consider why she had not found that bald man sooner, having passed by that dwelling multiple times during her hunts. It was always an odd moment for her, as some noises appeared to muffle, only to fade back to normal once she found herself elsewhere.

What was it that allowed him to remain unseen?

Vikcia stopped in her tracks, sensing a correlation. No, she thought. That was not the issue. The biggest problem was: what else wasn't she seeing?

With a snarl, she funneled her body into a large plume of dust, barreling down the tunnel as quickly as she could. Someone else was in here, and she would find them.

.

Bela and Kyia moved through the conference room, the blonde slowing down as she walked closer to the table. In contrast to the Overseer's office, the following section had been left in a huge mess. Papers were scattered haphazardly across the long table and on the ground. While some chairs remained propped up against the sides, others were toppled and seemingly thrown about.

The biggest oddity of them all was a set of shackles that had been bolted to the dense wooden fixture. The cuffs were open, but the presence of dried blood along the surface of the metal and the table was quickly noted.

What happened here?

Kyia pressed the rag tighter against her face, shielding herself from the dust as she walked forward, calm as could be. Bela followed closely behind, her eyes scanning the tabletop for any more signs of significance.

"Shine your torch over here," Bela requested, gesturing toward the cluttered surface.

"We don't have time," she said, her voice low. "We need to keep moving."

Bela hesitated, torn between her desire to investigate further and Kyia's insistence on pressing forward. As she glanced around the room, her gaze once again landed on the flakes of crimson that had been smeared across the far end, where the shackles lay. It was only a little bit of blood—nothing compared to the carnage that she had seen elsewhere—but its presence told a grim story.

"Why is there blood?" Bela asked.

Kyia's expression remained impassive as she replied, "I believe this is where Vikcia was held before her powers reemerged. If she was here once before, she can return here again, and that is why I don't want to stay here."

Bela furrowed her brow, but just like before, the woman was right. With a slow nod, she turned her attention back to her front. By this point, Kyia's hand was already gripped around the handle of the next door. The brunette tested the exit by pushing down on it. Luckily, this one had been left unlocked, allowing her to push it open.

And as she did, a putrid odor immediately bombarded both their lungs, hitting them like a speeding truck. "Argh!" Kyia stumbled back, retching as she turned back to the conference room. "What is that?!"

When she shone her torch around the room, her stomach churned at the horrifying sight that the light revealed—hundreds, if not more, corpses piled onto one another, forming a mountainous landscape of death below them. The sight was enough to make her nearly vomit, but she fought to keep her composure.

Bela could hardly stand the onslaught as well, but her decades of violence inside Castle Dimitrescu had acquainted her with the scent of rot. Yet, this was something far greater than anything she had ever seen. She held her breath, fighting to ignore the festering sting that sat upon her eyes. It was still almost too much to bear.

This must be Vikcia's den. This is where she would thrive.

As she coughed, she suddenly heard a familiar voice cry out to them from below. "Bela! Kyia! Is that you?!"

The blonde's heart soared at the sound, and she called back to him, her voice filled with relief and urgency, "Ethan!" She ran over the edge of the railing, barely able to make out the sight of the man as he waved his hands up at them. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Ethan Winters, the man she cared for so deeply, was still alive and well. "Are you okay down there?"

"I can walk!" He navigated the dead bodies around his feet, moving closer into view. Kyia's torch highlighted some more of his features. The woman could see the bite wound on his shoulder. His clothing was stained with darkened blood, likely from the corpses around him. It was a miracle that he was in the condition that he was in.

Why had Vikcia spared him such harm?

"Ethan!" Bela called out to him again. "Is there any way that you can make it up here?"

"I don't know," he replied, pointing to something to his left. "There's a ladder over there that leads into the room that is in front of you. I tried to climb it when I was alone, but the fucking door was locked."

"Kyia," Bela said, "use your torch to show me that ladder."

The slender woman rushed over, holding her light over the railing, while Bela followed in tow. Sure enough, there was indeed a metal ladder whose bottom half had been engulfed by the numerous deceased people strewn about. From what the ladies could see, the end appeared to lead to a large hatch door.

Ethan's conclusion had to be correct. There was no way that thing was going to open from the outside. They had to get in there.

Kyia momentarily withdrew her hand from her face to respond to Ethan, her voice strained but determined. "Ethan, we need to find a way to light up this room so Vikcia cannot reach us!"

Ethan, who had been surveying the dark area as best he could, pointed up to a bunch of bulbs installed at the very edges of the ceiling. "I think that there are lights up there!" he exclaimed. "Try to turn them on!"

Kyia's urgency grew as she gazed at the powerless light bulbs. "I think the power source must be inside this room," she said as she pointed to the door ahead of her and Bela. "Vikcia has left the rooms behind the clock faces untouched for a reason! If she could have gone in there, she would have already."

"I don't see any clock faces around here!" Ethan shouted back to her.

"That's because we're in the center of them all," Kyia explained. "If that power source in there connects to the lights inside those other rooms, then I just need to connect it to this one!"

"Alright!" Ethan agreed, relieved to just see the two of them at long last. "You guys go do that, but hurry! I think Vikcia is going to be back soon!"

"Bela, let's go." Kyia beckoned her towards the next room, but the blonde hesitated, torn between her desire to help Ethan and the necessity of lighting up the room. She glanced back at the man below, her heart aching at the thought of leaving him alone in the darkness.

"I can jump down!" Bela insisted, her strategy betraying her common sense. It was the blindness of love that fueled her risky ambition. Seeing him had shaken everything inside of her. He was her ultimate goal, and that goal was just roughly twenty-five feet below. "I should be able to land on those bodies just fine!"

"Don't be foolish!" Kyia snapped at Bela, grabbing her by the sleeve of her gown to pull her back.

"I'm not leaving him down there!" She argued back, only for Kyia to lean over and angle her torch at the center of the floor. It was a cavernous drop, one that even Ethan himself had failed to notice. The corpses bordered the rectangular wall directly underneath the walkway, shielding it from view.

That was the space that Kyia had described earlier. The one that held no room for anyone to take refuge. If she leapt over the railing and missed her landing, it would be a steep drop to her grisly end, casting her body hundreds of feet below.

Kyia shook her head as she moved the torch back to the door. "That's what awaits you if you try that. Please, go with me into the room, and we can open the door that will get Ethan out of there."

I'm coming, Ethan. You just stay there for now.

"Alright." Bela hurriedly grabbed at the handle to the door, pushing as hard as she could to get it to budge. While she initially thought it was locked, the movement of the handle told her otherwise. It was free to move, but the components had been so rusted over time that they put up one hell of a fight. It was the same burden once again—obstacle after obstacle, for seemingly no reason at all other than to complicate her mission.

The two women clenched their teeth as they pushed against it, the mechanisms suddenly giving at the most unexpected moments.

Huh…strange. Whatever, I need to get inside!

Kyia pushed as hard as she could, using any strength that her frail body could muster to help get it open. With a duo of loud grunts, they soon managed to push the handle all the way down, pulling the door open in the process.

Then the light from inside the room shined on them. Bela couldn't believe it, and neither could Kyia.

There is light! This room has power!

Ethan also bore witness to the illumination that followed. "Jesus Christ! The lights are working in there?!"

"They are!" Bela happily yelled as she followed Kyia inside. "Stay right there! I'll open the door!"

As Bela and Kyia entered the room, they were greeted by the sight of a large control panel adorned with an array of switches, levers, and buttons. However, what drew their attention most of all was a small case that lay open on a nearby table. Bela could already see the contents from where she stood, but her curiosity compelled her to move closer for a better view.

As she approached, her eyes widened in astonishment. Inside the case lay various fragments, intricately pieced together to form what appeared to be the Dagger of Death's Flowers. The fabled blade, a relic of both her world and another, sat there before her.

How is this possible? The dagger is still in my world.

That was when she arrived at a monumental conclusion.

Timelines. Flickers. This is the dagger in my castle, but it's also not. It exists in both worlds.

Kyia hurried over to the box, her hands raised over it as if in a trance. The woman appeared to be so engrossed in the sight before her that she could hardly concentrate on anything else. The fragments glimmered in the soft light of the room, almost sparkling with a faint blue glint.

Bela joined Kyia at the table, her eyes fixed on the metal puzzle. "The Dagger of Death's Flowers," she murmured. "This is it."

Kyia nodded, her gaze never leaving the fragments. "But it's not complete," she observed, her tone mixed with disappointment. "There are still pieces missing." She eyed the bag on Bela's back and then turned her attention to her own.

"Kyia?"

"We need to assemble the pieces together!" She quickly retrieved the two fragments that were in her possession and began to sort them out amidst the rest of the pile. "I need yours as well!"

"But, Vikcia!" Bela cautioned about the risks associated with removing the only protection that was offered to her. "She'll see me!"

"She'll see both of us," Kyia added. "But we need to increase the power this holds. It's the only chance that we have! Please, Bela!"

Okay, fine! I just hope this works.

As Bela handed over the two fragments she had retrieved from her bag, Kyia's eyes lit up with excitement. She carefully placed the additional shards of metal alongside the others, arranging them to fit together.

"There are still some missing," Kyia anxiously muttered, her brow furrowing in frustration as she examined the incomplete weapon.

Bela frowned, a sense of unease settling in her stomach. "Where do you think the missing fragments could be?" she asked.

Kyia shook her head, trying to get her mind straight. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "But it doesn't matter. We have what we have now. I think it should be enough to maintain the power."

"How is this going to kickstart the power?" Bela turned her amber eyes to the control panel nearby, believing that it should suffice. "Isn't that what we need instead?"

"These fragments carry an energy, Bela." Kyia looked back down at the broken dagger. "I think that energy is also why Vikcia cannot see us when we have it. She hates the light, remember? It blocks everything that she's got, including her manipulation over the power here. That's why the faces of the clock tower are still lit up—because she cannot get inside this room!"

"So, we're safe in here, right?" Bela's eagerness showed in her expression. She just wanted to be done with this mess. If the fragments could be her ticket away from Vikcia's endless hell, then so be it. She would buy a first-class seat if she could, as long as it meant that this would soon be all over.

Her worry for Ethan grew with each passing moment, knowing that he was still vulnerable out there. "We need to get Ethan up," she declared, urgently moving away from the table and making her way to the door that would connect the ladder to the room they were in.

As she pulled down on the handle and opened the door, she called out to Ethan, "Ethan, climb over the bodies and onto the ladder, now!"

"Thank God! I'm coming!" Ethan staggered over the corpses, his movements slow and unsteady due to the uneven surface under his feet. Bela could see the pain in his face and the weakness in his grip as he reached for the ladder steps. The man had been through a lot, likely much more than he had when he first tried to climb it.

Her heart clenched with worry, and she extended her hand to him, offering support to help him up. "Come on, Ethan! I'm right here!" Bela leaned further out from the opening. "Grab onto me!"

She watched as he steadily gained progress, nearly at the top.

Almost there!

Their hands met, fingers intertwining as soon as he was close enough to take in her embrace. It was such a surreal feeling for the blonde, as she wasn't sure if they would ever get another moment together. Her amber eyes gleamed as she lurched just a little more forward, ready to carry this man to safety.

But at that very moment, disaster struck. Bela's rifle, slung over her back, suddenly slipped free and swung down at her side. The front end of the barrel jutted out from under her arm like a battering ram, striking Ethan's forehead at full swing.

What the!? No!

With a sharp groan, Ethan's grip slipped, and he fell backward, taking Bela with him as she lost her grip and fell off the threshold. It was a brief dance in the air, one that felt like a mix between seconds and minutes, before they crashed down onto the scores of corpses below.

Bela could feel the pain in her side from the fall. The shrapnel that had peppered her hours ago was still making its presence known, much with the assistance of the blunt force of the drop. With the light of the control room shining above her, the blonde struggled to turn over so that she could move the rifle away from her body. It jabbed at her side like a spear, inspiring agony across her bones.

The foul stench of death grew greater as she sat on top of it. The various mutilated bodies were a horde of torn-apart flesh and tossed entrails. The musty air had soured their tissue, rendering some of the deceased sodden cushions of rot. It was a gross spectacle, as when she would crawl down them, parts of their extremities would deform and smudge under her weight.

Decomposition at its finest. A vile display of one creature's monstrosity.

Ethan was not too far away by the time she closed in on him. The man stumbled once more, nearly losing his footing, before her hands took hold of his forearms. Against all odds, they were now face-to-face again. Her amber eyes fixed on his own, even if the shadows dimmed most of his features.

He caressed his bruised forehead with the edge of what remained of his palm. "I just can't catch a break, can I?"

"No," she said with the thrill of happiness etched within her tone. "You can't." She hugged him as soon as her breath ran short, burying her tearful face into his neck as he took her in. Under his ear, Ethan could hear her whimpers as her hands gripped the ends of his shirt tighter. "I've missed you so much."

"You came back for me?" His fingers ran through the edges of her blonde hair. "I can't believe you did all that."

"I'm not going to leave you here, Ethan." Bela withdrew her face from the crook of his shoulder and gazed at those eyes of his. Her heart ran off inside her ribcage. This was all she wanted. "We're in this together."

He repeated their signature line, "Together must mean until the end, right?"

"Until the end." She pressed her lips against his at that very second, disregarding the odor that surrounded them. She would have this for what it was. In those precious few seconds that passed by, it was as if the entire world around them had faded out of existence.

There were no more nightmares. No more threats of death that she had to overcome. Bela was locked in the arms of a man who cared about her more than he cared about himself. As her mouth opened to take his in, her arms crisscrossed behind his head while their bodies joined together.

I love you so much. We're going to make it through this, Ethan. I want to go back to our world as we are. I don't know what my life will be like in the future, but I want to share it with you. You saved me from myself and helped me find myself in the process. Thank you.

When their lips broke free from each other, her face returned to his neck as she let out another series of tears. "I thought you were dead."

"I think I still have another fight or two left in me," he remarked, seeking to lighten up her spirits a bit.

She kissed his neck just before her head turned back, and she gazed at the dead that surrounded them. "Hopefully it doesn't come to that. Let's get back up to...

"Ethan!" Kyia called out to him from the doorway above the ladder. "Are you okay?"

"We're okay!" He replied, chuckling as he glanced back down at Bela. "I guess you two patched things up?"

"Reluctantly," she muttered before she grabbed his hand and led him back up the mountain of the deceased. Ethan couldn't help but turn an eye to the rifle that had collided with his skull back up there.

"Hey, where did you get the gun?"

"I'll tell you when we're done," she said.

"Sounds good to me." Ethan turned his attention toward Kyia, who appeared to be in the process of carrying the box of fragments with her. "And what does she have?"

"The Dagger of Death's Flowers," Bela responded, much to his amazement.

"Wait!" Ethan seemed amazed at the progress the two had managed to accomplish on their own. "You're telling me that you actually found it? That thing will bring us back home, right?"

"Well, parts of it, and I don't know," Bela sighed as she moved further up the top of the mound. "It's going to power the lights inside this room. We can use it against Vikcia for now."

"I guess that's our best bet, then." Ethan's words would come back to haunt him. The instant his hand touched the ladder, the bright display of lights inside the control room suddenly went out. In a state of shock, he watched as a terrified Kyia immediately spun around to view the scene behind her.

"How?!" The brunette screamed in fear, horrified at the implications that this now brought. Her eyes dipped down to the box with the dagger in her possession, fearing that she may have somehow thrown off its proximity to the power sources around her. Without hesitation, she ran back into the room, preparing herself to embark on resetting the alignment of the shards in the dark. "Quick! Get up here! I need help!"

Bela ushered Ethan along, deciding that she would be the last one up the ladder.

Damn it! Not now! Please, Kyia… fix this!

When Ethan went to push himself up, a wave of shadows soon appeared around him. It was a sight that he recognized all too well by now. The man let go and retreated, taking the blonde beside him along for the ride. The two ran down the edge of the stacked bodies, nearly tripping before their feet touched the hard ground.

Bela already knew what was happening when she saw the clouds of dust, but her terror didn't register until she saw the witch herself standing on top of the corpses beside the ladder. There she was—Vikcia—glaring at the duo as she stepped forward.

She and Ethan moved as far back as they could, hoping to lure the beast away from Kyia so that the brunette might be able to repair the lights. But time was a precious blessing in this soulless domain. Vikcia's eyes followed their every move as her nude body drew closer. That bloodthirsty smile was drawn across her black lips, while her sharp talons spread at her pale hips.

Bela pointed her rifle at Vikcia, hoping that somehow she could buy Kyia some more time.

Vikcia halted her advancement, staring at the blonde with a mix of contempt and profound curiosity. "Dead woman."

NOTES:

And here we are, in the witch's den.

Bela and Kyia have finally found Ethan, but no rescue is ever easy. They have a plan, but will it work?

We've seen many sides of the shadow woman who has plagued this city. Is there a chance of reaching a peaceful resolution, or will this clock tower see more bloodshed? Everything is at stake here, and what happens inside this place will have a lasting impact.

With that said, some big implications are also present here, mainly the Dagger of Death's Flowers. Confirming the existence of parallel timelines, the presence of this artifact is proof of everything that Kyia has said. What else is it that we do not know about this weapon that is the focal point in all three stories in this series?

The next chapter is going to be one over a year in the making. Everything that Bela, Ethan, and Kyia have fought for has led to this moment. Whatever happens in this chapter, there is no going back.

After next week, there will only be two chapters left, one of them being the epilogue.

Once again, thank you so much for supporting this story and keeping me inspired to work harder to get these chapters out! I cannot wait to see you all here when this concludes! Three more weeks, and then we prepare for the final installment in this series of tragedy and redemption.

Stay safe out there, as always! I'll see you soon! 😊