The cavern thundered as the wounded Heart pulsed violently, fissures of crimson light tearing across its surface. Each pulse shook the black glass floor, sending spider-web cracks racing outward. The guardians had dissolved, but their shards drifted in the air like embers, spinning faster with each heartbeat.
Carlos gripped his sword tighter, the Helm burning against his temples. He could feel the Heart's fury pressing into him, a tide of malice vast enough to crush thought.
"You dare wound Me," the Heart's voice boomed, not in words but in raw vibration. "Then you will be broken as all rebels before you."
The shards around them flared — and re-formed, not as humanoid guardians this time, but as monstrosities. Serpents of glass and shadow slithered from the air, wings of jagged crystal spread across the chamber. Each pulse birthed more, the cavern filling with writhing constructs.
Thalor lifted his shield with a roar. "Circle! Hold!"
The First Wave
The serpents struck first. One lashed at Rina, its crystalline fangs gnashing. She ducked low, rolling beneath it and driving both daggers into its side. The creature shattered, but shards exploded outward, slicing her arm. She hissed, staggering back.
"Careful! They cut even when they die!"
Lys loosed arrow after arrow, each shaft glowing as it struck. The serpents splintered in midair, raining shards that clinked against the glass floor. Still, more replaced them, endless as the Heart's fury.
Maren's hands blazed with fire, but the air itself resisted, the cavern thick with energy. Her flames guttered, only half as strong as usual. Still, she hurled bolts that scorched the serpents, her voice hoarse with strain.
Carlos charged, sword blazing with Helm-light. He cleaved through a serpent, its body splitting in two, shards scattering like broken stars. The Helm guided his strikes, but the force behind each blow dragged at him, threatening to pull him into exhaustion.
The Heart Strikes
The Heart pulsed again, and from its fissures shot beams of crimson light. One struck Thalor's shield, nearly tearing it from his grasp. He dug his boots into the glass, holding firm, his teeth clenched against the force.
Another beam seared past Lys, scorching the ground where she had stood a heartbeat before. She rolled, loosing an arrow mid-movement that sank deep into the Heart's surface. The fissure widened slightly, red light spilling like blood.
The Heart screamed, the sound shaking them to their cores.
"Your bonds are weakness! You fight as five, but you will fall as one."
Breaking Formation
The serpents multiplied, dividing the group. Rina was driven toward the far wall, three serpents hemming her in. She flipped backward, barely avoiding a snapping maw, but her daggers could not keep pace. "Bit of help here!" she shouted, sweat streaking her face.
Lys turned to cover her, loosing arrows that shattered two serpents. But the effort left her exposed — another serpent dove at her from above.
Thalor slammed forward, shield raised, intercepting the strike. The serpent shattered against his steel, shards slashing across his cheek. Blood dripped, but he did not falter. "Stay together!"
Carlos forced his way through, cutting a path. "Rally! The Circle holds!"
Maren unleashed a storm of flame, sweeping a dozen serpents back. Her voice broke with the effort. "It won't hold forever — we need to strike the Heart again!"
The Charge
Carlos's eyes locked on the fissure Lys's arrow had opened. The Helm pulsed, urging him forward. "Cover me!" he shouted.
Thalor slammed his shield down, forming a wall. Rina darted to his side, deflecting serpents with rapid slashes. Lys provided a storm of arrows, each finding a mark, thinning the swarm.
Maren raised both hands, summoning a column of fire that roared across the chamber, clearing the path. The strain bent her to one knee, but she held.
Carlos sprinted, every step echoing with the Helm's power. He leapt, blade blazing — and drove it into the fissure.
The Heart convulsed, the chamber shaking as cracks split wider. Crimson energy spilled outward in torrents, knocking him backward. He hit the ground hard, breath torn from his chest.
But the Heart was wounded again.
The Heart's Wrath
The cavern erupted. The floor cracked, fragments rising into the air like jagged islands. Gravity twisted, pulling them upward, sideways, in dizzying shifts.
"We're losing footing!" Rina yelled, clinging to a shard that spun midair.
Thalor anchored himself with his shield, bracing Lys with his free hand. Maren floated, sparks sparking wildly around her as she tried to stabilize. Carlos clawed his way to his feet, the Helm anchoring him in the chaos.
The Heart's voice roared. "If you will not break apart, then you will drown together!"
From its surface erupted tendrils of living crystal, lashing across the chamber. One wrapped around Rina's leg, yanking her upward. She screamed, daggers slashing frantically. Another coiled toward Lys, only for Thalor to intercept, his shield splintering beneath the force.
Carlos staggered upright, sword raised. "Together! Now!"
The Final Push
He charged again, dodging shards and tendrils, the Helm blazing brighter with every step. The others fell into rhythm around him:
- Thalor held the tendrils at bay, shield shattering but his stance unbroken.
- Rina freed herself with a cry, flipping down to slash through the tendril that had caught her.
- Lys loosed a trio of arrows in quick succession, each sinking deep into the Heart's cracks.
- Maren unleashed everything she had left, a torrent of fire so bright it seared their vision.
Carlos leapt once more, sword blazing with Helm-light, and struck.
The blade sank deep into the Heart's core.
The Shattering
The Heart screamed, a sound that was not sound but pure agony, reverberating through bone and soul. The fissures spread across its surface, splitting wider, until the entire mass was a web of cracking light.
The serpents dissolved into dust. The tendrils collapsed into shards. The floor steadied, the floating fragments crashing down in shattering rain.
Carlos fell to one knee, sword buried in the Heart, light searing through him. The Helm blazed, not in pain, but in resonance, as though it had been waiting for this moment.
The Heart pulsed one final time — then exploded in a blinding storm of crimson light.
The Aftermath
When the light faded, silence reigned. The cavern lay in ruins, black glass shattered into fragments. At its center, where the Heart had hung, was only a crater of glowing dust.
Carlos collapsed, the Helm dim upon his brow. His companions staggered to him — Thalor bloodied but unbowed, Rina pale and gasping, Lys steady though trembling, Maren barely upright, sparks guttering at her fingertips.
They stood together at the edge of the crater, staring at the remnants of the Heart.
"It's over," Maren whispered, though her voice shook.
Carlos lifted his gaze, the Helm still humming faintly. "No," he said softly. "It's wounded. Broken. But not gone. The Spire doesn't end here."
The silence stretched, heavy with both relief and dread.
And in that silence, faint as a dying ember, the Heart's voice whispered one last time:
"The Circle endures… but so do I."