Silence drowned him.
Kar lost all sense of sight, and direction. An overwhelming presence enveloped, then examined him, almost-words whispering in his mind. Then-
I THOUGHT YOU WOULD NOT COME
the voice from before echoed within Kar. He wouldn't have known how to respond even if he could speak.
WHAT DO YOU CALL YOURSELF?
"Kar," he tried to say, but no words would form. That didn't seem to matter though, for the voice responded to his thoughts,
KAR… YOU MUST NOT DELAY ANY LONGER. THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH ME. I CAN FEEL IT. I HAVE DIMINISHED, AND THE SHADOW GROWS STRONGER AT MY EXPENSE. I FEAR THERE IS NOT MUCH TIME LEFT… IT IS GOOD YOU ARE HERE FOR THE TRIALS. THIS MAY BE THE LAST OPPORTUNITY FOR VALOR TO RISE.
Kar struggled to parse through the meaning behind its words. What was talking to him? Was it something like Ember? Or something… else, altogether? He tried to reach out to it, to inquire somehow, to plead for understanding.
Suddenly the presence fled; Kar didn't know how else to describe it. The weight that had pressed in around him lifted, and he regained his senses.
Kar shook his head, disoriented. As his mind cleared he recalled what had been so urgent. Lore's head lolled at his shoulder and her eyes had rolled back. He Focused.
As he suspected, the basin held a form of Energia. He was able to draw on it deeply, and he poured it into Lore beside him. Her back arched and she gasped. Light suffused her as her body shuddered then went still. Kar looked down at her side where she had been impaled. The wound was gone. Where it had been was now a new patch of shimmering skin, almost as if… it were partly made of crystal. Kar's eyebrows drew together uneasily, but his attention was diverted as Lore's eyes suddenly sprang open.
"Whoaah…" she breathed shakily, straightening, then standing up under her own strength, "What happened?"
Kar and Derek looked at one another, unsure.
"We survived." Kar said.
Lore stepped back from the basin and looked around in confusion, "I can sort of remember, but it's fuzzy. Did we really fight those things?"
Kar noticed then that Derek was trembling, his breathing erratic. He shuffled over to his friend. Derek glared at him, but said nothing as Kar grabbed hold of his arm with one hand, then reached back into the basin with his other.
No strange sensation or conversation overtook Kar this time, though drawing on this Energia felt markedly different than doing so with a Shard. Whatever was in the basin was far more potent.
Kar Imbued Derek with it, and his friend shuddered and gasped as Lore had. The levels of cloudy Energia within the crystal receptacle receded, as if it were evaporating.
Derek pushed off from the basin, shook Kar's hand off, then stalked away. Kar didn't blame him. He placed both hands on the rim of the crystal basin and stared into its depths. He felt frustrated and stupid; confused. Impulsively, he reached both hands in and drew all that remained into himself.
He woke up on his back, staring up at the ceiling of the main chamber. Derek and Lore stood over him, worried expressions on their faces. Had they moved him? That voice was there again, thundering all around them,
YOU HAVE DRANK YOUR FILL.
NOW CHOOSE,
PRESS ON AND CONTINUE TO GROW STRONGER, OR DEPART.
BE WARNED, IF YOU CHOOSE TO LEAVE THE TRIALS NOW, YOU MUST BEGIN AGAIN ON YOUR RETURN
HEED MY WARNING. THE SHADOW GROWS STRONGER. SO MUST YOU, IF YOU WILL CONTEND AGAINST IT.
The lights in the floor went out, and the crystal lines etched around the frames of the closed doors lit up in their place. Kar sat up, flexing his fingers, then rose to his feet. His movements felt fluid, easy.
He felt stronger than ever.
"Should we keep going?" Lore asked, looking to him.
"What do you mean keep going, are you crazy? Derek yelled, "We just almost got killed!"
Kar shook his head, struggling to remember everything that voice had said to him, "Did you guys hear everything else that voice said? Like, when we were at the Basin, I could hear it talking in my head. Did you hear it then too?"
Lore shook her head, confused, "I only remember coming to after you guys brought me over there."
"I didn't hear anything," Derek said, "only what it said just now. And also before, when you activated the chamber and tried to open the door to leave."
Kar hunched his shoulders together, troubled. The Shadow grows stronger, it had said. And Valor must rise. What did any of that mean? He wasn't sure, but the image of Old Set's leering grin arose in his mind unbidden. Was there a connection there? And how did Ember play into all of this, and the ship where Kar had found the Prism?
Kar went over to one of the fallen soldiers and kicked its broken remains in frustration. All he wanted was to get back to Isa. To make sure she was safe. All of this other nonsense seemed like one big distraction that was way beyond him.
To Kar's surprise, the cryst he kicked cracked apart under his foot. A bright golden shard glowed from within the cavity inside.
"Whoah," Lore said, coming up beside him, "I've heard of golden shards but never seen one before."
"What's special about it?" Derek said.
"Well, they say only certain crystbeasts in the deep ruins have shards like this. The Energia they hold is way more potent. You realize how much these are worth? This place is a gold mine!"
"What do you mean?" Kar asked.
Lore rolled her eyes at him, "We just got, what, twelve of these shards from this little jaunt? And you heard that voice, if we want to do more of these trials or whatever we can. How many shards could we get from the other trials?"
Derek shook his head in disgust and headed for the entrance, "There's no way I'm doing this again, you two want to risk your lives go ahead, but come back later without me."
"Derek's right," Kar said, "This was way too dangerous. And besides, I need to save my sister, not mess around with whatever this is."
"Come onnn," Lore said, "aren't either of you curious to figure out what this is all about?"
Kar shrugged his shoulders, "I won't say that I'm not. But knowing what the risks are, I don't think it's worth it."
Lore gave an exaggerated sigh, "Fine, I get it. You two are scared. Help me collect these shards at least before we leave. We can grab some of the weapons too so we have something to bring back to Gerard and the others." Kar nodded and moved to pry the shard from the cryst-soldier at his feet.
"Who's your sister?" Lore asked him as they collected everything together.
"Oh, she was captured with us by Kiya. I had to leave her at Morrow's workshop before I was brought out here."
"How old is she?"
"Fourteen."
"I had a younger sister, you know." Lore responded quietly. "I have an older one too," she added, "she's still around. But our youngest sister would be about the same age as yours is now, if she were still here."
"I'm… sorry." Kar said, feeling awkward.
"It happens." She said, then, "Don't say anything to the others about any of this, especially the shards, you hear me? They're all a bunch of greedy duncrysts. Just let them think we found an extra vault and got the weapons out of it."
Kar just nodded, and went back to gathering shards.
A short while later they all stood by the entrance to the Trial Vault; now the exit Kar supposed. They'd collected the shards and various weapons dropped by the cryst-soldiers.
"Let's go, Derek said, "We've got what we need and we've been here long enough."
"Remember," Lore said, "tell no one about this. It wouldn't be good if the Fierdi knew about this place."
"Aren't you Fierdi?" Kar asked.
Lore gave him a disgusted look, "You kidding me? I was kidnapped same as you two. Most of us were."
"Why do you keep working for them then?" Kar asked incredulously.
Lore scoffed, "I've got to eat. And where would I go if I tried to run away? Believe it or not there's worse Guilds. And things are bad outside Iridess, I shouldn't have to tell you two."
"Don't you have family, or anyone else out there somewhere?" Derek asked.
Lore's expression hardened, "Family isn't all it's cracked up to be."
Derek shook his head disapprovingly.
"Look, just trust me," Lore continued, "keep this between the three of us, ok?"
"We will." Kar said.
Lore nodded curtly, then Kar stepped over to the impression he'd tried to use earlier and placed his hand on it. This time, lights flashed and the door rolled aside freely. On the other side, standing amidst the Archives vaults, were Gerard… and Kiya.
Kar froze in place at the threshold, his arms full of glowing, golden, shards.
Kiya spat a wad of spit to the floor beside her, then said, "How in the hells are you still alive boy?"