Eden has taken over all of the skylands. Seven individuals are determined to fix it: An amazing flier that hits the ground hard. A torch bearer that wants to bring light to eden. A soldier with Golden Wasteland as their home and a sword of light on their back. An ikeman that has an amazing way with creatures. A mute chibi that knows the fastest way to get through the realms. A firefly with the ability to gain countless, aged allies without so much as a proper look. A gymnist with a staff to do all of their stunts. They're mission is to reverse what's happened to their world, and they just might have the tools for it.
Following the two was simple. The general didn't really suspect anything, though did carrying their sword in their hand, and the firefly was clueless. Eventually, the two stopped, and so did Traveler. The firefly stayed where she was, sitting down to look at the somehow still green grass and a butterfly that was barely surviving on a blade. The general walked away, to the rest of the group to talk. The firefly merely picked up the butterfly, trying to make it feel better. Oh, how innocence like that was nice.
Carefully, it stood and approached the firefly, sitting down next to her. She immediately looked up at it with wide eyes, then smiled.
"Hi! My name's Pipi! What's yours?"
They lifted their hands and carefully signed out to Pipi, I'm Traveler, a mute that was wondering what a firefly like you was doing out here alone.
"Oh! My friends are right over there!" Pipi pointed to the group, then started naming them all, "The two with the black capes are siblings. The spikey hair is Ark and the long hair is Astral! The one with the purple cape is Hen, and the short one is Pomari! The one with the staff is Eli and the one with the white cape is Darcy! They're talking about what to do right now. It's nice to meet you, Traveler!"
Traveler nodded, It's nice to meet you too, Pipi.
Pipi nodded and looked back down at the butterfly in her hand, "Poor thing. The darkness is too much for it."
I'm sure it'll be ok. Do you think it has a manta friend that can help?
"Maybe. Should we look and see?"
Yes, let's look.
Pipi nodded and stood with Traveler. They led her off a bit to look for any manta that was nearby, but it didn't get very far. Darcy had turned to check on Pipi and had seen traveler. Now, they were silently going over to Traveler and, when they were close enough, they grabbed it by around the mouth and pulled it back, stepping to the side so Traveler was shoved to the ground. Pipi turned and moved to grab Darcy's arm to stop them from doing anything rash as they set a foot on Traveler's chest.
"Darcy, stop! They didn't do anything!"
"They were leading you somewhere. Who knows if they were going to bring you somewhere dangerous."
"We were looking for a manta to help the butterfly!" Pipi lifted her hands to show Darcy the butterfly. Darcy rubbed their face and sighed, looking down at Traveler.
"Look, I don't know who you are-"
Pipi butt in, "Their name is Traveler."
Darcy looked up at Pipi for a moment before looking back down at Traveler, "I don't know who you are, but you aren't touching Pipi, got it?"
They took their foot off Traveler and flipped it over with said foot so it could stand, "Leave and don't let me see you again."
Traveler just nodded as it stood and moved to fly away
That was significantly harder than it thought it'd be.
It was sitting and watching them. The fallen general; the key to keeping the darkness permanent. Darkness like that was often hidden, left unseen. It would make them show the darkness and rise to power better than they'd seen before. The two of them would both rise, to be the highest power, to take over sky and keep the darkness in place. Just as it should be. Then Resh would have full power again, and it would be rewarded greatly for helping him. Traveler ducked down slightly as its target walked in its direction. It couldn't let them see, or they'd never get close enough.
The sky was dark, hiding it a bit better. Though, next to the general was a bright, bouncing firefly. She looked innocent, unsuspecting. Bingo. The firefly would be what gets it closer to the being of darkness. Traveler started to slink back slightly, waiting for the two to pass by before getting up and running in the opposite direction, needing to plan just how it would get the firefly to see them. This would be absolutely perfect. Traveler's path led it to a cave, full of the different things it had collected over the centuries.
One of the things was a person, but they weren't just any person. Specifically, it was Vabient, the general's abuser a couple decades before all this happened. He'd come back, and as soon as Traveler had found him, it'd pretty much frozen him in place and kept him as a statue. Really, it was waiting for when Vabient would become useful to it, which would only be if this plan failed. But it couldn't. Traveler would get the general, just as it wanted. And who knows, maybe Vabient would be lucky enough to get the darkness creature to himself after it all.
The main problem, though, was communication. Traveler would need to talk to the firefly, and it doubted the firefly knew their language. Sign language could do. With all the watching Traveler had done, it knew one in the group used sign language, and everyone understood them. It knew sign language too. Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Nothing could stop it, except the general of course, but that would be fine. They couldn't stop a war, they can't stop a storm. It would happen. Eden would become permanent among the world.
Arkaya was heading to the familiar room, Darcy's training room. He wasn't going to watch them, he was going to join them. They seemed to be scared of what might come from the darkness of Eden and they wanted him to be prepared for whatever it was. Even so, they'd been training him long before this, though whether it was to help them feel better or because they were worried for him, he didn't know. Darcy was already waiting for him, spending the time by going through some simple stretches, but honestly, who stretched before a fight? Would you always be expecting a fight if you did? Maybe Darcy was. They were an overworrier. Regardless, he walked to the far wall, picking up his weapon of choice. It wasn't his actual torch, it was a mimick. Something that wouldn't hurt as badly.
When they saw Arkaya, Darcy stood up and moved to pick up one of their practice swords, just a simple wood beam with a guard. He nodded to them and stepped toward the middle of the room, setting himself into a fighting position. After a moment, Ark saw Darcy standing across the room from him, in their own fighting position. Their face remained blank and calm. He assumed his looked frustrated, less because of the training and more of the situation they were in. Trapped in a house with a total of seven people and what could be considered death right outside their door at any moment. Though Darcy's sword proved quite affective against the darkness, but that just might be the fact that it's supposedly made of winged light.
"Ready?"
Arkaya nodded and, gripping the handle of his torch with both hands, ran at Darcy.
~
Hennessy was working in the kitchen, Pipi being her happy little assistant. They both tried to ignore the red skies and the occasional falling rock that was in veiw from the window. So long as it didn't crash into their house, it was fine. Hen could hear the conversation from the kitchen table while she cooked.
"Have any... 7's?"
"Go fish."
A slam on a table, flick of a card, and the second voice again, "Do you, Pomari, have any 4's?"
Another flick of a card. Eli laughed trimphantly as he laid two cards down. Everyone knew he wasn't even close to winning. Astral just chuckled and spoke to Eli, "Got any kings?"
A grumble as Eli gave her a card, then she laid them down, "And I win."
"God I wanna leeeeeeeaaaaaave," Eli sounded annoyed as he threw his deck on the table.
"And why's that?" Hennessy walked in with a plate of some simple snacks. "I mean, we have food, places to sleep, safety. What's wrong with all that?"
"Astral keeps winningggg," Eli flopped back in his chair with a huff as Hen set the plate down.
Astral laughed slightly, "Oh you're upset because I'm winning? Well, you should see Darcy and Arkaya when they face off in blackjack."
"Enough pokerfaces to go around?"
"Enough pokerfaces to go around. Pipi likes to mimick them."
"I can imagine. What's the little firefly up to anyway?"
Hen smiled and turned to the kitchen as Pipi came out with seven cups and two jugs of chocolate milk. Everyone there moved to grab a cup and poor themselves some as the timer for the casserole Hen was making went off. Quickly, she went to take it out of the oven and set it on some pot warmers on the table. It was less than enough for everyone, but she was working on making more. Pipi had gone back into the kitchen to watch the pasta and mashed potatoes. No one minded as Pomari reshuffled the deck of cards and dealt it to everyone for another round of go fish. By the time the game was over, everything was done and Arkaya and Darcy had come back from the training room.
Arkaya looked thoroughly exhausted and Astral waved her hand in front of her nose as they sat down, "Ew, Ark you need to shower."
"And Darcy doesn't?" Akraya sat forward a bit, looking at the food as Pipi and Hennessy set the table with plates and silverware.
"No, they don't, they actually wear deodorant. You don't," Astral glared at Arkaya a bit.
Eli laughed, "You're sure they do? I'm pretty sure they're more obsessed with their hair than theh are eith their hygiene."
"Actually," Darcy butt in slightly. "I'm in charge of braiding Pipi's hair because Eli would mess it up, Pipi sais Pomari pulls too hard, Hen only knows ponytails, Astral rarely even brushes her hair and Arkaya is... uh... Arkaya."
"What does that mean?" Arkaya cocked an eyebrow as Darcy shrugged, moving to serve themselves some food.
"So, what casserole is this, Hen?" They took two scoops of the casserole, some potatoes, and a spoon of the pasta.
"Chicken artichoke. The pasta is butter and herb," Hen smiled at them.
"Oh, my favorites," they smiled back before moving to take a bite.
"Everything is your... favorite... are you ok?" Hen's smile faded as their face soured slightly. Something was wrong.
"It's fine... I just... it tastes rotten to me..." they set their fork down and put their forehead in a hand.
Pipi took a bite of her food, "It tastes fine to me though. So what's with yours?"
"It's probably the situation we're in, but it's fine. I'll eat what I can handle..."
Hen seemed worried but just nodded, glancing at them occasionally as they powered through their food.
The cards flicked on the table the Darcy was sitting at. They'd set up two tables in a safer area to play cards and discuss what had happened. Quietly, they started dealing them, everyone murmuring among themselves for ideas and bets, both for the game and what had happened to sky.
Once the cards were all dealt, everyone picked up and looked at them. Darcy flicked a chip for 100 candles into the middle of the tables.
"So... what questions do you guys have?"
"Are you bluffing?" Pipi seemed impressed with their confidence, but she also has never seen Darcy play cards like the others had.
"Not those kinds of questions. Gimme something to properly answer."
"I'll take that as not bluffing," Pipi looked down at her cards in a slight panic, moving to shuffle them around a bit. Arkaya looked up at Darcy as he threw his own chip in.
"What the hell happened on the Battlefield? Krill, more than usual, came out of the ground, and before we were even close to the temple."
"Well, that's exactly what happened," Darcy looked up, waving a hand slightly as a dismissal.
Pomari set her cards down for a moment, What I think he means is what happened to cause it?
"Well, obviously, Eden's spread."
"It what?!" Hennessy was flabbergasted, as one would be. This had never happened before, not for as long as she can remember.
"It's happened before, trust me, but never this badly."
"Before?!" Pipi slammed her cards down. "When has it happened before?!"
"Well, it happened to turn that battlefield into a battlefield. What else would've happened on it?"
"How much havoc did it wreak then?" Eli's voice was calm compared to the others as he threw in a small chip, not betting much. Currently, there were two piles. One for ideas about what happened and one for the game.
"Quite a lot at first, almost made me lose an arm, could've easily lost my head, though I didn't."
"Obviously, but what about the other r- wait, you were alive centuries ago?! And you fought in the battle of Sky?!" Arkaya seemed both impressed and scared. No wonder Darcy was so good at bluffing.
"Yes, I was, but that doesn't matter. Right now, it matters that all of the realms are in danger. Wasteland was taken, and we saved the others before. If we don't act, we won't be able to save them this time."
"So... what do we do?" Pipi tilted her head curiously. "What can we do to stop it?"
"Well, we need to get into the eye, the heart, of Eden."
"And what would we do once we get there?" Eli leaned back in his chair, not wanting Astral, who had remained silent and was trying to cheat, to see his cards.
"You've never been to the eye, have you?"
Astral growled a bit at Eli, though turned to Darcy, "Nope. Never even realized you could get in there."
"Mm. Well, it's a long process, but you can."
Wait, wait, wait. You have?!
"Where do you think the darkness came from, Pomari. Where do you think I came from"
"That's a good point," Hennessy finally threw her chip in. "But how do we get there?"
"Technically, the best way to get there would be for me to go alone. Unfortunately, I don't have the right equipment or ability to make that equipment myself."
Arkaya raised an eyebrow as he set his cards upright to fold, "But you've created that sword. Why couldn't you just, like, create a shield?"
"Because a shield would require more of the good in me and I only have so much."
Pipi sighed, folding too, "So then how do we get you that equipment?"
"I guess we just can't. Not until we find a better solution unless there is none at all."
Astral slammed a chip down, higher than Darcy's, "And what will happen when you get there?"
"Naturally, I'll give my soul and break what holds Eden's light."
"Darcy you can't just dismiss it that easily! You're probably going to die and you pretty much say 'eh'?!"
"Well excuse me for knowing where my place in this world is."
"Excuse you?! Darcy you're going to die! We can't just let it happen!"
"But it would have to. It's the only way to completely fix everything."
Arkaya stood, slamming his hands on the table, "But you'll leave us! You'll-" he relaxed slightly, looking down at the table. "You'll leave me..."
"I know, Arkaya. But we all have a role. This is mine. Besides, you can always see me in your dreams."
Arkaya just sighed as he sat down again, seeming frustrated and sad. Darcy just looked down at their cards again, "I assume there are no other questions."
Everyone just kind of murmured agreements before pretty much everyone folded, including Darcy. They hadn't been bluffing.
~
Darcy was working on refortifying the place they all lived, wanting to make sure a krill wouldn't slam in and destroy it all. Everyone, except Arkaya, was sitting and talking inside, where Darcy couldn't hear them. Arkaya was laying down, not feeling like talking.
"We need to keep Darcy from trying to go for the eye. We can't let them die, they've been through too much for it to just happen," Hennessy obviously seemed worried.
But how do we do that? We can't just tell them 'Hey, stay here with us and don't die'.
"I know, that's the problem. Does anyone have any ideas?"
"Well... maybe they'll stay if Arkaya is sad enough?" Pipi tried.
"Ya, but I don't want my brother to be sad either way. There has to be something."
"Are resurrections a way? Like, they could save everyone, and then we could bring them back?"
"I doubt that. Not even someone good with magic could. Besides, sky kids dust when they die. There's no way we're finding their-"
Hennessy what interrupted by a loud growl from outside. Darcy had been flying around, so they were low on recharge, but they were trying to lead the krill that saw them away from their little shamble house. Immediately, Astral dragged Hennessy and they got into position.
Astral took a knee, setting her hands on it, and Hennessy stepped into her hands. Quickly, Astral stood and pushed Hennessy up with her hands, sending her up as high as she could. Hennessy landed on the krill, distracting it as Pomari quickly dragged Darcy away from where the krill was looking.
Hennessy quickly drove the krill into the ground, pretty much knocking it out, before they got Darcy inside.
"Alright, you're sitting and you're staying. You're too reckless, Darcy. Why are you always getting in situations like that?"
"Because my job is to defend. I can't do that if I'm a coward."
"Is that really the reason or are you making excuses?"
"Perhaps."
"If you keep hiding things like this, Arkaya isn't gonna trust you to trust him."
"Have you ever felt true fear?"
"Yes."
"Have you ever felt true fear, either for yourself or someone else?"
"Yes, I have..."
"I have too. Many more than one time. And trust, I've had it shattered before. My fear isn't that I'm weak. It's that you guys won't be able to defend yourselves all the time," they stood, moving toward the door to continue the fortifications. "Come to me when you're no longer talking about how easy trust is to break."
~
Darcy was standing in the kitchen, getting a drink of water, when it happened. Arakaya was hugging them while they stood there, essentially koala beared to their chest. It was less out of fear of them dying and more because he didn't want them to leave right now. Not when he knew where they could go and what would happen. Though he did look up a bit when he felt Darcy start to breathe a bit heavier, despite them trying to keep it even.
He heard the glass they were holding hit the counter, a bit hard, just before pieces of it could be heard falling off.
"Darcy...?"
Shakily, they unwrapped Arkaya's arms from around them before taking a couple steps back. They seemed scared. Something was wrong since their steps seemed unsure and they slowly reached for their sword. Though they didn't unsheath it, just slowly sunk down to the ground.
"S-Stay right th-there... p-please..."
They almost never studdered. Something was definitely wrong.
"Darcy... Darcy, what's happening...? Are you seeing something...?"
"K-Kind of... I j-just... don't w-wanna h-hurt you..."
"You won't, I know you won't... can I at least sit down...?"
They nodded slightly, still trying to keep their breathing even, as Arkaya slowly sat, making sure Darcy knew he was only sitting. And so he sat and waited, trying his best to help Darcy calm down.
Darcy was currently in the sliding race. They were smiling a bit, enjoying themselves just the slightest until Pomari slid by them at her top speed. She was smiling more as she looked back at Darcy, expertly sliding around a couple of pillars. Darcy's smile disappeared, turning neutral as they pushed themselves farther forward. Immediately, Pomari frowned a bit, remembering that Darcy didn't get much fun, and only really expressed it when they were either leading in a race or playing an instrument.
They hadn't played an instrument in a long time, was the main problem, and she just took away their smile. That made her feel kinda bad, knowing that Arkaya was always trying his best to get them to smile again. Even so, once they were tied, Pomari grabbed Darcy's hand, just before they went to the next area of the race, to let them lead.
They looked down at her with a bit of surprise, though moved forward regardless, determined to at least get to the end. One light shard. Two light shard. They looked up, expecting to see the sun and to smile at it, for it to smile back.
Instead, they were met with darkness. The sun was hidden. More so, disappearing. It was disappearing behind a thick veil of dark clouds. That wasn't good. They looked like eden clouds. Darcy tried as hard as they could to go faster, but they wouldn't be fast enough. They were only halfway when the winds started to blow back on them. They looked up. Heavy snow was going to fall soon. Pomari didn't seem to notice until the area descended into darkness.
Quickly, she looked up at Darcy, just in time to see their face lined with worry just before they slung her into the stadium as hard as they could. The doors started to close on her with heavy thunks as she regained her balance and tried to go to Darcy, to make sure they got in the temple too. The seccond door was creaking shut and, over the high winds, Darcy's voice could be heard.
"Get the elders to go to Vault! Grab as many spirits as you can on your way!"
Then it shut with a loud slam that echoed through the stadium. Running into the temple, Pomari sat, calling for the elders to meet with her. Soon, their tall, skinny figures appeared and she stood, obviously looking panicked. Sah carefully tilted her head up to look at them properly with the end up their staff, begging her to speak.
Only she couldn't. Instead, she steadily moved her hands so they could see it, both kneeling to get a proper look at the small sky kid's hands.
The Valley! It's being overrun with snow! There's a bad storm- my friend's stuck out there! We were in the race and it got dark before I got thrown here! Please, please you've got to help them and get out of here!
The elders paid attention quietly and, once she had it all out, Mek set a hand on her shoulder and spoke rather calmly.
"Go home. We will collect your friend and bring them to vault with us. We must make sure everyone else is clear of Valley too."
The chibi simply nodded and went home, hoping all of her friends would be ok. Arkaya would kill her if she just let Darcy freeze out there.
~~~~~
Arkaya was walking through wasteland, carrying two moths with him. He was close to the temple, but not close enough for there to be dark dragons. The only thing was... the darkness seemed to be thicker that day. The farther he'd gone, the thicker it got, twisting up towers and trees reaching dangerously close to the sky and dragons. He couldn't burn it all, or even attempt to. Not with two moths and especially not without the group.
He'd have to ask for help to burn it all. So, he'd made sure to burn all the small parts, but the battlefield was the worse so far. The darkness was everywhere. The lookout scout was gone. He couldn't see either of the winged light. The darkness was twisted far up the stone tower, almost impossible to burn. And then he heard it.
The growl of a dragon rising.
But much more than one. Quickly he dragged the moths toward the temple, trying his best to dodge the watchful eyes. He was halfway through the battlefield, holding tightly onto the moths' hands when he heard the growl of someone being spotted. He had to hurry.
Quickly, he looked back. The dark dragon was looking right at him with a pointed gaze, one intent to attack. He allowed himself two more jumps forward before he pushed the moths closer to the temple and ducked, huddling down in hopes it would save some of his winged light. The dragon struck. Four stars fell. Almost immediately, all four were picked up snd he felt someone grabbing his wrist to pull him up.
"Come on. We're standing and getting out of here."
Eli. He had the moths holding hands, leading the two, and was helping Arkaya up and toward the temple.
"Hey, do you know what's happening?"
His voice was a bit gravely, since he was regaining his light, and Eli shook his head.
"Our best luck would be asking Darcy. I think they're in valley with Pomari right now, or going to head there."
"So where were you?"
The temple gate creaked up and, quickly, Eli rushed everyone inside, letting it slam closed behind them all.
"I was in eden when it got so much darker and so much worse."
"So... the darkness is spreading?"
"Kind of. They're gonna light all the lanterns in Vault. We need to get these moths up there and make sure they stay safe with the elders."
Arkaya nodded and they worked on getting the moths through the doors and into Vault, hoping to fly them to the top quickly and recon everyone else. Though, by the third level, they could tell it wasn't going to work that way. One moth was being extremely noisy and honking a lot.
The other was trying to light the stance spirit. Alright, maybe they could take a small detour.
~
Astral was walking through Hidden Forest with Hennessy. They were, obviously, getting soaked and they didn't mind at all, since they would just deepcall to give light back to each other. Currently, they were in Forest Brooke, splashing the water at each other and just laughing in general. They almost didn't notice anything changing until Astral's cape started turning white faster than normal.
Quickly, they grabbed hands and hid under a tree, wondering what was happening. Why was the rain suddenly more dangerous than before? Would they be able to get out of there? Astral's main thought was about the moths. Would the gates to the rainy area be permanently closed? Would the moths be resourceful enough to friend each other and make it to the temple?
God, she hoped so, because Hennessy was soon trying to drag her to get to temple themselves. Hennessy also tended to be strong, so there was no escaping her grip as she dragged Astral through the rain, under trees, and closer to Forest's end and the safety of its temple. They were both glad there were a lot of hides.
Quickly, they managed to get to the end stretch, to the area right before the broken bridge. They didn't notice the darkness that was curling up things behind them. Not until Hennessy tripped over one that was swiftly growing in front of them. The mantas weren't even out, too ensared in the growing darkness to help. So, Astral mustered all the strength she could and dragged out Hennessy, who'd gotten her foot caught on the darkness.
Together, they rushed to the broken bridge and lit each part of it. One, two, three. Then they ran forward to stop the rain. But it didn't work. All of the candles were lit. Everything was correct, so why wasn't it disappearing? That's when Astral noticed one of the bells had stopped ringing, and the darkness that was twisting its way up them all.
"Hennessy, we have to go!"
"But it's not working! The rain will kill us without it."
"Well, why don't you call the jellies yourself then. They can handle it but the darkness is getting worse, and fast."
Hennessy nodded slightly, took in a breath, and let it out again. Taking in a bigger one, she used it to call the jellies as loud as she could. It seemed to work, because a few measly ones managed to make their way up. Quickly, Astral grabbed her hand and dragged her forward, taking off faster than Hannessey could really react. But, Astral was a quick flier, so she just trusted the slightly smaller sky kid.
It wasn't even a minute before they landed and shoved the doors open. Once they were inside, Astral worked on making sure the doors were open for moths, but not darkness. It seemed a few skykids had already burned the darkness inside, so they were safe. Hennessy stepped forward.
"Teth!"
Quickly, the elder would've come down.
"What is it? Is it eden?"
"Kind of. The darkness. It's everywhere and it's growing fast. The rain is worse than before. The moths aren't going to make it to the temple and some of the ikemen won't either."
"Let me see."
Teth wrenched one of the heavy doors open to look outside and, sure enough, the darkness was crawling over their towers, silencing bells while the rain silenced panicked honks.
"Mm. I'll have to bring this up with the other elders. Go home. This is much more then your business."
Astral dutifully nodded and bowed to the elder before moving to drag Hennessy down to go home. Hannessa just followed, wanting to make sure their friends were all ok.
~
Pipi was in Prairie Village when the darkness got worse. She tried her best to burn it all and keep the bells ringing, but a firefly could only do so much alone, especially since she needed the mantas to get to the temple. Obviously, the extra growth was strange, but not too strange. It has grown back in simply a second before, so it's not doubtful that it might grow just a bit more this time.
However, Pipi knew she was in danger when the darkness wrapped around her wrist, essentially trapping her. Quickly, she began honking worriedly for help and, quickly, an ikeman came to the rescue. They burned the darkness and gifted her a candle before taking her hand and flying her up to the temple. She just let them, knowing her measly amount of stars couldn't.
Carefully, they set her down on the bridge before going to fix the darkness. So, with all her wax, Pipi went inside the temple, collected the last bits of candles resting there, and collected her candles before leaving again. She flew across the bridge, going in the direction of bird's nest, when she faltered. All of the towers had thickly growing darkness on them, preventing the bells from ringing.
Pipi also noticed the darkness was crawling up toward the temple. She had to warn the elder and spirits. As fast as she could, Pipi made a u-turn and flew back into the temple.
"Ayin!"
She meditated to gain the elder's attention and, quickly, the elder turned to her.
"Hello, Child. Long time no see."
"I know, but there's no time for hellos," she was panicking a bit and Ayin paused when he noticed.
"What's wrong?"
"The darkness! It's growing faster than usual, the bells can't ring, and it's coming up here!"
Setting his pot down, Ayin stepped forward.
"I will make sure everyone makes it to safety. Please, go home and remain safe yourself."
Nodding, Pipi meditated to go home. When she got there, she noticed everyone else was there except...
"Now that we're all gathered: Where's Darcy, Ari?"
They should be in Vault, at the top. Sah and Mek were going to bring them there until we can get them.
"Eli, what's happening with vault?"
"They're going to light it up to protect the elders and spirits for as long as possible, but the darkness might already be trying to go up."
Akraya nodded, "So we have until the darkness gets to the top of vault to save Darcy. Astral, how fast do you think you can get up there?"
"Well, I think it could be semi fast, but I could sling Pomari up to get Darcy faster."
"I can climb up pretty quickly, but I can't bring anyone extra," Eli took out their staff, their main instrument for their climbing and jumping.
"Maybe I could get some ikemen to help, too?" Pipi looked up hopefully, wanting to be involved for once, since they usually always protected her.
"But Pipi, going up there might not be the best for you. You should stay here, and I can stay with you if you want!" Hennnessy smiled at the firefly softly, hoping she's agree.
The firefly just nodded and sat, looking at the ground.
"I know, Pipi, I'm sorry, but we're dealing with something so much bigger than the normal vault."
"I know... it's ok, Arkaya... just... go work on saving Darcy."
We will. Don't worry.
Hennessy sat by Pipi and started trying to make her laugh as the others walked into vault.
~
Their plan was set. The would get to the top, grab Darcy, and leave as fast as possible, after waking them up. Astral flew them up the first part, though, once she was out of light, Pomari took over, pushing up as far as possible. As soon as Pomari ran out, Eli was flung to one of the walls to climb up quickly, leaving Arakaya to almost get there, thanks to his torch and platforms, a minute or two after they did.
He found Eli kneeling next to Darcy, who was currently unconscious, and gently slapping their cheek to try and wake them up. Arkaya moved to shake them, a bit roughly but enough to wake them up.
"Darcy! How do you feel?" Arkaya's voice was laced with worry, but Darcy just smiled weakly before becoming extremely focused on something behind him. Quickly, he turned, only to see a krill looking right at him.
Before he could do anything, Darcy was pushing themselves up, unsheathing the sword on their back. It glittered a bit in the low light, the brightest thing within the entirety of vault. Quickly, the krill refocused.
Not all 11 of their stars were lit, but that didn't matter. It was focused, almost hypnotized by Darcy's sword. It gave them time to undo their cape, slowly moving the sword to keep its attention. Then, the shiny cape was thrown in the air, and the krill charged right at it.
"Down!" Darcy's voice was commanding, especially to Arkaya and Eli, who had almost frozen with the krill.
"What?!"
"I said down!" Quickly, they sheathed their sword and dragged the two back and over the edge, quickly falling with them.
"But what about your cape?! You'll get hurt if you try to land!" Arkaya was now even more worried about Darcy's split decision.
"Then land for me!"
They focused on keeping the sword in its sheath, their only permanent possession, as they dived down, dodging the platforms that were flying by. Astral could see them, coming down faster than Arkaya and Eli, though Arkaya reached forward, trying to grab them, even by the foot.
They had a countdown in their head, how many seconds they were ahead of Arkaya. The diving was just a quick way down. Seconds before they would've hit the ground, they flipped into an x, slowing themselves down majorly.
Arkaya took this chance, grabbing their arm, pulling them against him, and flapping up as hard as he could with one arm. Darcy just wrapped their arms around Arkaya as they both softly landed.
"You have got to be insane..." Arkaya just gently ran his hand through their hair, assuring himself they were ok.
"Well... it got us out, right...?"
Astral cut in, "Kind of. It's coming."
Darcy looked up tiredly, seeing the darkness that was wrapping itself around the ladder. The winged light was gone. They had to be quick. Taking in a breath, they pushed away from Arkaya and walked to a small pile of lanterns, taking out their candle.
"What're you doing?"
"I'm lighting them. These are rigged to the entirety of the lanterns. It'll stop the darkness until it burns out. Maybe the elders and spirits will find a safe spot until then."
"And... you're sure about that?"
Darcy stood as one of the lanterns lit, then the rest of the pile, "Positive, Ark..."
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