The Profound Darkness, the actual Darkness, was in the form of a woman, green hair flailing behind her in self-made wind of some sort. She was massive, towering hundreds of feet above the party. She made no effort to let us get in a first attack, and unleashed the power of Megid on us. We were instantly burned, it would have been worse had it not been for Wren's barrier, and Rika needed to use her most powerful technique, Nasar, to cope with the terrible injuries we had sustained. Thank the Light Nasar is fast acting and does it's job well.
We only needed a few minutes to regroup before unleashing our own Molotov cocktail, Destruction. One after another, we cast our techniques and skills in a special order, to attain the maximum attacking efficiency. Rika stood tall and cast Deban immediately followed by Chaz's Megid. Rune then added Legeon to the mix, and Wren finished by shooting the massive Posibolt. The four skills, instead of making their own separate actions, combined into one massive explosion, almost like a nuclear bomb. The blinding light from the attack gave us enough leeway to attack her almost instantly again, before the Darkness had time to react.
Needless to say, she was rather ticked off by our little attack. She retaliated with another blast of Megid that thankfully was not very well aimed. It hit only Wren, who was not very affected by the blow. He quickly used Recover, and we once again hit, she was now being referred to as "the Bitch" by Chaz, her with another blast of Destruction, followed by a shot of Nawat from the Techne-bow straight to her heart. We kept up out little cat and mouse game of Destruction/Megid for a few rounds, until she didn't attack back. We stood puzzled for a moment and then unleashed our fury on her.
Rune smashed her with Legeon and Chaz cast pure Megid, which burned her arms beyond recognition. She fell to one knee, and managed to attack once more, blasting Rika with ShadowBreath. Wren countered by shooting her with his massive Photon Eraser while I administered Nares to Rika's injuries. Chaz and Rune combined once more for GrandCross, and she fell to her hands, cursing and wailing. As she began to fade into the portal, she screamed, "If I have to go, I am taking that bastard Lutz with me! You will die a painful death, Rune Walsh!"
With her dying breath and apparently all the strength she could muster, she released a horrid attack. It seemed to be Megid combined with ShadowBreath, a lethal concoction of "black fire." The sight of that "black fire" triggered something in my head, a dream that I had had more than a hundred years ago. I felt my body go numb, and stood there like a statue, unable to stop what was about to happen.
The blast hit Rune full force, knocking him into the invisible barrier and finally to the ground. He lay there, unmoving for quite a while, until his body became wracked with convulsions. Whenever he could, he called my name, begging for my help. I ran to him, all the while watching as "the Bitch" fizzled into the portal, gone back into its prison. By the time I got to my fallen husband, the convulsions had stopped and he lay motionless. I kneeled next to him, in a pool of his own blood, and put my hands to his chest and neck, frantically searching for a heartbeat.
The others had joined us, and were all standing around in disbelief. I started sobbing, trying every technique I knew to revive him. Wren handed me Sol Dew, which should have brought him back. I sprinkled the red perfume over his motionless body, and watched in horror, as it did absolutely nothing. I took him in my arms and rocked back and forth, begging the Light to give my husband back to me.
Rika approached and quietly said, "Kayne, he is gone. There isn't anything more you can do." She laid a hand on my shoulders, in consolement. I looked at her with swollen eyes and tearfully said, "Yes there is." I laid him back down on the ground and said, "Tell him that I love him, and that I did this so someone would be there to protect the children." Rika looked at me puzzled for a moment and then said, "Kayne, you aren't thinking about using the forbidden Esper technique. No one has ever survived it."
I placed my hands of Rune, one on his forehead and the other on his chest while I spoke, "I realize what I have to do now. It was foretold in a dream that I had long ago. I didn't know its meaning at the time, but now I understand. The dream was foretelling the future, not showing the past. It is my destiny to save Rune's life. I couldn't in the dream, so I will do it now. If anyone needs to survive in Algo, it's Lutz."
I kissed Rune on the cheek one last time and I began to concentrate all my telemental powers. I then began to summon the forbidden Esper technique, ShaRes. In legend, this technique would revive even the hopelessly dead, but kill the caster, transferring all their life energy into the dead person. I yelled "ShaRes!" as I felt my body and soul become one with Rune's. My world then suddenly went black…
