The brother's breath rattled like stones in a hollow chest; it was a wheezing.
His clawed fingers clenched the staff, knuckles stretched so tight the skin might tear. The shard at its tip pulsed harder, like it was sensing its doom.
A low, broken groan tore from his throat.
Darkness shot from the shard, wild and dangerous. Their aim was all over the place in a blind panic, but they were still deadly.
Sonder swung her sword through the blasts.
The light sliced and tore through the dark, sparks like a scattering night sky.
She took another and a third; her arms shaking with effort, as every one of them was like deflecting an explosion.
Roots surged from the ground, blackened claws rising, but the moment they took shape, Sonder's light washed over them, turning them to dead, drifting ash. Bones pulled themselves together only to crumble seconds later.
The half-rotten figure and opposing shard tried to fight.
The beastfolk stayed close behind Sonder.
The fox supported the hyena, blood matting their fur. The wolf-man snarled, desperate, but he knew this was Sonder's burden. Only she and her magic could cut through the heart of the nightmare.
The brother dragged himself backward, feet scraping stone. Terror ruled him now. Not hate. Not hunger. But there is a fear of being defeated.
Sonder stepped closer; the sun approached the darkness.
"Just let go of the shard," she said, almost pleading.
He answered with a cry that sounded like splintering bone, all of it from despair.
Darkness blasted outward in a sphere.
The beastfolk braced, but Sonder shoved the light ahead of her, parting the wave like a bloom of dawn. The force pushed her back a half-step, boots grinding against rock.
She held.
And then she walked forward through the blast as if through a violent storm, every step heavier than the last.
Her sword-light scorched a path to him.
The shard's glow guttered.
Sonder now stood only a few paces away.
Up close, he didn't seem like a sorcerer or monster at all, just someone frightened, drowning in power. His jaw shook. One eye was gone entirely. The other stared into hers… pleading.
Not for life.
For release.
Sonder lowered her weapon, not to strike, but in surrender to the truth.
"Just let go," she whispered.
His lips moved. Barely a breath:
"…help…"