Darian was gone.
Truly gone.
He was the first to follow Eron, and it struck them all with brutal finality. His body collapsed like a crumpled wall, the strength that once stood as their shield now nothing more than a shattered husk on the ground.
Their defender, cut down with a single strike.
If Darian could fall so easily...
It was over.
The team unraveled.
Some started breathing faster, eyes darting for gaps, for openings, for any illusion of escape. Others gripped their weapons with shaking hands, no longer in readiness, but in sheer desperation.
"Control yourselves!" Velion shouted, trying to bring them back. "Don't act recklessly. That will only make this worse!"
"Worse?" someone snapped back. "How could this be any worse?"
"We're dead!" someone else cried. "We're already dead, we're just too slow to fall!"
"Why did we ever come here?" another muttered, to no one in particular. "What was the point of any of this?"
