>>6295791A ragged cry splits the air, and you look around to see a flash of red. With her face set in a grimace of determination, Juno Tomoe charges towards the monster that was once her father, her entire family. Relief turns to horror as you realise what she’s about to do. You start to cry out a warning, then a demand for her to stop, but the words fall on deaf ears.
Throwing the weight of her entire body into the charge, Juno grabs the spear that juts from the Nightmare’s head and pushes forwards with all her might. The womb seems to open wider as Juno drives the Nightmare back through the portal. Even as she drives it back, the Nightmare’s groping arms wrap around her body and pull her close.
You yell Juno’s name one last time as she and the monstrous remnants of her family plunge through the portal and into that world of blood. Time seems to slow to a crawl as you see the womb starting to close behind them both. Struggling to your feet, you stumble forwards and throw out one hand in a desperate attempt to reach her. From the very first moment you started moving, though, you know that you won’t make it in time.
As the portal closes behind her, Juno is able to turn back and look at you once more before the end. Her face is calm, her eyes free from fear. If anything, her expression is one of relief.
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With a final squirt of steaming blood, the portal closes completely as if it was never there. You fall forwards, falling through the empty space where the portal once hung. Your body meets cold stone instead, the fall sending a dull pain running through your body. A silence falls, so great and dire that it almost chokes you.
Drawing back one fist, you slam it into the stone floor. Again and again, until blood flows freely from your knuckles, you beat your first against the pristine white stone. It’s only when a gentle grip closes around your arm that you stop, that all the strength bleeds from your body. Elle puts her arm around your shoulders, clinging to you as she trembles. Slowly, steadily, she helps you rise to your feet.
You look around you, as if seeing the Demesne for the very first time. The lowest level of the Demesne, the unreachable destination for countless pilgrims across the ages. The last great hope that your father had, the triumph that he had set his sights on even as he struggled and perished. Your whole journey has been leading up to this point, and yet-”
“There’s nothing here,” Elle says softly, looking around at the empty corridors stretching off into nothingness, “Gratia, I thought…”
“No, not nothing,” Gratia answers carefully, moving over to join you. You notice that she’s holding a small piece of stone – the last piece of the map, likely taken from Juno’s unresponsive form during the battle.
[2]
