Like a walking phantom--half flesh, half translucent energy--Aunger approached from the only way in; and the only way out.  The body was dead, the blood had stopped flowing completely... but the energy under his command, his very will to exist, drove the corpse to what loosely resembled life.
        Loosely or not, it was still that fucking maniac.  Dead but not dead.
        Shadow bit back a sob of pure frustration and a jagged curse at the quiet voice in her mind.  While she didn't actually hear it, she was sure it was chanting, Told you so, told you so!
        Roan's stomach clenched so hard--the voice, the vision, the fact that the mother fucker was still walking--that he yipped uncontrollably with a sharp pain.  No! No, dammit!  His muscles clenched like he'd been electrocuted.  This was not reality.  This could not be reality.  Please don't let this be reality!
        The panic was like a scent, rolling out into the air and hanging there, heavy.  Inescapable, but tolerable if you're forced, just the same--and Shadow was just too pissed at that point to let the opportunity slip.  Her legs were shaky, yes, and her breath control hadn't entirely recovered; but she wasn't going to just sit there.  "Get behind me."  She grunted to the siblings.  Evyn was in no shape to fight, and neither he nor Ter had a weapon.
        It was her voice that really knocked Roan from his stupor of fear and old habits.  Still weak from mere moments before or not, her tone held the same fire that raged in her eyes.  Regardless of his violently shifting stomach, he found the strength to push himself up from the ground and stand.  One more breath and he was able to raise the sword from his side.  Granted it took both hands and the blade danced delicately in his grip, but it didn't matter.  He was up and gaining energy quickly.
        The monster--looking moreso than ever before--only walked at a leisurely pace toward them, smiling with a translucent head.  The eyes were the same, though.  Always the fucking same; soul draining, black holes of solid blue.  But this time... this time the hatred was showing through.  There were no weapons in his hands, but they all knew they could expect nothing less than an all-out war.  Again.  Fucking again.
        There was no warning, and there was no time.  Aunger cast his hand out--instantaneously, Evyn and Taerlyn flew backward into the wall far behind, giving a distant smacking sound that made the others cringe.  Even as they turned to see if the siblings were alive let alone okay, a wall of orange, shimmering energy erupted upward.  The ground from which the energy appeared stressed and cracked, and then nothing but the shimmering orange itself remained visible.  They were divided. once again.  How they were still suspended when they hardly seemed part of the rest of the floor was absolutely forgotten when the realization struck hard--Aunger had raised a ring of fire.
        "I haven't got the patience to deal with them, now."  The monster explained pleasantly.  "They can wait."
        Fucking fantastic.  Thank you so fucking much you fucking lunatic.  Shadow only gritted her teeth and waited.  It annoyed her to have to do so, but she knew striking first was suicide.
        And strike first he did--with an absolutely unanticipated jolt of raw energy.  It wasn't enough to rip through her flesh, but it was certainly enough to leave her feeling like she'd stuck her finger in a light socket.  Not that she'd ever done that, of course--she couldn't help but yip with the current through her arm, burned, tingling the very nerves in every part from fingertips to the back of her neck.  Just a teasing taste of what was to come, and she knew that.  Growling with annoyance, she switched her ax to the other hand and--to hell with waiting--darted forward.
        Roan had watched, waited--then struck.  All too unfortunately, the abomination was ready for his move.  Before the sword so much as began to make a downward arc, a searing, burning electricity tore through his lower thigh like a bullet.  This time, there was blood.  Quite a lot of it.  And worse, it smelled... cooked.  Even the lingering hot agony was nothing compared to the satisfied look strewn over the phantom face; especially when the blue fire simply would not respond.
        "You can't use your healing ability in the circle!" Aunger cackled with amusement.  "Do you think me so stupid, boy?"
        Shadow had decided long ago that her credo was to be, "Fuck this".  As the bastard's back was turned, she lunged forward and did what she could with what she had, successfully cleaving a wide-open wound in his back.  Pulling away to take another swing with both hands, she felt quite a bit less at ease than she had before.  Flesh having been parted, curdled blood dripped and splattered--but his own, red-orange energy sealed the wounds right afterward.
        She made a note to shorten her credo.  To just, plain, "Fuck".  Another generous bolt of white hot pain rocketed through her, causing her legs to give and stumble--but somehow she made it out of range before a second bolt hit.  It did nothing for her grip, however, and the ax clattered almost lazily to the ground as she tried to regain her thoughts.
        She heard Roan's grunt as he made an effort to chop the son of a bitch in half--but heard a short cry of agony right afterward as another energy surge traveled up the blade and flung the metal from his grasp.  Her mind rusted dead in place as another unwelcome realization occurred: this thing was not Aunger at all.  Not in understanding, not in consciousness.  It was a massive being of left-over energy using his body, and nothing more.  A memory, programmed to carry out these last wishes--and sooner or later, the energy would be used up, fade, and nothing would remain.  With that energy's fading undoubtedly came the castle's collapse, leaving nothing to hold it together.  But right now, whether that was a good or bad thing was completely uncertain.  They were not doing very well, here.
        Taking a deep, raspy breath scented with burned blood, she made another desperate attempt.  Yes, the ax handle was hot; but that hardly mattered.  It's not like she could completely feel her limbs anyway.  At the very least she could try to drain the energy, try to weaken the form enough so that... well, so that something could be done.  What, didn't exactly matter.  Putting all of her momentum into the blade itself, she ran forward and swung before the abomination could hit Roan with another surge.
        There was a great deal of success that time.  The energy forming the removed parts of the body shimmered out for a moment, flickering before coming back into being.  Aunger's form growled impatiently, making as if to use his arm like a sword and strike.  But there was a distinct hope as the feeling came back into her extremities; even as she parried the hand away, she felt the foundation underneath begin to shiver.  The stone beneath them made slight but horrifying grinding sounds that they could feel in the soles of their feet.
        Aunger's automaton seemed completely ignorant of the happenings.  Apparently all it could do was follow the order to kill, using the memories of what once lived inside.  The narrow scope of its existence did not include the fall of his own castle.
        Roan got the idea quickly, seeing another flicker as Shadow was able to slice a good chunk in the monster's abdomen.  Sword in hand, he lunged and swept, successfully severing an entire leg.
        Oh.  That was not good.  The intentions had been good, but the lack of understanding--this time the sword flew with a sharp crackle out of his hands, leaving burned palms in its wake.  The pain struck Roan's mind brutally, causing him to crumple with its impact to the ground; his palms were in much worse shape than his leg had been.  He tried not to look, didn't want to see the bones show through--find the sword!  Look there!
        However... the sword just happened to be embedded in the wall of fire.  Of all the stupid--
        The automaton held its transparent head and wailed.  The very sound made Shadow flinch, and a good thing; a vertical shockwave of raw energy exploded from the form, sending anything inside the circle and in its path aflame--even stone.  Had she not flinched, not sidestepped at just that moment to regain her balance...
        The solid floor beneath the circle was not so solid anymore.  Even as Roan was desperately trying to get his mind to work around the pain, he bore witness to several not so small fragments of stone fall into darkness below.  Pain, pain could be avoided--would have to be avoided.  He looked up through tearing eyes to see Shadow attempt to make another strike--getting another electric burst through her body instead.  It seemed Aunger's energy creation was only momentarily stunned by the sword in the wall.  Worse, still, her body was beginning to wear out.
        Gasping, panting, trying too hard to ignore his bleeding hands, Roan stumbled into a wide standing position.  What the hell was there to do?  What could he--with a slow, deep breath, he grunted as he opened a cracking palm toward the weapon shivering with electric current in the wall of fire.  It obeyed.  Painfully hot, he grasped it anyway; they wouldn't have any more chances.  This had to be done.
        By some miracle, some stupid amazing annoyance of Fate, Shadow had held on to the ax.  She couldn't so much as feel her legs anymore, but it's not like it mattered.  She swung hard as the monster stepped forward on a new-formed leg of yet more energy, leaving the one of flesh behind like a shed skin--but the blade missed.  With a dreary sigh so comical she may well have made herself laugh had she not been in so much fucking pain, she felt the monster's hands come heavily down upon her shoulders.  There was no way she was able to stand underneath that kind of pressure, and her legs gave completely.  The torn, bleeding knees having slammed against the stone didn't even register.  For a moment, her mind was simply gone.
        Until she was eye level with... that.  Before thought process was even able to catch up, there was rage.  Hatred: the battery she was able to run on, even without anywhere to go with it.  Her eyes shifted, looking up into the depthless holes that peered back down at her with an insane look of cocky satisfaction... and she called her ax to her hand.  She hadn't any idea she could do such a thing to begin with--it didn't matter.  She'd learned Roan's trick, and she needed it more than ever now.  Weapon in hand, she saw the beast grin frantically (Frantically..?), felt her own arms tingle with renewed intensity--
        She heard Roan's enraged cry, saw him come up behind the automaton, battered but somehow strong.  All she could do, it was all she could fucking do--she weakly thrust the ax's blade up through the monster's abdomen and well into the sternum, feeling the sting of Roan's sword having struck it as they met somewhere in the middle--
        The energy of a completed current ruptured through time and space.  She felt her whole body thud violently against the ring of fire, only to find that the wall of energy sent shockwaves through her pain threshold that Aunger could never have imagined.  She shrieked breathlessly, without thought, unable to move for far too many seconds as her body was dropped unceremoniously onto the shaking ground, still hot with fire and molten stone.  When at last she could manage to think again, there was blood running thick in her throat.  Her whole body... didn't feel "right".  Something deep inside had been punctured, ripped, maybe charred entirely to ash.  She didn't look--she couldn't look.  If she didn't know, she could keep going.  If she didn't see the damage, if she didn't see Roan--
        Fuck.  It was only out of the corner of her eye--and she kept it there.  He lay lifelessly, limply on his back with his limbs haphazardly flailed around him.  There was a deep, bleeding, gore and ash colored mark in the center of his chest... but she did not look further.  She couldn't afford to.  Stumbling aimlessly, she willed her body toward the grinning automaton of Aunger's last wishes.  She had a few of her own to make him aware of.
        "It's over."  The monster hissed pleasantly.  He didn't even make a move against her, contented only to watch her battered body try to make its way toward him.
        She was reminded, for no good reason at all, of the story of the Garden of Eden.  Of the serpent... and she grinned back at the form, trickles of blood calmly running between her teeth.  Had Eve only tied that fucking snake in a great big knot before eating the apple, then force-fed it as well...  She stopped just in front of the beast, breathless, shaking even more than the foundation beneath her.  It was hot, it was cold, it was getting dark and she could swear she felt hands urging her forward--she flung her arms over his shoulders and embraced him. 

        Evyn groaned as his still tender body slid to the floor, all vision completely gone for a number of seconds.  It was curious at first.  Then odd.  Then so goddamn frightening that he almost lost himself to panic completely.  His head fucking hurt.  As did his back.  And the rest of him, dammit--
        Through the slowly restoring vision, he caught sight of Taerlyn, her painful grimace instantly ripping him from his selfish thoughts.  Bruised as he was, he turned and crawled to where she had landed, trying his best to keep panic at bay.  "Ter?"
        "Urh."  She replied at first, trying to focus after the blow against her back and head.  She closed her yes and took a deep breath, going over her memory.  All in check.  Though the headache was pretty damn severe.  Could be worse... right?  "I'm--I'll be okay."
        They stared ahead to see--a surprising wall of solid orange energy.  It had swallowed up Shadow and Roan, cut them off from anything outside.  And worse, still...
        "The g-ground."  Taerlyn uttered quietly.  "It's shaking."
        "I know."  Her brother conceded in a whisper.  Oh how scared he was--about the foundation of the castle, about the solid wall of fire, about the fate of... of everything.  Half of their family was behind that wall; plus Aunger.  Or whatever the fuck it was.
        A sound--a scream of some kind.  It was muted by the energy, coming through almost completely void of tone.  Evyn felt anger rising in his throat, replacing the bile that had been there scant seconds before.  He got the distinct impression that there was no way they could get through that barrier.  But there might well be something they could do.  How, or what... well, he didn't know that yet.  He just knew they had to get over there, and fast.
        A rumble louder than any thunder they had ever heard shook the castle, slamming them again against the wall.  This was not good.  Not in the least.  They had to make it over there, now.
        "Come on."  He urged the both of them, trying to gain enough control of his legs to rise first.  That proved more than a little difficult, both with the increased trembling of the floor and the searing muscle spasms that overtook his lower limbs--aftershocks of the massive healing he'd so recently gone through.  He hissed, gritting his teeth as he grasped at the stone wall for help, for a little leverage of some kind.  It was enough.  He couldn't let the pain control him.  The need to reach the energy barrier was only growing stronger.
        Ter watched distantly for a moment before consciousness hit her again full-on.  Yes, he was right--they needed to get over there.  It was as much a need as the instinct to survive.  Another savage jolt of the castle made her brother moan in significant pain, but she used the momentary back and forth rocking to help ease herself to her feet.
        There wasn't time, just no time--she was injured less than he, so she let herself be his crutch.  It was the pace of a less than organized three-legged race, but that much didn't matter.  They rushed all they could rush, feeling heat and electricity come off the wall in skittering waves before another deadly rumble started taking bits of the stone floor away.
        "How?" she asked, unsure of even her own question.
        "I... don't know."  He admitted, agitated.  He knew, on some level, that they needed to add their energy somehow, to pool it all in some final blow, but...  "The wall."  He cringed as a bolt of pain moved through him, as if the barrier itself was trying to strike out and stop them.  "We touch the wall."
        Another sound, another almost toneless scream came from within.  Taerlyn swallowed, hard.  This seemed like less of a solution than... well, who knew.  But... but, yeah.  Contact was the easiest way to exchange energy.  And the situation was getting dire--a sudden desperation began to emanate from somewhere within the wall itself.  There was so much more--pain, hate, loss, confusion, brutality in understanding--but no time.  No time at all.  They pressed their hands to the wall; and all was darkness.
 

        Why Shadow done such a stupid thing, embracing the monster, hadn't been important.  It was the fact that she heard something quite clearly when she had done so.  Even now, looking into shocked pits of orbiting blue... a sound.  Familiar.  That orchestra, that elaborate chorus of voices that she'd heard only once, long ago...  It was when she'd discovered that she'd had magical power, when she'd been separated from Taerlyn and Evyn and brought against a brick wall somewhere, held against it, beaten...  She'd heard the chorus then.  As she heard it building now.  And it finally occurred to her, that this was her very last weapon. Their weapon, the four of them.  Their defense, their all and everything.
        She let the warmth of the voices flood her, feeling her body fall away to nothingness as her arms tightened around his neck like a passionate lover.  In what felt like some utterly different time and place, a vast ocean of stored, chaotic energy raged, tearing everything around it completely apart.