"Holy shit." Vral's words summed it all up perfectly.

  We'd been hiking for maybe four hours when Tristan spotted the first crystal: a small, glowing chunk of stone about the size of a cat nestled between two tree roots.

  Then we found another.

  And another.

  Before long, we were walking into the spot Nivan had marked on our map.

  The second the trees opened up, and we could see what was there, I understood why he seemed so worried.

  We found a small clearing in the forest. In the glade, there were crystals, dozens of them, maybe more, scattered through the trees in every direction. They came in all shapes and sizes. Some were small enough to fit in my palm, while others were as tall as Ro and me. A few were even bigger than us, and we were big. Each one glowed with an inner light that reminded me of the crystal I'd pulled from the Depths.

  I had no idea what that meant, but it was too similar to be a coincidence, right?

  "Nivan said there were 'a few,'" Ro said slowly. "What an understatement."

  "Uh, yeah. This is not 'a few,'" Na-Ya finished.

  "It's definitely not." I knelt beside one of the smaller crystals. "Have any of you seen anything like this before?"

  "Never." Tristan walked up to one of the larger stones and brushed her fingers along its surface. "There's something else here, too. I can feel it."

  "What do you feel?" Na-Ya asked as she followed her cousin.

  "I..." Tristan's voice trailed off as her fingers left one crystal and found another. "I don't know."

  "They're big, whatever they are." Vral hopped off my shoulders and approached a Vral-high crystal that pulsed with soft amber light. Unsheathing her dagger, she poked at it a few times. "And hard as hell."

  "Don't poke the crystal, Vral," Tristan said without looking back.

  "You can't stop me." Vral wedged her dagger into a thin crack running down the crystal's surface and tried to pry a piece loose. "Not that it matters. I can't even make a scratch in this thing."

  Tristan sighed and pressed her hand against the crystal she was examining. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and murmured, "Na-Ya. Reach into it with me."

  "Okay." Na-Ya pressed her hand to their crystal and did the same. "Guide me."

  "Follow my spirit." Tristan took another breath, and her face relaxed.

  An instant later, Na-Ya's did the same.

  As they were doing... whatever it was that they were doing, I stood and looked around.

  Despite this patch of forest being particularly dense, I could see crystals everywhere. They were mostly on the ground, but there were enough of them clinging to the trees and hanging from the branches above that it was clear they could grow anywhere. Interestingly, they didn't seem to be arranged in any particular order, at least not one that I could see. If I hadn't known they'd only appeared recently, I'd have assumed they were a natural feature of the forest.

  Ro grunted beside me.

  I turned to find him trying to lift a cat-sized crystal out of the ground.

  His face was red, veins bulging in his neck. "They're... locked... in... place!" He gasped. "Don't... understand... how..."

  "You meatheads!" Na-Ya's eyes shot open. "Stop trying to move them! We don't even know what they are!"

  "It's treasure, if I ever saw it!" Vral's dagger clinked against her crystal as she kept trying to chip away at it. "We just need to figure out how to get it out of here."

  "Don't... want... the... crystals..." Ro's face turned purple as he heaved again. "Want... to... take... back... to... Arden..." With a gasp, he let go and fell on his ass. "Damn it. What the hell are these things?" He wiped the sweat from his forehead.

  "I don't know," Tristan said, her fingers still pressed against the large crystal. "But... I feel something." She closed her eyes again. "Na-Ya."

  "Yeah." Na-Ya closed her eyes again.

  "Follow me," Tristan whispered. "And tell me what you feel."

  Na-Ya closed her eyes. Her brows furrowed, and there was a small pulse of light from her fingertips.

  For a good minute, she didn't say anything. Then, "I don't feel anything."

  "Really?" Tristan opened her eyes again. "Nothing at all?"

  "Not a thing." Na-Ya opened her eyes, too.

  Tristan reached out and took Na-Ya's hand in hers. "Here, let's try again."

  "Okay." Na-Ya did, and the cousins closed their eyes again.

  Again, they were silent for a time. Then, Tristan said, "Keep following me!"

  "I'm trying!"

  "Is it so hard?"

  "Yes." Na-Ya shuddered. "I don't know how you're moving through this thing so easily."

  "I..." Tristan's frowned. "It isn't hard for me."

  "Because you're talented. And you've gotten stronger." Na-Ya's brows furrowed. "Go slower."

  "Okay."

  They were quiet for another moment.

  "Do you feel that presence?" Tristan asked again.

  "No." Na-Ya shook her head. "Nothing. It's like a wall."

  Tristan opened her eyes and looked at me. "I swear there's something inside of that."

  "I believe you." Na-Ya looked at her hand. "I just... I guess this is your talent. I can't feel a thing."

  Tristan's sapphire eyes met mine. "Alex, come here."

  "Okay." I walked over to them. "I'm no mage, so I don't know how much help I'll be."

  "That's fine." Tristan took my hand and placed it on the crystal. "I'll guide you. Just tell me if you feel anything."

  I didn't understand why she'd chosen me for this. "If Na-Ya can't do it, what makes you think I can?"

  "You're a chosen."

  "So?"

  "You can do anything."

  I didn't know about that, but still... What could it hurt? "Alright." Closing my eyes, I waited for something to happen.

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  Anything at all...

  Come on, something!

  Nothing happened.

  "I don't think I'm doing it right."

  "Just like when we meditate, focus on your breathing." She shifted closer until her breastplate pressed against mine and her breath was warm in my ear. "Then drive all of your will down into the crystal."

  "And then?"

  "Once you do that, I'll guide you."

  Good luck. "I'll try." I closed my eyes again.

  Her hand grew warmer, almost like when she healed me, but less tingly. More pleasant. "Do you feel me?"

  "I do."

  Her fingers wove through mine. As they did, her warmth bled from my hand into the crystal. "Follow my spirit."

  I'd never done anything like this before.

  Taking a breath, I cleared my head and tried to sink my senses into the stone. It wasn't so different from the meditation lessons I'd taught back on Earth. Just with more magic.

  I hoped.

  For a few moments, there was nothing. Then, as her warmth reached the edge of my perception, I felt a part of me sink into the stone.

  "Whoa..." The sensation startled me, and I pulled back.

  "Good. Very good." Her fingers squeezed mine. "Keep going"

  She didn't have to ask me twice. I cleared my head and pushed my will back into the stone. It took longer this time, but I felt that part of me slip inside again.

  "That's it," Tristan whispered in my ear. "You're doing it." She kissed my cheek. "Now, follow me."

  Her warmth sank deeper.

  I pushed farther into the stone. It was like pressing my hand through molasses, but I was doing it. Sweat beaded on my brow, and I could hear my heart beating in my ears.

  Her presence descended even farther, but she never went so far that I couldn't find her. "A little farther."

  "This is... hard..." I panted. It was like swimming upstream.

  "I know." Her fingers squeezed mine tightly.

  The farther I sank, the harder it became. I was barely holding on when I struck something soft and punched through into... somewhere. My awareness of the real world faded as I entered that place.

  "Alex?" Tristan's voice echoed in my mind.

  "I'm here." I tried to find her warmth, but the entire space we'd fallen into was warm. "Where are you?"

  "Here." I felt her warmth appear at my side. "What do you see?"

  See?

  Slowly, I opened my eyes. Instead of the crystal-filled forest, I found myself in a pure white space that stretched in every direction.

  "Uh..."

  "It's okay. This is what stretching your spirit feels like."

  "You do this often?"

  "I'm learning to, yeah."

  Crazy. "Well..." I "looked" around. "Everything is white."

  A small mote of flickering blue energy floated toward me from the endless white. "What else do you feel?"

  I turned in a circle, or whatever the equivalent was when you were a disembodied spirit, and tried to take everything in, but there wasn't much to see. Just endless white in every direction. No walls, no floor, no ceiling. Just... space. "It's empty."

  "Are you sure? Focus more."

  I focused my mind, just like Lady Varga had taught us to. "I..." At first, there was nothing. Then... I felt it... a faint presence, distant and... dark. A part of me recoiled at the presence. Another was drawn to it. "Yeah," I said. "I feel something."

  "I knew it." Her voice echoed in my mind. "Which direction is it?"

  "You can't tell?"

  "No. This was as far as I could go before."

  I focused harder and spun around again. For a while, I couldn't perceive anything else. Slowly, though... "This way. Follow me." I began drifting deeper into the white space.

  "Guide me," Her voice echoed.

  I followed the feeling, letting it guide me through the... place.

  At first, it was disorienting. There were no landmarks, no sense of distance or direction. Just endless white and a faint pull tugging at that small part of me. However, the farther we went, the more I could feel it.

  "There," Tristan whispered in my mind. "Do you see it?"

  "I don't..." I focused ahead. At first, I saw nothing. Then, slowly, a shape began to form. It was black. Or maybe not black. It was almost like a void in the light. As we got closer, a dark, twisted mass appeared. It almost seemed to pull at the light around it. "What is that?" I asked.

  "I don't know." Her energy brushed against mine. "Stay with me, okay?" She sounded worried.

  "Always." I pushed into her, and for a moment, it felt like we were one.

  Then, as we got closer, I could make out more details.

  Limbs.

  Claws.

  A hunched, twisted form that reminded me of—

  "It's a monster," she breathed.

  "Yeah," I agreed. It looked similar to a monster we'd faced before. "It's a gloomfang, I think. Or what's left of one." I recognized the shape. The elongated snout. The long teeth. The wicked claws. But something was wrong with it. The darkness that made up its form was... fading. Like it was being eaten away by the light around it.

  As we approached, the creature's head lifted.

  It had no eyes.

  Just empty sockets where eyes should be. And its form was shimmering, faded. Broken.

  That same small part of me whispered that it wouldn't last much longer.

  The monster's head turned toward me. Looked at me with its empty eyes.

  Then, it whimpered.

  Release... me...

  The sound of its guttural voice cut through the endless light. It was pitiful, filled with pain and fear.

  "Is that... a monster's voice?" Tristan asked.

  "Yeah." While I'd never heard a monster speak, I knew its voice. I understood it clearly.

  The Dark Father... has touched... your soul...

  The monster's voice echoed around us.

  "What is it saying?"

  "You can't understand it?"

  "No, but I hear something... It's growling in my soul."

  Please... I must... feed...

  "Is that..." Tristan's voice shuddered, "... Is that what the Dark Lord sounds like?"

  "No. The Dark Lord sounds more..." What did He sound like? "BOOMING!" My voice echoed around us just like His always did.

  At the sound of my voice, the monster's empty eyes opened wide.

  "That's terrifying."

  My lord! Release me!

  Its soundless voice echoed around us.

  "I'm sorry, beast." I moved closer to it. "I can't."

  Then... Are you here... to set me... free?

  This time, its voice was filled with something almost like... relief?

  "I—"

  The creature shifted toward us.

  Release. Please!

  I tensed, ready to pull us out of the crystal if needed.

  But it didn't attack. It just floated there, trembling, as the darkness of its form continued to fade.

  There was another whimper, softer this time.

  Please...

  As its voice echoed around us, the black that was its body began to change. The darkness lightened, shifting from black to gray to white. Then, the creature's form started to dissolve, breaking apart into motes of light that drifted up into the endless space above.

  Now! Before I'm gone!

  It voice was a pitiful whine.

  Before—

  Its voice faded as it turned into a single mote of black.

  Reaching out, I took it in my hand and—

  The ball of darkness faded entirely, swallowed up by the light.

  "What the hell was that?" I asked.

  "I don't know," Tristan said quietly. "But did you see what happened at the end? The darkness turned to light."

  "Yeah. It was like... it was being purified or something."

  "Exactly." Her presence moved to where the creature had been. "And now it's gone."

  "Yeah."

  "Do you think it's... cleansed, maybe?"

  I thought about that. "If so... the crystals are... what? Purifiers?"

  "Maybe." She was quiet for a moment. "But what could do something like this?"

  I searched my mind for anything I might have read with Arden. After a time, the faintest glimmer of a thought floated into my mind. "I think... I think this might be... I can't..." What the hell were they called?

  "Do you know something?"

  "I remembered something, but—" The world around me roiled.

  I was losing concentration.

  "Alex?"

  "I can't—" The white space shifted, overlapping with the real world. "Come to me!"

  "Alex!" The blue mote floated to me, overlapping with my spirit.

  The world bent, and we were thrown out of that space.

  An instant later, I was thrown back into my body. Opening my eyes, I felt the world swirl around me as I got my bearings again. "Damn." A wave of nausea washed over me.

  "Yeah..." Tristan fell to her knees beside me. "Are you okay?" Her hand found mine.

  I squeezed. "I think so."

  "What happened?" Vral rushed to us. Running her hands over our bare skin, she shouted, "Are you okay?! Talk to me!"

  "We're okay." Tristan reached up with her free hand and stroked Vral's cheek. "Just disoriented is all."

  "Yeah." I swallowed the bile down.

  Relief washed over the little goblin. Then, she smacked us both. "Don't scare me like that!"

  "Sorry." Tristan slumped into Vral. "It was worth it, though. I think we learned a lot."

  I put my head in my hands. "Yeah. Something like that."

  Na-Ya asked as she approached. "You both went completely still for like five minutes." Her light washed over us, bringing some relief. "Are you okay?"

  I nodded.

  "We found something," Tristan said, straightening up for a moment before slumping again. "Inside the crystal."

  "What kind of something?" Ro asked behind me.

  "I think..." Tristan wobbled. "No, I'm sure that these crystals were monsters."

  "What?" Na-Ya's light increased. "What do you mean?"

  I swallowed again, then spoke. "There was a monster's spirit embedded deep within." The nausea faded. "We watched it fade away."

  Ro cleared his throat. "While you two were doing your thing, the light in the crystal faded."

  I tried to look at him, but my stomach wouldn't let me. "What do you mean?"

  "When it faded completely, the crystal crumbled away."

  Huh?

  After a few breaths, I managed to look toward where the crystal had been moments before. All that was left was glowing dust.

  Tristan dropped to the ground, crossed her legs, and put her head in her hands. "I think that's what this creature is doing... What these crystals are..."

  Na-Ya dropped to the ground next to her cousin. "How could that be?" The elf wrapped her arm around Tristan's waist and pulled her close.

  "I don't know." Tristan yawned. "All I know is that we found something inside."

  "A monster," I said. "Or what was left of one. It was trapped inside."

  Vral's eyes widened. "Wait. You're saying these crystals have monsters inside them?"

  "Yeah..." Trisan's head fell onto Na-Ya's shoulder.

  Ro sat next to me. "So that's where all the monsters around here went. Something's hunting them and turning them into these." He slapped a nearby crystal.

  Vral sat between Tristan and me. "Creepy."

  Na-Ya pulled Tristan close. "But what's creating these crystals? And is it the same thing that's been flying around at night? And why?"

  I shook my head. "I have no idea, but I think I know someone who might."

  "Who?" Tristan asked.

  "Arden." I took a breath. "Everyone ready to go back to the temple?"

  "Again?" Vral's eyes went wide. "Do we have to?"

  "Yeah. If anyone will know what's going on, it's Arden."

  Everyone groaned.