I regain consciousness only to find that I am upside down. I panic slightly but quickly calm down when I realise that Galazin is carrying me.
“Move!”
Beings are shouting and screaming everywhere. I blink a couple of times and try and work out what is going on. Everything is shaking and falling. The ground beneath us is cracking.
“What’s going on?” I mutter, my feet hurting from scraping across the ground.
Galazin growls. His mouth is full. Turns out he’s carrying me on his back, crudely thrown over his shoulder and his severed tail in his mouth. We appear to be running towards some sort of portal. It is rapidly shrinking. My panicking continues as I realise we might not make it.
Suddenly though, the portal stops shrinking and starts to expand. Behind us, Arkay and the four Thropes are telekinetically holding the portal open.
“Go on! Go!” Arkay shouts. “We can’t hold it for long!”
There’s something else going on though. Galazin is getting weaker. The Thropes are struggling too. The air is getting thinner. There’s no oxygen, that’s why.
“Put me down. I’ll walk the rest of the way!” I cry. But Galazin is having none of it. We reach the portal and he throws me through it, before collapsing on the ground. I grab his arm and pull him through the portal, leaving a trail of my blood on the ground.
“Come on, you lot!” I shout.
To my shock though, two of the Thropes have passed out. The oxygen from Stasis’s little pocket dimension is all but gone. Something jumps over me and I see that it’s Elksia. Of course, the oxygen is gone, but there’s still some nitrogen around, enough for us Rethans to breathe properly. She runs through the portal and grabs both the humans, throwing one over each shoulder. But she’s struggling. Their heavy metal suits make them incredibly hard to carry.
The other two Thropes are both starting to struggle too. The two Thropes and Arkay both start to walk towards the portal, their telekinetic power starting to fade. The portal is gradually shrinking again. Elksia carries the two unconscious Thropes towards us and climbs through the portal, just something rumbles and crashes.
“Louise!” the white-armoured warrior cries, trying to hold on to both his breath and his concentration.
Elksia turns around, ready to jump through the portal again to save Arkay and the Thropes, but with just two beings holding it open, the portal has shrunk down dramatically, to the point where Elksia can’t easily get through.
“Steve, is she okay?” Arkay asks, almost whispering because of the strain.
“S-She’s breathing. Getting hard to do so myself…”
I peer through the portal. Something has fallen from above them, a piece of debris, and knocked Louise out. Arkay looks like he’s in pain, and Steve is barely upright. The portal is shrinking still.
“You need to get out of here!” I hear Arkay shout. “Whoever’s by the portal, move! Get out of the way!”
“No, Arkay! We won’t leave you here! If we both stop holding the portal open, not you, not me, not Louise will get out!”
“I know. But neither of us are strong enough. Someone has to stay. I’d rather it be me. You have your friend to care about.” There’s no fear in Arkay’s voice. Nothing at all.
Suddenly, both the Thropes are thrown through the portal, a powerful telekinetic force pulling them through it and into our reality. The portal shrinks down to nearly nothing, a small pinhole in the fabric of space-time. Elksia, in a state of panic, rushes up to it, screaming for her little brother.
“Arkay no, please! Don’t do this!”
“I’ll be fine, Elksia. I’ll see you soon. Look after Retvik and Tenuk for me, okay?” No fear. No regret. It’s as if he’s smiling. Elksia starts crying, realising there’s nothing she or anyone can do.
“I-I will…”
The portal snaps shut, leaving Arkay alone on the other side of it. Elksia doesn’t say anything else. She silently comes over and picks me up, carrying me over to where Retvik is lying. He’s unconscious. Probably for the best. Elksia sits me up next to Retvik, then curls up on my lap, quietly sobbing.
Stasis may have lost, but he claimed one victim in the end…