Take us down, please, Adon sent, accompanied with a telepathic image of the griffins descending to ground level.

He kept his inner voice calm. There was an anxiety running below the surface in his mind, but he had seen enough horror that day that the sights below could not shake him.

It's fine, he told himself. Everything will be fine. I can see them. Carolien and her children. There's William and Frederick with Goldie and… wait. Where's Samson?

That touch of anxiety suddenly flared up into something larger. Goldie was on Frederick's shoulder, and she was moving around as if she was agitated, waving her legs wildly and turning in little circles, barely staying on the shoulder. William could barely walk straight, he was bleeding from so many cuts, but there was no reason why Samson shouldn't be on his or Frederick's shoulders anyway.

The butterfly fluttered up off of Prime's back, and he injected mana into his wings to support a little burst of speed. But as he quickly looked again, he only confirmed, Samson wasn't on Carolien's or the children's shoulders either.

Where is he? Adon wondered. Is his absence why Goldie is so freaked out?

On a second look, the mother spider was not just barely hanging onto Frederick's shoulder as it had first appeared. Adon had hardly noticed what the young lord was doing, but he had one hand firmly fixed to the lower half of Goldie's abdomen. He was holding her in place.

Adon shot down to ground level with a burst of speed, arriving before the griffins and Rosslyn could make the trip.

What's going on? he sent in a rapid-fire telepathic burst. What happened? Where is Samson?

Adon! Goldie sent. The cave we just came out of. Samson used that thing from the black space. He saved us and attacked the assassins, but it's killing him. You helped him last time. Please, try and save him now!

It is dangerous, thought Frederick pointedly. Goldie is not herself. She is too afraid of losing her remaining child.

I would not advise meddling with such a dangerous magic, Carolien thought, almost at the same time and in a similar tone.

Adon could feel it now that he was closer. A slow drain, like a power cord that sucked energy from the device plugged into it instead of powering the device up. Like a sink with the drain unstoppered. Like the sands of an hourglass slowly running out.

It was a familiar feeling. He had encountered this force in the darkness of the magic void before.

I can do this, he thought to himself.

To the others, he sent a simple, I'm going!

Rosslyn and the griffins touched down a second before he jetted into the cave.

What is going on? the Princess wondered silently.

But the butterfly did not stop to explain. He continued shooting forward into the black space. His multiple eyes were mostly useless, but he still had a pair that was well suited to the darkness.

There were stalactites and stalagmites, and distantly, he recognized there were human-erected additions to the cave, pillars and other support structures.

The main thing that caught his attention once he was past the entrance, however, were the bodies. Dozens of them, garbed in worn black clothing and lying next to black stone shields and long daggers. All were dead, he knew immediately. As he watched, they seemed to get even deader, if that were possible. Flesh withered, clothing wore down as if an invisible colony of moths was absorbed in a feeding frenzy, and skin gave way to bone before his eyes.

Decomposition had accelerated impossibly, without any apparent influence from the organisms that Adon knew were responsible for decomposition normally.

As he drew further into the cave, Adon saw a trio of bodies that had rotted to skeletons suddenly crumble away to dust.

Samson… what is this thing? he thought. Why did you mess with it?

He knew the answer immediately, of course. Goldie had said it.

"Samson used that thing from the black space. He saved us and attacked the assassins, but it's killing him."

Adon finally saw where his brother was. The young spider was deeper into the cave than Adon would have imagined.

Samson is far away from all the bodies, because the ones that were closest to him turned to dust already, Adon assessed.

At the same moment, he felt a gentle pull on his body. The tug was alarming, but not enough to stop him from approaching closer.

Adon, stop! Samson's voice broke the ominous silence of the cave.

Samson, let me help you, Adon sent.

He could tell his brother was in bad shape. The spider's telepathic voice had carried a distracted, feeble quality, and his exoskeleton looked withered and gray, far from the usual vibrant colors that both Samson and his mother exhibited.

I don't think… you can… Samson's reply came slowly, haltingly.

Last time, I did, Adon replied.

The butterfly had slowed his approach, though. He felt the tug of the power Samson had invoked more powerfully now. It grew significantly stronger with every foot nearer Adon moved.

I'm not even that close to him yet, he thought.

You know it's different this time, Samson sent, finally managing a message in something closer to his old voice.

Try to let go of it, Adon sent.

I made a deal with the power, Samson sent. I gave it myself so it would help me save the others. They were all going to die, Adon.

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The image of the people he had seen exiting the cave flashed through the butterfly's mind's eye. William, streaming blood from so many cuts he could hardly stand. Frederick, hurt only a little less severely than his brother. Carolien, as bad off as Frederick. Baltazar, Rosslyn's oldest brother, less hurt but still noticeably injured.

There had been almost a hundred bodies on the ground when Adon entered the cave, so many assassins that it was hard to imagine the others fighting their way out.

Adon could believe that Samson's actions had been necessary to save them.

But that emergency was at an end now.

Break the deal! Adon replied. Let go! Step away. If you need me to help you break the hold—

It's not that, Samson sent instantly. The deal gave me some control over this thing's power. I can see what it sees when it looks at us. Feel the way it works. Plus, I have a little more experience with it now. This last sentence was accompanied by a dry, telepathic chuckle. The power it sucks out of everything around it is flowing through me before the entity eats it. I've been trying to keep it from stealing your energy, little brother. But it's hard.

Let go—Adon began again.

I can't, Samson sent. The power flowing through me is the only thing keeping me alive now, I can feel it. My own life energy flowed out of me a little while ago.

Oh, Adon sent. I… there's nothing I can do?

All the training of Mana Manipulation, all the battle experience and consumption of other creatures, all the magic lessons with Rosslyn, everything the butterfly had done since his incarnation as a caterpillar—suddenly it all struck him as useless.

Don't be so sad, little brother, Samson sent. I'm guessing I'm far from the only person to die today. Most of the ones in the city will have died tragic deaths. I got to die helping people I care about. I even got to talk to you one last time, when I didn't think I'd ever see you again. I was content to die alone in the dark… but I've always been lucky.

I don't… I don't call this lucky, Adon sent.

That's because you're not me, bro, Samson sent. There's just one thing I want to know now… This time, was I a decent brother?

Adon didn't answer immediately.

Instead, he used Telepathy and sent his consciousness from his body into Samson's. He wanted to see firsthand what the situation was inside his brother. Perhaps the spider was wrong about the condition the entity had left him in.

Almost instantly, the butterfly found himself seeing the world through Samson's eyes.

That was quicker than I expected, Adon thought. This thing's pull is so strong, it even tugged my consciousness closer more quickly as soon as I untethered from my body…

The butterfly could see not just the physical world, through Samson's physical eyes, but also the dark void that Samson's astral self had stepped into. He could see through Samson's perspective as the spider's astral form touched the entity, and power flowed through the void into Samson and through Samson into the other.

Adon could feel what Samson felt.

The spider's body was a husk, even worse on the inside than it looked on the outside. Hollow. Dried out. Like it was just waiting for some pebble to fall on it before it crumbled to dust.

Even his immaterial self is fading away, the butterfly sensed.

Adon, Samson thought. He did not need to send the words as a telepathic message, since his brother was inside his head. You came to be with me at the end.

Yeah, of course I did, Adon sent. You… protected me and everyone else from this thing. You saved all our friends. You… you were a great brother.

I hoped you would say that, Samson thought. Adon could feel the relief pass through him. It was more than just an emotion. There was a release that came along with it. A letting go of things.

Take this, Samson sent.

A string of memories struck Adon back inside his own brain, almost breaking his telepathic immersion in Samson's head.

But he managed to keep most of his focus where he was, keep himself rooted inside his older brother's brain.

His mind automatically processed Samson's message. None of it was unfamiliar, really. It was just the spider coming into the black void, the route he took to the entity, him making the deal with the energy draining presence, and them working together, after a strange fashion, to save Adon and Samson's friends.

Why…? Adon sent.

In case you ever need it, little brother, Samson thought. I never thought I'd be in this situation either. I expected to live a really long life this time, like the last one. But the Goddess had a different plan in mind.

Adon was uncertain if he believed that the Goddess had a grand plan. Things seemed to him to happen almost randomly at times. The world was arbitrary and capricious.

But he could see a set of circumstances in which he would sacrifice himself to the same magical entity Samson had made his fateful deal with. If those most important to him were threatened, Adon would have behaved the same way. The only difference was just that he had more resources to fight with than Samson in the first place.

Against the numbers of magical assassins that the group had been facing, though, Adon would have been almost as helpless as Samson.

I'm glad I could be here now, Adon sent. Is it all right… is it safe for me to stay for the rest of… what's going to happen?

You can stay until I die, yes, Samson thought. He was beyond being delicate in these final moments. I'd like that, actually.

Adon made an astral projection of himself appear next to Samson's in the black void. He touched one of his spider limbs to one of Samson's limbs that wasn't touching the entity's figure in the darkness. It was the closest the spider and butterfly could get to holding hands with these bodies. Despite the fact that they were touching, Samson continued to keep the being whose power he was channeling from affecting Adon.

Samson's might in this life had never been the strength of his body. It was all in his willpower and his desire to learn and grow. That was what Adon and his brother had in common. That quality in Samson protected Adon now.

The butterfly was able to stay perched in his place, his consciousness joined with the spider's, for perhaps a minute more, until Samson and the entity ran out of dead assassins to drain of their last bits of life force.

Adon felt the moment when the last assassin had disintegrated. All of the entity's ability focused on the spider at once, and Samson's body deteriorated in a sudden rush.

Goodbye, brother, Samson thought. I love you. I'll see you in the next life.

I love you, too, Adon sent, a sob in his voice.

A part of him wanted to mention the fact that he had heard about in their last life, about how the souls of people in their present were shriveled, shrunken, degenerated versions of their prior selves. Perhaps there would be no reincarnation for Adon, for Samson, for anyone from that world who had reincarnated into this one after experiencing that life.

Then Adon felt it.

Samson died.

Adon's consciousness shot back to his body.

The butterfly saw it for a moment, before he was yanked away from Samson's brain. Samson's astral form transformed into something brilliant and massive in size.

Is this my brother's soul? Adon thought.

No one could describe what he saw in that moment as shriveled or degenerated. If it had shrunken with each incarnation, then it must have started out the size of a star or something.

Then Adon was back inside his own form, alone in the darkness.

I said everything I had to say, he told himself. He had to believe that.

If he changed his mind about it, Adon had only dust to talk to.

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