The temporal amber kept moving forward, rising above their knees and reaching for their waists. Greg could feel the cold stuff getting harder around his legs, which made it even more difficult to move.

His broken arm guard was heavy and useless, always reminding him that he had failed to protect everyone. "Fuck... this is even worse than the Sunken Citadel..."

"I can't do any shit... all my stuff is gone just like that..."

"Even if I didn't have any weapons, the results would still be the same..."

"...am I always destined to fail?" Greg starts to feel the desperation in his mind and, even worse, his mentality.

Lylia fought against the amber, her face twisted with anger and frustration. The fight with Agatha had brought back old wounds and doubts she thought she had put to rest.

Elwen tried to use her plant magic, but the vines that came out of the cracks in the floor died almost right away when they touched the amber, as if the amber was sucking the life out of everything it touched.

Hilda had stopped fighting completely. She leaned against the wall where she had been thrown.

The silver marks on her skin glowed in an eerie way that seemed to match her heavy breathing. The circuit-like patterns had moved from her arms to her neck and were now creeping up to her face.

The change that the Calamity had begun in her was speeding up, and the fight had only worsened it. Hammy was making a lot of noise on Elwen's shoulder, and the slime was growing and shrinking like it was scared.

Greg couldn't tell if the hammer inside its clear body was really glowing or if it was just a trick of the lantern light bouncing off the amber. "The hammer..."

"This is it, isn't it?" Lylia said in a quiet voice that sounded empty. "We're going to be stuck here until Meridian falls while Marina and the others deal with that thing on their own..."

Greg wanted to say something kind to her so that the situation could be a little calmer, like "We'll find a way out," but he couldn't find the words.

He had already let them down once by losing his shield. They were stuck now, and he couldn't see a way out. The temporal amber was almost up to his waist, and he could feel his legs going numb from the cold.

Then things changed.

At first, it was only a little warmth spreading through Greg's chest. He thought it might be panic or fear showing up in his body, but then he realized it was coming from outside of him.

The crystal in his pocket was getting hot and pulsing with a soft beat that felt like a heartbeat. The amber that was around him started to break.

Not completely breaking apart, but making small cracks that spread across its surface like a spider web. The thing that had been moving forward so steadily just a few moments ago now seemed to stop, as if Agatha's magic was pushing back against it.

"What's going on?" Elwen asked, her eyes wide as she saw cracks like these forming in the amber around her legs.

Greg had to work hard to get the crystal out of his pocket. His arm moved through the amber like it was thick syrup.

The crystal was glowing brighter than he'd ever seen it, and it pulsed with a strong golden light that seemed to connect with something in the room. Or maybe something outside the room.

"The crystals," Greg said, realizing what was going on. "They're not just tools for talking to each other!"

"They're all part of the same network and are linked to each other...!"

He remembered making them and how he put his heart and soul into the process. The need to keep his family close, even when they were far away.

The need to know they were safe and to be able to reach them when it mattered most. He had crafted them with SSS-rank quality, which meant they possessed properties he did not fully understand at the time.

Greg could now see why the amber kept cracking. Every crystal was calling out to the others, and Marina and the rest of the Brotherhood were answering from somewhere in Meridian.

Their worry, fear for the team's safety, and desperate hope that everyone was okay were all flowing through the connection, and their emotional energy was pushing back against the time magic. "This is... this is new..."

"The system didn't say anything about it..."

Lylia said softly, "They're worried about us," as she took out her own crystal.

It was just as bright as Greg's. "They know something's wrong."

The amber around their legs suddenly broke up, and pieces fell off like broken glass. The substance was still in the room and still trying to spread, but it couldn't hold them anymore. The crystals were channeling some kind of power that was stronger than Agatha's time magic.

Greg turned on his crystal right away. "Marina?! Can you hear me?!"

There was a moment of silence, and then Marina's voice came through, sounding strained and worried. "Greg! Thank the gods!"

"We've been trying to get in touch with you for ten minutes! We thought something had happened to you when the crystals just stopped working!"

"We're fine. Mostly okay, I guess..." Greg looked at Hilda's serious condition and the broken arm guard. "But listen...!"

"You really need to pay attention to what I'm about to say next! Seems like the trap was real, and we're stupid enough to fall in just like rats!"

"Veldway isn't here. Agatha planned this whole setup thing to keep us apart!"

"When the Calamity changed course, we knew it would." Marina's voice was serious. "It's going straight for Meridian now, and it's going faster than it was before. It should be in the city in about two hours!"

"Are you able to get everyone out in time?"

"Tunner and the city guard are working on it, but Greg..." Marina stopped, and he could hear how scared she was. "This thing is really massive now...!"

"It took in all of Ironhaven and Mistfall. It might be three hundred feet tall or more. And what's even worse is that it can fly really high now!"

Greg's stomach sank. They had known that the Calamity was getting worse, but hearing how severe it really was made them feel even worse. "How about Rosalina? Is she still..."

"We don't know."

"We can't see any signs that she's still fighting from the inside."

Now Greg could hear Bork's voice through the crystal. "Boss, you have to come back here. We need everyone to do this!"

Greg opened his mouth to say something, but then he closed it again. The weight of the situation hit him like a physical force that's even more hurtful than Agatha's magic.

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