> "Sorrow is a river. You may drown in its currents, or you may find the courage to swim against its tide. But the water remembers."
> — Lore of the Tidegrave Isles, Drowned East
>
The decaying communal hall trembled as the Mourning Tide surged higher, its dark water glowing faintly with a sorrowful light. Shadowy, weeping forms, made of pure, liquid grief, rose from the depths, their translucent hands reaching, their silent, despairing cries resonating directly in Ash's mind. The sheer, overwhelming despair threatened to drown him, to consume his very will.
"It's pulling us down!" Lyra screamed, her voice muffled by the thick, mist-laden air. She scrambled onto a broken stone bench, pulling Master Elara with her, trying to escape the rising water.
Kael, though still struggling with the profound sadness, planted his feet firmly. His Path of Frost flared, a cold stillness radiating from him, pushing back against the liquid despair. He drew his sword, a grim shield against the ethereal forms, even though he knew physical steel would do little. "They feed on emotion! Resist the pull, Ash! Fight the sorrow!"
"It's too vast! It's trying to absorb everything!" Selene cried, her Path of the Hollow surging. She wove shimmering shadow-veils around them, trying to create pockets of stable air, but the Mourning Tide was immense, its sorrowful will pervasive.
Ash clutched the Core of Binding, its pulse now a frantic beat. His Shard of Harmony and Chaos raged within him, battling the overwhelming despair. He felt the cold, insidious touch of the Queen of Sorrow's Will, trying to bind him, to make him one with her endless grief. He refused. He would not surrender.
He remembered Kael's words from the Icefold: "It promised peace. An end to the pain, to the guilt. A stillness that would erase everything." This was the same insidious promise. But Ash also remembered the clarity Kael gained by pushing through. He remembered his own ability to bring Harmony to the Shard of Grief in the Black River.
Ash focused. He poured his own fierce, defiant Harmony into the Core of Binding, using its essence of Will not to impose control, but to impose clarity upon the liquid despair around them. He pushed back, not with force to destroy, but with a vibrant, living essence that rejected the numbness. He then unleashed a controlled surge of Chaos from his Path of Flame, not to shatter the forms, but to disrupt their cohesion, to make them unstable, to break their focus.
The Mourning Tide shrieked in Ash's mind, a cacophony of ancient sorrows. The shadowy, weeping forms thrashed violently, their liquid bodies flickering as Ash's focused Harmony met their pervasive despair, and his Chaos tore at their ordered cohesion. They struggled, their reach faltering.
"Now, Kael!" Selene yelled, seeing the disruption. "There! An exit!"
Ash's mind, connected through his shard, instantly saw it. High above them, near the partially collapsed roof of the hall, a narrow, barely visible opening had appeared, probably a result of the Temple's collapse in the Icefold rippling through the Ley Lines. It was a desperate escape route.
Kael, seeing the fleeting chance, grabbed Lyra and pushed her forward. "Up! Climb!" He moved with surprising agility, planting his armored boots on crumbling stone, creating footholds for Lyra and Elara. He fought the overwhelming sorrow with grim determination, his Path of Frost making him resilient, pushing through.
Ash continued to pour his power into the Mourning Tide, keeping the forms destabilized, buying them precious seconds. Selene provided cover, weaving subtle shadow-veils that confused the weeping forms, making them lash out at empty air.
They scrambled upwards, scaling the crumbling walls. The shadowy forms below them surged, desperate to claim them. Ash felt their overwhelming despair, their hunger. Just as Lyra pulled Elara through the narrow opening, Ash sensed it—a sudden, cold surge of Will from the coastline. Captain Valerius. He had arrived. And he was standing at the edge of the submerged village, his eyes narrowed, staring at the chaos Ash had created. He felt Ash's signature, and he felt the raw grief that permeated the land.
With a final, desperate surge of Harmony and Chaos, Ash pushed a wave of raw feedback into the Mourning Tide. The shadowy forms recoiled with a silent shriek, and the glowing water around them briefly boiled, then receded as quickly as it had risen. The Mourning Tide was pushed back, for now.
They scrambled out of the opening and onto a higher, drier section of the ruins, a crumbling bell tower that offered a brief respite. They were safe from the water's embrace, for now. From their high vantage point, they could see the vast, mist-shrouded expanse of the Drowned East, stretching out into the gloom.
And in the distance, closer than ever, Ash saw Captain Valerius. He stood on the edge of the coast, his figure stark against the grey sky, flanked by his Royal Guards. He raised his hand, and Ash felt his powerful Will extend, commanding his forces. Valerius had seen their escape. And now, he was bringing the hunt directly into the heart of the Drowned East, ready to face whatever lay within the Queen of Sorrow's domain to claim Ash. Their brief respite was over.