chapter 4: Light in the Dark

Chapter 4: Light in the Dark

The Archfiend glided forward, each step cracking the ancient stones beneath its feet.

Its mask grinned.

It wasn’t in a hurry.

It knew they were trapped — knew they were weak.

It wanted to savor this.

Sunny gripped the book so tightly her knuckles were white.

Her hands trembled over the pages, struggling to focus.

Ezra planted himself firmly between her and the creature, sword raised, blood dripping from his forearm.

He was breathing heavily now.

The endless fighting was wearing him down.

But he refused to fall.

Not yet.

The Archfiend tilted its head in eerie curiosity, almost playful, before flicking its wrist.

WHAM.

An invisible force slammed into Ezra, hurling him against the far wall.

He collapsed in a heap, dazed.

Sunny screamed.

"No! Ezra!"

The Archfiend chuckled — a sound like broken bells — and advanced on her.

Sunny scrambled backward on her hands and knees, until her back hit the altar.

Nowhere left to run.

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember the words, any of the words, from the book.

But the fear was too loud.

It drowned everything out.

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

Her gun lay forgotten on the floor.

The Archfiend raised its bone sword high.

Time slowed.

In that frozen heartbeat, something inside Sunny broke — and then reforged itself, harder than iron.

No.

I won’t die like this.

I won’t let him die for me.

Sunny’s fingers closed around the gun.

She threw the ancient book at the Archfiend’s face —

a desperate, stupid move.

It didn’t even flinch.

But it blinked.

A tiny opening.

Sunny didn’t hesitate.

She fired.

The bullet struck the cracked mask dead-center.

The Archfiend recoiled with a shriek of rage — stumbling back a step.

Just one.

But it was enough.

Ezra staggered to his feet, blood running down his temple.

His sword ignited — white fire blazing along the blade.

He charged.

The Archfiend recovered just in time to meet him, bone sword clashing against blessed steel.

The crypt filled with the sound of war —

screams, steel on bone, magic against darkness.

Sunny forced herself up.

She had one chance.

She flipped the gun over, smashing the floor with the butt.

The chalk circle shattered — and a hidden compartment clicked open under the altar.

Inside —

A small, golden cross, pulsing with light.

The real weapon.

Her heart hammered against her ribs.

Sunny grabbed the relic with both hands.

The warmth nearly burned her skin — but she held on.

The Archfiend howled as the light seared the room.

Ezra shouted over the roar:

"NOW, SUNNY! USE IT!"

Sunny didn’t know how.

There was no manual for this.

But something ancient inside her woke up.

Guided her hands.

She lifted the cross — and spoke without thinking:

"Begone, shadow."

Her voice was not hers alone.

It carried the weight of centuries.

The Archfiend screamed — a sound so raw it rattled the stones.

Its body writhed, convulsing, breaking apart into black ash.

The bone sword shattered.

The mask cracked, falling to pieces at Sunny’s feet.

And just like that — the Archfiend was gone.

Silence fell.

Sunny dropped to her knees, shaking uncontrollably, the cross still clutched in her hands.

Ezra limped over to her.

For a moment, he said nothing.

Then he knelt beside her and ruffled her hair roughly.

"You did good, kid."

Sunny let out a strangled laugh that turned into a sob.

She buried her face in her arms, trembling.

Ezra stayed with her, silent, one hand on her shoulder.

Outside, the first light of dawn broke over the ruined church.

But the war was only beginning.

Somewhere far beneath the earth, unseen by either of them —

something stirred.

Something worse than an Archfiend.

And it had smelled Sunny’s soul.

And it wanted her.

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