Marc helped Gwen over the last few rocks that guarded the peak of the mountain and together they laid out the crystal shards on a flat piece of rock, then arranged them as best they could in a neat pile that loosely resembled their original shape. Behind them the horrible sounds of desperate battle and, when they looked back they were astonished to see that The Darkness was still advancing towards them, completely enveloping the battle as if it were not there. Two hearts sank together at the sight, all was clearly lost. Here they were, sitting at the top of the mountain with a pile of broken crystal at their feet, while below them their comrades were in mortal combat, who knew, may well already have perished. No, it wasn’t silent, that would signify that they were no more. Nevertheless, The Darkness was closing in on them, here at the peak.

‘I think that all we can do now my young friend is pray,’ Said Gwen.

‘What do you think I’ve been doing since we set out?’ 

As they huddled together there was a break in the clouds above them enough to allow a thin shaft of sunlight to break through and in doing so strike the crystal shards. The Darkness, a metre away, was struck to its core by a beam of reflected multicoloured light. This was followed by an unearthly scream and gradual dispersal of The Darkness and ITS Hordes. The multicoloured glow covering the entire area lasted no more than a couple of minutes, just long enough for Gwen and Marc to survey all before them, which meant they could see right down to where they had left their comrades. Nothing was moving, a deathly silence hung in the air and so, with heavy hearts they both made their way down to where they last saw them. Just off to the left of the path lay the bloodied body of Milo and to the right, Matt, both had their swords in their hands. They had gone down fighting. Gwen went first to MIlo to see what she could do but sadly he was beyond any help having literally given his all for the cause. Next she moved over to where Marc was checking Matt's wounds. He had been mauled pretty badly, bleeding from multiple wounds but he was breathing, albeit in shallow breaths.  

‘You pop up and gather together all the shards while I tend to Matt here, then we can set to getting him home.’ So upset was Gwen that she just had to be organising and the Youngest of the team knew enough by now to leave her to it.

‘We can arrange to return for Milo later, once we’ve got Matt settled.’ He added.

After the events of the past few hours the silence now was eerie, unnatural, no sounds of nature to be heard. Yet it wasn’t oppressive in any way, just nature catching its breath. Soon all would return to normal, all except Milo. And of course, after the death of one of their number it’s likely none of them will be exactly as they were.