OP Absorption

So Fin put his hand out, his fingers shaking a bit, and touched that cold door with all the weird marks on it.

The second he did, it was like, whoa, this super cold feeling, way worse than ice, shot right up his arm and slammed into his chest. That Mark of Dominance thing he had just flared up like crazy, all red and black, and it hurt like hell. For a second, everything went white, and he heard this loud roaring sound, like a giant storm was happening right inside his head. He could also feel his domain, his special place, starting to actually tear, which was a really bad feeling.

'No, man, stop, this is too much,' a part of his brain was yelling.

But another part of him, a colder part that felt super guilty about Mara and just really didn't want to fail her, pushed back hard. He bit his lip so hard it started to bleed, and then he just pulled. Not with his actual muscles, but with, like, all his willpower and whatever was left of his messed-up powers.

He just dumped everything he had into that Mark, trying to force a connection with the Abyssal Lock.

The marks on the door started glowing like crazy, with this nasty, hungry light, changing from a gross purple to a super deep black that looked like it would just suck you in. The air in the tunnel started crackling, and it smelled like ozone mixed with blood and burnt metal. It was a really disgusting smell, like death was having a party.

Scarlet yelled out, a choked kind of sound, because these black energy things suddenly whipped out from the door and almost got her. Arachne jumped in front of Scarlet, and for a second, some shadowy stuff flared around Arachne, but then it just vanished. Arachne gasped and a bit of blood dripped from her mouth.

"My Lord, stop it!" Arachne managed to say, sounding pretty desperate. "You're gonna kill yourself! The domain—"

But Fin couldn't stop. He was pretty much in a fight with something super old and huge, something that felt like a dead universe was trying to crush him. The door made this awful groaning sound, like metal being tortured. Then, super slowly, this tiny crack of pure blackness started to open up along the edge of the door.

And it wasn't just dark; it was like an active, hungry nothing that was trying to eat the air around it.

Fin let out this huge roar that just ripped out of his throat, and he threw all his willpower at the Lock. The crack got wider. The door shook, and then it scraped open inwards, just enough for someone to squeeze through.

The payback hit him instantly.

Fin got thrown backwards like something huge and invisible had just punched him. He slammed into the other wall of the tunnel so hard he saw stars, and then he just slid down to the floor. His arms and legs felt numb, and his chest was just one big block of pain. The Mark was just a dull, throbbing spot now, almost like it was out. His domain felt like a broken mirror, all its connections messed up, and its power was just draining away.

He couldn't move. He could barely even breathe.

"Boss!" Scarlet's voice cut through the ringing in his ears, and she sounded super panicked. He felt her good hand, rough and kind of scraped up, shaking his shoulder. "Fin! Get up! Damn it, get up!"

Arachne was already at the tiny opening of the Abyssal Lock, trying to see into the crazy darkness inside. "Mara!" she called out, her voice tight. "Can you hear me?"

Nothing. Just the quiet, creepy hum of the Lock.

"She's in there," Fin managed to get out, his voice rough. His ribs really hurt. "Gotta… get her." He tried to get up, but his arms just wouldn't listen to him.

"You're not going anywhere, you idiot," Scarlet snapped, and she sounded surprisingly fierce. She looked over at Arachne. "Can you…?"

Arachne nodded, looking grim. "I will get her." She took a deep breath, and then, without even hesitating, she slipped right through that narrow, dark opening into the Abyssal Lock.

The seconds felt like forever. Fin just lay there, totally helpless, listening to Scarlet breathing hard beside him, the distant, angry hum of the Lock, and the scary quiet from inside. His vision was starting to blur. He knew he was about to pass out; everything was just too much.

'No… not yet…'

Then, he saw movement at the opening. Arachne came back out, and she was half-dragging, half-carrying someone who was totally limp.

Mara.

She was out cold, her face super pale and dirty. Her clothes were torn, and she had this nasty dark bruise on her forehead. But she was breathing. It was shallow and rough, but she was breathing.

Arachne stumbled as she pulled Mara away from the door, and she was clearly running on empty herself. "She was… just inside," Arachne panted, leaning hard against the tunnel wall. "Lying on the floor. Not moving. But… alive." She looked back at the dark opening, and her eyes were wide with this deep, lingering fear. "The… the thing inside… it didn't seem to see her. Or it… didn't think she was important enough."

Scarlet rushed over and checked Mara's pulse with her good hand. "It's weak, but it's there. We need to get her out of here, Boss. Right now." She looked at Fin, and her eyes were full of this desperate, urgent look. "And you too. You look like actual death."

Fin forced his eyes to focus. Mara was alive. That was the main thing. Everything else could wait. He pushed himself up, ignoring how much every nerve in his body was screaming. The world tilted like crazy.

"Portal," he grunted, pushing Scarlet away when she tried to help him. "My domain. Now."

He reached for his power, for that connection to his castle. It felt super weak, like trying to grab smoke. But it was there. Just barely.

With a huge effort, he ripped open another gateway. It was tiny, and really unstable, flickering like mad. The view through it was all wavy, like looking through a heat haze. It looked less like a door and more like a star that was about to die.

"That thing ain't gonna last," Scarlet said, sounding grim. She picked Mara up pretty gently with her good arm, wincing when it obviously hurt her broken one. "Arachne, you go first. Then me and the package. Boss, you come last, and try not to pass out until we're through."

Arachne nodded, her face a stiff mask of pain and total exhaustion. She didn't argue. She just slipped through the shaky portal.

Scarlet followed, holding Mara carefully. She stopped right at the edge and looked back at Fin. "Come on, Boss," she said, her voice a bit softer than usual. "Let's go home."

Fin stumbled towards the portal. Every step was agony. The darkness was closing in on him again. He could feel the Abyssal Lock behind him, like this cold, hungry thing, and he knew that tiny opening he'd made in its door wasn't going to stay open much longer. And it definitely wouldn't forget him messing with it a second time.

He made it to the portal, and then his legs just gave out. He fell right through it, into the nice, familiar coolness of his own domain, just as the gateway behind him collapsed. It made a sound like shattering glass and a final, hopeless shriek that seemed to come from deep inside the Valerius Spire.

The main hall was super quiet except for some ragged gasps and the soft thud when Fin's unconscious body hit the stone floor.

Meg had been pacing like crazy near the archway, and she rushed forward, her face a total mess of fear and relief. "Fin! Oh, gods, Fin!"

Scarlet, still holding Mara, stumbled a few steps away from where the portal had just vanished. She was panting hard. She looked down at Fin, who wasn't moving, then at Arachne, who was leaning heavily against a nearby pillar with her eyes closed, her chest heaving.

"Well," Scarlet rasped, and her lips twisted into a grimace as her broken arm throbbed. "That was… monumentally stupid. And probably fatal for his pretty little pocket dimension." She looked around the huge hall, and there was this new, uneasy look in her eyes. The usual hum of the castle's power felt… weaker. Off-key. Like a badly tuned guitar.

"The domain is… unstable," Arachne confirmed, and her voice was barely a whisper. She pushed herself off the pillar, swaying a bit. "His connection… it was really badly damaged by him forcing all those portals, and by… the Lock." When she looked at Scarlet, her eyes were full of this deep, almost primal fear. "We need to stabilize him. Fast. If his core completely fails, the domain will collapse. And we'll go with it."

Meg was already kneeling next to Fin, her hands just hovering over him, and tears were streaming down her face. "What do we do? He's barely breathing! And he's so cold!"

Scarlet gritted her teeth against the awful pain in her arm. "Arachne, you're the magic expert here. What's the plan?"

Arachne walked unsteadily over to Fin, her eyes scanning him. That Mark of Dominance on his chest was just a dull, angry red, pulsing unevenly, like a dying fire. "His mana is all gone. His core is… fractured. It got overloaded by those Abyssal energies and the strain of keeping the portals open." She knelt beside him, across from Meg. "We need to feed him mana. Directly. But…" She hesitated, and her eyes flicked to the Mark. "His absorption ability… it might be too messed up now. It could backlash. Overload us instead."

"Got a better idea?" Scarlet snapped. Her patience was pretty much gone. She gently laid Mara down on the cold stone floor, a little ways from Fin. Mara was still out cold, but her breathing seemed a bit steadier now that she was out of the Spire's nasty air.

Arachne shook her head. "It's the only way. But we have to be careful. Balanced. We sync our own cores, try to make a stable flow. Meg," she looked at the younger girl, "your core is new, pure. It will be less… messed up by outside energies. You'll be the main line. Scarlet, your energy is wild, but it's strong. You'll add to it, but…" Arachne put her hand on her own chest, where her power was. "I'll try to control the flow, filter it through my own connection to him, and try to stop his fractured core from… completely shattering."

Meg nodded, wiped her eyes, and her face hardened with this desperate, determined look. "Okay. Tell me what to do."

"Put your hands on his chest," Arachne instructed, and her voice was getting back some of its usual calm command. "Over the Mark. Focus your energy. Not a flood, Meg. A gentle stream. Imagine… you're pouring water into a cracked cup. Too much, too fast, and it breaks."