OP Absorption

"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."

Meg took a shaky breath. Then she placed her hands on Fin's chest, right over the faintly pulsing Mark. She closed her eyes and her brow furrowed as she tried to concentrate. A soft white light started to glow from her hands, and it seemed to sink into Fin's still body.

"Scarlet," Arachne said, turning to the redhead. "Your hand beside hers. But be ready to pull back if I say so. Your power is… fiery. It could burn him if not controlled."

Scarlet nodded, looking grim. She knelt down and carefully placed her good hand next to Meg's. A faint, reddish-gold light, which had an almost wild, chaotic energy to it, started to come from her touch.

Arachne put her own hands over theirs, making a kind of triangle on Fin's chest. Her own energy, which was dark and subtle, flowed out. It seemed to weave around Meg's white light and Scarlet's fiery glow, as if trying to mix them together and keep them stable.

For a long moment, nothing really happened. Fin stayed still, and his breathing was very shallow. The Mark pulsed unevenly under their hands. The air in the main hall seemed to hum with a weird, off-key energy. The castle groaned around them, like it was hurting along with its master.

Then, slowly, and it looked like it was really hard, the erratic pulse of the Mark started to even out a bit. The angry red color faded slightly, and it became a deeper, more stable crimson. Fin's breathing, though still shallow, became more regular. A faint warmth started to spread from his chest, pushing back some of the unnatural cold that had been on him.

"It's… working?" Meg whispered. She did not dare to open her eyes.

"For now," Arachne breathed out. Sweat was starting to show on her forehead. "Keep the flow going. Steady. Consistent."

They stayed like that for what felt like a very long time. They knelt over Fin's unconscious body, pouring their own life force into him. It felt like a desperate, fragile lifeline against the darkness that was trying to take him. The main hall got colder as the castle's own energy kept getting weaker. The light from the unseen sources got dimmer, and it cast long, dancing shadows that seemed to twist and move on their own.

Outside the war room, where she had been left, Mara finally started to stir. She moaned softly, and her eyelids fluttered. Her head throbbed, and her whole body ached. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, wincing, and her hand went to the bruise on her temple.

The war room was empty. The holographic projector thing was dark. The heavy stone door was open just a little bit. She could hear… voices. They were faint and sounded strained. And there was a strange, rhythmic humming sound, like an engine was struggling to start.

She got to her feet, but she was really unsteady. Her legs felt shaky. She stumbled towards the door and pushed it open a bit wider.

The scene in the main hall hit her hard. It was a shock.

Fin was lying on the floor, and he looked like he was dead. Meg, Scarlet, and that scary spider-woman were kneeling over him. Their hands were glowing with a strange, desperate light, and their faces were tight with strain and exhaustion. The very air in the hall felt wrong. It was thin and cold, and it felt heavy, like something terrible was about to happen.

"What… what happened?" Mara whispered. Her voice was hoarse, and it was hard to hear her.

Scarlet glanced up. Her face was tight with pain and effort. "Boss decided to play hero. Again. Nearly got himself, and his pretty little dimension, killed." She grunted, and a flicker of pain crossed her face as her broken arm spasmed. "Don't just stand there gawking, office drone. Make yourself useful. Water. Bandages. Anything."

Mara just stared. Her mind was struggling to understand what she was seeing. Fin… dying? This place… falling apart? It was all too much. But Scarlet's sharp command, and the raw, urgent feeling in the air, snapped her out of her daze.

She turned and stumbled back towards the hallways where the rooms were. Her mind was racing. Water. Bandages. What else? She didn't know how to fight, or how to heal with magic. But she could fetch things. She could help. Maybe.

As she hurried away, the dim light in the main hall flickered violently. Then it got even dimmer, and the scene was plunged into almost complete darkness. The only light came from the faint, desperate glow from the hands of the three women who were fighting to save their dying Lord.

The castle groaned again. It was a sound like ancient stone protesting because it was about to die. And somewhere, deep inside the fractured heart of the domain, the last little bits of Fin's power flickered, and it looked like they were about to go out completely.

Mara stumbled back into the main hall. Her arms were full of a random collection of things. A water skin was sloshing around. Rolls of clean-looking linen, which she had probably ripped from bedsheets, were tucked under one arm. She also had a small, chipped bowl.

The huge hall was darker now, and the air was freezing. The faint, mixed glow from Meg's, Scarlet's, and Arachne's hands was the only real light. It painted their strained faces in shades of white, fiery gold, and deep shadow. Fin lay completely still under their touch.

"I… I brought what I could find," Mara stammered. Her voice echoed weirdly in the gloomy, oppressive hall. She hurried towards them, and she almost tripped over a loose stone in the floor.

Scarlet didn't look up. "Put it down. Anywhere." Her voice was a raw rasp. Each word sounded like it took a huge effort to say. Sweat had plastered her red hair to her temples, and her good hand, which was pressed against Fin's chest, was trembling violently.

Meg whimpered softly. It was a small, broken sound. The white light coming from her was clearly weaker now. It flickered like a dying candle. 'So tired,' she thought. A wave of dizziness made the dim hall swim in front of her closed eyelids. 'He's still so cold.'

Arachne's dark energy, which was usually a subtle, controlled force, now seemed to twist and writhe around their hands. It was struggling to contain the chaotic backlash from Fin's fractured core and Scarlet's wild power. A fine tremor ran through Arachne's whole body. Her lips were pressed into a thin, white line.

The castle groaned. It was a deep, resonant sound, like tortured stone and dying magic. Dust sifted down from the high, shadowed ceiling, and it pattered softly onto the floor. The very air felt thin, and it was heavy with the taste of ozone and despair.

"He's not… he's not taking it," Meg choked out. Tears were leaking from under her closed eyelids. "The mana… it's just… sinking into a void."

"Keep pushing," Arachne commanded. Her voice was strained but firm. "His core is fighting. We just need to give it an anchor."

Scarlet let out a sharp hiss of pain. Her broken arm, which she had forgotten about in the desperate effort, throbbed with a furious, insistent agony. The fiery energy from her good hand felt like it was burning her from the inside out. 'Damn it, Boss, don't you dare die on us now,' she thought. She gritted her teeth against the pain. 'I just got here.'

Another groan came from the castle, louder this time. A section of fancy carving high on the far wall cracked. A spiderweb of fissures spread across the ancient stone. Small pieces of debris rained down, and they made a sharp clattering sound.

Mara, who had put her few supplies on the floor nearby, watched with wide, terrified eyes. "The castle… it's falling apart!"

"The domain is tied to his life force," Arachne explained, her voice tight. "If he fails…" She didn't finish the sentence. She didn't need to.

Suddenly, the Mark on Fin's chest pulsed violently. A wave of angry, corrupted red-black energy flared outwards. Meg cried out, and her hands pulled back as if they had been burned. Her white light sputtered and died.

"Meg!" Arachne snapped. Her own hands flinched but stayed firm. "Don't break the circuit! Keep touching him!"

"I… I can't!" Meg sobbed. Her hands were hovering inches above Fin's chest, and they were trembling. "It hurts! It's pushing back!"

Scarlet cursed, a string of raw, guttural words. Her fiery energy surged, trying to make up for the loss of Meg's flow, but it was too wild, too uncontrolled. The Mark pulsed again, stronger this time, and a visible wave of dark energy washed over them.

Fin's body arched slightly off the floor. A single, choked gasp escaped his lips. Then he fell back, completely limp. The faint, erratic pulse of the Mark under their hands faltered, got dimmer, and then just winked out completely. It left only cold, still flesh.

The dim light from Arachne's and Scarlet's hands flickered. Then it also died, and the huge hall was plunged into absolute, suffocating darkness.

"No," Arachne whispered. Her voice was just a breath of despair in the sudden blackness. "My Lord…"

The castle let out a final, shattering groan. It was a sound of utter desolation. And then, an unnerving, profound silence fell. It was broken only by Meg's heartbroken sobs and the distant, echoing sound of stone crumbling somewhere deep within the dying domain.