The two Dark Elves hurried down the passageways of the Labyrinth. They were
close to the city of Geddon – that much they could tell. It seemed that
there had been three passages out of the oubliette, because it appeared
that they had left a different way than they had come in. Tenaka had not
explained his reasoning that there must have been a magic wall to Kriella –
it would have made him look foolish that he had still not been able to find
the correct one, but this error did appear to have worked in their favour.
They were the closest they had ever been – both to Geddon and to each
other.

Suddenly Kriella called something out, but Tenaka could not tell what she
said. He only saw her dive out of the path and he followed. And a good
thing he did. A great beast was quickly approaching, flying towards them on
huge, leathery wings. Tenaka had never seen its like before, and from
Kriella's look, he guessed that neither had she.

"I don't know," replied the Spellsword. "It looks like a Giant Bat, but it
is the largest I have ever seen, and green teeth usually indicates poison."

The Assassin jumped out from behind the fallen masonry and thrust her hands
out before her. As she stood there, her gauntlets began to glow a bright
red and then turned to gold, before finally appearing white. This white
light radiated from her hands and then suddenly imploded towards her to be
expelled towards the beast in the form of a giant fireball. Her magic flew
at the beast to strike it on the forehead. It flew back briefly and Tenaka
jumped out to join her.

Speaking strange words, lost to the minds of most men for millennia, Tenaka
allowed his magicka to flow into Kriella. He saw her suddenly straighten
with the influx of power. She raised her hands again and the power flowed
from them into the beast again. The two of them stood firm against the
beast as it tried to fight its way through the magic being directed against
it. Tenaka did not know what spell the Assassin was using, but he realised
that it was far more powerful than anything he could summon. He only hoped
that using it would not drain their power too much before the beast gave
up.

The struggle continued for a few minutes. Tenaka began to grow worried. He
could feel himself weakening but the beast appeared unfazed by the magical
onslaught. Kriella fell to her knees beside him, her hands still pointed at
the beast and Tenaka sunk down next to her. He wrapped his arm around her
and stopped her from falling, allowing her to lean against him so that she
could fully concentrate on what she was doing. He reached down to his boot
and took out a small dagger. Reaching back, he suddenly threw the small
blade forward, directly into the beast's gaping maw. And it passed straight
through to clatter on the street below.

Tenaka was puzzled. He had heard that corporeal weaponry could not harm
some creatures, but pass straight through was another thing altogether. It
was possible that it was another illusion, but then why did magic not pass
straight through it. Then the reason came to him. Magic and using it was
based upon belief. It could only do what you believed it could do. It you
believed in what you were fighting, then it would look like it was
effecting the thing – even if it was not actually there.

Tenaka removed the magic link between himself and Kriella and laid her down
on the floor. She was exhausted from the use of powerful magic – even with
Tenaka's help, she could not have kept up the spell for much longer. Tenaka
stood and walked towards the beast. Doubts crept into his mind but he
dispelled them quickly. Doubt could only work against him now. Faith was
the only weapon he could use against this adversary. He walked to the creature and closed his eyes. He continued to walk and then he felt a sudden chill. He opened his eyes and saw that the creature had disappeared. He had been right.

He walked back over to Kriella and lifted her to lean against him again. "I
though you had no control of magic," he said.

"I liked the idea of you carrying me. However, now I have no magic. I have
spent my mana, and most of yours I fear in fighting that thing. I am also
too weak to walk. You must carry me a little further."

"If you insist," Tenaka replied. He slowly lifted her into his arms and set
off along the passage that the creature had been guarding. They must be
getting close.

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