Edgedancer: Chapter 19

Lift reaches the amphitheater at the mouth of the alley to find the storm surging across the sky, a black thunderhead coursing with red lightning. She insists she and Wyndle go inside the orphanage. The door to it is open. Inside, it is black and the sobs of children can be heard. She hears booted feet thumping on the wood floors of the second story. She draws in her awesomeness and starts to glow. In the light she can see the children she heard. They grow quiet watching her. she calls out to Darkness. The thumping upstairs stops. He appears at the top of the stairs holding an amethyst sphere in one hand and Shardblade in the other. They have a brief conversation about little in relevance. Lift then moves with Wyndle into the kitchen and up the wall. When Nale comes in, he doesn't see her. She drops behind him and he whips the Shardblade around as she throws herself backward. After a brief banter of words, she goes upstairs to the second floor looking for the Stump. Wyndle asks her if she has a plan. She says she can make Stormlight. Darkness can't. She hasn't yet found the Stump. There's more banter between she and Nale. Then she runs toward him as he takes a stance to swing his Blade again. She Slicks away and he advances on her near the Stump's bedroom. Again, there's more banter, Nale revealing how he sees himself. Lift moves toward him, again needing more food from below. She anticipates his swing, Slicks herself and shoves herself to the side. He drops his sphere and Shardblade and grabs a knife. As Lift passes, he slams it down on her clothing. As he summons his Blade, she tries to remove her overshirt. His Shardblade appears and he raises it. Lift flounders, half-blinded by her shirt, which is halfway up over her head, obscuring her view. She can feel the Blade descending on her ... something goes smack, and Darkness grunts. Lift peeks out and sees the Stump holding a large length of wood. Darkness shakes his head and the Stump hits him again, yelling at him. She's dripping with water having taken her spheres to the top of the building to charge them. She raises the length of wood again but Nale swipes with his Blade and cuts it in half. He pulls the dagger out from where it held Lift, then he kicks Lift, sending her sliding away on her own Slickness. Lift withdraws her Slickness, stops and sees Darkness attack the Stump and stab her with his knife, goading Lift to try to now heal the Stump. Again, Lift moves toward him, summoning all of her remaining awesomeness, and slides past both he and the Stump, turns and scrambles up the steps the Stump had come down earlier. Now on the third floor, Lift finds a trapdoor in the ceiling and opens it. She emerges into Damnation itself. She huddles down even as Darkness emerges into the storm. He sees her and hefts his Blade like an axe. He swings and Lift screams and raises both her hands above herself. Wyndle sighs and transforms into a silvery length of metal. Lift meets Darkness's Blade with her own weapon. She speaks the third Ideal of the Edgedancers then and urges Darkness to look at the storm behind him. A sorry, sad group of evicted parshmen stand on the ground below. Their eyes glow with the red of the lightning. Nale attempts to deny this and Lift tells him he's failed, that it's come. Looking into the storm, Nale realizes she's right. He calls out to his fellow Heralds and admits he's failed. He bows his head and starts weeping. Lift then hugs him. He clings to her and weeps. Then, he pushes himself away, starts to glow, shoots into the sky, and vanishes. Lift rushes downstairs to heal the Stump.