side of the sphere, and she felt dry air on the other side. She struggled toward it, and the turbulence of the water relented, allowing her to shove her way through. She fell about a foot, landing on gravelly soil, and stood up, looking around in shock. She was now in a large chamber of light, cream-colored pools of light serving as the walls and ceiling. The ground was ordinary rock, covered mostly by the soil. On either side of her location, stretching out ahead and lining a natural path, there were a large number of recesses in the stone, and in every recess, there laid a wolf. All appeared to be of different ages, but they all looked alike in one respect: they looked like they had been dead for some time. Yet they were in fact alive; some of the nearest ones turned to look at her with despairing eyes. They were thin and raggedy, with withering flesh and fur, and it looked like they could barely move. Jenna tore her eyes away from them to look ahead, seeing that the path curved to the left, going to a place that was obscured by the walls of light. She turned around to see if she had fallen out the bottom of the well, but it was very different; there was a whirlpool there, but it was horizontal, suspended in a web of energy.

Rodama looked into the Hushed Well, screaming with rage; he didn’t dare follow the girl and risk being trapped. He turned and watched Erebus slaying the crazed members of his pack, who were attacking in a blood frenzy. Tentacles of water shot out of the well, seizing mortally wounded wolves and dragging them in one by one. Rodama let out a roar and charged at Erebus, determined not to see defeat.

Turning ahead again, Jenna trotted down the path, calling out to the wolves. “Anyone not bound to the Hushed Well needs to leave now!” At first, the wolves were too astonished to do anything, and merely sat there looking at each other. “Move!” Jenna cried, and this finally goaded them into action. As she approached the corner, she became aware of a distant sound, something that sounded like…screaming. She trembled, dreadful thoughts of why she would be hearing such a sound coming into her mind, but she pushed those thoughts away as she came around the bend. The path was now lined with a short ridge of rock on both sides. Up ahead, there was an enclosed, cylinder-shaped stone structure with a dome on top and an opening in the front that served as a door. Two ruined pillars stood on either side of the door, looking out of place; Jenna supposed they had once held up a portico. She ran toward the light-flooded building, but suddenly, from behind a boulder, a massive creature leapt, landing directly in her way. It was an enormous black eel-like monster that moved like a snake, pressing muscles lining its stomach against the ground. It had no appendages; it was just a streamlined body all the way down, and its head was mostly mouth, a giant maw filled with dozens of teeth not arranged in rows, but filling the entire space. It had bulbous eyes that glared viciously, and it drooled like a hungry predator. Jenna took a few steps back, realizing that this beast was the Keeper. It advanced toward her, snarling and screeching. Jenna stopped moving back and watched as it approached, not knowing how she could fight it, but knowing she had to try.

The Keeper lashed out with its head, trying to take Jenna in its mouth. She sidestepped, clawing the skin on the side of its head. She suddenly noticed how tough the monster’s leathery hide was; it would be difficult if not impossible to inflict a serious wound. The monster bent its body, trying to bite Jenna’s legs from under her, and she jumped up quickly, rolling over the top of its head and landing at its left side. It threw itself to the left, smashing Jenna against a rock, and she let out a strangled cry as pain shot through her ribs. She fell to the ground, and the Keeper tried to bite her again. She rolled to her right, going under the beast, and its teeth struck stone loudly. It pulled back to get an angle on her and attacked again, shoving her back towards the wall of rock. She fought and clawed at the beast with all four legs, trying to hold it back enough to keep its mouth from getting around her. It was no use; the monster prepared to bite down around her, but before it got the chance, she bit onto its tongue. It squealed, pulling back quickly, crashing into one of the pillars, nearly knocking it down. It sat there for a moment, stunned by the impact, and Jenna got an idea. “If I can’t do enough to hurt this thing…maybe I can make it hurt itself!” She ran forward, dodged a bite, and jumped up on the creature’s head, taking some of its flesh in her mouth for grip. It snarled and began lashing back and forth, whipping its head around, trying to shake her loose, but she held on tenaciously. It dashed its head against the walls over and over, trying to crush her, but she moved out of harm’s way every time, and finally, bleeding from lacerations all over its head, it collapsed, writhing with pain. Jenna wasted no time; she jumped off, running over to the damaged pillar. Going several yards beyond it, she turned back and ran, leaping into it. The blow knocked it off balance, and Jenna jumped free as it fell, crashing down on the Keeper’s head. An explosion of green blood flew up from beneath the pillar, and the beast uttered a dying shriek before lying still.

Rodama and Erebus traded blow after blow, neither giving up any ground, Rodama’s raw fury giving him the strength to fight the creature. Erebus took time in between striking at Rodama to slay another approaching member of the pack, and dead bodies would have piled up around him had the Hushed Well not been dragging them in. As it turned out, Rodama was doomed from the start; he tired, Erebus did not. Finally, Erebus ducked under one of his bites and clamped his teeth around the elder’s throat. Rodama’s eyes bulged, and his mouth opened, but no scream escaped. Erebus tossed Rodama through the air, and a tentacle snatched him before he hit the ground, drawing him into the Well. Erebus could see several wolves climbing out of the water, lying on the ground, curled up and shivering. They would be weaker than newborn puppies until the Null Crystal was destroyed. Fortunately, the pack wasn’t interested in them, and continued to focus on him. “Hurry, Jenna,” he thought, diving back into battle. If the Hushed Well sealed up, the wolves would die. Suddenly, Erebus felt a strange surge from the Well, and he smiled; he could feel that the Keeper was dead. “She will make it yet.”

Jenna ran into the stone structure, wondering how she could see anything with the inside swamped with blinding light. As she stepped inside, however, the light vanished, now appearing to be outside. It was now that she found where the screams were coming from. In the center of the room, Balto was lying on the floor, thrashing back and forth, uttering long, gut-wrenching cries of agony. Above him, a green spherical gem with a thousand facets floated in midair, producing the glowing brightly and emitting bands of green energy that reached down toward Balto. It was the Null Crystal, and its power was sending terrible lances of pain through Balto’s body. Tears began pouring down Jenna’s face, and she ran forward, grabbing Balto’s paws. Pain shot through her own as one of the energy bands reached out and touched her, but she ignored it; all she cared about was getting Balto free. He now became aware of who she was as he managed to look at her face. “JENNA, HELP ME, PLEASE!” he wailed. “I’m trying!” Jenna cried, pulling against the unyielding strength of the energy beams. Becoming furious, she reared up and swung at the Null Crystal with all her might. It spun when she struck it, moving to the side and suddenly dropping as if it had fallen from an invisible perch. It struck the floor, shattering like glass and emitting a shockwave that rocked not only the structure, but the rest of the chamber as well.

The terrible pain relinquished Balto, and he allowed himself to relax, letting out his breath with a groan. Jenna embraced him, and he did the same, both of them sobbing with joy. “Balto, I’m so happy to see you!” Jenna said, laughing with happiness. “Oh, same here,” Balto said, an ecstatic grin on his face. “Jenna, how on earth did you find me?” “Well, it’s quite a story!” They were about to kiss, but suddenly, cracks ran through the structure, and Jenna remembered what Erebus had told her. “Balto, we have to get out now!” She helped him up, and they ran out of the structure just as it collapsed. Jenna looked back as they rounded the corner, seeing the ground caving in and being swallowed by empty light. “Hurry, Balto!” she shouted. They ran toward the whirlpool, which was beginning to shrink. As they approached it, they saw a wolf lying on the ground. When they passed, it reached out and caught one of Jenna’s hind legs, and she tripped. They turned to see that it was Rodama. “I should not have had to answer for any of it!” he growled. “You both will die here with…” Balto bit his leg, forcing him to let Jenna go. “I’m sorry, Rodama, but there’s only one to blame for you ending up here.” They turned and leapt into the whirlpool as the advancing void consumed the elder.

Balto and Jenna tried to swim, but once again, the violent turbulence was too much to fight against. They had to merely hold on and trust that they would make it out. The whirlpool they could see behind them was engulfed in white flame that was spreading through the water…spreading toward them. They turned away from it, clinging to each other, just waiting for it to be over. Suddenly, the light above them gave way to a fainter, more natural light, and they looked up to see that they were looking out from inside the well. They propelled themselves upward, reaching for the air.

Their paws broke the surface, meeting the stones, and they pulled themselves up and out of the