The Cryst-cat pounced.
Kar cursed and swung his sledge in a wild arc. He didn't connect cleanly but did manage to clip the beast in its side. A loud crack rang out and the cat released a pained yowl as chips of crystal ricocheted off its body. The Cryst-cat slammed into Kar, it's momentum carrying it forward.
The pair of them careened down the stairs into the darkness, tumbling over one another down the many steps until they came to a jarring stop at the bottom.
Kar moaned in pain and tried to pull his battered body upright. His shard had clattered loose in the fall and lay a short distance away, its light flickering alarmingly. Had it been damaged somehow in the fall? The Cryst-cat rolled to its feet, hissing then lashing out at Kar. He tried to dodge but was too slow. Sharp claws slashed his arm and side.
Kar yelled and twisted away, stinging pain radiating from his wounds. He had managed to hang onto the handle of his sledge through the fall though. He grunted in frustration and pain, then hefted his weapon and yelled at the beast, "Come on!"
It leapt for him.
Kar caught the creature on the hammer's handle then shoved it up and over his head. It twisted in mid-air and raked its claws across the crown of Kar's head. He cried out in anguish, his scalp burning and blood gushing down his face. He had to end this now. With a roar, Kar charged after the beast. He raised then brought his sledge down with all his strength. His blow caught the cryst-cat flat on the head and it shattered into pieces, collapsing to the ground.
Remembering the other two cats, Kar spun around in a panic. All he saw was their tails lashing as they dashed back up the steps, evidently no longer interested in challenging him.
Kar collapsed to his knees. His breathing was heavy and his heart pounded furiously. He was afraid to touch or look at his wounds—he feared how bad they might be—so he ignored them and crawled over to where his shard lay instead. He picked it up carefully, turning it over and examining every side. A long crack had formed along its length and the light within was waning with every sporadic flicker it gave off. He feared being left down here, alone in the dark.
A thought occurred to him and he turned back to the cryst-cat's body. Supposedly these shards came from creatures like these…
Several blows in and Kar had cracked apart most of the beast's body with his sledge. All that remained was its chest cavity. He rallied what strength he had left and went at it with one belabored swing after another. Finally it gave way, splitting in two with a satisfying crack. A light glowed from within and he saw the shard. Kar reached inside and wrested it free, shaking then brushing bits of crystal off the glowing object. The cryst-cat's shard was smaller than his cracked original one, but it shined brightly, illuminating the space around him more clearly. He breathed a sigh of relief.
It was a spacious, open area; like a large cellar Kar supposed. He staggered to the wall and groped along it, looking for any doors or exits. He didn't believe he would find one upstairs, and the thought of provoking another confrontation with the cryst-cats made his stomach churn.
In the farthest corner of the room the floor had collapsed partially, leaving a small hole. Kar held his new light source over the collapsed section and peered down. He saw open air below, and a distant glow. Were those lights?
His leg gave out and he gasped in pain. He felt light-headed and his hand trembled as he lifted his shirt to look at the gash in his side. His shirt too, was ripped open and blood oozed from where the crystbeast's claws had slashed his arm.
Kar sat back against the wall panting. He held up the two shards he now possessed in each hand, the smaller bright one, and his original cracked one. He could sense the Energia leaking out of the damaged Shard. It was evaporating. Morrow's words played back in his mind, that Kar wasn't strong enough. That he was weak. A lifetime of frustration and pent up fury at his own inadequacy and impotence boiled to the surface, memories of every time he'd had to rely on others to save him.
Kar released a hoarse yell—spittle flying from his mouth—then leaned forward and drove his back against the wall in frustration; once, twice, thrice.
He dropped his new shard and grabbed the cracked one tightly in both palms. It was broken, like him. Deficient. But Kar wasn't going to accept that any longer. How dare Morrow or anyone else tell him he couldn't do something. He was tired of others holding him back, of holding himself back, of needing to be saved.
Kar breathed deeply; clarity and calm settling over him. He concentrated, and imagined the broken shard in his hand as the pitcher—as he had done that morning with Morrow—but himself as the cup.
Energia flowed steadily from the shard into Kar and flooded his body from his fingertips to the top of his head, all the way down to his feet. The light in the shard winked out completely, leaving only the glow of his new one on the ground by his feet.
Every part of Kar buzzed and tingled and his pain suddenly subsided. He raised his arm and was amazed to see that the claw marks on his arm had closed, knitting themselves back together.
Did I… just heal myself?
He stood slowly and turned, stretching his arms and legs. Blood stains remained and he looked like a ragged mess, but the wounds in his side and atop his scalp were gone. He rubbed a hand over his head. The skin was smooth, though he was disappointed to find that chunks of hair were still missing where the cryst-cat had raked him.
A broad smile split his lips and he released a giddy laugh. Had that really happened? Had he just Focused?
He felt energized. Stronger. Kar paced over and picked up the sledge from where he had dropped it, then hefted it experimentally, eyeing the stairway. He swung the hammer a few times in a lazy figure eight pattern. It felt lighter in his hands, easier to maneuver.
Yeah, he could do this.
A few moments later he took the first step upwards, his still glowing shard in one hand and the handle of his sledge held tightly in the other.
----
Kar trudged back down the stairs a short while later, his clothes even more tattered than before. He now held not one, but three shards in his grip. One of those glowed more dimly than the others; he'd used it to heal himself after cornering and destroying the other two cryst-cats that had been trapped up top. He'd searched the other few rooms he could get to but hadn't seen a way out. So he had decided to try something else instead back down here.
He shoved the dimmer of the cryst-cat shards into a trouser pocket, then knelt by his pack and stowed the remaining bright one and his used up and damaged original shard within. The remaining shard would serve as his makeshift light source.
He fidgeted with his sledge, eyeing the hole he'd found in the corner of the basement floor. He wasn't sure if this was a good idea or not, but he was more or less out of other options. Even if anyone came looking for him, what were the chances they would think to search through the rubble of this building? No, Kar had to get himself out of this mess. He felt invigorated in a way, despite the circumstances. Capable for a change.
It was empowering.
He raised his sledge and went to work.
The more he widened the hole in the floor the more clearly he could see that there was light coming from somewhere down below. It was distant, but not a figment of his imagination. He went back to his bag and grabbed the dim shard he'd stowed away. He considered for a moment, then dropped it through the hole.
It fell five spans or so before clinking off the ground down there. It was a sizable drop, but he thought he could make it. And if he did injure himself well… he didn't like pain, but being able to heal himself removed some of the fear that came with it. He still needed to show some caution though; he wasn't sure what the limitations here were. Morrow still had to set Kiya's broken arm before healing her. Regardless, Kar readied himself, dropped his sledge and bag through the widened hole, then lowered himself down until he was hanging by just his fingertips.
He hung there awkwardly for a long while, unable to convince himself to let go. Maybe he'd been fooling himself earlier; he really didn't want to deal with the pain of a broken ankle or leg. He looked down at the circle of blue light created by the shard he'd dropped. Something scrabbled along the ground below, just out of sight.
Kar wasn't alone down here.
Just then his grip on the hole's edge slipped, and the stone beneath his fingers crumbled.