A few days later...
That afternoon, Minos' party had finally gotten close enough to their destination to see the silhouette of the old Obsidian City.
But their group was no longer the same. With their losses in the battles of the past few days, only nine of them had reached this place.
Of those killed in the last few days, one was a native of the Spiritual World, one was a member of the Armhands, and all the others were allies of Minos' group.
Minos and Ruth were still there. She was still suffering from the consequences of sacrificing her Flashdrain. At the same time, Minos suffered serious injuries to his body that would have killed others. However, given his strength and resilience, he was still strong enough to carry his wife in his arms.
The other members of the group were equally bad or worse. Of the Armhands there, another had managed to use his flashdrain parasite to gain power and help the group, so he was in the same situation as Ruth.
