I do not know if I would have seen anything at all had I not been given the tonic. What I did see, I did not understand at first: a dark shape clawing its way into being, caught on the edges of reality and tearing itself apart in order to make its existence possible.
It bellowed, and I felt the force of that sound rattle through my shell.

Something collided against my shoulder—Kiiraskes, pushing me away.
"Irrha, the tonics!"

I stumbled toward the supplies. Behind me, I heard the whine and snap of Arc energy, and I turned to see Kiiraskes draw a short rod from the lining of her cloak. In her hands, it drew apart into a thin spear, crackling with power, and this she threw into the dark heart of the thing that hung suspended in the rift.

I heard the squelch of impact. The air filled with the strange, unpleasant stink of bad Ether and wet dirt. The creature rippled, clawed, and fell unhindered to the earth. The shape of it changed. I saw it rise upon six heavy limbs. Its misshapen head turned toward me.

In the next instant, a flask burst against it, and hissing steam roiled along its flank. I saw the beast's pointed maw part as it screamed.

"The Stone-Eater!" Kiiraskes cried. She pulled her sword from her belt and scraped something over the blade's surface. I saw Light bloom where she had touched it, and then she was moving toward the monster.

I opened the pack, but in my terror, I could not read the symbols on the bottles, nor think of what to do. I stared down at the rows of tonics I had so confidently described for Kiiraskes only an hour before, and I thought of how much of a hatchling I really was. I had studied the work of the Slayers as if it were only a story, and had expected only a story. All I had wanted was an escape.

Then I heard Kiiraskes yell. I thought of my time training, hoping I might become a healer in one of the great Houses. I looked in the pack, and there it was: the vial of Stone-Eater. I pulled it free and threw it as hard as I could toward the beast's head.

My will outpaced my aim. The flask struck the monster in the leg, and at once began to eat through its flesh. I saw it stumble briefly, only to shift its weight and turn. It made no sound of pain when struck, but now it sent another thundering bellow toward me, and with that rippling wave came a cold like nothing I've ever felt.

The air stung my throat and eyes. I threw my arms over my face and leapt away blindly toward the trees. When I looked back, I saw that the Light had been snuffed from a broad line of the undergrowth, leaving a sprawling emptiness into which I too might fall. I saw the monster rear up in preparation to charge.

A flash. Kiiraskes's blade, slicing deep into the monster's throat.

I saw that great maw descend upon her. I heard her scream.

The beast had her snared in its jaws, but she was levering them apart with two of her hands. The third held fast to her blade in the thing's neck, and in the fourth, I caught the shine of glass.

She thrust the flask deep into the creature's throat. For a long moment, nothing happened. Then the creature shuddered, and I saw the shell of it—the bones—lit from within by pale fire [1]. Its jaws crashed shut around Kiiraskes, once, then parted to scream. I saw the Baron haul at the blade—heard more terrible, wet screaming as the fire caught and spread.

The beast writhed and fell. Kiiraskes fell with it.

[1: I think this must be Tenar: 'wrath', and presumably the wrath of Light.]