by Tony Johnson
“You can make it!” Steve yelled, encouraging his brother as he sprinted towards him, but so much dust was kicked up by the falling rocks that Ty was lost.
“Steve! We have to go!” Kari cried out from behind, tugging on his armor, trying to get him to come up the exit with her. “It’s not safe!”
“I have to stay here for him!” Steve argued, refusing to leave the base of the bait tunnel.
“Where are you?!” they heard Ty yell, followed by him coughing excessively, choking on the dust.
“This way!” Steve shouted as loudly as he could.
Kari joined in. “Over here!”
Steve extended his arm and fingers, giving Ty something to bump into if he was near.
Then, out of the dust, he felt the Elf’s fingertips touch his own. Steve grabbed Ty’s forearm and pulled him.
“You made it!” Kari exclaimed excitedly, seeing him appear through the thick cloud of dust.
Steve smiled, relieved his brother was safe.
“That’s not a fun game!” Ty joked, making his two Celestial companions laugh. Together they began heading up the tunnel exit, but, out of nowhere, they heard the Spider Queen’s snapping sound. Her spinnerets had not been completely destroyed.
Steve and Kari turned back around in surprise, only to find Ty looking up at them with wide eyes. The Spider Queen had attached her web around his foot and ankle.
Ty knew what was about to happen. With one hand, he quickly clawed his fingers into the dirt. With the other, he grabbed an exposed root. Neither was enough to save him.
He was fiercely and violently jolted back into the tunnel against his will. Steve dove, trying to catch his hand, but he was not fast enough. The Spider Queen had pulled Ty back into her collapsing lair. She would not let all the trespassers escape with their lives.
In the next seconds, the cavern’s ceiling came down, crushing everything beneath it. Kari sprinted up the exit, practically dragging the shocked Steve along with her. The tunnel itself became unstable and began to crumble down. The two dove out into the Evergreen Forest as a plume of dust shot out from the exit, signifying the complete collapse and destruction of the Spider Queen’s lair.
Just like that, Ty was dead.
Chapter 56
“Where’s Ty?” Willis asked, to which Kari looked at the Serendale warrior and shook her head. Her eyes welled up with tears the moment she revealed the Elf’s demise.
Steve refused to believe that Ty had died, despite Kari, Willis, and Grizz knowing that there was no way the Elf could have survived being crushed by thousands of pounds of rocks and earth. In denial, on his hands and knees, he ferociously turned back and dug through the rubble, thinking he could still save his brother. Upon seeing this, Copper too, figured if the Human believed it was possible, it must have been, so he also began digging with his paws while whimpering at the loss of the friendly Elf.
The rest of the companions silently waited for Steve to process what just happened. It was hard to come to terms that they wouldn’t see Ty again. Willis crouched to the ground; Grizz walked around, cursing to himself, wishing there were more he could’ve done; and Kari, who now had tears streaming down her face, was watching Steve.
The warrior talked out loud to himself, verbalizing all the excuses for how Ty could still be alive. “Maybe he got an element. Maybe he was saved before dying like you were, Grizz.”
“If he did, don’t you think we would’ve all seen a similar vision to the one I had?” the Dwarf said bluntly, shooting down Steve’s hopeful theory. “Admit it, he’s gone.”
Kari cut Grizz a nasty glance, showing him she wasn’t happy with his unkind answer. She wanted to scold the Halfman; be kind, and let him believe his brother is still alive for a little bit longer if that’s what he needs. You don’t need to be a jerk about it.
It took a couple more minutes before Steve stopped digging. He remained seated on the ground with a face that was as pale as it had been the moment before he passed out while walking to Hunters’ Den. With a blank stare of disbelief, he stared around aimlessly, void of emotions.
“Are you okay?” Kari asked softly. When Steve didn’t respond after a couple minutes, she decided to leave him alone and give him space to grieve. “Take as much time as you need. We’re not going anywhere until you feel up to it.”
An hour later, after Grizz woke up from a nap, exhausted from using his element to create the powerful earthquake in the lair, he, Kari, Willis, and Copper, who had all taken shelter under a nearby grove of trees, quietly talked about experiencing the deaths of loved ones.
“Getting over the death of my parents was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through,” explained Kari. “The first days were miserable, sad, and depressing, but every day I got a little better and a little better. The second week is better than the first and the third week is better than the second. Then, every month was a little better than the last.”
Grizz nodded, remembering the death of his mother. “Time heals all wounds, never completely, but enough to move on. The scar from the pain of losing a loved one will always stay on your heart.”
“I can only hope Steve gets through it okay like I did.” Kari worriedly looked in his direction, even though she couldn’t see him from where she sat in the shade. “I don’t know how he handles death though. Everyone’s different. Right now, he’s in utter shock and disbelief. I think it’s only barely begun to hit him.”
A couple minutes later, while they were talking, Steve wordlessly walked past where the three of them and the direfox sat in plain sight. They stared at each other with a look of concern.
“He didn’t even acknowledge us,” Willis noted.
“Not even a glance in our direction,” corrected Grizz. “His eyes seemed glazed over, like he wasn’t all there.”
Quickly gathering their belongings, they hurried after Steve, who was walking the path heading to Serendale.
“Are you sure you’re ready to go on?” Kari asked, cautiously catching up to him. Steve neither answered, nor slowed his pace. He kept walking with a blank look on his face, as if he was oblivious to everything. Kari felt like she was invisible to him. “Steve, are you okay?” she asked as calmly as she could. Again, she received no answer.
She and the rest of the group let him walk ahead by himself while they stayed together following from a distance. Before they made it over a hill, everyone, except Steve, turned around to get one last look at the place of Ty’s death.
From their vantage point, they saw that a small portion of the forest had collapsed into the cavern. It looked like a vast pit of dirt and uprooted trees. Just beyond the crater, they could see the flowing Fluorite River.
Rest in peace, Ty, Kari thought, crying a little to herself. I didn’t know you long, but you were such a kind, caring, and funny person. I’m really going to miss having you around.
For the next several hours, the group walked in a depressed silence, thinking about Ty and wondering if Steve was okay as he walked alone, far ahead of the group. Not only did he suffer a tremendous personal loss, his physical ailments were once again noticeable. Between his coughing, limping, grimacing, and moving his hand to rub various aches and pains on his body, it wasn’t hard to tell he was hurting.
Copper was still whimpering. Grizz tried to keep the direfox calm, who he believed was mourning not only the loss of Ty, but still grieving the loss of his friend Callan days prior.
The group soon found themselves walking through endless miles of farmlands. Grizz could see Kari wasn’t enjoying the scenic view, but was continuously watching Steve, worried for his well-being.
“We’re almost there,” Willis said later in the day, as the sun in front of them was rapidly lowering itself in the sky. “When we make it to the top of the hill up ahead, you’ll be able to see Serendale for the first time,” he tried to encourage Kari.
A sliver of a smile was briefly seen on the Halfling’s lips, knowing
she’d be able to cross a city off her list of places she had always wanted to visit, but the death of Ty deflated the enjoyment she could have experienced.
“Why did he stop?” Grizz asked suddenly, pointing ahead to Steve, who was standing motionless at the top of the hill.
“I don’t know,” Willis said, with a hint of fear in his voice. The Serendale Elf, apparently sensing something was wrong, hurried to where the red-armored warrior stood.
“Maybe he’s going to pass out again?” Kari said in between breaths as she, Grizz, and Copper ran to catch up.
“What is it?” they asked, coming up alongside Steve.
The warrior stood still and quiet. The same pale and expressionless look that was on his face after Ty died remained on his face. He hung his head in defeat.
The two men from Serendale looked out over their city and let out moans and cries of despair. Blackened, burned buildings filled the landscape. In an utterance of disgust and disbelief, Willis cried, “Serendale has been destroyed!”
Chapter 57
Grizz, Willis, and Copper ran to Serendale which lay in ruin. Kari was following them, but stopped when she noticed Steve remained in the same spot, unflinching.
“Are you coming? We need to see if there are survivors! We have to help!”
When Steve didn’t answer, she waved her hands in front of his face, trying to get a reaction. “Steve, come on!” she begged him to join her, but the warrior didn’t budge.
Not knowing what else to say, she grunted angrily, frustrated that she couldn’t get through to her troubled friend. She turned and ran down the hill, following the two men and the direfox. Steve descended as well, but at a slow, walking pace.
The town gates, which had been closed days prior in response to the Sabertooth attacks, had been broken down. In the streets lay the bodies of innocent civilians killed in the attack. Crows feasting on their flesh flew up and away once the heroes neared them.
It was an attack by goblins, Kari realized, seeing the hunchbacked bodies of the small monsters intermixed with the ones of the people of Serendale. It looks like they rode spiders and direboars, but that doesn’t explain this, she wondered, finding many dead civilians in the road, bloated with huge gash marks on their bodies. Something else was attacking along with them, something powerful with a venomous bite. Whatever it was it was a monster that even the Spider Queen would have found to be a powerful adversary.
Willis and Grizz were staring around in disbelief, inspecting what little remained of their hometown. One of the first buildings they passed was Grizz’s blacksmithing shop, but the Dwarf didn’t even stop to see what the damage was.
“I have to find my family,” he said in desperation.
“Me too,” Willis’s voice shook as he began to head the opposite way. “Good luck, Grizz. I hope you find they’re safe.”
Grizz’s disoriented walk picked up into an uneven jog as he began collecting his bearings at the shock of seeing so much destruction. I need to find my wife and sons, he repeated to himself in his head, focusing on his one and only priority.
Cringing at every dead body he passed as he walked to his house, Grizz was relieved every time he recognized they didn’t belong to one of the members of his family. When he finally arrived home, he groaned at the sight. The structure he had built with his own two hands had completely burned to the ground.
With the help of Kari and Copper, who had followed him, the three searched through the rubble of the house. “I don’t think they were in here,” Grizz announced, breathing out a deep sigh of relief. Each passing minute in which he didn’t find his family was a moment in which he held onto the hope that they were still alive. Kari was not so optimistic. Looking around at the destroyed Serendale, she knew the bodies would probably be found.
“What was that?” Grizz asked suddenly, climbing out of the rubble. Copper had also perked up, having heard the noise.
Listening carefully, Kari heard it as well. A faint yelling was coming from someone a couple streets from where they stood.
“Someone’s calling for help!” Grizz marveled, encouraged at the sign of life. Copper barked excitedly.
Once the Halfling, Dwarf, and direfox turned onto the street, they saw that Steve was already there. Instead of walking slowly as he had been, he was now sprinting. Instead of being void of emotion, he looked determined.
“It’s coming from Uncle Zeke’s bakery! Hurry! We have to save him!” Steve shouted to them. He too had heard the cries for help. He ran into the half-collapsed building; Kari, Grizz, and Copper followed.
Kari immediately understood what had broken Steve out of his shocked, speechless state following Ty’s death. He’d thought he’d lost all his family, but the idea that there is still someone alive, who he’s known all his life, has given him enough of a spark to jolt him back to reality.
“Over here!” A call for help came again. Steve turned to find the baker he knew from childhood slumped against the wall, barely clinging to life.
“Uncle Zeke! Are you okay?” Steve asked, examining him. It looks like he’s been severely poisoned. There’s a huge gash on his left arm with venom bubbling out of it. It looks like the infection has already spread up to his neck and all the way down his right forearm. Plus, he’s vomited many times from the pain.
There is no way he’ll survive.
“Stephen? Stephen Brightflame!” Uncle Zeke exclaimed. “I’m so happy to see you. I didn’t think I’d see anyone else before the end. What are you doing here?”
“I came from Celestial. What happened here? An attack by goblins?”
“Yes, they came two nights ago. They burned everything and killed everyone. They were merciless.” Taking a moment to collect himself, he continued. “They were led by a huge monster. I’ve never seen anything like him before. It was like a dragon without wings or legs. I heard him being called the Python. He was a giant snake and practically destroyed half this town by himself.”
Grizz punched a wall as Zeke’s words formed a violent picture of the attack in his head. The Python, he repeated to himself, making a mental note of the name of the monster he now planned to hunt down and kill. Just like Sabertooth and the Spider Queen, Pythons were also a rare type of monster.
“Is anyone else alive?” Grizz asked, nearly pushing Steve out of the way as he did so. “Did you see my wife, Juliana Grindstone, or either of my sons?”
“I didn’t see them, but I know what happened to them.” The baker shook his head in despair before he revealed what he knew. “The kids were all in school when the attack happened. I saw a bunch of men in the village rush towards the schoolhouse, trying to stop them.”
“Stop who from what?” Grizz asked frantically.
Breathing too erratically to complete full sentences, Zeke stuttered, “The monsters. They boarded up the building with all the teachers and kids inside. Then they lit it on fire. I don’t know if anyone got there in time to save them.”
At that, Grizz sprinted towards the schoolhouse and Copper bounded after him. Kari moved to follow as well, but Steve grabbed her shoulder. “No. Let him mourn on his own. I have a feeling what he finds is going to crush him.”
Grizz ran as fast as he could to the east side of the city. It was the last place he had spoken to his wife, where he told her he loved her before leaving for Hunters’ Den.
With his heart racing faster than ever before, he rounded the corner and dropped to his knees. The structure was completely collapsed and charred from fire. Long, still-in-tact wooden beams were hauntingly sticking out of the wreckage. He could see where the doors and windows to the school had been barred even though the structure was no longer standing.
Zeke was right. The goblins must have trapped everyone inside by blocking the exits and then lit it aflame. Hopefully some made it out in time, Grizz tried to think positively even though every fiber in his body told him to abandon all hope.
From where he was, Grizz not
iced a small hole had been dug in the dirt ground on the side of the schoolhouse. The panicked children were trying to dig their way out of the building after the doors and windows were boarded. But the smoke or fire must have gotten to them too quickly, because that hole is too small for an average child to fit through.
Forcing himself to stand, his knees felt shaky as he unevenly walked. Every step was a struggle as he got closer and closer to the schoolhouse.
The worst renderings his imagination could muster for what he was about to stumble upon was not enough to prepare him for what he would find. Using his strength to pull back a couple wooden beams, he let out an audible gasp when he saw what was underneath.
The dead bodies of the twenty Serendale children who attended the school were huddled together on the floor, burned alive.
Their features were damaged, with only some distinguishable enough that Grizz could recognize who they were. Many were children that his kids had befriended over the years, who had come over for birthday parties and other events. Grizz didn’t know all their names, but he remembered seeing their smiling faces from when they played in the streets of the city.
He stumbled upon the bully, Ivan Griegan, and felt horrible to see him dead, even though he despised the child. After sorting through the pile some more, Grizz cried out when he found a single wooden crutch. It was warped and twisted from the heat, but surprisingly still in one piece. Next to it was the dead body of a boy that looked to be the same size as Nash, but the damage of the flames had charred the child beyond recognition.
Underneath the assumed body of Nash laid the corpse of Grizz’s eldest son, Liam. The Dwarf picked up the burned bodies of his two boys and held them tightly as tears streamed down his face. After setting them down, he found the body of Juliana. His wife was face down with her arms outstretched.
She had been covering as many students as she could with her body, attempting to save them, Grizz could tell. She was my best friend, the love of my life, and now she’s dead! He put his hands on her stomach, realizing his unborn baby was also dead.