by Pirateaba
“There are serums and substances the Antinium use, but they do not have the same effect on other species. Would a [Healer] not—”
“There are none. None who can help me. The first I brought my hand to said I should burn the wound. I did. But it grew worse, and the others—they tell me it is too late.”
Brunkr gritted his teeth. His eyes refocused, and he stared around, and finally saw Mrsha. His face twisted into a snarl and he surged to his feet.
“You. Doombringer! See what you’ve done?”
Mrsha tore away from Krshia in a panic as Brunkr lurched towards her. Instantly, Krshia and Klbkch were on their feet. Both held Brunkr down and made him sit.
“Nephew. You forget yourself! She is a child!”
“Please calm yourself, Brunkr.”
“She did this! She! She has taken my hand, just like she took her tribe. Cursed one! Deathbringer! Calamity!”
The words broke something deep in Mrsha’s heart. She had felt it all day, but hearing it now was too much. It was all true. She couldn’t run from it no matter how hard she tried.
But she did try. Mrsha turned and leapt off the couch. Krshia grabbed for her, but the Gnoll was too slow. Mrsha dodged around her and the Antinium, who spun and tried to scoop her up. She ran between his legs and though he turned and nearly had her, he wasn’t ready for her to leap off of Krshia’s balcony.
Mrsha landed heavily on all fours. It hurt, but she raced off, ignoring Krshia’s shouts for her to come back. She ran and ran. But she could not outrun the truth.
—-
Mrsha cried as she left the city behind. Brunkr’s words cut at her. The Gnoll’s stares pierced her. And the words haunted her.
[Lone Survivor]. Level 8. As if she’d asked for this. As if it was a reward.
She just wanted to go back. Back to the inn, where Ryoka would be waiting. Then the girl could tell her a story and Mrsha could—could—
Could pretend she was back home. Her real home, where the fires burned bright every night and where she knew everyone. Where she could run about with the other children and play until Urksh yelled at her. If she could go back, she never would have gone to help gather herbs. She would have stayed in the camp forever, and the Goblins would never have found her. They would never have come and everything would be fine.
Her vision was blurry, but it didn’t matter. Mrsha could smell where she was going. She ran up the hill, towards the inn.
And then away from it. Not there either. She couldn’t be near the Drake, or Lyon with her concern and caring.
The past tugged at Mrsha. Seeing other Gnolls reminded her of the people she’d never see again. So she ran far from them, into the snowy landscape, up hills and down valleys, heedless of the danger.
It was a long time before Mrsha finally collapsed, too tired to move any more. She lay in the snow, panting.
No home. Nowhere to go back to. The inn? It wasn’t—Mrsha’s heart hurt. Lyonette wasn’t—
Those who cared about Mrsha got hurt. Or died. Like Ryoka. She’d lost her fingers. She’d gotten hurt for Mrsha and the tribe had died because she’d fallen. Mrsha knew it.
Everyone who tried to help Mrsha died. That was why Ryoka had left. She had left so she wouldn’t die. Because Mrsha wasn’t worth saving.
The Gnoll curled up in the snow, still crying. It was all her fault. All hers.
She barely heard the crunching of snow before the sound was right on top of her. Mrsha uncurled and stared around as she heard the faltering footsteps approaching. She looked around, bewildered, seeing nothing against the white snow.
Then she saw him. Slowly tripping towards her. Stumbling, faltering. Almost falling down. But still in one piece. Still alive.
Toren.
The skeleton looked almost like Brunkr in the way he moved. It was as if he was exhausted, if a undead being could be tired. He seemed as if he would fall apart at any moment.
But the purple flames in his eyes still burned in their sockets. The fire was weak, guttering. But it burned brighter when Toren saw Mrsha. And it was hatred that filled the young Gnoll with terror.
She turned to run. She heard the skeleton rush forwards, but she was dashing away as fast as she could. She raced up a hill and knew the skeleton was in hot pursuit.
Run, run. As fast as you can. But Mrsha had run so far today, and she was exhausted. She slipped going over the crest of a hill, and tumbled down. She scrambled to her feet, and ran forwards—
And nearly fell into the rift in the earth. It was dark, a gaping fissure made nearly invisible by the slight incline in the snow. Mrsha scrambled away from it—
But Toren was right behind her. The skeleton had a bared sword in his hands. He advanced towards her, swinging the sword menacingly. Mrsha backed up, the chasm behind her. She tried to watch Toren and the opening, but he was moving too quick. Mrsha backed up another step and her back paw slipped.
She slid backwards. Mrsha grabbed desperately, and her paws latched onto something beneath the powdered snow. Toren halted, sword in hand, staring at Mrsha as she dangled over the abyss.
Mrsha’s eyes were wide, her arms straining as she tried to hold on. She could barely keep her grip, let alone haul herself up. And the skeleton was just standing there. Just watching her.
He had lowered the sword in his hands. He walked forwards, until he stood right above Mrsha. She waited for him to stab her, but the skeleton just stared down at her.
As if thinking.
And Mrsha wished Ryoka were here. But she knew the girl had left. Gone, far away.
Just like everyone else.
She wanted to go home. But home was gone. And she was alone.
Maybe it was fate. Mrsha felt her claws loosening their grip as the snow fell around her. The skeleton was just staring at her, sword in hand. He took a step forwards.
Chased by bad things. Falling. It was how it had happened last time. But there was no Ryoka anymore. She’d left Mrsha too. And that was a good thing. Because she could not suffer because of Mrsha.
All her fault. White fur. Cursed one. Doombringer. [Last Survivor]. Mrsha sighed. She looked up at the sky.
And then she let go. For a moment she saw the skeleton staring at her, the flames in its purple eyes flickering. It reached out—
But too slowly. The world dropped away from Mrsha and she was tumbling, down, down, into the darkness. The air whistled around her and she closed her eyes.
Mrsha fell.
—-
“Mrsha?”
Lyon searched the inn, but she couldn’t find the Gnoll. She tried the outhouse, but Mrsha’s tracks led away from there. She ran through the snow. She went to the gates—tried to get in. But Mrsha had left the city. She’d disappeared.
The girl searched. Mrsha was gone. But Lyonette kept searching. She went out into the wilderness and called for the Gnoll until she’d lost her voice. As the cold numbed her, Lyonette kept looking.
“Mrsha? Mrsha! Are you there?”
“Where are you?”
—-
It was dark when Mrsha woke up. Dark. Hot. Everything hurt.
She cried out. It was the first sound she’d made in a long time. She couldn’t move. She hurt.
And someone was calling for her. Mrsha heard the voice, carried by the wind. A familiar voice.
She wanted to call to it. But something stopped her.
Fear. If she called out the voice would die.
She couldn’t do that. Better to die here.
But it hurt. Mrsha cried. She tried to move. Something was around her. Bad things lurked in the darkness. They were coming.
She had to run. But the voice. Only the voice could save her.
Mrsha looked up. The light was so far away. It seemed like a memory. But she believed the light, the sky was still there.
She wanted to be saved. Mrsha wept. Even if it meant—she just wanted to live.
So she raised her head. Mrsha took a breath and howled. The sound was wor
dless. It echoed in the dark place she’d fallen into, the dungeon. It went through the skeleton who stood in the darkness, watching her. It travelled up through the rift in the earth and went into the sky.
And Lyonette heard her. Mrsha knew that. She howled and howled, calling out. For salvation. For forgiveness. For another chance.
For life instead of death.
And then she ran, because the things were chasing her. But Mrsha believed she would be saved. She clung to it. That word she barely understood. That feeling in her that was all that stood between her and despair, her and the darkness.
Hope.
—-
They stopped her at the gates, a Gnoll and a Drake. But she battered at them with her hands, screamed.
“You have to let me in! I need adventurers! I need help!”
But they held her back. The Gnoll’s face was openly hostile, the Drake’s put upon. They spoke to her, but Lyonette didn’t care.
“Please! Mrsha—she’s down there!”
They didn’t understand. They tried to take her away, force her back. Lyonette hit them. She bit and struggled—even when the Gnoll unsheathed his sword. She would have taken it through her heart if it meant someone would listen.
But the hand that closed over the Gnoll’s arm and pulled the sword away required no sacrifice. Zel Shivertail looked down at Lyon as the Drake [Guardsman] gaped in awe.
“Tell me what’s wrong.”
—-
The Drake [General] strode through the streets when he heard what had happened. He brought Lyon into the city and summoned the Watch. She ran to the Adventurer’s Guild.
No one there would help her. No one, but a [Scout] who raised his head when he heard her plea. He left his group, and someone came with him.
The Watch called out for aid. They found it. Klbkch walked down into his Hive and spoke to someone waiting there. She and he walked towards the surface.
Lyonette was hurrying towards the gates when the Gnolls appeared. She was afraid, but one of them walked towards her. Krshia had no love for Lyon, but the bow in her hands was not meant for the girl.
And so Lyonette ran through the snow, followed by six people. Five. She prayed it was enough, but there was no time to ask for others. She ran desperately, heart pounding out of her chest. Iron was in her mouth; she seemed to breathe fire each time she inhaled. But she ran faster so that she would be fast enough.
“There.”
She almost cried as she pointed down into the crevice. Zel stared at it grimly.
“Deep. That’s at least a hundred feet down—”
“Far more.”
Halrac stared into the darkness, face grim. He turned to Lyonette.
“Are you sure you heard her down there? If she fell—”
“I’m sure. Please, you have to help!”
“The dungeon is down there.”
Klbkch said the words flatly. Halrac and Zel stared at him, one in alarm, the other confused.
“The dungeon? Are you sure?”
“Yes. This place—the location matches a part of the dungeon. And I believe it goes straight down into the heart of it.”
“We can’t go down there unprepared. It would be suicide.”
Halrac bit his lip hard enough to draw blood as he said it. Lyonette stared at him in desperation. But the woman standing next to Halrac gritted her teeth.
“The hell we can’t. I’m going, if you can tie that rope to something secure. No—don’t bother. Just hold it as I go down, Halrac.”
Jelaqua Ivirith hefted the two-handed flail in her hands as she stared at the dungeon grimly. Zel eyed her.
“Aren’t you a Selphid?”
“So?”
She glanced at him challengingly.
“I have a soft spot for children, and those shunned by others. And it seems like this young Gnoll is both. Let me help find her; I’m a Level 33 [Iron Tempest].”
“What class is that?”
“It’s a class derived from [Flailmaster]. I have the Skills to fight a pack of foes at once, if that’s what’s lurking down there. Are you coming or not?”
“I will go.”
Zel nodded at once. Lyonette was nearly in tears—he gripped her hands reassuringly.
“I will enter as well.”
“As will I.”
Two Antinium said that. Klbkch, and an azure one Lyonette had never seen before. She held a staff in her hands and watched Zel as carefully as he ignored her. She inclined her head to him.
“Zel Shivertail. Will you permit me to lend my aid here?”
“Just this once, I will accept your help.”
He said the words coldly as he stared into the darkness. Zel turned.
“Can we anchor the rope to something? Let’s move! Mrsha could be in danger as we speak.”
“Almost done.”
Krshia was helping Halrac fix anchors in the ground for the rope they’d brought. She stood up, bow in hand, and nodded to the rope.
“We will have to hold on, very tightly, going down. Or else we will fall.”
“No need for that. I will cast a [Featherfall] spell and slow us.”
The mysterious Antinium said that. The others looked at her in surprise; none of the others had realized she was a mage.
“Going up will be slower, then.”
“Up can be slow as it must. Down is most important. So let us hurry, no?”
Klbkch hesitated as he looked at Krshia.
“Are you sure you wish to risk this, Miss Krshia? The danger—”
She bared her teeth at him and he shut up.
“She is in danger, and my responsibility. At least in part. I will go.”
“Gather around me.”
Zel, Jelaqua, Klbkch, and Krshia did as Xrn ordered. Jelaqua glanced sideways, and grinned at Halrac.
“Change of heart?”
He just shrugged, face grim.
“If I’d have known we were going into the dungeon, I would have brought everyone. Girl, go back into the city and tell them what’s happened.”
“I will. Thank you! Please—bring her back!”
“We will.”
Several of them said it at the same time. The group looked around and Zel had to bare his teeth ruefully.
“It occurs to me I don’t know who any of you are. Well, the non-Antinium at any rate.”
“Indeed. I hesitate to suggest this, but some of us are more capable than others.”
Klbkch nodded at Zel. Jelaqua just laughed.
“Don’t worry about me fighting in close quarters. I can handle myself.”
“Names, then.”
Halrac grunted. He eyed Xrn as the Antinium whispered and raised her staff. No lights flashed, but magic was done.
Slowly, the group walked over to the abyss. They spoke as they stood staring at each other.
“Klbkch the Slayer.”
“Jelaqua Ivirith.”
“Zel Shivertail.”
“Krshia Silverfang.”
“Halrac Everam.”
“Xrn the Small Queen.”
They leapt, and dropped slowly into the crevasse. Mage light bloomed around them, lighting up the rocky walls as they fell further down.
Lyonette watched them go. She prayed, although the gods were dead. She prayed to nothing and everything that Mrsha would be safe. Then she ran towards the city.
—-
She heard the call echo in the darkness. Mrsha raised her head, nearly banging her head on the small alcove she was hiding in. Then she howled, as loudly as she could. She heard the answering howl, and then hid herself, curling up to hide from the bad things.
They found her an eternity later. Mrsha flinched when the face moved downwards, but the Drake only smiled wearily when he saw her.
“There you are. Come on, Mrsha. It’s alright.”
She was out of the alcove and in his arms in a second. Zel Shivertail held her as she cried wordlessly into his scales.
“Are you okay? Are you
hurt?”
She was fine. Oh, Mrsha had bruised herself all over and cracked bones bouncing down, but she was alive. [Lesser Toughness] had saved her life.
They carried her out of that place. That was all Mrsha knew as she clung to Zel. They were all around her, strangers and friends. Halrac stood with his back to an Antinium whose staff glowed blue. He drew an arrow that glowed with the light of sunset and fired it into the distance. A thump and the roar of an explosion matched the lightning that thundered from her staff.
Jelaqua fought the shadows, flail whirling, striking as she created a deadly curtain of spinning spikes around her. Beside her, Klbkch was a dancing whirlwind of silver blades. Krshia loosed her own arrows, snarling.
And Zel? He carried her past a huge, red worm-like monstrosity. It was dead. It had been torn apart and he walked through the blood as the others fought. And then there was a rope, and a platform conjured out of magic. Zel stood on that, helping Krshia to haul the platform up as Xrn held it in place. Below, Klbkch, Halrac, and Jelaqua climbed rapidly, Halrac pausing to occasionally shoot at something below.
When they saw the light, Mrsha heard a scream. She felt Zel step onto the snow, and then Lyonette was hugging her. The girl crushed Mrsha to her chest, squeezing the breath out of the Gnoll. Hugging, kissing, scolding. Then the others came up and Lyonette prostrated herself before them.
“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you…”
Mrsha stared up at the faces. Adventurers stood outside the rift in the snow, along with the Watch. Many people were gathered here. Some pointed to the abyss and screamed about danger. Others said it was a way in, a chance.
And many were mad at Mrsha. Some scolded her. Krshia boxed Mrsha’s ears as she checked to make sure the Gnoll was alright and called for another healing potion. And Lyonette was telling Mrsha she’d never, ever let her go out of her sight.
Selys arrived late with Olesm, almost out of her mind with worry. And some people recognized Zel and exclaimed. The strange blue Antinium left in the chaos, and Jelaqua stood alone except for when the others praised her. Lyonette told her to stay at the inn and Jelaqua just smiled. So did Halrac, awkwardly, as if it hurt.