The Seeds of Evermore

by Andrew Haines

  The bow string cracked from the extreme cold as Tuomas released another arrow that hit Ymir. Scott had him distracted and sliced into the giant’s shins. His blue blood squirted over Scott’s armor as he continued to slice at the towering giant. “Die! You son of a bitch!” Scott shouted out continuing his flurry of attacks.

  Charlotte saw that Tuomas was covering Nick as he crawled back towards the door. She moved and was trying to help compensate for Nick being down. She stood against Aurgelmir while Alissa and Donovan circled around his back. She sliced the giant and saw that the giant was slowing down with every strike, blood seeping but at this rate it wouldn’t be enough. They would run out of energy by the time the giant would fall. They still had Ymir to deal with.

  Alissa was moving as fast as she could to hit where she guessed the giant’s nerves were. Donovan was smashing his hammer against the giant’s legs but it was only doing so much, the giants were much tougher than they were expecting. They were lacking without Nick’s additional damage. With Scott distracting Ymir they were starting to struggle. At this rate we won’t be able to fight them both. And Scott can only take on Ymir alone for so long. Charlotte thought.

  There was another ground pound when Ymir hit his hammer against the rock, the ground began to splinter and the rock shifted and began to crumble underneath them. “We need to finish of Aurgelmir now!” Alissa yelled out.

  “Make him face me!” Tuomas yelled out as he knocked two arrows upon his bow.

  The three of them drew his attention to face Tuomas. Two arrows whirred into the giant's eyes, the giant took three steps back and almost fell of the side of the mountain, “Push him off!” Donovan yelled out charging the legs. “Wait!” Scott yelled out, running toward Aurgelmir, “Move back! Ymir!”

  A hammer strike hit just in front of Donovan having a shockwave force him back. Scott had rolled toward Aurgelmir, “Tuomas hit Ymir’s eyes too! We’ve only got one shot at this!” His voice cracked from being tired.

  Tuomas knocked two more arrows as quickly as he could. Taking up aim, Ymir was still looking at Donovan. “Don get him to look this way!” Tuomas howled as he drew back the bow string.

  Donovan signaled Alissa and Charlotte to move back towards Tuomas. Donovan pulled out his small axe and hefted it in one hand. With all of his strength he threw in into the giant in attempt to get it to turn to face Tuomas. The axe made its mark and Ymir turned to face Tuomas and the others.

  Aurgelmir starting swinging his hammer against the ground, breaking the mountainside. Tuomas let the arrows fly and strike their targets. Ymir dropped his hammer to cover his eyes as the arrows met their marks. The weight of the hammer smashed down on parts of the destroyed mountainside, shifting the debris even more. He had rendered the two giants blind but they were cut off, the last hammer blow made by Aurgelmir left Scott on the other side of the cliff, which was now groaning from the weakening of the rock formation. Tuomas saw Charlotte trying to find a way over but he knew she wouldn’t. He ran over and grabbed her before she tried to jump over, “No it’s up to him now.”

  Scott saw what had happened to his only way over, the giants had separated him from the party. This is it, isn’t it? Fitting, going out just like my brother, to sacrifice for the greater good...

  Scott sliced the legs of Aurgelmir and got him to slam his hammer down two more times, forcing the cliff to shatter even more. Ymir ran into Aurgelmir as the two massive ice giants stumbled without their site. The two got in front of Scott and almost crushed him in their struggle. The two giants seemed to be talking to each other trying not to fall off the cliff. “Over here! You dumb shits!” Scott yelled out standing on near the edge of the cliff face. Taking a deep breath Scott awaited their reactions.

  The two giants turned toward the sound of Scott’s voice, and stumbled towards him. Ymir tripped and hit Scott while he was attempting to dodge out to the way. Scott cried in pain and he felt the giant’s boney armor slammed into him. Scott felt his skin tear from the punctures that the bones caused. Ymir slid grabbing onto Aurgelmir’s legs, dragging him down with him. The two giant’s momentum forced them off of the side of the cliff. Their cries of pain echoed as they fell into the fogged descent below.

  “Scott!” Charlotte called out her voice trembling with fear, as she waited for a response.

  Scott had one hand on the edge of the frozen cliff. He knew he wouldn’t be able to hold on for very much longer, the pain of his injuries was too strong for him to resist. Swinging his other arm up onto the cliff, he tried to pull himself up, but had no luck in doing so. He had only cracked more of the cliff with his weight. “Hey guys we won!” He yelled out his voice shaking, as the cracking sound of stone echoed against the cliff side, “Grab Nick and get the hell out of here!”

  “Damn it. No!” Donovan yelled out, “Don’t you let go we are trying to get to you! Hold on.” Donovan was looking for anything he could use to get across to Scott. He paced back and forth along the shattered rock to find a way over.

  “Damn it Don. The rock won’t hold, we all know it.” Scott yelled as the cliff began to crumble underneath his hand.

  “It will be fine.” Scott said as he tried to convince himself over the others with his words. “I will come back. Just wait for me, okay?”

  “Scott, no. No!” Charlotte tried to find a way across the splintered rock, her eyes tearing as she did. Donovan stepped in and held her back before she tried to jump over the rock. “No, we can’t make it, I wish we could,” he said softly to her.

  Scott tried one last time to pull himself up, with no better luck as he had the last time. The last of his strength was leaving him. Scott let go of the cliff, the rock fractured and fell with him. They all stood there watching as the cliff fell apart down into the snow-covered valley below. The sounds of the tumbling rock drowned out most of Scott’s screams as he fell into the abyss below.

  Charlotte fell to her knees and had her hands over her face. Alissa put her hand on Charlotte’s shoulder. Alissa had begun to cry right alongside Charlotte. After a few moments all that could be heard were their cries of sorrow. Tuomas and Donovan stood there speechless, both of them trying to process what they had just witnessed.

  They saw two blue and white colored orbs rise up from the abyss and flew into the sky. Tuomas as sad as he was, made a mental note about them. There was something eerie about them that did not sit right with him.

  Oh no, my child. Oh no, this will not do. What an awful circumstance, no no. I will take care of you, oh yes. Oh yes. Mold you to what I need you to be. All will be revealed soon. You will be ready for the fight against this world's greatest threat.

  15:

  They continued to stand, staring at what had just happened, in silence. Donovan was the first to make a move off, walking over to Nick to help him to his feet. Screeching in pain, Donovan just picked him up and carried him over his shoulder, seeing that Nick would now be able to stand on his own. Alissa snapped out of it and helped Donovan with him, checking his limbs, and pulling out some herbs for Nick to chew on to numb the pain long enough for them to get back through the cave. Alissa told him he got lucky and nothing broke through his skin. The extra time would have been detrimental to them, and Nick might have died from the blood loss. The three of them left before Charlotte and Tuomas so they take the extra time to get Nick through the sewage moat and back to his horse for the ride home.

  Charlotte had tears streaming down her face, her hands over her mouth in disbelief. Tuomas stepped behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. She looked back at him, his face was blank, cold as stone. “We need to leave,” Tuomas said, his voice not matching his facial expression. “The Nordic people must have heard all of that, we are going to be swarmed if we don’t leave now.”

  She continued to weep. Tuomas knew he could not let her stay for long. The chance of something to find out what had caused a commotion was coming. He hefted her up to her feet and brushed the snow off of her armor. As they walked to the door, Tuo
mas spotted Scott’s crossbow: It must have broken off its clip during the fight. Stopping for a moment to pick it up. Charlotte put her hand out, and asked for it. Tuomas obliged and gave it to her. He led her down the stairs for them to get away before anyone else showed up to avenge the fallen giants.

  The two of them met up with the other three at the bottom of the stairs. Alissa didn’t want to risk trying to get Nick down into the sewage moat, and didn’t even want to talk about the pain it would be getting him out without another ladder near the exit. They took their time slowly moving from rock formation to rock formation staying out of site and as quiet as possible. They felt like some being was watching over them, they didn’t get spotted or had one incident coming out of the cave to where they left the horses.

  Donovan helped Nick mount on up on his horse, making sure that everything was secure for him and that he was as comfortable as could be. Nick did what he could to thank him through the pain. He had his horse gallop out to give everyone else room to follow and head back down the pass.

  The ride back to the city was quiet. No one spoke a word to each other, Nick had seemed to have fractured his left arm, right leg, and had an undetermined amount of broken or cracked ribs. He was trying to keep the pain at bay buy not moving too much on his horse. Tuomas and Donovan exchanged few words for stops of rest to tend to Nick’s wounds to make sure he didn’t fall off. Charlotte was overly quiet and the others were worried about her. They had to make more stops to let Alissa adjust Nick and give him more herbs for his pain. It was more than they were hoping. This isn’t the end: Tuomas thought to himself: This can’t be the end. We just started.

  After the four-hour trek they made it back to the city and the mansion where Elana and a few servants where waiting for them to help with the horses. Elana looked to be searching for Scott as she saw the horse with no rider. Tuomas stopped her as she approached him. He unmounted his horse, “Don’t,” was the only word he said to her. Her face fell to sadness as she knew what that meant, Scott was gone.

  Charlotte unmounted her horse, leaving her gear to the servants, and without a word disappeared into the mansion. The others looked to the servants to help them unpack everything and get it sorted and put away.

  “I have some news for everyone,” Elana spoke breaking the lingering silence, as they started towards the stables.

  The others looked at her, “There seemed to be an update on Tuomas’ progress with the game variation of what you’re all doing. Just a few hours ago people started appearing in the valley you all started in. It looks like the public beta has gone live.”

  The other nodded, “That means we are no longer alone,” Donovan said, “It looks like the plan you and Scott devised will work, to bad...” he trailed off in his words.

  “Yes, but don’t get your hopes up of them helping us solve our problem of getting out of here,” Tuomas said, “Chances are they won’t believe us what so ever. And it means it is out in the open we made ourselves a target to Drake and those that influence him.”

  The others nodded, as Donovan moved to get Nick off of his horse. Tuomas signaled for one of the servants, “Send for one of the Apothecaries.”

  “But the time of day my lord,” One of the servants responded.

  “Tell them I will pay double the rate, we need one here now,” Tuomas told the servant, his voice was raised and aggravated.

  “Right away my lord,” The servant scurried away towards the Apothecary hut.

  Elana moved to Tuomas’ side and whispered into his ear, “Tell me later okay?”

  Tuomas nodded at the realization that was coming over him, that he was right all along. That what he had predicted was true, as much as he wanted it to be false at this point, Scott was the key that they needed, and he was gone. He didn’t want to believe it, he couldn’t, not after he knew what Scott’s past had put him through. They would fall apart if he didn’t survive that fall. There was a message that Tuomas needed to send, he had to bet the rest of their survival on one person and the slim chance that Scott survived that fall. The pieces were falling into place. The letters he had sent on the way back from the mountain top.

  ***

  Midnight had come and they all gathered in the dining hall, and there was a tankard at every seat, though all the seats wouldn’t be filled. The five of them entered and the entire servant staff was standing lining the hall, Tuomas stood and the end of the table and the others made their way to their seats. “Stay standing please,” Tuomas asked them as he waited for them to arrive at their chairs.

  The others obliged and stood. Nick looked uncomfortable balancing himself on a wooden crutch with his good arm, but he stood without complaining, he knew what was about to happen. Tuomas grabbed the tankard in front of him, and signaled for the others to do the same. Tuomas began, “No one wants to hear it but we must say it.”

  He cleared his throat and continued, “Scott is gone, and we all must go on in his memory and get out of this world and make Drake and Deborah pay for his death, for if this had been the way it should have been, no one should have died. This falls to them and them alone.” He looked at the others, Charlotte who was looking particular stern, “Rest in peace Scott!”

  Everyone repeated in a hushed tone, “Rest in peace.”

  Tuomas took a slug from his tankard, and continued, “Damn Scott and his sacrifice!” he looked around to see the words echo through everyone, “We would rather him be here with us, not at the bottom of that cliff! But what has come from it shall not be in vain! We will survive and get out of this world and we will remember him. His life will not be forgotten, it shall be remembered by us, and we will etch his name in this world and the real one. We shall use his memory as our strength, as our guide. We will know what kind of sacrifice he took so we could all go on.”

  Tuomas lowered his tankard, he tone shifting to a lower volume, “You will be remembered, you son of a bitch.”

  Charlotte rose her tankard, “Rest in peace Scott. We will get out of here, we will tell everyone what you did to save us all.” Her voice was low, and her eyes began to turn red, and a tear slid down her face, “Hail the glorious dead.” Charlotte sucked down the ale in her tankard, as the others did the same.

  Everyone echoed her words, “Hail the glorious dead!”

  The six of them sat as the servants scurried back into the kitchen to bring out the night’s meal. They could smell it since they entered the hall. There was a mixture of chicken, potatoes, beef, and an assortment of vegetables. The food was hot to the touch and they slowly ate it as it cooled. They all turned down a second helping and dessert, they were not in the state to have either. Even Donovan skipped the seconds, which he had never done before. The silence in the room carried throughout the rest of the mansion. They were all feeling the pain of their loss.

  The rest of the night was relatively quiet. The halls grew quiet as the night went on and Charlotte was wandering the halls of the mansion in the morning hours closing in on three in the morning. She stopped at the edge of the stairs that led down to the training grounds. She was dressed in her battle attire and needed to take out her emotions on something rather than someone. She made her way down the stairs and entered the training room. Charlotte shut the door behind her and stepped up to one of the training mannequins and placed her hand upon its false shoulder. “I will become stronger, I will overcome. I will atone.”

  The light in the room was dim, and it smelt of sweat and smoke from the forge just a few doors down. She lit the hearth that was at the back of the room, then made her way to the training zone. Charlotte pulled out her sword and began to slash at the mannequin. Each strike was centered on the chest, she spun and landed multiple blows to the mannequin. She could feel the sweat begin to form on her brow as she kept going, trying to push her limits. She paused for a moment and looked upon what carnage she caused. The mannequin was falling apart from her attacks. She sighed, “Is this really how I want to live anymore, I can’t become a shadow on this team
.”

  “You’re not.” A voice said from behind her.

  Charlotte jumped at the voice and turned to see Nick leaning on his crutch, she took a deep breath, “Shouldn’t you be resting in bed?”

  He gave her a sharp glance, “Shouldn’t you be mourning?”

  The silence between them was unsettling, the cracking of the hearth was all produced sound. The extra heat started to make Nick sweat. Charlotte gritted her teeth at that. Taking a breath, “I am, I just keep thinking of how those last few moments could have been better and we all could have made it out.”

  “Well technically it is my fault.” Nick admitted as he propped himself against the stone wall.

  “No, it was all out faults, in a way. We didn’t know about the giant running against the mountain, we had no way to prepare for something like that.” Charlotte countered.

  Nick nodded his head, “True there. But we all have to rest now, we can’t move on at least until I come up on the mend, which will be a few months.”

  “No, I can’t rest, if I let my mind rest, all I will think about is Scott, then I will never recover.”

  Nick shook his head, “And that is why you must rest. Rejoice in what you two had, remember him, in your way.”

  He pushed off of the wall and hobbled closer to her, “Do you remember that day in the elevator where I called you two out?”

  She nodded and cracked a half smile, “Yeah. You were such a prick back before we got trapped in here.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t care for you two either, but that’s beside the point. What I really want to say is that he saw what you can’t see in yourself. He loved you because he knew your capacity to grow and become a better person, in more ways than one.”

  He reached out to her using his crutch to support him. Placing his hand on her shoulder, “Is this what you think he’d want you to be doing? Think on that. I really mean that. I really do. I see now what Scott really did for this team. And I am not the religious type, but I know he is watching over us. Wanting us to stay strong.”