by Dawn Chapman
I pushed forward and ran back to my friends. I’d no idea I’d walked this far in following Gestal. As I drew closer, I could see the effects of the fight, and we were on the losing side. Diogella was obviously injured, her blue circle of shielding gone, and it was now just a full-on fight for survival. The Raltols had done what I was essentially warned about. Swarmed. They were literally everywhere. Hundreds if not thousands of them.
I waded in deep and started to cut down as many of the Raltols as I could and joined my sister. “Where! What the fuck?” she asked me.
I had no answers to give her. This could have lost us the battle, and by the looks of Diogella, the quest. I sucked in a breath and put my all into slamming and hitting out at the critters. I wanted to laugh and to cry all at the same time, and I prayed. Yes, I actually prayed to the creature of the world we were in, not the monster, not god, but to those who were in control. Tibex. Though it seemed he didn’t want to help by interfering, I knew he at least would hear us, maybe do something to aid Maddie, if he would.
Dahlia fought her way beside me, and I could see questions in her eyes as she struggled to send in healing aid to Diogella. I could see Diogella was weakening even more, and when inspected, her health bar showed me how much so.
DIOGELLA – HEALTH 15%
Oh no. How did it get this bad? It was all my fault. I screamed on the inside and hoped for Gestal to come back to her, to us, to do something.
But if Gestal did come back to her, would he fight with us or against us. I wasn’t sure and dread filled my mind as I saw that wisp and its blackness whirl into the room. Within seconds, it was as if the tide had turned. There were creatures splattered all over the place as his dark blades dripped with blood and evil energy. They were pulling everything around us, mana-wise, into them and feeding his power hungry and maniacal state. I had seen this when he was fighting with Kamaal, and I wondered if it could be stopped if he would calm down enough. But, as he drew closer to the middle of the room, slashing and making everything in the vicinity bleed, I saw something else. I saw that there was a huge hole in his energy. Where was he sending it? Of course to Diogella. I saw her energy starting to rise. She looked toward him, and she faltered just a little. I tried to not smile, but I couldn’t help it. Diogella thought she had lost everything, that much was obvious, and here was the one thing she wanted more than her own life, and he was fighting with her.
If I could have hugged them both, I would have, but I was still knee deep in Raltols, and I sliced and diced them myself.
RALTOLS KILLED
889/1000
The Callan let loose one massive blast of energy, and I ducked as it hit the ceiling above us. I cringed at the crack which immediately showed. I backed away as a large portion of the cave started to give, raining rocks down over my area.
I pushed in deeper. The Callan that Diogella had been fighting turned its attention to Gestal and cocked its head. It seemed to stall because it knew its time was up. It wouldn’t make it with the two of them fighting it, and I was happy to see this. As Gestal’s blades sunk deep into its gut, its health dropped in an instant.
There was one more blast of energy from it as it died, and I screamed as it hit the cave ceiling behind me. The crack that had been there for the Callan’s last outburst widened and gave way. This, in turn, put pressure on the wall behind us, and it started to collapse. The dust and debris of both blasted outwards. Macie and Noc protected me from most of it by throwing up a partial shield, but they were weak, and it hurt like a bitch.
My biggest fear in here had happened. The way we came in was now blocked off.
I struggled to my feet and cut and sliced a few more Raltols before I could see they had started to disband and run away. With their master dying, they had nothing to keep them here. They didn’t want to fight on. They wanted to survive just like any other creature, though I wondered where they’d get their food.
I collapsed as soon as they’d vanished, my blades sinking into the floor, and the only thing that kept me from ending up face down. Breath escaped me, and I sucked in the dusty atmosphere. It made me cough, and I spluttered.
Noc was by my side in a second and had his hand on my back-offering support. “Breathe,” he said. “You’re insane when you’re like that. Must be part of some active skill you acquired when you were with him.” He looked to the blood, sweat, and tears covering Gestal and Diogella standing in the centre of the room.
Noc’s frown caught my eye, and he said, “You saw him in here, before anyone else. He was going to leave?”
“Yes, I did.”
“You saved us, you know that, right?”
“He is something else, you know?” I struggled with my words. Garbled, fast. “Like Kamaal was ready to kill him, and yet I saw something in him that no one else did. I knew we’d need him. Here. Now.”
“You saw what he was and what his true heart is, and there’s always need for that balance in the world.”
I watched as the two of them embraced, and then he kissed her. It was as if they were two different people like Gestal wasn’t just the rotten person I’d seen in Tridon. I could see through his mask once more, to his light fur and cat-like eyes. That creature I’d seen first, the one that hid under the rotten. It all made such sense now. And I was glad I stopped Kamaal from ending his life.
Noc reached for my hand, and I let him take it in his. “I know you don’t quite feel the same as I do, Lila,” he said, “and I’m okay with that.”
I held his gaze for a moment, and squeezed his hand, catching the rest of my breath. “I don’t know what I feel, or how everything here will work out, but I’m thankful for a friend like you who I know has my back in the midst of battle.”
“Always,” he said. Pulling me to him, he hugged me tightly, and I let him. Dahlia came over and wrapped her arms around us both and then so did Macie and Abel. I was glad for the contact from them all. It was as if we’d been through everything to this point, and as bloody and sweaty as we were, it was thrilling. My notifications were going off something wicked, and as I looked, I noticed the real ping
YOU’VE BEEN AWARDED 2 KARMA FOR REUNITING GESTAL AND DIOGELLA
YOU’VE BEEN AWARDED 1 KARMA FOR REUNITING THE BALANCE OF TRIDON CITY.
YOU HAVE BEEN REWARDED 1 KARMA FOR NEVER GIVING IN.
I allowed myself to take in a breath and wait while I could chase off the notifications.
Gestal’s rotten image faded away, and there before us stood a dark yet very handsome demon. He was holding onto Diogella with all his might, and she to him. I didn’t want to keep watching them, but I did. There was something about true love being reunited after so long that I think any of us would have been in tears. I wondered if this was enough to get Gestal and Diogella to really talk about what and why things had happened the way they had for them.
She looked at me, and I could see there were so many questions.
QUEST UPDATED
YOU HAVE DEFEATED THE CALLAN, AND THE THREAT TO THE TROMOAL HAS BEEN CURBED. FOR NOW.
YOU MUST ESCAPE THE CAVE SYSTEM BEFORE IT FLOODS.
What?
I looked to the others and noticed that where there had been an exit for the small stream of water, but now there wasn’t. The path out for us now clearly blocked by the cave wall and ceiling collapse.
Crap.
“We need to move now,” I said. “We don’t have much time to get out of here and back to the others.”
Noc looked at me, and so did Dahlia, “Didn’t you get the new quest?”
Dahlia shook her head. “No, why?”
“The cave’s flooding. We need to get out.”
Abel was quick to verify my fears. He tapped the side of his head. “I don’t see the map anymore. I don’t know if there is a way out.”
“Then we’ll have to make one. We’re getting out. There’s no other option.”
The other option was, of course, death—err, nope, not going to happen.
Gestal
motioned to Diogella. “She can see the way out. She’s of the Earth, but she’s weak.”
“Even with your strength?”
He nodded. “It took all my strength to bring her back from death. Yes, we’re not much good for a while down here, I’m afraid.”
“Don’t worry, if you help guide us, we’ll do what we can to keep us all alive.”
“There are other monsters still down here, and they’re feeling just as trapped as you are. They also will see any way of getting out that they can, and that means if they need to make a pact with the other demon lords to do so, they will.”
“I don’t quite follow. I think you said others?”
“Yes, you met Kamaal… he’s the lord of us all, but there are several others, and Lila, I’m sorry that you think I’ve been terrible, and yes, maybe I have, but I’m also not anywhere near what they are. Klaise is much worse.”
Diogella spat on the floor. “That monster is more than worse. He’s always been the worst.”
Abel tapped my arm. “We don’t have time for this. Let’s move!”
Diogella glared at the wall behind us. “I don’t think I can move it, not right now. I’m sorry.” She lowered her head as if she had totally failed us when she was the one thing that had kept us going against the boss in the first place. We never stood a chance without her, and she knew it.
“No, don’t be sorry at all. We are grateful to have found you, and we wouldn’t be here now without you, or…” I looked to Gestal, “without you, either.”
“Then let’s get out of here,” Abel said. “Right now, this section is filling with water, and as much as I think we all need a bath, I really don’t think we want to be here when it’s full, and we can’t actually see where to get out. We need to start climbing upward into the cave systems and quick.”
I nodded and motioned toward Diogella. “You need to point us in the right direction, and we’ll start to clear the pathway up, okay? We’ll scout any creature, and we’ll fight them off. Nothing will get in near you, don’t worry.”
“I can’t help but worry,” she said. And Gestal nodded my way. “She can’t fight at all.”
I could see she was pinker than she had been, but there was still like eighty percent of her health missing. She’d literally given everything she had to fight, and Gestal had given her everything he had to stay alive. They both were weaker than I’d ever thought possible for ones who should be so powerful.
As the water reached the top of my shoes, I realised how cold it was. “Come. We need to move.”
Chapter 21
Diogella pointed in the direction we needed, and we set off. She was a good guide, but as soon as we realised where she was taking us, there was something odd about it. We had to go upward, but everything else in these caves was sure to be doing the same, and as we entered the next section, we could see from below there were other cave systems that once the water level reached here, it would start to flood them too. So, if we set off right now, the chances were there would be other critters coming up behind us, so not just in front.
This trip upward was going to suck.
“You two stay in the middle.” I pointed them on ahead. “Guide Macie and Abel. Noc, Dahlia, Jarvin, and I will stay in the rear. We’ll be the protection you need from behind because if anything comes from here, it will be more desperate, and I can see that being more a problem than those trying to get out up ahead.”
I knew this would be the case, and as we started to navigate upward, and at a pace they were all comfortable with, I tried not to worry. I didn’t know how long the cave system had before it would fill up. The quest didn’t give us a timer, but my instincts were screaming it wouldn’t be long.
“Fuck,” I said stopping the group. “There’s something we’re forgetting.”
“What?”
“I’ve no respawn point other than back in Tridon.” I motioned to Abel to come in closer. He did. “Does that mean if we respawn here, we’ll just keep dying?”
Abel shook his head. “I don’t know at all. I’m sorry.”
I had died in the game and respawned many a time. I should have been more prepared to die again. For the right reasons, but not like this.
Tibex, I asked, would you be able to help me with time here?
The details scrolled across my screen, and I tried to read them as quickly as I could.
CAVE FLOOD – ONE HOUR SIXTEEN MINUTES.
TIME TO EXIT CAVE SYSTEM – ONE HOUR TWENTY MINUTES
It just confirmed my fears. We could get out, maybe. I mean it was a losing battle if we got stuck for long. But if we pushed ourselves… then maybe everything had been worth fighting for.
I tried not to panic, and I pushed them forward faster seeing that anything, even the slightest delay here, would and could kill us all. I wanted to tell them. I opened my mouth, and I saw Noc shake his head.
Had he seen the time limit?
“What?” I asked, and he shook his head again as if he knew. This really was a race to the death, and I forced a smile. I wouldn’t let them down.
The first hour passed with us pushing forward, in and out of cave systems snaking our way up, seeming to track back a little then make headway once again. I was almost sure Diogella was the one who got us lost, but then we started to make up for it once again, and I almost got them running. I think it was such a massive timing thing, that clock ticking in my head, I needed to see the gap getting further apart. And it was. We were just going to make it. The timing was impeccable.
CAVE FLOOD – SIXTEEN MINUTES.
TIME TO EXIT CAVE SYSTEM – EIGHTEEN MINUTES
That’s when growling started up ahead of us. Hearing more rushing noises from behind us, it was water of course and fast flowing. I wanted to run quicker, but I thought if we panicked now, it would be worse. We needed space and time to just split and give us a little more. If only that were a damned skill in here. Well, someone might have it, but no one in my party.
I swallowed, and then I heard more creatures coming in from the caving system behind us. I looked to Noc, and he frowned. I let Macie and Jarvin get ahead of us slightly, and I tried my best to wave him on. Macie saw me break back, and I tried to keep her going, but she stopped too. I hated this, but we were in this together.
The others kept going, Abel calling back, “Straight up and to the left. Follow it!” Then he shouted to Macie and Noc, “I’m coming back, and so is Dahlia. You are going ahead of us here.”
There was great solidarity in this. Noc came in closer to me and said, “I don’t want to leave you, not here, not like this. I need to talk to you.”
“I know,” I said. “But you need to get out of this with them, and you need to survive. I can come back to this, to here. You can’t.”
He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “No holding back, Lila. I’ve seen you fight. There’s still that little percent you keep. It’s part of what we took out, what we killed off. But there’s still some of it in there, and it will aid you. Don’t let anything past.”
I nodded, squeezed him tight, and let him go. I felt a little embarrassed as Dahlia giggled at us. “Boyfriend, huh?”
I tried not to laugh with her, to stave off the redness I felt spreading upward, but it wasn’t happening. In the end, I shrugged. And tried not to worry. Then I turned and faced where we’d come from. The noise, it was coming up, and it was close. There were many growls of scared animals and terrified beasts. They were fighting each other as much as the water.
When the first of them rounded the corner, I could tell they were injured too. There was red in their eyes, the sheer need to escape. It was going to be harder than anything else we had already done. There were only four of them, but they were huge, and they were ready, claws out and teeth gnashing. They were part of the wolf family like the first beasts we’d fought in the caves, but these were the alphas. They most likely made it this far because the others had sacrificed themselves.
I tightened my grip on my blades and
gave in to the feelings inside me. I needed to defend my sister and Abel as best I could. Three to four were not good odds, but I bet Abel could take on two while I tried my best to slay one before it even got to Dahlia
Or maybe she would surprise us all. With one huge pull of her energy, she let out a blast wave as powerful as a small tornado. The wolf hit the wall and broke into pieces, literally, but it left her exhausted and capable of doing nothing else.
She collapsed, so now I was guarding her recovering form as the other three ran for us. I dipped and spun in to kill it. My blade hit home, and the creature bellowed in my face. I tried not to let it get to me, but as if had died, I saw something in its eyes—the need to survive and to live as any animal could have. I felt sorry for it, but just at that moment. The pain of its death hit me hard, and as I heard Abel struggling with the two creatures that were on top of him, I pulled the blade free.
“I’m sorry,” I said to it. I wanted to do something for both sides. I felt that need and compulsion more than my own need to survive.
“STOP!” I cried. “If you want to live, STOP Now.”
I didn’t know that my voice or my reasoning would get through to anything. Right about now, I was sure all they had in them was primal instinct. But no, something did get through. The smaller of the two creatures stopped and looked at me. Distraction or maybe just one last ditch effort to escape. I saw it then make its mind up and lunge for Abel once more. The creature then took a full-on blunt-force hit to the side of his head, and he went down.
I glanced to Dahlia. “Run,” I said. She kind of shook her head at me and turned to glare at the other creature, but she also saw I was not messing about. She pushed herself up, and she did the one thing I wasn’t so sure I could have in this situation. She made a stand next to me, her energy low. She couldn’t take another hit, I could see that, and here she was going with everything she could muster. And so was I. The others had to get out. We didn’t matter.
