"**RUUUUNNN!**" SegeFord roared.
Kael's heart slammed against his chest. A primal terror surged through him… *flee or die*. There was no time to think. His legs moved on their own, so fast he nearly tripped. The torch flew from his hand as he stumbled, barely catching himself, but he didn't stop.
Even the seasoned warriors, known for their composure in the face of death, had already turned and fled at SegeFord's command.
"**SegeFord!**" Miya screamed behind him.
"**Flee, Miya! You know what that thing is!**" SegeFord bellowed, yanking the twin axes from his back and planting his feet. "**Howler,**" he muttered next, his voice low, like he was trying to hold back a goddamn mountain.
Kael didn't look back. He Couldn't. They were nearly at the chamber entrance. Edward had one arm around Sylvy, half-dragging her as he neared the entrance. The country guards had already retreated through the valley, racing for the exit. Only Terren, Miya, and other Ashborns remained behind.
"I said **FLEE**, goddammit!" SegeFord roared again.
The ground trembled. Something massive slammed closer, its footsteps echoing through the ruined halls. The being… the Howler… was chasing them.
"We can handle it together!" Miya shouted.
"Don't be absurd, Miya!" SegeFord snapped, panic threading his usually iron voice. "I have lost my family before because of this thing… I will not tolerate another loss…"
"Liam…", Segeford commanded his man.
Liam snapped… unable to decide, whether to fight or flee…
**"Liam! Do your damn job!**"
Liam, Segeford's right hand man, grabbed Miya's arm and started running, dragging her with him. He understood… there was no more time for arguing. The rest followed. But it was already too late.
The Howler was upon them.
SegeFord leapt forward with a thunderous cry, launching his massive body onto the creature's head. His axes gleamed as he vanished into the shadowed chamber.
Kael turned away and climbed the narrow alleyway leading toward the surface.
Behind him, chaos erupted… banging, crashing, screaming. And SegeFord… still roaring.
Kael ran, but his mind stayed behind.
Fear gripped him like a vice. This wasn't just a monster… it was death incarnate. Shame bloomed in his chest. But what could he have done? He was only human. *Just* human.
Miya's scream pierced the tunnel.
"**Let me go, Liam! LET ME GO, YOU FUCKER! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!**"
Liam didn't answer. He carried her over his shoulder, running. Kael saw the tears glinting on Liam's cheeks in the torchlight Terren held.
Kael's chest tightened. He felt hollow. Empty.
The tunnel darkened. Only Terren's torch remained. As they moved, Kael saw his shadow dancing ahead. It twisted and jerked unnaturally, like it wasn't his. It was as if the fear itself had cast it.
Then… something flickered in its eye.
His heart froze. But sunlight broke through the cracks ahead. They were near the entrance.
**BANG.**
The earth shook like a mountain had fallen.
Kael emerged into the narrow canyon and collapsed to his knees. The sunlight felt like air after drowning… freedom. Salvation.
Edward and Silvy were already outside. Terren, Liam, Tim, Miya… everyone made it out. But the relief didn't last.
Grief took its place.
They had left SegeFord behind.
Kael nearly vomited. His heart felt like it was breaking.
Miya screamed until her voice broke. When Liam finally set her down, she collapsed. Her eyes were empty. Dead.
Terren stood silently, trembling. Liam and Tim looked like ghosts.
There were only eight of them left: Kael, Edward, Sylvy, Miya, Terren, Liam, Tim… and grief. Everyone else had run.
Nobody could have blamed them. Who would even stay when death awaits just some feet deeper?
"What now?" Edward whispered. His voice shaking… he was afraid, just like everyone else.
Liam, cleared his throat. His voice was cracked and heavy.
"Two options," he said. "We wait here for the Captain. Or… we move. There are beasts nearby. Too many. If we stay, we might never leave. and even if we move there is no guarrenty we would make it alive without captain…. either way,, leaving is the better option."
"i am not leaving…. " Miya whispered. "He's still down there! Fighting for us! He's not dead!"
"I know, Miya", Liam said, struggling to stay calm. "I know …. But we have to think of the others. These kids… they don't deserve to die here…. Captain called us his family…. He would not favor it if one of us get hurt…."
"There's a place," Tim spoke up. "North-West to Valemire Village. A guard outpost. Two, maybe three days' walk from here according to the directions…"
Everyone felt silent… It was a hard decision. To leave the one behind who is the reason they all are alive… or to stay and wait for the One.
Both were dangerous decision.
What if they don't make it to the Guard Post? And what if One that returns from the pit is not the one they were waiting for…?
after a long pause…
"Then we head there," Liam decided.
Miya didn't argue, but her silence dripped with rage and sorrow. They began to walk.
They could feel the tremors below. SegeFord was still fighting. Somehow, he just knew. Screams still echoed faintly up the tunnels.
They walked. And as they left the stone monument behind and stepped into the jungle,
**"AAAHHHHHH!!"**
A scream.
Not a monster's.
But human's…
**SegeFord's….**
Kael stopped. His foot hung midair like a stone.
That sound… *it wasn't just pain*.
It was the sound of a man breaking. It was the roar of a man fighting Death.
It tore through the trees like lightning cracking heaven in two.
And something inside Kael splintered.
Miya collapsed with it, folding like a dying bird.
"**NO! NO!**" she shrieked, pounding her fists into the dirt. "**NOOOO!**"
Kael wanted to move. Say something.
But he just stood there, shaking.
His ears were ringing. His chest felt hollow.
Like his lungs had been left behind in that tomb.
He looked back… not toward the ruins, but in his mind.
To the way SegeFord stood tall, axes drawn.
To the words he screamed for them to run.
He had stayed behind. Alone.
*Because of them. Because they were weak. Because Kael was weak.*
Kael hadn't even thanked him.
Liam could not hold back his tears… holding Miya, trying to get her to stand.
Kael turned away. He couldn't look at Liam's tears… they were a mirror.
If he did… his own would come too.
And once they came, he wasn't sure they'd stop.
They walked.
Through tangled roots, wet leaves, the swarming breath of the jungle.
No one spoke. No one dared to.
Every now and then someone would sob… a short, broken sound, like something leaking from a cracked pot.
No one comforted them. They just kept walking.
The jungle air clung to their skin, to their breath, to their grief.
The heat didn't matter. The rot didn't matter.
*Nothing mattered.*
Kael kept thinking… what if they have stayed?
What if they all had?
The guilt clawed up his throat. He tasted bile.
Swallowed it.
Walked faster.
But it was strange… There was no beast… not even one to be seen.
Night came.
They didn't sleep.
They sat around a weak fire Tim managed to light. It flickered… *the only pulse they had left.*
Miya stared into it like it was a funeral pyre.
Liam hadn't spoken since sunset.
Kael sat on a flat stone, head in his hands.
His fingers trembled, rubbing at blood that wasn't there anymore.
Only the memory remained.
Of the ruins. The metallic stench. The Howler. The beast running towards them and Segeford jumping on that thing's head… Gleaming eyes in mild torch light …. so many….
maybe it was just his imagination… or that thing was not from this world.
He wanted to scream.
But Could not.
Because this silence… it felt dead.
Like the jungle itself was mourning with them.
On second day,
Sylvy collapsed before noon. Edward carried her without a word.
Liam looked like a corpse walking… bags under his eyes, mouth hard, shoulders trembling.
Even Miya, loudest in her grief, was quiet now. Her steps were light. Dreamlike.
Kael once caught her mouthing something. A prayer? A memory?
He didn't ask.
He knew the same thing was happening in his own mind.
He kept seeing SegeFord. Standing alone in the dark.
The flick of his axe.
The smile he gave when they were at the inn.
The way he barked orders but always made sure they ate.
Gone.
Maybe.
*No… not saying it.*
The second night was colder. Or maybe that was just Kael.
They lit a fire, but no one sat close.
They all sat on the edge of the light.
Close enough for warmth.
Not close enough to feel like a group.
Liam tried to speak.
"Sege…" he began.
But Miya stood up and walked away.
He stopped.
And they all understood.
They weren't ready.
Not yet.
On the third day, almost at the evening…
A bird chirped. A place filled with beast was so quite for last three days that it felt unreal.
Kael stopped mid-step. Turned.
That single, stupid chirp made his knees shake.
*Life.*
There was life.
Tears welled in his eyes and spilled over.
Because of that sound… bright and stupid and beautiful… he knew they were close.
Somewhere beyond the trees, people were alive. Laughing. Living. Unaware.
"…**Firelight,**" Tim whispered.
Kael turned.
In the distance, past thinning trees, orange flames flickered.
**Voices.**
"**Guards,**" Liam said. "It's the outpost."
Miya didn't react. She walked, but her soul wasn't with her.
Two armored figures stepped forward, blades drawn.
"Who goes there?" one called.
"**Adventurers… lost,**" Liam rasped.
And with that… they fell.
Literally.
Sylvy stumbled.
Miya dropped to her knees.
Even Liam staggered, collapsing to the dirt.
Kael didn't feel himself fall.
One moment, he was standing.
The next, staring at the sky.
And he realized… the color was beautiful.
So red. So yellow. So vast.
but he felt… *guilty* for seeing it.