"RUUUUNNN!" SegeFord roared.
My heart slammed against my chest. A primal terror gripped me flee or die. I didn't think. My legs moved on their own, so fast I nearly fell. The torch flew from my hand as I stumbled, catching myself just in time but I never stopped.
Even the seasoned warriors known for their calm under pressure, were already running at SegeFord's command.
"SegeFord!" Miya screamed.
"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.
I didn't look back. I couldn't. We were almost to the chamber entrance. Edward had his arm around Sylvy, half-dragging her. The guards had already retreated through the valley, heading outside. Only Terren, Miya, and two other Ashborns remained behind.
"I said FLEE, goddammit!" SegeFord roared again.
The ground began to tremble. The sound of something massive slamming closer echoed down the ruined halls. The being… the fucking Howler… was chasing.
"We can handle it together!" Miya shouted.
"Don't be absurd, Miya!" SegeFord snapped. Panic was seeping into his voice. "Liam! Do your damn job!"
One of the Ashborns, Liam, grabbed Miya's arm and started running, dragging her with him. He understood. No more arguing. The rest followed. But it was too late. That thing was already upon them.
SegeFord leapt with a battle cry, hurling his massive body onto the Howler's head. His axes gleamed as he disappeared into the shadows.
I turned away and climbed the narrow alleyway toward the surface.
Behind me, the chamber descended into chaos. I could hear it banging, crashing, screaming. And SegeFord. Roaring.
I ran, but my mind stayed behind.
Fear gripped me like a vice. This wasn't just a monster. It was death incarnate. I felt ashamed. But what the hell could I have done? I was 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 just held her over his shoulder and ran. I could see tears glinting on his cheeks in the torchlight Terren carried.
My chest tightened. I felt… hollow. Empty.
What was the point of all this? We weren't enemies. We were just searching. We weren't close but we weren't strangers either. Then why? Why?
The tunnel darkened. We only had one torch Terren's. As we moved, I saw my shadow dancing ahead. It twisted and jerked unnaturally, like it wasn't mine. Like fear itself had cast it.
Then… something flickered in its eye.
I froze. But the sunlight broke through the cracks ahead. We were near the entrance.
BANG.
The earth shook like a mountain crashed behind us.
Outside the narrow passage now, I collapsed on my knees. The sunlight felt like air after drowning. Freedom. Salvation.
Edward and Sylvy had already emerged. Terren, Liam, Tim, Miya all of us made it out. But the relief didn't last.
Grief took its place.
We had left SegeFord behind.
I almost vomited. My heart felt like it was dying.
Miya screamed until her voice broke. When Liam finally let her go, she collapsed. Her eyes were empty.
Terren stood silently, trembling. Liam and Tim looked like ghosts.
There were only eight of us left: Me, Edward, Sylvy, Miya, Terren, Liam, Tim… and grief. Everyone else had run.
I couldn't blame them. Who wouldn't?
"What now?" Edward whispered.
Liam, SegeFord's second-in-command, cleared his throat, voice cracked and heavy.
"Two options," he said. "We wait here for the Captain. Or... we move. There are beasts around. Too many. If we stay, we might never leave."
"Shut the hell up, Liam!" Miya barked. "He's still down there! Fighting for us! He's not dead!"
"I know," Liam said, struggling to stay calm. "I know how much he means to you. But we have to think of the others. These kids… they don't deserve to die here. Please, Miya."
"There's a place," Tim spoke up. "Near Valemire Village. A guard outpost. Two, maybe three days' walk."
"Then we head there," Liam decided.
Miya didn't argue, but her silence was filled with rage and sorrow. We began to walk.
I could feel the tremors below. SegeFord was still fighting. Somehow, I knew. Screams still echoed faintly up the tunnels.
We began walking. And as we left the stone monument behind and stepped into the jungle,
I heard it—
"AAAHHHHHH!!"
A scream.
Not a monster's.
SegeFord's.
I stopped. My foot hung midair like a stone.
That sound—it wasn't just pain.
It was the sound of a man breaking.
It tore through the trees like lightning cracking through heaven. It splintered something inside me.
Miya collapsed with it, folding like a dying bird.
"NO! NO!" she shrieked, pounding her fists into the dirt. "NOOOO!"
I wanted to move. To say something.
But I just stood there, staring into the jungle ahead, shaking.
My ears were ringing. My chest felt… empty.
Like my lungs had vanished.
Like I'd left them behind in that tomb.
I looked back. Not toward the ruins, no, I couldn't do that.
I looked back in my mind.
To the way SegeFord stood tall with his axes drawn.
To the words he screamed for us to run.
He stayed behind. Alone.
Because of us.
I didn't even thank him.
Liam was crying again, holding Miya, trying to get her to stand.
I turned away his tears were a mirror I couldn't look into.
Because if I did, mine would come too.
And once they did, I wasn't sure they'd stop.
We walked.
Through tangled roots, wet leaves, the swarming breath of the jungle.
We didn't talk. We didn't dare to.
Every now and then someone would sob a short, broken sound like something leaking from a cracked pot.
We didn't comfort them. We just kept walking.
The jungle air was thick, almost syrupy. It clung to our skin, to our breath, to our grief.
The heat didn't matter. The stench of rot didn't matter.
Nothing mattered.
I kept thinking—What if I had gone back?
What if we'd all fought beside him? What if we'd just waited one more minute?
And then the guilt would claw its way up my throat.
I'd taste bile.
I'd swallow it down.
And walk faster.
The night came.
We didn't sleep.
We sat around a weak fire Terren managed to light, it flickered the only pulse we had left.
Miya stared into it like she was watching a funeral pyre.
Liam hasn't spoken since sunset.
I found a flat stone, sat down, and put my head in my hands.
My fingers were trembling.
I kept rubbing the blood off them, though there was none left. Just the memory of it.
The feeling of that ruins the chill, the cries, the metallic stench of that thing the Howler still clung to my skin.
I wanted to scream.
But I didn't want to disturb the silence.
Because this silence…
It felt sacred.
Like the jungle itself was mourning with us.
Day two.
Sylvy collapsed halfway through the morning.
Edward picked her up without a word.
Liam looked like a corpse walking bags under his eyes, mouth set in a hard line, but shoulders trembling like leaves.
Even Miya, who had been the loudest in her grief, was quiet now. Her steps were light, aimless, like she was dreaming.
Once, I caught her mouthing something to herself. A prayer? A memory?
I didn't ask.
Because I knew the same thing was happening in my own head.
I kept seeing SegeFord standing alone in the dark.
That flick of his axe.
That stupid smile he gave me once when I tripped in training.
The way he barked commands, but always made sure we had lunch.
Gone.
Maybe.
No I won't say it.
The second night was colder.
Or maybe that was just me.
We had fire again, but no one wanted to sit close.
We all sat on the edge of the light.
Just far enough to stay warm, but not close enough to feel like we were together.
Liam tried to speak.
"Sege..." he began.
But Miya stood up and walked away.
He stopped.
And I understood.
We weren't ready.
Not yet.
The third day, almost at the evening.
A bird chirped.
I stopped mid-step and turned my head.
That single, stupid chirp made my knees shake.
Life.
There was life.
Tears welled in my eyes and spilled over.
Because of that sound, bright and stupid and beautiful meant we were close.
Somewhere, far beyond these trees, people were alive. Laughing. Living. Unaware.
"...Firelight," Tim whispered.
I turned.
In the distance, past a thinning of trees, orange flames flickered.
Voices.
"Guards," Liam said. "It's the outpost."
Miya didn't react.
She was walking, but her soul wasn't.
Two armored figures stepped forward, blades drawn.
"Who goes there?" one called.
"Adventurers… lost," Liam rasped.
And with that… we fell.
Literally.
Sylvy lost her balance.
Miya dropped to her knees.
Even Liam staggered, falling to the dirt with a hollow thud.
I didn't feel myself fall.
One moment I was standing. Next, I was staring up at the sky.
And I realized the color was beautiful.
So red and yellow. So vast.
Why did I feel guilty for seeing it?