At first, I was furious. My hands bled and my blade dulled as I tried to dig out the rubble. I kept on digging yet the rubbles didn't seem to get less. After a long time of getting no results, I looked out the window. My hopes were short-lived as I realized the window was too small for me to squeeze through it. The sound of battle outside only makes me more and more furious. Why did they attack us? What exactly did they want?

My worries only got worse as I remembered leaving Chelsea on the horse. The only thing I could do was pray and pray that nothing bad has happened to her. What about Goodwin, what about Issak, and the other mercenaries. Did they win the battle? Or is everyone dead and the only reason why I survived was because of them trapping me in my own room. Fireball was a high-level spell, which means that mage was at least a mid-level mage. The cultists that we fought at their camp were nowhere near as powerful. I looked at the dead body on the floor, the body itself took almost half the space of my room. We were fighting the weak ones at the camp, while all the stronger ones were here. 

The sun slowly went down as I sat there thinking about what happened. After a long time, the battle's sound got quiet. That worries me as I did not know the result. Did they retreat? Or were we all dead and I would die of exhaustion in this room. I held my mother's necklace in my hand, as if I was trying to keep my hopes up. I lit my half burned candle in my room as it was getting dark. I was too exhausted to keep on digging, so I sat down on my bed, frustrated. As I was sitting on my bed, I looked at myself in the mirror. My chest was filled with burns and wounds, my dark hair got messy and tangled up, and my body was sweating harder than it ever had.  The more I thought about the situation, the more anger I felt. I looked at the dead body on the floor, and did my best to hold myself back from destroying that body. I was too exhausted, my body was sweating like a waterfall, my hands drenched with blood, so I lay on my bed, and the lights faded away. 

It was still dark outside when I woke up. Did I sleep through the day or did I get barely any sleep at all, I did not know. I was thirsty and hungry, which reminded me of Chelsea as she kept all of the food and drinks. I tried to think of good outcomes to distract myself from exhaustion. Maybe they did win the battle, maybe they are on the other side of those rubbles, trying to find a way to dig me out. I yelled out for help, but nobody answered. Maybe the rubble was so thick they could not hear me, yeah, that must be it. A sense of dread came over me as I realized that the scenarios that I was thinking of are highly unlikely. I wasn't even sure that they knew I was in here, and how were they going to get me out. I got angry at myself for thinking like this, I felt like I had to do something, so I decided to keep on digging, and digging, no matter how much my hands were bleeding and how frustrated I was, I kept on digging, until the lights from my candle fade away and darkness surrounds me.

I woke up with my ears ringing. I could hear shouting on the other side of the rubbles. As my ears stopped ringing, a loud explosion rings through the air, sending rubbles flying all over my direction. 

“IVO, ARE YOU IN THERE” a voice called, from the other side of the rubbles. 

I felt like I was in heaven when I recognized that voice was Goodwin’s. I tried to yell out, but, I could not. My throat was too dry, dehydration got the better of me. I looked at my candle, and I came up with an idea. I took the candle, ripped out a piece of paper from one of my books “Zusu’s guide to unarmed fighting” and burned it. As the fire was going through the page, I held it out of the window that barely fits my half of the body, hoping that someone would notice the smoke.

“There is smoke coming out of his room!” Someone yelled out.

Another explosion happened, I made sure to stand out of the ways of the rubble this time. I could hear the sound of digging, and before long, I could see the old face of Goodwin again. 

“Drink this,” He said, as he handed me a large waterskin. 

“Thank goodness someone saw you getting knocked on your ass, or else we would never have found you here,” He said, as I drank my first drops of water in what felt like days.

I looked around the hallway, I could see dead bodies, many of ours, but most of theirs. Did we win? I thought to myself. I scanned the bodies on the floor once again, and a part of me felt relief that I did not see anyone close to me.

“Where is Issak?” I asked

“............ Follow me.” 

I truly did not want to think of the worst, but all of my hopes were shattered when we walked into the library. There was blood and bodies everywhere, and in the corner there was Issak, multiple spears pinning his body to the wall. His armor had multiple scratches and holes in them, his right clenching to his battle helmet, his left was holding his war hammer. He was fighting, until the end.

“What….happened?” I said. Trying to hold my tears in

Do not cry young man, pick up the blade, and don’t cry 

I suddenly remembered that phrase. He would always say that when I was young. When I had hit a wall in my trainings, when I struggled to get stronger, when I wished I had remembered more of my mother when I was younger. He was the closest thing I could have called a father. 

“ He was trying to protect our books, our knowledge, our history. And he succeeded, no one came into this room and left alive” 

I was in a trance. I did not know what to say. I kneeled down in front of Issak, as I looked at his face one more time. His eyes were opened, but he had a calm look on his face. It almost felt like he was relieved, perhaps he felt that way after killing all the cultists in this room. I placed my hand on his face and closed his eyes. May he rest in the gardens of Solis. I sat there in front of him for a long time, then, there were questions that I needed an answer for. 

“Why?” I asked

“A week before the night that we raided the cult, an owl came to our doors. The letter told us to come to the cult and pledge our loyalty to the Goddess Leora. Of course, we would never join any cult, so I teared up the letter” Goodwin explained.

“They must have seen us as a threat, as we were the only ones on this island that could stop them. We were also the only ones on this island that have not converted to their religion. So they attacked us, hoping to wipe us out. We killed most of them, the others ran, but many of our mercenaries died…..young ones. We never anticipated this, as we, no, I thought that we killed a majority of them in our night raid. I am sorry.” He continued

“It is not your fault, It’s theirs. What happened to Chelsea?” I asked

He looked at me in complete surprise. “I never saw her, I thought she died fighting with you on that camp”
Thoughts were running through my mind. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to Chelsea. Was she captured? Killed? I felt restless for answers/

“I must find her,” I said 

“No” Goodwin stopped me as I tried to walk away

“MOVE!” I tried to run, but Goodwin stopped me before I could

“Listen, kid, you are dehydrated, weak from hunger, and exhausted, you wouldn’t walk from here to your own room without falling on your face. Get some rest, we will send a search party for her with as many people as we can spare, but you need to rest.”
I stared at him dead in the eyes, but he was right. I felt the exhaustion everywhere on my body.

“Vesper. If she was captured, she would be where Vesper is.”

I told him about what I found in the cult leader’s tent. About the magical country of Magicae and the city of Cevine. I told him about how popular the religion is getting, and how that is most likely where the leaders are. 

“Tommorow. if you don’t find her by tomorrow, I will assume she is captured and travel there myself” I said, determined.

He looked at me dead in the eyes, and he said

“If it does come to that, I wish you good luck on your travel.”