Cora was fading quickly. Her head throbbed with pain. Her friends nervous cries echoed through the darkness. She forced herself to stand. 

An awful smell entered her nose which made her gag. She shined her flashlight around the cave looking for where it was coming from. Cora almost screamed. Right in front of her stood a rotten corpse. She tried her hardest to calm herself down. She took a step closer. The corpse was wearing the royal crest on it's sleeve. It had a bejeweled sword tucked away in in it's sheath. Cora grabbed it even though she had promised herself she would never steal a sword again. The darkness made it difficult to see but, the sword looked extremely expensive. 

The sound of angry growls echoed throughout the cave. Her head spun around and around. She leaned up against the frozen wall to try to gain stability. She wandered through to lonely caverns. She tried to follow the sounds but they were difficult to hear over the ringing in her ears.

Several pairs of glowing eyes surrounded her. She blinked rapidly to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.

They bared their teeth and jump towards her. She tried to defend herself. For some reason her sword felt much heavier.

One of them knocked the flashlight out of her hand. It became lost in the black. She couldn't see anything. She slashed through darkness hoping to hit something but she didn't. She tried to run away but she slipped and fell on the ice.

The sound of claws scraping against the ice rapidly approached her. She tried as hard as she could to get up. Blood poured out of her nose and mouth. Her muscles ached. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't stand. This is how it ends. 

The pack was getting closer and closer then they stopped. Why did they stop? Someone stood in front of her.

"Stay back Coraline." He had no weapon but he was ready to defend her with his life.

"Ray, take this," she handed him the stolen sword.

He took it from her hand. "Thank you."

One Tibicena jumped out of nowhere and bit Ray's leg. It cracked its teeth on the metal which gave Ray enough time to put a collar on.

She faded in and out of consciousness. She heard several sounds that she couldn't distinguish.

"Don't worry Cora we've got this." Was that Val?

 Various voices mixed with the sounds of swords clashing and angry howls bounced off the walls. Her friends had come to her aid.  She wanted to fight beside them so badly. She tried to see the fight, but it was too dark. 

A pair of yellow eyes stared down at the commotion. He quite enjoyed the sight of bloodshed. From the look of it he appeared to be winning. The girl would break eventually. Once the Blood King was dead he could finally sleep at night knowing justice has been served. Tibicenas surrounded the group. It really was a shame so many people needed to die but the ends justified the means.

Violent barks came from every direction. Cora finally managed to stand but her bones ached. There was about thirty of them. There was no way they could take them all on. Cora scoured the cave looking for anything that could get them out of this situation. The icicles!

"Val hit the icicles!" Cora cried out.

Val threw a shock grenade at the icicles. The impact was enough to send them raining down. 

One slammed Cora in the head causing her to once again lose consciousness.

She woke up in the doctor's hut with her head wrapped in bandages. 

Ray sat fast asleep in a chair in the corner of the room. His right arm was tightly bandaged and his face was covered with scratches. His metal leg had been ripped to shreds. Her heart broke. She was barely any help during the fight. She couldn't even protect Ray. Maybe she wasn't cut out for this.

The doctor entered the room and her puppy scampered behind her. She grinned when she realized Cora was awake. "You know, he stayed with you all night." She pointed to Ray. "He refused to leave your side."

Cora sat up. Her head ached.

"You've got a pretty bad concussion. It'll most likely take you a couple weeks to recover." 

"How's everyone else?" 

"They've only got a few scratches. They went to go claim the reward money."

Reward money? "We completed the mission?" 

"Thanks to you. Your friends told me all about it. The impact held off the Tibicenas long enough for them to be given the antidote.

"But, I barely did anything.

"You made the most of your surroundings and used your instincts. I'd say you did a fine job."

Cora still had doubts but she felt reassured knowing that they had won the battle. 

About half an hour later a carriage arrived to bring them down the mountain. Cora hadn't been outside since they invaded the Tibicenas' den. The sun shined brightly causing the icicles to drip. Warm weather was rare on Mt. Nevado, so it was always welcomed. 

She was not going to miss trudging through the wet snow. Ray followed behind her on crutches. He was surprisingly fast considering how deep the snow was. 

Val and Zyler were packing their things into the carriage. Scarlet was saying goodbye to the Tibicenas. She hugged one tightly and whispered something in it's ear. it licked her face in return. The connection between them was so strong even Cora could feel it. She could see how much it hurt Scarlet to say goodbye even though she had barely known them.

They all piled into the carriage and it began the journey down the mountain.

"I can't believe we actually won!" Zyler exclaimed. He was right this was all way too easy. "We were like the Avengers!"

 Ray placed a hand on his chin "I'm not familiar with that guild, but they must be extremely powerful if you praise them so highly." 

 "Is he serious?" Zyler questioned.

Cora didn't respond. The book in her hands had left her completely speechless. On this page there was a painting of the Blood King standing with a woman in a long black dress there was a look of despair in her light green eyes. Her sand colored hair was styled into intricate braids and she wore a tiara on top of her head. She looked like a queen. This must be Lily. She felt a pang of jealousy seeing Ray with another woman even though there was no feelings between them. That was not what left her speechless behind them stood a familiar shadow. The next page was covered with photographs some of them were in color and some of them were in black and white all of them had drastically different dates in the corner ranging from 1895 to 2018 but they all had one thing in common they all included a dark figure with glowing yellow eyes. 

Her head spun. How was this possible? Stared at the pictures looking for some sort of clue that could help her but her efforts were fruitless and she eventually fell asleep.

The next few weeks flew by. Cora had missed a lot of training while she was recovering from her concussion so she had a lot of work to make up for. After all these weeks she still didn't have a single guild request. Ray assured her that one day a guild would be interested in her.

Tonight her parents were going out on a date so she invited her friends over to watch a movie. After much debate they decided on Captain America. 

Shortly after Cora and Ray had finished getting ready, there was a knock on the door. Cora felt a twinge of anxiety in her stomach though she couldn't fathom why. She slowly opened the door and Val, Zyler and Scarlet stood outside. She let out a long sigh of relief.

"Are you going to let us in or are supposed to stand here all night?" Val asked.

"Sorry! I was afraid you were someone else." Cora said awkwardly as she let them in.

"Wow, I didn't think you were afraid of anything, Cora!" Zyler said. 

Cora laughed awkwardly and tried to change the subject. "Where's Dimitri tonight?"

"He's with the guild. It's all he ever does anymore." Scarlet rolled her eyes but you could see a hint of sadness in her face.

Cora had hardly seen Dimitri since she returned from Mt. Nevado. They were both so busy now. "I'm really glad you came, Scarlet."

A small smile crept across her lips. 

Val sat a large box on the table.

"What's that?" Cora asked.

"It's a little gift Zyler and I put together for Ray," she replied.

"What is the occasion?" Ray asked admiring the box. 

"We felt bad about your leg," Zyler said gesturing to the void where Ray's right leg should be.

"Don't worry, it was extremely uncomfortable." Ray said.

"That's why we made you this." Val opened the box revealing a sleek black prosthetic. "It's only a prototype but it should help you move a lot easier and feel more comfortable."

His eyes lit up. "Thank you. Very few people have been this kind to me."

"It sounds like you need better friends." Zyler interjected.

The group settled in and watched the movie. About halfway through the movie a loud noise sounded from the kitchen. Cora got up to go see what could have made it but she couldn't find anything so she sat back down.

A shadow materialized out of the darkness. "I've come for the Blood King!"

Ray stood up and pulled out his sword. "It appears you've found him."