“No!” Zalan screamed as the lightning blasted into the floor where Fran stood. The entire room shook powerfully as the thunder echoed through the room. When the attack was finally over, Fran’s body lay blackened and inert on the floor, her sword remaining where it was in the ground.
Fran was dead.
Hatewing let out a full, deep, prolonged roar of victory at finally vanquishing the most annoying of its intruders. It raised its head high, crying to the heavens about its vicious kill and how powerful a creature it was. The Roaches raced around the room, too dim to realize that the roar was not directed toward them.
Zalan stared in shock, barely able to breathe. It was too much for him. Someone was dead. She died trying to protect him. She was a good person and she died. Good people weren’t supposed to die like this. Not so young. There was so much time. Zalan felt like he should have done something different before she died. Zalan’s heart felt worse than the rest of his body, even as he was still pinned by the dragon’s claw. An odd string of words came so clear in his mind.
He should have been there for her.
Gorb let out a visceral, guttural cry of anguish, trying to throw things at Hatewing in his rage, but too weak to get anything thrown far enough. Hot tears blinded him. Nothing he screamed was intelligible. He pounded the pile of gold, lamenting his sister and becoming otherwise catatonic at the witnessing of her body.
Zalan looked up to the others and saw Yelsa laying her back against the pile of gold closest to the frozen door to the chamber, crying. She had the most energy of them all, but looked as though she had completely given up. She had no idea how to proceed when Fran was dead and had no ideas as to how they would escape.
Rep was staring intently at Zalan, full of remorse.
“I am sorry, Zalan. I never should have brought you here,” Rep said from under the statue.
Zalan remembered that Rep said the same thing when he was getting his Elemental power.
“I asked for this,” Zalan said. “I never should have decided to come here. I should have taken you seriously.”
“You misunderstand. I never should have brought you here,” Rep said with added emphasis. Zalan didn’t have the brain capacity to understand right now. Fran was still so close to him. Gone. Dead.
Hatewing’s wings began beating up and down powerfully. For a hopeful moment, Zalan thought the dragon had decided to fly off after killing Fran. But instead it was doing a sort of victory dance by sending hundreds of gold pieces and treasures at the remaining survivors. Gorb was struck mercilessly by small gold coins, and Rep was able to use the air to free himself from under the statue of Docrun, crawling away before it tilted back over. The wind subsided.
Rep tried to pull himself to his feet, but he was far too tired to carry his weight. Instead he began to crawl using one arm and two legs, making painfully slow progress, grunting with every inch of movement.
“I am coming, Zalan,” Rep said through grit teeth.
“The Homeseeker!” Zalan said desperately. “Get the Homeseeker and save yourself!”
Rep looked to the Artifact, further shoved into a mountain of gold after the dragon’s most recent attack, then looked back to Zalan.
“I will retrieve it and throw it to you. Best that one of us survives,” Rep said apologetically.
“I’m not leaving without you!” Zalan protested.
Rep pulled himself another foot forward.
“I will activate it and throw it to you. You either will have to touch it and be sent away or not touch it and allow the Artifact to leave us all without anyone benefiting. Who knows where it will go if not touched when active,” Rep said simply.
“That’s not fair!” Zalan said.
“None of this is,” Rep agreed.
Rep suppressed a tortured sob as he pulled himself forward by his good arm. Sweat was pooling on his forehead and he scrunched his face, trying to concentrate on moving forward. Zalan could do nothing but watch, incapable of the simplest movement to try and assist. Worse yet, pain kept dancing through his body as Hatewing continued to aimlessly complete its celebration above him. The claw was ruthless, either tearing a hole into his arm or getting close to pulling it all the way off. The pain signals he got from the arm seemed to indicate both. It was all too much.
Rep’s advancement was far too slow. It would take him a whole of two minutes to get across the room to the Homeseeker. It could take even longer to get the Artifact to Zalan, as Zalan was pretty sure that Rep’s arms would be in too much pain for him to make a decent throw.
Zalan agonized ambivalently over the decision of whether he would even claim the Homeseeker if Rep threw it at him. What would it mean to go back home if he left these people behind? He would leave them all to die, just to go back into his own world and remember the nightmare of this world for the rest of his days? Another consideration hit him then: What if he didn’t remember this place at all when he got home? He had the most incredible experiences of highs and lows in this world. Would it all be lost on return? He didn’t want to think about it, but he had to when considering if he would go home.
The alternative came to mind. If he didn’t use the Homeseeker, he would die. He would never get to visit Mom. He would never be able to try and make things better in his own world. Clean up his home—his life—and make his mother proud. The choice was clear. He had to use the Homeseeker. He had to go home.
Hatewing had stopped its gloating and refocused on the remaining adventurers. It noticed Rep crawling slowly and decided that he would be its next target. Zalan watched helplessly as Hatewing’s attention turned to his injured friend. It watched Rep with slight amusement, knowing that none of its remaining enemies posed a real threat to it. No one had the energy or impulse left to attack it.
“No! No!” Gorb screamed angrily.
Zalan looked his way to see Roaches crowding around Fran’s body, inspecting it to see if they had found a free and easy meal.
“Stop them! Rep, stop them!” Gorb pleaded.
Zalan threw out a bolt of lightning and killed one. The other Roaches didn’t seem to mind the death of their comrade and inched closer to Fran, preparing to dishonor her remains.
“Yes! Thank you, Zalan. Do not allow her to be desecrated. She deserves so much better! Keep attacking!” Gorb said gratefully. He tried to throw a blast of air, but only pathetically shifted the Roaches’ antennae.
Zalan continued to throw lightning, feeling as though this was the only thing he could do in his trapped state. Roaches fell dead around Fran’s body, though Zalan didn’t relish watching them die, only fearing that he would run out of the energy necessary to keep her body protected. Hatewing peered over at Zalan, curious at seeing so many small bolts of lighting being emitted from its claw. Zalan looked up at it in fear that it would attack him. He noticed that its eye color was not spinning rapidly, instead sitting as a frozen explosion of color. It snorted, amused, having completely forgotten about the pinned human and returned its attention to Rep.
“It cycles once more,” Gorb announced gravely.
The dragon’s eyes began spinning, putting its full attention on Rep. Gorb tried to stand up and was able to get to a kneeling position, looking at Rep with guilt.
“I cannot stop it,” Gorb said to Rep.
“Stop what?” Rep asked as he dragged himself another foot forward.
He was deliberately ignoring the dragon. He knew he would die at the next blast, but he would not let it scare him to immobility. He would try to the end, just as Fran did. Roaches began to take interest in him as well and Zalan put effort in keeping them away from both Fran and Rep. He had lost count of how many he killed, but it had to be dozens at this point. They littered the floor. Rep kept moving.
“Ice,” Gorb announced the Element that Hatewing’s eyes had landed upon.
“It was getting a little hot in here,” Rep said, finally acknowledging the incoming danger.
“No! Please! No!” Zalan begged as Hatewing began breathing in powerfully. All his sincerity went into his pleas. Not Rep. He couldn’t stand to see Rep killed as well. “God, please, no!”
Rep winced as a Roach bit into his ankle, pulling him to a stop.
Zalan screamed in fear of losing another friend.
Hatewing’s inhale continued.
Zalan zapped the Roach at Rep’s foot, hoping that somehow now that he was free, he would be able to escape the attack.
Hatewing’s inbreathe stopped for a moment before emitting its icy breath of death.
“Zalan?” Rep asked.
Zalan began glowing a dim white, increasing in intensity. He didn’t even notice it happening. The only thought Zalan had was that the last shot of lightning had been too much for him and he was losing his vision. Just as Hatewing decided to exhale its deadly attack, Zalan’s body exploded in a blinding energy.
