Cautiously we climbed the final few stairs to the surface. My chest tightened as I surveyed the surroundings, the city was absolutely wrecked. Especially the immediate surroundings, but noticeably there was a path of destruction. I looked in its direction, so that way is the cesspool of living shit. Noted. Several buildings had fully toppled over, and the rubble had broken up into smaller pieces with scrape marks marring their surfaces.

“Let’s get out of here. We’re going home.” I muttered quietly to Aureus who was standing at my side at full attention.

“So you did end up leaving after all huh?” Tali’s soft voice came from my left.

I whipped around towards her gripping my new daggers in both hands. “Yeah… so did you.”

“Ah, yes that’s true. I couldn’t just abandon the world I was raised in.” She said with a shy smile. My skin prickled, she was behaving the exact same way she always had. It was as if she’d never run off and blown up an entire section of camp, but beneath the surface I could see a sliver of insanity in her eyes.

“Okay, as nice as it was to see you again, I'll be heading out now. I’ve got a prior engagement.” I sneered.

“How unfortunate. We’d only just started talking, and poor Theo hasn’t even had a chance to say ‘hi’ yet and you’re already heading out. We really wanted to catch up with you ya know?”

“I think he’ll be fine. I’m not really interested in hanging out with my ex who also turns out to be a nazi.” I spat. I had no idea if they were with that group we had run into, but it didn’t hurt to throw it out and see how she reacted.

Tali’s poker face cracked for a fleeting moment before smoothing into a gentle frown, “Don’t lump all of us in with that man. He’s useful, like a dog. That’s all, we don’t share his delusions. He really only had a few followers and you killed them– really I wanted to thank you myself. We really could use your help, you’re quite skilled and we’re trying to rebuild our home. Not like those people down there, what they're doing looks nice on the outside but they’ve abandoned Earth. We might embrace the necessary evils, but our cause is noble.” She motioned behind herself as if I should follow her. She felt inhuman, an exquisite mask hiding something… wrong.

I wasn’t sure what to respond with at first, ‘good for you that you aren’t the shittiest person?’ ‘you’re welcome?’ ‘how does living on the surface make you better than them?’ I shook my head, I just wanted to leave. “It wasn’t a pleasure. I hope we don’t cross paths again.”

She never responded again, she just stared at me with a small smile. Her gentle appearance was unnerving. Creepy bitch… I thought to myself as we flew away.

Why didn’t you fight her?

I… I mean I’ve killed someone once, but I’m still struggling with that. Even if they deserve it, it’s hard to do.

I could’ve fought her.

No, it still feels wrong if you were to do it. Plus there’s no telling if that was some kind of trap or if there were others around that might have ambushed us.

I mulled over the interaction as we flew away from the city. An uncomfortable heavy feeling came over me, I couldn’t quite place it. I tried to make sense of why she would sabotage us in the first place and why she was there waiting for me just to have a casual conversation. Was it just to see if I actually decided to leave? How long had it been for her? The whole time dilation thing was always confusing. I groaned and laid forwards onto the back of Aureus’ neck. There’s no point in considering the actions of some crazy assholes.

[ “Traveling Spring Painter” praises you for not taking lives recklessly. ]

[ “Seeker of Magic and Knowledge” stows one notebook and retrieves another. ]

[ “Whispering Playwright behind a Mask” complains that it took you too long to leave and says you should’ve hurried. ]

[ “Seeker of Magic and Knowledge” jots something down in his newly retrieved notebook. ]

[ “Abandoned Bloodied Sword” states that close bonds with those you share a battlefield with is important. ]

[ “Whispering Playwright behind a Mask” scoffs saying that those humans follow you around like a puppy already. ]

[ “Reflection of an Empty Throne” asks what an extra hour or two would do anyway. ]

[ “Traveling Spring Painter” frowns and says that you’ll get there when you get there. ]

[ “Whispering Playwright behind a Mask” shrugs and says that the consequences of the decisions that were made have nothing to do with them and reminds you that they wanted you to leave sooner. ]

[ “Traveling Spring Painter” yells that you basically didn’t have a choice. ]

“Is there something I needed to rush back for?” I asked as I read through the messages. The Playwright seemed desperate to have me head back quickly for a while, but I’d just assumed he was trying to mess with me.

[ “Playful Cat Hates Yarn” laughs and states that an extra hour or two might have made all the difference. Then shrugs stating that we’d never know now. ]

[ “Seeker of Magic and Knowledge” disagrees and argues that the length of the trip back would take too long for it to matter much. ]

“Why? What am I going to miss out on if I don’t get there in time? Is there someone y’all want me to help? Because of the wave?” I was confused. Even more so because the Playwright was the only one that was pushing me to go back until right that moment. Their contractor maybe?

I waited for more messages but they got quiet again, the chat became filled with miscellaneous messages from gods I vaguely recognized about random topics like my abilities, how cute Aureus was, my new haircut, various things like that.

“Is… is everything going to be destroyed?” I wondered aloud a sinking feeling slowly gathering in my chest.

I finally got my answer an hour later when I got to the outskirts of our small town. It was worse than the city, there were a handful of buildings that were still standing, but almost everything had been reduced to rubble. Shock punched me in the gut, I needed to get to my house. My desperation and Aureus’ worry churned in my stomach as we flew out of town as fast as he could.

I scanned the horizon as we got closer, and finally I saw it. What remained of my home. My heart dropped, Aureus slowed and eventually landed in front of what was his birthplace. Numbly I slid down from his back and took a few staggering steps down the driveway. It was completely gone. My skin prickled and I was hit with a deep chill. Tears began falling and I ran towards my home, falling to my knees and combing through the chunks of drywall, wood, and glass.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“I have to find mom… somewhere, she has to be under here somewhere.” I scraped at the rubble frantically. My thoughts raced incomplete and incoherent as I panicked. Dirt and debris piled up under my nails as I desperately and mindlessly dug towards the center of her room. A small hand lightly rested on my shoulder and I froze.

“Let me do it.” Aureus asked earnestly. His gaze was unwavering, but his quivering lip and the tracks of tears on his face undermined the serious front he was putting on.

“O-okay…” I slowly sat back on my heels and began to zone out as the wind whistled. An empty dull ache seeped into me and at some point the tears stopped. My once frantic thoughts were gone. There was nothing. My mind was empty and I just sat there staring unfocused at my lap while Aureus sorted through the contents of my home.

My perception of time slipped away and eventually Aureus came and sat next to me, he grabbed my hand but didn’t say anything. We sat there like that for a while, neither of us speaking. Finally I mustered up the courage and walked over the piles of debris he’d created and looked at the wrecked contents of my mom’s room. The broken mirror that used to be part of her vanity crunched under my flats as I approached the splintering furniture.

I was carefully scanning everything, and finally, I found the broken remnants of her urn. It laid to the left of the vanity between it and the bed. It was hard to tell what was dirt and what were her ashes among everything else. The bottom of it was still sort of intact, but the majority of the urn had shattered. I picked up the pieces with shaking hands. There was still a very small amount of ashes that had remained in the bottom of the urn. At least some of her... I can’t get the rest back but I have some of her. I thought as I gripped the piece I was holding.

“They knew.” I muttered as I set it down safely to the side. I took a shaky breath, “You knew! And you never told me?!” I shrieked at the sky. Rage overcame me, I screamed. “FUCK YOU!” There was so much more I wanted to say. I wanted to curse them for everything, I wanted to punch them. I couldn’t do anything to gods, they wouldn’t even care. Why would they care about a little disposable mortal like me? I pushed my bangs back and out of my face as I began hyperventilating. I sat down in the middle of what used to be my childhood home and tried to breathe and reign in my emotions.

I stared at my white knuckled fists as I sat, and once I my breathing steadied I started to open the GGC but hesitated. “Aureus, let’s go kill something.”

“Are you sure?” He asked meekly.

“Yeah… well I gotta find something to put this in…” I muttered as I pushed through broken furniture looking for some kind of container.

[“Whispering Playwright behind a Mask” has sponsored you.]

A small vial materialized before me, it was a dark blue similar to their chat messages. I grimaced but used it as they intended and placed the ashes I had left into my inventory.

Something else, maybe I can’t get all of her ashes back but there has to be something left of our life. A picture, some of her paintings, something. Something has to be salvageable here.

We aren’t going to fight?

Not yet…

We spent the next hour combing through the remnants of our house. The only piece of her that I was able to salvage was an old ring and a tattered picture from my fifth grade graduation. All of my paintings, all of hers, everything was destroyed. Everything I’d ever known was in that house. All of our memories from when I was born to now. It was just gone.

Finally we left and started the trek towards the Underhollow entrance. My rage still bubbled as I stepped onto the path the monsters had taken. My foot sank with every step, all of the plants in the vicinity had been ripped up and only mud remained. It must have rained at some point when I was gone. I stopped, “Aureus walking is dumb right? Let’s fly.”

“But I just turned into this form…” He whined.

“You can just fly on your own and use wind to take me with you, right?”

“Oh yeah...” He gave me a small smile and gently lifted me along with him. We slowly accelerated and I stared down at the passing scenery. The dense forest on the mountain was completely destroyed. It looked like a tornado went through. I glanced over my shoulder at the trail of destruction they’d created, soon enough if the people they were after didn’t die maybe those people would follow it back here. Great. Just great. Everything is going great. Yup.

We could just kill them Master.

I groaned. No, I don’t want to kill them.

But you don’t want them in our Underhollow?

Yes, I don’t want people to come here.

Then we should kill them. They might be bad too, they might try to kill us. I don’t trust them.

I didn’t reply, I wasn’t really on board with cold blooded murder, but I couldn’t trust people I didn’t know. Even people I knew before all this, how could I trust them? They easily could’ve changed since everything went to shit. People change when they get power or when shit hits the fan and we were in the perfect storm for something like that. But… killing them? I shuddered at the thought and pushed down the unsavory memory of the man we’d killed.

It was easy not to think about him, not to remember him, but only when I was busy. Busy with keeping those that mattered to me alive, busy with restructuring the camp, busy with defending against the wave. I had been so busy I’d nearly forgotten. If it weren’t for the nightmares I’m sure I would’ve. My mind lurched between the guilt of forgetting about the first person I’d killed and relief that I could forget even if it was just a little while. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t thought about him until then, I pondered over whether or not I was a shitty person.

He was a bad man. A murderer. I defended myself. He deserved it. I told myself.

He almost killed you Master. Of course he deserved to die.

I glanced over to Aureus who was gliding through the sky next to me, yes. I just did what I had to. I tried to smile despite the surges of complicated emotions that I couldn’t really place.

We flew in silence as my mind went numb and finally landed on the newly barren entrance to the Underhollow.

“Damn, it was ethereal last time, but now everything else is torn up but the entrance so it’s a little creepy.” I glanced over at Aureus who was folding his wings against his back.

He glanced from the door to me and back, “I dunno, I think it looks inviting, I wanna go down and fight.” he replied with a small shrug.

I responded with a weak chuckle and followed behind him as we descended into our first hunting ground. All I could think about on the way down was, there is no way that our potatoes are still alright. And I was right… mostly. As I stepped down onto the relief at the bottom of the steps and looked out into what used to be a serene and beautiful fantasy-land I was shocked despite myself.

“I should’ve known it was gonna look like shit.” I muttered as I looked over the hills.

There was an obvious path that the majority of the monsters must have taken to exit the area, the center of the land in front of me was scraped up and barren like the land near my home. The rivers and hills to my left where the slimes resided was mostly intact though. The forest wasn’t quite intact, but it at least still sort of stood. Several trees had been felled, but overall it wasn’t as torn up as the plains.

I glanced over to the wall next to us, there were a handful of dead rabbits on top of where the garden should be. I threw them aside and dug into the wet dirt where I’d planted the potatoes all those weeks prior. Thankfully there were a handful of potatoes that had made it through the destruction. I assumed they were saved due to the sacrifice of those horned rabbits that now laid to my right, well some of them did and a couple had taken up residence in Aureus’ stomach. After I dug them up I was able to slice off a few of the budding portions and replant them. The rest I stowed away.

“Alright, let’s go kill whatever is left around here I guess…” I said with a shrug.

“Sounds good!” Aureus replied with a grin. Every time I saw his smile I was taken aback. I knew he was a dragon, but a human with sharp fangs like that was a little unsettling. Well, he wasn’t really human– he was obviously not human, but still.

“Can you do a quick survey to find something? I don’t really want to walk aimlessly.” I asked as I started fussing with the garden.

“Sure. I’ll let you know when I’ve found something.” He replied chipperly and took off.

I fussed with the ground around our makeshift garden, tidying it up and creating a crude little bone fence. Keeping my hands busy was the only way I could keep things out of my head. And creating something even slightly home-y-er made me feel at least a little bit better. I hung a few rat skulls on various ‘posts’ of the fence. I surveyed my inventory looking for something to create a sign out of. We couldn’t have any random people coming along and messing up our stuff again.

Just as I was running out of finishing touches to put on a rather macabre potato garden Aureus asked, Master… There aren’t any monsters here. Are they all gone? What are we supposed to do here?