“Well, this is surprising.” Raforin was peering over a corner, inspecting a campsite that was just ahead. Kalaman and the others waited for the result of his survey. “There are more goblins than the quest details described. Seven gobs, three hobs total. Half of them are wearing light armor.”

“Nothing we can’t handle,” Kalaman said. “Is the loot there?”

“There’s a giant chest of what seems to be valuables that one of the goblins is sleeping in. Maybe that’s it. And did you just say, ‘nothing we can’t handle’? Chief, that looks like a lot to handle for me, personally. It’s three hobs, you know?”

“Better than a dragon, to say the least,” Shultli said as she prepared her glaive.

“I’m surprised the goblins made a nest here so close to the entrance,” Emerina whispered. “You’d think they’d hide deeper in.”

“They probably don’t want to go deeper in. Maybe they’re scared?” Shultli replied.

Raforin turned to Shultli. “Makes things easier for us, though. So what’s the plan, Shully?”

The yuan-ti gently tapped his head with the wooden part of her glaive. “Do not call me Shully. Emerina, prepare your spells. Here’s the plan: We buff Kalaman to high hell. Then, You and Raforin will launch long-ranged attacks at them while they’re distracted. Finally, me and Kalaman will rush in to finish them off. You two can stay at a distance and support us.”

“Kalaman’s gonna be the vanguard again?” Emerina complained.

“He’s our strongest fighter,” Shultli said. “It’s the only chance we have. I can use the Inflict Wounds spell twice, which should be enough to take out two of the hobgoblins, so he’ll be the one to deal with the last one.”

Emerina hesitated for a bit before conceding. “Fine. Let’s just get this over with.”

Emerina and Shultli gathered around Kalaman and activated their spells.

“Aid. Bless.”

“Shield of Faith.”

Kalaman felt the mana rushing to surround his body, some of it entering him. His body tried to reject the mana, since it was a foreign object that was trying to invade, but eventually, the magic successfully entered and began empowering him. He could feel his muscles getting hotter, and his breathing stronger.

However, these spells wouldn’t last long, so they needed to act fast.

“Quickly! We need to attack!” Raforin whispered loudly at them. The three then jumped out the corner and launched their spells as fast as they could.

“Scorching Ray!”

“Aganazzar’s Scorcher!”

Three streaks of flame appeared out of Emerina’s staff and hurled towards the three hobgoblins, setting their clothes ablaze. At the same time, a line of fire burst from Raforin’s position and engulfed three of the seven goblins. Their cries and shrieks filled the cave as the goblins that were on fire writhed and rolled on the ground in an attempt to put the fires off. Two of them fell to the ground and died right then and there.

“Now!”

Kalaman and Shultli ran forward, weapons in hand, screaming as they approached. The goblins, still confused as to what was happening, couldn’t dodge or block. He swung as hard as he could at one of the goblins that didn’t get hit by the spells, completely decapitating it. Then, as fast as he could, he turned around and swung the blade downwards at one of the burning goblins, splitting its skull in half. Pieces of steaming brain bits clung to his longsword as he pulled it out.

At the same time, Shultli ran towards one of the hobgoblins. “Inflict Wounds!” she chanted, then kicked it in its stomach. Instantly, a massive wound appeared where she kicked it, its blood dying her leg red. She turned and swung her glaive at the creature’s neck, slicing it open easily while it was distracted from its other wound. The hobgoblin fell down in a pool of its own blood.

While Kalaman was distracted from that, he felt something stab his backside. One of the goblins had regained its composure and thrust its shortsword into Kalaman’s back.

“Sacred Flame!”

Emerina’s voice was loud and clear. White flame appeared above the goblin and descended, devouring the creature whole. As it screamed, Kalaman turned and swung at him, endings its life.

Now it was left to two goblins and two hobgoblins. The goblins were small fry, but the hobgoblins were dangerous.

The two hobs already put out the flames, and were ready to fight. One of them swung at Shultli.

“Inflict Wou—!”

Before she could finish her spell, the hobgoblin’s club slammed into her side and sent her flying to the wall. She looked alive, but she couldn’t get herself back up. It seemed like her shoulder got dislocated.

“Shit...! Emer! Go treat Shultli! I’ll draw their attention!” Kalaman shouted. “Raforin, back me up!”

“Aganazzar’s Scorcher!”

The half-elf wasted no time and launched his spell again. The spell managed to scathe one the hobgoblins, distracting it for a moment. But the other was able to escape the spell’s range in time, and raised its club over Kalaman’s head and swung down.

Kalaman stepped to the side, the club just barely missing him as it sunk into the ground, pieces of earth flying upwards. Not wasting his chance, he swung at the hobgoblin’s shoulder. He didn’t feel much impact from the cut.

“Not deep enough...!”

He swung again, but the Hobgoblin managed to dodge, and swung its club again towards Kalaman’s legs. Bam. A strong impact sent vibrations up Kalaman’s body. It damn near snapped the bone in two.

He grit his teeth through the pain, and swung again. The blade sliced through half of the monster’s face. Kalaman kicked it to create some distance between them, then ended it with another slash, this time to the chest.

As the hobgoblin fell, the other one appeared from behind it, swinging its club at Kalaman. He was unable to react fast enough, and took the hit directly.

“Gh...!”

He flew several feet backwards, his skin scraping against the ground. It was hard to breath. He could feel his ribs breaking, poking at his lungs. Worst of all, that impact had knocked his longsword away. The hobgoblin was fast approaching, and he had no way of defending himself. He tried to position himself to dodge, but his wounds strained him.

Then, just as he thought he was about to get his own skull bashed open, a glaive hit the hobgoblin’s back. It wasn’t a very strong or deep cut, but it got its attention nonetheless.

Behind the hobgoblin, Emerina was carrying Shultli’s glaive. She was out of breath—probably not used to swinging such heavy weapons. The creature turned around and motioned to attack, but this time Kalaman was able to get his bearings again.

He managed to take out a shortsword and pushed himself to stand. Even as the bones dug deeper into his lungs, he screamed as he thrust the blade deep into the monster’s neck. It dropped its club and fell to the ground, unmoving.

Kalaman quickly scanned the room for the remaining enemies. He could see two shadows running deeper into the caves, carrying what seemed to be the loot they were tasked on bringing back.

“Shit, they’re getting away!” Kalaman tried to run after them, but Emerina grabbed him by the shoulder.

“Kal, no!” she yelled. “You need healing! Stay still ... Cure Wounds.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

She held her brightly glowing staff over Kalaman’s chest. He could feel the pain inside him ease up slightly, and he was able to breath more calmly than before.

“What the hell were you trying to do back there?” Kalaman said to her. “You should’ve stayed in the backline!”

“I saved your life, didn’t I! You should be thanking me, you doofus. In fact, I should be chastising you. What were you thinking, trying to take on two of them at once?”

“I had no choice, okay?!”

“Neither did I, okay?! I was in the middle of healing Shultli, but if I had waited any longer, your brain would’ve been bits and pieces on this floor right now!”

“Um, It’s alright if you two wanna keep fighting, but our loot is getting away,” Raforin called out to them, pointing deeper into the cave.

Realizing the situation both of them were in, they shut themselves up. As soon as Emerina finished healing Kalaman, she immediately rushed over to Shultli, who was trying to stand up with her still dislocated arm, and began healing her again.

“Sorry I stopped earlier,” she said to her. “If only I was a better cleric, we—”

“Stop that,” Shultli interrupted her. “You did what you had to, it’s fine. More importantly, we have a problem. Look at the floor below us.”

“Huh?”

Curious by what she meant, Kalaman looked downwards. At first, he saw nothing out of the ordinary: just dirt over stone. However, the longer he looked, the more he noticed it. The stone beneath was unusually even and flat. He pushed some of the dirt away, revealing the paved concrete below, segmented into rectangular shapes.

“These are ... bricks?” Kalaman muttered. The others seemed to have heard him.

“The ground beneath us isn’t made of naturally formed stone,” Shultli continued. “This isn’t just a cave. It’s an entrance to some sort of ruin.”

“And that’s a problem how?” Raforin asked.

Emerina seemed to have caught on. “This is an undiscovered cave,” she said. “Nobody’s been here before.”

“That’s right. Ruins often have traps and defenses set in place, more often than not. These places have treasure that their previous owners are desperate to keep safe. If we continue down this cave, we might encounter something way beyond our paygrade.”

Emerina finished up her healing and stood up. “...We’re retreating.”

Kalaman’s eyes widened. “What? It’s just two goblins. They couldn’t have gotten far. In fact, the longer we talk, the farther in—”

“I said we’re retreating!”

She turned around, anger in her eyes. Kalaman was shocked. This was the first time he’s ever seen her get this mad.

“What’s going on with you, Emer...? Ever since a few months ago, you’ve been acting all cautious. Weren’t you the one who said we should burn ourselves up and become heroes?”

Emerina mouth moved, but nothing came out. She couldn’t find the words to say. Finally, she let out a shaky breath and looked at him straight in the eyes. “That was when I had nothing left to lose.”

“...”

Emerina said nothing else. She didn’t need to say anything else. Her eyes, despite her best efforts to remain strong, was on the verge of tears. It told Kalaman all he needed to know.

I can’t lose you, she said without words.

In truth, Kalaman was having the exact same feeling. He just pushed it to the back of his mind because he didn’t want it to interfere with his goals. At some point down the line, he began to value his teammates more and more. During that alliance the two of them made to value their dreams more than their lives, he began seeing Emerina as something more and more important to him than any dream he had. Him constantly upping the risk and taking on more dangerous quests was his way of denying that.

“...I’m sorry, Emer.” Kalaman began walking deeper into the cave. The other party members tried to talk him out of it, but he didn’t stop.

If he cannot burn here, then what else can he do? All his life, he’s been chasing after this single dream. If he stopped now, then what would happen to everything he’s given up on? He left his family, his home. He endured the long, long journey to get where he was now. He risked life and limb to claw his way up.

If he stopped now, then it would all be for nothing.

The sun still shone brighter than him. That cannot be allowed to stand.

“...”

Kalaman turned around. Emerina said nothing, and simply hung her head.

†

After a few minutes of walking, the party enters a large cavity. The walls had eroded, but judging from a few still intact pieces of pillars here and there, it was clear that it used to be a hall.

The entire party was more or less silent after what happened between Kalaman and Emerina. Everyone just followed him in since they couldn’t stop him anyways.

“...Wait.” Kalaman stopped walking. To the side, half sunk into the wall, was a humongous humanoid-shaped statue. Looking at it made Kalaman’s stomach churn. “What is that?”

“...A stone golem,” Shultli answered with a shaking voice. “Mindless constructs that are created to fulfil their creators wishes. I’ve only ever heard of them before...”

“Are they strong?”

“Look at it, you addle-brained mountain goat, it’s twenty feet tall and made of concrete, what do you think?”

“It’s not moving,” Raforin said. “Maybe it’s not active?”

“Listen, let’s just find those goblins already,” Emerina said frustratedly.

The cave was incredibly dark, so they could hardly see anything. However, right in front of them, a good distance away, Kalaman saw a strange shape. It looked like a very large bush. The others seemed to have noticed as well, since Raforin cast the light spell on a pebble, then threw it towards the shape, illuminating it.

Ting.

The pebble made a light sound as it bounced off the scales.

Freezing ice grabbed hold of Kalaman’s spine. Every hair on his body stood on end. Everyone had the same exact reaction of pure, utter terror.

Slowly, the green dragon rose. It turned as snarled at them, revealing two goblins in between its bloody maw.

“...Holy shit,” Raforin said under his breath.

It was the same green dragon from that one quest. Why is it here? What on earth was it doing here?

...No, it wasn’t the same one. This one was much larger. This was an adult dragon.

“We need to run.” Emerina grabbed hold of Kalaman’s shoulder. “We need to run! Now!”

Coward.

Their voices taunted him. Voices that he hasn’t heard in a long while.

Are you gonna run again?

“Kal!”

In a flash, the dragon jumped over them and landed behind them, sealing off their only path to the exit. Dragons were intelligent, and the green ones were especially cunning. However, this one didn’t speak. It simply slowly approached them and growled. Saliva dripped from the beast’s mouth, dripping onto the floor below.

He knew they couldn’t reason with it, no matter how intelligent it was.

It was starving.

Kalaman couldn’t move his body. He just stood there and stared blankly at the approaching dragon. He felt something that he hasn’t felt in a long time—that sense of facing something many leagues above him than he was.

For the first time in a long time, fear stood before him, wrapping him in its frigid embrace.

He could hear his teammates yelling at him. He didn’t know exactly what they were saying. He couldn’t make out any of it. All that was on his mind was the dragon, its claws about to crush him to th—

“Kal!”

Someone tackled him from the side, and there was a loud noise of the earth shattering. He saw Emerina’s arms around him as the two of them laid on the ground. She yelled, “s-snap out of it!”

“E-Emer...” he spoke with a shaky voice. He saw the state of Emerina’s legs. One of them had been cut very badly, so badly that it was just hanging on to the rest of her body by a small bridge of flesh.

Someone screamed.

Behind them, they saw Shultli underneath the dragon’s claw. One of her arms laid beside her, detached from her body. She screamed. She writhed. She yelled.

“Shultli!” Raforin ran in and tried to help her up, but the beast’s tail swung at him, and he was flung across the room, hitting a wall which now had a small splatter of blood on it.

Raforin laid on the ground, moving, albeit just barely.

Then, while the dragon was distracted, Shultli used her remaining arm and touched the dragon’s feet. “...Inflict Wounds!”

In an instant, a large gash appeared on the dragon’s ankle. It wasn’t big enough to impair it, but definitely enough to hurt. The dragon released its grip on Shultli and thrashed around, hitting the wall.

Shultli tried to crawl away, but with her bones in that state, she couldn’t move much at all. She used her arm to slowly drag herself to them. Slowly...

The earth shook.

And suddenly, there was a loud hum.

The stone statue that was implanted on the wall begun to move. It broke free from the wall that was imprisoning it, and its eyes glowed a bright red. It swung its massive fist at the dragon. The impact was so powerful that it created tremors which traveled through the earth, up the walls, and onto the ceiling. A large began falling towards them.

Kalaman was back at the desert. He’s just a young boy who was way in over his head. A young, weak boy that was ridiculed for his weakness. The desert sand felt comfortable under his feet. The heat was intense, but not unbearable. He closed his eyes, and everything was fine.

Why are you afraid?

The other kids asked him.

You’re weird! You’re afraid of a giant scorpion!

He’s not. He’s a nomad, too. He’s the son of a great adventurer.

Kampus!

Stop.

Kampus! Kampus!

Just shut up.

“...Emer...?”

He was still alive. The debris had just missed him.

No, that wasn’t right. She pushed him out of the way.

Her arm was right there. Sticking out from underneath a piece of rock.

“...E...er...”

He heard screaming. Was it Shultli’s, or was it Raforin’s? He couldn’t tell. Someone was screaming. Scream. They were screaming.

The desert’s wind was arid, but it felt nice on his skin. Life on the desert isn’t so bad. The meat from the monsters they hunted tasted good. The oasis waters were good, too. But it was harsh to live there.

He was in a desert right now.

In a desert...

They screamed.

They screamed.

They screamed.

They screamed.

Who?

He was born in the desert, where strength was law. The northern Veil, which faced the ocean, was a relatively peaceful land. Under the rule of the Three Kings of the Desert, the nation of Shun Veil prospered.

Wait.

The trading city of Tisah, the “heart of the Veil”, became an economic center for the nations of the Eirsarian sea, which brought all variety of goods into the nation. Within the Veil, there was peace, prosperity, and opportunity.

No.

Stop.

Take me back.

Let me stay.

Where am I

Whe r e

They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed. They screamed.

No.

It was him.

He screamed.