CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

CLERIC AND MONK

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I blubbered and cried like a baby. Theo would’ve been ashamed at how I whined. Then again, maybe not. My arm was gone. My arm was gone!

The pain became manageable, but the impact of knowing I’d never be able to grab anything with my left hand ever again didn’t fade. I shuffled my way to the corner of the dungeon, absolutely horrified about my maimed body, ignoring everything else as blood slowly leaked from me.

I stared in horror as they gathered around me, ignoring them as disbelief clouded my thoughts.

“My arm… my f-fucking arm. How will I…? How can…?”

Whenever I wasn’t thinking about the horror of living without an arm, I was drowning in pain. I left a trail of blood that I couldn’t stop staring at. I didn’t notice the fight ending or the people gathering around me. I didn’t know what I was saying. I thought I might’ve passed out from blood loss, but suddenly a golden light shimmered into existence, and a swell of relief began to flow through me.

Awareness slowly filtered back, and I realized a group of people was surrounding me. Someone was… was holding my detached arm up to my stump…!

“Oh god,” I breathed before turning to the side and puking. Someone screamed but I thought I managed to hit the floor instead of their lap. Still, relief was flooding through me. Not pain. The world was blurry due to tears that I couldn’t hope to stop. Golden light was filling up the hallway coming from someone.

My arm was… healing?

Gathering my courage, I turned to look again, the horrible taste still lingering in my throat as I stared at the appendage. The blood stopped flowing, and the pain lessened even more. I could see jagged muscles knitting themselves back together before the bloody skin covered them. The freckles on my bicep were smeared with red, and only a small scar remained circling my entire arm.

I moved my fingers. They moved on command. I coughed, a ragged, relieved gasp. I wiped at my eyes with bloody hands, only making them worse before I used my shirt to finally clear them.

“It’s… it’s back. It’s not… I’m not–!” I exclaimed in shock and disbelief. I looked up, wondering who and how the hell, only to find the emo kid standing before me holding out his hand, a bright golden glow slowly fading from around him.

“I… Th-thanks,” I managed.

Emo kid beamed. He had a long gash on his arm, and his clothes had been torn, proving that he hadn’t come out of the fight unscathed. It seemed like he’d already healed himself before saving my arm and probably my life.

“Don’t mention it,” he said.

“I might’ve pegged you wrong, kid,” Jody said. “Good work.”

“My name is Chester,” he snapped back. “Stop calling me kid.”

“Sure, Hot Topic,” Jody said with a snort, and Chester stared murder at him.

If I wasn’t still weeping with joy and relief, I might’ve laughed too. He looked nothing like a Chester with his black hair and studded nose piercing. It all felt so out of place after having just lost my arm to a demon’s sword.

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“Well, thank you. From the bottom of my heart. You… chose the healer class?” I asked.

“Well someone had to!” he said. “You were fighting for us. Tessa already chose her class before we realized how badly you’d been hurt. I wanted to pick Wizard but… well. Yeah. I figured if we want to get out of here alive, having someone who can heal might be a good thing. So, I guess I’m a Cleric now.”

“The glowing lights really make your eyeliner pop,” Jody mocked.

“Jody, fuck off!” I cut in before an actual fight broke out. I was still a little woozy from the loss of blood. “That was good thinking. G-great thinking, Chester…!”

It popped into my head without warning.

Chester the Goth Cleric.

I blamed the hysteria, but suddenly, that phrase was the funniest thing I’d ever heard. Quickly schooling my features, I looked back up at him with gratitude. I swore I would never say that nickname out loud, even though I knew I’d never be able to think of anything else looking at him.

“Thanks…” I managed lamely, searching for better words while trying not to laugh.

‘God, I am a horrible person,’ I thought.

“Any time,” he replied, oblivious to my internal plight.

The group was somber, but someone, Cole, I thought, helped me back to my unsteady feet.

“Okay… okay. I–err… We’re all okay. Was anyone hurt?” I asked. Other than me went unsaid.

“I got stabbed, but I managed to kill one of them. They’re pretty weak, one on one. I stole its axe,” Chester said, holding up the bloody weapon as he did.

“And I got a new minion,” Jody said.

I blinked before looking up. And up.

I shuddered as I recognized the skeleton of what had to be the demon. Much more menacing than the tiny one from before, this skeleton looked like it could’ve taken on ten of the imps alone.

“Well… I can confirm that those things are stupidly strong,” I said with a self-deprecating chuckle. “Can it lift its sword? That thing must be sharp enough to cut steel. It went all the way through my arm while I was moving.”

“Already tried it. The skeletons are weaker than the creatures they’re summoned from, but I think I can make a new one with each point I put into the ability,” Jody said. “More importantly, they dropped things. Equipment. Weapons. There’s a boatload of stuff over here. We got another glowing weapon for light.”

“Which I’ll be using,” came a new voice. It was the girl we’d given the dagger. She now sported a dimly glowing pair of gauntlets. They weren’t nearly as bright as the staff but they would do in a pinch.

“You managed to kill one, too? Sorry, I don’t think I asked your name before,” I said.

“Tessa. I picked Monk,” she said. The girl looked Italian and had short, straight black hair. “I’ll be fighting up front, it looks like. My abilities are all about hitting harder and dodging attacks. I can also buff the whole group with auras.”

I sighed. I was thankful for the explanation but I would’ve preferred more classes with ranged attacks. I didn’t want any of us getting near these things if we didn’t have to.

“Alright,” I said to the group at large. “We got interrupted before, but for those of you who don’t know, I’m Rio Tande. Does anyone, have any clue about what’s going on?”

I didn’t really expect anyone to answer, so I was a little surprised when an older woman held up her hand.

“I… might have some idea,” she said nervously.

“Alright. What’s your name?” I asked. This was going to get confusing if our group kept growing.

“I’m Olivia Makenzie. I’m from Montana. I can’t confirm any of this, but I found a journal in my cell. There was a… a skeleton in there. I would try and read it whenever the demons opened the door. It’s in English, but it feels like it was written a thousand years ago.”

“Do you… still have it? Shit, can some people go in and search the cells for anything useful while we’re at it? Who knows what might’ve been left in there.”

Todd nodded and opened the door to the cell before heading inside with his staff. The area in the hallway dimmed, but I considered the risk worth it, with Tessa’s gloves and Emily’s torch still lighting the area.

“Here it is,” the woman said as she approached me, holding up a tiny travel journal. It looked about the size of a palm, and the paper wasn’t anything I was familiar with. It was more like papyrus. Something made by hand. I barely felt comfortable holding it.

Across the front were the bold letters in an ancient script.

Aleredas Moitredee.

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