The words 'Cora Ward' were etched into the headstone, and a small bouquet of flowers rested against the cold stone.

I placed a hand on the top of my mother's grave, my heart heavy with grief. It had almost been a month since I'd found her dead body, and the wounds were still fresh.

"I'm going to make things right," I said, as I knelt beside the grave.

I took a deep breath, the cool evening air filling my lungs. The moon was shining, and a gentle breeze blew through the trees.

"I promise," I said, as the tears began to flow.

I sat there for a long time, letting my emotions run their course. The grief, the pain, the regret. It all came pouring out, and I was powerless to stop it.

"Goodbye," I said, as the tears finally began to subside. "I'll see you soon, Mom."

I stood up and brushed the dirt from my pants and looked down at the grave, the simple words staring back at me.

'Cora Ward. Beloved Mother.'

I let out a deep breath, and turned to walk away, seeing Eliaria standing a few feet behind me, a solemn expression on her face.

"Are you ready?" she asked, her voice gentle.

"Yeah," I said, as a sense of calm washed over me.

We began walking, past the rows of fresh graves, leaving the cemetery behind.

"How are Greta and Penny doing?" I asked.

"They'll live," Eliaria replied, her tone somber. "But there's nothing I can do for Greta’s arm, and Penny, she's... They suffered a lot."

I nodded, not wanting my voice to betray me.

"Do you want to see them?" she asked.

I shook my head, "I don't think I can face them."

Eliaria frowned at my words but kept silent.

Greta and Penny were in this position because of my actions, and I feared that if they saw me, they’d see the guilt all over my face.

"The fiends will keep coming," Eliaria said, misreading my dark expression.

I nodded.

They'll keep coming, and the villagers will keep digging graves, until there are no more graves left to dig.

We walked in silence, each lost in our own thoughts. The night was dark, and the stars were hidden behind a blanket of clouds.

"Here's your card," Eliaria said, reaching down the neck of her robe to pull it out.

"Keep it," I said. "I don't think I'm going to use it anymore."

She stopped and turned to face me, her expression one of surprise.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said. "Divine affinity doesn't suit me."

I was beginning to think that it was no coincidence that my primary affinity was Curse. Maybe the Maker was trying to tell me something.

She smiled, and held the card close to her chest. "Thank you."

I smiled back at her, brightened by her mood. As we walked, the town slowly came into view. The buildings were dark, and there was an eerie stillness to the night.

I glanced at Elia beside me. Her blonde hair was blowing gently in the wind, and her pale skin seemed to glow in the moonlight.

"Why haven't you asked me any questions?" I finally said, breaking the silence.

She shifted her weight from one foot to another as she studied me. "Because," she replied, brushing a strand of hair over her ear, "I knew you'd tell me what was going on when you were ready."

"And now?" I asked.

She looked up at the sky, her gaze distant. "I know that you're a good person, and that you blame yourself for what happened here."

She smiled, nudging my shoulder, "You are working towards fixing things, and that's all anyone can ask for."

I was taken aback by her words.

"Thanks," I said, not really sure what else to say.

She took my hand in hers. "It's late," she said, still holding my hand. "We should get back to the inn before Flint starts to worry."

"I can't leave just yet," I replied. "There's still one thing I need to do."

"Oh," she said, her smile fading. "Okay."

I gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Go on ahead," I said. "I'll be there soon."

She nodded and released my hand. I watched her make her way back to the inn, and then I turned and headed the other way. I walked down the darkened streets alone, my footsteps echoing through the empty town.

***

Protector Alden was cooking dinner for the village when I knocked on his door.

"So," he said, as I entered, "you're leaving?"

"Yeah," I said, leaning against the wall. "You should probably leave as well, there's nothing left for you here."

He sighed, his expression grim.

"You're right," he said. "But I can't just abandon the people."

He reached for a moldy carrot, chopping it in half with his knife.

"I'm not here to argue with you," I said. "The next attack will come soon, and this town won't stand a chance."

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

He stopped what he was doing and looked at me.

"Then I will fight," he said, the quills on his neck bristling. "And if I die, I die."

I shook my head.

"Look," I said, "if you want to die, that's your business, but I might have another option."

He leaned forward. "What do you mean?" he asked, he sounded exhausted, and I could see the lines of worry on his face.

"I have a way out," I replied, "for all of you."

"You know the others can't use the waystone," he said, his voice bitter.

"That's not what I mean. I have a card that can teleport you all away from here."

"And you'd do that for us?"

I drew [Pilgrim's Rest] from my pocket and handed it to him. The card had value, and I knew Flint would be pissed that I gave it away, but I had to do something. I owed these people everything.

"If you link arms with the others," I said, "it will teleport you all to Teon's Temple."

He put down his knife and studied the card in his hand, and I could see his quills relaxing as hope flickered in his eyes.

"Isn't that the temple that held you prisoner?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied, "but the high priest that held us is dead. The temple could use a new Protector. The place is a fortress, with enough food and housing to support the whole town."

"I'll give you this card," I continued, "but first, I need something from you."

He arched an eyebrow. "What?"

"Tell me everything you know about Patches," I replied. "He knew your wife Evelyn, and he attacked our village just to get a card from her. Why?"

Alden stirred the stew, his expression troubled.

"You should sit down," he said, gesturing to a nearby chair.

He grabbed two bowls from the shelf and ladled the stew into them.

I sat down, and he handed me a bowl.

"The man you call Patches we knew by another name," he said, as he sat beside me, "he called himself Gothos back then."

"Gothos? You mean Nidalee’s Gothos?"

"I suppose," he said, taking a seat across from me. "He and his disciple, Malachi, stayed in Fair Haven with Nidalee's family for many years, studying the history of Teon."

I spooned some stew into my mouth, trying to connect the dots. The vegetables were still hard, but the flavor was good.

"Were they priests?" I asked, between bites.

"No," Alden replied, "Gothos was a scholar, he was obsessed with the history of Teon. Who knows why. Evelyn and I met him a few days after... well."

"After what?" I asked.

He looked at me, his expression grim.

"After my five-year-old daughter, Lucille, died."

I almost dropped my spoon.

"I'm sorry," I said, my heart sinking.

"It's alright," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "It happened a long time ago."

We lapsed into silence for a moment, the mood in the room growing somber. I had known so little about the Protectors, they had always seemed so reserved, but at that moment I realized it wasn't that they were indifferent to the rest of us, they were grieving.

"What was the deal you made with Patches?" I asked, pushing forward.

"There was no deal, he gave us a spell card, no strings attached."

"Just like that?" I asked.

"Yeah," Alden replied.

I narrowed my eyes. How did Patches know that their daughter had died? For that matter, how did he just happen to be there the moment I was dying?

"The card was a powerful one," Alden continued, "it had the ability to summon a celestial being."

"The erelim," I muttered.

I learned about the erelim in school. They were said to be divine beings that served under the new gods, basically the Tower's version of angels.

"Yes," he replied. "But Patches told us that if we leveled the card to rank-9 we could summon Teon instead."

Summon a god, that’s insane.

"What did you say?" I asked.

"We refused at first," he replied, "we did not want anything to do with the gods. But..."

"But what?"

"But as time went by, Evelyn and I became desperate," he said, his voice shaking. "We found Patches and begged him for the card. At that moment, we were willing to try anything."

Alden looked up at me, his eyes apologetic, "You see Teon is the god of life, if anyone could bring our daughter back, it was him."

I spooned some more stew into my mouth, thinking. If Patches had offered me a card that could bring my mother back, I would've taken it too. I would do anything to save those I loved.

"We sold everything we had for essence," Alden continued, "and leveled the card to rank-9. One night, when our despair was at its worst, we used it."

"What happened?"

"Oh, a god came," he replied. "But it wasn't Teon."

"Who was it?"

"The Defiler."

I froze, the spoon halfway to my mouth.

"Worm?" I said, feeling light-headed.

The pieces that Eliaria had told me began to fit together. The Defiler had appeared on the third floor and released the blight on the One Hundred. The same blight that killed my father and was affecting the village.

I pushed my bowl aside, the stew suddenly tasting sour. So Alden and Evelyn were the ones responsible for all this death.

Shit, that makes my own mistakes seem like child's play.

"Yes," he said, his voice trembling. "We had no choice, we fled, we left good men and women behind to their deaths."

He stared down at his hands, his face pale.

"We have carried the guilt of this ever since," he said, his voice heavy with remorse.

"Is that why you came to our village? To make amends?"

"Yes," he said, hanging his head. "I know what I did was unforgivable, but we have lived with this guilt for so long. We wanted to do something good, to help people. But now it looks like my efforts were in vain, the blight will continue spreading until it has taken everything from us."

This wasn't their fault, they had been played, the same way I had.

"It was Patches," I said, feeling the anger rise inside me. "He used you, manipulated you."

"Perhaps," he said, his shoulders slumped. "But the truth is, we were willing to go along with it, we were desperate."

We fell silent, the only sound was the stew bubbling over the fire.

"So, Patches tricked you into summoning Worm," I continued. "I don't get it. Why didn't he use the card himself? Why go through the trouble of tricking you into doing it?"

Alden shook his head.

"I don't know," he replied. "Maybe he was afraid of doing it himself, just in case things went wrong. I don't think he expected Worm to appear. He was hit with the blight, the same as the rest of them."

Alden smoothed the quills on his neck with his hand and looked at me, "I believe his plan was to summon Teon."

"But why?" I asked.

"Nidalee asked me the same question," Alden replied.

"Where is Nidalee anyway?" I asked.

He looked at me. "Gus didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"Gothos has Nidalee," he said, his expression grave. "The two card mages left with him, I don't know where they went or if they went voluntarily."

My mind was racing. I was finally getting some answers, but the more I learned, the less I understood.

"What?" I exclaimed. "How long has it been?"

"A few weeks," Alden replied, "and no word."

But that meant that the last time Nidalee appeared in my dream, she was actually a prisoner. She might have needed my help.

I cursed under my breath. "I need to be going," I said, suddenly feeling very uneasy about Flint and Eliaria being alone in the inn.

"Of course," Alden replied.

He rose from the table and took my bowl.

"You should use [Pilgrim's Rest] tonight," I said, "gather the townspeople and take them to the temple."

He looked down at the card. "I will, thank you Bastion, you are a good man, your mother would be proud."

I rose to my feet, panic and guilt warring inside me.

"Take care of yourself," I said.

He smiled sadly and nodded.

As I turned to leave, he called after me.

"Bastion, there is one more thing."

I stopped and looked back.

"What is it?"

"Patches," he replied, his eyes dark. "When you find him, make him pay."

I smiled, "With pleasure."

***