We opened the doors and were greeted by a spacious, well-lit banquet room. The stones that formed the floor were much more luxurious than in the other rooms. They had been cut and smoothed into large square tiles, and they shone as though they were polished every hour, on the hour.

Four grand tables, each at least fifty feet long, formed a square around the center of the room. These tables were solid oak, or at least I guessed they were (I don’t know what different woods look like). They were solid something, though. I know that because all the best tables are solid something. You always hear people bragging about that kind of thing, like it somehow makes them a better person that their table is all one kind of wood. And these tables were adorned by priceless vases and surrounded by chairs that looked so expensive I doubt you’d find anyone daring enough to even sit in one.

Sconces lined the walls of this room, holding lit candles. However, the light they gave off paled in comparison to that of the heartbreakingly beautiful chandelier hanging at the center of the room. The silver Hero’s Medallion was suspended from it, dangling fifteen feet above the ground.

A lone ladder stood in a corner of the room, and I went to retrieve it, thinking this Medallion wasn’t going to be so difficult to obtain. However, I noticed a scroll on one of the tables as I passed it, and you just don’t ignore a thing like that. I picked up the scroll and unfurled it.

“Hey, guys? You’re going to want to hear this.”

My dad and Mag came over, and I read to them what was written on the scroll. “A warning to anyone who seeks the Hero’s Medallion: The medallion is protected by a spell that causes whoever touches it to perish instantly. However, touching the Hero’s Medallion removes this death spell for thirty days, and during this time, it can be worn freely by anyone. That is, for someone to wear the Hero’s Medallion, someone else must first sacrifice their life. We have protected the medallion in this way to ensure it will be retrieved for a good reason, for a reason worth dying for.”

There was a footnote: “To remove the death spell, the person who touches the Hero’s Medallion must be conscious and willing to make the sacrifice. Don’t get any ideas and think you can incapacitate someone, force them to touch the medallion, and then take it for yourself. That’s not what a hero is.”

“There has to be another way,” Mag said. “There just has to be!” But you could hear in her voice that she knew there wasn’t.

“Even if there was another way,” I said, “Vulgra is going to consume my dad’s soul any minute now. Just look at him.” However, this was an inopportune time to use my dad’s odd behavior as an example, as he was acting perfectly normal. He was literally just standing there listening to us. “Well, maybe it’s not going to get him right this second, but you’ve seen what he’s been up to lately.”

“Emerson’s right,” my dad said. “I can’t resist Vulgra much longer, and we don’t have time to think of another solution. If we don’t take the Hero’s Medallion very soon, I’ll kill us all. There’s no way for all three of us to make it out of here alive. One of us has to sacrifice ourselves, and obviously, that person should be me.”

“No!” I cried. “If you do that, you’ll die while Vulgra is still in you, and you’ll go to the Abyss.”

“And you won’t be able to tell us where the Butterfly Rod is,” Mag added.

“I know, but I’m willing to go to the Abyss to save the two of you. It’s my fault you’re here in the first place. Infected or not, I did something unforgivable on Earth, and it’s time I pay the piper. I know this isn’t an ideal outcome, but it’s the only fair one. And with all the leveling up Mag has done, the two of you can easily get to Zolptoria without me. You can get back home and live long, healthy lives.”

“That sounds more like a threat than anything,” I said. “Now that we know the hopeless state our world is in, living a long life actually sounds like crap. It’s not worth you going to the Abyss so we can spend the next few decades living in some forsaken world that Vulgra’s going to wreak havoc on anyway. You can’t trade your soul for our phantom lives, Dad. And that’s why I should make the sacrifice.”

“No, I refuse to allow that,” my dad said. “I would sooner kill you than let you die. Well, not kill you. That would defeat the purpose. But you know what I mean… I would rather maim you than let you die.”

“Thanks, Dad. But it just makes the most sense for me to sacrifice myself. That way, Vulgra will be extracted from you, and you won’t go to the Abyss. Plus, then you can leave a message telling some future white mage where to find the Butterfly Rod. And, Mag, you can go back to your moms, who would be devastated if you never returned. But there’s nothing in our world for me. If anything, my mom would be happy if I never came back, and no one at school would even notice I was gone. So I should make the sacrifice. Right, Mag?”

Mag didn’t respond. She stood there bowing her head, her eyes closed as if giving a silent prayer. Her body started glowing red.

“Mag?” I said.

“Sorry,” she said. “I was focusing.”

“And? What do you think? I should do the sacrifice, right?”

The muted red light surrounding Mag quickly became almost blinding. She shouted, “Rings of Fire!” and shot her hands out to the side, launching several fiery rings at me. They wrapped themselves around my arms and legs, and their momentum carried me into the wall behind me, which they now bound me to. The same had happened to my dad, who was pinned next to me. While the chains did not drain my HP, I couldn’t break them. Mag was a level who-knows-what mage now, while I was still only at level 11.

“Mag! What are you doing!?” I shouted.

She walked up to me, her face a monument to anguish. “I’m sorry, but I have to be the one who makes the sacrifice, and I don’t trust you not to interfere.”

“Damn right I’ll interfere! I’ll interfere all over the goddamn place!” I yelled, fighting fruitlessly to free myself. Mag, please… You need to unchain me and let me get the medallion. You can’t do it—your life actually has value.”

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“Yeah, but my death has even more. I have to do this if you’re going to save the world. You can’t sacrifice yourself because you’re the only one who can use the Butterfly Rod. And your dad can’t sacrifice himself because he needs to tell you where to find it. But I’m no longer needed on this journey.”

“But… I don’t want to do life without you, Mag. I can’t do life without you. You’re the best person I know.”

“I’m not a good person, though. You only think that because I’m always looking out for you. But did you ever wonder why I’m so protective of you?”

“Yeah. Because you’re a good person. Because you don’t want anyone to die.”

“It’s because I blamed myself for Archie’s death. When I met you, I saw it as a chance to make up for that. In a way, everything I’ve done for you has been to make my guilt go away, to make myself feel better.” Her gaze moved to the floor as she spoke. “Wow, saying that out loud makes you realize how selfish I am.”

“I think it’s beautiful,” I said. “Something terrible happened in your life, and even though it wasn’t your fault by any stretch of the imagination, you took responsibility for it. And you used that bad feeling to protect me and make my life bearable even though I hadn’t done anything for you. That’s not selfish. In fact, it’s the least human thing I’ve ever heard.”

Mag took a moment to process what I said and looked up at me. “Thanks. I really needed to hear that. But I still need to sacrifice myself. This is how the Butterfly Guild planned it. They knew about your dad’s hope and that they could use it to bring you here to fight Vulgra. But they also knew the Hero’s Medallion was protected by a death spell and that the two of you would need a third person to remove it.

“That’s why I was brought into your life. My moms’ decision to move to a new town, the fact that they happened to buy a house on the same street as yours, our meeting after school that day—none of it was by chance. It was all part of the butterflies’ plan to get me here with you so I could do this.”

“But Mag…”

“It’ll be okay,” she said in her hero voice. “We’re going to extract Vulgra from your dad, and you’re going to destroy it. You’re going to give new hope to our world, and you’ll be happy. And don’t worry about me. Before the hologram cut out, Archie told me he would be seeing me again. He knew this sacrifice was my fate, and he knew I’d become a butterfly for it. I’ll be all right. And I’ll never stop looking out for you.”

I begged her again not to sacrifice herself, but her mind was made up. “Just promise me you’ll be there for my moms when you get back home,” she said. “They’ll be in shambles, and they’re going to need you. Tell them everything. Tell them about the butterflies. And tell them me and Archie are okay and are still with them.”

“I will,” I said. “I promise.”

“No,” Mag said, tears filling her eyes. “Important promises have to be in full sentences. Remember?”

“Right, of course,” I said, with a little laugh while also wanting to cry. “I promise I’ll tell your moms about the butterflies and that you and Archie are okay.”

Mag then gave me a long hug. “You know I love you, right? Like, I’d still think of you as my little brother even if you looked nothing like Archie.”

“I know,” I said. “I love you, too.” I cursed the fire chains that bound me to this wall. I wanted more than anything to hug Mag back, to hold her there forever and stop her from dying.

My dad then emitted some bizarre noises, catching our attention. His face was contorted like all hell. That dark gray smoke filled his eyes again, and that vile, black gunk seeped from his eye sockets.

“Listen to me, Son,” he said. Somehow, he still had his soft serve voice, and he was finally able to issue the warning he had wanted to give me this whole time. “Vulgra wants to use you to end the human race. The small amounts of it that infect people on Earth can usually only cause small acts of evil. At most, it can cause a chain of several million deaths through war. However, while you’re here in Vulgra’s realm, there is no limit to how much of it can infect you. The entire mass of smoke above Misery Peak could enter your body if Vulgra wishes it, which it does.

“Since you’re a phantom human, Vulgra can then use you as a vessel to reach Earth. Once it has done this, it intends to make you use your staff to cast Dream Buster. Your staff is a terrifyingly powerful weapon called the Destruction Rod, which is Vulgra’s version of the Butterfly Rod. If you were to cast a Dream Buster spell while on Earth, the insatiable hatred you feel when the Destruction Rod becomes black will spread throughout the world like a pandemic. Even the calmest of monks will turn against each other in a murderous rage. Everyone will die, and Vulgra will devour all their souls, and everyone will end up in the Abyss.”

My dad was choking now, but before Vulgra overtook him entirely, he fought through the agony and gave one final warning. “Whatever happens, do not learn Dream Buster, and do not climb Misery Peak. From the summit, Vulgra can infect you, even if you have all three talismans. In fact, it wants you to bring the talismans to Misery Peak, as this will give the Destruction Rod its full power. To take the Destruction Rod and the talismans to Misery Peak would be to end the human race. You must go to Zolptoria. You must go home.”

With those words, my dad’s body went limp, and his eyes closed.

A moment later, he slowly raised his head and faced me again. His eyes were now as gray as stone. They filled me with the same despair I had felt the first time I saw them. I was no longer looking into my father’s eyes. I was looking at Vulgra.

So, it was as I had suspected. Vulgra had been manipulating us this whole time, and now we were right where it wanted us. Once Vulgra realized the butterflies had brought me into this world, it saw me not as a threat but as an opportunity. It sensed that my heart was filled with hatred toward the human race and knew it could use that to its advantage. That’s why it gave me the Destruction Rod. That’s why it had sent the goblins to show me how good it could feel to unleash my anger on others.

I wondered what else was Vulgra’s doing. Had it guided the torch into the Mother Araknor’s eye so I could eventually bring the talismans to Misery Peak? Had it tried to turn me and Mag against each other? Had it helped my dad pass the trial? Did it make him wish for Archie to appear to motivate us to go after the talismans?

I had so many questions, but only one of them mattered right now. Just in case an ounce of my dad remained somewhere in his body, I asked him where the Butterfly Rod was. But it was no use. He was gone.

Then, with a sudden movement, he broke Mag’s Rings of Fire like they were made of paper.

Sir—he wasn’t my dad anymore, and I refuse to call him that as I describe what he did next—clasped his hands around Mag’s skull and threw her across the room. She crashed into the ladder in the corner and hit the ground hard.

“Dad! Wake up!” I pleaded but got no response. Sir turned and walked toward the corner of the room. All that was left now was for him to set up the ladder, climb it, and touch the medallion. That way, we would have all three talismans, just like Vulgra wanted, but my dad would die before he could share with me the location of the Butterfly Rod.

We had failed our mission. But at least I’d still have Mag—the one person who gave me a shred of hope in the world, who would keep me safe, no matter what. Vulgra couldn’t turn me evil as long as I had her. We would find our way back home, and though the world would be as imperfect as it ever was, maybe I could be happy. At the very least, I wouldn’t be responsible for the world’s destruction.

I went numb as I realized Vulgra knew all of this as well. It knew that as long as I had Mag’s friendship, it couldn’t turn me evil and, therefore, couldn’t use me to carry out its plan.

Sir didn’t intend only to collect the Hero’s Medallion. First, he was going to kill Mag.