The travel back went by without a hitch, our rations and the animals we hunted allowed us to only make a few stops.

Dosor made hunting ridiculously easy, even if we rarely got the prime cuts due to her ripping into them immediately.

Eva shot a few rabbits that we roasted over the campfire, but we allowed ourselves to choose a direct route back to Dragon's Heart.

“Our second glorious return,” Ethan called out with a huge grin as we crested the last hill and Dragon’s Heart came into view.

I grinned broadly, checking the area for any signs of Uldru or any other dragons I knew. “One of many.”

Kizmat and Zennil were lounging in the sun, wings spread wide to catch the most sunlight possible, their knights were nowhere in sight.

No signs of Uldru.

Rachel reached over and pinched Ethan, chuckling lightly. “You two are the worst.”

“Hey, we warned you on our first time back! We’ve got reason to party,” I teased her, pulling her away from Ethan.

She leaned into me, sighing. “I know but I'd rather have a private celebration.”

We strode in through Dragon’s Maw, Dosor having to lean down now to not scrape her horns along the ceiling. She had grown by leaps and bounds during our travels but it seemed to start to slow down.

I could probably accept another member or two at this rate but I didn't know who I could add without slowing Dosor down too much.

A few of the staff greeted us with bows and cheers, especially the ones knowing us personally.

Blair, one of the girls Ethan once dated, quickly led us to the stables and helped us get the scaffolding off of Dosor.

We left Dosor at the stables, quickly placating her with some food and scritches before heading to Thurn to hand over our loot and get our pay sorted out.

“Wow, looks like your first mission was a roaring success!” Thurn called out as we laid down yet another bag of materials. He waved his hands over the bags, mumbling an incantation.

I focused on the incantation and the mana building in the space in front of him, trying to identify the spell he was using. I didn’t get much, only a vague feeling of something I despised- math.

He nodded and wrote down a list of items before checking two of the bags without using any magic. “It’s a good haul, a lot of furs and a ton of alchemical reagents,” he mused aloud, looking at Rachel and raising an eyebrow, “I wonder why that is.”

“We never took everything and left enough for it to regrow,” she mumbled, avoiding eye contact.

Thurn chuckled, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "Well, as long as the land is respected, I suppose a little extra bounty doesn't hurt. Besides, Dragon's Heart can always use more resources. It's good to have you back, Rachel."

“And don't you forget it.” She grinned up at him, handing over one last pouch that she had kept on her person after she had found it. “I was gonna keep it for myself but… I’ll get to use it anyway even if I hand it off to you for a day or two. Here, a Burstblossom I found on our way back.”

He didn’t even look at her, simply turning to me with an amused expression. “I see you are starting to influence her.”

“Hey! He’s not!” she insisted, glaring at him.

I patted her head. “It’s not a bad thing but… you have to admit that you would have kept it a few months ago.”

She turned her glare to me, slowly narrowing her eyes at me before turning away. “I’ll be in the greenhouse.”

“I’ll retreat to my quarters and update my father,” Eva said, bowing to Thurn. “It was a pleasure.”

Thurn nodded, waving the two off. “Your payment will be sent to each of your rooms once I sorted this all out.”

“Thank you,” I said, “Do you know where Lin is at the moment? I’d like to talk with her before writing up the official report.”

“The Knights, including Lin, are holding a meeting, you might want to listen in,” he replied, checking the bag containing the Burstblossom. He pulled out a small rock, completely mundane. “I take back what I said earlier.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at Rachel’s antics. “It’s alright, I’ll check if she actually found one and is testing with it. Wouldn't want her to blow something up inside Dragon's Heart… again.”

“Thank you.”

Ethan and I made our way to the Allfather’s tower, standing in front of the impressive masonry as we prepared for the reactions.

I knocked on the door as hard as I could, trying to appear confident.

Lin opened the door a few seconds later, having to lower her glare to see us before completely abandoning it. A pleasant smile graces her face as she fully opens the door and greets us “Welcome back! Great to see you survived your first outing. Is everyone ok?”

“Yes, everyone survived. We wanted to talk with you to check on what to put on our first proper report,” I told her. “Do you have time?”

She nodded, but waved us in anyway. “Yes, but you should join us first. We have much to discuss and as a Knight, you're entitled to hear it as well.”

I glanced at Ethan but Lin was faster, answering before I could even ask, “He can come too.”

We quickly walked inside, finding the table almost desolate when compared to the last meeting.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

I supposed that this was the regular, and the big meetings we were part of last time only happened rarely.

I quickly claimed a seat next to Lin, Ethan standing behind me like the last time, and listened to the conversation.

“As I was saying,” Lin picked the conversation back up, a strained smile momentarily appearing on her face, “The bindings didn't simply degrade, they had been sabotaged. Whoever did it didn't have enough Mana to destroy it but it could have been enough for them to slip past or get someone- or something- out of the forest.”

“Curious…” commented the Allfather, stroking a hand through his beard. “We'll keep an eye on it, increase patrols and maybe even station a Knight there permanently if this happens again.”

Lasse added his own thoughts quickly after a moment of consideration. “This might have been a desperate ploy from the last remnants of the Pale Serpents.”

A jarring metallic scraping reverberated from the outside, resonating with the unsettling sound of something sharp being dragged over the stone floor.

Almost everyone turned their attention to the door, hands shooting to weapons in preparation for whatever was out there.

A heavy impact echoed through the room, the double doors bearing the brunt of a powerful blow. A metallic odour wafted in, accompanied by an unmistakable and chilling scent.

The stench of blood.

Lin was closest to the door, swiftly approaching and weaving intricate gestures in the air before unleashing a spell. With a sense of impending danger, she cautiously opened the doors, poised for confrontation

Two beaten and bloody figures tumbled inside, crashing onto the unforgiving ground in a pile of limbs.

Shock gripped me as the identity of the victims became painfully apparent.

Mom and Ethan's dad, Oscar.

I froze up.

My mind was racing yet impossibly calm, a thousand thoughts running through my head but none developed enough to form into words. It seemed so surreal that the thought of a dream crossed my mind.

A fleeting thought made me realise the similarities to being in the eye of a storm.

Before I knew it, I was sprinting towards Mom, falling to the ground beside her as I desperately tried to shake her awake. “Mom!”

“Ca-leb…” she raised her head, tears welling from her eyes as she barely managed to whisper out my name, caked blood covering what little remained of her armour.

The abundant blood and gore covering her made it difficult to gauge how hurt she actually was but I fidgeted with my pouches all the same, rummaging around for a potion. “Mom! I- What happened? I can’t. Who did this? Is Uldru okay? I can’t-”

She surged up and pulled me into a hug, tears now freely streaming down her cheeks. Her hands clawed at my back like I was going to run away, pointy metal that had been ripped away or bent out of shape digging into my shirt.

Sobs shook her body as she squeezed the air out of me, the warm steel ripping at my clothes. “Are you alright? Did…”

Someone knelt next to her, healing her, but I didn't recognise them at the moment.

“I'm fine, everyone's fine. We dealt with the rebels,” I quickly explained, stopping my search for a potion to wrap my arms around her.

“Destroyer, report,” the Allfather barked out, stomping over with his robe fluttering wildly.

Ethan was talking with his father but I didn't understand anything, their words just appeared garbled to me- out of focus.

Mom clutched me even more tightly, nuzzling her face into my shoulder as she asked between sobs “Did you… Did- kill the Necromancer?”

“Yes, he is very dead,” I assured her, shifting slightly to sit more comfortably without breaking the embrace.

“Destroyer!” The Allfather shouted, towering over us.

I rubbed Mom's back, tears starting to stream over my own cheeks as the sheer absurdity overwhelmed me.

I was comforting Mom for once.

I had to be strong for her.

“What happened? Who- Who did this?” I asked, ignoring the animated chatter around us. They were probably talking about us, maybe even taunting us, but I didn't care.

A fresh wave of dread washed over me as I realised something, a sudden realisation hitting me like a brick.

I never heard Uldru land.

The fabric of my tunic rip as she steadied her breath and adjusted her grip, her hair drooping onto my shoulders in a tangled mess.“Al- Al'kaar, he… He's back. He- he said that he'd pay you a visit…”

I froze up, a hand darting to my waist where the dagger Al gave-

I felt so stupid.

It was so obvious.

He didn't even try to hide it!

The Allfather simply asked Mom “Destroyer, are you certain that you fought Al'kaar, your report…”

I tuned him out.

I knew it was wrong, he was my boss and vastly more powerful than me, but I just couldn't bring myself to listen. His more tempered words easily fading into the background in comparison to the animated chatter of the Knights.

I pulled out the dagger and presented it to Mom, carefully holding it up to her eye level. “Someone called Al gave me this, for you…”

“Fuck.”

Mom sat back down, breathing heavily as she held my hand. “I am sorry. I- Why did he?”

“Destroyer!” The Allfather shouted, reaching a hand down to pull her away from me and force her to acknowledge him.

One of her hands shot upwards, gripping his hand tightly and stopping him dead in his tracks. She wiped away my tears with her free hand, sighing as she turned around to the Allfather. “What?”

His eyes narrowed dangerously, a surge of power filling the room as he hissed at Mom “Watch your tone, Destroyer.”

“Al'kaar is back, Uldru and my crew are dead, and I just dragged the sole survivor all the way back here. I do apologise if I do not have the patience for some stupid pleasantries to stroke your ego,” Mom retorted, glaring at him. “Al'kaar is stronger than ever and has even more dumb fucking tricks up his sleeve.”

Oh, shit.

I couldn't help myself but recoil as Mom openly defied the Allfather, preparing for the inevitable repercussions.

My hand tightened on the grip of the enchanted dagger, prepared to defend Mom.

Wait… She just fought Al'kaar, a powerful Necromancer…

There's no way she had been turned, not Mom.

“That-” he cut himself off, a shadow of uncertainty rushing over his face before he corrected it. “We will talk about your lack of respect later as I am sure that this is just your exhaustion talking.”

He turned to one of the other Knights. “Get letters sent to all the Knights, have them return now. This is the highest priority possible.”

Mom stopped paying attention to him, a weak smile gracing her face as she told me “I am proud of you.”

With these words, she collapsed into my lap.

Fuck!

I quickly checked her pulse and found her alive albeit unconscious.

From there on a whirlwind of activity sprouted around me, everyone trying to figure out what was happening as the Allfather took charge.

I didn't care.

It faded into the background as the reality of the situation truly settled in.

Her entire crew- minus Mom and Oscar- had been wiped out on a singular mission. They had been known as invincible, the strongest crew on Tera.

Ethan and I left the others to their work and carried our parents to the Apothecary, finding Rachel at work.

She turned around with a grin that immediately dropped as she saw us. She shrieked “What happened?!”

“They got attacked.” I set Mom down on one of the cots as Ethan did the same with Oscar.

She immediately started to check the two, breathing a sigh of relief after a few tense moments. “They've been healed already… Where's the rest?”

So ready to heal others…

I pulled her into a hug, tears welling in my ears as I choked out an explanation “They're- They didn't make it…”

“What- Durgan?” She hesitantly asked, trying to rush past me as if she was laying right outside the room.

I shook my head, keeping her close. “No… Sorry, she didn't-”

“No, shut up.” Rachel choked out.

Ethan tried to interject, his voice coming out strangled, “Rachel, you can't just-”

“Shut. Up.”

“Rachel…” I tried, keeping her close. I hated seeing her this distraught.

She shook her head, tears soaking the front of my tunic.

Ethan joined us, wrapping his arms around both of us.

Knowing the Soul of Avarice, Al'kaar the Pale Serpent, was back, I couldn't help but feel on the edge.

We only handled the fundamentals of defence against Necromancy during training, but I doubted that it would even slow Al'kaar down.

I knew I had to get stronger.

I wouldn't be able to kill him- unless I suddenly got stronger than Mom- but I could tear down his followers and protect my crew.

Devoured would swarm across Tera once again, and now I was at the front lines, destined to fight.

I hated that I was kind of getting excited for the opportunity to prove myself when the fate of Tera laid in the balance.

But who wouldn't be?