Joan couldn’t help being a little suspicious when she walked out into the main courtyard in time to see Korgron teleporting Bauteut away. “What was that about?” she asked before glancing around. All seven Chosen were here. To her surprise, they looked mostly fine. A bit burnt at places, tired, sweaty, a little dirty. But only a few hairs out of place. She really missed that about being a Hero, only the truly disastrous and deadly things ever required a full cleanup.

“She wanted to go home, since she’s not coming with us,” Korgron said before glancing towards her. “I guess this is it, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Joan said before taking a slow, deep breath. Her heart was pounding, but she tried to keep it under control. Before long they would be out there. For better or worse, it would all end. They’d prepared, trained, fixed things, broken things, discovered things.

Now all that awaited was the Inferno God’s heart. If they could destroy that, the world would be saved. Then all she had to do was finish off the Hungry One, which she hoped wouldn’t be too hard. After all, it was already dying. She just had to finish it off. So it wasn’t going to be easy at all, but she’d do it one way or another. She had to. If the Demon Lord really was on his way there, then hopefully she could deal with him before they destroyed the Inferno God.

Joan felt her stomach do a little flip. It was oddly comforting knowing the Hero had been nearly as nervous when he went there, but he hadn’t known what to expect. She did. She didn’t know if that made it better or worse.

Her eyes then fell on Andreas. He was holding the Eye of the Night. Well, at least now she knew why it was Korgron and not him who told her to come down. She then glanced between him and the other Chosen. They didn’t seem focused on her at all.

Was Andreas connecting with all of them? Who were they talking to? She nearly asked, but then stopped herself.

They were going into what was possibly their final battle. While she hoped they’d all make it out alive, there was still the possibility they wouldn’t. There were still things they didn’t know. Like what else lay between the door the Hero had never been able to open and the Heart of the Inferno God.

Joan pretended not to notice what they were doing, instead turning her eyes to Korgron. “So, uhhhh, this is going to be a big one. We’re going further than we’ve ever really gone before.”

“We’ve done that before,” Korgron said.

“Yeah, but not like this,” Joan said. “There was a portal nearby, but it was inactive at the time. It’ll cut out a few days, at least. Ummm, the fight, how’d it… well…”

“We won,” Korgron said, though she wasn’t smiling. “The Demon Lord wasn’t there.”

Joan’s eyes widened. “He wasn’t? Like… he ran when you arrived, or…?”

“If he had been there, he’d left long before we arrived,” Korgron said. “There was a shattered teleportation circle and, well…”

“Yes?” Joan asked.

“There was a weird girl there, as well,” Korgron said. “A demon who’d had her horns clipped. As far as I can tell, she’d been left behind.”

Joan blinked a few times before her eyes went wide. “Purple skin?”

“Yes,” Korgron said. “Know her?”

“Kind of,” Joan said with a shrug. “A bit? Maybe? Uhhhh… is she… still alive?”

“Alive, yes,” Korgron said.

“I feel there’s a ‘but’ on that,” Joan said.

“She’s unconscious,” Korgron said. “I’m not sure what exactly she was doing, but she seemed to be connected to the trolls in some way. The more of them that fell, the more it seemed to impact her. By the time we broke through them and finished? She was unconscious. Myrin tried to get her conscious, but even she couldn’t get her. She’s with my sister, now.”

“Is that safe?” Joan asked.

“Safer than most places,” Korgron said. “If she has information we need I’d like her close at hand.”

Joan nodded. “Good. Can you do one last thing for me?”

“I imagine I’ll be doing a lot of things for you before this is over,” Korgron said.

Joan rolled her eyes and pulled out the small red gem from her mouth. “Charge this.”

Korgron rolled her eyes before taking the gem. “Really? You know, I could do whatever this is better.”

“Probably,” Joan said. “But we don’t really have time for that, now do we? If the Demon Lord is on his way to where I suspect he is, then we need to get moving. There’s no telling how ahead of us he is. Or what he can do once he gets there. If we catch up to him, maybe we can stop him before he causes any more problems.”

“You think he’s going to be a real problem?” Korgron asked.

“I don’t know,” Joan said. “He never made it to this point alive. If he could just open the way and ruin things before now I’m sure he would have. I guess he might be going somewhere else, but that doesn’t feel right. Like, why else would he go somewhere other than where we’re going?”

“You know,” Korgron said. “The world doesn’t entirely revolve around the things we do.”

“But it does depend on them,” Joan said. “So I think I’m going to need your help for this. Remember when we made this circle? Kind of like that. Since… well… you’re a bit stronger than me.”

Korgron just gave a light snicker. “In what way?”

Joan rolled her eyes. “Physically, magically, emotionally, not maturity or mentally.”

That, at least, knocked the smile off her lips. “I am incredibly mature and smart,” Korgron said.

“You got stabbed when you were giving a monologue to Penthe,” Joan said. “I don’t do that anymore.”

Korgron rolled her eyes and grabbed her arm, yanking her into the circle. “Yeah, yeah. Come on, let’s go ahead and get this circle going, then. The sooner we’re done, the sooner we can put all of this nasty work behind us.”

Joan nodded, though honestly she doubt it would be that simple. When was anything ever that simple?

This worry was only confirmed once they started reaching through the teleportation network and she found the circle they’d located so long ago across so many lives.

Except it wasn’t inactive.

More than that, it wasn’t broken either. It was still there. So if the Demon Lord had activated it, why hadn’t he destroyed it when he left?

Stolen novel; please report.

Joan’s stomach tightened into a knot before the group was sent across the world, traveling thousands of miles through the magic of the array.

------

They were finally here.

Joan couldn’t help it. She reached out and grabbed Korgron’s hand, clasping it for a second. Struggling to will herself to stop shaking, for the fear to fade. Desperately trying to get it under control.

“Joan?” Korgron asked.

“I’m fine,” Joan whispered. It was going to be okay. They were going to be okay. They had to be okay.

“What is this place?” Searle asked, his voice filled with equal mix horror and awe.

“Horrible,” Joan said softly, keeping her voice as low as she could. They were safe, she knew that. At least, for now. The Chosen were with her, so nothing could hurt them. The land itself looked almost clean, if violent. Sharp, jagged pillars of red, purple and black stone rose out from the ground. The pillars themselves seemed almost perfect, no dirt, no dust. In fact, the entire land seemed almost spotless. “Welcome to the Deadlands. The opposite end of our continent, far from all civilization, even beyond the Demon Lands.”

“I’ve never heard of this place,” Korgron said softly.

“Most wouldn’t,” Joan said softly. “We should keep going. Nothing will happen during the day and we don’t want to be out at night.”

“What happens at night?” Korgron asked. She did start to walk, but thankfully didn’t let Joan’s hand go.

“Demons, mostly,” Joan said. “The big ones. You’ll all be fine, you could destroy them in your sleep. Especially now.”

“And you?” Searle asked.

“I’m with the Chosen, what could hurt me? Let’s go,” Joan said, though she kept her hand tight on Korgron.

She really, really did hate this place. It hadn’t even been that scary or dangerous in the end. Mostly just unsettling. Dirt should never be clean. The rock was almost like obsidian in consistency and shinyness, but it definitely wasn’t. It looked almost diseased. She had to be careful walking across it so she wasn’t torn apart. But night was going to be terrible.

Joan gave a silent, grateful prayer to the stars. Thankful that the teleportation array was still there and she knew where it was. Without it they had to travel through these lands for nearly a week. With it they would be out in about a day, after which they’d end up in a blistering hot and inhospitable desert that wasn’t much better, but at least it wasn’t as unsettling.

------

“It’s okay, it’s dead now,” Myrin said in a soft, soothing sound. “Nothing is going to hurt you. Nothing can get you here.”

“I-I’m not scared,” Joan said softly. She knew it was a lie, the Chosen knew it was a lie, but thankfully none of them were saying anything.

Myrin was sitting besides her, an arm over her and gently stroking her back in a soothing motion. Thalgren, surprisingly, was sitting on the opposite side. Between the pair and the entrance to the small tunnel they’d made.

Joan never liked this place as the Hero, but at least he had been strong enough to survive here. Her? Not so much. She could hear the loud, thumping sound of those monsters outside. Demons the size of buildings, rising out from the ground or seeming to materialize out from the sky the moment the sun had gone down.

Supposedly this place was the remnants of one of the Hero’s greatest foes, some shadowy monster that had split itself into a thousand pieces upon its death, requiring the Hero to hunt them down and destroy them all, one by one. These lands were the end result, a land where massive, horrific demons just seemed to materialize in the darkness. Always searching for new prey, either each other or, well, her.

She couldn’t help but wonder if she could even kill any of them as she was. Possibly. But there were so many of them. She didn’t dare risk it.

Joan barely resisted making a sound, but quickly pushed against Myrin when a dark, shadowy tentacle slithered into their little cave, moving towards them.

A moment later a haunting, gurgling shriek filled the air and the limb collapsed to the ground before, very quickly, dissolving into a strange, purple substance that hardened almost instantly, adding more to the strange pillars that filled these lands.

“Sorry,” Andreas said. “You all okay?”

“We’re fine,” Myrin said. “Are you three?”

“Yeah,” Andreas said. “Between me, Korgron and Searle, these things aren’t any trouble at all. You should try to get some sleep.”

“We will,” Myrin said softly.

Joan cringed when a terrifying scream filled the air, one that sent chills down her spine just from how demonic and twisted it sounded. She couldn’t help it, she pushed against Myrin a little harder, the Chosen’s arm tightening around her. “I miss having the Hero’s power.”

“I know,” Myrin said softly. “Do you need some help sleeping?”

“I’ll be fine,” Joan said softly before another scream tore through the air. Or maybe it wasn’t a scream at all, maybe it was a battle cry. They were going to be fine. The monsters were loud, angry, dangerous and deadly. But to the Chosen they were little more than a distraction and annoyance.

She shouldn’t be scared. She knew that she was safe. What was wrong with her?

“I could use some help sleeping,” Chase said. “This place gives me the creeps.”

“As you wish,” Myrin said. “Hardwin?”

“I wouldn’t feel right,” Hardwin said. “Ow! Why’d you… yeah, why not? We could probably all use some sleep.”

Joan gave a light chuckle and shook her head. “Okay, maybe some help sleeping would be okay.”

She was safe. They were safe. These demons couldn’t even hurt the Chosen if there were a thousand of them. They were going to be fine.

------

Why was it so hooooooooot?

Joan wasn’t sure she’d ever felt as pathetic as she did now. Well, at least she wasn’t being swaddled. But behind carried on Hardwin’s back like she was wounded wasn’t much better. Every breathe felt like a struggle, she was soaked through with so much sweat that she was actually dripping down his back and she was pretty sure the only reason she hadn’t died of heat stroke was because of Chase occasionally surrounding them in an aura of frost.

She swore it hadn’t been nearly this hot when she’d come here as the Hero. Though, when Joan could work up the energy to lift her head and see them she knew that wasn’t true. While she felt like she was literally melting, the Chosen looked just a little heated. She hated that about them. Even the magic they used to help temper her against the heat was doing very little to actually relieve her suffering.

But they were almost there. Almost.

By the gods she was thankful Bauteut had stayed behind. No mortal should ever make this journey. It was misery.

But soon. Soon. So very soon.

She could see the mountains off in the distance. Almost there.

------

They’d done it.

They were here.

The great doorway blocked their way, hidden away in the farthest reaches of their land in an almost unreachable valley.

There was no sign of the Demon Lord, though. Had she misjudged? She’d really been expecting him to be waiting here for them, but he wasn’t.

That would at least make it easier. She glanced up at the sky, it would be night soon. “I think we should camp for the night, before we head out.”

“Mmm hm,” Korgron said with a nod. “Thalgren?”

“Aye,” he said before the two walked away.

Joan blinked, watching them go. “Uhhhh… where are you two going?”

“To setup a teleportation circle,” Korgron said. “I’d rather do it before we rest than after get get through whatever’s waiting for us on the other side. We’re not going through all of that again.”

“Fair,” Joan said before glancing around once more.

Compared to the Deadlands and the desert, this area was almost hospitable. Just rock, cliffs, old ruins and dirt.

Lots of places for her to run and hide while the Chosen worked. She could do this. She would do this. “I guess this is it,” Joan said softly. “It’s time I explain to all of you exactly what’s coming. At least, what I know.”

“Finally going to tell us what’s waiting for us at the end of this road?” Chase asked.

“Just so long as you’re not planning some grand ‘sacrifice’,” Hardwin said with an exhausted sigh.

“Isla will kill me if I let anything happen to you at this point,” Andreas said before shaking his head. “So have some mercy for those of us who have to deal with whatever you have planned.”

Joan just gave a light, slightly nervous chuckle. It wasn’t so much a sacrifice as an undignified fleeing for her life, but well…

Joan had no intention of dying here. She still had far, far too much to do, so many mysteries to solve and so many questions to answer.