I felt the tears running down my face as I crawled toward Dirk. I could see the blood that had saturated the dark stones underneath us. I could hear the faint wheezing and breathing coming from him.

"Dirk!"

Turk looked over at me and I saw huge tears had created streams through blood that was on one side of his face. He must have put his head against Dirk's chest for blood to be there on him.

"He's alive but barely, Dad," I heard Turk whisper as I willed my body to move. "His legs and arms are barely connected. I wrapped them, but he was still unconscious. There are holes all over his body."

I felt myself lifted off the ground, and I realized Vreek had grabbed me and was helping me move closer to Dirk.

Vreek set me down near my son, and I saw his body and could barely contain the fear that pierced my soul. His body looked like someone had impaled him on hundreds of spikes. Large and small holes had pierced most of his body. I could see bone through some of them.

"Help him?" I pleaded with Turk and Vreek. "Give him more hearts!"

Turk nodded and held out the bag we had kept the hearts in upside down.

"You got three. He got the rest. Vreek and I fed him first before turning to you, Dad."

I felt Vreek's hand on my shoulder and the squeeze he gave.

"I'm sorry Zolb. I have never seen an injury this bad and even with all those hearts I am not sure it will matter."

I glanced at Vree's face and saw he was crying as well. Tears of sadness for the pain he knew I was experiencing. Tears, knowing I would be forever changed.

Sitting there next to Dirk, I wanted to think of anything I could that might help. What could we do to help him survive? Even if he did, would he ever be the same?

I felt my chest hurting. My actual heart was killing me. I smacked my chest to try and stop the pain and felt my hand hit my chest piece.

"Help me take this off and put it on him!" I shouted as I started to fumble with the straps that connected the chest piece. "Maybe it will help him some."

Turk's eyes went wide and I saw him nod as he slid over from his brother's head and started helping me get the piece off.

"Vreek take off your gear and let's put it on just in case," Turk said as he glanced back at Dirk. "Anything might help stabilize him."

Vreek ripped off his belt and bracers, gently put the bracers on Dirk's wrist, and watched as we finished getting the chest piece off.

"We will do all this at once so that we can not move him any more than we have to."

Nodding, I prepared to hold Dirk as they put the equipment on. As I started to lift him and saw his arms hanging limply, I almost broke down. Every part of me wanted to scream and rage. We had not done all this just to lose Dirk. Why would I even consider doing any of this if it meant the death of one of my children?

Dirk and Turk quickly put the equipment on Dirk, and I gave a small sigh of relief as I saw the armor at least conform to fit around him. That meant Dirk was still alive enough for the armor to work. I prayed to Bob or whoever that they would help him recover.

As I laid Dirk down on the black bricks and grimaced at all the blood on them, I suddenly noticed that we were in a massive room of some sort. There were only a few torches in the room and I saw doors down on each end of the room.

"Where are we?"

Turk shrugged, and Vreek shook his head.

"We don't know Dad, but I think we must be in the dwarven city still."

"What?! How is that possible? Shouldn't we have been moved outside the city?" I asked.

"No," Turk answered. "We knew that there was a range and we could end up anywhere in that range. I have no idea where we are in the city, and I have no clue how safe we might be. When we got here, Vreek and I had to focus on keeping you two alive."

I started to stand and felt my legs were weak, but the hearts they had fed me had helped me recover enough that I knew I could stand on my own at least. Using my hands, I stood and noticed my sword and Dirk's daggers off to the side a few feet away.

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"Should we explore and see if we might be safe at least?"

Turk frowned at me and then glanced back at his brother, who was barely breathing on the floor.

"I don't know. What happens if an army is on the other side of the door and opening it announces our presence? You can barely move, and Dirk is going to be a liability. Besides would you really even want to leave his side?"

"He's right, Zolb. You need to rest a little before we can try to do anything. You two are lucky to be alive at the moment."

"But DIrk is barely alive! What if he dies because we sat here and do nothing? What if staying here causes him to die?!"

I was shouting, and there was nothing I could do to stop the feelings pouring out of me. I couldn't sit here and hope he got better!

Turk stood up and moved to me, and suddenly I felt him wrap his arms around me.

"It's ok, Dad. Dirk will be ok, I know it."

I started to sob and clung to Turk. I knew he was lying. There was no way he could believe that. Seeing Dirk and how his body looked, hope was not something I had. I felt cursed. I was angry. Having lost their mother, us dying the way we had, all the trials and things we had overcome, just to get here and watch my son bleed out on the floor in some other world that hated us. Where was the justice? How was this fair at all to my two boys?

I did not know how long I had stood there as Turk held me while I wept. When I knew the tears had reached their limit and I could cry no more, I felt an emptyness in my chest.

"Thank you, son," I said as I moved back from the embrace and glanced at him. I saw Turk's smile as he tried to convey a strength he had right now that I did not.

"Just returning the favor for what you had done for me many times over the years."

I nodded and glanced at Dirk, where I saw Vreek was sitting by him, his hand on Dirk's chest.

"How is he?"

Vreek shrugged, and I saw the look on his face.

"No change?"

"No change Zolb. At least he is breathing, and the blood loss has slowed down. I am not sure why, but the blood has stopped."

TV shows flooded my mind. There were plenty of reasons why it could have stopped. He might be running low on blood.

"Water! Give him some water!"

Turk nodded, moved to the backpack, and started rummaging through it. As he did that, I walked over, bent down, and picked up my sword. I was not going to sit here idly by, hoping that Dirk would be ok. He would need food and water if he were going to have any chance of surviving. Sitting here was not the best move.

"Where are you going?" Turk asked as he dug out a water skin. "I thought we had already discussed this option was not good."

"That was before," I stated as I slowly swung my sword to ensure my shoulders and arms worked how I wanted. "Dirk needs water, and he will need food. Staying here will not get him those things."

"I'm coming then," Turk declared as he tossed the water skin to Vreek.

"No. You are staying."

"Like hell, I will! He is my brother!"

I moved over to Turk and put my hand on his shoulder as I saw his nostrils flare wildly as he breathed quickly.

"And you are the best one to defend him right now. If someone comes, you can strike them down, and Vreek can serve as your shield. I am the best option for traveling through these halls as my sword will heal me, and I am currently bursting with energy from all the hearts you fed me."

Turk started to speak, but he stopped. He knew the truth of what I said. As much as I could tell he wanted to come with me, leaving Vreek as the only guard of Dirk was not a wise choice. He alone could hold off people coming into this hall with his magic.

Grumbling, Turk finally nodded.

"You best come back," Turk stated as he moved over to stand behind Vreek and pulled his bow off his back.

I nodded as I headed to the door furthest away from us. For some reason, I felt it was the way I should go.

I had listened at the door but heard no noise, so I slowly opened it and glanced through the crack. It led to a hallway that had torches scattered along it. Looking back at my boys, I took a breath, moved into the hallway, and shut the door behind me. The wooden door had swung smoothly, and no noise had been made. It was decently thick, and I could only imagine how much it weighed.

These dwarven crafters are skilled, for sure. I thought as I walked through the hallway. As I slowly and carefully walked along the hall, no sound came from anywhere. I saw another door about thirty yards ahead and quickly moved to it.

No sound behind the door led me to open it and I found stone stairs leading down. With my choice to return back to the room DIrk was in or head downstairs, I chose to descend.

I found myself amazed at how all the stone bricks fit perfectly together. I could tell the section I was descending at was old by the brick's outer edges starting to decay. Small traces of fine grit would come off between the seams if one ran their finger along them. I could not even begin to fathom how long it must have taken for them to construct this place. I had already walked down two hundred stairs and was unsure how much farther it would go. Part of me wanted to turn back, but the other part of me was caught up in the knowledge that something must be down here, and it would be worth the journey.

I was grateful for the stairs. They had helped me work out the soreness in my legs at first, and I felt better having done them. A far cry from what I would have imagined in my previous life. That fact stung as I remembered the boys and the many workouts we had endured, running bleachers and stairs at stadiums to prepare for soccer. Those moments had sucked more than I would ever want to admit out loud.

Finally at about three hundred stairs, I came to a door. It was weathered and looked as if it had not seen much use. I tried to listen, but there was no sound coming through the door. I gave the handle a twist and felt the lock level slide into the door. No sound or creak was made. How this stuff still worked so well seemed impossible. Maybe magic was infused in it.

I pulled the door toward me, and through the crack, I glanced into a massive underground area. From what I could see, it spans more than a football field. In the darkness of the room, I saw something I was not prepared for.