It was strange being here again, and certainly not in a good way. I can remember the cursed day that I set foot beyond those gates, gates that were now closed to me and in the process of being torn down by an angry army of soldiers. It was quite the sight, if I was being honest.

One of our mages had conjured up a stone spire about half a meter in diameter and four meters long. After a bit of sculpting to make it easier to handle, several soldiers hefted the thing up and began to march with the intent on using it as a battering ram. Sometimes I forgot just how physically superior the members of the coalition were compared to what I normally associated with strength. Even my own enhanced body didn’t compare to some of them. That ram was well over a ton in weight, but together they made it seem near weightless.

With synchronized movements they thrashed the pillar against the gates, creating a resounding boom with every collision as the wood began to protest the onslaught. What few defenders that had made it to the inner keep before the gates had been closed could do very little to slow us down. There were a few archers taking pot shots at the ones holding the ram, and sometimes the arrows would find their mark, leading to a quick change in who was helping batter down the gate as the injured were extracted. It appeared that either the mages inside were so few in number that they could not do anything or being reserved inside the castle halls themselves for after we broke through.

There was no question about if, it was simply a matter of when. The Thrainian army was so scattered across the city that no concentrated effort to repel us could possibly surface again. Even now only pockets of resistance were still fighting in scattered locations. The only signs of those fights were the occasional horn that could be heard in the distance, signaling orders being given.

Turning away from the city at large, I heard something splinter in the wood of the gate and saw that a few of the planks had broken. There was a small gap now, and on the other side we could see a few random boxes and barrels stacked to act as a makeshift barricade to reinforce the gate. The sight of success inspired the troops to work harder to smash it open. With every crash of the ram more of the wood was chipped away.

When the gap was wide enough, they began to rip at it with handheld weapons, trying to create an entrance large enough for someone to slip through. As they tried to do that, suddenly the hole became the target for a lineup of archers on the other side with arrows whistling through the gap or sinking into the wood around it with a thunk. You know, their struggle would almost be considered valiant if it wasn’t so sad... and annoying.

They really were starting to get on my nerves with how damn persistent they were. I imagined it had something to do with Alathos and him cracking the whip behind the scenes, sacrificing his own people to just keep his own sorry ass safe for another few minutes. A more concerned part of my mind thought that maybe he was using that time to prepare something that could turn the tide in his favor. Knowing the bastard, it would probably be something exceedingly evil and self-serving.

I found myself nervously fidgeting with my hands as the thought began to metastasize and take on a life of its own. Suddenly I became very antsy as I was urging the soldiers on in my head. It seemed like my behavior was noticed as Kala came up to my side. Despite her face being marred by dirt and soot as well as a bit of speckled blood on her chest, her presence was immediately soothing to me.

“Are you alright?” Her voice was steeped in concern but also carried with it a firm reminder that I was not alone.

I began my response with a nod. “Yeah, just a little concerned. Alathos has been surprisingly absent so far for someone with narcissism so profound that he believes he should be chosen by a literal goddess. I’m worried about what is keeping him occupied, or what he is waiting for.”

“Couldn’t he just be hiding?”

That got a huff of amusement out of me. “Wishful thinking. If anything, he’s probably raging at the very least, and an already unstable mind losing what little control it had left is a dangerous combination.”

She seemed to consider that for a moment before shaking her head. “Well, either way, it would probably be best if we defeated him quickly.”

I nodded. “That I can agree with. The sooner he falls, the sooner fighting can come to an end. Too many lives have been lost as a result of his madness already.”

While I wanted to speed things along, there was little I could think of doing to help. The soldiers were making steady progress, so it was just a matter of patience, something that I was having an increasing amount of difficulty handling.

At long last they seemed to have carved away a hole big enough for people the size of Ulgors to at least squeeze through one at a time. The soldiers with shields led the way as they absorbed many arrows upon ducking through. It was a slow advance as more trickled into the gap, but the hole was being widened by the minute, so eventually we had a solid formation inside the portcullis.

Thus, the fighting retreat from the Thrainians began as the remnants of the soldiers ran to the castle itself. I ducked through the gap with my friends close behind as I took a moment to assess the situation. There was little fighting being done in the courtyard, with only several Thrainian bodies and a few coalition ones lying motionless on the ground. I only stopped for a moment to see if any of them were still alive before I pressed forward toward the large double doors of the castle.

So many memories were injecting themselves into my mind that the sense of deja vu was overwhelming. I firmly believe that if it wasn’t for all the noise, fighting, and blood to keep me grounded I may have fallen into a panic attack. In any other circumstance a return to this place would have been a deep dive into the pits of hell once more, a journey that probably would have seen me becoming more animal than person by the end of it.

The door to the castle itself was flimsy in comparison to everything that we had broken through before now. The soldiers didn’t even need a battering ram as a Droln was simply charging shoulder first into the door repeatedly, making the wood buckle slightly as the defenders inside pushed back against it. There were other entrances into the castle, though, so I decided it was best to test those while the majority of the army was distracting at the front.

I remembered vividly running through the garden at the back of the building, the heat of the fires fading behind me as the guards chased me across the grounds. Retracing those frantic steps was certainly surreal. My pace was calm, but my heart was racing as I walked through the garden with purposeful steps. The door that I crashed through during my escape was right there, and I approached it with only a slight bit of hesitation as I reached for the latch.

Locked. Of course it’s locked. Honestly, what was I expecting?

With a small sigh, I turned to Hargon. “Think you can handle this big man?”

He regarded the door for a moment before nodding. “It will probably take a few kicks, but it shouldn’t be much of a problem.”

We all stepped aside to give him a clear shot at the entrance. Doing a few stretches for his legs first, he braced himself before taking a solid step forward and thrusting his leg toward the door. The boom of his foot on the wood echoed through the courtyard. There wasn’t much of an effect on the first kick, but on the second one I could hear the wood creak and splinter.

It took five kicks, but eventually the locks holding it shut couldn’t withstand any more punishment and broke in a shower of splinters. With his work done, Hargon stepped aside with a flourish of his hands and an exaggerated bow.

“Your door, my lord.” He even put on an accent for it, and it was so eye-rollingly bad that I couldn’t help but let out a groan.

“Thanks, you big idiot,” I said with a lighthearted chuckle while giving him a soft punch on the arm. Despite the ridiculousness of his antics, it did succeed in lightening the mood and getting my mind off the past.

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Now firmly in the here and now, I entered the doorway with my sword at the ready. I had expected we would encounter resistance, but I guess the soldiers at the front door were a better distraction than I had originally given them credit for. The sounds of shouting and combat were heard echoing through the halls from a distance. It appeared that the front door had been broken down.

It was best to leave the soldiers to clear out the building and deal with the remaining defenders. Meanwhile, I was thinking about where Alathos might be hiding. The only two places that really came to mind were either his private quarters, or the throne room. Both of those location I had never seen before, so it was a blind guess to which direction would take me there the quickest.

We took a cautious approach to scouting out the halls. We were a small team, and while I trusted the skills of my friends when it came to a fight, if we were outnumbered or surrounded in these narrow halls, the consequences could be deadly. So slow and steady we went as I checked every corner we approached. This method did see results as we avoided conflict with a squad of a dozen Thrainians who were rushing toward a point of contention.

As we progressed, we entered a hallway that made me do a double take. I vaguely remembered where I was, but even then, it was different than before. For one thing, the curtains and furniture were all gone, leaving it very bare. The floor, walls, and even ceiling were all marred with scorch marks. While it looked like there was some effort to clean up and get rid of the black burn marks, there was still a noticeable amount of damage. I found myself smirking as I imagined Alathos having to walk through here, blood pressure rising as he was forced to bear witness to the damage I had done and his failure to contain me.

It wasn’t just this hall either. Many others also showed signs of the fire I had started so long ago. Some of my group also had a few thoughts about the state of the castle.

“Damn. I know you told us about this but seeing it for myself is another thing. You never mentioned it was this big of a fire,” Ulthises said with a bit of awe in his voice.

“Yeah, sorry, I didn’t really stick around to measure the scale of destruction I left behind. I just needed some way to keep them busy while I escaped.”

“This is a bit more than a distraction,” Velian chimed in. “It looks like you almost fucking leveled this place. I don’t know if you realized, but there are wooden supports that these castles use that could very well have been destroyed if the blaze got any larger. There might not have even been a castle for us to siege if that was the case.”

Huh, the more you know. I knew castles weren’t a hundred percent stone, but I figured that the stones would be used as a lot of the loadbearing structure. Well, I guess that’s kind of ignorant of me. Castles have burned down many times in my world’s history.

None of that mattered right now, and it was all just ‘what ifs’ anyway. We were starting to get into the parts of the castle that I was unfamiliar with. Of course, most of the castle I was unfamiliar with considering I had only been to a single bedroom, the ballroom, and the fucking dungeon. There was nothing else we could do but start checking rooms.

I imagined that the throne room would be easy enough to find as it most likely had a large and ornate door to give its location away. However, we couldn’t discount the possibility that Alathos had another room he might hide in. The only thing I could hope for was that he wasn’t in some secret room hidden in the walls. That would be annoying, and it would make it difficult to counter whatever bullshit he was planning.

Bedroom, bedroom, bedroom, oh an office... empty. Bedroom, storage, bedroom, why are there so many damn bedrooms? Honestly, how many beds do you need in a single castle?

I understand that you can have important guests visit every now and then, but this just seemed ridiculous. I was starting to get impatient, and that led to a mistake as we rounded a corner when I didn’t check it first. There was a soldier, a Thrainian, standing in the middle of the hall.

My body tensed as I kicked myself for being too hasty. I began to analyze the situation and prepare to fight. There’s only one. He may be heavily armored, but his helmet is off right now, and we have him outnumbered so... wait, don’t I know him?

His features were familiar, and my suspicions were all but confirmed when he seemed to recognize me as well. I watched his eyes widen slightly and he seemed locked onto me for a moment.

“Wait, you’re...” He didn’t get to finish the sentence as Hargon and Otar rushed past me, intent on fighting him. He seemed shocked by the sudden aggression, but his training kicked in and he readied his blade to defend himself. What was more shocking than this, was that I found myself shouting at my friends.

“Stop!”

They both came to a grinding halt, sliding a few inches forward even after they stopped moving. The pair cast a confused glance back at me before returning it to the Thrainian, keeping on guard. I stepped forward and addressed the wary soldier.

“I remember you. You’re Captain Versillion, right?” It was definitely him. He looked a little different from the last time I saw him, which is probably why I didn’t realize it at first. There were heavy dark circles under his eyes, his hair was barely brushed, and most of the color was gone from his face. It certainly looked like he had seen better days.

The captain nodded slowly, keeping an eye on the rest of my team. “Yes, and you are James, the runaway arsonist.”

I couldn’t help the sigh that escaped me. “Yes, as I’m sure Alathos has told you. He probably omitted the parts of that story that incriminated himself. Do you honestly believe that I would do that without good reason?”

His silence spoke volumes before he gathered himself enough to reply. “Honestly, I had a hard time believing it when the news first reached my ears. You seemed clueless and naive when I first met you. Your eyes lacked the steel it would take to commit such an act back then. However, the difference between the you I remember, and the you I am seeing now is like night and day. Something changed you.”

I watched as his eyes slowly looked down at the floor as his posture relaxed. Suddenly he looked practically dead on his feet. “If I am being truthful, I can no longer stand in defense of my king. His behavior has become... increasingly erratic. It is the duty of a soldier to protect king and country, and yet, my king demands the sacrifice of the country in defense of himself. The orders we received, the orders I followed thinking it was a necessity, the lives sacrificed in the name of destroying our enemies, I can’t do it anymore.”

Without warning, his grip on hist sword released as the blade slipped from his fingers. The sharp sound of the metal clattering on the floor pierced the air as the captain’s limbs went slack. “I’m done. Do with me what you will. I will accept it as punishment for my misdeeds.”

This was unexpected, and seeing the man so defeated was a visceral experience. Not only that, but the implications of his words put a pit in my stomach. If I had heard him right, Versillion was involved in that town that went up in flames around us. It didn’t matter that he was seemingly consumed by his conscience now, he still would have to answer for those crimes.

“You’re not going to die today. However, I cannot promise you that you will avoid that fate in the future. If I understand what you’re suggesting, then you still have a lot to answer for.” He did not bother to reply or do anything other than hang his head in shame.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, James?” Jorn asked in a quiet tone. “I don’t know if we can trust him.”

“You don’t have to. We’re taking him prisoner. We’ll hand him off to the first group of friendlies we see. You keep an eye on him, and I’ll see if I can’t get a bit more information out of him.”

The captain was searched for any more weapons, and after it was found that he did not have any, we began walking once more with our new prisoner. Along the way, I decided to see if we could narrow the search area.

“Captain, I need you to tell me where Alathos is.” I saw his posture stiffen as his face contorted into a look of pained consideration. Even after giving up the fight, a part of him still struggled with the idea of betraying his king in such a way. “You know as well as I do that this does not end unless he falls. We already have an idea of where he might be, I'm just asking you to save us time, and therefore, lives. Is it the throne room, or somewhere more defensible?”

Captain Versillion let out a slow exhale. “There are few places that could be considered more defensible than the throne room. It is the only room with access to the Heart of the Earth.”

I quirked a brow at him. “Heart of the Earth?”

“Ahh, right, you wouldn’t know of it. It is a crystal, one said to be so large that it reaches into the very pits themselves. Of course, that is all just legends as no one in the last few generations has ever seen it be used, yet even if it is an exaggeration, it is still a powerful tool and a pillar upon which the ruler conveys their strength.”

I did not like that one bit. Even if it just turned out to be an overblown story and it was a crystal the size of the ones used to protect the city, that was still a lot of magic that could be turned against us. Think about how Soro had claimed this was once a nest for his people, I'd say the odds were worryingly high that there was more to the story than simple propagandized legends.

What are you planning to do you bastard?

That nervous pit was eating away at my stomach again. It seemed I wasn’t the only one as Versillion apparently had a few concerns of his own regarding his king.

“My lor-” he let out a small sigh. “Alathos’ opinion of the other races was never very flattering. When the war started there were a lot of speeches demeaning the opposition as ugly, vicious beasts unfit to be in our elegant society. While that is a common strategy when at war with someone, the vehemence with which he spoke was all too fanatical. Usually, there is an underlying sense that the speaker doesn’t truly believe what they say, but that is not the case with Alathos. I find myself worried about what he may do now that we have effectively lost.”

You and me both. Even on opposite sides of this conflict, we could both agree that Alathos had a screw loose. We needed to get him off that damn throne before he decided to use that Heart of the Earth crystal. I could only hope we would make it in time.