I was glad I decided to follow the stampeding crowd into battle. They seemed to lack a unified direction, and many of them were just lashing out at everything. Broken windows, busted door, and fires popped up all over the place. It was a good thing that most of the civilians seemed to have evacuated to the inner keep already.
I could understand the need to vent your frustrations and pent-up anger, but we weren’t getting anything done like this. There needed to be some direction to the chaos, we needed to be fighting the soldiers, not the buildings. Every moment they spent just destroying random property could be another life lost.
In an effort to start moving them in the right direction, I gathered everyone who was nearby to me, exuding enough authority to have them follow my command without question. Apparently, there was a point where the crowd following me had grown to a size that simply attracted everyone else. The snowball effect was real, and eventually I had them all once again moving in the correct direction.
We needed to present a real threat to those who were attempting to defend the walls, that way they would have to dedicate a portion of their forces to trying to deal with us and not the enemies at the gate. As we marched, they kept themselves riled up with the occasional smashing of some nearby object or building in passing. Property could be rebuilt or replaced, so I didn’t mind it so long as it served a purpose.
As we got closer to the western wall the signs of damage not caused by us increased in intensity. Holes were blown through buildings, roofs were sheered clean of their tiles, large stones that used to be part of the tower lay either in the street or embedded into buildings. It got really bad in some places, including one instance where a whole building had collapsed in on itself. I didn’t see any bodies, so I just hoped that they weren’t buried under all the rubble.
Other than the rancorous sounds of those at my back, another set of noises started to become more prominent. The sounds of distant clashes, shouts, and booms grew louder with every step. The sky was still covered in dust, muting the sun and choking the air. My heart was starting to beat faster as the sounds of fighting and death started to reach a clear volume.
When I rounded the corner in our approach to the wall, I stopped dead in my tracks. We came face to face with a wall of metal that stretched from one end of the street to the other. The soldiers had apparently seen fit to meet us here, and once they noticed our presence as well, immediately entered a defensive position. They had mages amongst them, and they too got to work as the ground started moving before erecting itself into a short chest high wall in front of them.
It would have been somewhat difficult to get past that on its own, but they weren’t done yet. As soon as the wall was up, and the soldiers were in place, fire and large rocks started to arc over their heads and towards us.
“Take cover!” I shouted quickly before diving out of the way. Almost everyone responded quickly enough to avoid injury as well, however a few slower individuals got caught up in the aftermath of this volley. A couple people got burned when flames splashed out and licked at their flesh. One unfortunate nactren got crushed under a thrown boulder and was reduced to a bloody smear.
Once we had achieved cover, the rain of magical attacks lessened significantly, becoming more akin to suppressing fire than deadly attacks. It was doing its job though, we couldn’t move at all as when someone tried to step out, they were immediately bombarded by ranged attacks. We can’t just stay here and get picked off one by one.
While we were technically distracting some of their forces, it probably wasn’t enough to be considered game changing. They had effectively halted the advance of hundreds of enemies with minimal forces by cutting us off in a kill zone. We weren’t going to be able to push through this, at least not without a massive loss of life on our side.
I peeked around the rubble that I had been using as cover. The Thrainians were holding position, spears lowered over the magically constructed wall in preparation for any suicide charge that we might have been dumb enough to try. Behind their lines I was able to catch glimpses of movement, soldiers running back and forth, coming and going.
It took me a moment to recognize that this was the extent of battlefield communication, runners bringing orders and information to whoever needed it. An idea came to me then. If I could disrupt the chain of command, then that would throw the soldiers into disarray. They were being directed by someone, that much was clear, and I had a pretty good idea of who was at the head of this beast.
Still, I couldn’t just take off and leave everyone else floundering and dodging fireballs. They needed some direction before I went off on my own. Staying together as a big group may be good for security, but bad for chokepoint situations such as this.
I grabbed some of the nearest people to me and created my own little temporary runner system. “Listen up, I need you to go around and tell everybody to form into groups of about ten, two full hands count.” I held up my own in demonstration. “After that, I want you to scatter all over the place but try and push towards the west wall. If you’re outnumbered or can’t win, just throw some stones and keep them focused on you. We have to spread them thin so we can break through.”
“And what are you going to do?” One of them asked me in an almost accusatory tone.
Paying no heed to the insinuation behind the words, I answered them truthfully. “I’m going for the one in charge, remove the command structure.”
That seemed to be a satisfactory answer for them because they just nodded and went to work after that. We sprinted from cover to cover, collecting those who were hiding and waiting for someone to tell them what they needed to do next. A few of them needed some coaxing to leave what they saw as the only safe spot amidst the death that rained down around them.
We managed to get everyone into a relatively safe location, so they all divided themselves into teams and started to scatter as commanded. With so many groups being created, it was an inevitability that someone would be able to reach the wall. The enemy soldiers noticed this as well, and more runners were dispatched to inform their command of our movements. I took the hint of the general direction the runner was going off in and started to follow as best as I could.
I ended up accompanying a group purely by happenstance, not that they complained about having an extra body with them. We bobbed and weaved our way through the alleys, encountering little in the way of resistance other than the occasional collapsed building blocking our path. The closer to the western wall we got, the more damage the buildings in the area had sustained. In one location I could track the exact path a large boulder had taken as it crashed through the top of a building, burrowing a hole in the adjacent one, and then landing solidly in the middle of the street forming a small crater.
My little trip with this group would be coming to an end soon. They needed to get towards the western wall, but I would have to follow the runners deeper into the castle. Unfortunately, things wouldn’t be so simple for me.
We encountered a squad of soldiers as we came out onto the street that were apparently sent to try and confront or block the numerous groups that had formed. This squad consisted of eight individuals. Weighing all the variables of the situation, we had numbers and physical strength, they had training and equipment. Frankly I thought that the scales were tilted a little in their direction as being taught how to use a weapon and fight as a team was important. Retreat was looking rather appealing, but unfortunately it wasn’t an option as I had to get by them anyway to follow the runners.
I didn’t have any more time to think about what to do. My presence might have confused them for a few seconds, but they quickly put it together that I wasn’t on their side. They readied their weapons and advanced on us slowly. My little group at least looked ready to fight, but rushing in without a plan would probably get more of them killed than anything, so I took charge.
“Long weapons in the front and at the ready! Keep them back. Everyone else, grab some rocks or debris and start throwing.” They seemed a little nonplussed about the orders, but soon started moving as commanded. It was probably a realization that some kind of plan was better than none whatsoever.
Four people who had pitchforks moved to the front and lowered them at the enemy. The reach of the makeshift weapons was enough to give the advancing soldiers pause, which the rest of us exploited by beginning to throw any loose rocks we could find at them. While they might not have done much damage, particularly because they were wearing armor, a fastball to the head would still be enough to ring their bell and disorient them.
Under a hail of stones, the soldiers slowly closed the gap between us, meaning this was about to turn into a melee. I managed to get one last good rock throw that struck one of them square in the face, bypassing a lot of the protection the helmet he was wearing provided. Switching gears, I took up my sword again and got ready for the clash that was about to happen.
The first attacks came from our side, with pitchforks being thrust at them. Two of the soldiers were sporting shields and had an easy time deflecting the attacks, the others had to parry with whatever weapons they had on hand while trying to get within the reach of the defenders. We weren’t sitting around spectating though, and I ordered everyone to support the front line and try to wrap around them. The more angles of attack we could create the better.
The soldiers weren’t just going to let us do that though, and they did everything they could to block any movements we attempted, which was effective. They were coordinated, worked well together, and the training they went through was showing in their movements. This situation wasn’t tenable. Despite the strength and number advantage on our side, we weren’t gaining any ground and would probably be losing it soon.
Sooner than I thought, as it turned out. One of the pitchfork holders on the front line had his leg impaled. There was a howl of pain from the unfortunate individual, and they shrunk away from the source of their pain. Unfortunately, that meant that the line was starting to crumble as the soldiers pressed the attack, inflicting more wounds on the others, mostly minor, but they were starting to add up.
Something needed to happen, which means that I would have to do something stupid in order to make it happen. My stupid idea this time was to charge in practically by myself and hope I wasn’t impaled like a pincushion. If I could manage to take out at least one of them that could shift the balance more in our favor and provide a morale boost.
This is so stupid. Oh well, let’s fucking do this. As ready as I would ever be, I charged their formation and released a loud war cry in the hopes of unnerving them. They seemed a little surprised, but not as much as I would have liked. I went for one of the soldiers with a shield, expecting him to utilize it while not expecting the force I would have behind me.
I within striking distance and made an attack that would force the shield use. He did respond with its use, but also with a counter thrust. Performing an awkward twist of my body, I managed to lessen the blow to a shallow cut on my side. My sword stopped on his shield, but I didn’t plan on that attack getting past anyway. Instead, I reached up and grabbed the shield with my free hand, wrenching it as hard as I could away from him. He certainly wasn’t expecting to be so physically at a disadvantage against me, and I jerked him forward and out of position from the rest of his team.
He tried to fight back, and his squad tried to help him, but I kept his sword arm busy while dragging him at a speed that he had to focus mostly on keeping his footing. While the volunteers on my side may not have been trained, they could see an opportunity when it was presented. They reapplied pressure to the soldiers, keeping them from assisting their comrade who was being pulled further away by the second. He couldn’t just ditch his shield as it was the only thing holding back my sword at the moment, so I had him trapped in this struggle that he was not going to win
Once I had pulled him beyond the help of any of his allies, I gave another quick tug across my body, pulling his arm and shield out of the way in a very uncomfortable position. I choked up on the hilt of my sword for more control and twisted the blade into position for an attack. With a slight upward thrust, I plunged the length of the sword into the underside of his chin, driving it up through his mouth and into the skull. I winced as I felt the flesh give way and the metal scrape against bone. The grinding, grating feeling made my jaw tighten, and the look of frozen shock on his face slowly vanished as his muscles stopped receiving commands from his now perforated brain.
I wrenched my sword free and let his body drop to the floor with a clatter of the metal armor he wore. Not even giving myself time to think, I charged right back into the fray, selecting another of the soldiers as my target. My new target was currently fighting with the volunteers, and when he raised his arm to try and strike back against his opponents, I took the opening and struck. My sword lashed out and slashed at the exposed armpit. The padded gambeson he wore under the armor lessoned the blow somewhat, but I still cut deeply into the flesh which crippled his ability to fight. Seeing the new opening, the Valus he was fighting swung their weapon, a pickaxe in this case, and punctured straight through the helmet and into his skull with a crunch of both metal and bone.
From there it was downhill for the rest of the soldiers. With the numbers advantage now more heavily favoring us, most of them had to fight two or three opponents at a time. Their numbers were slowly whittled away further as four more soldiers fell to the tools that once worked for them. The last two soldiers, seeing that victory was impossible in this situation, retreated at full speed. I stopped the group from splitting apart or chasing them into an unknown situation, emphasizing that they should stay together and continue towards the wall.
Their group had not come out of that fight unscathed though. Many of them had a lot of minor cuts across their bodies with one of them having had their leg stabbed and another taking a sword wound to the gut. The leg injury wasn’t that bad, and they could still move and fight, though they would be slow, but the gut wound put the Ulgor who possessed it out of the fight. I did what I could for them, but I barely had any magic left in my body so it was mostly just wrapping the wound and telling them to apply pressure until a healer could get to them.
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My time with this group had come to an end, and we parted ways as I ran down the street that the Thrainian runners were last seen on. This road was leading on almost a straight path towards the inner wall of the noble district. I was on my own for this next part.
The sky was starting to turn a reddish orange from the smoke and dust being kicked from the fighting and burning buildings. The air itself tasted acrid, and my eyes were feeling a slight sting from the abrasive quality it had taken on. This whole scene was hellish, and the sooner it came to an end the better.
I was closing in on the noble district, and as it came into view I hesitated for a moment. There were at least twenty soldiers in front of the gate, a gate that was heavily fortified. Spiked palisades were erected in defensive formations with more of the short stone walls behind them. The host of soldiers on the ground all had spears and other long weapons to reach around the defenses.
I was wracking my brain for a plan on how to break in when a thought occurred to me. My appearance was still that of a Thrainian, and anyone who knew of my current goals were either indisposed, or dead. Can I really just walk in? It would be a bit of a risk, but one with a decent chance of success. I’ve operated on less favorable odds before.
Figuring that time was of the essence, I once more started off towards the gate at a pace that read urgent while trying to look like I belonged. Perhaps they would think I was part of the runners being sent to and from the front lines. Getting close they did not react, so that was a good sign. In the end I jogged right by the guards, some giving me a quick glance before returning to scanning the area in front of them. Well, that was easy at least. Now I had to find my target.
The area behind the gate was alive with activity. It was apparently being used as the logistical HQ for their defense. Stores of arrows, crystals, weapons, and some replacement armor parts lay strewn all over the place in organized piles, just waiting for the order to be deployed somewhere. Soldiers ran hither and yon, fulfilling orders and transporting crates on command.
It was quite chaotic here, and I wasn’t sure where to begin. Luckily my salvation in this regard came when another runner came tearing by me from the gate and immediately pulled a sharp turn along the backside of the wall. Immediately I started to follow this individual, and after traveling a few dozen yards along the wall entered a stairwell leading up to the ramparts.
I climbed the stairwell at a restrained speed after him, partly because I knew my target wasn’t going anywhere, and partly because I wasn’t eager for this next part. By the time I had summited the stairs the runner had already delivered his report and was now heading back down. We passed each other, him giving me a quick once over before continuing on. I didn’t know what to think at this moment, it was a hollow feeling. With a deep breath I pushed the partly open door dividing the tower from the wall open.
There he was, Balidor, leaning on the crenelation of the wall in full battle dress staring out over the battlefield, minus the helmet which currently sat atop the stones he was using to support himself. The armor he was in gleamed with a polish that practically turned it into a mirror. Runic inscriptions were emblazoned upon the seams of the metal, probably some protective wards he could activate should the need arise. He didn’t have any guards here, probably didn’t think they were necessary this far into the castle amongst his own troops. Balidor had not yet registered my presence, what with his gaze fixed on the scene unfolding before him.
I closed the door behind me and found the locking mechanism for it, which was essentially just a giant wooden throw bolt that connected into the stones of the tower. The sound of the wood slamming into place in the socket finally drew his attention, and we made eye contact as I squared my shoulders to him. There were several seconds where nothing happened, we simply stared at one another, my face an emotionless stony visage, his a slightly perplexed searching expression. I saw a brief moment were his brow twitched downwards, and his gaze fell upon the bloody sword in my hand.
His expression then changed to almost match my own, and he took a very deep, controlled breath through the nose before closing his eyes and turning back to lean on the wall once more. “So that’s how it is.” His words dripped with a feeling of betrayal that actually stung me to hear. “I suppose that trust has become a luxury one can ill afford nowadays.”
I couldn’t find my voice to respond to him for a good while. My grip on my sword had become white knuckled, and I swallowed the brick that had firmly lodged itself in my throat. “Please surrender.” My words only served to cause him to turn his head towards me, his thoughts obscured behind an impervious mask.
I faltered for a moment, but I couldn’t continue without pushing this option as much as I could. “Please, this fight is a losing one.” I gestured towards the western wall which you could occasionally see gouts of fire and hear bellows of the deep sound of war horns from the other side. “Give the order to surrender, save lives, I can convince them to forgo any executions and this whole nightmare can end. You’re not a bad person, at least I don’t think so, you’re just being misled by the whims of a madman. Alathos’ ideology is poison, driven by greed and unkempt ambition. There’s still time to turn away from it before everything collapses under the rot he has created.”
There was no way to know if my plea was received well beneath the veneer of his expressionless face. He slowly turned away towards the fighting again, and I saw his face droop a little in sadness. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe this has all been some grand tragedy and could have been avoided.” His eyes closed as he hung his head. I dared to hope that he might listen to reason. When next his eyes opened, there was steel behind them that ran cold. “But I played my part in it, perhaps too well.”
He stood up straight again, taking his helmet from its place of rest with a slight scrape of metal on stone. “There is no surrender for me, no peace through words, and I have too much at risk to simply give up.” His eyes burrowed into me, and I could feel underneath the resolve, a conflict of thoughts that he must have been going through. “Come then, finish what you started, if you can.” Those were his last words as he lifted the helmet up and placed it upon his head. The face of a resigned man was replaced with a metallic leer, cementing his course of action. With a rasp, his sword was removed from the sheath at his side, and he methodically shifted into a fighting stance.
My shoulders sagged as I let out a sigh. I tried; I really did. Refilling my lungs, I corrected my form to a more confident one, preparing my own stance. The world was burning around us, yet in that moment it all vanished as the only thing of importance was this space between us.
Neither of us were willing to make the first move, which created this standoff. I didn’t want this, but we couldn’t just stand here forever, so I started to inch forward. Our dueling arena was very narrow, basically only allowing liberal movement back and forth, so the conflict would have to be head on. I was trying to work out how I would get past all the armor he had, not to mention the years of military service having refined his movements while I had a slapdash course on how not to get stabbed.
The distance was closing, and he just stood there, a metal clad sentinel waiting for me. In the inevitable approach towards the clash that played out like a slow-motion car wreck, the tips of our swords reached out and were able to touch one another. I was not fully prepared for what came next.
In an explosive eruption of movement, Balidor came out of his still form with the force of an erupting volcano. With a fluid motion he flicked his wrist, knocking my sword to the side before lunging forward. I had to quickly backpedal to prevent myself from being impaled through the chest. He followed up the thrust with a twisting slash which I was able to intercept with my own blade just barely in time.
As quickly as it started, it ended, and he retreated a few steps before resuming his waiting position. That exchange snapped my adrenaline awake, and I could feel it flood my system as it registered immense danger. I got ready for another go at it but was determined to be the one on the offense this time.
The plan I hastily constructed was to get in a close-range struggle with him, hopefully pushing him off balance. When I got into range, I charged forward with a short chopping slash that was designed to bait out a guard from him. He accepted my attack the way I wanted, and as soon as the blades collided, I dug in and pushed. For a brief moment he attempted to fight back against my advance, but upon finding his effort rebuked, began displaying his skill once again.
Instead of digging in himself, he let me push him, moving his feet backwards as we sort of just danced with one another. It was then that he pulled out another wildcard on me. His right hand came off the hilt of his sword and flicked open in front of my face, sending a shower of sparks and heat directly into my eyes. Naturally I flinched, and then suddenly felt all the resistance in his blade drop to the side, sending me sprawling. Thankfully, both of us were too close for swords, but that didn’t stop the steel gauntlet from slamming into my face. I had just been on the receiving end of a vicious uppercut that sent me reeling. I had just enough faculties left in me to see his sword coming up for another attack. In a last-ditch effort to evade, I leaped back as hard as I could, launching myself back as his blade slashed the air a millimeter away from where I had once been.
I panted as I stood several feet away from him now. Blood was dripping from my nose, and I was certain it was thoroughly broken. My vision was still swimming a bit as I recovered, reevaluating my situation as I did. Not only was he an expert swordsman, but apparently a fire mage as well. The only reason I could think of for why he hadn’t just engulfed me in a fireball was either courtesy or casting time limitations.
I wiped the blood from under my nose and flicked it off my hand before returning to my ready stance. Once more he waited in his statuesque form for me to close the distance again. I wasn’t ashamed to admit that I was outclassed here, and I was overwhelmed by a feeling of futility in my actions. My options were becoming increasingly limited, and I could only sigh in defeat. This was a situation I didn’t want to be in, and it was against an opponent that I didn’t want to use it on, he deserved more respect than that. However, at the rate things were going, it was an inevitability, so I resigned myself to my next course of action.
This next clash would be the last. My vision tunneled and my body started to feel numb as it prepared itself for what I was about to do. With a burst of motion, I shot forward and raised my sword in an exaggerated horizontal slash. If he thought my motions odd I wouldn’t have been surprised, because this was technically suicide by proxy, and he was willing to facilitate.
My exposed abdomen was too tantalizing a target to ignore. In one smooth motion, he stepped into my lunge with his sword extended straight at me. My face contorted as I was once more greeted by pain, an old friend at this point. The cold steel plunged into my gut as I was run through. I almost doubled over, but I was able to remain standing as I growled my way through the pain.
I let my sword drop down low, the tip clinking on the stone. Balidor’s body relaxed slightly, he probably imagined that the fight was over with me currently hanging off the end of his blade, but I could still move, and that was all that was required. Quickly gripping one of his wrists in one hand, I jerked his arm upwards, exposing the underside of his arm to the world. With an animalistic roar I pushed myself deeper onto his blade as I brought my own up in a thrust. The tip of my sword found the gap in his plate armor, stopping and bending only momentarily on the chainmail beneath before I drove it deeper, severing metal, fabric, and then flesh.
He growled in pain as several inches of metal punched through him, probably cutting through part of his lung. We both stood there, each supporting the other like some grotesque monument as we struggled to even breathe. In what might have seemed a silent agreement, both our blades were withdrawn from the other.
I staggered backwards before dropping to my knees, eventually coming to a rest against the crenelation. Balidor tried to support himself against the wall, but eventually he too fell, back sliding against the stone as the metal plate he wore created a grating sound. We both sat there, just a few feet from each other, slowly bleeding out. Well, slowly for him, I was gushing a river of blood from my body.
First came the lightheadedness, then the cold, and finally the unconsciousness. The unfeeling expanse of void surrounded me again, penetrated me, and I felt drained of any emotion. Even as the word I hated so much was spoken, I could not muster the will to direct anger at it right now. I simply waited to return, to face the aftermath of what I had done.
Again.
I opened my eyes once more to the hazy and smoky sky. Looking over towards Balidor, I found him still alive, holding on as he fought to even take in a breath. There was no point in just sitting, so I stood up.
Balidor’s head turned towards me, and if it wasn’t for the helmet, I would imagine that his expression would be quite perplexed right now. Eventually he turned away from me and let his head band slightly against the stone behind him.
“I see...” His voice was wispy and weak. “This really was a losing fight from the very beginning.” He attempted a laugh, but it came out more a wheeze that must have hurt quite a bit. “Could you do me a favor and remove my helmet? I fear I don’t have the strength left to.”
Honoring the man's wishes, I knelt in front of him before reaching out and pulling the helmet off him. His hair was disheveled, blood spattered from his mouth, and his eyes looked so very tired. Despite his appearance, he had a thin smile upon his lips that looked as weak as he did. In between shallow breaths, he managed to speak.
“Well, Arkin, or perhaps I should say, James, your motivations have started to become clear to me.” I remembered that my disguise was undone by death, so he was seeing me as I really was now. “I admit, you had me quite fooled. To think, I hosted one as famous as you, though I now see the true reason the king desires your capture.” He coughed, and more blood was ejected from his mouth.
What I did next was more an automated response than a methodical one. I ripped up a large portion of my undershirt and balled it up before pressing it beneath his arm as far as I could get. His gaze turned into a frown.
“What are you doing?”
“Trying to slow the bleeding so we can get someone here to fix you.”
He looked perplexed, then amazed, and lastly finished on amused. His other arm came up and lightly fell atop mine in a weak attempt to push me away. “A bleeding heart, have you?” He chuckled, a probably painful thing to do. “No, it is kinder to let me pass here. You think your allies would be so inclined to show me the same mercy?”
“I can talk with them, convince them to spare your life.”
“An optimist and philanthropist eh. You are too kind to be fighting this war. No, even if I live through this, I would only be put to death later. As I said before, I played my part too well, and I would rather die on my feet fighting, than on my knees before a crowd that would spit on my very grave, whatever pit that might be.”
Reluctantly, I withdrew my offer of aid, letting my hand fall loosely to my side again. He gave me a slight reassuring smile. “If you would truly wish to help me, then I do have one last request.”
“I will hear it.” I said solemnly.
He swallowed before starting again. “My daughter, please don’t let them hurt her. She has done nothing wrong, and I don’t want her to suffer for her father’s sins. Please, can you make sure she will be safe.” His eyes were begging me more than his voice could ever accomplish.
I couldn’t refute this request, so I nodded ever so slightly. “I will, I promise.”
His face morphed into relief. “Thank you. My brother can look after her, I trust him to raise her right. And please, tell her I'm sorry that I had to leave her.” His gaze drifted away towards the inner keep, tears welling up in his eyes. “I am so sorry...”
His words drifted off, breathing becoming shallow and shuddering. I could only sit there, keeping him company and watching as everything about him slowed down until finally, it came to a stop. His body slumped forward, head hung loosely and eyes empty of any light. My fists balled up tight as I closed my eyes.
So many emotions clashed within me, trying to force their way to the surface. In the end I simply crushed them all down and became empty. Reaching out, I closed his eyes, so he looked more peaceful. I felt weak, sick, but I could not indulge in these feelings. With the Thrainian commander now dead, their morale and ability to organize should drop significantly. It was now my job to play out the end of this battle.
Suddenly the tower door I had locked was getting banged on, probably more runners looking to report. I couldn’t exit from there anymore, so the only way down from the wall now was the short way. Not putting much thought into it, I walked over to a good spot on the wall for me to drop, and sparing one last look at Balidor, just tilted myself backwards over the edge.
My freefall lasted for only a few seconds before I collided headfirst against the ground, sending me once more into the black abyss. This nightmare wouldn’t end with this, not until Alathos was dead. I could not allow him to continue this tragedy any longer, couldn’t allow more children to lose their fathers. So, feeling resolve fill me to bursting, I prepared to go out and face this world once again.