“Concentrate, damn it!”

“Ouch, what the hell?” I snapped, rubbing gently at my still broken hand that Sob refused to heal.

Nigel lifted the switch he was holding, threatening to strike me again. “We’ve been running this drill for three days, and you still haven’t got it! Do you know what the spirits will do to you if you fail?”

I ground my teeth before answering, “what does any of this matter? All I have to do is place this damn egg in the hall and keep it safe. How hard will that be? There aren’t even any Crocs here to worry about.”

“Did you ever wonder why there aren’t any, you fool? Think you can go up against the thing that took them out?”

Sob snorted and swished his tail, the sparks flying over his ebony coat more intimidating now that he stood at his towering height once more. I’d forgotten how tall he was. I looked up at the lighthouse, barely spotting the black spot in the high window that was Frank. The bird hadn’t left his perch from the moment he’d landed there.

“None of this is helping me put my sword through Theo’s heart.”

Nigel screeched and took off his pointed hat, stomping it into the mud with his tiny booted feet. “Would you just concentrate for five bloody seconds? Not everything is about you!”

“Fine,” I barked, readjusting my meditation pose and placing my hands back on my knees. My injured hand sent a shooting pain up my arm.

I tried to clear the anger from my mind like the damn gnome had instructed me to, but it wasn’t an easy task. I did the stupid breathing thing, counting each breath as it went in and out. Every little thing infuriated me. The dripping rain sneaking through the crack in the ramshackle shelter we’d put up. The incessant howling of the wind. Nigel’s boar-like bellowing breathing.

This quest was a pointless waste of time. I had a lying jackass to murder and friends to find. I knew where Tony the cable snack man was now. Hell, I even knew where to find a Nightstalker Rattler, which would put me one step closer to finishing the Witch’s quest line. If I could locate a King Toilet Croc I’d be set.

All of that, and the banishing of Melumek’s croc invasion, was all that mattered. Sure, it was still a hefty list, but sitting here in the mud wasn’t helping me get it done.

I shifted, scratching an itchy spot on my cheek. No, not those cheeks, the other ones. Nigel smacked me with his switch.

“Would you just fuck off already,” I snapped, glaring at the dumpy little creature.

“You’re supposed to be clearing your mind and sensing the world around you. Children can do this,” Nigel said.

“Stop smacking me with your damn cane, and maybe I’d have a chance.”

I closed my eyes again and cleared my mind, pushing every stray thought and every irritating sound away. Without those things to focus on, the weight of the ominous cloud that coated the island pressed down on me. The insidious fingers crept into me, worming their way into my heart and, worse, my mind. I felt the pain that had happened here long ago. The injustice and the agony forced on proud and noble people who’d done nothing but try to defend their home. Their reward had been to be stripped from their loved ones and the land they held sacred.

This place had been one of those blessed places before it had been befouled. Now, it was a reminder of all the pain and suffering that had needlessly happened. Nature was claiming it back from the invaders. Returning it to the pristine holy place it had been and restoring dignity and honor to those lost.

The darkness ran deep, though, far into the soil beneath me. The rain washed much of it away, but it remained still, like a parasite determined to hang on.

The Egg of Restoration would change all that. It needed a moment to attune to the island. I needed to place it in the deepest wound inflicted.

Thunder boomed overhead, jerking me from the tenuous hold I’d had on reality. A nerve in my ass pinched, sending bolts of agony down one leg and into my lower back. I hissed and jerked to my feet, rubbing at the sore spot as I tried to limp away from the pain.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Did you do it?” Nigel asked.

“Yeah, I think I did. What the hell happened here?” I asked.

Nigel’s face darkened as he dropped his chin to his chest and closed his eyes, clutching his hat in a tight grip. “Something real bad.”

It took longer to convince Frank to leave his perch and Sob to let me ride him than it did to traverse the distance between the lighthouse and the blackened wound that marred the natural beauty of the lake we approached. A blackened stretch of earth marred the landscape not far from the edge of the lake, like a scar upon the earth.

“That’s it, that’s the place. You got to put it there,” Nigel said.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“It’s the only place nature hasn’t been able to reclaim just yet. It has to be there.”

I dismounted, pulling the egg from my bum bag as I cautiously climbed down into the burned patch of earth and placed the egg at its center. The moment the glowing orb of energy hit the drenched earth, roots burst from it, digging into the soil like a tree looking for water.

I turned, standing over the egg and drawing my blade. The wind rushed around me, filling my ears with a dull roar. Rain stung my face, seeping into my leathers and chilling me to the bone. I twirled my blade with my good hand, a little annoyed that my other was taking so long to heal. My health bar was almost completely full. Without it, I couldn’t use the crossbow strapped to my wrist.

Not that it seemed to matter much. There didn’t seem to be a horde of monsters coming my way like I had assumed there would be. Lightning flashed, and thunder boomed. The sizzling bolt hit a tree shattering the wood and scattering it about my feet. The still-burning twigs hissed as rain struck them.

I swallowed past the lump in my throat. Something felt off. The egg between my legs throbbed, the glow brightening and fading as mounds of dirt formed into piles beneath it.

A bush nearby shook. I tightened my grip on my sword, spreading my feet and waiting for what was to come. I wasn’t expecting a little fuzzy marsupial that had a perpetual smile on its chubby face. The small thing was about the size of a cat.

I smiled and eased my stance a little. “You're cute. Best get out of here, though. Shit is about to go down.”

The little creature squeaked. Behind it, three more of the adorable rat-like animals appeared.

“Please don’t try to kill me like the wallabies did,” I muttered.

All around me, on the edges of the barren strip of land, the bushes and shrubs shifted, revealing an army of adorable runts. I spun in a slow circle, keeping my sword held out in front of me. Sob, with Frank and Nigel on his back, wickered and retreated.

For the first time since we’d landed on the shores of the island, the torrential rain stopped. I should have been grateful, but all it did was make me more anxious. The ruckus of the quokkas was louder than the rumbling thunder.

The egg expanded, the force of it pushing me further from it. Waves of light began to flash from it, rolling out from the ditch and blasting the trees in a barrage of rainbow colors that reminded me of the light in the Haunted Hollow.

The howling sound returned, but this kind was not of the elements. Shadows rushed over the earth. The quokkas hissed and scattered, disappearing into the underbrush as the globs of darkness swarmed me.

I bellowed and struck out with my sword, but it passed right through the shadows. The darkness swallowed the light emanating from the egg.

“Nigel, what the hell is happening!” I bellowed, trying to push my way to the egg. The shadows weren’t substantial enough to take damage from my sword, but they succeeded in keeping me at bay. Touching them felt like sticking my hand in a freezer.

“It’s the spirits of the invaders! You have to get rid of them,” Nigel shouted.

“How?”

“Fucked if I know!”

“Well, shit.”

I dropped my useless sword and grabbed at the shadows. A horrible squealing filled my ears. I shoved a bolt into the crossbow and braced one arm with the other, firing it at the nearest spot of gloom. The bolt passed right through, squelching into the mud beside the egg.

I watched in horror as the roots it had embedded in the ground began to recede. The black scar on the land expanded, stretching further over the lake. Every plant it touched withered and died. The water turned foul. Fishes began to float on the surface, their lives stolen by the darkness.

My breath was coming in desperate heaves. I stumbled back and opened my quest menu, reading the words over again in hopes of seeing something I hadn’t before.

The Hall of Pain and Sorrow

The spirits of the Haunted Hollow have demanded a tribute. Place the Egg of Restoration in the center of the Hall of Pain and Sorrow and ensure it hatches safely. If I fail, my life will replace the egg.

38 hrs, 17 minutes remaining.

I ran my hand over the short threads of my hair, wondering where I’d gone wrong. I’d brought it here, just like Nigel had told me to.

Unsure what else to do and with my mind in a panic, I dropped down into my meditation pose, shoving every thought and feeling away from me. The egg was dying. I could sense its wavering energy. The blackness was digging deeper into its shell. A building not far away resonated with the same energy that lived inside the egg.

A hall. I was looking for a hall and not a blackened scar on the earth. I was in the wrong place!

“Nigel, you bastard. This isn’t right!”

I dove into the shadows, digging desperately through them until my fingers brushed the egg. An icy chill consumed me, making it difficult to move. My teeth began to chatter. I let out a desperate scream and clutched the barely glowing orb to my chest, the last thin roots tearing from the ground as I charged out of the ditch, the shadows swarming on my tail.