Gabby dropped to her knees beside us, her head falling into her cupped hands as she wailed. Boopzy screeched as he swung down from Nora’s shoulder and wrapped his tentacles around the gaping hole in Jacob’s chest. A blast of brilliant blue light blinded us. When it cleared Boopzy had shrunk but that was all that had changed.

Jacob lay in a cradle of tree roots, his body just as broken as we’d found him. Pain radiated from my chest, impacting every corner of my being as I bent forward to place a hand on the boy's shoulder. His health bar had disappeared. A golden glow throbbed into existence from the center of his body along with the familiar loot icon.

Even Sob’s powerful magic couldn’t heal the dead.

“I’m so sorry, mate,” I whispered. “We should have gotten here sooner.”

Nora crawled around me, wrapping her arms around Gabby and pulling her close. The tip of Nora’s nose had turned red and tiny droplets crowded the eyelashes brushing her cheeks. She was keeping back the majority of her pain to help Gabby but even she wasn’t always infallible.

I joined them, folding my long arms around the pair of them. I didn’t know what to say. No words would take away the pain of losing a clan member.

“It’s all my fault,” Gabby cried. “I told him to stay with you. Why couldn’t he just listen?”

I tightened my hold but it was Nora who answered. “It isn’t your fault. Nothing you could have said would have made him leave you.”

Gabby spread her wings, violently shoving Nora and me back. The steel-clad warrior fell over my legs, trapping me in place. Gabby reached into the satchel tied around her waist and yanked out a dirtied and torn piece of paper.

“This. He died for this. Because I couldn’t let go. It is my fault.”

She tossed the scrap of paper on the ground beside us and bounded away deeper into the otherworldly forest, her wings speeding her escape.

“Gabby wait!” Nora cried pushing off me to chase after the girl, disappearing just as quickly into the greenery.

I sighed and pulled my knees under me until I was kneeling on the cool damp earth. Stella whined as she lay down beside Jacob, resting her head over the boy’s neck. Her eyes were closed and her tail was limp and still. She felt his loss as keenly as we did.

I reached for the note, lifting it and dusting off the dirt until I could make out the hastily scrawled words.

Gabby, if you ever find this I just want you to know I’m sorry.

I should have trusted in you and helped you in your trial instead of trying to force you to stay.

I couldn’t bear the idea of you being in that kind of danger. I’m sorry.

If you ever run into Joe I’m sure he’ll tell you what I did. Probably with a lot of hatred aimed my way. Just know that I deserve it. I betrayed you all because I was scared.

It's not an excuse. It’s just what happened. I’m owning it now.

I’ve decided you all will be better off without me. Go find Joe and Nora, I’m sure he’s found her by now, and keep each other safe. Find Tony the Cable Snake Man and banish these Crocs back to the depths.

For now, I’m going far away. Don’t try to find me.

Know that I love you more than anything.

Love, Dad.

(P.S. If this is Joe reading this then please find my daughter. You know what she means to me. She doesn’t deserve your hatred like I do. I don’t know why I’m bothering to write this but I’m pretty sure if anyone can survive this fucking nightmare it will be you. You’re like a cockroach… In a good way.)

(P.P.S. If this is anyone else. Put the damn note back and walk away. This is none of your business.)

That was a lot of words. I folded the note into a tiny square and shoved it into my bum bag. So Theo had run off to sulk in a cave somewhere rather than face us all. I have to admit, I was a little surprised by that. Not in a million years would I have thought the man would run away from his own daughter.

My eyes flicked back to Jacob’s crumpled form. Theo and his cowardice didn’t matter right now. I was desperate to know what had done this to the poor lad. Now was not the time to start interrogating Gabby though. Whatever it was, we should never ever go near it ever again. Stella opened her big wet eyes and stared at me. Boopzy had crawled up onto the dog's head now. His tentacles were hanging like vines around her fuzzy face.

I crawled to them and said softly, “We should bury him.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

I looked around at the mystical wonderland we’d somehow found ourselves in. I had no way of knowing if Jacob had been religious in his life before. I would have liked to give him the burial he would have wanted but here, in this beautiful patch of nature, would have to do. I just had to keep the thoughts that this place was nestled deep in the bowels of a sewer away.

Together Stella, Boopzy, and I found a lovely spot on a little hill that overlooked the river. Without the benefits of a shovel, it took a long time to dig a hole that I considered deep enough. The light in the room never changed its direction or intensity, solidifying my theory that the bright glow was in no way related to the sun. Stella lifted her head when I rose to my full height, the same mud that coated her paws and nose leaving a thick smear across my face as I wiped away the sweat with my forearm.

“Joe, what are you doing?”

I turned, seeing Nora standing at the edge of the forest with her arm wrapped around Gabby’s waist. I couldn’t tell if the warrior woman was holding the Daughter of Umbra upright or if it was simply a gesture of support.

“He deserves a proper burial,” I said by way of explanation as I climbed out of my hole.

Gabby sniffed loudly, offering me a ghost of a smile. “Thank you.”

I smiled back at her, not sure what else to say before heading back toward where I had left Jacob’s crumpled body. Nora shook her head and gently took her arm back from Gabby.

“No, allow me.”

She walked away. Stella barged past me, running up to Gabby and forcing her furry head under the girl's arm. Gabby dropped into a crouch, wrapping both arms around the dog and pressing her face into Stella’s neck. I watched helplessly as the girl’s shoulders and her wings shook violently.

I turned away, offering them a minute amount of privacy as I ran my fingers through my hair. A slab of pale grey rock lying half in the river caught my eye. I made my way down the hill and fished the heavy thing from its resting place, ignoring the wave of bugs that ran from underneath it. I carried it back up the hill and sat beside the hole. I took out the useless iron dagger hiding deep in my inventory and used it to carve a shotgun in the center with Jacob's name underneath it. It would have looked far nicer if I was doing it with charcoal on paper but it was still passable.

Nora was gently laying Jacob’s body in the grave when I put the stone aside. The boy was no longer glowing gold. I’m not sure how I felt about Nora looting the boy’s inventory but I guess it was better than letting the valuable resources rot in the grave.

Nora scooped up a handful of the dirt Stella and I had excavated and gently sprinkled it over Jacob’s body. I joined her, scooping and scattering the damp and fertile earth. Gabby came over, her face bright red and her eyes puffy as she scooped alongside us.

It wasn’t much of a send-off. As we covered his broken body we told stories about the many exploits we’d managed to tackle together. I told the story of how we’d first met the man screaming and cowering before a Croc monster and then his bravery in battling the Sewer Hag.

By the end of it, Gabby was sobbing and laughing at the same time, leaning against Nora with her arms dirtied to the elbow in mud. I bent down to grab the gravestone I’d carved, jamming it into the ground at the head of the grave.

“Wait, there’s one more thing,” Gabby said in a rush.

She broke away from Nora and bolted back the way we’d come, heading for the waterfall. She beat her damaged wings frantically, hopping from one rock to the next until she was almost to the peak of the wall. She snatched something there before throwing herself backward and awkwardly glided back to us. In her hand was a white flower with long drooping petals and five long thin stamens growing from its center. The alchemist in me wanted to snatch it from her and add the unique ingredient to my stash of craftables. I had enough sense to resist the temptation though. Now was not the time for ingredient hoarding.

I couldn’t resist using my Identify skill on it though.

Weeping Widow Lilly – Drain Magicka - ? - ?

Don’t drool, you can’t have it, I berated myself, folding my hands together in front of me to keep them where they belonged.

Gabby knelt down beside the grave and laid the flower right in the center of it.

“Goodbye,” she whispered. “I’m sorry we couldn’t see this thing to the end.”

She closed her eyes for a minute then stood and turned to us, her face stony and her eyes alight with purpose despite the clear tear tracks running down her cheeks. “We have to leave now. We have to hunt down Tony the Cable Snake Man and finish this.”

“Wait,” I said before we could get very far. I turned and snatched Boopzy from his place atop Stella’s head and dropped him on Gabby’s shoulder. “Do your thing, little guy.”

Before Gabby could protest the flash of blinding light made little white spots dance in front of our eyes. When it vanished Gabby’s health bar was two-thirds full and Boopzy was almost himself again. The glow coming off of him was much fainter than it had been before we’d made our way into the Hollow. From what I could gather, he only had one decent healing spell left in him before Sob’s stored magic would be drained.

Nora gently took Boopzy from the girl and placed him on her own shoulder before locking her gaze on Gabby’s face. “Can you tell us what did this to you?”

Gabby’s sharp breath was audible even over the constant trilling of the birds I couldn’t see. Her wings moved to almost envelop her, leaving only her head exposed over the now-repaired white feathers.

Her eyes were filling with a sheen of tears again before she whispered barely loud enough for us to hear. “A Howling Devil.”