Golems were common monsters in most games. A while back, Armin had gotten into this MMO called Ever-Victory, which was some typical online fantasy game, and the class he picked had the ability to summon golems. She had watched him play it a few years back before he grew bored of it and got a life.

Most of what she knew about golems actually came from the villain known as Golark. Golark was the first Calamity to ever appear directly after the Shadow. He had been a powerful threat, able to create an army of golems, but in the end, he lost to the four Lords. It was this battle that showed the world that the Lords could revive and return, as this had been the first ever time they all died, all falling to the Shadow, yet reappearing years later to fight the threat known as Golark.

Golark had been assigned the position of a Calamity level threat since he had nearly wiped out humanity, but that had been a long time ago when humans were still recovering after the loss of the old world. Golark was likely no longer a Calamity level threat, should he ever return for some reason. The four Lords had managed to take him out easily enough back then, and it was this battle that truly made them become heroes in the eyes of the public and caused their legends to be passed down all the way to the present day; that was now.

All of this was currently going through her head because the golems happened to look a lot like the ones Golark was said to have summoned. Due to how long ago it was, pictures of Golark and his army didn't exist, but some people had drawn what the golems might have looked like based on statements and history.

These golems were strikingly similar, being forged entirely out of bits of gray stone, looking like a series of pebbles and rocks that had somehow come together into the shape of a person. They lacked heads, instead being mostly spiky, and they weren't fast, but there was a bunch of them. The one that had exploded earlier was also in the middle of putting itself back together. Slowly but surely, they were shambling forward.

"What are those things?" Alexander asked in shock; he sat alone on the wagon now as he watched the creatures shuffle forward.

Cora had gotten out of the wagon, much like her brother, and was doing her best to guide the donkey back. "They're weapons created by Magnolia Tree." The girl looked angry for the first time since they had gotten to know her. She was hissing and a little red in the face. "They've been creating more of those things, and they've been attacking all the villages around here. Apple Tree has been totally torn down and is no longer on the map because of these things."

Cinder watched the stone creatures with a bit of interest. "And you're just now telling us about these things?"

"Sorry." Nikos winced a bit. "I keep forgetting that you guys aren't from around here. Honestly, though, we weren't expecting these things to appear like this. There usually aren't this many. Magnolia must be stepping up its game, which isn't good for us." The boy launched an arrow from his bow, but it didn't slow the golems down even a little.

"Lycaon." Kevin formed a face on the shoulder of Cinder's suit and called out to his new wolf friend. "Back up. Don't let any of these things near you."

Lycaon let out a loud bark as if he could understand Kevin and backed up alongside the wagon. Druid, who still rested on the wolf's back, kept thrashing around and screaming, though it came out muffled due to the gag that covered her mouth. The woman was glaring down at the rock creatures and clearly knew something about them.

Cinder reached up to where her bag had been, the Shift suit twitching and moving alongside her body as it formed a few tendrils off of her arm and drew her sword. "You ready?" She asked her suit.

"Nope. But let's get this over with, anyway." Kevin grumbled.

"That's the spirit."

"You seriously owe me a bunch."

Cinder gave a small grin before her look grew serious. There were twelve golems in total, but chances were there could be even more hiding along the path. She blasted forward, moving between each of them with blinding speed, her sword easily cutting through most of them in an instant. She sliced them all in two and appeared at the other end of the path, turning around just in time to see them putting themselves back together. She had figured something like that wouldn't work, but she wanted to see if she was fast enough to attack and get out of range before they had time to explode.

As all the golems began to reform, they started to pick up speed. Half of them headed for her, but the other six began to run after the wagon. "Hey!" She twisted her body and swung her blade out like a bat, using the blunt side of it. The weapon grew heavier and smashed into the body of one of the stone creatures, sending it crashing back into the other six and knocking them all to the ground. Once that was done, she jumped into the air, leaping over them, and landed in front of the ones heading toward her father. She smashed into the ground as hard as she could and kicked down, shattering it and causing a mini earthquake. It managed to knock the other six golems over and created a large crater in the ground, which the golems would have to climb out of if they wanted to catch up to the fleeing wagon. "Nikos! Get yourself and my father out of here. Head back to the forest a bit, and I'll catch up when I can!"

Nikos stared at the destruction in front of him with wide eyes. The entire ground had been caved in from Cinder's jump, and he watched as the girl readied her blade to fight the twelve golems that were beginning to head toward her once more. He shook his head and steeled his nerves the best he could. "R- Right! We'll wait for you at the edge of the forest!"

"Stay in my sight, though!" Cinder yelled back. "If any of these guys get past me or another villain shows up, I won't be able to come save you guys if you get too far!" She sliced another golem in half and jumped out of the crater right as it tried to blow itself up. Rubble was sent flying out in all directions.

Cora bit her lip as they got further away. "Is she really going to be okay by herself? I know she's a mage, but still?"

"My daughter is strong." Alexander rested on the wagon and watched his child with a faint smile. "I was pretty worried when I first learned what she was doing. I'm like the two of you; I don't have any powers. I'm just a human. It was hard for me to process it. A father is supposed to keep his child safe, yet there are times like this when I don't think there is anything I can do to help. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but the more I kept watching, the more I saw her take off. Again and again, time after time, it seems like no matter what is thrown at my little girl, she somehow finds a way to come out on top. Heroes, villains, and even the media. None of it has been enough to stop her." Alexander's grin grew. "She's strong. Besides. She's not alone."

Shift struck out, several red tendrils firing out of the suit in all directions. They blew limbs off of the golems and shattered a few of them, but that still wasn't enough to stop any of them for good. No matter how much damage he or Cinder caused, it didn't seem to be enough. The things would just put themselves back together and charge again.

"This isn't working." Shift hissed out.

"I know-" Cinder flinched a bit when one of the golems rammed a fist into her face, but her durability caused the stone monster's fist to shatter to dust. It tried to blow itself up, but she used her speed to get out of the blast zone before it could go off, watching as it exploded from a safe distance. "If I had my fire or my Lord form, I could just burn them all to ash or chuck them all into space. Hey, Brightest Star, I don't suppose you'd be willing to talk and give me some of your strength?" Once again, there was no answer. "Figures."

"Can you hit them hard enough to where they can't reform?" Shift questioned.

"I can try." Cinder gritted her teeth and blasted forward so fast she shattered the ground. She appeared in front of one of the golems and swung her sword out as hard as she could. She hit the thing so hard that she caused another crater to appear in the ground and sent out a shock wave that blasted the other golems back. The one she hit erupted into dust, shattering, and she brought her sword down again, hitting it while it was down and breaking all the little pieces. She used her sword to go through its shattered remains, checking for a core or something that allowed the golems to form, but she saw nothing. Not even a moment later, the powdered dust that was now the golem began to twitch and pull itself back together, forming into a small hand that tried to grab at her, but she quickly vanished and reappeared at the other end of the crater. "Well, that didn't work. Even turning them into dust barely slows them down. These things are seriously annoying!"

Shift frowned, and more of his tendrils stabbed out of her suit, ripping through several of the golems. "There's got to be some sort of weakness- Hey, are there more of them?"

Cinder narrowed her eyes and took a count. This time, she came to fourteen. "When did the other two show up?" Just then, she heard a loud rumbling sound, and part of the ground began to break and tear as a much larger hand jutted out of the crater she had formed. This hand was as big as the golems and also made of rock. "Uh oh, that's a big one." A massive golem ripped its way out of the ground, standing at over twenty feet. It wasn't alone, either. Already, a second large golem was forcing its way out of the second crater she had created, all the tiny ones flanking it. "That's not good-"

Dozens of normal-sized golem hands jutted out of the ground and wrapped around her ankle. Cinder felt her eyes go wide, and she kicked out, shattering a few of the hands, but she wasn't fast enough. In an instant, the massive golem showed insane speed and jumped off of the ground, trying to smash down into her. She lifted her hand up just in time and caught the golem, holding it in the air with one arm. Her arm struggled a bit, the thing weighing almost as much as a building, and she realized her mistake a second too late as it glowed.

Shift fully wrapped around her, covering her head to toe, and the massive golem exploded, going off like a massive bomb. It blew her through the ground, shoving her back, and shattered all the other golems, the explosion ripping out. The ground shook and was burned to ash, and over with the others, Cora, Nikos, and Alexander all let out a loud yell as their carriage and donkey were lifted off of the ground and thrown to the side. Lycaon was knocked over by the force of the blast, and the wolf smashed through several trees, accidentally sending Druid flying off of him.

Cinder groaned weakly, resting on her back, now in the third crater. That explosion had been much larger than the others, and if not for Shift, she'd have seriously taken more of a beating- "Kevin!" Cinder felt her eyes go wide, and she sat up, looking down at her suit.

Over half of it had been destroyed, and the remaining half was a nasty black, but it still twitched a bit, regrowing parts of it. Shift also groaned and began to rebuild himself cell by cell. "Lauren, you seriously fucking owe me."

Cinder let out a relieved sigh, only to then jump to the side as a gigantic stone fist smashed into the ground at the spot she had been sitting. The second massive golem had punched down into the mini crater she had been blasted into and was ripping it apart, opening it up more, allowing the smaller golems, seventeen of which now existed, to come sliding down toward her. The first massive golem was about halfway back together, and already, a third massive golem was starting to dig its way out of the ground, dangerously close to her group.

"They just won't stop coming." Cinder hissed out and blocked another strike with her blade, jumping away before it could think about exploding.

"Do you hear anything out of the ordinary?" Shift asked, fully putting himself back together. "Maybe there's a Super nearby doing this?"

"I thought about that and haven't heard anything," Cinder said, shaking her head. "I have an idea, though."

"I'm all ears."

"Go to Druid and see if she knows anything about these golems. She seemed to recognize them when they first appeared. Maybe she knows some way of beating them or something."

Shift frowned slightly and pulled his way off of Cinder's body, removing himself from her. He plopped down to the ground in his blob state and formed a small tendril, giving her a half salute. "Try not to die without me."

"I think I'll manage." She gave a smirk and a wink as Shift stabbed his way into the ground and began to dig his way through it, escaping from the golems. She turned back to the rest of the horde, counting twenty golems now and four massive ones. About fifty meters away, the ground exploded again; this time, a hand even bigger than the large golems appeared. Her smile faltered for a moment, dreading how big that one's explosion would be. "Please know how to beat these things, Druid... It'll make taking you along worth it then." She gripped her blade with both her hands and got ready as the golems began to charge her.

Over with Alexander, he groaned slightly and picked himself up. It was painful, but he forced his body to move. "A- Are you kids okay?"

"Yeah." Nikos sat up and helped his sister Cora stand. "Shit."

"What is it?" Alexander turned and saw it. The carriage had landed on the donkey, crushing it. It had been a swift kill, thankfully, and he hoped the animal hadn't suffered too much. The wagon was mostly shattered now as well. "Damn. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Nikos shook his head. "It's the golems that did it." Lycaon came limping out of the forest, the wolf letting out a soft whine as it collapsed near them. "I hope the wolf's okay. With any luck, we can still use him to get to the village." The brother sighed.

Cora winced and held onto her brother, using him to support herself. "Is Hope okay? She was next to that thing when it went off."

Before Alexander could answer, the ground next to them cracked; he jumped back, expecting a golem, but instead, he found Kevin poking his head out. "Kevin?"

Shift looked around with narrowed eyes. "Where the hell did that bitch go?" Shift jutted back into the ground and began to swim away.

Over at the forest, Druid pressed herself up against a tree and began to rub against it, trying to cut the red rope around her, but it did nothing. She did manage to get the gag out of her mouth, though. "Damn it! What the hell are these things made out of?" With some effort, she got her hand around a branch and snapped it off. She closed her eyes and began to focus her power. Slowly, the branch started to twist and change, morphing and extending. It twisted itself and formed into a staff much like her old one, though this one had a blue gem at the end of it. She aimed it at herself, and it fired a thin blue beam, freezing the red lasso around her, allowing her to shatter and break out of it. "Yes! Freedom-"

A red tendril stabbed out of the ground and sliced her staff in two right as she broke out. Druid let out a scream of frustration and tried to jump away, but before she could, another tendril stabbed out of the ground and wrapped around her ankles. It pulled tightly around her legs and forced her to the ground.

Shift dug his way out of the earth and rested himself on the woman's stomach, staring down at her. "You're not going anywhere." Shift sneered. "At least, not until you tell me how to beat those things."

Druid made a face and tried to shove the monster off of her, but Kevin just wrapped his tendrils around her wrists and pinned her hands above her head. "Why the hell do you think I'd ever tell you how to beat the golems?" Druid growled.

Shift narrowed his eyes. "So you do know how to beat them?"

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Well... Even if I do, it doesn't matter! I'm not going to work with you guys ever again!"

Shift stared into the woman's remaining eye with a blank look. "I get it. You're mad that Cinder lied to you. She made some deal and then turned her back on you. I'm not Cinder, though. I'm much worse. I'm also very, very hungry, and might I say, your eye is kind of looking good. How about I even you out and eat the second one?" He growled, a mouth appearing at the end of his tendril, which whipped down toward Druid's face.

Druid flinched, and her face turned pale as the tendril ran along her cheek. "Y- You wouldn't! H- Heroes can't-"

"I ain't a hero," Shift smirked and licked his lips. "I'm a monster, bitch. One created because of you Supers. I happen to hate your kind. So here's an easy deal. You tell me what I want to know, and I'll find something else to eat. Hold out on me, though, and I think I'll go ahead and take off your entire face. It's pretty ugly to look at, so I think I'd be doing the world a favor."

Druid's good eye teared up a bit, and the woman clenched her jaw. "You're sick."

"And you're about to be my dinner if you don't start talking! Now tell me what I want to know!"

Back over with Cinder, she dodged out of the way of the large golem's punch. The entire ground shook, and she nearly stumbled back, more hands forming out to grab at her, but she avoided them. The really big one was about halfway out of the ground now and seemed to be staring in her direction. Forty of the smaller ones were also swarming the field, and they seemed to be getting faster and smarter. No longer were they exploding when she got near them. Instead, they'd start their self-destruction before they reached her, kicking up massive dust clouds and blocking her view so other ones could try to sneak up on her and get her. The only reason that wasn't working was because of her enhanced senses. If she had been any other hero, they'd have likely blown her to bits by now.

That wasn't the only new trick they picked up, either. The gigantic golem was literally scooping up the smaller ones, and even one of the large ones, and throwing them at her as hard as it could. She wasn't able to slow down for even a second and had given up on fighting back, simply weaving in and out of the danger. The only good thing that had come out of this was that she was so far away from the others that the golems had stopped targeting them and instead were focused solely on her.

At least if she made a mistake, only she would be caught in the blast, and the others would live.

"You guys really aren't much for any banter, are you?" She called out, dodging another massive fist. "It'd be a little better if you guys could talk. We could trade insults and stuff, you know." By now, that massive one had fully pulled itself out of the ground. It was nearly as big as a small mountain, and all across its body must have been a few hundred of the smaller golems. She wondered for a moment if this must have been what it was like to fight Golark back in the day. "It sure would be nice if a Lord who fought golems once would give me pointers!" The Brightest Star remained silent. "Ah, whatever, I don't need you anyways!"

The golems charged her from all sides, and Cinder gripped her blade and spun herself around as fast as she could. Just as Drake had shown her, she sent out a strike that was so strong it caused a shock wave to blast out, compressed wind smashing into all the golems around her and blowing them back. The large golems all flinched and stumbled, but the giant one didn't even notice her attack and took a thundering step toward her that shook the land.

"Cinder!" A voice cried out from above. A red figure with large horns smashed into the ground next to her. For a moment, she thought she was looking at Mars King, but then she realized it was Shift, now in his true form. "I talked to Druid!" The monster announced.

"And what did she say?" Cinder and Shift took off running at high speeds while the giant golem scooped up hundreds of its smaller people and threw them.

"She said we need to take out the core!"

"Core? There isn't a core! I tore them apart and haven't found any obvious weak spots! Are you sure she told you the truth?" Cinder asked, dodging out of the way as the rain of golems crashed down around them.

Shift shrugged, and his head suddenly split open and seemed to unfold, revealing the face of Druid beneath it. The woman had been crammed inside of the Kevin-suit, used as the bones Kevin needed to take on his true form. Druid looked very mad but gave a faint nod. "I'm telling the truth." The woman grumbled. "I've seen some of these things before. One of the villains Cinder picked up is using them."

"Not me! Skin Walker!"

"Whatever." Druid rolled her eye. "There's a core. These golems are programmed by it, and the core is placed into the earth deep beneath the ground. When it senses people nearby, the core will begin to transform the ground around it into golems. It can create an infinite amount of them and will keep making more and more until it either runs out of resources or kills its target, and since it has an entire planet to work with, it basically has unlimited resources. Until the core is destroyed, these guys are just going to keep coming!"

Cinder frowned slightly. "I don't hear anything like that; just how far underground is it?"

"Very."

Cinder nodded. "In that case- Wait. Where are the golems?"

Shift reformed his head, and the two of them turned just in time to see that they had gotten too far away from the horde. Now, all of the stone creatures had turned away and were heading back to where her father and the siblings were. Shift grabbed something that was on Cinder's back and began to run toward the horde. "I'll go and distract them and keep them away from the others!" He yelled back. "You find the core! Go down as far as you can!"

Cinder nodded her head and dropped to her knees, punching the ground as hard as she could. "Don't die!"

"Of course I won't! Seriously, I'll run if my life is in danger, so you better hurry!" As Shift ran and got closer to the golems, he could hear Druid inside of him, the woman trying to claw her way out.

"I didn't agree to this! I'm not going to die from these things!"

"Relax." Shift snorted. "We're going to fight the army with our own army."

"What do you mean?" Druid suddenly found herself able to see as Kevin opened a slot in his body. He also undid the muscles around his right hand, allowing Druid to control that portion, and the woman looked down, finding that she was now holding her staff. "Oh. I see."

Shift ran toward the golems, using his tendrils to pull himself along as fast as he could. "Create something!"

Druid waved her hand around, forcing Shift's arm to move, and her staff lit up, summoning hundreds of large lions that roared out and charged forward, ramming into many of the smaller golems and causing them to explode. The biggest golem turned back toward the two of them and scooped up one of the larger golems and got ready to throw it. Miles away, a hand as big as a mountain began to rise out of the ground, followed by thousands of smaller golems.

"Seriously, Cinder." Shift muttered to himself. "You better hurry." He let out a battle cry and used Druid's staff, creating a wave of elephants. The animals charged forward but were quickly blown to bits. More golems were coming out of the ground now, an endless sea of them. Once it became clear he and Druid could counter with their animals, whatever was creating them had doubled down by making more of them quicker.

They weren't all just going after him, either. Dozens of them were going after Alexander and the siblings. Shift cursed and began to blast toward them, jumping high into the air and forming a pair of makeshift wings so he could fly.

"Forget them and save yourself!" Druid screamed in his ear.

"Nah. I do what I want!" Shift announced. He regretted flying, though, because more of the golems began to get thrown at him, exploding in the air. One clipped him in the side, and he felt a wave of pain course through him as he crashed toward the ground and rammed into it next to Alexander and the others. More of the golems began to rain down, and Shift shook himself, fighting off the pain. "We have to go!"

"Where's my daughter?" Alexander yelled.

"Busy trying to save us!" Shift grabbed Alexander, Cora, and Nikos and threw them all onto the back of Lycaon. He then jumped onto the wolf. "Sorry, buddy, but I need you!" He expanded his muscles and legs and wrapped them around Lycaon's body, forcing the knocked-out wolf to stand and run.

"Here they come!" Nikos screamed out.

"Brother, I'm scared!" Cora yelled, clinging to her brother.

"I- It'll be alright." Alexander winced and stared out at the ocean of golems that were literally swarming them. Every second now, a new one was pulling its way out of the ground, and the gigantic hand was all the way out, revealing a body that was reaching the clouds. It seemed no matter how far they ran, the golems weren't stopping. They were basically back where they started, nearing the mountain they had slept in earlier. Whatever this trap was, it really wouldn't stop till they were all dead.

Shift forced his wolf to keep running, but they didn't get too far before a rain of golems smashed down all around them, each one exploding with a massive force. Druid and he screamed, as did Alexander and the kids, as Lycaon was sent flying into the air, sending them all crashing down. Shift did his best to shield everyone, but he had taken enough damage that Druid was able to rip her way out of him.

The woman crashed to the ground, breathing heavily, and attempted to crawl away, but Shift grabbed onto her leg and weakly tugged on it. "If you go, we all die."

"Sucks for you then, doesn't it?" The woman hissed and smashed her staff down, trying to knock Kevin's hand away, but he held on strong.

"Please."

Druid looked up just in time to see more of the golems were swarming them. She hissed out and waved her staff, creating a wall of squids that were quickly blown to bits. "We're all going to die." The woman yelled.

Cora tried to sit up, her body weak, and she realized with mild horror that there was a piece of wood poking out of her side. "H- Help us, Hope! Please!"

A golem was about to reach them, and Nikos threw himself in front of his sister. Right before the golem could explode, though, something smashed into it... A thin red beam. One that had been made from blood. It was followed by dozens of large white trees that were stabbed out of the ground and formed a wall around them. It gave Shift just enough time to wrap himself around Druid once more and pick all of them up, Lycaon included, and jump away.

As he left, he realized a second later that it hadn't been white trees. It had actually been bones that jutted up out of the ground. "I didn't expect 'them' to be here..."

Over with Cinder, she rammed her fist into the ground as hard as she could, blowing part of it away. She then did it again, and again, and again, hitting over and over, nonstop, each strike blowing more of the ground in front of her apart. She used all of her strength, forcing herself to dig down, ripping the stone and dirt to shreds. Some of the smaller golems began to appear around her, and she ignored them, allowing them to blow up against her, using them as makeshift bombs to get herself further down. She got so far down, in fact, that the hole she came in began to look like a small speck.

"Come on!" She growled. She still didn't hear anything. More golems began to form around her, and they exploded, over and over again, rocking her back and forth, but she didn't stop. She was glad she had gotten the jacket from Dense Iron because it, alongside the sword and backpack he had given her, was still perfectly intact, even as the rest of her clothes were burning to ash. She coughed more as dirt began to fill her lungs, but she still didn't stop. "Just a bit more! Come on! Where is it!"

Her enhanced senses were at their max, and she could hear thousands of explosions up top. The ground was constantly shaking, with each blast reaching her despite the fact that she was a few miles beneath the world at this point. Her skin was covered entirely with ash and dirt and some blood, which was starting to form as more of the golems around her exploded. She zipped her jacket up to cover some of her modesty and also used it to cover her lower mouth as more dirt and ash filled her lungs, and again, she swung her fist, blowing out another portion of the ground and dropping down.

Still, she heard nothing despite how good her senses were. She saw every molecule that made up the rocks and smelled the ash and burning flesh around her, and she could hear the screams up top as more of the golems charged Kevin and her father. How much longer would they be able to hold out for? Not long enough. She knew they were running out of time.

How many miles down was she at this point? Again, a few hundred golems exploded against her, burning her flesh, spilling more of her blood, and sending her another hundred feet into the ground, but it was nothing compared to what the others must be facing.

She could hear Kevin yelling something, followed by him screaming in pain as he was blown up again. She heard Druid cursing and yelling something and Cora weeping. She heard her father attempting to drag Nikos back and Lycan's whining as the group up top was overrun, but she still couldn't hear, see, or smell the sound of the core. Nothing. No matter how far she dug. Was she even in the right area?

Hope gritted her teeth and reached into her pocket. Despite all of the explosions, it somehow managed to survive. A small golden card. It was hard to say what wisdom meant. She honestly had no clue what it would do, but anything was better compared to this. More of the golems began to swarm her, literally growing out of the ground, and she heard more yelling miles away, but she yelled as she shook her head and left the card in the pocket.

She knew that it was way too early to use it, the games hadn't properly began yet, and that it would most certainly have some sort of side effect or something. She couldn't afford to get messed up. Not right now. Everyone was counting on her.

For the first time in what felt like forever, it seemed like something answered her prayers as she felt a hollow echoing further down.

She struck the ground and began to fall as it opened up into a massive cavern. She felt a wave of heat as she dropped into an ocean of magma. She wasn't alone either; thousands of golems rose out of it.

"It's gotta be here!" Hope quietly cheered to herself.

The lava was trying to keep her on the surface, but she fought against it and ignored the burning sensation. She had been hit with much worse heat after all. She shoved her body into it and began to sink beneath the lava. The fumes were making her dizzy and would have killed a normal human, but she was far from normal. She finally saw it.

All the way at the very bottom of this lake of lava was a large orb. It looked to be about the size of a small car and was made out of some strange type of black metal. The very same metal the Emperor's armor was made out of or the sword she had first used. Thanks to her enhanced senses, she was able to see, and she made out the letter 'G' which was carved into it.

She ignored the sinking feeling in her gut and struggled to reach the orb. She struck out, but the lava was making it hard for her to move, and the fumes made her head spin. Her fist left a dent in it, but it wasn't enough. The golems dropped into the lava around her, reaching for her.

'Again!' She screamed in her head.

She punched it.

'Again!'

She punched it harder!

'Again! Break it! Shatter it!'

She squeezed her hand into a tight fist, her feet touching the bottom, and she used that to build up momentum, ramming her hand directly into the orb. It began to crack and shake, and then started to shatter and broke away, the lava eating it up, until nothing was left. Just in time too. One of the golems grabbed her, but then stopped and slowly began to melt.

'There. I did it.' Hope thought with a hum of satisfaction.

Up top, Shift swung Druid's staff out, ready to fight till his last breath, but he stopped suddenly when all the golems stood still. Then they began to break apart and drop to the floor, gushing out into mud. Even the massive one that was still coming out of the ground. All the mud flowed, and suddenly, all the thousands of holes the golems created sealed up, and the earth shut. The craters Cinder had created had remained; however, only the damage the golems had caused to the world around them faded. In only a couple of seconds, it was as if the fighting had never happened.

Druid let out a relieved sigh. "Took that brat long enough."

"Tell me about it." Shift dropped to his knees and pulled back slightly, allowing Druid's head to poke out of him.

"Is it over?" Alexander asked tiredly. "That was kind of intense... I thought this place wasn't so bad until we ran into those things."

"Cora!" Nikos ran to his sister's side and grabbed the younger girl. Cora looked up at him weakly but managed to crack a smile.

"I- It's okay. The mage will heal me." The girl chuckled before letting out a pained cough.

"Can you heal her?" Nikos asked, shooting a look at Kevin and Alexander.

Kevin nodded. "Yeah." A tendril of his stabbed out and slithered across Cora, forcing its way into a vein. "I'll pump her full of my cells, and they'll eventually heal her body up."

"You can heal people?" Druid asked. "Then heal the eye you took from me, jackass!"

Kevin rolled his eyes. "Sure. I guess."

"R- Really?"

"You did help. Besides, I ain't letting you go; you and I are a team now; you're my suit." Kevin sealed back up before Druid could argue, shutting the woman in darkness. He made his way over to Cora's side and formed more of his tendril into her arm. "It'll take a while for my healing to activate; I'm not that good at this kind of stuff and am still learning." Kevin said awkwardly.

Cora's eyes closed, and the girl drifted to sleep. Nikos held onto his sister and bowed his head. "We'd be dead if not for you guys." The brother said weakly. "That golem trap must have been set after my sister and I went on our hunting trip. If we came back without meeting all of you, then we'd be... I- I can't ever repay you." The boy bowed slightly.

"You don't need to repay us, though if you wanted to, I could use some spare clothes..." They all jumped when they heard Hope's voice, and they turned to see the girl's head was poking around a tree. She was covered in dirt and ash but had a goofy smile on her face. Her jacket and backpack, as well as her sword, were fine, though covered in filth. The rest of her clothes, however...

"Why are your clothes always getting destroyed?" Alexander sighed and shook his head.

"I don't know." Hope sighed as well and shook her head. "Are you guys alright?"

Kevin nodded slightly. "A bit banged up, but we'll manage." Another tendril grew out of his back and jutted into Lycaon's side, and he began to heal the wolf up, which whimpered softly and looked around as it woke up. "I'll heal everyone the best I can."

"I- I got some spare clothes for you, miss Hope." Nikos said, a little embarrassed. The boy reached into the bag he kept at his side and tossed a few robes over.

Hope took it and found herself looking down at robes similar to what Myth wore. She shouldn't have been too shocked. She got dressed behind the tree, covered herself up, and wrapped the jacket around her waist as a makeshift belt. She stepped out once she was fully dressed and let out a sigh of relief, seeing everyone really was okay, save for some bruises.

"I'm glad you're all okay." She smiled softly. "Looks like I managed to stop it in time." She looked up, and then her smile faded fully. "Dad?"

Alexander turned to look at his daughter. "Yeah?"

"You're bleeding."

"Am I?" Alexander reached up and touched his face. He found his hand had turned scarlet as he pulled it away. It wasn't just coming out of his nose, either. His eyes, and even his ears, were gushing blood. He blinked a little as the world began to turn dizzy. "Oh."

Alexander collapsed.

"Dad!"

Meanwhile, near the edge of the mountain, a man shrouded in shadows stared down at the group as they surrounded the body of Alexander.

"I'm shocked." A female voice giggled from outside of the cave, that was behind the man. "I didn't expect you to come to their rescue. Don't you hate that girl? She ruined your life, right."

"Maybe." The man hummed slightly, and reached up to stroke his beard with his one hand. "Still. I thought I should at least help Kevin. We all used to be on the save side after all." He stepped forward getting out of the cave, allowing the sun above to shine down on him. Aarush Brenner, father of Kyle Brenner, let out a heavy sigh as two other people inside of the cave stepped out. "Casey, Hannah. Let's go. We still need to find my son."