The group sat there in the room that would barely be enough for four people. Two beds in a windowless room that's only purpose in existence was to sleep. No portraits hanging on the walls, no rugs, not even a bathroom. It was much less of a bedroom and more like a box with ugly lime green floral wallpaper that was now less lime and more of an aged urine stain of a decoration.

Hours had passed, and it was the second watch of the group. Joshua had just finished his first watch and Ulysses was now staying awake. There was absolutely nothing in this room to entertain him, and so he was bored to tears. It had not yet been an hour in his four hour watch, and yet he could fall asleep right now. His eyes began to sting as he strained them to keep open. A yawn came over him and he became all the more tired. He found his eyes almost closing on their own. He snapped out of it and shook his head. He stood up and pressed his ear to the door, trying to locate some sort of sound. When all he was met with was silence, he sat back down and pressed his back to the wall.

“Having trouble sleeping?” Illyana stood up. She elected to sleep on the floor. She had been used to it for so long. She sat next to Ulysses and whispered so as not to awaken the others.

“A little. You too?” He looked at her, appreciating the company and distraction from the endless boredom.

She nodded in response. “...Elacrai.”

“What?” Ulysses turned to her in confusion.

“You once asked where I’m from. I’m from Elacrai.”

“So you are a high elf.”

She shook her head. “Not entirely. My mother was Highelven. My father was human. Calenor of Brunerthorpe. It was a small village south of Sigardshere. My mother found him one day. He had been gored by a boar. The healing of men would have killed him, but the healing abilities of my kin are greater. After a while, they got to know each other. They fell in love…and then my mother had us…” She stared off into space as she remembered her life before; her childhood, her family, her home.

“Us?” Ulysses tilted his head,puzzled.

“My brother and I…Aithan. Twins. He and I were inseparable…”

“‘Were?’ What happened?”

She lowered her head and would hug her knees tightly.

“I’ve…always had a problem with my powers. Magic isn’t exactly easy to use. You have to learn how to wield it without hurting yourself or those around you.”

Ulysses frowned and would reach over to her, placing his hand on her shoulder and giving her a comforting smile.

She raised her head and locked eyes with Ulysses. He knew that whatever happened was difficult for her, and she could see it on his face. She looked away for a moment. She hesitated for a moment about what she was about to do. She reached up to her cowl and mask. The cowl was moved back and she pulled down the cloth mask from her face, and Ulysses looked at her in shock.

She had been deformed by fire. The complete left side of her face was ruined. Sides of her face exposed her teeth to the elements. Her ear was now nothing but a hole, as was the left side of her nose. Both her eyes were spared, but her left brow slumped over her eye, making it hard for her to see some times. The hair on the left side of her face was all but gone. Much of her scalp was gone, almost showing the muscle and bone. The burn scars on her face were severe, and the pain she must feel at all times even more so.

Ulysses looked at her, full of sorrow and horror as he looked upon her. “Illyana…”

She covered her face up again and would begin to weep silently.

“There was a fire…I caused it…I didn’t mean to…”

She gripped her pant legs tightly as she clenched her fists.

“My father…My mother…My brother…”

Ulysses saw her sorrow clear as day and he felt his heart sink as low as possible. He could do the only thing that he thought of.

Illyana would keep her head lowered. There was a tinge of fear in her heart that perhaps Ulysses would be like the others. Some were afraid of her visage while the cruel and horrible ones mocked her. Yet she was in complete surprise when Ulysses pulled her to him and hugged her tightly. At first her mind couldn’t process what was going on. Was she dreaming this? Was she imagining it? No…no he really did care for her. He was a true friend. She weakly held onto him and returned his hug, holding onto her tightly. And then she sobbed. She cried and muffled her voice against his shoulder. For so long she had dealt with this alone.

Years of pent up despair and self hatred would melt away and would come pouring out of her as Ulysses held her tightly, almost fatherly in a way. He rocked her as she cried.

“Shhh. It's okay. Hush now. You’re okay…”

She continued to cry and hold him tightly. And then after a while, she pulled away. She felt relieved. At peace. She felt whole again. She looked at him, tears still in his eyes, and she smiled under her mask.

“Thank you…”

“You’re a strong girl, Illyana. You just need to wake up in order to see it.”

He smiled at her and she would sniffle, trying to calm down. It was a peaceful, tranquil moment that was rare in this house.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Then, the walls would rumble. Joshua and Jacob would be roused from their sleep as dust began to fall down from the ceiling. The rumbling of something outside was growing. Ulysses tried to open the door to see what was going on, yet the handle wouldn’t budge. Then, an explosion. The side of the wall would explode, and send debris flying. The group huddled down on the ground to shield themselves. Then a new sound was heard. The sound of men yelling, swords clashing and arrows loosened. The roaring, thunderous sounds of hooves charged down to unleash wrath and hatred. As the walls around them had crumbled, the group had found themselves in the middle of a battlefield. The fires caused the sky to seem almost blood red. The clouds were black, with death and ruin scattered across the field. Coming through the crack was something in the guise of a man. Its eyes were red as embers, and his mouth was opened wide, broken and hanging cockeyed. The armor that the ‘man’ wore was that of the Khanjiri stepp. They had found themselves in a twisted version of the Khanjiri wars, and Ulysses turned pale at the sight of the man.

“...No…”

The house would seem to target him now. The Khanjiri warrior charged and would attempt to strike at Jacob who was still on the ground. Ulysses growled and charged, blocking the warrior’s sword and then moving the blade aside for a quick thrust into the warrior’s heart. He rushed forward, and pinned the warrior on the wall. Yet the Khanjiri was still alive and swung his sword at Ulysses. He ducked the strike and would try to fight off this thing as it attempted to pull itself off of the wall, the sword being the only thing keeping it locked in place. With each movement, the sword began to get loose. Ulysses would growl and take the sword arm of the warrior and would yell to Joshua.

“Cut it off! Cut the arm off!!!”

Joshua took his sword and yelled loudly and struck the arm at the elbow, cleaving it off. The Warrior continued to try to grab at him, but Ulysses would pull his sword out and then behead the warrior. The body of the warrior fell down and would crumple. The armor would begin to deflate, and the flesh of the warrior would shift and change shape. Several strange bugs crawled out of the armor and dug into the ground. Ulysses sighing and shaking his head.

“Alright. Sleep’s over. We need to get out of here.”

Jacob looked around outside at the carnage.

“But where is ‘here’ Exactly?!

“Flussburg. We’re in Flussburg.”

Jacob blinked in surprise.

“What?! How could you possibly know that?”

“Because I was here… The house is trying to get to me now.”

Illyana would hold her hands out and create some fire, prepared for the dangers to come.

“Then we best get out of here quickly. Find some sort of exit or something.”

“Agreed.” Ulysses nodded and cleaned his sword as he was prepared to step into the battlefield once more. The house would show that it had what appeared to be a limitless potential. There was no trace of the house whatsoever; The mud that they stepped in felt real enough, The smell of burning buildings and charred flesh was real enough, The sounds of men screaming in agony, calling to their mothers was all the more real. This was a Warzone. This was a universal horror, but one that Ulysses Archer had a special connection to.

They hid from all of the figures in armor that waged war. They knew that the house could make it so each army would see them as their enemy. They could trust nothing here.

And so they pressed on, marching through the seemingly endless fields of destruction and chaos. As they trod through the vast and endless battlefield, they would see the ground was not wet by water alone, but by the rivers of blood that were inside all of the dead men who laid in pools of their own lost life.

Just as they believed that they would see the exit, there was yet another battle that was being fought. Time began to appear almost meaningless as the sun never moved from its position. Not an inch. Just smoke rising from the ruined battlefield, and the sky burning red with hatred. Then, at long last, Ulysses came across an old familiar sight. He had stopped in the middle of a town square, much to the rest of the group's confusion.

His breath quickened and his eyes shot wide open. He knew this place very well. He turned around to face them.

“This isn’t the right place. We need to get out of here.” There was a bit of panic in his voice. And then he saw the worst of all the horrors here. The most terrifying thing that chilled him to the bone. Himself and his men walking up. Here they were, just as they were on that fateful day. Unlike the other apparition who would try to attack them, these ghostly figures from the past marched forward and ignored them. Ulysses felt a sharp chill run up his spine as if he had a cold iron dagger plunged deeply into his back. One word escaped from his lips.

“...No.”

Illyana placed her hand on his shoulder and tried to comfort him as he did for her.

“Ulysses, whatever this is, it's not real. We need to keep going.”

Yet Ulysses was too focused on what awaited him. He went over to his doppelganger and yelled.

“Turn back you fools! Turn back! There's no enemy here! You have to turn back right now!”

Yet, they passed through him as if made only out of ash and embers. They slightly burned him as they passed, yet he continued.

“You Fool! You Damned Fool! Turn back! You’re going to-.”

He then had an idea. If he couldn’t stop himself, then he would rush to his destined victim. He ran up the street as the others were shocked and chased after him.

“Ulysses! Wait!” pleaded Illyana as she went after him. Ulysses charged in a mad dash to save the woman and her child. He would almost make it, reaching over to the window to warn her; scream, shout, beg, plead, he did everything he could.

“Please! Please hear me! You’ve got to stay low! You have to stay still and quiet! Get down, hide, please!!! Please, in the name of the Gods and all that is holy-” He stopped as he felt a sudden pain in his heart. The doppelganger had fired his shot and it went right through his heart, burning as if his heart were set ablaze by hellfire. The arrow went through him and then it struck the woman and her child in one single blow.

Moments of shock and horror passed and he went to the door, bashing it open with his elbow. He saw the woman on the ground with her child. Both were as silent and as still as the grave. Life drained from their eyes and was as cold as marble.

Ulysses knelt down to the woman and held her in his arms, rocking her mournfully.

“Not again…not again, please Gods no…”

He sobbed, tears running down his cheeks like a river. He swallowed hard and hugged her. He squeezed her tightly and would beg and plead with her.

“I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…”

As he held her, she and the child crumbled away into ash. The others quickly arrived in the house and saw what had happened. Illyana was shocked. Her hands shot up to her mouth, veiled by her cloth mask. She knelt beside him and would hug him as he cried. The room they were in began to peel away like paper being burned and rising into the air before turning to ash. They stood in that room as it shifted and morphed to become the living room of Hawthorn house once more.

Was this their fate? To relive their worst nightmares over and over again? Who could be sure. As they continued to languish in this room, they saw that Ulysses, arguably the strongest of them, was just as vulnerable as they were. Illyana would simply hug him and shed her tears for him, gently rubbing his back and being a comfort to him.