We had started walking through the desert, Funk had been in thought, mostly. Abby seemed to be happy she had gotten a punching bag, and met a Greek god. Lory and I just looked at each other. She spoke up, “I guess, you could have considered the fact that a ghost queen would not stay dead.”

I sighed, “I am not versed in the lore of rare Greek gods. At least we have a decent path to follow through the night.”

Lory nodded, “Do you think Haley will be fine?”

“Of course, she will be fine, she has to be fine.”

Abby looked at me, “We have been traveling for a long time, and the desert is not very fun to walk through. It is slowing us down more than I had expected. A sandstorm seems to be brewing up ahead. If we had our chariot, we would beat it.”

Funk chuckled, “Did you see Steve take the broken down chariot?”

Abby sighed, “He takes everything with him.”

Lory laughed, “I love that about him, but you are right Abby, we need to set up camp with a barrier once the sandstorm gets closer. We will get slowed down a few hours, but there is no other choice.”

As we kept on walking, I looked at the occasional cactus in the desert, or a few rocks with tiny bugs near them. There also seemed to be some rock formations in the distance. Luckily, no monsters were in our path. As the sun slowly rose into the sky, the sandstorm got too close, and we huddled together, to create a barrier. I looked at Funk, “You are hiding something.”

He shrugged, “Maybe.”

Lory sighed, “We all know it, I don’t think he is going to budge Steve, it is best not to, bug him about it.”

Abby chuckled, “That was bad wordplay.”

Lory chuckled with her, “I liked it.” We just waited for a few hours and the sun started to shine. Once the sandstorm cleared up, we removed the barrier and started walking over a dune.

Once we climbed over the dune, I saw the great wall in the distance. It seemed to be naturally formed and behind it, I could see towers from the city. Lory panted, “Oh my god, we actually made it to the city.”

I grunted, “Not yet, we need to get in there to get Haley out.”

We saw someone walk over towards us. A woman, she ran over towards me. She looked at me and panted, “You are Steve, right?”

“Yes, that is me, who is asking and what is going on?”

She trembled, “Things are going wrong this morning in the city. Brent invaded a home and killed someone. He has geared up, expecting someone to face him.”

I looked at the woman with blond hair and tattered clothing. “Who died?”

She looked around, “The sand Lizardians will be here any moment, they were right behind me, under the sand.”

I shook her, “Who died!?”

She held up a purple feather, she started to speak, but an arrow got shot through her brain before she could tell me, she was dead before she fell into my arms. Lory grabbed the purple feather. She stared at me, thinking the same thing I thought. Brent had found Haley and killed her along with Shirley. In the distance, I saw four Lizardians come our way.

I drew my red blade and energy dripped to the ground. I walked forward, they shot arrows at me, but red energy stopped the arrows. Slowly, I pointed my sword and a red beam shot at one of the Lizardians, he got evaporated. A second Lizardian charged at me with a sword, I blocked it using my arm and blood splattered around, then I stabbed him in his throat.

The third Lizardian threw a spear at me, I dodged aside and caught it, then I threw the spear back, and it hit him in his left eye. The last Lizardian tried to run away, I threw my sword, and it made a squishy sound as it got lodged in his back. I walked over and crushed his head beneath my feet and pulled out my sword. Abby, Funk, and Lory ran over.

Funk looked at them, then back at me. “We need to get to the capital and quick, maybe we can still safe her.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Abby looked at Funk, then at me, “Yes, we might be able to safe her, perhaps she is just injured.”

Lory looked at them, “Thank you, you must be right, she is just injured and managed to escape Brent again, leaving behind the feather.”

I looked at Lory, “You are right, that must be what happened.”

We started making our way towards the great wall. Captain spoke up, “You know the chances of her being dead are very high, right? If she escaped Brent that long, he would just want to finish her off.”

I closed my eyes and communicated with Captain in my mind. “We must have hope, even if there is only one little shred of hope left, we must cling to it. There has to be a chance she is still alive.”

Captain sighed, “Fine, you go on ahead, mister optimistic. If you are so sure there is a chance she is alive, then pick up the pace already.”

I opened my eyes, “Come on people, we’ve got to step it up a notch.” We started running towards the Glowing Hole cave entrance.

While running, Lory looked at me, “Who do you think that woman was?”

“I think she must have been a friend of Shirley, or maybe Haley’s friend.”

Funk looked at me, “She looked more like a spy or an informant. Most likely someone that Shirley knows to keep up to date with the latest news. She must have been aware of our arrival, preparing for it even.”

Abby nodded, “Haley knew you were coming, and they prepared for that.”

I nodded, “That must be it, you are right. This trip would have taken a lot less time if we had Bella’s airship. Maybe she can help, we need her airship soon, potentially to make a quick exit from the city. I don’t even care about that artifact anymore, Haley, first.”

We soon stood before the cave entrance, I grabbed my flare gun and fired it into the sky. Lory looked at it, then at me. “Alright, you shot the flare, can we go now?”

“Yes, I think that will be helpful later.” We entered the cave and I Immediately saw a message on the wall when I used my red energy to shine a light, I read the message out loud. “Hello Steve, this is Shirley, the caverns are long and winding, leading you into an abysmal maze. The chances of getting through them quickly are low. I grew up in this place, even mapped the caves, and the Asylum below it. There is a way to bypass most of the traps, monsters, and other things.”

“Shine your red energy, and follow the footsteps I have painted for you. This will lead you through this place in no time, it is the same route that Haley took when she found me in the asylum below.”

Abby looked at me, “There is no time to waste, Steve. Use your red energy to reveal the path.”

Lory let out a sigh of relief, “Thank the gods for Shirley, she just made this much easier for us.”

Funk looked at Lory, “I think Haley also played a part in that.”

I shushed everyone, “Come on, here are footsteps on the ground, they lead through the cavern. Just follow me,” slowly I followed the footsteps, and it led us to a bridge, but the footsteps went elsewhere. Oh my god, we have to go down that waterfall, it will save us a lot of time, but where will this path take us? I guess I have no other option than guiding everyone down this slippery path.

I pointed at the waterfall with a big grin on my face, the one that led to a slide of some sorts.

Lory looked at me in disbelief, “For real?”

I shrugged, “The footsteps go that way.”

Abby sighed, “Why are we talking about this? Just go already.” She jumped into the waterfall and slid down. Funk quickly followed her without saying a thing. Lory took my hand, and then we jumped through the waterfall, making sure to shield ourselves from incoming damage. We landed with a thud against a wall. Slowly I got up and looked around at old medical equipment.

Funk tried to walk, but I stopped him, “What is wrong, Steve?”

“Look at the corners, and the walls.”

We all looked around, and we saw magical bomb charges everywhere. “I think, Brent has been expecting us.”

Lory looked at me, “Now what?”

I sighed, “We very slowly follow the footsteps, and try not to trigger any of the bombs or traps.”