Hours passed by without but murmurs from the three of us.

Talking was the least of our concerns

Grumblings of hunger were ignored.

No one had the will to eat let alone cook.

This was how things would have continued if it wasn't for the sudden gust of wind and warping sound of a party entering the room.

Glancing over we were met with everything we were not.

For our gloom, they returned in glory.

Our agony and dumb pain was met by their victory and gleaming eyes.

Almost as if they sparkled in victory.

Everything changed when they walked in.

As if our own state was infectious.

Their mouths turned downwards, their looks of glamor began to wash away.

Shelly's party was everything we weren't.

Shouldn't I be happy?

Smiling that we all needn't suffer?

Then, why is it that I feel nothing but contempt?

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Walking up to the campfire.

The party of five, of a complete one, looked at us with crestfallen eyes of pity.

Don't pity us…I thought

We are alive just as you…

Conviction intact and resolve tested.

But that wasn't the whole truth.

Often we lie and say it is.

But it wasn't…

They were alive.

We were trying to live after.

Shelly approached as if oblivious to the mood or missing party members.

How'd it go on your end?

A smile plastered on her face as if mocking.

Was she playing this game, right now?

With a temper as quick to rise up as to burn out, I blurted:

Don't fucking say another word.

Look for yourself.

Judge by the feel of the air.

By the sentiments.

Or by common fucking sense.

The air stilled.

I immediately regretted my words.

But they weren't for me.

They were for my men, both alive and dead.

Shelly's face contorted.

Then, as if allowing herself to breath, she took it all in.

Her blue eyes darted around the room, searching desperately for the two that would complete the five.

"Dead"

I muttered as I threw another twig into the flame.

Crackling, the hungry flame voraciously accepted.

Wavering and intensifying, it wanted more.

Don't we all, I thought as my thoughts had fled from Shelly and returned to the flame.

I could hear gasps and moans.

Terror and cries.

Shelly's party reacted as one did when it turns out they had been blessed with the less dangerous path.

That they lived by some fickle chance of fate.

That they could just as easily have been the defeated and the doomed.

There is no why.

There simply is.

Shelly broke in after many moments of mutters and sobs.

"You guys activated that shrine, didn't you?"

My heart dropped into my gut.

My blood turned cold.

Visceral agony flowed across my face like a sudden wave.

A rage built up from the core of my being.

"You guys got the shrine as well???"

My eyes now fixed on her. Staring from across the flame, I felt all parts demon, consumed by the heat of the flame.

Her eyes, an icy blue, calmed my soul.

Relax, they said.

I breathed in and breathed out.

"How did you guys manage?"

I asked meekly.

"We didn't take the risk…"

Dumfounded silence followed.

Then came a wave of acceptance.

Her words broke my heart.

A risk not worth taking.

Lives not worth losing.

A leader pays the ultimate toll.

Having to live with the aftermath.

Just before I could reply...a breaking of the veil was heard, and the last party joined the damned and the broken.