Having gathered our bearing and dusted ourselves off the best we could we started to move forward into the building. In the entrance was a big reception area with a desk to the right of the entrance. With all the commotion I wasn’t surprised to see it vacant at the moment. Directly in front of us was a long hallway that held four doors on both sides with the left side glowing red under most of the doors from where the orc has been blasting the building with spell after spell. The first door having been completely blown off the hinges and flame spreading around into the hallway

“Where do you reckon they are, elf?” I asked, looking up at him. “Doesn’t seem like they have a lot of options.”

“My name is Gerald, not elf and, to be honest, I don’t know. The last time I saw Eldwin was in his office, which is the last door on the left before the entrance to the tunnel.” Staring down the hall he continued, “it also doesn’t look like it will be easy to search with the heat. We’ll have to be careful. I can maintain a shield on us to help ward the heat but that’s it.”

I looked down the hall once more. Well this is looking great, I thought to myself.

“Look, we can just move down the hall entering the rooms on the right one at a time, maybe we’ll come across them. Unless you have a better idea?” I suggested, looking at the group.

Giving out a soft laugh, the orc just walked towards the wall next to the reception desk and inspected it for a moment.

“You okay, buddy?” I asked him, wondering if he’d lost his mind from the trauma that we all just went through.

“It’s Batul and you all can just follow me,” He stated, backing up from the wall.

“Wha..” The human girl started before Batul unlatched his shield and started running straight at the wall. Just before impact he put his shoulder into the shield and ran into the wall like a battering ram, crumbling the thin brick wall.

All three of us just stared, stunned at the series of events that we just witnessed. After a few seconds we heard a loud laugh coming from the orc in the room.

“I can’t believe that worked!” We heard him yell from the room.

We all looked at each other before slowly starting to walk towards the entrance that was just made.

“That is certainly one way of doing things, I guess,” sighed Gerald.

As we continued walking towards the opening the human girl turned to me, extending her hand while walking. “I’m Emily, by the way. Sorry it took so long to introduce myself, but you know.” She gestured around.

I chuckled, taking her hand in mine. “I know what you mean,” I replied while noticing how her hands and arms were covered in scrapes. “I think you three need some medical attention,” I said pointing at her arms. “The other ones don’t look any better.”

“I just need a moment to catch my breath and I can heal us enough to get by.” Emily responded pulling her hand from mine and continuing to the others ahead of us.

A healer, huh, I thought to myself. That’s pretty nifty to have in a situation like this, lucky us. I scrambled to the others in the room just in time to see Batul finish standing up, dusting himself off.

“I guess if we run into any trouble we can just have you, literally, run into them.” Gerald let out a short laugh.

“Hey now, it worked. I think that’s all that matters,” the orc said with a smile on his face that reached his ears.

“Guys, I don’t see anything in this room. It’s empty aside from this desk and smoke.” Emily said to us, coughing into the elbow. “I think we should move quickly, it’s starting to get hotter and harder to breath.”

“Batul, if you’d please,” I quipped, gesturing towards the opening where the opposite door had been blown away, letting flames lick the door frame to the room we were in. “I think we have one more wall we need to get through.”

“Oh yeah, let’s do it.” He grinned lifting his shield. Running straight at the wall he yelled, “Smashing solves everything!” Before punching through the other wall for us.

Gerald let out a long sigh, “he’ll never change,” he said shaking his head.

“I kind of like him,” Emily responded with a chuckle.

The three of us followed the orc into the other room, seeing him pull himself up again. I looked around the empty room, hope fleeting in finding anyone in this burning building.

“There’s no one here either. I think we can use the door this time, though, the other room still has a door holding the flames back.” Emily said looking at all of us.

“Well, let’s get moving. We don’t know how much time we have,” I said, starting to the door, feeling the dread of the possibility of not finding anyone.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The four of us walked into the hallway and looked both ways, seeing the flames from the first room starting to spread towards the entrance and the room we were currently leaving.

“That’s not good,” Batul grimaced.

Just as he got the words out of his mouth we all heard a faint coughing coming from the room ahead of us to the right.

“Eldwin!” Gerald ran towards the room with Emily in tow.

Batul and I followed them into the room quickly catching sight of a single elf on his knees behind a desk, coughing.

“Eldwin! We have to get you out of here. This place is under attack.” Gerald rushed to the other elf’s side. “Here, let’s get you up.”

Stuttering, Emily walked up. “What about my father? Is he here?”

“No,” Eldwin shook his head, coughing once more. “He had just left before the attacks started. I don’t know where he is now.”

“We’ll find him, don’t you worry, Emily.” I put my hand on her back, walking up to them. “Let’s get you out of here.” I looked at the two elves.

“Is there another way out?” Batul looked out the door, “the entrance is a no go, now. We’d never make it through all the flames.”

“In the room next to us, there is a hidden door under a bookshelf that goes into a tunnel that leads out to the city in case of an emergency.” Eldwin coughed again, pulling his hand from his mouth revealing small droplets of blood on his palm.

“Let’s go,” Gerald stepped up to the orc, “We can both help him walk and Emily and Gaziz can follow us.” Following that, Gerald and Batul walked up to the king and began helping him to his feet with his arms wrapped around their shoulders.

“Thank you,” the king whispered softly while being lifted to his feet.

Emily and I looked at each, both of us nodding before following the pair out of the door. As we all rounded the opening to the next room we all heard a familiar voice.

“Where do you all think you’re going? I thought we were all having a good time and now you are all trying to leave early. Where are your manners,” The figure sneered, standing in the flames that have almost completely devoured the reception area towards the end of the hallway.

“Get in the room, now!” Batul shouldered Eldwin even more, pulling him into the room with Gerald’s help.

Emily ran, with me on her heels, rushing into the open doorway behind them almost knocking the three down before closing the door behind us. All of us struggling to catch our breath in the hot, smoke filled room.

“I can walk on my own, I just needed a second to get my head back in order. Thank you all.” The king said lightly while slipping his arms from the other two. “I believe we’ve been betrayed,” he continued while walking to the bookshelf near the rear of the room.

“I think we should focus more on getting out of here at the moment,” the words barely escaping Emily’s mouth before a blast of heat cracked and swelled the door inward, it barely holding in its place.

Eldwin murmured something towards the bookshelf while placing his hand on it before it started to glow a faint white before shimmering into nothing, revealing a wooden door that was segmented into the floor. “This way will take you a few streets over into the Filham district. This is the way your father went, Emily” Eldwin looked towards Emily. Letting out a hoarse cough, he continued, “I can hide the door again once you all have entered. Now, hurry”

“Us? What about you? You can’t stay here with him,” Gerald said, shaking his head to what the king had just said.

“I will hold him off. I’m the only one who can now. This is a type of demon magic that you all can’t deal with yet.” Coughing once again he turned to look at all of us earnestly. “He’s too strong. You all must go, quickly now. I’ve already made my choice.” Pulling a cloth wrapped object from inside his robe he pushed it towards Gerald, the elf finally taking it from him. “Keep it safe,” Eldwin looked from us towards the door.

Once again a wave of energy smashed against the door, splintering it where it stood, barely maintaining its shape in its frame.

“Let’s go, guys.” Batul waved, motioning us forward. “We won’t forget this,” he said to Eldwin as we entered the tunnel.

“Get to Ashwood. You all have been chosen for this.” Eldwin gave a slight smile to us all before closing the door, a light glow shining through the cracks of the opening after closing.

At that moment a massive shake took the room above us, followed by the voice of the orc. “Eldwin, Eldwin, Eldwin. You know you can’t stop me. The darkness has already spread to Silitha and you are the one who let it in.”

“You will not take this city. Your rampage stops here, demon!” we heard Eldwin exclaim, followed by a massive pulse of energy throughout the building and the tunnel we were all in before condensing into a massive clap in the room where we had just left.

After a silent moment that stretched on for an eternity we heard the scream of Eldwin coming from the room, followed by the hollowed sounds of multiple demonic voices speaking a language I had never heard. Then a gruesome tearing sound that could have only been fabric and flesh, followed by more screaming. Eldwin eventually quit screaming after sounding as if he were being completely ripped apart.

“No!” Gerald seethed, rushing towards the door as if to open it and avenge the king, the three of us attempting to restrain him.

“We’re as good as dead if we’re caught down here. We have to leave, quickly!” Batul pulled Gerald back to us. “Don’t let his sacrifice be for nothing, Gerald.”

Gerald looked at the orc holding him with hollow eyes before they slowly began filling with tears. After gathering himself he turned and started rambling down the tunnel.

I padded up to the pair, looking over them. “This isn’t going to be easy. We can get through this, though. We have to. We have no other choice but to push forward. Literally,” I gestured with my hand towards the passage that continued ahead. “Besides, we’re all capable people here. I hope.”

“The goblin is right. We need to get through here before we can do anything,” Batul said, walking up and placing a hand on Gerald’s shoulder and looking him in the eye. “We’re all in this together now.”

“Yep,” Emily and I echoed each other while walking up to the pair of them.

Gerald looked longingly down the pathway, lit by magical spheres. “Let’s go,” he whispered. After wiping his eyes with his forearm, which covered his face with black soot from his sleeve, he began down the long tunnel.

“What did he hand you, anyway?” Emily wondered, looking at Gerald walking ahead of us.

The elf had a look of hesitation on his face, before apparently coming to a decision. “Short story, I don’t really know,” he sighed, “long story, we have to get this to Ashwood and this was the whole reason for the trip.” He finished, stepping forward down the white brick path.

We continued walking down the tunnel while Gerald began to recount what Eldwin had told him previously in the day about the Amaranth house, Leer, and the Wilders. Filling us in on what being the chosen Watcher means and that the other orc chosen was supposed to be from the Wilders.

“What do you think he meant by betrayed,” Emily wondered aloud. “Do you think he was implying that this lady, Magith, betrayed us?”

“I don’t know,” Gerald answered, shaking his head. “It seems that way but I was told she left the city to find and kill her demon controlled brother, Leer. It wouldn’t make sense to then join forces with the demon after all of that.” He sighed, taking another step forward.

“You think it was someone from Silitha who snuck in to take the place of the Wilder?” I asked, looking over the group.

“Well,” Batul murmured while rubbing his chin, “I definitely didn’t recognize him from any orc I've seen here before.”

“Oh really? I thought he was your long lost cousin,” I jabbed at the orc playfully trying to lighten the mood.

“Speaking of cousins, why are you so… yellow?” Emily looked me over.

“Oh, that? I’m half gnome. Dad was a goblin, mom was a gnome."

"Uh… how exactly does that work?" Batul replied.

"You know how it goes. When two people love each other very much they..” I got out before being cut off.

“Spare us, please.” Emily held her hand up to me while shaking her head with a grimace on her face, clearly trying to vanquish whatever scene she had just imagined.

“I think we’re finally here,” Gerald announced to us, pointing towards a staircase ahead of us leading up.

“I’ll check it out,” Batul said, stepping towards the stairs. “Just stay behind me,” He continued while climbing the staircase before opening a weak wooden door at the top.