Author's note: So, this chapter concludes Where Lightning Strikes, Thunder Follows. I've had a great amount of fun writing this with the help of my amazing betas. We've passed the anniversary of the first upload of Trial by Lightning in that time, which just blows my mind. I didn't think that it was that long ago until we passed it back in July!
There are some key differences between Trial and WLS,TF. I feel like I've become a better writer in that time and I can safely say that the quality of WLS,TF is far better than its predecessor. Themes have changed from a vibrant adventure to a darker, more gritty and realistic show of what it's like in the Plainswalker/Shadow war. New people and factions have been introduced, characters have grown and matured, and the plot has twisted and turned to make one hell of a story.
Thank you to everyone who's kept reading Cade's story. Thank you to the still growing community that's formed around these fics. And thank you to the people who've poured their valuable time to help me fix (and sometimes accidentally make) plotholes, beta chapters, and suggest ideas for the future of the Riftiverse.
Thank you to everyone.
I'm taking a break over Christmas, so next fic will probably start in January, although it depends how school is going to go. Still, rest assured that it will happen, sooner rather than later. And bear in mind that while this chapter may seem dark, the darkest part of the night is just before the dawn. Stay safe out there, and enjoy!

With thanks to my patrons:
Regal Eagle, Drake Razgriz

In response to reviews:
HeadlessHessian: Yup, that's Famine's arc done. I do acknowledge that my writing style isn't really conventional. Instead, I try to go for a way of writing that's like how Rick Riordian did the Percy Jackson books, as that series is still one of my all-time favourites, and I'm glad that you like it. As for what'll be next, I'll keep you guessing. What kinda author would I be if I just spilled my secrets? :D As for it being a long review, don't worry. I don't mind. Any review (except trolls) is a nice surprise. And yeah, imagining that it's an anime fight is actually how I wrote part of that. It really helps with the imagery. As for Murtagh, he and Thorn were mentioned before Famine showed up, albeit briefly. You probably just glossed over them. As for the bug, that was planted primarily to get the name of the Ancient Language. It'll most likely only be used for that.
awesomesniper86: Thank you!
d8rkforcen1ght7: In reply to your points; maybe, thanks, yup, and also yup. In that order.
Thrae: Now I'm imagining it... Yes, it's totally possible for PWs to have kids with each other and people in other realms, provided they're, y'know, compatible. And thank you!
Vognar-The Legendkeep: Thanks! And oh, that bad feeling is fully justified.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Inheritance Cycle
Thanks to Wizz for helping me get this chapter into shape and beta-reading it.


Chapter 30: Enough Dead Heroes

I didn't know how long I was out for. I just felt like I was floating in nothingness, unable to smell, see, feel, taste, or hear. And that nothingness just swept me along in its currents, washing me around in its vague tides.

However, as I drifted around, I began to feel a dull throb that periodically rumbled through me. It became worse each time I felt it, with the first few being a dull throb, the next bunch becoming more like a stab, and the group after that feeling like white-hot spears were being thrust into me. The pain from each load of wounding strikes continued to build and build until it became beyond unbearable; just like when that un-coloured vapour had touched me while I was fighting the Monster.

Unable to move, I was mentally screaming myself into a migraine by the time I snapped awake with a jolt that ran from my heads to tails. I immediately regretted it afterwards, given a new spike of pain that rolled through me, making my limbs spasm in an uncontrollable wave that ran its way down my spine.

As I just tried to lie still, fearing what would happen if I moved, my senses began to return to me. Smell and touch were the first to come back; telling me that I was lying on course, grainy ground, surrounded by the thick, smoky scents of flame, ash, and dust. Even though my brains were still gradually kicking in, I instinctively knew where I was.

I was still at the Burning Plains.

The realisation jolted me into action. I had to get up. I needed to get up. There were scores of people who I needed to make sure were okay. Too many of them had died today. I wouldn't let there be any more.

However, just the simple act of twitching my fingers sent racking spasms of pain coursing through my body. Forcing my tired, abused muscles to push me upright, inch by inch, made armies of torment besiege my utterly exhausted body. I collapsed back to the smoky ground more times than I could count due to sheer pain carving through me like white-hot knives, but every time it happened, I waited for the pain to leave my deaf, blind body. And then I tried to rise again.

My hearing started to return as my repetitive cycle of attempting to rise, inevitable falling, and eventually recovering wore on. The snap, crackle, and pop of small fires and the roaring infernos of larger blazes filled the air, and a light breeze blew over my battered body. It was the one thing that comforted me in my hell.

However, upon realising that I could only hear flames, I knew that something was wrong. There should have been anything else. Cheering forces of the Varden. Fellow Plainswalkers asking if I was okay. Saphira, Gem, Eragon, Jacob… just… just somebody!

Fear twisted its way into my mind, screaming at me that... that something had happened. I strained my three sets of ears, desperately seeking out some solacing sound or scent. Even though smell had become a more powerful sense to me than sight, I needed to see. Being blind didn't give me any answers.

Willing for my sight to come back as quickly as it could, I frantically yelled out "SAPHIRA! GEM! JAAAACOB! SOMEONE HEEEEELP ME!"

No answer came.

After an eternity, my vision began to clear; murky greys separating themselves from the pitch blacks. Like flowers in spring, colour slowly bloomed as I tried to get back to my feet again. I collapsed eight… or maybe nine times as my eyes adjusted enough to deal with the glaring, scorching sun and the brilliantly bright blazes that littered the Plains. The sheer pain made it hard to think.

As everything came into focus, a dark silhouette detached itself from the background. It ventured closer and closer, slowly becoming bigger and bigger as it did so. My spirits lifted, and I sagged back to the ground in relief. Help had come at last. But if it was only one person, then just how long had I been out? And why hadn't someone taken me back home?

Still, it didn't matter right now.

"Thank Rift that someone heard me." I groaned, still unable to tell who the figure was, but grateful that I hadn't been completely abandoned. "How… how long have I been out?"

"...Back to the living realm, are you?"

My blurry eyes widened. No… nonononono! This wasn't possible! I'd killed that Monster!

"I admit, you've been as much of a hassle as your associate." Monster commented.

"You and your little pesky 'abilities'... So arrogant, yet so reliant on them."

My vision slowly cleared as I tried to locate the source of the voice, eventually linking it to the approaching silhouette. No colour filled that dark void as my eyesight improved, except for two small, crimson portals into hell itself. It was the Monster.

It slowly closed in on me like a predator ready to deliver the killing blow. Grating screeches of metal grating over metal attacked my ears as blinding terror filled my minds. I moaned pitifully, letting out sounds that should have come from a dying animal as I trembled there, unable to even speak as I saw that skeletal face.

"I couldn't not repay what you foolish Plainswalkers call 'a good deed' in good conscience. So instead, I decided to give you some little 'gifts' to properly say goodbye."

With a wave of its hand, several coloured figures floated out of the gloom towards the Monster and me. It was only then that the cruel bastards that were fate and destiny decided to let my blurry vision fully clear, revealing the figures.

They were decapitated heads.

But they weren't just any heads… These were what remained of Paddles, Jacob, Sal and Gem. Their eyes were all wide and unblinking; their expressions filled either with agonising pain or extreme fear. Their necks still dripped blood which fell to the blazing ground, tainting it with the sacrifice of heroes.

Shock, horror, and utter disgust paralysed me. Having three heads of my own, and despite losing some of them in my various accidents, I knew firsthand that they were one of the body's more… sacred parts. The head housed the brain, and without it- or some other alternative- a person couldn't think or reason, becoming a husk of what they once were. Seeing my friends- my family, even- as these shells of what they'd been… I wanted to throw up until I had nothing left in me.

"I remembered you having a certain… reaction when I set my eyes on this group. It didn't take much to figure out they were important to you."

I tried desperately to ignore the Monster's words; to ignore everything around me, to drown myself in my sorrow. But I couldn't. No matter how much I wanted to turn away, some sadistic force made me watch and hear everything that the Monster was saying.

"…Well, since I'm such a 'good soul', I'm letting your family say one last goodbye before your… departure." It followed with another self-satisfied cackle.

My eyes roamed over the severed heads- drawn to them, despite how much I wanted to look away. And oh Rift, I can't even begin to describe how much I didn't want to look. Especially when small twitches came from them like something was inside of them- possessing them, even.

Then the dead, decapitated heads of my family started to move by themselves, and I started to scream.

There was a moment where it looked like some psychopathic puppeteer was jerking them around as if they were still alive, snorting and sniffing the air. But then all of their eyes set on me as one.

I cried to Rift, begging for this to not be true as Gem's head spat out "Goodbye, Monster"

A tormented screech ripped out of me as Jacob followed with "Goodbye, Abomination"

Something inside me was torn apart when Sal said "Goodbye, Traitor"

And finally, it was Paddles's turn as sobs wracked my body. "Goodbye, Murderer"

I can't… I can't properly describe what I was feeling. Remembering that moment still chills me to the soul, even now. But I know that I cried freely to mourn my lost family- wordless, anguished, screams tearing their way from me, leaving me hoarse in their aftermath. I strained against the force that made me watch the corpses of the people I cared for leer at me, their wide, dead eyes stripping me away to my core.

At that moment, I was no hero. I was no mighty warrior. I was no dragon, or kaiju, or Plainswalker. I was just a terrified, mourning child.

Silence reigned for a long time before quiet applause drew my attention towards the Monster.

"Good, good! Such a tearful goodbye!" It said, wiping a fake tear from one of its sunken eye sockets before turning towards me again. "As for you, my dear 'soon to be dead' Plainswalker, have a 'safe' journey back into nothingness!"

Not even a second after that, I felt something pierce my body. The unbearable physical pain returned full force- joining with my racking sobs. It didn't take long for me to black out as the nothingness reclaimed me, taking me away from this cruel and unfair world.


I don't know what happened after that. For a moment, I felt utterly horrible, teetering the fine line of mental stability and insanity. Sorrow, guilt, and pain pushed me towards the metaphorical cliff edge, nearly tossing me off it.

But just before I could fall, I was suddenly enveloped with a gentle touch. It felt like someone had decided to hug my entire being, muttering words that came as nothing but gibberish to me, but carried themselves in gentle waves of calm.

At first, I struggled against the touch, panic, and fear screaming at me to resist. Danger was still just around the corner, but I slowly started to feel just a little calmer; just a little safer. I knew that these emotions weren't my own, making me want to rebel against whatever was warping my mind. However, as my fear and terrible, terrible pain started to diminish, I leaned into the feelings, just wanting some form of comfort.

I slowly began to recognize the touch and the gibberish; someone was embracing my mind, holding my fractured sanity together. It stopped the cracks in my psyche from growing bigger and repaired the ones that it could as it gently muttered things like "Everything is okay" and "Nothing will hurt you".

I clung to the presence, sobbing nonsense back to it as it continued its gentle embrace. There were no words that I could use to describe what I'd experienced, only feelings and emotions. And I can't even begin to talk about those.

Eventually, my sorrow exhausted itself, and everything around me started to make sense again.

I was lying inside a sterile, clinical-smelling, white room; probably a hospital. A quiet, calming beeping came from somewhere off to my right, and I felt different things attached to various parts of my body. They weren't stabbed into me, or painful in any way, but I could still feel them. After miserably rolling one of my eyes around for a while, I eventually caught sight of a small pad that was stuck to my scales with some kind of gel, monitoring my vital signs.

I… I wasn't dead again?

I suddenly noticed a soft, cool touch gently running its way over my central snout. I did my best to focus on the contact, my tired eyes slowly found it to be from Diana, the battle medic, who was still embracing my mind. After vaguely working out that I must have somehow shrunk back down to my regular size from the scale between us, I realised how worn and ragged she looked. Her was body covered with bandages, and a pang of guilt spiked through me as I realised that she was missing one of her arms from the shoulder. If I hadn't called everyone else to help fight the Monster, then she'd still have her limb.

She spoke slowly and softly, not wanting to alarm me. "Everything is alright, Mr Mason. You're currently in a hospital room, with every precaution and possibility already taken care of."

"My Clan…" I pleaded, "Are… are they… I saw that…"

"Now is not the time, Mr Mason. You've just had a panic attack while you were sleeping, likely from a nightmare. Please just calm yourself as much as you can, if not for your own sake, then for mine, as you would hurt me more than yourself if an accident occurred."

"A… nightmare? Then… then they're alive?!" I asked, hoping against hope.

Dr Diana looked uncertain, likely unwilling to leave immediately a patient side that had just experienced a panic attack."I'm not aware of your clan's situation, as I'm the one tasked with overseeing you"

There was a pregnant pause before she continued "I am able to contact someone that can tell me of their situation." She shifted her weight slightly while still floating, her eyes focusing entirely on mine. "It'll likely take a bit longer than going to ask directly but… I hope you understand my reluctance of leaving you alone."

"Please Doc," I weakly begged, "I… I need to know. I don't know if what I remember is real or not, but…"

My mental voice failed me as I could feel myself being mentally embraced once again.

"I already sent a request. I'm sorry to have read that from your mind, but I'll be able to answer you in a couple of minutes, I promise." She then moved her only arm in a patting motion "And as I said, everything is ok. You've just had a nightmare, that's all. Admittedly, it is a common occurrence within the ranks of us who end up face to face with a Shadow, and given what you must have gone through… it was likely due to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder."

"Do you know if Saffy and 'Rags are safe?" I asked, trying to steer the conversation away from going down that route. "Is my realm safe? Is the... is the Monster dead?"

"The Shadow has been vanquished. As for the realm inhabitants… we couldn't confirm. A barrier of some kind was completely negating any attempt for us to get through it. The barrier itself wasn't aggressive, it just negated our attempts to get through. So while we're not completely sure, your friends are likely fine."

But Saphira and Eragon had been fighting Murtagh and Thorn while the Monster had fought Amara and me. And while they'd been fine in the books, with so many of my allies dead… I was still worried about them.

"Did I… was I the one to…"

"Kill it?"

"Yeah," I mumbled.

I could feel a mental nod. "Indeed, as you were the source of the last blast before it was gone." she said before quickly adding "I barely had the time to watch it before something happened that led to my current situation, so it's mostly a speculation of mine that you've killed it."

"So it could still be alive?!" I roared, tremors of rage and fear racking my exhausted body. "After all that we lost! After all the deaths that we endured! It might have-"

"Please calm down Mr Mason. The chances of the Shadow surviving your feat are next to none, not with the sheer amount of rift energy you released and the events that happened immediately after it."

"What events?" I asked, still uneasy that there was even a slim chance that the Monster was still alive. Unless someone could firmly tell me that the bastard was dead, then I wouldn't be satisfied.

I could feel that the Doc was uncomfortable with the subject, but she started to say "After your final blast, something happen-" Her mental embrace suddenly vanished for a moment, as also her head moved to look at one of the walls. After a few seconds, her mental embrace returned.

"I now have info regarding your clan, Mr Mason. Are you sure you want to hear it now?"

I paused. As much as I needed to know if the others were alive, I dreaded it. If they were dead…

I steeled myself. If they were dead, I'd find out eventually. If they were gone, I'd mourn just the same now as I would later, and if they were alive, then I could relax a little instead of tearing myself apart in anxiousness.

"Yes."

"Alright… Clan leader Gemma Whithorn has been admitted to an emergency room. She's in grave condition but is currently stable. Clan vice-leader Jacob Brooks was discharged this morning as his injuries were minor. Clan member Salena Richards has also been discharged today. Her injuries were a little more serious than her vice-leader's, but still light. Robert 'Paddles' McCole has been... presumed KIA."

Tears welled up in my eyes as the Doc sadly continued "Various searches for his remains have been fruitless… Darius Gabriel Etna's return has been reported to the Elders and was admitted to the department of mental ailments. He's fine physically, but he's a mess mentally; a very similar story to you. Amara Mason is currently being operated on in one of the emergency rooms. She's also in grave condition, but she's recently started to naturally stabilize herself after our failed attempt to help her. Rosa Chiara Etna has also been admitted to one of our recovery wards, as she's unconscious because of sleep and food deprivation."

Dr Diana then looked at me. "Those are the latest reports regarding your clan in the last 24 hours… It's been a bit more than a day since the battle."

Sobs wracked through me as I mourned for Paddles. Although he and I had never been buddies in the same way that I was with Jacob, and the most notable thing we'd done together was watching me sink like a stone in the biggest swimming pool we could find, he'd still been one of the people who'd been a constant in my new life. I'd come to expect to see him hanging around Bluepeak when I came home, to quietly chuckle at how infuriated he was with Jacob's pranking, and to hear him occasionally talk about how he freaked out the people in his realm. For him to just be… gone

It was my fault. It was my fucking fault. If I hadn't come back home… if I hadn't let anyone else fight… then Paddles would still be alive.

"Don't beat yourself for something that almost no one has control over, Mr Mason. If you refused their help, they would have felt betrayed, and even worse if you would have died."

After a pregnant pause, the Doc decided to float away, nearing the entrance door. The mental embrace was temporarily reduced to a mere thread of a connection, which was then promptly opened up again.

"If you wish, I can escort you to visit the other members of your clan that are currently residing in the structure. After you've regained enough strength to be able to walk, of course. Do you need anything else?"

"Some kinda pill to stop me from dreaming, maybe…" I murmured sadly. "And for the others to know that I'm doing as well as can be expected."

Diana shook her head "We sadly don't have anything that stops you from dreaming. The closest equivalent would be drugging you silly but...yeah." the Doc shuddered, likely from a bad memory before recomposing herself "But I can alert your clanmates that have been discharged if you want to."

"Yes, please." I nodded miserably. "And maybe the drugs wouldn't be too bad…"

The Doc nodded her head before floating away from the room, cutting our mental connection in the meantime, leaving me truly alone.

Then my tears began to fall in earnest, and I heard distant sounds of rain as I sobbed. Just like me, the weather was morning for all the people who had died against the Monster. The ones whose deaths were my fault, and my fault alone.


I didn't sleep. I just lay still, trying to come to terms with the fact that it was my call that had resulted in so much death. I'd stretched my mind out to try to find someone who knew the precise numbers, as well as if the Monster was truly dead or not. My room's neighbours guessed that the numbers ranged from anywhere between forty and ninety of us who'd made the ultimate sacrifice for the people of Alagasia. The Elders would come out with the official number in an announcement tomorrow, when the funerals would be held.

Thankfully, our efforts had paid off. Several eyewitnesses testified that the Monster had been annihilated by my final struggle, and only remained to torment me in my nightmares. But it wasn't a victory. In war, there was no such thing as a winning side. Just a side that had lost less. And when I found out that a Harbinger- the rank that the Elders had classified the Monster as, despite its claim to only be an Orchestrator- was nowhere near the most powerful a Shadow could be, I doubted if that side was mine.

Eventually, Doc Diana returned to check up on me. After seeing if I was strong enough to get out of bed, I was able to get the green light to go back home. Physically, there was nothing wrong with me except for the fact that I was exhausted. Mentally… well, the Doc said that being around my family would be the best cure.

However, before I left the hospital, I asked to see Amara, Gem, Rosa and Darius first, wanting to assure myself that they were at least alive. The Doc accepted my request, and so I half-staggered my way through hallways that were wide enough to park an eighteen-wheeler in.

Amara was fast asleep, but she seemed fine. There was no trace of the grave wound that the Monster had inflicted. No hole, or even any scarring; just smooth scales. When I pressed one of my ears against her chest, I heard her strong heartbeat drum out as her lungs worked to pump air in and out of her body. Quiet snorts came from her five heads as I patted them and sadly told her to "get better for me, Cuz."

After tucking the hospital bedsheets around her in what I hoped was a caring way, I was satisfied. Another stumbling walk later, in which I almost broke down several walls, I poked my heads into Gem's room.

She was out for the count too, letting out the occasional snort in her sleep. However, she wasn't alone. Sitting beside her bed was the large, sharky form of Gabe, holding what was once Gem's necklace. The thing was now a barely recognizable pile of scrap, but he didn't seem too annoyed by it. Instead, he looked oddly thankful as I gently knocked on the open door.

"Can I come in?" I asked him.

"Huh? Oh, Cade. Sure, come in" Gabe answered, his eyes tearing themselves away from the necklace.

I did, coming to plonk my butt down on the other side of Gem's bed. Carefully running a hand all the way down her neck to make sure that it was still attached, I sighed. "How is she?"

Gabe's eyes moved to look at Gem, for then at the necklace again. "The doctors said that she's in stable conditions, but she would take time to… recover completely."

"How did she even get hurt?" I asked, already fearing whatever horrific answer I'd be faced with.

Gabe sighed "We don't know…I guess we have to wait for her to wake up… but at least she survived, that is all that matters…"

I nodded. "Yeah, you're right. It's a shame that her necklace got broken, though. She really loved it."

Gabe lightly chuckled at my comment. "It's thanks to this same necklace that she's alive. She protected her from a fatal blow, breaking itself in the process..."

"I don't suppose that those could become standard-issue for everyone?" I wondered, picking out a little bit of grime from behind Gem's horns.

Gabe looked at me like I was crazy for a second. "Hell naw. Not only it doesn't work for Plainswalkers that aren't related in one way or another to the realm I'm tasked with. But the gem, the most important part of the necklace, is an extremely rare drop from one of the meanest and most dangerous creatures of my realm."

I meaningfully glanced down at Gem, then back at him. "Doesn't work on people that aren't related to your realm, huh?"

Gabe looked at me in the eyes, a toothy smirk on his face "Heh, caught red-handed. But really, that is how it works. For that necklace to work constantly for extended periods I had to drown it in the liquified version of our equivalent of mana." Gabe shuddered at that "Not a pleasant experience."

"Huh," I murmured.

We sat there for a long time before a gentle mental prod from Doc Diana made me remember that I still had other people to see.

"Well… call us guys at Bluepeak when she wakes up, please," I asked Gabe. "And… tell her that I dropped by."

Gabe nodded to me, a small smile on his face as he said: "Will do." Then he returned to being a silent sentinel at Gem's sleeping side.

I left the room, casting one last look over my shoulder at Gem before quietly plodding down the corridor after Diana. The trip to Rosa's room didn't seem as long as it had been from Amara's one to Gem's, and I was pleasantly surprised when I heard her complaining to someone that she was fine and didn't have to be here.

With sad ghosts of smiles on my faces, I pushed the door open and stepped inside.

"I told you, I'm completely fine! Come on, I've already worked my way through that tasteless slop that you people call food. Just let me go home already! I- oh. Hi, Cade."

"Hey," I mumbled before looking down at the agitated doctor who was doing their best to get Rosa to just sit still and rest. "Trust me, she won't stop complaining until you let her go. It's happened before."

"Finally, someone around here sees sense!" Rosa said happily as the doctor groaned and hid his face in his hands. My clanmate took that as a dismissal and bounced out of the bed, halfway to the door before I could blink. "Thanks for the jailbreak, Cade! This is where I-"

I laid a hand on her shoulder and said "Just… stay with me for now. Please."

Rosa's enthusiasm faded as she realised that I was being deadly serious. "Why? What's-"

"A Shadow attacked Alagasia." I whispered, trying not to start crying again as I went on to say "Paddles is dead."

"Mio Dio..." the red dragoness gasped, her shocked eyes as wide as car hubcaps. "Paddles… is gone?"

I bit my lips and nodded, not trusting myself to speak again without crying.

Rosa drew me into a hug as we both tried and failed to not break down. "Is… is everyone else…"

"V-vaguely intact. Amara and Gem are healing. Jacob and Sal are back home with Regal and Agrn. T-then I'm here with you, and I heard something about Darius being back?" I ended hopefully.

Rosa nodded as she shed tears of her own for Paddles. "I found him. I searched for months, all over Nirn, and I finally found him."

"You did amazingly." I agreed, fighting against the tears even as they flowed. "But Gem's gonna put you on a lead when she finds out you came back half-starved again."

"D-don't you dare tell her!" Rosa half sobbed, half laughed.

"I wouldn't dream of it," I said, giving her one last squeeze before ending the hug.

She seemed reluctant to break the contact, but after it almost became slightly awkward, she released me. "Shall… shall we go see him?"

I turned towards Diana and asked. "Would you..."

"Of course."

We had another long walk. Down corridors, around bends, dodging a massive gunnery that carried a large fish tank containing a five-headed shark that glared at me before suddenly flinching and quickly looking away. I stared after it as the gunnery turned a bend behind us, sure that one of the shark's heads had been on its tail-end.

With one of my own heads, I could see Rosa 'calmly' looking back at the hydra-shark before turning towards me with a bittersweet smile.

"You did something." I accused.

"Maybe," Rosa said.

We continued on until we reached a door where Rosa gently laid a paw on my shoulder. "Cade, you might know already, but… Darius is acting strange."

All three of my heads swung to face her. "I heard that he's mentally… not at the top of his game. So sorta like me, I guess."

Rosa sighed. "No, he's not. He's… he's afraid of being near people."

"But… why?" I wondered.

"I hoped that either you, Amara, or Gem had some idea," Rosa confessed with a sigh.

"Why me?" I asked.

"I don't like bringing it up, but… I heard that you got low once. So I thought that you might have some clue about what's going through his head."

One of my claws rhythmically tapped against the floor. "Well, I'm not sure how much help I can be. I didn't really 'get low'. I just got three people stuck in my place. The shock of realising that and finding out that I'd trashed a massive portion of the city and nearly killed several hundred people was enough for me to think that I was too much of a threat-"

I stopped in my mental tracks as Rosa's eyes and mine all widened.

"How… how many people do you think died because of what Darius accidentally caused?"

"I… I don't know."

"Well… shit."

Rosa nodded, and after taking in a deep breath, slowly pushed open the door.

The first that I expected was to see most of the room occupied by a big, partially molten dragon. However, the room was actually very empty. The only thing in here was a bed on which a humanoid figure was sitting, looking dazed and lost at the floor.

Thinking for a moment that we must have got the wrong door, I silently slid back towards it, only for Rosa to stop me mid-motion and push me back towards the guy.

He was a hulking brute of a dude, easily four meters tall. His black hair was long and looked surprisingly smooth, despite his young but gruff appearance. While strands of it covered his eyes, I caught a glimpse of a faint glow coming from them. His body was clad in viciously spiked, black armour, with pieces of metal attached to it seemingly at random, and a very soft glow coming from it-

Wait.

I didn't manage to answer my suspicion as Rosa also entered and greeted the figure. "Hey, Bro. Cade's here, wanna say hello to him?"

WHAT!?

"I… you… what?"

The completely different Darius moved his head to look at the two of us, his bright orange eyes glowing with a pale light, even with the unhidden pain and fear coming from them.

"Oh… huuuh… Hi guys." Darius greeted me with an extremely strained smile and a very weak wave.

"You… you're…"

I would have said more, but just that tiniest touch of mental contact was enough for Darius' emotions to hit me. His thoughts and feelings whirled around in a self-consuming inferno. He hated himself for what he'd done in Nirn. For losing control of himself and ending so many innocent lives. For doing enough damage to the place to literally make maps have to be rewritten. He wanted to end it all; to kill himself and run away from everything.

I shrunk down to Darius' size and slowly began to approach him, wary of Rosa's warning that he was legitimately scared of hurting people who touched him. At the same time, I wrapped him in a tight mental hug.

"It's not your fault, buddy."

"... No."

I could suddenly feel my mental contact being fought off, it was like a wall of flames was emerging and was suddenly advancing towards my connection, burning it even at the slight touch.

"Kevin, Driscol, Sparta… Please don't… I don't want to hurt you too." Darius said, his voice strained enough to sound like he was just about to break down in tears. "I can't… I can't control them… I can't stop being a danger..."

Bright orange tears of napalm started to fall from his eyes, now looking at the ground again, which was starting to form holes from the same tears he was shedding.

"Why am I cursed to be like this…"

"Because, in the long term, we can do more good than bad," I said gently, deciding to go as small as I could to try and put my clanmate at ease. "I know what you're going through. Remember when I split into Driscol, Sparta, and Kevin? I tried to take my own life then. But despite that, when the Monster came… I led so many of us to our second deaths- and that's my fault, and my fault alone- but… it would have been worse if I wasn't there. Amara would be dead, and Alagasia would be gone. You can do the same for Nirn. You can turn this around, buddy."

Unfortunately, it seemed that my speech fell into deaf ears as Darius continued to quietly cry.

I shrunk down to as small as I could possibly go- small enough to fit into the palm of Darius' massive hand- and scrambled onto the end of his bed. I didn't really know what to say, and I retreated from his chaotic, jumbled mind for the sake of his privacy. However, as a cat would do, I softly bumped his foot with one of my heads.

Darius' foot jerked away from my touch in instinct, his teary eyes looking at me with no small amount of fear.

"Darius, if you want to talk… I'm here. Oh yeah, and I'm an 'I' again."

Darius looked confused at my comment for a second, slightly hiding away his emotions. "I… what? You're… you're yourself again?"

I sadly smiled up at him. "Yeah. I'm back for good, buddy. Blew myself up a couple of times on the way, but I got there in the end. You don't worry about hurting me, either. Compared to the shit I've been in recently… you can't do any worse. Hug?"

I hopefully spread my tiny wings as wide as I could and did my best puppy eyes. C'mon, hatchling cuteness, don't let me down…

"...Cade"

I was surprised to suddenly hear Darius' voice in my mind, which had always the feeling of a background fire as he talked. His eyes were locked at me, his tears now drained from his eyes, except for the new holes on the ground.

"Cade, promise me one thing, please. If I ever happen to go out of control and cause disasters, either by my or the others hands… Please, kill me."

I wasn't entirely sure what he was talking about, but I could hazard a guess. After all, it was how Neltharion became Deathwing. "I… I will do, man. So long as… so long as you do the same for me. If I go on a rampage, I need someone strong enough to… well, not necessarily kill me, but definitely stop me in my tracks. By the way, if N'zoth is listening, tell the bastard that I'm still pissed at him for possessing one of our newer guys."

Darius' eyes narrowed at the last comment, but it was shortly after followed by a sad smile as he took me in his hand with incredible delicacy before bumping my middle head with his big one.

"Thank you."

I could feel that the gratitude was genuine. Darius was legitimately happy that he had someone who could stop him in case his powers went out of control once again. It was conflicting. On one hand, it was good that Darius was feeling at least a little happiness, but on the other, said happiness came from a brutally cold reason, despite the noble intent behind it.

Still, I hadn't received my hug yet. Wrapping my wings around Darius' head, I conspiratorially whispered to him and Rosa, "Don't tell anyone about this, or I'll never hear the end of it."

Darius looked very tense at first, before relaxing a little bit in my hug. Maybe his fear of touching people couldn't be fixed right away, but over time, that'd soon fade. As for his other problems… I wasn't sure. He'd need a lot of TLC.

"No promises. Y'know how your cousin can be."

"If it's only her, then I can live with it. If it's Jacob… then I might have to find a new clan."

Rosa slowly came over, still wary about the whole 'touching' thing. I returned to Darius' hand as she slowly lowered her comparatively massive head towards us… and then gave me a big lick.

"...Another secret?"

I glared at Rosa from one head as traces of whatever she last ate dribbled down me. "No. She's smitten with Eragon. He and Saphira know about us now."

"I'm sorry, she's smitten with who?"

It was then that I suddenly realized the terror that I'd accidentally unleashed upon poor Eragon. I could only pray to Rift that he'd end up alive from the doomed encounter.

"Um… nobody."

Thankfully, Rosa stepped in to unknowingly save Eragon. "Thank you for bringing my brother back to me."

One of my eyes twitched in annoyance, but I decided not to ruin the moment. Jumping back onto the bed, I rubbed her slobber on Darius' bedsheets, leaving the problem of how to clean it up to him.

Then Rosa flashed into her own human form and wrapped Darius in a massive hug. "Don't you ever do something like that again, okay?! I was starting to think that you were dead!"

"And almost died of starvation and exhaustion." I chipped in casually, deciding that would be as good a moment as any to get a little revenge. "But everything… well, I'd be deluding myself if I said that everything's okay. So I'll just say that we're all still hanging on as best we can, and that's what matters."


Truth be told, our clan was in tatters.

By the time that Rosa and I had left Darius sitting beside Amara, his hand halfway to one of her faces as he tried to decide whether or not he should touch her, night was beginning to fall. I grew back to my normal size, and we decided to walk back home, not willing to risk the skies so soon after we'd both somewhat recovered.

I received small pieces of praise from the people who'd heard about what I'd done, although I knew that I didn't deserve any of it. Not with all the people who had died being forgotten in favour of my so-called 'achievement'. I just nodded and kept my heads down, wanting to get home as quick as I could.

"You killed a Shadow?" Rosa asked, quickly piecing together what I'd done.

"Not without help… and loss," I said sadly before putting a hand on Rosa's shoulder and bringing both of us to a halt. "Do me a favour. Don't focus on what I did. Instead, remember the people who gave their lives to make it happen. If we carry our memories of them with us as we go, then they'll never die. They'll be truly immortal in our hearts and minds. And that's the best way we can honour them."

Rosa solemnly nodded. "I'll remember. I swear it."

Satisfied, I released my grip, and we both carried on, heading back to Bluepeak.

Agrn had cooked something up for the rest of us, but I had no appetite. Instead, I just sat between Jacob, Sal, and the others as we poured through a photo album that Gem had made, in memory of Paddles. Having been there while most of the pictures were taken, and being in quite a few of them himself, Jacob told the tales behind each small window we had into the past.

This one had been when Paddles had realised that he could use his long, eel-like tail to throw drifts of snow at Gem, Jacob, and Sal one winter. This one had been where he re-taught Sal how to swim in the biggest pool that they could find. This one was an old one where it had just been him, Jacob, and Gem relaxing at the beach.

We all shed tears, but Jacob kept on talking as best he could, telling us all about the best times that he'd shared with Paddles. Nobody stopped him as the night wore on. None of us wanted to. However, the Night Fury eventually fell asleep from emotional and physical exhaustion in the early hours of the morning, leaving the rest of our bedraggled lot to turn in for the night.

Rosa gently carried Jacob back to his room. Regal and Agrn both turned in. Sal realised that I wasn't her pillow- and apologised profusely despite me telling her that it had been an honest mistake- before slipping off to bed. And that left me to turn off all of the lights, a small ball of rift energy nestled in the palm of my hand to guide me in ever-increasing darkness.

Taking a moment to look out over the Locostral skyline, I watched the lights of the city glimmer and twinkle far below me.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, trying not to cry. "Pad- Robert… I'm so, so sorry. I wish I could've saved you."

And then, I turned in myself, after forgetting that I hadn't picked up any anti-dream drugs.


I was running through a dark, misty, freezing cold forest of black pine trees- running from the Monster that was chasing after me. I had to survive. I needed to survive. I wouldn't let the Monster catch and kill me as it had done with all of my friends.

I felt like a coward. It had killed everyone who I'd loved, and all I could do was run. Every single one of my friends had been killed off one by one by the Monster. Each one of them made a final stand against the Monster to try and keep the rest of us alive. To keep me alive.

The going over the uneven ground was rough. My lungs were on fire, my legs felt like jelly, and my heart was about to burst as my feet pounded over black roots and blood-red pine needles. And if my physical pain wasn't enough, I was in the middle of a mental breakdown. Fear and adrenaline did their best to flush it out, but I remembered the agonised screams that came from somewhere in the evil forest as I ran. I remembered Amara being gutted to take a blow meant for me. And I remembered how Gem had pushed me on as she bled out, ordering me to get to safety before crying out in agony as her spine was ripped from her body in a cloud of red.

It made me want to stop running. To give up and accept the inevitable. To leave my horrible life behind and embrace whatever lay beyond.

But I couldn't. I was too scared of dying, I was too scared to stand firm and make a last stand like my friends had. So, I continued to run.

And run.

And run.

Eventually, I just couldn't go any further. My legs, now completely numb and unresponsive, completely gave up as I fell heavily onto the ground, my arms barely catching up before the crash broke my nose.

I lay among the blood-red pine needles, panting, trying to catch my breath so that I could continue running.

"Well, well, well. Looks like someone is a bit legless today"

I panicked at those words, already starting to crawl away. It was here! It was going to kill me! I had to move, I had to get away!

I tried to get up, to move and start the chase again, but I couldn't. Every time I tried to push myself to my feet, I fell back to the ground once again, my legs sluggish and unresponsive. The wet, sticky ground. Why did it feel like that? This couldn't be rain, could it?

It wasn't. Rain didn't feel like this. And it wasn't squelchy enough to be mud. No, as I fell once more, I finally realised what it was, recognising the faintly metallic smell.

This was blood.

Finally, everything started to click together, the blood, the numbness of my legs, my incoordination, even the Monster words.

Looking over my shoulder, my eyes widened as they met the Monster's glowing red orbs. It's gaze met mine, but then flicked down towards a blood-splattered, fleshy lump that lay at its feet. A pair of bloody, dismembered legs.

They were my legs.

Bleeding out in the forest of evil, I knew this was it. I couldn't run anymore, and the heroic sacrifices of my friends had been completely useless. In my final moments, I could only watch in mute terror as the Monster slowly approached, revealing a long, thin blade under its cloaks.

"You were one hell of an annoying rat to catch."

A mad cackle escaped it after that, the sound more like some kind of alien scream than laughter. "Eheheheh, you really do represent your race; cowards unable to face their fear head-on, paralysed still even by the smaller threats."

Its head moved to look back into the dark, mist-covered trees, where the corpses of my friends lay. Rolling onto my back with a painful grunt, I followed its gaze. Something moved in the darkness, cracking branches and rustling pine needles heralding its approach.

"Your 'friends' though… my, what fine specimens they were. Selfless to the end, willing to sacrifice their own lives for a misguided notion of the 'greater good'."

Suddenly, the Monster was crouched in front of me, its soulless eyes boring into mine as I remained paralysed from the shock.

"They'd do better by joining our cause, don't you think so my dear 'friends'?"

Then it slowly stood and gestured towards the black-trunked, crimson-needled trees, showing off a sight that I would never forget.

No… nononoNO!

Standing in front of me were all of my friends. Their clothes were torn in some places, and their bare skin revealed pitch-black veins that all pulsed and throbbed, all of them stemming at the places where they had been attacked and killed by the Monster. And on all of their faces, the colour of their irises had been bleached to the trademark glowing crimson that heralded a Shadow's evil.

Desperation and horror momentarily overcame my fear and battered, bleeding body, and I turned my gaze to the Monster.

"W-WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM, YOU BASTARD!?" I half yelled, half screamed.

"It gave us a purpose, a true one."

My eyes slowly turned to once again look at the stiff figures of my friends. It was Amara who had just spoken, her face twisted into a demented smile.

"It made us stronger, far more than we could dream to be before." Gem continued.

Then another figure, one that was initially obscured by the giant figure of Darius, revealed itself. As he slowly approached where I was lying, Paddles stooped over me once he came close enough, his eyes filled with unrivalled hatred.

"It gave us the chance to have vengeance."

Grabbing me by the neck as I feebly tried to resist, Paddles bodily lifted what was left of me off the ground. I felt nauseous as blood began to drain out of my stumps in earnest, only to gasp as I felt something punch its way into my stomach. I looked down and saw that Paddles' arm had gone straight through my chest as if my skin and organs were made of wet paper. The sheer amount of physical pain that I was feeling was immense, but it was completely shadowed by the pain that my heart, my soul was feeling.

With no warning, I suddenly felt myself being yanked backwards. Paddles' arm was torn out of my stomach as my vision was quickly engulfed into a flowing orange, and the Monster and my corrupted friends screeched in rage.


As I slowly returned to the land of the living, sobbing my eyes out from what I'd just witnessed, I felt someone gently embrace me in a tender hug. I didn't care who it was. I just knew that as I cried into their shoulder, clinging onto them as if they were a lifeline, that they gently ran a hand over my scaled back and told me that everything would be okay.

"M-Mom… I-I'm scared."

"Shh. The nightmares won't hurt you here, kiddo. Not when I'm here."

I wept, not identifying the voice right away, but knowing that it was spoken gently and reassuringly.

"The Monster… It k-killed my f-friends!" I cried, great sobs wracking my body. "A-and I was human again- and so were they and-"

"It's okay, kiddo." The voice said as its owner hugged me a little tighter. "The ones who are still with us aren't hurt, and neither are you, my little golden dragon."

"I-I couldn't fight it!" I whimpered. "I should have saved them, but I was too scared!"

"It's okay to be scared, kiddo. You did amazingly when you faced the Monster when it met you in the flesh. You were scared then, and you pushed through that fear. You were brave in the face of overwhelming odds then, and you won. You can win the battles that rage inside your mind in the same way, kiddo. You just have to have heart, and fight for what you believe in. For the ones you love. For the one you love."

"B-but I just can't!" I wailed sadly, a new wave of sobs coming forth. "I just can't, Mom!"

"Shhh." the voice said quietly, slowly running a cool hand over my centre head. "You can, kiddo. I've seen you do it time and time again, and I couldn't be more proud."

I cried for a long time after that, but I eventually came to my senses in the early hours of the morning. I was still being hugged, the cool, gentle hands of the hugger slowly tracing circles, triangles and other shapes on my back.

Cracking my eyes open, I groggily focused on who it was… and jumped out of my scales in shock, falling over on my bed.

Rift- somehow big enough to hug me while I was at my preferred size- laughed softly as she saw my started faces looking up at her in horror. I'd… I'd sobbed into the shoulder of the co-creator of the multiverse. I'd unloaded a shitload of my emotions on her- very literally, if we took my telepathy into account. I'd called her Mom.

It was the last one that I was having trouble coming to terms with as I pushed myself upright. I still loved my real Mom, the one who I'd left behind when I'd died. And to me, nobody could replace her.

"I know that I'm not your mother." Rift said sadly. "I remember how angry you were when I tried to say that. You said that she was irreplaceable, and I'm not trying to intrude on that. But… I've never experienced something like a family, and I've never really cared about that in the past. But after everything that you and… R-Ragnar taught me, after you snapped at me for almost ruining a child's life… I really, really want to try and be a better person."

There was a brief pause before Rift continued.

"…If you're willing, I'd like to be your stepmom, Cade."

I thought that I'd misheard until I ran it through my heads again. Then, after nearly dying from shock, I thought about what she'd said. I knew that she did want to be a better person, but was this really the way to go about it? I… I had a lot of problems attached to me, and she was the co-creator of the multiverse. What did I have to offer in this? Any Plainswalker could have helped Rift self-improve, and yet she wanted me?

I scooched up the bed and hugged Rift, silently sealing the deal. She hugged me back, and we just sat there as my minds tried to piece together what was real and what wasn't.

The first thing I managed to say was "You're Amara's step-aunt now."

"So I am." Rift nodded, idly scratching behind my horns.

"She's going to freak when she finds out."

"Probably."

"...Does this mean that I get to inherit the multiverse if you ever go?"

"Not in your life, kiddo!" Rift laughed. "Although I'd appreciate it if you at least looked after it all for me if that did happen."

"But that's wooork."

"Maybe just Alagasia, then."

"But wooork."

"You're terrible." Rift mock-admonished, poking the tip of my centre snout with a finger.

"Maybe." I shrugged. "Oh, and that'll make you Gem's adopted stepmom. And Darius' step-aunt-in-law if he and Amara get together permanently."

"This is enough 'step's to start a staircase." Rift chuckled. "But if you don't mind, I'd like to start off with you alone. When we're ready, then we tell Amara."

"As long as you don't tell me when to start going to bed or interfere with my personal life too much, I'm cool with that." I shrugged.

Suddenly, an orb of rift energy and some weird letter-like thing with an eye in it appeared in front of us, respectively warbling and saying "Unown~!" over and over again.

Rift held up a hand, and then gestured to the orb, which made the… Pokémon- I think- silently start fuming. The orb warbled gratefully, made a noise at the Unown that sounded like someone blowing a raspberry, and then landed on Rift's outstretched palm. For a brief moment, the two pulsed with light as information was transmitted between them. The contact was over less than a second later, and the co-creator of the multiverse sighed in relief.

"Good news." Rift said, patting the orb. "Alagasia is safe now."

"Yeah." I agreed. "The Monster is dead and stuff."

"It was still in danger after that, Kiddo." Rift said quietly, although I still picked it up.

"Excuse me?" I asked, already worrying about this new threat, even though it had been dealt with already.

Rift sighed "It's something that I only recently discovered for myself… Every known realm has problems, something that the discoverer of them called Flaws.

"My colleague discovered that a Flaw is a form of primordial chaos born out of an imbalance between- and subsequent violent clashing of- mine and Void's energy. The result is the formation of a Flaw inside a realm, which manifests into something that normally shouldn't exist or possibly violates physics, biology, temporal mechanics, and many, many more rules."

Rift looked as grim as it was possible for someone with no facial expressions to be. "As we're born from Limbo and can live in it without consequence, they're harmless to us Primordials. I and many others always thought that they were nothing but quirks of the realms. Alagasian magic, the Force, Kaiju, and other things violating the square-cube law, things like that. It wasn't until a fellow Primordial, someone close to me enough to consider them a friend that told me the truth.

"The Flaws are like a deadly poison that corrupts and destroys everything it touches. They're the reason why realms don't last almost forever and crumble into nothingness so fast, surviving just a spec of their normally estimated life."

I gulped nervously. "I fit into two of those groups… Does that mean that I'll eventually..."

"No," Rift said firmly. "They form in realms, not in beings. However, they're deadly to both, as you've witnessed firsthand."

"That… un-coloured vapour?" I guessed. "That was a Flaw?"

Rift nodded solemnly. "Yes. I and other Primordials see them differently to you, though. If I tried to describe what they truly look like, you'd likely go mad. You simply can't comprehend them. So instead, you see them as that vapour-like substance that lacks all colour, but isn't invisible."

"That stuff was going everywhere…" I whispered in shock. "I… I don't even know how much of it there was. And there were so many other-"

I cut myself off and looked down at my claws in shock.

"I-I… I killed Paddles. I killed him, I hurt Gem, I hurt Doc Diana..., I… I k-killed m-my own p-people..." I couldn't go on anymore as a new wave of guilt and sorrow, now much, much stronger than before, suddenly hit me like a tsunami, cutting every connection I had with the outside world.

People can say that they drowned in guilt, but for a psychic… we can actually do that. I could feel something inside of me screaming, begging for release from this immortal coil. But it couldn't get out, and I had to live with what I'd done.

I don't remember what happened after that. I know that I started sobbing into Rift's shoulder again, my pain and guilt stronger than ever. However, by the time I lapsed into unconsciousness again, I was so out of things that didn't even know if Rift was still with me or not. I just know that I returned to a restless sleep filled with nightmares and demons.


The next day was sombre and bleak. I skirted around my clanmates, distancing myself from them as best I could for their own safety. I'd been the one who'd killed Paddles. It was my fault that he was gone, and my fault alone. I was a danger to everyone I cared for, whether they were a Plainswalker or an Alagasian. I wouldn't let anyone else pass on again because of me.

So, after considering what options I had, I eventually reached a simple conclusion. I had to leave.

Finding the biggest waterproof bag I could, I sat before it and thought about what I needed, and what I wanted.

Sklir was beyond repair, or even reforging; utterly annihilated by the Monster. It had been sent to the scrapheap after I reluctantly admitted that I wouldn't have any use for it anymore. Sheathed in it, Omen had been on the receiving end of the same treatment, the only remaining piece of the weapon being the slightly cracked replica of the Eye of Thundera. The Elders had kept hold of that to try and replicate its ability to send an inter-realm SOS, given Omen's apparent 'success'. If they could produce them en-masse, the function would be added to a new series of keys that would be rolled out to every Plainswalker, cutting out needing to come back to Locostral at all.

So I had no armour and no weapon, except myself.

It wasn't that I needed a sword. It's just that… I'd become used to having one, and I didn't want all the work that I'd put into learning how to be somewhat decent with one to be wasted. My eyes flicked to where the sword that Durza had used lay on my shelf, but I quickly dismissed the idea. That weapon was more of a keepsake instead of something that I would wield. It would remain here.

Moving on, I half-heartedly packed my MultiForm and all the gear that went with it. It felt wrong to take it. I didn't deserve to be happy after what I'd done, but if I ended up in some realm where having a connection to their internet was essential, then I'd rather have something of my own that could do it. A few blankets were haphazardly thrown in after the tech, and I glanced around the room to see if I was missing anything.

My eyes landed on the beautifully detailed cover of the book that Islanzadí had given me on my last day in Ellesméra; the story that told how Islingr and another dragon had lost their Riders in the Spine. With the utmost of care, my claws gently slipped around the book and deposited it in the bag, trying not to damage it.

My key went in after that. It was scorched and blackened in places, but by sheer luck, it had survived the destruction of Sklir. And if I ever came to terms with what I'd done, I'd need it to be able to return to Alagasia and Locostral.

And last, but by no means least, I threw three rolls of duct-tape in there, just to be safe. Duct tape was one of the strongest things in the multiverse, and three was a good, solid number. It paid to be safe.

A gentle knock on my closed door made me jump, and I quickly threw my giant duvet over my bag in a vain attempt to hide it. Plodding over to the door, I slowly pulled it open a crack and saw that Rosa was waiting outside.

"Cade," she said gently, "it's… it's time."

I stared at her blankly for a few seconds before I realised what she was talking about. Paddles' sendoff. Nodding in understanding, I pulled my door open enough for me to squeeze out and followed Rosa down the ramp to the main room. Nodding silently to the others while staying as far back as I could without being too suspicious, we set off towards the outskirts of the city.


The memorial that had been set up to honour Paddles and the other fifty-eight Plainswalkers that the Monster… and I... had killed was plain and simple, but it somehow felt right. If it had been anything other than the golden names set into smooth white stone, it would have felt gaudy and oppressive; too over-the-top and extravagant to properly do justice to the fifty-nine Plainswalkers who had made the ultimate sacrifice.

We all shed tears as Jacob pressed Paddles' key into a socket in the stone next to his name. A quiet click echoed around as metal met stone, and a faint light pulsed as Jacob pulled back his paw. A spell would keep the key fixed there forever, honouring the one who I'd killed for eternity.

One by one, each of us said our own, private goodbyes, and gradually trickled away in ones and twos until it was just me left, the setting sun casting my shadow onto the white stone. It seemed to bite and snap around the names as I pressed my hand to the cool rock.

"I'm so, so sorry. I wish that I could take your place… I… I wish that I wasn't the reason for your departure."

My eyes looked down, tears rolling freely once again. "...I'm so weak, yet so dangerous… A laughing stock, an utter disgrace, someone that didn't deserve a second chance. Yet… I'm too scared of dying, of killing myself…" A choked chuckle escaped my three heads at the same time. "I'm truly pathetic. Pathetic enough to plan running away in the middle of the night. But by running, I'll make sure that nobody else dies because of my actions. I owe you that."

"...It seems that we had the same idea in the end."

My heads swung around so fast that it was a miracle that I didn't break my necks. Beside me stood Darius in his human form, looking at the monument with a grim expression.

"Of running away, like the cowards we are… Maybe we'd get ourselves killed by something, anything that wouldn't make it sound like we just gave up on life..."

I grimaced. "I'm already packed and ready to go. If you're going to do the same, leave it a few days, then leave a note for Rosa and Amara. They'll go out of their minds with worry otherwise."

Darius continued to look at the monument as he said. "I already took care of everything… explaining my reasons… But it seems that fate has decided things to be a bit different for me."

As he lifted his eyes to meet mine, he continued "Please take me with you… please continue to uphold your promise..."

"You'll die if you stay with me, no matter if you're rampaging around or not," I murmured.

A strained smile appeared on his face "Isn't that what I seek, Cade? You've seen it, don't you? How I'm feeling right now..."

I looked down and sighed from all three of my heads. "I won't be able to convince you otherwise, will I? You're too stubborn for your own good, just like Rosa."

Darius looked down at my comment. "It's both a blessing and a curse..."

"Meet me at the departure portal in thirty minutes. Bring your key."

With that, I turned away and left to go and grab my stuff, leaving Darius looking at the monument. By this time tomorrow, we'd be realms away from here.


Next time…

Realms are crossed.
Friends are found.
Swords are forged.
War is abound.

Book 3 of the Riftiverse, The Shadows Lengthen, coming soon...