"Ahhh…" Lyra moaned, lying down on the floor. She tried to get up but failed. Her back was hurting like hell.

  She looked to her left and found Meilie sitting beside her in silence. Meilie had both her hands pointed toward her back, and a yellow beam was flowing into her, healing her.

  "What is she doing?" Lyra asked slowly as she turned to her right, trying to find Arix or Tarin. Tarin was sitting on her right, leaning against the wall.

  "Tending to your wounds, perhaps," he said in a low voice.

  "Where is Arix?" she asked.

  "To your left," he answered.

  She looked left again, and past Meilie, found Arix also leaning against the wall and staring at her.

  "Is he dead?" she asked again, she groaned.

  "Yes," Arix replied.

  She tried moving again but couldn't do it, as her back was still hurting.

  Meilie held her hand and shook her head, indicating not to move.

  Arix got up and walked toward Lyra, sitting beside Meilie. "Do not move. Your spine is broken." He turned sideways, looking at Meilie, then continued, "I don't know how, but she can heal too, so trust her. She also healed my leg and Tarin's hand before you."

  "Tarin's hand and your leg? Were they broken too?" she asked.

  "Tarin's hand was fractured. My legs weren't broken, but they got twisted and hurt like hell. She just healed it," he answered.

  "My legs are still hurting, but I can walk now," Tarin said while standing up. He walked toward the masked servant's body. "Good thing is, he is not moving, and the barrier was probably down too." He slightly kicked the servant's head, making sure he couldn't move.

  "That's good." Lyra raised her hand and covered her eyes, blocking her vision so she could rest more. She took a deep breath and fell asleep not long after.

  Another few hours passed before Lyra woke up again. She found Tarin, Arix, and Meilie standing with all their stuff packed, ready to leave the dungeon. "We have to move. We don't have time," Arix said.

  Lyra tried getting up again, and she did. She stood up. Her back was still hurting, but not like before. She could walk slowly if someone supported her, and Arix offered his arm.

  They all started moving slowly, the same way they came in. The way out was mostly silent, with only a few quiet exchanges along the way.

  Arix was lost in his own thoughts the whole time. "Why did the Loms tell us not to go down? Why didn't they want the servant dead? Maybe the barrier which the servant created protected the Loms somehow." All these thoughts were running through his mind, so much that he couldn't focus on anything the others said, not even Lyra's requests for rest.

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

  "ARIX…" Tarin shouted.

  Arix snapped out of it. He watched Lyra. She was exhausted and needed rest. They stopped. She sat down beside the mud wall and drank water to recover her strength.

  They all rested for about an hour before marching ahead again.

  When they finally reached the end, there was a difficult obstacle in front of them. How would Lyra climb the ladder?

  "I can do it." She inhaled deeply and headed toward the ladder, climbing the first few steps, groaning with each one. "See, I can do it,” she said. Then Tarin grabbed her and put her on his back.

  "No, you can't," he said as he started climbing the ladder with Lyra on his back.

  They all started climbing the ladder, slowly and steadily. After an hour, they reached the top. Lyra and Tarin were first to reach the top, followed by Arix, then Meilie.

  When Arix reached the top, exhausted and gasping, he saw something unusual. He looked ahead to find all the Lom ghosts spread across the village.

  It was daylight. The Loms were sitting there on their knees, both their hands in the air, and it seemed like they were screaming, but no voice was coming out of their mouths.

  "Why are they out during the day?” Lyra said, looking all around her at all the Loms spread across.

  Arix was taking deep breaths constantly. "I don't understand. Was the servant protecting them somehow with the barrier?"

  “Did we just kill the thing that was protecting them?” Lyra whispered. Her eyes widened as she saw every Lom, even the children, pleading with the sky.

  "It doesn't matter. We had to do it to get out of the village," Tarin said as he started walking in the direction of the barrier. "Come on, let's leave this place," he added.

  "Who is the bad guy here? They were not hurting us. They warned us about this, that they would die if we went down. But still I went down. This is all my fault." Arix said in a low voice as a few tears fell from his eyes.

  "Arix, let's go. They are already dead. Orcs killed them. We can't mourn for them," Tarin shouted from ahead.

  “I lost Elena. How can I just move on? I should have thought this through before killing the servant. I should have tried to find another way.” His voice reached Tarin as he was walking toward Arix.

  "Hey, listen, there was no other way. Do you want to die here just like them? Or do you want to move on?" Tarin grabbed Arix's shoulder, turning Arix toward him, and continued, "What we did was necessary. Think about the island."

  "But while thinking only about ourselves, we forgot to think about them. Yes, they were already dead, but even after dying, they are still conscious. We ended up becoming the villains in someone else's story." Arix closed his eyes and slightly lifted his chin, standing in a straight posture.

  "No, from now on, I will think about the consequences before taking any action. I will not let anyone suffer again in front of my eyes," he thought, grinding his teeth and tightening his fists.

  He took a deep breath, gazed at the Loms again, and bowed. "I am sorry," he said as he straightened and walked in Tarin's direction.

  They all started moving in the direction of the mountain.

  "We have to get that weapon first," Arix said, walking ahead of everyone. Meilie and Lyra were behind him and Tarin was at the back.

  They reached the place where the barrier had been before and stopped for a moment.

  Arix glanced back one last time and then walked straight, crossing the village without any interruption this time.

  Ahead of him lay a big mountain with a white tip. Between them and the mountain flowed a wide river.