We’re going to die… we’re going to die. Why did I agree to this? Why? I knew they were evil… I knew this wouldn’t work. I knew they wouldn’t negotiate. Why did I not stop this? I should have made her listen… I should have made them all listen.

  Phoenix: “We need a plan.”

  Dwynfel: “Huh?”

  Phoenix: “You are relatively decent with strategy. Think of something.”

  Whilst I had been spiralling into despair, Phoenix had dragged herself back and propped herself up on the rocks next to me. Her breathing was laboured and her eyes were closed.

  Dwynfel: “Are you okay?”

  Phoenix: “Irrelevant… plan… now.”

  My breathing got heavier… I don’t know a way out of this… I can’t think of a way out of this.

  Dwynfel: “There is no way out of this… we’re going to die… we are going to die and it’s all my fault.”

  I started to shake… my body went numb.

  Phoenix: “Dwynfel. Look in front of you. Look at Kiyui. He is still alive. You are still alive. Your boys are at home, waiting for you two to return. Keep acting like this and you are going to make orphans of them… again. There is a time and a place for dealing with your emotions. It is not now; it is not here. Now pull yourself together and deal with what is in front of you. I have two daughters waiting for me at home. I know that I am not going to die down here. The question is, are you?”

  I looked ahead of me to see Kiyui lying on the ground… motionless and bleeding. She’s right… she’s right. I can’t put those boys through that again. I love them… I love Kiyui. Our family… it’s going so well… so perfect. I can’t let it end here. I can’t let Kiyui die here… I don’t want him to die here… I can’t let him… I won’t.

  Dwynfel: “Right, umm. Damecus is still somewhere in the tunnels… when the confusion wears off, he’ll…”

  Phoenix: “Won’t wear off for another five minutes… at least.”

  Dwynfel: “That’s too long… we’ll be dead by then. Can you cast dragon’s breath again?”

  Phoenix: “Yes… but this cavern is too big. I will not get all of them. They will simply wait it out until I run out of mana.

  Dwynfel: “If you can hold them back with a fire wall, then I can pick them off with my arrows.”

  Phoenix: “How many approach?”

  Dwynfel: “Judging by the sounds... around fifty.”

  Phoenix: “You do not have enough arrows.”

  Shit, shit, shit. What else do we have?

  Dwynfel: “I have two explosive flasks in my satchel, they just need activating.”

  Phoenix: “Still not enough.”

  Dwynfel: “Chain lightning?”

  Phoenix: “Chain lightning gets weaker with each jump… it will kill a fair few, but not enough. And I only have enough mana left to cast that once.”

  Dwynfel: “Dietrich and Farrow… they could…”

  She grabbed my ankle and gripped tightly.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Phoenix: “We cannot rely on them. The sword… use it.”

  Dwynfel: “It doesn’t work… it never works… I have tried it so many times since the ball… nothing happens.”

  Phoenix: “Maybe you did not have the proper motivation. It is our only chance to survive. Draw the sword… and do it now.”

  Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. She’s right… it’s the only thing that might even slightly work. I took the scabbard off my back and placed it on the ground. As I did, the hordes of goblins entered the cabin. They surrounded us in an instant.

  Phoenix: “Firewall.”

  A wall of fire appeared around us in a semi-circle, stalling the goblins’ advance. They stood on the other side of the flames… laughing. They know that it is simply a matter of time before the wall drops… and once it does… we can’t defend against them.

  I pulled the sword out of its scabbard and stood as tall as I could. Which is hard to do when one of your feet is crushed under a pile of rocks. I tried to remember how I had done it the last time. I held the sword out in front of me and I tried to focus on the flow of the magic. Phoenix gripped my ankle tighter.

  Phoenix: “Focus. Do you feel the magic flowing through you?”

  Gods… yes… I do… I feel it… I really feel it. Oh, thank the gods… thank every single god that could possibly exist.

  Dwynfel: “Yes… I feel it.”

  Phoenix: “You need to use it differently to last time.”

  Dwynfel: “Huh?”

  Phoenix: “Last time you had one target directly in front of you. This time you have multiple smaller targets scattered throughout a large room.”

  Shit, she’s right. The circle thing that I did the last time would only get a relatively small number of them.

  Phoenix: “Hold the sword horizontally. Slice through the air in an arc from one side to the other… make sure to keep the sword level.”

  Okay, okay, I can do this. Hold the sword horizontal. Keep it level. Slash in an arc.

  Using both hands, I held the sword to my right. Okay, now focus on the magic energy. I can feel it welling in my chest. I need it to flow into the sword. Just gently direct it in the right direction. Out through the shoulders… down the arms… through the hands… through the fingers and into the sword. See it… visualise it… let it happen. Breathe.

  The sound of the goblins laughing and mocking our situation grew louder. I blocked it out and focussed on the magic… I could feel the energy flowing from me and into the sword. I sliced through the air in an arc as Phoenix had told me. What looked like a trail of flame emerged from the sword as I moved. It slashed all the way across the room… cutting every gobbling that it encountered in two at the waist. Phoenix lowered her wall of flames and then I truly saw the bloodshed that I had just caused.

  Most of the goblins had died pretty much instantly. A couple of the taller goblins in the room had been cut at the base of the pelvis and were screaming in horror as they slowly bled to death. One goblin must have been pushed over as the crowd taunted us. He just sat in amongst the pool of blood and guts… terrified. Eventually he got up and attempted to run out of the tunnel.

  Suddenly he flew back into the room. When a large armoured paladin bound into the room and smashed his face in with his shield. He was followed by a rather young looking man wielding a large axe and a very small and ancient looking balding man in a robe.

  Asmodeus. “Why is it that whenever anything like this happens, I always find you at the centre of it?”