A Ghoul pushed through the crack in the barrier.
The corruption of hell came out of the portal behind Omazz. Flames of destruction.
The Ghoul snarled—the closest thing it could do to a smile.
As it dashed toward her, Omazz pulled out the time stopper. The wands exploded inside Undead Druveus. She broke the glass and—
Everything slowed down around her.
The Ghoul’s hand reached out, inches from her face. The hand moved millimeters per second now—still deadly, but she’d bought herself a few minutes.
The sand in the hourglass ticked down at a normal speed, despite everything around it having slowed.
As Alessia and Nimbus crossed the threshold, everything distorted. Like pixelation, digital interference in reality itself. Alessia grunted in pain.
“Getting closer to the heart of Chaos.”
Black smoke from a trash fire wafted over them.
Alessia coughed into her hand. She looked at the phlegm inside, but as she opened her hand wider, a black crow sprang out and flew away.
Alessia shook her head. “I am who I am because I ran from myself.”
Minos burst out of the ground in front of them.
“Thought you could just walk into Hell?”
He swung at Alessia. She blocked with her sword, but the force of the attack knocked her off her feet.
Alessia spun and stood back up. Everything was off, though. Distorted. She was in an illusion of time and space, and her own psyche was misbehaving.
She shook her head and said, “Move aside.”
“Nimbus already gave up on you once. Give me the Angel, and I will give you your magic in return.”
Alessia looked at Nimbus. His face pulsed like an acid trip, oscillating in a loop of aging and withering until it became a skeleton, where skin grew anew. “He may have given up on us. But he’s on the right path now. The path of redemption.”
“You can’t save him and your friend.”
“You’re right,” Nimbus said. “She can’t.”
Nimbus grabbed his last feather and pulled it taut.
“What are you doing?” Alessia asked.
“I believe in you, Alessia. Make things right.”
Minos charged. Nimbus plucked his last feather. A shockwave of energy pulsed out, knocking Minos down.
Nimbus handed the feather to Alessia. “You earned this.”
Nimbus turned and tackled Minos. He atomized, taking a screaming Minos with him. Flame burst out of the ground as the two perished, leaving a wall of fire between Alessia and her goal.
“Thank you, my friend.”
Alessia looked at the feather and the flames. She put the feather in her cloak. Took a deep breath. Then she ran forward and jumped over the flames.
Omazz sat inside the bubble of time. Her hourglass’s sand was almost out...
Korr battled corrupted yōkai at the mouth of hell. The rope hung over the edge, bright with magic the yōkai were drawn to. They chewed at it when they could.
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Korr teleported between them—it was incredible as he flashed from yōkai to yōkai, saving the rope every time it was chewed down to strands. But each time, he got a little older. His hair began to gray.
He felt his age. But he wouldn’t let Alessia down.
Alessia found the little girl sitting on a funeral pyre with Landar tied up. The little girl poured oil over everything.
“I’m ready to talk,” Alessia said.
The little girl lit a torch, ready to burn herself and Landar. “I know you are.”
Alessia held her hands up. The little girl held the torch a little closer to the ground. “I’ll drop it.”
“Wait!” Alessia inched forward.
“Don’t come any closer.”
“I know how you’re feeling.”
“You couldn’t possibly.”
“I do. Taking the part of me, the part that was you, letting you die... I thought it would protect me. Like cutting off a limb before an infection spread. But I was wrong. It still festered. In me. Spread through me like a disease. I’ve been battling it ever since. But you don’t have to make the mistake I made.”
A tear rolled down the little girl’s cheek.
“It’s too late.”
“It’s never too late.”
The little girl looked at the pyre around her. Her grip on the torch loosened.
“I did it all for you. The acting out. I wanted your love so badly, but now I don’t think I can accept it.”
“Don’t make the mistake I made. I’ve been so hard on everyone, but most of all, you. I hated you because I thought you were my weakness—your hope and caring made me a target, something the world could trample on. But now I see you’re my strength. Your whimsy, your love. I realize that the only way to set you free is to forgive myself. To let go of my pain and anger. To love again.”
She pulled the rope out and held her sword against it.
Landar shouted, “No! Alessia, you can’t.”
She cut the rope. She moved toward the little girl. “Let him go, and we’ll be together.”
The little girl threw Landar away. He turned into a beam of light that whirled through hell, slamming into Ex Vis, and out through the fissure.
Korr swung his axes with reduced power. He was old and weak now. It looked like he would be overrun by corrupted yōkai when Ex Vis and Landar came flying out of the fissure.
The fissure closed behind them.
Landar closed his eyes and sent a calming spell pulsing outward. The yōkai pacified immediately.
“We need to go.”
Korr grunted, “Not without Alessia.”
Landar looked at the old barbarian. “She cut the rope. She’s...”
Korr collapsed. A moment of silence. Ex Vis put a hand on Korr’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, my friend.”
Ex Vis helped Korr up, the little bunny propping up the big half-orc.
“It’s time to go,” Landar said.
He reached out and grabbed something in the air. His rope materialized around him. He tugged it and atomized—the light swirling up the rope.
Ex Vis and Korr looked at each other.
“You ready, old man?”
Korr nodded solemnly. They both pulled their ropes and disappeared.
The Ghoul’s nails slowly pressed into Omazz’s cheek. Beads of blood swelled at the tips, when—
Boom! Korr, Landar, and Ex Vis burst through the portal.
With insane efficiency, the team worked together and killed the undead in the room. These guys were vets now.
Omazz looked at the team. “Where’s Alessia?”
Korr said, “She’s... gone...” And then he broke down.
Ex Vis hugged Korr as tears streamed down his face.
“And there’s no one to heal the wound,” Landar said.
“I’m sorry for what I did to you,” Alessia said. “All the pain. I should have known better. I should have given you light, not darkness.”
She hugged the little girl.
Tears streamed down the little girl’s face as she said, “You don’t know how badly I needed this.”
“Yes. I do.”
Light emanated from the little girl.
Alessia watched as the little girl climbed the tree from her vision, now vibrant and alive. The little girl smiled and glowed brighter and brighter until she filled the whole world—
LIGHT.
Korr sat down, enfeebled by his age. Ex Vis squatted next to him. Landar and Omazz put their hands on Korr’s shoulders.
Korr shook his head. “Can’t believe she’s gone.”
Landar closed his eyes. “Dear Gods above, we send you two brave souls and an angel to rejoin the celestial choir.”
Everyone else closed their eyes. Alessia walked up behind them, shaken and confused.
“May their trip to the Great Beyond be filled with warmth. Druveus, with his keen intellect and daring. Nimbus, the seraph who shepherded our flock. And our leader, Alessia. A tormented soul wrought with pain, who still fought for others. May she finally find the peace she so desperately needs.”
A solemn moment.
“She was my best friend,” Korr said.
“Was?” Alessia said.
Everyone turned, confused for a moment.
Then Korr realized— “You’re alive!” He groaned as he got up and gave her a bear hug.
Landar cocked his head to the side. “Your ghost?”
Alessia touched her chest. “In here now.”
Landar realized—
“You’re a Paladin now.”
Alessia nodded.
“A Knight of Light.”
The group wandered the forest, now teeming with life.
Korr smiled. “Now that I’m an old man, I think I’ll finally do that retiring I’ve been dreading so badly.”
“I have a few missions left under my belt,” Ex Vis said. “Someone did rat me out...”
“You gonna kill that gnome woman?” Korr asked.
“What?! Kill her? She successfully betrayed me. I’m gonna ask her to marry me.”
“I’m going back to the church,” Landar said. “Someone there needs to teach the truth.”
“I’m breaking into Druveus’s liquor cabinet,” Omazz said. “Then I’m searching for a cure for hangovers.”
“You figure that out,” Korr said, “and you’ll be the richest woman in the Thirteen Kingdoms.”
They walked quietly for a moment.
“What are you gonna do, Alessia?” Landar asked.
Alessia drew her sword. A blue, crisp flame, like ice, licked across the blade. A flaming sword for a Paladin.
In the fire, the little girl smiled back at Alessia.
“I have some more good to do here.”
Alessia saw a deer in the woods. It looked her in the eye before turning and frolicking into the foliage, beautiful, serene yōkai running alongside it...
THE END.