I continued trying to force my way out of the bars. The skin continued to tear from me… every time that I moved, I left a fresh piece of skin behind. My hands, feet, back, the left side of my arse… all of me was bleeding. Kin’Ayesha continued to warn me to stop, but I didn’t care… I kept going… kept trying. In hindsight, I realise that I really should have listened to him. By the time Chloe arrived on the scene my body was in an awful state.

  We heard her before we saw her.

  Chloe: “Why the fuck is it so damn cold in here?”

  I tried to shout to get her attention… but I was too weak… the cold had got to me… I barely made a noise. Kin’Ayesha was able to shout though. Upon hearing him, she rushed down the stairs, zoned straight in on the cages and rushed straight over… she was closely followed by Tristan, Robert, and Lucas.

  Chloe: “Fucking hell… what happened to you?”

  I tried to answer… but once again… no noise came out… I had over exerted myself and lost too much blood.

  Kin’Ayesha: “It was the church of Laezel. They intend to summon a demon to end all of humanity.”

  Chloe: “And who the fuck are you, weird little naked bunny?”

  Kin’Ayesha: “Unimportant. We need to get out of here immediately.”

  Chloe: “Fair point. Lucas… unlock these cages. Bobby, Tristan… look for their belongings… they look bloody freezing.”

  They all nodded in agreement. Robert and Tristan disappeared off up the stairs to search for our clothes and Tristan started to pick the lock on my cage.

  Chloe: “Where the fuck is Flynn?”

  Breathing heavily… I looked over at the altar. She followed my gaze. Her face froze.

  Chloe: “What the fuck?”

  She rushed over to the altar and stood over him. She looked at the opening in his chest… she cast her eyes across his skinless body. She took his hand in hers and looked into his eyes.

  Chloe: “Why would anybody do this? They are going to die… do you hear me? They are all going to die!”

  His hand gripped hers and she jumped back. As she did, she slipped on the bloody floor and fell to the ground. His eyes followed her and perhaps for the first time I saw Chloe look… scared. I’ve seen her upset… I’ve seen her angry… but in that moment, she was just… terrified.

  Chloe: “No… no… he can’t be alive? How is he still alive? This is inhuman… its barbaric…”

  Kin’Ayesha: “It is the urn. Destroy the urn and they can rest.”

  Chloe: “They?”

  She turned and looked up at all of the flayed bodies hanging from hooks. I saw her terrified face morph into a face of pure rage. She stood up and ran across the room to the urn. She kicked it over and smashed her foot through it. The bodies in the room let out a collective groan… almost like a sigh of relief as they passed on. She continued to stamp on the urn… screaming with rage.

  Robert returned, threw the sack he was carrying to the ground and rushed over to her. He wrapped his arms around her. Her breathing was laboured… her face was bright red and her eyes were so flared it looked like they could burst out of her skull at any moment.

  Chloe: “We find these fucks! We find them… and we kill them! Understood?!”

  Robert: “That we will. Today, they breathe their last.”

  Lucas unlocked my cage, reached in, and lifted me out. He looked down at my frail body as I lay in his arms. I never thought that I would be so glad to look up at his face. His irritatingly handsome face. He looks concerned… do I really look that bad? I know I’m missing a bit of skin… but come on… don’t look at me like that… it isn’t very reassuring.

  Lucas: “He needs medical help… immediately.”

  Tristan rushed down the stairs with a second sack. He picked up the one Bobby dropped as he rushed across the room. He flung the packs on the ground next to Lucas and took me from Lucas’ arms.

  Tristan: “Open the other cage. I’ll look after him.”

  Tristan lay me on one of the sacks and reached into the other. I’m free… I can finally hunt my sword down and end this… I can do this… but I have no energy… I’m so cold… I… I just need a little sleep to regain some energy… then I’ll be fine… just a little sleep.

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  I went to close my eyes, but Tristan slapped me and thrust a healing potion into my mouth. Thank the gods… all the places where my skin had torn began to heal. In a very short period, I was no longer bleeding… my body was badly scarred, but it was healed.

  Tristan started reached into the other sack and started to dress me. He must have found my clothes and equipment. He was very careful and delicate in the way he dressed me. Not to the level of Kiyui… but more so than I would have expected.

  Lucas unlocked the second cage and Kin’Ayesha jumped out and onto the ground next to me. He stretched out his limbs and cracked his neck. He rushed over to the large hole in the ground and peered inside.

  Lucas returned to me and picked me up once again.

  Lucas: “We must return you to the warm embrace of the sun.”

  Chloe went to pick up Flynn from the Altar.

  Kin’Ayesha: “Leave him… we have no time.”

  Chloe: “Fuck you. We ain’t leavin’ him. He deserves a proper burial.”

  Kin’Ayesha: “I do not deny that. But we need to leave… now!”

  Chloe: “Why?”

  Kin’Ayesha: “The demon, she approaches.”

  Kin’Ayesha rushed across the room, picked up the sack that I had been lying on and rushed for the stairs. He was swiftly followed by the knights. Chloe, carrying Flynn’s corpse. And Lucas carrying me.

  Oh gods… to feel the warmth of the sun on my skin. Lucas lowered me to the ground. The feel of the warm soil beneath me… gods… I was beginning to think that I would never feel warm again. I felt the soil between my fingers… then it dawned on me… we do not have time for this.

  I sat straight up and grabbed the bag which had had my clothes in and retrieved my weapons. I put my quiver and satchel on and turned to Chloe.

  Dwynfel: “We need to get to Kataravonia, now!”

  Chloe: “Get on the horse. You can explain on the way.”

  She turned and looked at Kin’Ayesha. He was putting his own armour on.

  Chloe: “I recognise that armour. Isn’t he the prick who’s been trying to kill you.”

  Dwynfel: “Yeah… but we have more important shit going on right now…”

  I looked at him as he stood attaching his rather vicious looking gauntlets. Gone was the adorable little bunny rabbit that I had been imprisoned with moments ago… instead what stood before me was this heavily armoured yet largely incompetent assassin.

  Dwynfel: “…right?”

  Kin’Ayesha: “If I aid you, then I do it my way.”

  Dwynfel: “If this gets as bad as I think it will… then we are going to need all the help that we can get.”

  Kin’Ayesha: “Understood.”

  Chloe: “The fuck does that mean?”

  Chloe placed Flynn on the back of Robert’s horse before lifting me onto hers.

  Dwynfel: “I’ll explain everything on the way to Kataravonia… we need to hurry.”

  Chloe: “Tristan, take the bunny with you.”

  Kin’Ayesha: “My name is Kin’Ayesha.”

  Chloe: “Whatever, just get on the damn horse or get left behind.”

  We started the ride back to Kataravonia. I swiftly explained to Chloe what had happened and what I believed was about to happen. Giant demon hell bent on destroying all of the humanoid races on the planet, etc. As I went on… she just seemed to get angrier and angrier. I think she’s more pissed at herself than anything else… I think that she thinks this is her fault… as if the fact that she didn’t discover it and stop it sooner somehow makes her responsible.

  I then explained about Kin’Ayesha… which she did not take too kindly too either.

  Chloe: “A fucking necromancer? Are you insane? Is that what he meant when he said he would help in his way?”

  Dwynfel: “I assume so.”

  Chloe: “You do not tell him that that is okay. I am not having that freaky little fuck upsetting people by bringing their dead loved ones back from the dead just cause of some deranged demon bint.”

  Dwynfel: “I really think…”

  The entire earth shook… the horses stopped running in an attempt to steady themselves on the shaking ground. We turned to look back at the village that we had just left. We saw a large whiteish blue hand shoot out of the centre of the village, where the church was. It slammed down on the ground… destroying half the village in the process. It looked to be pulling itself up.

  As it did… all hell seemed to break loose. The entire area surrounding the village froze solid… then, what looked like an army of demonic creatures began to flow from within the village. At first, they were just small creatures… many of them were Grim and Rakk… then the creatures started to appear in greater sizes. Trolls, orcs, serpents, dire wolves… then the flying creatures… the sky grew black from the sheer number of imps that spewed forth from the ground.

  Chloe: “Okay, fuck that, get that little twat to the graveyard. Now!”

  The urn should have a sealed top with the sceptre poking out of a small hole. But ya know... AI.