Chapter Text
The only lights on were hanging around the bar, dressing it in warm light, which bounced off of a wide arrangement of alcohol, crammed on bending shelves. Tables were spread out like they were made to distance the daytime drinkers, helping the loneliness overtake them and, consequently, made them buy more alcohol to drown away their thoughts.
Ashen took another sip of his ale, sighing to himself. Somehow, he got caught again, this time for stealing bread. Just a loaf of bread. He didn’t even know why he got attached to the idea of stealing a loaf of bread, as it was too bland for his tastes. Something deep down inside him told him to take it but, he just couldn’t figure out *why*.
The tall doors to the tavern were slammed open, when the princess prowled in. Her eyes darted around the tavern, searching for her target. Ashen’s gaze was glued to her, his eyebrows furrowed.
She was wearing a soft-looking, purple cardigan over top of her usual white dress, but it’s hem was stained with mud. Short brown hair sat on top of her head, messily, her usual crown nowhere to be seen, akin with her fish, Xavier.
Unceremoniously, her stomping was loud, as she marched up to the blonde man at the bar. His head hung down, like there’s a weight on his shoulders, staring into the ripples of his drink.
“I know you remember who I am, Lukas.” Princess Ellorie’s voice boomed around the bar, hitting everyone’s ears, making half of them look up. The other half too caught up in their own troubles to worry about another’s.
Lukas’ didn’t even acknowledge the princess was talking to him. His body stiff and frozen, his hand white-knuckled around his glass. Eyes fixated on the glass, as though it was the thing that brought him his anger.
“Sweetheart, please. I can fix- we can fix this, together. We’ll have our family back together. Don’t you want that? Tell me- Just tell me you want that, please.” Her voice broke, as her hands clutched Lukas’ olive green shirt. “You have to want them back, too. I know you want Ashen back, just as much as I do.”
At the mention of his name, Ashen froze. He *knew* the name the princess said, he knew a Lukas. In the back of his mind, a vague figure stood, the feeling of *being safe* surrounded him.
Ashen’s eyes trained more firmly on the half-elf, his blonde hair was short and tacky, like it was cut with a sharp blade and no mirror. He had a braid — a rat-tail, his mind conjured up — running down his back. His clothes looked like they were expensive and were once well-taken care of, having patches of slightly off-coloured fabric, but now the stitches were falling out, a patch barely hung only held on with a few stitches, and it was stained with dried blood and dirt.
As Lukas turned to glare at the princess, Ashen took in his face. His eyes were sunken and dark, his eyebrows were furrowed, frowning at the princess, who was weeping into his shoulder.
*A brave smile and wide eyes, were trained on him as they walked towards the lever, together. Both of them put their hands on the lever, Lukas nods at him, reassuring. Ashen smiles softly back, getting ready for whatever comes their way. He knew they would overcome anything that came their way, they always do.*
*His eyes then traveled over to falmouth and demetri, he still didn’t 100% trust demetri for betraying them; his eyes still seemed to be shifty, bouncing around wildly. Falmouth waved one of this many tentacles at him, when their eyes met, Ashen smiled at the squid that he would trust with his life. Falmouth has done nothing but well for them.*
The tavern was unusually quiet that day, only a few lonely people sat around drinking away their troubles. Leaving the bartender having nothing to do, so they went around cleaning tables for the uproar the night brung with it.
*Lastly, his eyes met Ellorie’s, who was stood next to Falmouth, her little hand holding onto one of his tentacles, some of the others wrapped around her shoulders keeping her close — safe. Her lip trembling in fear at what is to come, Ashen smiled at her softly, his heart breaking for her.*
The memories hit him like a freight train. His head started to pound.
*A voice full of confidence rang out in his head, ‘I wish the boat with Ellorie’s parents never sunk,’ a wave of dread spread through him. He got the wording wrong. After repeating the phrase to him 3 times, Lukas* still *got it wrong. He knew it was over.*
*He had lost his family, again.*
Rage overtook his mind, Ashen stood, the stool, he once occupied, scraped against the hardwood floor before slamming down onto the floor, the noise overpowering the bashing of wind against the windows.
Ashen stormed over to where the half-elf and Ellorie, now stood, scowling at each other. Lifting his fist, Ashen punched the elf as hard as he could. His head whipping to the side, Ashen half-wondered if that was enough to give the elf whiplash.
He heard a faint scream behind him.
As the lights flickered, Lukas stumbled back, his hand raising to his injured face. The way his mood changed was satisfying: his shoulders raised, he lowered his center of mass, then finally, raised his fists.
Lukas charged him, not even looking up, his eyes stayed focused to Ashen’s body, where to hit, where he was weakest.
His smaller fist collided with his liver. Running on adrenaline, Ashen quickly retaliated kneeing the shorter man in the face, sending him flying to the floor.
When he lifted his head, it was full of anger, he was always ready to fight, always so reckless with his own life. But, when he saw Ashen, his face dropped and his eyes widened, slightly.
“You took away my family.” — Ashen raised his leg, stamping on the wide-eyed elf’s foot — “You fucked up the words and took *everything* away from me.”
The words, Ashen growled out, had clearly effected him, Lukas’ shoulders slumped but his gaze stayed focused on him. His face carefully void of emotion.
Hands grabbed his arms, as he tried to get closer to Lukas.
“Please. Ashen don’t do this. Please, he didn’t mean to.” Her voice broke as she begged, tears streamed down her face. She looked like that child he once knew, her face was stained with tears he promised he would never bring.
It made him hesitate only for a second.
Lukas’ eyes darted back and forth between the two of them, while cupping his face with a wince. Face devoid of all colour, he took his chance.
“Ashen.” He whispered, as he stared into Ashen’s soul with tear-filled eyes. “I didn’t- I’m sorry, for taking them away from you. I cant live with myself knowing I fucked up everything we all had. But, mostly what you had. I’m so sorry.”
A tear escaped his eye and rolled, jaggedly down his face, all Ashen did was stare at this monster. He took away his family, his friends, his happiness. He had nothing.
Glancing at Ellorie, Ashen decided he couldn’t do this anymore. He stormed out the creaky doors of the tavern, never wanting to go back.
As he left he heard a, “wait Ashen!” from Ellorie, which was quickly silenced by the monster, who laid on the dirty tavern floor.
ꔛ
Tears streamed down the princess’ face, as Lukas held her back from begging their old friend to forgive them: he couldn’t let her, beg for Ashen to come back when he didn’t want to associate with them. She clawed at his arms, kicked at his legs as she sobbed, forgetting about her status for just a moment.
“It’s going to be okay, sweetheart.” He muttered into her hair, taking all of her torturous blows, with a wince.
Kissing her head, Lukas waited until Ellorie calmed down enough to form a coherent sentence. It took a while, the clock above the tavern door ticked, mockingly, with every second.
As Ellorie started to give up, Lukas slowly guided her to the floor. Holding her tight, her hands latched onto his waist jacket, wrinkling it with her tight grip.
The other patrons of the tavern, stared at their princess’ breakdown: in shock, disgust or anger. Lukas glared at every one of them, getting them to eventually look away for some sense of privacy.
As her sobs died down, Lukas kissed her head, his own tears falling, quietly. He broke all of them up, he killed the family they all needed.
Demetri was still in a life of crime, killing anyone that came into his way. Falmouth, didn’t belong in the ocean, nor the land, always alone. Ellorie had her parents, they loved her but it still didn’t feel near enough as home as her found family did. And Ashen.
Poor Ashen, he needed a family like he needed the adrenaline of petty theft. He always loved with his whole heart, but now his heart had nobody to give itself up to.
“I want them back too. Just as much as you do, sweetheart.” Lukas confessed, quietly, into her bird’s nest of hair, his eyes squeezed shut, knowing it was painful to admit.
Ellorie fussed in his lap until she sat facing him, she cupped his tear-stained face with her tiny hands. Her eyes were full of sparkles contrasted akin to a painting against her miserable face.
Knowing they both yearned for their family back together, they made a plan. A plan that couldn’t go wrong, they were sure of it — at least Ellorie was.
ꔛ
Waking in a cell, with no memory of the days before, Ashen searched the room. Darkness encased it, the only light broke through a barred window inside the cell. The walls were jagged with grey stones, some poking out waiting to snag on your skin for the sweet taste of blood.
Groans echoed against the walls, as the rest of his cell mates woke up from their slumbers. A tall squid was the first one to awake, quickly scurrying towards to window, he stuck one of his long tentacles out for the delicious taste of rain on his dehydrated skin. His face was covered from the shadows his hood casted, making Ashen back up a step, ready to fight if the squid engaged.
The next to wake up was an elf with the blondest hair, Ashen had ever seen. His eyes blinked open slowly, his gaze instantly found Ashen crouched slightly in the corner. The elf swiftly sat up, and inspected the room they were in, observing the same nothingness Ashen saw.
Shooting up, a bald man threw his head around, taking in everything his sight caught. His eyes however, lingered on the squid stretching for more water out the window. The man’s dark eyebrows furrowed as he spoke.
“Where am i?” — His head whipped over to Ashen, growling at him. — “What have you done to me?!”
The elf — probably a half-elf, now that he paid attention — finally turned to the bald man, his eyes narrowed at him. He tilted his head slightly, before looking back at Ashen, then to the squid.
“Do I know- I’ve seen you before.” His tone is sure, confident as he focused back on Ashen.
“I would know if i’ve ever seen you before.” The words were meant to be growled out but, it came across more flirty by accident. Sue him, the guy is cute, he can flirt if he wanted.
The sound of a heavy door thundered around the small room, their cell was the only one there. However, a chest sat opposite the cell, taunting Ashen. His fingers itched for his lock pick, his brain filled with plans of how to get back here and steal, whatever occupied that chest.
Footsteps slowly fell upon the stone stairs, when the perpetrator appeared from around the corner; it’s a man Ashen didn’t expect, the King.
His face was full of worry, yet his eyes betrayed him, he was studying them, full of mirth. His armour shined against the light on his bigger build. The beard matched the one on the bald man had inside the cell — Ashen wondered if they were related somehow — as, he spoke his voice was deep and intimidating.
“My daughter is missing. I called upon all of your captures to find her, immediately.”
“All of us?” The bald man scoffed out, side eyeing the squid man, who slowly descended from his perch on the window, nervously.
“All of you.” His voice boomed out, as he glared at the bald man. “Ashen, your skills are useful for sneaking into the house. Lukas, you’re useful to change into one of them and fight from the inside. Daemys, your wisdom is useful to know where the house is located and to know the history of the place. Falmouth, your sight and perception is also helpful to locate her.” His voice didn’t waver once, it was steady as though he was speaking from a script.
As they looked at each other, the clicking of a lock was heard. The King unlocked their cell, guiding them over to the chest in the corner. Pulling out armour, he presents it to each person. All of their armour is made of chainmail, apart from Lukas’ which is made from steel. The elf notices this, lifting his eyebrow.
“Why is mine made of steel?”
Ignoring him, the King unfurled a map, resting it on the wall. A red circle surrounded a building in Fife Forest, the place where the princess and her capturers, supposedly were. Looking at all of them, the King seemed to be happy enough with their knowledge and handed Folmouth the map, before he ushered them out.
ꔛ
Trees towered over them as they walked, the trail ended a while ago, they were now following a river towards the place the princess — Ellorie is.
Folmouth spun in the water, little sounds of blubbering left his mouth every so often, clearly ecstatic there was water on their journey. His tentacles occasionally brought a fish up to his mouth, which he spoke to, softly, before putting it back into it’s flowing home.
Ashen and Lukas strolled next to each other, bumping shoulders, every so often and smiling as they absentmindedly chatted about everything and nothing.
Daemys walked with confidence ahead of them, observing the surroundings. The trees floated towards him, welcoming him in, however, they ignored the rest of the group.
Folmouth submerged himself in the rushing water of the river, it only covered half of his body, but that didn’t stop him from trying to swim. Ashen laughed at his efforts, making Lukas look over and giggle at the squid’s silliness.
Bumping his shoulder, Lukas smiled softly, at Ashen. His head was tilted towards him slightly, showing of the perfect curvature of his nose, and the beautiful blue-greys in his eyes.
“I see the house!” Folmouth shouted out, his voice clear for once, breaking their moment. They all turned to the direction Folmouth was pointing, only to see more trees…
“There’s nothing there, you fucking idiot.” Daemys rolled his eyes at the wet squid, only to get wacked in the side of the head by one of his tentacles, making both Lukas and Ashen burst out laughing.
“I’ll scout out ahead, you guys stay here.” Folmouth muttered, before transforming into a dragonfly and leaving their sights.
The three of them all stared at one another, before they silently agreed to continue on until they can see the place. All of their steps were cautious and quiet, the only sounds they could hear were birds chirping and the wind rushing through the leaves.
“Get down.” Ashen whispered to the two men, finally able to see the house. They crawled over to where some bushes laid, and they peeked over them.
Moulding wood hung on for dear life to the house’s foundation, the ones that have already fell off sat idle on the floor waiting for nature to overtake them, once again. The roof’s shingles had fallen the same fate, most of them already gone, the rest laid, peacefully, entangled in vines.
Swatting absently at a dragonfly, Ashen was startled when Folmouth appeared next to him. Taking a step back, only to bump into Lukas, who laughed at him, resting his hand in the small of Ashen’s back.
“Ellorie is there, with four guards.” He blubbered out. At the information, they all focused on the house, forming their own plans in their heads.
Climbing a tree, Ashen searched for the guards. Finding only two, who were chatting with each other, they didn’t appear to have many weapons, if any at all. They lent against a breaking wall, smiling to one another, the backs of their hands touching between them.
He watched as Folmouth pulled a ice shard out of the flowing river, before he launched it at the chatting guards. The ice shattered on the dry dirt between them, the tiny shards imbedding underneath their skin. Alarmed, they turn every which way, but they couldn’t figure out where it came from.
Ashen ran and jumped off his branch, launching himself at the guards as his dagger’s handle dug into his palm. Landing with a thud, he burrowed the blade into one of their shoulders, ripping it out before they could react and shoving it into the other’s arm.
The guard, who he stabbed in the shoulder, twisted Ashen’s arm making him drop the bloody dagger, making it crash against the floor, abandoned.
Coiling himself out of the guard’s hold, Ashen hid behind a tree, protecting himself from the next attack, as Daemys sent a flame-like radiance hurling towards them, killing them. Their now slightly-chard bodies, flop on the floor, their arms interwoven.
Looking back to where Lukas and Daemys stood, Ashen watched as Lukas was attacked by two more guards, that snuck up behind him. Their trail had made them sneak past Daemys, too focused on attacking the seemingly, weaker person.
A dagger got impaled into Lukas’ side, as he dodged the rest of their attacks, his small frame aiding him. Growing weaker with the dagger in his side, Lukas missed the foot coming towards him, knocking the elf down, coughing up a lung.
Folmouth reacted quickly, dashing towards the other two, with his javelin welded in his tentacles, when he’s closer, he launched it at one of the guards, killing him instantly.
Hurrying towards Lukas, Ashen draws his short bow, aiming for the last guard, the arrow soared through the humid air before stabbing straight into the guards thigh.
Wanting a turn at the fun, Daemys handled his mace, plunged it down on the guard, but missing and hitting the dead guard by accident. The squelching of crushed organs made the last guard spin towards him, charging.
Lukas scooted behind a waiting tree, wincing with every movement, already searching through the satchel the king gave him for anything that could help.
Folmouth sprinted the rest of the way towards the guard, picking him up easily and hurling him towards a waiting tree, which knocks him out, at least he thought it did.
As the adrenaline starts to die down, Ashen trudged towards Lukas, crouching down beside the injured man. Snatching the bandages from beside the elf, Ashen lifted up his olive shirt — which, was covered in patches and dirt stains — he quickly helped bandage the man up.
“Are- You’re okay, right?”
“I’m fine, Ashen, it’s just a cut. Barely even feel it.” Lukas smiled up at the worried man, though his mouth was full of bread. Lukas’ hands kept picking at the baguette eating the tiny pieces, quickly.
Folmouth offered a tentacle towards the elf, helping him up and Daemys — Daemys was nowhere to be seen. Ashen sprinted towards the rundown house, he shouldn’t have trusted the man, he should’ve trusted his gut. His mage missing the target and his confidence walking through the forest should have solidified his worries.
Catching on quickly, the other two followed him, he slammed open the door, which fell onto the floor with a thundering boom. The chair that should’ve held Ellorie was abandoned on the floor, the wind ransacked the house, knocking over some left over cans.
The back door swung, pelting itself into the wall, the sound quickly escaping through the broken home.
“She’s gone.” Lukas muttered, bewildered.
“I have a compass, that could help.” Folmouth spluttered, usefully, as Ashen could tell both him and Lukas had forgot Folmouth had that. “I want to find Ellorie’s dress.”
The orienting arrow spun widely for a couple for precious seconds, then stopped pointing ahead, south-east. Beaming at them, Ashen clapped Folmouth on the back, laughing in shock.
“Let’s go get Ellorie back from that bastard.”
ꔛ
They walked for what seemed like forever, however the sun told them it had only been a couple of hours, as the moon overtook the sun’s shift. Oranges coloured the sky, making the forest encased in darkness, owls hooted, happily, as they awoke for the night.
Crunching of their footsteps were cancelled out from the noises of the forest, as they continued to follow the compass of Divining.
A thud came from the forest ahead of them, as they stopped for a second, then silence. Looking at each other, Lukas bumped into his shoulder, silently urging Ashen to go first. Sneaking towards the sound, they find a unconscious Daemys against a tree; his clothes were battered, pieces falling off and bloody.
Lukas was the first to run up to him, checking his pulse, pausing before nodding in confirmation. He was still alive, the fucking traitor was still alive — without Ellorie.
“Where’s Ellorie?” Ashen growled out, mad at the world for putting him in this situation. Folmouth shoved the compass in his face, the arrow pointed to their left.
A groan made Ashen whip his head around, Daemys was waking up, his hand rubbed his face, healing his wounds, and Lukas’ as his hand was resting on the man’s shoulder. Ashen charged at the cleric, wrapping his hands around his neck, squeezing.
“Where is Ellorie? What do you do to her?” He spat in Daemys face, his scrabbling hands scratching Ashen’s arms and face as he ran out of breathe. Daemys opened and closed his mouth like a fish, begging to get a breath of fresh air back into his burning lungs. Just as his arms weakened and his scratching turning into petting Ashen’s arms. Ashen felt damp tentacles wrap around him, roughly pulling him back.
Not wanting to injure his friend, Ashen took a deep breath and glared at Daemys, who was gulping in air with Lukas patting his back, helping him stand.
“We need to go find Ellorie. You- just stop fighting.” Lukas sighed out as he glared at Ashen.
As they continue to walk through the forest, Ashen felt eyes on him, but when he scanned the trees he saw nothing out the usual. It was eerie, the shadows of the forest were watching them, waiting for their dead bodies to nurture it’s young.
An abrupt stop made Ashen bump into Daemys, peeking around the man he gawked at a pyramid — a temple. Long, smooth walls climbed into the waiting clouds, the dark turquoise colour, making it stand out against the scenery. It seemed as though it had been pulled straight from the ocean’s floor and placed here just for them, barnacles and seaweed were still stuck to the smooth surface, as water droplets raced down to the floor.
Folmouth was the first to wander over to it, as he put a tentacle on the wall facing them, a piercing, screeching noise assaulted their hand-covered ears. Spotting doors opening on the temple, Ashen grimaced as they all advanced the temple.
A shimmering reflection of water moved lazily across the walls of the square room. The room was empty apart from a bed in the corner, a very thin mattress sat on top of a spring frame. The walls were smooth, not a brick out of place; apart from a indent the size of the door, they had walked through, on the opposite wall.
Looking back over to the bed, Ashen noticed a figure laying under a thin blanket. Slowly, shuffling over to the bed, Ashen took a closer look at the figure — it was Ellorie.
Uncovering her, Ashen quickly checked her pulse and sighed in relief. She was alive. He shook her gently, whispering to her.
“Wake up, Ellorie. Come on, Darling, wake up.” As he continued, his voice got louder, his body full of worry until, bleary ears blinked open. When they landed on Ashen and Lukas, who now stood behind him, she launched herself out of the bed and hugged them both, tightly. Wanting a hug, Folmouth joined, his tentacles wrapped, snugly, around all of them. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay now.” She whispered into his shoulder, sniffling quietly.
Grinding of the door they came through made everyone freeze, they were trapped in this temple. Daemys, who was just standing in the middle of the room, walked over to the door, touching it, searching. It didn’t open. Next, Folmouth walked up to the now closed door, his touch doing nothing.
Ashen looked over at Lukas, he stared back with his eyebrows lifted. Walking over to the door, Ashen tried to pry open the door with his fingers, nothing happened.
Remembering the indentation in the other wall, Ashen spun around walking over to it. As he watched it, the wall split in two, quietly opening to a hallway. Pillars line the walls, 10 feet apart. Each tile on the floor spanned 5 feet, taking note of this, he walked onto the first tile, warily. Nothing happened.
He walked over to the first pillar, Folmouth followed close behind. Between the two pillars there were carvings on the wall, they were pristine as if they were done recently. There sat, an elf, a squid —he glanced at folmouth — a demon, a cleric, who wielded an egg and a child with long hair.
He motioned for the rest of the team to follow them, Ellorie in front of Lukas, but behind Daemys, safe.
“They- they match you guys,” Ellorie stated, confused. “but, the demon…”
The carvings continued, just below the original carvings. These ones were craved deep and messy. Features were forgotten or blended all into one another. The same people, this time the egg guy gets shunned away. Continuing, the next ones depicted all of them together once again, staring at a cube.
“They are making a story!” Ellorie happily shouted out, the echo making pieces of rock fall from the roof, Lukas smiled at her.
The next carvings were between the next two pillars, a tooth connected to a bead necklace, carved with care — importance. Beams of light spraying from it everywhere, this carving was the only one to have light directly on it, the reflection of water, clearly loved it more than the others. However, the people came back in the final carving, the elf and child stood next to each other, looking in different directions; while, the other people stood further away with their faces void of features.
They all were frozen in place for a moment taking it all in, Lukas shoved past all of them, continuing to walk down the hallway. Ashen watched him get further away, with a pang in his chest. Grabbing Ellorie’s hand, they followed the elf together.
Watching Lukas stop, Ashen picked up Ellorie and stayed by his side, the tiles have the same cravings of people on them. The first two contain: an elf, on the left, and the child, on the right.
“Wait, who came first?” Lukas asked to nobody in particular. But, when nobody answered, he took a tentative step onto the elf. When his full weight is on the tile, it dropped down a tiny bit, making Ashen’s heart miss a beat. Nothing else happened.
Smiling, he urges Daemys to take the next step, the squid, occupied the tile on the right, and the egg man, on the left. He picked the egg man.
The floor dropped, he started to hurl downwards onto blood-thirsty spikes. Dropping Ellorie, Ashen used telekinetic shove, barely pushing Daemys out of the jaws of death and onto the squid tile.
Ellorie jumped over the tiles to where Daemys now sat, catching his breathe. His eyes wide and hand cradling his chest. She jumped to the next tile, the child. Ashen watched in slow motion as the floor slipped away from under her feet and she began to fall.
Daemys, barely recovered from his own near death experience, fell forwards and grabbed Ellorie’s hand; saving her.
Not wanting any more scares from his family nearly dying, Ashen hopped to the demon, the third tile, than he jumped to the egg man then, finally, to the child. Triumph with his memory, he spun around to watch as the rest of them finished the puzzle.
They all continued on, as they entered a circular room, a sense of Deja-vu rushed over them. Making Ashen look over at Lukas, raising his eyebrow, only for the elf to shrug, not knowing where they’d seen this place before.
Ashen then looked over at Folmouth, he jerked his head to make the squid-man follow him, they walked together over to the lever, which laid in the middle of the platform.
They waited for everyone to step on the platform, making eye contact with Daemys, smiling at the man. They knew they could trust each other now.
Lukas held Ellorie’s hand as both Ashen and Folmouth pull the lever. The platform groaned and crunched on it’s ascent, a squelching sound could be heard from above. Worried, Ashen looked over at Folmouth, who shrugged wanting to continue.
They could get through this.
A disgusting sounding squelching sound rang out from behind Ashen. He pulled the lever again, stopping the platform half way up the shaft.
Slowly turning around, he scrutinised a large cube that must have fell from the top of the shaft. The cube looked like it was previously torn in half and forced back together. The middle of it was bubbling and lumpy, the yellowish colouring made it hard to see what it held inside it. From what he could tell the cube held a sword, a shield and a few pieces of rubble.
Not trusting it, Ashen took out his sword and tried to slice into the cube, the sword made a tiny indent at the top of the cube. Backing up, he caught sight of Lukas, his eyes were wide as he hid Ellorie behind him.
Daemys steadied himself as he cast sacred flame at the wobbling cube, the flame burning a chunk of it off. The chunk fell to the floor and started to burn it, eventually falling through the concrete.
Getting grabbed, Ashen scrambled behind Lukas as he advanced on the cube. Ellorie held Ashen’s hand as a purple sphere of magic emerged out of Lukas’ hands and slammed into the cube. Not giving it anytime to recover, Lukas casted another eldritch blast at the cube, making the thing half dangle off the edge of the platform.
Their eyes met each other, as the cube’s signature squelch alerted them it had moved. It had jumped on Folmouth, invading him in itself.
They watched as the squid’s eyes widened and he started to squirm, his tentacles twining helicopter blades as they spun, turning the jelly-like texture of the cube to mush.
A gasp splayed out from behind Ashen, but he was a moment too late to stop Ellorie from running up to the cube and stabbing it with her dagger.
Matching over to Ellorie, he pushed her back as he telekinetic shoved Folmouth back 5 feet, the cube making the task difficult as he doubled over, out of breathe. But at least, Folmouth was closer to escaping the cube.
Daemys charged the cube one last time, slicing it in half with his long sword. They all let out a sigh as Folmouth fell on the concrete floor. He was fine.
“Blub.” Maybe he was a little dry, but he was fine.
Remembering his satchel, Ashen rummaged around until he found a bottle of water and offered it to the dehydrated squid, who snatched it from his hand and tore it open to pour all over himself. Walking over to the lever, he smiled at the squid.
Grinding continues as Ashen pulled the lever once more, holding Ellorie’s hand, Ashen took a deep breath. She looked up at him, frowning at what she saw on his face, schooling his features he smiled at the girl. It was no use making her worry.
When they finally got to the top, they were greeted, quite literally, by the sun. In all it’s glory, the sun watched them from it’s front row seat, Ashen wondered for a second why he couldn’t feel the blistering heat, before the thought escaped from his grasp.
The necklace was just sat there, on a pedestal.
“Go hide.” He muttered to Ellorie, bending down on one knee, kissing the top of her head. He was going to come back, they all were. They all *had* to for her.
As he watched Ellorie ran away to hide behind one of the rocks that laid scattered around a circular raised platform. Ashen sighed and stepped on the platform, heading for the necklace.
*He’s frozen, stuck as he watches ukas make the wish. “I wish for Ellorie’s parents to be alive.” His smooth voice rattles in his head, filling his body with dread, he said the wish wrong. He already knows they are all going to forget what happened — forget one another. Ashen prays in his head, he has never been religious, but he prays and prays they remember.*
*He’s walking down the street he grew up on, the rocky path beneath his feet tear into his feet. He was kicked out. Knowing he has nowhere to go, he walks the streets for hours. The moon, eventually, casts shadows on the city he grew to love, which now acts like he was never there; he becomes another shadow. People ignore him, when he ends up having to beg. The only time people see him is when he’s in a cell after stealing food. He needs it, he has been hungry for days, maybe he has always been hungry.*
Watching as Ashen froze and wobbled a little bit, Folmouth hurried to go see if he’s okay. Stepping on the platform, the sun took over his mind, making him remember.
*Crashing of the ocean burns in Folmouth’s ears, they are going to attack the boat; sending a message to the people that this is not their ocean; it belongs to the people of the sea.*
*He orders the soilders to break this boat, steal it’s weapons and it’s food. He watches as people scrabble in the ocean, their pathetic arms splashing in the water. He watches as a man and woman hold each other as they drown, wearing matching shiny hats. He feels at peace. Their message will be heard.*
*Reaching his tentacle out to catch the girl falling down the stairs, he sees her face for the first time. His mind conjuring up the image of people with matching gold hats drowning, she’s their child. She has to be, she has the woman’s beautiful emerald eyes, the man’s soft smile.*
*As they all adventure together, Folmouth keeps his mouth shut. He looked at Ellorie as little as he could in the beginning but, as time went on the memories stop haunting him as much; the princess’ happiness is infectious, even to him.*
Daemys took a step forwards, shouting out to the two men now frozen on the platform. Furrowing his brow, he looked at Lukas, who just shrugged at him. Guessing it was his turn, Daemys took a hesitant step onto the platform.
*He knew this was his only chance. Launching his pebble at Ashen, he watches as he catches it, smirking at him.*
*“I cant let you take Ellorie.” He shouts at Ashen, they needs her or else, they said to him. Daemys really didn’t want to find out what or else entailed.*
*When Ashen shoots him, Daemys is lucky he has the strongest armour, the arrow bouncing off of him. Though, this made have Ashen enough time to run away on his crab, with the girl tightly cradled in his arms.*
*Folmouth and Lukas stride to see what is happening, Daemys lies and says Ashen ran away with her, they trust his word. However, when they turn around Daemys casts a paralytic spell. He watches, in happiness, as they fall to the spiky grass, having forgot that Folmouth is wearing that fucking necklace. He falls with them.*
*When Lukas wakes uhe quickly casts one of his spells to start choking Daemys lifting his limp body off the floor, slightly. Eyes widening as he watches Folmouth wake and grapple him, his tentacles holding him up, his eyes are full of anger and sadness from his betrayal.*
*“The new throne will come.” He splutters out when he finally awakes, he promises them he will get the princess.*
*The boulder is coming right for him, Ellorie stands in front of him, clutching his pant leg and her eyes squeezed shut. He doesn’t know what to do.*
*Sudden waves emerges in front of the bolder keeping it from crushing both him and Ellorie. Without thinking, he picks Ellorie up and bolting towards the exit, his team pats his back when he gets there. He thanks Folmouth.*
Looking over at where Ellorie stood, the top of her head poking over the rock, watching them. He had to do this for her. He walked around the platform, the grass beneath his feet didn’t make a sound. Wind was nonexistent in this place, he mourned the sounds of nature.
There were steps up to the pedestal, they don’t ever touch the platform which took his friends, his family. Lukas took a deep breath, taking each step slowly.
His eyes widened as he saw the necklace for the first time, it looked familiar. Like he’d been here before, doing this exact thing.
Putting his hand on the dragon’s tooth, he froze, just like the others.
*Rummaging around his room, if you could even call it that, a few days ago he had snuck into a old cleric office, it had been shut down for as long as Lukas had been alive. The roof was leaking and it always smelt of mould and potions — not the good kind, it smelt exactly like death.*
*Today was the day he was going to get his family back together. He is going to talk to Ashen. He had to — he is going to.*
*The sun was beeming down on his shoulders, surely burning him. He couldn’t do it. So, he did what he normally did, go to the tavern to drink — to forget. It was easy, it was normal. He didn’t think about Ashen’s wish to go for a drink together — it still torn his heart open, even if it had been over a year since the incident.*
*When he heard the tavern doors slam open, he knew it was Ellorie before he looked. She has been trying to get him to confess he knew, that he remembered everything. He just wasn’t strong enough to tell her, didn’t think she knew all of this was his own fault and he deserved being utterly alone.*
*When he gets punched in the face, all he sees is an opportunity to forget, to fight — to get* punished *for what he did. He fights back just like he has always done, but when he sees Ashen — lovely Ashen, the person he saw and instantly knew he was in love — he stopped fighting. He couldn’t hurt him.*
*He knew he was weak.*
Lukas was forced out of his memories, when he heard a yell. It was Ashen, his face was full of anger, hands bunched up into fists. He was shouting at *him.*
“YOU- YOU FUCKING BASTARD. YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME. I- I TRUSTED YOU.” His voice broke on the last words.
Watching Ashen storm towards him, Lukas knew he had to make the wish now. He trusted Ashen but, he couldn’t trust the platform, his eyes were wrong, too bright, too dark. Frozen, Lukas watched as Ashen got closer, he watched as the man he used to — still does — love unsheathe a sword and point it at him. Watched as he went to slash Lukas, squeezing his eyes shut he wished.
“Raise the royal ship back up with all the people on it alive.” He doesn’t know if the words he said were spoken aloud or just in his head.
ꔛ
They had been planning this for weeks, a couple of hours where they all hung out at the tavern. Today was the day after months of them all being busy, they were going to see each other again.
Ashen and Lukas walk hand in hand into their destination, pushing open the doors, they see Ellorie on Folmouth’s shoulders — if you could even call them that — two of his tentacles holding on to her, while he danced. Stood next to them, Daemys is bracing himself in case the little girl fell.
When Ellorie saw them, she waved excitedly slapping the squid on the head to make him look too. Smiles took over all of their faces, it was nice to see them so happy after everything they went through.
Shaking his head, Ashen walks over to the table, where the king and queen sit peacefully sipping on ale, while watching the scene in front of them unfold. Their smiles widened as they see Lukas and Ashen.
Sitting down in the booth, Lukas looks at Ashen, his eyes are bright and full of love. Ashen looks back, his expression reflecting the same love.