WARNING

This episode contains graphic elements and violence. 
Viewer discretion is advised. 

Splat, splat, splat.

Thick drops of blood fell from the sky, staining their clothes.

A drop of thick liquid rolled down Marigold's cheek.

The island was dark, lit only by the faint glow of the tomb behind them and Lyra's light spell hovering above her palm.

They looked at each other in confusion; But as more drops fell and the sour smell hit his nostrils, Korvash understood immediately.

"What... the hell is wrong with this island?" Korvash stuttered, an ironic smile of disbelief spreading across his face.

Cori sank to their knees among the rubble and grass, hyperventilating.

Lyra rushed over. "Hey, hey... You alright?" she said, her voice trembling as she knelt beside Cori and tried to wipe the blood from their cheeks.

"Just breathe slowly, like this..." Lyra took a slow, deep breath and exhaled. In and out, slowly, helping Cori steady their breathing.

"W-what is this... What do we do? Where do we go?" Cori cried between gasps.

Lyra looked back at Korvash with urgency.

Korvash met her gaze in silence, gathering his thoughts.

URRRR-GSHHH!

The sound of bending metal, followed by a loud clang, shattered the moment.

"We need to hurry," Marigold said. "The rain is picking up, and I can't carry Sir Gavren's body much longer." She shifted his weight on her back, reinforcing her grip.

"Gods..." Lyra gasped as she took in Gavren's increasingly decayed body, now resembling a combination of melting wax and ash.

She covered her mouth reflexively, then pulled herself together and took a deep breath before stepping toward Korvash.

But his attention was elsewhere.

To the left of the gaping ruins behind them, a path wound through high plants and foliage that obscured a narrow alleyway.

Korvash stared silently in that direction, then raised his hand, gesturing for Lyra to be quiet.

"What is it, Korvash!?" Lyra's voice cut through the air, sharp with irritation.

Korvash turned to the group with a serious expression, index finger pressed to his lips. "Shhh! I thought I heard something..."

A tense silence fell over them before Cori's restless breathing broke through. "I—I heard something too..." they said, panic seeping between their teeth.

"What did you hear, Cori?" Lyra asked gently, trying to mask the frustration in her voice.

Cori mumbled something unintelligible before Korvash's voice cut through. "Screaming... Stay here, I'll check it out."

He pulled out his dagger and carved a path through the alleyway foliage.

"Korvash!" Lyra hissed under her breath.

When Korvash didn't return after two minutes, Lyra finally stopped pacing and turned toward the alleyway.

"I'm gonna follow him..." she said, her voice barely audible. "I can't lose another partner. I have to—"

"Lyra." Marigold cut her off. "Go get him." She looked her firmly in the eyes.

Tears rolled down Lyra's face, but instead of sadness, her expression held a smile.

She straightened her posture, sighed, and removed her black straw hat. Gently, she placed it on Cori's head, cradling their face in her hands.

"I'll be back for this, alright? Keep breathing," Lyra said, her voice lighter now despite the sniffles.

She turned to Marigold. "If... I don't make it back in 10 minutes, prepare for the worst. Focus on getting to safety, okay?"

Marigold nodded, watching Lyra disappear into the foliage.

Cori stared into the abyss—vast darkness coating the island skies. Lost in thought, they hadn't even noticed the three red moons triangling above them. Red strings surrounded their vision as they wore Lyra's hat, and the heavy drops drumming against it trembled through their bones.

What was this feeling? What could they even do? Where would they go? How had they gotten into this mess?

Cori's ears rang, drowning out Marigold's voice completely as she spoke to them.

They had to keep breathing...

Their head was pounding, their stomach twisted and churned; any movement made their bruises from the cave collapse throb, and their skin burned from the cuts. But they had to keep breathing...

Their throat felt tied in a knot, making it nearly impossible to swallow the waterfall of saliva that built up under their tongue, forcing them to try anyway.

But they had to keep breathing...

Their heartbeat hammered against their ribs, and constant pressure locked their joints in place.

But they had to keep...

Cori's eyes widened as they gasped desperately for air.

$$&$$#ri! @#&(&#ri!

Muffled, Marigold's voice was saying something, but it was impossible to make out.

Cori came to their senses when a cold hand grabbed theirs tightly.

"Cori, are you okay, Cori?" Marigold asked, her stoic face inches from theirs.

Cori looked up at Marigold through the red rope curtains obscuring their vision.

Without saying anything, Cori nodded slowly while staring at the ground.

But Marigold was quick to notice how their tails curled in behind them.

Marigold suddenly propped Gavren's body against the cavern wall and sat down next to Cori, leaning her head against them, which startled Cori.

"M-M-Marigold!? Wh- What are you- I-"

Unable to find the words, they gave in and eventually calmed down.

Perhaps with some help, Cori was able to keep breathing.

Finally, between the sound of rain drumming on Lyra's hat, the humid warm wind of the island, and the strange sensation in their belly after Marigold came to sit close by, exhaustion caught up with Cori.

For a moment, Cori was able to tune out the stench, the rain, and the pain as they sat together near the cavern mouth.

Cori's eyes grew heavy, and before they knew it, they fell asleep between their own knees.

CRACK!!

Cori shot up, jolted awake by the sound of a flock of crows scattering in all directions.

---

Somewhere else on the island, no more than 20 minutes away, a chaotic scene brewed.

Men, women, and even children fled in horror as bandits hunted them through the chaos. Cackling and grinning, torches in hand, the bandits set fire to everything—the buildings, the trees, and anyone who dared resist.

A man with greasy black shoulder-length hair, goggles perched on his bulbous red nose, and a long leather coat chased a woman into the depths of the dark jungle.

She ran for her life in a long off-white dress stained with mud and blood, zigzagging between trees to throw off the bandit and his allies.

For a brief moment, they lost her in a pitch-black clearing after she made a sharp turn.

...

"Where'd she go!?" growled a tall bearded man with the face of a minotaur.

"Snap out of it, pal. Rage isn't going to find her. Besides... she can't be far. Her foot's injured," said one of the other bandits, swinging his torch.

Hiding in a dip beneath a crooked tree's shadow, the woman held her breath and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Come out~ Make yourself known~ I'm sure you think hiding in the dark will save you, sweetheart. But if I can't see you, I'm gonna have to light this whole place up," said a bandit in a playful tone as he set fire to the crooked tree, igniting its foliage.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" growled the minotaur, stomping the ground.

"WE CAN'T PLAY... WE HAVE TO CATCH ALL OF THEM!"

The cocky bandit and his minotaur companion stared at each other for a moment—then the fire snuffed out under the thick muck of blood rain.

The bandit sighed. "Right, fuck... I guess that makes sense wh—"

Wasting no breath, the woman hurled a rock at the bandit's head, knocking him off guard. She roared like a beast and leapt from the tree in a desperate attempt to flee as the minotaur's thumping steps closed in.

But just as she was about to vanish into the darkness, something crashed into her, slamming her to the ground.

The bandit leader stood over her with a cigar in his mouth while others inched closer behind him, all dragging chained prisoners.

Cleverly done, sugar—don’t do it again. Drawing back his big fist, gripping a set of brass knuckles, the bandit leader was about to strike the woman as she cried in terror when a log came out of nowhere and whacked him straight in the face.

For a brief moment, sound fell away. Everything spun while a commotion of silhouettes and flashing lights danced around him.
When he regained consciousness, his goggles hung crooked from his face and blood filled his mouth.

Fuming with rage, his breathing grew unsteady. His hair stuck to his face with blood, covering most of it.

“WHO DID THIS!?” he demanded from a nearby bandit who was putting the woman in chains.

With a fearful expression, the scrawny bandit holding the woman pointed away. “A little blonde kid did this, sir... He just ran off, but our men are after him.”

Without a word, the bandit leader lowered himself to the ground, bringing his face inches away from the woman in chains. Glaring into her eyes, he stood back up, cleaned his cigar, and stuck it in his mouth before marching off in the direction of his men.

Multiple fires lit up the jungle while groups of chained civilians were beaten and dragged by bandits.

Roaring, yelling, and crying filled the entire area. Everyone was stained in dark red.

Hidden under a little roof of a hill covered in vines, Korvash and Lyra sat with their eyes wide, out of breath.

Lyra’s back clung to the earthy wall behind her as she tried not to be seen in the shadows. Korvash peeped out, trying to get a view of the situation.

Just a couple of feet away from them, bandits laughed, chanted, and spat as a brawl took place between one of the bandits and a civilian in chains.
Insults flew from all directions, creating a truly barbaric scene.

Lyra grabbed onto Korvash’s arm, trembling while she mouthed her words, not daring to make any sound.

“What do we do!? What’s going on, Korvash?” She rushed him to respond.

She looked at Korvash, his face slightly lit by the warm light of the torches. He hissed and made a sour face just as a big bludgeoning crack silenced the chanting crowd.

Korvash's face fell as he inched closer to Lyra in the shadows.

"We can't do anything... we're outnumbered severely... We're stuck, Lyra," he said, defeat weighing down each word.

"What do you mean!? What happened to Mr. Storm-Caller? What happened to living up to your name and hitting them with a tornado?" Lyra yelled in a whisper, shoving him.

Korvash sighed. "Look, we're injured... fatigued, and we can't risk endangering Cori and Marigold by leading this group of bandits to them... I know how you feel... I'm sorry, Lyra-lei... We gotta sit this one out..."

He crouched lower, melting deeper into the shadow of the hill carving.

Lyra clenched her fists, crying quietly beneath the crowd's loud cheering. Frustrated, she looked up at the dark sky, lit by no more than three red moons above.

---

Back at the cavern, Cori looked around, trying to get a sense of the situation. Marigold stood in cat-like focus, barely moving an inch, her gaze fixed on the alleyway passage.

"Stay close to me..."

Her voice came out calm and soft as she picked up Gavren's body again.

Cori lowered their head and followed closely, their knees trembling.

Slowly, Marigold brushed through the bushes.

Cori followed obediently until Marigold stopped abruptly.

What was happening? Why were things going this way? Why was it so dark? Why was blood falling from the sky? The hat felt heavy on Cori's head. How would they find shelter? They should have listened to their gut—it would've been better to be alone.

Cori's breathing grew heavier.

Marigold turned her head briefly. "Cori."

"There appears to be a path down there, but it's steep... I'm not sure if I can get there with Sir Gavren on my back," she whispered.

Cori gently inched between the narrow passage wall on their right and stepped beside Marigold to get a better view.

She was right. A dirt path covered in little flowers and plants led somewhere, but it descended down a small, steep hill.

The faint sound of a child's scream and a beast-like roar rang in Cori's ears, startling them. They flinched on reflex.

"D-do you see anyone?" Cori nearly yelled in a whisper, hyperventilating.

Marigold scanned the area, then stopped and pointed.

"Over there."

Cori squinted through the hat's curtain. "What do you see?"

"Footsteps in the mud. I think they went that way. Let's follow them." She heaved Gavren's body sideways over her back and shoulders.

Cori clung to the wall. "Huh? Wh-What are you doing, Marigold?"

Without answering, Marigold looked at the ground and slid down steadily, then turned back to Cori.

Cori's eyes widened as they stared down, mouth slightly open. Then, as Cori tried to cling to the wall, their foot slipped in the mushy grass, sending them tumbling down and sliding onto the path below.

Lyra's hat flew off, rolling like a tire before falling flat next to Marigold's leg.

"Cori, are you okay? Are you injured?" Marigold asked, her voice tight with concern.

Smudged in blood and mud, jittering from shock, Cori got up slowly. Their lip trembled, tears rolling down their cheeks.

"I... I'm okay... I-"

As they both followed the path ahead, Cori sniffed silently while Marigold brushed dirt, blood, and mud from their clothes with her one free arm.

Back to the chase.

In the dark, a young man with blonde hair ran for his life, sliding downhill in a puddle. He tried to cover his head, as rain poured down, with a sour expression.

He glanced back over his shoulder, when a small explosion detonated next to him.

The boy flinched and let out a yell, dropping to his knees trying to cover his body with his arms.

He trembled and breathed heavily in the middle of the path. Heavy footsteps approached, the sound of a chain clanging as it inched closer.

"So... Did you really think you'd get away, you lil RAT?" A low male voice cut through the boy's arms that covered his vision, followed by a forceful kick to the head.

The boy fell to the ground, covering his body and face with his arms, trying not to get hit.

The bandits at the scene crowded around, cheering their leader on.

"GET THE KID!!!"

"Show him who's boss!"

"Ya get what ya deserve!!!"

"YEAH, GET THAT LIL RAT!!"

"KILL 'EM!!"

The bandit leader stomped on the kid again and again as he rolled around, covering his face, grunting and groaning from the pain.

When the bandit leader landed a clear punch to the kid's face with his knuckle brace, he stepped back, circling to catch his breath.

The crowd cheered. Torches danced around him in slow motion as he tuned out the scene.

Images flashed in his head that made him shrink in on himself.

The bandit, light on his feet, struggled to catch his breath.

"You little FUCKER..."

"How dare you hit me!"

"I SHOULD FUCKING KILL YOU!" he said, kicking the kid once more. The bandits cheered in response.

But he couldn't hear them. A thick smell of burning filled his nostrils.

"You got some nerve pulling something on me like that!!!"

The bandit leader stepped to the side. Someone handed him a golden dagger that reflected the warm glow of the torches circling them.

He continued circling the kid, flipping the blade in his hand. Then he lowered to one knee and grabbed the kid by the hair, lifting his chin off the ground while looking down on him.

"I guess I need to teach you a lesson."

Over on a much darker, quieter side of the area, Marigold and Cori followed a pitch-black path ahead.

With nothing visible before them, Marigold lit a flame in one palm, creating a small radius of light that revealed where they were going.

Marigold glanced at Cori regularly. They seemed unstable.

Their body shivered. Their knees trembled. They cried constantly, and their pace was slowing.

At this rate, the two of them wouldn't last.

Marigold closed her palm, dimming the light, and stopped in her tracks.

She glanced around as if searching for something, but Cori hadn't caught on and bumped into her.

"Cori, did you hear that too?" Marigold whispered.

Cori still wasn't paying attention, looking around them but disconnected from the scene unfolding before them.

"Cori..." Marigold said again when she heard another rustle in the bushes, closer this time.

Marigold strained to focus her eyesight on the darkness around her. After concentrating for a moment, her eyes darting rapidly, trying to pick up movement, she finally spotted a dark, hulking silhouette hiding behind a tree.

And another...

And another...

They were surrounded.

She immediately opened her palm and conjured a fireball, standing back to back with Cori while struggling to hold Gavren upright.

She hissed as a sharp crack came from her left knee.

Marigold swung her fireball around, trying to assess the situation when, directly in front of her, a five-foot ape bared its sharp teeth and growled violently before the others around them joined in.

"Cori, Cori, snap out of it!" Marigold called out urgently, unable to free either hand.

But Cori remained unresponsive, head shaking and flinching at something in the vast nothingness beyond their situation.

Marigold forced herself to think calmly.

Just the two of them, surrounded by aggressive apes of various sizes.

One...

Three...

Five...

Eight...

They were severely outnumbered, even if they could fight.

Cori was injured and unresponsive. Marigold had injuries of her own, plus the decaying Sir Gavren on her back.

Should she drop the body, or would they eat his remains?

Did she have enough firepower to overpower all eight beasts?

What if Cori got eaten while she fought?

For the first time, Marigold felt a new sensation she couldn't make sense of.

There were logical steps to take; the complications came mostly from Sir Gavren's corpse.

Yet Marigold couldn't drop the body, knowing full well that not doing so put Cori in danger.

Before she'd made up her mind, the ape in front of her lunged. On reflex, she shot out a fountain of fire—a beam that erupted from her palm, arcing upward ten feet before crashing down. The group of apes scattered. Some got hit, others dodged, but within seconds they'd all fled the scene, leaving Marigold and Cori in silence once more.

The flame in her palm shrank again, dimmer and weaker this time.

Marigold looked back at Cori. "Don't worry, I scared them awa—"

Suddenly, Cori dropped to the ground, landing hard on their bottom. They stared up as if they'd seen a ghost.

Tears streamed down their face as their mismatched eyes opened wide, making them look like a bewildered animal.

their clawed and swept at the dirty ground. their face shook left and right as their mouth opened.

"No... No... nonono.... Ah... please..."

Cori... Marigold couldn't tell what was happening, even when she looked in the same direction they did.

Back in the middle of the rowdy crowd of bandits, the leader lowered his face and moved his mouth close to the blonde boy's pierced ear.

The crowd fell silent, all of them concentrating on what was being said.

"Before all this, I would have simply brought you in as a prisoner. I'd receive a reward, and my boys would get part of the spoils. Sure, we'd have to capture you first, but all things considered, we'd leave you fairly unharmed.

But the problem you caused for yourself—and others—is retaliating. Trying to be something you're not.

In reality, you're a puny rat with rat tactics.

Let me tell you something about rats, kid...

Rats are used for experimentation. They're used to make an example so other rats don't get the wrong idea. It only takes a single rat to agitate a predator, and the whole bunch becomes dinner.

You're the rat that fucked with the wrong owl.

You know what owls do to rats, right?"

The bandit leader straightened and started circling the boy again.

Meanwhile, over at Cori and Marigold.

Marigold's flame dimmed, plunging them back into pure darkness.

Desperate to keep a visual on Cori's condition, she kept trying to bring it back.

Weak glows turned to flickers, as if sparking up a flame with flint and stone.

It didn't show on Marigold's calm expression, but inside she felt stress—perhaps even panic.

"Cori, Cori," she raised her voice, trying to get their attention. "Snap out of it, Cori," she repeated while struggling to keep the fire going.

In the flickering light, one moment Cori sat frozen in fear, crying. In another, they pressed both hands to their ears and clenched their eyes shut, breathing in sharp, sporadic gasps.

Since you've introduced yourself to me as a rat, biting your predator...

I'll have to make an example of you.

First, I'll tear your limbs off.

Arm... Leg... Arm... Leg...

Then I'll have one of my allies cast magic on you to regrow them.

Then we'll start over again... Arm... Leg... Arm... Leg...

Reset... AGAIN!

The bandit's tone intensified. Then, with a serious face, he lifted his arm out to the crowd.

"Arm... Leg... Arm... Leg..." the entire crowd joined in, chanting while chuckles, grins, and roars surrounded the boy.

On every "Again," a bandit struck his shield like a drum.

The chant continued and sped up until the leader clenched his fist above his head, silencing the crowd at once.

...

The bandit leader walked over to the boy, dagger in hand.

He stared into the boy's eyes; vibrant purple twinkling eyes stared back at him.

The leader studied the boy's innocent face, looking into his eyes for a moment as rage built up inside him.

How could I forget... the most insufferable part of you rats is your beady little eyes...

Somehow you think you have the right to plead for your life as you stare up at me, hoping I'll forget what got you here in the first place.

Other bandits entered the scene carrying chained prisoners with bags on their heads.

The leader stood and walked to one of them, pulling the bag off their head and revealing the woman from earlier.

"We haven't been able to capture the other woman yet sir... She-"
He was then cut off by the bandit leader, absorbed with the scenario.

"It appears we forgot the most important part of this scene!"

"Other rats must be present when we make one an example."

He got up and headed straight for the boy, dagger ready to meet flesh.

"Let's start with those beady eyes first."

Meanwhile, a little further away in the pitch-black jungle, Marigold struggled to make more fire. She startled when Cori's tattoos lit the entire area bright as neon lights.

"No... I'm not a rat.. I... I'm not a-"

Cori's body shot back as they sat on their knees, leaning back with glowing eyes as a visceral, layered scream violently tore from their throat and echoed through the surroundings.

"NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

A mixture of a squeal as high as a dog whistle and a beast-like growl underneath escaped Cori's throat, shattering Marigold's knee with a pop. She sank into the mud, dropping Gavren's body.

The bandits surrounding the boy desperately covered their ears as their bodies collapsed to the ground like statues. Within a mile radius, several bandits roaming with their prisoners stopped in their tracks.

At the brawl between Korvash and Lyra's group, everyone fell silent as they toppled over—including the prisoners—rendering the entire scene flattened on the ground for a brief moment.

Lyra closed her eyes and covered her ears. A split second passed before she jumped up and looked at the sky, then at Korvash.

"Korvash, wasn't that..."

He looked at her in shock and got up from under the hill. "Cori..."

Lyra quickly peeped at the scene with the bandits, witnessing everyone on the ground.

"Lyra, what are you—" Before Korvash finished his sentence, Lyra lunged toward the bandits.

As they noticed her, she beat the entire group with martial arts and held another bandit in a bind with her glowing red threads.

She looked to the prisoners. "Go!" They scattered and fled the scene.

"Time's up, storm caller!" she yelled urgently as the bandits started regaining their strength.

From below, the bandits heard, "By the GODS, FINE!!!"

Before a lightning strike came down with full force, the boom sent them flying.

A gust of wind pressed against their skin, throwing dirt, smoke, and ashes around. They covered their faces, but when they looked up, Korvash floated above them with glowing blue eyes and a small tornado swirling around him.

"Let's make it quick," Korvash said, looking at Lyra.

---

The blonde boy snapped back to reality when a loud scream rang in his ears.

Looking around, he saw every bandit down on the ground. He quickly picked himself up, stole the bandit leader's golden dagger, and limped off into the dark, as did many of the other prisoners who were able.

The boy ran in silence and darkness for a while before reaching a clearing. The woman from earlier ran out at the same moment.

The two locked eyes for a split second.

"Ahi Ahi Gyvnedom," she said, nodding her head in thanksgiving, then darted away.

Confused and tense, the boy watched her carefully until she disappeared, then let out a big sigh of relief.

"That was a close one, Dulcis..."

He continued walking straight ahead but stopped when, in his peripheral vision, he spotted an old settlement in ruins.

Although difficult to see in the dark, Dulcis walked into what seemed to be the remnants of an eastern village.

Nothing emitted light, and it was eerily quiet—he heard nothing but crickets.

What happened here?

Houses were torn apart with parts of walls lying scattered, and roof panels were shattered, some with gaping holes in them.

Every house's door was either open or torn out entirely.

Looking around anxiously, Dulcis stopped in front of one of the partially collapsed buildings.

A small elevated stairway led up to red pillars, statues, and structures adorned with paper seals, beads, bells, and talismans.

"Oh shit... a shrine..." Dulcis said before a deafening thunderclap boomed above him, making his very heart jump.

His palms got sweaty, his heart pounding in his chest, and his breathing became unsteady. Then he sank to his knees.

With a pained, desperate expression on his face, he inhaled and exhaled, trying to calm himself down.

It took only a moment of him sitting on the crumbled stone stairway to the shrine, just as he'd calmed down, when a stone tile dropped somewhere and shattered.

Dulcis spun around and saw the bandit leader and two of his men searching the area.

They hadn't seen him yet, but when Dulcis scrambled to his feet, the golden dagger on his hip scraped the stone floor, giving away his position.

Their eyes met. Then Dulcis ran.

"GET HIM!" The two bandits followed their leader's command, rushing after him.

---

Dulcis limped up the stairs as fast as he could.

A crossbow bolt struck the stone just ahead of him.

He glanced back and saw the two bandits already closing the gap—one reloading his crossbow, the other taking aim.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Dulcis spun and scrambled to the top of the shrine entrance.

A massive red gate loomed before him. Nowhere to go but inside.

"Fuck..."

He circled the area, searching for another way out. Nothing.

Dulcis pushed forward into the shrine, looking for somewhere to hide, when the ground gave way beneath him. He plummeted ten feet into a hole.

A cloud of dust erupted as he slammed into wood and rubble.

The bandits' footsteps echoed closer while he lay there coughing.

"Down there!" one of them yelled, then fired. The bolt punched into Dulcis's shoulder.

"AAGhh!"

He staggered to his feet and limped through the dark, cold, maze-like corridors.

After several turns, he emerged into a vast stone chamber.

With almost no light, he could barely see. He climbed into an empty stone casket and sealed it shut.

The bandit leader approached his two men.

"Did you get him?"

"Yeah, in the shoulder."

"Good."

The bandit leader patted both his allies on the shoulder, then jumped down into the hole.

From above, one of the bandits hesitated.

"Hey, Winger... maybe we shouldn't go in there. This rat ain't worth it, man."

The bandit leader rolled his eyes.

"Then you keep watch while you piss in your dress. Gadav, you come with me."

The bigger bandit, a tall orc with piercings all over his face, looked at the smaller bandit and sighed, then jumped down.

Before leaving, the bandit leader looked up into the other bandit's eyes. "If he comes out and you let him escape, I'll cut your fucking head off."

Back in the jungle, Korvash and Lyra stood over a group of bandits sprawled at their feet, out of breath and bruised.

"That was... that was the last one, I think," said Lyra, pulling red rope from between her fingers, burnt to a crisp.

Korvash exhaled, and the tornado around him vanished.

Thunder clapped behind them as the blood rain intensified.

"We should find Cori and Marigold. They might be in danger," said Korvash, looting the bandits for supplies.

Lyra wrapped her arms with new thread. "You're right... also Gavren..."

She looked at Korvash, "Can you still fly?"

Korvash, still out of breath, opened his hand toward Lyra. "No..."

A shockwave of wind blew the groaning bandits away as Korvash lifted both himself and Lyra off the ground.

Lyra tried to cover her face as the rain clattered down on them, whipped harder by the wind now tearing across the island.

"Hold on tight, Lyra-lei... it'll storm for at least three hours..." Korvash yelled over the wind.

The two rose high above the trees, the three moons now clearly visible.

They looked down on the pitch-black jungle, barely able to see anything.

"We can't get a view like thi—" Korvash started when a bright flash flickered in the far distance, followed by a deafening boom as something detonated north of the island.

A mushroom cloud bloomed across the sky in the distance, catching the attention of several other people in the area.

A shockwave nearly knocked Korvash and Lyra out of the air before he caught them again, preventing the crash.

"An explosion spell? Of that magnitude? What's going on there? Are they trying to blow up the entire fucking island?!"

Lyra panicked, then stopped herself and caught her breath.

Korvash stared in the direction of the explosion, his expression grave. He said nothing.

"Korvash?..."

"I saw something... some creature swimming through the clouds..."

"What?"

"I don't know... it was only visible for a moment, then it vanished..."

Lyra looked around in concern. "Let's hurry and find them."

Back underground, the bandits scrambled to locate Dulcis.

"You're not escaping again, RAT!" the bandit yelled.

Soon, he too discovered the open chamber.

"Where the fuck did he go..."

"Is this a... Winger, this looks like a tomb," Gadav said, pacing around and running his gloved hand over the stone caskets.

He blew the dust off.

Winger spat on the ground. "Guess this is his funeral—"

A violent earthquake shook the tomb.
Debris rained down, walls collapsed into one another, and sand and dust fell like a storm.

When the trembling stopped, Gadav slowly stood, coughing.

"You okay, Winger?"

"Yeah... If that was an earthquake, we need to get the fuck out of here."

Gadav nodded, then set his crossbow on one of the caskets and pulled a large hammer from his back.

One by one, they began smashing every casket in the room.

Slowly, they made their way toward the front of the chamber—toward Dulcis.

Dulcis trembled in fear, unsure of what was happening around him. He gasped for air, trying desperately not to make a sound.

But the bandits moved quickly, searching every casket. Within minutes, they reached the one beside his.

When Gadav's hammer shattered the stone, Dulcis couldn't wait any longer—he needed air.

With all his strength, he shoved at the lid of his casket. At that exact moment, a massive stone launched from the final casket at the center of the chamber, startling both men as they watched the stone rectangle crash down in pieces.

A deafening silence filled the room.

Dulcis couldn't figure out what had happened, but his lid had shifted just enough to let him breathe.

Had they discovered his location?

For a moment, everything was quiet.

Dulcis used every bit of his attention to focus on any sound that might reveal where the bandits were hiding.

Then he heard it—a slight crackle of stone further away, in the direction where that rock had shattered.

This was his opening.

Huffing and puffing, he mentally hyped himself up for his next gamble.

He slowly lifted the stone off the casket.

But Gadav was right there, waiting for him to move, smiling down at him before bringing his massive hammer down.

"There you are~"

CLANG.

---

Marigold sat in the mud, in the middle of a dark path, a flickering Cori in front of them.

Gavren's body lay beside him, his arm severed and resting in the dirt.

In a deep hyperventilating state, Cori stared at the scene.

They crawled back with a sharp gasp.

"When—What..."

"How did this..."

"I did..."

"I killed Gavren again..."

"It's all my fault..."

I—

Marigold, still sitting on the ground by Gavren, cut through Cori's rambling and calmly met their eyes.

"Cori, it's okay..."

"You didn't do this."

Unable to be reasoned with, Cori kept pushing back as they struggled to breathe.

"No but... I did... and my scream... and Gavren's arm... Lyra and Korvash would..."

"It's all my fault it's all—"

"Cori... remain calm. If you remain calm, we can sort this out without escalati—"

"You don't understand, Marigold!!"

"I can't calm down!!"

"You have no idea how it feels... humans can't remain calm like you all the time."

"You could never get it—"

Cori stopped when they realized what they'd said.

Marigold said nothing in return, just looked down at the ground.

"No... I"

"I didn't mean it like that I..."

"I didn't—"

"I need to go..." Cori said quietly.

"I—"

Cori's tattoos lit up and, with a spark of yellow, they shape-shifted into a rat-like creature with several tails and skittered away into the bushes, leaving Lyra's black straw hat by Marigold.

Marigold sat there quietly with Gavren's shattered body.

Which was exactly how Korvash and Lyra found her.

These grim reunions took place 10 minutes before the dragon's fire breath was unleashed on the island up north. But just 5 minutes before it, something odd happened underground.

---

Gadav's hammer came down, but just as the hammer hit Dulcis' skull, the hammer shattered and exploded in pieces. Winger and Gadav stared in silence, confused with what just happened.

Dulcis, confused as well, looked over when from the open casket next to Winger, at the center front of the room a 7 foot skeleton with a helmet and cape stepped out with a glowing hammer on his shoulder.


"That's not a hammer."

"This...is a hammer."

Said the skeleton with a low guttural voice before slamming a massive hammer next to Winger on the ground.


Winger re-grouped with Gadav near Dulcis in the casket.

The towering figure suddenly looked directly at Dulcis, with its eye sockets lit up a blue glowing light.


"Why do you pretend to be human?"


Almost struggling to process what they just heard, the two bandits' hearts dropped instantly, afraid to turn to Dulcis behind them.

EPISODE 6 END.

---

AFTER CREDIT SCENE

About 30 minutes west, in a massive hollow tree hideout, a small group of bandits walked their chained prisoners through a guarded door.

Inside, a red-haired woman sat on a throne with a small elven girl by her side.

She looked down at a row of prisoners kneeling before her and four injured guards standing beside them.

"So what you're saying is that 33 prisoners escaped tonight because... complications?"

The four guards glanced at each other but didn't answer.

"Oh no, sure, take your time. I have all the time in the world. Blood pours from the sky, an earthquake just shook half our tower, most of my men are lost, and we lost a full week's worth of work in a mere two hours, but sure, take... YOUR... TIME..."

She leaned forward, making sharp eye contact.

A scrawny bandit raised his arm.

"Yes, yes, go ahead." She crossed her arms.

"Winger... was hit by a blonde kid and flipped entirely... then took most of the squad to find him... We haven't seen him since."

The room fell silent.

The woman stood up from her throne.

"How weird. So one blonde child started the apocalypse all on his own, or...?"

Another guard quickly raised his hand.

"N-No, what actually happened was that several groups were split up over the area... and it seems unexpected factions were encountered, who caused further... complications... ahem..."

The second bandit, scared to make eye contact, looked at the ground and averted her glare.

The woman put her arms behind her back and paced.

"I sent out one group and expected one group to come back. Can you explain why you were split up across the island in the dark? Were you playing hide and seek?

I don't like how many gaps keep popping up in your story. I'd hate to believe you're lying to me."

She took a step forward and looked at the bandits.

"I-it all happened when we found our last prisoners of the night... when this... woman ambushed the group like some animal... freeing another woman who freed all the prisoners..."

"One woman, huh? And where is this one woman now? Surely you captured her, right?"

The third bandit, with a low, growling voice, finally spoke.

"We couldn't capture her... she beat all my guys..."

With an unamused expression, she walked up to the fourth bandit, who hadn't said anything yet. She stared at him while fixing his jacket, her glare piercing.

"Wow, what a night! All that happened because of one woman and a blonde child. You all must be sooo tired."

She said it in a disturbingly friendly tone.

Her smile dropped, and she sat back in her throne.

"Bring him in."

The small girl walked over to the gate, opening it as the Minotaur bandit walked in, red-eyed and panting.

"Unfortunately, gentlemen, many of you failed today, which I don't appreciate ONE... BIT...

Luckily, we learned a lesson today.

Less is more.

This fuming friend did the work that apparently most of your bandits couldn't.

So no reward for anyone but him."

Bandit 3 stepped forth. "That's unfair, Alessandra! We still brought more prisoners back!..."

Not a second went by, and Alessandra shot through the room like a dart, holding the bandit's head in her hands as his body fell to the ground.

The room didn't dare let out a breath.

She tossed the head to the side. It rolled across the ground.

"I wasn't done speaking yet."

"Now, why did I say no rewards for anyone but our friend here? Because he actually captured the one woman supposedly capable of fighting you lot."

"Now for you three bandits, you get no pay, okay? But don't feel defeated yet—if you bring me Winger, I might consider giving you your rewards anyway. Consider this your lucky day~ Now vanish before I change my mind."

She said it in a stern monotone before sitting down again.

Alessandra crossed her legs as she settled back into her throne.

The little woman opened the gate for the bandits to leave.

"Okay, finally, let me see this beast-like woman."