HBH IV: Forges Of Hellfire

XVII: Last Stand Until The Next Last Stand

We talked a bit more and we sailed for a few more hours. My eyelids had begun to feel heavy. I had no sense of time and I realized I probably haven't slept for the past few days. I closed my eyes and dozed off. Most half-blood dreams are either random or a vision. Most of my dreams are visions, Aspen's are random (He had a dream where he was hallucinating) which means they carry no value.

This dream was familiar, a man with a dagger once again, this time he threw it to me. I looked down at the name, it was 'Gray'. I looked up and saw half-bloods and their screams were drowned in the howls of wolves. Pandora's words echoed in my ear. I was a murderer, I killed her. "I'm so sorry, I didn't have a choice." Rowan's dead body appeared in front of me. "I'm so sorry, I could've saved you." I began to be enveloped in darkness. I looked up and saw a small glowing string. I followed it into the darkness. I lifted my head and saw Mark and Arin. For a moment I smiled. It must mean something. Until an arrow was shot and killed Arin. Mark's eyes turned cold and walked away. "Not again." I sobbed and saw a dark red aura appear. You're so mad. I shook my head. Don't deny it, you want to kill him. You want the dreams to stop. My hands turned a sickening red. I realized it was blood. You've killed her, you've committed a murder. "It was in an act of self-defense." You could've been smarter. "I did what I had to do." You've never killed someone like this Kendra. "Please, please stop." The same hands that brought solace will bring death. The voice repeated the same words Claudia said to me. My vision became foggy, blood began to pool around me. The aura walked up to me. I just needed someone with enough ambition and anger. "Leave me alone." Mebh is right, they'll see you as a hero. But Croix knows she's dead because you couldn't save her. I shot up in a cold sweat.

"Got a good sleep?" I shook my head. Claudia was snacking on trail mix. "Did you have a dream?" I nodded. "Must've been pretty bad."

"Huh?"

"You were screaming."

"Oh, sorry."

"Nah, I get dreams like that a lot."

"Oh, I don't know if I should be concerned."

"I mean, they're normal."

"Aspen had weird dreams, like really random."

"Same for Zane."

"I mean like, brothers am I right?"

We continued to sail. We were still stuck in an endless tunnel filled with certain doom. No biggie. The water was boiling and the heat began to get to my head. I closed my eyes. The heat had become unbearable in the past few hours. Our skin was red and we were bathing in our sweat. And don't act like you've never smelled your armpit to see if it smelled bad, cos there is no use in doing that here. We smelled bad in general. We hadn't showered in ages. "So, Mebh, do you know which way we're going?" Claudia asked Mebh. "I'm not sure, I brought a compass but then I realized we're going underground and there's metal everywhere."

"That's true."

"We still gotta keep going."

"No one else is dying." I stood up and looked at the riverbanks. "Not again."

"Kendra, I get that you're mad-"

"I'm seething, at my freaking self. I could've done something."

"Oh." Claudia sits down slowly. The boat slowly rocked side to side. I looked around to see if anything was following us. "Nothing is there, Kendra."

"I feel someone is watching us." I opened the Scrying Mirror to check on Mark. He was pale and Zane was force-feeding him. "I did this, how could I have been such a fool." 'It isn't your fault.' I wanted to whisper that to him. I knew he couldn't hear me. I wiped my tears and sat back down. "Hey, I know this place. It's near the old dead body room thing." Claudia nodded. "Heroes without a proper burial rite?" Mebh asked. "Yeah." She began to paddle faster. "They need a proper burial ceremony. At least a remembrance." I nodded. I hovered over the water back to Rowan. His body was still cold and pale. "Grant him safe passage to the realm of souls." Roots from the ground sprouted around him. It turned into a small Rowan tree. "Fitting." I smiled and hovered back. They'd already reached the other side of shore.

We showed Mebh to the room. She opened the door and held her breath. Claudia held her hand over the corpses. "Grant them safe passage to your realm." A slight tingly sensation filled my body. The corpses gave off the aura of satisfaction. They'd probably felt Claudia's blessing and were well on their way to paradise. "We gotta go." She closed the door and we looked around for a bit. I opened the Scrying Mirror to check on Gray. I gasped. He was looking at us through the surveillance cameras (gods know how he put them there). "He knows where we are." The thundering sound of Fomorians and half-bloods came from the tunnel. My body froze. Claudia grabbed me and we raced in the only direction we knew: forward. Half-bloods filled the tunnel. There weren't many but there were enough. We drew our weapons and prepared for battle.

Claudia charged at one of them. We formed a circle. I looked up and saw a hatch. "A way out!" They all looked up. Unfortunately, so did the other half-bloods. "KEEP THEM FROM GETTING UP THERE!" Mebh lifted Claudia up and she opened the old hatch. I charged at every one of the half-bloods. Fury and hatred pumped through my veins. I had nothing on my mind other than death and vengeance. Mebh was a good fighter but she was keeping us safe. "We gotta get out."

"How?"

"I get lift both of you out and-"

"Then we'll lift you up, good plan." I finished it for her. She hesitated but nodded.

Everything changed when the Fomorians attacked. Literally. We knew we were outnumbered. "We gotta do the plan."

"They'll follow us."

"Then we need to hold them off."

"Both of you go!" I swung my sword at the surrounding soldiers. "Kendra, please."

"Claudia, listen to me-"

"No, you listen to me. His death wasn't your fault, you can't beat yourself up about it forever."

"I can and I will." I sliced my way through half-bloods. I was about to jump on a Fomorian but I suddenly felt tugged back. Claudia was already above land, she had her hands dangling from the hatch. Mebh nodded and dragged me back to the hatch. She raised me up so I could climb out. "Okay, Mebh- Claudia?" She was sobbing. I looked down and saw Mebh fending off the Fomorians. "No, no, not again. Mebh!" She looked up at me. "Kendra, you need to let go." I shook my head. "No, not this time. Never again."

"Just tell them my story."

"You'll always be the hero." She smiled before locking the hatch again.

A/N 

Sory abt not posting yesterday, I read a few webtoons and I forgot, promise, won't happen again
consciousness in the back of my mind: she's gonna forget

Anyways, yeah. Hiatus will begin on August 8, so expect a break until November, sorry it's sooo longgg