RE:WRITE

44.0 Candela_Chapter 9: Fork

They found me on the ground several hours later. I hadn't moved a muscle - the events I'd just experienced had been too overwhelming. Lily poked my cheeks and told me to get up but I didn't respond. Annoyed, she poked even harder, but my high Defense meant I could ignore her with ease.

Lily reached for her sword.

"Hey, we don't have to go that far, Lily!" said Kai.

"He might be hurt," said Amy.

"Nah, the asshole's smirking!" said Lily, bringing her sword down.

I rolled out of the way. Fixing my robes, I stood up and faced the frowning party.

"You always manage to cheer me up. Thank you, Lily." I smiled.

"Whatever," said Lily. "What the hell were you doing lying around in the middle of this swamp?"

I blinked. I checked my clothes and realized they were covered in slime. I looked around and took in a deep breath.

It's gone! The hill, the statues...it's all gone!

"Are you done acting like an idiot? Now come on in and get changed. You're covered in gunk."

She walked back onto the boat and the others followed. I took a new robe out of my Inventory and got changed before boarding the boat. The boat was tiny but we managed to sit down comfortably enough. Kai waved a hand and the boat started floating across the sea of slime. A gust of wind out of the prow of the boat, clearing the purple mist from the boat's path.

"Where's Gale?" I asked, noticing his absence.

Zoe looked down.

Kai turned to me. "He's fine. I saw the Goddess save him when the island fell. He's probably being pampered in the castle as we spea-"

"When the island fell? What the hell does that mean?" I asked.

Lily's expression darkened.

"You didn't know? Well it turns out that the laborers were propping up the kingdom, literally. Once we freed them, the whole thing fell to the ground," said Kai.

"Fell to the ground?" I frowned. "Oh."

Silence. The implications of our actions weren't lost on us. We'd messed up, big time.

"We should go back. Maybe we can help?" said Lily.

I shook my head. "No, we've done enough."

We sat quietly in the boat as we let that sink in. We'd meant well but we had possibly caused far more pain than we had prevented. Then again, what do I care? I did what I needed to do to carry out my plan. The Air kingdom was in turmoil and the Alliance significantly weakened. For some reason, those thoughts made me feel uneasy. It reminded me of the statues and the song.

What the hell was that anyway? I've never heard of anything like it. None of the books in the Demon Lord's Castle said anything about a circle of creepy statues.

And why did they let me go? If they were some kind of monster, they would've attacked me and killed me. That's what monsters do around here. If they wanted something from me, I was right there, lying prone on the ground! Completely defenseless! They could have taken anything they wanted to but they didn't. And that just makes me even more confused.

If they weren't out to kill me and they didn't want to take something from me...then why me? Why target me? I'm sure they targeted me. They wanted me to come to them. One of them had my face on it, didn't it? Yet, why would they do that? What was their purpose?