Starving isn't so bad anymore (Don't Starve Together Fanfiction)

Chapter 16: Light

"Wake up you idiot." I heard an elderly woman say as I groaned and tried to sit up, my side aching as I did so.

"What happened?" I asked as I looked around the room, seeing multiple injured people lying in their hammocks.

"Well let's see, first you went insane, hacked a bunch of shadow creatures into a fine paste, then passed out from blood loss." Wickerbottom said as she scowled down at me.

"Where're Willow and Whitney?" 

"Whitney's fine, she hid in a chest and only got a small cut on her forehead. Willow on the other hand has burns all over her arms and legs, and only having that few is a surprise. Her seemingly magic burn cream will probably help a lot with that, but they'll take time to heal. I think WX-78 is tending to her right now."

"I've gotta go see them." I sat as I attempted to stand up.

Wickerbottom pushed me back onto the hammock before saying "You're going to rest for a while longer. You lost too much blood to go worry about others right now. We do have your cane so you can walk around once you've rested. Now sit still so I can finish bandaging you up."

I was forced to sit there while Wickerbottom wrapped bandages around my head. 

"What injuries to the others have?" I asked as she finished up.

"Well Wolfgang has quite a few scrapes along with a limp arm from a shadow creatures venom and we are just waiting that out. Wigfrid has a bunch of bites, her leg is broken from an extra big bite, and a concussion. We put a splint on her leg so it heals properly and Webber refuses to leave her side while she heals. Webber doesn't have anything more than a few shallow cuts since Wigfrid protected him for the most part, something that he feels guilty for. Woody turned were-beaver half way through the fight so he is mostly healed for the most part. The shadow creatures didn't really notice Wes. Wendy only had a split lip because she was slashing then running. Warly was surprisingly good at fighting for his small frame so he only took a blow to the eye, probably will have a black eye. Winona has a few scrapes and bruises along with bloody knuckles. Wilbur is almost completely fine because he jumped around too fast for the shadow creatures to attack." Wickerbottom listed off the conditions of everyone, except two.

"What happened to Walani and Woodlegs?"

"... We don't fully know yet, but it's not looking good. We found a part of Walani's board and quite a few pieces of Woodleg's boat. I would completely declare them dead but recent events have convinced me nothing is as it seems." she said with a bit of unease in her eyes.

"And where did the former king of assholes run off to?"

"Maxwell ran off into the island right after using some weird shadow power to kill a giant group of shadow creatures. We don't know where he is now. As for you, you're doing to rest or I'll knock you out." she said as she went to tend to someone else's wounds.

I decided to comply and rent to sleep for a while.

I walked over to Willow's hammock, the cane Maxwell had gifted me years ago the only reason I could move, and sat down beside her. Whitney was cuddled up to Willow and asleep. 

"Heh, she seems happy." I said as Willow gave me a tired smile. 

"Yeah, she wouldn't leave when Wickerbottom told her too so I let her cuddle up to me." Willow said as she rested her hand on Whitney's head.

"How are your burns?"

"My burn cream healed them for the most part but they'll still be there for a while. Doesn't hurt that much though, since I'm used to burns."

"Did you hear about Wigfrid's leg?"

"Yeah... I also heard her swearing at Webber for blaming himself for it." she finished with a chuckle.

"I'm going to take Winona, Wendy, and Webber to look around the island for Maxwell. I don't trust him enough to wander around the supposed altar island by himself." I said as I held her hand, the burns leaving an odd yet familiar design on her skin.

"Fine, but good luck prying Webber away from Wigfrid. And be careful. I don't want you to be hurt any worse than you already are.

"MAXWELL! WHERE ARE YOU, YOU INSUFFERABLE PRICK?!" I yelled as the four of us pushed through the foliage. 

Winona was more than happy to look for Maxwell, very vocal about how she wanted to beat him until he went back to whatever hell he crawled out off. Wendy seemed a bit worried, most likely about her mother and sister as opposed to whatever Maxwell was doing. Webber was extremely cross with me for forcing him to abandon Wigfrid.

"Why do we need to find him so badly? I mean if he finds that stupid book of his won't he die?" Webber asked as we chopped through a large bush. 

"Because I don't fully trust that this book will kill him, and Winona wants to finish the job if the book doesn't pull through." I responded as Wendy watched me intently, probably preparing to help me should I fall.

"Whatever." was Webber's response.

As we kept going I heard Webber suck in a breath in preparation of a witty question, only to let that breath loose as we all stood still. 

A dark and heavy mist filled the air around us and we could hear shoes walking on stone. After we cut through a large amount of bushes and vines we saw an altar. 

The altar was reminiscent of a Mayan pyramid but on a much much smaller scale. At the top sat a sort of podium, with a book resting on top.

Maxwell was walking up the steps, wind whipping the black mist off of his body only for it to mingle with the black mist already in the air. Whatever forces was watching this scene was doing its best to keep Maxwell away and was failing.

Maxwell opened the boo and began chanting some inhuman language barely above a whisper, but the whisper seemed booming as he rose off of the ground and his eyes began glowing white. The book began floating with shadow tendrils bursting from its pages and disappearing.

I was going to tell everyone to run but then there was a blinding explosion of white light