We Won't Let This Be the End

Part 1: Chapter 5

Virgil looked around himself, it looked like he was standing in the Fields of Wandering Thoughts. Surrounding him on all sides were flowers of all sorts. The sun was shining overhead and a gentle breeze blew past him. He had no idea how he got here or what he was doing, but for a moment he felt calm... Only for a moment.

Suddenly, the area changed. What was once beautiful fields, was now a destroyed land. The ground was gray and the flowers were withered and dead. Virgil started to shake. This wasn't supposed to happen.

All of a sudden a dark fog settled along the ground making it hard to see farther than maybe ten feet. Virgil spun around, trying to see if there was any possible way out, there wasn't. Against his better judgement he decided that he needed to start walking. If he was where he thought he was, then eventually it should lead him back to the main path. If he can get to the path then he could get home to the others... He needed to get back to the others.

After walking for what felt like hours, Virgil finally saw what looked to be the stone pathway. Exhaling a relieved breath, Virgil quickened his pace towards the path. The minute his foot hit the pathway, the fog lifted.

Virgil fell to his knees. He hugged himself, tucking his head into his lap for a few moments while he regained his composure.

When he finally raised his head he was expecting to see sunshine, maybe the mind palace or Imagination village. What he raised his head to was much worse. Staring him in the face was the open entrance to the Darkscape. The twisted trees glared at him while the harsh wind howled with sinister laughter.

His shaking had worsened as he started to try and calm his breathing. He whipped his head around looking at his surroundings. Along with the pathway to the Darkscape being visible, everything else was in ruins.

Virgil's panic started to set in. He wanted to just curl in on himself right there, but then a sudden thought crossed his mind. The mind palace! He needed to get to the mind palace so that he could get the others.

He needed Patton's calming voice, Logan's sound logic, and Roman's safe presence. He knew if he had them with him, they could figure this out together. Shakily, Virgil rose to his feet and turned himself towards the direction he was positive the mind palace was in, and ran.

As he ran, Virgil tried to keep his eyes ahead rather than looking around him. He didn't want or need to see what other destruction was happening. He kept his eyes ahead because that was the only thing keeping him focused.

Virgil had finally made it over the last hill before the palace, and what he saw crushed him. Tears started to fall as he stared and what remained of his home. The mind palace was completely destroyed. Walls were torn down and the roof was almost completely caved in on the second floor. Shattered glass from the windows littered the ground reflecting the light from the fire slowly swallowing up what remained.

Virgil ran towards the palace, he needed to get in there to make sure the other sides weren't in there. Just as he was about to race up the steps of the porch, an explosion happened causing him to fly back away from the palace.

His vision was blurry from both the impact from when his head hit the ground as well as with the tears that he could no longer control. He could see spots in his now ruined hoodie that had torn and cause scattered burns to cover his skin. Ash and debris covered the ground around him. Hope was lost.

Virgil's arms wrapped around himself as he cried in pain. He cried not due to any of his physical wounds, but because he lost everything that was important to him. He couldn't protect his friends... He couldn't protect Thomas.

The dark fog from the fields started to surround the mind palace, but that was the last thing that Virgil was paying attention to. As he stared at was once his home, he saw something moving in the fire just beyond the broken doorway.

Stepping out of the smoke and fire came a creature. A creature that Virgil knew well. It slowly made its way onto the collapsed porch. Ignoring its surroundings, the creature looked directly at Virgil with sharp, green eyes before turning back around and returning into the flames.