The Canyon. Moments After the Explosion.
The world was spinning.
Lira opened her eyes to darkness—not the darkness of the void, but the darkness of night, of stars, of a sky that was still there. She was on her back, staring up at the stars. They were blurred, spinning, fading in and out. Her head throbbed. Her side burned. Her arm was numb.
She tried to move. Her body screamed.
She remembered the explosion. The shock wave. The force of it lifting her off her feet, throwing her backward, slamming her into the ground. She remembered screaming. She remembered Grog's voice, shouting her name. Then nothing.
She turned her head. The canyon was chaos.
Mirena was lying a few feet away, her staff broken beside her, her face pale, her chest rising and falling. She was alive. Breathing. Unconscious, but alive.
William was sitting up, his hand pressed against his head, blood seeping through his fingers. His armor was cracked, his shield splintered, his sword still in his hand. He was looking at the space where the portal had been.
Ken was standing.
He was the only one standing. His bow was shattered on the ground beside him. His face was pale, blood running from a cut on his forehead down his cheek. He was staring at the empty space where the portal had been, his hands hanging at his sides.
Grog was on his knees.
He hadn't moved. He was facing the scorched stone where the portal had been, his hands flat on the ground, his head bowed. His sword was lying a few feet away, forgotten.
Lira pushed herself up.
Her body screamed. Her side was wet—blood, she realized, seeping through her clothes. The explosion had opened her wound. She pressed her hand against it, ignored the pain, forced herself to sit.
"Grog."
He didn't answer.
"Grog."
She crawled toward him. The ground was cold, rough, sharp against her knees. She reached him, touched his shoulder.
He flinched.
Not at her. At something else. Something inside.
"Grog, look at me."
He turned his head. His eyes were red—not the red of the berserker, the red of tears he hadn't shed. His face was blank, empty, hollow.
"He's gone," Grog said. His voice was hoarse, barely a whisper. "The portal is closed."
Lira looked at the scorched stone. The empty space. The place where Aldric had disappeared.
"He made a choice," she said.
Grog shook his head. "He shouldn't have had to."
---
Mirena woke with a gasp.
She sat up, her hand going to her chest, her eyes wide. Her staff was broken beside her—snapped in two, the crystal dim, the wood splintered. She stared at it for a moment, then looked at the space where the portal had been.
"It's closed," she said.
Ken nodded. "It's closed."
Mirena looked at him. At the blood on his face, the shattered bow, the empty space.
"You tried to go after him."
Ken was quiet for a moment. "I tried...I failed"
William stood. His legs were unsteady, his head was pounding, but he stood. He walked to the scorched stone, looked at the place where the portal had been.
"Aldric," he said. His voice was quiet. He said nothing else.
No one answered.
---
Lira helped Grog to his feet.
His body was trembling—not from cold, from something else. The berserker was awake, she could see it in his eyes, in the tightness of his jaw, in the way his hands kept clenching and unclenching. He was holding it back. Barely.
"We need to get back," Grog said. His voice was raw, scraped. "Tell the Duke. Tell everyone."
William looked at him. "Tell them what?"
Grog met his eyes. "That the portal is closed. That Aldric is—" He stopped.
"That Aldric is what?"
Grog didn't answer. He couldn't.
---
Mirena gathered the pieces of her staff.
The crystal was intact—barely—but the wood was splintered beyond repair. She would need a new staff. She would need time. She didn't have either.
"The portal is closed," she said. "The connection between worlds is broken. Vorlag can't send more creatures through."
Ken looked at her. "Can he open it again?"
Mirena shook her head. "I don't think so, not to this world...and not without a connection.
And that connection, the link, is severed."
Ken absorbed this. "Then it worked. What Aldric did. It worked."
William's jaw tightened. "He's gone."
"He saved us."
"He's gone."
Ken met his eyes. A pause, "I know.", he said quietly.
---
Grog walked to the edge of the canyon.
His legs were heavy. His chest was burning. His head was pounding. The berserker was screaming inside him—not for blood, for answers. For Aldric. For a way to bring him back.
There was no way.
The portal was closed. The connection was broken. Aldric was gone.
He stood at the edge, looking out at the mountains, the peaks, the darkness beyond. Somewhere out there, Aldric was—what? Dead? Alive? Trapped?
He didn't know.
He couldn't know.
He looked at his hands. The hands that had held his sword, that had fought the creatures, that had reached for the portal. They were empty.
He had lost him again.
---
Lira found him there.
She stood beside him, her wounded arm pressed against her side, her face pale. She didn't speak. She just stood there, present.
"I should have stopped him," Grog said.
Lira shook her head. "You couldn't have."
"I should have tried."
"You did." She looked at the mountains. "We all did."
Grog was quiet for a moment. "He's not dead."
Lira looked at him. "How do you know?"
Grog touched his chest. His heart was beating. His blood was warm. The berserker was quiet now—not sleeping, just waiting.
"I don't know," he said. "But he's not."
---
They gathered the horses.
The animals had scattered during the explosion, but they hadn't gone far. Lira found hers, her voice soft, her hands gentle. William found his, limping, favoring his side. Mirena found hers, leaning on Ken for support.
Ken found his horse. It was trembling, its eyes wide, but it let him mount.
Grog stood at the edge of the canyon, looking at the scorched stone where the portal had been. He didn't move. Didn't speak.
Lira rode to him. "Grog."
He looked at her.
"We need to go."
He nodded. Mounted his horse.
They rode.