Following my own advice, I looked up and found the advancing beasts had stopped. They hung like bats up in the darkness, their taloned feet firmly lodged in the stone ceiling and their scythes swaying gently back and forth beneath them. Likewise, their ground forces lingered in the shadowy center of the room, slinking back and forth as they watched our desperate formation. They know. They know we cannot leave the entrance unprotected, and they will wait for reinforcements until they can crush us in a single charge. Movement at the back of the cavern confirmed my theory; another pair of Serathids emerged from a mining tunnel and clacked their way forward to join the rest of the eager pack.
We cannot wait; they will overwhelm us. We cannot retreat; they will slaughter us in the tunnels. We cannot charge; they will route our mining crews and surround us. Dread gripped my heart and tightened my chest, causing my breath to come harder and harder with each gasp. I failed them. I led them to their deaths in the name of my selfish quest for redemption. I failed Kaldan. I failed.
My hand clenched the grip of my shield until my knuckles popped. Lux. Lia. I failed you, too. Please forgive me. Regret grew like a gaping pit in my stomach as I watched the memories of my mission to Attetsia in my head, as I had every night since my betrayal. You would have fixed this. If not for me, you would have been here. You would have… A sudden memory sparked to life in my brain. No matter the cost. You sacrificed yourself to ensure we would succeed.
I straightened my posture and planted my shield in the ground at my feet, then bowed my head and closed my eyes. “O Prime of Light, divine above all,” I began, chanting the words with a well-practiced rhythm, “bless me with the strength to carry on through all trials and wounds, that I may protect the innocent and cleanse darkness from the world.” The patterned face of my shield shone with a brief burst of radiant white light, and I felt an electric pulse rush up my arms and down to my core. I can buy them enough time to collapse the mine. We will not fail, no matter the cost.
I turned to Challa with a renewed sense of purpose and placed a firm hand on her shoulder. “We will not fail,” I stated. “When you hear the signal, lead our forces back through the tunnel and collapse the mine. Until then, not a single Serathid breaks through our ranks. Can you promise me this?”
She blinked at me with a vacant stare. “Commander?” she asked.
“I am giving you command, Challa. You must keep our soldiers safe, and lead them to safety. Promise me that you will.”
“Commander!” she repeated, flustered. “I can’t! Why, when you’re...I can’t do—”
“We will not fail!” I shouted, both to her and the remainder of my army. “Say it, Challa. Promise me. No matter what happens, no matter the cost, we will not fail.”
“Why me, Commander? Why would you—”
“Say it!” I gripped her shoulder more tightly. “We will not fail!” Nearby soldiers took up the chant and filled the cavern with the echoing words.
She bit her lip as her face grew red, and she scrunched her eyes shut. “We will not fail!” she cried out, knocking loose the tears at the corner of her eyes as she shook her head back and forth. “We will not fail!”
“Thank you,” I said quietly, entirely drowned out by the surrounding chant. “Primes watch over you.” Finally satisfied, I turned back towards our gathering enemies and assessed my odds. A wide smile spread across my face as I put a hand on the barricade before me. Eight of them at the least, with more on the way. I vaulted the spiked reinforcement and dashed forward, leaving Challa and the rest of my forces behind. I do not need to win. I need only to survive long enough to allow the others to succeed.
I felt a massive weight lifting from my chest as I sprinted across the shadowy expanse towards my certain end. The din of the cavern faded away and left me in silence apart from my fluttering heartbeat and pounding feet. This is the night I repay my debts. This is how I regain my honor. My fingers wrapped excitedly around the levers on my shield’s grip as I approached my foes, all of which had turned their bladed arms in my direction. Should we fail here tonight, stories of our sacrifice will find them. They will come to finish what I could not. I know they will. The tightness in my chest released all at once in the form of a gleeful laugh as I raised my shield arm in preparation for my final battle. My death will ensure my victory.
Three Serathids lunged forward in unison as I reached their formation, all dropping their scythes in a simultaneous hail of bladed death. With a flick of my wrist, I rotated my shield onto its horizontal axis and rested it across my shoulders as I slid forward on both knees. The stabs glanced off the glowing stained glass and pulled me farther into the center beast’s reach, and I ended my slide only a few inches from its downturned face. I thrust myself back into a handstand and wrapped my legs around the joint just above its bladed forearm. Momentarily guarded from my surrounding foes by the beast’s own arm, I jammed my shield into the joint as I twisted my legs
