As the team's scout, he should have been the one most aware of his surroundings. The one to watch for any sign of trouble. And the one to avoid any unnecessary danger. But in his haste, he failed to notice the tunnel was slightly different from the dozens of ones they had already closed. This tunnel wasn't natural. It was dug out.

  Alexa, already preparing a scolding for the careless man, jogged forward, Relcter close behind. Johnathan, already crouching over the bomb kit looked up at the approaching figures, an exasperated expression on his face.

  Shling!

  A flash of movement, a sparkle of reflected light. A spray of blood.

  Johnathan's expression froze as a razor-sharp blade pierced his back, bursting out his chest in a shower of gore. His eyes went wide in shock as he looked down, staring at the weapon that had just killed him. A chitin-covered scythe. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed.

  "Fuck!" Alexa shouted, pulling her sword from its sheath. "Relcter! Vex ahead!"

  Before her, a small squad of the creatures poured from the tunnel. Two of them were the large, bulky juggernauts, their thick armor plates making them nigh invulnerable. They were massive creatures, standing nearly three meters tall and heavily built. The remaining three were reapers, quick and nimble drones with four bladed limbs instead of hands. They were easily capable of putting a dozen cuts on the unprepared in the blink of an eye.

  Standing at the entrance to the tunnel, one of the reapers stood in front of the lifeless corpse of her former teammate. It glanced at her, meeting her gaze. It lifted its blooded blade-like arm and licked it. Its eyes never left hers.

  "Damn you!" Alexa cursed. She charged forward, her shield held up high.

  The two juggernauts moved in to block the entrance to the cave, their bodies covering the entire tunnel. Relcter, having caught up to Alexa, threw a holy ward in front of her, protecting her from the oncoming attacks. She ducked behind her shield, letting it absorb the impact of the reapers' strikes. A series of rapid clangs echoed out as half a dozen hits impacted her shield in a fraction of a second. The ward collapsed nearly instantly, overwhelmed by the incoming damage.

  A sharp pain filled her as deep, bloody cuts opened on the parts of her arms and legs that failed to fit behind the shield. She gritted her teeth and ignored the pain as she pushed her way forward.

  Her rage and despair overwhelmed her reason. She should have fallen back, but her mind was reeling at the sight of her friend's body. He could still be saved, she told herself. There was still time. She denied reality and charged into the whirlwind of razor blades with relentless fervor.

  Alexa was no tank. She wasn't meant for this. Relcter was their bulwark. And with the juggernauts in the way, he'd need time to get to her. A pair of minor warding spells landed on her, but she didn't notice as the magic was quickly expended.

  "Fall back!" Relcter shouted as he tried to move past her. "You can't take them!"

  Alexa ignored him, letting out a scream as one of the blades pierced her armor and dug deeply into her side. She ignored the pain and pressed on, swinging wildly with her sword. Her blade was met with the clang of metal as the Vex blocked, the impact causing the blade to slide away, barely grazing the creature's carapace.

  The drones were instinctual creatures, little more than animals in most senses. Sure some may show a bit of cunning here and there, but the drones were not sapient by any means. They had no true skill when it came to their natural weapons. But that mattered little when it came to raw, overwhelming attributes. They moved like lightning to her senses, striking from every angle at once.

  Every swing of her sword cost her in blood. More often than not, the simple steel failed to even penetrate the weaker chitin of the reapers. The only reason she wasn't already dead was that the juggernauts still hadn't caught up to the skirmish; their massive size made them slow, yet unstoppable.

  Alexa ducked, keeping her shield up constantly and swinging opportunistic strikes. There was a thump as an insectoid limb fell to the earthen floor below. The pressure from the hurricane of blades easing ever so slightly.

  The sound of chitin on steel rang out mere centimeters from her neck, the blade that had almost decapitated her redirected by Relcter's timely intervention. His tower shield slammed into her side, the man pushing his way into the fray and forcing her away from the eye of the storm. Immediately the tide of the battle shifted as the Vex's attention turned to the paladin.

  Relcter's shield glowed brightly, a warding spell cast upon it, making it much sturdier than Alexa's. The man was a paladin, and his defensive magic was powerful. Their party of two was caught off guard by the ambush, and they were on the back foot. But as soon as the paladin was in formation, the tides seemed to shift.

  Relcter was calm, his shield blocking every blow. His longsword stabbed out between each attack, seeking to end the battle as quickly as possible. Though he was primarily a defensive fighter, his class was no slouch when it came to offense, and his sword was enchanted to better penetrate the chitin of the Vex. Where Alexa's blade could barely scratch the creatures, his pierced through as easily as butter. Nonetheless, Alexa played her part. She supported him from the side, dealing as much damage as she could manage while he held their attention.

  One reaper finally fell, its body riddled with holes. Relcter's breath was labored, and he was splashed with blood. The wards were spent. It was a bad fight.

  Alexa wasn't faring much better. She was exhausted. There were too many open cuts on her body, too many bruises, and her armor was shredded. She was covered in blood. Her muscles ached, and her grip on her weapon was loose.

  Another duck, another swing, another costly attack. More wounds were taken between the two as a second Vex finally dropped.

  The two friends had worked together for years now. Their teamwork was flawless. They fought in sync, each move practiced countless times before. The paladin was the anvil, and the warrior the hammer. But there was one person missing. The smallest chink in their formation, but one the Vex took full advantage of.

  Alexa was a warrior, a fighter class that focused on melee combat. She was more than competent at what she did, but she wasn't a scout. She had no area control, no ranged control, no support from behind to keep their health up and warn them of the battlefield as a whole. Focused as the two were on wearing down the remaining reaper, they had lost track of the heavies. The two juggernauts had taken the opening to charge forward, building up momentum.

  The ground shook as the two juggernauts barreled forward. Their heavy footsteps pounded the ground as they ran. Relcter's shield was large and thoroughly reinforced, but the two creatures were massive, and he could never hope to stop their charge. The humans never saw the attack coming.

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  Alexa let out a grunt as she was suddenly lifted into the air and sent flying. She tumbled to the ground, rolling to a stop some ten meters away.

  She struggled to stand. Her vision blurred. She was disoriented. Everything hurt. She felt like she'd been hit by a wagon. Her shield was gone. Her sword was gone. She couldn't feel her shield arm at all. Pain spiked through her as she took in a wheezing breath. At least two broken ribs. She coughed, and a trickle of blood dribbled from her lips.

  Her head was pounding. She couldn't focus. She looked around, searching for her friends. She saw Johnathan, his lifeless eyes staring up at the cloudless sky above, his body still and cold. Relcter was lying next to her, his armor dented and cracked. He was hurt, badly. Perhaps even worse than her. But even now, he was rising to his feet, positioning himself in front of her.

  The two massive Vex had kept moving after their charge, unable to stop their momentum. It gave them a bit of distance to breathe, but not much. Meanwhile, the remaining reaper Vex was already upon them. This time, sensing the weakened prey, it charged toward Alexa, ignoring the paladin entirely.

  Alexa, her head still spinning and unable to stand, had no means of avoiding the attack. She didn't even see the blow coming as it sliced clean through her already broken arm. The limb was severed just below her elbow. Her screams echoed out into the forest, the sound piercing the serenity of the meadow. The pain was beyond anything she had ever experienced in her life, and the shock alone was nearly enough to kill her. The ground was suddenly wet with her blood as the wound gushed freely.

  The paladin roared and swung with all his might, his enchanted blade cutting deep into the reaper's side. He pulled the sword back with a squelch and readied his blade. The reaper hissed and jumped away, avoiding another strike. Its attention was now on the paladin.

  Alexa lay on the ground, her body shaking, her breathing shallow. She felt cold. Her head spun, and the world around her faded in and out of focus, a distant haze. Her vision darkened as the blood loss caught up to her. The world became quiet. The sound of battle faded. She heard nothing.

  Then, something wet touched her lips, forcing her jaw open. She couldn't breathe, she was drowning. Confusion and panic filled her as she struggled to understand what was happening. Then, the taste of a healing potion hit her tongue, the familiar bitterness snapping her to consciousness. A familiar hand was on her face, holding her mouth open. A bottle was pressed to her lips, pouring the contents down her throat. She swallowed. It burned her throat, but she didn't care. The liquid was warm, a soothing heat spreading throughout her body.

  It didn't stop the bleeding. Just slowed it down and recovered some of the precious fluid in her veins. The wound was far too large for such a minor potion, but it bought her some time, and that was enough.

  She saw the body of the final reaper lying next to her, dead. She slowly turned her gaze upward, finally taking in her friend's state. His armor was battered and torn. It hung loosely from his shoulders, held in place by a few remaining straps. Blood dripped down his sides, his chest, and from his lips. He was covered in bruises and cuts, his flesh pale. He was barely standing, leaning on his shield for support.

  Yet he still stood.

  Alexa struggled to rise, but Relcter placed a firm hand on her shoulder.

  He cleared his throat, his voice cracking. "Alexa, I want you to promise me..."

  The two juggernauts had made their way back. Their massive bodies towered over the field as they approached. The first of the two behemoths swung its massive fist, the heavy blow crushing a nearby tree to splinters with a single strike.

  Relcter's gaze was hard and his words were quiet. He was holding something. She couldn't see what it was. "Promise me that when this is over, and you leave the forest... That you'll go find Lucia. Make sure she and my daughter are okay. Take care of them, Alexa. Please... promise me that."

  Alexa shook her head. No! No, no, no, no! She wanted to shout, to cry out in despair as she listened. But her voice was too faint. She barely had the strength to pull in a breath, let alone speak. But their eyes met, and he nodded.

  He laid his massive tower shield down on top of her, covering her and almost pinning her down in her weakened state.

  Relcter stood slowly, fighting with his broken body to remain upright, facing the two opponents that he could never beat in an equal fight, let alone in his current condition.

  He gripped the explosive vial tightly. His hands were shaking, but his stance was solid. He didn't speak. He didn't look back. He just moved.

  Alexa watched, powerless to stop the inevitable. She knew what he had planned, and it would only end one way. It was the only option they had left. And she hated herself for it, for that faint spark of relief in the back of her mind. She would live.

  She watched as the man who had been her friend for so long, who had saved her life more times than she could count, charged into battle without fear. He was a paladin, a defender of the innocent. And now he was sacrificing himself so that she might live.

  It broke her. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she watched him go, knowing that she would never see him again. Both he and Johnathan. She was going to lose them both. She wanted to scream, to cry out for him to stop, to tell him that it wasn't worth it, but her voice was gone, the pain in her chest too great. So, she could do nothing more than watch as the man she considered almost a brother lifted that vial up and crushed it in his palm. Their entire remaining stock of reagents went up all at once.

  The explosion was instantaneous. A wave of heat washed over her, followed by a shock wave that knocked her back several meters, rolling helplessly. She didn't hear the detonation. She couldn't. She heard nothing at all. But the world shook and the earth trembled beneath her. The air itself seemed to pummel her already broken ribs to a pulp. She tried to gasp in pain, but there was no air in her lungs.

  The heat was unbearable. It burned her skin and scorched her hair. The blast was so intense that it scorched her throat, leaving it raw and blistered. But she couldn't scream. Her voice was gone. The world was gone. All that was left was the fire. It consumed everything.

  She had been terribly close to the epicenter. Far too close. But she had survived. The twisted metal of the former tower shield lay a short distance away, warped and radiating heat after absorbing the burn of the blast. She gazed at it, her heart throbbing, screaming in pain both physically and emotionally.

  But Alexa needed to move. She was already feeling dizzy again. Her head swiveled from side to side, looking for a solution. She had no time to waste. Her severed arm was still bleeding, her body was broken. If she didn't move now, Relcter's sacrifice would be wasted. She tried to stand, but her legs gave out beneath her. She fell hard, landing on her knees. The impact sent another spike of agony through her shattered ribs, the broken bones grinding against each other.

  Her eyes found Johnathan once again. He was still wearing his pack, and it looked mostly intact. She crawled. One meter. Then two. Three. Finally reaching his still form. She fumbled, her single hand clutching at the straps. She pulled it free and ripped it open, her eyes frantically scanning the contents, searching for something, anything that would help. Finally, her hand grasped a familiar flask. An advanced healing potion. The team's only emergency vial. It was unbelievably expensive, but it could bring someone back from the brink of death if taken in time.

  Johnathan would have survived if he had had time to drink it.

  She clutched it tightly in her fist. Her numb fingers shook, nearly dropping the precious liquid. She bit down on the cork and pulled. The cork came loose and she brought the vial to her lips, swallowing the liquid in one go.

  Almost immediately, she felt a surge of energy flow through her. The pain in her chest dulled slightly as the potion kicked in. She could breathe again, and her head cleared. She could think again. She could see again. Her severed arm stopped bleeding, the stump sealing over. She was numb, but she could move. It would be many weeks, maybe months before she could be considered recovered, however.

  With renewed strength, Alexa stumbled to her feet and took off at a brisk walk. She didn't look back. The tears streamed down her cheeks as she willed her legs to move. She felt shame, anger, and an ocean of despair as she left her teammates behind. But she had made a promise to Relcter, and she intended to keep it.

  She needed to live.

  The Vex may be defeated, but there was no telling if any had escaped. Not to mention the forest itself held plenty of dangers of its own. There were countless other beasts and predators that would love to make a meal out of a weakened and unarmed human. She had no time to mourn. Not until she got back to camp. Only then would she allow herself to weep. Only then would she allow herself to break.