Fallen Guard

Dente, Serrum, Fesha, and I carried the explosion engine back on the same path we had taken to get to it. Our pace was slowed immensely by the presence of the extra weight we now had to drag around. The warm light of the sky lit our path home in an ethereal glow, revealing the particles that have been invisibly drifting in the air. Besides the cracking of debris beneath our feet, the walk back was quiet and peaceful. It brought me a sense peace in an otherwise mysterious scenario. I became lost in thought within this peace, so much so that I had to voice out some of what I was wondering to the rest of us.

"Sorry, if this question bothers you two, but what exactly happened to your friend?" I asked.

Dente and Serrum put a more serious look on, then Serrum decided to tell the story. "He went out scavenging alone one day, didn't come back for hours. We suspected he had caught himself into trouble so we went looking for him." Serrum paused trying to catch her breath and stopping the tears. She exhaled hard. "We found him twisted within a mess of that black corruption. We pulled him out quickly, but he was not the same after. He had forgotten most of his life including who we were. When we tried to tell him our names, he told us that they had become distorted in his ears. That's how we learned of the effects of involving thyself in that cruel darkness." Serrum finished.

"So, where is he now?" I had to ask.

Serrum gave me a look of sorrow. "We tried to help him, then one night, he vanished. I have not a clue of his whereabouts now."

We stayed silent for a while, letting the loss of Serrum and Dente's dear friend sink in. I thought about everything that Fesha and I had been through while the time passed. I had also thought about the dreams I've been having of my old world. All the answers seemed so close to me yet so unreachable. I began spiraling downward into a rabbit hole of my own imagination until Dente spoke up.

"Well, how bout thee tell us of thine adventures. Surely that'll lighten the mood a bit!" He said.

I decided to entertain him by bragging a little. "We've had a grand old time coming up here, especially with our fight with Tenebris, right Fesha?" I glanced at her only for her to give back a blank stare.

"Ah, I'd almost forgotten about that whole ordeal. It is still a bit of a blur." She responded.

I was confused. "It was only a couple of days ago, how could you..." Then it hit me. The reason Fesha had been giving me blank stares at the mention of his name. She was beginning to forget.

"Apologies, seems it's coming back to me. I didn't even realize that I had forgotten." Fesha said concerned.

Dente made a smirk spread across his face. "I'm telling ya, something is in the air. It ain't just the black stuff, but the very ether around us."

"Quit joking around." I said somewhat aggressively.

Dente put on a more serious face. "I joke not. Why else would I wear this fine tooth everywhere I go? I had noticed Serrum and I's memory still receded despite not having contact with that darkness, yet it receded no further after we put these on. Perhaps Fesha now too remembers just from being around this tooth!" He said with confidence.

Dente always had a whimsical air around him that seemed hard to take seriously, yet I couldn't find a reason to think what he said was wrong. If what he claims about the dragon tooth is true, then it is truly a blessing that we had met them before Fesha could have forgotten things further. Still, something irked me. Perhaps I had also forgotten something and had not realized just as Fesha had. Was there a memory or perhaps a dream that I was missing? Maybe I had already forgotten it. I couldn't bear the thought of it.

My train of thought was interrupted by the weight of the engine suddenly dropping, followed by a loud clank on the stone road. I looked over at Serrum to see the fierce expression that she first greeted me with upon her face once more. I turned to face what she had seen. In my sight, I saw the glistening of a bronze colored material. The sound of metal rubbing against each other emanated through the open air. There was a tall man, fully covered in bulky bronze armor standing there. The army was very rounded but was somehow very sharp looking. His chest plate boasted an intricate design of two dragons fighting. A short, raggedy gold cape hung from each of his shoulder plates. In his one hand, he held a great sword in a reverse grip, dragging it across the floor. His helmet was cylindrical and had whitish horns sticking out from the top, arranged in a way that almost resembled a crown. There was a T shape cut out in the bronze helmet that barely gave us a look at the man inside.

The bronze knight was hunched over as he turned his head to us. He intimidated us with his uncomfortable atmosphere. Something felt very wrong. It was then that I noticed a hint of pitch black seeping out of the cracks of his armor. The knight began to groan loudly, as if fighting something off. Then, he spoke.

"Please, I d-don't wish to see thine face an-y longer. Release me from this eternal darkness!." He screamed.

His pleading was ominous, yet it felt like I had heard something like it before. It chilled me to my bones. As i tried to remember, the darkness exploded from the cracks of his armor, revealing long pitch black tendrils. They waved erratically as the knight twitched harder and harder.

"Curse the king and his royal guard." Dente said under his breath.

As we stood before a new monster, I trembled, thinking that the aid I had previously gotten might not come back out this time. Still, I knew I had to fight if I wanted to continue to find my way home.