With Friends Like These...
By: Cindermist
Training Rank 40... Finally I could join my brothers and sisters in the greatest battles. I was both excited and nervous about entering this new phase of my training. I knew I would in the patient and capable hands of my guild siblings when the call to battle went forth.
I waited, trying to be patient as other battles kept my family occupied, but then...there it was...the call I had been waiting for!
"Mount up Cinder! We head to the tunnels and crypts tonight. Front and center!"
Pushing down my nerves as best as I was able, I proudly entered the tunnels with those I consider my mentors as well as my friends. The battles were more fierce than I had yet seen, but time after time we prevailed. My deaths were as nothing to me against the fierce pride I felt in doing my part to the best of my abilities. One by one we worked our way through dank, putrid tunnels, the dampness not only frizzing my hair horribly, but the smells smaking me wish I had forgone dinner that night.
When at last we stood panting and blood-soaked, we knew we had done well. Our foes were dead behind us and we were alive, though not without our own share of wounds. That was alright. Scars are badges of honor among those who battle and we wore our wounds proudly.
"Let's take Cinder to the crypts!", they said with grins on their faces. "She'll like that place."
So with less nerves and far more excitement this time, I followed my groupmates even deeper into the underbelly of Altdorf.
Gah! The stench was worse than the tunnels, but this was the odor of death and decay. I could hear rustlings and scrapings echoing down the corridors, and sounds which were far more ominous as well. My skin crawled and I kept turning to look behind, sure that something was creeping up on us. I moved closer to my groupmates, confidant and trusting that they would guard me well.
And such was truly the case as we began to meet up with enemies of such heinous visage that had I not been so busy hurling my fires at them, I would have been too panicked to move. My friends were grim, but the steely courage in their eyes bolstered me and I fought with a ferocity I had not tapped yet in my training.
We flew down corridors leaving truer death in our wakes. Surely the evil within the crypts would turn and run from us of their own accord by now! But no. That was too much to hope for as we came upon one of the overseers of the crypts. It was as foul and loathsome a creature as I had ever encountered and my bowels turned to ice within me as our eyes met.
"Cinder, here's the plan. At a certain point in the battle she is going to stop fighting. You need to go talk to her. She will take off running at great speed, but you have to follow her. That's very important! You must keep up with her. Do not let her reach the end. If she reaches it uncaught, the battle will be lost for all of us. Can you do it?"
Can I do it? I thought. My mind was racing and my heart beating erratically. Oh my lord... if I fail my team will perish and the fault will be all mine! I will have let them down at a time when they need me the most!
Pulling my self together and raising my eyes to those who were looking so trustingly at me, I resolved to succeed or die in the attempt. I would not let them down.
"I will do it. I promise."
My brothers and sisters nodded and the battle was begun. The enemy was gruesome. It's defenses were greater than any we had battled thus far, but we knew we had to stand firm. My heart was in my throat. I could NOT fail my friends! Then the moment was upon me! The beast stopped fighting and I rode up as bravely as I could and spoke to it. Almost quicker than a thought it took off running down one of the side corridors. I followed, my feet pounding a muffled staccato on the thickly dusted floors. But still it pulled away from me. I called on my extra reserves and took off with a burst of speed I knew I would not long be able to maintain, but still I was being outdistanced. I grew frantic within my heart as I saw that it had reached the end and that I had failed to catch it.
I cannot describe the despondency that filled my being at that moment. After all the help, teaching, companionship and trust that I had been offered time and time again, I had failed my team in the utter end. I hung my head, removing my helm and rubbing my hand across my eyes.
"I'm so sorry. I have failed you all and your deaths are on my hands. Your wounds will be carven into my heart, mute reminders of the shame of my failure this day." I whispered softly.
Then I heard someone snicker. It was a small sound but it grew until I was sure I had lost my mind. I turned and found my teammates laughing so hard they were leaning against each other for support. Not only were they not dead, they had not a mark on them!
I stared at them in shock and confusion, not understanding what was going on.
"Welcome to the crypts," they said. "Hey Cinder, I know there there is an unlock in a haystack..."