The Fated Three

A Life for a Life

     "Fuck, he escaped" Delgan gritted with his teeth. "We failed" he muttered while kicking at the dirt. He groans at the sharp pain in his side as the lich's bone digs in deeper from his movements. "Easy Del... how the fuck are you still moving around with that thing in your side" she chastised. Freya chuckles to herself as she walks over to Delgan. "You call this failure?" she grins. She places her hands on the bone before ripping it out. "Sonofabitch" Delgan growls while holding his side. "That's what you get for doubting us," Freya says while removing Deglan hands from his side and placing her own hand on his wound. A green glow instantly stitches his skin back together and heals him. "We got my sister back, saved the town from the undead, and I'm pretty sure we broke the mind control spell on the villagers! I considered that a job well done" Freya praises while turning to glance at Sylvie then back at the two hunters. "Look, I know you wanted the bastard dead, but look around Deglan. Your friends are alive and the town is safe! Doesn't that count for something?" Freya cheerfully smiles while looking at Delgan.

     After a moment, he sighed and nodded in agreement. "Yea, I guess it does...we did it" he agreed. Rose fell to her knees again, exhausted. "Hell yea we did," She said with a smile. Delgan looked at his ordinary sword once more, he almost died today. Without Arcadia, what use could he be? He glanced at Rose and back at his sword. 'I must keep this to myself for now' he thought with a sigh before sheathing it back in its holder. Delgan cleared his throat. "Good job guys, let's go check on the village people. Hopefully, they'll be back to normal so we can get ourselves back to the kingdom and report our mission" he instructed. Freya nodded but sat on the ground as she needed some rest. Delgan looked at everyone's tired expressions and sighed. "I guess we could take a quick break." He accepted. Rose laid back on the dirt with a sigh of relief. "Oh thank the gods for that" she huffed, exhausted.

     After a moment of catching her breath, Rose sat up with excitement. Quickly she grabbed her bag and shuffled through it. Freya looked at her new companion in confusion. "What are you doing?" she asked. With a bright smile, Rose pulled out what she was looking for in her bag. In her hands, she held a fresh roll of bread. "Mmm there you are" Rose beamed as she tore off a piece and shoved it in her mouth. Delgan simply shook his head in amusement, Freya's eyes widened. "When did you.." she asked amused. Rose chuckled before answering. "I grabbed it before we left the tavern," she said while shoving another piece in her mouth. With cheeks full of bread, she stretched out her hand in offering. "Wanna piece?" She offered. Delgan and Freya just tilted their heads in laughter. With a smirk, Delgan muttered, "Always so ravenous".

    After Rose finished her bread the group gathered around Sylvie's unconscious body. "You think she'll be okay?" Freya asked the others with a hint of worry in her voice. "She just needs some rest and she'll be good as new" Rose encouraged giving Freya a small smile. "You also have to realize that she had that crazy bitch trapped within her and we don't know what kind of damag-" Delgan tries to finish but Rose jabs his side with her elbow causing him to double over. "Damn it Rose I just got stabbed there, I'm a little fucking sore" Delgan hissed taking deep breaths soothing the pain. "Yeah and Freya completely healed it, so you aren't in that much pain. Now stop bitching" Rose retorted causing Freya to snicker. "What Delgan meant to say was Sylvie has been through a lot and he's just worried about the effects of what Lilith's magic might've done to her mind and body. We have never seen anything like this before. Let's take her to the village doctor and see what they can do to help her" Rose finished before turning to Delgan. "Since you want to be so helpful by running your mouth, I'm sure you won't mind carrying Sylvie out of here" Rose raised a brow waiting for Delgan's response. Before he could open his mouth, "It's fine you guys! I can carry her. I came all this way to bring her home so I got this" Freya said while calling upon her earth magic and commanding the vines to form into a rectangular shape cot big enough for Sylvie to lay on. "That's definitely cheating," Delgan said while picking Sylvie up and placing her onto the plant-based cot. The vines wrap around her waist securing her in place. "Oh hush, you wish you were as cool as me" Freya chuckled nudging Delgan's shoulder. While Rose packed up her bag she turned to the others. "Let's get the hell out of here" Rose stated while walking ahead into the tunnels of the catacombs. The group followed behind her.

    After what seemed like forever, the group finally entered the room where they had taken on the first horde of undead. "Holy shit" Delgan gasped as the tree of life came into view. Its once green leaves were now an ugly shade of brown and wilted, its long beautiful branches were now broken and crumble into ash, and though it used to be standing strongly it was now shriveled up laid on its side fused into the ground like a rotten corpse. "I took the life from it and put it into you guys" Freya whispered as the guilt from taking from the living around her threatened to break her. "That's how you saved us?" Delgan questioned shocked by the damage the tree had taken. "If I hadn't, you guys would've died" Freya stated as she shook away the thoughts. "You did what you had to do, we don't blame you. We thank you" Rose said with a smile placing her hand on Freya's shoulder giving it a squeeze. "Alright ladies, let's head out before anything else happens" Delgan orders moving in between the girls and hurrying Rose along. "Jealous much lover boy?" Freya quietly laughed as they exited the catacombs.