"pssst."

I jumped up, cursing myself for almost falling asleep while guarding Rellian. We all took turns at watching him during the nighttime, to make sure nothing would happen.

"pssst!!!"

Cautiously I turned around, weapon at the ready. Blue hair gleamed in the moonlight.

"Zelda??"

My old friend beckoned me from the bushes, and I quickly snuck up on her. Each guild member took a watch period, making sure nothing happened to Rellian while he stood there tied to a pole. I tried my best not to look at him too much, as it made me feel sick with guilt.

"How the hell did you manage to get inside our force-field? Aros will kill you if he sees you here!"

Zelda shrugged indifferently; "but he won't. I have something for you." A small smile formed round her lips as she began rummaging in one of her coat pockets, her yellow Draxite happily moving up and down. She pulled out a small glass bottle, containing some yellow substance with a cork pressed on it. Without saying a word, she pressed it into my hand, and she nodded to the sick Rellian hanging behind me as a pointer. I twisted the cork off, smelled once, and scrunched up my nose; "Smells like piss...looks like piss...what is this?"

"It'll help your friend out a bunch, so you can deliver that message of yours.", now pointing at the necklace around my neck that Rell had given to me at his last goodbye. I swallowed. Suddenly, Zelda looked up like a startled deer, her pointed ears turning to some sound that was inaudible to humans. "Speak of the devil...", she mumbled, flashing her sharp fangs at something behind me.

"Stop right there." The tip of an arrowhead appeared over my shoulder just in view, and I heard Aros's distrustful voice focus on the potential intruder. I turned around slowly, holding my arms half in the air in surrender, the tiny bottle still in my hand."Do you still think he's gonna kill me?", my friend asked sarcastically, holding her hands up in the air too.

"Get the hell out of here or I'll blow your bloody brains out." snarled the leader in his thick British accent. Zelda defiantly bowed her head; "say no more, human fetishizer."

After those words, she turned and ran away, into the darkness of the jungle. For a moment, I started to doubt the friendship I had formed with the Ecrian. No one should talk to a leader like that.

I was startled up out of my thoughts when Aros raised his voice again. Before lowering his bow he pointed with it to the bottle in my hand.

"And what is that?"

"I...uh...nothing..."

With inhuman speed, he threw his bow against the ground, trotted towards me and grabbed me by my collar, just like on our very first meeting.

"DON'T LIE TO ME! DO! !! NOT!! LIE! ! TO! ME!!!"

He shook me with each emphasized syllable, and I began to weep hiccupingly because of the shock, my world spinning due to his strength. "I just want to help him, this can help him, please," I gasped.

Aros fidgeted the bottle out of my dirty hands, still gripping me tightly by my collar. Without further examination, he tossed it onto the ground, the liquid splashing on the moss-covered cobblestones with a loud crack, shattered glass flying around our feet. Aros set me back down with a jerk, and I noticed how his pupils were forced to slits, his face slightly greened by protruding scales; through his anger, Brutheo surfaced.

The leader took a few steps back and looked frantically at his hands, as if surprised at what he just did. Slowly he regained control of the beast, and his angry look gave way to a pair of concerned, green eyes.

"Zig, I...I'm so sorry, I-"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

I cried those words out, and flinched as Aros tried to approach me, trying to ignore his hurt reaction that was clearly readable on his face."You screwed up, you screwed up and now everything is going to shit! Screw you! Screw you!!!"

Angry, terrified, and crying, I pushed him away, and ran in the direction of the pole that Rellian was tied to.

After what seemed like endless running through the dark, I slid to a stop in the dew-wet grass. There he stood. Tied to a pole at the border of the camp. I was panting and trying to keep all my pent up feelings inside, until I burst; I slammed down on the ground, pounding my fists on the pavement, screaming, crying, cursing, ranting, raving, vomiting, almost fainting. We lost him. We lost Rellian. I failed the guild.

After my tantrum, I remained kneeling, still clutching a patch of grass in my closed fist, pain rushing through my nervous system from having my nails pinched into my own palm. Slowly, I lifted up my head to look at Rellian.

Aros had stopped me when I tried to help him a few hours ago. We couldn't help him anymore. All Aros could do for him was put him out of his misery early, for he was a danger to himself as well as to the entire guild. I looked around and saw Rexus sitting on a cut tree trunk, his elbows on his knees, his hands grasping his cropped afro as tears streamed down his face that gloomed in the moonlight.

He would lose his best friend, comrade-in-arms, someone he considered a brother, and above all, the only person he was allowed to talk to about the strange capital, Kleim. The dragon breeder didn't look up as I sat down next to him, and I assumed he was still angry for keeping Rell's illness a secret, so it wasn't surprising that I was startled when he started talking anyway.

"He wanted you to have this."

He tossed a package in my lap, which i curiously opened. A pale shimmer reflected on a piece of metal as I tossed the wrapping down, next to my feet.

I stared at the crooked dagger that had once belonged to Rellian. The dagger he used to attack Kindle. Rexus looked at me, not even trying to wipe the tears off off his dirty face. "He would feel honored if you wielded it in the coming battle against Sherdol." He whispered. What if it was my fault that all these things happened? Since I got here, all things that could go wrong went wrong: the guilds' greatest enemy had come back from the dead, Kindle was attacked by someone he considers family, four people died, and Rellian had been infected by the Vortex. The feeling of guilt stung my heart like a syringe, as I looked down at the tube hanging from the necklace that Rellian gifted me yesterday.

"Nena..."

I looked up, meeting my eyes with a stare that said over a thousand words; Rellian's blackened eyes met mine as he spoke. At that very moment it was just us. Rexus, who was sat next to me, vanished, Aros, who came up behind us, vanished too. I was caught up in the moment, hearing the infected Dragon breeder speak sanely one last time. He gargled out the sentence, slime dripping from his chin.

"Finish what you started."

Next to me I heard a sobbing grunt from Rexus, and I myself gasped for breath, my mouth all dried up. Aros sighed and rubbed his face with his right hand.

Rellian now turned his blackened gaze to his former leader and friend, a begging expression on his face.

"Aros, please..."

Aros finally straightened his back, raising his chin in an attempt to hide his own pain. 

"Go inside.... I don't want you to have to go through this. It's my burden to finish this. Not yours"

My heart stopped.