Through the tumultuous winds that tempted to carry the group off the cliff. A small glimmer of hope was not present underneath all of the problems Aldweck faced. In the face of extreme danger, his heart skipped a beat. The gravel underneath his feet was slick with rain, the cries of those around the cliff’s edge only heightened his sense of impending doom. His boots lost their traction and he stumbled before catching himself in a kneeling position.

“There’s nowhere left for you to turn.” General Hickory reassured.

Erick’s brows frowned. He opened his mouth and bit at the cloth holding Zaya’s mouth restrained. He then pushed her forward, removed her gag, and stood in front of the surviving group in front of the entire crowd. He faced the armed soldiers with their barrels pointing at him alone. His eyes were wild with determination as he held Zaya tightly. Her look was one of bewilderment as to what he was planning. General Hickory looked onward to the cliff with a suspicious gaze.

“You can’t kill Zaya. She is a political asset that you can’t afford to cripple. Killing her is tantamount to declaring war on the Harbright Empire. An empire so powerful it would destroy your puny island nation ten times over!” Erick shouted over the storm, causing stiffness to permeate in the air. Zaya struggled and mangled against Erick, her eyes full of anger.

“You think you can get yourself out of this?” Zaya laughed, “I think you should shoot these guys. It’s not like you can do anything. They don’t have to shoot me, and most of you will still die!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure, just look at the general’s expression.” Erick lifted her head up and made her eyes look into Hickory’s. His eyes were at odds with one another as he kept his hand motioned in a position to prevent the line of riflemen from firing. His expression had turned ghostly white.

“You fool! Don’t show your true intentions so plainly in your face. You fucking pig.” Zaya spat, finally wrestling herself free from Erick, unexpectedly. Erick jumped to grab her but was met by a maelstrom of gunfire that left two men behind him dead on the ground. Aldweck lept on top of Zaya and tackled her to the ground as the firefight broke out above them.

The attack had left most of General Hickory’s men surprised and they ended up sustaining casualties. A powerful lightning strike that struck near the cliffside caused the edge of the cliff to collapse and fall down into a spiraling death. Aldweck saw everything happen in slow motion as Chammie and Velis fell to their deaths.

Aldweck did his best to run to grab them, but he was far too late before he even got close to the edge.

Larience screamed at the top of his lungs, “Everyone, run for your lives! Scatter!” He darted off to the side and disappeared into the brush. A few soldiers managed to get away but most had been left dead on this cliff of hell. Meanwhile, General Hickory’s forces were almost untouched besides a few dead men laying on the ground.

Erick and Zaya struggled against one another as Aldweck stood helplessly at the center of all this.

General Hickory’s smile crept upwards as he walked forward to Aldweck. His hand began to glow with blue energy.

“I’m going to enjoy killing you. All of my problems are about to float away into the sky, with the remains left to rot on this cliff’s edge. Do you have anything to say for yourself, you failure of an assassin?”

Aldweck remained silent. He had once again been powerless to do anything except watch those around him die. He wiped his face and sighed.

“Come and kill me then.”

“Have it your way!” Blue energy enveloped Aldweck as his body was obliterated to pieces. Erick’s screams drowned out as the darkness enveloped Mitch once more. He felt the pool of water cascading his body. His eyes fluttered open in this darkness and the moon stared back down at his translucent body. He walked out of Aldweck’s body and toward the door of light. The door that promised him to come back home.

“No, please!” Mitch started running, his breathing heavy as the vine pierced his chest and caused him to feel an immense pain that could only be described as death. A rose bloomed out from his blood and another petal turned grey and withered away. Three petals remained. Mitch sighed but quickly winced as the vine constricted around him and consumed him entirely. Light exploded outward and Mitch’s vision returned as the rain continued to rain down on him.

Screams poured out from every direction in shock. Aldweck’s fist had turned into a green vine that had pierced through General Hickory’s chest, suspending him up in the air. He looked in Aldweck’s eyes with a confused fear, “What is this witchcraft, Aldweck? I eviscerate your body and it grows back…” He coughed up some blood into his face, “and now your arm turns into a vine as strong as a blade.”

Aldweck pulled himself off of the general and patted his body before looking back at Erick and the general.

“H-How did you do that? Master?” Erick’s eyes were wide as could be. Everyone else’s legs were trembling. General Hickory fell to his knees, his eyes unable to look at anything but Aldweck who had shown a feat that was beyond magic. No, this was a curse. This was sacredly forbidden! Whatever had happened to Aldweck? These were the thoughts that spun in the general’s mind.

A few of the soldiers rushed to the general’s side. He brushed them off and placed his hand on his gaping hole. In an instant, he started repairing his body with magic. He groaned in pain before finally looking back at Aldweck, “That will have to do.”

He stood up and stepped forward, “I don’t know what witchcraft you’ve discovered, but you are unfit to live in this world. You are a danger to more than the Cariqueys. I will prevent the calamity that you are, from continuing to exist.” Two powerful blue balls of energy appeared in his hands.

Alex’s eyes had been wide this entire time. He had known that Aldweck was from another world, but seeing all of this brought truth to his eyes, “You are a rose! A rose I say!”

Aldweck turned to Alex, “You know something don’t you?!” He yelled out at the penguin who hadn’t been noticed before. Everyone’s attention turned to the penguin that they had previously not seen before.

General Hickory lowered his arms and raised his brow, “What the hell is a penguin doing way out here?”

Erick held Zaya down, “I knew it. That penguin isn’t normal after all…” His eyes narrowed as he paid special attention to the penguin’s mannerisms as it croaked out at Aldweck.

“Yeah, sure I do. But that explains how you got to this world, it’s beautiful. It would ruin the fun for me to tell you!” Alex pointed and laughed at Aldweck. Mitch’s rage reached a new boiling point. This world had been a constant tease of information that didn’t add up. He dashed toward the penguin and was going to jump on him. He had lost Chammie and Velis, and many more people he didn’t know to this penguin. To his inability to change anything himself. He was going to hurt Alex!

Alex backed up a few steps, “Hey! What do you think you’re doing fuck-face?!” he whipped his flapper around and an indescribable amount of air through Aldweck back at invisible speeds, straight into General Hickory. Hickory coughed as his head hit the back of a tree and caused him to fall unconscious. Many of the other men had been blown over by this wave of air that had stiffened the area.

Erick stood up and looked at the penguin, “So, it was you the entire time!” He dispelled the magic realm on Zaya and summoned a large fiery arrow into his hand. It faded away into dust as Alex casually disregarded Erick’s magic.

“Wha--!? Why can’t I use magic? Is this also part of your power?” Erick took two steps forward before Aldweck’s voice rose from across the cliff.

“Don’t mess with that penguin, Erick! It will be the death of all of us. Even if you know the truth, you can’t allow yourself to try and face it. Its power is absolute!” Aldweck grimaced, rolling off of General Hickory whose body had slumped over on his side.

During all of this, Zaya managed to burn the ropes to ash and appear before General Hickory.

“Your fools for thinking a penguin is capable of that level of attack, and fools for letting your magic realm go. Now that my guard is up, you have no chance.” Zaya grabbed General Hickory and gave them one final look before disappearing off into the forest with several of the other men that had routed.

She did not want to take her chances of getting accidentally restrained again. Losing General Hickory here in her role as a hostage would have severe negative consequences for her position as a knight. She couldn’t afford to tarnish her name any further, the alliance depended on her contribution here.

Erick stumbled over to Aldweck, while Alex sat on a rock watching them.

“Why didn’t you tell me, master?!” Erick grabbed hold of Aldweck’s shirt, “Forget that Zaya got away again--why is this penguin corrupting you? You could tell me. You can trust me!”

Aldweck grabbed hold of Erick’s hand, “It’s fine. Don’t worry about me. It has nothing to do with that penguin.”

“You really expect me to believe that, after what I saw? Maybe Zaya can live in denial, but I sure as hell can’t!”

“I’ll explain everything in due time! Just trust me and let’s look for the others.” Aldweck grabbed Erick’s hand and unlatched it from his shirt.

“I will always trust you, but lately...It’s been really hard.” Erick frowned with a sigh, “Especially when you’re keeping secrets like this. This isn’t like you at all.”

“I have my reasons. I promise. I’m doing what’s best for both of us.” Aldweck managed to say in between tears. He rolled over and stood up, “Now let’s look for the others before I mentally collapse, Erick.”

Erick hesitated, but clutched his hands and nodded, “Fine, but once all of this is over. I expect you to tell me what’s really going on and why this penguin has been following us. I’m not a fool. You should know this about me.”

A voice lurched over the horizon, “Help us! We’re going to fall!”

“Wait, that sounds like Steilart!” Aldweck said, running to the cliff’s edge as the rain began to peter to a close. Over the edge was Steilart, drenched in rain and mud, holding tightly to the cliffside while suspending Chammie and Velis with his other arm. They were dangling down a dangerous drop like a rope, struggling to hold on.

“Well, don’t fucking sit there! Grab us! Hurry...my hand is slipping.” Steilart groaned.

Aldweck reached out and grabbed hold of Steilart’s arm. Erick cast some magic, bringing the earth out from underneath them to catch them and carry them up as Aldweck held tightly onto them. They rolled out from the earth hand and onto safe ground. Steilart’s breathing was unsteady. Velis had started crying, his hands over his face. Chammie looked around for signs of danger, still not feeling safe.

Steilart stood up and pounded the ground, “Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!”

“W-What!? What’s wrong?” Aldweck knelt on one knee and looked at Steilart before his eyes met Aldweck’s.

“We’re fucking alive right now. How did we survive that?” He grabbed Aldweck by the shoulders, “How did we survive that?!” Steilart pulled Aldweck in and hugged him tightly, tears bubbling in his eyes.

“I thought we were dead.”

“We all did...we all did.” Aldweck hugged him back, patting his shoulder.

“Now, we have to find the others and get the hell off this god-forsaken island,” Aldweck said.