Everyone looked horrified to see him, but I felt my heart warm. I knew how much my optimism bothered him, so I let go of Tom's shoulder and approached him with a smile.

"Hello, Father." His face twisted into an expression halfway between shame and anger. To make it even better, I added, "I love you."

He shook his head, but his anger was fading. "You never learn, do you, Andor?"

Tom and Jericho approached Helgrind with their swords drawn. "Step out of the way or we'll slay you!" Tom yelled. "You can join the lieutenant!"

"Alister is dead?" Helgrind gasped. "But... how?"

"I think you may have underestimated me, mate," Steve growled, his battle armor shining in the dim lighting.

"Move out of the way!" Firefoxx was clearly impatient. She was probably right. The guards could find us any minute now.

"N... no," Helgrind tried to sound forceful, but his voice broke. He looked extremely uneasy, probably because of my treatment in the prison.

please, Helgrind." Sparklez's voice was quiet and soft. "Spark was your father, was he not? He must have believed in you. What would he have wanted you to do?"

Helgrind had no reply, and stood still, gaping at him.

"Agh, enough of this." The wizard's palm lit up with a red spell, and he thrust it at the king. Helgrind screamed, and dissolved into red dust. Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Wha... what did you do?" I was shocked. "He's not dead, is he?"

"No, no," Waglington replied. "I simply sent him to the top of the Nether. Perhaps he can make a new life for himself there."

After that touching moment, everything following it was chaos. When we finally exited the tower I had been held in, guards surrounded us. Tom screamed a battle cry and leapt toward them, his sword extended. I leaned against Martha for support.

"Tom, we can't kill them all!" Jericho tried to tell him. If the green man had heard him, he ignored the message.

"Andor and Martha," Sparklez said, always the one to come up with the plans. "You two run back to the ship. It's docked at the entrance. Steve will protect you." The farmer nodded and led us towards Sparklez's RV.

I clutched Martha's arm in fear as I heard the others fighting. Steve did a good job of protecting us. One arm was blocking the guards from getting too close to us, and the other arm, carrying his sword, slashed at the guards.

"I'll give all of you a right rumble!" Steve growled as dozens of golems fell to the ground. I could see a small smile appearing on Martha's face, and I relaxed slightly. Maybe everything was going to be okay after all.

With sirens continuing to blast, we reached the RV. Steve and Martha carefully lifted me into it, since I was unable to climb the ladder. Exhausted, I collapsed onto a soft red seat. Martha sat next to me, breathing heavily.

"They need some help out there," Steve said. "I gotta go help. There are some ah... drugs in the back of the RV if you want them." He laughed at the expression on my face, then jumped onto the concrete below.

Martha shook her head, but she was grinning too. "Steve and the sky people. So immature." But she stood up and took some meth from the tank in the back. I decided to pass.

"Run!" I heard someone scream outside. "To the RV, now! There's too many of them! RUN!" Sparklez, followed by everyone else, was dashing towards us. Nobody appeared to be hurt too badly, thank god. Tom was the most beat up, with scratches everywhere, but that was his fault for wanting to fight so badly.

Sparklez jumped into the driver's seat and started the engine. Martha moved up to the passenger seat, and Steve sat down next to me. The others piled into the other seats.

"I killed a man," Tom said with a straight face. "Not a golem, a man. He was a guard trying to defend the prison, and maybe I shouldn't have, but I killed him. I'm not sure how I feel."

There was silence. Then, Sparklez spoke. "Andor, what happened to you in there? What happened to your wings?"

He began to lift the RV off the ground as I spoke. "They decided that I would have to pay for not believing in their god. They... they kicked me and hit me. They cut open my arms and legs too. Then... as a final punishment... they got rid of my wings." I curled into a ball, fighting back tears.

Nobody knew what to say. Steve stared at me, horror on his face. I couldn't meet his eyes. Sparklez turned the RV around and flew away. I looked out the window and breathed in and out in an effort to calm myself down.

"Well," he said finally. "We'll be home soon, and everything will be okay. I promise that I... we... won't let anything happen to you again."