After pausing to take a breath, Fellaroth reached forward and pushed his hand through what now showed itself to be no more than a soft, malleable substance, allowing him to pass through almost unhindered. The others watched on as before their eyes, Fellaroth had stepped forward and vanished from view, leaving only the soft, tranquil ripples in the barrier in his wake. Riegert took a moment to look back at the others before saying. “We will overcome whatever is beyond this point.” He then turned and followed after Fellaroth, leaving Jackson and Calvin to stare at the invisible barrier before them.
Looking down the path, Jackson saw only the walkway continuing toward the bottom of the chamber, where nothing more than some boulders and shrubs could be seen. Though he knew his friends had just passed through the barrier and were no more than a few paces ahead, his mind still couldn’t fathom the fact that what he was seeing before him was no more than a figment conjured by magic. Looking over at Calvin, Jackson could see that he, too, was facing the same thoughts he was. Neither of them wanted to step beyond that barrier and see the potential horrors that the people of Cruwshant were being subjected to. After taking a deep breath, he turned to Calvin and said. “Riegert’s right, you know. We’ve got this. There are people in there who need our help, now isn’t the time to be afraid.”
“What are you talking about, Jackson? Now is exactly the time to be afraid! We have never done anything like this before. Until recently, our most exciting adventure was goblin hunting, and even that had at times proven to be a challenge for us. We’re an E-ranked party, Jackson! Ever since Fell joined our party, we’ve gotten ahead of ourselves. We’ve seen how powerful he was and somehow managed to convince ourselves that we’re on the same level as him. We’re not, Jackson. We shouldn’t be the ones down here doing this. We should have been the ones to investigate and report back so that the proper parties of adequate ranks could be sent in to deal with this!”
“I get that you’re afraid, Calvin, but don’t count yourself short. We have all grown significantly since Fell joined the party. We’re far stronger now than we’ve ever been, and besides, how long do you think it would take us to make it back to any Guild to make our report? And after that, how long do you think it would take for any other party to reach this place and do anything about this? If something isn’t done now, there is a high likelihood that if there are any survivors, they won't last much longer.”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“You don’t know that, Jackson, none of us do. We don’t know what’s happening beyond that barrier!”
“But we don’t need to, Calvin. Do you think, even for a second, that a person capable of abducting the population of an entire city would have any good intentions for those people? They are in danger, and like it or not, we’re the only people in a position to do anything about it. Besides, we have Fell on our side, and as you just pointed out, he is far stronger than any of us. Personally, I think he is a lot stronger than he’s letting on.”
“I’ll level with you, Jackson. I don’t think Fell is who or what he says he is. I think Fell is a calamity-classed being who, by right, shouldn’t exist in this world. All of those things that Riegert keeps pointing out are true; I’ve seen them with my own eyes. The part about him being overpowered, the parts about him knowing things he shouldn’t, and yes, even the parts about him taking mortal wounds and appearing moments later as though nothing had happened. Riegert wasn’t the only one who saw them. I was just too enamoured by him to allow myself to admit that Riegert might in fact be right about him. I wanted to believe that, for some unknown reason, he had chosen us to be his guides in this world, and that through him we would become the stuff of legends. Sadly, all that’s happened so far is that we have gotten in his way. He has allowed us to follow behind him, or get knocked out, so that he could tend to his matters without us seeing or getting in his way. We are nothing more than a convenience for him, something that, Gods forbid, he won't get tired of and rid himself of.”
“I’ve seen it too, Calvin. Fellaroth is certainly no mere mortal. He is something far greater than we can perceive, or at least for the time being, he doesn’t want us to perceive. But that having been said, I don’t for a second think that Fell views us as a hindrance; if he did, he would have just left us a long time ago. I think that we are far more important to Fell than we realise, perhaps not in any way that we can understand, but his actions have shown us that. Whether you can see it or not, he has made each of us stronger and continues to look out for each of us with every passing day. He has done nothing to this point that would make me think that he could or should not be trusted. We are strong, Calvin, and we deserve to stand at his side; if we didn’t, he would have chosen other people to stand beside him… Now enough of this, our party is waiting for us on the other side of that barrier, and so are the people of Cruwshant, let’s not keep them waiting any longer!” added Jackson with finality, as he turned and walked through the barrier leaving Calvin to stare on at the empty path that lay before him.
