Call of the Abyss [Book 2 Complete]

Ravina exited the treeline and halted, surprised to see the host of adventurers assembled before her. The tents were packed, fires stamped out, and all were ready to run. Though a few looked pale, most were hale and healthy—which was surprising, considering the amount of ale they went through the previous night.

She cast her gaze around the group, noting Mondan to the side. He nodded at her, and she nodded back. He'd assembled them this way so that she might have a moment to address them—to address their trepidations and fears, which were completely valid.

The group was noticeably smaller than the previous morning, and a brief moment of guilt and despair clutched at her chest, but she breathed slowly and cast it out. She had made mistakes, but she could learn from them and be better for it.

Now was the time to do that. She might not be able to change the past and bring the deserters back, but she could rally the brave people that stayed.

"Ya know, I ain't never told no one this, but I wasn't a solo adventurer by choice—or I wasn't initially," she started loudly but calmly. She sought to be heard, not to yell.

"I was just a bright eyed little pup eager to fight monsters and save villages—the typical stuff of a child's dreams.

"I got me a good squad of comrades. They were a bunch'a fools—all'a us were—but we all knew what we wanted to do, who we wanted to be. Heroes! Heroes who make a difference!" she said with dramatic flair, throwing her fist into the air.

She chuckled along with many of the assembled adventurers, the feeling being familiar to most.

"It went pretty good for a while. Took some jobs that were risky, given our experience, but not completely unrealistic. Learned a lot, grew a lot, got stronger.

"One day we got a job to check out this village that'd been losing farm animals. It wasn't nothin' extreme—a cow or two a week—but the number they were losin' was startin' to escalate. Our job was to figure out what was goin' on and fix it.

"We spent a few days investigatin' the village, looked around for clues, staked out the village during the night, asked around for any sightin's of monsters or the like. Ain't nobody seen a lick a trouble, so the job was startin' to drag on.

"One day, when we were patrollin' the perimeter of the village and fields, a young man came runnin' up to us. He was all bedraggled, like he ain't even thought 'bout a bath in weeks. His clothes were all ripped and torn, his shoes damaged like he'd run for days straight.

"He told us he was from another village about two day's run from the one we were at. Said his village had been taken over by a goblin horde, and he'd only managed to escape while they were preoccupied with tyin' up his friends and family.

"He begged us to come and help—begged us to save his home," she said seriously.

The group before her was deathly quiet, this also likely being a familiar story to many of them.

"We talked 'bout it for a few minutes. We were heroes! We were meant to fight these goblins off and save the village!...only, we were scared—but not of the goblins.

"We were friends, all of us. We spent most of our wakin' moments together. We were scared of losin' each other.

"We were so scared about the potential for death that we decided not to run over and help. It was tactically unsound, ya see.

"Unknown number a goblins, likely hardenin' their defenses in an already fortified village? We were just a few Irons. What could we do?

"So, we ran back to the Guild, told them 'bout the situation, and signed up for the job to eradicate the horde. We had twenty or thirty adventurers with us when we set out a couple days later. Ain't no goblins gonna stand in our way! Morale was high on the march.

"When we got to the village, it was a bloody affair. The goblins had entrenched themselves in the village, fortified the existing wall with stakes, had archers posted—everything we'd hoped they wouldn't do.

"We lost a few good adventurers that day, but we triumphed. Only…when we checked all the houses, all we found were corpses—and far fewer than we should've.

"All the villagers—every single one—were killed. Many were cooked and eaten so that all we found of 'em was bones with teeth marks in 'em.

"We found the corpse of the man that told us about the goblin horde next to the first house inside the gate. He had an arm missing, and one of his legs was eaten straight off his body up to the knee. Poor bastard probably only got relief when he bled out while they gnawed on him.

"He ran all the way back to the village, even in the sorry state we found him, to try and rescue his people.

"My party and I…we thought about this frequently for the next couple months. It haunted our waking moments as much as our dreams, and we drifted apart. Less than a year later, our party disbanded. We couldn't bear to look at each other and think about the sacrifice we made.

"We sacrificed that entire village on the chance that one of us might die. We made that choice consciously, and it haunted us to the point of disbanding.

"That sacrifice ended up a waste. Ironically, because we chose to mitigate the risk to ourselves at the expense of others, we brought about our own fears and disbanded.

"True, none of us died, but we haven't even seen each other in over a decade. I have no idea how they're doing—if they're even still alive.

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"I went solo from then on. Couldn't bring myself to join another party, not because of guilt over what I'd done, but because I was terrified I'd do it again.

"It's so much easier to risk yer own life than the lives of people ya care about," Ravina said sadly.

She looked around at the adventurers, receiving some looks of sympathy, but far more looks of empathy, of understanding.

"I ain't gonna lie to ya. I got a personal stake in this fight. My student, Julia, is stuck in the marsh—behind the undead blockade. That's more than enough motivation for me.

"You? You don't owe me or the marsh nothin'. You got no reason to put your life on the line for any of this business. The only reward I can promise you is an opportunity to gain Levels and combat experience. Askin' you to put your lives on the line for just that is a lot, I know.

"I've personally found that when the goin' gets tough, all that idealistic shit about 'doing the right thing' and 'for the greater good' don't mean much. It's the personal stakes that make ya grit yer teeth and put one boot in front of the other, despite the constant pain.

"So I ain't gonna ask ya to stay—to come with me.

"I'll just say this: there's not a single second that goes by where I don't regret leavin' those villagers to their fate—even now. If I could go back in time, I'd march—by myself, if I had to—to that village and wipe those fuckin' goblins out. I'd save those villagers and be the hero I wanted to be as a kid.

"As it stands, all I can do is try to make up for it every single day, for the rest of my life. Hopefully, when my time comes, I can look my past self—the one that wanted to be a hero that saves people—in the eye without havin' to apologize for the mistakes I've made, knowin' I've more than made up for them in the time since.

"If ya want motivation that ya can hold onto durin' hardship, let your own mistakes be a lesson to ya. Or, if yer lucky enough to not have any of those, use mine. Let my own mistakes spur ya on.

"I know it's difficult right now, but believe me. It's so much easier to take a risk now than it is to live with regret for the rest of yer days.

"Remember this: no one can face the entire world alone. No one.

"If ya start wonderin' why yer puttin' yer life on the line, ask yerself this: if you don't come to the elves' rescue, who's gonna come to yours when trouble comes to Durthangrim?

"Because trouble will come, one day. And when it does, if you didn't stand for them, who the hell's gonna stand for you?" she finished.

She looked over their faces and saw jaws setting, determination firming behind their eyes.

Just then, Drego came walking out of the treeline. He walked with a casual gait, but his steps carried him much farther than most.

"We're headin' out, old man. You still got the energy left to run with us?" Ravina called with a smile.

"I've spent more time running than your entire motley assembly has been alive. You lot should worry about keeping up with me," he called back with a small smile.

Ravina's smile grew, and she turned back to the adventurers.

"I'll say it again: any fools with fire in their hearts and death at their heels, follow me! We're moving out!" she bellowed, a fist in the air as she took off at a run.

She was relieved to hear the thunder of boots behind her, accompanied by war cries that would probably send animals fleeing for miles around.

Actually, it certainly would, judging by Drego's look of dissatisfaction. He pulled his braided branches up his neck and inserted both ends into his ears before taking off much faster than Ravina. He'd apparently decided he'd rather run ahead of the group, which made her chuckle.

"You've done surprisingly well, Ravina," Sith said.

Ravina stumbled and recovered before she fell. Somehow, Sith had once again managed to manifest right next to her, as though appearing out of thin air.

"Lost a tenth of my force. 'Well' is a pretty low standard nowadays, apparently," Ravina replied dejectedly. Though truthfully, her spirits were much improved after her heart-to-heart with the adventurers.

"Indeed, it is a substantial loss. However, the loss promoted your learning, which enabled you to gain Drego. This is a positive outcome overall, if not completely optimal. You have done well and taken the next step toward leadership.

"Leadership is not about strength. That's a requirement for Mithril ranks, but Adamantine requires more. Leadership is about mastering yourself. For only once you've mastered yourself can you turn your attention outward.

"You cannot inspire allies without being able to inspire yourself. You cannot resolve conflicts between allies if you are conflicted yourself.

"You cannot lead others if you cannot lead yourself.

"Mastering yourself is a goal that you will spend your entire life trying to accomplish, but you have taken a major step in the right direction.

"This is not normally how things would be done, but your path ends with a battle of historic proportions, so we will conclude your test here," Sith finished.

She held up a badge—wait, that was Ravina's Mithril badge. How the bloody blue fuck did she get that?

The badge shifted and wriggled in her palm like a fish out of water. Its color shifted from a pinkish-white to a deep black. It still had the whitish-pink of Mithril around the edge, but a polished black like onyx occupied the entire center.

Carved into the middle was a sword—Ravina's sword, she realized—with a wing behind it (a raven's wing?).

"The fuck is that in the middle?" she asked as she took the badge from Sith's extended palm.

"Your coat of arms. You are hereby promoted to the rank of Adamantine, Ravina Bladesworn.

"Let this coat of arms denote your rank and position within the Guild, and congratulations on your achievement.

"I trust I don't need to explain the benefits of Adamantine rank to you?" Sith said sarcastically with a small smile.

"Not really," Ravina said as she pinned the badge to her collar. "But I kinda want you to, since it would annoy—"

Sith was gone, just as suddenly as she had appeared.

Ravina sighed, though she should've expected it. Gods forbid she get even a fraction of revenge on Sith for all the trouble she'd caused.

The plains only continued for about half a day's run before giving way to the Jizran Savannah. From there, it was just a two day run to the swamp that surrounded the marsh. The end of their journey was near.

Even with death likely ahead, Ravina felt relieved. It was finally over! This had been, without a doubt, the hardest test of her life.