Meanwhile, outside the house, the shadows of Henry and the others all loomed over the road as the distant headlight shone in the distance like a morning sun. Henry, standing over Eustice’s body, took a deep breath as he wiped away his tears and wiped the dust off his now thoroughly ruined coat. Gunfire echoed through the air as the advancing Gratousy shot down the last few remaining traitors. He looked to his right and gazed up at his house, only to see nothing but a catastrophe. The sight of smoke bellowing from the second-floor windows as a fire raged inside made his chest ache with fear and worry.
“What if Janice had been up there?” his mind echoed as it imagined all the worst possible realities. “Lucian, Lily, the twins…what if they’re all…” his thoughts continued. Luckily, he managed to catch himself before he could fall down the pit of despair. “No,” he told himself with as much faith as he could muster. He tried his best to force himself to believe that his family was safe, that they had managed to escape to the Mirror. Yet no matter how many times he reassured himself, a part of him still felt like running into the inferno and calling out to them.
“Halt!” Jeanette shouted as the last standing traitor fell, with the rest diving behind the wreckage for safety. The Gratousy immediately stopped firing their guns and pointed them up at the air, filling the street with an unnerving silence. “Take cover!” she continued, making the guards disperse and hide behind the wreckages of the cars closest to them. Henry observed their remaining ranks, which had diminished to only a hand full of Gratousy. Behind him was a scattered line of destroyed vehicles where his battered and exhausted friends all hid. And behind them were there remaining cars, which appeared to be relatively undamaged. There he could see the young children looking out from the glassless car windows, their faces riddled with fear. With the house now ablaze, they had nowhere else to seek refuge.
From an outside perspective, things appeared quite bleak. Henry rolled the cylinder of his revolver with his thumb, staring at the empty chambers with a frown as he pondered. He then looked down at Eustice once more and, with a determined sigh, made up his mind. He dropped his gun on the ground before leaning down and lifting Eustice’s body onto his shoulders. The weight was almost too much for his body to bear, yet he refused to disgrace his friend by dragging his body on the ground. He walked towards Jeanette and the others and leaned Eustice’s body against one of the cars. Seeing this, the others began to crowd around him, staring at Eustice’s corpse with expressions of horror and devastation. Marilyn stepped to the front of the group and stared at her brother’s corpse. Her eyes widened as she covered her mouth with her hands. She began to sob, and her ability to stand seemingly crumbling away as she began to collapse onto her knees out of misery, though thankfully she was caught by Meredith. Who embraced Marilyn and leaned her head on her shoulder. Henry then looked at the state of his peers, he saw David standing with one arm around Harold’s shoulder and the other covering his wounded eye, Leonard stood by Jeanette’s side, his face riddled with sorrow while Carlyle and Amos stood staring at Eustice, grieving solemnly with their top hats held over their chests.
“I do not think I can handle any more death,” asked Leonard with a plain expression, though his words sounded increasingly hysteric the more he spoke. “Tonight… has been the most dreadful night of our lives, wouldn’t you agree?” he said before looking at Henry, who frowned, not knowing how to answer. “Leonard, I…” he began before he was immediately cut off. “No, no! It was a simple question, Henry. I expect nothing more than a yes or a no,”
Henry paused, now truly at loss for words. Jeanette, confused at her husband’s behavior, took her eyes away from the Gratousy and gave him a concerned look, though he seemed to take little notice. “What are you saying, Bernstein? Have you gone mad?” scoffed Amos, who seemed deeply enraged by Leonard’s nonchalant appearance. “Settle down, Angelmore,” said Carlyle as he stared directly at Leonard. “Let him grieve on his own terms,”
Surely enough, Leonard’s calmness then vanished within seconds as he placed his hand over his eyes and let out a deep sigh while looking at Eustice. His raven Stygius, who stood perched on his shoulder, rubbed its head against the side of his face sympathetically with while forming at the bottoms of his eyes. “How could we have let this happen, this horrible nightmare?” he gasped whilst sniffling audibly. His sadness seemed to become to too much to bear for Jeanette, for she then took her eyes of the Gratousy and embraced her woebegone husband.
“It was unavoidable,” answered Henry. “The visions were all poisoned by trickery! You all saw it, the masks and the uniforms! It was all part of their plan!”
The others stood there, silent as their minds slowly absorbed that revelation. Henry then heard a distant screech. He turned his attention back onto the road, only to see that the lights had stopped moving. Instead, they stood frozen about twenty feet behind the enemy line. Seeing this, Jeanette once again turned to the Gratousy. “Guns at the ready!” she commanded, watching closely as the doors of this new group of cars swung open. The Gratousy loyally and without hesitation pointed their guns at the enemy line.
“What do we do now? We cannot hope to defend ourselves against more of these traitors!” cried Meredith pessimistically.
“Do not fret, Meredith. The Great Houses have survived greater odds than this.” He reassured in an attempt to maintain morale. He then turned to Jeanette. “I don’t suppose you have a spare gun.” Unfortunately, Jeanette shook her head. Henry sighed, somewhat disappointed. “Henry!” Harold then called. Henry turned to face him, Harold, whilst keeping one hand around David’s waist, reached into his coat and pulled out his own gun. “Take mine,” he said before glancing at David. “I have no use for it.”
He threw the gun in the air and Henry caught in his arms. He gave Harold a nod as he spun the revolver cylinder and saw that the gun had three bullets left. He then pressed the cylinder into place, faced the road and stepped towards the edge of the car he was a standing behind. “What are you doing, Demon?” asked Amos. “You cannot seriously think you can out there!”
“No, Amos,” Henry said plainly. “My father was right; Barons do not run or hide from tribulation. It is unbecoming. So, I, like him, am not going to,”
Amos paused. Seemingly having no appropriate response to Henry’s statement. “Well, I agree with that sentiment,” said Carlyle, who then proceeded to reach into his coat and pulled out his own gun. He then looked at Amos, who tightened his lips nervously. He gave Carlyle a side eyed glance before looking at Henry and reaching into his coat. “Yes, I suppose I do as well,” he said somewhat reluctantly as he pulled out his revolver. Henry then turned to Leonard, who still looked rather depressed as he looked down at ground whilst leaning against the car behind him, sniffling quietly. He wiped his face with his hand before noticing Henry in the corner of his eye. Henry gazed at him sympathetically and extended his hand towards him. “What’s say you, Bernstein?”
Leonard took a deep breath and sighed. His lips quivered as he nodded several times in quick succession. He shook Henry’s hand before taking out his own gun. “Aye.”
Henry gave his friend a single nod before turning back towards the road. Then, with his gun in hand, he stepped out from behind the cover of the car and began to walk towards the front of the line with the others following closely behind. In the distance, he could see the faint outlines of top hats and cloaks swaying in the darkness. They came closer and closer, yet something about them felt…odd.
“Something is not right,” said Carlyle, slowly his pace as his eyes stayed fixed on the shapes in front of them. “What do you mean?” asked Amos, raising his eyebrow as he too came to a near halt. “Their thoughts, they seem to be focusing on something other than us. I sense…anger, but…not for us,”
Amos tilted his head, confused. Henry pondered as he slowly kept moving forwards, unsure of what Carlyle’s observations could mean. Then, one of the shrouded figures walked into the light of one of the now glass-less streetlamps, Henry narrowed his eyes as light rays fell on the man’s cloak, and what he saw a deep shade of blue, an almost exact match to what the Gratousy wore.
“Wait!” he said, stopping his tracks. Just then, Henry saw a flash of light followed by a loud bang as one of the figures opened fire. May shots then followed the first one as all the rest of the figures all joined in with their own ammunition. Henry and the others immediately broke away after from each other and dived behind whatever cover was nearest to them. Henry found himself hiding behind yet another car, however this time he was next to one of the Gratousy guards. As the barrage continued, he braced for the sound of a counterattack from their side. A few seconds passed, yet strangely, he did not hear Jeanette shout an offensive order and the man next to him did not make a sound. Confused, he peeked his head over the wreckage, pointing his own gun at the enemy, only to see thin streaks of smoke coming from behind the wreckage in front of him. Seconds later, he saw the wreckage itself begin to move. The sound of iron sliding against the hard road beneath it echoed throughout the street as the bullet-ridden remnants of the enemy vehicles all slid towards either side of the road, with each car taking the effort of at least three men to move.
Henry emerged from his hiding spot and stepped back onto the road, watching with narrow eyes as the men who had just arrived collectively used their power to clear the enemy line completely. In doing so, they were completely vulnerable to attack, yet they did not seem to care. Fortunately, for them, both Jeanette and the Gratousy seemed too taken by aback by confusion to do anything. As the men parted the wreckage, a few bullet-riddled bodies fell onto the road. They had been the last remaining traitors, and now their fate was clear to see.
Seeing Henry step out onto the road, the other barons all did the same. Gazing at the full extent of the death, they had caused filled Henry with a sense of disgust. He gulped, somewhat intimidated by the calm and nonchalant nature in which the figures handled themselves. Once they had finished clearing the road, some of the men retreated towards their vehicles while the rest began to walk forward towards the barons.
Henry stood his ground with Leonard and the other Barons standing only a step behind him. “Form rank!” Jeanette ordered as she stepped out onto the road. The Gratousy obeyed, emerging from their cover and forming a line directly behind the barons. “Take aim!” she continued, the Gratousy then pointed their guns at the figures, with nothing but open air between them and their targets. Jeanette walked over and joined Henry and the other Barons. Together they watched anxiously as the scene unfolded.
“Stand down! We come in peace!” the man in the front of the group pleaded, raising his hands in the air. He appeared quite old, perhaps in his early fifties. A short, half-white beard covered the area around his mouth, and he spoke in a deep voice with a hint of rasp. There was moment of silence followed as Henry contemplated as to how he should respond. “Who are you?” he said, somewhat hastily yet in the most serious voice, he could muster. “And why do you wear Gratousy colors?” Jeanette added, looking at the man’s blue cloak with distrust and skepticism. “We are Gratousy, my lady,” the man replied, parting his cloak to reveal a golden badge in the shape of a star with eight points topped with an eight-pointed crown with the letters ‘OG’ written on the center. It was the Gratousy Insignia.
Henry looked at the badge and realized it was real. The moment he did, he knew that the man was telling the truth, for a Gratousy Insignia was incredibly difficult to counterfeit and, seeing as Henry and the others were outnumbered, incredibly unnecessary. Yet Jeanette didn’t seem entirely convinced, for she kept the guns of their guards pointed at their seemingly newfound ally. “It is true,” said Carlyle, cutting the short the mounting tension as Jeanette and the man stared each other down. “I see no falsehood in his mind; it appears they truly are Gratousy.”
The man turned to Carlyle and, with a smile, bowed his head and hat. “Thank you, my liege.” Carlyle returned the gestured by giving the man a nod. Hearing this, Jeanette finally let down her guard and gestured their guards to lower their weapons. “You are still yet to answer my question,” Henry reminded, feeling more confidence now that he knew he was speaking to a trustworthy subordinate. “Who are you?”
“I am Vice-Captain Ernest Peyton of the Order of Ada, the Ninth Company of the Order of the Gratousy,” the man said with discipline and vigor. However, his words only made Henry more confused. “The Ninth Company?” Jeanette asked whilst raising her eyebrow. “There is no ‘Ninth Company’! The Order of the Gratousy has only eight!” she berated, as her skepticism seemed to rise once more.
“We are a cloak-and-dagger troop, my lady. Our name is only ever spoken, never written, and we operate under a mandate of absolute secrecy,” the man answered with well-rehearsed words. “Under whose mandate?” Harold questioned further. “Who orders do the ‘Order of Ada’ obey?”
Henry thought about it, he knew of only six other people with the authority to form such a group, and five of them were standing beside him, yet it seemed to be none of them. The man then reached into his attire and took out an old yellowish-brown piece of paper which had been folded three times. He then unfolded the paper and handed it to Henry. With the others all peeking over his hand and shoulders, he read the paper. At the top was the title ‘Baronial Decree’ and at the bottom was a signature scribbled over a very familiar name.
“We act under the authority of our founder, the late Baron Ulysses Everton of Everton Borough!” Ernest declared sternly. He seemed to be able to tell what Henry was going to ask next, for he then stated, “And we are here now under orders that were given to us prior to his demise.”
He then went down on one knee, his head facing down as he placed his gun hand over his thigh. “On behalf of my Order, I apologize for our late arrival. We meant to intercept you at Direwood Station, but it appears we made a grave miscalculation.”
Henry looked down at the man. Frankly, he did not know what to think about any of this. His mind could not comprehend the sight of Ulysses’ signature on the bottom of the decree, much less the existence of an entire secret order supposedly created by him. His view of Ulysses began to contort, as he found himself in the maw of an internal crisis. “Stand,” he said softly, and Ernest obeyed. Henry then gave him a nod, half-heartedly accepting his apology. Luckily, his gesture seemed to satisfy Ernest. “Thank you, my liege.” he replied. “Now that we’re here, allow us to escort you to the Baronies. We have train prepared to leave Ridgebury at this very moment. I suggest we leave immediately,”
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Henry and several of the other opened their mouths to object, all seemingly about to bring up the same point. Unfortunately, Meredith was faster than all of them. “Hold on!” she shouted from that back of the group. “Our children are inside that house! We cannot leave without them!”
Ernest stared at the house, particularly at the burning library, and nodded. “Understood, my lady. I shall have my men retrieve them at once,”
“I’m afraid it isn’t that simple.” Henry informed him grimly. “They were told to hide behind a Flame Gateway, one that can only be opened by one of us,” he said whilst gesturing towards the other Great House members. “I will have to accompany you and your men,”
“But I cannot allow that, my liege,” objected Ernest with a frown. “The house is ablaze! I fear it may be too dangerous!”
“Do not talk back to a Baron!” Jeanette warned, taking a step forward in a confrontational manner. However, Leonard then quickly grabbed her shoulders and held her back whilst whispering into her ear, trying to get her to calm down. Meanwhile, Henry tried to appeal to Ernest in a much calmer and less authoritative manner. “Listen here, Vice-Captain, I…”
However, before Henry could finish reassuring Ernest that the house was perfectly safe, the familiar sound of a grenade explosion roared out from the windows. Bits of debris and clouds of dust rose from inside the house as gusts of window blew through the living room and the hallway. The front door swung open and swayed turbulently as the faint glimmer of a hellish inferno shone in the darkness behind the door.
Though he was immediately taken aback by the sudden sound, it took Henry a few moments to properly register what he had just witnessed. But once the severity of the scene had sunk into his skull, his calm and collected composure crumbled into dust. In his panic, he forgot all about Ernest and immediately began running towards the house.
“My liege! Don’t!” Ernest shouted, yet his pleas fell were thoroughly ignored. Moments later, both Leonard and Jeanette began to run behind Henry, with Carlyle, Amos and their guards following mere second later, leaving the others behind. However, Ernest too was quick to act, for he swiftly waved his hand in the air, which prompted his men to try and stop them. The Men of the Order of Ada quickly intercepted Carlyle, Amos and the Gratousy, and blocked their path. The Gratousy guards immediately raised their weapons against their supposed allies. Yet Ernest’s men did not do the same, instead they stood solidly with their feet planted firmly on the ground, unwilling to move at any cost. Fortunately, despite the appearance of this standoff, tensions did not get the opportunity to rise. For, seeing as they were both unable and unwilling to engage in another fight, both Amos and Carlyle stopped moving and signaled the guards to stand down. Ernest then gathered the rest of his men and ran after Henry and the Bernsteins as they went through the front door.
The moment Henry entered his house, the first thing he felt was heat. Smoke filled his nostrils and made him cough as his found it difficult to stay open. In front of him he saw a destroyed hallway, the floor was shredded and smoldering, the walls had been defaced and the dining room doors had been blown off their hinges, with the dining room itself partially on fire. At the back of the hallway was the heart of the inferno, stretching from floor to ceiling like a doorway to hell itself. Henry slowly walked forward with his hand held in front of his head as the narrowness of the hallway funneled smoke in his direction. Seeing that he couldn’t step over the fire, he stretched his arms outward, making unburnt parts of the hallway expand and push into the burning parts, ripping them off onto the floor and replacing them with unignited material, smothering most of the fire in the process. Doing this consumed most of whatever strength he still possessed, yet he did not care as he then began running through the floor, which was now covered in a layer of cinder and smoldering material.
“Wait! Henry!” he heard Leonard’s voice call out from behind him, yet he did not wait for them. He stepped over the blackened corpse of a soldier as he made his way through, the sight of it unnerved him, though he did not stop to dwell on why it was here. Once he got the cinder he came to the entrance of the hall. Seeing that its doors were destroyed, Henry wrapped his finger around his gun and marched on inside. But what he found was not what he was expecting. The first thing he noticed were two bodies of the now deceased traitors, but more importantly, beyond them he saw Lira lying on the floor, motionless with Lucy and Luin kneeling beside her, panic-stricken as they tried to bring her back to consciousness and Blackfeather standing on her stomach, prodding her with its beak trying to do the same thing.
Luin was the first to notice Henry as he entered the room. “Uncle Henry!” he cried whilst getting up on his feet. His words alerted Lucy, whose face lit up with a small glimmer of hope as she turned and saw her father drop his gun on the floor and come running towards them. “FATHER!” she shouted as she stood up, ran up to him and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. Henry stopped and placed his arms on Lucy’s back while facing his nephew. “What happened here? Where are Lucian and the others?” he asked frantically. Luin’s eyes kept looking sideways as his mouth quivered. “Th…they…they,” he stuttered before turning his head towards the back of the hall. Henry followed his gaze and saw the piece of the shattered disk lying next to a somewhat damaged pedestal, with the empty portal staring ominously into the hall. In that moment, he felt his heart stop.
“It…It’s alright!” Luin shouted, feigning optimism after seeing Henry’s horrified expression. “They’re all safe inside! We can fix the door…and get them out…right?”
However, Henry found it difficult to think with any semblance of optimism. The knowledge that Lucian and the other children were safe inside the Mirror was the only thought that gave him any comfort, and he so he clung to it as hard as he could. However, there was one more thing he needed to know. “What about your aunt? Where is she?”
Luin froze. Henry then felt Lucy’s tighten her embrace. He then watched as Luin directed his gaze to the other side of the hall. Henry once again looked to where his eyes were pointing. And there he noticed another body hidden under the shadow of one of the pillars, only its left hand had light shining down on it, but even that was enough Henry to recognize it. He gently took Lucy’s arms off him and slowly pushed her to the side. He then walked towards Janice’s corpse slowly, his expression frozen in state of shock.
“HENRY?” echoed Leonard’s voice suddenly as he and Jeanette finally appeared at the door. However, Henry paid them no heed. Luckily, their attention was immediately grabbed by the sight of Lira. “By Moor!” he gasped, with Jeanette covering her mouth with her hands in shock as they both ran over to her. Leonard, somewhat panicking, sat down next to his daughter and shook her head with both his hands. “Lira, my dear, wake up!” he pleaded continuously. Jeanette was slightly calmer, she held her daughter’s hand and placed her ear on Lira’s chest. She then closed her eyes and within a few seconds, she let out a gasp. “She’s still breathing!” she exclaimed. “We need to get to Harold!”
Leonard nodded in full agreement, he then took a deep breath and calmed himself. He then ordered Blackfeather to get on his shoulder before he and Jeanette each grabbed one of Lira’s arms and, despite their shared exhaustion, hoisted her up with their combined strength. Just as they managed to hoist her onto their shoulders the sound of footsteps pierced through the sound of the smoke as Ernest and his men marched inside the room. “Are you alright, my liege?” he asked with genuine concern.
“Help!” Leonard shouted as he and Jeanette slowly pulled Lira towards the Gratousy. “Take my daughter outside to Baron Venshire, now!”
Ernest, seeing the state of Lira, agreed without hesitation, he gestured to his men and two of them immediately approached the Bernsteins and took Lira off their shoulders and onto theirs. They then carried her out of the hallway whilst holding her feet slightly above the ground. “You must also go, my liege,” Ernest urged. “I doubt it will be long before the fire upstairs collapses this room,”
“We can’t! The gateway…” began Leonard. “It’s broken,” Luin stated, cutting him off. He then pointed at the pedestal, the sight which made both Bernsteins freeze with shock. Leonard’s first instinct was to look towards Henry, who was still staring silently at Janice’s body, seemingly unable to accept what he was seeing. He then took a few steps towards his friend, seemingly confused as to why he was so silent. Yet once he got close enough and saw the horrific scene that Henry’s silhouette had been obscuring from view. He paused and let out a loud gasp, his own trembling in disbelief. Seeing this, Jeanette walked up to her husband only to see the same thing. The moment she saw the state of her fellow Baroness, she let out a horrified shriek, though she managed to cover her mouth before most of the sound could come out. Leonard then turned back and glanced at Luin and Lucy for a brief second. Then, with his mouth quivering, he turned to Ernest. “Take these children outside at once,” he said softly with an expression of grim seriousness. Ernest’s men once again obeyed, for two of his remaining men each grabbed Luin and Lucy by their hands and pulled them towards the entrance of the hall. They both tried to resist, yet their efforts were futile. “No! What about Lucian and Lily?” Lucy asked frantically. “Yes, what about the others?” Luin added, pulling and struggling against the soldier’s grip as hard as he could. “Stop! Let me go!”
“It’s alright,” said Henry, chiming in suddenly. He then turned to his daughter and his nephew, with a expression of determination on his face. “The Great Houses leave no one behind. You must remember that.” he stated as he tried his best to sound encouraging, though in truth he himself didn’t know how much he believed in that phrase. However, that didn’t matter. For all he wanted was for them to believe it. “The Bernsteins and I will retrieve the others, you both must get to safety, now go.”
Hearing this, both Lucy and Luin seemed to realize that they were no needed here. Henry nodded at them both, and they replied with half-hearted nods of their own. Henry tried his best to smile but found that he simply…couldn’t. The soldiers then once again began to pull them away, though now instead of resisting they went along willingly. Henry watched as the soldiers lifted them off the ground onto their arms as they walked over the cinder and smoldering ash, slowly disappearing from his line of sight the further they went.
Henry let out a heavy sigh, he then turned to Janice one final time. She kneeled next to her body and kissed her forehead. A tear started to run down his left cheek, though he wiped it away as soon as he felt it. He then stood up, glanced briefly at the Bernsteins, turned to the pedestal and walked up to it. Once he reached it, he held out both of his hands and began to concentrate. Thoughts of his children began swirling inside his mind, and in them he found strength. As he focused, the broken pieces of the stone began to rise from the ground and accumulate atop the pedestal, slowly they merged with each other until, within seconds, the disk was once again whole.
Henry looked down at the pedestal and held one of his hands over it. He realized that he had doing he could use to cut himself with, for he had lost his top hat in the chaos of the battle. Ernest, seemingly noticing Henry’s lack of sharp instruments, then walked up behind him whilst his hand reached into his cloak. “If I may, my liege.” he uttered in a respectful manner before pulling out a steel dagger with a silver hilt and offering it to Henry, who took the dagger without saying a word. He then pressed the blade against his palm and ran its blade along his skin, creating a small cut from which blood started flowing out. Ernest then took a step back as Henry began to paint the symbol of House Demon on the disk. Once he was done, he struck the disk with his hand and watched at his blood burst into blue flames, waiting anxiously as the stone began to light up, desperate to see his children again.
But something wasn’t right. For instead of the stone melting away to reveal the Mirror, it began to crack as though were glass. Light shined from within the fissures as they spread through the stone, branching like trees and splitting the portal into small pieces. The pieces then began to shake and bounce into each other, filling the hall with the sound of clatter. Henry took a step back, confused as to what he was seeing. Finally, after a few seconds, the stones stopped moving. The light disappeared from the cracks, leaving behind a broken stone slab. Loud thuds then echoed through the hall as the slab crumbled, sending stone pieces falling onto the ground, leaving Henry staring at a nothing but a cold, empty frame that was once the Gateway.
“Wh…what happened?” muttered Leonard, seeing the portal collapse. “Henry?”
But Henry didn’t respond. “No…” he thought, the word echoing in his skill. He walked up to the broken door, leaned and grabbed one of the broken pieces. He stared at it, unable to accept what he was seeing. He tightened his hold on the stone though his powers made it turn to liquid and seep back onto the ground through the gaps between his fingers. He then stood up; his mind having come to terms with that fact that what he was seeing was indeed real. “Lucian? Lily? Lidian?” he whispered, thinking maybe they could hear him, that maybe his voice could transcend the barrier between worlds. Though that hope only lasted a few moments. For he then felt an overwhelming feeling of rage and sadness, which was finally too much for him to bear. In that moment, he let his feelings consume him. He banged his fist against the wall and screamed. His devastation poured out through his voice and began to distort his surroundings. Banners began to unravel, the bricks that made up the walls began to melt into one another, and sections of the pillars began to separate. The Bernsteins along with Ernest and his remaining men watched in both awe and fear as the entire hall came to the brink of collapse. Though luckily Henry was able to get ahold of himself once more before that could occur. He stopped screaming and fell on his knees, for he felt too weak to keep standing. Ernest immediately went over to him and placed his arm underneath Henry’s before pulling him back onto his feet whilst he sobbed continuously.
“My condolences, my liege,” Ernest said sympathetically. He then looked up and examined the ceiling above them with an uneasy expression, for despite Henry having not collapsed the room entirely, his outburst had left several of the main pillars disfigured and structurally compromised. “I understand that you have suffered a great, my liege, but I’m afraid we must leave here lest we wish for this room to collapse on top of us,”
“No,” Henry said plainly in a voice akin to that of a drunkard whilst he stared at the Gateway. “I wish to stay, I want to stay, let me…die here.”
“I cannot allow you to do that, my liege,” Ernest protested. “That’s an order, Vice…Captain.” Henry replied. Ernest then sighed, seemingly fed up with Henry’s constant refusal. Henry could see him reach into his cloak from the corner of his eye, though he did not care about the reason in the slightest, for he had thoroughly given up, having lost everything. “I apologize for having to resort to this, my liege. But I must get you to the train at any cost,” Ernest said solemnly. A few seconds later, Henry felt a sharp pain on the side of his neck, followed by a feeling of somnolence. He then felt his entire body go numb as all his physical pain disappeared. He then heard clang sound as something fell on the ground next to him. He looked at the ground only to see a small bronze syringe lying next to his feet. His vision then began to blur and his strength faded away, making his lose control of his entire body. He began to fall onto the ground, only for Ernest to catch him immediately and slowly ease him onto the stone floor.
“You treasonous wretch! What did you do to him?” he heard Jeanette shout, though he was unable to move his head and could only see Ernest looming over him. “Do not fret, my lady. It is not poison! It is merely a contingency we had on hand just in case. You must understand, I simply had no other choice.” he explained before doing a signal with his hands, followed by the sound of both Bernsteins screaming overshadowed by Ernest’s continuous apologies. “I’m sorry, my lady and liege. I truly am!”
Henry couldn’t hear the Bernstein’s exact words, for his hearing was also beginning to leave him. However, that didn’t matter, for after a few seconds, the Bernsteins went completely silent, most likely suffering the same fate he had.
Henry felt himself being dragged down into a deep sleep as his eyes began to close. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was Ernest reaching down towards him. He felt alone in an abyss, with the last thing he thought of before being consumed by the darkness being his family. As his thoughts retreated into his dreams, he could the echoes of familiar voices. Janice, Wren, David, his children, he could hear them all calling out to him. Beckoning him to return home. Perhaps this had all been a nightmare. Perhaps he was finally about to wake up. And maybe once he did, he would find himself happy and whole again.
