As Ben got up a sight of chaos greeted him. At first, he thought a horde of different monsters had come to attack them, they were all so varied in shape and size, it was like the attack on stonewall all over again, but as he looked closer he found they all had distinct similarities.

Despite differences in body structure big enough that they could be mistaken for different species, they all had dark red scales and soulless violet eyes, marking them all as members of one race. Demons.

From what he’d learned, one of the most dangerous aspects of the creatures was their adaptability, their forms drastically changing within single generations to fit their environments, making them well suited to conquer various worlds, and incredibly dangerous to have on the planet, and now their little hunting group had become their prey.

Even worse, there wasn’t the trifling five they’d been told to expect, but thirty of them at least, and some making a beeline to him as soon as they saw him.

He didn’t know what to do, what he could do. He wasn’t a fighter and he didn’t sleep with the barrier gauntlet on, how was he supposed to run? One that was built like a bull lunged at him and he felt death in front of him again. He reached his arm out, prepared to lose it so he could connect with the creature to try and scare it off like he’d done in the past, but before he could Will appeared and lunged at it, knocking it away briefly and giving him enough time to grab Ben in his arms and run with all of his might away from the camp.

“WILL WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Ben yelled as he was being manhandled. “WE CAN’T LEAVE EVERYONE ELSE!”

“STOP MOVING SO MUCH! IT’S ALREADY TOO LATE!” His friend yelled back, pain lacing his voice. “I already saw their bodies being dragged into pits when I got up, if even Wedrow was killed then there’s nothing I can do but get out of here.”

Killed? No, they- But Thera, Steph, they can’t be… He felt sick with horror. For his friends to be gone in the blink of an eye while he slept, how could that happen? How was he supposed to tell everyone? Two of the few people he cared about in the world were gone just like that and his horror turned to rage as he screamed in his mind.

MYRIAD! HOW THE FUCK DID THIS HAPPEN!

He knew his god was watching considering everything that happened and he wanted answers. This couldn’t have happened. Myriad had been watching the entire time, even if he wasn’t omniscient or omnipresent, how could they have been snuck up on like that?

When his god did speak up, it was with a voice filled with remorse.

There has to be something we can do, they can’t just be gone!

He gritted his teeth and tried to keep silent, not trusting himself to speak at the moment. His friends would be dead or dying, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Once they finally felt they were a safe distance away and Myriad said they were no longer being chased they sat in silence. Will had spent almost half the day running and they needed to figure out what to do from there, but neither of them had the energy to talk.

Instead, Will threw together a fire, and Ben let himself fall into despair. With his friends gone he felt all the energy seep out of him in a way he couldn’t stop. It was worse than when he’d taken a few days after he’d been left behind at the church, what was he supposed to do now?

That didn’t even mention how pressing things looked for his own survival. He and Will were trapped hundreds of kilometers into the untamed lands, and without a space mage around there wasn’t any way out other than walking, a task that would take ages to accomplish.

His god said tenderly.

Weeks to stew on his failure to keep the people he cared about safe, a nice prelude to the lifetime of regret that was sure to follow. He had to at least try to recover Thera’s body for her family, though there would probably only be bones left. Maybe her father would kill him for failing his daughter like that, with the way he felt he wouldn’t mind, and he wanted her to properly be laid to rest anyway. He felt his eyes move towards where he thought she would be and then widen as a sliver of hope filled him.

Myriad, if Thera was dead would Bind still work? There was a chance that he really was just being pointed to her body, but he wanted to believe, and his god didn’t disappoint.

Myriad said, hope returning to his own voice.

Ben's heart was pounding at the thought. If she did escape from the demons then maybe the others did with her. They could all be alive, maybe even looking for them! Since their group had the space mages they would be able to make plenty of distance from the demons after all, they might even be in a better situation than he and Will.

“Myriad, I don’t care how you do it, contact Anailia and see if she can find and contact Thera since she’s her believer.”

“If she doesn’t make the time for you tell her I fucking swear I’ll devote whatever little of my life remains to stealing as many of her believers from her as I can,” He almost yelled before turning to Will who turned to watch him seemingly talk to himself. “Will, I have some good news, they might all be okay!”

“What? How can you be sure?” He sounded suspicious but Ben saw some light return to his friend’s eyes with that bit of hope.

“One of my skills links my soul to Theras, supposedly it would stop working if she died, so I can at least say she’s alright, and if she escaped then Steph and Wedrow might be as well!”

Will took a deep breath and covered his eyes, trying to hold back tears. “Oh thank god.”

“I asked my god to contact Thera’s to get in touch with her, hopefully we can all reunite soon.”

Even with the good news, the nervousness didn’t leave them as they waited for answers. Minutes passed and turned into an hour, and as Ben was beginning to seriously consider how to make good on his threat, Myriad came back.

His god told him hesitantly.

Then the bad news? He asked, feeling his stomach drop before he even got an answer.