I marched to my own death. My instincts screamed to reconsider with every step, but it was the only way. Restarting wasn’t an option anymore. A true death was much less daunting than the idea of going through the pains of the dungeon again. We’d have to be more careful on the rest of our journey to level forty.

The party was silent as our footsteps echoed through a long portion of empty cave. Everything Hendrix and I had done since meeting had led to this. It felt so final as if conquering this dungeon had been the end goal all along. In truth, there was so much more left to do after the Singing Caves. We had to stop Kaloriann before she could hurt my family. To do that, we’d have to find a way into the capital to free the royal family. And we couldn’t even start with that task until we were level forty, and we’d yet to hit ten.

If not for Mother and Dara, I’d have turned back right then and there to find a nice quiet place in the woods to live out my days. Instead, I marched abreast with Wolfgang as the cave opened up around us.

A hidden source of light cast a beam upon a raised boulder in the center of the otherwise empty room. Atop the boulder sat an injured raventaur. It was Brinson, the Sun-Touched’s brother who we’d fought at the start of the dungeon.

Wolfgang stepped forward and entered the room. Brinson laughed once he saw us. “You are fools to have followed me.” He rose to his talons and spread his tattered wings. Blood leaked down his chest and abdomen, and one of his arms hung limp and broken. The muscles around his hard, black beak smirked, and he laughed again, staring us down with lifeless eyes. “I must admit I am impressed that you were able to survive the Mother Queen. Few can evade her when she means to feed.” He relaxed his wings and knelt to a more comfortable position. “It matters not. You have followed me to your doom!”

A light tremble ran along the smooth, round walls. I braced myself, ready for anything. Hendrix yawned.

“Do we try, or just die?” Nikk asked.

“We can try for a little while to get the hang of the fight,” Wolfgang said, “but the truth is, without a healer, we won’t last more than a minute.” He looked over each member of the party with pursed lips and shook his head. “If we had some off-heals…” He let the thought trail off.

“You have me cornered, doomed adventurers,” Brinson said. “But I have something up my sleeve. The Dark Lady did not entrust me with the securing of the territory for nothing. Mongrim!” An earth-shaking roar rushed from a tunnel behind Brinson’s raised boulder—violent tremors followed. I recognized the name. Delrik had mentioned it at the abandoned gnoll prison.

The gargantuan chief of the gnolls emerged from the tunnel at a full sprint. It flailed its massive arms, smashing them against the walls and ceiling, leaving crumbled stone in its wake. It moved quick for something so big, like a force of nature, as unstoppable as a tidal wave or a landslide.

“How are we supposed to fight this?” I shouted.

“We aren’t,” Wolfgang said.

“No, I mean even once Manalolz is back.”

Wolfgang sighed. “It won’t be easy.”

“I don’t want to die again,” Hendrix said. “I had a true death already. It hurts. I don’t want to do it again.”

“It’s too late for that,” Wolfgang said. “We had our chance to reconsider. We all agreed.”

“I know,” Hendrix said. “But I change my mind.”

Wolfgang smiled. “We have no choice, I’m afraid.”

“What do you mean?”

Mongrim bellowed a ferocious cry our way, shaking the very bones beneath my skin. The cave walls shook as if rallied by the monster’s shout. Max rolled into view and hopped to his feet with wide eyes glaring past me.

The entrance to the room had collapsed. I ran around Brinson’s boulder only to find that Mongrim’s original tunnel was also closed off. There was no way out.

“What do we do now?” I asked. “Even if we defeat him, we can’t leave.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Wolfgang said.

“How could you expect me not to worry?”

“Kill them, Mongrim!” Brinson shouted.

The behemoth bellowed and charged. My very soul shuddered as my first true death approached. I looked to Wolfgang, hoping he had some kind of last-minute guidance in such a dark time. He sat cross-legged in his human form with his eyes closed. My breathing grew heavy. I was nearly gasping for air as I watched the monster charge my way. Without Wolfgang’s tanking, the beast seemed to eye whoever was unfortunate enough to be the nearest target. That happened to be me.

Mongrim raised a massive arm and dropped it down onto me. I closed my eyes but rolled away at the last moment. I couldn’t just accept death so easily. Why should this agent of the Dark Lady have the satisfaction of victory without at least working for it? I got back to my feet, drew my wrench, and — everything went dark.