(Triston POV)

“We need to go back,” I say with a shake in my voice,” Alex is still there he might be dead but we can still recover the body”

Kate starts sobbing, it's hard to listen to. My mind is jumbled with recent events. Alex traded his life for ours....that damn hero. I feel tears forming in the corner of my eyes.

“Jack and I will go retrieve the body” Jack nods his head resolutely

“Are you stupid? That thing almost killed our whole team and Alex sacrificed himself to save us and you want to go with just the two of you?” Kate screams at me. I don't blame her. But...I can't risk her and the others. Alex wanted them alive so I'm going to keep it that way.

“Then ill just go by myself,” Even as I say that I realize how stupid I sound.

“No I'll go with you, I owe Alex that much,” Jack says with an unwavering determination. Gods I wish I had that right now.

“If you guys are going then I'm going to” I look at Kate with sadness, Alex didn't know this but Kate has had a crush on him since the day he saved her from the Sprites.

“You're injured, it's too dangerous,” I say with a shake of my head. I look at Sam and see a mess. Ever since the fight, Sam hasn't talked to the gods or even prayed. He’s usually a Zealous fellow when it comes to Gods. But I think...He gave up on them.

“Sam, you stay here with Kate,” I don't get an answer, only a small nod from him.

“I can't accept that Triston, What if you or Jack gets Hurt? What if you guys don't make it back?” She starts crying again. Damn, I never knew how Alex could deal with stuff like this.

“We leave tomorrow, end of discussion” I get up and head to my room. I can hear the silence...it’s deafening. I reach my room and walk-in, It's a simple wood bed with a homey feeling mattress. I sit on the edge of my bed, I feel the Mana in my body boiling. I need to calm down before I blow this tavern to pieces. I look around the room and I see the moonlight shining through the window. Tomorrow was going to be a tough day. I pass out as soon as my head hits the pillow.

(The Next day)

We were retracing our steps. The cave entrance was around 8 miles outside of the city, I was following Jack through the forest as he carefully followed the same path we went on yesterday. We could've gotten there a while ago but that would alert the monster to our presence.

“Triston, we’re almost there. Prepare for battle” I nod as I start gathering my mana. I start changing the mana to make it hotter and hotter. Soon I have a cluster of small fireballs, each one is tiny but condensed. I see Jack pull out a wicked dagger. Its blade has a cold sheen. We look at each other and can see the fear in our eyes. We were both scared but we had a mission: we have to retrieve Alex's body. We get closer to where we were yesterday but something is wrong. It seems like it's a lot brighter, We get even closer and my eyes go wide. Jack's hands go slack and the dagger plunges into the ground. My fireballs dissipate as we both can't seem to comprehend what's there.

It's Nothing. It's an open clearing. For miles and miles, it's just grass. No cave system, no signs of battle, nothing just a peaceful looking field.

“Jack are you sure this is the right place?” I ask in disbelief

“Yes...there's no way I was wrong. We walked the same path we did yesterday,” Jack says with confusion laced in his voice. I look around again to make sure I'm not going crazy. This might be an illusion. I start collecting mana into my hands, soon a barely held together ball of mana is flying into the open field and explodes. If this was an illusion it would fall due to the extreme overflow of mana. But all that happens is some flowers pop out due to the mana expediting their growth.

“Impossible...A cave system can't just disappear” There's a shake in my voice now if the cave is gone then is the monster gone? Is Alex lost forever? How could this happen?

“We need to tell the others about this” Jack nods his head. Soon we’re back at the Tavern.

(Back at the Tavern)

“What do you mean it's gone?”Kates yells, man this was not going to be fun

“I mean exactly what I said, the cave system, Alex, and the monster weren't there. It was just an empty field” I can see it in her face, she doesn't believe me, or jack for that matter.

“Alex saved our lives and you can't even find his body, what kind of friend are you?” She growls

“I couldn't find his body, But I tried. What did you do during the battle? All you did was get in the way and get knocked around like a little girl” At this point, I'm yelling, anything to get my rage out. Even if I'm wrong, even if I'm a horrible person, I just need a vent. I see tears form in her eyes

“Triston calm down before I make you calm down,” Jack says in a dangerously low voice

I turn to look at him with a glare “Is that a threat?” He meets my eyes “yes, and if you don't calm down it'll become reality”

“I dare you to try. I'm surrounded by incompetents, A Priest who won't pray, a healer who's less than useless, and a rogue WHO CAN'T SCOUT” I yell, all of my anger, fear, and guilt is fueling my fire.

I see Jack's eyes light up with anger and he rushes toward me. I summon a few fireballs and throw them at him. He blocks a few of them with his dagger but one of them hits his arm. The smell of burnt flesh fills the room, he takes his good arm and throws 3 knives at me. I know better than to try to block them with a shield. With a normal throwing knife, Jack can pierce trees. With enchanted ones, like the ones coming toward me, could easily slice through my shield. I dodged two of them and they hit the wall where I was just standing, one of them landed in my leg. I scream and push mana into my hand. I could feel the lightning zapping across my fingers.

“STOP” A Voice bellows. We both stop as we look at...Sam?

“We just lost Alex and now you guys are going to kill each other? Just stop it, it's not going to fix anything” I can see the logic and reason, I could hear his pain. But I'm done with logic, logic cant bring back Alex and logic can’t take away my pain. I get up and go to my room. I fall back down, the knife in my leg finally hits me as my body decides then and there to feel pain again. A pink light washes over me and Jack as both of our wounds heal. I stood up and headed to the stairs. On the way up the stairs, I can feel the eyes on my back. I slam my door shut and I sit on the edge of the bed thinking. Why wasn't I stronger? If I was stronger I could have stopped all of this. I need power, I need strength... I pack all of my belongings. I walk back down the stairs with a pack full of necessities, and a bag of Gold.

“I'm sorry for fighting but... I'm leaving. I've decided that I need strength to continue my path so I'm going to the Royal Mages Academy to become a teacher and grow stronger”

Before my words can register in their mind I leave through the main door. I use wind magic to propel myself up and start flying to my destination. Little did I know, What I did caused the team to splinter. I was going to the Academy; filled with mages all looking to gather knowledge and grow in power, Jack to the Rangers; an elite force made up of rogues and such, Kate to the Royal Clinic; The best Healers in the empire, Sam...Sam would end up becoming a wandering hermit, bent on making power that had no involvement from the Gods.

But all that is in the future, Right now, All of our journeys have just begun.