"It got away. I wasn't able to stop it…"

These words stung more than anything. Dug felt empty. All remaining energy left his body and he became numb. All emotions, hopes, and dreams, simply disappeared like thin morning mist. He felt nothing.

Now it was really over. Even Gustav lowered his head and sighed. Truth really hurt like a bitch sometimes.

"I managed to get just a few bottles of blood, sorry," Gerald explained shortly and handed over two full vials of burning blood.

"Huh?" The men, especially Dug, blinked at him in confusion a few times. They understood the individual words that were coming out of his mouth, but together they made no sense. A few bottles of blood? What was he talking about? The Phoenix was barely hurt when it escaped, how could he collect so much blood by running after it?

It had to be something else… Some rational explanation that…

"Here!" Gerald placed a vial in Dug's grasp, leaving the searing heat from the eternally hot liquid to do its thing.

Like a starving man tasting a candy bar for the first time in years, the heat from the glass slowly woke him up, returning some life to the glossy eyeballs. The heat was real. Dug felt it. He squeezed the bottle and felt the heat coming out of it. It hurt, his hand was in pain, but he couldn't let it go.

He was afraid that if he opened his hand, the dream would end, and he would be brought back to the cold reality.

"Hellooo? Are you alright?" Gerald waved in front of his face but received no response. "Here, take the other one as well, I got mine already." He pushed the second vial into Dug's other hand and then opened a pouch, giving it to Gustav.

"I gathered some feathers on the way back, here, you can have them." He handed over some, but not all, of what he collected. There was only so much he could realistically make use of, and he didn't need money, so why not be a little generous and collect some good karma? Not that he believed in that stuff, but hey…

Then out of nowhere, a wild Dug appeared and attacked him! The man threw himself at him and tried to squeeze the life out of him by crushing him with his hands.

"Oof! What are you-?"

"Thank you!" was all Dug could say as he hugged Gerald like the biggest treasure in the world. He tried his best, but even then his eyes moistened and he could hold back from shedding a few tears. The emotional roller coaster was just too much.

While the heartfelt moment was nice, it was usually supposed to be short. So when Dug refused to let go, the situation was quickly becoming awkward.

"Erm, I like hugs too, but could you please let go? We haven't showered in weeks and I think you are smearing some human blood on my clothes," Gerald said half-jokingly.

Dug then quickly jumped away and answered with a quiet and embarrassed "Sorry."

For a grown-up man to be acting that way was quite the spectacle.

Finally, the awkward atmosphere was gone, and the rest of the group burst into hearty laughter. All the stress and worries they might have had were gone in an instant, and they all fell to the ground, exhausted, but happy.

***

The road back was relatively uneventful. The group now consisted of only seven people. Dug, Gustav, Gerald, and the four others who managed to keep their life through the many dangerous encounters.

Since their mission was complete they could relax a bit, and so they became much more talkative.

The gang was mostly from the Empire, but they were the underground kind of people. Some of them had their hand in many shady businesses, but they weren't willing to elaborate further.

Gustav was especially secretive about his private life, not revealing anything at all. But despite learning they were all most likely criminals, Gerald didn't care. They were good to him and took him in as a brother, so despite the fact that they were from opposing nations, they joked and laughed together.

"Let's hope we don't meet on the battlefield someday," Gerald said half-jokingly.

"Nah! No more fighting for me, I'm going to retire," replied one of the guys. The rest mostly agreed. With the wealth they were bound to get from selling the blood they would be filthy rich! As long as they didn't get off the rails and started spending gold like water, they would have enough to live comfortably for a few lifetimes.

Dug had to smile at the thought. "Fighting you, brother Gerald, is the last thing I would do. I'd rather take my own life than stand in your way. A man that can repel a Sand Worm single-handedly and save us from disaster will never be an enemy of mine."

They rode the Earth Dragons all the way back to the Wailing Canyon where they returned them to their rightful owner and picked up the last guy.

Luckily none of the beasts died so they were good on that front. After everything was settled and they refilled their provisions, they returned to the surface. But that's where their paths split. Dug's gang went towards the west, while Gerald planned on returning back home which was to the north.

"Gerald…" Dug called out to him and came close, taking out his expensive-looking box. "I want you to have it. It was supposed to be used against the Phoenix, but now… Anyway, thank you for your help."

Gerald was rendered speechless. That was supposed to be an extremely powerful and hard-to-get weapon. How could it be so easily handed over?

However, Dug insisted. And it was best if he didn't bring it back home with him, so giving it away to Gerald seemed like the best idea. He was strong enough to protect it, but also wouldn't so easily fall to the allure of its destructive power.

Yeah right…

"Well… Alright then, thank you!" Gerald accepted the gift. "But I can't just let you go empty-handed. Now tell me, do you like using magic?"

His question resulted in chuckles from the rest. Dug also laughed, "What kind of question is that? Of course, I like magic, everybody does!"

"Good!"

The wooden box vanished from Gerald's hands and in its stead, many vials appeared. There were two colors of liquid inside, and he handed them over to the stupefied Dug.

"What is this?" he asked, confused but intrigued.

"A gift. For you and your men. It will help you with your magic," Gerald winked mysteriously. "But I wouldn't advise showing it to anyone else…"

He said much and almost nothing at the same time. It was just a few vials of Mana Elixir and Potion of Focus. A small parting gift and a thank you for everything they have done for him as well as the good times they spent together. He then turned around and walked away.

Dug was left holding the potions in his grasp, and had only one thing left to say, "Appreciate it, brother! Take care!"

"Farewell!" Gerald shouted back, only half turning his head, and slowly disappeared into the distance, swallowed by the gently swirling dust and sand.

The two men would never see each other again.