Chapter Ten - Shattered Bonds

Chapter Ten

Claire Heart

"Wow, you sure are getting stronger at an insane rate, Claire," Alex sat with his feet in the water to my right tossing rocks against the surface of the small pond.

"You are too, two whole skips!" I said sarcastically.

"Hey! Don't let a couple of weeks of training go to your head. Princess." The last couple of weeks had gone by in a flash. Every morning when I woke up aching, my best friends’ mangled body would flash through my mind. I was helpless, I never wanted to feel that way again. Sarah, Alexander, Kaitlyn, and Adam have helped me discover my affinity with water magic, as well as trained me to enhance my newfound abilities.

Surprisingly, I have become used to the open road. My feet and hands now are rough and calloused, and my once beautiful, luscious hair, was a total mess. I could feel it was damp, I wanted to take a hot bath. So I could relax my nerves, but who was I kidding?

"With your incredibly strong affinity with water, you should have no problem on some low-level dungeons. Of course, only if you keep increasing your Aether soul somehow," Alex smiled shifting his long sword uncomfortably. Alexander may be a bit bullheaded and definitely not the smartest in the group, but he has a good heart and wants to protect those close to him.

"Hey, Alex. Stop flirting and help us set up camp for the night," Called Kaitlyn and Adam, whom I knew the least. They were a couple, so I never wanted to hang out with them as a third wheel. Alex got up and wiped off his dusty clothes.

"Duty calls love," he said with a wink and a bicep flex. I let out a deep breath and took my battle stance.

"Visualize," I whispered, feeling the familiar coolness of water Aether flowing gently through my veins. Tiny glowing veins, faint blue, traced my fingertips."Ancient Water Gods, lend me your strength! Surging Waves!" I shouted, channeling the power into a controlled release. Water surged from the pond, forming a towering wave as tall as me. It crashed forward, roaring across the surface, soaking the opposite bank. I gasped softly, feeling the drain—but also exhilaration. My Aether Soul pulsed gently with satisfaction.

The group had stopped in a nearby town before setting out so I flirted with Alexander until he bought me some new clothing. My new "armor" was basically a bunch of leather padded pants along with a thick shirt that had hard leather padding protecting my shoulders and breasts (which was very uncomfortable). I know my mother would have a heart attack if she saw me in such unfashionable clothing. Thankfully my loss of fashion meant that I would at least be protected if any low-level monsters tried attacking me.

"Hey water girl! It's getting late, come eat with us. Alexander is showing off his fire-making skills," Sarah called. I retreated off the edge of the pond. Being away from the water made me slightly uneasy, I felt like it was calling me.

"You know I've got a name, it's Claire," I said as I walked past Sarah.

"Watch a real man work, Claire," Alex proclaimed dramatically, striking the flint against his blade. "I am watching," I smirked. "And yet, no fire. "Patience! A real man takes his time," he replied, squinting intensely at the kindling. "Sure. Let me know when the fire finally gets bored enough to start itself."

"Hey! This is hard stuff, just you watch, and I will get it."

Everyone had lost interest in what Alex was doing, the face he made while he tried to start a fire was funny.

"Claire, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?" It felt like everyone was waiting for that question, as they whipped their head around in my direction, "I think at this point, you can... You know you can at least trust me," Sarah said as she looked around to see if anyone would protest. Her smile warmed the air around her. I hadn't shared much with them since coming to Purgatory. I felt foreign. Like I wasn’t meant to be here.

"Umm... I don't know, there's not much to me!" I stamped boldly, hoping to avoid any other conversation about my life.

"Come on! Just give me one question. Hmm... Do you have a special guy back home?" My whole face was instantly set to boil.

"Hey! No. Absolutely not. Me? Interested in those buffoons of boys. Fat chance!" I tried to say it convincingly. After all, most of them were uninteresting, but there was one who sometimes caught my eye.

No, Claire!

I thought to myself. You are too good for any boys. Focus! Sarah smiled and touched my hand.

"Don't worry, I will keep your secret." Sarah was only two years older than me, but she always had such a motherly energy around her. It felt like Alex was the reckless husband, and Sarah was the glue that held the band together. She was solid and caring, it felt good to be around her sometimes. I think the group still believed I was from another city in this world.

“It must be hard coming to another country all alone,” Sarah prodded, It was obvious that she thought that I was from somewhere else in this world. That was the second or third time she had mentioned it, hoping that I would open up. I wasn’t sure what they would think if they found out I was from a whole other world.

We all turned towards Alex who seemed too focused on starting a fire, he struck the flint so hard it made an annoying sound.

"How about you, Sarah? Any special boys?" I teased, pointing over to the doofus attempting to make a fire. She glanced at him and shook her head slowly. He wasn't paying attention, so he didn't realize we were talking about him.

"No, no... At some point yes, but that ship has long since sailed. He's my closest friend for sure, but not what I am looking for in a romantic partner, I don't think he has enough brain cells either." She teased.

Alex jumped the moment the kindling caught fire, the stack of sticks and bark burst into flames and I could see him smiling like he won a lottery.

"Ha! See, Claire. You are looking at a real man." Once again flexing his well-developed muscles while lying beside the fire. Not noticing the fire reaching towards his sleeve.

"AHH!" He jumped and ran to the pond, swan-diving headfirst and coming back up with a sigh of relief. The whole group burst out into laughter, leaving him with a sour look on his face.

"Nice one!" added Adam.

"If that's a real man, I don't want one," I joined in. The group turned towards me and was silent for a second. Did I say something wrong?

"Pfft! Even Claire got you good!" Sarah yelled as they all burst into laughing tears.

"Not bad," Kaitlyn winked. After a string of curses and grumbling from Alexander, the group finally settled down around the fire. Adam and Kaitlyn went to work on building a small protection array around us. From what I understood, their magic was quite rare, Sarah had called it Divergent affinities. They are unable to do any attack magic but can set up a small barrier with enough time to protect against monsters. I think the fact that they both had this affinity led to the idea that they were perfect for each other.

"Hey, Sarah?" I pushed my hair behind my ear and forced my gaze on her. I never was very good with eye contact.

"Yeah?" She stopped poking the fire with her small fire stick and turned towards me wearing a worried smile.

"Why didn't you guys go help those other guilds? I remember when we first met, you and Alexander were arguing about it." She shifted uncomfortably, lowering her voice, careful not to rouse the

suspicion of Alex.

"Well, erm... we were contracted by the Guild Hall to help. Initially, we were sent as a support team tasked with scouting and then healing and defensive support when it came to battling. When we learned of the Orc camp's location, we went to see what their numbers were like. Usually, Orcs don't gather in groups much more than ten, even at that size they are scary enough to fight without a full-fledged guild," Sarah paused.

I waited for her to continue.

"But the size of this pack was three times bigger. We even spotted an Orc chief, something none of us, other than Alexander, had seen before. He seemed off when he saw it because they apparently usually only are seen deep in high-level dungeons. When we reported all of this to the guild master, she simply shrugged it off believing that we would still succeed."

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"What happened next?" I asked.

"Alex was furious that she was ignoring his warnings as you can imagine, especially because she was pretty as well. The bane of his existence. So he made the call that the group wouldn't risk their lives for something as trivial as monster loot." She quieted even more and gave Alexander a look of resentment. When I had originally overheard them weeks ago, it definitely seemed like Sarah wanted to go fight.

"Why didn't you leave and fight?" I probed, my curious mind getting the better of me.

"Of course, I wanted to, Claire. It's not as easy as you say it," She looked around at her group members laughing and joking with each other and gave a sigh, "When I left my hometown at a young age, I had no one, no friends, no guild. They took me in, no questions asked. And that's because as Alexander put it, I was 'too pretty to be alone'," she smirked at the memory.

I smiled along with her remembering how he had said something similar when I had first met him as well.

"So it's hard to leave, they became my family." I pondered what she had said for a moment, staring at the crackling fire. Finally, I asked her a question that had been bugging me ever since I met her,

Adam, Kaitlyn, and Alexander.

"D... Did you lose someone so dear to you?" I asked.

"Lose someone? I'm not quite sure what you mean, nobody was taken from me. Why?" Sarah had a confused look as she stared at me, I stood up and raised my voice along with my anger.

"Then why, Sarah!? Why explore this... This hell!?" Sarah rose to her feet as well and took a small

step back. My eyes caught hers and a look of worry dawned on her face. The rest of the group jumped into action.

"Claire! Calm down, control your aura," Alex stepped in between Sarah and me, making sure she was well hidden behind his back. I quickly realized why they were on edge. My Aether flow seemed too excessive for someone who just learnt magic, the Aether in my gut was overflowing and leaking out, and they all sensed it.

"So- sorry..." I stammered, sitting back down and calming my Aether." Everyone stood still for a moment staring at themselves, only the crackle of the fire could be heard. Alexander placed his hand on my shoulder, his touch was gentle as he tried not to startle me.

"Claire, none of us share similar beginnings. I don't know what you lost and who it is that made you this way, but I can assure you that we are not the same. If you don't want to talk about why you're like this, we understand and it's fine. We trust you, but we ask you to do the same. And whenever you're ready to talk to us, we are here," Alex's voice was so soothing that it left me with so much guilt, that I stared at everyone.

They looked worried, worried about me. I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn't utter a single word. Then I sighed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have... Acted that way."

"It's okay," Sarah said as she smiled, her smile made me feel more guilty. I ducked to the opposite side of the fire. I unrolled my pack and supplies and laid down, leaving my back to the fire and the group. I had gotten so angry at Sarah for no reason.

"They have been nothing but nice to you Claire," I muttered to myself. They had even gone as far as to show me my strong affinity for water magic as well. My thoughts tossed and turned in my head until finally, I fell asleep to the crackle of fire and the chatter of my group behind me.

I lay there until I fell asleep.

*****

I woke up to the sound of a twig snap. My eyes shot open to a loud crunch behind me, I shifted the small blanket that was covering my eyes and slowly turned toward the sound. Was it a beast? A monster? Only a few footsteps in front of me, a figure was huddled behind a small oak tree. My eyes were still adjusting to the darkness of the early hours of the morning, but I could hear whatever it was slobbering or at least doing something with its back to me.

Finally, my eyes adjusted. Slowly I began to understand what was happening, I noticed the dummy, Alex standing by the tree. With as much strength as I could muster, I rocketed my left shoe at Alexander's head.

"Seriously! Peeing right there? Absolutely gross. Pervert," Alexander caught the shoe mid-air and finished his business, he looked over at me with a sleepy smile and messed up hair.

"You're the one that was peeking if anything; you're the pervert," Without hesitating, I threw the second shoe. Unfortunately for him, he had no luck in catching the second shoe as it plastered itself square across his face.

"Alex, what did you do now?" Sarah rubbed her eyes, as she stood up walking towards me. After darting her eyes between me and him half behind a tree, she also tossed one of her shoes at him.

"Hey! Stop throwing shoes!" He easily dodged her shoe and held his hands up in surrender. Adam was leaning against a similar tree, sleeping, with Kaitlyn cuddling him. Alex clapped his hands and they stirred awake.

"Why are we up so early?” I asked, truth be told, this was the usual time we got up, but I absolutely detested not sleeping in.

"Today, we make for the dungeon. A friend of mine sent me a scroll message saying that the Guild

Hall was looking for us. So, unless you guys want to spend some time rotting in jail for desertion, we should head to collect some monster loot so we can sell it, head to the closest town and lay low while things blow over," Alexander said, sometimes he does act like a leader

"Is that safe Alex?" Sarah asked, her fingers tapping with nervousness.

“Don’t worry, babe,” Alex winked. “I cleared the Stonefang Caverns solo at seventeen. Sure, I barely made it out alive, and I might have angered half the Guild Hall, but I lived to brag another day. With all of you, we’ll practically stroll through this.”

And there's another shoe.

"BABE!?" After yelling some curses, Sarah finally calmed down.

*******

I had lost all sense of time as we stumbled through the twisting corridors of this maddening dungeon. First came the Lightning Hodags, which were nasty enough on their own—but these new monsters were far, far worse.

Now we stood, panting and nearly falling from exhaustion, surrounded by serpent-bodied creatures with grotesque rooster-like heads. Jagged crimson crests flared atop their skulls, their scales glinting black like nail polish. Their crimson eyes shifted hungrily, glowing ominously from every dark corner and crevice.

“Alex, behind you!” Adam shouted, desperately firing off a Wind Gust. It whistled past Alexander, striking one creature squarely, but only leaving minor cracks along its scales.

Alexander spun, narrowly dodging the snapping beak that lunged at his neck. His blade slicing up and cutting the monster in half. He cursed loudly, frustration evident.

“I thought you said this dungeon was easy?!” I yelled at Alexander, my voice strained. Anger surged through my veins as I chanted and released another torrent of water, knocking one of the creatures back, although not enough to kill it. My Aether reserves were nearly drained, I had already wiped out more than ten of these nightmares.

“This doesn’t make any sense!” Alexander growled, face tight with confusion. “These damn chicken snacks are deep cavern dwellers, they shouldn’t even survive here. Something’s very wrong. We need to get out—now!”

As if summoned by his words, a terrifying cacophony of hissing erupted from behind us. The cavern echoed with dozens more crimson eyes materializing in the shadows, slithering closer.

“Too late for that, muscle-man,” I muttered grimly.

Alexander gritted his teeth, raised his torch, and shouted, “Forward! Stay close!”

We bolted deeper into the unknown, footsteps echoing frantically through strangely precise tunnels carved from stone. Our breath came raggedly, lungs burning as the monsters closed in.

A sudden shrill scream pierced the chaos, freezing my blood.

‘Kaitlyn!” Adam spun instantly, eyes wide with horror.

My heart sank as I saw Kaitlyn thrashing weakly, trapped within the crushing coils of one monster. Its rooster head rose victoriously, crest pulsing red, as she clawed desperately for air.

“Help her!” Sarah cried, her demeanor shattered.

Adam rushed forward, sword flashing. “Kait! Hold one!” He slashed violently at the creature’s coils, panic fueling his attacks. But the beast tightened its grip, unfazed by his strikes.

“Adam!” Kaitlyn choked out, reaching desperately for him.

Adam’s eyes met hers, his expression wild, fearful, and fiercely determined. “Together! Now!”

Kaitlyn forced her trembling hands together, Aether pulsing between her fingers despite the crushing pressure. "Shield of the Moon!" Kaitlyn whispered hoarsely, silver Aether threads flickering faintly from her fingertips, weaving desperately into a trembling barrier.

Adam, eyes blazing with defiance, shouted, "Storm’s Wrath!" A furious gust erupted, wrapping Kaitlyn’s silver shield in a swirling tempest, the combined Aether sparking like a storm trapped inside glass. The magical synergy sent ripples of energy outward, cutting deeply into the monster’s scales and forcing it to recoil.

I stared, stunned. Combo magic wasn't just rare, it was dangerous, volatile. Their bond must’ve been impossibly strong to even attempt it. Their magic intertwined in a powerful harmony, Kaitlyn’s silvery barrier enveloping Adam’s swirling tempest.

Wind whipped violently around the luminous shield, forming a vortex of razor-sharp air currents and glowing protective force. The best hissed furiously, scales being shredded by violent winds.

“Hang on, Kait!” Adam shouted, plunging forward into their shared spell. He drove his sword, now wrapped in Kaitlyn’s protective aura and his own violent gusts, deep into the monster’s coils. A surge of magical backlash exploded outward, throwing Adam backward violently, his sword snapping loudly in two.

The creature shrieked, uncoiling briefly. Kaitlyn slumped limply onto the cavern floor, unmoving.

“No…no, NO!” Adam scrambled desperately, dragging her lifeless body into his lap. His hands shook violently as tears welled in his eyes. “Kait, please…open your eyes!”

Sarah stepped forward, chanting healing magic. I watched as white colored Aether left Sarah’s hands and moved towards Kaitlyn’s. But the healing magic would reach her and disperse, almost like it had no interest in her.

Alexander stepped forward, voice thick with raw emotion. “Adam…she’s gone. We have to move. Now.”

Adam’s shoulders shook, grief swallowing him whole. This is the second time I had seen someone die, and I still couldn’t get used to the limpness of the body. This was horrible.

“I won’t leave her,” he whispered hoarsely. “I’ll stay. Ill hold them back. Go.”

“Adam, you can’t!” Sarah screamed.

“GO!” Adam shouted. He gently laid Kaitlyn down, standing protectively over her as monsters poured from the shadows. His hands trembled with Aether as he erected a barrier of wind.

I felt my heart shatter as we turned, fleeing desperately into the dark. Adam’s fierce battle cry echoed behind us, quickly swallowed by monstrous hisses, fading into a crushing silence.

Tears burned my eyes as we stumbled forward, if only I was stronger. I need to be stronger.

We stumbled into an expansive cavern, ancient stone walls stretching impossibly high, adorned with ornate carvings depicting forgotten heroes and monstrous creatures locked in eternal combat. Flickering torches lined the perimeter, casting shifting shadows that seemed alive, whispering secrets of the countless battles fought here. Alexander stopped abruptly, and I slammed straight into him.

“What—” I began, following his gaze. My pulse quickened.

A girl stood confidently before us, her light-brown hair cascading down her shoulders, eyes glowing fiercely crimson. Fire danced across her fingertips, illuminating her dark uniform. Without hesitation, she unleashed a devastating wave of flames at the pursuing creatures. Their agonized shrieks filled the cavern as they fell back.

“Claire?” a stunned, familiar voice spoke from behind the red-haired girl. Someone pushed past her impatiently, ignoring her irritated look. My breath caught in my throat.

“Leo?” I blurted, disbelief punching me square in the chest. Because, of course, in the middle of nearly dying, mourning friends, and fighting off literal nightmares, why wouldn’t he show up.