'She's...something is wrong' I barely finished the thought when Clara sent another arrow flying towards me.
Reacting on instinct my left hand moved to intercept it. Arrow bit through flesh, it pierced through one side of my arm and emerged on the other side before stopping. Blood fell to the ground. A weak groan rumbled from my chest as I thought.
'That...almost pierced my throat'
I directed heavy lidden eyes towards Clara who calmly reached for another arrow. My vision spun further as nocked the arrow to her bow before she took aim. My body weighed like stone, I didn't have the strength to hold myself up any longer.
I could hardly react when I stumbled back feeling the ground disappear from beneath me. My vision spun towards the sky and as the seconds passed the grey clouds seemed to become more and more distant until...
Water shrouded my entire being. A firm wetness clung to my skin as soft puffs of red rose high above me.
'No...'
I was sinking and drowning. Eyelids heavy and strength weary, I sank towards the depths of the river that the great bridge that led to London from York Town crossed. The river certainly wasn't this big in the past but with mana as well as Earth's evolution there was no way it would remain the same.
As my vision dimmed before a flicker of light swept through my eyes.
'Ah is this the light that people see...when they die?'
That was the thought before I descended into oblivion.
***
The battle for Camp White had ended in victory.
But could it really be considered a victory when they had lost so much? Brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers and even nephews and nieces had perished in total.
100 armed men had fought at the beginning and only 83 survived. While on the other hand 70 Evolvers in total had been there at the start of the battle and yet only 27 remained. And of those losses the some were more personal than others.
Mayor Bennet White, the man who had led Camp White into a safe haven for the people of York Town had perished together with five of his elite squad of Evolvers. That alone was shocking and yet that wasn't all.
Dulton and Mordecai had also fallen leaving a hollow sort of pain in the hearts of the rest of the party members.
And the worst of all Huey had disappeared. When the rest of battle had calmed down Jordan, Lydia and Candice followed after him through the Woodlands Forest. The found the clearing at the edge of the small cliff that fell into the grey waters below.
They found the carcass of The Lurker sitting in the middle of the clearing in a puddle of its own blood. The beast was riddled with sword wounds and was missing several of its legs with a part of its face charred black.
But there was no sign of him...apart from a small trail of blood. This one red with drops of it leading all the way to the cliff edge.
"Huey!" Jordan called out he was still weak from the poison that hadn't quite left his system. The Spiritual Earrings had helped him tremendously but that didn't mean he was suddenly free of the poison...that would take a lot longer to expel.
His head darted around the place but all that greeted him was the cold wind, the empty trees, the Lurker's bloody corpse and a slight glint right beside it.
'Huh' Jordan limped towards the Lurker's corpse. He searched through the area where he had seen the glint. After a few moments he found the beautiful black sword with intricate segments along its blade.
It was a blade he recognized quite easily.
'Black Salamander' He reached for the weapon's hilt.
The moment he lifted it off the ground green text flashed through his retina.
[Black Salamander (Heaven Grade)
Current Master: Huey Coleman]
Jordan held the sword with a grim expression. On one hand at least Jordan knew that Huey was alive and on the other...he had no idea where his best friend was.
Jordan just stood there frozen with the sword in his hand until he felt a hand on his shoulder prompting him to turn his head.
He met Lydia's inquisitive eyes. And though she tried to hide it Jordan could still feel the worry etched all over her face.
"He...He's still alive" Jordan's shoulders slumped. "That's all I know"
"So what do we do?" Lydia's lips quivered.
Seeing how worried she looked in this moment Jordan offered a small smile.
"What do you suggest?"
Lydia lingered for a moment then she said "We continue the journey. We head to London and find his mom"
Jordan offered her a sad smile as he looked at her. "Yeah that's what he would have wanted"