As the two fell, Ezra turned to Rion.
"I'm outta Force. Can you catch me?"
Rion blinked.
"I'm out too..."
Ezra gaped.
"You're kiddin—GAHHHH!"
The ground was rushing toward him. Ezra could've cried. Dying after it was all over—to a fall, no less. Death aside, that was embarrassing. Far too embarrassing to handle.
"NOOOO!"
Ezra squeezed his eyes shut as a water sphere caught him.
He turned toward Rion.
"Huh."
Rion chuckled.
"Sorry. I was kidding."
Ezra gave him a blank stare before dropping his head in relief. "You're an asshole you know that?!"
Rion chuckled.
"Yeah, yeah."
Once on the ground Rion formed another water sphere, gently lifting Maria off the Wyrm before gently plopping her down beside them.
"I can't believe you used Force," Ezra said.
Maria, sagging her shoulders, nodded.
"Me either. I just followed your guys' example."
She looked down at her legs.
"I'm never doing it again, though. Ahh... my legs hurt! Rion, carry me."
Rion shook his head.
"No can do. I'm out of magic. For real this time..."
There was a moment of silence before Ezra slowly turned toward the dead Wyrm.
His gaze remained fixed as flashes of corpses filled his mind. Burning buildings. Screams. Tears.., Everything they'd lost because of this beast...
And now, here it was.
Dead.
Impaled through the head by his Nail. By his party.
Suddenly, relief, joy, and pride all crashed into Ezra at once. Tears streamed down his face, carving clean paths through the ash and dirt on his cheeks.
He turned back toward his comrades and smiled.
A warm, gentle smile.
"Thank you..."
Rion and Maria could only smile back.
"Don't mention it, Captain," they said together.
Ezra ran toward them and wrapped them both in a hug.
Time seemed to linger in that moment...
If only for a little while.
—
With the Wyrm dead and their wounds bandaged, Lost Keep, tired as they were, continued searching the remaining safety chambers. The first two had been empty, but finally within the third they found someone, Ezra let out a sigh and fell to his knees. After that, encouraged they continued their search finding another. Then two more. Four. Five.
And so on.
By the time Lost Keep emerged from the mines, it was dark and they were surrounded by more than twenty miners, ragged, weak, and starving...
But alive.
They hadn't saved everyone.
As much as it hurt, Ezra had to admit that.
But they had saved people.
His decision had saved people.
At the very least, he could take pride in that.
His decision hadn't been wrong.
Atleast for now, he was...
He could be an—
Ezra stopped.
It should've been dark in the village.
Instead, there was a sea of light.
Maria blinked.
"They're..."
"They're torches," Rion finished.
"C'mon," Ezra said as he led the group forward.
Eventually they reached Helaran, and sure enough, every single villager was there to welcome them home.
Ezra's heart clenched as the survivors slowly walked in behind them. One by one, families began recognizing the people they'd feared were gone, rushing forward through tears of joy to embrace them.
Of course, there were tears of sorrow as well. Those whose loved ones never emerged wailed into the night. Their cries pained Ezra far more than the wound across his chest.
Then Rion rested a hand on his shoulder.
"You did good, buddy."
Ezra said nothing.
It was then that the crowd parted.
A lone woman stepped through.
"Ma..."
Ezra rushed toward her.
She smiled, studying his face before gently cupping his cheeks.
"I'm so, so proud of you, son... I'm sorry for ever doubting you."
Ezra grinned, holding back tears.
"Told you I'd get help."
Then he pulled her into a long embrace.
When they finally separated, Ezra looked around to see everyone bowing before him and the rest of Lost Keep, shouting their thanks.
"Thank you!"
"You're our heroes!"
"Ezra the Wyrm Slayer!"
"You saved my mom!"
"You saved my dad!"
"You saved my brother!"
"You saved my husband!"
"You saved me!"
Ezra tried to hurry them back to their feet, but Rion stopped him.
Ezra turned towards him confused, "You—."
Rion smiled.
"I love your humble side, but it doesn't hurt to revel a bit. Cmon you saved the village."
Ezra clenched his fist, "But so many died. I—"
Rion shook his head.
"Understand this. You're an adventurer, not a god. The moment you forget that is the moment it's all over."
"An adventurer..." Ezra repeated before letting out a snort.
"I swear, where do you learn all this stuff?"
Rion shrugged.
"No clue. Now c'mon... raise your head."
Ezra after a brief second of hesitation nodded.
And did just that.
As he looked up for that singular moment… He was an adventurer!
(And thus, Lost Keep's adventure continues…)