I opened my eyes.
I'm still alive.
I winced as I tried to move.
And in pain.
I pressed my hand to my chest, healing myself as best I could, then pushed off the ground. But for some reason, I still felt weak.
I coughed, trying to adjust my eyes to my surroundings.
Where are they?
Dust and rocky debris filled the air around me. I covered my mouth.
I cast a glowing spell on my hand and started walking.
There was only one path open. Everything else was caved in.
I hope they're okay. I have to find them.
I kept walking when I noticed a tiny, glowing purple rock chunk on the ground in front of me.
That's odd.
Then, a few feet ahead, there was another.
Okay—this was no accident. Someone was leading me somewhere. Why wouldn't they just wake me up?
As I kept walking and following them, I looked around and realized I was still inside the castle—but obviously on a much lower level.
Maybe the basement or…
I saw stone bars and empty, crumbled-up rooms behind them.
…dungeons.
The Orc King's little temper tantrum had leveled his own castle. How childish can you be?
I continued down the corridor, following the trail of glowing purple rocks until I finally spotted Uri—lying motionless behind a set of gray bars.
"Uri!" I called out, but he didn't respond. His chest barely moved—I couldn't tell if he was still breathing.
I reached my hand through the bars, but the moment I did, dizziness hit me.
Then it clicked. These were the same stone bars they used for the Wilderness cages—the kind laced with hardstone dust that suppressed energy.
I couldn't use my magic. But I had to get through.
Wait a second. I just healed myself and still had the glowing spell on my hand.
I watched as the dust continued to float through the air.
I realized what I'd have to do. This would be the most reckless thing I'd ever attempted, but Uri's life was on the line. The risk was a small price to pay.
Hopefully this would be enough.
I brought my hand to my chest and braced myself as I enhanced my body with Simple Strength.
"Aghh," I groaned, feeling a strange pressure surge through me, like my body might implode at any moment.
Still, I grabbed the bars and strained, bending them apart inch by inch before dispelling the enhancement and collapsing forward, gasping for air.
Thank goodness the bars were already brittle.
I looked over at Uri—he was breathing. I sighed in relief. Still recuperating, I crawled over to him and placed a hand on him to heal.
I sat beside him for a minute, thinking about the battle—how long we'd been out and whether the others were okay.
"Where are we, Vel?" Uri asked, rubbing his head as he looked around.
"The dungeons, I think."
"Where are Talos and Alva?"
"I'm not sure, but I found you by following these purple rock chunks. I know you took that big hit earlier, so once you're ready, let's keep going. Maybe we'll find the others."
"Purple rocks?" he said, sitting up. "I'm ready. Let's go."
We left the room and followed the trail of purple rocks for a minute before finally spotting Talos.
He was standing there, holding a handful of stones, inspecting them closely.
"Talos!" we shouted, running to him. I healed him as we all embraced, relief flooding through us.
"Guys, I'm so glad you're okay!" Talos said.
When we stepped back, Talos handed Uri his dagger.
"Good thinking," Talos said.
"Good catch," Uri replied, taking it with a grin.
"I still can't believe that happened," Talos said, shaking his head. "To think that coward destroyed everything—even his own men. I may have lost my shield, but regardless, we need to take him out."
"We will," Uri said. "Let's go find Alva."
"Yeah—and what's with these purple stones anyway? I followed them and found you two. I'm guessing you did the same?"
"Yeah," I said. "What kind of game is Alva playing with us?"
We followed the rocks leading into the converging tunnel where our paths met, moving through a crumbled corridor when we suddenly heard the sound of someone exerting themselves in the distance.
Instantly, we ran toward the voice—Alva's voice—down a narrow side hall until we finally saw him.
He was trudging forward with his eyes closed, carrying Talos's shield—walking backward straight toward us.
"Alva!" we called out, but he didn't hear us over his own groans. He kept coming until he collided into Talos, knocking them both to the ground.
"Oh, thank goodness," Alva said, dropping the shield and lying flat on his back, completely exhausted.
"Thank you," Talos said, picking it up.
"How… do you carry… that all day?" Alva asked between breaths.
We laughed. I knelt beside him and began healing his wounds. As I did, I noticed the purple stones scattered along the path he'd come from.
"So, you followed the stones too?" I asked.
"What? Oh—yeah. I thought you did that," Alva said, sitting up.
"Someone else did this," I said. "It had to be the orcs, right?"
"Let's go find out," Talos said, reaching a hand to help Alva up.
"The path leads down that tunnel we were just in," Uri added.
As we continued together, I was just reflecting on how grateful I was that we were all still alive.
We were lucky—no doubt about it.
But maybe we'd been kept alive for a reason.
After all, we still hadn't done what we came here to do.
As we kept following the path, it led us to an open cavern.
Three orcs stood there, talking quietly—one with his back turned to us.
When they noticed us, one's sudden alertness drew the others' attention, and they all turned.
"Oh. Hello," one said. He was tall and muscular, wearing a black tunic and a single scuffed leather shoulder guard.
We approached each other slowly. His eyes locked with mine—and in that instant, I knew who he was.
"So you're the one who left the purple rocks?" I asked.
"Yes," he said. "I did not want to scare you. I am not used to seeing humans. I did not know how long I had before someone—or the king himself—found either of us, so I left them quickly. Honestly… you scared me a little, too."
"You're the woman's husband?" I asked.
He nodded. "My wife told me about you—and your hat, and how you went to speak with her when everyone else turned her away."
His mouth trembled as he stared at the ground. "I would not have had the courage to stand against the king at all if you had not helped my family first. You showed me there's still hope in the world."
"So you left the food for us, too?" Alva asked.
"Yes, well, I helped coordinate it," he said. "It was risky. Even sending my family away was risky. We never knew who was still loyal to him—or who might inform him. The king never leaves the throne room, so our biggest concern was the ones who still served him."
He turned to me.
"But you… you took time out of your day to care for my wife and daughter, when they could've been killed for no reason. If that is not worth putting my life on the line for, then what is?"
My party exchanged glances. To think that small moment, all that time ago, would come back to help us now.
"We're glad you did," Talos said.
He nodded. "Jarla—uh, my wife—told me you were departing. So from the moment I received her message bat until now, I've been convincing as many people as I could to evacuate. You see how destructive the king is, how little he cares for us. This…" He looked around the cavern. "This was the last straw."
"So that's why the castle was so empty?" Uri asked.
He nodded again. "Other than the villagers we could not reach in time, only a few stayed behind—mostly the ones too scared to disobey. Some probably informed the king, but by then I had already left with the others."
So that explained their behavior in the courtyard.
"Where did you go?" I asked.
"We evacuated everyone—including most of the orc knights you fought against who had retreated from battles in the other kingdoms—to a hideout on a nearby mountain, hidden from the villages and the castle. We could not save everyone, but we heard you helped those who remained. We are thankful for that."
"Thank you for your help," Talos said.
"The food was good, too," Uri added.
He replied with a faint smile. "I had them secretly stash some away just in case. It was our last attempt at helping you. There is more in that bag if you want it."
"Also… he made them release that beast in the cage. Sorry about that." he rubbed the back of his neck. "They were scared out of their minds."
He pointed to the orcs standing behind him.
"We secretly knew you would win, though," one of them said.
"We bet everything on it," the other added.
That confirmed it—no one actually liked this king. Fear doesn't breed loyalty.
"One more question, if you don't mind," I said, picking up one of the purple rocks. "Did you pick purple for a reason?"
He chuckled softly. "My wife told me you wore purple. After we saw the castle crumble from our hideout, a few of us came to see if the king was slain. We searched the ruins and saw you all were still here—along with him. So I figured I would help you reconnect once you woke up. I thought maybe it was a color you liked and maybe it would catch your eye."
"It is, actually. It's my favorite."
"I am glad," he said. " When I saw the hat I instantly knew it was you. I just want to go back to my family—my beautiful wife and my precious little girl. I told her to stay put and wait for me. We wanted to stay here for a bit, to wait for you, in case there was any last thing we could help you with before the fight."
"He is down there, by the way," one of the others said, pointing toward a tunnel to our left.
"But he is a little crazy now," the other added. "Well—crazier than before."
"We'll handle him," Talos said.
I turned to the husband. "You can go back to your family, um…"
"Marlak," he said.
"Marlak. You've done enough, truly. Without you, we wouldn't be here. We'll take it from here."
"Okay. Thank you."
The others ran off, and Marlak followed—but paused to glance back at us.
"Please win," he said.
We nodded.
Then he turned and kept running.
We ate the last of the food and braced ourselves for what came next. There was no need to talk.
We knew what we had to do.
Everything we'd learned, everything we'd survived—it all led to this.
We descended the tunnel and entered a narrow passage that opened into the base of a gargantuan pit. Light poured in from above as snow drifted down.
There he was: the Temper Tantrum Tyrant himself, slouched on a shattered throne.
That crown somehow still clung to his head—barely hanging on.
"Why?" he thundered. "Why do they betray me? Why? I am a good king! I am the strongest!"
His voice shook the walls. Then his eyes locked on us.
"Why do they betray me? Why do they like you more?"
He rose—each step a quake beneath our feet.
"You are small. I am big. Orc stronger! Now you die. I will kill you myself."
No guards.
No beasts.
No distractions.
Just us and the Orc King.
This was it—the final battle.