The Menagerie’s street was in ruins.
There was no other way to put it. Huge chunks of masonry littered the ground alongside piles upon piles of smoldering rubble and corpses. Ash and death filled the air with their thick stench, and a thick grayish-black cloud hung low in the air over Milten.
The Infernal Armory leaned at an angle, parts of its walls smashed in and large sections of the rooms exposed. They hadn’t been spared the destruction. Huge gouges ran through the ground and stone had been warped by magic hot enough to melt clean through it. The fact that the building was even still standing was a minor miracle. It probably should have collapsed quite some time ago.
Propped up beside the smashed front door were the remains of his Soul Guardian. The huge suit of armor had been smashed, shattered, and melted into slag. Nothing remained of its head and its chest was riddled with huge dents and holes — and yet still it stood on legs that would never move again, propped up against crumbling walls in a final act of defiance.
It struck Arwin with no little amount of irony that the Infernal Armory actually somehow looked worse now than it had the first time he’d stumbled across the smithy alongside Reya. Not even a ghost would have haunted its ruined walls now.
The Devil’s Den wasn’t in much better shape. Its sides had been heavily blackened, scorched so heavily that parts of it almost looked like melting ice. There were huge, ragged holes all throughout the floors and walls where the guild’s forces had torn it open. Those holes continued into the inside of the Den, where the ground had been completely eviscerated. Huge sections of the basement were visible, as were the warped and heavily damaged roots of the demon tree that lived below. Tables and furniture laid in ruined piles across the ground beside discarded cutlery and smashed bottles.
Everything that they’d been working to build since the Menagerie had started had been destroyed. It all laid in smoking ruins, surrounded by bodies littering the street in pretty much every direction.
There was so much death.
It had nearly overwhelmed Arwin when Eleven had deposited them back upon their street. The only thing that had kept him from rushing to the corpses and digging through them to make sure he didn’t recognize any of their faces was the promise that she’d given him.
Everyone from the Menagerie was alive.
But there were others who had died for their cause. Arwin couldn’t help but recognize people clearly not in Guild attire. Some that he’d seen dining in their tavern. Others that he’d sold armor. He saw Melissa’s family crest upon a few of the suits of armor, and Raen’s on some others.
People had died today, fighting to to defend the Menagerie.
But they had not fought in vain.
He stood there for several long seconds, unable to do anything but stare at what had once been their street. The Guild had fallen. They’d won. But even still…
Lillia’s hand found Arwin’s. He tore his gaze away from the sea of death to let his eyes meet hers. Neither of them had to say anything. They already knew what the other was thinking. And there weren’t any words that possibly could have—
“Wow,” Reya said. “Shit’s absolutely fucked.”
Arwin coughed. It might have been the smoke getting into his lungs, or it might have been a sad, relieved laugh. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever manage to place which of the two it was.
“That is an apt way to put it,” Koyu said. “A great price was paid for victory.”
“Greater than you know,” Eleven said quietly. Her eyes were distant as her gaze lifted up to the night sky, where the very first hints of the sun were starting to peek out over the edges of the horizon.
“I imagined,” Arwin said quietly. He hadn’t forgotten what Two had done for him. For all of them. “But we wouldn’t have been able to win this without you. I — we need to thank One. We need to thank all of you. The whole world does. Can—”
“One is dead,” Eleven said, her eyes still on the rising sun. “He said that he had to go himself to distract the Guild’s forces. But, if you ask me, I think he died to save the new Hero and Demon Queen. You know, he never forgave himself for Blake’s death. He couldn’t accept the idea of living on when two more young people he felt responsibility for died, even if the cycle was almost at its end.”
A knot built in Arwin’s throat. He swallowed. Some part of him had already known that to be true. But having it confirmed…
His hands clenched at his sides. Only the Mesh knew who else had died for this. How many had already died. But he did know one thing for certain. The price had already been paid.
They had bought their peace in blood. No matter how great the casualties today had been… they were over.
The war was done.
“I’m sorry,” Arwin said.
“Yeah,” Eleven said softly. “Me too.”
“Do you—” Reya started.
“I’m going to go get the others,” Eleven said. “There’s still more to be done. I’ll bring them here.”
“I’ll have a drink for you when you’re done,” Lillia said. “And a bed.”
Eleven let out a snort of pained laughter. “I think your drinks are all shattered on the floor and your beds are all burned, Lillia. You have bigger things to worry about.”
“No,” Lillia said with a shake of her head. “I don’t. Buildings can be rebuilt. Sacrifices can be honored. But taking care of the people around us is not something that can be pushed off. It might not be the best drink, and the bed might be straw. But they’ll still be waiting for you.”
The corner of Eleven’s lips twitched, though she didn’t quite manage a smile.
“Thanks,” Eleven said.
Then she stepped back into her portal and was gone.
Arwin looked back out over the rubble of their street. A sudden thought struck him and he sent a hurried glance to Lillia.
“Wait. Your class. With your inn destroyed, is—”
“No,” Lillia said. “The Mesh removed the requirement when the guild fell. I guess it decided that our watch was done. I can go wherever I want. Do whatever I wish. But there’s only one place I really want to be right now. This street needs us.”
Uriel ducked out from under one of the crumbling walls of the Devil’s den, the body of a guildsman slung over her shoulder. The Beast emerged behind her. The two of them were followed by Thane, Esmerelda, and Rodrick. They all ground to a halt as they spotted Arwin and the others.
But, strangely enough, none looked surprised. Rodrick raised a hand in greeting.
“Welcome back. We made a bit of a mess.”
“That’s it?” Anna asked, narrowing her eyes. “Nothing else?”
“We all saw the vision,” Rodrick replied with a shrug. “Knew you were alive a while ago. Never doubted it. Don’t worry. The members of the Menagerie that stayed here… we all made it. And your vision showed us that the rest of you did too.”
Somehow, hearing it from Rodrick took a weight off Arwin’s shoulders.
“Not all of us,” Arwin said. “One and Two—”
“I know,” Rodrick said. His jaw set and his eyes turned away. “A time will come when the world can mourn all the loss it has experienced. But it would be nothing short of disrespectful to hold any manner of service in this rubble. We need to get it cleaned up. Only the Mesh knows how many people no longer have a house after tonight’s shit show. They’ll require a place to stay.”
Arwin flexed his fingers. He was exhausted… but he had enough energy for this. Beside him, Koyu, Lillia, Reya, and Anna all nodded.
“It might take a bit,” Reya said. She looked around all the destruction. Then she coughed into her fist. “I’m not sure if we can finish by tonight.”
Start with the Den. I can wait.
Arwin blinked as the Infernal Armory’s words trickled through his mind from within his armor. That was surprising. It wasn’t like the Armory to put something above itself. Then again… it had been quite interested in the Den. A faint smile crossed Arwin’s lips.
“We’ll just do what we can,” Arwin said. “Suppose we should start with the Den. The Armory says it wait.”
“Even then, it might take a while,” Anna said, hiking her bag of supplies up over her shoulder. “The structural integrity doesn’t seem all there at the moment. We should try to clear out some of the street and set up temporary housing. I’ll need to go looking to see if there are any survivors in need of treatment.”
“Just do what we can,” Arwin said as he stooped, grabbing the body of a guildsman and slinging it over his shoulder with a grunt. “That’s all I can ask of you.”
He rose back to his feet.
Then he paused.
There was a person standing in the alleys. Arwin didn’t recognize them well, but he was pretty sure that he’d seen them once or twice in the Den.
And they weren’t alone. There were others, emerging slowly all across the street. Adventurers that had purchased armor or dined with Lillia. Some Arwin definitely recognized, others he couldn’t have placed if his life depended on it. Many of them were armed. Most were injured.
All of them were exhausted.
There was a long span of silence, broken only by the sound of more people stepping into the street. None of them said a word. But even without speech, Arwin could see the recognition in their eyes.
One of them grabbed a large chunk of stone, hoisting it into the air with a grunt. And then, quietly, he turned and started to haul it away.
There was another moment of silence. And then, one after another, the adventurers sheathed their weapons. They spread across the street, grabbing bodies and rubble, working together for the largest pieces as they lifted them into the air and started to carry them off.
“Well,” Reya said slowly. “It might not take so long after all.”
“No,” Arwin agreed with a faint smile on his face. “It might not.”
It's time, everyone! What Epilogue would you like to see next? I am personally quite partial to the next Epilogue being the 'new' Hero and Demon Queen showing up at the Devil's Den as everyone gets back together basically, just a few minutes or so after the events of this one.
However, after that, I want to hear what you all want! Please say what epilogue you want to see next, and like the comments of other readers that you agree with so I can gauge interest. Also, please note epilogues will be slightly irregularly timed as they take a lot more effort than a normal chapter.
Cheers!