Chapter 6 – Coal for the Fire
Once Cinis and Favilla wake up, they get up and travel back home. The sky strangely looks only slightly brighter even though it should be morning. As the couple keeps traveling, they notice that the terrain doesn’t change as the only thing they see around them is rot and decay. Though they can see the sun, it seems to have dimmed and greyed. Even the horses seem worried and a bit sick. Eventually, they see Fornax in the distance covered in rot.
“Oh no,” Cinis says as he and Favilla make their horses hurry along.
They make it to the fallen walls of Fornax before their horses collapse due to exhaustion. Rot takes them over, so Cinis and Favilla put them down. The entire kingdom is filled with hollowed humans and animals with no normal people in sight. Cinis and Favilla try to power up their weapons, but only get a slight buff in them. Favilla is at least able to conjure arrows, so she doesn’t need to worry about running out.
“This isn’t much for what’s ahead of us,” Favilla says.
“It’s good enough,” Cinis says as he charges ahead.
The couple doesn’t worry about clearing out each sector of the kingdom as all appears to be lost. They head back to where their parents are supposed to be. Along the way, they are chased by every hollow in the kingdom though that doesn’t stop them from reaching the command center of the Fornax, which is one of the biggest castles in the kingdom. There they barricade the doors before searching for their parents inside. Hollows infest the halls of the castle and some of them are faces that they remember. The two eventually come to the throne room where they see empty armor sets and clothes that their family members would wear along with sword on the ground. What happened here is obvious to Cinis and Favilla as they try to contain their sadness. A note among the hollow dust catches Cinis’ attention. He reads it to Favilla.
“We’re sorry for lying to you our children, Cinis and Favilla. We sent you out so you wouldn’t need to fight needlessly against our inevitable demise. We were the only kingdom left on earth and there aren’t many people left out there. Things may seem hopeless now, but the light of hope still burns. There is a passageway here in this castle that leads to the center of the earth. Go down there and reignite the flame that will burn away the rot and decay of this world. It will also ignite the sun and its radiant light. We kept this from you so that you could train your skills and mind to be strong enough to complete this task. Remember, that no matter how dim and cold things may get, your fire will never fade away. I know you’ll make it through this. We all love you.”
“Why couldn’t they tell us this?” Favilla asks.
“Because we probably would’ve just stayed here. It also seems like they knew it would end this way eventually. I guess they didn’t want us to see them die or they didn’t want us to go through the pain of putting them down.”
“Well…I guess we have no choice but to go to the center of the earth.”
“Yes, we have to save the earth and make our parents proud.”
Before they can quietly mourn their parents, the hollows break in. The floor where their parents’ clothes were falls and hollows start coming out of it and the throne room’s doors. Cinis and Favilla are able to power themselves up further and prepare for a long fight since there is no way out. They seemingly have to destroy the entire kingdom in order to survive. Hundreds upon hundreds of hollows assault the room as Cinis and Favilla hold their ground. Even though they’re the best soldiers in the kingdom, they doubt their chances of survival. A few hollows get through their defenses and rip off some of Favilla’s dress and even tear through Cinis’ armor, but thankfully they don’t receive any physical wounds. Hours upon hours of fighting passes until all the hollows of the kingdom are slain.
Cinis and Favilla collapse in exhaustion as the floor beneath them and the other floors beneath that collapse as the couple fall down to the center of the earth.
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