Chapter Text
Fernando coughed out the debris that filled his lungs. His face was met with a softly lit golden ground.
“Fernando!?” A voice cried out, panicked and worried. What was originally going to be a response of reassurance to the voice turned into a scream of agony as Fernando now felt a sudden surge of pain all over him. He felt the pressure of the rubble above him, causing his armor to increase that strain.
“Fernando!” The voice yelled out again.
“Ma-Mal’damba! I’m fine!” Fernando hollered back, letting out another yell in pain.
“Where are you!?” Mal’damba replied.
“Under rubble. Dark. In lots of pain-!” Fernando yelled out sarcastically. The witch doctor didn’t reply to his joke. “I can’t get through! There are holes that I can barely fit through, however, I fear if I move anything, it’ll all come down on you!” Mal’damba exclaimed. “I might go get that druid to help us!”
“Johnson may be still around. Why don’t you get him?” Fernando suggested. He felt weak now. Why was he so tired? Why now?
“Are you asinine!? That’s two days of travel! You’d be dead before I even get to him!” Mal’damba barked. “I’ll get the druid. Just stay still!”
“Oh trust me, I’m not going anywhere!” Fernando replied. He laid there, breathing heavily. He couldn’t tell what wounds he had from the pain around him. Some of it was cold while it was extremely hot. Was he bleeding? Did he break a bone? Was he impaled? He couldn’t piece it out.
Fernando looked over to see two purple hues reflect in the darkness. The cobra. He still had the cobra wrapped around his neck. Fernando didn’t know if the cobra was moving or if it was staring at him, but the purple hues often twinkled in his eyesight. Fernando relaxed, closing his eyes.
“I.. I don’t know if you’re there, but if you are: I’m sorry. If you blame me for what happened to your people, I understand. If this is my fate, I am willing to suffer through it. However, I beg only one thing of you. I wish you’d give me another chance. Please, I can not die like this. I can not die and have Mal’damba carry the guilt he already holds so much.” Fernando opened his eyes, looking at where he saw the shine. “I promised that I would be there for him. To cease his suffering of the curse you gave him. Please, mother, goddess, Wekono. Give me this chance to help Mal’damba and his people.”
There was no response. Only the silence around him and the pain he had. This was his fate.
He rested his eyes and quietly waited for Wekono’s final strike against him or for him to die of blood loss. He felt himself drift into a void, feeling himself grow dreary and his brain reassuring him to sleep. Yet, his ears sparked his brain to awaken him.
He heard the distant sound of struggle and grunting. A grumble than a hiss, then the sound of moving rock. Mal’damba? Was he back already? There was a pattering of feet against stone now. Another grunt then a smash of stone against stone.
“Hello? Are you still here?”
The voice was definitely not Mal’damba. It was a younger voice. A boy’s.
“O-Over here!” Fernando yelled out to them. He heard shuffling of movement and then two feet above him.
“Right below you! Right below you!” Fernando exclaimed quickly. There was shuffling of stone as the pain sparked up again. The pressure began to cease as the rubble above him was removed. As it did, Fernando was able to wriggle himself out. He crawled out of the dark hole of the wreckage and climbed onto a stone where he perched himself up. He couldn’t feel his lower half, nor move it without it causing pain.
“Wekono. Wekono I owe you my life,” Fernando gasped as he collected the fresh air, his eyes closed.
“Uh, Wekono? I’m not Wekono,” The voice replied. Fernando now looked over to his rescuer. He was right, it wasn’t Wekono. Instead, it was a small boy.
He was pale with a bright smile and two elf-like ears that had golden earrings on them. He wore a crown over his brown, fluffy hair. On each side of what was seemingly his head were two small horns. But what really got Fernando’s attention was the tail swaying back and forth from behind the boy.
“Are you alright, sir?” The boy asked, examining him up and down. “You look awfully bad.”
“I would say I am fine, but I think you already know the state I am in,” Fernando said. “What are you even doing here? Did you survive the onslaught?”
The boy looked away sheepishly, his tail now slumped to the ground. “No.. But I did get the idea of what did happen.”
“Are you even from here?”
The boy shook his head. Fernando laid back, trying to think of what to ask, but the pain overthrew his thoughts.
“Can you walk?” The boy asked. Fernando looked at him, then tried to get up. Another surge of pain made him scream. He fell back into his resting spot, gritting his teeth and hissing. The boy scrambled over to him, making sure he wasn’t hurt as bad. The boy observed around him then climbed over a huge tower of debris and vanished behind it--the way towards the entrance. Fernando watched him go, then to the sky above him. It was still midday, the sun beaming down into the temple.
A loud slam made Fernando jump. Then another slam. Another. Another.
“Uh, senor?” Fernando called out.
“Yeah?” The boy replied, then another slam.
“Are you okay?” Fernando asked.
“I’m fine! I am just to see if I can open the entrance a bit!” The boy replied. The slamming stop as now Fernando heard grunting and shifting of stone. It stopped again and Fernando now watched the boy climb back over, place down a glowing circle and hurriedly climb over the stone tower and vanished again. Fernando watched the glowing circle with markings on it.
Fernando now jumped a second time within a matter of minutes as he heard more toppling of stone. Fernando shot up, his eyes darting frantically until he saw the boy appear out of thin air, exactly where he placed down the circle. He turned to Fernando, shyly.
“Uh.. oops,” the boy said. Fernando sighed loudly. He had a good feeling that the boy caved in the entrance more.
“Just sit,” Fernando said. The boy walked over to him and found a spot near him, crossing his legs. Fernando turned to the boy, taking off his helmet.
“What’s your name?” Fernando asked.
“I’m Talus! But you can call me Tal,” The boy greeted. “And I am familiar with who you are though. You are from Paladins! Fernando right?”
The knight blinked in surprise. “Yes. That’s me.”
“I’ll be honest, I snuck on the boat. The same boat you and that familiar man was boarding,” Talus blurted out, rolling his thumbs. “I thought you guys were going to the place called Hire-says!”
Hi-Rez, Fernando corrected in his mind. “Why? Do you want to join?”
“Yes! If anything, they can help me and my people! We aren’t bad people as others say we are! Honestly, we are like every other person!” Talus explained.
“Your people?” Fernando asked. Talus nodded.
“The Ska’drin!”
That name surely did not ring any bells. Ska’drin? Perhaps a race similar to Ruckus’?
“Fernando!” A muffled voice yelled. Mal’damba!
“Mal’damba! I’m okay! I got help!” Fernando exclaimed. “The entrance is more collapsed!”
There was a muffled curse. “I’ll find a way in!” Mal’damba hollered soon after.
“What about the garden entrance?” Fernando called out.
“The garden entrance! Yes! Fernando, I will be right over!” Mal’damba said, a wave of relief between the two of them.