45. Carry on

The five of them held a funeral service for Grant and Darius. It was a somber occasion, unlike what they believed should have been a celebration. Cerone demonstrated her ability to use fire magic and Castus made some wood for them to pyre burn the bodies.

Before they did, they searched Grant's body. They found letters, a ring with the peace symbol and a worn picture in his damaged robes. The letters were scattered information. Reading through the letters the group discovered a number of them were to the Ryden kingdom, convincing them that the umbral was lost and they should send assassins to kill the transplants. Others detailed out the advantages to sending in all the transplants they had to the umbral. The complete picture painted Grant as the sole reason their group was currently in their situation.

At first the group thought Grant was trying to off them, but one letter, the oldest, laid out the truth. It an unsent letter to a mysterious Alpha. In it, Grant talked about finally getting an opportunity to free the transplants with a war breaking out over an umbral with the Mordens. He had done so much work in the shadows to bring them all to this place. The more Castus thought about it the more he realized how much sense it made. Why would the church look to send all of what they considered to be a threat and an asset into a dangerous situation with only Grant, Darius and dubiously sourced Ryden soldiers. Castus already respected Grant, but after reading through the letters he started to revere the man. He was their savior. He risked life and limb to give them this chance. The only mystery left was the ring and the picture. The symbol was one anyone from Earth would be able to identify, the symbol for peace. The picture showed a much younger Grant next to a woman clothed scantily with a witches hat. The back of the picture had two signatures. Grant and Venessa it read. No one else in the group knew Grant that extensively so they left the letters, ring and picture to Castus. Just like how Castus felt about Darius, the group felt the same for Grant and vice versa. They lit the fire and stood solemnly.

Once the flames had died down the group began the ascent back to the outer edges of the umbral where they planned to spend the remainder of the umbral's lifespan. As they walked no one spoke. Darius had left a lot to consider. The ruins of their predecessors, the mysterious letters from Grant and their newfound freedom, made them consider many options.

After a day of climbing the group stopped and set up a temporary camp, now significantly farther away from the center. Then they rested, and for the first time everyone got some uninterrupted sleep.

Castus stretched himself awake in the morning moving the sack he used as a pillow back to his back. As he did he noticed something. A plant. The umbral was mysterious and weird, but the cavern didn't have plants. He hadn't even seen moss, but he was now looking at a foot tall sapling. "Hey guys check this out." He called out the rest of the group that was busy also waking up. Alyssa was the first to get to Castus. Looking at the sapling she turned and looked at him. "It's a sapling, so what?"

"Yeah, but have you seen another anywhere else in here?" Castus snorted back. Alyssa paused in thought for a moment before her eyes went wide eyed. "RYS!" Alyssa ran back grabbing her pack. "They we're here we need to hurry. They may be hurt or in danger." Alyssa frantically started shoving her pack together, nearly spilling the contents as she did.

Cerone placed a hand on her should though, calming her. "That may be true but we don't know which way they went. It's also possible that this is just a plant that grew in the umbral." Alyssa made a rare frown.

"We have to at least try though!" Alyssa exclaimed. Zed walked up, his pack already slung over his shoulder. "We will, we just want you to understand they have been in here far longer than we have and this place already claimed Darius and Grant." Alyssa looked downcast, then perked up quickly, "I understand. I just want to believe in the possibility of hope." The group nodded in agreement.

They quickly packed up and set off. The plant was found in a linear cave system so they planned to walk in one direction and then double back if they didn't find more evidence. After an hour they found another plant. This one seemed older though. A bad indication. "We need to double back. This one is older. They went the other way." Wyden insisted. The group agreed and they made their way back to the spot from the morning. They reached it, then Alyssa spoke up. "Everyone, this is headed towards the center of the umbral. Do we really think they did that?"

Castus looked at the gentle decline in the floor with suspicion. "It is, but why would they head towards danger."

"I think they were hoping to get deep in the umbral and avoid the small fries as the bigger beasts would most likely ignore them if they got deep enough." Zed spoke his thoughts.

It sounded stupid at first but the more they thought about it, the more sense it made. Does the lion stop to eat the fly? Obviously not. The group gritted their teeth and began their descent, for the second time.

They were extra careful this time. Alyssa and Zed would use a combination of speed and listening for sounds to scout. The group would avoid, wait out or hide from anything they ran across. The journey was slow, but every small plant they ran across gave them hope. The seventh plant brought concern though. Next to the plant was some partially dried blood. It wasn't a few drops either. Whatever had dropped the blood did so due to a decent injury.

Everyone looked to each other and pressed on. Avoiding monsters had started to become harder and harder as not only did the strength of them increase, the quantity nearly quadrupled. From finding a plant once an hour to finding one once ever three they pressed on. Occasionally they would take four hour breaks to rest up and eat.

By this point the only times they could advance were during an active fight between two monsters. They would skirt around the fight while they brawled and carry on to avoid being attacked.

Castus had noticed the air had become suffocating. At all times he felt like he was constantly being sapped of strength, mana and mental fatigue started to set in quickly. 'How deep did you two go?'

Zed came barreling into the alcove they resided in. "Shit, shit shit. Bad news we gotta haul, quickly. A massive monster is coming." Zed barely stopped before he began running off again. The group quickly followed. A pounding came from behind. Too many for just one creature. Castus cautiously looked behind him to see a large number of monsters rushing at them, clawing and scraping at each other as they rushed after the group in the same direction. The group looked around frantically for a cave, or an alternate path to run down and escape the hoard that chased them.

The group was fortunate there was so many of the creatures as they all seemed as equally hostile to each other as they were to the people running from them. The constant infighting caused their speed to just be slow enough to outrun, but issues were starting to arise. The occasional magic would fly by them and shards from the fighting constantly threatened their life, there was also the constant question. 'HOW THEY HELL DO WE GET AWAY?' Castus' mind processed a number of solutions as they ran, Cerone's red aura burned brightly on his body as he moved. They had only come across two alternate paths as they moved, but both also had a hoard rushing down them. It was like every creature in the umbral was coalescing to the center of the umbral.

A massive icicle rushed past Castus and narrowly missed Alyssa. "I think everything is headed to the umbral's center right now!" Castus shouted forward as the mob seemed to be only inches from his heels. A burst of acid splashed in front of him, causing him to swerve around it. He could feel the fangs and claws swiping behind him. He didn't even want to chance turning around right now. They continued the desperate sprint, noticing the cave they were in seemed to be widening slowly. Up ahead Castus noticed that there seemed to be an opening. The pressure he felt before had only be a nuisance, but now it crushed him. His body felt like it would crumble at any second.

The group pushed into the massive cavern and hooked a hard right, avoiding the stampede that passed through the mouth of the path they came from. All manner of beasts from grotesque to hairy to nimble rushed into the room and a massive brawl ensued. A large bird like creature swooped down at the group. Fearing the worst Zed drew his daggers and Cerone raised a hand preparing to defend the group. It never came to fruition as a vaguely humanoid creature covered in a horrible blend of blades, fangs, claws, teeth, eyes and tentacles intercepted the diving bird. The bird was audibly ripped to shreds and consumed by the monster as it landed in front of the group.