Chapter 18: No.
I am the roar which scars his soul when it sounds. I am the Brain, the eye, the skull, the wall, and the worm. I am everything which has ever haunted him. I am the spirit of darkness who resonates in every monster, and who slowly makes the world shrivel. Everything which lives is my enemy, and I will treat it as such. I
I have driven him to slay his own guide. His spirit will crumble, and he will be a soulless husk of what he once was.
Die Vald, Die.
I had never seen it rain in the crimson. I wish I never did. I wish I never did any of this. This is all my fault.
Rain in the crimson is a disgusting mix of blood and pus. It sticks to you and doesn't dry off.
I couldn't believe I did all this. I just ungratefully murdered my own guide, after everything that he'd done for me. I couldn't believe myself.
Nurse's death was my fault too. I should've known not to make the healer come along. We could've managed on healing potions!
God, I was stupid.
"Calm down Vald. What just happened was bad, but you've got to keep moving forward. For God's sake, you're the hero of Terraria!" Logrolf said, urging me to follow him.
"Some hero I am. Killing my own guide..." I said bitterly.
"Vald! You can't blame yourself for this! This was-" The Wizard started.
"No. Just no," I said grimly.
I could believe it but I couldn't. I knew Guide was dead, but wanted to think that it would return to normal. But I couldn't.
Everything I'd ever heard about the death of someone who you held very close was a lie. There was no stage of disbelief or whatever- It just struck me very hard.
Guide was the one who had led me through all this- the one whose story stuck closely by mine, and ended because of it.
I had a story to write without him by my side now. I had a story to finish without him as my guide. Now he'd never be there for me again. Never there to tell me when I was doing something wrong- never there to be my teacher. Never again would he be there to comfort me in times of sorrow. He'd never lead me through another difficult obstacle again. His encyclopedic knowledge of everything in Terraria was lost to me.
So many never agains. And each one I thought of was a new problem. His death as a whole wasn't one problem I could get over all at once- like forgetting a dollar on the table. His death was many problems, and I'd have to overcome them all seperately.
This was all too much. I didn't want to talk anymore. I didn't want to think anymore. I wanted to run from my problems. Maybe if I could remove myself from the source of the problems, I could lose them.
No. I was stuck with them. And I had to solve them alone.
No. Not alone. I had two friends who were trying to help me solve my problems, and I was ignoring them.
"Fine. We march now. We're going into the cave," I said coldly.
"Alright, one second-" Logrolf started.
"No Talking!" I snapped, "From now on, we march in silence."
"What about casting spells?" the wizard asked.
"Cast them quietly! Maybe if we had been sneakier rather than charging in, none of this would've happened," I replied angrily. We entered the cave in complete silence, Logrolf and the Wizard giving each other uncomfortable glances.
"Ow! I think I just stubbed my toe!" Logrolf muttered as he hit his foot on a small and sharp rock.
"SHUT UP! I Already said, no talking, no making noises, and most of all-" I started. Suddenly, there was a loud pop, and a large, cloaked figure appeared in front of us. "... no complaining," I finished weakly.