Don't Starve: What This World Has to Offer

by Moonweaver50

"The Reign of Giants will come and go - Shipwrecked will he, we'll never know - When finally, the end of lives - Begins with the fall of five" A world fraying apart from the seams would do anything to save itself. The Host, The Young Heir, The Martyr, The Sister, and the One True Heir. Don't be afraid. This is what is meant to happen. This is what you're meant to be.

50. Chapter 50 The Soulless Automaton

Webber's POV

No more than five seconds after the Ancient Guardian woke up did it rush to attack us. Our companions immediately scattered as it did, and we felt a hint of guilt as we noticed that more than one spider had been trampled before the battle even began. We caught Erika's eye, trying to express our apologies silently, but she shook herself and forced her gaze away from her fallen companions. "They knew the dangers joining this," Erika promised, although we could hear the pain in her voice. We almost responded, but we were cut off as the Ancient Guardian let out a roar of rage as its attack landed in the high walls of the labyrinth. Its horn buried deep within the crumbling material, and we rushed forward to take our opportunity.

Before we reached it, though, it tore away from the thulecite, pelting us with golden shrapnel as it did.

We saw Wilson get hit with a sharp of stone, and he grasped his arm as a thin trail of blood leaked from the new wound. He looked furious.

Erika was shouting orders to some of the spiders, struggling to keep the beast confused and occupied. A couple of spitters fell from the ceiling, landing heavily on the Guardian's back and hanging on like ticks. Without even appearing to notice them, the Guardian bucked into the wall again, sending out another spray of slices of rock. We took an uneasy step back, suddenly confused as to what the creature was trying to accomplish. It wasn't paying any attention to us at all.

Again and again the Guardian smashed into the wall, each time sending larger and sharper pieces of stone scattering into the halls that we entered from.

"It's trapping us," I said softly.

We brandished the sword and rushed towards the creature. We were intent on stopping it from causing those walls to go down. We didn't plan on leaving until it was dead, but the idea of being trapped in the arena with it horrified us.

Before we could reach it, though, the wall groaned and started to crumble. Thousands of years of dust and debris was kicked into the air as the Guardian achieved its goal and caused the wall to fall into the exit.

No way out.

Okay, well, no problem. Once this beast was dead we could get out on our own time, assuming the light flowers stayed lit.

"We're locked in here!" Wilson cried, backpedaling several steps away from the beast. He was shaking like a leaf, his eyes wide. "I knew this was a terrible idea! We need to find a way out now and come back when we're actually prepared!"

"No!" I shouted back, bristling. "We got this far, this beast will die today!"

"WEBBER, REMEMBER." WX was beside us now, a cold hand resting on our shoulder as he spoke, staring straight at the Ancient Guardian. "NOTHING IS SOLVED IF YOU PERISH TO THIS CREATURE. IT IS NOT COWARDICE TO BACK OUT WHEN NEEDED."

"You think we should leave too?" I demanded, trying to keep the betrayal out of our voice. The robot hesitated for a minute.

"NO," he finally said.

The Guardian shook itself free of the debris, its snuffling breaths echoing in the cavern. It stomped forward a few paces, roaring again as it did so. Its roar was so much quieter than the Bearger's was, but it drive icicles of fear into our heart.

Winona was the first to break away from the shock. With a spear in hand, she met the Guardian's eyes with a fierce determination.

Clearly angered by the action, she became the next target. It didn't rush her. Instead, it slowly, almost carefully, inched closer to her, its expression slowly becoming more and more enraged.

Once it was just a few steps away from her, the Guardian swung at her, its horn glinting faintly in the light of our sword. Just before striking Winona, though, Wilson was there, slashing into the creature's face mercilessly with his knife.

The same knife he had used to blind us.

We struggled to take our eyes away from it.

The Ancient Guardian whipped its head, smashing into Wilson's side with the side of its horn with such force that the scientist was flung away and skidded against the floor. As soon as Wilson had been disengaged, it reared at Winona. The mechanic barely managed to scramble away before facing a similar fate to Wilson, who was grasping his stomach as he struggled to regain his breath.

"ARE YOU NOT GOING TO JOIN THEM?" WX asked. He flourished his arms. "THIS WAS YOUR IDEA."

We took a deep breath and nodded. "Let's do this together."

The robot nodded, and we both set off towards the beast.

Its gray ears twitched as if noticing our movement. Its gaze swung away from Winona, one foot stomping furiously against the ground as if hoping the vibrations would shake us off course.

It focused on us first, our black fur glittering in the bright light of our sword and the light flowers.

And it charged.

We ducked away, aiming our sword to slash the beast as it passed.

Instead, the Guardian halted and tore the sword from our hands with its teeth. The weapon clanged uselessly nearby, completely harmless.

Well, fine. We had claws.

We leaped forward, flashing our claws.

Then WX pulled us back before we could land a hit.

"Hey!" I protested angrily, struggling away from him. He let us go immediately after and smashed the blunt end of his spear into its jaw. It shook itself furiously, an opportunity that both Winona and Wilson took advantage of to launch their own attacks.

As soon as neither of us were in danger of being impaled, we growled at the robot. "What was that for?"

"YOU ATTEMPTED TO ATTACK THE BEAST UNARMED," WX replied, his voice pitching with annoyance. "WHEN ITS GREATEST WEAPON IS ON ITS HEAD."

Okay, yeah, that was an annoyingly good point. "That doesn't mean anything."

"FINE," he huffed. "NEXT TIME YOU ARE ABOUT TO BE IMPALED, I WILL NOT SAVE YOU."

"Good!" I shot back.

The Guardian was focused on Winona and Wilson, now, so we rushed to retrieve our sword.

Surprisingly, even after smashing against the ground, it was completely intact. We wiped our weak hand off on our fur and raised the sword in our good hand.

The spiders were working effortlessly at its feet, darting in occasionally and tearing away patches of fur. The Guardian seemed annoyed with its arachnid foes, turning its blank gaze away from the two humans attacking it to stomp the spiders into the ground. Most of them were fast enough to escape, but not all were as lucky.

Figuring it was distracted enough, we gripped the sword harder and twisted to meet it from behind.

We felt our heart skip a beat more than once as the Ancient Guardian landed hits on our friends. Winona received a nasty blow to her cheek that was still bleeding, and Wilson had multiple smaller wounds on his arms from moving slightly too slow more than once.

WX had closed it on its other side, making a wide berth around the others as they fought the beast. He looked up and down its body, then dashed in to swipe his weapon at its ear.

It roared, this time in agony, as WX's attack landed. There was a splash of blackened blood, and the gray ear was severed from the Guardian at its base.

We wanted to congratulate WX on the good hit, but the robot had to immediately dodge another attack before landing another vicious hit that severed its other ear.

It was absolutely enraged now.

WX had to scramble away, nearly tripping over himself, as the Guardian attempted to crush the robot into the ground. He was beaming, clearly pleased with himself.

Wilson whooped and Winona threw her first into the air.

WX met our eyes and nodded a single time, as if inviting us to attack with him.

So we did.

Deciding that the sword was too heavy for a quick flurry of attacks, we retrieved our own knife and dropped the sword where we stood. With its furious gaze still set on WX, it didn't notice us until we had plunged the knife into its rough hide. The Guardian roared, bucking us off with such strength that we hit the ground on our side, still clutching the bloody knife.

We started to drag ourself back to our feet, but as we did the Guardian was already over us and smashed the blunt part of its horn into our head.

We tripped on our feet as we walked back a few paces, struggling to blink the stars from our vision.

"You're going to die if you keep doing this."

"No I won't," I snapped, holding our head in one hand. We had dropped the knife, and we were having a bit of trouble focusing our vision enough to pick it back up.

Apparently taking notes from WX's attack, Wilson moved from attacking the Guardian's body to attacking the smaller parts of it. Particularly, he aimed for its eye.

He reared his spear back, closing one eye, then threw it with all his might. It would have missed, but the Guardian must have seen movement from the corner of its eye and turned to face it.

It lurched back as the spear buried into its eye with such force that it stuck, no matter how hard it tried to shake it off.

We had to take that advantage, even if we could barely walk in a straight line.

Unfortunately, the Guardian was too furiously shaking itself for us to get a proper hit. It twisted its head and hit us directly in the chest.

We felt our feet leave the ground at the hit. Our heart pounded with terror.

The ground came far too fast. We knew that it was coming and flung out our hand, but it was the bad hand that took the brunt of the damage.

And the agony immediately wiped everything from our mind. As soon as we stopped rolling, we curled ourself around the hand, whimpering and struggling not to pass out.

It happened too fast.

I could've stopped it, if I had just forced myself up despite the pain tearing through my arm. If I had waited to regain my bearings before trying to attack it. If I hadn't begged to come down here to sate some sort of bloodlust that was starting to drive me mad.

It just happened too fast.

Sensing our weakness, the Ancient Guardian had turned its attention towards us. We didn't notice it. All we could think about was how much it hurt why did it hurt it was supposed to be better now why did it hurt so much?!

And so we didn't try to defend ourself when it charged at us.

We looked up, realizing our danger far too late. If we had been at our peak, we might have been able to dodge, but not like this.

The thought hit us so hard that we nearly cried.

We were going to die.

It was going to kill us right here.

And we were going to let it.

"Tyler!"

Something grabbed us, just before the hit came. We were shoved aside, pushed so roughly we hit the ground again and another wave of pain washed over us.

So when we looked up, to see what had happened, we looked up just in time to see it burned in our head forever.

It was WX.

He stood strong, his gaze fierce and his arms wide as if baiting the beast. His face was twisted in a snarl, and he shouted at it so loud his voice hurt our ears.

"COME AND GET IT YOU WORTHLESS BEAST!"

It hit him full speed, its horn angled down and smashing directly into the robot's stomach. The horn cut through metallic skin like it was nothing.

And pierced WX all the way through.

Before we could even truly understand what was happening, WX was flung off of the horn of the beast, his body crashing into one of the stalactites high above before hitting the ground again in a shower of sparks and metal shreds.

He wasn't moving.

"WX?" I whispered hoarsely. I choked on the name, my physically pain suddenly forgotten.

As I said his name, the robot turned his head slightly to look at me, a half-smile on his face.

He was alive!

I rushed to his side, crouching beside him and taking one of his hands in mine, almost unable to believe my own eyes. He turned his gaze down before letting his head fall back again. "WOW," he murmured under his breath. "I SUPPOSE I LIED."

"WX... you're badly injured," I said helplessly. The hole in his stomach wasn't by any means small. In fact, it was so large that it was almost a miracle it hadn't torn him completely in half. I took my hand back and traced the edges of it, wincing every time torn metal ripped through the skin of my fingers. "I don't know what to do. Maybe Winona. Winona can fix you, I know she can." I stood up, shaking my head furiously to shoo the darkness on the edge of my vision away.

As soon as I did, though, WX reached up and pulled me back down beside him. "NO, PLEASE." His voice broke. "SHE CAN'T FIX ME, WEBBER. DON'T LET ME DIE ALONE, PLEASE." His grip tightened so hard that I could feel pins and needles in my fingers.

Who am I? Model WX-78, fleshling.

"You're not going to die!" Even as I said this, I felt tears spilling out of my eyes. "You-you can't die! Robots can't die! We can fix you, I promise!"

"ROBOTS CAN'T DIE. HA..." He shook his head, looking up at the ceiling for a moment. "WELL... MAYBE I'M MORE ALIVE THAN EITHER OF US THOUGHT." Now that I was in no danger of leaving, he seemed to visibly relax.

"WX..." I murmured. "Please, let me try to help you. I know we can, if we just-"

"WEBBER." I fell silent, hanging onto his words as if they alone could fix this. "PLEASE, I WANT... I WANT YOU TO UNDERSTAND... TO KNOW..."

I would have smacked it off but i find it unfair to attack the crippled.

I nodded, trying to focus on him, trying to ignore the tears and the way that they sparked when they landed on him.

"I WAS BUILT... I WAS BUILT TO HATE. TO... HELP ONLY MYSELF. BUT THIS... THIS WORLD..." His gaze landed on mine, and he smiled again. "YOU. GAVE ME SOMETHING MORE. SOMETHING THAT NO AUTOMATON COULD POSSIBLY EVER HAVE." His voice hitched as another shower of sparks erupted from his stomach. He curled himself slightly, as if trying to protect himself against what was already there. "YOU GAVE ME A FAMILY. YOU GAVE ME A SOUL."

Invigorating. Like I could outrun death.

"WX, please, save your energy." I gently touched the torn metal again, struggling desperately to figure out where to start. "I'm no one special. I'm no one at all. Why do you care so much for me that you would d-do this to yourself?"

"WEBBER."

"WX, please, don't say any more. If you just spare your energy, I can get you out of here. I can get Winona and Wilson to help fix you. You just have to stop- to stop-" I sputtered on the words.

"WEBBER, CAN'T YOU TELL?" His expression fell as his eyeless gaze examined my face. "YOU'RE YOU."

"No..."

"BUT NOW... I AM DYING." WX-78 focused on the ceiling now as he spoke. "NOTHING CAN STOP THIS. EVEN IF... IF I WAS STILL INTACT, I AM LOSING ENERGY AT A FAR FASTER RATE THAN I COULD REGENERATE IT."

"But even- even if you shut off, we can still fix you and bring you back, right? R-right?"

WX reached up, his cold hand surprisingly gentle as he used his thumb to brush away the tears under my eye. "YOU KNOW THAT CAN'T HAPPEN."

The hound would not stop barking.

I nodded, screwing my eyes shut and finally failing to keep my composure.

I curled myself over him, my forehead against his chest, and started to sob. It was more than what I had done when Wilson died, and more than I had done when I had been stabbed, smashed, blinded, betrayed, crushed. My entire body shook, and my breaths were short and hitched, punctuated by high pitched whimpers and choked inhales. "Why, WX? Why did you do this?" I cried. "Not you, please, anyone but you..."

I trembled as his hand rested on my head, gently petting my fur as if that could help anything.

"OH, WEBBER... PLEASE DON'T CRY. YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN SO STRONG."

I held him tighter and cried harder. I felt his hand, gradually losing its cold bite, pet the top of my head lightly again. I didn't want him to see me like this, but I couldn't hold it back.

I will not apologize for trying to help... but I should apologize for failing to do so.

I wrapped my arms around him and clung to him, holding him in a desperate hug that I tried to pour everything out in. My pain, my guilt, the way that I had really started to see him as family.

That's what he was. He was my family. My closest companion. My oldest rival.

Whatever he said, I promise it was a lie.

"WILSON AND WINONA NEED YOU MORE THAN EVER. AND YOU WON'T FAIL THEM." I slowly dragged myself back up to see his face again as he spoke. His words were becoming slurred. "I KNOW YOU WON'T."

"WX..." I shook my head and clenched my teeth. "I'm no one special. I'm just... I'm just a stupid kid."

He turned his head away. When he spoke, his voice was so soft that I could barely hear him. "YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT, DON'T YOU?"

I had to speak through a mountain of rubble. It felt like it was choking me, suffocating me, forever casting me into the darkness...

"We could have been... such great friends."

His words were so faint, so blurred, that I barely even understood them. "I THOUGHT WE ALREADY WERE."

I forced myself to smile for him, so that he could see something, anything positive, in these last moments. "I... I thought so too."

And softly, ever so softly, I heard the smallest of off-key notes as he began to sing.

"THE ITSY BITSY SPIDER…"

I suppose it is a good thing that I am neither human nor spider.

"WENT UP THE WATER SPOUT…"

Am I speaking to a spider right now, or a human?

"DOWN CAME THE RAIN…"

Then why am I not happy?

"AND WASHED THE SPIDER OUT."

I would rather die a hero than live to become a villain.

"OUT CAME THE SUN AND… DRIED UP ALL THE RAIN…"

"And the itsty… bitsy spider went up the spout again." I barely managed to choke out the words, but I needed to. I absolutely had to.

Because I couldn't bear to let his song go unfinished.

I covered my mouth and ducked my head into my chest, but even that was barely enough to muffle the wail of pain that I could no longer hold back.

"Please, get up, WX. Please don't do this. Don't- don't, don't be gone. I can't... you were... please, please..." I screwed my eyes shut, and pressed my forehead against his chest. The sobs that tore from my chest ripped apart everything on their way out until my heart was in shreds and my throat was raw.

I wasn't sure how long it was until the sounds of the battle returned to my ears.

I wasn't sure how long it was until I heard Erika whispering to me, promising that they would keep the Ancient Guardian away.

I wasn't sure how long it was until the tears stopped coming.

Or how long it took for the sobs to subside.

Or how long it took for me to finally be able to tear my gaze away from the body of my best friend.

"Tyler, we can end this." A voice whispered in my head. "We can end it."

I had spent so long refusing to give into the spider's demands. So long refusing to let him have any control.

Quite frankly, I was tired of playing nice.

It was as though my body was on autopilot. I stumbled forward, lifting the glowing sword in my good hand.

"You're right," I whispered. "I failed this fight. It's your turn."

The Ancient Guardian was certainly occupied with the spiders, Wilson, and Winona. The crushed corpses of several spiders lay at its feet, but somehow, more kept appearing, urged on by their leader. Wilson and Winona were playing far too much with fire, coming too close to being hit more than once.

Next time you are about to be impaled, I will not save you.

I twitched ever so slightly, a fire burning in my gut. I brought the sword up and smashed its tip into the ground. The sound was surprisingly loud, demanding the attention of everyone in the room, including the Guardian.

I tipped my chin at it and bared my teeth.

Which was all it took.

It charged at me, a muted roar coming from his mouth. It had dislodged the spear in its eye, but the injured eye was closed and bleeding profusely. It had several other bleeding wounds, including the severed ears, but it was acting as though it was completely unharmed.

Not for long.

Instead of trying to scramble out of the way to dodge, I ducked between the beast's feet, and pointed my sword straight in the air.

The Ancient Guardian's momentum was its downfall.

It fell hard and skidded. I expected, almost wanted, to see blood pouring out of the wound, but there was none. Instead, black smoke poured from its stomach and eyes, and writhed around the sword. Almost as though satisfied, the smoke buried itself into the sword's blade. In response, its glow increased, and the bright blue turned a shade darker.

But the Ancient Guardian was still alive.

No.

I refuse to let this happen.

With a roar, I fell towards the Guardian, relentlessly slashing its bloody hide over and over and over again. The sword made no wounds, instead passing harmlessly through its body as if it was water. Without visible wounds, I couldn't even stop myself as I pressed harder and harder, swung faster and faster.

It wasn't me, and I knew it wasn't. I didn't stand this way, or snarl this way. Despite my promises, I had completely allowed the spider to take me over. To tip me into that same darkness that had consumed me every other time we had fought some sort of monster.

We were supposed to have more training.

Slash.

We were supposed to wait until next Spring.

Slash.

This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't gotten hurt.

Slash.

This was my fault.

Slash.

It was all my fault.

Abruptly, I was wrenched away from my prey, the sword clattering harmlessly as it fell from my hand. I let out a howl of despair. No! I was not going to let anyone or anything stop me from erasing this creature from the face of the planet!

I tried to tear myself away, to finish what I had started, but I felt a hand press against my back and another around my neck, just strong enough to keep me in place.

Suddenly exhausted, I fell into the person holding me. I could tell without looking that it was Winona, and whether she was actually trying to calm me or just trying to stop me from brutally murdering the Ancient Guardian was beyond me.

Either way, I needed that hold.

I grabbed onto her and sobbed until I couldn't breathe. I cried and cried and cried until I could think about nothing else except for my pain, my loss. What else could I possibly even think about? Less than an hour ago, my best friend had been alive. I didn't have time to tell him anything that I needed to say.

That I, too, was sorry for how we started.

That he was my best friend.

That he was the only one I truly trusted anymore.

And now, I could never tell him any of that.

Because he died for me. For me.

"How badly is he injured?" Winona asked softly. I felt my muscles stiffen and I choked out another sob. I shook my head and buried my face in her shoulder.

"Too much," I hissed. My voice was hoarse. "He's- he's- he's gone."

"Wilson, give us a heads up if that thing gets back up or tries anything, okay? I think WX-78 is going to need some intense repairs."

I barely looked up enough to see Wilson. He didn't seem to respond to Winona for a long moment. Instead, he was staring at me, his face creased into a deep frown. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but he only looked away and nodded.

Winona gently took my arm and brought me back to my feet. I could barely hold myself up, and she seemed to know that. She kept one arm around my shoulder, supporting me enough to stand.

"We saw him get hit," she said softly. "But I think we both figured the best thing to do was keep the Guardian occupied. Wilson was terrified."

"Can... can you fix him?" I winced at the hopefulness in my voice. How easily could I convince myself of the impossible?

Winona smiled at me. "Well, I wouldn't be a mechanic if I didn't try, now would I?"

It took all of my effort not to break down again as Winona settled beside the fallen body of my best friend. Even then, fresh tears still leaked from my eyes and I couldn't look at him.

I heard Winona hiss under her breath, as if she hadn't realized the extent of the damage until now. I was shaking again- why was I shaking again?

"Tyler, it's okay. This is... grief."

Why is it so painful? It didn't feel like this when Wilson died. I just felt... so empty.

But... please, I don't understand. Why does it feel like I can't breathe? Like everything is crushing me? Webber, please... I dragged myself away, turning my back to Winona. I curled my arms over my stomach and hung my head, silently pleading for the spider's help. Please help me... please... make it stop hurting.

"I can't do that, Tyler. This isn't something you can just shake off. And this isn't something I can shake off for you. The Ancient Guardian isn't dead, but it is incapacitated. And it should be until you decide what you want to do with it. If you need my help with it, then I will help you. But this is something we can get through."

"Webber." I flinched at Winona's voice. No, it was the tone of her voice. I knew what she was going to say before she could say it.

"Don't, I-"

"I'm sorry, Webber." She lowered herself to her knees beside me. She reached over and took my hand, then placed an object in it. I turned my eyes to the object she had given me.

It was... a metallic box. Small, small enough that I could hold it effortlessly in one hand without fear of dropping it, but inherently intricate. It was borderline destroyed, large pieces having been torn apart from it. Half of the inside had clearly been gutted, exposing more wires and boards than I could possibly even understand. I choked again as she spoke, and it took all of my strength not to drop it.

"This... um... this, I think, is what allowed him to... live. His heart, almost. It would have stored and recycled energy as he moved... which is why he didn't need any power source. If it was intact..." She hesitated, then shook her head and covered part of it with her hand. "Without it, it's impossible to fix him. Even if you did... if you gave him some sort of external power source..."

"It wouldn't be him," I said softly. He had said that himself. It couldn't happen. At worst, he would never even be able to wake up. At best, he would be completely reverted back to the way he was built.

Nothing but ones and zeroes.

"I'm sorry," Winona said again. "I... I didn't get the extent of your relationship with him, but I know you were close."

"He was my best friend," I murmured. As she dropped her hand away, I covered the box with my lame one, unwilling to see it but unwilling to part with it. "He was my brother."

"Uh, guys? Guardian alert? It's moving?" Wilson's voice snapped us both out of what felt like an eternity of silence. My gaze shot up, fixing immediately on the aforementioned beast. I instinctively went for the sword before remembering how entirely useless it was, so I shifted my hand to my knife. I placed the box ever so gently on the ground and stumbled forward.

This beast was going to die no matter what.

It had struggled to its feet, and there was something distinctly different about it. Nothing noticed by me, but rather noticed by the spider, who was almost forcing me to take note of the changes.

"It's fur is no longer gray. Rather, it's closer to a pale orange, or more like a tan. It's skin looks healthier and, well, alive, rather than the sort of stony look it had before. It has pupils. It's moving entirely differently, slowly and meticulously. Almost like it is thinking about moving? Yes, it's definitely intelligent. Definitely thinking."

"Webber," Wilson warned, but he seemed hesitant to near me. Good for him. I would not have hesitated to put him in his grave if he dared to interfere with me.

"You killed him!" I howled. "Why him!? Why did it have to be him!?"

I expected no answer.

Which is why I nearly fell at getting one.

"Young Heir." Its voice was so deep, but smooth. Its words didn't come from its mouth, but I could hear them in my head as clearly as if they did. "The Darkness takes many victims. Your friend is not the first, and it will not be the last."

"It wasn't any darkness or monster," I spat. "He was just trying to protect me. He was- he was-" I had to screw my eyes shut. I couldn't even speak properly. How weak could I possibly be?

My anger was crumbling. My resolve was failing.

I just wanted to go home.

"Their presence has faded. The beast has lost one of its heads, but it has many more."

"What are you?" Wilson demanded. His voice broke. "No, it doesn't matter. You have to die. We need that horn." I idly wondered if he positioned himself into a fighting stance or if he shrunk back in fear. "And- and we will get it, no matter what. Even if we have to cut it off."

"Ah, The Host. A man who stumbled upon a fraying world in pursuit of knowledge but found something more. A man who fancied himself a recluse, who hid from the world and swore that he needed no one, yet a man who dies slightly every single day because of his actions against another- one whose blood he does not share, but who means just as much to him as if he did. A man whose soul is slowly crumbling, even as he holds up a facade of strength. The Gentleman Scientist, a broken shell that will never be whole again."

I looked up, eyeing Wilson carefully. The expressions behind his eyes were unreadable, flashing between a million different emotions before finally settling into something blank and unsure.

"And The Sister. A woman who sacrificed everything- her home, her friends, her life- in a desperate attempt to save the one she loved from a broken man. A woman who wold do anything to protect and save the one she shared a womb with, but who believed herself to have failed. She finds herself in the midst of darkness, running from a monster that only wants to give her answers. Fleeing from the same beast that she came here seeking. The Handywoman, a sibling who has succeeded in her one goal in life... but has a much bigger task ahead."

Winona wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes flickering over the deep shadows that edged the room. "Charlie is here?" She whispered.

"The Martyr. Born to hate and be hated. A machine built to fill a void that could never be filled. A machine who came to a blackened land to flee from his past, from his mistakes, and from his purpose. A machine who fought, every second of every day, to become something more, but forever afraid that he would fail. Ones and zeroes, that is all he believed himself to be until the very end, where he was finally gifted his humanity and soul. The Soulless Automaton, truly no more."

My breath hitched at the Guardian's words. I expected to be angrier, but the way that it spoke was so solemn, so... broken... I couldn't. The Ancient Guardian was grieving for the very person he killed.

"The One True Heir. An animal whose presence does not grace us today... but whose destiny is growing ever closer. The first, and one day the last. Birthed and raised in darkness with a heart spoiled with hatred. An animal who learned to love, but far too late. An animal who lost everything, everyone, because of broken promises and bloody deals. He roams aimlessly, his heart empty, his eyes hollow, waiting for the day that his only and oldest friend returns to him. The Monkey King, an empty heart that longs to be complete."

"There's someone else," I whispered.

Finally, I froze as the Guardian's eyes landed on me. Its gaze was soulful, pitying and grieving all at once. When it spoke, its voice was low, careful, as if concerned about what its words would do to me.

"And, of course... The Young Heir. A boy marked by Them, whose fate is cast in shadow. A hybrid who spent many late nights on his knees, praying until his throat turned dry and his words turned sour that he would be found. That he would be found, loved, accepted. A boy who struggles to be the strongest, but wants nothing more than a family again. A boy born to a family that he knows no more, whose angry faces haunt him every night as he remembers the last time he laid eyes on them. A boy who fights and struggles in a futile attempt to get a happy future that he was never destined to have. Rather, his future falls into darkness... as his future lies sitting on the very Throne that has cast him into this Hell. The Indigestible, a cursed title for the cursed child destined to rule over a world of shadows- the Constant."

Ice crawled through my veins. I instinctively retreated into myself, pulling my limbs close to try to chase the chill away.

A child.

A pawn.

A king.

"You're wrong," I whispered. "Destined to rule? Impossible." A laugh erupted from my chest- a raw, rough one that tore my throat on its way out. "My destiny has always been to die. And if it weren't for..." I clasped my hands. "If it weren't for WX..." My voice cracked, betraying my youth.

"Young Heir," the Guardian said softly. "Your words come from a broken place, but your eyes cannot see the future. It is not a future of peace, but it is inevitable."

"We're not staying long enough for that to happen," Wilson snapped. I winced, almost forgetting the others were there. "Because all we need is your horn and the eye of the Deerclops, and our freedom is secured."

"Shame... that such a brilliant group of Survivors is caught by the very same lies and deception that have killed everyone before you." The Ancient Guardian drew itself up, its eyes moving between each of us carefully, as if trying to find something inside of each of us. "The Dragonfly, the Moose, the Bearger... all innocent creatures. Creatures who lived peaceful lives, but were unfortunate victims of the Nightmare Captor's schemes."

It paused, as if allowing for the words to sink in.

Innocent creatures.

Innocent creatures.

"My friends... you have been fooled."

It was crumbling. I felt my knees give, my hands grasping the stone. It felt like the cave was collapsing around us.

It was Winona who broke the silence, actually, as the only one who hadn't suffered through the fights. Through the injuries. Through watching her only parental figure perish.

"If this isn't the answer, then what is?" She demanded. "I don't know the extent of everything, but I do know that- that my friends have gone through a lot to get here. Are you telling us that was all for nothing?"

The Guardian looked thoughtful, then lowered its head slightly.

"Doors go both ways."