To Keep the Fire Burning

by DannyJ

Chapter 1: By the Skin of Your Teeth

After spending a day preparing supplies and planning how I'd get through the Inquisition's lands undetected, I said my goodbyes to everybody and went on my way, promising that I'd be back with Notch in about a week's time. My mother had called me crazy and tried to convince me not to go. My grandma had been gently encouraging but slightly worried. My employer had just shrugged and told me that if I wasn't back in a week he'd replace me. The next day, I crossed the border and headed northwest on a planned three day journey to Port Cruelsea. If my information was correct, that was where the Inquisition kept their ships docked.

As it turned out, the Inquisition really didn't care about me at all, now that I wasn't travelling with a changeling. My three day journey turned out to only take a day and half when I realised that I was fine to take the main roads. Then once I got to Cruelsea, it was just a matter of finding a ship to take me across the water to the Asylum. I eventually located an old sailor with a rowboat who was willing to make the trip. He thought that I was mad to go there, but I ignored his warnings. Some days, I wonder if perhaps I shouldn't have.

And so it was that I came to be climbing over a number of giant, jagged rocks just outside the imposing southern wall of the Changeling Asylum, the spray of the sea on my back and the call of the sailor in my ear.

"Ya got one hour! If you're not back by then, I'll be shipping off without yeh!"

I didn't even turn back to look at him. I merely opened my saddlebags and floated out a long rope with a giant hook on the end, which I'd purchased precisely for this occasion. Rather than attempting to throw it, I lifted it right up to the top of the wall with my magic, which was fortunately just within my magical range, and attached it as firmly as possible. Beneath a stormy grey sky, I scaled the wall, swaying in the wind on my rope.

I'm coming, Notch. I'm coming to rescue you.

The moment I climbed up and over the prison wall and entered the Changeling Asylum, a foreboding sense of dread came over me. Crossing the sea to get here, the stormy skies and fierce winds had only stoked the fire in my heart, but now that I was within the prison itself, it was already withering. Suddenly, the cold seemed that much stronger.

Standing atop the ramparts, I had a good view of the Changeling Asylum. It was converted from some ancient castle, with battlements and turrets and several courtyards of varying size visible between the walls and towers. One such courtyard, directly below me, had a lone bonfire flickering away in the middle, its light pink flame struggling in the wind. I could see no way down to that level, so I looked around for alternative paths.

As I headed right, towards a tower to the east, I noted the age of the brickwork. Everything was almost crumbling, and moss had grown in the cracks. This castle looked like it had been abandoned long ago. It certainly didn't look like a functioning prison. Especially since, oddly enough, I had not spotted a single inquisitorial guard. Or changeling, for that matter.

I pushed open a door and headed inside the tower. It was empty and unlit, with only a single spiral stairway in the middle of the room and another door on the other side. I ascended the stairs and entered another unlit room, the sole features here being a single wooden table and chair and a bale of hay in the corner. A set of keys lay on the table. I didn't know what they unlocked, but I thought it a good idea to take them. The bottom floor was empty too, and the door down there was locked and unresponsive to any of the keys I found, so I went back up and out onto the ramparts. I headed along it in the other direction until I came to a second, western tower. This one was also locked, and also did not respond to any of the keys I found.

I cursed and kicked the door. That was it. I was already out of legitimate pathways through this place. I guess I shouldn't have expected navigating the area to be easy when I got in by scaling the wall instead of going through the front door, wherever that might've been. But this meant that I had to do some more climbing. Good thing I still had my rope.

I leapt down into the courtyard with the bonfire below, grunting as I hit the ground and ignoring the aching in my ankles. There were a few open doors down here, so I went for the one that looked darkest and was most likely to lead underground. There, I expected I would find the dungeon. I stepped into the darkness, and immediately something crunched beneath my hoof. Cockroaches.

"Eugh," I said as I scraped it off.

As I was looking at the ground, though, something caught my eye in the darkness, just in front of me. I created a bright flame using my horn, and was able to see the eviscerated changeling. It had a broken horn and torn wings, and lifelessly stared up at the ceiling. A trail of green liquid oozed from its stomach, and the cockroaches swarmed around the wound. I gasped and brought a hoof up to cover my mouth.

Then I pulled my hoof away and stared at it, seeing that it was also covered in changeling blood, as well as dead cockroach. I ran out into the courtyard and was sick.

I leaned back against the wall once I was done, shivering and rocking in place as tears streamed down my face. I used my magic to lift a bottle of drinking water out of my saddlebags, and cleaned off my hooves and face. That done, I got up and took a deep breath.

"...Okay, you can do this, Firelink. You can do this."

I stepped back into the darkness to face the corpse again. My small fireball glowed brightly and illuminated the room, revealing how damp the castle's interior was, with even worse moss problems than outside. I tried to focus on that rather than the dead changeling, but I had to walk past him on my way over to the next door.

While passing, I noticed that he was half-laying on a round, wooden shield strapped to one of his forelegs. There was also a rusty, ancient sword over on the other side of the room, or at least the hilt of one, which was curiously stained with fresh red blood. It was about as fresh as the changeling's, at least.

"Did you try to fight your way out of here?" I muttered.

The changeling did not answer me. I looked out into the courtyard, and then back over my shoulder at the door. Even if I hadn't seen any inquisitorial guards, this place did still clearly present some danger. Not wanting to physically touch it, I used my magic to lift the changeling's body and remove the shield from his foreleg.

The inside of the wooden roundshield was covered in changeling blood, so I didn't attach it to my own foreleg. As a unicorn, I had the option of levitating it and moving it in front of oncoming attack. Granted, I was sure it wouldn't withstand attack as well as it could've that way, but I wasn't sure that it could protect me from much in the first place. It was a tiny thing.

I looked down at the changeling one last time.

"I'm sorry," I said.

I had banished my fireball to focus on holding my shield, and so now navigated mostly by hornlight alone. My magic fought back the darkness as I descended into the prison, but not as well as my fire had. Torches lined the walls here and there, flickering with orange flames, and they helped, but the prison was still dim. For a moment, I mistook them as a definite sign of life, but to my dismay, examining them closer revealed that they were the enchanted type. These could last ages. I had no idea how long they'd been burning for.

At first, the cells I came across were empty. But soon chittering and wails began to fill the air. I followed the sound through the labyrinth and came to a long corridor. On either side of me, held behind bars and thick metal gates, changelings moped about. They walked in circles around their cells, leaned against the walls staring at nothing, or just lay there, heads in their hooves. None of them seemed to notice me.

I noted with a wince that all of them shared a common handicap; like the dead changeling from earlier, they all had broken horns and were missing their wings. I almost couldn't believe that I was really seeing it. I already knew that the Inquisition treated its prisoners badly, but to think that they were getting away with this kind of cruelty... It was things like this which was why I didn't believe in the goddesses.

With a gulp, I walked over to one cell and tried to get the attention of its inhabitant.

"Hello?" I said, my hoof clanging on the bars as I tapped them.

The changeling looked up at me with a snarl and lunged. I took a step back and it smashed against the bars. It pushed its muzzle through them and started biting at the air, letting loose green spittle. I stood frozen in abject shock. My first encounter with a feral changeling. I didn't even know that this was really a thing that happened. I'd thought it was just scaremongering.

I closed my eyes and shook my head, turning away from the sad scene.

"Is anybody in here still sane?" I called out through the prison. "Any of you? If you're sane, I can release you!"

I walked the corridor, looking into each cell at the changelings, each in their own depressive funk. I called out repeatedly for sane changelings to speak up. Sometimes I caught the attention of the ferals in the cells, and they'd start throwing themselves against the bars and gnashing at me just like the first one did. Very occasionally, they'd set off other feral changelings as well, but most of them were content to ignore me.

Still, I was quickly losing hope. Did changelings in the Asylum really deteriorate this fast? If so, I did not like the thought of how I would find Notch.

I was coming to the end of the corridor when it happened. I called out again, and a feral in the cell to my right took notice and rushed at the door, throwing its whole body weight against it while snarling and hissing. It had not been the first to do such a thing, but the bars on its cell were rusty and brittle, and this one actually smashed its way through into the corridor, startling me.

It was behind me when it happened, so I whirled around to face it. The feral had cut itself on the metal smashing through, and was bleeding green from its side, but it didn't seem to notice or care. The changeling bared its fangs and rushed at me. It took me a few seconds to remember the shield that I was levitating, which I brought between me and the changeling, but it batted the piece of wood aside without even trying and lunged for my throat.

In an instant, I was pinned. It tried to bite me, but I kicked it off and into a wall, winding it. I flipped myself up and backed away, raising the shield again, but this time I was all too aware that it wouldn't actually protect me.

What am I doing? I thought to myself. I can't fight without a weapon! I'm an idiot! I'm going to die!

It lunged again, and I swung with the shield and hit it in the head with as much force as I could muster. By luck, the thing screeched and fell to the ground, a small amount of green oozing from where I struck. It clutched at its wound, but I knew that such an injury would not kill it. It would get right back up, and it would keep trying to murder me. I couldn't be sure that I'd get in another lucky blow like that. I panicked.

I threw myself on top of it, punching it in the face with my hooves and using my magic to batter it with my shield at the same time. The shield was very light and made a terrible makeshift weapon, so I had to keep slamming it down again and again. My eyes were wide and manic as I wrestled with the thing and kept trying to hold it down while it struggled. At some point I stopped beating the feral and began strangling it instead, while maintaining my assault with the shield. Green fluid sprayed over me, and the feral just wouldn't stop wailing.

Eventually, the changeling went still. Its limp body flopped over, and I dropped my shield, now covered with a fresh coat of green. I fell off and rolled over onto my back, lying on the dusty prison floor. My breathing was deep and rapid, and my eyes were watering. I had blood all over me.

That was the first time I ever killed anything.

I stumbled out of the darkness ten minutes later, cold, numb, a vacant expression on my face, and still no closer to finding Notch. Wherever he was, he wasn't in any of the cells down there. I was still covered in changeling blood when I emerged into the daylight, but it had begun drying sometime while I was down there. I still carried the useless shield with me, but I hadn't had cause to wield it again yet.

There was a crack of thunder. I looked up at the storm clouds and frowned, thinking. Unless this region had wild weather, which was possible, but not a given, there had to be pegasi up there to cause a storm. Griffons, at the very least. Was that where all the inquisitorial staff were? Did they have no guards here on the ground because they could stay up there, safe, away from the prisoners? It made sense; if the prison itself was so aged and crumbling that ferals could just break out of their cells by accident, I certainly wouldn't want to be stuck with the job of watching them. This Asylum seemed less like a proper prison and more like a quarantine zone. They just stuck the changelings in here and left them to rot away and die. No proper oversight necessary.

But if that was the case, why even lock them up? It wasn't like the changelings could escape under their own power. I presumed that these barbarians had broken the prisoners' horns and removed their wings to prevent them from flying or self-levitating their way out. There was no other way over the wall without having a rope, like I had. And even if they got over the wall, they were still changelings, not exactly known for being good swimmers, and a freezing ocean stood between them and their escape. Why not just let the changelings roam free about the prison?

There were no other dungeons on the ground level in this courtyard, so it seemed like I had to make my way to the west side of the Asylum, which was on the other side of a massive metal gate. I walked up and tried to shove it open, but it felt like it was blocked from the other side. I could scale the wall and go over the gate, but that probably wasn't safe.

I crossed the courtyard with rope in hoof and climbed back up onto the south wall. From there, I could see the boat, and I waved to the old sailor so that he knew I was still around. Since I knew the west tower was completely locked and I couldn't get into it, and I didn't have confidence in my ability to smash down the door, I decided to climb over it and fall down the other side. It'd be a shorter drop from the tower onto the ramparts.

It was while I was climbing over this tower that a bird screech rang out somewhere above me. I looked up, expecting to see griffon inquisitorial guards swooping towards me. Instead, my eyes widened as the clouds glowed and fire began raining down from a cluster of them just above the Asylum. Literally, huge balls of fire were descending towards me, bigger than any I had ever conjured up, though not as bright. I had no idea what was going on, and in my bewildered state, I leapt from the top of the tower down into a courtyard below to escape the oncoming destruction, almost breaking my legs in the process.

As I moaned in pain after hitting the ground, nursing my legs and stumbling as quickly as I could to a sheltered area at the side of the courtyard, fire falling from the sky towards me, I thought that things couldn't possibly get any worse. Then something roared, and a thumping sound reverberated through the ground. I slowly turned around, my pupils as small as pinpricks. And that's when the gigantic demon emerged from over the northern wall of the courtyard.

It was the most hideous thing I'd ever seen in my life. It stood on four legs, like a pony, but it was bloated and dry-looking, with a rubbery, blue-green skin instead of a coat, and thick, twisting, bone-like protrusions sticking out of its thighs, kneecaps, and the back of its head. The latter ones were the biggest, rising up over the beast to make it seem taller, and they gave it the appearance of having antlers when looking at it head-on. Its back legs and hindquarters were fat, but its forelegs were small and spindly and ended with claws.

Where a pony would have lips, the demon left its gums and large square teeth exposed, which it kept clenched shut while it glared at me through its beady red eyes. It climbed over the battlements and dropped into the courtyard, swishing its short tail behind it, which looked more like an exposed spine than it did like a pony's tail.

It opened its mouth and roared at me. I scrambled back away from it as quickly as I could. Fortunately, it didn't care too much about me at that exact moment. After scaring the living daylights out of me, it turned its attention to the sky, which I had almost forgotten for a second was still raining death upon us. One of the fireballs was about to impact the courtyard. Up close like this, I could see that it was the flaming wreckage of a wooden sky chariot.

Then the demon's antler-bones glowed a sickly green hue. It roared again as the aura around its antlers also encapsulated the burning sky chariot, and the demon tossed it back up into the air with astounding force. It flew all the way back into the sky, and actually broke through the cloud layer, disappearing from sight completely. My jaw dropped.

The demon could do magic.

More fireballs were falling, but they weren't falling on me anymore, and they seemed to be keeping the Asylum demon preoccupied. Looking around, I located a small, open side-door to the south, and galloped over to it as fast as I could, ignoring the lingering pain from my earlier fall. The demon noticed my escape, but as soon as it turned to try and stop me, a burning pegasus corpse landed on its head, enraging it and putting its attention back on the siege from above.

I did not question fate. I merely took advantage of the chaos to get into the castle interior again.

I collapsed against the wall.

"Celestia's mercy!" I gasped.

My heart was pounding in my chest, and sweat ran in rivulets down my face. I opened my saddlebag and removed a handkerchief to wipe it away. I took a deep breath, and despite myself, I muttered a prayer to the goddesses, for luck if nothing else.

I rested for several more minutes, but I knew I could not remain for long, and so I climbed to my hooves and pressed ahead. To my surprise, the corridor I was in turned out not to lead deeper into the castle, but instead to another outdoor area. Not a courtyard this time, but a long pathway, with a castle wall on my right and a series of prison cells with open doors on my left. Looking up, I could see that the sky was still on fire, at least in places, and that the burning wreckage and corpses were still falling.

What in the name of sanity is going on up there? I wondered.

It didn't matter. I had to move. I drew my pathetic little shield and prepared to run past the cells, when all of a sudden a charred griffon corpse landed in a heap just in front of me. I took a step back out of instinct, and retched when I was hit with the smell of burning meat, but I had nothing left in my stomach to expel after emptying it earlier.

While trying to get my breathing under control, I noticed a few things about the dead griffon, notably his burnt uniform (confirming that the Inquisition were indeed based in the clouds above the Asylum), and his weapons. He was rather heavily armed, carrying on him a set of wing-blades for aerial combat, a dagger attached to his belt, and a straight sword with a claw-grip, made to be held with a griffon's talons, rather than by mouth as pony weapons were.

I tentatively used my magic to pry the sword away from the dead inquisitor. Though it was not made for ponies, the grip did not matter to me, as I had no intention of wielding it physically; unicorns have a great advantage in reach when it comes to swordplay, and I intended to exploit that now that I had a sword I could actually use. If the fates were kind, I'd never have to face an enemy in such close quarters as last time ever again.

Now armed, I charged out of cover and along the pathway. I stopped by each cell just long enough to glance inside and check if it was occupied, before running on in case I was hit by falling wreckage or attacked by another feral. Fortunately, they were all empty, and I reached the end of the path without incident. There, I ran through an open door, which I soon realised was the ground-floor entrance to the west tower, the one I had leapt from earlier.

Inside, the place was just as bare as the east tower, but I nonetheless ascended to the middle level and tried my luck with the door leading to the west side of the prison. Miraculously, this one was open. I didn't question the arbitrary nature of which doors were locked, but instead poked my head outside to check on the state of things. The sky had calmed over the prison, but out over the sea, there was still fire falling everywhere.

I wanted to investigate the mystery of the burning sky and find out what it was that was merrily roasting the Inquisition alive up there, but I had bigger problems demanding my attention. Down below in the courtyard, the Asylum demon was still prowling, burning wreckage and corpses strewn about by its hooves. I noted that the other side of the metal gate had previously been blocked by a big pile of barrels and crates that were now smashed to pieces and burning.

The demon hadn't noticed me yet, so I ducked back inside the tower for now, but there was no way it wouldn't see me if I ran out across the ramparts. I considered turning back and trying to escape, but if Notch was in the west block, as I suspected he was, then there was no avoiding this creature. I'd have to get past somehow if I intended to continue my search. And as it just so happened, there was a door on the west wall of the prison that led into the structure's interior. Another prison block? If so, then that would be a good destination.

"Right... okay..."

There was really only one thing for it. I needed to distract him with a spell. As it happened, I was fairly sure my pyromancy would do the trick. My talent related to fire, so it was one of the few spells I was proficient with. Unfortunately, my talent was more to do with light than burning things, so I wasn't sure if I could do much damage to the demon with it, but I could certainly blind the wretched thing.

I envisioned the spell in my head, recalling the familiar framework, and then began charging my horn. As I did, I ran outside, galloping at a breakneck pace towards the door to the upper west block. The demon heard me and turned around. It snarled. I screamed. I let loose the spell. For a brief second, a light as bright as the sun flashed in its direction, and the Asylum demon cried out in pain and covered its eyes. Even I was a little disoriented by the spell, despite my being more accustomed to its effects. But the important thing was that it gave me enough time to charge for the door and barrel inside.

I shut the door behind me, and immediately found myself in the middle of a long corridor that ran from north to south along the prison's west wall. Just like the last cell block I was in, enchanted torches kept the place lit, and the air was filled with the quiet chittering of changeling prisoners. Outside, I thought I could hear the Asylum demon still thumping away, but it didn't seem to be making any efforts to get to me anymore.

I decided to head north along the corridor first, but after only a few paces, I froze. Up ahead, at the far end of the corridor, a changeling was out of its cell, leaning against a wall and covering its face. It could have been a feral. I raised my shield.

"Hey!" I called out. "Are you sane?"

It didn't respond to me, but to my surprise, somebody else did.

"Sane? This is an asylum, you know."

I recoiled away from the changeling in the cell right next to me, whom I hadn't noticed until now.

He leaned against the bars and gave me a half-cocked grin. I settled slightly and lowered my shield, though I did not fully lower my guard. With a sympathetic grimace, I noted that he, like all the other prisoners, was missing his wings and horn. He didn't seem to be in much pain from it, but it still made me want to cringe just from looking at it. I really could not get over how sickening it was that the Inquisition did this.

"Uh, hello," I said, trying to ignore his physical condition. "You still seem to have your wits about you. You're the first changeling I've seen here who hasn't gone feral."

The changeling in the cell smiled and shrugged.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Trusty Patches," he answered in what I now recognised as a common Trottingham accent. "'Ere, what's a pony doing in this place? You don't look like a prison guard."

I snorted. "How do you even know what a prison guard looks like? I haven't seen a single one of them since I showed up here."

"Nah, you wouldn't have, mate. Them're all up in the clouds. They don't need to be down here with us. Not with the demon around."

"Yeah, I think I just met it. What's a demon doing here, of all places?"

"Inquisition captured it, way I hear. They brought it here when they first started using the place as a prison. Guards the front gate. It ain't come to stomp us all yet, but if we try to escape, it'll squash us flat."

"...Hmph."

Patches cocked his head. "So, what are you here for?"

"I'm... here to rescue a friend," I said, looking down the corridor at the changeling out of his cell. "I think he was imprisoned somewhere around here. Would've been three weeks ago now. Do you know where they might've locked him up?"

He shook his head. "Nah, mate, you got it wrong. They don't lock us up in here. We lock ourselves up, and we lock up the ferals. For our own protection, y'see."

I raised an eyebrow. "What, in case the ferals try to eat you?"

Patches rolled his eyes.

"We're just like undead, really. We only really stay sane if we still 'ave our souls. The ferals, they don't have souls no more. They lost 'em all, or burned 'em out, or traded 'em away."

"Traded them away?"

"It's a changeling thing. Point is, we got souls and they don't, so they want 'em. So yes, they'll attack us and try to take 'em, 'less we stick the ferals in the cells to keep 'em away from the rest of us. And we can hide in our cells to keep safe. Everyone's got a key to their own, but a feral ain't clever enough to use one. I go feral in here, I'm no danger to anyone."

"What about the bonfire in the east courtyard?" I asked. "Why don't the ferals try to feed from that?"

"They do. But since it ain't got a Fire-Keeper looking after it, a feral will just keep feeding and feeding, and it'll die out to protect itself. Then the rest of us have to find a way to relight it, which ain't easy. And there's also the fact that a newly lit bonfire won't feed a larva's share to most changelings, and we ain't got nothing to kindle it with up here. So that's another good reason to keep the ferals in their cells."

The Changeling Asylum was a bizarre place to me, completely unlike any other prison I had ever heard of. I had to admit, though, it was certainly a novelty. The Inquisition had no need for prison guards because the prisoners were all too scared of each other and other local hazards. That demon out there likely did half the work for them. It was quite ingenious, really, at least when combined with all the other security measures.

"So, if you're here to rescue your friend, how do you plan to get him away?" asked Patches.

"I've got something worked out," I said. "If you help me find him, then I can take you with me."

He smiled at me.

"Alright!" he said, with a cheerful grin. "Sure thing. All you gotta do is let me outta this cell."

I gave him a blank look.

"I thought you all had your own keys here?"

"Oh, we do, mate! We do. But I lost mine, y'see. Dropped down a drain. I'm kinda stuck here."

"Well... how do I get you out, then?"

"There's another key I trusted to a dear friend of mine," said Patches. "Poor bastard probably went feral by now, but you can find him just a little ways down the hall."

I nodded. "Which cell?"

"Five doors down, on the opposite side from mine."

I glanced in the direction of the lone changeling again. It hadn't moved since I entered this cell block, still leaning against the wall with its face buried in its hooves. I was almost certain that it was feral. At least I had a sword this time.

"Okay. I'll be right back."

Drawing my sword and floating it ahead of me, I inched my way down the corridor, counting the cells as I passed. The fifth one down was uncomfortably close to the unrestrained feral, but it was still more distance than what separated me from the others, so I was probably safe so long as I didn't attract its attention.

Once I reached the cell I looked around inside. The prisoner was mirroring the other feral, leaning on the wall and covering its face just like its twin. The only difference was that this feral was sitting rather than standing. I noted with a frown that it was wearing some kind of silver pendant, set with a bright, round emerald. I wondered what the significance of that was, but I quickly put it out of mind and started looking for the key.

It was in the corner, old and rusty and covered in dirt. Or at least, I thought that was it. Looking closely, the feral was also sitting on a second key. If what Patches said was true, then one was for his cell, and one was for this cell. Since I had no way of knowing which was which, I used my magic to grab them both and float them over.

The changeling noticed me now. It sat up and lunged at the bars, hissing and snarling and baring its teeth at me. I dropped both keys in surprise. One was still inside the cell, while one clattered to the floor just by my hooves. Backing away from the cell, I picked up both again and manoeuvred the second key through the bars. The feral either didn't notice or didn't care. It just kept growling at me. I gave it a pitying look and stuffed the keys into my bags.

I cast my eyes over to the free feral. Despite all the noise that the prisoner was making, it wasn't stirring. I didn't question my luck. I just turned around and headed back in the other direction. The sound of the feral slamming itself into the bars echoed through the corridor as I walked away.

As I approached his cell, Patches gave me a bright grin.

"Ah, there you are! Got my key? Giss it 'ere."

I removed both keys from my bag and pushed them through into his cell with my magic.

"It's one of those two. You're welcome."

"Aw, thanks, mate! You're a diamond. Really, you are."

He picked the rustier one, the one that had been in the corner of the feral's cell, and began unlocking the door.

"So, my friend? Do you know where he'd be?"

Patches stepped out of the cell and dusted himself off.

"I can tell ya now, mate, he's not in this block. We ain't had nobody new in 'ere for well over a month. Where else have you checked?"

"Where else is there?"

"This is west block. South is below us along the wall, but that's usually empty." That was probably the outside area that I ran through after I got my sword. "That just leaves east block and upper east."

"There's an upper east block?" I hadn't noticed that. "How do we get to it?"

"How'd you get 'ere in the first place?" he said, giving me a toothy grin.

My heart sank.

"Oh, no. No way. There must be some secret passage around here somewhere. We cannot go outside with that... thing still prowling."

The sounds of the imprisoned feral's tantrum continued to echo down the corridor. At some point, I had tuned it out. That was a mistake. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the loud crack and that ominous clanging. I twisted my head back to look over my shoulder, and saw the feral changeling with the pendant crawling its way out of its cell through a gap it had made in the bars. For the second time that day, I stood frozen in shock, caught off-guard by the state of disrepair that this prison had fallen into.

It landed on the floor in a heap once it was free, before climbing to its hooves and charging towards me. Perhaps even worse, it had finally set off the second feral that was already out of its cell, so now two of the monsters were coming our way.

"Run!" Patches yelled.

I should have raised my sword and shield and prepared to fight. Instead I did as I was told. Patches and I bolted for the door, both of us completely forgetting what was waiting outside in our haste to escape these oncoming nightmares. I tore open the door with my magic just before we reached it. We ran out into the daylight together, and were immediately greeted by the sight of the Asylum demon in the courtyard below.

It looked up at us, momentarily surprised by our sudden appearance, but Patches didn't slow down to give it a chance to smash him, so neither did I. We ran across towards the west tower. He was able to reach it in time and ran inside. I got almost halfway there before the Asylum demon leapt up in front of me in a single bound. The whole wall shook as it landed. I lost my balance and nearly fell over. Then I felt a telekinetic field form around me.

"Oh please, Celestia, no!"

I thought it was going to toss me through the air. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, it instead only wanted to slam me against the ramparts repeatedly. I covered my head with my hooves in an effort to prevent a concussion, and cried out in pain as each impact made me bruise and bleed. I think some of my ribs broke. Then it turned me over in the air. It was just about to break my spine on the stonework when something else caught its attention.

The feral changelings emerged from the prison and charged over towards me, oblivious to the Asylum demon. The demon let me go and I dropped to the ground. I tried to pull myself up. It stepped over me and plodded over to the approaching ferals. I didn't look back to see the carnage. I heard shrieking and wailing, sickening cracking sounds, liquid dripping over stone, and the demon crunching something between its massive teeth, but I didn't see any of it. I was limping away to the west tower as fast as I could.

As soon as I was inside, I slammed the door shut again. My nerves felt like they were on fire, and as my heartbeat finally slowed, the pain only got worse. Patches was nowhere to be seen, so all I could do was drag myself into a corner. There, I lay down and cried.

The Asylum demon was still stomping around outside ten minutes later, but I knew I couldn't just stay in the tower being frightened. My injuries were severe, damn near crippling, in fact, but I had no healing magic, and there was nobody in this forsaken place that would save me. If I didn't force myself up, I would die here. So force myself up I did.

The way to the southeast wall was no longer blocked. In his haste to escape the Asylum demon, it looked like Patches had physically broken down the door, which now lay on the stone outside. Wherever he was, he had cleared a path for me to go ahead and find him. I gave a wan smile and limped outside. My body was in a state of extreme pain and exhaustion, but it would all be worth it. I would reunite with Patches, liberate Notch, and we would all escape this horrid place together, fireballs, ferals, and demons be damned.

I used some magic to slow my fall as I dropped from the ramparts into the courtyard, and limped over to the bonfire. I sat by it to warm myself for a second, but only for a second, and then looked around for any sign of where Patches could've gone.

I spotted a rusty gate, roughly the right size for a pony, hidden away in the corner of the courtyard. Heading over to it, I saw that there were steps on the other side, presumably leading to the upper east block that Patches mentioned. But the gate was locked, and unlike myself, Patches had no climbing equipment to help him scale the walls here.

It seemed that the only place he could've gone was the lower east block, so I headed over towards the dungeon entrance, stepped past the corpse, and descended into that miserable place for the second time that day. Sure enough, I found Patches pacing back and forth in the first corridor, before any of the inhabited cells. He stopped in his tracks once he saw me, and broke into another grin.

"Ah, there you are! I was beginning to think you weren't coming back... 'Ere, you look horrible, mate."

"Thanks," I grumbled. "Now, are you going to help me find my friend?"

"Oh, certainly! Certainly! But, if there's one thing I can ask before we get to all that... how is it you plan on getting us all out of here once we do?"

"There's a boat waiting for us over the outer wall, and I've got a climbing rope," I said. "The sailor I hired is gonna leave without us if we take too long, though. So it's important we find Notch quickly."

"Really?" Patches looked at me with uncomfortably hungry-looking eyes. "Where exactly? Which wall?"

"U-Uh..." I faltered. "S-South wall. Like I said, if you can just help me find Notch, I'm sure there'll be space in the boat for the four of—"

Before I could finish my sentence, Patches was engulfed in a flash of green flames, lasting just a moment before he emerged in a new form. Where before he had just been a naked changeling like any other, now he was dressed in some raggedy patchwork armour of leather and steel, with a single shoulder guard, a scabbard by his side, and most surprisingly of all, an intact horn.

In my injured state and surprise at the sudden change, I didn't have time to react before he reached out with his magic, drew his sword, and plunged it into my chest.

"Hurghk!" My eyes widened, and I looked down at the blade buried in me. "W-Why?"

His grin took on a sinister look, but he said nothing. He withdrew the sword, and I collapsed against the prison wall. I tried to lift my hooves to cover the wound, but I no longer had the strength. My eyelids felt heavy, so I closed them as I slid to the ground. It was so cold.

"Sorry, mate, but souls are precious nowadays."

He touched his horn to my head, and grabbed me with his telekinesis. Except it didn't feel like it was on my skin. Even though I was rapidly losing awareness of the rest of my body, I could tell the difference. His magic wasn't gripping my physical self, but instead something much more fundamental to me.

Then it pulled. I gave a little cry of protest, as much as I could muster at that moment, as my soul was torn from my body. Immediately my sense of fading strength became a feeling of absolute weakness. I felt like nothing. I opened my eyes again for a second, and saw Patches holding a small yellow orb of energy in his hooves, which was rapidly crystallising. He looked at me, saw that I was awake, and then stopped smiling.

"Oh, sod."

He flashed with green again, and suddenly I was looking at a mirror image of myself, or at least, myself as I looked when I wasn't battered half to death by a demon. The orange coat, the wild black mane, and the golden yellow eyes were all as familiar to me as my own name. And there, upon his flank, he even wore my cutie mark, the mark of a bonfire.

Patches looked down at my soul, still held in his hooves—in my hooves—and then back at me. Then, just like that, he ate it. Literally, that was what it looked like. He tossed it in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed in a matter of seconds. I stared at him incredulously, but he didn't seem to care. He unceremoniously flipped me over, his magic now taking on a golden hue just like mine, and pulled the saddlebags off my back.

"Sorry to kill ya and run, but... you'll be coming back soon anyway, and I don't wanna be here when it happens."

"Wait..." I moaned, face-down on the floor.

He didn't stop to talk further. Patches galloped away out of the cell block and left me there. The shock of what he had done to me had revitalised me for just a minute there, but now I was rapidly fading again. Everything was becoming cold and dark. In my last seconds, all I could think about was how I'd failed Notch.

I closed my eyes for what I assumed would be the last time, and I strayed out of conscious thought...

I came back to life screaming. My eyes shot open and I sat up suddenly, fixated on a phantom pain in my chest where I could swear I still felt Patches stabbing me. I looked down at it and saw that there was nothing there. I didn't even have a wound there anymore. But still, it wouldn't stop hurting. I stood up and tried to lean against the wall and wait for it to subside.

"Agh! Gah! Celestia, have mercy..."

My eyes stung with tears. I held my hooves against where it hurt. Looking down, I could see my own dried blood matting my coat, which itself was slightly greyer than usual. It took me longer than it should've to add it all up. Greying coat. Wound mysteriously closed. Standing up again after I was sure I was going to die. And all this immediately after losing my soul to a changeling. I slowly turned my head to look back at my own flank.

There, where my cutie mark should've been, was a black splotch and a circle of red flames. The accursed darksign.

"No..." I muttered, shaking my head. "No! No! No! Not me! Why me?"

I stomped my hooves and squeezed my eyes shut. Like my chest wound, all the injuries from my earlier encounter with the Asylum demon had vanished. In fact, though I didn't notice it at the time, the phantom pain from the stabbing was also starting to subside. But it was small consolation. I had been branded by the mark of the undead curse. I was soulless. I was fateless. I was doomed to die again and again, losing myself to despair until I became hollow. I would be no different than these feral changelings that surrounded me, except that unlike them, not even death would cure my madness.

It wasn't fair! Why did such a ghastly thing have to happen to me? I'd never lived to hurt anybody, whether they be pony or changeling. I'd worked diligently. I'd cared for my friends. I admit that I was far from pious, but I hadn't lived a wicked life either, had I? I had never stolen from others, nor wantonly lusted for the affection of mares, nor consorted with dark powers. Was this just punishment for my lack of faith? Or did fate really care so little for me that I was stricken by this curse by mere chance?

I had already cried so many times that day, but never more so than I cried at that moment. All I wanted then, all I wished for, was something to ease the pain. In my misery, I did not hear the approaching sound of hoofsteps, nor did I look up to see the figure approaching me. But I noticed his shadow when he stood over me, and I heard the concern in his voice when he spoke.

"Firelink?"

I looked up, slowly. Notch was frozen there, sans horn and wings, his mouth very slightly open and his big blue eyes flicking between my face and the darksign on my flank. A changeling's eyes are so clear and bright, one can see their reflection in them. I could see myself in his. My own eyes had lost their colour. They were not golden yellow, but a milky white. Yet another indicator that my soul was truly gone.

I didn't say anything. I just grabbed ahold of him and sobbed into his shoulder.

My friend and I sat by the bonfire out in the courtyard. The stomping of the Asylum demon in the distance was but a minor concern, and we watched the skies as the fire still raged in the clouds overhead, now having moved to the area over the east of the Asylum. The straight sword and tiny wooden shield lay next to us, now the last of my possessions. Notch eked out what energy he could from the sputtering pink bonfire, while I just held out my hooves and tried to keep myself warm.

"I never would have asked you to come here," said Notch. "I'm not worth the pain you put yourself through for me."

"You're my friend," I said, giving him a half-smile. "I couldn't leave you to lose your mind in this place."

Notch looked away from me, staring into the fire.

"I appreciate it, Firelink. You've got a good heart."

I sighed.

"I only wish I could've actually saved us both. If I hadn't let myself be fooled by that lout, Patches, I would still have my soul, and the boat wouldn't have left without us... How did he even keep his horn? Wouldn't the Inquisition check for tricks like that?"

"I don't know," said Notch, not taking his eyes off the fire. "But he wouldn't have needed it anyway. A changeling's disguise magic doesn't require a horn. It's more like how earth ponies channel magic through their muscles. Inquisition can't take that away from us. Not without some real fancy spellwork."

"What about taking my soul?" I asked. "It certainly felt like he used his horn for that."

"Same principle applies. A horn helps, but it's not actually necessary. Good thing, too, otherwise the Inquisition taking them from us would be a death sentence."

I nodded.

"Again, I'm sorry this happened to you," said Notch, looking straight at me this time.

"It's not your fault, Notch."

He shrugged. "Rationally, I know it isn't. But I still feel bad. I still feel like it's my fault for getting captured, because if I hadn't been, you wouldn't have come here. You sacrificed so much for me."

"You would've done the same for me, right?"

"Of course I would've. Why would you even ask that?"

I smiled at him, but it soon died down again. I looked back to the sky, my eyes following the mysterious fiery glow coming through the clouds as it moved over us, heading northwest.

"What are we gonna do, Notch?"

Notch looked up at the sky with me, tilting his head slightly in that way he did when he was thinking of something.

"If we can't climb or fly our way over the walls, the only way out is through the front gate."

A lump formed in my throat. "B-But the front gate is..."

I went quiet and let the distant sound of the Asylum demon's stomping make my point for me.

Notch sighed.

"I know. But the only way out is through."

"It'll kill us, Notch."

"I know."

I leaned in closer to look my friend in the eyes.

"And if it kills me, do you know what happens? I'm undead now. I'll keep coming back. Again and again. And that thing will keep killing me. And every time it does, I'll be driven further and further to despair and madness until I hollow."

Notch squeezed his eyes shut and turned away from me.

"Please, Notch, there must be another way..."

"There isn't, Firelink. There really isn't. I'm sorry, but it's true."

I curled in ball in front of the bonfire, laying my face on the stone floor. I didn't even care how cold and filthy it was. I held my tail in my forehooves and stroked it, shivering despite the heat coming off the fire. Notch glanced my way and sighed.

"Look, undead only hollow if they don't have souls, and I'm not out of spare magic myself. I can give you a little of my soul. You'll be safe to die a few times without worry, and that's something that can't be said for me, because I've only got one life."

I looked up at him.

"No, that's... you can do that?" He nodded. "And... this is our plan? We're just gonna rush by the Asylum demon and hope that it doesn't kill me too many times?"

"It's not a good plan, but at least it's a plan."

"Notch..." I sighed. "Even if I don't hollow right away... it's going to hurt. Dying hurts, even if it's just once. I'm... I'm still afraid."

Notch didn't say anything. He just patted me on the back in a wordless gesture of sympathy. The meaning was clear: "I'm sorry, but this is all I can do."

I climbed to my hooves and sighed again.

"Screw it. Let's try. What's the worst that could happen?"

When Notch gifted me with a piece of his soul, I felt just a little of my old strength returning to me. My magic came back, having been missing since I was murdered by Patches, my cutie mark returned, albeit now merged the darksign so that the ring of fire surrounded my mark and the black splotch acted as a backdrop to it, and my eyes even regained their colour. Nonetheless, I knew that I did not have nearly as much magic to spare as I used to have, so I was not going to waste it.

Rather than levitating my sword and shield, I decided to handle them physically. I held the straight sword by the claw-grip with my mouth this time instead of by magic, despite how uncomfortable it was, and I strapped the wooden shield to my left forehoof, just as the dead changeling had done. I tried to ignore the green gunk on the inside of it brushing against my knee. Notch questioned the usefulness of having such a tiny shield made of so weak a material, but I maintained that it was better than having nothing. At the very least, it'd have a lot more stability if I were actually holding it instead of floating it in front of me. Now it at least had something physical backing it up.

Levitating a shield had been a stupid idea anyway. If I was going to use magic to defend myself, I would've been better served learning a shield spell.

Deprived as I was of anything else to protect myself with, that was all the preparation we could do, and so Notch and I decided to go ahead with our insane plan. We stood before the large, locked gate that led between the two courtyards, and looked aside at each other.

"This is probably going to be very draining," said Notch. "Since I have the more spare magic of the two of us, and I can feed from the bonfire to get more, I'll try to bring it down. You save what little you have. You'll need it if you die again."

I nodded and stepped back, as Notch approached the door and placed his hooves on them. Changelings were meant to be able to passably imitate any of the three kinds of pony, and that included earth ponies. Although he had neither wings nor a horn anymore, there wasn't much the Inquisition could do about his strength; earth ponies and changelings both channelled that power through their very muscles. Notch put that power to use, grunting and straining as he pushed at the giant doors. Slowly, they began to creak open.

Then a roar came from the other side. My eyes widened.

"Get back!"

The doors burst open the wrong way, now bent and hanging by their hinges. The Asylum demon poked its head through the gap and tried to force its way into the eastern courtyard. My blood ran cold as I rapidly backed away from it. Notch was on the floor and disoriented, but quickly got up and started doing the same. The Asylum demon was halfway through when its hindquarters got stuck in the doorway. It looked back over its own shoulder and screamed its furious scream. Then it began shaking and struggling, and cracks appeared in the brickwork around the doors.

I cringed as the demon pulled itself loose. It fell forward into the courtyard, landing on its face. Ancient bricks broke away and flew outwards in all directions, one landing dangerously close to me. The wall collapsed and kicked up a great dust pile behind the demon, which had already begun to pick itself up again.

"Now! Move!" I shouted to Notch.

I bolted for the ruined remains of the door and skipped over the pile of bricks, as well as the wreckage of the barrels and crates that had once occupied the other side until the earlier dramatics had destroyed them. Emerging from the dust cloud, I could see that Notch was with me. I gave him a manic grin as we ran for a small door on the north side of the courtyard, one which would hopefully lead out to the front gate on the north side of the Asylum.

Behind us, the demon was up and waddling back into the western courtyard. I looked back at it for a brief second. I swear its eyes were almost aflame, but we were nearly clear. Notch ran through the door ahead of me. Freedom was within reach. And then a cloudy wall of some kind appeared in my way.

"No!" I screamed.

I hit the wall of fog. It was like I'd run face-first into a giant pillow. It didn't hurt, at least physically, but it was still solid, and it was still in my way. I instinctively wanted to try moving it out of the way with magic, but that wouldn't have done any good. I wasn't sure what this was. Conjuration? Summoning? Some bizarre application of weather magic? Whatever it was, I immediately knew that it was beyond my skills.

The stomping of the demon behind me came closer. I turned around to face the beast. The monster towered over me, easily four times my height, and cast a long shadow. I whimpered, ready for it to grab me with its magic and brutalise me, but instead it reared up on its hind legs and prepared to slam them down on me. I needed no other warning to get out from underneath him. I leapt sideways to get out of range as it brought them down and cracked the stone where I had been standing. I ran around its side to get out of its field of view.

There was no way I was going to avoid this thing in this enclosed space, so I decided that I might as well attack. Running in close to its back legs, I swung my neck around and cut its ankles with my sword. The rubbery skin gave way to my blade, and I was sprayed with a shower of red as the thing screamed and turned in place to face me. At least it could bleed.

In my mind, I could picture it grabbing me with its magic attack again. I didn't want to be in front of this thing, so I darted between its legs. Underneath the demon, I slashed at its back leg again, getting in three quick strikes and causing some heavy bleeding. The demon's pained cries were music to my ears. I was making progress! I could do this! This thing could be killed! And I could kill it!

Unfortunately, I had gotten complacent in my strategy of hiding underneath the demon to attack its legs. Without warning, it flopped on top of me, crushing me underneath its massive weight. My bones cracked, and suddenly I was in agony again, a breathless agony even worse than being smashed against the floor by the demon's magic. I had thought that I knew pain after that incident, but this was true pain.

The urge to scream and my inability to breathe forced me to let go of my sword to do it, but I grabbed ahold of it with my magic again and tried to ram it upwards. The demon shifted and rolled off of me at long last. I lay on the ground, crippled and feeling a burning pain all over, but my magic still lifted my sword, and at least I could breathe again, if unevenly. Over to my left, the demon was backing up and leaning against the southern wall. A long cut across its stomach bled lightly.

I couldn't stand up for the life of me, but I knew that this wouldn't last. If I died here, I would revive. I was going to use what few minutes of life I had left to cause this abominable creature as much pain as possible. Guided by my magic, I flung my sword straight on towards it, and plunged it into the beast's eye.

The shrieking and flailing was a sight to behold, but I lost my magical grip on the sword.

"Guh..." I tried to stand again, but once more fell on my back. "Vile thing... Come and... face me..."

False bravado was doing me no good, though. The demon wrenched the sword out of its eye and threw it aside, out of my reach. Then it stomped across the courtyard towards me. This time, I really had nothing. I was about to die. But for once, I had hope. Because I knew that I could come back from this, and this thing couldn't. When I woke up, I would be ready to go again, while this monster would still be licking its wounds. It could take several deaths, but I was sure I could finish it now.

It picked me up with its magic and lifted me to its face. The stench of its breath was like rotting vegetables and animal carcasses. I grimaced.

"Do your worst!" I shouted at it.

It opened its mouth wide, but then something struck it in the face. I yelped as it let go of me and I dropped to the ground. I hit the stone with a painful yet comparatively mild thud, while the demon staggered back, standing on its hind legs and covering its face with its hands. I twisted my head to look over to the doorway. The fog cover had disappeared, and Notch ran out into the courtyard.

"Get inside!" he yelled at me.

"But I—"

"Hey! Over here, ugly!"

I didn't get a chance to explain my condition to Notch before he came charging across the courtyard. As he ran, he picked up loose rocks off the ground, and slung them at the Asylum demon with all his strength, shouting taunts at it. They pelted creature's hide, but were not nearly as effective as my sword had been. Then the demon's antler-bones began glowing, and it erected a shimmering green barrier in front of itself. A shield spell. This creature was definitely more intelligent than I had given credit for.

Notch's remaining rocks bounced harmlessly off the shield. The demon recovered and advanced. Notch looked back at me, and was surprised to see me still lying in place. He turned tail and ran from the demon, trying to get to me, but it was too late. The demon dropped its shield and grasped Notch with its magic.

Notch managed one last lingering, apologetic look before the Asylum demon pulled him back across the courtyard, grabbed him out of the air with its clawed hands, and slammed him down on the stone. Notch was crushed under its weight. Unlike with myself, the demon did not just sit on him, but lifted its hoof and brought it down on him again and again. His chitin cracked, fluids spilled everywhere, and by the end of it, all that was left of Notch was a big green smear on the floor.

Then it stomped its way over to me. I didn't move, didn't say anything, and didn't resist. When it crushed me just like it did to him, I almost didn't feel it at all.

When I awoke, I didn't scream like last time. I gave a startled gasp as my eyes opened, but that was it. I sat up and slowly stood. The courtyard was empty. The Asylum demon was gone. The ruined remains of the wall were still there, and there was still a dried green patch where Notch had fallen, but no sign of the creature. No sign of the rest of his body, either. I guessed that the demon had eaten it.

I shivered.

"I'm sorry, Notch," I whispered. "I'm so sorry."

He had been trying to save me. Even though I could come back from dying, he had wanted to save my life anyway. It was probably because of how afraid I'd been of hollowing. He'd given up his one life to save one of my many, just to spare me that little bit more pain and fear. Had he felt like he owed me? I wouldn't have ever wanted him to do that for me. I wanted him to live. That was why I had came here, damn it!

I was all out of tears, so I held back on crying. Instead, I sat by the blood stain and stared vacantly at the floor.

I'd known him all my life, since I was a foal and he was a larvae. We'd always done everything together, stuck together through thick and thin. Granted, he had always been a little more standoffish than most, and was never one for physical affection (he'd said he didn't want it to look like he was using me to feed), but he was the closest friend I'd ever had. My best friend.

I took a deep breath and stood up. I didn't want to sit there any longer. I knew if I stayed there to mourn, I would never stop mourning. I would hollow on that spot, and I couldn't allow that to happen. Notch had died trying to help me escape, so I was going to escape. This trip had been a waste, but I would not let his sacrifice also be in vain. I would go back home, find something else to live for, and do something meaningful with the time that he had given me. That was how the undead held onto themselves, and it was how I was going to have to as well from then on.

The fog wall over the northern passage had somehow disappeared during the battle. With the way now clear, I took a hesitant step, and passed through into a long tunnel. No torches lit the way, but that was fine, because at least there was daylight at the end. When I emerged into the open air again, I found myself outside the Changeling Asylum at long last, standing on a cobblestone path with the castle behind me. To think that we had been this close to freedom...

I found myself atop a grassy cliff, with the cobblestone path leading to the cliff's edge. More burnt wreckage and corpses were scattered all around, some still lightly smouldering. I turned in place, looking for any sign of the sky-fire that had been around before, but I could find it nowhere.

With a shrug, I ambled forward along the path, until I came to the cliff's edge, overlooking a vast, icy mountain range. From up here, I could see burning ships and docks below, with dead inquisitors everywhere. A pathway further west along the cliffs led down the side of the Asylum's steep hill and to the docks below. If I was ever going to escape this place, that seemed like the obvious way out. For the moment, however, I couldn't muster up the care to take the trek down. I was exhausted, so I stayed there at the edge of the cliff to rest a while, taking in the sight of the distant mountains.

"Well..." I sighed. "At least the worst of it is behind me..."

There was an orange glow in the clouds ahead of me. I craned my neck upwards, expecting it to start raining fire on the docks. But instead, something burst through the clouds and swooped down. It was a bird. A giant, flaming bird of prey, comparable in size to the demon, with legs as thick as tree branches and wings larger than any I'd seen. A phoenix. One of the legendary great phoenixes. And it was coming straight towards me.

I almost felt resigned to this now.

"Please no..." I said to my next probable cause of death.

It swooped low and closed its massive talons around me. Then it pulled up, and we rose into the air.

Suddenly I was high above the Changeling Asylum, which was getting smaller and smaller below me. That wretched demon was now prowling around the east end of the castle. From up here I could see the docks, and the shore by the south wall where I'd arrived, and the many fires dotted in and around the Asylum, which I now knew to have been the work of this phoenix which was abducting me. I could even almost swear that I saw my boat somewhere on the ocean below, no doubt carrying the old sailor and Patches back home.

"This is just going to be how my life is from now on, isn't it?" I said, more to myself than anything.

The phoenix screeched.

I rolled my eyes.

"Fantastic."