Back in the large cavern where the boys lay broken and wounded by the gargoyle king's attacks, Chad woke up in just enough time to watch the gargoyle king leave the cavern. He stayed still, not wanting to get the monster's attention.

Once the gargoyle disappeared down the corridor, Chad quickly got up, taking his healing sword with him, and stumbled to Drake. He himself was barely conscious; he hadn't yet regained all of his senses from being knocked unconscious. It was just enough to realize that Drake needed him and the healing power of his sword. He could feel his own life slipping as Drake's slipped away.

Because of what was happening to him, he had realized that their lives were bound. If Drake died, the others would as well. He could feel it. He knew the moment he felt his life slipping.

After stumbling to his friend, he kneeled to assess the damage, his face turning paper white as he gazed at the hole in Drake's stomach that went clear through to the wall behind him. Drake's crumpled body lay in a swiftly growing pool of blood. Chad knew he had to try to heal him. If he didn't, one of his best friends would die.

Of course, he and Mike would follow, but he didn't want to see his friend die; he wanted him to live. He wanted to save him, and not just to save himself and Mike; it was because, out of his friends, Drake was the one he was closest to, and he didn't want him to die.

Chad pressed the blade's flat surface onto Drake's wound, the blade glowing a bright white as Chad willed it to heal his friend. He could see that Drake was still breathing, but just barely. "Come on…come on…heal!!" Chad hissed, trying to get his sword to heal Drake faster. It wasn't working. The thought of the token flashed through his mind, forcing him to remember it. "Use the damn token…Damit!" he hissed, wishing he knew how to activate it. He wanted the life token to take effect. It could save Drake's life if he could get it to work. He wasn't sure if he could. He didn't actually know how it worked or how to activate it.

Drake had used his token on him, and Mike had used his on Drake; that left the one Chad could activate. Since he was the only one able to activate the life token, it worked, to Chad's surprise. All he did was wish that it would save Drake. The wounds began to close, and energy burst from Drake's body. A soft green glow encased him as he healed.

It took only a few minutes once the token had been activated. Drake slowly sat up, his hand going to his abdomen as he looked up at his friend. "You… you healed me," he whispered, having difficulty speaking the words. He was close to death when the token had taken effect. Any longer, and it wouldn't have been able to do anything for him. He was still weak from blood loss, and his gut was in pain. It was fading, but not as fast as he would have liked.

Drake's gaze went to Renn and Mike. "Please heal them," he choked out, pointing awkwardly to where they still lay, unconscious. He still had no strength; he had lost too much blood. He could barely lift his arm to point.

Chad stumbled to the others, still shaky from his own injury, and the shock of what happened to Drake. Drake had sustained a terrible wound. One that would have taken his life.

He bent down, pressing the flat of his healing sword to Mike first. When he became conscious, he went to Renn. When they were both healed, he sat down, resting his head against the wall.

"Try to heal yourself," Drake said quietly, still unable to raise his voice above a whisper. He wasn't sure if it would work, but he wanted him to be healed as well. It wasn't fair that everyone else was healed, but left him, the one who healed everyone, in pain.

Chad did the same for himself. With a pleasant surprise, he found he was able to heal not only others but himself as well. When he was done, he sighed in relief, as the pain he was feeling vanished.

Renn whined as she padded over to Drake, nuzzling him, glad that he was no longer close to death. As his familiar, she could feel when he was mortally wounded.

Needing to rest, the boys sat against the cave wall, trying to get their energy back. The battle had taken a lot out of them. They were not strong enough to fight an opponent as strong as the gargoyle king. Drake knew the moment he saw who had been pursuing them that there was no way for them to win. It felt like they were defeated in mere seconds.

"I hate this…" Drake said quietly. "I hate this dimension."

Drake's words made Renn whine louder, not liking the conversation. Drake bent to the side, hugging his massive familiar. "I know, girl. I'm not leaving…I'm just tired of us nearly dying. Every step we take is us, getting attacked or nearly killed. I'm not leaving you, girl. I'm just tired of dealing with all this other stuff." He lay his head on her neck, trying to comfort her.

Mike watched Drake with his familiar. He could tell the beast loved her master. He smiled. He loved his friends, familiar too. They made a good team. "Think of it this way, Drake. We're at the cave where the staff is hidden. If we get the staff, the quest is complete. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that I'm pretty sure when you get it, we all get stronger. When we're strong enough, we can kill that bastard for what he did to us. The best part of it all is that the gargoyle king thinks you're dead. We can get him by surprise."

Drake nodded, his jaw clenched as he pressed his palm where the hole from the king's sword had been. "In my book, he's already dead. We just need to get strong enough to take him on…Right now, he's way too strong."

"Yeah, and our dads have some serious shit to explain to us because they should have warned us or at least trained us so we could get through this stupid quest without dying at every turn," Chad added.

"Seven…there are seven stupid quests… This is just the first one," Drake mumbled.

A loud whine came from Renn while the other two boys groaned.

"We have to do this shit six more times?" Mike asked. "Six more times of this messed-up life-threatening danger around every corner, barely surviving, attacked at any moment, danger?" Mike asked, his head hung, not looking forward to seeing his friends nearly die again.

"So it would seem. We can look forward to getting strong enough to kill that bastard gargoyle king, though. I'm looking forward to that," Drake stated, gazing between his friends. "As soon as you guys are ready, we can go get that damn staff and get the hell out of here."

There were agreements all around, while they rested in the large cavern.

Nearly an hour later, Drake stood up and activated his ascension quest map so they could follow the green thread. He looked over at the large wing that the gargoyle king had left behind after Renn had torn it from his back. It was crumpled near one of the cave's many caverns. As he studied it, it suddenly burst into light particles, vanishing out of existence.

"Good riddance," Drake mumbled, looking at the spot the wing had been. Mike and Chad stood, stretching as they looked down at the green thread that led to the master staff. Their magical sight could still see it.

"Any chance you remember which one is the entrance cave and which one is the one we need?" Mike asked.

Drake smiled. "The thread is directly to the right of the cave we need to enter to find the staff. I took note of it when we entered after I saw how many openings this area has." He looked again at where the gargoyle king's wing once lay. "I wonder why it disappeared?"

Mike shrugged. "Beats me. I'm glad it did… unless of course, it went back to that bastard. Shit, the more I think about it, the more I think he got his wing back. Damit, we can't seem to get a break."

Chad smiled and shook his head. "I don't think that's it. This dimension seems to work on the same principles as the ordinary world. I'm betting something happened to the gargoyle king, and it vanished with the rest of him."

"How about a bet?" Drake offered. "I think Chad's right. If he is, you owe him a favor. If you're right, he owes you one. If neither is right… Well, we'll call it even, and no one owes anything."

Mike grinned widely. "You're on!"

Chuckling, Drake headed toward the cave where the green thread led. He wanted to find the staff and get home. There was a lot of explaining to do.

Behind him, Mike, Chad, and Renn followed.

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