Everything hurt. I really tried to focus on my new best friend as we walked but it was too hard. He’d nearly destroyed me again. My left arm felt like I had somehow broken all the muscles and my right arm had a broken bone that I could see sticking out of it.

  At least one of my ribs was cracked, the middle of my chest felt dangerously close to breaking and hurt with every breath, and with my broken nose I could barely breathe at all. My body was even more of a mess than when this all began in a few ways.

  But it was fine.

  I’d won, I was alive, and hopefully my left arm could heal on its own a little. It was a small price to pay for victory. Still… my body wasn’t holding up well. Not at all. I needed real medical attention and soon.

  The biggest problem was just the pain. It was nearly debilitating but I’d gotten used to a lot. I’d get used to this. I smiled, as me and my new best friend walked down the tunnel. It was a long one, very long, and all rock. This didn’t look like a typical part of the sewer. In fact, maybe it wasn’t? It could have been a natural cave that got chiseled out.

  I whistled as we walked, or at least, I tried to. I’d never been that good at whistling and not being able to breathe out my nose made it hard. I glanced to my left, where the Battle Toad was staring at me.

  I smiled at him.

  He huffed, well, croaked in a huff way, before rubbing his stomach and wincing.

  “Yeah, I got you good there.”

  He looked at me quizzically and thus began the most insane thing I felt I’d experienced in a long while.

  A game of charades with a toad man that had nearly killed me as we both walked drenched down a rock tunnel.

  He pointed at his stomach and winced. I laughed. He pointed at my arm and laughed mockingly. I pointed at his nose, still dripping purple blood, and stuck out my tongue. He huffed and made the motion with his fingers of walking on two legs, falling over, and then made a face with his tongue sticking out like he was dead. It was my turn to huff as I made my two fingers stand back up and slowly, it all just, evolved.

  Before long, it didn’t feel like we were just going back and forth with begrudging annoyance about what we did to each other. It truly began to feel like we were really talking.

  My right arm hung mostly limp at my side, impeding our conversation, but slowly, slowly, I began to tell him about my journey so far.

  I hadn’t realized, just how much I’d missed this. I was so lonely. Even with the weight off me from remembering my family well, no, even more so because of it, I’d grown so lonely. When was the last time I truly just talked to someone and enjoyed it? Master hardly counted. Before that…

  I was awful, I realized. When I was drunk and first lost my home, I was caustic at best. I didn’t cause problems but I didn’t have any friends. Even the other homeless people avoided me but that was no surprise, they avoided most people when not begging.

  Before that, I’d worked and been… if anything, even worse. I’d hated everything. I’d hated working as a cashier or a fast food cook or as a custodian. Each job seemed to be worse than the last and they were all terrible, only shit jobs given to weaklings and with shit pay. My attitude hadn’t helped. I’d hated everyone around me, my coworkers, the people I’d see, my tiny apartment, the technology everyone forced onto me, all of it. So much of it. Some rare coworkers tried to get me to feel better, they’d take one look at me and just know I was a refugee. A few had even been children of ones themselves. Their parents survivors of Vega’s atrocities. They’d tried, and they’d failed.

  One of them, a woman I couldn’t even remember the name of, had even forced me to go to a waterpark. I hadn’t smiled once, but I went on all the rides. She stopped trying after that.

  I couldn’t even remember anyone’s name besides some old managers that probably deserved death or dismemberment. Omar was a real piece of work…

  I didn’t have any friends. I hadn’t had any friends. This Battle Toad was the closest thing in the past three years I’d had to, to anything close. The first person in three years that I actually enjoyed being around. He’d nearly killed me, twice. He’d broken me, spat on me, we’d only known each other through battle, and we could barely talk with pantomime. And yet he was the closest thing I had to a friend right now.

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  That was kinda sad.

  I was knocked out of my daze as I felt the Battle Toad’s massive hand on my shoulder. I looked over to him and I nearly cried at what I saw. Worry. When was the last time someone worried about me? When was the last time they did and I was mentally well enough to receive it? He was staring at my wounds, a slightly guilty look on his face, probably thinking I was about to pass out from pain or something.

  I smiled back at him, forming a thumbs up with my left hand.

  “I’m okay. Thanks though.”

  We kept walking and before long, an opening made itself known. I hadn’t even realized along our walk but the lights in this tunnel were abysmal. Lighting was never massive in the sewers, so I’d kind of ignored it, but the bulbs along the side had clearly been placed there and lit with something else. The opening looked like a bright white light in comparison, like I was walking out of the demon realm and into a light world.

  Once we were through, I gasped.

  A village.

  A thick barrier of pure rock surrounded the front of the village, guards hunched behind it with actual spears. That caught me off guard. Weapons were used but they were usually used in war or by absolute craven bastards with no self respect. At least, that was what I’d been taught both at home and in Vega city.

  I looked at the guards and frowned.

  [6]

  [6]

  [6]

  [6]

  None broke seven. That… that didn’t make any sense. It struck me how little anything made sense down here. There were strong creatures around, the men and women I was seeing had every reason to get stronger. If they were all stuck at [6]... a wall? A natural wall? Was that even possible? Could a whole species have a low natural wall?

  And they didn’t have the luxury of a healing tank or breaking themselves fully down. There were actual dangers here. Even still… something wasn’t adding up. That danger and the fighting would destroy that natural wall for everyone that survived. The only other option-

  I looked back at the toad I’d been calling a Battle Toad, and then back to guards looking at us nervously.

  They didn’t look the same.

  They were smaller, slimmer. Weaker. Different species? Different, variants? There were too many different races around the world to know everything about all of them.

  My friend croaked at the guards and they croaked back and before long I was just enjoying the conversation I couldn’t understand. A massive sigh of relief went through the guards though. I looked at my toad friend and he put both hands together and then flailed his thick fingers. Like, tentacles.

  They lived in fear that the water elemental was going to one day come down the tunnel and kill them all. My friend guarded the entrance, checking to make sure nothing was wrong. The massive amounts of noise must’ve scared the village. Absolutely nothing was safe down here from that thing.

  Before long, they stood down, letting me and Battle Toad through. I’d have to figure out his actual name someday.

  Once past the guards and the rock wall behind them, the village truly opened up and-

  “It’s beautiful.” I said immediately.

  They lived on a lake. A pure crystal blue lake. Giant lily pads floated on top, beyond sturdy, for there were houses seemingly built of rock and moss on top of them. I could see different amphibians going about their day, but they looked on edge. They swam, huddled up, fathers ready to fight to the end, mothers protecting their children.

  It brought back memories. So many memories. Tears flowed from my eyes and when the battle toad released a massive croak, I visibly saw the villagers relax. Happy croaks were let out, children smiled, an old couple even began entwining their tongues in a freakish display that left me grossed out but happy for them.

  A village scared.

  A village told the danger had passed. That it was over. That they were okay. That they’d live another day. That they were safe.

  Sorrow and happiness and sadness cut across me like a knife. Tears of joy and longing poured out of me. I felt Battle Toad’s hand on my shoulder as he stared at me, a wide smile on his face for once. We understood each other in that moment. His village was safe. Something so precious that you hoped it would always be true, yet always feared its absence.

  Silently, he led me away from the grand lake and to a house nearby on the rock. It was at that moment I realized a few things.

  Battle Toad was a toad.

  And the rest of the villagers?

  They were frogs.

  Where was your brethren my friend? That look in your eyes… you have lost your home and people too. There was nothing I could say in words or pantomime that could express anything of worth. I knew that all too well. Slowly, carefully, I patted him on the back. He stiffened, turned to me, and nodded.

  His home was simple, but the moment I stepped inside, my legs became jelly.

  For the first time in months… I was safe.

  I was safe.

  With a wide smile on my face, and a worried look on my friend’s, I passed out on the spot.

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