The Blackwyrm Chronicles #2: My Little Campaign of Carnage Gets out of Hand

Chapter 113

"H...How many hours have passed since I...died?"

"Time passes differently in the realm we just escaped." she explained in a hoarse voice. "What felt like a few minutes in that realm could've easily been a few hours in this realm."

"You've said that word multiple times. I take it there are multiple realms to each plane?" I asked her.

She nodded, "That's how the living and dead can visit each other in the same plane."

"Oh...I remember Horace telling me that can happen in the Hunting Grounds," I said.

"Exactly." My mom replied, "We were stuck in a limbo-where we weren't alive or dead. I'm just glad we got out of as fast as we did."

"Yeah..." I began, laying on the ground and contemplating my most recent actions.

"You okay?" My mother asked.

"Yeah...I just hate myself right now." I told her, "Luna's going to strangle me...I need to find my team..."

"I understand, but we...really shouldn't be moving right now..."

Heh, too late: I was already forcing myself to stand up.

"H-Helix? You know you just came back from being dead, right?"

"I do. What's your point?" I slung back in a hushed voice. I was able to stand up and take a few steps forward before I tripped on a rock.

"F-FUCK!" I screamed as I landed on the ground and ate dirt. I think I swore a bit too loudly...

I almost thought I heard someone call out to me. I tried to roll over onto my back, but failed. With a huff, I laid on my stomach and stayed very still so I could listen:

"Shut the fuck up Dorrian! I could've sworn I heard him!"

"Luna, you're still in shock-we're all still in sho-."

"Nova, Erron, come with me."

The steely edge in her voice made me flinch.

"I think I'm a dead man." I told my mother.

"I sure as hell hope you're not." She snapped, "We both almost died coming back to this realm again, so please don't tempt fate."

I heard footsteps rapidly approach us.

"Apparently death has an interest in this family." I grumbled.

"You have no idea..." My mother murmured.

The footsteps stopped suddenly.

"Helix?" My wife called in a weak voice.

"Yoo-hoo!" I replied lightly.

She vaulted over a piece of rubble that was near me. We made eye contact, and I saw Luna's lower lip tremble.

"Oh, don't tell me this is an illusion..." She murmured, closing her eyes in dread: "Wait! Don't tell me, or I will slap you!"

I smiled tiredly as I continued to lay on the ground like an idiot. After several failed attempt, I was able to flop onto my back and to sit up ever so slowly. "I-If I was an illusion, wouldn't your hand go right through me?"

She walked straight up to me, knelt, and slapped me hard in the face.

"Ow!" I shouted as the force from the blow sent me reeling off to the side. "Oh how I've missed this feeling!"

She quickly helped me sit upright again before kissing me straight on the lips. She then threw her arms around me as she sobbed into my shoulder.

"T-Thank the gods you're back." she managed to get out. "Try anything like that again, and you're going to be on house arrest for a long, long time, Helix Maestro Blackwyrm!"

I laughed nervously: "Y-Yes ma'am. I'm really sorry..."

She smiled warmly as she stood up: "Fuck you Dorrian! I found him!"

"What? You can't be seri-ow!"

"Helix?" Nova called, "Bro? If you're alive, say your signature word!"

"Potato!" I called.

"Yep, he's alive!" Nova shouted in relief.

"The fucker's alive? Helix, you asshole!" Analise snapped.

"Oh no..." I began in a small voice, "Mommy..."

"Please don't hurt me," I pleaded with my team as they hurried over to my location, "My reserves are at rock bottom, and I'm really tired."

My daughter tackle-hugged me, and I felt ribs crack as my daughter cried into my chest.

I gasped sharply: "Sy-Sylvia...Ack...My ribs..."

My mom chuckled: "Are you okay son?"

"I'm...great..." I squeaked.

Luna looked at my mother curiously: "I thought your mother was deceased."

I breathed in air as my daughter relaxed her death grip on my torso: "Well...she was, but I essentially found a loop hole and brought her back with me to the realm of the living."

My mom sighed. "I brought Helix back using a chant of resurrection-an ancient spell that a master in the dark arts taught me a long time ago. Helix managed to rebound the spell back at me when he placed his hand on my shoulder. We were both brought back to life at the cost of our reserves being drained to near-zero."

Luna nodded thoughtfully, "Huh...wow. Does that mean that there are now two lords of the seventh ethereal plane?"

She shook her head. "I lost that title a long time ago. Helix is the rightful lord."

I was currently laying against a piece of rubble that Luna had helped me lean against. Thankfully, Dorian and Erron helped me up with my daughter still clinging onto me. Luna smiled and peeled Sylvia off of me, only for Nova to embrace me.

I felt my already-damaged rib cage protest, and I looked at my wife: "Is Reinhardt history?"

"He is." Serafine replied as she walked up to me: "And while your so-called 'plan' was extremely stupid, it still worked. Azrael has been dealt a crippling blow today, and you're still somehow alive. That aside, our next encounter with Azrael will spell the end for him."

"Woo," I cheered weakly. "Uh, you guys are going to have to help me and my mum walk...and can someone take my cloak off and give it to her? She kind of doesn't...have any clothing on right now."

Luna shook her head as she undid my cloak and gave it to my mother: "You really need to work on not roughing yourself up."

I hung my head in shame as Nova patted me on the shoulder: "Sorry Luna..."

She kissed me again: "What matters is that you're alive, so stay that way."

I smiled, "Will do."

It took us about ten minutes to get back to the campsite my team had set up. Erron and Dorrian set me down set me down gently onto a cot while Luna and Nova helped my mother lay down on another cot that was set up beside mine.

After she helped my mother lay down, Luna curled up beside me. A few moments later, Sylvia wedged herself between her parents. I'm not going to lie, I slept like a baby that night as my wife and child purred softly beside me.