KABOOM! Rob quickly reached across to pull Brogan to safety as shrapnel flew past the doorway narrowly missing his shoulder. He flashed Rob a thankful nod with a sigh of relief.

Knowing his friend was safe, Rob looked down to his blackened palm, clutching the unstable remains of what was once a Crumpet of Power, still glowing blue, crackling with radiant energy. Footsteps of another troop sent by the Bakers Dozen were quickly approaching, their voices echoing through the slats in the shack.

Rob and Brogan had been hiding safely in the woods for almost a year. After striking up a deal with Chungus the Bridge Troll, he had agreed to keep a keen eye on the woods and make sure no one sent by Little Miss Muffin or the other bakers could get close to them.

An army of bakers was too much for him...

The bridge the boys has crossed and fought at time and time again was destroyed. Rob used the Crumpet in a last attempt to protect themselves from the oncoming baker horde.

It was clear to Brogan they were running out of time as he attempted to hurry Rob along, trying desperately to get him to use the Crumpet to teleport them far away. The power of the crumpets is unpredictable and it was obvious Rob was in no state to use it again any time soon.

Brogan began to pace the room thinking aloud, suggesting different ways they could get out of the situation alive. Rob chuckled slowly to himself as he slumped down against the wall.

“We’ve had a good run, but we can’t win every time bud”

Brogan looked down to his life long friend, his friend who would never stop trying, his friend who always knew how to get out of any scuffle. Seeing Rob give up broke his heart, there had to be a way out.

With a newfound determination Brogan peaked through the shattered window seeing the squadron of bakers hastily approaching before squatting down to help Rob up.

“We’re not dying in this shit wooden house” Brogan grunted as he pulled Rob from the floor, throwing his arm around his shoulders and heading for the back door.

Pushing the broken door aside Brogan dragged Rob along with him up the path towards the fields of Weston just bordering the woodland. That would be their escape.

As the friends stumbled up the gravel walkway, sounds of the bakers smashing through the shack shattered the silence of the wood. Birds flew from their nests in a flutter of confusion.

“What’s... that sound?” Rob groaned slowly

“It’s just birds Rob” Brogan interrupted struggling with the full weight of his friend

“No not that sound, that.” Rob replied almost sarcastically

From above them a helicopter with some familiar faces inside swooped across the tops of the trees before resting in the field ahead of them.

It was Wumpet and Ansel, they had been sent word from Chungus. This was their escape plan.

Worried that my glamorous dinner date was about to turn into the psychobitch from Hell at any moment, I made my excuses and headed towards the Rest Room at a brisk pace.

Then, spotting an open window, I squeezed through it into a narrow ledge from which, using my amazing Parkour skills..hones to perfection during my many years of covert ”wet work” for the CIA, I scaled the outer wall up to roof level quick as a flash and commandeered a helicopter which someone had rather conveniently left for me on the roof heliport and new my escape under the cover of a moonless night.

Soon be home now...

Ave was a survivor. They had survived the war and lived on the run for years now. Hell had come back to Ave in the form of the fatal or supposedly fatal match between them and their master, and now, well, Ave was lost. This scared them more than the face of death had.

On this tragic planet Ave was stuck without a means back off to safety and to civilization. For now Ave would have to think of how they could survive without anyone or anything besides dusty bones and old relics.

Ave pushed a relic around with their feet. Looked old for sure and quite jank. Ave continued going back and forth between their feet - the distraction took away the darkness from fear in their heart.

Back and forth it went until Ave could feel a flow from the object. A warmth. This relic would lead Ave out. In what way they didn’t know, but they could feel it. Light was beginning to return from the never ending twilight they were it. But it wasn’t the sky that lit. It was from below.

Below the crater came a ship - one good enough to fly away from the tragedy that occurred here. Hope swelled until it couldn’t drown anyone else.

Drown it did - not even Ave realized anything else - not the bending trees or the noise of dust settling that the dusty relics could speak. As relic had eyes and ears, it understood the chaos here.

So Ave made a run for it. Over the crater and past the enemy line. To the helicopter and off this tragic land.