Howard felt the life slipping from him. He couldn’t breathe anymore, couldn’t speak, couldn’t even manage a smile as he watched his friends prevail without him. His thoughts grew cloudy. ‘They don’t need me anymore…’ “Hold fast, child…”, the wall said in a soothing tone, scooping him up with its tentacles. Howard was lifted, eliciting a cough and leaving a pool of blood on the ground from his pierced chest. Another tentacle scooped up Howard’s heart and placed it back where it needed to be. The touch of Howard’s holy blood, dripping from his still heart, made the tentacle sizzle and burn. The wall carried on in spite of the pain, more determined to heal Howard than it was to take its next breaths. The last thing Howard saw was total darkness drawi...

Please subscribe to keep reading.