[center][@Zool][@Loksfjoer][@Saiyan][@Teyao][@Zapdos][@Jay009][@Dark Cloud][/center]

Hardul slept peacefully for the first night in a long time.  The dwarf woke up shortly after sunrise, watched his wife sleep with a serene look on his face, then quietly got up and dressed to go outside.  It was raining, but that didn't stop Hardul.  He had thanked Adam before leaving, but didn't get the chance to thank the rest of Second Chance for ending his nightmare.  In particular, he wanted to show his gratitude to MacKensie for believing in him.

With a steady pace, he ascended Temple Hill.  When he arrived at the top, he was aghast at the sight before him.  The entrance to the Temple of Hades was in ruins and on the grounds in front of it looked like a battlefield.  The members of Second Chance looked more than worse for wear.

"By the forked beard of Ares, what happened here!"  He saw MacKensie, who didn't look quite as hurt as the others and assured her that he would fly back to Cherrad to get help.  "I will bring our best healers and medicine, don't worry!"

And so he ran down the steps to wake the village.  Unfortunately, many of those who knew actual healing magic were some of the first cult members to be drained of all life by Drath'tuthan.  Attacking the overall strength of the [i]Light Domain[/i] in the region had been one of The Listener's goals.  But that didn't mean there weren't any villagers knowledgable in first aid and alchemy.

Hardul knew that Cherrad would bring all capable hands to help the heroic adventurers in any way they could.  It was the least they could do.  For they had been given:

[Center]A [i]second chance[/i].

____________________________________________________________________________________

[@Jay009][/center]

Zigmund's lifeforce was so powerful that all of Second Chance would see and feel the purple glow of their Source Crystal as the enemy's Source filled their crystals.  It was a lot, but only Barracker would feel the overflow of his crystal:  The power of [i][u][b]Ascension[/b][/u][/i] to a higher level.

It had taken Barracker many years to reach his previous level of Ascension, and he had spent many months, many battles and many scars to reach this new level.  And yet he had barely stayed within reach of the unique and amazing powers that the Heroes from Another World currently wielded.  Keeping up with the rest of his party members through [i]Source[/i] and [i]Ascension[/i] would become more and more clearly an impossible task, as time went on.