《Adventure》


 Chapter 1- Taegan

    I walked into the town, cherry blossoms in my wake. The petals beautifully fall on the path as I walk through the grove. I smile melancholily, remembering those who had passed. My feet crunched onto the rocks, sand and dirt.


    As I walk into the town and look around to find the adventurers guild I have since forever forgotten where it is, I see the tavern on my right. I was planning to stop by it later, but as I¡¯m looking at it, one of the guests shouts at me. ¡°Heyyyyy, ou therrreee.¡± His words are slurred by the amount of alcohol he¡¯s induced. ¡°Commmee join us fo ah drin.¡± I roll my eyes, the drunkards probably aren¡¯t even five drinks in and they¡¯re wobbling dangerously on their chairs on the veranda. I pity their poor selves when they become sober again and realise they¡¯ve fallen over the veranda¡¯s railing. Many a drunkard falling victim to it leads me to not having faith in them being able to stay in their chairs.


    This is a town of dwarves, famously known for its cherry blossom ale. Of course, like many other dwarven products, they¡¯re well built and suited for their smaller, strong residents. Otherwise known as liking their drinks and food strong. This means that they like a lot of spice in their produces, and in any alcoholic beverage, you can be guaranteed that the beverage will have double to triple the human amount of alcohol. Though it may sound bad, it actually makes their food just all the better. With a strong taste suited for its harsh winters and tough residents, its truly a taste of dwarven  heritage wherever you have it.


    This kingdom, after all, is Mara-Ni, the kingdom of the Northern Valley. A very laid back and relaxed kingdom- if you don¡¯t fight it that is- with it mostly being farmers and brewers. The weather is immaculate for farming hardy crops used in most dwarven foods, and their products some of the best around, making them famous for their ale. Of course, even their king is laid back, as he too doesn¡¯t care for formalities, and just normally acts like a normal person, wandering the streets of the capital and truly living up to the dwarven laid back approach to life.


    Back to me, I was walking towards the nearby adventurers guild, finally locating it as it looks normal compared to the rest of the town. I open the door quietly and slip into the building, many teams of dwarves and humans are chatting around tables set out, their weapons sheathed on their backs or hips, with most dwarves having axes and humans a mix of all sorts of weapons. I shake myself, remembering what I¡¯m here for.


    I walk up to the front desk, and one of the attendants goes to me. ¡°Hello, and welcome to the adventurers guild, how may i be of assistance to you today?¡± A standard speech they memorise. I hand over my herbs, and although it was a simple job, it was just fun to relax and not be constantly diving into dungeons and risking my life defeating monsters for a change. The attendant takes my herbs, and looks at me. ¡°Quest number?¡± She asks. Quest numbers are just the number that was written on the page you idk on the notice board so the attendants don¡¯ have to search for ages just to pay you your owed amount. ¡°36.¡± I say, and the attendant nods, turning away from me to find that numbered quest and pay me. After a few moments she returns with scales, weighing my herbs before counting out some money, and handing me four copper. ¡°Hope you come again.¡± She says, and i nod as i take my coin. ¡°Thank you.¡± I say, and head out.


    I then head back to the tavern, and go inside to the bar. A couple cheers and whispers come from one of the tables And as I look over, I can see Jargob, Dargen and Martov. I chuckle, going to one of the tables, and grabbing an ale, cherry blossom, of course.


    A warning shriek pierces the air, and immediately I¡¯m on high alert, looking around to see the danger. The sound is from Maggie, one of the more elderly residents, who had just noticed some rats right in front of her. She really needed to get her vision checked, yet no one dared say it, lest their tongue get pulled from their mouth. One of the sentries on tower duty, having heard her shriek, rang the civilians bell. It¡¯s a bell, that if rung once, means there are monsters attacking, although seemingly not too dangerous, and hunters are on route. However if rung in a panic, that means evacuate immediately.


    ¡°C¡¯mon.¡± Says Jargob, a buff man with green skin and tusks. ¡°Join us, Taegan, it''s time for a hunt.¡± Although in a normally dwarven town, Jargob was an orc who had moved there when his village got overrun by monsters a couple years back in a monster surge. He absolutely dwarfed the short residents (pun intended). Thankfully for him and the dwarves- as they hated being reminded of their short height- he spends most of his time on his farm as a humble farmer, only going out for times like these when he can drink with some of the more accepting dwarves or when he can fight some monsters. Grinning from ear to ear, I followed him eagerly.


    Heading out to the outskirts of town, visible from the tavern as it was also at the edge of town, meaning it was also a great place for adventurers to hang out, as monsters came occasionally and you got to fight them out of the forest where you could attract more than you bargained for. This also meant it was a great place for beginner adventurers to practice fighting.


    I step up to the monsters, eager to fight them, as for the last few days I have been doing nothing but herb collection. Jargob has his trusty giant club, bigger than most of the dwarves in the town. Many dwarves including Dargen and Martov bring out their axes, and are ready to clobber some opponents. My hand slips to where my bottle of sand is held on my waist, and I pop it open, the cork put in my pocket. I look over the monsters, the ugly things that they are. They¡¯re rat-like, their disgusting looking faces twisted and warped into deplorable faces. I would pity any who could not kill them to see. They have short arms and legs that are on the ground. They¡¯re bigger than normal rats, maybe 70cm tall and with ragged grey fur. The sand flowing out of my bottle is reddish, a trait from my homeland of Tingari, a place with lots of normal sand, but the place i grew up in had an oasis with special sand, the sort in my bottle thought to provide extreme luck to the wielder of it, me naturally in control of it and it¡¯s wielder as i use it with practiced ease.


    I use my magic to make the sand into tiny yet deadly daggers, grouping them to be just big enough, and then shooting them at the rats eyes. I made them big enough to fit in the rats eyes, yet not hit the skull as that would pause the momentum, and their shocked, pained expressions crumpled as they fell to the ground dead. Jargob and Dargen, a dwarf adventurer that spends more time in the tavern drinking ale and doing bar brawls than actually fighting Monsters. But is somehow a decent fighter anyways, using his axe to take down a couple monsters. Jargob smashing many others that Dargen didn¡¯t get to a pulp with his club.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    A couple other dwarves defeated some monsters as well, and I remember their faces, as I can guarantee you that Martov will make me the one to hand out the money from the cores to the participants. However, it soon calmed down and all the monsters were on the floor dead.


    In total there were about twenty rat monsters that had emerged, them all lying on the ground either in pulpy blobs or in bloody corpses with their heads smashed in. Well, except for mine which look like the rats are just sleeping except for the prominent no eyeballs. ¡°It sems to meh like the monsters just keep increasin¡¯. I guess ther¡¯s a dugin (Dungeon, although he pronounces it dud-gin.) nearby.¡± Says Martov as he squats in front of one of the rats, cutting its chest open with hi trusty dagger and rummaging  around in its chest to find its monster core. He chucks it, and the rest he had collected in a bag, then throws it to me. ¡°Take it to thee avnch¡¯er (adventurer pronounced ah-v-en-ch-er.) guild thingy.¡± He waves his hand as his tick dwarven accent makes him harder to understand for those who don¡¯t know him well behind a long white beard. ¡°Alright.¡± I say. I take the cores to the guild, which exchanges them for fourty coppper. I went back to the tavern, where all the othe fighters were, and handed them out evenly. Eight people actually participated in the fighting, including me Jargob, Dargen and Martov, so we got five copper each.


    As I was handing out everyone¡¯s rewards, one of the drunken soldiers walks up to me. The only way i could tell this was his soldier uniform, otherwise I would¡¯ve thought he was just another civilian. ¡°Be¡¯ing stingy boy.¡± He drawled out in a drunken tone, looking at y drink, which was cherry juice as i had already had some ale before. ¡°Well, unlike your drunken ass, i want to preferably be coherent and not with a throbbing hangover tomorrow.¡± I sat down on one of the bar stools, staring at the drunk, daring him to try me. He, surprisingly didn¡¯t, and went back to his table, however as he was heading there, he spotted people on  another table, and walked up to them. It was a table of civilians, probably here just to experience the great food this bar has to offer, and maybe for another reason. Whatever they were here for, the drunk was annoying them, but i ignored him for now. I hadn¡¯t put the cork back on my bottle, and I didn¡¯t plan to right now either.


    He was getting a bit too drunk as he took large swigs from his tankard. Someone did try to stop him, but he was stronger than them. Starting to yell and fuss about as the civilians nervously sat there. Flicking a little of my sand onto my fingernail, i condensed it and sent it flying at the drunkard, cutting his hairy arm lightly before the sand returned to me. ¡°Annoy them more and it¡¯ll be more than a light cut.¡± I warn, before taking a sip of my juice. The bar falls dead silent in anticipation for a fight, and I think I can hear some of the younger dwarves and soldiers whispering ¡®fight, fight¡¯ in the corner. The man stares at me, the person who had tried to stop the drunk stopping dead in their tracks.


    The drunk easily gets out of the person''s weak grip, and starts to walk over to me, in a way he thinks is menacing, but really just pathetic as he can barely walk straight. ¡°You dare try to act tough, kid.¡± He says, as his body just barely reaches the bar. He had to fall and whack into the bar before he got there, not doing great for his menacing image. He throws his hands in the air. ¡°You¡¯re drinking juice.¡± He raises his voice as he says this. ¡°So why don¡¯t you take your juice and pretend to be adventurer self to bed and take a nap.¡± He sneers, as he grabs my juice and smashes it on the ground. To his and the patrons surprise, the glass, now smashed into pieces floated from where it had crashed on the floor and floated to be behind me. ¡°That was a stupid move, soldier, after all, you just gave your enemy a sharper weapon. I suppose I should thank you for that.¡± I say, as I look at him. ¡°You should never underestimate a person, and never provoke an unknown enemy. Isn¡¯t that what they teach you these days?¡± I say the last bit in an angry tone.  The drunk, surprised, had taken a step back, only to slip and fall in his drunken state and whack his head on the floorboards, ending up in him unconscious.


    I turn to the bartender. It¡¯s El, who is mildly shocked, but not as much as the civilians, and certainly not the drunk. ¡°I apologise, El, for the inconvenience. I hope you can understand.¡± I bow, and let the glass just float so no one steps on it as I mould it together again. The bartender smiles kindly with a hint of surprise. ¡°Oh no, that¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll just grab a cloth and wipe it up. Thank you for not causing too much of a scene Taegan.¡± She then heads off to find a cloth in order to get the juice off the ground. A woman comes up to me, the one that was trying and failing to stop the drunk when he was annoying the civilians. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry for Gerdolfs behaviour.¡± She starts. ¡°He¡¯s usually a great man, but an absolutely terrible drunk. I hope you don¡¯t take the events of today personally.¡± She starts to help the drunk man to his feet, putting an arm around her shoulder as she tries to lift the big oaf. ¡°No, I understand.¡± I wave it off as I go to sit with the rest of the adventurers, knowing that being with the adventurers, but especially Jargob will deter any drunks. Especially since he still has his weapon out from fighting the rats.


    Jargob laughed and patted my back heavily as I returned. ¡°Did you see his  face! It was hilarious!¡± The others laughed with him. ¡°He was so shoocked. (Pronounced sh-oo-ck-ed)¡± Says Dargen . ¡°Hunestlie, (honestly, pronounced h-u-n-est-lie.) he¡¯s stooopid if he thinks he can take on the Devil of the Sands.¡± I smirk at my old nickname. ¡°He was quite stupid.¡± I admit, and we all laugh and drink the night away, me still having cherry juice in the glass I remoulded back into its original shape.


    In the morning, I pack my bags. Despite staying in this town for two year, i wanted to move on to the next place, especially since the monster surge was coming up. Sure, it was a couple weeks away, but leaving now meant there would be less last minute traveler''s, and the monsters on the road won''t be that bad. You see, you might think that leaving afterwards would be a better idea, but that is a terrible idea, since the monsters will be roaming around aimlessly after the surge and more likely to attack due to boredom or residual effects from the surge. I walked to Jargob¡¯s farm first, since he was furthest from my planned path. I go over to him working in the fields. ¡°Hey, Jargob.¡± I say, shouting out to him, and he looks up curiously. ¡°Yeah?¡± He asks, and, upon seeing the pack on my back, he knows what I¡¯m planning, having discussed it with me. ¡°After the attack of the rats, i think the surge is coming early this year. I¡¯ll be leaving earlier than planned as well, since i don''t want to be overrun by monsters on my trip.¡± Jargob walks over, and despite being a rarely affectionate person, he hugs me. ¡°Okay.¡± He says, and i can tell there¡¯s a hint of sadness in his tone. ¡°I¡¯ll come visit soon, yeah?¡± I say, and he nods.


    ¡°Thank you, friend.¡± He mutters, and I smile softly, knowing what he¡¯s talking about. ¡°No problem. May the winds see you fit.¡± He grins. I taught him this traveler¡¯s goodbye. ¡°And let the paths of air guide you on your travels.¡±


    When I was finished with him, and he returned to plowing the field, I headed over to the old dwarves house. ¡°Martov.¡± I call out, the old dwarve walking out. ¡°Wha?¡± He grumbles, but his eyes widen as he sees the pack on my pack. ¡°Ya leavin¡¯?¡± I nod. ¡°Yep, the rats from the dungeon pushed my plans a bit.¡± He grumbles something unintelligible and then says. ¡°Well, may the winds see you fit.¡± I smirk, knowing that''s the old man''s way of saying ¡®I¡¯ll miss you.¡¯ ¡°And let the paths of air guide you on your travels.¡± I walk out of there knowing the old mans going to go to the tavern and drown himself in alcohol, but otherwise be fine. He was just a sentimental man like that, even if I introduced myself as a traveler.


    When I was finally finished waving goodbye, I walked to the Battle Grove. A memorial for those who had lost their lives last year against a monster horde that attacked the town suddenly with no warning, killing many. I kneel before the graves, paying my respects as i leave a sash of sand on the graves, signifying my respect and remembrance as I stand up and start to leave. A smile upon my face, I finally walk out of the grove, confident to leave the dead behind and onto the gravel road heading to the next town.

 Chapter 2- Shankhe

    Walking around the coastal village, I wave to the villagers as I pass on my way to the market. I pay a couple copper for two fresh caught fish, and throw them over my shoulder as I walk around. I get to the fresh fruit area, and smirk ¡°Got caught stealing fruit again, Justin.¡± Justin looks at me annoyed ¡°You set me up! You knew Pa was going to be out on the docks, so when we were snacking in the front of the cafe, you knew he would see us and went to get something while I got caught!¡± He complained ¡°Now, that was not my fault that he looked at you the moment I went to get our drinks.¡±


    He just glared at me. ¡°Anyways, order and amount.¡± He said with a practiced, tired tone. ¡°Three apples and two bags of trail mix.¡± I say. He hands me my fruit and trail mix. ¡°7 copper.¡± He puts his hand out. ¡°Since I¡¯m your friend, can¡¯t you reduce the price.¡± I say pleadingly. ¡°Nope.¡± He says firmly, and shakes his hand, as if reminding me it¡¯s there ¡°Seven copper.¡± I sigh in defeat and hand over the copper ¡°Nice doing business with you Shankhe.(pronounced sh-ah-n-ck-eh.)¡± I glared at him, ¡°Have fun fruit dealing.¡± I say mockingly back at him. He grumbles something incoherent, but I turn away at that.


    As I walk through the market, several fish men and tourists are going around. This is Shitaki, the kingdom of tourism and swimming from the Shafka area. Although Shafka only has two kingdoms, Shirono and Shitaki, it has lots of tourism. Shirono is a kingdom of fish men, who love making boats, even though they swim, because the tourists have been around that long. They also have great fishing and all sorts of things, although are less open to visitors, due to discrimination in the past when they didn¡¯t make boats and were viewed as animals for their less humane appearance.Now, their counterpart kingdom, Shitaki, mostly takes all the tourists, while Shirono focuses on what they do best, making boats and fishing.


    Soon, I approached a two story wooden building. I let myself in, and younger kids rushed to me, attaching themselves to my legs. I chuckle. ¡°Matron, I¡¯m back.¡± I call out to the room, where they¡¯re setting up for my farewell party. An older woman, looking about 60-70 comes out from the kitchen, though looks can be deceiving, since she¡¯s a magic user, so she could actually be way older than what she appears. ¡°Thank you Shankhe.¡± She says as she takes the fish from me. ¡°What will I do without you?¡± She asks with a chuckle.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    You see, I plan on becoming a traveler, someone who explores the world, and today is my last day in this village, somewhere I¡¯ve grown up in for 16 years. I sit back and relax as I watch the younger kids play and have fun in the yard, smiling at their antics. Matron is finally done making dinner, and she lays the food out like a feast on tables.¡°Dig in!¡± She says, and the kids do vigorously.


    I smile melancholically as I see them, knowing that it¡¯ll be a long time until I see them, and this, again. I then start to dig in, enjoying and savoring the taste of Matron''s cooking.


    Soon, the kids were tuckered out, and soon went to bed. I did too, but I couldn¡¯t sleep for a long time, thinking about all the good and bad times I¡¯ve shared in this village, and fears about the future started to creep into my mind. Matron poked her head around the door. ¡°Shankhe?¡± She said gently, as she walked in the dark room ¡°You¡¯re still awake?¡± She asks, as she sits on the edge of my bed. ¡°You know, you¡¯ll be tired tomorrow when you head out, come on, get some rest. You can worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.¡± She says, before quietly slipping out and closing the door softly. I smile at where she was a minute ago, classic Matron. I then try harder to go to sleep, and soon fall fast asleep.


    The next day, I get up early and pack up my stuff, then head down for breakfast. As I eat my porridge, one of the younger kids comes up to me. ¡°Sh-Shankhe.¡± They sniffle. ¡°Do you have to go?¡± They ask, tearing up. I look down at them. ¡°It¡¯s my dream.¡± I say. ¡°What a dream if you don¡¯t follow it.¡± I smirk. Eventually, I finished and put my stuff in the dish bucket. I then go out to the well to get some more water for Matron the very last time. Soon, it¡¯s time for me to leave. I grab my backpack, and start to walk to the edge of the village. Matron and the other kids with her come as well to wave me off. I wave goodbye as I leave, seeing even Matron cry is a surprise, but as I turn the corner and out of their sight, I march happily to adventure.

 Chapter 3- Hello?

    I wake up in a purple room, cloud like mist swirling around me as I rub my sore head, hurting from falling into whatever this place is I presume. I look around, curiosity getting the better of me. I seem to be in a purple dungeon or labyrinth sort of structure.


    Next to me, I notice there¡¯s a boy. He looks¡­ strangely like me. I shrug it off, whatever. The boy has darkish blue hair, and lighter blue highlights at the ends. He has sandy coloured eyes, and¡­ a pendant like mine?! On his waist, is a belt that has a bottle filled with water -similar to my sand bottle- and a pendant. One half black, one half white. Ying-Yang. I look at my own pendant. The exact same. I stay quiet for now, and look at the other person who has arrived with us.


    The girl, I assume, has long golden hair, and purple eyes, lighter than this space we¡¯re in, though.


    I gently shake them awake, knowing that it¡¯s probably not a good idea to sleep in a place like this, especially when you consider it¡¯s an unknown location. They wake up, and one of them, the girl, reels back in shock. ¡°W-where am I?! Who are you?! ¡± She asks, panicking a bit while yelling loudly. I shush her. Putting a finger to her lips as the boy stares in shock around us. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but it''s safer when you¡¯re awake than unconscious.¡± Just as I say this, the boy stutters quietly, shaking a bit. ¡°G-guys?¡± He says with nervousness. I can practically smell the sweat and fear wafting off of him. ¡°Yeah, what is it?¡± I ask as I turn around, horror in my eyes as I spot what has him frightened. ¡°Fuck.¡± I swear.


    The entity looks down at us with a condescending air of authority. ¡°I am the Corruption of Vesra¡± It says with the tone a king would use on lowly peasants and slaves. I shiver, there is something in that tone, something that my instincts are telling me to run away from, to get away from.The entity is huge, as big as two of me stacked on top of each other. ¡°The ruler of this place, and I just had to investigate when I discovered not one but three humans being dragged into my realm.¡± It said in a curious but ridiculing tone, looking down at us. The girl next to me shivered. ¡°This is my realm, and whatever happens in it, is because I let you. Make it quite clear that I could kill you with a snap of my fingers, change your race or corrupt you. So be good little boys and girls, and serve under me as lowly humans.¡± It said, in a way that was like it knew the outcome would always come to this no matter what happened. Like they had confidence that we would eventually find our way, and bow down to him in servitude. I looked up at it in horror.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°Who¡­ Who are you?¡± I say nervously, stepping between the other two and protecting them from his gaze. ¡°That is for me to know, and for you to never figure out, dear human. But I will be so nice to tell you my title, isn¡¯t that kind of me?¡± The entity talks as if we should be so appreciative for that, like he¡¯s providing us with some miracle. ¡°I am the Corruption God,¡± It says, like we should have heard the name before, and been afraid of it. ¡°And you pathetic humans only have two choices in my realm. One, you find other people who have been dragged into my realm, and survive with them for a month and I will let you out of here, or¡­¡± He drags it out, the suspense in the air palpable. ¡°You offer me one of your own souls that I can torture till the end of time after your death.¡± He said licking his lips as if hungry while he grins like a maniac, like an employee with inside knowledge, like the choice was obvious, and easy¡­¡­ too easy. I look at him cautiously, before turning to the others. The boy seems to have decently collected himself, well, at least enough to talk. I gesture for him to come closer to me, as I whisper in his ear. ¡°What do you think we should choose?¡± I ask. ¡°It seems a bit too obvious to me.¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°We should choose the first one, it¡¯s not too hard.¡± He says, and I nod, agreeing. We look over to the girl, and she nods as well. I then turn back to the entity. ¡°The first option.¡± I say with a bit of confidence, a facade of my actual self, which is shivering in fear. The entity grins menacingly, and then leaves in a swirl of purple. An echo travels through the cavern. ¡°Enjoy your choice¡­¡­¡± It¡¯s unnerving, but i brush that aside as i look at the others, checking on them. The girl is still frightened, but is a bit better now, so i decide to introduce myself, now the immediate threat is gone.


    ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Taegan. We didn¡¯t have time to introduce ourselves before, so why not now? I¡¯m from the Tingaren Surawa people, and a travelling adventurer.¡± I gesture to the boy. ¡°You?¡± He, who was nodding along to what i was saying, said. ¡°I¡¯m Shankhe, from the Shafkan Shitaki people, and also a traveller, although i haven¡¯t signed up for adventuring just yet. I planned to when i got out of my hometown, but,¡± He gestures around us. ¡°I was taken here.¡± We both lock our gazes onto the girl, who reluctantly gathers her courage, before speaking. ¡°I-I¡¯m Dalyva¡­ from the Dajenuan Daruden people. I-I¡¯m a scholar.¡± She whispers nervously. I nod. ¡°We should find a safe place to sleep, and some food to eat.¡± Suggests Shankhe. I agree with him, it''s sound advice.


    We all get up slowly, both me and Shankhe helping Dalyva onto her feet.

 Chapter 4- Strange Creature.

    This place is weird.


    I glance over at the two boys who seem almost identical if it weren¡¯t for their hair colour and different cultures, with their features being very similar. Their jaws and everything are the same. The one who took charge before, Taegan, with his orange and yellow hair is unique, and his blindfold is a classic of the desert people, as it prevents sand getting into their eyes.


    As we walk around the labyrinth a bit, I can¡¯t help but notice that nothing here is not purple. The walls, the plants, the light, absolutely everything was purple.


    ¡°So, does anyone want to talk about how you two are creepily similar?¡± I say, finally gathering some courage to start a conversation. They both fix me with an identical stare, before glancing at each other. Taegan decided to talk first. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know about you Shankhe, but I was found in a broken carriage from a monster attack on the edge of Tingari by some desert scouts. They were the ones to raise me. You?¡± We both look towards Shankhe, who is deep in thought.


    ¡°Matron, the name of my orphanage director, said that adventurers found me in an abandoned broken down carriage near the edge of Tingari as well! She said they thought they heard another baby cry, but monsters were approaching, so they didn¡¯t have time to check.¡± He says with excitement.


    Taegan suddenly lights up. ¡°Wait, do you have this?¡± He asks, despite knowing the answer already. He moves his shirt up, revealing a small ying-yang pendant that hangs to his shorts.


    ¡°The desert scouts who brought me up said they found this with me when they discovered me.¡± Shankhe lights up. ¡°Yeah!¡± He says. ¡°We may totally be brothers!¡± I smile, happy for them, but just then, I hear rustling nearby.


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Ummm guys, I¡¯m sorry to ruin the moment, but we may have company soon.¡± Taegan, who had been caught up in the moment, scowls as he looks around. ¡°You¡¯re right. Dalyva, stay behind me, and Shankhe, be careful.¡± He says, tensing up, just as a rat emerges from the surrounding purple foliage.


    It doesn¡¯t look natural though, it¡¯s fur purple and eyes shot violet sclera all purple, with glowing purple liquid all over it. Almost like it was¡­ corrupted. Immediately, I step behind Taegan, having no confidence in fighting, with no training, and my specialisation being untrained as well.


    Taegan grabs his bottle, ready to attack. He quickly opens it, letting some sand slink out as he harnesses it into his hands. The rat is moving ever closer, and soon launches at us for an attack. Taegan grimaces, as if not the hero I envisioned. He sends out streams of sand, wishing to slow it down, but it doesn¡¯t back down, as if wishing for death.


    It gets close, and I flinch, scared and nervous. Shankhe looks at me, making sure I¡¯m okay, as well as Taegan, and, seeing that I¡¯m okay, they both focus back on the rat.


    However that moment of distraction was all the rat needed, launching towards Shankhe. Deftly, Shankhe throws a hand out, intercepting the rat in the face. It is thrown back a meter or so, and Shankhe shakes his hand, trying to get some purple stuff off his hand that had ended up there after he punched the rat.


    He now has time to open his bottle, and lets the water clean his hand, however his skin stays purple. Ignoring that for now, he sends streams of water at the creature, and it dodges them, rushing Taegan, who gets a good shot, and kills it, sand going through its eye into its brain. It collapses, before dissolving into rainbow mist.


    The mist is the worst smell I¡¯ve ever smelt in my life, way worse than anything imaginable, and I gag upon smelling it. In its place is some neatly folded up rat fur, and some meat, that I presume to be rat meat, as well as a few copper.


    I look at Taegan, who is grimacing upon seeing the rainbow mist. ¡°Alright¡­¡± He stretches out the word, like it¡®s a bad thing he¡¯s about to say. ¡°Unfortunately, this is a dungeon.¡± He says, grimacing. Shankhe, who was going to pick up the loot, turns to him. ¡°What does that mean for us now?¡± He asked. ¡°It means that now, we only have three ways to get out, two of them are options that the Entity presented before, and the last, to defeat the boss of this labyrinth. The only problem is, I think the boss of this labyrinth just so happens to be the Corruption Entity.¡± He says entity and not god because, as we think of it, gods don¡¯t act like that.


    A shiver runs down my spine as he says the Corruption Entity, the fear from before still in me. We gather the loot, and Taegan puts it away in his bag on his back.

 Chapter 5- Tricks and riddles

    We walk for a bit longer, and stumble across a wooden bridge. Shankhe bravely walks up to it, peering over the sides of the bridge, seeing what¡¯s below and then walking back to us.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how to describe it, but it¡¯s like a purple liquid. Definitely corrupted.¡± He says. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t want to fall into it.¡± Just as I¡¯m looking around, I notice a tablet on the side of the doorway leading to the bridge area. I walk up to it, and the boys stare at me with curiosity.


    ¡°This reads, ¡®Cross the bridge and do not fall, meet the hag, and do not fear, travel a road that none shall see, and find a sheep that none can shear.¡¯¡± I squint my eyes, trying to read the stone carving that has worn away over the years, sure that the last part is a lie, or something I misread. I look over to the others. ¡°You get any of that?¡± I ask, confused and absolutely baffled by the nonsense on that tablet.


    Taegan is thinking hard, before he says. ¡°I think the first bit may refer to the bridge, and how we have to stay on it. That¡¯s obvious, but the second bit is probably another trial after the bridge, likely a nightmare hag judging by the description. Although the rest is a mystery to me, especially the sheep.¡± I nervously pipe up. ¡°S-should we cross the bridge then?¡± I ask quietly. Taegan thinks.


    ¡°I¡¯m a bit cautious of the nightmare hag, as they¡¯re dangerous, but I think proceeding is the best idea for now.¡± He says.


    Shankhe hesitantly puts a foot onto the bridge. Nothing happens. He starts to step across, but just as he starts, he looks across to see several purple cows looking over one side of the bridge. It starts to wobble. Cleverly, he pulls his feet away from the bridge, as it tips to one side and desposites the cows into the corrupted liquid below.


    Their moo¡¯s of desperation are hilarious to Shankhe, as he sees one cow literally fall onto another both whacking their skulls together. The disoriented moos crack me up, and Shankhe and I go down laughing.


    Taegan shakes his head at us in a sort of ¡®really?¡¯ way, until he sees a corrupted bird fly off the side of the bridge, seemingly innocent, until a cow literally tried to copy it, launching itself off the bridge, and its friends that had stepped onto the bridge with it as they all moo out to the stupid cow with its legs spread wide, expecting to fly as they almost comprehendingly say- ¡°Damn you Gerald.¡± Yes, it sounded like Gerald.


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Taegan tried to not burst into laughter as he cracked a smile, then a small chuckle escaped him, before he was bending down laughing with me and Shankhe.


    Finally, after quite some time, we recovered, and sat down for a strategy meeting. Taegan peered over the edge, looking at the bridge that had no rails, trying to find any helpful info, only to find rope about 1 and a half metres long ending in a knot about 10 cm all around, a decent hanging off the side of the bridge, 2 metres apart from each other.


    He thought for a minute before saying. ¡°If we hold onto each other, and trust each other enough, we could get across.¡± He started. ¡°See, if I hold hands with Shankhe, and he steps on my foot, if I reach out, he should be able to grab the rope. We do this a couple times, and manage to get across.¡± I nod, understanding his plan. He turns to Shankhe.


    ¡°Are you good with that plan?¡± He asks, making sure everyone agrees. Shankhe also agreed with the plan, and Taegan went onto the bridge, climbing onto the rope. It was a bit short for him, but he managed, just as a cow tipped over the edge. Luckily, it was the side that Taegan was already on, so he was safe.


    Slowly Shankhe lowered himself onto the same knot as Taegan, being extremely careful not to knock him off. It looked easy to me, but I don¡¯t know until I try I guess, as they both looked to be struggling. They manage to go with the plan, and Shankhe gets to the next rope. I then look onto the bridge, no cows yet, and start to lower myself onto the first rope.


    It feels incredibly nerve racking, as I power my legs onto nothing, Taegans hands guiding me as I slowly get down. My hands are sweaty, and I can feel how they slip, even if only a few millimetres.


    After a couple of nervous moments, I get onto the knot. I sigh in relief, a big breath I¡¯ve been holding from nerves. Shankhe holds his hand and holds it out. ¡°Whose first?¡± He asks. ¡°Dalyva can go middle.¡± Taegan says. ¡°You good with that Dalyva?¡± He asked me.


    I nod, as I start to reach out my hand. The rope wobbles below me, and I look down in fear. Bad idea. I swallow, take a deep breath to calm myself and reach out my hand again. His grip is tight on my arm, as I put out my foot onto his, more confident now. He uses his muscles to pull me across, and in the few seconds I¡¯m hanging over the corruption liquid as I¡¯ve come to call it, I see the whole bridge tip. He manages to pull me onto the rope just as the bridge wobbles after the tip violently. I shake, having felt how close I was to death in the moment.


    We wait till the wobbling has ceased before continuing. I wrap my leg and arm around the rope, and grab onto Shankhe hand, him putting his foot onto mine. I reach out, and as my muscles struggle, he manages to hold onto the next rope. I then, once confident he¡¯s not going to fall, and he confirmed it, let him go.


    I then switch which arm and leg is wrapped around the rope as I lean out to Taegan with my arm and leg. He grabs my hand, and steps onto my leg with confidence I don¡¯t know how he gets. My muscles, once again, as they¡¯re incredibly weak, struggle, but I push through and manage to get him onto my rope.


    We repeat this a lot, until my muscles are positively dying, and manage to get across.

 Chapter 6- No. Just no. Why?

    As I am finally hauled off the bridge by Shankhe, as Dalyva is too tired, I look around with curiosity. There are heaps of purple cows gathered in the area. I take my backpack off, and look towards where Dalyva is lying on the ground.


    ¡°Guys, I think we should set up camp. It¡¯s a safe area, so we¡¯re better off sleeping now than being tired later.¡± I say, as I approach one of the cows. ¡°Shankhe, want to help me defeat some cows for food?¡± I ask.


    He nods, and slowly gets up from where he was sitting. He turns to Dalyva. ¡°You want to as well?¡± He asks. she shakes her head as she just lays there, tired. As we walk over to one of the cows, I notice how Shankhes hand is still purple from punching the rat. ¡°How¡¯s your hand?¡± I unplug my bottle. He grimaces. ¡°It¡¯s alright, maybe the purple just needs to wear off.¡± He says optimistically.


    I send out a stream of sand, fast and sharp towards one of the cows. However luck was on its side, and it managed to dodge. Having been aggravated, it rushes us, head down, horns pointing straight for us. Both of us move out of its way, and it rushes past us. It whirls around, and starts to rush us again.


    ¡°You can attack this one.¡± I say to Shankhe, wanting to observe how he fights. He nods, and pops open his bottle of water. The water flows around him, like a sash, as he faces the cow head on. As it charges towards him, he sends out condensed water bullets, deadly to any with no defenses. The cow moos in anger and pain as the bullets mask intact with its skin, but that doesn¡¯t stop it from still charging forward recklessly. Shankhe carefully aims, and shoots it right in the chest, the cow falling forward from momentum, dead.


    I look towards him, grinning. ¡°Nice one!¡± I compliment.


    I get the cow and tie its feet together. With both ends of the rope in my hand, I look around for a decent log to tie them to. Shankhe finds one, and we roll the cow onto its side, tie the rope holding its ankles to the log, and haul the log onto our shoulders so we can transport it back to where Dalyva is, as the cow had made us move quite a way away from where she was.


    I got out my fire making materials, as Dalyva had taken some initiative and gathered plenty of sticks while we were gone. ¡°Why didn¡¯t it go into that rainbow smoke?¡± She asks me as I place some newspaper under the sticks. ¡°Oh, it will, it¡¯s just a passive monster, so a person has to initiate the looting.¡± I say. ¡°It¡¯s just because many prefer to skin it themselves.¡±


    I look to Shankhe. ¡°So, do you want to carve it, or loot it?¡± I ask. He thinks, and says. ¡°Loot.¡± I turn to Dalyva. ¡°You?¡± She also replies. ¡°Loot.¡± And so I hold my hand to it, and say. ¡°Loot.¡± It¡¯s instantly turned into loot. No coins, because it''s not a monster, but plenty of meat and the hide as well.


    I get out three slabs of stone, two I place on either side of the fire, and the third one on top of those two slabs, making a cooking station. I get out some of my spices, and get my dagger to make light cuts on the surface of the meat, putting the spices and herbs into the cuts.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    I cook them up, and hand everyone a piece of meat. It¡¯s not too hot, and Shankhe washed our hands using his water, so we were fine to eat it barehanded.


    As they had set up camp while I was cooking, we could now just tell stories around the campfire. Shankhe started. ¡°I had this boy in my village.¡± He said, trying desperately not to chuckle. ¡°Whose dad ran a fruit stall at the markets. One day we were eating some of the fruit which he was supposed to sell the next day, and as I went inside to get our drinks, his dad walked past and caught him in the act of eating it.¡± Dalyva looked at him shocked. ¡°NO!¡± She said in disbelief and surprise. ¡°Yeah.¡± Said Shankhe, chuckling. ¡°He has to do fruit dealing after that for a week. Today was only day one.¡±


    Then it¡¯s Dalyva¡¯s turn to tell a story. ¡°Well, when I was younger, and too young to attend at the scholar academy of Dajennuan there was a library that I would read at all the time, except it was only supposed to be for scholars. I¡¯d read books on top of the bookshelf to not be caught by the strict librarian. Anyways, I was reading once, and one of the cats, Aki, decided to be mischievous.¡±


    I look at her in interest, wondering what¡¯s going to happen next. ¡°He was next to me on the bookshelf, and the strict librarian was passing by, except he wanted to be patted, even though he meows really loud and would immediately get me found out, so as he pawed at my hands, he got so annoyed he just launched himself at the book, and it, along with him went toppling down¡­¡±


    She held it for suspense, as we looked at her like she had done an egregious crime.


    ¡°And landed on the librarian¡¯s head.¡± We all burst out laughing. ¡°Suffice to say she was not happy.¡± After minutes of laughing and telling minor stories, we eventually settled down to sleep.


    The next morning I put my stone slabs away, and all the camping gear, and we started to move on. As we walked through the field, some of us tried to wake up. Dalyva yawned, glaring at me as she walked. She wasn¡¯t happy about getting up early, but the way I figured, this part of the labyrinth would take a while to walk, and it''s a way for us to get stronger. ¡°Let¡¯s jog for a bit.¡± I say, starting to slowly jog. Shankhe was fit, and he went for a jog with me, despite the early wake up and sore muscles from yesterday.


    Dalyva however wasn¡¯t used to having sore muscles and doing lots of exercise as a scholar, so that was one thing we would have to change. Being in a labyrinth like this, we had no time for weakness as we journey further into more dangerous parts of the labyrinth.


    As we jogged, I slowly noticed Dalyva lagging behind. She was out of breath and puffing, her cheeks red, and as I stopped, she bent over, hands on her knees as she tried to regain her breath. I handed her a water bottle, and she chugged it down.


    ¡°We¡¯ll just walk slowly.¡± I say, motioning for Shankhe to stop. ¡°Everyone should work together. If someone is lagging behind because of where they came from or what they did before, we still help them.¡± Shankhe pouted, clearly having enjoyed jogging and having plenty of energy to spare.


    ¡°You can do push-ups if you want and we can rest in one spot.¡± I offer. He thinks for a couple seconds, considering it, before eventually deciding it wasn¡¯t worth it. As we walked, the distance became more clear, and what did we see in the distance? Low and behold, a bridge.


    Shankhe started to put his foot on the bridge, but I pulled him back, just as a giant hammer came swinging down from the roof, whooshing past, inches from his face. ¡°Idiot.¡± I say. ¡°Always check before walking onto a bridge.¡± Dalyva cries. ¡°Whyyy?!¡± As she sees the giant hammer, which is a cylinder of metal with a huge log of wood sticking out the top hanging from the ceiling, I turn to her and smirk. ¡°Isn¡¯t it great!¡± I say sarcastically, before saying seriously. ¡°Not a nightmare hag at least.¡± I shrug.


    ¡°The bridge has about¡­¡± I count the hammers above the bridge. ¡°10 hammers, each three metres wide and with a one metre gap between them. Not bad.¡± I say. Shankhe nodded as well, having been observing all of the hammers as they swung down almost synchronised. ¡°All of them swing about in unison, a ten second difference between them as all of them swing every 10 seconds.¡± He observes. Dalyva shivers. ¡°Do we have to do this?¡± She asks nervously. ¡°Well, unless you have a secret specialisation in wind that we don¡¯t know about, yes.¡± Taegan says, looking at her expectingly. She sighs. ¡°Nope, I¡¯m still a blood specialist.¡± Of course, she had told them this before when they were telling stories by the campfire.


    Begrudgingly, she looks across the bridge. ¡°Any takers for first, cause it¡¯s not me.¡± She hurriedly says.

 Chapter 7- Weapons of Choice.

    I got picked.


    Turns out since I tried out the last bridge, I should try out this one. Taegan notices the look on my face and chuckles. ¡°You tried one bridge and it was fine, this is the same.¡± He says with a chuckle.


    I look up at the hammer, wait for it to come down, and then cross quickly. I stay in the safe space as I nod. ¡°Seems easy, c¡¯mon.¡± I say, now returning the smirk of Dalyva¡¯s that she had before when I got picked. She glared at me, and then they both waited for the hammer, and crossed.


    This one¡¯s much easier than the last, you just need to be observant. We get across 3, before coming to a slightly larger wait zone, with several monsters in it. There are many corrupted rats, about twelve. Taegan observes them quietly.


    Suddenly, a person approached us, and Dalyva¡¯s eyes lit up. So did mine, but Taegan just remained calm. He was purple as well, which was why Taegan wasn¡¯t hopeful. ¡°I am a feature in this dungeon, so don¡¯t get your hopes up.¡± He says. ¡°I am here to give you weapon options to fight your way through the dungeon. Follow me please.¡± He turns, and gestures for us to follow. Taegan nods, and follows first.


    We go behind Taegan as he trails behind the¡­. merchant? Something like that. Anyways, the guy leads us to a room full of weapons. I notice they don¡¯t seem to be of high quality, but they¡¯ll certainly do.


    ¡°These all have anti corruption.¡± The merchant says. ¡°You can each take up to 3 weapons, and your choices today will impact the loot you¡¯ll get. This is so the Master, or Corruption God,¡± shivers run down all our spines as he says the name, and the merchant seems not to notice this as he continues.¡°As you know him, so he doesn¡¯t have to waste good weapons.¡± Taegan nods. ¡°Thank you.¡± He says before looking around the multitude of weapons.


    There are rapiers, swords, short swords, daggers, spears, even things like chains or chains and a ball at the end and even ninja stars. He looks at us. ¡°Anyone have any preferences?¡± He asks. I think for a while. ¡°I practiced with a sword a couple times before I was taken here.¡± I say. He nods and turns to Dalyva. ¡°Maybe a spear or dagger?¡± She says nervously. He then goes to the merchant. ¡°Do you by any chance have a halberd?¡± He asks.


    The merchant nods and points towards a rack at the back. Taegan walks over to the rack, picks up the halberd, and then walks back to Dalyva. ¡°This.¡± He gestures to it. ¡°Is a good weapon for your specialisation and you. Like it?¡± He asks. She nods, and takes it into her hands with cautiousness. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you give her a bow?¡± I ask, curious what he was thinking. ¡°Well, the bow does seem good, but it absolutely is terrible for her specialisation. Blood is generally one specialisation that if used correctly is feared from all over. Mainly because of their regeneration and fighting style of using others strikes against them.¡± He says. ¡°For you though it''s a bit harder, because you already use your specialisation. Well, just choose a weapon.¡± He says as he goes to get his own weapon.


    I look around, almost overwhelmed by the choice of weapons. Dalyva is practicing with her halberd, crudely yes, but at least she was trying. I look at the racks of different weapons. I was thinking something like a short sword, or something like¡­. that one there? I walk over to it curiously. It had a handle at the bottom, with a curved and one sided sword. (A Katana.) I picked it up. The merchant comes over to me, and hands me a sheath. ¡°This is the katana¡¯s sheath.¡± He says simply. I hold the, now I know the name, katana up in the air appreciatively.


    ¡°Found your weapon?¡± A voice behind me says. I jump slightly, having not seen them and whirl around. ¡°Taegann¡± I whine. ¡°You surprised me¡­¡± He is just chuckling. I notice two daggers that curve towards him in sheathes at his hips. ¡°Need some help attaching your sheath?¡± He asks, still with a laughing undertone.


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡°No.¡± I say firmly, trying to attach it myself, but failing. ¡°Here.¡± Says Taegan as he grabs the sheath, and attaches it himself as he kneels to do it. ¡°There Shankhe.¡± He says as he rises. Dalyva is looking at our weapons as I sheath my katana. The merchant looks at us all. ¡°Happy with your weapons?¡± He asks.


    We all nod, and he then starts to walk to the exit. ¡°Well, have a good day.¡± He says as he gestures for us to leave.


    We follow Taegan as he leads us out of the room. ¡°Thanks.¡± He says as the merchant closes the door behind Dalyva. As we return to the twelve rats, Taegan draws his curved jambiya daggers, which are edging on being short swords . He rushes them, and about half go to him. I draw my katana, and start to attack as well. Dalyva just holds her halberd ready, it shaking a bit, but decent for her first time with a weapon.


    Five surround me, and one goes to Dalyva. I, as much as I want to look at her, don¡¯t, knowing that it¡¯d just give the rats fighting me an advantage. I pop my bottle, and water sprays out to help me. I start with the one closest to me, drawing my sword and trying to slice it, two hands on my sword as I swing hard, even as it goes through the rat, I still swing hard to make sure it goes through the rat completely. Another rat attacked my undefended side, but my water instantly killed it, water going through its brain as it collapsed dead. Three left.


    I turned one which had launched itself at me, and, reversing my wrists, swung the other way with force as I cut through it. Its head rolled one the floor nearby as the rest of its body collapsed onto the floor. Two left.


    They decided to attack together, even though it was pointless, as I was just too strong. I used my water to eliminate one, and just as my sword was going through the second one, the water merged with the sword to make an even easier and deadlier cut. My eyes widen in surprise as I realise what I did. Suddenly I realised that Dalyva has her own rat to deal with. ¡°Dalyva!¡± I say, whirling around.


    Taegan is already done, and is watching her as she tries to stab the rat. He gestures for me to join him, and I notice his sand is sitting on the ground near her. I put my water away from my fight, and watch the show.


    Dalyva¡¯s mostly using the spear part of the halberd, probably not having the strength to do much else. Despite not using the full efficiency of her weapon, Dalyva was still decently winning, as the stratches and small wounds on the rat were building up. Eventually, she managed to get a good thrust, and impaled the rat right through the heart.


    Both me and Taegan cheered. ¡°Good job Dalyva!¡± Says Taegan. I nod. ¡°Yeah, that was decent.¡± She smiles at us as she puts down her halberd wearily. ¡°Could¡¯ve helped me out!¡± She protests. ¡°You seemed down to me.¡± Said Taegan innocently. She glared at him, and he put up his hands in surrender. ¡°Fine, but you should practice with your weapon.¡±


    She sighs, and we loot the corpses. We put it all in a bag, and then continued across the bridge. Dalyva, being tired, almost got whacked by the hammer as Taegan quickly pulls her across, a hair''s width from getting killed. ¡°Thanks.¡± She says gratefully. He grins. ¡°No worries, we¡¯re a team now.¡± He then turns to me.


    ¡°Onwards!¡± I cheer.


    After three more hammers, we came across a platform, again, except this time, it was ducks about one and a half metres tall. Almost as high as us. Dalyva let out a piercing scream, and started to shiver as she fell to the ground, stock-still with terror.


    Taegan and I instantly whirl around. ¡°Dalyva!¡± We say in unison.


    Taegan is the first to realise what it is. ¡°Shankhe, you take six and I¡¯ll take six.¡± I nod, the pieces of the puzzle finally coming together. She had a fear of ducks. For some reason or way, she had gained an immense fear of the creatures, and we needed to eliminate them before tending to her. It was hard, fending off six ducks, but I quickly saw through their patterns.


    They would surround their prey, and then two on either side would dash in, attacking, and swap spots, then this repeated as they all rotated in a practicedd way.


    I observed for a bit, and then went in for the attack, drawing my sword and slicing the head of one of the ducks. Its head fell to the ground, and its body collapsed without a brain to lead it.


    Five to go. My katana was out now, and the duck''s partner was rushing at me, I lifted my sword, and swung down to cut it in half. In its enraged state, it didn¡¯t notice the sword until it was crashing down on its head, and collapsing to the ground.


    Four. Two more rushed at me, having no concern that their comrades were dead. I sheath my sword, and as I released it, I chopped off one head. Then I release my water, and shoot the other through the head. Both of them collapse onto the ground.


    Two left. They hesitate for a second, before rushing in together. I sheath my katana, and split my stream of water into two, and then send both streams into one of the ducks brains respectively. Both fall dead, and I wait for Taegan to finish looting his own before looting mine as well.


    I go over to Dalyva. ¡°You good?¡± I ask, and her, still shivering, nods slightly. ¡°Y-yeah.¡± She says. Taegan walks up behind me. ¡°What was that?¡± He says, looking at her cautiously. ¡°Care to share? You don¡¯t have to.¡± He says quickly.

 Chapter 8- First injuries.

    I sit up slowly as I prepare to tell them my story, having recovered from my scare enough to talk.


    ¡°W-well.¡± I say, hiccuping and clearing my throat as I stop sniffling. ¡°My mum was an adventurer, a-and she one day was sent out when a dungeon had overflowed, but it was too much for them, and the ducks swarmed the village. Mum tried to defend our house¡­¡±


    I trailed off sadly, the memories popping up in my head. ¡°But she was overrun by the amount, right in front of our house.¡±


    I wiped the tears from my face as I continued my story. ¡°That¡¯s why my dad is always wanting me to be a scholar, and not an adventurer, cause he doesn¡¯t want to lose me like he did with mum. I-I¡¯m sorry, I probably should have told you guys¡­¡± I say, trailing off as I look down apologetically.


    Taegan then suddenly wraps me in a hug. ¡°You have nothing to be sorry for.¡± He says. ¡°If someone can¡¯t acknowledge that that fear was able to get you here, then they are just stupid.¡± He grabs me tight, as Shankhe joins in on the hug. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re a team now, Dalyva, you can tell us as much or as little as you like.¡± I smile through my tears happily. ¡°¡­Thanks guys.¡± I say appreciatively.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go through these parts, and then we can have a treat I got as a special drop for dessert.¡± Taegan says, and I light up at that. He chuckles and then both help me to my feet as we start to walk to the next hammers.


    The first one, easy as before. The second, also easy, but on the last one, I was getting a bit confident, and as Taegan yanked me across to the platform, he shook his head at me. ¡°Don¡¯t get too confident.¡± He says teasingly. I look at him. ¡°I can care for myself!¡± I protest. ¡°Yeah, care as in getting yeeted into the corruption liquid.¡± Shankhe butts in. ¡°This is teaming!!!¡± I exclaim, and Taegan shakes his head as he chuckles and draws his blades. ¡°Rigggghhht.¡± He drags out the word before rushing to one of the monsters, a corrupted hound.


    ¡°Shankhe, cover the right, and Dalyva, the middle.¡± I nod, and head to the middle of the platform, Shankhe to the right and Taegan to the left. We all get out our weapons, and I poke one of the hounds who comes close to me with the spear bit, but, of course, it doesn¡¯t retreat.


    So far I¡¯ve been holding my halberd by the back of the shaft, and it¡¯s been really hard and heavy to use and control.


    Slipping a hand up the shaft and closer to the head, I feel more in control of the halberd, and manage to do some decent swings. One clipped the hounds neck, decently cutting into it. I push harder, applying more force, and the hound falls over dead.


    Taegan and Shankhe are still fighting, just as humanoid creatures enter by the sides. Taegan looks up and yells immediately. ¡°Scarecrows, monsters.¡± Just in case we confused them for humans.


    Taegan was super cool, and so was Shankhe, with both of them having their weapons drawn, monsters surrounding them, and their respective specialisation surrounding them as it either floats around them or sticks to their arm, Shankhe and Taegan¡¯s strategies respectfully.


    Just as one of the scarecrows approaches Shankhe, his water starts to envelop the blade. I look at it curiously, wondering what he¡¯s trying to do. He swings, and it seamlessly flies through the air, no resistance whatsoever and smoothly slicing the head off the scarecrow in one fell swoop.


    I then look to Taegan, who has drawn his two jambiya daggers that have a 20cm blade, and a 10cm handle on both. He has his sand wrapped around his forearms, just above his wrists, and is wielding the daggers with expertise in a front hand grip. He swings at one of the scarecrows, and I frown. It¡¯s too far from his target. But instead of stopping the strike, he continues it, as I notice sand unravels from his striking forearm, and as the jambiya aligns with the scarecrow, sand shoots out, looking like an extension of the blade as it slices the monster.


    I looked at him aweingly. Amazed by his crazy yet effective idea.


    Suddenly I yell out in pain. ¡°Aaaggghhhhhh.¡± Heads immediately swivel in my direction. ¡°Dalyva!¡± Says Shankhe worriedly. I shake my head.


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°Focus on your own.¡± I say as I look down to the hound who has got my right arm in a vice grip. It shakes its head, and I wince in pain. I drop my halberd, and then raise my non bitten left arm, chopping the hounds neck with all my strength.


    At first, nothing happens, as my left is my weaker hand. Then I got an idea. Quickly, I punched its snout, directly on its soft nose. It lets go with a sharp whine. I grin, a weak spot. My arm is bleeding out, and I know I don¡¯t have much time, but your girl gotta do what she gotta do. I reach down, and pick up my halberd, wincing as my arm hurts from the bite, but pushing through, I manage to swing at the hound, chopping mostly though its side, enough to kill it at least.


    I collapse with exhaustion, and soon after Taegan and Shankhe arrive as I pass out.


    I wake up on one of the roll ups and tent that we sleep in, bandages wrapped around my arm. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re awake.¡± Says Taegan as he notices my movement. ¡°How¡¯re you feeling?¡± I groan as I sit up, wincing as I feel the pain in my arm. ¡°Hurt.¡± I say. He chuckles, and then says. ¡°You know, if you start to practice your specialisation, you¡¯ll heal a lot quicker, and it won''t hurt as much when you get hurt.¡± He mentions. Shankhe walks in then with a stick that has chunks of cooked meat on it, a kebab. I look at it hungrily, and he smirks. ¡°Want one?¡± I nod. ¡°Of course.¡± I say, and he quickly ducks out and returns with two kebabs, handing one to Taegan and one to me.


    I eat with my left hand, somewhat not used to having my left hand, but managing. Taegan gestures for Shankhe to sit down, and he does. ¡°Dalyva.¡± He says once I¡¯m done eating. I glance at him. ¡°Try to imagine a stone inside of you, it''s red, and glowing, and connects to all these little glowing red streams flowing into your body. Imagine one of these lines goes to your arm, which is hurt. Imagine the light mixing into your blood, healing the blood, tissue and skin.¡±


    He directs, and I close my eyes as I envision it. It¡¯s a bit tricky to envision, but eventually I manage to get a stone in my mind. It is smooth, and glows a soft red, many streams, or strands as I think of them interweave in my body, going all throughout. Finally, I managed to find the strand that leads to my hurt arm. Glowing darker red than the other strands, it was certainly different.


    Imagining an ethereal hand, I reach out and touch it. Warmth floods my imaginary hand, almost like a healing pulse. I instinctively realise what I have to do. The red energy seeps out of the strand, and then enters the damaged parts of my arm, and as my real arm tingles, Taegan and Shankhe clap.


    ¡°You did it!¡± Shankhe cheers. As I get out of my meditation, I look at the bandages. Taegan gently removes them, and i see how the once terribly deep bite marks from when I had gotten bitten have developed into filled out scabs. My eyes widen, and a grin escapes me. ¡°Alright!¡± I say, a genuine smile on my face as I lift my fists into the sky and shake them in celebration. Taegan looks at me with a nod. ¡°First time as well.¡± He compliments. ¡°We¡¯ll get you into an instant healer in no time, and you¡¯ll be a real force to be reckoned with.¡±


    I nod at his comment, happy for my achievement. I then remembered something. ¡°Before, you said something about dessert?¡± I ask eagerly. Taegan chuckles. ¡°Wondered if you¡¯d remember. Here.¡± He says, taking out a bottle. It read, cherry blossom ale. My eyes light up. ¡°You got some ale?¡± I was surprised, not knowing how that could be a drop.


    He smirked. ¡°Set up the camp and I¡¯ll pop the cork.¡± Me and Shankhe quickly rushed to set up, but Taegan blocked me. ¡°You¡¯re still hurt, we don¡¯t want you damaging anything that didn¡¯t heal.¡± He then went out of the tent. I went out as well, but true to his advice I didn¡¯t help, and merely watched.


    Soon it was set up, and we sat down in the camp, in front of the fire, where Taegan is cooking some meat. He hands out the cuts of meat once they¡¯re cooked, and I hold mine by the corner, blowing on it before I switch to my other hand holding it and blow on that. It¡¯s really hot, but soon it gets to a manageable heat. I gobble it up quickly, hungry from using my Mana. Eating a couple more pieces of meat, I¡¯m soon full, and Taegan pulls out three cups. He looks at me. ¡°You¡¯re over 16, right?¡± He confirms before pouring. I nod, and he glances at Shankhe, just having to check. ¡°Over?¡± And Shankhe nods as well.


    He then pours the ale. He doesn¡¯t pour much for us, and Shankhe looks at him with a glare. ¡°Why are you getting more?¡± He asks. Taegan sighs. ¡°It¡¯s dwarven ale, and I don¡¯t want you two getting hungover tomorrow.¡± Shankhe then replies. ¡°Then why do you have more?¡± Taegan looked at him like ¡®really?¡¯ and said, ¡°I lived in a dwarven village the last couple years, the exact village this came from, Shankhe.¡± Shankhe pouted, but still took his cup with some gratitude, happy to finally have something other than boring meat.


    I took a sip, the tingly feeling of the ale going down my throat was funny, and it tasted good, like cherry juice, except a bit richer and with the tang of alcohol. I look at Shankhe and Taegan, who are gulping down their cups. Taegan slams his empty cup down with a satisfied breath. ¡°That¡¯s the good stuff.¡± He says happily. Shankhe finishes a couple seconds after Taegan, and nods. ¡°It¡¯s certainly good stuff.¡± I slowly sip mine, and finish it minutes after the two of them. I yawn as I finish. ¡°I¡¯m going to bed,¡± I say ¡°night you two.¡± I get up, give my cup back to Taegan, and then head to my tent. ¡°Night.¡± Replies Taegan. ¡°Good night.¡± Says Shankhe.


    The next morning, we have a simple breakfast of some of Shankhes trail mix, which is depleting quickly, and then start walking.


    As I walk, I suddenly realise that Shankhe and Taegan are no longer next to me. ¡°Shankhe? Taegan?¡± I yell out, trying to locate them as a fog encroaches. I look around desperately, not wanting to be left alone. The purple fog is soon over me, and it''s cold. I shiver, rubbing my hands and trying to stay warm. Suddenly, out of the fog emerged my mum. ¡°Mum?¡± I ask, stepping towards her hopefully, but I can¡¯t move. I¡¯m stuck, forced to watch as I see ducks coming behind her. Not purple like in this dungeon, no, normal ducks. ¡°No, no, no, no.¡± I say, tears streaming down my face. ¡°Stop, stop, STOP!¡± I yell, but it continues. My mum stands in front of me. ¡°Sweetie.¡± She whispers. ¡°Cover your eyes sweetie, and hide, okay?¡± She says, the exact words she said to me years ago. ¡°Mum, no!¡± I cry out, wanting to stop this.


    I fell to my knees. I¡¯m unable to move from this spot, but I can move my body in this spot. I put my hands on my ears, trying to block out the sounds of my mum. Tears stream down my face, landing on my lap as I close them. Suddenly I hear a little voice in my head. ¡°Wake up.¡± It whispers, slowly elevating its voice, ¡°Wake up.¡± as it yells. ¡°WAKE UP.¡± I snap out of my nightmare. I jolted up and almost whacked Taegan, who was leaning over me. ¡°Oh, good. Dalyva, you were attacked by the nightmare hag.¡± He said. ¡°You okay?¡± He checks. Shankhe is also looking at me worriedly. I nod. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m good.¡± I say, still a bit shaken.

 Chapter 9- Fears and Battles

    I still glance at Dalyva occasionally, making sure she¡¯s truly okay. She seems to be just shaken, but you can never be too careful. We all have our weapons out now, and are on alert.


    Suddenly Shankhe collapses, just like Dalyva did. Dalyva immediately looks at him, and quickly rushes over. ¡°Shankhe?¡± She says in a worried tone. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± I say. ¡°We¡¯ll give him a couple minutes, see if he can beat the hag, and then we¡¯ll wake him.¡± She looks confused, so I explain to her.


    ¡°When a nightmare hag attacks, they use your deepest fears, but if you acknowledge all of your fears, it then becomes useless to the hag, and they can no longer attack you.¡± I explained. she nods. ¡°Oh yeah, I get it.¡± We then both turn to Shankhe who is shaking, but seems a bit calm. But then he starts to shiver, and his composure is gone. I shake him gently, then harder. ¡°Wake up.¡± I say. ¡°It¡¯s just a nightmare.¡± He then wakes up as I speak into his ear. Sweat is streaming down his face. I smirk. ¡°Seen your fears?¡± I ask. He shivers. ¡°Yep.¡± I could see that he was shaken, like Dalyva, but knew he¡¯d be fine in the long run.


    We continued walking, and suddenly I felt the attack as well. I¡¯m walking back on the battlefield at Mara-Ni.¡°Oh.¡± I say. ¡°Couldn¡¯t be more creative, could you?¡± I say out loud, directing at the nightmare hag, who doesn¡¯t respond. I sit there, sure I know what¡¯s going to happen, but then it differs.


    ¡°Taegan!¡± Says a man, rushing up to me. My eyes widen as everything around me changes. No more battlefield, just a field. He hugs me, his incorporeal arms somehow wrapping around me. ¡°Catri.¡± I say, shaking with feelings. ¡°Why are you here?¡± I ask, but he doesn¡¯t reply. Suddenly monsters pop out of the bushes, surrounding us. Catri stands in front of me, and I still feel like that little kid, being protected by what was basically like my own father.


    He stands in front of me, trying to fend off the monsters, but it''s hard, and I can see him struggling. ¡°Run, Taegan!¡± He yells. ¡°I-i can¡¯t leave you..¡± I hear the ghost of myself say.


    ¡°GO!¡± He yells, and I can see a ghost of myself, tears streaming down my face from under my eye mask to my cheeks and on my chin. My ghost, still crying, runs away. However, I watch nearby on a hill, seeing the monsters brutally mauling him to death. Just as he¡¯s about to die, I hear his final words. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Taegan!¡± He yells, and my ghost replies. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault Catri.¡± It says in tears quietly. I smirk. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, nightmare hag, but I¡¯ve had years to get over this.¡± I say, snapping the illusion. ¡°That¡¯s not my deepest fear.¡±


    I wake up with Shankhe and Dalyva staring down at me. ¡°You did it!¡± She said surprised. ¡°Does that mean the hag can¡¯t attack you any more?¡± She asks. I shake my head. ¡°No, the hag has to go through all of your fears first.¡± I answer. ¡°Does that mean that fears don¡¯t repeat?¡± Shankhe asks. I nod. ¡°Yep, that¡¯s right.¡±


    We continued walking, but then i black out again. Just before i black out, i notice both Shankhe and Dalyva were knocked out as well.


    I return to the dreamscape, and notice that I''m in a black room. It¡¯s familiar. Soon, it becomes sand, and people form around me. I shiver, and shake with trepidation. Eyes welling with tears, i-i try to stop it. The tears soon fall down my cheeks as monsters seem to appear from every angle. I look at the people beside me. ¡°Stop.¡± I say, panicking as my voice starts to crack. ¡°Please.¡± My breaths are big, and obvious as I fall to my knees, blood splashing on my face from my comrade who has stepped in front of me. ¡°Stop, stop, stop.¡± I¡¯m trembling, my hands go on my head as I try to block out the desperate cries of my companions. Tears flow and flow down my cheeks, as I blend down, putting my head to the ground as I cry. ¡°No, no, no, no, no.¡± My voice slowly degrades, but I continue, panicking and sobbing. ¡°No, no, no, no, no, no.¡± I continue to mutter softly, unable to put my head up to encounter the horrors that are my friend¡¯s remains.


    It¡¯s like something gently suffocating me, slowly killing me, as I realise what it is. All this time, I''ve used my magic, making a tornado of sand to defend from the monsters who killed my friends. A soft hand landed on my shoulder, and a gruff voice spoke. ¡°Ya good lad?¡± He asked in a gruff, yet concerned voice. I gently raise my tear stained face. ¡°O-oh.¡± I say, my voice still hurting from my cries. ¡°Nno.¡± I say, my voice cracking again, as I cry again, sniffling and hiccuping. But as I look up, there is nothing. Maybe it was just my imagination, or maybe I passed out and was hallucinating, but the figure seemed to have disappeared.


    As I notice one of my other friends, I look over to them. ¡°Garu.¡± I say, walking over to him as he holds his boyfriend¡¯s dead bleeding body. ¡°Garu..¡± I repeat, softer. However, as he turns and looks at me, his eyes are pained and blank at the same time. ¡°Sorry Taegan.¡± His chin trembles. ¡°I can''t. I can''t return to them. I can''t face their stupid rules, or faces of pity as they look at me and my lover.¡± He hugs his boyfriend tight. ¡°I¡¯m truly sorry, Taegan.¡± He hangs his head as he just sits there.


    Regret and understanding flows through me, and I just shuffle off, heading towards the town with eyes blank, my emotions wrapped up tight in my mind. ¡°Goodbye, Garu.¡± I say, as the wind departs my last words to him. As I head to a town, the guard yells out. ¡°Devil of the Sands.¡±


    As I stand in the illusion, I break the nightmare hags vision. With anger, I launched myself towards it. ¡°You dare use that against me!?¡± I angrily slice at it, which it blocks with its staff.


    It¡¯s weak though. A nightmare hag without the use of its nightmares is merely a very weak monster. I slash towards it using my two Jambiyas, and land a decent hit. Suddenly the stone panels all around us raise, and monsters flood the room. I fight harder, wanting Shankhe and Dalyva to be awake before the monsters reach them. One good thrust, and the nightmare hag flops, dead. I quickly rushed to where Shankhe and Dalyva were on the ground.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Shankhe is the first to wake up. He snaps up, alert and ready. He notices the monsters around us, and quickly draws his blade, popping the top off his bottle and letting the water coat his blade.


    ¡°Help me fend them off while Dalyva wakes up.¡± I say, and he nods. He goes one side and I take the other as we fend off a mixture of hounds, cats and even a couple scarecrows. At first, it''s easy, for we have lots of strength to spare, and as Dalyva joins, it becomes even easier, but as we defeat them, it becomes harder, our strength is wearing down, there¡¯s still a lot of monsters left, and I think they¡¯re increasing in strength.


    Soon we¡¯re down to 12 left. I use my little trick, swinging at a monster, this time a cat, that thinks it has heaps of time to dodge, but as soon as I shoot out my sand, it¡¯s too late, and it dies.


    10 left. Shankhe had defeated one. I came into the thick of it, my blades whirling as I defended, attacked and managed to injure several of the monsters, even slicing the necks of a couple hounds.


    7 to go. Dalyva widens her stance, and holds her halberd ready as she chops at one of the hounds, killing it, and then impaling a cat as well. Shankhe covers his blade, and rushes to a scarecrow with his sword raised, chopping its head off in a swift downwards motion.


    5 left. A hound jumps at me, and I block it with my dagger, but then  another hound jumps me from behind. Luckily Shankhe was near, and intercepted the hound, pressing his shoulder blades to mine as we fought back to back. I smirk. ¡°Nice save.¡± He nods. ¡°Thanks.¡± I look down at my hound, who has my dagger in its teeth. Using my other dagger in my other hand, I stab it in the neck. Shankhe manages to get his sword out of the hounds mouth, by pushing it through its skull, freeing his katana.


    3 left. Dalyva seems overwhelmed by the three that are attacking her, so i go over to help, just as a swordsman emerges from in front of Shankhe. ¡°Swordsman, I¡¯ll take him.¡± He yells, just so we don¡¯t worry. He intercepts the blade, and that''s all I notice as I run over to help Dalyva.


    The last three monsters are like the bosses of them; one cat, one hound and one scarecrow, all more purple than their others and seemingly way more powerful. I take the scarecrow, who just so happens to have a sword. Rusted and bad, sure, but it¡¯s definitely more powerful than the ones we¡¯ve faced before. The cat is almost up to my shoulder in height, and the scarecrow is just barely shorter than me. The hound was as tall as the cat, maybe even a bit more.


    ¡°No splitting, we¡¯ll fight together.¡± I say, as she seems to focus on just one of the monsters. She nods, and turns towards all of the monsters at once. The scarecrow comes in for a hit, but I deflect it expertly with my two daggers, crossed over each other in order not to break. Once it starts to apply left pressure as it tries to get its sword back to attack, I remove the bottom dagger on my cross, and slash at its arm. My sand is currently around me in a circle, defending me against attacks from the other monsters. Dalyva comes from behind the scarecrow, striking down on its head. However, its resiliency lets it keep standing as it disengages from me, and whirls around to face Dalyva, who''s now weaponless due to it being stuck in the scarecrow''s head.


    It, having turned its back to me, was vulnerable, and I chopped its head off, just in time for Dalyva to grab her weapon, before the hound attacked her.


    She instinctively stuck out her hand, letting go of her weapon and instantly regretted it as it bit into her arm, drawing a pained scream from her, as it was right where the last bite was, not only hurting kin, but a scab as well, doubling the pain. I wince as I see it, but take no time in stabbing its head as Dalyva held it still with her arm. As she gently pried her arm out of the hounds mouth, and its teeth out of her arm, the cat pounced. My sand deflected it, and it was thrown to the side. I turned to it with determination.


    A yell rang out, and I realised I had completely forgotten about Shankhe, who was getting beaten to a pulp by the skilled swordsman.


    Anger fueled me as I looked at the monster in front of me, time to get down to business.


    I rushed it, intending on stabbing its eye, which it narrowly avoided by an inch as it dodged to the side. I see Shankhe fall from one of the attacks and try to get up only as he gets beaten down again by the swordsman. He¡¯s on his knees, weapon out of his reach as he tries to get to his feet, the glint of the swordsman¡¯s blade above his neck. My heart rate quickened, and my pace fastened as I rushed to save him. Everything in my body was tired, but I pushed through as I thought of one thing, saving Shankhe. Finally I felt my blade press against the swordsman¡¯s, just as it swung downwards, the ringing of steel on steel a familiar, and comforting, sound.


    The cat bounced after me, following me intently. My knees are bending from the pressure, but I know it''s better than Shankhe being dead. I push against the blade, and manage to stand up properly, just as the swordsman quickly redirected his blade, sending it into my neck. My eyes widen in pain, and I grimace. He pulls it out as I manage to get my jambiyas onto his blade and push it away. He managed to nick my neck again though, a slit on the last cut.


    ¡°Taegan!¡± Shankhe yells out worriedly. I spit a glob of blood from my mouth as I reply. ¡°I¡¯m fine, quick, grab your blade.¡±


    Shankhe instantly obeys, quickly scrambling to his blade, picking it up and racing towards the cat, knowing i¡¯m going to deal with the swordsman. As if an illusion had been cut, something that was shielding my eyes, I saw the swordsman¡®s self. A skeleton. But his bones weren¡¯t white. They were purple. I smell the familiarity of the rainbow mist, as Shankhe comes to my aid. I have the swordsman in a tight lock of weapons, his back exposed to Shankhe. Shankhe quickly thrusts through the skeleton''s back, piercing something as we hear a loud crack, like he was stabbing stone or something, and the skeleton collapsing.


    I drop my weapons, and flop onto my back in exhaustion. Shankhe too collapses. I was covered in minor scratches and bruises, and Shankhe was covered in mini cuts all over. ¡°Time out.¡± I say, breathing hard. ¡°Agreed.¡± Said Shankhe, and soon after I passed out. When I woke up, I noticed that everything had been collected and sorted. ¡°Thanks Dalyva.¡± I say as I get up, sheathe my daggers and approach the piles, putting them into the dimensional bag. She grins. ¡°No problem.¡± She has bandages around her injured arm, though I reckon from the way she¡¯s using it she¡¯s not too troubled by it, and did some healing.


    Shankhe rises from the ground like a zombie, and I chuckle as I see it. ¡°You¡¯re not an undead yet.¡± I tease, and he just groans. ¡°Says the one who didn¡¯t hold off an insanely strong skeleton for ages.¡± I just smirk. ¡°Oh you poor person, having to fight a monster.¡± Dalyva chuckles, as i go over to the medicine pile and grab some bandages, wrapping them around my cut on my neck.


    Suddenly I spotted a floating chest in the middle of the room. ¡°Hell yeah!¡± I say as I walk over to it, breaking off the rest of the roll of bandage, and using one of the clips to keep the end of the bandages secure. ¡°Loot time!¡± I say, and both of them run over to me.


    I open the chest with eagerness. Met with a bright light in our eyes, we close our eyes, and when we open them, we find in the box a pile of silver coins, as well as numerous other things. I start to pull them out, starting with the silver coins, finding some copper coins under them.


    After taking out the coins, I rummage deeper, finding lots.

 Chapter 10- Rewards and aftermaths of battle.

    I found a healing paste, but it only is useful for minor scratches, so I gave that one to Shankhe, who immediately puts it on some of his worst scratches, healing them instantly.


    I then brought out a tiny frog shrine statue that was in the box.


    ¡°Worship the froggie!¡± Dalyva says, giggling as she looks at the cute little frog. ¡°We can¡¯t name it froggie.¡± Says Shankhe ¡°That''s lame. We should call it something like Sir Frogger Bartholomeo.¡± Dalyva scrunched up her face at that name. ¡°That¡¯s just stupid. It¡¯s a cute godly frog, it shouldn¡¯t be named something like that.¡± She protested. ¡°Then what do you want to name it?¡± He asked. They both turn to me. ¡°How about you, Taegan?¡± Dalyva asks. I think for a moment before saying. ¡°What about Frognii?¡± I ask, just making up a name that sounds good. Dalyva turns to Shankhe, who nods. ¡°Yeah!¡± Exclaims Dalyva. ¡°Worship Frognii!¡± I just look at her with a smile despite her ridiculousness.


    I rummage through the chest again. My eyes light up as I see what¡¯s inside. ¡°Pasta!¡± I cry happily. I then dig in again, hoping to get some mince and dried herbs, as well as canned tomato, and stock, so I can make a pasta bake. Luck is on my side, and I get most of the ingredients, except some extra spices, but I already have them on hand.


    I set them aside to make dinner tonight, and then rummage again. This time I got something interesting.


    A stat boost item. It was an earring, it had a ball that glowed a sandy yellow as soon as I picked it up, but I presumed if someone else held it, it would have a different glow according to their specialisation. It boosted specialisation power, and I decided to ask the others if they wanted it later when we have everything out of the box. Connected to the other side of the ball that wasn¡¯t the earring part was two feathers. It looked pretty cool.


    I put my hand in the box, not feeling much left. I bring out two more things. One was another stat boost, except this time for strength, but it was a thing you clip on somewhere and it just hangs there. A charm. That¡¯s it, a charm, but it was a knuckle of metal, so kind of cool. The other was clearly for everyone to share, a sharpening stone for our weapons. ¡°Guys.¡± i say. ¡°I¡¯ve finished emptying the reward chest.¡± I say. They walk over to me after stopping their worship of Frognii. I just chuckle as I see what they were doing. ¡°We have a specialisation booster.¡± I show the earring. ¡°And we have this buckle charm for strength.¡± I point towards it . ¡°Then we have a sharpening stone to share and the shrine can be someone¡¯s. Who wants what?¡±


    I let them pick what they want. Shankhe immediately takes the strength boost, clipping it onto his shorts. Dalyva, unsurprisingly as ever, takes the frog shrine, and that leaves one for me, the earring. I didn¡¯t have a hole, but we¡¯d figure that out later.


    ¡°So, guys, happy with your choices?¡± I ask. Dalyva nods. ¡°Yeah!¡± She says happily, and Shankhe, with his drawn katana, is testing out his new strength boost. ¡°It¡¯s certainly nice.¡± He answers.


    I start by making a fire, using the normal slabs of stone, and I set up a stove. I then take out a pot, and start to cook the mince. I do it in two batches. As I start the first one, Dalyva peeks over my shoulder, wondering what I''m doing. ¡°What are you making?¡± She asks. ¡°Pasta bake.¡± I answered. ¡°It¡¯s really easy to make.¡± She just observes as I finish cooking the first batch of mince, putting it in a bowl, and then cooking the second batch. ¡°Dalyva, can you stir this?¡± I say, and she nods. ¡°Just cook it until it''s brown.¡± I go to my cutting board, where I cut up a red onion into squares. I then cut up the red capsicum into squares, and the eggplant as well, then a cup of peas I prepared. I take out another pot, fill it with water, and then put in the rigatoni. I plop the pasta pot onto the stove as well, and look at the mince.


    Cooked and brown. I dump the first batch of mince into the pan as well, and then put in the red onion. Dalyva cries as the steam gets into her eyes, and I laugh. ¡°Sucker!!!¡± I say. She looks at me indignantly. ¡°Shankhe!¡± She says. ¡°Why don¡¯t you help Taegan now?¡± She asks, and he comes over from his practice, unaware of the fatal mistake he just made. He starts to stir the mince and onion, but cries out as the steam enters his eyes.


    ¡°Here.¡± I say, taking the pan and the utensil. I mix the mince and onion, not leaning over the mixture, but with my head away from the pan just enough that I don¡¯t get steam in my eyes. The eye mask also helps.


    Finally the onion is cooked, and I put in the diced tomato, as well as the stock powder, some water and not to forget the dried herbs. Mixing it all in, I add the red capsicum. I then put on the lid, and let it cook, putting a mental timer in my head. I look at the pasta, and taste test one. It¡¯s cooked. I put it into a colander, or sif as some people call it, and mix in with it the peas and eggplant.


    I look around, wondering where I placed the glass dish I use to put the pasta bake inside. I found it near where I placed it, and put the pasta peas and eggplant in the bottom. Then I look at the other mixture of meat and whatever, that¡¯s also cooked, and slather it on top of the pasta, before using my specialisation to hover it over the fie, making sure the earring is in hand so i get. boost and don¡¯t waste as much mana as I would normally. Now for those who complain sand isn¡¯t glass, it is, since glass is just melted sand, so it fits in my category of sand, and I''m able to manipulate it.


    Dalyva looks at it hungrily. ¡°Is it ready yet?¡± She whines, just as her stomach growls. Shankhe also looks at me. ¡°Almost.¡± I say with a grin at Dalyva. ¡°You won¡¯t starve, I promise.¡±


    Soon it''s finally cooked, and as I take it from the fire with ease, Dalyva and Shankhe instantly turn to me. Grabbing their plates, they crowded around where I placed the food. I get the utensils, and start to dish up, giving each of us a bit of the food. Once we all have our food, I put the rest away, so we can have it later.


    As I grab my spoon, I eat up happily by waiting for the others, although I know they''ve already started. Once we finish, we wash our dishes out with water, and then put them away.


    I look at them both. ¡°So,¡± I say. ¡°What are we going to do? Tell stories or just sleep?¡± Dalyva yawns tiredly. ¡°I expended a lot of mana in that fight healing my arm, so I¡¯m going to sleep.¡± She says as she gets up and starts to walk to her tent. I nod. ¡°Well, Shankhe?¡± I ask. He as well is exhausted, and lets out a yawn, as he had seen Dalyva yawn just before. He gets up and walks over to his tent. ¡°Too tired.¡± I hear him reply before I listen to his body collapsing into his bed. Along with an oohhff that follows due to him landing on rock solid ground. I chuckle, and head to my bed as well. Entering my tent, I lay on my bed. I¡¯m tired enough that I want to go to sleep, but not tired enough to actually follow through with it.


    And so I lay there, wanting to sleep, but feeling like it¡¯s impossible. Finally I manage to settle down, drifting off as the nice tingly calm feeling washes over my body.


    The next day, I get up to Dalyva cooking some congee, while fending off a hungry man. I, testing his reflexes, throw one of my daggers his way. He expertly dodges, and, as it lands, grabs the handle and then throws it right back. I catch it from the air deftly with my right hand, crossing it over my chest as I catch it. I pull it back and sheathe it again. ¡°Good job.¡± I say with a smirk. He looks at me with mock offense. ¡°Trying to kill me!?¡± He puts a hand to his chest with disbelief.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s exactly what I¡¯m trying to do.¡± I sarcastically say. ¡°How dare you try to kill the great Shankhe.¡± He exclaims with an air of shock and haughtiness. I laugh. ¡°C¡¯mon, let¡¯s sharpen our weapons with the stone while Dalyva cooks.¡± We head over to my tent, where inside is the sharpening stone that we got. Unsheathing one of my daggers, I start to push it on the stone.


    Shankhe looks at me as I repeat the motion again and again. ¡°How long until you¡¯re done?¡± He asks. ¡°Generally it takes a while, though occasionally it may be quick if you have sharp weapons already.¡± He just sighs, and watches me. The whack of stone on steel soon becomes something we get used to, and we start to talk about other things. ¡°Taegan.¡± Says Shankhe hesitantly. I look up at him curiously. ¡°Yeah?¡± I ask. ¡°Well, I''d like to thank you for saving me, and I''m sorry about your neck.¡± He says nervously, putting his hand behind his neck and looking down.


    I smile. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± I say reassuringly. ¡°It¡¯s better than you dying instead.¡± I then finish the one dagger I was working on and give Shankhe the sharpening block, my arms and back tired from pushing.


    He unsheathed his katana, and put it on the sharpening block. He started to push it on the thing, but did it wrong. I instantly stop him, not wanting his blade to be ruined. ¡°No, you do it like this.¡± I show, and he does it correctly. I nod in approval. ¡°Yeah.¡± I approve, and he starts to do that.


    ¡°So, what do you think about here?¡± He asks. It was a time for us to calm down, so we were finally letting the emotions catch up to us, so everyone was very on edge. ¡°It¡­¡± I trail off, unsure how I should describe it. ¡°It¡¯s interesting to say the least.¡± I said quietly. ¡°Definitely..¡± I try to find the right words. ¡°Unnerving.¡± I found the word I was looking for. ¡°It¡¯s strange.¡± Says Shankhe. ¡°It only took us two days to clear the first two challenges, and I feel¡­.¡± He can¡¯t continue. ¡°Scared of what¡¯s going to happen next?¡± I said, trying my best to continue his sentence. He nods as he leans down while sharpening, stretching his back.


    We just sit there in silence, awkwardly waiting for the other to speak. Suddenly Shankhe starts to sniffle, wiping his nose. ¡°I-it¡± he can¡¯t get it out as he starts to cry. ¡°It¡¯s too hard!¡± He whispers in sobs. He has stopped sharpening his weapon as he pushes the stone away. He tries to wipe his tears away, but they just keep flowing.


    ¡°All the challenges are hard, and sometimes I feel just an inch from death, seeing it flash in front of me, how close I''m courting death Even when I don¡¯t want to, and just want to have fun.¡± He wipes his nose as it starts to run. ¡°Th-the hag too, and her scare tactic. E-even if I knew it was an illusion, I just couldn¡¯t convince myself.¡± He cries. I shuffle closer, and let him rest his head on my shoulder, hugging him gently. ¡°Yeah.¡± I say softly. ¡°Yeah, I get it.¡± He just hugs me tight and continues, wanting and needing to get it out. ¡°That swordsman was basically a nightmare.¡± He continued, slowly calming down as he spoke his troubles out loud.


    ¡°A-and when I found it was a skeleton..¡± He trailed off quietly, unable to finish his explanation of how he felt. ¡°Why?¡± He whispers as he stares at me. It wasn¡¯t a question as such, more just a statement. His eyes are puffy and red, but his sandy gold eyes shone in the light. I looked back at his beautiful orbs with seriousness. ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but, Shankhe, at least we are lucky enough to have each other.¡± I say softly as he sighs. He just leans his head against me, clearly tired. I rub his back comfortingly, and then take the sharpening stone from where he had pushed it away to and pull it towards myself and begin to finish sharpening his katana that he started before.


    The gentle down and up puts Shankhe to sleep and he begins to slide off my shoulder. Gently stopping, I picked him up, he¡¯s quite light, and put him in his sleeping bag. His head flops to the side as I tuck him in, and he breathes in and out in a constant rhythm. He was out cold. I looked down at him, tempted to draw on his face, but we only have limited water, so I couldn¡¯t without many consequences. I then turn back to the sharpening stone. I also knew he¡¯d then be more self conscious then he already was, so i decided it was a bad idea.


    Suddenly Dalyva enters, wearing her chef''s outfit- a mere apron over her clothes- and a spatula in hand. ¡°Breakfast¡¯s ready.¡± She says, and I look up, then glance over to where Shankhe is sleeping. ¡°Sorry, but I think it¡¯ll just be you and me.¡± I say, and she nods. We head out of the tent, and she stares at me with curiosity. ¡°Is he good?¡± She asks, having understood what happened. ¡°Yeah, just the build up of emotions.¡± I say, and she nods understandingly as we serve up our porridge. ¡°What do we do with his congee?¡± She asks. ¡°Just leave it, he may wake up soon.¡± I reply as I gulp down my porridge. ¡°Thanks for cooking, Dalyva.¡± I say appreciatively. She nods happily and we start to eat happily.


    Well, as happy as we could get with eating congee, which is just grains boiled in water.


    Soon a sleepy Shankhe emerges from his tent, his hair sticking up and messy like it had been in a competition for the most bed head hair and won. He yawns as he walks out. ¡°Finally the sleepy one has woken.¡± Teased Dalyva. As Shankhe spoons up his congee and walks over to us, he runs into the log we¡¯re sitting on. ¡°Oooowwwwwww¡­¡± He exclaims as he hops on one foot, one hand holding his congee and the other his shin. ¡°Running into things, are we Shankhe?¡± I ask, smirking. He pouts and replies, ¡°The log moved in front of me to hurt me¡­¡± He complained.


    ¡°Sure it did.¡± I say in a tone of disbelief as he sits next to me. ¡°Taegan, Shankhe?¡± Asks Dalyva as we quieten down. ¡°Yeah?¡± Asks Shankhe. ¡°Well, do you two have¡­¡± She seems to struggle to continue, but manages to. ¡°A relationship back home?¡± I wonder why she asked, but I shake my head. ¡°Nope.¡± And turn to Shankhe, who also shakes his head. ¡°No, why do you ask?¡± She looks down nervously. ¡°Well, there¡¯s this girl I really like back home.¡± She says quickly. ¡°B-but my dad doesn¡¯t approve of us together, and.. he wants me to go with someone more privileged.¡± I look at her, not believing what she said. ¡°Why not?¡± I say in disbelief. ¡°She¡¯s an orphan, and doesn¡¯t have much money.¡± Dalyva says as she looks up at me. Shankhe just stares in disbelief.


    ¡°Just because she¡¯s an orphan doesn¡¯t mean you should love someone else! Heck, I''m an orphan, but do you see me only designating myself to loving other orphans?¡± He says in an outburst. She smiles, happy that we supported her. ¡°What''s her name? And what does she look like?¡± I ask, looking at her intently. She gets a dreamy lovey look on her face. ¡°Her name is Reika Myst, and she has adorable pink eyes, as well as beautiful bluey purple hair, and some darker purple stripes of hair, an adorable smile, and she just always seems to radiate happiness.¡± She stares off into the distance, as if imagining her right here.


    I just chuckle at her whipped face. She¡¯s so in love that she¡¯s completely forgotten about the bowl in her hands. Shankhe looks at me. ¡°At least we know she¡¯s not lying.¡± I nod with a laugh. ¡°Yeah.¡± We wash our dishes, I do Dalyva¡¯s, and then we head into his tent as I go to finish sharpening my second dagger. As I do it, Shankhe asks. ¡°Have you ever been in a relationship, Taegan?¡± He asks curiously as I do the sharpening. I shake my head. ¡°No, I¡¯ve never been interested in it, I guess.¡± I say. ¡°Have you?¡± He nods. ¡°Yeah, once, but they soon moved on to another town, and I didn¡¯t really have feelings for them. It was a sort of teen crush.¡± I nod my head as if I understand, even though I have no clue what a crush feels like, but knowing from others descriptions of it, soooo.


    After finishing up with sharpening my blade and sliding it back into its sheath, I went out of the tent to look for Dalyva. ¡°Dalyva!¡± I say, as I find her still sitting there, and shake her out of it. She snaps back to reality and stares at me. ¡°What?¡± She asks. ¡°Your turn to sharpen your weapon.¡± She looks at me. ¡°Five more minutes?¡± She asks, and I shake my head with a smile. ¡°C¡¯mon, me and Shankhe will be there to entertain you as well.¡± Sighing, Dalyva gets up and walks into the tent with me following. Shankhe is sitting on his bed, carving something out of wood with one of the extra cooking knives we have.


    Dalyva sits in front of the stone, with her halberd on her lap. She then starts to sharpen it after I show her how to do it, and gets into a rhythm. We all sit there in silence, until Shankhe speaks. ¡°What were you all doing when you got taken here?¡± He asks. Dalyva speaks first. ¡°Heading into the desert to go to Tekoto, but we were to stop at Esoa for supplies as we traversed into Tingari.¡± Shankhe looked confused for a moment. ¡°Sorry Dalyva, I seem to have forgotten what they were?¡± He says nervously and guiltily.


    Dalyva shakes her head in disbelief. ¡°Esoa is the kingdom in the south of the desert and called the Kingdom of the Oasis for their oasis which is the basis of their kingdom made primarily of traders and farmers of desert plants and specialties, and Tekoto is in the north of the desert, and called the Kingdom of the Temples for their scholars of the ancient runic language and their temples of the gods.¡± She says, showing off her resounding knowledge as a scholar.


    I chuckle. ¡°I was in Mara-Ni, the Kingdom of the North Valley, farmers and brewers. They¡¯re the ones who made the cherry blossom ale. I was going to head to the Wand¨¦ area, the swamp west of Jesva if you¡¯ve forgotten. Primarily Paktu, the Kingdom of Orcs and Draconians. If you¡¯ve forgotten what that is, I will kill you myself.¡± I say, as Paktu is a famous land for all warriors and adventurers, a place all wish to go to one day.


    Shankhe puts his hands up in surrender. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I haven¡¯t forgotten.¡± He says hurriedly. ¡°I was heading to Daruden, the southernmost kingdom, the Kingdom of Woodworkers and going to head up through Dajenu, or the forest to Paktu.¡± He says eagerly. Dalyva¡¯s eyes light up as he says this. ¡°Daruden? That¡¯s where I come from.¡± She says. Shankhe looks confused. ¡°I thought Daruden was primarily woodworkers?¡± She nods. ¡°Yeah, it''s famous for that, but it''s also a scholarly area, since a lot of elves live there, and they can remember lots.¡± She confirms as she finishes up sharpening her halberd.

 Chapter 11- Breakdown.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to bed.¡± I say as I get up. They nod. ¡°Ok, night.¡± Says Dalyva, and Shankhe replies. ¡°Goodnight.¡± I shoo them out the tent, and lay in bed.


    Suddenly as I lay down, and try to sleep, I thought everything just started to come back to me. Tears well up in my eyes, as I remember my fear of the Corruption Entity, the panic of the attacking monsters, and the challenging bridges. I shiver, try to take a deep breath that is broken by tears, a sob escaping my mouth as my mind continues. Trying to be brave for Dalyva and Shankhe, trying to save them, but only being able to pick one. Seeing Shankhe break down, and the nightmare. Tears flow down my face, as I shake, remembering what people would say. As they saw me return without my friends, with a blank face, they would yell, scream, and say I was a devil for not caring. But I did care! I felt it just as much as them, it just didn¡¯t all catch up to me yet with the adrenaline.


    My tears get worse as I remember what people would call me. ¡®Broken. Devil child. Broken human. Not even deserving of the title of human. Mistake.¡¯ But none of these hurt as much as the last one. A memory of one of the parents. As they approach me in their anger, the man kicks me down. The woman, her children, and her husband all start kicking me, all before I could say anything, before I could explain how their son felt, how he truly went insane from his upbringing.


    How in his final moments, he dissed on you, how the only person he truly felt close to, was his friends, and his boyfriend that they both never admitted was true until the last minutes when they realised it really mattered. How he too survived, but couldn¡¯t keep living in a world without his brothers in arms, without his boyfriend he loved unconditionally, being reminded every day of their deaths. He couldn¡¯t. And then I was the only one left.


    Then I remembered how close to death Shankhe was. That rush of panic, thinking I''d lose the only connection to my past, to who I am. Who I should be. One that isn¡¯t broken, one that isn¡¯t a mistake, or a devil child, or mere fodder for the monsters. I want to be what everyone says I am. I want to be emotionless, so no one ever bothers me about anything again, so they don¡¯t hurt me, and disregard me for having no feelings, when i¡¯m just as human as they are.


    But. That isn¡¯t right. I¡¯m not human, I''m a monster, a demon, a devil with no care for human life. I¡¯m different, strange, abnormal, monstrous, an abomination.


    I start to hyperventilate, and my tears come quicker. My hands shake as I place them upon my head, trying to stop the rush of just emptiness. Why when I stare off into space, I can''t think of anything. Why do people say you should have thoughts, but I can only think when I talk aloud, why those near me constantly say I''m different, when all talk about feelings for each other, I have none. When we talk about feelings, nothing seems to be important to me. The teachers would always scorn me, the students stare in disbelief. Judging. Always judging.


    By this point my brain stops working, and I start to cry even more, my pillow getting soaked as I''m swallowed up by the seemingly endless nothingness, but i¡¯m unable to cry, as my brain doesn¡¯t register my sadness. ¡°I hate it.¡± I mutter to myself. ¡°I hate it.¡± As tears continue to make trails down my face, and I''m too scared to focus on what¡¯s around me, I feel a hand around my shoulder, and a person pressed against me. I instantly recognise them. ¡°Shankhe.¡± I mutter. ¡°What are you doing?¡± I say in my voice, although hoarse from crying. ¡°You.. you should be asleep.¡± My mind races, yet thinks at the speed of a snail. Swimming in confusion, I turn to him, but not willing to face him, I bury my face into his chest so he can¡¯t see my sorrow and tears.


    ¡°You always help us when we need it, check up and make sure we¡¯re okay.¡± Shankhe says softly as he hugs me tight, making me feel... wanted. ¡°Yet we never think to check up on you, never suspecting that you might need it. I¡¯m your brother, and I want to act like it. Not your sibling. I want to be your equal, so we can share burdens with each other, and share our pain together.¡± I listen to him, my head aching from crying too much, and gently look up slightly. ¡°I-.¡± I pause, but feeling his reassuring arms around me, I continue. ¡°Am I human, to you, Shankhe?¡± He looks at me, shocked by the question. ¡°Yes.¡± He says. ¡°What kind of question is that?!¡± His voice hinted at surprise, but also a tiny bit of concern in the underlyings of the tone.


    ¡°A stupid one.¡± I mutter, but feel happy that his answer was yes. ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± I shake my head, and just snuggle with him, hugging him. ¡°Night.¡± I whisper, and we fall asleep together. A soft smile traces my lips as I feel his heat warming me as we hug.


    As we wake up in the morning, I can smell the delacy of breakfast wafting through the air. I groan, not willing to make my poor muscles move just yet. As I feel the arm slung around my shoulder, I have even less reason to get up. Waking up could disturb the absolute hero of a brother I have sleeping over on my right. A certain cook interrupted my peaceful morning with a loud clang of a pot and pan. I groan, although a chuckle may have made its way into that said groan. I immediately note how Shankhe has woken up, and I rolled out of his grip. ¡°Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey.¡± I laughingly say, though knowing full well that the only thing we would get for breakfast, was grain congee, which was basically porridge, except much healthier as it was only grains and water that was boiled together. As we didn¡¯t have much water, it ended up all gruel like, and made us be reminded even more of the horrible rations we were put on.


    Yeah, we all could not wait for the next loot box to arrive. As I get up and stretch out my muscles, I look over at Shankhe. A mess of bed hair and sleepy yawns. ¡°Not willing to wake?¡± I ask, snickering at his looks. He moans and groans as we finally exit my tent. Dalyva looks mildly surprised to see us together, but she shrugs it off as merely something between us two as she waves. ¡°Like my wake up call?¡± She sarcastically comments, as a slow punch heads her way. Easily blocking it, she just giggles. ¡°Wow, you look really out of it, Shankhe.¡± Teasingly she says. ¡°Even worse than a person who survived a thousand battles probably.¡±


    After the food cooks, we all sit down and start to silently eat our congee. Shankhe perks up a little afterwards. ¡°So.¡± He asks as he finishes his congee. ¡°What''s the plan for today?¡±


    ¡°Well if you want, we could continue.¡± I say innocently, as he balked at the mere mention of those words. He scoffed. ¡°No way! We need at least two days here to rest and recuperate.¡± He looks at me knowingly. ¡°You especially need your wounds to recover before you do anything else.¡± Dalyva stays quiet during our interaction, before saying. ¡°I think we should spend a couple days training. Or even a day, if that¡¯s more suitable.¡±


    We all think for a moment. ¡°Let¡¯s stay one more night.¡± I convince. ¡°What was that next line? Cross a bridge and do not fall, meet a hag and do not fear¡­..¡± I trail off.


    ¡°Travel a road that none shall see, and find a sheep that none can shear.¡± Finished Dalyva, and I nodded in appreciation. ¡°Yeah.¡± Shankhe butted in then. ¡°I think we should stop worrying about something like that, that doesn¡¯t matter, and just look forwards. After all the lines were ¡®travel a road that none shall see¡¯. That means, we should just survive for now, and if we get to the next part, we deal with it then.¡± I grin at his straightforwardness, having seen the buildup of annoyance at our planning from a mile away. You would be blind to not see it.


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    I shake my head. ¡°Sure.¡± I agree. ¡°Let¡¯s stay here tonight, and move tomorrow morning.¡± I set a schedule, and they both nod. ¡°Dalyva, you can be the instructor for the training at first.¡± I say, hoping she¡¯ll go easy on us.


    Mere minutes go by before i learn why appointing Dalyva as our instructor and trainer was a terrible mistake.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, you can do it, just 5 more push ups till the end of this rep.¡± She supports us, as we all do it individually. Aching and soreness envelope me, with the desperation to just lay down and sleep. I almost cried when she said we would be doing 10 push ups in a rep, with each person having to do 3 reps with a minute break. Who knew a scholar could be such a fan of these cruelties. I had only 15 more pushups to go, including my last rest, and as I pushed through another, the numbers declined in my head. Breathing heavily, and I reckon with my face as red as ever, I finish another push up. When I go down again, I struggle, my muscles all shaking from the exertion.


    Why she liked tormenting us like this, I would never know. Finally as I push up on the last one, I collapse to the ground, unable to move even if it was to drink. She just rolls her eyes at my extremities, having not done it herself yet as well, and starts to count. ¡°60, 59, 58, 57, 56¡­¡± She continues, as I sit up and gulp down some cool refreshing water. Shankhe understands my torment, merely because he¡¯s trained before. Clearly this monster of a trainer hasn¡¯t, and now we were paying for it, with our lives! I pant and take deep breaths in and out trying to get air to my body so that I could function.


    The final rep. One was easy, because I had just rested, and the second was quite simple. Third however was when my muscles started to remember torment from before, but I swiftly pushed through. However, the fourth, I almost failed, as my body almost slacked off, and tried to deviate from what shape I was supposed to hold. Dalyva rapped my back with her knuckles. ¡°Ah.¡± She says in a warning sort of tone. I groan.


    ¡°Why.¡± Push down and up. ¡°Are you,¡± I found the strength to struggle through another. ¡°Being this horrifically mean?¡± I manage to say, even when out of breath. ¡°Because we need to get stronger.¡± Dalyva says. ¡°And I''m not being horrifically mean, I''m just being reasonable.¡±  A cough from the audience in disbelief. The seventh was absolutely terrible, and barely making it, I am fully holding on to the idea of revenge. Deep breath, and down. As I¡¯m down, my muscles killing me, I look at the floor, how close it is, and how easy it would be to just fall onto it. However, the torturous maiden above me wouldn¡¯t allow such things, and would probably make me repeat the rep. Using anger to fuel my upwards, I only have two left. Shankhe on the sidelines is cheering me on, and as I look at him, I decide to push through the tiredness and do the two last push ups.


    One, and two. Finally, I¡¯m done. I lay on the floor for a couple minutes, out of breath and gulping water into my tired, abused body.


    With a pitying glance to Shankhe, I get up off the floor, and dust the dirt off me. He gets up, and gets into the position of a front support. The torture had ended for me, but for him, it was just starting. The first rep was pretty easy, and he powered through it, though with some struggle on seven and above. He took a minute break, and then, with cheering from me, managed to do 7, before he looked like he could do no more. Dalyva however wasn¡¯t kind, and forced him to do the last three with perfect form. When he ¡®sat¡¯ down again, it was much more of a collapse as he laid on the floor. Using his specialisation he just manipulated the water to make it flow into his mouth, instead of using precious rest time to get up and drink.


    I respected that, and nodded at his ingenious plan. When he got up again, he stopped the water flow, and started to do the push ups again. One¡­. Two¡­ three.. four. A desperate struggle with five. ¡°You can do it!¡± I say, supporting him as his face relays how much of a struggle he¡¯s in. Six. He goes down for seven, but his muscles almost collapse on him. Luckily he managed not to fall, but it was a close matter as he pushed up. ¡°Two more. Only two.¡± I say with eagerness. ¡°Then it''s Dalyva¡¯s turn.¡± With that encouragement, and I reckon the eagerness of wanting to watch Dalyva struggle pushed him through to the last one.


    ¡±Dalyva, your turn.¡± We both say, turning to her with ecstatic eagerness. She pouts, but gets down. One, two. Then she started struggling, at three. She groaned and whatever, but we watched her like a hawk. ¡°I¡¯m a scholar.¡± she puffs out. ¡°I¡¯m not made for this sort of thing.¡± Shankhe having just done his reps replies. ¡°Too bad, we need to get stronger, and I''m being reasonable. Isn¡¯t that what you yourself said?¡± She is taking deep, tired breaths, and as she finishes another push up, her whole body is shaking, trembling like a leaf from the overuse of muscles.


    Neither of us have any pity however, and we watch as she finishes the rep with a break of staying in one place as a front support between every push up. Sure, we did it too, but not for as long as her. It was okay though since even if we want our revenge, we know she used to be a scholar, so it''s harder for her. She immediately closes her eyes, and I can only guess that she¡¯s using her specialisation to help her recover. We don¡¯t mind, she needs every advantage she can get at this point.


    I finish counting down, and it''s time for the second rep. The second was just like the first, except she managed to do three before struggling through the next seven. On the last push up, she barely gets through it, almost her form faltering, but she managed to finish. another break, and she again cycled her specialisation. The only problem I didn¡¯t mention that she knew as well, was it made her more tired, even if her muscles weren¡¯t as sore.


    She did four, then another, and then two more. Between each of these groups she rested in a front support for I reckon 15 seconds, maybe longer. Three left. Right now, she was in a front support, resting as she panted and tried to gather enough energy to do the last three. One. Two¡­ and¡­ Three. She falls to the floor.


    ¡°Finally!!¡± she says in excitement. Before promptly taking a nap. I chuckle as I see how she just fell asleep, and, looking at Shankhe, we both carefully lift her into the air, and carry her to her tent, where I open it, and then we both put her into her bed.


    I look at her sleeping, and then to Shankhe. ¡°So, what should we do?¡± I ask, looking at how bored he was. Shrugging, he says. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± We both walked out of her tent.


    I sigh, yawn and stretch. ¡°I¡¯m booooored.¡± Shankhe complains. ¡°Well, think of something to do.¡± I say, with an underlying tone of annoyance. ¡°I have no clue what to do either.¡± He gets an idea, clear by the smirk on his face. ¡°Specialisation fight!¡± He says eagerly, and I look at him. ¡°Yeah!¡± I pop my bottle, and he does too. Sand flows out and surrounds me in a sash like position. ¡°One, two, three, go!¡± On go, both of our specialisations launch at each other.  They collide, making some spray to the sides for both of us, which we both direct towards each other. I click my fingers, and wave a flat hand from left to right, and my sand makes a wall that I use as defence.


    Making finger guns, I fake shoot in places on the wall, and bits of sand peel off the wall, shooting at Shankhe. He is unprepared, but managed to block them, as he didn¡¯t say ¡°Out¡± as that means you¡¯ve been hit. It¡¯s exhilarating, doing this. The excitement, and creative ways people fight make it one of the best things to do.


    Suddenly water curves around the wall, trying to get to me. Holding my open hands out palms facing towards me, I clench them into fists, before crossing my hands like a mock shield in front of me, all in a quick motion. sand rushes into a spherical shield around me, but I secretly leave sand where the wall was. Spread so thin you couldn¡¯t see it. I hear footsteps, and as Shankhe crosses the wall line, he yelps out in surprise before saying. ¡°Out.¡± I lower my makeshift shield, and see a strand of my sand circled around his waist.


    ¡°Got you!¡± i say. chuckling as my sand returns to my bottle. He chuckles as well. ¡°That was smart!¡± He comments on it. I nod. ¡°I have three strategies, one was that, the wall, which I could¡¯ve gotten you with the bullets, the second was the line you just got out by, and the third¡­ I''m not telling you.¡± I tease as he pouts sadly. ¡°Why notttt~~~?¡± He asks. ¡°Cause you¡¯ll use it against me!!¡± I exclaimed. ¡°I¡¯m not stupid!¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡± He pouts. I just roll my eyes at his stupidness. Suddenly a rustling comes from the tents, and we both know that Dalyva¡¯s awake.


    ¡°Overused your spesh.¡± I say, using a shortened version of specialisation, as that was just too long. She groans. ¡°Yeah, and what¡¯s that to you?¡± She asks. I just shake my head and try not to laugh, even though Shankhe is already bursting out in laughter.


    Glaring at Shankhe, Dalyva tries to pat her crazy bed hair down, the point of his laughter, and also her annoyed expression. Annoyed, she walks over to us, and as I notice the signs of a dangerous woman, back away. However Shankhe is slow, and starts to get furiously lightly punched. Sure it didn¡¯t hurt, but it sure was annoying, until she clearly started to increase the power, as he yelped out in pain. Smirking, I ask. ¡°How does it feel to be hurt by a scholar?¡± Dalyva looks at me warningly though, and I put up my hands in surrender. ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± she says grumpily. ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡± I respond quickly.


    She rolls her eyes at it, but doesn¡¯t mention it. Shankhe looks at her a lot more warily now. ¡°Sooo?¡± He asks. ¡°The reason for my beat up?¡±he asks as if she needs a reason to lightly beat him. I mean, I guess she does, but I''m not fighting over it, especially with a woman with a halberd, and who can kill me in my sleep. ¡°Cause i just discovered that even when i use my spesh to stop blood from flowing, i still get pain and cramps!¡± She protests and both of us realise why she¡¯s been so irritable.


    Both of us look at each other. ¡®She¡¯s scary as fuck.¡¯ I say with my eyes. ¡®Why are we stuck with her?¡¯ Shankhe¡¯s eyes convey with a bit of desperation. ¡®It''s a scary week.¡¯ My eyes say as we turn back to her.

 Chapter 12- Trials 1

    She glares at both of us and then says. ¡°What¡¯s for dinner?¡± Taegan points to the pasta bake, and she takes a serving, the dimensional bag keeping it warm and fresh so she doesn¡¯t have to heat it up.


    We carefully move around her, and then get our own dinner. All of us sigh in delight at the actual flavour that this dish has. we all eat up, and then Dalyva heads back to bed. It was clear from the start that she only came out for food anyways.¡°Night.¡± I say, as Taegan says it as well. We then turn to each other. ¡°Sleep?¡± I ask, sort of not sure if I want to yet. However Taegan nods. ¡°We don''t know what¡¯s in the next room, so yeah.¡± I sigh, and we head to bed. ¡°Sleep well.¡± Taegan says, and I reciprocate with. ¡°No nightmares tonight. Good night.¡±


    In the morning, we all wake up, Taegan waking me up, and both of us waking up Dalyva, just to be sure that one of us wasn¡¯t killed. Handing out the gruel that was congee, and eating it up quickly before packing up.


    We pack up our tents, and start to move on. As I haul my backpack on, Dalyva groans. ¡°Do we have to move on?¡± She whines, and I just sigh. I don¡¯t really either, however, if we want to finish this dungeon before a thousand years pass, we must, and I say this. ¡°If you don¡¯t want us to be stuck in here for a thousand years, yeah.¡± Dalyva scowls and grumbles, but eventually we get everything into the dimensional bag, and start to walk towards the big doors at the end of the room.


    Occasionally I steal glances at Taegan, making sure he¡¯s okay.


    They¡¯re huge, like those ones you would see in places where giants live or something. They are 5 times out height, with an arch at the top and a third up from the bottom are giant handles.


    We will just have to push the doors open if we want to continue. Placing my hand on the door, I push with all my might, however, it easily swings open, contrary to my evaluation of it, and we step through.


    On the inside is a rectangular, purple, room, a hologram in the middle that has no face, but must be there for a reason, and on either side are doors labeled with a picture. As we walk further into the room, the hologram starts to talk. ¡°Hello, adventurers, and welcome to the Trials room. I will be your guide, so ask me any questions you have, though I might not answer all of them.¡± All of us instantly focus on the hologram. ¡°What should we call you?¡± Dalyva asks as we approach cautiously.


    ¡°You can call me Guide.¡± Says the hologram. Taegan approaches it next. ¡°Where are we?¡± He asks calmly.


    ¡°You are in the Trial room, let me explain. Every room in here is labeled with a sign or picture, when you go in these rooms there will be a challenge you must complete regarding that sign that represents the main theme of the challenge. Once you complete the challenge, you will get a token, and you need to gather eight tokens to advance.¡± Explains Guide. ¡°Can you tell us what the symbols mean?¡± I ask. ¡°Of course, would you like me to now?¡± Guide says. We all nod. ¡°Yes.¡± Says Dalyva. ¡°On your right, not mine, from closest to the door to furthest is Escape, Smart, Strength, Duels and Treasure. On your left from closest to the door to the furthest is Gatherer, Path-Finder, All-seeing, Monster and Trophy. Mind you, the Trophy room can only be accessed when you have at least seven other tokens.¡±


    We all fall silent for a moment, and Dalyva takes this time to write down what he said, making a rough sketch of a triangle and putting the names where the hologram said.


    ¡°So.¡± Said Dalyva. ¡°We can rule out the Trophy room for now.¡± We all nod. ¡°Yeah, but also the All-seeing, as that just sounds very mysterious.¡± Adds Taegan. I agreed. The All-seeing sounded like a bit of a trap, and we don¡¯t want to deal with any traps right now. ¡°Gatherer and Treasure sound like some of the easiest, along with Smart and Strength, so I think we should do those first.¡± I say, and Dalyva circles the ones I mentioned, as well as putting a cross near the All-seeing. Taegan looks up. ¡°Well, let''s get started! Which one do we want to do first?¡± He asks as we all stand up from gathering around Dalyva¡¯s notebook.


    ¡°Smart!¡± Said Dalyva quickly, and I pouted, even when I knew she would choose that. ¡°O-Kay¡­..¡± I say sadly. She rolled her eyes at me. ¡°C¡¯mon Shankhe, the last couple days have been fighting and whatever. Now is finally a time to have some relaxation.¡±


    I still continue to pout, but she knows that I will do what she wants. As we walk to the door, the symbol is that of a brain for smarts. I walk up to it, and gently touch the door. It swings open. ¡°First run, Smart room.¡± Says the hologram. We walked into the room hesitantly. The door closes behind us, and we all turn around to see the door closed.


    I think at that moment, it was kind of scary. To see your only chance of escape close right behind you was¡­ terrifying to say the least. Knowing that whatever happens now, you can''t go back. These thoughts run through my mind. The sort of ones you don¡¯t want, yet always get. The terrifying ones. Taegan placed a discreet hand on my shoulder, pulling me closer to him. A slight smile emerges on my face, and I place an arm onto his shoulder. We grin at each other.


    But we both looked forward, now knowing our only chance of escape lies in finishing this room. In front of us was a big wall, and on it read- ¡®The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am i?¡¯ Dalyva looked at it with confusion. ¡°The more you take, the more you leave behind¡­¡± She whispered to herself. Taegan and I thought to ourselves. We were all stumped. ¡°Five minutes left.¡± Said a voice in the wall. Dalyva looked up, and started to think harder. ¡°Money?¡± She says, but a rat dropped through the ceiling. ¡°Wrong.¡± Says the voice. I step in front of Dalyva, and quickly kill the rat with the katana, drawing it in a flash and slicing through its neck. ¡°Oh, wait.¡± Says Dalyva as she figures it out. ¡°Footsteps. The more steps you take, the more footsteps you leave behind!¡± She says quickly, and a door opens up on the left of the riddle.


    ¡°Correct.¡± Says the voice as we walk through. We, again, are faced with a riddle, but this time it seems a bit easier. ¡®I am not a bird, but I can fly. I don¡¯t have wings, but I can glide through the sky. I am made of bangonro, and my tail is long. What am I?¡¯ We all instantly say. ¡°Bangoro.¡± (A bangoro is a lantern made by a special red bark that is really thin-Bangonro- and has a tail of paper and a candle at the top of that paper in the lantern. You light the paper tail, which lights the candle, and launch it into the sky on Janro- New year.) The door opens, and the voice says. ¡°Correct.¡± We all clap our hands together in celebration. ¡°That one was easy!¡± I say happily.


    The next riddle however was not. ¡®I can be long or short, depending on how much you have of me. I can be painted or left bare, and I am often seen but seldom noticed. What am I?¡¯ Dalyva thinks. ¡°I feel like I''ve seen this one before¡­¡± she says. ¡°Though I can''t seem to remember it.¡± She thinks for a while, and by then me and Taegan had given up, and had started to just play bop.


    Quite simple, actually. When you touch the person, you have to say bop, and then run away before they can bop you back, the person who has been bopped last when we get bored or have to go is the loser. I run to Taegan, but he¡¯s fast, and dodges. I stumble, laughing. ¡°Aawwwww.¡± I laugh, mockingly disappointed. ¡°Not going to let me win?????¡± Taegan laughed at my disappointment. ¡°Hell no.¡± He says. ¡°I¡¯m a proud warrior of the sands, I''m not losing!¡± Sadly, the proud warrior of the sands won¡­


    We play for a couple more minutes as the voice counts down. ¡°Two minutes left.¡± It says just then. Dalyva then perks up. ¡°A line.¡± She says confidently. A door opens. ¡°Correct.¡± Says the voice. By now Dalyva was starting to get confident, and as we entered the next room, it was completely different.


    It was in the ancient runic language. To me and maybe Taegan, it looked like a mass of just random lines and circles, but to Dalyva it clearly meant something.


    She looked at it, and wrote it down in her notebook. ¡°Uxciesa (pronounced you-X-see-ah).¡± She muttered to herself. ¡°Dk ara?¡± She said in confusion. (She¡¯s speaking the Ancient Runic language. ¡®Dk ara¡¯ means ¡®and what?¡¯ She¡¯s confused about what she¡¯s translating.) Taegan leans over. ¡°Can I read it?¡± He asks. She nods, and passes it to him silently. ¡°No, that''s not Uxciesa. Cause Uxciesa is a goddess of the sands sort of, so this is different. Oh, it''s Vuxeadine, the descendants of Uxciesa. (Pronounced V-uh-ck-z-ah-d-i-n.) They looked very close, so you were on track.¡± Taegan supports. She nods, but then points to the rest.


    ¡°So what¡¯s all this.¡± She pointed to the next part. ¡°Vuxeadine Ue Tenkejest (V-uh-ck-z-ah-d-i-n you-eh t-eh-n-ck-eh-j-eh-s-t.).¡± He reads out loud. I¡¯m just listening in, having not learnt that much of the ancient runic language. ¡°It basically means- ¡¯Vuxeadine greet Ghost mask?¡¯¡± He sounds unsure. Dalyva lights up. ¡°Ghost mask is a spirit who supposedly wanders the world when it is the festival of Uxciesa wearing a white mask, and always being incorporeal and ghostlike. they watch the people below, but no one knows why. Some say they¡¯re the manifestation of people''s dead loved ones, and some say it''s just a spirit who loves to see people happy.¡± The voice pipes up. ¡°Correct.¡± Having heard Taegans answer and Dalyva¡¯s explaination of Ghost mask.


    Suddenly a token appeared in front of Dalyva. She grabs the hovering token, and looks at it. It has the same symbol of a brain on it, and has the words ¡®Smart Token¡¯ inscribed on it.


    ¡°We got our first token!!¡± Dalyva yells out with celebration. ¡°I grin, and we walk out the door that just appeared, leading to the central room of the trials. As we walk out, I pat Taegan on the back in congratulations. in the main room, Guide greets us as he says. ¡°Smarts trial- completion in 15 minutes and 36 seconds.¡± We all grin. ¡°That was good!¡± Commented Dalyva, before asking Guide. ¡°How long is the average or expected take?¡± Guide responds. ¡°The expected take is 5 to 6 fails before a finish time of 19 minutes and 45 seconds.¡± After doing some quick math, I say. ¡°That means we got it 6 takes 4 minutes and 9 seconds earlier than expected!¡± We all high five.


    ¡°What''s next?¡± Asks Dalyva, eager to do the next one as she crosses off the smart trial with a tick. We all crowd around her notebook. ¡°Strength?¡¯ Asks Taegan. ¡°That¡¯d make use of your torture training yesterday.¡± She glared at him, remembering yesterday''s training. ¡°Yeah, we all did it.¡± I perk up. ¡°We can make use of it.¡± We head over to the door, which has the symbol of a muscular arm flexing.


    We open the door carefully, and peek in as we all walk in. as expected the door closes behind us, and it''s less unnerving now, because we¡¯re used to it.


    The room is just like the last trial, except instead of inscriptions on the wall, there is a huge door, with three hand prints. On top of the door that looks to be made for giants, it says one word. ¡®Push.¡¯ We all put our hands on the door, and start to push. It¡¯s not that heavy, and swings open pretty easily. The next door is about double the heaviness, and we have to push a bit harder, but otherwise it''s still easy. The next however, we did struggle a bit, since it was again double of the last door. About medium difficulty for us now. We all push hard, our muscles being put to work as we open it enough to get through, dreading the next door.


    The door is just like the last, and as we take a rest before trying it, I say. ¡°Is this all the trials are going to be?¡± I ask, confused that it would be just one thing for the strength trial. ¡°Probably not.¡± Says Taegan as he gets up. ¡°There''ll probably be a different bit of the trial behind these doors or something.¡± Dalyva nods in agreement. Placing all our hands on the door, we push with all our might, and it opens up a crack that quickly closes as we take our hands off the door. ¡°C¡¯mon, we can do it!¡± encourages Taegan, putting his hands on again. ¡°One, and two, and three!¡± he says, pushing with all his might. I join him, using all my strength too and as Dalyva joins, the door finally cracks open enough for us to pass through, we quickly slip into the next room before it closes.


    This one¡¯s certainly different, as it says on the board in front of us. ¡®Each person has to do 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, and 15 sit ups total, no exceptions. The room knows.¡¯ Well, that''s certainly an ominous message at the end, but I guess it''s valid. ¡°Hey, Taegan.¡± I say, and he turns to me from reading it. ¡°Yeah?¡± he asks. ¡°Can you hold my feet so I can do my sit ups, then we swap.¡± He nods in agreement as I get down, and he holds my feet. Sit ups are the most easy, as they don¡¯t take up much energy, and a mere fifteen are easy. He holds my feet tightly, as I do my sit ups.


    Dalyva walks over to the bar, reaching up to it, and grabbing on to the bar, starting her pull ups. She¡¯s done four by the time both me and Taegan are finished with our sit ups, but that''s probably because she¡¯s not that strong, and pull ups are hard. Once she finishes, Taegan helps her with her sit ups, as I start my pull ups near them on the bar. Starting down, I pull myself up. My muscles aren¡¯t used to it, and protest, but I continue. Going down again after touching my chin to the bar, it''s incredibly hard to find the strength to pull up, but I find it, and pull up again, my chin touching the cold iron bar. Falling down in relief, I struggle again through pulling up. It¡¯s almost worse than Dalyva¡¯s torment.


    Two to go. I motivate myself by saying as I fall down again in a controlled manner, in order to not hurt my shoulders. As I pull up again, I almost slip off, but my hands grip white, and I resist, wanting to finish even just this before I fall off and have to get on again. Seeing that Dalyva¡¯s done with her sit ups, and watching me, I fell down, controlled to do my last pull up. My hands and shoulders, as well as my poor arms ached with exertion, but I pulled through it, and did my last pull up. (pun intended) Jumping off the bar with joy, I sigh as I stretch out my muscles in my arms and wrists.


    All of us get down in a front support position, and start to do push ups. I do about three before my arms protest. Dalyva had been sitting down between her pushups, her arms sore from the pull ups and her core from sit ups. I go down again, pushing out one more before sitting up. I take a long sip of water, and then continue. I do another, and then another, and then another before I just quit again. Taega, like the superhuman he is, has already done his push ups. I however still have three to go. i get down again, and start to lower myself down. It¡¯s not that bad, and i do two, but my body really protested, and i try to ignore it, and Taegan, who comes over to cheer me on, motivates me to continue, and I lower down, my muscles shake in protest and exhaustion, but i used the last speck of energy to push myself up.


    I let out a sigh of relief as I collapsed onto the hard but relaxing floor for my poor muscles. Taegan shakes his head at my dramatics, and goes over to encourage Dalyva, who has only 4 left. I watch her struggle, and see how she¡¯s trying to circulate her spesh while doing something, so she gets better at it, and it''s sort of working as well! However, it''s making her more tired, since it''s using up her energy. But she managed to push through and finish her push ups. As we all stand, the voice says. ¡°Participants challenge finished, opening next door.¡± It¡¯s certainly different from what the Smart trial voice said with just correct, and automatically opening the door. A door opens in the wall, and we walk through, regardless of what it said.


    The next room has many vines hanging from the ceiling, tinted purple just like everything else, with a ledge about halfway up the vines and across maybe 8 vines from where you would first climb up. Unfortunately, if they wanted us to do it now, we were hungry, so as we sat down, Taegan hands out to each of us a bag. of trail mix, and we all eat it up hungrily. The taste of nuts and granola, with a bit of dried fruit thrown into the mix. As I look around the cave, I notice that basically everything is covered in moss, and the green purple tinted vines even have little glowing orange berries. I pick one curiously. ¡°Dalyva, is this safe to eat?¡± I ask, showing her the berry in my hand.


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    She looks at it for a sec, before nodding. ¡°Of course! they¡¯re scattered in all the forests of Dajennu, and are harmless to eat. They grow on almost anything, and are a staple food of some smaller towns.¡± I popped it in my mouth as she finished her sentence. It tastes surprisingly good. A mixture of almost mango juice swirls in my mouth. Immediately I looked at Taegan. ¡°Taegan.¡± I say, chucking him one, that he catches swiftly. He eats it, and his eyes light up. ¡°We can use our old trail mix bags.¡± He says, and hands me my old trail mix bag. He gets his, and hands Dalyva hers, and the glow berry collection commences.


    It takes us almost an hour or two of climbing around on the vines, which we discovered were very thick and not going to break and now we have 7 bags of about 15cm long and 6cm width of glow berries. We stack them away carefully in the dimensional bag. Of course, we did eat a few, couldn''t resist, but not that many. We shimmy up the vines one last time, and hop onto the ledge. We survey what surrounds us now. There¡¯s nothing much, just a door, but as we walk through it, another token appears in front of me, and I cheer. ¡°Alright, we did it!¡±


    I high five Taegan, and then Dalyva as we head back to the main Trial room. ¡°Completed in 3 hours 5 minutes and 13 seconds.¡± Says Guide. That''s pretty decent, but even though it''s practically still the afternoon by my internal clock, I don¡¯t want to continue. I say this. ¡°Taegan, do we have to continue?¡± I ask, all my muscles sore from the work out and climbing around on the vines. Taegan sighs. ¡°Dalyva?¡± He asks. She nods. ¡°Yeah, I agree with Shankhe.¡±


    And that¡¯s how we started to put up the tents in the main trial room. We don¡¯t have much food, only the berries, no pasta bake because we finished it, grains, three bags of trail mix left and some beef from the cows way back. All the spices had been used up, and we had none left, so the best thing in the bag was the berries.


    Then I bring out Frognii, and Dalyva snatches it. Taegan gets out his earrings and just stares at them before gathering some sand, and making it poke a hole in his ears, which clearly hurt by his wince, and he quickly slides the earrings in, putting on the back. He removed all the sand from his ears and rubbed his ears soothingly.


    I watch in pity. I look to where Dalyva is with Frognii, and see she is cleaning her with her clothes. I¡¯m bored, yet tired, though I can''t go to sleep because it''s too early in the day. I groan, and lay on the floor just wanting for something to get rid of this muscle pain. I rub my core, those muscles the worst of all. I almost nodded off as I closed my eyes, and just decided to have a nap, so I got up, went into my tent, and lay down on my sleeping bag. Lying there, I could feel all the muscles in my body that we used today. Core, arms, my legs as well from climbing the vines. My hands which had vine burn from sliding down one, and just in general my whole body.


    Slowly, my body starts to tire, and I fall into blissful unconsciousnes


    She glares at both of us and then says. ¡°What¡¯s for dinner?¡± Taegan points to the pasta bake, and she takes a serving, the dimensional bag keeping it warm and fresh so she doesn¡¯t have to heat it up.


    We carefully move around her, and then get our own dinner. All of us sigh in delight at the actual flavour that this dish has. we all eat up, and then Dalyva heads back to bed. It was clear from the start that she only came out for food anyways.¡°Night.¡± I say, as Taegan says it as well. We then turn to each other. ¡°Sleep?¡± I ask, sort of not sure if I want to yet. However Taegan nods. ¡°We don''t know what¡¯s in the next room, so yeah.¡± I sigh, and we head to bed. ¡°Sleep well.¡± Taegan says, and I reciprocate with. ¡°No nightmares tonight. Good night.¡±


    In the morning, we all wake up, Taegan waking me up, and both of us waking up Dalyva, just to be sure that one of us wasn¡¯t killed. Handing out the gruel that was congee, and eating it up quickly before packing up.


    We pack up our tents, and start to move on. As I haul my backpack on, Dalyva groans. ¡°Do we have to move on?¡± She whines, and I just sigh. I don¡¯t really either, however, if we want to finish this dungeon before a thousand years pass, we must, and I say this. ¡°If you don¡¯t want us to be stuck in here for a thousand years, yeah.¡± Dalyva scowls and grumbles, but eventually we get everything into the dimensional bag, and start to walk towards the big doors at the end of the room.


    Occasionally I steal glances at Taegan, making sure he¡¯s okay.


    They¡¯re huge, like those ones you would see in places where giants live or something. They are 5 times out height, with an arch at the top and a third up from the bottom are giant handles.


    We will just have to push the doors open if we want to continue. Placing my hand on the door, I push with all my might, however, it easily swings open, contrary to my evaluation of it, and we step through.


    On the inside is a rectangular, purple, room, a hologram in the middle that has no face, but must be there for a reason, and on either side are doors labeled with a picture. As we walk further into the room, the hologram starts to talk. ¡°Hello, adventurers, and welcome to the Trials room. I will be your guide, so ask me any questions you have, though I might not answer all of them.¡± All of us instantly focus on the hologram. ¡°What should we call you?¡± Dalyva asks as we approach cautiously.


    ¡°You can call me Guide.¡± Says the hologram. Taegan approaches it next. ¡°Where are we?¡± He asks calmly.


    ¡°You are in the Trial room, let me explain. Every room in here is labeled with a sign or picture, when you go in these rooms there will be a challenge you must complete regarding that sign that represents the main theme of the challenge. Once you complete the challenge, you will get a token, and you need to gather eight tokens to advance.¡± Explains Guide. ¡°Can you tell us what the symbols mean?¡± I ask. ¡°Of course, would you like me to now?¡± Guide says. We all nod. ¡°Yes.¡± Says Dalyva. ¡°On your right, not mine, from closest to the door to furthest is Escape, Smart, Strength, Duels and Treasure. On your left from closest to the door to the furthest is Gatherer, Path-Finder, All-seeing, Monster and Trophy. Mind you, the Trophy room can only be accessed when you have at least seven other tokens.¡±


    We all fall silent for a moment, and Dalyva takes this time to write down what he said, making a rough sketch of a triangle and putting the names where the hologram said.


    ¡°So.¡± Said Dalyva. ¡°We can rule out the Trophy room for now.¡± We all nod. ¡°Yeah, but also the All-seeing, as that just sounds very mysterious.¡± Adds Taegan. I agreed. The All-seeing sounded like a bit of a trap, and we don¡¯t want to deal with any traps right now. ¡°Gatherer and Treasure sound like some of the easiest, along with Smart and Strength, so I think we should do those first.¡± I say, and Dalyva circles the ones I mentioned, as well as putting a cross near the All-seeing. Taegan looks up. ¡°Well, let''s get started! Which one do we want to do first?¡± He asks as we all stand up from gathering around Dalyva¡¯s notebook.


    ¡°Smart!¡± Said Dalyva quickly, and I pouted, even when I knew she would choose that. ¡°O-Kay¡­..¡± I say sadly. She rolled her eyes at me. ¡°C¡¯mon Shankhe, the last couple days have been fighting and whatever. Now is finally a time to have some relaxation.¡±


    I still continue to pout, but she knows that I will do what she wants. As we walk to the door, the symbol is that of a brain for smarts. I walk up to it, and gently touch the door. It swings open. ¡°First run, Smart room.¡± Says the hologram. We walked into the room hesitantly. The door closes behind us, and we all turn around to see the door closed.


    I think at that moment, it was kind of scary. To see your only chance of escape close right behind you was¡­ terrifying to say the least. Knowing that whatever happens now, you can''t go back. These thoughts run through my mind. The sort of ones you don¡¯t want, yet always get. The terrifying ones. Taegan placed a discreet hand on my shoulder, pulling me closer to him. A slight smile emerges on my face, and I place an arm onto his shoulder. We grin at each other.


    But we both looked forward, now knowing our only chance of escape lies in finishing this room. In front of us was a big wall, and on it read- ¡®The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am i?¡¯ Dalyva looked at it with confusion. ¡°The more you take, the more you leave behind¡­¡± She whispered to herself. Taegan and I thought to ourselves. We were all stumped. ¡°Five minutes left.¡± Said a voice in the wall. Dalyva looked up, and started to think harder. ¡°Money?¡± She says, but a rat dropped through the ceiling. ¡°Wrong.¡± Says the voice. I step in front of Dalyva, and quickly kill the rat with the katana, drawing it in a flash and slicing through its neck. ¡°Oh, wait.¡± Says Dalyva as she figures it out. ¡°Footsteps. The more steps you take, the more footsteps you leave behind!¡± She says quickly, and a door opens up on the left of the riddle.


    ¡°Correct.¡± Says the voice as we walk through. We, again, are faced with a riddle, but this time it seems a bit easier. ¡®I am not a bird, but I can fly. I don¡¯t have wings, but I can glide through the sky. I am made of bangonro, and my tail is long. What am I?¡¯ We all instantly say. ¡°Bangoro.¡± (A bangoro is a lantern made by a special red bark that is really thin-Bangonro- and has a tail of paper and a candle at the top of that paper in the lantern. You light the paper tail, which lights the candle, and launch it into the sky on Janro- New year.) The door opens, and the voice says. ¡°Correct.¡± We all clap our hands together in celebration. ¡°That one was easy!¡± I say happily.


    The next riddle however was not. ¡®I can be long or short, depending on how much you have of me. I can be painted or left bare, and I am often seen but seldom noticed. What am I?¡¯ Dalyva thinks. ¡°I feel like I''ve seen this one before¡­¡± she says. ¡°Though I can''t seem to remember it.¡± She thinks for a while, and by then me and Taegan had given up, and had started to just play bop.


    Quite simple, actually. When you touch the person, you have to say bop, and then run away before they can bop you back, the person who has been bopped last when we get bored or have to go is the loser. I run to Taegan, but he¡¯s fast, and dodges. I stumble, laughing. ¡°Aawwwww.¡± I laugh, mockingly disappointed. ¡°Not going to let me win?????¡± Taegan laughed at my disappointment. ¡°Hell no.¡± He says. ¡°I¡¯m a proud warrior of the sands, I''m not losing!¡± Sadly, the proud warrior of the sands won¡­


    We play for a couple more minutes as the voice counts down. ¡°Two minutes left.¡± It says just then. Dalyva then perks up. ¡°A line.¡± She says confidently. A door opens. ¡°Correct.¡± Says the voice. By now Dalyva was starting to get confident, and as we entered the next room, it was completely different.


    It was in the ancient runic language. To me and maybe Taegan, it looked like a mass of just random lines and circles, but to Dalyva it clearly meant something.


    She looked at it, and wrote it down in her notebook. ¡°Uxciesa (pronounced you-X-see-ah).¡± She muttered to herself. ¡°Dk ara?¡± She said in confusion. (She¡¯s speaking the Ancient Runic language. ¡®Dk ara¡¯ means ¡®and what?¡¯ She¡¯s confused about what she¡¯s translating.) Taegan leans over. ¡°Can I read it?¡± He asks. She nods, and passes it to him silently. ¡°No, that''s not Uxciesa. Cause Uxciesa is a goddess of the sands sort of, so this is different. Oh, it''s Vuxeadine, the descendants of Uxciesa. (Pronounced V-uh-ck-z-ah-d-i-n.) They looked very close, so you were on track.¡± Taegan supports. She nods, but then points to the rest.


    ¡°So what¡¯s all this.¡± She pointed to the next part. ¡°Vuxeadine Ue Tenkejest (V-uh-ck-z-ah-d-i-n you-eh t-eh-n-ck-eh-j-eh-s-t.).¡± He reads out loud. I¡¯m just listening in, having not learnt that much of the ancient runic language. ¡°It basically means- ¡¯Vuxeadine greet Ghost mask?¡¯¡± He sounds unsure. Dalyva lights up. ¡°Ghost mask is a spirit who supposedly wanders the world when it is the festival of Uxciesa wearing a white mask, and always being incorporeal and ghostlike. they watch the people below, but no one knows why. Some say they¡¯re the manifestation of people''s dead loved ones, and some say it''s just a spirit who loves to see people happy.¡± The voice pipes up. ¡°Correct.¡± Having heard Taegans answer and Dalyva¡¯s explaination of Ghost mask.


    Suddenly a token appeared in front of Dalyva. She grabs the hovering token, and looks at it. It has the same symbol of a brain on it, and has the words ¡®Smart Token¡¯ inscribed on it.


    ¡°We got our first token!!¡± Dalyva yells out with celebration. ¡°I grin, and we walk out the door that just appeared, leading to the central room of the trials. As we walk out, I pat Taegan on the back in congratulations. in the main room, Guide greets us as he says. ¡°Smarts trial- completion in 15 minutes and 36 seconds.¡± We all grin. ¡°That was good!¡± Commented Dalyva, before asking Guide. ¡°How long is the average or expected take?¡± Guide responds. ¡°The expected take is 5 to 6 fails before a finish time of 19 minutes and 45 seconds.¡± After doing some quick math, I say. ¡°That means we got it 6 takes 4 minutes and 9 seconds earlier than expected!¡± We all high five.


    ¡°What''s next?¡± Asks Dalyva, eager to do the next one as she crosses off the smart trial with a tick. We all crowd around her notebook. ¡°Strength?¡¯ Asks Taegan. ¡°That¡¯d make use of your torture training yesterday.¡± She glared at him, remembering yesterday''s training. ¡°Yeah, we all did it.¡± I perk up. ¡°We can make use of it.¡± We head over to the door, which has the symbol of a muscular arm flexing.


    We open the door carefully, and peek in as we all walk in. as expected the door closes behind us, and it''s less unnerving now, because we¡¯re used to it.


    The room is just like the last trial, except instead of inscriptions on the wall, there is a huge door, with three hand prints. On top of the door that looks to be made for giants, it says one word. ¡®Push.¡¯ We all put our hands on the door, and start to push. It¡¯s not that heavy, and swings open pretty easily. The next door is about double the heaviness, and we have to push a bit harder, but otherwise it''s still easy. The next however, we did struggle a bit, since it was again double of the last door. About medium difficulty for us now. We all push hard, our muscles being put to work as we open it enough to get through, dreading the next door.


    The door is just like the last, and as we take a rest before trying it, I say. ¡°Is this all the trials are going to be?¡± I ask, confused that it would be just one thing for the strength trial. ¡°Probably not.¡± Says Taegan as he gets up. ¡°There''ll probably be a different bit of the trial behind these doors or something.¡± Dalyva nods in agreement. Placing all our hands on the door, we push with all our might, and it opens up a crack that quickly closes as we take our hands off the door. ¡°C¡¯mon, we can do it!¡± encourages Taegan, putting his hands on again. ¡°One, and two, and three!¡± he says, pushing with all his might. I join him, using all my strength too and as Dalyva joins, the door finally cracks open enough for us to pass through, we quickly slip into the next room before it closes.


    This one¡¯s certainly different, as it says on the board in front of us. ¡®Each person has to do 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, and 15 sit ups total, no exceptions. The room knows.¡¯ Well, that''s certainly an ominous message at the end, but I guess it''s valid. ¡°Hey, Taegan.¡± I say, and he turns to me from reading it. ¡°Yeah?¡± he asks. ¡°Can you hold my feet so I can do my sit ups, then we swap.¡± He nods in agreement as I get down, and he holds my feet. Sit ups are the most easy, as they don¡¯t take up much energy, and a mere fifteen are easy. He holds my feet tightly, as I do my sit ups.


    Dalyva walks over to the bar, reaching up to it, and grabbing on to the bar, starting her pull ups. She¡¯s done four by the time both me and Taegan are finished with our sit ups, but that''s probably because she¡¯s not that strong, and pull ups are hard. Once she finishes, Taegan helps her with her sit ups, as I start my pull ups near them on the bar. Starting down, I pull myself up. My muscles aren¡¯t used to it, and protest, but I continue. Going down again after touching my chin to the bar, it''s incredibly hard to find the strength to pull up, but I find it, and pull up again, my chin touching the cold iron bar. Falling down in relief, I struggle again through pulling up. It¡¯s almost worse than Dalyva¡¯s torment.


    Two to go. I motivate myself by saying as I fall down again in a controlled manner, in order to not hurt my shoulders. As I pull up again, I almost slip off, but my hands grip white, and I resist, wanting to finish even just this before I fall off and have to get on again. Seeing that Dalyva¡¯s done with her sit ups, and watching me, I fell down, controlled to do my last pull up. My hands and shoulders, as well as my poor arms ached with exertion, but I pulled through it, and did my last pull up. (pun intended) Jumping off the bar with joy, I sigh as I stretch out my muscles in my arms and wrists.


    All of us get down in a front support position, and start to do push ups. I do about three before my arms protest. Dalyva had been sitting down between her pushups, her arms sore from the pull ups and her core from sit ups. I go down again, pushing out one more before sitting up. I take a long sip of water, and then continue. I do another, and then another, and then another before I just quit again. Taega, like the superhuman he is, has already done his push ups. I however still have three to go. i get down again, and start to lower myself down. It¡¯s not that bad, and i do two, but my body really protested, and i try to ignore it, and Taegan, who comes over to cheer me on, motivates me to continue, and I lower down, my muscles shake in protest and exhaustion, but i used the last speck of energy to push myself up.


    I let out a sigh of relief as I collapsed onto the hard but relaxing floor for my poor muscles. Taegan shakes his head at my dramatics, and goes over to encourage Dalyva, who has only 4 left. I watch her struggle, and see how she¡¯s trying to circulate her spesh while doing something, so she gets better at it, and it''s sort of working as well! However, it''s making her more tired, since it''s using up her energy. But she managed to push through and finish her push ups. As we all stand, the voice says. ¡°Participants challenge finished, opening next door.¡± It¡¯s certainly different from what the Smart trial voice said with just correct, and automatically opening the door. A door opens in the wall, and we walk through, regardless of what it said.


    The next room has many vines hanging from the ceiling, tinted purple just like everything else, with a ledge about halfway up the vines and across maybe 8 vines from where you would first climb up. Unfortunately, if they wanted us to do it now, we were hungry, so as we sat down, Taegan hands out to each of us a bag. of trail mix, and we all eat it up hungrily. The taste of nuts and granola, with a bit of dried fruit thrown into the mix. As I look around the cave, I notice that basically everything is covered in moss, and the green purple tinted vines even have little glowing orange berries. I pick one curiously. ¡°Dalyva, is this safe to eat?¡± I ask, showing her the berry in my hand.


    She looks at it for a sec, before nodding. ¡°Of course! they¡¯re scattered in all the forests of Dajennu, and are harmless to eat. They grow on almost anything, and are a staple food of some smaller towns.¡± I popped it in my mouth as she finished her sentence. It tastes surprisingly good. A mixture of almost mango juice swirls in my mouth. Immediately I looked at Taegan. ¡°Taegan.¡± I say, chucking him one, that he catches swiftly. He eats it, and his eyes light up. ¡°We can use our old trail mix bags.¡± He says, and hands me my old trail mix bag. He gets his, and hands Dalyva hers, and the glow berry collection commences.


    It takes us almost an hour or two of climbing around on the vines, which we discovered were very thick and not going to break and now we have 7 bags of about 15cm long and 6cm width of glow berries. We stack them away carefully in the dimensional bag. Of course, we did eat a few, couldn''t resist, but not that many. We shimmy up the vines one last time, and hop onto the ledge. We survey what surrounds us now. There¡¯s nothing much, just a door, but as we walk through it, another token appears in front of me, and I cheer. ¡°Alright, we did it!¡±


    I high five Taegan, and then Dalyva as we head back to the main Trial room. ¡°Completed in 3 hours 5 minutes and 13 seconds.¡± Says Guide. That''s pretty decent, but even though it''s practically still the afternoon by my internal clock, I don¡¯t want to continue. I say this. ¡°Taegan, do we have to continue?¡± I ask, all my muscles sore from the work out and climbing around on the vines. Taegan sighs. ¡°Dalyva?¡± He asks. She nods. ¡°Yeah, I agree with Shankhe.¡±


    And that¡¯s how we started to put up the tents in the main trial room. We don¡¯t have much food, only the berries, no pasta bake because we finished it, grains, three bags of trail mix left and some beef from the cows way back. All the spices had been used up, and we had none left, so the best thing in the bag was the berries.


    Then I bring out Frognii, and Dalyva snatches it. Taegan gets out his earrings and just stares at them before gathering some sand, and making it poke a hole in his ears, which clearly hurt by his wince, and he quickly slides the earrings in, putting on the back. He removed all the sand from his ears and rubbed his ears soothingly.


    I watch in pity. I look to where Dalyva is with Frognii, and see she is cleaning her with her clothes. I¡¯m bored, yet tired, though I can''t go to sleep because it''s too early in the day. I groan, and lay on the floor just wanting for something to get rid of this muscle pain. I rub my core, those muscles the worst of all. I almost nodded off as I closed my eyes, and just decided to have a nap, so I got up, went into my tent, and lay down on my sleeping bag. Lying there, I could feel all the muscles in my body that we used today. Core, arms, my legs as well from climbing the vines. My hands which had vine burn from sliding down one, and just in general my whole body.


    Slowly, my body starts to tire, and I fall into blissful unconsciousness.

 Chapter 13- Trials 2 (though maybe not through the power of procrastination.)

    My stomach hurts. Not only from the core muscles, but my insides as well. Luckily blood from me I can control not to fall so I don¡¯t have to worry about it, but it still hurts me, which is, figuratively and literally, a pain.


    However much it hurts is nothing compared to the constant knowledge I can¡¯t get to sleep. You see, I had woken up in the middle of the night, cramps wrecking my body, ruining my plan of falling to sleep as I can never get comfortable. However, in order to distract myself, I started to think of a story my Mum used to tell me before she died.


    I imagine her stroking my hair as she sits on my bed as I curl up next to her. ¡°Long, long ago, an old man looked out his window.¡± She started, and I listened intently. ¡°The man lived in a cabin by the woods. One day, he saw a light in the forest. Out of boredom, he went up to it, curious as to what it possibly could be. It seemed to look like a lantern''s light, and he followed it in his eagerness and fascination. As he traversed the forest in the dead of night, only the light of the moon leading his way, many animals tried to scare him, but with a sense of adventure, he continued.


    The man was a fine adventurer in his youth, but now he was old, he had settled down, and he hated that, with all his heart. So, to see more clearly, he followed the most moonlit path, the safest one as a fog encroached. As he kept walking, he stumbled across the light he had seen. It was a lantern, the cloak draping over the handle on the lantern and their hand, making it unable to be seen, as the face was also covered by this black cloak, and feet were swallowed up by the longess of the fabric that touched the forest floor. The man stared at the humanoid cloak in curiosity, it was something unique, a miracle maybe.


    The cloaked figure turns, and walks slowly into the mist. The man, still curious, follows this humanoid cloak, wondering where it was leading him through the fog.


    Slowly the fog got denser, and the man could no longer see anything but the lantern and the cloak holding it, so he hurried after them, afraid to get lost in the dense fog.


    Soon they came across an old ruin. There was a door, as tall as the cloak, which was about 2 and a half times taller than the old man. The rectangular door was made out of old stone, however the top right had crumbled away, clearly it was very old, as the steps all around the door had moss and vines growing all over them, and they were worn and broken. However, as soon as the cloaked figure stepped onto the door area, the whole area shone with a bright light, and the old man flinched, covering his eyes in the beaming light.


    As he opened his eyes, he gasped as he saw the changes that were made. The fog still swirled around them, ever present as always, but the old steps had been renewed, reformed to their former glory. It was amazing. The once broken and vine covered stone door was now fixed, with an actual wooden door and hinges making it swing open as the cloaked figure went up the now pristine stone steps to the door. The door was¡­ weird. It showed a place the man would love to be, a field of flowers, with a simple hut and sheep roaming the hills. He could imagine a wonderful life there, maybe even with some adventure but he was cautious.


    He looked up at the cloaked figure carefully. ¡°Oh cloaked one, I would be honoured to know why you have shown me your amazing power?¡± He asked, knowing that acting like this was just a precaution, as someone who can renew something like that, and reform it to its former glory was someone insanely powerful. The figure looked at him.


    ¡°I am.. the Lightbearer, the one who leads those to a place they need to go.¡± A voice came from the cloaked figure, their lantern held halfway up the door. The voice sounded¡­ timid? It was quiet, sure, but the old man didn''t think it was timid, more, it was like someone who was apathetic, yet caring, someone who didn''t know how to express themselves fully as they don''t talk much. ¡°The Lightbearer.¡± Said the old man, muttering to himself. ¡°I''ve never heard of you, mind explaining everything to me?¡± He knew it was a risk doing something like this, but he still did it, wanting answers.


    The Lightbearer looked at the man. ¡°Of course.¡± It said hesitantly. ¡°I am the Lightbearer, my lantern and door leads souls lost to realms they belong in from the ones they got lost in, and help them through their journeys if I deem it possible. I am the one thing that can travel dimensions, aside from some other¡­ entities, like me.¡± The cloak struggled to find words to describe the people he was talking about, but then just settled on entities. ¡°I¡­¡± The Lightbearer thinks for a bit before saying. ¡°I also save those who have been stolen by other entities.¡± It adds.


    ¡°This.¡± It looks to the door. ¡°Is your right place. But you have a choice. Follow the lantern to a new land of mystery and adventure, or you can stay here, and live your life normally as you would''ve before you met me.¡± The old man knew it was a hard choice, and even though it was hard, he knew what he wanted. walking up to the door, he bowed to the Lightbearer in thanks. ¡°I shall follow thy lantern.¡± The words popped into his head, and he said them out loud. The figure nodded, and, putting his lantern through the portal first, he led the old man to his realm of dreams.¡±


    Younger Dalyva looked up at her mother. ¡°What happened then?¡± she asked, insanely curious. Her mother chuckles. ¡°The old man lived happily in that realm, and took care of his sheep with a newfound purpose, even adopting a son to take care of the sheep when he was gone from the nearby village.¡±


    The younger version of Dalyva looks up at her mother with fascination. I¡¯m then woken up and am in my bed. I can hear Taegan and Shankhe making brekkie, and get up with a groan, all my muscles protesting and killing me as I get up.


    With a yawn I walk out of the tent. As I look at the boys, I see them just sitting on the ground as they look at the campfire that''s currently cooking the congee. I walk over to them and sit down. ¡°Hey.¡± I say in a croaky, hoarse voice- my usual morning voice. They both look up at me. ¡°Hey.¡± They both reply. ¡°What were you talking about?¡± I ask as I glance at the congee, slowly absorbing the water. ¡°Just about some stories.¡± Replies Taegan to my question, and I look at him. ¡°Oh, really? Which one?¡± He quickly replies. ¡°Paktuto.¡± he says, but then looks guilty. ¡°But we can''t remember the whole story. Do you, Dalyva?¡± He asks, and I nod.


    I know it, I had to write a whole essay on it at the academy. ¡°Yeah, of course I know it. Do you want me to tell you?¡± Both of them nod eagerly. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯d be great!¡± Exclaims Shankhe.¡°Please?¡± He adds quietly.


    I take a deep breath, and then start to tell. ¡°After The Endless War of Fire took place, Paktuto, the firebird of the realm, came down to Jesva. (The name of their world.) Paktuto blessed the nobles with a fire that would heal all ailments, wanting the nobles to share it with the commoners of the land, who he had intended it for as he saw their wounds from the war. however, they didn''t share it, and hogged it for those who were rich and wealthy. Though Paktuto didnt do anything, as he wanted to let nature run its course.


    ¡°My.¡± Said an old friend as he sat down opposite the god. ¡°How times are changing, yet you grow not a day older, my patron.¡± The old man chuckled. He was the one who had stopped the Endless War, blessed by Paktuto- Garuma. ¡°I see there is heart among the common folk. Don¡¯t worry, your flame shall be in good hands soon.¡± He reassured his patron, sword at his hip as he sipped at the drink in front of him. And, yes, there was one to help. Doudou was an orphan, his mother killed by a noble when he was young and his father by the war. He hated the nobles, and hated seeing them hog Paktuto¡¯s gift. He came up with a great plan, entering the royal palace as a servant boy, earning their trust, and then stealing the heart of Patuto¡¯s flame.


    Patuto means firebird, because before Paktuto became a god, he was just a mere bird, but seeing draconian and orc adventurers gathering around a flame and being happy, he wished to become a bird of flame, and that he did, so he could make people laugh and smile in the face of a flame.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Now back to young Doudou, he had succeeded, and managed to steal the heart, and with the help of an uprising of commoners, escaped to be known as ¡®Paktuto¡¯s Flamekeeper.¡¯ He was honoured, and constantly travelled from town to town, healing ailments and injuries. Paktuto was confused, so he came down in the body of an old man, and went up to Dou.


    ¡°Young one.¡± He says, hobbling on one foot, his other had gone from the war in this visage. ¡°Yes, senior of the war?¡± Doudou says politely. The old man chuckles. ¡°Such formalities are not needed. But tell me, Paktuto gave the nobles the flame, yet they didn''t share it, but you, a street rat, did. Why, may I ask?¡± He says, and the boy grins. ¡°Well, Paktuto gave us a gift, right?We shouldn¡¯t waste this gift of our god, because we never know when the flame will burn out.¡± The old man nodded happily. ¡°Blessings of Paktuto on you, young man.¡± He said, and meant it, as just days later a crest appeared on the back of his hand. He was blessed by Paktuto.¡±


    I groan as I finish, the boys pulled out of their trance, and enrapturement. ¡°Hey, why don¡¯t we play kingdoms of Jesva?¡± Says Shankhe as he sits up from where he was laying as I told the story. Kingdoms of Jesva was everyone having to sing all the kingdom''s names, but then the other players have a kingdom in mind, and once they say that kingdom, the person has to say who, what and where.


    ¡±Okay.¡± I agree, knowing I''ll be good at it. Taegan went first, singing it as that''s how everyone is taught the kingdoms, by saying their area name and then the kingdom''s names. For Mara however, because the kingdoms are Mara-Ni or Mara-Ko, you just say the added bit, so it actually can be sung. ¡°Mara; Ko, Ni, Ae. Wand¨¦; Satoka, Paktu.Tingari; Surawa, Tekoto, Esoa. Shafka; Shirono, Shitaki. Dejenu; Sotaka, Arukd¨¦, Daruden.¡± I was the one to say the kingdom. ¡°Mara-Ae¡± i say, (Pronounced eye for Ae. Mara is just m-ah-r-ah.) Taegan thought, before saying. ¡°Isn¡¯t it near the¡­ northern eye of the dragon skull¡­¡± He trails off, unable to think of what it is known for.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it the boat community and traders¡­?¡± Racking his brain, he nods after a couple seconds. ¡°Yeah, it''s the Kingdom of the Eye, and primarily a traders kingdom!¡± I smile. ¡°Yep, that''s it!¡± Shankhe looks over to us, clearly very bored. ¡°Don¡¯t you think we should be doing another trial room?¡± He asks. ¡°Yeah, we probably should.¡± Answers Taegan.


    ¡°What one?¡± I ask as I start to force down the dull gruel that is grain congee, as it¡¯s finished cooking. ¡°Do we have anything to make this stuff bearable?¡± Whines Shankhe as he slowly eats his congee.


    Taegan pulls over the dimensional bag and looks in it. ¡°Well, there¡¯s a little dried herb mix.¡± He tosses the bottle to Shankhe, who promptly tosses some into his spoonful congee. I watch with caution as he scoops it up and tastes it. His face scrunched into disgust, but not wasting it he swallowed it reluctantly.¡°Nope.¡± He says. ¡°That isn¡¯t good.¡± We finish our congee, and then I bring out my notebook. ¡°Here.¡± I say. ¡°Which one do we want to do?¡± We all look at the notebook, and then as we do, Taegan points to one. ¡°The Gatherer trial would be an easy one, why don¡¯t we do that?¡± He says, and I nod in agreement. ¡°Yeah, it sounds like one of the easier ones that we could do, so let''s do that.¡± We walk up to its door, the symbol is a clump of grass.


    I slowly open the door, and we head inside. I gasp in amazement. ¡°Wow!¡± I exclaimed. ¡°It''s huge!¡± I look around the space. A whole plain spread in front of me, with a forest down the back, and no end in sight. However i sigh three seconds after realising that its all purple, or at the very least tinted a light purple.


    The boys enter soon, and they look at it with jaws dropped as well. It''s an amazing land. ¡°This is way bigger than the other two trial rooms.¡± Says Shankhe, as he looks around. A stone in front of us says something, so we walk towards it. It has several bags, each labelled with a type of herb or fruit. The engraved writing on the stone says- ¡®Gather all the correct herbs, fruit or grains before putting them on the stone here. Once you get it correct, you can leave with your gathered food.¡¯ This sounds like a great time to stock up on some herbs to make the congee taste better! I excitedly grab one of the bags, and turn it around to see the label.


    The boys do as well, and I start by saying mine out loud. ¡°Wheat!¡± I say excitedly, as that means we can finally make something decent like bread or something. ¡°Hey, mine says some Appa seeds and Appa fruit.¡± I grin. Appas are a red fruit that''s really sweet, delicious and a great snack that you can use in everything! (Appa is sort of a red mango, with it shaped like a mango, except red. It has the same characteristics, like having a seed in the middle and whatever, it''s just red.)


    Then Taegan reads out his bags. ¡°Mine says to gather Tor.¡± Tor is a type of grass, edible yes, and the replacement of sugarcane in areas where water isn''t as abundant. ¡°That''s amazing!¡± I say happily. ¡°This means we may be able to bake stuff!¡± I''m really excited now, and am just rearing to go collect some ingredients. Shankhe looks at the last bag, and then looks at me. ¡°Isn''t that bag yours?¡± He asks. ¡°Yeah, but I don''t want to get my hopes up too much and then be disappointed when I don''t get something good.¡± He shrugs. ¡°It can''t be that bad, we¡¯ve already gone through all the others, why don''t you just pick it up and look at it.¡± Finally, I reach my hand out and pick up the bag, a multitude of emotions swirling within me, nervousness, excitement¡­. I turn over the bag, it says to gather wild fucking Bak eggs.


    For those who don¡¯t know, Bak eggs have an extremely hard shell, due to Baks having a very high calcium rate, but this also means that Baks are extremely aggressive, since they can do anything to get their young back. That''s indeed why they''re called Baks, because they always get things back that belong to them. However, Baks eggs taste so good that many culinary fans from all over Jesva travel to find these Baks and get their eggs. Baks are maybe 30-40 cm tall, maybe even 50 in the males, with browny green colours to help them blend into the forest floor, however pointless it is in a purple forest area. They live in the hollows of really old trees, and lay their eggs in those hollows on the ground, or in little dens they dig out. Baks also use abandoned wolf dens, and fight the wolves to get them to give up on that den.


    ¡°It can¡¯t be that bad.¡± I say in a mocking voice. ¡°We''ve already gone through the others, just pick it up and look at it.¡± The boys can tell I''m mad, and look at me, trying to peek and see what it says. I hold it out to them with an annoyed glare. ¡°Fucking Bak eggs.¡± i say. They both immediately look sympathetic as they look at me. ¡°Better be good with your halberd.¡± Says Taegan as he pats me on the back comfortingly. ¡°Sorry.¡± Says Shankhe, looking guilty. ¡°Why don''t we gather everything else, and then we all do the Bak eggs together?¡± Says Taegan, and we both nod. ¡°Alright, everyone split up and find your ingredients!¡± He says, as we all walk in different directions.


    I soon come across a whole field of wheat, wild and unrestrained. I can tell, as the wheat is growing wildly, has heaps of weeds, and isn''t in neat orderly rows like farm wheat would be. I started gathering the heads of the wheat, and that''s when I discovered that it was a dimensional bag. I mean, I figured it was, since even one tip of wheat wouldn''t fit in there, but whatever. I filled it up really easily, breaking off the seeds part of the wheat, as that''s the part that you grind up to make flour.


    Gathering heaps, I start to get tired as the fake sun, which I just realised was there, glared down on me. Sweat started pouring down my forehead as the heat started to get to me, and as I tried to put another bit of wheat in, it spat it back out. The bag was full. I look back to where I came from, and start to walk back to the meeting spot. seeing no one else there, since the boys had two bags instead of one. I sat down, thinking to myself about random things as my stomach continued to kill me from the inside out. i really couldn¡¯t wait till i progressed and became a higher level adventurer, because that way my body will slowly turn into mana, and such things such as stomach killers once a month will be gone.


    Of course, this is why a lot of girls and women aspire to be adventurers, even just at the second level, because even then it stops the blood, and you don''t have to deal with the pain. It¡¯s almost like bragging rights as well, saying you don¡¯t deal with the pain, and you can say this, and many women around you will pay attention and praise you, even more than when a boy gets to the same stage.


    I hadn¡¯t even realised I had spaced out until a familiar voice talked to me. ¡°Dalyva.¡± Said Shankhe, waving his hand in front of me. I quickly snap out of it, and look at him. ¡°Yeah?¡± I ask. ¡°Taegan¡¯s almost finished, and I''m finished mine, so we two can start looking for the Baks, and Taegan will catch up soon.¡± He informs me, and I nod. ¡°Okay.¡± I say, as I get up. We start to walk towards the forest, my anticipation and nervousness colliding inside me. As we approach the edge of the forest, we start to be more on edge, me grabbing my halberd and using it as a walking stick while Shankhe has a hand hovering over his sword, one I know he can draw in a quick second if he wanted to. Okay, not literally one second, but it would be pretty fast.


    Suddenly Shankhe draws his sword, blocking an attack I hadn''t even realised was coming as I stumble back in surprise. It was a Bak. we must be getting close to their nest. I look around as I hold my halberd in a fighting position, ready for anything. There. I see it, and instantly rush around where Shankhe¡¯s trading blows with the Bak, going straight for its nest. I know full well that Shankhe has my back, and, having absolutely no regard for my wide open back, start crouching down and gathering the eggs, quickly putting the three eggs into the bag, which isn''t a dimensional bag, but had anto-break on it, which was just as good, even with their thick shells.


    I hear the sound of parrying get closer, and just know that Shankhe is now facing bothe the mum and the dad Bak, so i quickly finish putting them in, and then whirl around, grabbing my halberd and getting into a fighting stance, just as the bigger of the two Baks launches himself at me. Instinctively I raise my halberd, parrying its claws from piercing my chest as I knock it down, gripping my halberd tight and spreading my legs into a more stable position. It flies at me again, and I use the axe part of the halberd to swing as it, and since it was in midair, had no way to block, getting a huge gash on its side. The Bak squawks in pain, but quickly gets up and goes for it again.


    Seeing this, I narrowed my eyes in annoyance, before pulling my halberd back, and, using the spear part, tried to stab the pesky land bird. It dodged the strikes, getting ever closer, and that''s when I knew I screwed up, and it was now too close to use the axe part of my halberd without it hurting me first, but that''s when I remembered what made my specialisation so dangerous. I focus on my mana flowing through me, even in the heat of the fight, seeing the Bak grow ever closer. i focus on the pathways, and my core pool of mana, sending heaps of mana pulsing through the strings leading to the rest of my body.


    Strength flowed through me, and I pulled my halberd back, thrusting it forwards with all my power, putting everything into this one strike. In its final moments, I can see how the Bak realised its imminent death, and tried to get out of the way, but I was too quick, and stabbed it through its side and into its chest. it was well and truly dead.

 Chapter 14- Trials 3

    Dalyva collapsed onto her knees, tiredness and exhaustion taking over her as her temporary rush of strength ended. I looked over to her in slight concern and slight curiosity, wondering how she did that.


    ¡°How¡¯d you do that?¡± I ask in amazement, and she just smiles faintly. ¡°I used¡­ my mana to¡­ empower¡­ my body.¡± She says in between huge gulps of air and sips of water. My Bak lay dead on the floor as well, and behind us footsteps approached. I turn around to greet Taegan, looking him over as he gives me a nod, before he asks me the same question that I nod to. We¡¯re both okay. Gathering ourselves up, Taegan points at where he just came from. ¡°If you¡¯re not too tired, there''s another nest about 5 metres in that direction.¡± I nod, acknowledging what he said. ¡°Cool, I think we¡¯ll be fine to do it. I¡¯m not that tired, and Dalyva can just grab the eggs and run behind us.¡± We all agree on this plan, and start to head off.


    As we do, however, I can tell Dalyva wants to ask about what we did before when we looked over at each other and then just nodded, but we wouldn''t tell her, not yet. As we head through the bush, I do notice how eerily quiet it is compared to a real forest, no birds or rustling of leaves¡­ not even the sound of crickets. ¡°Why¡¯s it so quiet?¡± Asks Dalyva as she looks around nervously, gripping her halberd in fear. I shrug as I look around. ¡°Maybe there just aren¡¯t any other animals in this area because it''s a trial room?¡± i say, not really sure either. ¡°Yeah, that''s probably it.¡± I reassure myself and her.


    Suddenly I stumble, almost falling face flat onto the earth as I trip. However, my amazing brother and his quick reflexes managed to save me from planting my face into the ground. As he pulls me up, I can tell he''s trying not to laugh, and I look at him with mock anger. ¡°Heyyyyyy~~~!¡± I complain. ¡°Don¡¯t laugh at meee!!¡± His face starts to curve up, before he starts to chuckle, before he¡¯s full on laughing at me. I punch his arm lightly as I say. ¡°Stop.¡± Punch. ¡°Laughing.¡± Punch. ¡°At.¡± Punch. ¡°Me!¡± One final push that sends him stumbling over as he laughs his head off. Regaining his footing, he looks at me. ¡°So you want to do that now?¡± He asks, as he walks up to me and pushes me away from him, turning a peaceful walk into a back and forth pushing match.


    Dalyva just sighs. ¡°C¡¯mon, we should finish the room before you start pushing each other.¡± She says. We look at each other, huff, and then both rush to her, pushing her lightly, which almost sends her falling into the mud if we hadn¡¯t stopped her. ¡°He-!¡± She gets cut off as a squeal of terror exits her mouth. As we pull her up, she glares at both of us looking like a mother over her naughty children. ¡°Hey!¡± She says grumpily. ¡°Now, no more of this. C¡¯mon, let''s get the eggs and get over with this." She says this in a harsh, motherly tone. We look at her like naughty children who had been caught doing the wrong thing, and, as she walks ahead, we share a glance. Scary.


    It doesn''t take long before we stumble across the Bak¡¯s nest, the Bak¡¯s however nowhere in sight. Dalyva carefully creeps to the tree, grabbing the eggs in there as me and Taegan are on high alert, our weapons drawn. A Bak quickly pops out of the forest, and Taegan rushes at it, before another pops out which i take. My bottle is already popped, and I let water surround my blade as I block the Baks attacks. Its attacks are simply, exactly like the Baks I fought before. They all try to stab you with their sharp claws on their feet, jumping at you weaving around your blade to do so. I take a swing at its head, but it dodges. I was expecting this though, and quickly changed the direction of my blade, but it was a bit too late, and the Bak was already flying at me. I look at it, and it looks at me. I bet if the Bak could smile, it would¡¯ve.


    However, what it didn¡¯t account for was that I never left my bottle completely empty, in case something like this did ever happen, and as water decapitated it, the look of shock on its face was a true sight to see.


    I glance over at Taegan, wondering how he¡¯s going, and as I see his Bak dead on the floor, I walk over to him, and we high five. I then look at Dalyva, who has a full bag of Bak eggs, and we all head back to the stone that we originally got the bags from. Unsure on what to do, we just put the bags on the stone, and as a small ping sound echoes throughout the room, a token with the symbol of a clump of grass appears before me, and I grab it. As we see the door open, we smile tiredly. Grabbing our bags of goodies, we leave through the open door back into the main trial room.


    Guide greets us with a- ¡°Time taken, 47 minutes and 56 seconds.¡± We exchange grins, before putting all our gathered goodies and the token in the bag. Dalyva then goes into her tent, and, judging by the sounds, collapses onto her bed and falls fast asleep after using lots of mana to empower her body in that fight against the Bak. Taegan as well entered his tent, though I don''t think he went to sleep, more like is just resting with his eyes closed, unable to sleep. Me though? I''m like an energetic bunny, still bouncing off the walls with energy. Instead of sleeping like boring 1 and boring 2, I decided to practice my swordsmanship, the memory of the undead swordsman still fresh in my mind. My slashes are filled with my anger at being beaten, and I really wish I had just been able to land a single strike on its undead body.


    I swing downwards. Faster. The swordsman could do better. I sheathe my sword and draw it quickly. Shaking my head at myself, I sigh. Too slow. I try again and again, doing downward slashes, sideways cuts, drawing of the sword, and many other things. As I hear a rustling from one of the tents behind me, I glance back as I see a familiarly sandy coloured head. ¡°Taegan!¡± I say, and the familiarly purple eye patch with a red line at the bottom that covers his eyes looks up. ¡°Yeah?¡± He asks in a croaky, hoarse voice from just having gotten up. ¡°You want to spar?¡± I asked him, hoping he¡¯d be at least willing to do one. He looks me over, sees what I''ve been obviously doing, and nods. ¡°Sure.¡± he says, and grabs the two jambiyas sheathed at his waist. ¡°When do we start?¡± he asks as he grips the jambiyas tight, walking opposite me as I sheathe my sword and keep a firm grip on the handle as well.


    ¡°Three, two¡­¡± I drag it out as he looks at me with a grimace on his face. ¡°Oneee¡­¡­ go!¡± As soon as the sharp sound exits my mouth, both our weapons are drawn, and we collide in a crash of steel. Sparks fly and we pull apart for a mere second before colliding once again. ¡°You¡¯re getting better Shankhe!¡± Praises Taegan as he grits his teeth and pushes against my katana. He backs up a few steps to pop the cork on his bottle, sand flowing around his forearms.


    I knew how dangerous that could be, having seen it first hand as it shot out at a monster and pierced them from its sharp accuracy and I stayed well aware of it. My own element creeps up my sword, covering it as it strengthens the blade, and makes the blade sharper and swifter as it cuts through the air like a hot knife through butter. Taking a step back, my weapon points to the ground as I hold it with one hand. I look at him, thinking, before flicking the sword back before I drive it forwards, right to where his heart is with deadly accuracy. His face becomes slightly panicked as he didn¡¯t expect this from me, however instinctively his blade raises up, and he pushes it onto one side of my incoming katana, pushing it beside him as my whole body stumbles forward from having not expected that. Holding his dagger upon my neck carefully, he grinned, his face resuming its normal calmness after the brief panic. ¡°That got really close.¡± He smirked. ¡°But no cigar.¡±


    I jumped back, wanting to win at least one. This time I thought of using what I had before in my practice, using all my muscles and swinging really hard, focusing on being like that skeleton that could deflect my blade with a mere whack of his blade and send me stumbling past. I knew though that most tricks it used on me wouldn¡¯t work on Taegan, as his jambiyas were a lot smaller and he was more focused on agility. While I was contemplating this, Taegan slashed at me from where he stood, sending a line of sand heading straight for my heart. My water instantly detached from my weapon, flowing out like a shield to protect me from the sand as it absorbed it and stopped it in its path.


    However, Taegan is still in control of it, and he manages to slip some sand out, which goes back to his arms as he races at me, knowing I''m unprepared as I try to fight his sand in my water shield, and pay attention to him so I can fight him as well. My eyes dart to both, and I start to feel cornered, trapped. I bring out my sword, but I don¡¯t have enough focus to swing it like I had planned as I kept on bringing my focus back to the sand as it struggled. Taegan knew that he was in control, and used it to his advantage.


    I blocked his strike as he came closer, stumbling back from the force of his blow and my sloppy block. He smirked, knowing that I knew that he was in control of this situation. He looked so happy as well. Grimacing reluctantly, I let my water that was surrounding his sand flow back to me, and his grin widened. I know it''s a mistake, but I really don''t have any choice as I strike him with all my force. He crosses his daggers as he blocks it and pushes my blade back as we¡¯re locked in a fierce exchange of strength, pushing each other back and forth. As I push down once again, this time he removes his blades and I am sent almost falling over onto the floor, waving my arms wildly to try not to fall or drop my sword. He chuckles and takes pity on me as he grabs the back of my collar and pulls me up to stability.


    ¡°I win again.¡± he says in a mock condescending tone, his sand surrounding us in a circle of danger that rose up to about our hips before Taegan dispersed it and it dropped to the ground before flowing back into his bottle. I poke my tongue out at him, annoyed that he won.


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    ¡°Once more!¡± I protest. ¡°But this time no specialisations.¡± Taegan shrugs as he gathers all his sand, and I gather all my water before we both cork the bottles. ¡°Okay.¡± He agrees, and we get into our positions. I start, drawing my sword and getting onto a fighting stance as he approaches. I block his blade with mine, and we both grin as the exhilarating feeling of adrenaline kicks in. We separate, and then collide again. The ringing of steel echoes throughout the cavern, and we continue to fight no matter who would hear. circling each other and eyeing their weapons, we rush in again. Strangely though, Taegan only blocks my sword with one dagger, and before I can block his other dagger, it''s already poking at my neck. I hold my hands up in surrender with a groan.


    ¡°You win¡­¡± I grumble as he chuckles. ¡°That was still the best fight.¡± He compliments. ¡°You just forgot that I''m not restricted to just one weapon.¡± He points out, and we start to exchange tips.¡°I feel that if you had done that quicker than whoever you¡¯re fighting would get less opportunity to get used to your fighting style and you would have an advantage as they wouldn''t know as much of your strategies.¡± I say, and Taegan nods, taking my advice to heart. We do a couple more less intense spars of just practicing tricks, like blocking, swings and cheap shots as well.


    Eventually Dalyva wakes up, and we start to get some lunch. Which are some glow berries. Now, we only have 6 bags of glow berries as we ate one. We then all crowd around her notebook, and look at it as she crosses off the one labelled ¡®Gatherer.¡¯ We then look at the ones available to us- Escape, All-seeing, Dueler, Treasure, Path-Finder and Monster.


    I look at Monster, that''s the one I''m most interested in anyways, and then point to it. ¡°How about the Monster one?¡± I ask. Taegan looks at it, and then me and Dalyva in turn, and, seeing no objections, nods. ¡°That sounds good to me. Yeah, Dalyva?¡± He asks, glancing at her and asking just to make sure. She nods as well though. ¡°Yep.¡± She says. We all get up and start to walk over to the door, its symbol a slime. We enter the room, and once again it''s an environment. Except, this time it''s a bit different.


    We sigh as we all see the purple tinted room, but shrug it off as we look around at the area. It looks to be a mini desert, perfect for Taegan and right in his element. Over the stretch of desert I can see a coastline of trees, with purple water past that as we¡¯re on a hill and can see far. There are lots of monsters.


    In the desert there are two legged hopping animals, kangaroos, and then further into the plains even from here I can spot the bright red on the spider''s back. The trees and everything in the forest is covered in white webs, and I can''t see anything else. A stone pillar is in front of us that reads. ¡®Defeat 25 monsters to leave.¡¯ We all look at it in shock. That''s more than we¡¯ve killed the whole time while in this dungeon. Probably. Well, close enough anyways. Not wasting any time, Taegan steps onto the sand, observing the monsters. There are frilled neck lizards and their weird run on two legs except now as tall as a goblin when they do it, or up to our waist instead of their usual height of just above the knee when standing on two legs. Giant cute greater bilbies that are now up to our knees and actually aggressive looking in their purple fur instead of their normally passive and cute demeanor.


    I then start to count the amount of animals in each species I can see, just as another pillar pops out in front of us like a reminder from the earth. ¡®You must kill at least one of every species.¡¯ I scowl, and Dalyva groans. ¡°Can¡¯t this just be an easy room for once?¡± She whines. There are words forming underneath the first ones on the stone pillar and I read them, but as I do I instantly regret it. ¡®There are fifteen species. Some are hiding but you must find them and hunt them down to eliminate them.¡¯


    The sand beneath Taegen''s feet shuffles, and I think he¡¯s searching for animals that are underground. ¡°Nope.¡± he says as he looks back at us. ¡°There aren¡¯t any underground, but from what I can see we still have a good amount of species. Dingoes.¡± He points to the golden brown with light stripes and patches of purple fur dogs that are currently lying on some rocks. ¡°Kangaroos.¡± He points to two male purple furred kangaroos that are fighting each other, and we know that one is going to be a hard challenge. ¡°Bilbies.¡± He points to where the bigger than usual Bilbies are all hiding in their burrows, not fully underground though. ¡°Bats.¡± He points to a cave where you can hear the squeaking of some animals, and we all just groan at the thought of having to fight these animals.Finally he points to the huge purple rock on the side of the desert and says. ¡°Rock wallabies.¡± And as we look closer sure enough we can see smaller kangaroos hopping around and navigating the rockface.


    ¡°What should we do first?¡± I ask, itching to fight something. Taegan shrugs. Dalyva perks up though. ¡°We should fight the frilled neck lizards first, and suddenly Taegan knew that he forgot one animal. ¡°I forgot that when I was pointing them out, didn''t I?¡± He groans, then points to where they are. ¡°There are your frilly friends.¡± He says just smiling and rolling his eyes as he sees me approach him. ¡°Taegan forgot an animal, Taegan forgot an animal, on his own spesh no less.¡± I tease, and he just groans, whacks me on the back of the head lightly and says. ¡°C¡¯mon, lets just start so we don''t end up starving here, or it turning to night time, as that''s the time most of these animals are active.¡±


    We do a fast run/jog to catch up to Dalyva before sinking into her stride. As we approach the frilled neck lizards, they start to hiss warily, and as we bring out our weapons, they attack. There are three of them, all fast, equipt with their sharp fangs and claws, and have a frilly back that serves its purpose as part that can make it harder to single out the head part from the frill. Drawing my katana, I square up against one, as each of us takes one of them, splitting them up. A grin appears on my face as I see the lizard run on its hind legs funnily towards me, excited to fight. I draw my sword and do an attack sideways where its neck would be if it hadnt ducked and dodged the attack. I needed to be faster.


    Water surrounds my blade as I unpop the cork. It¡¯s time to fight the monsters with all our strength. Raising my blade, a swift downwards motion catches the lizard unaware, and goes through its frill, cutting off a piece that soon dissolves into rainbow mist. The rest of the monster however is still keen, despite its injury and starts to leap at me. It''s a stupid tactic, putting oneself in the air, and I have no clue why most monsters do it. Smirking, I cut sideways. unable to dodge, the frill neck lizard is decapitated, and as i look at the other two, Taegans is dead easily, from his specialisation being this whole place, and Dalyva did a similar strategy to me except she used the spear part of her halberd to quickly jab at it, using her spesh to make it faster and stab the lizard. ¡°That''s three down.¡± Says Dalyva. ¡°Twenty-two more to go. 14 species left.¡±


    We look at where the lizards were expectantly as we wait for our loot. A couple seconds of rainbow mist pass and soon in its place is a bag of copper and some lizard leather. picking it all up, we put it into the dimensional bag originally for the wheat from the previous room that is now on Taegans waist being used as a loot holder. It was pretty big as well, so it worked wondrously .


    We walk over to where the bilby is, and looking at the cute fella I almost feel sorry for it. Almost. Until I see the sharp, strong front paws that the guy has, and how he¡¯s rushing to me, ready to use them on my legs. All sympathy and affection instantly goes down the drain, and I swing my sword sharply down, cutting into its skull and making it collapse as it dissolves into rainbow mist.


    Upon waiting for the loot, we got a small pelt, some more coin, and the bilbies front claws. Suddenly as I''m putting our loot away, Dalyva gets bitten by a dingo, one we hadn¡¯t realised was creeping up on us until too late. Me and Taegan looked at her leg with sympathy, but we were also kind of grateful that it wasn''t us, as Dayva can at least heal herself, unlike us simple folk. She hissed in pain, and glared at us two. ¡°Can you at least kill it?¡± She asks, as she herself can''t reach it with her halberd without it being very awkward. Seeing her angry and scary face, Taegan quickly commands the sand under the dingo to pierce its brain, and as Dalyva drops her weapon in the sand, she pries its teeth open and frees her leg.


    She closes her eyes almost instantly after this, as she starts to circle mana to that area, and we can see it as her flesh starts to come back, a scab finally covering it all up as she pants from using so much energy. Collapsing onto the sand she just lies there, knowing that even if she gets sand in her golden hair, she can just ask Taegan to flush it out of her hair.


    While we wait for her to rest up, we play some slow sparring in our boredom. Basically sparring but extremely slow so we don¡¯t waste our energy that we could use on more useful things like fighting the monsters. We also look at the loot from the dingo, a pelt, some of its claws and teeth, and finally some coin. we both look to Dalyva as she slowly gets up, Taegan making the sand slip through her hair and fall in a waterfall like way out of her hair and clothes as we walk over to her. ¡°We¡¯ve got 12 more species to go, and 20 more monsters to kill.¡± I say, remembering how much we have to do purely because.


    She nods, acknowledging that, and we start to head on to where the bat cave is. I can physically hear all the squeaking of the bats, and wonder how we¡¯re going to be able to separate one from the whole swarm of them. As I think this one flies out of the cage and starts to attack Taegan. Instantly his daggers are drawn and he¡¯s trying to chop its head off, however it¡¯s too high in the sky. Using the sand beneath him to elevate himself, I look at him in awe of his ingenious idea as he engages with the bat. A mere second later a decapitated bat drops to the ground as it dissolves into rainbow mist, leaving behind only a small purple striped black pelt and three copper coins.


    Suddenly it¡¯s like the rest of the bats sensed its death, and the colony flies out of the cave, their eyes glowing a purple i could never comprehend how, searching for the killer to their fellow bat. once they set their beady little glowing eyes on us, we knew we fucked up, badly. We look at each other, unsure what to do but to run, and so we do. Adrenaline pumps through me as I race down on the sands, and that''s when I discover running on sand, especially in a desert, is much harder than running on the beach, as all the sand is soft and ever changing beneath your feet. We run to the forest, but they don''t stop, and as we put foot into the white webs of the spiders that happen to go on the path, they still chase us. Weaving around the webs, as they¡¯re extremely sticky and we don¡¯t want to be caught in them, ducking under branches, climbing over fallen logs, seeing some giant spiders the size of trees in the bush¡­.


    It was terrifying. My legs start to tire, but I know I can''t give up, yet I am killed by the little vengeful bats. Dalyva is tiring as well, and I can see her starting to lag behind, nervously glancing at the bats just a step behind her. Her halberd is quite heavy, so I can imagine that it''s slowing her down quite a bit, whereas someone like me or Taegan that have a lighter weapon can run easier. However, before we can do anything, one of the bats goes to attack her, and I glance at Taegan, who''s running backwards to observe, while still glancing behind him to make sure he doesn''t get caught in any web or anything. ¡°Grab her halberd and pass it to me.¡± He yells over the noise of the bats, and I nod.


    Slowing my pace down, I grab her halberd, and suddenly she can run a lot faster, and I realise how truly heavy this thing is. Although it is heavy, I still have enough energy to run it up to Taegan, and now we¡¯re far ahead of the bats. Many of them have been caught in webs, eaten by a passing snake, or just disappeared from another animal, and so there weren''t as many as before, however there were still quite a lot. As we finally got to the beach-after swapping the halberd a couple times- we looked at each other, unsure what we¡¯re supposed to do.


    Still with bats hot on our tails, we know that we either fight the bats, or whatever the gray thing is in the water. Taegan starts to wade in, motioning for me to make an air bubble around his head. Now, yes, I''m a water specialist, but if I make the water avoid his head by a certain amount, then it makes an air pocket for him to breathe in. I do the same for Dalyva as she dives in the water, and not myself, since I can breathe underwater due to my spesh.

 Chapter 15- Oh ####!

    At that moment, under the waves, everything seemed quieter.. more peaceful. No flapping of bats wings, and no panicking from the bats following us.


    That was, until the adrenaline wore off.


    ¡°Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccckkkkkkkk!!!¡± I exclaimed as my body was racked with mind blowing pain, my leg hurt like never before. I glanced down as I saw a blobby trail of red coming from below me. The shark¡­ was on my leg.


    I could feel its multiple rows of teeth digging into my skin, possibly breaking bones as more blood flowed from the wound. Taegan acted instantly. His dagger dug into the shark''s head before I could even react, and they were instantly starting to get the dead shark''s mouth unclenched from my leg. I just felt like going unconscious, but I knew that it was too risky, after all, then my air pockets would diminish, and they wouldn¡¯t be able to help me. Finally they manage to pry the shark''s head away from me, yet many of the teeth are still stuck in the stinging wound, the salt water making the injury hurt even more. Dalyva is swimming to the surface, and as she comes back down, she gives Taegan a thumbs up, and that''s all I see before I pass out from blood loss, pain and shock.


    When I wake up, I realise I''m on the beach, clearly Taegan and Dalyva had carried me, and my leg is wrapped in bandages I never knew we had. I see Taegan next to me, and then I feel the pain. Tears stream down my face as the pain sets in, it really hurts, and I reckon that this is the worst injury I''ve ever had. My throat is parched, and I can¡¯t talk. Taegan looks over at me, and, upon noticing I''m awake, hands me a water bottle, and helps me sit up, rolling a log behind me like a makeshift chair so I don''t have to use my muscles to sit up. As I sip at the water, my throat becomes manageable, and I look at Taegan.


    ¡°Thanks.¡± I say, truly appreciative that he saved me from the shark. ¡°Also, since when did we have bandages?¡± I ask, gesturing to my leg. He can tell I''m trying to distract myself by talking instead of thinking of the pain I''m in, and responds. ¡°We attacked a spider that had come near here while you were unconscious, and Dalyva killed it. It dropped these bandages.¡± He shrugs. Dalyva then returns with two equally long sticks about as long a s my shin area, and starts to put them either side of my leg with the help of Taegan, then wrap it into the bandages using some more bandages she got, making a makeshift cast. I wince as they touch my leg, it hurts, but I manage not to cry out.


    I look around us curiously. ¡°So.¡± I start, trying to be distracted from my throbbing leg. ¡°Have you discovered any other animals that we need to eliminate?¡± Taegan looks at my leg. ¡°Not anytime soon with that.¡± He says carefully, and I look at him confused. ¡°What do you mean, I thought it was just a deep cut that¡¯ll heal, right?¡± I ask, and Taegan grimaces. ¡°Right now, there''s probably still adrenaline running through your system, but as it wears off, you¡¯ll realise that you actually got off pretty lucky, as the sharks teeth were just inches from your bone, which also means that unless we get some healing products or Dalyva figures out how to manipulate your blood, you¡¯ll be permanently crippled.¡± I can see he¡¯s rambling, but don''t stop him as I just try to process the words he¡¯s thrown in my face. ¡®Cripple, almost to the bone.¡¯


    Just as if I had summoned it by my thoughts alone, low and behold the adrenaline wore off. I hissed through clenched teeth as the pain rushed as the floodgates opened, eager to invade my body as I became flooded with pain. I grit my teeth, trying to pull through it but it seems like an endless torrent before a puny pebble. I could do nothing but let it wash over me. Taegan and Dalyva just watched as I writhed in pain on the spot, both of them fixed with sympathetic gazes. ¡°Taegan.¡± Says Dalyva, barely through the fog of pain can I hear her. ¡°Why don¡¯t¡­. kill¡­ for Shankhe¡­ cure¡­ -jury.¡± I didn''t catch it all, but enough to get the conversation. Taegan or Dalyva was going to go kill monsters to try find something to cure my wounds.


    I fall unconscious merely seconds later as the pain fogs my brain and my body shuts down to heal. I do try to fight it, wanting to make sure that Taegan and Dalyva are always okay, but as I see Taegan look over me with slight worry, I realise the best thing right now was just sleeping. Nothing else could help right now except rest.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    I watch over Shankhe¡¯s unconscious body. I see him breathe in and out, and then look at his leg, one that has a devastating wound. Suddenly, I notice something, and turn around to find a snake. Quickly drawing my blades, I get into a fighting position. The sand of the beach wraps around my forearms as I get ready to fight the snake. It waves itself from side to side, a tactic to make its opponent confused on where it''s going to strike next, but I bet it would strike somewhere easier to hurt, somewhere I could be disabled from easily.


    Also known as my feet. Did you know there is a pressure point on the back of your foot, that if you whack hard enough and in that specific area, it paralyses the entire body?


    That was what the snake was aiming for. but it had to get me to turn around first, which is why it started to attack me with its buddies. Yes, multiple snakes, possums and even spiders surrounded me and Shankhe, as well as Dalyva. I fought them off the best I could, trying to eliminate most of them, but they just kept coming, attracted by the seemingly easy meal of two worn down humans, and another one unconscious. I was concerned, I knew that the longer we got distracted by snakes and possums- that drop pelts and coins, as well as snake meat- would not be able to heal Shankhe¡¯s leg, and he would permanently be crippled.


    Time was ticking. By usual standards, we had 3 hours to find a cure before he permanently became crippled. ¡°Dalyva.¡± I yell out, and her head turns to me as she¡¯s fighting one of the snakes. ¡°Yeah?¡± She replies. ¡°I¡¯ll hold off the monsters, you run to try to find a cure, okay?¡± I say, and she looks at me with concern. ¡°There''s heaps of sand around here.¡± I pointed out, trying to appease her worry. ¡°If the worst happens, I''ll just carry Shankhe and run. I''ll be fine, GO!¡± I say the last bit with urgency, and with a last glance to Shankhe and me, she departs. Back to the monsters. They were really annoying, and just kept coming. I think by the time the flow slowed I had killed about 20 snakes and possums. The only way I could do this was one thing, my earring. You see, my earring was a specialisation enhancer, which means it basically increased your mana, and reduced the amount you¡¯d have to use to manipulate your element. It certainly was handy in times like these.


    I sat on a rock, drinking slowly and breathing raggedly, trying to recover some energy in time for the next wave of monsters. Wave? Hang on. I started to panic, my mind thinking of what that could mean, and how I just sent Dalyva off. I don¡¯t think it''s an easy meal they¡¯re going after.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    As I run, my thoughts flicker to Shankhe and Taegan, worried for them, even though I know I shouldn''t. After all, there are hundreds of monsters chasing me. Wait, no. They¡¯re not chasing me, they¡¯re not even looking at me. They¡¯re running away... From who? I don''t know. From what? I still don''t know. All I know is that mountain where the rock wallabies resided, is no longer there.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    As I stand over Shankhe, I look up at the horizon, wondering when this horde of monsters will stop. Just to notice the huge purple mountain that the rock wallabies were bounding on before, not in my view. I shrugged for a moment, thinking maybe the mountain is just not visible from here, but I knew I was lying to myself. After all, when we dragged Shankhe out of the water, it was still there, and yet, we didn''t hear a thing even as a massive mountain disappeared.


    At that moment, I made a rash decision. Hauling Shankhe¡¯s limp body onto my back, his arms around me floppily but enough, and using sand to make him more secure, I ran. I don''t stop, I just run. In the direction Dalyva went, of course. Even when my muscles ached, and I wished to just sit down and stop, I didn''t. It was too risky. too dangerous to do that right now, and I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll even be safe when the monsters calm down, as there is still another monster in this room that could possibly be as big as that mountain, and be able to destroy it silently.


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Here''s the clincher. We have to defeat every species in this room, including the giant monster. Oh yeah, I was terrified. You think this rambling is me being composed? Hell no, I''m literally about to die, and I didn''t even get to see the outside one last time, or fulfil my promise of meeting up with Jargob again. Yeah, it''s fine, I¡¯m fine, everything''s fine. I¡¯m about to die, that''s fineee~~ I am so screwed¡­


    I have an unconscious Shankhe on my back, monsters on my heels, and Shankhe may become crippled if we don''t get him a healing potion or some herbs to make a healing potion. Ooo, shiny rock. Not the time Taegan, focus on running. Wait, it could be a mana rock, one we need for a healing potion. I backtrack a couple steps. Nope, just a normal rock. I sprint ahead, not wanting the monsters to catch me as I look ahead and around me. Oh, Pathine herbs. As I run past, I gather them quickly before stuffing them in my dimensional bag. We¡¯ll definitely need those later.


    How long has it been? It feels like hours, but I truly hope not. Suddenly Shankhe starts to stir. ¡°Shankhe.¡± I say, decently loud so he hears me. His eyes come into focus, and he fixes his gaze on me, as I can see he tries not to focus on anything else. ¡°There¡¯s a giant monster who destroyed the wallabies giant rock without a sound. The monsters are running away from it, and we¡¯re running away from them. Keep an eye out for any monsters getting too close and Dalyva.¡± He nods, and starts to look around as I focus on purely running. ¡°Flash of yellow, 10 o¡¯clock.¡± I started to run in the direction he pointed out and could see a flash of gold. Yep, definitely Dalyva. At least I know he wasn''t lying. ¡°Dalyva.¡± I yell, and she looks up. Her face lights up as she sees both of us fine. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re both fine.¡± She says happily. We nod. We all start to run together, well, Shankhe on my back.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    I look out from Taegan''s back. Surveying forwards and backwards, I suddenly noticed something. ¡°Veer right!¡± I yelled in a panic, and they did just in time. They hadn''t noticed, too distracted with running, but there was a cliff face that they almost ran off of. ¡°Small hill in front, we could climb that.¡± I point out. it wouldn¡¯t stop the monsters, but it would certainly slow them down if they were trying to get us as well as run away. As we approached it, Taegan used his specialisation to aid him in his climb and make us lighter. Dalyva however enhanced her body, and used that to scale the wall. She reached the top first, and held a hand down to help Taegan up, me included. As we reached the top, Taegan laid me down, and I just rested my arms behind me so I was propped up, and watched as Taegan and Dalyva collapsed onto the cold stone with exhaustion.


    By now I''ve gotten used to the common throbbing in my leg, but it still hurts, and I know that I can''t walk on it, as most of my muscles, tendon and veins are broken. Essentially I can''t really do anything and that''s a problem. You see, Taegan and Dalyva are exhausted, yet they still need to protect me if any other monsters come up. I mean, it doesn''t restrict my spesh¡­


    I go to control my water in my bottle as I pop the cork open, but suddenly get a pang of awareness. The strange thing? It was right below us. Just mere moments pass before it happens again, and I get insanely curious. Clocking my eyes, I focus more on my specialisation and the perception of it behind me. I soon notice that we¡¯re on a cliff, with our bit hanging over the edge with space underneath us. Just then I see something out of the corner of my eyes, and that''s when I notice two absolutely monstrously sized legs with bird-like feet descending from the sky. I can¡¯t even see the body as the legs extend, though I reckon I can see some black past the clouds. What could it possibly be?


    The cliff we were standing on, or I thought was a cliff, started to rock as a huge wave hit it, and I saw a humongous beak hit the water out in the distance. That¡¯s when I realised what this giant monster was. It was a giant bird. What bird? Wasn¡¯t sure, but I knew it was a bird, and absolutely terrifyingly large.


    Back to the cliff, which was wobbling like crazy. I started to panic, thinking we may fall, and hurriedly trying to figure out what to do. On one hand, I could wake Taegan, and it could be a false alarm, on the other hand it might be an actual emergency. Just deciding to risk it, I drag myself over to Taegan¡¯s unconscious body. Tapping him at first, but as the rocking increases I really start to understand the gravity of the situation and shake him hard and nervously. ¡°Taegan.¡± I half-hiss half say sharply, and he looks up at me half awake, a bit grumpy before he notices the rock tipping from side to side and jolts away, alert and ready for anything.


    Despite him still being very tired himself from all the running, and knowing Dalyva is too, he bravely risks his life to wake her up. An angry glare is all he gets, and an open mouth ready to scream at him before she notices the crazy rocking. She shoots up in surprise and fear. ¡°What''s happening?¡± She says urgently, her voice slightly shaking. I point to the huge birds legs that are on the land, easily squishing what could¡¯ve been mountains beneath their feet. ¡°That.¡± I simply say, letting it explain itself. Her eyes widen, and Taegan too is surprised, alone just because of the sheer size of the bird, when we normally envision them to be small, harmless creatures. One huge tip suddenly makes us slip from our positions, and we¡¯re desperately gripping onto the rock, trying not to fall as the rock almost does. ¡°Any ideas?¡± Dalyva squeaks out. ¡°We could jump?¡± I hesitantly say. ¡°I sensed before there¡¯s rocks under the cliff face, and probably somewhere we can sit while we figure out a plan.¡± Taegan nods, and starts to haul me up, letting me use him as his other leg. ¡°Quick.¡± He says, a hint of urgency in his tone. ¡°We need to jump. C¡¯mon, Dalyva, this is no time for fear.¡±


    He grabs her hand, and starts dragging her to the edge of what we thought was a cliff, to turn out it was a boulder. That¡¯s what I can see, anyways. Dalyva doesn¡¯t resist, but I know she¡¯s hesitant. It¡¯s almost like second nature for her now, and I get it. We¡¯re being put in increasingly more dangerous situations, and it grows on her to be naturally more wary of things. A small smile crosses my face before I remember what we¡¯re about to do.


    We jump off the cliff, adrenaline running through me and fuelling my actions as I stay streamline, making sure to enter the water feet first. Taegan¡¯s next to me, and on the other side of him is Dalyva. As we fall, and land in the water, everything disappears for a moment. The adrenaline, the pain, the noise of the giant birds. Everything. Until we remember why we jumped, and start desperately swimming, Taegan helping me as the salt water got to my wound, and trying to get out of the area where the boulder would fall. Using my specialisation I control the water around us to propel us, and just in time too, as we manage to just narrowly avoid the boulder as it crashes into the ocean.


    I managed to propel us to a bunch of rocks under the cliff, and we climbed up them to some sand that was barely wet, the only reason it was is because the bird put its beak in the water and made a giant wave. ¡°Oh yeah.¡± Says Taegan. ¡°I grabbed some herbs while you were unconscious. Pathine herbs, I¡¯m pretty sure.¡± Dalyva however takes one look at those herbs, and her face turns to shock. ¡°That¡¯s not Pathine.¡± She says. ¡°That¡¯s Tren, the strongest poison in the world, said to be able to kill the gods themselves, and a very powerful poison, that if one leaf went into a small ocean, it would poison the entire ocean. Just then another beak came down, and we got sprayed with water, soaking us more than we already were. Dalyva¡¯s face lights up, and she grabs the Tran herbs out of Taegan¡¯s hands. ¡°Give me.¡± She says, and then picks up a rock, and one that looks like a bowl, ish.


    She starts to break it up, a grin on her face. I look over her shoulder, as I¡¯m sitting on one of the smaller rocks, and say. ¡°So, what''s your idea?¡± I ask. She looks back at me. ¡°You can see that, can¡¯t you?¡± She points to a distinctly more purple area than the rest of it that surrounds this whole place, and I nod. ¡°Yep, I can see it. What about it?¡± She smiles. ¡°That¡¯s the border. If my calculations are correct, the ocean isn¡¯t big enough to resist a poison like this one.¡± I look at her shocked. ¡°But won¡¯t that poison us as well?¡± I ask worriedly. She shakes her head as she continues to grind it up. ¡°Nope, because it¡¯s only if we take it in, and anyways, we have the cure.¡± She says, bringing out bunches of Pathine herbs from her pocket. ¡°The big birds though?¡± And suddenly both me and Taegan are looking at her like she¡¯s an absolute genius, because she is. She managed to figure out not only how to kill the giant bird, but also how to make sure we don¡¯t get killed as we try to kill it, and find the right herbs for a health potion. She finishes mashing it up, and goes down to the water''s edge of the rocks, which is relatively calm, and starts to harmlessly wash her bowl and tool she used.


    The area where the poison touched turned a dark purple, almost black, and we could see its progress as it slipped out into the sea¡­


    We watch the Tren seep into the sea with anticipation, knowing its our only chance of killing every species in the room including that big bird. I watch the black swirl around and give the water a little push as it merges and swirls. I can¡¯t wait for the bird to try drinking it. Suddenly the huge beak comes near our cliff and starts to drink. However happy me and Dalyva were, Taegan starts to panic. ¡°Shankhe.¡± He says, his tone urgent. ¡°Get on my back, now!¡± He rushes over to me, and I get on his back in a piggyback, looking at him confused. ¡°Why Taegan?¡± I ask, as he starts to drag Dalyva and me across the beach. ¡°What do you think?¡± He says. ¡°The bird will die, and its head will land in the water causing a massive tsunami, and the body will make an earthquake which will support the tsunami. Our best bet is to make it to the desert area as fast as we can.¡±


    Dalyva¡¯s eyes widen and she starts to run on her own, all us realising just how much this is going to be bad. Taegan runs up the hill with barely any efficiency lost, even though I can tell he¡¯s downright exhausted and sore, he persists. I look at him with pure thankfulness, knowing that even some of my friends i grew up with wouldn¡¯t do this much for me, however this person, who knew me only for a week, or however long it¡¯s been, did more than any of my friends ever had. I get that we think we¡¯re brothers, but we don¡¯t know that, it¡¯s not confirmed, and yet he¡¯s risking his life for someone he could easily leave to die and forget about.


    Suddenly a huge earthquake wracks the land. Now, a normal earthquake may move a couple small rocks, shake the earth, but not much else. However this one? A big wave of air suddenly came from the huge corpse we could see that reached the clouds, and we all hunkered down, Taegan pulling me off his back just to make sure I didn¡¯t get hurt or blown away. We linked arms, and me and Dalyva put our other arm around a tree, and held each other''s hands around it, just as the wind came. It was vicious, knocking down several weaker trees, and making branches fall, including several other things like all the leaves on trees getting ripped off and dust flying up from the ground. We closed our eyes and waited for the mini storm to pass, and eventually it did. Dalyva helped me back onto Taegan¡¯s back, but the problem was that the tsunami had already started, despite our best efforts and their running. Dalyva even enhanced her body, and Taegan used his sand and I used my water to make us lighter so he could run faster. The tsunami however was quickly encroaching, and it was getting on Taegan¡¯s nerves as we were still a third way from the desert..


    I turned to the tsunami slightly, just my head so as to not impact Taegan¡¯s running, and focused my will on slowing down the tsunami around us, but I knew I couldn¡¯t hold it for long. 17 metres to go. My focus was starting to wither, and the tsunami started to go faster, but I put my whole attention onto it. 14 metres. Not that many left. My attention wavered, as my energy dipped, but I tried to push through, straining myself to keep the tsunami from hitting us. 9 metres left. Dalyva started to speed up, using the last of her reserves, as well as Taegan as they rushed to the forest''s edge. 3 metres.

 Chapter 16- We’re… alive?

    I let out a deep sigh of relief as I sank into the sand, letting it surround me as I basked in the nice warm sun, letting it overwhelm me as I laid there exhausted. All my muscles hurt and ached. I couldn¡¯t wait for this thing to be over. However, suddenly Dalyva yelped in surprise. ¡°What?¡± I ask, turning my head to look at her. She has a token in her hand. One that reads- How did we end up here?- with a question mark as the symbol above the inscription, just as another token appears in front of me. I grabbed it. It¡¯s the monster token, and as I look around, I realise that the poison from the tsunami had made the surrounding sand black, although not where we were, as Shankhe had protected us from the water.


    ¡°W-what¡¯s this token?¡± Says Shankhe, slightly shaking as he grabs the token from out of Dalyva¡¯s grasp. ¡°Is it a hidden one? Because Guide didn¡¯t mention it.¡± A pillar appeared in front of us just then, surprising all of us, and we all jumped. Not with our legs, of course. Just to be clear, Shankhe was still crippled. Just as that thought runs through my mind, I look up in slight panic, before hurriedly looking at Dalyva, then Shankhe. ¡°Shankhe.¡± I say in a panicking tone. ¡°Y-you.¡± I can¡¯t say it, I just can¡¯t. No. ¡°Y-you¡¯re about to be¡­ permanently crippled.¡± That jolted all of us away, and instantly I started to pile Shankhe onto my back, but Dalyva shook her head at me. ¡°I¡¯ll take him, it¡¯ll be good practice anyways.¡± We had completely forgotten about the pillar¡­.


    I nod gratefully, and let her carry him as i raced ahead to the once purple now blackened forest spread with goodies of all kinds. Most are just feathers or packets of meat, but as we look we see many other things. In my frantic search, i dont notice a little bird, until Shankhe points it out. ¡°What''s that bird there?¡± He asks curiously from Dalyva¡¯s back. I look to it. It¡¯s a tiny bird, one with purple feathers, and black stripes just like a tiger. Dalyva¡¯s eyes light up as she notices, and she rushes over to it, looking very excited. ¡°It¡¯s a Maetra, a healing bird. We can heal Shankhe with it.¡± We all look at the bird, and Dalyva walks over to it. She picks it up, and it stares at Shankhe on her back, almost like its looking with curiosity. Most monsters are about 10% sentient, the same as a dog or cat, except with more instincts, so it''s actually like a wolf or cheetah. That is, the first level of monsters.


    I shake my head. I¡¯ll let thoughts wander later, not now. We need to heal Shankhe first. Dalyva looks at the bird, and gently talks. ¡°Hey, can you heal my friend?¡± She puts Shankhe on a log, and the Maetra in front of his hurt leg, waiting. ¡°Payment.¡± Squawks out the bird. ¡°Payment for Tori.¡± It starts to glow a beautiful golden light. As the light got to Shankhe¡¯s leg, he starts to look really grateful, and his face, that was constantly slightly in pain before, is now full of happiness and bliss. ¡°Release for Tori. That is payment.¡± Says the bird, whose name, according to it, is Tori. Dalyva hesitates for a split second, but aside from realising it would be unfair to just leave the bird and not pay it back, it would be helpful for us, but she, and I, suspected they wouldn¡¯t let the bird leave the room anyway.


    After Shankhe¡¯s leg stops glowing, he looks down at it. A massive scar of teeth wraps around most of his leg. We all knew it would probably happen, but, well, it was still a shock to see. I help Shankhe up as he hesitantly steps on his hurt foot, expecting pain from his leg, but there was none. Sighing gratefully, he happily let go of me. I grin as well, extremely happy he¡¯s able to walk again. As we search through the heaps of other rewards, we find potions¡­. Yeah, we could¡¯ve had a healing bird, but instead, we used up its one heal.


    I sigh, there¡¯s nothing we can do about it now. We pack them away, and I realise something. All the monsters we¡¯ve encountered haven¡¯t given us any cores. That¡¯s strange in and of itself, because that means one of two things. Most monsters that don¡¯t have cores are either really weak monsters that even the common folk can deal with, like just normal rats or animals, or, the other reason they would have no cores, is if they¡¯re a creation or summon of someone or something. Probably the Corruption Entity. I shiver as i think his name. Even now, when I know that they¡¯re not here, I still get the chills.


    As we trudge out of the trial room, we dont go through the rest of the pile. ¡°Hey.¡± Asked Dalyva. ¡°I was wondering. Why did we get the token? We didn¡¯t kill the monsters?¡± She was genuinely confused, and i guess, yeah, i was too. I think for a bit, looking around the area, before i think the answer popped up. ¡°We put the poison in the water, the monsters tried to drink the water, or swallowed it accidentally since it went into the desert as well. Since we put the poison there, it counted as a kill.¡± She nods, and Shankhe perks up to talk. ¡°Well, we have five tokens now, including that strange one.¡± He nods his head to Dalyva as he speaks, indicating the one she got. ¡°Yeah.¡± I agree. ¡°It¡¯s strange alright. I bet its-judging by its name- a secret achievement for doing the unthinkable.¡± Dalyva frowned. ¡°Then how did we get it? Weren¡¯t we supposed to kill all the species in the room?¡± I shrug, and as we walk out the door, Guide greets us with his familiar greeting of- ¡°Time taken, 2 hours, 53 minutes and 45 seconds.¡±


    We all look pretty happy at that, although it definitely seemed shorter to me, probably because of the adrenaline. A yawn escapes me before I could stop it, and I head to my tent to rest. ¡°I¡¯m going to rest for a bit.¡± I say, as I wave goodbye to them. ¡°Night.¡± Says Shankhe. ¡°Good night.¡± Replies Dalyva. ¡°I¡¯m going to have a rest too.¡± She adds, and I hear her tent zip open.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    I go to my tent, and start to lie down, but then I start to panic, and my breaths come in shaky breaths. I couldn¡¯t believe it at the time, but as I was getting healed, it truly dawned on me how dauntingly close I was to living with a hobble and pain for the rest of my life. I start to hyperventilate, and my fear increases. Tears streaming down my face, I cry. I try to stop them, but I can¡¯t, no matter what I think. Suddenly the zip opens, and just like I did with Taegan, he had come to me when I truly needed it. Peeking his head around the tent, he looked at me, and walked over to my panicking form. ¡°You okay?¡± He says softly, as he sees me trying to wipe the tears from my eyes.


    He knew it was a stupid question, so did I, but I could tell that he had an underlying question he didn¡¯t say. I rolled over, and he slipped in behind me, putting his arm around me. My body instantly feels a lot more safe and comforted. It didn¡¯t make sense though. We don¡¯t know each other that well. We¡¯ve only known each other for like two weeks. Not even that probably. A-and yet my body¡­ it''s acting like I¡¯ve known him my whole life. I get that we¡¯ve survived a lot, and may be brothers, but that''s the keyword. May. But I know deep in my mind, the reasonable part, that we definitely are brothers. It¡¯s too obvious. We¡¯re like the sand and the sea. Forever meant to be next to each other.


    My tears and panic gradually start to stop. ¡°Thanks.¡± I mutter quietly, barely loud enough that he can hear. He squeezes me in acknowledgement of it, but I feel it was also partly comforting. It took me some time, but I slowly drifted off in Taegan¡¯s arms.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    When I wake up with someone in my arms, I try to recall what happened, until I remember what happened. Shankhe had a panic attack it seemed, and I had helped him. I smiled as I felt his hands unconsciously holding onto my arms and making sure they stayed near him, like comfort. Like¡­ brothers. My smile widens as I think that I may never be alone ever again. I may for once finally have someone I can rely on. We have Dalyva as well. A tight knit group of three, who¡¯ve survived thick and thin. But then my vision darkened as that dreaded thought crossed my mind. But first we have to get out of this place. I shake the thought away with another thought. At least we¡¯re still alive.


    The monsters I bet are going to start being higher levelled as well probably. Now, not distracted by having to save Shankhe, I can finally think of the levels. The levels of monsters, and, inadvertently adventurers goes like this- common, wood, bronze, stone, iron, coal, gold/yellow, emerald/green, sapphire/blue, amethyst/purple and finally, a rank only found in true legends of adventuring is onyx/black. (Many from Gold up however are referred to with colours commonly and not their official name unless its something actually official.)


    Yeah, there¡¯s a lot. Ten whole ranks. Most monsters however don¡¯t even get to coal outside of dungeons, as those that do are immediately killed by adventurers for they can be a big danger to the common folk. Right now, the monsters have been wood rank, but barely. Of course, they¡¯ve increased in strength from the start, but gradually. I do fear though that the monsters will soon edge onto the middle or maybe even end of wood. I can fight up to mid-ranked wood monsters.


    Now, that may seem weak in the grand scheme of things, but overall for me, I think it''s pretty good, since most adults that didn¡¯t take an adventuring life, but still fought when they were younger mostly only get to the very bottom of bronze on average, though most are wood. Common is only for young children that aren¡¯t allowed to go hunting, or those who are too weak to want to hunt in the first place. A sigh comes from in front of me, and I know that Shankhe¡¯s awake. ¡°Hey Sha.¡± The nickname slipped out before I could stop it. ¡°Hey Tae.¡± He snorts back, holding in laughter. I chuckle. ¡°Tae doesn¡¯t make sense!¡± I protest. ¡°It sounds like tie, as in tie that knot.¡± He just continues to laugh. ¡°And Sha isn¡¯t bad? It sounds like you tried to say Sharp, but forgot the last two sounds.¡± We just laugh. ¡°Well, you¡¯re Sha now!¡± I declare. ¡°Hey!¡± He exclaims, then huffs. ¡°Fine, then you¡¯re Tae.¡± We then look up as Dalyva enters, then at each other. ¡°Dal!¡± I say. ¡°What?¡± She says, confused. ¡°I¡¯m Tae, he¡¯s Sha, and you¡¯re Dal.¡± She shakes her head in disbelief at our childish game.


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    We all have a good tease, before deciding that Sha can be Shankhe¡¯s nickname, and Tae, as in T-ay not tie can be mine, but Dalyva wanted her name to stay the same. So yeah. That¡¯s our nicknames now. We get up for breakfast, the reason why Dalyva first came in the tent in the first place, and eat some more gruel. After eating breakfast, I grabbed some of the meat we had picked up from one of the monsters. I couldn¡¯t be bothered remembering. I put it on the wooden chopping board, and grab one of my jambiyas, wiping it on myself and then cutting the chuck of meat into small thin slices. Not too thin though. Maybe half a centimetre thick? Something like that. I cook the meat dry, since if it was anything but it would spoil quickly since we just wanted to carry it around in a normal bag.


    The meat starts to cook slowly, and shrivels up as it dries. It¡¯s definitely something that we will enjoy later, well, depending on if they like jerky or not. Of course, it''s not like most beef jerky that has marinades or flavours, but we really don¡¯t have any right now, so we don¡¯t have a choice, do we? No. Anyways, I decided that while the jerky was cooking, I could use this time to make some stuff with the ingredients we got from the Gatherer trial. One of the things we collected just happened to be heads of wheat, and so, using a mortar and pestle I could make flour. The only real problem with this, is that you have to mash only two or three grains at a time. However, right now, I needed to get the grains off the actual stalks, as Dalyva hadn¡¯t done that. Don¡¯t get me wrong, it was kind of annoying, but I understood why. It would take too long for her to gather it, and we didn¡¯t want to be stuck there all day. Anyways, I got out one of the stalks, and a curious Shankhe peered over my shoulder.


    ¡°Tae~~~~¡± He whines in annoyance. I barely look up as I respond, knowing what he¡¯s going to say. ¡°Do laps around the room.¡± I say, just wanting him to not be peering over my shoulder and not helping. ¡°Otherwise you can help seperate grain from wheat.¡± Immediately he started to walk over to where the entrance was. Now, was, as in, it''s still there, but unable to be opened. The room itself was pretty big, maybe from the entrance to its opposite wall about 56 metres, or two basketball courts, and about that wide as well. Dalyva was washing up after breakfast, but I think she was almost done.


    Anyways, back to getting grains of wheat stalks. I got about halfway through carefully picking them, when Dalyva looked over at me. ¡°Why don¡¯t you run your hand along the stalk and do it like that?¡± She asks, confused. ¡°Because it¡¯d just go all over the floor, as no one¡¯s holding open a bag for me to put it in.¡± She looks confused, but then notices how I¡¯m carefully placing my handfuls of grains into a non magical bag. She then just shrugs and goes to where Shankhe is jogging around the room, sweat trickling down his forehead. ¡°I¡¯m joining Shankhe.¡± She says. ¡°Ok.¡± I acknowledge, and continue to pick the grains off the stalk.


    It¡¯s boring, mindless work, but I know that once I¡¯ve done it, it will all be worth it in the end. I couldn¡¯t wait to make biscuits with the flour, Tor can make sugar, and the Bak eggs make amazing substitutes for normal eggs. I would bet there would be people who would say normal eggs are a replacement for Bak eggs, but that''s probably only the extremely rich, as unless you collect them yourself, getting enough for everyday use is incredibly expensive. Especially if you wanted Bak eggs from higher ranked Baks. The ones we got were from low ranked wood Bak.


    It¡¯s time to grind now!!! I couldn¡¯t wait. It would be so much more entertaining, I would think, to mash up the grains then pick them off the stalks. I got a whole huge bag of grains, and had a dimensional bag for the flour I grounded. ¡°I¡¯m tired Tae.¡± Says a voice behind me, with a pant, and a sigh as they sit down on the stone next to me. ¡°Hey, you could grind some flour?¡± I offer, holding out the mortar and pestle that I¡¯ve just put some grains in. Shankhe pouts, and I take it back.


    As I start to grind it up, we talk about meaningless things. ¡°So.¡± I ask. ¡°Which gods do you support?¡± I¡¯m curious, of course, since most don¡¯t necessarily support a single god, and instead most actually don¡¯t support a god at all, but still do the festivals. Shankhe looks at me. ¡°Huh? Me.¡± He thinks for a bit. ¡°Not really any.¡± He says. ¡°But I do mostly; The Summer Solstice of Aroma, (pronounced ah-row-may) The Winter Solstice of Laeuca, (pronounced lay-oo-k-ah) and The Sea Shanty of Shana.¡± I nod understandingly. Many do the winter and summer solstices, since it''s also a celebration for months to come.


    Of course, the last one, The Sea Shanty of Shana, i was expecting, since many people who come from the sea love her, and always they throw a feast in her honour before entering the sea when the food and booze is eaten. ¡°What''s your favourite?¡± I ask, just merely curious. He thinks a bit more, before saying. ¡°The Sea Shanty of Shana, definitely. It¡¯s my favourite, and I bet heaps of others as well.¡± As he speaks, I finally have the grains to a satisfactory level of powder, and I scrape it into the bag. It looks so little, but then I look at the bulging bag of grains, and then decide, no, it''s not a little. I get my next three grains, and start to grind them up.


    ¡°What does your kingdom do on the Summer Solstice of Aroma? Who¡¯s your leader?¡± I ask, curious. ¡°For us, our leader in Shirono is Captain Spira and Sailor Dave. They come out together with the rest of their crew and Dave lights the leaves of the Aromane tree.¡± For those who don¡¯t know, lighting the leaves of the Aromane tree-which has clover-like leaves and acorn fruit-symbolises good luck for the crops and a great harvest of the year. This is to celebrate the coming of the spring harvest and fruits. They also, not only do they have this but they also have a huge market for weeks to come selling all their fruit and harvest.


    ¡°And the Winter Solstice?¡± I ask. Shankhe smirks, and says. ¡°We get to dance on the lakes and rivers and get to sing on them!¡± He brags. I groan. Living in the desert meant that when it came to the Winter Solstice, and snow covered the sand, which it actually did surprisingly, everyone was wearing heaps of cloth, not used to the cold weather. You see, people dance and sing in the snow on the solstice under the full moon so that they don¡¯t starve in the winter months. It¡¯s something that has gone on for centuries, and a tradition many love, even when it''s cold.


    ¡°What about you?¡± Asks Shankhe, directing questions at me. ¡°What festivals do you do?¡± I shrug. ¡°I do the Festival of Uxciesa, The Summer Solstice of Aroma and The Winter Solstice of Laeuca obviously, and yeah, that''s it.¡± He nods, and then questions me again. ¡°What do you do for the Festival of Uxciesa again?¡± I roll my eyes at his forgetfulness. ¡°We dance under the skies with masks on that are all the same, so no one can tell noble from commoner as we dance under the stars as everyone¡¯s equal.¡± I explain, and he nods. ¡°Ohhhhh.¡± He says. ¡°Anyway, who¡¯s your leader?¡± He asked me. I chuckle as my hand lifts up and down grinding about my fifth batch of grains. ¡°Sand warrior Gari and Wife Ei.¡± Shankhe frowns before saying. ¡°Ei¡¯s an elf, isn''t she?¡± I nod. ¡°Yep, sure is.¡± He smirks, having gotten it right and being overly happy. Soon a worn out Dalyva walks over, and flops down on my other side.


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± She asks, and we look up as we notice her presence. ¡°Oh, hey Dalyva, we were just talking about what we celebrated. She nods. ¡°Oh yeah, can I join?¡± She asks, still trying to recover her breath but doing pretty well. ¡°Yeah, sure. So, first question. What festivals do you celebrate?¡± I ask, and she clearly was expecting it as she replies. ¡°The Summer Solstice of Aroma, The Winter Solstice of Laeuca and The Growth of Dasani.¡± I nod. ¡°Isn¡¯t the growth of Dasani when you like, help the trees and everything blooms for an hour?¡± I question, not in a mean way but a sort of, I forgot, please tell me. ¡°Yep.¡± She replies, confirming my statement. ¡°That¡¯s completely true.¡± Shankhe perks up then.


    ¡°Second question.¡± He says. ¡°Who¡¯s your leaders, for The Festival of Aroma.¡± He adds the last bit so she doesn''t get confused. ¡°Me?¡± She says. ¡°Daruden has Boss Pika and Worker Bill.¡± Shankhe snorts. ¡°Noooo.¡± He drags out in disbelief. ¡°Yep.¡± She answers. ¡°All completely true. Anyways, they do get made fun for it, but no one really cares, as it''s sort of the whole point for everyone to laugh at their titles, so no one feels like they¡¯re below their leaders.¡± I quickly thought of something. ¡°Isn¡¯t Worker Bill a half elf?¡± I ask, just wanting to confirm the truth, and she nods. ¡°Yep. Pika¡¯s a full blooded elf, and her advisors a half blood. Not many really care though, since they¡¯re good leaders and that''s all that matters. Only some of the elder elves stuck in the olden ways complain, and even then it''s not really complaining, just banter between old folk.¡± A smile slips up my lips as what she¡¯s talking about reminds me of Martov, the stubborn old dwarf that he is.


    Eventually as we¡¯re talking, my hand starts to cramp, and I wince, taking my hand away from the pestle and rubbing the taut muscles with my other hand. The poor, overworked muscles protest, but I still have about 20 grains left, and a half full bag of flour. Dalyva notices this, and looks at me. ¡°Can I have a go?¡± She asks, and I nod.


    We chatted for a bit longer. I took the jerky off the fire and put it in the bag, even when I supposed I could let it cool down outside of the bag, but I couldn¡¯t be bothered. As Dalyva finished grounding the last grains, and put it in the bag, I grabbed the Tor, and chucked as much of it as I could into the mortar and pestle. Which is to say, about half of the total sweet grass. I mash it up until it''s a fine green paste, and, getting creative here, use the pelts of some animals to dry the paste on. Many would shrivel up and glare at me for that, and I¡¯m sure that they¡¯d be right in saying it probably would get fur on it, except I used the cows pelt, so it was just leather and no hair on one side, and also, when the green paste dried? It becomes white sugar.


    Don¡¯t ask me how, because I don¡¯t know. That¡¯s a question for Dalyva. Suddenly I caught myself. Wait, why am I talking to myself again. Mentally shrugging, I leave the pelt with the paste on it to dry on the floor, trusting Shankhe and Dalyva not to step on the pelt. Now, as I sat down and watched Dalyva and Shankhe talk, I thought of something. ¡°Hey guys?¡± I say, and they both turn to look at me. ¡°Yeah?¡± Says Shankhe. ¡°What do you think we should make with the ingredients we have? Cause we can either make a sponge cake or biscuits.¡± They ponder for a split second, before Shankhe blurts out. ¡°Can¡¯t we make more flour and sugar, like, I don¡¯t know, grow them?¡± I smirk at his question, knowing that he can¡¯t choose, but as I register his words, my smile fades to a thoughtful expression. ¡°Biscuits.¡± Said Dalyva with a definite tone as I pondered how to make dirt, although I acknowledged her choice while I did so.


    Maybe with the pelts as pots and the leftover stalks from the wheat to make dirt it could work?

 Chapter 17- Outside the Labyrinth.

    ¡°She¡¯s over here, get her!¡± Says a guard as they run past me from where I¡¯m hiding in an alleyway. A kid materialises next to me soon after. ¡°Thanks Ollie, here.¡± I gave him half the loaf I stole as payment for leading them away. ¡°No problem Reika.¡± Ollie has deception magic, illusion magic to be specific, and can make an illusion look like anyone for a short period of time as he becomes invisible to control the puppet and when he becomes visible again, the puppet breaks.


    It was a common trick he made others pay for with half of whatever got them in trouble. For me, that was stealing bread. Now, you may be thinking, why are you stealing? It¡¯s a bad thing to steal. And, I know that, yes, it''s bad, but there¡¯s really nothing else I can do. Ollie walks off to help other kids. If we had money, we wouldn¡¯t steal, but, well, we couldn¡¯t earn money, as most people label us as untrustworthy and everything else under that. So while many commoners would love for us to have a job, even just a simple one, the only one we could possibly get is the adventurers guild, but if we do get the job, that means we would most likely have to help with the wave or pay the help tax, both of which I¡¯ve managed to avoid due to my age.


    However this year I¡¯m not so sure. Dalyva¡¯s gone too. That reminds me, I look at the time from the old library''s clock, and sneak out of the alleyway, looking at the floor intently, as many who pity us drop a copper in discreet places. There. I snagged it happily, tucking it into my little dimensional bag I got from Dalyva. I really hope she wrote to me too. I slunk into the post office, just as the daily courier arrived. I watch them intently as they look through the piles of letters, sorting them. One of the people at the desk looks at me. ¡°What''s your letter from?¡± They ask gently. Boy did I hate that pitying tone. It was so annoying. They treated me like a starved traumatised kid. And I¡¯m not either. ¡°Baroness Heart. Lady Dalyva Heart.¡± I mutter. They look slightly surprised that I¡¯m waiting for a letter from the nobility, but quickly school their expressions. I check my internal calendar. They should be at Esoa now, so they can post letters reasonably easily. I scurry away to an abandoned house where most orphans sleep, and break the seal. It unfolds and I look at it. It didn¡¯t look like Dalyva¡¯s handwriting.


    It wrote-


    ¡®Dear recipients of this letter, from the travelling scholars to you,


    We are extremely apologetic to how this situation has happened, and are working to fix it at this very moment. Unfortunately, student scholar Lady Dalyva Heart disappeared while we were travelling through the area between Tingari and Dejenu. Many of our escorts recorded a disturbance in the magic and realm before this moment, and we can conclude that what has happened is she has entered another realm. We believe this realm is one we haven¡¯t seen before, but witnesses state that the realm was purple. We will update you further as this is thoroughly investigated by those who witnessed it as they will be staying behind to help and further progress the mages work on finding this student.


    -The Scholar Academy.¡¯


    My body was wracked with feelings. I shake as I read the last bit, and set it down. ¡°No, it can¡¯t be.¡± I say, trembling. One of the other kids looks over to me, then the letter I just set down. ¡°Bad news?¡± He asks softly. I nod, my eyes filling with tears as my knees are pulled up in front of me, and I start to cry. My mind starts to be filled with horrible possibilities. What if there¡¯s monsters there? She doesn¡¯t know how to fight! She barely knows how to use her own specialisation. The other kid, definitely older, comes over and starts to rub my back soothingly with one hand as his other picks up the letter. ¡°Hey.¡± He said, tapping my back. ¡°Can you read this to me?¡± He says in a guilty tone, and I smile gently, remembering the only reason I know how to read is Dalyva.


    I read it out to him, and by the end his face is grim. ¡°So, basically she was taken into another realm and they can¡¯t find her?¡± He asks. I nod in confirmation. He looks at me with pity, but not like the post office people''s pity, it was more genuine, and understanding too. ¡°She meant a lot to you, didn¡¯t she?¡± He asks. ¡°Yeah.¡± I mutter. ¡°But it was stupid of me to think I could ever fall in love with someone, of course they¡¯re going to leave me. One way or another.¡±


    He glares at my words, I can tell it''s not directed fully at me. ¡°Don¡¯t talk like that! Anyways, you should train, and get stronger.¡± He offers. I lift my tear stained, red puffy eyes and look at him confused. ¡°Well, she¡¯s going to come out of that realm stronger, so you need to get stronger to protect her from everything and everyone that will try to hurt her after she gets out of the realm. Or do you have so little faith in her you¡¯re willing to bet she¡¯ll just crumple and die?¡± I look down, in understanding.


    ¡°Can you teach me?¡± I ask hesitantly. He looks me over, in an assessing sort of way. ¡°What''s your spesh?¡± He asks. ¡°Plant affinity.¡± I say. His face brightens as I say this. ¡°Hey, you could join us fighting in a dungeon.¡± I look at him cautiously. ¡°Dungeons are dangerous.¡± I say. He chuckles. ¡°We¡¯ll protect you, besides, we¡¯ll give you a cut of our pay, so you don¡¯t have to officially be part of our party. This can be a trial run, deal?¡± He offers out his hand. I look at him cautiously, assessing his words. ¡°Would you teach me how to wield a weapon?¡± I say. ¡°And what weapon would it be?¡± He looks at me, surprised by my question but answers. ¡°Well, what weapon do you think would suit you?¡± He asks, looking over my skinny build, and my pointy ears. ¡°A bow?¡±


    I think for a moment, before nodding. ¡°Yeah, maybe. I¡¯ll try it out.¡± I say. He nods and stands up, holding out his hand to help me up. Although I was still devastated that Dalyva was missing, this distracted me long enough to move around and be productive. I grasp his hand, and he pulls me up. ¡°Do you have a deal with me that I shall teach you how to fight, and you will fight with our team?¡± I grin, and nod eagerly. ¡°Yes.¡± I say confidently. I could tell that he wasn¡¯t trying to be mean, just appealing to what my body looked like and what I could probably handle.


    He takes me to his team, in a clearing that has several different things, like targets and training dummies that have taken many wailings. The training dummies are made of straw, and are packed thickly, with one braided straw tying it together in several places to make different features. It¡¯s a real work of art, and the people who make them are highly appreciated for their amazing work. It¡¯s not expensive though, as the people who make them, especially here, want them to be affordable so many people can train and practice fighting.


    He gathered them around, and started introducing them to me. ¡°This is Leia, our ranger. She fights with her dagger.¡± He said, pointing to a draconian woman with dark skin and short curly black hair. She has almond brown eyes, and a kind smile, and a rogue¡¯s cloak.¡°This is our mage, Harvey, who uses the fire element, and can manifest it easily as she¡¯s trained for a long time.¡± I look at the mage, who has black robes with orange on the inside, and is an elf. He has bright red hair, probably due to his specialisation affecting it, and he has a happy, excited look on his face, almost like a puppy with his amount of excitement. ¡°The last member is Dennis, he¡¯s our main offence.¡± I look at Dennis, he¡¯s an orc, a head taller than me, and has green skin. He also has two bottom tusks protruding from his mouth. ¡°He uses a claymore.¡± He adds, and at that moment I realise he hasn¡¯t introduced himself, but I go first. ¡°I¡¯m Reika Myst.¡± I say, with a slight nod of my head. The leader of the adventuring party returned with a- ¡°I¡¯m Lark, and the leader of our adventuring party- Orphans and War.¡± I crack a small smile at the name.


    ¡°That¡¯s creative.¡± I say. Lark chuckles and agrees with me. ¡°Yeah, but it''s also true. Because we¡¯re declaring war against the monsters!¡± He raises his sword as he says this. But eventually he stops his antics and goes over to a weapons rack, where there are lots of weapons. I look at them in surprise. ¡°How do you get this many weapons?¡± I ask in surprise, as weapons are really expensive.


    ¡°Oh, those?¡± Said Leia, answering for Lark as he¡¯s getting something from the rack. ¡°Most of them are other peoples weapons. You can take the other ones though if you always use your own weapons and have donated a decent amount to buying these weapons and keeping this training area running.¡± As she says this, she points to a bucket. ¡°That¡¯s the bucket people put their money in. It has magic to recognise how much you contribute so you don¡¯t just pay one copper and then get all the weapons and sell them.¡± I nod, it¡¯s really smart.


    Lark soon returns with a bow and some arrows, and hands me them. He gestures for me to go try them out, and I go over to the firing range. As I¡¯m looking at the targets made of straw, and a layer of paint showing the middle and edge rings, I start loading my bow, however my thoughts run away and I start thinking of one certain person. Her golden hair that always shone in the sun, her amethyst purple eyes that would shine as she talked to me, only to dull as she looked at the scholar academy with dread, and I would always chuckle at that. How she always had a smile when she talked about her ambitions to fight and become stronger. She always loved talking about things like that.


    How when her hair was untied, it was like silk as I ran my fingers through it as she leaned into me, wanting to stay within me and escape her fathers expectations in the scholar academy. She absolutely hated the academy, and I didn¡¯t particularly understand her, until now. Now, I realise that she was right, the academy was terrible. It didn¡¯t care about its students, they spoke so formally when saying that one of their own students-and from the nobility no less-had just disappeared into another realm. They seemed to care more about the research of the realm than saving her from it!Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    I hated them. The last memory of Dalyva i had, when her father was out, she invited me in, i finally had a shower-one of the best things in the world-and then we made biscuits. They were amazing, with chocolate that melted instantly as you put it in your mouth, and the biscuit itself being able to easily dissolve in a whirl of flavours on your tongue. Then, we didn¡¯t do much. We cleaned up, did the dishes, and Dalyva decided to brush my mess of light purple blue hair. Just merely remembering how she softly pulled the brush through my hair in order not to hurt me had me smiling, but what always made me happy was feeling how my hands ran through my hair smoothly.


    I was snapped back to reality when a certain someone jabbed me lightly. ¡°Daydreaming?¡± Asked Leia. ¡°No.¡± I say quickly, lifting the bow with an arrow on it. She just chuckled and shook her head. I take a deep breath, pull back the string, and shoot. Instantly the bow is dropped as I hiss in pain. Leia chuckles and grabs the bow as it falls. I don¡¯t even pay attention to where the arrow landed. ¡°You should¡¯ve waited.¡± She doesn¡¯t seem mad though, I think I got my punishment in the bow hitting my forearm as it unloaded the arrow. She hands me a leather guard, and leather gloves that only have full fingers on two fingers, the pointer and middle finger, the others are only up a third way up the fingers. ¡°These are classics among archers. They¡¯re guards so your fingers don¡¯t hurt.¡± She bonks my head affectionately. ¡°Idiot. You should¡¯ve waited.¡±


    I put them on and pull another arrow on the string. Pulling it back, my fingers certainly didn¡¯t hurt as much, and the string didn¡¯t dig into my fingers. Then I look at the target. The first arrow had hit the outer ring, and was barely on the target. I line up my shot, and shoot. The arrow whistles through the air, and lands in the ring just one ring in from the outer ring. A grin cracks my lips.


    I continue to practice, with Leia correcting my stance and position as the sun sets. Once the sun has set, we put the weapons back, but not before Lark wraps a piece of white tape on the bow string at the top. I look at it curiously. ¡°Why did you do that?¡± I ask, looking at the tape curiously. ¡°It means the bow is being used by our adventuring party, since that''s our colour on the rack. It also means we take responsibility should anything happen to it or it breaks.¡± I nod in understanding. ¡°Okay.¡± I say. We soon disband, and I head back to the abandoned building where I came from as it becomes night. As I sit down in my corner, Ollie comes over to me with a kid. ¡°Reika.¡± He said, looking a bit nervous. I look up. ¡°Yeah Ol?¡± I ask. Ollie looks guilty before saying quietly.


    ¡°His parents died on the way here from a monster attack.¡± He mutters, looking uncomfortable. ¡°You know the guards. They left him on the streets. I suppose he should go to the Church?¡± I nod, and understand, since Ollie has a mixed history with the church. Not a good one either. The kid looks no older than five or six, and I can tell why he looks uncomfortable. Ollie isn¡¯t good with kids regardless. ¡°Hey kid.¡± I say softly, not sure what to say. The kid looks up at me, his eyes red and face scrunched up into a face of sadness and fear. ¡°Here, I¡¯ll take you somewhere safe.¡± I grab his hand gently, and tug the kid along. I walk up to the white building that is the church, it has several plants, flowers and vines around. I walk up to the door, and knock.


    A person in a normal brown dress opens the door. Looking at the kid, she understands. You see, I¡¯m too old to be in the orphanage, especially with the number of kids that they have, which is an absurd 30 or something. Maybe if there was less I¡¯d be able to, but not at this time, especially before a monster wave. It¡¯ll only increase in the week-long wave of constant monsters. I leave the kid, and walk back to the abandoned building, where Ollie is. ¡°Sorry for putting that on you.¡± He says. I shake my head. ¡°It¡¯s fine Ol, I understand.¡±


    Finally I can sit down and eat my bread I stole this morning. Sure it was tough, and it was a bit old, but it was good.


    Over the next few days, I trained with the Orphans and War. I had a good time, not constantly thinking of Dalyva, i mean, it was good to have a break from worrying. I loved her, and wanted to think about her, but it was just a bit of stress right now, not knowing where she is and whether she¡¯s okay. Five days into this training, Lark came up to me and Leia as we practiced archery. ¡°Hey, you¡¯re getting good with that!¡± He says, referring to how I managed to get bullseye shots almost all the time, and are now practicing with moving targets. I nod happily as he looks over at Leia. ¡°We were thinking of doing one of the dungeons. Reika can be with us so she can practice her skills and we can show her the ropes on how to navigate a dungeon.¡±


    Leia nods, and starts to pack up her throwing knives. I look over worriedly. ¡°Already?¡± I say. I tried to mask the slight hint of nervousness, knowing it doesn¡¯t help, but I couldn''t help it, I was nervous. I¡¯ve always had the habit, and when Dalyva pointed it out to me, I was slightly happy that she noticed enough to point it out, but sad that I couldn¡¯t be strong enough to not worry. Leia notices this as well, just like Dalyva, and grins. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± She says softly, before in a more joking tone. ¡°Besides, if it gets out of hand we can always sacrifice Dennis or Lark while we run away.¡± The corners of my mouth uplift as Lark looks at Leia with disbelief. ¡°Your own childhood best friend.¡± He says indignantly, before turning away with a huff. ¡°I can¡¯t believe it!¡±


    Me and her exchange a glance before bursting into giggles, seeing Lark do a ridiculous run over to Dennis as he points at us and probably complains about our ¡®meanness¡¯ to Dennis while we just giggle and laugh. It¡¯s a nice change from the streets.


    We walked into the forest, where a portal maybe 40cm off the ground and swirled a light green colour. ¡°This is a forest dungeon.¡± Says Leia at my obvious confusion. ¡°Is that why it''s green?¡± I ask, and she nods in confirmation. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Lark looks over at us, Dennis having already stuck his hand into the portal with a grin, and Harvey a bit more reserved but still only a step behind Dennis. ¡°Alright gang.¡± Said Lark, catching everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± They all grin and head in, Leia pulling in so I don¡¯t hesitate.


    A strange feeling enters me. It¡¯s like everything in my body is swirling around, and I resist the urge to throw up as Leia looks down at me in obvious pity. ¡°Haven¡¯t used a dungeon or gate before, have you?¡± She said, chuckling as she looked at my pale face. ¡°No, I haven¡¯t.¡± I groan, and she hands me a herb in sympathy. ¡°Here, it reduces nausea. Eat it.¡± Gratefully, i take it and eat it like no tomorrow. Instantly I feel the effects coming on, and my stomach settles. Dennis and Harvey are looking back at me, but once I get up, they look to Lark, as if asking if they can start hunting the monsters. However he shakes his head, and points to me. ¡°Reika.¡± He says, and I look up at him. ¡°Yeah?¡± I ask. ¡°You¡¯re going to shoot at as many deer as you can while they¡¯re still grazing, and we¡¯ll continue from there, alright?¡± I nod, and start to set up my bow. My arrows on my back.


    I pull the bowstring back with a nervous, quick glance to Leia, and seeing her nod encouragingly, i shoot one, pulling out another arrow, I attach it and shoot again, and then a third arrow is shot before the first hits the deer, something I¡¯m immensely proud of, my quickdraws. The first arrow goes straight through the deers head, and it collapses onto the ground. My second arrow nicks the deer by the ear, as the first arrow unnerved the deer and they had started moving, however my third arrow managed to get lodged in a deers shoulder.


    Lark nodded as the deer I killed dissolved into rainbow mist. I look at it in fascination, but heaps of deer are surrounding the goods we¡¯re getting. The boys then head in, as well as Leia, and they proceed to defeat the rest of the deer with practiced coordination. Harvey at the back is protected by Lark and his shield, while Lark¡¯s magic shields are on Dennis and Leia. Dennis immediately goes in for the bashing, and Leia rushes in sideways, throwing knives in hand as she kills the deer. They quickly eliminate the deer with minor injuries and scratches, and I walk up to them as they gather together. I, foolishly, put my head over the rainbow mist, curious, and am immediately regretting it as I gag and almost throw up if not for the herb Leia gave me. Lark shakes his head in sympathy. ¡°Yeah, the rainbow mist is the worst part about any dungeon.¡±


    I nod. ¡°I¡­ can see that now.¡± I say, as I regain my breaths and don¡¯t throw up. As we continue on, I see a couple wolves in the distance. ¡°May I try shoot them?¡± I ask, and Lark turns back to me, his heavy shield out in front of him. He nods, and I take out my bow once we reach a respectable distance. ¡°Yeah, just do one however, as the wolves are most likely going to just rush us after one of them is dead, and so it¡¯d be pointless to waste a perfectly good arrow.¡± I acknowledge his statement, and load up my arrow. Putting the wolf unobscured by the forest in my view, I pull the bowstring back with familiar muscle aches, and take a deep breath, letting it out as I let the arrow go.


    The arrow flies through the air quickly, and I watch in anticipation as it approaches its target, knocking it in the head, and killing it. We can hear the wolves howls of anger, and they, true to Lark¡¯s word, rush us. Lark and the rest start fighting back, and eventually the wolves are dead. ¡°This is a shorter dungeon, so we only have one more room to go.¡± Says Leia. ¡°Really?!¡± I say in surprise and confusion. ¡°I thought dungeons are supposed to be longer?¡± Leia smiles. ¡°They usually are, but this ones a wood rank dungeon bordering on high common, so it¡¯s not the hardest, and pretty easy if you want easy money.¡±


    ¡°Huhhh¡­¡± I say, thinking about it as we walk. ¡°So what rank are you guys then?¡± I ask, just curious. ¡°We¡¯re all low wood rank, except Dennis, whose middle wood.¡± I nod. As we approach the last room, there¡¯s a big door that looks like it would be pretty heavy, but Dennis easily pushes it open. I look at him in fascination. This is what they meant in school by doors in dungeons mostly being very light despite their looks.


    Finally, it''s the boss. A bear. It¡¯s huge, maybe 5 metres tall, ten if it raised itself into its back paws. Way bigger than us. The others however look at it with eagerness, and not trepidation. My mind however keeps looking at its claws and what would happen if they just so happened to end up in my stomach.


    In this fight, Lark proves why he is the leader of their group and not someone else, as he commands them all, even while locked in combat with the bear and blocking its strikes. Eventually, Leia manages to get a good throw of her knife, and it landed in the bears eye, before Dennis taking advantage of it earring up in pain to slice its neck with his claymore, and running out the other side before it collapsed to the ground, sure to squash any who were under it, even one as strong as Dennis.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    As I ponder on how to make dirt, an image flashes through my mind, a memory. It was of Shankhe¡¯s hand. How it was purple. I reflected on the last few days, and seemingly have no recollection of seeing his hand. I look over to him, seeing him sitting on the ground as well, and his whole forearm and hand on that side covered up. Nervously, and with anxiety, I got up, walked over to him, and nervously pulled off the glove, all before he could stop me.


    I stare at the purple skin in shock, silent. Shankhe looks at it as well, and Dalyva third all stare at his purple skin. He pulls it away slowly. ¡°Shankhe¡­.¡±

 Chapter 18- Problems thought for the future.

    Shankhe sighs as he looks at us, guilty and sorry. ¡°I¡­.¡± He trails off, unable to think of a reasonable response to his growing purple. ¡°Why didn¡¯t it heal?¡± I ask, looking at his hand. ¡°Some things can¡¯t be healed, Dalyva.¡± Says Taegan gently, having started to notice my expression as I broke down. ¡°Why?¡± I say, my voice starting to crack. ¡°Why?!¡± Voice rising in volume, I look at them like they betrayed me, and then, as my chin starts to tremble and tears form in my eyes, I walk off, unable to process the fact that even as we sacrificed a whole healing bird for him, that corruption didn¡¯t heal.


    Deep down, my reasonable mind knew that it wasn¡¯t Shankhe or Taegan¡¯s fault, it was all one entity''s fault. The Corruption Entity. He had known that during the first days we would be naive, and one of us would be touched by his rats corruption, and now, when we thought we were safe, he had used the purple corruption on Shankhe to his own use, making it impossible for us to do anything unless we find a way to stop the corruption. I hated it, hated thinking we may lose one of the three of us, that maybe we may not be the three of us, and it may be reduced to the two of us. I didn¡¯t even want to think about it, the thought haunting enough on its own.


    Despite my reaction, just as I stormed out I saw something flicker in Taegan¡¯s eyes. It was something that I could only describe as a mix of emotions, yet at the same time just one. It was the look of someone willing to do absolutely anything to make sure we got out okay, a sacrifice if you will. I didn¡¯t want him to think of that, as it reminded me of someone else, someone I had found on the streets, huddled up. It wasn¡¯t the same look, but it had the same fundamentals, the willingness to sacrifice everything for someone to live, whether yourself or someone else.


    Yeah. It was Reika. The first year I met her, in fact. That year, we had been having an extremely bad crop for food, and instead of food being maybe a copper more, people had been forced to increase it to half a silver, which is ridiculous, since a silver is most people''s total monthly wage, and including taxes and other things they¡¯d need, it was just a bad decision. She was starving on the streets, but as she looked up, she said. ¡°Money, please?¡± Feeling pity and sadness that one my age would be on the streets I gave her three copper. But to my shock, she gave it to three younger ones. They all thanked her, and then took off with the money. She was 14 at the time, and I had no clue why she was out of the orphanage, after all, wasn¡¯t that why it was there? To help orphans not starve?


    Back to the incident with Shankhe. I softly cried in sadness that I may lose one of my friends. As I hear the tent door open, I yell out. ¡°Go away.¡± In a cracked, hoarse and angry voice. They quietly left. Sure, I felt bad, but I didn¡¯t want to talk to them. Either of them. Finally I fell into unconsciousness, and black overtook me.


    In my dream, we¡¯re out of the place, no longer in this horrid purple dungeon dimension thing, instead in a green forest. I have Reika, and the boys are fine. No scarring, no corruption, no nothing¡­ even in my dream I couldn¡¯t escape from reality, as my firm grip on Reika starts to slip, and she fades away. I cry out, trying desperately to grasp her ethereal body as it disappears. Then Shankhe starts to go purple, and I see myself and Taegan helping him, trying desperately to stop the corruption as it overtakes him, and makes him end up just a dishevelled corpse. Then, it was just me and Taegan. But something this time blocked my view, and I couldn¡¯t quite see what¡¯s happening, but what emerges is a scared, hurt, and definitely scarred person. He collapses at my feet, dead.


    I wake up in fright, my head throbbing and I cry out, wanting to escape that place. Hesitantly, I get up, wanting to check on Shankhe and Taegan. I can hear some muttering from Shankhe¡¯s tent, and walk over, opening it. Seeing Shankhe and Taegan laying there with each other, I sleepily walk over. ¡°Dalyva?¡± Asks Taegan confused as I wiggle my way in front of him and into his grasp. ¡°I had a nightmare.¡± I mutter quietly, like a young child. I look up at him. ¡°You¡¯re not dead, are you?¡± Understanding flashes through him, and he shakes his head. ¡°Go to sleep Dal.¡± I do notice the use of my nickname-that''s-not-allowed and narrow my eyes slightly before drifting off.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    I look at Dalyva, and reach for some hair that''s slightly covering her face. ¡°See, Shankhe.¡± I held up her hair that I grabbed. The slightest purple tint had entered the tips of her hair, like highlights. He grimaces. ¡°It¡¯s bad, isn¡¯t it?¡± Sighing, I say the only thing we should have priority on. ¡°We need to leave, and that means, we have to stop procrastinating and get down to work to get these trial tokens.¡± He nods in agreement. ¡°If we don¡¯t, your arm is going to be fully purple, and Dalyva¡¯s hair is going to have purple highlights.¡± I was curious as to why they both had the corruption affecting them, but I didn''t, but it must be because of something? I don¡¯t know. But if it was something, we needed to figure out what, and quickly.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    In the morning, I woke up in someone¡¯s arms. I squirmed around, panicking for a second before I remembered that I was in Taegan¡¯s arms. I got up slowly, and even though I tried, I woke him up. I look at him with a guilty expression. ¡°Sorry.¡± I whisper. ¡°Did I wake you?¡± He smiles and waves his hand dismissively. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I was half asleep anyways.¡± He starts to get up, and it takes a minute but we eventually all are up. We head out, eat some glow berries for breakfast along with some congee, and then crowd around my notebook. ¡°We have 5 trials left- Escape, All-seeing, Treasure, Path-Finder and Dueller. We have gotten five tokens, and need three more. Including Trophy, we only need two other trials.¡± I say.


    ¡°Which ones?¡± I look at both of them, and they seem to be pondering the question. ¡°Path-Finder sounds good, but you know that thingy we got like ages ago? The like poem sort of thing. The warning.¡± Says Taegan, unable to think of what it was. ¡°You mean the  ¡®Cross the bridge and do not fall¡¯ thing?¡± I ask. Taegan nods, and I start flipping pages. ¡°I noted it down somewhere so I didn¡¯t forget it.¡± Finally, I flick upon the page. ¡°Here. ¡®Cross the bridge and do not fall, meet the hag, and do not fear, travel a road that none shall see, and find a sheep that none can shear.¡¯¡± I read out. ¡°Yeah, that. Anyways, where it says ¡®travel a road none shall see¡¯ I thought of Path-Finder, so I think we should do that one last. Agreed?¡± I nod my head. ¡°Yep, sounds reasonable to me.¡± I say. Shankhe thinks for a bit longer, before nodding as well. ¡°I think we should do Dueller as well, maybe first even?¡± Proposes Shankhe. ¡°And then we can do Path-Finder.¡±


    We all agree on what to do after a couple more minutes of debating whether to do Treasure, but deciding not. The timetable is this. Do Dueller first, and then Path-Finder and finally Trophy. We grab our weapons, me my trusty halberd, and head to the door. The symbol on this one is two swords crossed. Pushing open the door, we¡¯re greeted with an arena. As expected of something named Dueller.


    I look around, and for a second panic as we¡¯re in a cage, but then proceed to look around again and see on the other side it''s the arena. As I¡¯m looking at the arena, I hear footsteps and turn around. Two blank faces stare back at me, and I jump back in surprise. They¡¯re creepy, dolllike, and if they were human, no one would ever believe them. They have black and white suits on, and a clipboard in one of their hands.


    ¡°This is the solo arena.¡± The one with the clipboard says in a blank, emotionless and fake voice. ¡°If you lose, you don¡¯t continue, if you win, you continue fighting monsters that get progressively stronger until you can¡¯t fight any more.Your minimum has to be high wood or low bronze.¡± Says the one without a clipboard, and I gasp, turning to Shankhe and Taegan, who both look as surprised as me, of course with worry as well. I myself managed to barely kill low end wood rank, and now they want me to practically jump a rank. Then the one with the clipboard speaks again. ¡°Name and specialisation for your monsters please.¡± We look at her confused, and Taegan speaks up. ¡°Why do you need our specialisation?¡±


    The person-no, more doll-with the clipboard looks up, and responds. ¡°If you start to struggle your monsters will be tipped in your favour, and if you start to excel they will be tipped against you as best we can for both, as wood is extremely hard to tip in one''s favour.¡± I will admit it''s a bit hard, as in wood there¡¯s not as much specialisation imbuement and the monsters don¡¯t focus on one type of magic or fighting style.


    Admittedly, they never do, it¡¯s just they¡¯re more attuned to their specialisation and are focused on one area of fighting then just working off instincts and what works best.


    Taegan, ever the leader, steps up and gives his name, and we follow seconds after. Once the doll finished jotting it down, and then the other doll spoke up. ¡°The rules are simple. You Can do anything in your power to win, you get a minute''s preparation in the arena before the monster is released, and you won''t get to know what it is before you see it. You may use your own weapons, and you have to wait in this gladiator cage between matches and your name will be called. Be alert and ready for whenever your name is announced, and no one except the person called is allowed to enter the arena, if they do so it counts as immediate disqualification and loss of token. Lastly, if you do happen to take too long to complete this challenge, staff will come around with food and you will be allowed to sleep.¡± I look a bit shocked, not believing that it would take someone that long to complete this challenge, that it takes days, but i also have a feeling it may be us as well.


    We nod at the rules and they walk away, stiff and fakely. It was very clear that they were not people if we had any doubt at this point.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Soon, a doll, just like the last ones with a suit, came up to our cage. ¡°Participant Taegan, get ready to compete.¡± Taegan looked confused as to what to do, and the doll started to speak again. ¡°Stand in front of the metal door leading to the arena, and when the metal lifts, you may enter. You have already heard the rest.¡± Taegan approaches the end with squares of metal in the shape of a door. He draws his jambiyas, and tries to hype himself up for the fight. Suddenly a booming voice echoes, and even goes into our cage. ¡°Participant Taegan now may enter the arena.¡± The metal lifts up, and Taegan enters the arena. The bottom of the arena for him is metal. Before it had been sand, but I assume that since he¡¯s a sand specialist they can¡¯t exactly just give him that much of an advantage. Of course, they had changed it using magic, because what else would they use?


    The booming voice echoed again a minute later, while me and Shankhe were hanging on the bars looking at Taegan as he sits in the arena, not sure what he should do, although I do see him distributing sand across the arena gently as a precaution. ¡°Monster of high common may now enter the arena.¡± Entering the arena on the other side came a goat, with dark purple horns and hooves, with fur light purple. I would bet even its skin is purple. Taegan stands up as it¡¯s thrust into the arena, and it trots forwards as it enters From the momentum. Taegan squares up, and the goat lowers its head, rushing forwards in a charge, instantly starting the bout.


    Taegan is experienced, that much can be told as he rushes also to the goat, only to dodge at the last second, with the goat rushing past him, but soon collapses as its neck bleeds out, and Taegan shakes the blood off his blade. It was quite quick, but I managed to catch what happened. Taegan, while rushing by, had flicked his blade into the goats neck, cutting the air pipe and causing it to die out on the floor. He didn¡¯t even need the sand he had laid out that he was now gathering up, that was how much weaker common is compared to simply wood, and shows how much the comparison in power between each rank is, though for wood and common it''s not much. Just looks like it because Taegan is quite strong.


    As he returns to the cage, Shankhe claps him on the back, and grins. ¡°That was good!¡± He says, happy that Taegan showed how easy it was, and paved the way for us to not be nervous, and instead ambitious.


    Once again, a doll came to our cage. I¡¯d assume the same one that informed Taegan about his bout, but I have no clue, as they all look the same. Hell, it may be the one that had the clipboard before. ¡°Participant Dalyva, get ready to compete.¡± I look over at Taegan. ¡°Anything you can mention before I go?¡± He looks up at my question, and instantly answers. ¡°Oh, yeah, there¡¯s an audience, but they don¡¯t say anything, for now I¡¯d assume.¡± I nod, and head over to the metal door thing? Who knows what it is, I¡¯m just going to call it that. Then, just like how Taegans started, a booming voice echoed and said. ¡°Participant Dalyva may now enter the arena.¡± I step into the arena, ducking under the metal as I get impatient and step foot onto the cold metal arena.


    It feels a bit intimidating actually, to see the audience, and know that they are judging my every action. But, I knew I only had a couple seconds before I met my opponent, although it probably was just the same as Taegans. I bring out my halberd, and get ready in a fighting stance. Sliding my feet to a stable position, bending my knees, my hands a suitable width apart, and I wield the halberd with confidence.


    ¡°Monster of high common may now enter the arena.¡± Says the booming voice. Curious, I look up to where I heard it most, and see an announcer up there, assumingly with a sound specialisation as they just increase their volume. Then I look across to my opponent, focusing back from my moment of distraction. It¡¯s the same monster, a goat, and I know just how to kill it.


    Lowering its head, it charges. Smirking, I eagerly get ready to intercept it. Maybe, I would''ve been intimidated before, but I¡¯ve grown, and I¡¯m ready to face the challenges that I was turning away from before in fear of getting hurt. The goat comes closer, and I raise my halberd, swinging it down and hitting the goat''s skull with a deafening crunch.


    The monster''s front legs folded as its head was brought down, but once it died its legs collapsed as well, and I grabbed my halberd to leave the arena.


    Once I was finally back in the gladiator cage, Taegan and Shankhe were waiting for me. ¡°Good.¡± Says Taegan. ¡°You did better than what I expected.¡± Says Shankhe teasingly. ¡°I thought you would barely be able to do common.¡± I look at him in mock anger. ¡°Hey!¡± I say, and he just sticks his tongue out, as I start to chase him, with my halberd still in hand. ¡°Come back here!¡± I protest, as we run in circles in the small room.


    However much fun we were having, it just had to be ruined as a doll came up and said. ¡°Participant Shankhe, get ready to compete.¡± Shankhe pouts, but cheekily looks back at me, and then walks up to the metal door. Once the booming voice says he can enter and the metal door opens, I shove him into the arena with a stuck out tongue as he looks back at me with wide, shocked eyes, a hand to his chest in offence, but then rolls his eyes and looks forward as his hand drops from his chest to his sword at his hip.


    He doesn¡¯t even need his water to cover his blade as he prepares. The announcements at this point gloss over my head as I just block them out, looking at where the goat will appear. A minute of preparation passes and soon it''s time for the goat to enter. As it enters and lowers its head, just like the other two, Shankhe is ready. He raised his blade above his head, and swung downwards to split it in half. Both its head and front area split like paper, and fall to either side of Shankhe, with the back half of the goat not split, something that Shankhe isn''t too pleased about as he turns back to us.


    He returns to the gladiator cage, and as we all just sit there, Taegan gets called up again. I¡¯ll admit it, it was extremely boring waiting for our turn, and even when it was our turn, it still was a bit boring, since having no challenge just meant it was over in seconds, and we got no time to truly watch a great battle, which was the whole point of the arena. Back to Taegan, he was waiting for the minute to finish, and as it did, he looked at where the monster would enter eagerly.


    We hear the announcer say. ¡°Monster of low wood may now enter the arena.¡± Interesting, it was low wood now. The monster was a goblin. Certainly different from the monsters we¡¯ve been having, and although small, wielded a knife maybe the size of a normal kitchen knife, which was huge for its body. It was 60cm tall, and had green skin. Many people loved to say that goblins were the small insanities of orcs. Which was always funny, except goblins of low level had no sentience unless born of two bronze goblins. In fact, there were a couple goblins who did actually live in cities, but as they liked to always point out, their sentient species was a cousin to the monster branch, and were always sentient even when born. However the monster goblins had to gain sentience by getting stronger, and even then weren¡¯t always too smart.


    Taegan had actually popped the cork, as if he thought he needed it. Maybe he did, but I had full faith in him that he didn¡¯t. His jambiyas out beside him, he was ready for a fight. They rushed to the middle, both colliding in a clash of steel, sparks flying as their blades flew into one another. Even from that simple exchange, you could see who was going to win, as the goblin caved under Taegans strength and height, his whole body bending to be under his blade as he tried to push it up against Taegan¡¯s superior two blades, and his difference in strength.


    The goblin soon disengages, and jumps back a couple feet, enough for it to reset, except¡­. Taegan had sand around his forearms. He lifted his blade up behind his back and over his shoulder, before swinging directly down, sand shooting out at a certain point in the swing to land on the goblins forehead, before it penetrated, and the goblin fell down dead.


    This time though, cheers erupted from the crowd, and we all looked at them in surprise. It was clear that as we progressed into harder monsters, the crowd would comment more and more. Taegan entered back into the cage, and soon it was my turn.


    Walking back onto the arena, I held onto my halberd tight, trepidation in every step. I wasn¡¯t as confident as Taegan that I¡¯d win, but I truly hoped I¡¯d improved enough to be able to. Though, I wasn¡¯t that sure since only a couple of weeks ago I was a scholar who wasn¡¯t allowed to fight due to my father who was overprotected for years. I hadn¡¯t even held a weapon since mum died.


    The goblin soon emerged, and I got ready to fight, a piece of my mind ready to use my mana to enhance my body at any time. My legs widen into a fighting stance, and I get ready for it to rush forwards. It, predictively does, and soon I find myself with a small green childlike thing putting a knife to my halberds wood. I get an idea and quickly put it to use. I hold the halberd still, but bend my arms, making myself closer to the goblin.


    I then push the halberd away, sharp and quick. The goblin, that was leaning onto my halberd fell onto its back with a thump, and I proceeded to lift my halberd up, my legs coming together, and I bring it down on the axe side of the halberd, cutting into the goblin, and spraying green blood all over the arena floor. That¡¯s something that''s going to be very hard to clean. I grimace at the goblin, before just walking away into our cage cheers in my wake. Oh, I forgot to mention before, but they gave us a cloth to wipe the blood from our weapons so it doesn¡¯t rust.


    Anyways, back to where I was with Taegan and Shankhe in our cage. Shankhe soon gets called up, and we watch him, but my tummy rumbles and I notice how hungry I am. I think one of the dolls noticed this as well, as they hurried away soon after looking at me. I hope they give us some actually decent food, at least better than the food we¡¯ve been having so far. Meat and fruit sounds like something great to have for lunch, but after a while it just gets boring. And we don¡¯t even have enough water to make something like soup.


    Though, I suspect after we get to bronze rank water won''t be as much of a problem, since Shankhe will have sufficient Spirit. (Dalyva is only explaining this because she¡¯s so bored she¡¯s pretending she¡¯s with little kids and explaining what Spirit is, like she did with Reika when they were younger, as Reika sort of knew what it was, but not fully.) Spirit is like, say, what some calls Experience. You see, the first time you kill a monster, a tiny invisible white energy enters your body, and goes to a sphere in the middle of your chest. Now, you guys know about how our specialisation stays in that core, but that''s not fully correct. The specialisation mana surrounds a white core we call the Soul, and when this Spirit goes into it, it fills it, making us different ranks.


    For example, young kids who haven¡¯t had their first kill are common rank, because their Soul has no Spirit energy but once they have their first kill, it''s a subtle, but noticeable change as their Soul fills with Spirit and upgrades, using all that Spirit to make the Soul harder and stronger with more capacity. The first rank change is known commonly as the ¡®first progression¡¯ because not only is it painless and easy, you also don¡¯t notice the effects except when you notice you¡¯re a little stronger, and you can use your specialisation easier. However the next ranks are a bit different. Well, actually, they¡¯re very different.


    From wood to bronze is the second progression, and a time where you experience a lot of changes. Like for girls, no more periods, and your first impurities start to get out of your skin in chunks of black gunk. Many a person have called it an unpleasant but necessary experience, and I would agree with that, though never experiencing it myself, just yet anyways. Suddenly I¡¯m snapped out of my daydream as Shankhe is called up.


    But, he still had a minute before the monster entered. I went back to daydreaming, just bored. Technically, there are more than those ten ranks, though no one has ever reached them, because finding enough monsters to fill your Soul without dying because you didn¡¯t rank up and ran out of time is very hard. Even if you were immortal, it would take you a very long time to upgrade from Onyx. You see, most monsters outside of dungeons only get to coal, and even then are killed instantly as they are a huge threat to civilians, but that''s only the sixth rank. To get the last four ranks, you need to not only find a dungeon that goes further than coal, get to it before all the people with money, and then just hope that there¡¯s enough monsters in it to make you rank up.


    Of course though, no matter how I portray it, whether hard or easy, some people who work hard still get to yellow or green regardless of the time and effort it takes them.

 Chapter 19- Never ending fights.

    I look over to where Shankhe is, as the goblin enters the arena. Similar to me, he does get his specialisation ready, as in, he uncorks his bottle and the water is flowing around him like a sash, but he¡¯s not going to use it just yet i would think. The thing is I truly don¡¯t know whether that''s the case, since it all depends on how he feels. But, since I was able to defeat it easily, I¡¯m pretty confident that he won''t need his spesh.


    He draws his katana, getting ready to fight it, and they meet in the middle, just like Taegan did when he faced his goblin and how I did as well. It was just a common instinct I think for us to rush in the middle, as that''s how a lot of people do it when they duel and fight. Back to the fight, again, it''s pretty weak so Shankhe easily has some weak spots he can take advantage of, but he prefers not to as he takes his time, blocking each one of the goblins advances, and I get the feel he¡¯s learning from it, even with a knife skill as terrible as its. But you know, many manage to learn strange things from strange circumstances.


    Finally, after toying with it for a while and pulling all entertainment value from it, he finally beheads it as it tries once again to slice his leg off. Walking back to us, he has a bored look on his face, and Taegan chuckles. ¡°That¡¯s what you get for toying with a goblin for so long, Sha.¡± He says, his face clearly trying to hold in full blown laughter. Shankhe glares at him. ¡°At least I can learn from even the weakest of creatures compared to none at all.¡± He replies with a smirk of confidence. ¡°Well, I¡¯m just strong enough that I don''t need to learn from weaklings.¡± Shankhe looks panicked, not having a comeback, but then says something he will definitely regret in the heat of the moment. ¡°At least I know who my family is.¡± I even look at him at that, and he realises his mistake. ¡°No you don¡¯t!!¡± I say, and he turns away, embarrassed. ¡°Shut up¡­..¡± He whines, realising just how much he stuffed up. ¡°You said it.¡± Says Taegan. ¡°And that''s the most stupid argument I¡¯ve ever heard. You don¡¯t know who your parents are, you¡¯re an orphan, and you look like me. You have no clue who your parents are, or even whether I am your sibling, idiot.¡±


    He pushes him lightly, and they argue about this for a couple more minutes of back and forth banter, before a doll approaches with a food cart, all of us turning to them eagerly with hunger. I bet if the doll had emotions it would jump back in fright because all of us are looking at her like we¡¯re about to eat her and the food in the cart. Anyways, she opens the gladiator cage, pushes the cart in, and we all descend upon it hungrily. Well, not quite. Because someone, our leader, decided we still need to be reasonable, and got the bowl¡¯s out, and filled it up as much as he can with soup, that smells delicious.


    He gives us spoons, and we dig into the food. I groan with satisfaction, it''s so much better than I remember. Last time I remember having soup, it was bland and boring, but now? A hot, flavoured meal is almost heaven. From the slurps and eager eating the boys are doing, I think they would agree with me. Eating quickly, we go back for seconds and thirds. ¡°Guys.¡± Says Taegan, as he¡¯s downing his-what must be-fourth bowl of soup. ¡°Don¡¯t win your matches. This is absolute heaven.¡± Now, normally, I would agree with him. But, we do need to get out of the dungeon, so that''s not a choice.


    ¡°Tae.¡± Said Shankhe. ¡°That¡¯s not an option, no matter how much it should be.¡± Tae pouts. Even as a leader, he still had tendencies to be a kid, just like us. Even if we were adults technically. Sha- if you didn¡¯t know-is pronounced Sh-ah, and Tae pronounced T-ay. Shankhe could¡¯ve been Sh-ay, but he didn¡¯t want to be ¡®too similar to his brother¡¯. So its Sha and Tae. Yeah. They¡¯re idiots, but adorable idiots.


    Anyways, after a couple more minutes of us savouring the taste of the soup, the announcer called Taegan back up to the arena. Setting down his bowl, he got up and walked over to the metal door, confident and eager.


    Once he entered the arena, he opened his bottle, and spread particles of sand all over the arena floor. His opponent? ¡°Monster of middle wood may now enter the arena.¡± This time, its a scarecrow, just like those ones way back when we started. Before even the bridge I think. Not quite sure. But this one, definitely stronger. It doesn¡¯t have a rusted blade, its shiny and strong, and the monster is leaner, quicker.


    They rush to the middle, clashing with a loud ringing of metal on metal. Taegan grins, and I chuckle. Of course he would be happy and entertained by something supposed to be a deadly situation. The scarecrow disengages and tries to swipe at Taegans side, but he manages to block it with one of his daggers. I smirk as the scarecrow and Taegan proceed to exchange blows, with Taegan getting the upper hand because he has two weapons and not one, but barely. Really, its not that much of an advantage he gains.


    Not only does it take a while for the monster and Taegan to finish, it seems like they don¡¯t want it to finish, because although the scarecrow probably only has instincts at this level, as true intelligence is gained at least at bronze for the more humanoid or smarter monsters. Soon, Taegan in one of their clashes manages to get behind the scarecrow by ducking under its arm as it swung the sword at his torso, and backstabbed his head. The scarecrow fell forward with a thump, and Taegan headed back to us as his sand on the floor, that he ended up not using, gathered and snaked back into his bottle before he closed it with the cork.


    ¡°That was a good match.¡± Said Taegan as he approached us and the metal door opened once again and he got in. ¡°Really?¡± Says Shankhe sceptically. He nods. ¡°It was an amazing fight.¡± I look at him confused. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just kill it from the start and get it over with? It seemed easy for you to do it then?¡± Taegan looked at me, surprised, but then chuckled. ¡°There wasn¡¯t an opening where i could get to its back without it cutting me.¡± He said. ¡°You¡¯ll know when you fight your own in a couple seconds, although you¡¯ll have to use something different to me because our weapons are so different.¡±


    I nod in understanding, and then proceed to be called up. I enter the stage, and then wait, wait some more, and finally the monster enters. I knew what I had to do. It was my only option. Taking the first steps, i rush forward, my feet empowered by my mana as I push harder and faster across the ground, covering it in an instant, and, using the scarecrows surprise as it tries to go forward to me, I dash around it, and swing the axe like a barbarian around in a half swinging attack at i swing it into the scarecrows neck, its straw head collapsing into individual straws as it collapses, along with the rest of its body turning back into just normal straw.


    I walk back to the boys, my mana still powering my body as i hold my halberd on my shoulder. Hoping I look badass internally. When the metal door opens and I finally return to our gladiator cage however, I collapse onto the floor, extremely tired from empowering my body that much. I¡¯m practically dead at this point. ¡°Holy son of the gods!!¡± Says Shankhe, and I chuckle tiredly at his expression. ¡°It¡¯s holy daughter of the goddesses.¡± I correct snarkily. He rolls his eyes. ¡°You know what I mean.¡± He says. ¡°How did you manage that?¡± I recover my breath, before saying. ¡°I empowered my body with my blood mana.¡± Shankhe, and Taegan, shudder, before Taegan whispers into Shankhe¡¯s ear, but it was loud enough for me to hear. ¡°Remind me never to annoy Dalyva, Shankhe.¡± And Shankhe nods in agreement.


    At this point I¡¯m pretty out of it, and I lay my halberd down nearby, and take a quick nap.


    Now, definition of quick varies from person to person, and on the situation, but the general understanding is that quick is fast, short, and all those words. As the scholarly books say- fast, or doing something in a short time. However I remember it is my secret to keep, one that I will never share even in my own mind. (It was an exam). Back to the point, I skipped both Shankhe¡¯s match, and the announcement for the rest period. In conclusion, I woke up the next day and only because Taegans name was called.


    Instantly as soon as I am fully woken by Shankhe shaking me, and trying to gain my bearings as every sensible thought, or any thought really, abandons my brain and I look around for five seconds before finally realising how long my nap was, and then see Shankhe. ¡°Sorry for sleeping through your match!¡± I say, worried he would think it unfair that i slept through his match. He glances at me surprised. ¡°No, its fine.¡± He replies in shock. ¡°It was boring anyways. But you should probably get up now, as Taegan¡¯s fight is about to start, and this time it''s high wood.¡± I snap up, remembering everything as it all floods back to my brain in waves of knowledge and intelligence.


    I get up, grab my halberd that was nearby, and we walk to the metal door, leaning on it as Taegan¡¯s on the other side, spreading sand onto the metal arena floor. It was fine, something you wouldn¡¯t have looked at twice if you just thought it was dust or left over from another match. Time to fight. The announcer announced the monster, and sure enough it was high wood.


    To our shock and horror, it was a¡­.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    In the arena was terrifying in and of itself, but to have a monster like that here¡­. It was almost like we knew we would never survive this. You see, although Dalyva didn¡¯t really show it, she was absolutely drained using that much mana to be able to overpower her opponents, even as mid wood rank. That meant that when she got to high wood, we were screwed. Extremely screwed. It wasn¡¯t like she was bad, it was just she wasn¡¯t as experienced as me, and Sha had at least trained for a bit before travelling to become an adventurer. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Yes, it was impressive at the rate she was improving, and yes even I was amazed at her progress, but against a golem? None of us stood much of a chance, least of all her. My weapons are drawn, and i prepare for a beating. It approaches in heavy steps. I couldn¡¯t lie, everything killing me¡­? Makes me feel alive.


    I go up, and run, my adrenaline pumping in my veins as i attack the giant golem, ready to win at any moments notice. Ready, set, engaged! In a flurry of blows I attack from different sides, my sand in waves as it surrounds the golem in a cylinder and I use it as a wall to bounce off. To the head to the chest, I attack everywhere to find a weak spot. I¡¯m running upside down, sideways, and upright. Eventually, I attack it at the back of its neck, but it quickly blocks with its arms. Something it didn¡¯t do before. My face slowly grows less confused as I realise. I wonder why? A smirk grows slowly across my face, and I chuckle.


    ¡°Weak spot.¡± I say to myself. I ready my blades, having jumped back from the golem. I check my mana. I¡¯m on a time limit now. I rush forward, my sand forming little floating platforms, ones i jump around to get to the golems back. Predictably it turns around, but I wasn¡¯t planning that anyways. As it turns around, I¡¯ve already gone over its head, and I¡¯m jumping down, both my daggers posed downwards on its neck. It tries to put its arms up, but my sand had sneakily creeped onto its arms, and was now stopping its movement. It hits the golems neck, and I grimace. Thoughts flash through my mind. What if it''s not a weak spot? What if it''s just a coincidence that it tried to attack me with its arms up and just happened to deflect me from its neck?


    But, as the jambiyas go deep into the golem, its knees buckle, and it falls to the ground, me jumping back to avoid falling as it goes flat on the floor. Immediately, I fall backwards, my sand supporting me until I reach the ground. Big tired breaths in, and a deep exhale. I almost fell asleep right there. Luckily, I managed to be awake for a few more seconds and slowly, inching myself off the floor, I collected my sand, put it in its bottle, and then walked into the gladiator cage, before falling asleep in there, not being able to talk right now.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    I see Taegan fall asleep, and smile. ¡°Did you see what he did?¡± Asks Shankhe, also looking at Taegan. ¡°I saw.¡± I nod. ¡°He was really amazing!¡± Shankhe agrees, and then states. ¡°Hey, he even found the weakness, and we saw, so now we know the weak spot as well.¡± Soon, i get called up, still while Taegans still fast asleep, though, judging by his tired state when he came out, we all will definitely be fast asleep for a while.


    I stride out to the arena with confidence, and my halberd in my hands as I try to strategise how I can get to the golems neck. You see, Taegans jambiyas are very adaptive and flexible, as he can use them in short range, whereas me and Shankhe as well-sort of-have long range weapons. Well, Shankhes is like a mid range, between long and short. But also, if you were to judge it, he¡¯s more a long range than a short flexible range. It takes a minute-literally-but the golem finally comes out, and I get into a fighting stance. I have an idea so that my fighting is better.


    My halberd at the ready, I look across to my opponent, the golem as expected. It approaches, and thats when it notice how tall it is. Maybe double my height. I freeze, scared. I try stop myself, saying in my mind that I¡¯ve improved, that I¡¯ve grown out of it, I¡¯m stronger now. But it just doesn¡¯t happen¡­ I¡¯m frozen and completely a mess for the next attack. The golem lifts its arms up, and brings them down with brutal efficiency, not slow like I expected. Though I don¡¯t know how I expected that. Maybe my brain is just trying to block out what¡¯s happening as i panic? Who knows.


    That¡¯s when I notice, I¡¯m shaking. Shaking really bad, as my halberd almost falls from my grasp, but i force my fingers to curl, not wanting to lose my weapon. As it goes down, I, as a reflex I¡¯ve developed, pull my halberd up, and block the blow, but not only am I shaking in my boots, I can''t put enough power in it to match literal stone. That¡¯s real heavy. I start to crumble, and are soon down on my knees, before it pushes a bit more, and I¡¯m on my back on the floor, the wind pushed out of me. That¡¯s when I see its huge, grey arms reading back, and swinging down. Everything slows down. Shankhe is yelling, the arms of doom approaching, and I¡¯m nervous, scared.


    But, thinking about it, I don¡¯t want to be a weakling, someone who always cowers in fear. I want to be strong, someone that can hold their hands when they need it, and support them if they¡¯re injured. Someone who can protect us all when Taegan is unable to do so, and that nightmare never coming true!


    In this slow motion, I gather myself up, grab my halberd, raising it as I get ready to block its strike, adrenaline and mana running through my body at what feels like a thousand km an hour. I take a huge breath in, my throat feeling colder as I take in the cool air, then as I exhale, I feel a lot calmer, ready to face this giant golem. Time turns normal, and I¡¯m up, blocking its attack. I grimace, grit my teeth, but never let up.


    I will never let it defeat me now. With my increased strength, I manage to deflect its attack to the side, and jump back. Taking inspiration from Taegan, I leap up, and to my surprise manage to land on its shoulder. It tries to get me from there, but I raise my halberd, even on this very uneven and clunky ride manage to keep my footing, and then throw my halberd into its neck, holding on for dear life as it takes what seems to me like years to sink into and kill.


    Finally, it gives out, and using the rest of my mana, I jump off as it falls, leaving my halberd in it knowing it won''t be damaged. Once it''s down, I grab my halberd, heaving it out of the golems stone body, and then heading to the gladiator cage, only to collapse in tiredness once I get inside. Someone¡¯s hands pick me up and put me in my sleeping bag, putting me before its zipped up and then zipping it up after I¡¯m in.


    I fall into inky blackness after that exhausted as I¡¯ve used practically all of my mana.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    I watch Dalyva as she falls asleep, smirking at how she¡¯s sleeping like a baby, compared to three seconds ago when she was fighting like a badass. Taegan was worried that she wouldn¡¯t be able to do it, but she pushed through, she did it. I¡¯m proud of that. However, it''s my turn next, and I¡¯m nervous, because neither of them will be there if anything goes wrong, but then again, maybe it¡¯ll be easier to fight without people watching me, as I won¡¯t be as nervous to stuff up and disappoint them. Yeah, I¡¯d say that.


    Besides my nervous fear of them seeing how bad I am at fighting and me screwing it up for all of us, I¡¯m ready to fight! They call me in, and I look around the arena. Same as before. Nothing has really changed, except i reckon there were less spectators before. After a minute, the golem enters, and I draw my sword, ready to attack it. In fact, I¡¯m eager to fight. The golem looks at me, and I rush forward.


    ¡°You¡¯re dead!¡± I yell, smirking. No matter if Taegan and Dalyva are conscious or not, I''m ready to pull out all stops to defeat this golem. It looks to me like I¡¯m Merely something it was ordered to eliminate, a chore, but I just couldn¡¯t wait to take it down. Water droplets at the ready, I start to bombard the golem with attacks, including not only water attacks, but using my sword as I hack away at his arms, although with more finesse and beauty than that. I think I could see a tiny cut, but I was still annoyed. Why couldn¡¯t I cut it? I knew that it was stone, thats an obvious thing, but it was something that only noobs use in excuses when they cant cut stuff because of their own incompetence. I hate it when people use excuses like that, when there are heaps of really good swordsman who can cut steel.


    Water surrounds my water in a whoosh, and I look at the golem properly. Analysing it while dodging its attacks, I see an opening, and take it. You see, as it lifts its hands up and does it slam down, for a few seconds its hands stay on the ground and its bent over. What also happens is when its hands are on the floor, it provides a staircase to its shoulders, that just happen to be near where its neck is. Funny, that. In that split seconds as it does another slam, I push all my exhaustion away, using every ounce of energy as I take the temporary bridge to its neck. It¡¯s exhilarating, excitement and daring, but as i get up halfway, it starts to move. Crap.


    My breaths start to hitch, and shake a bit. I get nervous, but I don¡¯t stand there and await my doom. I continue to run, wishing and hoping that I¡¯d get up to the golems shoulders before it can move its arms again, because otherwise I¡¯m screwed.


    I can practically hear the clock tick down as i rush up the golems arm. My senses heighten, and I can see so much clearer. That¡¯s when I realise that this feeling is almost a survival mechanism, and use it. Managing to push myself up the golem, using my water to propel myself just as it regains use of its arms. My breath is ragged, tired and broken as I breathe in and out. My water covered blade is ready to stab, and, happily, I lift my blade, bringing it down in the cracks of stone on the back of its neck. I wobble on the golems body as i almost fall asleep just there. My head swirls, and its hard to think of anything my own body almost shuts down on me. A yawn escapes before I realise I¡¯m on a golem that is currently falling and soon to hit the floor.


    Using the last of my strength, my water, once a sash around my shoulders gathers onto my feet and floats me to safety, out of the crash zone of the golem. Once I do get off the golem, I promptly almost fall asleep right then and there, but manage to hold on and stumble my way into the gladiator cage before falling asleep right then and there.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    When I wake up, Taegan is already awake, with Shankhe also awake eating the soup. They turn to me as they notice I¡¯m awake. ¡°Hey Dalyva.¡± Taegan says. ¡°You sore?¡± I start to get up as I want some of that delicious soup, only for my calves to protest immensely and me ending up having to crawl. Even that triggered some soreness in my arms, but it was better than walking. Taegan just chuckled, but Shankhe was full on laughing. However, I had Taegan on my side, as he soon said. ¡°Sha, you can''t say anything. You literally crawled as well.¡±


    Sha pouted. ¡°You didn¡¯t have to say that¡­.¡± He protests, but regardless of his arguments Taegan already said it. Soon, a doll came over, and we all look at them, expecting them to want us to fight again. ¡°All participants have passed the test. Should you want, you can fight a bronze rank, or you can collect your token and leave.¡± It says, in a stiff, strange way. No matter of how it said it, we were definitely getting out of here. Just to be sure, I look over at Taegan and Shankhe. ¡°Are we leaving?¡± They both nod.


    We start to get up, with several groans from all of us, but we massaged our muscles, so they¡¯re a little better, and my specialisation certainly would help if I used it, though I¡¯m out at the moment. The doll opens the cage, and leads us to a desk, where they hand Taegan the token, since he was the leader of us, and then the doll leads us to the door, and shoves us out. Once on the main trial room, we all collapse. The doll had been walking too fast for our hobbling selves, and it was really annoying.


    I let out a sigh. ¡°At least we got the token.¡± I say, and Taegan nods. ¡°Guys?¡± Shankhe says in a curious sort of tone. We turned to him. ¡°What?¡± He looks a bit nervous, but asks regardless. ¡°How far away are you from bronze after defeating the high rank?¡± I close my eyes, sensing my Soul, and the Spirit inside. The orb looks about three quarters full. ¡°Almost there, one quarter left.¡± I say, and Shankhe, who was next to open his eyes, says. ¡°Yeah, that as well.¡± That adds up, since he hadn¡¯t really fought a lot back in his hometown according to him, so just like me he probably only got his first monster kill at 16 and that was it. Taegan opened his eyes last. ¡°I can rank up.¡± He says, grinning. Both of us looked at him shocked.

 Authors Note.

    As said in the authors note, i apologise for no chapter, but things have been coming up and I have been unable to write as much as I¡¯d like. There may be a chapter tomorrow, but chapters return to normal as of Thursday next week. If possible I may upload a third chapter next week to make up for the lack of one this week, but thats only if i get enough words.


    Also on that note, if you have any questions about this series so far that I¡¯ve been unable to answer throughout the book-providing its not about spoilers-and merely curious to know something, i would be glad to answer any and all questions you may have.


    One thing before i go, a sneak peak into the next chapter¡ª


    It had been a couple days since I joined the Orphans and War unofficially as a temporary member. Today, I was with Leia, as she rushed to me from a distance and I had to try to shoot her with my arrows. Luckily, they¡¯re older and blunt, so aside from a bruise or very improbable injury you¡¯d be fine if you got hit. I raise my bow, aiming to Leia, hold the bow strong even with my shaking muscles, and shoot the arrow.


    It whistles as it flies through the air, and I watch eagerly as she continues to run. The only problem was I didn¡¯t think to account for her movements that much, and she managed to dodge the arrow. I sigh. I was getting better, definitely, but some things I still needed to work on.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    A thunk is heard as the arrow slams into the ground, and I draw another as Leia gets ever closer. Looking at her as she rushes to me, she and i both know what i did wrong, and if I don¡¯t manage to shoot her, she¡¯ll lecture me on reading movements again. I draw the bow, but this time don¡¯t shoot directly where she is, this time doing a shot where i think she¡¯ll be. Sure, its definitely harder to estimate where she¡¯ll end up, but i still try, and as it gets closer to her, i throw my hands up in celebration as the arrow knocks against her dagger and she deflects it.


    Dennis, who was behind me with Harvey training on blocking his fireballs, claps me on the back. Even though his orcish strength makes me almost fall over. ¡°Nice one!¡± He congratulates, and even Harvey nods, acknowledging my growth. As Leia finally arrives, she looks at me proudly. ¡°Well done.¡± She says. ¡°That was a good shot, predicting where I¡¯d be.¡± I nod at the praise with a smile.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    Side note, everything in this chapter is subject to change and may not even be the same in the final release, so please don¡¯t skip over it. That said, i hope you have a great day, no matter what time it is where you are, and read plenty of great books.

 Chapter 20- Outside the Labyrinth 2

    It had been a couple days since I joined the Orphans and War unofficially as a temporary member, although Lark did say that we would go over to the Adventurer''s guild in the coming days to register me as an official member. Today, I was with Leia, as she rushed to me from a distance, her black curls bouncing behind her as sweat poured from her head. It was hot, and I knew that running would be extremely tiring for her, but I was still grateful that she was willing to help me improve by doing this.


    My goal was simple-to try to shoot her with my arrows. Luckily, they¡¯re older and blunt, so aside from a small bruise or very improbable injury you¡¯d be fine if you got hit. I raise my bow, aiming to Leia, hold the bow strong even with my shaking muscles, and shoot the arrow.


    It whistles as it flies through the air, and I watch eagerly and with anticipation as she continues to run. She looks at it as she runs, and speeds up, surpassing the arrow with sheer speed and also, I had not thought to account for her running too much. I sigh. I was getting better, definitely, but some things I still needed to work on, like accounting for movements and running speed.


    A thunk is heard as the arrow slams into the ground, and I draw another as Leia gets ever closer. Looking at her as she rushes to me, she and I both know what I did wrong, and if I don¡¯t manage to shoot her with this arrow, she¡¯ll lecture me on reading movements again. I draw the bow, but this time don¡¯t shoot directly where she is, this time doing a shot where I think she¡¯ll be. Sure, it''s definitely harder to estimate where she¡¯ll end up, but I still try, aiming for somewhere halfway between her and me. Clunk. The sound of metal on wood was a satisfying sound, and I threw my hands up in celebration, one still clutched around the handgrip of the bow.


    Dennis, who was behind me with Harvey training on blocking his fireballs, claps me on the back. Even though his orcish strength makes me almost fall over, which, gathering he didn¡¯t mean it, I shrug off-although some slight annoyance does creep into me. ¡°Nice one!¡± He congratulates, and even Harvey nods, acknowledging my growth. As Leia finally arrives, she looks at me proudly. ¡°Well done.¡± She says. ¡°That was a good shot, predicting where I¡¯d be.¡± I nod at the praise with a smile.


    I¡¯d grown a lot these last couple of days, and I reflect on those days when I could barely hold my bow straight from my muscles protesting after an hour of practice, or when I had accidentally shot Dennis-as he was near the target that particular day. From that day they had learned that training near a target where a rookie archer was practicing wasn¡¯t the most smart nor practical thing if they didn¡¯t want to get shot.


    As my thoughts wandered, I looked up at the sky, and saw how it was growing dark faster, since its summer, and realised that the post office gets their Tingaren letters today. I look up at Leia silently, and she chuckles as she pats me on the back. ¡°Go.¡± She encourages as she pushes back her hair in a futile attempt to control it, only for where her hand had carved a path to pop back as if she had never tried to suppress it. ¡°Just come back when you¡¯re done, alright?¡± Nodding, I rush away, but I don¡¯t forget to put down my bow.


    I run through the streets, everyone getting ready for Jiri. I couldn¡¯t believe how it had caught up on us so fast. (Jiri is basically Christmas, and for all the festivals except the summer and winter solstices are on the week of Jiri, or commonly referred to as the Week of Festivals). People were putting up stalls and markets, and I smiled as I ran past. Kids were watching as the plant mages grow vines for The Growth of Dasani, and people were putting out there plants so all the flowers would be visible when they bloomed. I stop for a bit, looking around the town.


    (If you forgot what the Growth of Dasani is, it¡¯s when their god, Dasani of the forest, does a massive growth of plants and they all bloom. That¡¯s why everyone puts their plants out so the blooming is visible to everyone.)


    It was, well, beautiful. The brick houses were covered in vines, with the street having a crowd people of all ages and races, along with many market stalls and people selling lots of trinkets and fruits. This was the market street that lead to the main market, that coincidentally was near the post office.


    Many people sold clothes, fruit, monster hides, their produce, and some even sold farm animals in a discreet corner of the markets. Obviously, since people were people, there were a couple who didn¡¯t approve of animals being close to food. I pull my focus away from the stalls and back to the post office just as I notice someone entering. A courier.


    A courier entered it as I approached. I entered soon after, and was greeted by many plants and vines on the inside of the shop, as well as the owl hybrid, someone who¡¯s rare in these parts since hybrids aren¡¯t on the dragon head but on the spine. (Since the land that Reika¡¯s on is shaped like a dragon head, and it has a spine part that is behind the head, but she¡¯s on the snout of the dragon, so it''s very unusual to see a hybrid since they live on the spine. Taegan, Shankhe and Dalyva all come from the dragon head continent as well.)


    They have grey feathers, and wings that come out of a hole in their courier uniform, as well as owl ears that are like dragon horns, it feathery and waving with the wind. A satchel on their hip they reach into, and letters pour out. Handing over the letters to the person, the owl hybrid leaves.


    I try not stare, I know it''s rude, but it''s hard not to with someone so unique to this area. After they leave and are out of sight, I walk up to the front desk.


    ¡°Anything from Baroness Heart?¡± I ask, using Reika¡¯s last name as it¡¯s easier to identify by as I¡¯ve learned. The worker looks me up and down with a suspicious look, but shakes her head. ¡°No, not today.¡± They say bluntly. I can tell they don¡¯t like it when I use a noble¡¯s name, but they¡¯re probably just some of the people who don¡¯t like street kids.


    I sigh, sad that there are no more updates on her disappearance and then head out. A smell wafted past me, and my head snapped to where a stall cooking Korrong chunks on skewers before lathering it in honey. Korre. (Korrong is like badger, and when done like this on a skewer and lathered in honey it''s a traditional street food called Korre). I walked up to the stall with my copper I earned from the dungeon. The street vendor looks up from his cooking as i approach. ¡°One skewer please.¡± I say, and he nods. ¡°A copper.¡± He says gruffly, but i can tell there¡¯s an undercurrent of compassion behind that rough exterior.


    I can also tell that he sympathises with me, as I can see how he reduced the price from two copper to one. How do I know this? The sign. Obviously he didn¡¯t know that I could read.


    He takes my coin, and I take a skewer. Taking a bite into it, I groan at the mix of savoury and sweet that is Korre. The honey sweetness complementing the meat as it pairs. Rich, complex and appetising, the meat is tough, chewy, yet also soft and nicely cooked as the honey practically drips from it, and I hurriedly eat it as I walk along in order not to drop the golden sugary treat.


    Having coin again¡­ was like a dream come true. No longer having to scrounge around for a spare coin to eat, people who actually support and actively help me. It was amazing. But, I never forgot my origins of the street-the place I would end up as well if I wasn¡¯t a good enough adventurer to stay on the Orphans and War adventuring team-and fairly often went to where me and Ollie would meet up. I handed him some of my coins when i got my first payment from the dungeon, and he spread it out between those kids who needed it most. Like those who just got out of the orphanage or those who were truly struggling on the streets.


    I ducked in there, and noticed a newer kid there. He had a bag of nuts in his hand. Stolen definitely. He looked at me with an assessing and annoyed look, since he saw the skewer I have. I just chuckle and say. ¡°You got Ollie¡¯s service.¡± The kid nods, but doesn''t respond. After a couple seconds of silence, Ollie reappears. ¡°Hey Reika.¡± He greets me, and the kid looks at me with surprise. ¡°This is a new street kid, just got here by wagon. His parents¡­..¡± Ollie trailed off, and gave me a look. The kid sort of looks sad, now that I inspect him. ¡°Abandoned by the guards?¡± I ask, and, still wary but not that much, shakes his head. I frown. ¡°What then?¡± It was common here for the guards to abandon the kids. The guards don¡¯t want to take care of kids who¡¯ve lost their parents, so unless their parents were rich, the kid ends up on the streets. Well, that said, not all guards were bad, just some. But enough to make it bad. ¡°The orphanage.¡± Says the kid. ¡°I- was too old.¡± I sigh. It was normal for the orphanage, once they were full, to put an age limit on those who got their help. Suddenly I remembered something. ¡°Were you the kid I took to the orphanage that day?¡± I ask. ¡°Yep.¡± Said Ollie, as the kid goes behind Ollie, probably for more security or comfort. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    ¡°Tyron, this is Reika, a street kid like us. The one who took you to the orphanage.¡± The kid-no, Tyron i corrected myself-looks at me, before opening his mouth and saying quietly. ¡°Why was she eating a skewer then? And look different from before? Cleaner.¡± Ollie looks at me, before chuckling. ¡°She¡¯s working to become an adventurer in a team, and she got her first payment. The adventurers are also really nice, and let her shower at their place once.¡± The kid looks slightly less wary.


    ¡°C-can i become an adventurer?¡± He mutters, as he glances at me. I think i can even see a hint of admiration in his gaze. ¡°Of course!¡± I say encouragingly. ¡°Hey, hear me out. There¡¯s a training area that poorer kids use, and I can ask my adventuring team if a new team can use it as well. Alright? All you need to do is gather at least four others if you want to be an adventurer as well, Ollie?¡± Of course, i already knew that Ollie wanted to be an adventurer. It was like his dream. One he only shared to me though. The kids eyes lit up with an excitement I¡¯ve only seen in people who¡¯ve gotten or done something that achieves their dreams. He looks up to Ollie with puppy eyes. ¡°Can you? Please?¡± Ollie looked shocked for a second, before nodding as well.


    The kid, paying half his nuts to Ollie, rushes off to find four other people to get into his adventuring team, as i walk back to the training area, Ollie in tow.


    ¡°Thanks.¡± Says Ollie, and I shake my head. ¡°Don¡¯t thank me yet, they might not accept you. As I approach the training ground, Leia approaches me. ¡°Took you long enough.¡± She teases, before looking over my shoulder and noticing Ollie. ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡± I try look confident as i say. ¡°That¡¯s Ollie. I was wondering if he and some other orphans could make an adventuring team and use this training area?¡± Leia thought for a bit, before calling over Harvey. With his staff in hand, Harvey looked at Leia. ¡°What is it?¡± He asks. ¡°Do you know if Reika¡¯s friends can use this area if they want to be an adventuring team?¡± He thinks for a moment, then responds. ¡°I¡¯m not Lark with how I know what I can and can''t do, but I¡¯m pretty sure if you get another group to sponsor you, you can be a team here at the training area.¡± Lark, overhearing our conversation somehow despite clashing with Dennis replies. ¡°Yep, that¡¯s correct Harvey!¡± Ollie looks at them. ¡°Does that mean I can be an adventurer?¡± He asks eagerly.


    Harvey, and Lark who¡¯s currently walking over both nod. ¡°You would be correct with that.¡± Answers Lark. ¡°We can sponsor you once you get a team together?¡± He offered, holding out his hand. Ollie, looking slightly shocked and overwhelmed, nods quickly, as if they¡¯d pull back their offer if he didn¡¯t respond fast enough. ¡°Yes, yes, please.¡± Ollie puts out his hand, and shakes Larks. ¡°Thank you!¡± He says, before going off to tell Tyron and find some other kids to be with them.


    Lark looks at me. ¡°You sure you don¡¯t want to be with them?¡± I look at him. I mean, it would be good. I shrug. ¡°If they invite me, I¡¯ll go to their team, but for now I like your team better.¡±


    Leia giggles as she hears this. ¡°Are we better?¡± She asks. I laugh, and nod. ¡°Yep. Well, I don¡¯t know. Ollie¡¯s really good with his spesh.¡±


    We giggle for a bit, before Leia directs me over to the target range. She then goes over to the target that has a string on it connecting to a tree, and pushes on it, sending it swinging and spinning around. Once Leia had moved away, she nods at me. ¡°Go.¡± I draw the bow, and look at the spinning target. Not long. 3¡­ 2¡­1. The arrow made a audible thunk as it slammed into the target, and Leia went over fast to check where it landed. She grabs it, slowing its spinning, and makes the arrow face me. It was on the back, near the top. ¡°Not bad!¡± She comments. ¡°You arced it though, didn¡¯t you?¡± Sheepishly, i nod. ¡°Yeah.¡± She looked at me, and moved her finger back and forth like a parent reprimanding her child. We giggle, but get back to training.


    After a few tries of shooting the moving target, Ollie and Tyron return with four other kids. Some, i recognise. Tyron goes up to Lark, as we all crowd around Lark as a group. ¡°Let¡¯s introduce everyone, shall we? Because not everyone knows each other. Affinities included.¡± Lark starts, and everyone nods in agreement, even Tyron¡¯s group. ¡°I¡¯ll start, I''m Lark, 18, and my affinity is Earth.¡± Of course, I already knew how old he was, as he had told me one day when I was curious. Then Leia said hers. ¡°I¡¯m Leia, 18, and my affinity is Wind.¡± I knew this at least, since she had already told me when I asked. Dennis is rather reluctant to share his affinity and age, but he does. ¡°I¡¯m Dennis, 19, and my affinity is Ice.¡± I blink, surprised. I didn¡¯t know that, as they all don¡¯t really use their affinities much, but also, Ice is rather rare. As for his age, well I thought he was younger than Lark. ¡°I¡¯m Harvey, also 17, and my affinity is Fire.¡± He cheerfully says. I figured he was 17 since he looked younger. Then it''s my turn. ¡°Reika, 16, and my affinity is Plant.¡± Some of them looked slightly surprised that I was barely an adult, but they shrugged it off.


    Once we were done, we looked to their group. ¡°I¡¯m Ollie, 16, and my affinity is Illusion.¡± My team¡¯s eyes widened at that, and some of his team who don¡¯t know, as Illusion magic is rare. One of the girls stepped up. She had magnificent light green hair, and looked about 9 or 10. I did wonder how she was on the streets, but more importantly thought about what her affinity was. ¡°I¡¯m Seia, 10, with a Healing affinity.¡± She whispers nervously. She definitely looks young to want to be an adventurer, but I won''t judge, except I do wonder why she isn¡¯t in the orphanage.


    Of course, everyone looks at her with appreciation and happiness. Healers these days if its not an emergency cost money, but even if its an emergency they generally make you pay afterwards. Of course, having a healer on your team just makes everything better. A boy walked up next to her. ¡°Sunny, 10, with the Light affinity.¡± He said proudly. I kinda expected that. Sunny had light yellow hair, a smile like the sun and an eerily similar face to Seia. ¡°Are you two twins?¡± Leia asks, and Sunny nods. ¡°¡®Course, she¡¯s my little sister by two minutes!¡± He looked very proud of the fact he was older.


    Next up was a boy. ¡°I am Jack, 11, and I have the Earth affinity.¡± I nod, he¡¯s like Lark then with his affinity, and slightly older than the twins with his age. ¡°I¡¯m Zeen, 12, and my affinity is Water.¡± Not too common around these parts, but not uncommon. His age too is an increase on Jacks, so they would be an interesting team with the different ages, especially since Ollie is clearly much older than the rest. And finally, it was Tyron. ¡°I¡¯m Tyron, 13, and my affinity is Fire.¡± Well, I figured that he was around that age, but it was still a slight surprise to know. We all nod, and Lark speaks up again. ¡°Well, you guys should head over to the adventurers guild and get a proper party set up. We¡¯ll come with you, since Reika needs to be added to our party.¡±


    And so, thats how you got a group of around 5 kids and 6 on the younger side adults heading to the adventurers guild. When we first entered and came up to the desk, Ollie started by taking his group to a different receptionist, while Lark came up to the one in front of us. They had the standard guild uniform, and looked bored. However they perked up once they noticed us. ¡°Hello, and welcome to the adventurers guild. How may I help you today?¡± They ask in a practiced manner. ¡°We¡¯d like to add Reika here to our team.¡± Lark says, gesturing to me.


    The receptionist nods. ¡°Whats your team name?¡± Dennis replied this time. ¡°Orphans and War.¡± They get out a sheet of paper, and hand me a quill, with some ink being on the desk. ¡°Put your name here, and then your signature over there.¡± The receptionist instructs, and i do so. Once I¡¯ve filled in the boxes, they stamp it, and then look up at us. ¡°Is that all?¡± We nod. ¡°Well, we have a quest offer for any adventurers who want to.¡± They almost look... hopeful? As if they get something if we accept their offer. Lark glances at all of us, before replying. ¡°What¡¯s the offer?¡±


    They seems hesitant to answer, but grab a piece of paper from under the desk, and hand it to us. ¡°The Adventuring School is doing a dungeon, and they need at least two teams of wood to help them clear the dungeon. It does say preferably middle wood rank, but they truly don¡¯t mind. It¡¯s an experience to show them how the world truly doesn¡¯t revolve around them.¡±


    We all look between us, and the receptionist leans in, their face losing its professional facade. ¡°To be truly honest with you, they¡¯re all real brats.¡± They whisper. ¡°If you need the money though, that¡¯s a whole other story. They pay good, despite their treatment.¡± I, curious, look over at Ollie, who is staring at me, and clearly having gotten the same offer as us. I lean in to Leia. ¡°I think we should take it.¡± I whisper into her ear. ¡°We can do it with Ollie and the others.¡± She nods at my suggestion, and passes it on to Lark.


    After Lark shared it to the others, also known as Harvey and Dennis, they all agreed, and we signed up. The receptionist looked surprised, but it was as if it wasn¡¯t entirely unexpected for them, as we certainly look¡­ poorer than most, to put it kindly. To put it straight, we were wearing basically rags that had heaps of tears, patched up spots, and some of us looked like we spent more on fixing our clothes than buying new ones. Despite that, we were clean, having had showers.


    Well, it wasn¡¯t that bad. We had enough money to buy clothes as adventurers, even if we were only wood rank, and Lark had his own house that everyone contributed to so they could sleep there as well. I look across to Ollie, and start to walk to him. ¡°Hey, Ol.¡± I call out and he turns around, curious. ¡°Yeah?¡± He asks. ¡°We signed up for the Adventuring School Quest, and we thought that you could join us. Although, you may be a bit weak¡­.¡± I trail off, just as the receptionist notices my comment. ¡°No, they won¡¯t mind. After all, it''s an exercise to teach the kids that despite their wealth, others like you can also be as strong. Besides, they¡¯re first years, and they only got selected, so you¡¯re fine.¡±


    Ollie nods, and he relays the message to all the kids. There are varying reactions, from scowls-from Sunny and Seia-to annoyance-from Jack-and finally some greed at the mention of the money paid, not including tips from teachers-seen from Zeen and Tyron. Well, Ollie just has his normal poker, but being his friend of many years, I noticed how his face ranged from wariness and  caution to a scowl. I didn¡¯t blame him. Most nobles were brats, only a couple, like Dalyva, were down to earth and truly kind. I sigh internally. Dalyva. Even in times like this, surrounded by teammates and friends, I couldn¡¯t help but hope she was okay, that she wasn¡¯t hurt, and that she would return in one piece, as perfect as she left. But that was all a fisherman¡¯s dream. No one was the same when they returned from anything. She knew that when she did this trip, it would expand her horizons, change her mind, and make her think of the greater world than just our tiny town here.


    But realms changed you, much more than a trip. Especially an unknown realm. Just thinking of how she was made me worried, but I pushed it aside as Lark proposed the idea of us going to his place. Agreeing, since most of us didn¡¯t have a home, we all started to go to his house, of course not before doing the procedures to accept the quest first.


    As we walked, Ollie was uncharacteristically quiet. ¡°Ollie?¡± I ask, looking at him. His shaggy curls fell over his eyes as his head drooped, and I knew he was thinking of something. He looked up briefly, just to say what he was pondering. ¡°Would Appa and honey taste good together?¡± He says. I stare at him in disbelief. ¡°Seriously?¡± I ask. He looks up again, innocent. ¡°What? I was curious if they would.¡± I look at him, before bursting out. ¡°I thought something was actually wrong! But no, its just you being stupid!¡± I-lightly-whack him on the back of the head, before continuing to walk, a huff escaping my lips as i pass him.


    He looks with mock hurt across at me, but I ignore him and go to Leia, wanting to get away from the stupid boys.

 Chapter 21- Path and Rank

    As I flop onto my bed, I catch a whiff of the stink from Taegan, and grimace. Even with him on the other side of the room I could still smell the stench of the rank up grime. Of course, I knew logically that I would have to go through it too, but I think I could wait for that. The only unfortunate thing about Taegan¡¯s rank up is that we don¡¯t have that much water, meaning that he only has a very small portion of water to work with until I rank up and can create water, but even then we would be restricted by my mana.


    As I ponder this-and inadvertently block out any sounds of Taegan¡¯s suffering that may cross the room-I just am met with a blank brain, staring at my tent. I sigh. Everything now was so complicated, so hard to do, I just wished that we could escape. Some days, it was fun to be in here, like a dungeon or a special adventure, but today, well, it wasn¡¯t one of those days. Today just reminded me of how tiring it is here. Bland food, no colour except purple, absolutely no control on what happens¡­


    It was a lot, just a lot. I get up with a groan, curiosity overtaking me as I walk over to our bag, wanting to see what food we had after the delicacy that was the Dueler trials soup. As I dig in it, I bring out the dimensional bag holding all of our water, and get a feel for how full it is. A sigh escapes me. ¡°Dalyva.¡± I yell, and she turns her head. ¡°Yeah Sha?¡± For a second I forget what I was saying, before replying. ¡°How much water are we allowing Tae to use for cleaning.¡± She walks over. ¡°Why?¡± She seems genuinely curious, as she stares at my hand in the big bag. ¡°I¡¯m taking inventory.¡± I replied. She nods in understanding. ¡°Not much, as little as we can afford probably.¡± I look at it, before estimating a line where Taegans bit is, and seeing how much water we have then. Not much.


    I stay quiet as I rummage through the bag, looking for food. However much I would¡¯ve loved to find heaps of food, I only found a couple things. Two Appa fruits that would barely last a day or two, three bags of glow berries, and the bag of grain from the start. At the start of our journey it had been bulging full, but after days of congee for breakfast had worn it down to now only three days of breakfast if we ate what we normally did, or maybe a week if we toned it down a bit. Of course, I didn¡¯t want to deprive us of food, but the way we were going, with only either fruit, berries and grain to otherwise flour, eggs and sugar we would last a week to two weeks if we didn¡¯t get any more food.


    Dalyva-having walked behind me-gazes at the flour before piping up. ¡°Five Bak eggs and plenty of flour could make something good.¡± I look at her. ¡°Yeah, what?¡± She shrugs. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Taegans the leader on that.¡± Just as she says that, Taegan yells over from his corner. ¡°Hey Dalyva, Sha, can I have some water to clean myself?¡± I look over to him. He¡¯s absolutely covered in black gunk, with a puddle of it surrounding his feet. I chuckle as he uses his palms to push off some of the gunk from his face. ¡°C¡¯mon Sha, please?¡± He says, and I reluctantly go over and hand him the bottle. Pouring it over himself, he gets cleaned up. I do help by controlling the water up for him to use over and over so he doesn''t waste it, till he¡¯s decently clean. I look him over with awe, his features looking sharper, more refined. Not to mention he has a six pack, which I look at with envy, even though I knew logically that I had one too from our daily exercises, training and fights.


    ¡°What can you do now?¡± Asks Dalyva, as Tae wipes remaining gunk from himself. Looking up at her question, he grins. ¡°Quite a bit, yeah.¡± He says, holding up his hand and concentrating for a second, before sand generates on his palm. There¡¯s a wince on his face, but it¡¯s quickly covered by a grin. He hovers it above his palm and forms it into a ball, and then looks at us. ¡°See?¡± He says. I grin, and so does Dalyva. ¡°Nice!¡± I say, before waiting a few seconds and adding. ¡°Also, I believe you promised biscuits?¡±


    He stares at me for a second, maybe not just in surprise but a hidden tiredness as well, before chuckling a bit. ¡°I don¡¯t know if just sugar, flour and eggs will make biscuits.¡± He says as he walks over to the leather on the floor that while we were in the trial had dried the sugar on it. I, seeing what he¡¯s planning, go over to the big bag, and grab a little one that was empty from inside it. He picks up the leather, and I hold the bag open for him as he folds the leather and it all slides in from one point into the bag. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll make biscuits, but you better not criticise how they taste, because I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll taste that good.¡± I shrug. I just want to eat something good.


    He grabs the now sugar filled bag and then finds the flour and eggs, then a bowl. He looks at Dalyva as he mixes some flour and sugar, then cracks an egg, and it falls in. Now, since we don¡¯t necessarily have a spoon, he has to use his hands. Of course, he made sure they were clean, and then started to mix. He puts the flour over the egg so he doesn¡¯t get it on his hands too much, and tries to mix it. Of course, it ends up on his hands anyways, but he manages to mix it quite well. ¡°Dalyva?¡± He looks up, and she cracks another egg into the bowl. He mixes that in, but it''s starting to need more flour, so as I¡¯m holding the flour on the other side of him, I pour it in. We do this for a while before Taegan has a clump of dough in his bowl and we have no eggs. He grabs little bits of it, and rolls them up into balls, before squishing them down into biscuit like shapes.


    I then get up, (Read- try to get up) stumble backwards and then are falling onto my back, before luckily my great brother manages to get some sand under my back and save me. He rolls his eyes at my clumsiness, but a smile is on his lips. I huff, and then sit up. ¡°That wasn¡¯t me, the floor moved!¡± I protest, and two sets of eyes stare at me with disbelief and amusement. ¡°It didn¡¯t for us.¡± Said Taegan, and I stuck my tongue out at him. I went to get the fire started so we could cook these biscuits, and when I lit it, I blew on it gently to fuel the flames into growing.


    Soon enough, they¡¯re big enough to cook with, and Taegan brings over the first batch of biscuits. We still have a lot of batter left, so it¡¯ll take ages before we get through all of it. Which is good. I mean, they¡¯re not exactly healthy, but they¡¯re food, and tasty. Dalyva put up the stones over the fire for the biscuits to cook on, and Taegan placed the first biscuits on the stone. He made them and then just placed them on, of course. I watched the biscuits as they cooked, bored. ¡°Shankhe.¡± Says Taegans voice, interrupting my train of nothing that was going through my head. I look up. ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s play specialisation battles.¡± He¡¯s smirking, so I assume he wants to try out his new upgrades, inadvertently on me. I pout, but nod. ¡°Okay. Is Dalyva participating?¡± I look over to her. She shrugs, but suggests something. ¡°We can do fights as well maybe.¡± I nod my head at her comment, before unplugging my bottle and walking up opposite Taegan. ¡°Ready?¡± He asks. ¡°Just count down already.¡± I complain, wanting to just fight. ¡°Who¡¯s impatient now?¡± He teases, but starts to count down. ¡°Three¡­ two¡­ one. GO!¡± Both of our spesh rush out of our respective bottles, colliding in the middle, and all the stuff spraying to the side clashes as well as we control it. I¡¯m completely focused on our battle as I manoeuvre the water to split into several strands, attacking his at different angles. Last time we did this, I lost because I let him overwhelm me, but this time, I¡¯m going to win. Blocking some strands of my water with sand, he generates more, letting it surround him in a circle as it shoots off to attack the rest of my water strands.


    All the water I sent at him to attack is covered, and I grimace. He¡¯s got me in a stalemate. If I move my water back, the sand comes with it and he wins. If I pressure my water past his sand, it¡¯s just going to be stopped. I look at my bottle. It still has some in it¡­. I got an idea. Since the water strands circle Taegan, I push them wide, spreading the water. Taegan wasn¡¯t expecting this, and his sand didn''t react for a few seconds, before trying to stop my water from connecting. However I was fast, and pushed a lot of mana into making sure they connected. Once they all connected in a circle around Taegan, his ring of sand started to try push it back, but I held my ground. Drawing the last bit of water from my bottle, it snakes above Taegans head, and forms a mini dagger, trying to crash into him.


    Suddenly sand explodes out of him, and covers all my water. It condenses the water, forcing it to bend to his will, and I struggle to fight back. Managing to wrestle control away from me, some sand keeps my water in a bowl, while the rest of his sand attacks and surrounds me, a sandy sword pressed to my neck. He smirks as he walks up to me. ¡°I win.¡± He happily states. I grumble about it not being fair under my breath as we both take back our elements into our respective bottles, and he also has to absorb some that he created as it''s too much to fit in the bottle.


    Surprisingly, the biscuits were cooked, and a second batch was already on and almost cooked as well, since the flames were hot. We sit down as Dalyva takes off the second biscuits and puts them on an extra stone. The third batch wasn¡¯t much, and as they cooked, I turned to Taegan. ¡°How¡¯d you do that?¡± I ask. He looks confused, before recognising what I was talking about.


    ¡°Oh, before?¡± I nod. ¡°Simple. You let your guard down, and put all your water towards me, meaning you had no defence if I covered your water in sand and took away control. So, that''s what I did.¡± Understanding went through me. ¡°So, you¡¯re saying that until I can create my element I should have extra around me.¡± He tilts his head to the side. ¡°Sort of. Even if you can create your element, you should have some already created to defend yourself in case you lack mana.¡± I took it all in and noted it down in my head.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°Guys?¡± Dalyva pipes up. We turned to her. ¡°Yeah?¡± She¡¯s putting the third batch on the stone, before saying. ¡°Why don¡¯t we do the Path-Finder trial now while the biscuits cool?¡± She asks. Taegan looks at me, and I shrug. ¡°Sure.¡± We get up, grab our weapons, and start to head over to the door. It has the symbol of a squiggly line, that on either side says start and finish. I assume it''s supposed to represent a maze. We push it open, and lo-and-behold an archway is in front of us. The door closes behind us as we stare at it, a giant ¡®Start¡¯ above the arch.


    ¡°Guess its a maze.¡± Says Dalyva, as I groan. Not only am I terrible at mazes, they¡¯re just annoying. Tiring. I let out a long breath as Dalyva goes ahead. She starts to walk in it, and I follow behind with a bored gaze.


    We continue onwards, but then Taegan tenses. Confused, I stared at him with confusion. ¡°What?¡± I ask, just as a giant Korrong jumps out. I draw my sword in a flash, ready to attack. ¡°Fu-.¡± The black and white badger-like creature rushes at me. Panicking, the only thing I do is respond to my reflexes, and leap to the side, completely abandoning any plans of fighting. It¡¯s acting almost like a rabid dog, and I panicked at its looks. It has growing purple eyes, and instead of drooling purple liquid is dripping out of its mouth, the same from the rat ages ago that corrupted my arm.


    A sort of phantom pain runs along my arm, right where the corruption is. All the way up to where a normal t-shirt ends.


    However dangerous looking it is, sand wrapped around it like rope, and restrained its movements, stopping it from attacking us further. ¡°Dalyva.¡± He instructed with a hungry gaze. ¡°Slice its head off, and we can eat the rest. Instantly her eyes light up, and she raises her halberd, approaching the squirming and struggling monster, before chopping its head off in one clean hit. ¡°Nice!¡± He says, grinning as he stares at the abundance of food before us. I look at him, knowing we don''t have any sort of bag to carry it in. He looks back at me, reading my expression-which I still have no clue how he does-before kneeling before it and bringing out his dagger.


    He starts to cut the skin off, and I help him, so does Dalyva. Now, we just have a skinned corpse, and I observe how none of the meat is that badly purple, maybe like a little more than usual. Taegan, in all his expertise, cuts a line on the inside of its leg, and cuts the meat from around the bone, before repeating with all the other legs. Then he goes to the stomach and cuts a line there that allows him to cut the meat from the ribs. He ignored the organs, although the sight of them made Dalyva a bit green.


    We eventually had a good chunk of meat with the bones and organs far away from the meat as it lay on the leather. Dalyva wasn¡¯t even looking as she stood away from us. I sort of understood, but then again she probably would have to get used to it. Taegan then picked up the leather under the meat, and it functioned like a bag, as he hauled it onto his shoulder and started to walk.


    We followed behind, only to run into a wall. We backtracked, and this time took a left, not a right. After quite a while of complaining, fighting Korrong that jumped out, and just generally backtracking more times than we could count, we finally managed to get to the end.


    However, that was not the end of our torment, as a monster jumped out at us. Taegan immediately put down our meat. Key word-put down. He didn¡¯t drop it. Which was good, because otherwise he¡¯d hear it from me. I draw my katana, and get ready to fight.Taegan takes out his Jambiyas, and Dalyva readies her halberd. ¡°Dalyva, take the left, Shankhe, to the right.¡± We rush in,a nod he takes the front. This Korrong is huge, but instead of being just mildly corrupted, it''s very corrupted, chunks of its fur even just melting into the same purple stuff emanating from its mouth.


    I rush forward, Tae yelling instructions that I obey, yet don¡¯t fully process except the main bits, like when he says ¡®Sha, left¡¯ I go left and don¡¯t listen unless he says my name again. As I¡¯m rushing left, I notice a giant white and black shape coming towards me, with sharp purple claws coming from the shape. That¡¯s when I panic. Do I go left, away from the creature, or right, into the creature in order to stab it? ¡°Sha, towards it!¡± A yell comes from behind me, and I listen, running into the black and white creature, putting full trust into Tae.


    It¡¯s also much smarter, shown as it raises up, using its back legs to balance and trying to catch us in a deadly hug. However much I would like to be hugged, I believe hugging with a monster, one with sharp claws no less, is one of the most dangerous and stupid things you could ever do in your lifetime, and something I wholly think you should not do under any circumstances. Now, that just be me though. As these said claws come to us from either side, me and Dalyva backtrack to dodge, while Taegan rushes in front of the claws, aiming to attack its head while its arms are unable to block. However the Korrong ducks down, and Tae¡¯s blade bounces off the top of its head and doesn''t go into his eye like he planned. His whole plan was foiled by the Korrong thick skull, which is why most attack its weaker areas, like its neck, eyes, stomach or armpits.


    As he runs over the Korrong¡¯s back, it rears up, but i rushed in, which diverted its attention just enough for Tae to manage to jump of the Korrong back, as Dalyva simultaneously rushes from the other side. Both of our weapons are pointing towards the creatures chest however my blade is more to the left, and Dalyva is edging over to my side on the left, ready for me to distract the creature while she slits its neck. It¡¯s rearing up, trying to snap at Taegan who is behind it, and leaving its neck wide open as its claws try to ¡®hug¡¯ us.


    Taegan sees this, and yells. ¡°Sha, stab the paws!¡± I turn, and, as he instructed, stab the paw of the Korrong, quickly pulling my sword back out as it yanks its paw away, a cry of pain leaving its mouth. It¡¯s other paw paused, and gave Dalyva enough time to jump, extend her blade, and then in turn slice the Korrong¡¯s neck. It gave a shrill cry of pain, that turned gurgled, and purple blood frothed at its mouth, spilling out as it collapses onto the ground with a thud. I stare, before a grin spreads onto my face. ¡°Yeah!!!¡± I throw my hand up. ¡°Tae, Tae, we did it!¡± Taegan is walking over with a smile. ¡°Yep, we did so.¡±


    Dalyva stares at the creature, sort of in awe. ¡°What?¡± I ask, going in front of her, curious to why she¡¯s staring off. She looks up. ¡°Hey Taegan, what was the rank of that monster?¡± Taegan looks up. ¡°Huh? Oh about high bronze.¡± He comments, and Dalyva¡¯s eyes go wide, almost with a sort of giddy happiness. ¡°We¡¯ve improved so much!¡± She says, cheering a little. Then, she closes her eyes to check how long she¡¯s got till the next rank, and I do too. As I search, I see the bright blue ball of mana, before staring past it to get to my Soul. Seeing all the Spirit fill it, I get a definite feeling. I can ascend rank.


    I immediately open my eyes, and say it out loud. ¡°Hey! I can ascend rank!¡± Both of them turn to me with grins. ¡°Really?¡± Says Dalyva, and i grin excitedly. ¡°Yep!¡± Taegan also looks happy for me, as he turns to Dalyva. ¡°What about you?¡± I ask her. Her grin widens. ¡°Almost there, one more monster and I¡¯ll be ascending.¡±


    Suddenly a token descends down in front of Taegan, and he grabs it. It¡¯s the token for completing the maze. ¡°That didn¡¯t take long.¡± I point out, a bit confused. Taegan shrugs. ¡°Maybe it was just a short one before the trophy room.¡± I could tell he really didn¡¯t care, he just wanted the token so we could get out of this area, and I agreed with him. For how many close encounters we¡¯ve had in the trials, i really wouldn¡¯t like this place either. I want to leave just as much as him. Taegan picks up the meat on the floor, that is-thankfully-untouched and we go through the door, and are now back in the white room. Guide says stuff, but we ignore him, too tired to listen to our time and also not caring.


    I go over to one of the corners, a different one from what Taegan chose to rank up. As I sit there, ready to rank up, and I close my eyes, I get an instinctive question. It¡¯s not words, it''s more a feeling, and as I accept the instinctive question, I see my Soul churn. Icy cold fingertips inch up my arm, from my fingers, to my hand, to my elbow and beyond. Heat creeping up my legs, from my toes, to my feet, to my knees and then further. Both of the feelings meet at my core, swirling, before all the mana in me is absorbed into my core, and the Spirit inside starts to mix with the mana, as an immense pain washes over me. I don¡¯t exactly hear what my body is doing, but I can tell it''s probably fallen over from the pain. It¡¯s like I¡¯m a spirit, watching over, except I feel the same pain as my body, I just can''t really tell how my body is reacting to the pain. My Soul starts to slowly expand, as all the Spirit mana is absorbed to do it.


    Multiple feelings wash over my body as I open my eyes. First, pain. That¡¯s an obvious one, and I hissed as I felt it fully for the first time. The second is feeling my head throb from mana depletion, and the third is an energised yet tired feeling. The feeling is me knowing I could go for a lot longer than normal, yet right now I¡¯m very tired. I have no clue how Taegan was functioning after this, let alone wanting to go do a maze and fight. Finally all my senses come back, and I notice I¡¯m in the middle of a gooey, black pile. It stinks, and I get up, groaning from pain but inducing it as I walk over to the edge of our camp. Dalyva notices my approach, and gets the water bottle, pouring some over me.


    I use my specialisation to stop it, and realise it comes a lot easier now, however it hurts because of mana depletion, as teh water drops to the floor. Dalyva stares at me. ¡°I just realised.¡± She said, an annoyed look crossing over her face. ¡°You could¡¯ve just made some water, dumbass.¡± She whacks me over the head with the water bottle, and my head gets pushed down a little as I pout. ¡°Owww¡­¡± I protested, before saying. ¡°I have barely any mana though, it was used to rank up~~~¡± She looks at me for a second, and sighs. ¡°Fine.¡± She gives me the bottle, and I mostly clean myself up, with Taegans help of course. He uses his spesh to control the water a bit and clean it so I¡¯m decently clean.


    Then, we all sat around the campfire, and had some of the Korrong meat, before I slunk off to bed tiredly. Taegan too heads off to bed, and I hope he sleeps in. After all, I was exhausted when I ranked up, emptied of my mana. He really should not have done the maze with us. He should¡¯ve been drained, yet he acted like it was fine When it wasn¡¯t, something I noticed he did a lot. Too much. As black overtakes me, a hand sneaks to my sword, and I gasp it instinctively, almost like an oddly comforting toy.


    In the morning, after discovering that unconscious me had dragged my katana-in its scabbard-to my bed, and then slept with it, I got up to have breakfast. Admittedly, it felt more like a brunch, but I didn¡¯t care. As I exit my tent, I see Dalyva is cooking breakfast with the low amount of water we have left. As she notices me, she grins. ¡°Ah, Shankhe. I was waiting for you.¡± She ushered me over to her, and I, sighing, tried to create water.


    Taegan made it look easy, so i expected it to be easy for me too, yet it wasn¡¯t. Half the problem was finding how to access the water residing within me, and the other half was getting it out of my body in a physical form. I first tried to imagine an ocean, and then a stream of that ocean going to my hand, and materialising. And, it worked! I filled the pot, and we sat down as it started to cook.

 Chapter 22- Taegan’s Secrets.

    I scoop up the congee into my wooden bowl, and grab a spoon from the pile. As we sit down, I start to scoop food into my mouth with abandon. Dalyva does too, but she seems almost lost in thought.


    I almost spoke up, but then she did instead, blurting out. ¡°You know about my past, right?¡± I nod, confused and surprised by the sudden question. ¡°Yeah.¡± I confirm. ¡°And I know about yours?¡± I look at her, but say. ¡°Yeahhhhh??? Sort of.¡± I stretch out the word with skepticism, adding the last bit with a bit of hesitation. ¡°Well, what do we know about Taegans?¡± She seems just genuinely curious, and I reply with all I know. ¡°He grew up in the desert, he was in Mara-Ni before now, and he¡¯s an adventurer¡­?¡± I trail off, not sure what else. ¡°Doesn¡¯t count, childhood. That¡¯s just generally.¡± I pause for a moment, scouring my brain for an answer.


    I feel like I should know, given how much we¡¯ve been through together, yet I don''t. Then, I remember where I came from, and he did too. The whole reason we thought we were siblings aside from our looks. ¡°He was found in a broken carriage.¡± I say. ¡°One thing?¡± She remarks, and I admit, that it was wholly true. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know anything else.¡± I say, a bit nervous.


    Dalyva nodded. ¡°Yeah. I know a little, but not much about your past either. Share? Since Taegans asleep. ¡± Yeah, she¡¯s direct, but it gets to the point, and we don¡¯t want to wake up a sleeping Taegan. And so, I tell her my story. ¡°I had ups and downs, but nothing as extreme as with people who I really knew about dying.¡± I said, and proceeded to start explaining my life.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll start I guess with Matron. Matron is the orphanage director, who takes care of all the kids in the orphanage. She¡¯s extremely kind, and I love her. She, well, raised me for years, and other kids, even as an adult she let me stay there until I figured out what I wanted to do.¡± I smile as I recall her kindness.


    ¡°I had a friend, and he helped his dad with their fruit selling business last I saw. We went to school together, and made lots of memories.¡° I wasn¡¯t sure what else I was supposed to say, and so when I finished, Dalyva looked at Tae, who was crawling out of the tent.


    Both of us stared at him in unison. ¡°Taegan, what was your childhood like?¡± I ask, and he stares at me like I¡¯ve become headless, before heaving a sigh of exasperation, and some other emotion I couldn¡¯t quite identify into the mix.


    He stares back at me, and then says in a completely serious voice. ¡°I need some alcohol before I tell that story.¡±


    I stare. I¡­. Well, I hadn¡¯t even thought about what his childhood was like, I hadn¡¯t even considered that it could¡¯ve been bad. Sure, that one night I saw him cry was¡­ odd, but I thought it was just because he had come here and well, see me almost die, that would hurt anyone. But, when he asked me that question, it just became even more¡­ I don''t know. I felt sad that he thought that, and it was bizarre that he would even question his human nature. Sure, lots of people had mixed heritages, but I don''t feel that it was that kind of question.


    He walks over to the dimensional bag, and pulls out the cherry blossom ale that we had forgotten about, and sets it down in front of him as he sits on the ground. He gets his breakfast, eating it under the gazes of me and Dalyva, before finally speaking up. ¡°What? It¡¯s not all rainbows and sunshine.¡± He seems slightly defensive and self conscious of the fact he¡¯s sharing his story.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    I grab the bottle, take a swig, and set it down with a refreshed breath of air. Feeling a bit buzzed, I started. ¡°I suppose I should start where I grew up. In the village, you had to pay to go to school, and it was expensive too. It wasn¡¯t exactly legal, but they did it anyways for the money.¡± Dalyva looked horrified that they were exploiting people, but stayed quiet as I continued.


    ¡°Me and some others would sneak up into the school attic however, and learn a lot from that, and do the people who went to school¡¯s homework for a couple copper, especially the rich kids. They paid the best. Well, I had a group of friends, and I was brought up by desert scouts. I had one particular favourite.¡± I take another swig, Shankhe and Dalyva paying rapt attention to my story. ¡°A father figure, you could say.¡± I could almost hear the question on their lips. What happened? ¡°Then, the monster surge came. It happened when I was about 10, so seven years ago. I went out with Catri-that''s the name of the desert scout-however we ran into a group of iron monsters, way stronger than what Catri, or definitely me, could handle. It was before the expected surge was supposed to happen, so we didn¡¯t know that monsters of that strength were going to be there.¡±


    They stare at me, Dalyva with sympathy as she¡¯s guessing what¡¯s going to happen next, and Shankhe still with curiosity. ¡°He was¡­.¡± Even with the alcohol, it was hard to say what happened, but I managed of course, with the help of the buzz. ¡°Killed.¡± I finish, and they stare at me, not really shocked by how it happened, as I had made it seem like that was going to happen by my wording and expressions, as well as my actions.


    ¡°Then, I only had my friends to rely on, and we all had a fun time together.¡± I stare off wistfully. ¡°Being adventurers, hunting monsters, doing some dungeons¡­¡± I started to think of the cheerful, non-dead adventures we shared, and thought that if not for the alcohol, which for some reason kept me grounded, I would¡¯ve already burst into tears long before I got to my friends. ¡°Well, that all ended five years after Catri¡¯s death, when we went out monster hunting, too cocky for our own good, as we ended up getting destroyed by these bronze rank monsters. But of course, we weren¡¯t supposed to be out here, as hunting monsters before you turn 16 is punished in most places and illegal in others.


    We however wanted to be free, and did so even when we knew that our Souls were still maturing.¡± Yes, peoples Souls had to mature enough before they could absorb Spirit, even if they were killing monsters. Not many people know what happens to Spirit when you kill a monster before you¡¯re mature, but those who do know either don''t want us to know because it''s horrible or are thinking it''s a very good strategy to get stronger. Well, it didn¡¯t hurt me so I don''t really care. Aside from my internal thoughts, I continue the story of my life.


    ¡°Since no one knew we were there, everyone ended up bleeding out, and dying in the sand.¡± A deep chugging of the bottle. ¡°There were two of us left. Me and Garu. However, Garu was¡­ oppressed. His family was mean, wanting him to become a proper noble boy, studying studiously and being their best son. But, he didn¡¯t want that. He wanted to be free, to travel the land with me and the rest, and so, he didn¡¯t make it out of there alive either.¡±


    I didn¡¯t elaborate, but both of them could guess at my meaning. Dalyva looked almost panicked, unsure if she should¡¯ve dredged up such stories, and Shankhe just looked repulsed, repulsed that people would be so demanding. ¡°When I returned to the town, you could say¡­ people didn¡¯t like me. Garu¡¯s family hated me especially, when I showed no emotion that their son had died. Many people¡­.¡± I closed my mouth. I was being more open than usual, but that didn¡¯t mean I still wasn¡¯t reserved on what I said. I shake my head. ¡°Never mind.¡± Shankhe stares, silently encouraging me to continue, but not with a ¡®I¡¯m going to use this against you look¡¯ but a more ¡®we want to help¡¯ look. Dalyva too took on the expression as they took in more and more of my story.


    A sigh escaped me, and reluctantly I whispered. ¡°They beat me. Called me monstrous, inhumane, a devil, demon, not worthy to live.¡± Even with the alcohol dulling my emotions, a single tear slipped down my cheek. Shankhe gawked at me, finally realising why I asked the question that I did ages ago, but then murderous. Not at me, but the people who hurt me when I was at my lowest.


    My face took on a more cheery tone, but it was forced, enstrangled from the real Taegan and plastered onto this face. ¡°But I escaped.¡± I say. ¡°And made it to Mara-Ni.¡±As much as I¡¯d like to say Shankhe and Dalyva looked happy, they looked at me, Shankhes eyebrow raised in a clear gesture of- ''What''s next?¡¯


    I didn¡¯t like to share this bit. I didn¡¯t like to share any of it, but this memory. It was more recent, fresh in my mind, and hurting. You see, and I narrated this out loud- ¡°I had made it at a very bad time, a coal rank monster had managed to escape a dungeon, wreaking havoc all over the town nearby. Houses were on fire, people were cowering in fear, and there was nothing I could do.¡±


    A shiver ran down my spine, and Sha came up and hugged me, waiting for me to continue. ¡°People were dead, and the giant drake of iron rank was swiping its giant claws at some innocent people. I was scared, helpless, yet I couldn¡¯t look away, and that''s when the drake''s head rolled off its body.¡± I paused and Dalyva and Shankhe were staring at me like I just told the most horrifying story ever, and I suppose I did. ¡°Then what?¡± Asks Dalyva nervously. ¡°Then, I saw a man. He had flowing red hair, and his eyes glowed a clear teal colour. He had saved us. As we cleaned up, him and his team helping the injured and burying the dead, I discovered that he was a warrior. Specifically, he was a Paktuan warrior. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    That¡¯s why I want to be one as well, to save and help people in need, so they¡¯re not as helpless as I was. We had a big toast that night, and they invited me into their village, even in their darkest of times, and everyone shared stories about the people lost under the stars. I stayed there for two years, and just a couple weeks ago decided to leave before the monster wave in order to start going to Paktu.¡±


    After a couple moments of awkward silence, Dalyva spoke up nervously. ¡°You¡­ didn¡¯t have the best childhood, did you Tae?¡± It was a stupid question, and she definitely looked like she regretted it the moment she said it, but I shrugged. ¡°No, I didn¡¯t.¡± I admit, as Shankhe is merely still processing how my life was.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Finally addressing his story, she walked over to him, and just wrapped him in a hug. I too came over and joined the hugging, while Tae just stood there like a shot creature, unsure what to do.


    ¡°Tae.¡± Whispered Dalyva into his shoulder. I could feel her hesitation, after all, what do you say in that situation. Then, I thought of something. ¡°Tae, why do you still wear a desert mask even if you were in Mara-Ni for two years?¡± He shrugs, putting his focus on me and not my emotions-and if you ask how I know that, I have no clue-and replies. ¡°Because not all of the sand brings back bad memories, and also, it¡¯s just my culture, it¡¯s something I instinctively find comforting.¡± I nod. ¡°Cool.¡± And we end the conversation there in silence. It¡¯s not quite awkward, but it sort of is.


    My mind goes back to that day he broke down and I realised how his question was correlating to his backstory. His voice that night. ¡®Am I human to you?¡¯ That question reminds me that not everyone gets everything for granted. I quickly pull myself out, and let go of Taegan as he manages to get his hand on the almost finished bottle, and tips the bottle towards his mouth, waiting for the alcohol to drip down into his mouth, well and truly tipsy by now, if not drunk, but I doubt that because of how he¡¯s acting pretty coherent.


    I think Dalyva already knew that aside from him revealing his past, this conversation wasn¡¯t going anywhere, and that¡¯s why she started to pack up the breakfast stuff with us, knowing how we weren¡¯t really ready to fully talk about things like this.


    Finally finishing packing up-and Taegan putting the finished bottle somewhere it wouldn¡¯t break-we started to head to the last door, and as we did, Taegan picked up the dimensional bag with everything in it, and walked over to his tent, starting to pack it up and put it in the bag. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Asked Dalyva, hurrying over to where Taegan is putting the tent away. ¡°Leave it, we¡¯ll come back. Put the dimensional bag down.¡± Suddenly, something that had never happened before happened. Guide spoke without being spoken too, and seemingly for a very little reason. ¡°Once you do the Trophy Trial, you will not be returning to the main trial room.¡±


    All of us instantly turn our heads to Guide, and I stare at it with disbelief. ¡°It¡­ heard us?¡± I asked, a bit shocked that it had said anything. After all, we didn¡¯t really listen to it when we came out of the trial rooms any more, and aside from the introduction time, it hadn¡¯t really said anything. We acknowledged its words as the truth, as it never has a reason to lie to us, and started to pack up everything, including the stones used on the fire, our tents, sleeping bags¡­. Yeah, suffice to say, over the days we¡¯ve had this place as our resting place, we¡¯ve taken advantage of the area and just left things there, knowing they¡¯d be safe upon our return. It was a luxury we had taken for granted, and one soon to be ruined as we took steps out of the trials and to the next part in this labyrinth, or dungeon. Whichever one it was. I had forgotten at this point.


    We gathered our weapons, and headed to the room with its symbol marked a gold medal, and a one inscribed on it. I stare at the door with trepidation. This¡­ was the end. Not of our journey, and not of our connection, but of a place I had almost once called home. You see, over the time it took to do the trials, it had become almost familiar to get around the campfire and talk, or just eat, even on the rare occasion to fight and play around. It was something that I had truly appreciated. A rest in the storm, many would call it, and I knew that from now on, we would have no mercy like this again until we left this place.


    Hand against the wood, my eyes connect with ones of blood, an inner strength reflecting in them and ready to face any challenge coming our way, before flickering to cloth on skin, and nodding and my hand pushed, and we ended up opening the door. Truly, who knew that pushing on a door would open it? Such discoveries today had been made.


    When I stared into the room, it felt familiar, although i had to search for how for a second, before I realised it was the exact same as the one from the Smarts room, all purple with no feature aside from the door behind us, a board in front of us, and a small pillar that maybe was as tall as a normal desk, with a handprint in it, and a couple words carved into the board read- ¡®Place thy hand upon the pillar and derive from it what makes thou stronger.¡¯ I stared for a moment, trying to come to the conclusion of what that meant, for it meant something important, I was sure of that.


    ¡°Dalyva?¡± I turn to her with a curious gaze, and she just, sort of, chuckles? ¡°It means place your hand upon the stone and they will tell you what makes you stronger.¡± She translates from the complicated wording on the wall. Okay, so it wasn¡¯t that bad, but it was kind of hard to someone who never paid attention in class. Sure, i probably should¡¯ve, and am paying for it now, but like, its hard to focus when all my friends are talking and providing interesting information, like how one of the fishman¡¯s ships had crashed into the rocks fighting another band of fishmen. I start to walk over, but Taegan pulls me back. I stare at him. ¡°What?¡± I ask, curious as to why he stopped me.


    He stares at me like I was insane, shakes his head, sighs, before saying. ¡°Because, just maybe, we should think before touching it, and have an actual plan?¡± He sarcastically looks at me, and although knowing he¡¯s either a very strong drinker and is just lightly tipsy or full on drunk, i begin to suspect that he¡¯s only lightly tipsy, even with having downed what would be half a bottle of alcohol, with it being dwarves alcohol as well meaning its got a lot more kick for the amount of liquid in the bottle.


    I turn to Dalyva, waiting for her to break this tie with the obviously correct answer. ¡°I agree with Taegan.¡± And immediately i have lost faith in the people i am grouped with.


    Truly, this labyrinth has diminished their intelligence, turning me, a mere going-to-be-once-I-got-out-of-this-place-adventurer, into the smartest here. Taegan sits on the floor, and we all follow, Dalyva looking around for any clues or hints aside from the board and pillar. ¡°So, do you think it¡¯s safe?¡± She questions, and Taegan shrugs. ¡°Yeah. I just think that we need to carefully think about what¡¯s happening here, because it seems strange that it¡¯d only have one room, although it might be like the Smart Trial and have rooms revealed after we do it.¡± I just block out most of what they¡¯re saying, after all, I don''t get it. Why wouldn¡¯t you just do it, it seems perfectly safe, and we can''t see any traps.


    Finally they come to the conclusion that Taegan can go first, and I watch with anticipation as he walks up there and places his hand on the pillar, in the hand indentation. I wait for a second, before on the screen, where before it was carved instructions now read something completely different.


    ¡®Please fill out this information sheet.¡¯ I was confused. An information sheet, why would it need that? The board changes to the sheet of information, some things already filled out;


    ¡®Name-


    Species-


    Age-


    Rank- Bronze


    Specialisation-


    Please state ¡°my name is¡±, and then your name, and continue that with the rest of the blank spaces.¡¯


    I look to Taegan, who is starting to do that. ¡°My name is Taegan.¡± He starts off, and then, as his name appears where the blank spot was before, he continues. ¡°My species is human.¡± Suddenly he shivers, and he looks back at us with eyes wide. ¡°I-I got shocked¡­¡± He¡¯s in disbelief, as where before it had instructions on how to fill in the blanks it says. ¡®Please do not lie.¡¯


    ¡°Please do not lie?¡± Taegan says incredulously. ¡°I am human. What else could I be?¡± Dalyva starts to get up, and walks over to where Taegan is, almost as if she¡¯s looking at something. She picks up a clump of his sandy hair that was near his face, and moves it to the side, away from his ear. Pointing at his ear, I see something that wasn''t there before he ranked up. His ears were pointed. However, they aren¡¯t long like an elf¡¯s, it wouldn¡¯t be an orc or goblin, since those have green skin, and I was utterly stumped as to what it could be. Then, I realised something. If Taegan had it, wouldn¡¯t I too? I reach my hand up, fast but with hesitation, before finally touching my ear. Everything felt mostly the same, except instead of round at the top, it was pointed. What could it be?


    Taegan tried something. ¡°My species is unknown.¡± And luckily, that worked. It put three question marks on his information sheet, and he continued. But both me and Dalyva were thinking about what our species could be. Fairy? Well, we dont have wings. I just tune back in to what Taegans doing as he finishes stating his specialisation. In the end, once he¡¯s done, one question comes up.


    ¡®Would you worship the master of this labyrinth?¡¯


    Immediately I can see him almost physically double back, and then quickly reply with a hurried, but definite. ¡°No, never in my life!¡± He said. The board stayed that way for a couple more seconds, almost as if it was waiting for him to revoke his decision and say yes, before putting up a full information sheet with added things already filled out.


    ¡®Name- Taegan


    Species- ???


    Age- 17


    Rank- Wood


    Specialisation- Sand


    Worship- No


    Corruption level- 2%


    Please remove your hand so that the next person can get evaluated.¡¯


    We all stare at it, and Taegan removes his hand quickly. I stand up to go next, a bit eager, but thats fine. I place my hand on the still warm stone, and as the information sheet appears, states my name, and then my species as human. That was a mistake. A tiny electrical current runs up my arm and then down my spine, making me shiver. The same message when Taegan said he was human appeared. ¡®Please stop lying.¡¯ And so instead. ¡°My species is unknown.¡± Is what I said, and the board likes that. I¡¯m kind of happy that I¡¯m not human though, as that means I¡¯m more likely to be Taegans brother. Once I fill out all the areas, I get the worship question, and answer with. ¡°Hell no.¡± I say, horrified to even think that the person who made my entire forearm, plus half of my upper arm purple, a person I would worship. Finally, I got my finished information sheet.


    ¡®Name- Shankhe


    Species- ???


    Age- 17


    Rank- Wood


    Specialisation- Water


    Worship- No


    Corruption level- 15%


    Please remove your hand so that the next person can get evaluated.¡¯


    I do so, and Dalyva does hers. However, while she¡¯s doing that, I can tell that Taegan is looking at me concerned, almost¡­ scared, even. He stares at me, and then goes over to me, staying near me, like he¡¯s afraid I¡¯ll disappear at any moment. It was probably due to my high corruption percentage. I smile, trying to reassure him that I¡¯m okay, but his face stays blank, unreadable.


    ¡®Name- Dalyva


    Species- Human


    Age- 16


    Rank- Common


    Specialisation- Sand


    Worship- No


    Corruption level- 5%


    Please remove your hand.¡¯


    All of us stare at it expectantly, confused on what to do, why we did that, and if it was necessary. Dalyva removes her hand, the pillar sinks into the ground and the board says something. ¡®Go through the door.¡± The board then splits open, revealing a purple forest.

 Chapter 23- People.

    I look through the door to the jungle. It looked dense, like the deeper parts of Dajenu. Everything as expected was purple, but there were vines and trees of varying purple, almost as if the purple was different to accomodate the lack of other colours. In fact, I thought I could maybe hear the call of birds, but that¡¯s extremely unlikely.


    I glance at Taegan and Shankhe. ¡°Taegan? Shankhe?¡± I ask, as they both stare at the forest. Finally snapping out of it, Taegan adjusts the straps on his shoulder from the dimensional bag and replies. ¡°Yeah?¡± Shankhe as well is shocked, and a bit happy that we¡¯ve finished the trial rooms. Suddenly as we do this the tokens are pulled from the bag, floating out as they come in front of us, merging together in a flash of light. What''s left is a singular token, one with three dots on it. There¡¯s a yellow dot, a blue dot and a red dot, with a trophy on top of the dots.


    I reach out and grasp the token in my hand, feeling the wood. The dots didn¡¯t feel different to the wood, and I was confused as to what they were, maybe representations of ourselves for clearing it? Who knew? Well, I suppose the maker of this place did, but that was beside the point. I started putting the token away, just as through the bushes came a leprechaun. I blinked, surprised to see a face that wasn¡¯t mine, Taegan¡¯s, or Shankhe¡¯s but not just that. Leprechauns were notoriously known for being from the feet of Jesva-as the entire world''s continents are like a dragon laid on this world and over time dirt sunk into the bones and created continents, which was entirely how the world was made-quick history fact. He had pale skin, way more than my own, and flaming red hair that matched a bright smile, only that smile morphed into something of wariness, almost borderline hostility for a fraction of a second, before quickly resuming his smile, like he had figured something out after looking us over.


    It was almost offending to how quickly he assumed we weren¡¯t any trouble, even while I held a halberd with clear knowledge on how to use it. Taegan gripped one of his Jambiyas, and Shankhe his katana, both of their identical gazes landing with suspicion on the man. The leprechaun put up his hands, his green suit standing out in the purple forest, and it was almost a relief of seeing another colour that i almost just relaxed. But, this wasn¡¯t back home where everyone was nice and kind. No, this was a dangerous labyrinth, and it would be wise to be cautious.


    ¡°Let down your guard.¡± Said the man, in a friendly tone, taking a step back. ¡°I mean no harm.¡± Skepticism came off like waves from both of Taegan and Shankhe, and Taegan, almost like it was instinctive, came and put himself slightly in front of me and Shankhe, us both stepping behind him, like his presence was a comforting barrier from anything the world threw at us. I shake my head, clearing my thoughts. ¡°Are there more of you?¡± Asked Taegan.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Khaliff (pronounced ck-all-leaf) stared at the people before him. They were practically teenagers, and by the standards of where he lived, which was the Futon isles, also known as the dragon¡¯s toes they were. Probably. Of course, he didn¡¯t know their ages.


    He debated answering the kid¡¯s question, but started to look them over first. The one in front, presumably the leader, looked tired, and as Khaliff noticed the tight grip he had on his daggers at his side, definitely trained. Or had years of experience, as the boy''s stance was confident yet cautious. Ready to attack at the mere movement towards a weapon to hurt them. He had a fabric desert mask, and sand coloured longish hair. The top orange while the tips faded into a more yellow as it was almost at his shoulders, clearly having not been cut in a long time. His face was hardened, and Khaliff noticed how similar it was to the other boy. He looked at him.


    Dark blue hair at the top and light blue down the bottom, about the same length as the leader. Yellow eyes that reminded Khaliff of the beach, but also of the light tips of his assumable brother''s hair and a hand gripped on the katana at the kid''s waist. No desert mask though. Just as his attention was to flicker to the girl, he noticed something. The desert boy¡¯s hair had moved aside, revealing pointed ears. Khaliff stood there for a second, trying to decipher the species. Not fairy, there are no wings to prove that. Not elf, their ears aren¡¯t short. Maybe a halfling? He internally shook his head as he looked over the girl. He¡¯ll figure it out later.


    She had golden hair that was quite pretty, cute ruby eyes and a halberd beside her that was gripped with such confidence looking like she clearly knew how to use the thing. A human definitely as he saw her ears when she moved her untied hair behind her ears. He then glanced over them all, and saw how thin they were-like they hadn¡¯t eaten a proper meal in days. Fora would love to take care of them. Overall, they all looked like tired, hurt kids that hadn¡¯t a soul but each other to rely on, and just wanted to escape this hell. And so, deciding that they weren¡¯t dangerous, Khaliff answered their question. ¡°Yes.¡± He answered, except was still cautious to not answer wrongly, as that would end in him dead from the defensive look that was sent his way from the leader, the desert boy. ¡°There are two factions.¡±


    Of course, they all perked up at that. Well, the two back people. Not their leader. Khaliff got the feeling he was more careful than the others. ¡°What are the factions, and which one are you apart of?¡± The leader asks, still overly cautious. ¡°I¡¯m part of the Freedom faction, which is a group working towards getting out of this place, and the other faction is the Corruption faction, although everyone just calls them the cultists.¡± Khaliff said, trying to fill these kids in and be friendly with them, at least enough for them to let down their boundaries so that he could take them back to Fora. She was so much better than him in letting kids know they were safe. He internally sighed as the kids processed the information he gave.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    I look at Taegan, and my stomach rumbles. I was hungry. I sneak my hand into the dimensional bag, taking out a bag filled with cookies, despite the situation. In my defence, the biscuits were maybe the best thing we¡¯d had for weeks, and on saying that, I bit down on the sweet goodness. The sugar fills my mouth, and I close my eyes to fully feel the ecstasy of eating the heavenly goods. Then, I remembered we were in the presence of the enemy, and both Taegan and Shankhe were staring at me, though both with different expectations. I hand Shankhe a biscuit, and we both munch down on them as Taegan turns to look back at the man, as if we were a lost cause.


    ¡°Rude.¡± I muttered, and I could physically see Taegan roll his eyes, even though he was facing away from me, his back turned. The man looked between us with visible confusion. Taegan hadn¡¯t said a word, and yet I called him rude. That didn¡¯t matter, because so long as Taegan and Shankhe understood, everything was fine.


    ¡°Will you join me in going to the settlement we have set up at the Freedom Faction?¡± Asked the man, and Taegan put his hands on his hips before saying. ¡°Well, we probably need to know your name before we follow you to a place that could or could not be somewhere we are killed.¡± I got Taegans protectiveness and fear, I got it, all of us did, and I truly understood why we needed to know the man¡¯s name. But all I want, right now, is a hot bath, a nice warm soup, and a soft bed to lay in so I can finally not have to sleep on the hard floor.


    ¡°My name is Khaliff.¡± Said the leprechaun, nodding his head. ¡°Now will you follow me?¡± And we gladly did. With some nudging at Taegan, who turns out was going to go anyways, as he didn¡¯t feel like Khaliff was as strong as us, or would threaten us.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    We followed Khaliff through the jungle, both me and Shankhe one step behind Taegan, a clear path having been etched by several feet walking on it as Khaliff walked with practiced precision, and as we reached the end of the forest, the grasslands was a open field, exposing the high walls with two knights standing guard out front. ¡°Khaliff.¡± Call the knight on the left. ¡°Introduce your friends.¡± They had spears by their sides, although they weren¡¯t pointed at us, as if they didn¡¯t see us as threats. ¡°They¡¯re newbies Terry, I¡¯m taking them to Fora.¡± The knight on the left-Terry-left out a sigh, and started to open the giant door. The knight on the right quickly copied, and soon the doors were open enough for us to walk through.


    As we walked in, everything hit me at once. The smells of street food, the sound of people laughing and walking by. I felt stares on my back, but I ignored it as I saw the houses and happy people. I was¡­ jealous. I wished I could be the people who started here, and not where we did having to go through the trial rooms, not having enough food for lunches most days, and having barely enough food to survive.


    Khaliff took us past the people, and to the middle of the settlement, where a big building sat. Like a castle, but it seemed to house a lot more people than a castle would. Khaliff led us through the halls, and we arrived on the other side of the castle where a simple cottage was. Khaliff walked up to the door and knocked. ¡°Fora.¡± He called out, and a woman, looking about 30, opened the door. She had red hair, just like Khaliff, and was a leprechaun. She wore a green dress, and as soon as she saw us, ushered us in. ¡°Come in, come in.¡± She encouraged us, and we walked in nervously after Khaliff.


    The woman looked over us in almost a pitying way as she looked us over, before making her face blank, and walking up to us. ¡°I¡¯m Fora.¡± She says, stepping closer to us than Khaliff had, a mere two steps away, despite our hands gripped on our weapons still. ¡°You?¡±


    Taegan looks at the woman, carefully staring at her as if assessing her movements, before finally saying. ¡°Taegan.¡± She nodded, acknowledging it, and turned to Shankhe. ¡°Shankhe.¡± He says, and then I say my name. ¡°Dalyva.¡± When we¡¯re done, she once over¡¯s us, seeing all our weapons and points to a weapons rack that has two clearly not used often swords on it, as they have dust on their scabbards. ¡°You can put your weapons there and I¡¯ll serve you dinner. Don¡¯t worry about me having enough as well, I always make enough for heaps of people even when it¡¯s just me and Khaliff.¡±


    I walk over to the rack, and set my halberd down, my arms thanking me as they were getting tired. Shankhe seems reluctant to put his weapon there, as it''s the first time-excluding when we slept and even then we were still close-that our weapons wouldn¡¯t be in easy reach for us in over three weeks. I mean I don''t know how long we¡¯ve been here, since I haven¡¯t tracked it, so I have no clue, but long enough. I might have even been a month? It seems like a long time, so I¡¯m not questioning it.


    Shankhe eventually put his weapon on the rack, but Taegan didn¡¯t. Both of us understood, and we started to look at Fora as if wondering where to go. ¡°Sit down on the rug and I¡¯ll serve you dinner.¡± We look at the rug on the ground, and kneel on our knees, sitting on our shins. Khaliff sits opposite us, though he definitely noticed how Taegan didn¡¯t put his weapon away, as he, before sitting down, had gone up to Fora and whispered something to her, though she waved it off dismissively. Fora came in soon after with five bowls expertly balanced on her forearms and hands. She passed one to me, and I took it gratefully, hungry and ready to eat. Grabbing a spoon from the box that Khaliff offered me. Both Taegan and Shankhe got their meals, and when Fora sat down, we started to eat.


    I brought a spoonful up to my mouth, looking at it. It had chunks of meat and vegetables, and I blew on it, before depositing it into my mouth with a groan of absolute joy. It tasted heavenly. The flavouring was great, the meat just tasted awesome, and all of it together was almost overwhelming for my poor tongue that hadn¡¯t tasted anything like this for ages.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Fora looked at the kids Khaliff had taken in, and as she did, she noticed how the boy with the desert mask, Taegan, hadn¡¯t started eating his meal. She waited a few concerned seconds, and then noticed, after Dalyva and Shankhe had started digging in and were almost finished, he started to eat. She frowned. He was clearly either used to waiting till they were done to ensure they were full before eating himself, or he had gotten used to it in his time here. Fora suspected it was the latter, which meant that they had had more than a day here, more than Khaliff had suspected anyways. From how they seemed extremely close as well just pointed to them all being together for a long time.


    She finished her own bowl, and started to get up. ¡°Anyone want seconds?¡± She gently asks. Instantly three heads look up at her eagerly, but also nervously. The other boy, Shankhe, put up his bowl, giving it to her. ¡°Yes please.¡± The girl as well handed her bowl to Fora, and so did the last boy, after he finished his bowl. Fora walked up to the pot hanging over the fire as thoughts swirled in her head. How much had these poor kids been through? And what would they do here? She scooped some more soup into the bowls, and came back, giving them back their bowls.


    All three dug in this time, Taegan reassured there was enough food for all of them. Once they had finished this time, Fora gathered their bowls and spoons, putting them in a pile near the pot. Once that was done, Khaliff stood up as Fora approached. ¡°Do you all want to sleep together?¡± Asked Fora curiously. They look between each other, discussing quietly and Taegan responds after a moment. ¡°We dont have to be.¡±


    Fora nodded, and turned to Khaliff. ¡°Khaliff, would you show the boys the spare room and then show them the bathing room?¡± Khaliff nodded, and Fora gestured for the girl to follow her as the two boys started to follow Khaliff. She didn¡¯t fail to notice the couple of looks thrown around between them as they separated.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    I follow Fora nervously, occasionally swiping hair out of my face as she leads me through the hall and to a bedroom. Once we get in the room, I look around happily, and quickly take a step towards the bed, before stopping as I realise how dirty I am. Fora noticed, and smiled gently. ¡°There¡¯s a bathing room just for us girls over here.¡± She gestures to opposite Dalyva¡¯s bedroom. ¡°Here, come along.¡± Dalyva follows, and they walk into the room. It''s a quite simplistic spring, but since I hadn¡¯t had a proper bath since being here, it looked amazing. The water was tinted purple, but what wasn¡¯t purple these days?


    I pulled myself out of my head as Fora approached me, closer than she had been before. ¡°Can I help you?¡± She asked, making sure I was okay. I nodded, and we quickly got undressed, before stepping into the warm water. Well, I tried to, but Fora grabbed my wrist. She pulled me over to where a bucket was, and we washed ourselves down, before then hopping in the spring.As soon as it touched my toes, I quickly got in, it felt too good to be true. I basked in the warmth for a few moments as Fora joined me. My hair got wet as well, but I didn¡¯t think of the problems that would cause as I enjoyed the hot spring.


    ¡°So.¡± Asked Fora after a couple minutes of us soaking in the warmth. ¡°How long have you been here?¡± I look up at her. ¡°Us? About¡­..¡± I trail off, not really sure myself. ¡°Maybe two or three weeks. Maybe a month?¡± She nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a long time for someone to be here without encountering anyone else.¡± She sat there for a moment, and I started to waver, the tiredness I had been feeling finally kicking me in the guts.


    Fora noticed, and started to get out of the hot spring. She helped me out, dried me off, and gave me some pyjamas, which were way more comfier than sleeping in my clothes.


    Fluffy. That was all I could think as I ran my fingers through the fabric. Fora smiled as she led me to my bed, and sat me down. I almost flopped right there from tiredness, but my hair was still wet. ¡°Wait there a second.¡± Fora said, dashing out and so I waited. My eyes closed several times, trying to make me fall asleep, but I managed to hold on as Fora came back with a brush.


    She started running it through my hair, pulling on my head occasionally, but really being careful as she got all the knots from my hair. I just sat there, enjoying the feeling of someone brushing my hair, and eventually, as she finished, started to dry my hair with some of her magic and a heat stone. It took a little while, a while when I almost fell asleep, but my hair was finally done. I ran a couple fingers through my silky goodness happily, and then fell back on the bed, inky blackness taking over as I fell asleep.


    When I woke up, for a second I panicked, unsure as to when I had found a bed to sleep in, and had blankets over me, but then I remembered and fell back into the bed. The mattress was bouncy, and the pillow was better than my own. Not to mention the warm sheets and doona on top of me that I snuggled into, reluctant to get up until a familiar face peeked into my room. ¡°Dalyva?¡± Asked Shankhe as his blue head popped around the corner. ¡°Yeah Sha?¡± I ask, dragging my heavy head up so I can see him better. ¡°Tae¡¯s up first, and you¡¯re last. Wanna get up for brekkie?¡±


    I sigh, letting it out before pushing back the covers. I soon realise that i was also in a nightie, and not in my clothes, which prompted me to touch it, only to discover how fluffy and comforting it was and walking out with Shankhe, who also had pyjamas from Khaliff assumably, as it was some shorts and a top that i reached out and touched the top on his shoulder. Yep, it was fluffy.


    We walked into the main room, and there stood Taegan, no weapons at his waist, his mask off, and bedazzled hair standing up like he just got up, even though his brother looks way more presentable and assumably got up later than Taegan from what he said. Finally, I could see Taegans eyes, which were a beautiful sea blue.

 Chapter 24- Who we are.

    I stare at his eyes with surprise. I would¡¯ve thought that his eyes would be maybe yellow like his hair, or even orange, as his hair is that colour as well, but no, it''s a stark blue, standing out compared to his orangey-yellow hair and light coloured skin. ¡°You had blue eyes?¡± I was surprised. Funnily enough when he had cried I had never thought to look at his eye colour. Maybe that was why I was surprised. I caught myself on that. No, that¡¯s one hundred percent why I was surprised.


    He stares at me, confused. ¡°Yeah, I always had blue eyes? You saw them before that one night.¡± I shrug. ¡°I never noticed.¡± A thought occurred to me as I said this. ¡°Why¡¯d you take the mask off?¡± He looks at me, surprised by the question before realising it''s a completely normal question. ¡°Because it was wet. I got it wet in the spring. Surely you noticed.¡± I just looked at him guiltily. He chuckled. ¡°Of course you didn¡¯t. What did I expect?¡± As we¡¯re together, Khaliff looks at us, and then the dimensional bag that''s sitting in the corner. ¡°Can I look at what food you have?¡± He asks, and we nod. ¡°Sure.¡± I say. He goes over, and starts to rummage through it, pulling out the pretty empty bag of grains, and the biscuits, along with the remaining glow berries.


    He starts to rummage more, brings out the rest of the Korrong meat but then seems surprised. ¡°Nothing else?¡± He looks back at us. We nod. ¡°Yeah.¡± Says Dalyva. ¡°We were running low on food.¡± Fora walks up to us, and says. ¡°Well, you don''t have to worry about that here. We get plenty of food from the adventurers and the plants we grow, if you have any seeds?¡± Khaliff starts looking through the bag, and pulls out the Appa seeds and the leftover Tor that we set aside in case we wanted to grow anything.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take the seeds to the farmers guild, unless you want to keep it?¡± He asks, and we all shake our heads. ¡°No, we were only going to use it for growing anyways, but we didn¡¯t have any pots or anything to grow it into.¡± Answers Taegan.


    As we stood there, I looked around at everyone, and then realised-i was bored. Every day before now I had been constantly fighting and struggling for our survival, that now, when we get a chance to relax, I can''t. The world seemed duller, more boring, and I couldn¡¯t stand it. It was hard last night to go to sleep without my weapon near me, as I was so used to it being there. It was confusing to know that when I got up, I wasn''t in a tent, and nor was there a fire just outside it that could warm me up in the morning. For some reason, despite the forest being dense, and the outside world in summer, it was wintery conditions here, cold and frosty. I would even bet it snowed overnight.


    ¡°Khaliff dear?¡± Says Fora as she looks at her-presumably-husband. ¡°Why don''t you all have breakfast and then you can show them to the Guild main?¡± Khaliff nods as he takes the food from our dimensional bag, giving the bags to Fora, and then putting the seeds at the door.


    Fora then gives us our breakfast, and it¡¯s simple white rice in a bowl, some kind of soup, a grilled fish, some sort of sprouts, and a rolled omelet. Fora gently chuckles as she notices I don''t know what any of it is. ¡°This is a breakfast from the body of the dragon. I got it from Azuma, the kitsune down the street.¡± She walks over to the dishes on her little box.


    Wait, I forgot to explain. Sorry, we aren¡¯t sitting on the table, instead we are kneeling on our shins and an arched-like box has our food on it.


    She points to the rice. ¡°That¡¯s the rice, obviously, and then we have the miso soup, the yakiayu, or grilled fish, takenoko, which is bamboo sprouts and they¡¯re boiled, and then Tamagoyaki, which is the omelet.¡± She clasps her hands together happily. ¡°You get it now?¡± I nod. ¡°You can use a knife and fork, but I can also help you learn to hold chopsticks if you want?¡± We all shake our heads, just wanting to eat the amazing looking food.


    As soon as she sits down, I start to dig in, eating the delicious white rice and miso soup first. The rice is plain, but the miso soup is good. It¡¯s savoury, and has a flavour that can be described with simple words, amazing to taste though. I then moved on to the takenoko, as Fora called it. They¡¯re mildly sweet, with a crisp texture. I find them delicious, and eagerly eat the whole of them.  The fish is like fish, I guess, and quite like home, which I appreciate, even if it wasn¡¯t intentional. The fish is, well, like fish, it has a grilled, smoky texture with that common white meat taste that¡¯s slightly salted.. and finally, the omelet, or as Fora said, Tamagoyaki. It has a silky texture, yet is sweet and much better than the eggs I would have at home.


    Once everyone finishes, and I notice that both Fora and Khaliff have chopsticks that look incredibly easy to use, we get up, put the dishes at the sink, and then Khaliff starts to lead us to the cupboard. He hands me a scarf, and I don it, as he gives us all scarfs and then coats.


    I look outside in wonder, as I see soft white snow covering the ground. Excitedly, I ran into the snow, flopping on it, and expecting a fluffy snow, boo no, it was cold, but it was still fluffy, and so I played around in the snow for a bit as Taegan joined me. We threw snow at each other, ducked out of the way of snowballs, and definitely got snow under our clothes. After a couple minutes, Dalyva stopped us as we finally paid attention to Khaliff.


    Following Khaliff as he led us through the street, everything was white, finally we came across a town square that led to a giant hall. It¡¯s huge and I can¡¯t believe the massive place is inside this seemingly scant town. ¡°What¡¯s the hall for?¡± Asks Dalyva, asking the question in all of our minds. Khaliff looks back at us. ¡°I suppose you don¡¯t know, do you?¡± He looks thoughtful for a second, before saying. ¡°The hall is where we have all of our guilds, and as that¡¯s true, we normally call the hall the Guilds hall or just plain Guilds main.¡±


    Huh. Guild main is a funny name. I almost laugh as I think if a guildsman, especially a respectable one with a tie and suit having a lion''s mane just randomly pop into existence around their neck. Sure, there are Leonids, and I¡¯m not saying they¡¯re weird, bit just having it puff up all a sudden? Hilarious. I can barely keep a straight face as my mind wanders to where hair could pop out. Yes, I know my mind is getting off track, deal with it. I pull myself back in, and focus on what Khaliff is doing. I look as he steps into the building, and follow after a second of hesitation, waiting for Taegan to enter before me. That¡¯s why I hesitated. That¡¯s all it is. It¡¯s nothing to do with anything else. Or, is it¡­. My mind wanders to a distinct possibility. Why did I hesitate? Was I, afraid, to go somewhere new? That couldn¡¯t be it, I never hesitated in a new place, never feared. Surely it was something else.


    I then stepped behind Taegan, as I always had when he was with me, and Dalyva followed me. As Taegan stepped to the side, I almost gasped as I looked at the place. It was huge on the inside, the high ceiling merely making it seem bigger, with arches stretching over from one pillar to another, signalling another room as every pillar in a wall connecting to the building. Meaning that every arch is the essential ¡®door¡¯ to where each guild area starts. In total, on one side there are about five of these rooms, meaning five guilds, and the same on the other side. They all have different names, and one up the front, at the end of the hall and on a cylinder-like end it¡¯s the Adventurers Guild. Classic.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    We took off our coats and put them on the racks, as Khaliff did too.


    ¡°What are all the guilds?¡± Asks Taegan, and Khaliff looks back at us from where he was looking somewhere. ¡°Huh? Well¡­¡± He points to the first guild on the left, closest to us. ¡°That''s the Culinary Guild, then next to it we have the Civilians Guild, then the Builders Guild, the Supplies Guild, the Knights Guild, The Adventurers Guild.¡± He points to the area at the end, and then starts to go back to us along the other side, naming those guilds as well. ¡°The Courier Guild, the Design Guild, the Healers Guild, the Cooks Guild, and finally, the Freedom Guild.¡± I look at each thing, and try to memorise them, but given it took me about 4 years to memorise the kingdoms on my own continent, even as a rhymed song, I doubt that''s going to happen any time soon.


    Aside from my own struggles, Taegan starts to walk up to the Adventurers Guild, getting something from a pocket that always seemed closed when I¡¯ve noticed it. ¡°Taegan?¡± I ask. ¡°You want to sign up, right?¡± He asks and I nod as I have to jog for a sec to get in stride with him. ¡°Yeah?¡± He waves a card around. ¡°Well, this is my adventurers card, so I can get signed up for jobs in this area, and we can get you signed up. Keep in mind, it''s easy to do jobs and get paid for small jobs even if you¡¯re not a member, but to do true jobs is hard without a Guild card.¡±


    We walk up to the desk, and an elf with tanned skin, dark green eyes, short yellow hair and a black headband greets us. ¡°Welcome to Adventurers Guild. I¡¯m Lilia, how may I help you today?¡±


    Taegan places his card on the desk. ¡°I¡¯d like to sign up for this area, and my brother here would like to sign up for a guild membership.¡± I preen happily as he calls me his brother so naturally, and Lilia nods as she takes his card, reading it. ¡°Well, Taegan, was it?¡± He nods, and she continues. ¡°I¡¯ll get you ready and sign up your brother¡­.¡± She trails off, unsure of my name, which Taegan says. ¡°Shankhe.¡± She nods gratefully. ¡°I sign Shankhe up immediately.¡± She goes over to a stamp, looks at Taegan¡¯s card, and then flips it to the places of admission, and stamps on it, magic swirling in the card for a few seconds, before a light flashes on the card, signalling its acceptance of the new stamp.


    She gives it back, and then dredges up a paper from under her desk, putting it in front of me with a pen. I fill out all the bits about name and age, before signing where it says I agree, and then handing it back for her to look at, and as she signs it, it transforms into a wooden card that Lilia doesn¡¯t touch, for some reason. ¡°Take it.¡± She gestures, and I pick it up, confused. Immediately as I turn it over and see it, my fingerprint is engraved on the card, with my name and age as well.


    However, as I noticed no species, I grabbed Taegans from his hand, and looked at his. Same as mine. No species. I then look up at Lilia. ¡°I thought Guild cards were supposed to have species?¡± I ask, confused. She tilts her head, then holds out her hand. ¡°Here, give them to me.¡± I hand them both to her, and she then pulls out her own card. ¡°They are.¡± She says. ¡°Say, did you two, maybe, rank up in the last couple days?¡± We nod, unsure how this is related to anything. She sighs. ¡°Sometimes, ranking up, especially for some species, means that the features start to come in and the disguise of ¡®human¡¯ wears off, or, if you¡¯re a shifter it means you can shift now. Do you know what species you are?¡± She asks cautiously, and we shake our heads. ¡°We¡¯re both orphans.¡± Answers Taegan, and Lilia nods. ¡°Well, we have Dan, our species specialist out back, and as you need your species on your Guild card to make sure you¡¯re not underage, I¡¯ll lead you to him. Although, I doubt you¡¯re underage.¡± She assures us. She gestures for us to follow her, and we do, another guild employee taking over Lilias spot.


    We head to behind the desks to where, in a room next to the training room, a simple old man sits in a chair. He has a white beard, and grey hair, with a wise look about him. ¡°A species evaluation please Gareth.¡± Lilia said to the man, no, Gareth. ¡°Gary, girl, no need to be so formal.¡± He smiles. ¡°A rank up reveal?¡± He then asks, and she nods. He takes out a book, about three cm thick, and looks up at us. ¡°Names?¡± We look at each other. ¡°Taegan.¡± Says Taegan, pointing to himself. ¡°Shankhe.¡± I answer the old man''s question.


    A smile dances his lips as he looks at both of us. ¡°Perchance, boys, did you get named by the people who picked you up, or did a name enter their heads?¡± We look at each other. I hadn¡¯t told anyone what Matron said when I came of age, that apparently the first adventurer to touch me had a name enter their head, and that¡¯s how I was named. ¡°A name entered their head.¡± I answer cautiously, wary of the old man. ¡°Oh, no need to be so scared.¡± He waves his hand at my expression. ¡°You?¡± He points to Taegan with his frail fingers,and Taegan responds. ¡°A name entered their head.¡± The man chuckled.


    ¡°This is too easy.¡± He answers chuckling, but then becomes completely serious as he looks at Lilia. ¡°Please leave, this is extremely private.¡± She nods, and leaves, closing the door behind her. He takes in a deep breath, and we look at him with rapt attention. ¡°Have you heard of Fae?¡± He asks. ¡°Aren¡¯t they the extremely strong and almost mad warriors who partner with barbarians as they all live in the dragon''s tail?¡± Taegan answers, and the old man points at him. ¡°You would be correct young man. They are not extremely strong though, they are immense. That¡¯s why they have barbarians to keep them in check, to make sure they don¡¯t destroy themselves with power.


    You two though¡­.¡± He trails off. ¡°You¡¯re twins.¡± He says that like it''s something sort of bad, yet immensely something that isn¡¯t talked about. A taboo of sorts.


    ¡°What about it?¡± Asks Taegan, and I can tell he¡¯s happy that someone else confirmed we¡¯re twins. ¡°Well, if you were a normal Fae, and had ranked up without a barbarian or person to help regulate it, your spesh would have gone wild, and driven. You. Mad.¡± He says the last three words with extra emphasis. ¡°But you¡¯re twins. Meaning your powers subconsciously regulate each other, and you have no need for a barbarian. That¡¯s why Fae twins are known as the most powerful warriors in all the lands.¡± He pauses for a moment before continuing solemnly.


    ¡°Alongside blood, space and time spesh people, they are also one of the highest kidnapped in the world.¡± I look at Taegan. ¡°You mean we weren¡¯t just part of a monster attack?¡± I ask, still skeptical that they would bring a child, a baby no less, to the other side of the world just because its a twin, not even knowing anything like how smart or good at fighting they were.


    The old man nods. ¡°I know it''s shocking, but people will do a lot for profits, especially when they need money.¡± Then he stands up. He can stand! Anyways, he walks up to us with determination, and grabs his cane, whacking us over the head.


    I look at him shocked, Taegan immediately grasping around his waist where his Jambiyas normally sit, but they¡¯re not there. He had left them at home. My vision starts to blur, and everything goes white. The last thing I see is the old man''s face as he holds up his hands defensively, saying something that I can''t hear.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    My mind is fuzzy. Who am i? I look down at my hands as I see silvery cream skin. For some reason, my instincts are warring. I feel like I¡¯ve seen these hands before, yet my instincts are saying they¡¯re not my hands. A mirror is placed in front of me, and I look into it. My eyes widen in shock as memories flood me.


    I¡¯m Shankhe, and I have a twin. But, I don''t look like this. I have short blue hair, like the sea, and yellow sandy eyes. But as I stare into the mirror, that isn¡¯t what I see. I see person with long forest green hair, and light green highlights as the hair trails down past my chest. I see eyes sparkling like emeralds, and a replica of me next to me.


    ¡°What did you do?!¡± I say, panicked as the old man moves the mirror. ¡°Simple.¡± He said. ¡°I let your Fae form out. But you better not show it to too many people, as they¡¯ll eventually realise that your skin is silvery, not just cream and hunt you down.¡±


    Taegan looks at the man. ¡°What does this mean for us, and especially our friends?¡± The old man sighs, sitting down as if he knew this question was coming. ¡°It means, well, that you have to be careful who you show your true strength, as there are always people wanting more power, and they sadly use Fae and overpowered spesh people to get there.¡± He then taps us on the head with his stick, and I brace for the feeling I had before, but now it was simple, more instinctive. ¡°You two go, I¡¯ll inform Lilia of your species and get it put down.¡± He then finishes with one thing. ¡°Make sure you are careful with who you trust.¡± He waves as we leave, and finally it¡¯s over.

 Chapter- Under the moon’s light.

    We walked out of the room, me still reeling with the shock that not only am I a Fae, I have a different form entirely that people will hunt me down for. That¡¯s the real shocker here. I turn my head to Shankhe, who is just as shocked as I. We return to the front desk, where I see Dalyva signing up to the Guild. ¡°Hey, Dalyva.¡± I call out, and she turns to us once grabbing her guild card.


    ¡°Do you know what your species is now?¡± She asks, looking at our faces that are just neutrality at its finest¡­. Well, not really. Our faces were ones of shock and nervousness, certainly not used to having such important information shoved onto us without warning. ¡°Yeah.¡± I say, and as we come together, I hear a cough from a very recognisable voice.


    ¡°Surely you didn¡¯t think that was the end?¡± The old man is behind us. ¡°What do you mean?¡± I say, whirling around in confusion, but not just that, as something else entered my mind at that moment. Sure the man hadn¡¯t hurt anyone, but I still felt that I had to face it first. I couldn¡¯t leave Shankhe and Dalyva unprotected.


    I knew that they had gotten stronger, sure, but that instinct to protect them from when they were weaker still persisted. ¡°Well, for one.¡± Said the old man, gesturing at me. ¡°You protect your friends, despite as I see it they are well equipped to handle their own fights. And also, you¡¯re weak.¡± We all look up at him in absolute shock.


    I did know that we were weak, it was a fact of life, but to have it so plainly spoken about was something that got on my nerves. ¡°We¡¯re not weak!¡± I protest, standing up to the man. ¡°We¡¯re wood rank, and that means we can fight our own battles, win our own duels.¡± My emotions are running on a frayed string, and for some reason the mere thought of saying all our hard work was put to nothing makes me angry, and I feel like punching the man for his words. The man stood there emotionlessly, stillness radiating from him.


    ¡°And yet you don''t trust them to fight on their own.¡± My eyes widen, and I sink into that truth. Dalyva steps up in front of me. ¡°Why did you come here? Surely it was not to merely point out we are weak?¡± The old man chuckles. ¡°No, it was not. In fact, you have a lot of potential.¡± He taps his cane lightly against her chest, before still with the cane drifting it across to me and Shankhe standing his left of Dalyva. ¡°You three are quite powerful, and I would be honoured to teach you how to fight like real warriors. My name is Byrnjolf Ofiegsson, although I feel that will be hard for you to pronounce, so just call me Byrn.¡±


    Dalyva seemed a bit sceptical, after all the man had a cane, and didn¡¯t look that powerful, certainly not with his wrinkles, grey hair and slight hobble. But, I trusted him, and so did Shankhe. The man-no, Byrn-was clearly powerful enough to force our transformation before, so i would think that his teaching would be rather a good thing.


    I nod, and come forward to him. Despite probably not being in the greatest headspace, especially since the transformation seemed to take a lot out of me, although adrenaline and excitement had cushioned the fall of energy, I was still-basically-human. And that meant I got tired. Actually, am I technically still considered human? Maybe like humanoid¡­.? I¡¯m just going to ignore that for now. ¡°Sure, I¡¯m sure we¡¯d love to train with you.¡± Byrn grins, and then starts to walk to a room, waving for us to follow. Any Guild employees that tried to stop him from leaving were shut down with a simple flash of his badge or wave of his cane. He certainly held great importance and power for them to act like that around him. We went through the back to where a door led out of the hall, and as we headed out, I saw the streets pass around us, and as the town diminished, we were finally in the outskirts of town. I couldn¡¯t wait for what he had planned, and was looking forward to his training, well, that is, until I saw what we were doing.


    As I saw it, I got slightly confused, not really completely sure what he wanted us to do at first, but as I¡¯m slowly getting used to the madness of this dungeon, I accepted it. First was a giant net that was suspended maybe a metre off the ground, tight and strong enough that I reckon it wouldn¡¯t waver if I stepped on it. Next, near the forest were logs strung between two trees, and they looked like they could spin a lot. I also noticed on one side there was a running track, worn down by several feet, and on the other side the same. Presumably one side was the start and the other the end. Training dummies stood closest, made out of crudely put together twigs and twine, and it was obvious the people didn¡¯t have enough wheat or grass to spare for a simple training dummy. That was okay though, since I suppose resources were pretty scarce. Heck, we basically were half starving before we discovered this place.


    ¡°So, how are we going to train with this?¡± Dalyva asked the only sensible question. Byrn looked back with a grin. Almost predatory, but also in a way that we knew we weren¡¯t going to get out of this training till he was deeply satisfied.


    He walked up to the net first, and gestured for me to come closer to him. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won''t bite.¡± He joked, and I came closer. ¡°Get up on the net from the steps, and once you get on the net, stand up.¡± I walk over to the steps, and walk up them quickly, but as soon as I get to the net, I hesitate. I step cautiously onto the net, taking it slow so I don''t fall down and hurt myself. Once I¡¯m in the middle of the net, I look at Byrn.


    ¡°Two squares forward.¡± He says, and I do so, keeping my hands out to balance myself. ¡°Two left.¡± I start to turn myself left but Byrn quickly says. ¡°No, keep facing forwards.¡± And so, I carefully go sideways. Sideways is hard, yes, but still easy since I can see where I¡¯m going. ¡°Backwards two.¡± I carefully put my foot behind me, feeling where the net is and placing my weight onto the first square. I slowly lean back, and put my weight on my back foot, until suddenly I feel like I''m falling, my arms start to flail, trying to regain my footing as I fall. My left leg, the one I put backwards, had slipped into the square, and was sticking down. The annoying old man chuckles, and I glare at him as Shankhe comes over to help me. Using Shankhe¡¯s hand as ground, I push up and haul my body back onto the net. ¡°Try looking backwards when you go backwards.¡± He advises. ¡°At least, until you get used to it.¡± And so I do.


    Taking it slow, I do a couple more of his instructions, and fall a couple more times, getting rope burns on my legs and arms, but I put up with it. Eventually, Byrn stops calling out instructions, and it''s time for me to get down. Even though the old man laughed at me when I fell, when I got down he patted my back, and said. ¡°You did good, well done.¡± I nodded in acknowledgment, even though I felt that i did horrible. Shankhe went next, and fell a lot more times than me, even when he was just getting onto the net he kept falling, and by the end of his turn his legs were practically red from all the times they¡¯d slipped through the squares.


    Dalyva too kept falling, and Byrn just kept laughing, but when it was over, he invited us to sit on some logs that were out. ¡°You all have a lot of potential.¡± He started off with, and we stared at him, rapt attention being paid to his words as he strokes his chin. ¡°Most people fail to merely walk across four squares without falling, and yet you all managed to do my instructions as well. That¡¯s quite an impressive feat.¡± Dalyva then spoke up. ¡°Why¡¯d we do it?¡± The old man looked at her. ¡°Well, I thought you would¡¯ve figured it out. It¡¯s to improve footwork and nimbleness.¡± Dalyva nodded. The old man looked up at the sky, which was starting to slightly darken.


    ¡°I want you all to go on the track, and then that¡¯ll be the end of it for the day.¡± He said, but before letting us go he chucked us our weapons. Our eyes widened. ¡°How¡¯d you get our weapons?¡± I ask incredulously as I put my Jambiyas around my waist. The old man smirks. ¡°Khaliff gave it to me while you three were going together. He knew what i was doing, and so he brought them out, turns out he took them in the morning.¡±


    We nod, and the old man started to shoo us to the start. Dalyva started to leave, but the old man stopped her, putting a circle of leather on her back so that her halberd could just be on her back and not in her hands constantly. Then, we started to run.


    At first, it was pretty easy, we simply ran and ran, putting one foot in front of the other. But, as it started to wind, we started to get tired. Of course, we were already tired from the rope, but now to have to run a lot, it just tired me out a whole out more. I couldn¡¯t do anything though but just run, one foot in front of the other, and deep breaths to make sure I have air.


    The terrain starts to get more rugged, and soon we¡¯re stepping over logs as we continue jogging. Then, we¡¯re dodging vines that hang from the trees, weaving right and left, before suddenly, a monster popping out. It was a boar, and it looked agitated. As custom to this labyrinth, it was purple, even the tusks protruding from its mouth were purple. It pawed at the ground, like a bison, which did confuse me, but I figured it might not be fully boar. It certainly didn¡¯t look like it. It had a giant body, and was shaggy, so maybe mixed with a bit of yak, but I figured it was a waste of time to think of those things right now, especially as it was running forwards to attack.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    I brought out my weapons, and even as it took Dalyva a bit longer to get her halberd out as she wasn¡¯t used to it, me and Shankhe blocked it so she could get it out. We exchanged a look as our weapons clashed with the boar''s tusks, and as we disconnected, I glanced over at him, reading his actions and rushing left, driving it forwards. Shankhe was on the other side of the boar, and we were driving it towards Dalyva, giving it no escape as I ran up its left side, constantly stopping any escape attempts. Dalyva, having realised what we were doing, got ready into a fighting pose, before as it rushed at her, she swung down, but not on the axe side, and not on the spear part. The other side, which looked a bit like a w except the ends were put closer together before being stuck on a weapon filled out and sharpened metal. The point easily caved in its head, and I almost felt bad that it was easy for us to kill the boar, but not really as when it thumped to the ground, a grin spread across my face. ¡°Alright!¡± Shankhe says, throwing a fist into the air.


    We then continue running. As we do, I could faintly hear some sort of bell ringing out. I figured it wasn¡¯t much, but sped up a bit anyway. We didn¡¯t encounter any more monsters, although as we finished the course, puffing and red, Byrn was looking a bit anxious, an emotion that was unusual for someone like him I would¡¯ve thought. ¡°Quick.¡± He said, hurrying us back to the city.


    We were confused, and tired. Many times as we were hurried along I just wanted to stop and sit down, but I didn¡¯t. As we got into the city, Byrn let out a sigh that sounded like, relief? I look at him. ¡°What was that about?¡± The old man simply started to walk to one of the high walls, and as we climbed the stairs, he didn¡¯t say anything, even when we asked him questions. Finally on the wall, he pointed across to where a huge white object was in the distance. No, not an object, an animal. A sheep. It looked to be attacking a nearby town, and as a piercing shrill echoes through the air, a blue shield erected itself around our village.


    ¡°That¡¯s the Dreadborn.¡± Byrn said gravely. ¡°It has killed many. A stone rank, that.¡± A shiver runs down my spine. Stone rank. Two whole ranks above me and Shankhe, three above Dalyva. I stare at the sheep. Was this the sheep it meant by meet a sheep you cannot shear? I would guess they did, but to shear it seems just ridiculous, especially since they¡¯ve literally nicknamed it ¡®The Dreadborn.¡¯ Its basically a death sentence for anyone to try fight the sheep unless they¡¯re quite powerful.


    Soon, we head back down, and meet up with Khaliff at the Guild. Once we go home, we get changed into the pyjamas Khaliff and Fora provide, before getting to bed. However, hopping into bed and laying in it doesn¡¯t mean sleeping, and even though i was tired, i just couldn¡¯t sleep. Eventually, once I was pretty sure everyone was asleep, I slipped out of the house.


    I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath of cool night air, before opening my eyes to a dark area. I look up to see a hill, and start walking to it in the moonlight. I take slow steps, glancing around to the plants shining in the moonlight, seeing silvery glows everywhere, despite the purple invading. I feel cold, sure, but my mind only thinks in simpleness, such as where I put my foot or where to go ahead. I weave around branches, making the least amount of noise but despite my struggles leaves crunched underfoot, and twigs snapped as I didn¡¯t notice them due to dim lighting.


    Ducking and weaving through trees, I climbed up the hill. It¡¯s a subtle slope, but I still notice it as my legs get sore from walking quicker than before. For a while, I just climbed a tree, sitting in the branches and quietly staring at the sky through the canopy. The leaves blocked my view, but I thought it just made the sight even more impressive and wonderful. The cold bite of frost soon welled up inside of me to an unbearable point, and so I continued.


    I finally happened upon a clearing, with a huge, ragged and weather worn rock sitting right on top of the hill. I climb it quickly, and as soon as I¡¯m on top, I feel the wind blow past me, my hair then seeming¡­ longer, my body a bit different as I sit there. But I pay it no mind. Hair pulled back from the wind, air on my face and a shiver runs down my spine from the freezing temperatures that seem almost tolerable now despite not moving anymore. When a twig snaps behind me.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    As I¡¯m laying in bed, I think I hear a creak from a door, and ignore it at first. It¡¯s probably nothing. It¡¯s just someone going to the toilet in the middle of the night. But after a while, it gnawed at me, and I eventually gave in, sitting up. As I do, I immediately notice two things. One, that Taegan¡¯s gone, and two that his Jambiyas are gone. That means he didn¡¯t just go to the bathroom.


    I started to get up, carefully being as quiet as I could to avoid waking our host, and then slipping out the door. I start walking into the forest, feeling like those detectives in those books that I read-some of the only books I can actually read-strutting and acting cool. Suddenly I¡¯m now face-planted into the soil, practically eating dirt as I just blink. I really should have seen that root there. I sigh, get up and start dusting myself off, a bit embarrassed that I managed to fall in such an easy way to avoid. I shrug. At least now I know that dirt does not in fact taste like brownies. Actually it tastes really bad and I wouldn¡¯t recommend eating it to anyone.


    I continue walking straight, getting a feel for where I need to go. I go straight ahead, following broken branches and crunched leaves. To the normal person, it wouldn¡¯t look like much, but to me it looked like a lot, and I followed it. As I did, the trail stopped for a little bit, before I noticed it a little away. Taegan must have gotten on the tree and jumped off it instead of walking. Finally after a long time of walking, I came across a clearing. A figure is in the moonlight, long hair and illuminated by the moonlight. They appeared green, and I could only guess that it was Taegans Fae form that had emerged. A loud crunch emanated from where I was standing, and I looked down to see that as I was slowly walking closer, I had stepped on a twig and broken it.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    I whirl around hurriedly, cautious of who could have followed me, only to spot a familiar figure that starts to climb the rock. Shankhe. He climbs next to me, and sits down. As the moonlight envelopes him, his face stays the same, but his skin seems to get a silvery tint, and his hair grows longer as it turns green, his eyes as well turning from a golden yellow to a beautiful emerald. They shine in the night, reflecting the moons light. ¡°What are you doing out here?¡± I say, and he stays quiet for a moment before saying. ¡°I came to find you. Why¡¯d you leave?¡± He asks, scooting closer as the chilled wind passes us by.


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t sleep.¡± I mutter, and Shankhe just stared at me, then looks to the moon hanging above us. ¡°The stars are beautiful.¡± He mutters, looking at them as they start to appear.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    I got up having a feeling that something was amiss. I started to walk out of my room, going to the boys as I noticed their weapons were gone. Sighing softly-yet with a smile upon my face-i grab my own weapon, trekking out to where I could follow both of their tracks.


    It was more obvious for me because I had two sets of tracks to follow, and I began to walk. Muscles from our run before introduced me to them again, but I lightly used my spesh to push through. I started to walk, seeing broken twigs and obvious footprints as I followed the twins. They both seemed to go far, and on top of a hill no less, but I was determined to find them, after all I was their teammate, and if they both made the trek, I would too. Eventually, I came across a rock in a clearing, and although it was harder to spot, I could see them lying on the rocks. At least, I think it was them anyways.


    I started to climb up, and as I reached the top, I doubled back in surprise. Two boys lay on the rocks, one with jambiyas and the other with a katana. Just like Taegan and Shankhe. Yet, they didn¡¯t look like them. The two boys had long forest green hair and emerald green eyes, something I found quite beautiful, but that wasn¡¯t what Taegan and Shankhe looked like. They also had silvery skin, although it may have been the moonlight, but I had my doubts, and long hair. No way could hair grow and change colour that quick, even if all the signs pointed to them being Taegan and Shankhe.


    ¡°Taegan?¡± I say quietly, cautious if it wasn¡¯t them. ¡°Shankhe?¡± They both look up at me. ¡°Oh, Dalyva.¡± Says one, and i could just guess from their demeanour that they were Taegan, even without the jambiyas clearly on his waist. Definitely.


    They were more twin-like than ever. ¡°You haven¡¯t seen this form, have you?¡± Asked Taegan as I lay down next to him on the opposite side to Shankhe. ¡°No.¡± I say, still confused on how he says form. ¡°What is it, and how did it happen?¡± I¡¯m slightly concerned now. Did something happen that I didn¡¯t know about? Did the Corruption Entities threat finally become a reality in he can change your species in an instant. Well, they dont look purple, and I would think that they would¡¯ve been purple if it was the Corruption Entity, so what was it?


    ¡°Turns out, we¡¯re Fae.¡± I gasp as i hear that, grasping onto all my learning as a scholar to say. ¡°Twin Fae?!¡± I say surprised, and Shankhe nods in confirmation. ¡°Th-that means, you could¡¯ve been kidnapped when born, not just in a carriage accident!¡± I stuttered at first, before exclaiming the second part in absolute shock.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    I look at Dalyva¡¯s shocked face, before she composed herself, before whispering with a concerned look. ¡°What-what does that mean for us?¡± She gently gazes at us, then at the sky above us. ¡°We¡¯re now all pretty rare, not just me with my spesh, and are more likely to be kidnapped or targeted.¡± ¡°Well, it just means we have to get strong enough that others respect us no matter what, and we be as strong as possible to beat the world!¡± Shankhe threw his fist up in deceleration, and after a split second, I joined him, and so did Dalyva.


    As we quiet down, Dalyva pipes up. ¡°If you guys weren¡¯t adventurers, what would you be?¡± She asks, curiosity clear in her tone. It was a hard question, since all my life I¡¯ve been ambitious around this one thing, but I still speak up. ¡°Probably a chef.¡± I say nervously, worried they¡¯d judge me, but they didn¡¯t. Shankhe then said his next. ¡°Maybe a bartender or entertainer at a bar.¡± I could definitely see that. Shankhe loved to make people smile, and a bartender makes people smile if in their darkest hours, there¡¯s someone to cheer them up and crack a joke. We then look to Dalyva, the one for the question. She looks to the side, before saying. ¡°A healer.¡± My eyes widened. It was perfect for her. She loved helping people, and eventually, if she trained her spesh more, it could heal others.


    Eventually, we just sat there under the stars, but a crack of lightening jolted me awake, disturbing the peace. A pillar erupted near me, up to the height of me siting up. The pillar was dark purple, but the words were a visible light purple. It read ¡®Just for you three dolls, I demand you go into this seperate dungeon space I have created. If you wondered, yes, I will explain your absence to everyone, so go ahead, now. - Corruption God.¡¯ All of us shivered, seeing the crackling portal in front of me. I knew-instinctively and from common sense together, something that often doesn¡¯t combine-that it would be incredibly dangerous, and probably some sort of sick game, if he called us dolls. Actually, it may be something worse.


    A sharp gust of wind, that was more like hands pushed me into the portal head first, sending me tumbling as I heard a yelp of surprise from Dalyva, and knew that it wasn¡¯t just me pushed. Everything swirls by in a flash of dizziness, and I soon emerge from the swirls with my eyes closed into what I anticipated to be a purple place. But as I opened my eyes, I was shocked to discover normal colours, and a village in the mountainside below us.


    Nothing could go wrong here, right?