Slowly, I pushed my aching body up and blinked open my eyes. In front of them was the rough stone floor of the Dungeon, I must have passed out for a second after my last spell against the boss.

Suddenly, I remembered the image of Sigmir flying through the air like a rag doll. I stood on shaky legs, looking over to her downed form before limping over. My head was killing me and trying to create runes to heal me, only produced a stabbing pain, as if someone was driving an ice-pick through my eyes into my brain. My blurry eyes wandered to my Astral Power Bar and seeing it totally depleted went to my debuff display. There was only one debuff and focusing on it told me that it was called Astral Severance.

Astral Severance You have been fully severed from the Astral River. No Astral Power can be regenerated until the severance is overcome. Duration: 71:58:30

So no magic for three days? Well, that sucks balls.

I reached Sigmir, checking her for injuries as best as I could, before softly and carefully placing her head into my lap.

Idly stroking her hair, I finally looked at the blue screens I had ignored.

Knight Mannelig died You gain 7 500 EXP. For killing an opponent 1 level above you you gain Bonus EXP For killing an opponent without a Traveller in your party, you gain Bonus EXP For killing an opponent with the Dungeon Traveller-Bonus in effect, you gain Bonus EXP For killing a Dungeon-Boss without a full party, you gain Bonus EXP

You have cleared the Dungeon Barrow Den. For clearing a Dungeon under the effect of the Dungeon Traveller-Buff you gain Bonus EXP. The Dungeon Traveller-Buff expires.

You reached level 45

Title gained You gained a Title:: Dungeon Explorer For clearing a Dungeon while under the effect of the Dungeon Traveller-Buff, you gain the Title Dungeon Explorer. You gain increased Experience from the Dungeon Traveller-Buff

Skill increased You increased your skill: Darkness Rune-Mastery [53/100]

Skill increased You increased your skill: Blood Rune-Mastery [42/100]

Skill increased You increased your skill: Blood Magic [25/100]

The EXP gave me a slight smile, even if the whole thing had been a trying experience. I checked the quest-log and saw it was truly completed. Yes, calling this quest 'Hard' did it justice, it had been brutal.

I was driven from my reverie by a soft, sound resonating in my mind. Focusing inward, I managed to identify Lenore as the source of the sounds, a mix of peeping and cawing but extremely weak.

“Lenore, are you alright?” I sent to her.

“By the ancestor, what did you do? I feel like a giant sat on me. You..., you ripped my own Astral Power out of me, enough to sever me from the Astral River itself?!” she sounded pained, exhausted and angry.

“I'm not sure. I needed every bit of power I could get. Maybe, after my own power was depleted, I took from you to finish the job. But I know what you mean, my own connection to the Astral is gone as well. It will be a few days before there is any magic from me.” I explained with a tired smile on my face. There was a slight exultation about winning that I would not vanish, even with my abused body and tired mind. Sigmir was breathing softly but easily, Ylva looked to be alright as well so we had won. Yes, it had been closer than I was willing to admit but it had worked, nothing would change that.

“I want to call you mad and rage at you. It had to be done, hadn't it? If not, Sigmir would be dead and Ylva sent back to the source of Ice. But please, try to avoid it. I'm a creature of the Astral, if not for being in my Hallow when it happened, I'd be dead. I'll have to stay in here until my connection returns. Please don't try to use my active abilities until it's back, it will not work and only hurt me.”

Again, I got lost in my thoughts, stroking Sigmir until her eyes fluttered open some time later.

“What happened...? Morgana? You are alright!” she tried to push herself up and back on her feet but the only thing she managed was to get to her knees before she had to stop.

“Lay back down, love. We won. The dungeon is cleared.” she went back down and I was able to see a slight smile on her face.

“We did it, didn't we? What happened? Why is your face so bloody? The last thing I remember is, that I used an incredibly risky attack. I think I struck him but afterwards, there was only darkness...” she asked while sinking back into my lap.

I brought a hand to my face, trying to feel if something was wrong. “He used some kind of area attack shout, forcing Ylva out of her Hallow and knocking both of you out. I got knocked back but your last strike managed to destroy the helmet and shield of the boss and I was able to destroy it with the Anti-Magic I used before. I guess the blood on my face comes from overdrawing my Blood Magic, the last time I did that, my nose bled as well.” I explained and resumed stroking her hair.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Love, it looks like you cried blood. You really gave it your all, didn't you? Please, let's not challenge dungeons again with just the two of us, this was far too close. I don't want to lose you.” Sigmir told me, while softly stroking my face.

“Yes, I agree. Even if Lenore and Ylva are amazing, I'd rather have additional people with us. Say, what is the normal formation used? In other worlds, I've heard about battle-teams of four to ten people with pretty much every number in between. What do people in this world use?” I asked her.

“My father told me about that. Most dungeons don't let more than five people in the same instance and there are limited instances per month. I told you that the rules governing dungeons only allow you to enter a new instance once per year, didn't I?”

“Yes, you did. Now, we should both relax some more before checking our spoils.”

By now, Ylva joined us as well, stumbling and just as battered as Sigmir and placed her snout on Sigmir's belly, using it as a pillow.

For a long while, no words were spoken and at least I was contemplating how close I just came to loosing Sigmir. We stayed like that until Sigmir decided it was time to get up. This time, she managed to get to her feet and offered me a hand. I grasped it but didn't pull, afraid that even my little weight might be too much in her condition.

Arm in arm, both for closeness and for stability, we shuffled over to the items that remained, after the boss itself had been seeped back into the dungeon. I wondered why Boss-Monster Corpses were drawn back into the dungeon and normal monsters remained and could be looted fully. I asked Sigmir but she had no explanation for it other than “That's just how it is.”.

There were two items on the ground, one was a white shirt, almost shining, even in the dim light.

Shimmering Silk-Shirt Rarity Rare Type Cloth Upper-Body Wear Base Protection 0 against Piercing Damage Base Protection 1 against Slashing Damage Base Protection 1 against Blunt Damage Special Effect Attribute Increase – While this piece of clothing is worn, Charisma +2 and Intuition +1 Special Effect Size Adjustment – This piece of clothing can adjust in size to a limited extent, if it's supplied with Astral Power. This shirt was directly spun from the finest silk. It grants the wearer clearer sight to see manipulations and helps with manipulating others. It was part of the dowry that Knight Mannelig received, before denouncing his would-be bride.

Shiny... Literally.

The other item was a small, red pendant in the shape of a wheel.

Copper Millstone Rarity Rare Type Pendant Special Effect Attribute Increase – While this piece of clothing is worn, Endurance +2 and Strength +1 This pendant was fashioned after the millstones in the mills that the Knight Mannelig received as dowry before denouncing his would-be bride.

I took the pendant and placed its chain around Sigmir's neck, this would serve her well. Now, with this handy piece of jewellery, I was able to pull her down to my level and into a nice kiss of congratulations. Yes, this would serve well.

The shirt on the other hand wasn't bad, I'd wear it below my armour. I took off my armour and put on the shirt, asking Sigmir to take care of the size adjustment as I had no Astral Power in me. The adjustment itself looked as if the shirt was shrinking in the wash, just magnified by a hundred times. As I wanted to wear it below my armour, I was soon clad in a tight silk shirt, putting my body on display.

When it was on, there was a feeling of expansion and a look on my status-screen showed me that my attributes were indeed increased. I donned my chest-armour and the feeling went away and my status-screen confirmed that the attributes were gone.

So no armour stacking? Maybe the other way around?

I stripped again, asked Sigmir to enlarge the shirt which worked without problem and pulled my armour back on. With my slight frame, wearing the maximum-sized shirt more like a summer dress was no problem but no attribute-increase happened.

Well, rats. With that, I pulled off the shirt and placed it in my bag, the attributes it gave were not good enough for me to give up the protection offered by my armour.

But while looking at my status-screen I was remembered that I still had the two points I gained for reaching level 45. In order to reach 30 Intelligence with level 50, something that might make the challenge of the first divide easier, I had to place both in it, which I did.

In this room, just like the others, were a door that had opened on the boss kill but instead of a long, stretched path leading down, it was a stairway leading up. Sigmir used her Lok'nar to check for traps, hoping that there were no magic traps to kill an unsuspecting fool who deemed the dungeon safe, just because the boss had died.

We made our way back up without incident and as we reached the top, we were greeted by another door and were able to open it.

Looking down the corridor, we saw the exit of this place, we were at the first crossroad we had encountered after entering the dungeon.

Hand in hand, we made our way outside, yearning for the fresh air after three days in this dark, musty place. Stepping outside felt a bit strange, as if we passed through a membrane but then we were out and surrounded by the clear, cold air of the forest.

For the first time, I realized how loud and living even this snowy forest was. There was the sound of the wind, moving around us, the soft groans as the trees itself moved with the wind, the rustling of needles and the distant sounds of the oceans, all encompassing us. It felt as if for the first time in days, I was able to breathe freely.

Looking into the sky, there were shooting stars, tracing flaming trails through the heavens.

“Look.” said Sigmir and in front of her materialised a blue screen. I guess it was hers and she let me read it.

Second Night of Falling Stars. A second group of Travellers was allowed to visit your home. Treat them as you would want to be treated yourself and teach them, for they will need it.