Days of constant travel wore on the mind, Evelyn could feel it constantly ticking away at her mental clock. She had never done something like this before, a constant and consistent march. Yet as they traveled, she could see the floors slowly changing. The stone darkening, becoming smoother, and the monsters becoming more and more familiar. She bore through the mental exhaustion as long as she could. It wasn't until they reached the point where dark black stone blocks made up the walls and floors that she couldn’t keep going.

Evelyn complained, “Can we rest?! I can’t anymore!” Evelyn slumped against a wall as she slowly began to slide down it.

Adrith turned, and he began to inspect her physical state. They had both been switching off of using magic to conserve their energy as much as possible while they traveled. Adrith could tell for himself he could go for another few days, yet he knew that came from both his training and the particular spells he had been given. They were very efficient with the energy use, yet also very sparing with the effect they had.

Adrith knew Evelyn’s magic was very good, the light her spells produced was very bright, it made travel feel easy, and much of the worries in the dungeon were taken away by it. Shadows often left fear in the mind as often hiding within were monsters. It was a fear that often many thought of being unfounded until they had to fight multiple Shadow Beasts and many of the other smaller monsters that could lurk in the shadows. Even with this sense of safety found in Evelyn’s magic, she used much more energy than Adrith would have.

Adrith still looked towards Evelyn impressed, he would have assumed she would have wanted to rest countless more times. Yet she trudged along with Adrith’s wish to continue forward. Adrith remembered much of the fighting was done by him, both out of practicality of speed and also to make sure Evelyn kept her own energy up.

Adrith nodded, “I believe this is a good time for us to rest”.

Evelyn let herself fall as she cried out, “Thank the heavens! My feet are killing me!” She began to comedically rip off her boots and floated over her Wishing Star disc to take off the rest of their spare clothing and other things to make herself a place to lay down.

Adrith shook his head as he began to set himself down as well. He began to check his gear. Countless breaks, ripped metal, tattered cloth, and only strips of leather were left. Adrith shook his head once more as he thought about the fight he had with Maidrin. He wondered if they were both mortal, would he have won? He knew that energy-wise they were near the same the moment they stepped into the fighting. Yet there was one key advantage he had, he forgets all his mental and physical fatigue after sleeping.

Adrith began to slowly strip off his armor, much of it had nearly reached its end. Some of it now actively felt like a detriment when Adrith gave himself the time to check himself. Even when healed, pieces of metal were scraping against him and even left cuts that he never realized were there. Pieces of cloth that had blood on them had long since dried and plastered themselves to his skin. ‘How long has it been?’

That was the only question he asked himself. He was curious about many of the things that had happened. They had nearly reached the surface and he had countless questions. How long has it been since he walked through Fellwinter? Their excursion into the Dungeon was considered a Crusade. A well-known one within history to top it off. Then came the other questions, ones that he realized he never asked until looking at himself, bloodied, battered, and now, in a time where he had no physical obligations to any lord, land, or people. Everyone who he made that promise to, every man, woman, and child, was gone. Even the place he called home might be gone. The stones may have all been changed, and all the roads repaved. Buildings are taken down, changed, and remade. Entire shops once he had thought to be staples could have disappeared, never to be seen again.

Adrith continued to take off his armor, stripping down to the bare as he went over to Evelyn’s disc and began to grab new clothing. Much of his old clothing was destroyed. They could repair the armor, but the clothing was unsalvageable.

Evelyn looked at Adrith as he made his way over to her. For a moment she thought he was going to say something, yet when he was unclothed she knew he had come to retrieve clothing. She made herself a comfortable place to lay her head by covering some armor with multiple layers of cloth. As she lay down and closed her eyes, it was hard for her to sleep. She couldn’t help but have constant thoughts running through her mind. How long had it been since she had been to Fellwinter? If it was 300 years from her time since Adrith had perished. How long had it been for her? She wanted to know what was left for her. If there was anything left to her. Yet she then remembered something very important that made her sigh out in both frustration, yet resignation. She knew everything she ever had was now taken and sold or given to whichever guard garrison was able to pay the most.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

She realized she had nothing, no money, no home, and nothing to even tie her to this place. What could she do? What is she going to do? She has nothing.

She opened her eyes as she saw Adrith had put on his clothing and was about to leave her be. Evelyn asked Adrith as she looked up to him, “What are we going to do?”

Adrith turned to Evelyn, “Well, we're going to rest. Travel up to the surface. And catch that caravan Connor spoke of. Even if he was a Face Stealer, he would only be able to the memories he knew. So we will hopefully get there before they leave and head towards where they will go. If Fellwinter is still standing, then we will make it there within a day. If not, then we will see where it will take us”.

Evelyn shook her head, “I don't mean what are we going to do next? What are we working towards?”

Adrith was quiet for a moment, he then finally kneeled down to look Evelyn in the eyes, “Why did you enter the dungeon? You know why I entered, why I tried. But why did you?”

Evelyn felt herself swallow her own tongue. It was a strange thing to answer for her. To her, it was as simple as, ‘Because it was what I was supposed to do’. Yet she thought about the life he led and the lord of Fellwinter he might have had.

Evelyn sat there is silence as she looked up to Adrith. She couldn’t even fathom what was going on in his mind as she blankly stared at him. Maybe he was allowing her the time to collect her thoughts. Maybe he was waiting expecting her to answer his question since he has answered every question she has had of him. Maybe he passed out kneeling. Evelyn could not know. Yet she sat there for another moment as she thought she needed to answer him. This might be important to what he is to say.

“It was because it was what I was supposed to do”, Evelyn spoke her answer, hoping it was what Adrith wanted.

Adrith then asked, “Why was it what you were supposed to do?”

Evelyn was taken aback for a moment before she responded, “Because it was ordered by the lord”.

Adrith continued to question, “Why did they order that?”

Evelyn began to feel as if she was now being interrogated, “Because I can perform magic”.

Adrith then nodded his head, “So you could use magic, so you were made to go into the dungeon and fight? Who is this lord?”

Evelyn nodded her head, “Yes, the lord, Lord Michael, the first lord of Fairhaven, came back as an Undead and took Lordship over Fellwinter from his line. Much of which seemed to have made his dissatisfied”.

Adrith nodded as he continued, “So you were forced to entere because of him? Did you want to?”

Evelyn sat there for a moment, ‘of course I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to die. I wanted to…’. Evelyn then began to have memories fill her mind. She remembered when she first learned how to perform magic, how scared she was. Then she began to remember the good memories she had. The people she met who were all worried of the dungeon, the friends she ventured down with, the woman who taught her how to harness her magic, and so much more.

She could remember their hopes, their dreams, and how all she wished to do was live a good life. How could she when she was forced to fight? When there was monsters? When…

Evelyn began to feel her eyes water as she began to cover them. She began to shake her head to answer Adrith’s question.

Adrith nodded his head as he asked in a soft voice, “Do you want to fight now?”

Evelyn nodded her head as her arm now covered her face. Trying to hide herself to retain any little dignity she could keep.

Adrith then said, “Then our plan is to clear the dungeon. Because I remember, the Round Table will come when we have cleared the dungeon. It may be our way to answer both our prayers and those whom we hold close”

Evelyn nodded her head as Adrith began to stand, “Sleep. We’ll leave soon. And we will make our next move when we get to the city”