Evelyn awoke to find Adrith holding a piece of stone as he was rubbing it onto his helm and scuffing the once-polished metal. She began to rise as she saw across from her their armored ally sitting against the other wall, now with their helm and armor on completely as they seemed to be looking directly at her. She wasn’t sure because of the helm, yet she believed they were since they reacted when she looked toward them.
Evelyn looked to Adrith, “Anything happen while I slept?”
Adrith shook his head, “Nothing. Just me taking account of what we had found”
Evelyn began to shift herself over to see more of what he was doing while she asked, “Anything of note?”
Adrith shook his head as out of the corner of his eye he could see that Evelyn moved closer to see what he was doing. He moved the stone and began to show her, “Clothing that is holding together enough, but needs to be repaired if worked too hard. Different pieces of armor and weapons are somewhat damaged, yet also are fixable, while a few others look freshly forged. We were able to retrieve somewhere near 40 Monster cores excluding the Chimera Dragons”
Evelyn watched his hand curiously, it was as if he was damaging the helm with purpose, but she wasn’t fully sure why, “Well we can fix up the things we want and can take the rest with us in case”
Adrith nodded his head, “The idea was to take some of the things-”, Adrith then gestured to the armored warrior, “-give their group the large core and some of the other stuff and make our way out”.
Evelyn nodded her head, “I see…”, Evelyn now needed to know, “What are you doing? Why are you taking the coating off the helm?”
Adrith chuckled, “I’m making the armor look not so new. Some of my armor I don’t need to, but other pieces seem a little too clean. We’ll look like easy targets if we don’t look tested.”
Evelyn looked to their armored guest, “Well I hope that works for you”
The person regarded them for a moment as they nodded.
Evelyn was looking towards them for a moment as she then asked, “Is there anything we can call you?”
“Maidrin”, the voice was quite light, raspy, and dry it barely came out audible.
Evelyn lightly gestured to herself, “Well, Maidrin, my name is Evelyn”, Evelyn then lightly turned to Adrith and continued, “And this is Adrith in case he hadn’t given his name”
Maidrin nodded their head. Evelyn felt strange when talking to Maidrin, it felt like they were very reserved and trying to keep a constant distance, as if ready to run if needed.
Adrith looked to Maidrin, “You should rest. You haven’t fully rested”
Maidrin shook their head but Adrith cut in and continued, “You’re trying not to show your broken ankle. If you don’t rest, we’re leaving you”.
Maidrin’s head flicked towards Adrith, the helm itself made it impossible to see the emotions Maidrin was wearing, yet the feeling was very easily felt. A sense of anger, annoyance, and offendedness. Adrith did nothing in terms of any of these feelings, he continued to scuff his armor, “The moment I finish my preparations and have slept, we’re leaving”
Evelyn looked between Adrith and Maidrin, she felt as if he was being somewhat harsh. Maybe it was called for, maybe it wasn’t, she couldn’t be sure. Yet she could tell there was some tension.
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The moment Adrith finished with his helm, he nodded to himself. He then gathered some of the clothing and made himself some cushioning to lay on before turning into the wall to sleep.
Evelyn turned to Maidrin, “You should rest. Travel can be quite difficult for a small group”
Maidrin looked to Evelyn and lightly nodded before shifting back onto the wall and seeming to relax.
Evelyn wasn’t sure if Maidrin was asleep or not, however, she was at least hoping Adrith didn’t mean what he said. She knew that as Undead, even if they died they would come back. But now coming from those terrible floors Adrith called the Depths, she knew some things were worse than death. Being mind controlled, being infested by creatures that would eat you from the inside or take control of your body, or even having your energy siphoned and corrupted.
Evelyn raised her head in realization, ‘Corruption?
Evelyn turned her head towards Adrith as she realized something, it might be what Adrith hid the most.
‘What happens when an Undead dies to an attack that corrupts them’
Her heart began to pound, she never gave it any thought. Yet now that multiple people died due to an attack she knows that siphons and corrupts the energy within someone, the thought mortified her, what if Maidrin lost everyone?
Evelyn wanted to ask Adrith, she wanted to know. Yet she knew if she asked it’d only have Maidrin the horrible truth. She didn’t want to be the one to tell them. She was nervous about such an idea. Mortified even at the thought of being the one to inform Maidrin that not only did they lose all their allies, but that there are such terrible things down here that can make even the undying never come back.
Evelyn took a breath in, she needed something to take her mind off of the terrible realization. Evelyn stood up from her position and took a walk towards the corpse of the Chimera Dragon. She made her way over and found that the once very physical and tough body of the Chimera Dragon had now been turned into a thin, paint-like, gray goo. The goo covered the floors, and much of the walls, and even flowed down the stairs. She took notice of where they had entered the area, which originally was a large exploded hole in the wall attached to the door. The hole had now been filled in by what seemed to be the exact same stone the rest of the floor was made up of, yet it was not covered by the gray goo.
She then looked around, she was somewhat mortified when she took notice of the multiple bodies that still were there. She winced as the thoughts that she tried to leave behind came around again. She forgot that they would be here, she wished that they wouldn’t be here.
She wished for her thoughts to be dashed in a moment. Completely dispelled in a moment as all she saw were sets of armor, random clothing, and nothing else. She wished she could go back to sleep. Just wake up from this nightmare of a place. Back in her warm bed. In a place where she could eat and drink how she pleased. Where she would be greeted by the sun.
Evelyn turned back, she needed to check on the others, they were asleep and trusting her. She took a breath in, sighed out, and began to chant to herself as she made her way back. She saw both Adrith and Maidrin sleeping, she just hoped they slept well, she hoped that their sleep was quick, she hoped everything was okay.
Adrith’s eyes opened as he sat up quickly, he turned to see a startled Evelyn. She quickly calmed down as she could see he was in a normal state. Adrith began to stand as he said, “Are you ready?”
Evelyn shook her head, “Not quite”.
Adrith lightly made a gesture to her as he began to make final preparations for their departure, “Very well, I need to check the rest of my equipment to make sure I’m ready to head off, you do the same”.
Evelyn nodded her head as she looked at Maidrin, she hoped that they would awake soon. She hoped that they would have enough time to get up before Adrith wished to leave. She looked around as she began to do final checks of herself. Her armor was fitted, her clothing and boots fit, and she even had her weapons ready. She just turned to see if Maidrin was awake, yet they still hadn’t stirred.
Evelyn looked to Adrith as he was moving towards Maidrin, she was astonished and then shocked when he kicked their foot and said, “Come on, we’re leaving”.
Evelyn winced as she was about to scold him, yet she noticed then Maidrin had awoken.
Adrith nodded to Maidrin and said, “Let’s check on the Chimera Dragon one last time”
Evelyn looked to Adrith nervously, yet Adrith and Maidrinave no mind as they both began to head out. Evelyn followed nervously, she was afraid to see what was to come, yet she was ready. She cast her Wishing Star to carry their things, and they headed to the Chimera Dragon’s body.
There they found that the gray goo had mostly dispersed by this point, and the area smelled much the same it did before the fight with the Chimera Dragon. Much of everything here seemed to have been returned to normal.