The group began their travels to the surface, Evelyn began to get connected with the people within this group. They were friendly enough, but multiple of them were standoff-ish unless they were pulled into the conversation by Connor. She could understand why, the Dungeon was no place for a person to be happy, yet Connor wore a smile without care. It was very refreshing, often for Evelyn in her time within the dungeon and even the past week had been nothing but bleak and dangerous situations.

Now she found herself in more calm waters and she even knew they had a large and capable group. Evelyn now wished to find a calm moment to ask Adrith an important question. Their travel to the surface was a constant march, so finding a time of peace to talk in private was difficult. Yet almost like Adrith could read her mind, Evelyn saw Adrith looking directly at her and lightly tossing his head to come talk to him.

“Yes?” Evelyn was curious about what Adrith wished to talk about. It was very rare for Adrith to spark conversation unless it was important.

“You’ve been staring at me. I was calling you over to have you ask your question”. Adrith said as he continued his walk, not paying much if any mind to the others around.

Evelyn sighed as she shook her head, “Here I was thinking you were gonna spark up a conversation first”.

Adrith let the moment linger before he said, “Is there anything you want to talk about then?”

Evelyn looked at Adrith, “Uh, yeah, well first my question. I was wondering what else you knew about this Dungeon. Like-”, Evelyn lightly turned her head to see where the others were, they were around yet they seemed to be in their own worlds, “-what happens when a Reaver kills you”.

Adrith nodded lightly, “Ah, well until it dies you are unable to return”.

Evelyn looked to Adrith dumbfounded, “Wait, so that means for the-”

Adrith cut her off as he continued, “Yes, it does. Anything else?”

Evelyn looked genuinely shocked with that response. She felt as if she learned something majorly important, yet to Adrith it felt like stating a well-known fact. She took her moment to think, “So that’s why you weren’t worried about it when you faced it. When it died you’d be free”

Adrith took a moment, as Evelyn watched him, she waited in anticipation as she then heard him say a simple, “Yes”.

Evelyn chuckled, “You know that’s a lot of trust you put into a person you just met”.

Evelyn chuckled and looked off slightly. She thought about that and the thoughts she had when they were separated. The moment that she was by herself, she believed she needed to leave him. She took a breath in, she knew she was in the right. Adrith was the fool here, he holds quite the trust it seems in here, so she was curious why he didn’t seem to trust this group.

Evelyn spoke again, wishing to keep the conversation going, “Well, what do you think about this group?”

Adrith took a moment before he said, “I think they’re good people”.

Evelyn smiled, yet she hid her feelings, she was wondering why then he seemed so distant. He seemed to be actively on edge, yet she had no clue why. It was then Evelyn saw his head slightly turn. Just barely enough for her to see his helm shift slightly, yet not enough if you weren’t trying to look for something from it.

Evelyn turned back to the path ahead as she continued to talk, now trying to see what he saw, “So do we have a plan when we get out?”

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Adrith spoke smoothly, “Nothing as of yet, we need to know what has happened since we perished to now, then we determine our next move”.

Connor makes his way over, “Wait, y’all are fresh Undead?!”

Evelyn turned to him and nodded, “Yes we are, it’s been one hell of a ride up”.

Connor shook his head, “I fuckin’ bet, y’all must have been below the Chimera Dragon then and just happened upon us. Making it up starting with nothing and then finding what you have to fight must have been some divine luck”.

Adrith nodded his head as Connor began to talk to him more directly. He wanted to know if Adrith had any tips on how to get stronger since he must have some old knowledge because his skills seem pretty strong yet unknown to him. Maybe they could spar when they take a rest for a bit since a 7-day travel will require a break once in a while.

Evelyn smiled as she thought Adrith found something to talk about and someone to get connected with, yet she kept her eyes forward into the dark. She began to quietly chant to herself as she walked.

“Hear me, oh night stars give to me your ephemeral glow, answer me”

“Hear my request, guide my sight to find hidden truths, answer my wish, Night Glow”

Evelyn’s magic was very subtle, the only thing that changed was her pupils began to slightly glow. For Evelyn the change was incredible. The once dark path ahead became as bright as day, they had lights constantly around the group and a little ways ahead, yet it did not extend out to the entire end of the path. They had maybe a few hundred feet until they reached the end of the hall where a T intersection occurs, there she could see movement. It was difficult to make out because of how fast they moved from one side of the T to the other. Yet she could tell it wasn’t a monster she was familiar with. Evelyn spent a better portion of her adult life in the dungeon, so she knew most of the monsters who roamed these floors. What she saw cross the hall ran on 2 legs and based on how it looked like it moved, was humanoid.

She almost spoke, yet she bit her tongue. She thought about Adrith’s reactions, he must have seen it too, which meant there was more than 1, there had to be something more happening. She’d ask him later. Her eyes turned to Adrith as she began to join the conversation again. She realized she could now see into the helm clearly. His once allusive facial features were now more illuminated as the darkness of the face covering was no longer obscuring her vision. She could see his eyes, and unlike what she thought, his were not locked onto the path ahead of him. She followed where his gaze led curiously.

And where his eyes aimed were piercing right into Connor’s head. As if he was staring daggers right into him. Evelyn turned off her dark vision as she felt like she just found something terrible.

Evelyn felt incredibly uneasy, she thought Connor was a good man, yet Adrith had felt something strange, and she couldn’t understand what it was. As she turned to talk to Connor, his once jovial smile and laugh almost sounded hollow to Evelyn. His face seemed almost a little too happy. His smile felt a little too wide. Evelyn couldn’t shake the horrific feeling that she wasn’t looking at a person, she felt like she was looking at a creature that looked like one. It was as if just the simple things he does now weren’t right.

She began to turn back to the group and began to look among them. She realized that there were 9 of them when they found them being attacked by the Shadow Beasts. What she remembered, there were 6 of them including Maidrin. Now there were 10, and she didn’t remember there being any dead bodies. Only limbs that fell off that Adrith spoke of being a part of the Chimera Dragon. She thought about inspecting them more, yet she heard a voice cut her concentration, “Hey I think we should rest soon.”

Evelyn turned to see Connar made the suggestion, his smile still there yet his voice seemed a little different. Evelyn took in the saliva building in her mouth as she was not sure what to make of the situation.

“I think so too”, Adrith then spoke, Evelyn’s head flicked towards him as she thought he had lost his mind. She had been placing her faith in his actions, and now he agrees with the person she thinks he has suspicions of. She couldn’t fathom his thought process.

Connor continues when they reach the T intersection in the path, “Let’s head to the left instead of the right. The right will lead us to the stairs, and the left will lead us slightly more into the floor”.

Evelyn looked to Connor and asked, “Wait why are we moving away from the staircase?”

Adrith then responded, “Because if we stay there and people come down, we will be blocking the way and we could get into a confrontation or be robbed or killed there”.

Connor patted Adrith on the back again, “Right you are. Seems even though you’re new you are quite smart”

As they turned to the left, Evelyn began to feel a pit forming in her stomach, it was where she knew she saw something head this way, and possibly even more. And they were willingly heading right towards the danger.