I returned to where it all began. The hamlet of Nirya, now a full blown city.

My feet carried me towards the thick and towering walls, where once there was only an average wooden fence covering a much smaller area. The gates were large enough for five wagons to pass side by side and have space to spare.

I waited properly in line. I was in no hurry.

The person in front of me noticed my arrival, surprise colored her face. She shoved the person in front of her and pointed at me, before they too drew the attention of the others

“Whoa!”

“Who is he!?”

“What the fuck is that old man wearing?”

“Idiot, he can hear you! Those are obvious high level artifacts.”

“Someone important?”

“Shit, should we…?”

The people in line began moving to the side in order to clear a path for me.

I had to intervene, waving them down. “It is fine, friends. Go back to your business. I mean you no harm, nor do I wish to disrupt your process here.”

“Oh, well then in that case–”

“Dumbass, it’s a test!”

“A test?”

“Yeah, yeah! I’ve heard of this! Where a noble baits you into disrespecting them by acting all humble. And then BAM! To the dungeon you go. And then he’ll do some very bad and creepy things…”

“I am most certainly no noble!” I said, a little bit too sharply. But I really did not appreciate being compared to those useless wastes of space. “I am Tresh Farway. Mighty immortal adventurer. He of Immovable Forests. Father of Mother Mature. Among many other titles.”

Living vines whipped out of my grass-like robe upon my proclamation. Flowers grew on my crown of antlers before falling off and flying peacefully through the air like cherry blossoms, but more colorful. All of them were priceless artifacts that could only be made and bound with a gestalt legend as strong as my own.

“I-I-I… I’m sorry!” The woman who suggested I was anything like a noble collapsed to the ground. “I meant no offense at all, sir!”

I sighed. “It is fine.” The people were still parted, as if waiting for me to cross. I chose to indulge them, knowing it was for the best.

The guard at the gate gulped, stammering, before eventually just waving me through.

I flicked him a gold coin. “There is a toll, no? I won’t say that you should do your job, I no longer know if your employers here deserve it. But if you don’t, then at least do so with conviction.”

The guard gulped again, before nodding sharply and pocketing the coin. I smiled, knowing that my toll would likely never make it into the city’s coffers.

I entered into the city proper, and immediately the noise and the squandor slammed into me. I remembered when this place was just hard packed roads and a few local stores, but now the streets were neatly cobbled, flanked by glass storefronts and large businesses. It was no longer possible to know all of one’s neighbours, the busy crowds changed day in and day out.

That was fine. I had no one to visit here, except for one person who might have stayed. So I made my way towards the adventurer’s guild, to finally settle a score that I have dodged for all of my life, until the very end.

~~~

The bell rung as I pushed the guild door open. The place was packed, and adventurers were getting drunk so early in the day. I remembered when me and my friends were able to essentially monopolize the small local guild, for there was no one else. The building was much smaller then, but it was more than large enough for the four of us.

I wonder how the guild fared when we were gone. Obviously, it thrived in the end, but what was it like in the twilight before the hamlet of Nirya became a city?

I felt my throat tighten at the memory, but the barely-concealed whispering of the adventurers pulled me out of the recollections. My gear might have drawn attention in the city streets, but most people was too busy to gawk for too long. Here, I knew that the adventurers were specifically interested in me and my story. They knew the true value of my gear, when it just looked weird to random civilians. The more perceptive of them could feel my power. The Presence of an immortal-rank adventurer.

Except I’m not immortal at all. I’m old and dying, and so are my peers, few as we are.

I still wonder why the fuck the rank is called as such.

Mortal, Slayer, Hero, Savior, Immortal.

Those were the five adventurer ranks, and the latter ones were hardly indicative of how adventurers truly were.

Mortal was certainly true, the job could involve a lot of slaying, but hero was pushing it too far, albeit there were those naive enough to try. They didn’t tend to last long. My friend Leon did not last long. He died here in this very place, within the Eternal Dungeon at the center of the Nirya.

I allowed the emotions to pass through me. Flowar was definitely a slayer in life, if not in rank, and Amylis had the heart of a savior even if she never had the power to back it up. The adventurers who actually did make it to that rank could not compare. Not in compassion. I would know.

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Finally, there was the vaunted rank of immortal, and it was absolutely untrue.

“Tell me about the dungeon. What news does it bring?” I asked the receptionist after the adventurers have also let me cut in line like the people at the gate. I could feel them hanging around me, hanging on to my every word, as if I was about to divulge the secrets to my power. Only half had the decency to pretend that they were not eavesdropping.

“W-well…” the receptionist gulped, sending pleading looks toward her colleagues, but receiving no help in turn. “The dungeon here is called the Eternal Dungeon…”

“Yes, I know. I was born and raised here.”

“S-sorry!”

“No, no. It’s fine. I apologize if my tone sounded… offensive. Please, continue.”

“...Okay. Um. The dungeon has seven floors in total, with a consistent focus of undead creatures. The first floor–”

I held up a hand to stall her. “I see that it’s grown since I was last here,” since consuming my companions, “but I will not be needing the full breakdown of the floors.” This might just be my final adventure. I want all the mystery and the wonder. “Instead, what can you tell me about the reward at the end?”

“The reward…? Oh! You mean the rumors about it granting true immortality?”

“Yes. Those rumors.”

“I see. Well, we have heard of it, and it’s drawn people all around the world towards Nirya, but we’ve never really confirmed it.”

I tilted my head. “Is that so? Has Battle Witch Meria left? She is truly immortal, is she not?”

“Oh, yes. She’s still here… in that same hut, right next to the dungeon entrance.” Yep. That’s her spot. Funny how it hasn’t changed in a literal century. “And it is true that she hasn’t aged a day, which is why plenty of people buy into the promise of immortality. I don’t think it’s untrue either, but when you talk to her…” she shook her head. “Nevermind. Yes, it’s true, but no one other than Battle Witch Meria has ever confirmed it. And all I’ve seen are people throwing their lives away into the dungeon in search of immortality. Instead all they find is death…”

There was a beat of silence.

“Well duh! It’s a hole full of undead!”

An adventurer, a rookie by the looks of him, made the joke. The guild roared in laughter, and I couldn't help but find the humor in it myself.

“That’s just how adventurers are, I’m afraid. Defying death, or succumbing to it, comes with the job.” I told the poor receptionist who had gone bright red. “Thank you for your time. I think I’ll retire for now. My body’s not what it used to be.”

“Oh please,” she chuckled, although the woman still wasn’t fully comfortable. I suppose I never was either, in the presence of monsters like myself. Not until I was strong enough to be included among their ranks. “You’re the legendary immortal adventurer Thresh Farway, aren’t you? You don’t look tired at all!”

She wasn’t wrong about that. I still had a few good decades in me. My lifespan was indeed extended by my power. But it would not be forever. The promise of my rank was false.

“Perhaps so.” I gestured towards the adventurers surrounding me. “But I best not derail the guild any longer. Have a good day.”

~~~

“Hey! You know her? She’s immortal!” I remembered when Flowar had led me to this same place, to meet the battle witch Meria.

“Ehh… That can’t be true…” I was skeptical then. True immortality was unheard of. It was part of our very existence as humans to someday die.

“No, no. It is! And if we do well in the dungeon, then we can become immortal too!”

“Guys, guys. We’re too young to be thinking about this anyway. There are many more adventures to be had, monsters to be slain, queens to be saved. We’ll live for a long while yet.” Leon was wrong. I was the only one who lived.

“That’s right. I won’t say it’s wrong, but… chasing so hard after this one thing may lead us down the wrong path.” Amylis was right about this, just like with so many things. I wish we listened to her more.

My hand pushed open the door, to the small hut made of dark wood. I wouldn’t say it was exactly how I remembered it, the living room had a few pieces of furniture that weren’t here before, and there were small trinkets decorating the walls and tables that I did not quite recall. However, the ambience of the place was very much the same, the feelings it evoked. I felt like the friends that I’ve lost could just follow in after me, and we could talk to that same immortal lady knitting a magical sweater before the fireplace. Black, red, and green… I swear even the sweater is the exact same!

“Oh hello,” Meria greeted me with a smile. A woman in her forties with a freckled face and unassuming ginger hair. She had not aged a day since I was child. “Who are you, child? What brings you to my humble abode?”

It certainly looked humble, but I was no longer fooled. I never noticed it as a child, but now I could feel the enchantments meticulously hidden in the very foundations of the house, and a fair bit of the unassuming objects that the woman liked to keep on display. I doubted any of them were recent additions.

“Hello there, Meria,” I greeted her with a warm smile of my own. “I’m hardly a boy any longer. But do you not remember me? Thresh Farway? I came here often. Usually with my friends… all three of them.”

“Oh, really?” Her eyes narrowed dangerously for a moment that I nearly missed, before the joviality returned to her face. “My, you’re right! Why do I not remember? That’s concerning. And you feel… younger than I am, hence why I called you a child, but you are clearly an old man!”

I chuckled, and took her offered seat. “Well, that’s just the consequence of age I’m afraid. You, on the other hand, are immortal.”

Meria paused to think about that for a moment, frowning. “You’re right. I guess… I am.” The smile returned to her face as she changed the subject. “So, Thresh Farway. What brings you here?”

“We, ummm…” I once fidgeted, in the face of that simple question. An awkward child I was. “We want to visit the dungeon and thought you might have some advice for us?”

“I’m here to visit the dungeon, and as a veteran of it, I wanted your guidance, Battle Witch Meria.”

“Oh, wonderful! Another fellow seeking immortality!” She stood up from her rocking chair and gestured for me to follow. “‘Death is what gives life meaning. It’s important for every journey to have an end.’ Bah! Sophistry! Yes, it’s the truth that death comes for us all, but who is to say and decide that it is good!?”

“Um. Uh. I guess? I never really thought about…”

“You’re absolutely right, Meria. It’s what I’m here for.”

“Excellent!” She led me to her study, and showed me a leather bound book. It had notes up to the fourth floor of the dungeon, speaking about the facts that were confirmed, and rumors that were not. Meria wrote down her own thoughts, the strategies that she’s come up with, and her opinions of the aesthetics and design, as if she wanted to manage her very own dungeon.

It was the exact same notebook I was shown a century ago, and not a single thing about it has changed.

I placed the journal back on the table, and took out an identical one from the shelf. I flipped open its pages, and found the contents to nearly be the exact same, with very little variance.

The next one had a slightly off-color cover, but the contents remained identical.

There were a lot more notebooks like it on the witch’s shelf. I stopped parsing through them after the sixth proved to be unchanged.

I bowed towards my gracious host, and thanked her for her time. “Thank you, Meria. That was very informative.”

“I’m glad I could help a kindred spirit. Let us break the rules and obtain immortality, friend!”

“Yes. That would have been nice.”