“Ah…” Eleanor breathed out, the colors of her face draining, and her body sagging to the ground, where she fell to her knees.
“It’s okay,” the elf said with a forced smile, lowering himself, and placing a hand on her shoulder as he tried to look her in the eyes. “I understand how you feel. A lot of us felt the same way when we reached this place.”
“Us?” Eleanor asked, looking back at the elf. “There’s others?”
“Yes. There’s not a lot, since—as you might know already—the Void Dungeon is an extremely hostile place. But the people that have managed to get here, have stuck together to try to either find a way out, or…” he trailed off, standing straight and looking in the same direction the demons disappeared to. “Try to survive.”
Eleanor looked down and considered for a moment the elf’s words. She also appeared to get her feelings under control as the pale look on her face slowly turned back to normal. The elf patiently waited for her to respond, and simply looked at our surroundings, not noticing my presence quite yet.
“Is there—” she suddenly spoke, turning to look up at the elf with a hardly contained anxious look, “Is there a way out?”
“Hmm…” the elf replied, placing a hand on his chin as he thought about it. “There’s supposed to be one. Some people have reported seeing demons disappear without getting killed, which is to say that either they found a way out, or they’re hiding. However, if they were hiding, they would’ve attacked at some point, but such a thing hasn’t happened.”
“Demons…” Eleanor said, furrowing her eyebrows.
“Yes… There’s more to this place than what it seems; however,” the elf extended his hand to Eleanor for her to grab. She just looked at it without moving. “This is not a good place to talk about it. We should go to the camp.”
“Ah, okay,” Eleanor said with a nod, taking the elf’s hand, and allowing herself to be lifted from the ground by him.
Once she was ready to go, the elf nodded and turned in a different direction from where the demons went. There was silence in our steps, but after a few minutes, he glanced to the side, back at Eleanor. “By the way, what is your name? Mine’s Tyrr.”
“Ah, I’m Eleanor. Eleanor of Andras,” she replied, pushing aside a branch, then lowering her head to avoid another one, and forgetting to introduce me. But I would rather remain as a silent watcher and nothing else.
“Of Andras?” the elf exclaimed, raising his eyebrows slightly. “Are you a noble? Why would a noble be in a place like this?” he asked, his eyes drifting from Eleanor’s face, down to her dress, though stopping on her chest area for longer than necessary. “Looking for glory like many young nobles do?”
Eleanor didn’t seem to notice the elf’s gaze as she tried her best to keep up with him. “No… This was… Well… This was an—an accident.”
“I see. Quite the pitiful thing indeed,” he said, finally turning his gaze to look in the direction that he was leading us. “But don’t worry. If you stick with us, at least we’ll take care of you.”
“T-thank you. I’ll try to do my best as well,” she said with a soft smile.
The elf chuckled and waved his hand in the air in a dismissive way, as if trying to let her know that it wasn’t an issue. However, the more I looked at this elf, the stranger the man’s attitude seemed… It could just be a result of the kind of mentality someone needed to have to survive in this place—one that Eleanor probably needed to grow as well—Or it could be hiding something else. It would do her well to be on her guard up.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
* * *
A few hours after traversing the forest, the light that acted as the sun had already shifted. It appeared to give the impression that dusk was coming, and like the actual star in the open world, the heat that it radiated also lessened. There had hardly been any conversation between the elf and Eleanor, as all she did was try to keep up with him while he pointed out a few details of the forest, like what to keep a lookout for, or the direction in which they were headed.
It was after one final turn that a different structure could be seen. It looked like a fort, made from gray stone, with an outside wall that looked no taller than the average house. It had a gate made of stone as well that wouldn’t allow us to look inside the fort, and at the top of the walls, there were a couple of people, wearing similar armor to the one that this elf wore.
Once both Eleanor and the elf were out in the open, one of the men standing on top of it sharply turned to look at us with the spear pointed this way and a current of lightning forming at the tip, ready to fire. This man was short, with a stocky build, wide arms, and a strong sun-tanned skin that almost shone red from the heat, with an aggressive expression that was being half-covered by a lush, long beard.
The other one, standing next to this one on the wall, was tall, slim, carried an uninterested expression on his face, and his skin, while still being tanned, wasn’t quite as burned as the other one.
“Ooooi!” shouted the elf, waving his hand. “Dom, it’s me, Tyrr! Put down your weapon! By the Spirits!”
“I ain’t sure about tha’! Them demons can deceive me, and Tyrr didn’t leave with such a pretty lady! Prove yourself!” shouted back the short man at the top of the walls, threateningly pushing the spear forward a couple of times.
“Here, look!” shouted Tyrr in response, reaching into his armor to pull out a neck chain. “I have the charm.”
“Hmmm…” the gruff man replied, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. “I ain’t sure… Demons could’ve gotten that out of the scrawny elf after killin’ him… Better to shoot you first.”
“W-w-wait!” shouted back Tyrr, lifting his hands up in surrender. “T-the charm can’t be picked by demons! You know they would burn!”
“Nah, not buyin’ it,” the man replied, and just as he was about to fire the spell, the other man standing on the wall finally moved, gesturing with his arm for the man to stop.
“There’s no need to do that. We’re already few, and we shouldn’t harm each other, especially when we get…” he said, turning his eyes to inspect Eleanor. “A new one.”
Eleanor appeared to be just as unaware of the strange way that the man said that, just as she was from the looks that the elf gave her. She simply forced a smile and slightly waved her hand. The other one, the rough man that wanted to shoot lightning, scoffed, moved away his spear, and tapped the ground with the bottom part of the weapon.
“Bah! Whatever. I ain’t gon’ get in trouble if anything goes wrong. It’s your ass on the line,” he said, after which earth magic flowed from it, through the ground of the place they were standing and to the gate of the fort.
The thick rock gate slowly moved down at first, and then slammed inside the ground, disappearing as if it hadn’t been there at all. Eleanor widened her eyes for a moment, but once the elf started moving, her surprise faded and she followed him; with me behind her, as I always did.
“Hm?” the gruff man grunted once we were about to walk through the opened gate, narrowing his eyes our way—my way. “What’s with the… cat?”
“What cat?” asked the elf, turning to look at Eleanor but not me.
“Oh! I forgot,” Eleanor exclaimed, taking a step to the side so they could see me better and gesturing with one hand to me. “This is Kyun. He’s been with me ever since I stepped into this Void Dungeon.”
“What are you…?” the elf said, narrowing his eyes in my direction and then widening in surprise. “There really is a cat! I didn’t notice it after all the time we walked together!”
“Really!?” the gruff man exclaimed with an incredulous expression. “Hmph! How a pretty boy like yourself has managed to stay alive in this place for so long is truly a wonder… The boss-man must really like you.”
“W-well…” the elf said with a wry smile while scratching his head.
“Go in already,” the tall man in the wall said, not paying attention to any of this. “We can’t keep the gate open like this.”
“Right!” exclaimed the elf, turning to look at Eleanor. “Please, follow me. I’m sure the boss will be happy to see you.”
And with a polite smile, Eleanor walked into the fort.