"Hey c'mon Roth the tavern's this way!" As Fila shouted with excitement ahead of him in the cobblestone walkway of the town's market. He happily goes to her while Nina and Derian are still playfully bickering back and forth with each other. Fila grabs Roth by his hand and leads him on still giggling. His smile has never been wider laughing with Fila. They all reach the entrance of the tavern and Nina chimes in, " I heard they have the best pork roast in this area, I'm dying to taste some juicy pork!"

Derian goes and gives his outburst laugh, " BWHAHAH, when are you not thinking of food Nina."

"Hey! A girls gotta eat, right Roth!"

Roth nervously chuckles, " I mean if you're hungry you gotta eat right?"

Nina's eyes sparkle as if to take that as a yes. Derian opens the door for Roth to go in first, " So hey, what other foods do they have-" Roth turns but is cut short as to see the outside immediately turn into night. "G-guys? What's going on?" His breathing is beginning to become rapid. Looking into the restaurant It's dark and dirty, every piece of wood and furniture was rotting. The door slams shut behind him, startling him. He runs to it and twists the knob, but it won't budge.

"Roth, what's the matter?" His body stiffened and his blood ran cold. Fila's voice was so soft and weak it felt like she was directly whispering in his ear. He hesitantly looks back to see a single table in the center of the room with a dim candle in the center. Roth is frozen, every muscle is locked in place. The flame flickers towards the left showing Fila badly wounded and blood leaking from her mouth. "What's the matter? Don't you want to sit with us?"

The smile she gives to Roth horrified him, " Stop this please!" He is now hyperventilating. The flame flickers towards the middle. "C'mon are you just going to let us rot here waiting for you?" Nina now stares at Roth giving that same disheartening smile. Her face is bruised, and her left eye is swollen shut. Her left arm is missing slightly above the elbow. Blood is pouring out and shows no sign of stopping. The blood slowly making its way to Roth's feet, he is now overwhelmed with horror. "Please- for god's sake I'm sorry!"

Now the candle flickers to the right showing Derian leaning back in his chair giving his smug look. "Kid c'mon, I expected a little more from you. I guess we all make a lapse in judgment from time to time." Derian turns to Roth revealing the right side of his face. It's torn and ripped apart showing the bone from his bottom jaw and skull. Roth's eyes are flooding with tears, but his feet are melted to the ground unable to move. "I-I-please-I- I'm sorry..." his words are stuck in his throat.

The candle is then extinguished, and he stands in total darkness, petrified. The sound of his breathing and the beating of his heart rings in his ears. Slowly, creaking is heard, and Roth holds his breath not knowing what to do. Soon the candle reignites and all three of them tower over him. His eyes are wide open and feels pure terror. Feeling a sharp pain in his abdomen he looks down and sees all three of them have their hands deep inside his intestines. Roth screams and yells as tears come running down his face. " IM SORRY, OH GOD MAKE IT STOP PLEASE! I'M SO SORRY PLEASE! PLEASE, FORGIVE ME!" His petrified howls echo the entire rotting tavern. All three of them could do was smile at Roth with glee twisting his organs.

His tears and wails were being ignored as he pleaded for them to stop. His grief is too much to bear and suddenly he gasps for air waking up in a wooden bunk bed. Sitting upright in the bottom bunk he looks left and right seeing the other quarry workers sleeping peacefully. His hyperventilating begins to slow down and feels tears coming down his face. He quickly rubs his eyes and breathes in slowly to calm himself from that horrible nightmare.

"Psst, you okay? Sounded like you were suffocating." Looking over he sees his top bunk mate looking down on him from his bunk.

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"I'm fine, I just had a bad dream is all." As he explained with each catching of breath.

The top bunk mate looks at him with concern and goes back to sleep. Roth lays back into his pillow still feeling the twisting knot in his stomach. He holds his abdomen with both his hands and begins to relax even though he is fully awake. All he can hear is the snores and breathing of all the workers around him in the workers dorm.

The next morning Roth is taking a break laying on top of the gravel as their group is ready to depart. Ditzy is laying on the side of the gravel as well rubbing her head around. He softly chuckles as he pets her side. "Hey so Ditzy is going to be staying on site this rotation, right?" It was Viccus with his clipboard writing off a checklist.

"Yeah she'll be staying I'm just letting her have a little bit of fun for a bit." Answered Roth with a monotone voice. As Viccus was checking off his list he looks to his left and sees a little girl quickly hide behind the wall to the entrance of the work site. "Hey kid do you know who that little girl is?" Roth looks to the gate and sees the little girl slightly peaking. "Ughh kind of but no, give me a moment alright?" Viccus agrees and lets Roth handle the situation.

Walking towards the gate she hides quickly again. He leans against the side looking down on her and sees Mina sitting up against the wall.

"You're not very good at being discreet are you kid? Anyways why are you here, how'd you even find me?"

"Well I- I saw people walking towards this place and were wearing the same thing you did when you saved me, so I followed them..."

He looks at her with confusion," Look you're free you can finally go home now, ask that woman you were with okay kid."

She stands up with confidence and her shy demeanor changes to assertive, though he can see she's trying not to cry. " I don't have anywhere to go mister. Yes she was the only one who helped me not feel lonely, but I don't want to be a burden on her!"

"Oh so you don't want to burden her but it's alright to force me to take care of you? I have enough problems of my own. I don't need to worry about another mouth to feed. If you have nowhere to go just go to the guards for help." He turns his back towards her and walks back to the quarry.

"I don't want you to force yourself, I want you to help me get stronger!" He stops in his tracks not looking back.

"I know I'm weak. I know that I'll always be a burden to others the way I am. But seeing you save me and the others so easily like it was nothing. You were an adventurer, weren't you?"

Roth continues to stay silent. "I've always heard stories how adventurers are the strongest and most free out of everyone. How they can always stay strong no matter what life faces them. And that glowing mist, you're not like any adventurer I ever heard of."

"The adventurer's life is dangerous especially for a kid." Intimidatingly said Roth.

"I know what I'll get myself into."

"You'll probably die."

"I don't care!"

"People you'll meet will probably die."

"I know the risks, if it means to work by your side and get stronger, I'll face it no matter what! So please I'm begging you mister, take me under you and I'll help you no matter what!" She is on all fours begging Roth to take her with him. Roth is silent and still refuses to look back at her. She still stares at Roth waiting for his reply but all he did was continue to walk away. Her sorrowful expression continues and through her tears she can only whisper to him, "Please don't go...".

Walking only a few feet he stops and gives a disgruntled sigh. He rubs the back of his head with annoyance still with his back towards her. " Well, are you coming or not?" Her expression changes to shock and the realization sets in that she's finally able to join with Roth. She couldn't contain her tears anymore and bawls. "Yes! Thank you, thank you so much mister!" She runs full speed at him and hugs him from behind smiling, not caring of the dust and grim sticking to her face.

He still looks ahead letting her continue to hug but Roth's eyes are shimmering. Not letting his eyes water anymore. All he can do is promise her wish to train and get stronger. Sooner or later, he will need to find a way out of this game. He can't afford to make close attachments after the last time. He cannot afford to make the same mistake again especially for a child now.