Phoebe skipped along beside Gruna, as Elion wandered ahead of them, humming brightly to herself. It was true that she didn’t exactly want to be here, but she also didn’t care much.

She also didn’t care much for her friendly little orb of fire, dancing near her head and lighting up a cavern that was absolutely big enough to fit the gigantic dragon that had abandoned them at the entrance.

She got the feeling he was actually scared of the Truth Keeper or whatever new horror that they were going to encounter. If she were old as the world, Phoebe probably wouldn’t exactly want to come face to face with the truths of her life, either.

Lying to yourself, like she was to feel happy, was something you got very good at as you got older. Trying to forget your mistakes.

> “I was once lost in a dark cave,”

> “But now I see my little light, so brave,”

> “No more fear, no more fright,”

> “Gonna fuck ’em up, and get drunk until I lose my sight!”

Gruna chuckled at the song, smiling over at her and shaking her head. Phoebe shrugged innocently and carried on.

> “Dragon bitch be near,”

> “But I ain’t gonna show no fear,”

> “I’ll dance and sing with glee,”

> “’Cos bitch, with you, I’m free.”

The knight’s usual frown returned at being called something so crass. She didn’t complain about Phoebe swearing, though. Thinking on it, Gruna hadn’t exactly been annoyed by Elion’s lack of fine language, either. Though that might just be because he would bring up her past. Man really was a dick.

> “Gotta cheer, gotta rejoice!”

> “I’m gonna make a joyful noise!”

> “No more hate, I got my love,”

> “In this cave, we’re gonna rise above!”

Phoebe blushed as she sang to Gruna, but the orc seemed unmoved. Maybe calling her a bitch had been a step or three too far. It would often go down badly, but calling a holy knight one was probably beyond the realm of acceptability.

The other two were facing this thing with complete seriousness. A grim attitude that Phoebe just… Didn’t want. More than that. She needed not to think about the possibility she was some destined heroine. Because heroes almost always die.

In truly horrible ways.

> “I’m stuck in a cave, that’s true,”

> “But I’ll smash my way through!”

> “With a smile on my face,”

>

> Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

> “I’ll conquer this fucked up place!”

Phoebe sighed, as she failed to cheer up her companions. She didn’t know exactly what kind of things lay ahead. She was hoping it had absolutely nothing to do with shadows this time. Wasn’t sure she could cope with that.

However, with an ancient elf who had apparently saved her life, and with an orc who she knew would do anything for her. Phoebe herself might be useless in any kind of fight, but with them… Together… The three of them should be fine.

The cavern wasn’t like the last cave. Not just one path heading into the mountainside. Instead, it was a labyrinth of twisting passageways, including hidden rooms that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Everywhere that Phoebe looked, she could see ancient runes and symbols. Every single one of which seemed to make Elion’s carefree attitude disappear more and more.

Gruna seemed to be able to read the runes, mouthing as she saw each one, before silently pointing them down a direction in the cave. That it was the holy knight who could read them, and not the ancient elf, was not lost on Pheobe.

This place was sacred in some way. Gods existed in this world, in a way that was far more certain than her own. Here, the gods came down to fuck things up when they got pissy. The feeling that they might stumble on an actual god… That was making Phoebe have waking nightmares.

There was something about it all that made Phoebe felt like they were on a ticking clock. This was just an old place, unchanged for aeons, and yet… It felt like the answer they needed, the test she had to face… Time was running out.

She wasn’t alone, either. Gruna pulled her axe, eyes shifting around uncertainly. There was no sign of anything living beyond a few mushrooms so far - ones that Phoebe were pretty sure would kill you if you put them in a stew. Bright red things were not the kind of thing you ate.

Elion, too, seemed uncomfortable. His compound bow was in hand, even if he hadn’t drawn an arrow yet. He stepped so lightly that his footsteps couldn’t be heard, nor his breathing. He was bracing for an attack.

Phoebe’s annoying little flame seemed to share her anxieties. It grew bigger and brighter, fighting desperately to push all the shadows back. She wouldn’t blame the thing if it had PTSD from being eaten by the demon or monster last time.

All at once the various paths of the labyrinth seemed to converge onto a singular room. A place filled with some kind of lake, and in the centre of it a rather ominous looking and entirely empty chair.

Phoebe froze up, not stepping anywhere towards it.

Elion looked over at her and rolled his eyes, “Yes. That’s kinda where you’re supposed to go. This place… I reckon it’s the Guardian of Shadows. Some shitheel from when I wasn’t even born yet. He’s an angry cunt, but he’s also rather discriminatory. Won’t talk to none but destined freaks.”

“This is the place where the Guardian of Shadows dwells?” Gruna said in disbelief, “By Go’ruuk… We need to leave. Now!”

Phoebe turned around, but found a hand catching her shoulder. More disturbingly, it wasn’t Elion’s. The hand was grey, stone, and attached to a statue that she hadn’t even noticed.

Gruna let out a bellowing yell, and the clang of metal on stone sounded out behind Phoebe. She also heard Elion swearing quickly and under his breath, before the sounding of three arrows in a row bouncing harmlessly away.

“Fuck.” Phoebe swore, wincing and closing her eyes. She reached out to her flame, trying to call out to it in her mind. Whispering quietly, “I… I guess… I’m… A witch?”

Phoebe screamed as she was thrust into a wall. Her magic failing to do a thing, but the statue deciding it wanted to beat her to death with the cave itself as a weapon.

She’d never exactly been in a lot of pain before. She had lived a pretty average sort of life. Never had a car accident. She’d fallen off a bike a couple times, but just a bicycle, not anything with a motor and actual speed.

Rocks felt like they pierced her back, tore into her, twisting and grabbing at her spine and ripping the bones to pieces. Phoebe screamed as the thing threw her to the side, bouncing and thudding to the ground.

She shivered, unable to even move beyond a twitch. The stone creature moved towards her slowly, dragging its feet across the cavern floor, one booming footstep at a time.

Something about this didn’t add up.

The statue stepped down on the back of her wrist with a crunch she didn’t hear because she was shrieking in blinding pain. Phoebe flailed blindly at it, her other hand bloodying itself against the unfeeling stone, as her legs kicked and tried so very desperately to free her.

There was no magic in her voice. Her flame continued to float nearby, lighting the cavern and doing nothing to help her as she was ground into the floor. Nothing about her pain lit up any lost memory, or some hidden power.

The gemstone on her choker did nothing to guide her. There was no bright spark of magic to guide her, to show her the magic words she just needed to say.

She was nothing but an office worker from another world, and she was fucked.