Avalynn and her second-ever friend left the cave together and regrouped soon after with Yulia and Claude who had already packed everything up
Fae picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder as she then looked up at the orange sky, it was dawn already, and with that the group set on to walk towards the capital, they were halfway there anyway, they just had to continue walking westward
Hiding her mouth with her hand as she yawned, Fae felt the exhaustion crash onto her like a wave, although she would love to lie down and fall asleep, it's not as if her insomnia would let her slumber peacefully, and the little sleep she caught last night was, well...
"Heyy there, feeling sleepy already?" She looked to her right and could see Avalynn walking next to her, Fae looked at her with narrowed eyes and a frown
"Did you not sleep well last night?" She then added on with a slight tilt of her head, sarcasm and smug rays harassed Fae as the latter dismissed them with a shook of her head
"You're gonna be annoying aren't you?" Fae inquired back and the only reply she has gotten was a grin with tightly shut eyes
Fae sighed as she was already feeling exhausted both mentally and physically at the start of their walk today, and that day was sure to be a long and tiring one
"Why are you sticking to me so close anyway?" Fae asked of her with a side gaze and a slightly arched eyebrow
"Well" Avalynn put her hands behind her back as she replied
"Saying you like me would be an overstatement, so..." She gave Fae a tiny smile
"I'd say you're the only one who tolerates me, that's my reasoning" She then added on with a growing smirk as she looked forward towards where Claude and Yulia were
"I would love to get to know the other two but I think the lady is pretty irritated by my presence" Yulia heard those words as she turned her head over her shoulder to lock eyes with Avalynn, who raised her hand to wiggle her fingers in the form of quite the obnoxious wave to Yulia that clicked her tongue and looked forward again
"I don't really hate you, you know?" Those words attracted the Devil's attention again as she looked at Fae right in her weary eyes for a silent second before a gentle smile overcame her
"That's pretty sweet of you" She replied to Fae as the latter turned back to look forward just before she was asked a question
"Tell me" Avalynn said while Fae looked back at her
"I heard you talk about going back to your own world, what did you mean by that?" She had an arched eyebrow as it clearly showed the curiosity that built up within her
"Well..." Fae looked aside and took in a deep breath before gazing back at her friend
"I'm not really from this world, I just woke up in this world somehow" When Fae spoke to Avalynn she could swear that she noticed a slight touch of empathy on her face, but knowing her that might be a bit far fetched
"I have no idea how it happened or what triggered it but..." Fae shrugged
"Here I am" She ended
"Hm..." Avalynn let out a thoughtful hum
"You must feel a bit homesick huh?" She asked yet again of Fae, who gave a small smile
"A little" She said, the Devil smiled back at Fae with a much softer one
"And how about your own world, how does it compare to ours?" She inquired further as that question alone gave Fae a little surprised look with her parted lips
"Good question" She replied to Avalynn and then looked away to hum to herself in thought
"I guess..." She then looked back at her friend
"When I first came here I thought it was a much better world than mine, I honestly took it as a little vacation of sorts" Fae chuckled to herself while Avalynn gave her friend her full attention as she herself softened her smile
"But well, I soon realized that this world isn't as good as I thought, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows" Fae added
"And I think that's a valuable thing I've learned, that no matter the place, there's always decent folk just as there are bad folk" She told her while her weary brown eyes looked forward towards Claude and Yulia who seemed to be having a quite not surprising one-sided conversation, and when she looked at them, Fae's smile only grew wider
"I'm just lucky I found the former first" Fae seemingly finished what her mind wanted to say, leaving Avalynn to look at her with a smile
"Although" She then continued on talking as she looked back to her right, at those purple eyes
"You were born with the birth of life in this world, right?" Fae asked
"That would be correct" And the Devil replied
"Then you not knowing about the existence of other worlds doesn't really fill me with much optimism" She said, ending her pessimistic words with a sigh as she looked away
"Don't worry" Avalynn exclaimed as those words alone attracted Fae's eyes again
"For each problem lies an answer, if one perspective fails to shine some light, change the angle and broaden your field of view" She added on with a soft tone and empathetic eyes, something Fae thought would never see out of a being called "A Devil"
"I appreciate your words but I don't think this is just any problem" Fae replied, her eyes didn't hold much hope for the horizon getting cleared
"Perhaps" Avalynn nodded to her
"We will see after we meet with the gods" She added
"And if they do not hold an answer that might be of help, then there is one more thing you can try" The Devil continued, yet that one sentence she spoke made Fae slightly widen her eyes, what other entity could hold more knowledge than the very gods of this world
"Which is?" Fae curiously asked, yet Avalynn only gave back a wink to that inquiry
"That is for me to know and for you to find out" She told her, while Fae couldn't but sigh, this attitude was more in character for her new friend
"I'll tell you when the time comes, but for now we have things to do, don't we?" Avalynn continued on with a smile while Fae gave her a slow nod
Her supernatural friend was right, they had quite the task at hand to do near the capital of Flora as they had to explore that dungeon and make an end to its activity, just like she did with the one near Freesia
When Fae wasn't talking with her companions, she kept on thinking about those dungeons that have suddenly been activated all around the country, from the words of Yuri herself, that woman that both gave Fae this task and set her free, Fae is the only person that is known to be able to destroy those dungeon gems that served at its cores, and she was just conveniently transported into this new world at the same time these events began unfolding
Fae thought really hard about it, was it all just a coincidence? She didn't know it herself but she just hoped that somebody held the answers to the questions within both her mind and heart
It was a long road, but each road had to come to an end, and theirs was the sight of an encampment made to contain the threat of Rose's dungeon
Claude took the lead towards the gates of the encampment that had two knights guarding it, it seemed that they've put quite the manpower to quarantine this dungeon away from the world outside of it
It only took Claude to show a scroll to the two guards for them to let all the party inside of the encampment, squires and knights were all around the camp transporting supplies from tent to tent while Fae could see others spar between each other, all in all it looked like quite the active base
"Well look who it is!" A woman's voice put the party at a halt as they all turned to see the source of the voice
It was a female knight in full armor except for her helmet, showing her snow-white skin and her short black hair that barely reached her shoulders while her hazel eyes landed on Claude as she walked toward him
"It's been such a long time, how have you been honey?" The knight told Claude as she then gave him a tight hug
Fae was surprised by how close the woman seemed to be to a man like Claude, maybe they were lovers of sorts she thought to herself
After they parted away from each other the woman spoke up again
"What are you doing here though? I thought you were sent at the border?" She inquired with a hand on her waist while Claude gave her the same parchment he showed to the guards outside, she grabbed it and her eyes narrowed
"Hm" She then raised her eyes to look at the other three members behind Claude
"Who's Fae then?" She asked of them, leaving Fae to slightly raise her hands as she attracted the eyes of the woman who after looking at Fae for a silent second, smiled
"Fair enough" With her smile unwavering the woman gave back the scroll to Claude
"You're welcome to stay for how long you need until you finish your assignment" She then seemed to have her interest switched from Claude to Fae herself, as she spoke directly to the woman that was next to Claude
"I'm sure all of you deserve a good rest after the trip here, my knights can hold the dungeon and its monsters for a bit more" She exclaimed with a small smile
"We can get started right now" Fae replied with crossed arms and narrowed eyes, bringing the knight to a soft snicker
"I appreciate the enthusiasm but being down there tired won't bring you any good" The knight answered Fae
"If holding our ground for a bit more will increase your chances of success then it is very much worth it" She added
"Don't worry about us, being between danger and our people is our only purpose" She shrugged with a smile, one that Fae gave back
"Alright, we'll take you up on your offer then, thank you" Fae expressed her gratitude that the woman replied to with a smiling nod
"I'll get somebody to walk you to some empty tents that you can rest at, stay right here" And then she walked away as fast as she came, Fae brought her phone out and realized just how late the hour was, maybe taking a rest would actually be the best thing
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As she put her phone back in her pocket however, she could see Avalynn smirking widely at her
"What?" Fae inquired quite simply, yet very clearly
"I'm smelling jealousy in the air" The Devil told her with narrowed eyes and her smirk still on the surface of her face, Fae narrowed her eyes
"Of what? her being a knight?" She told her, only making Avalynn's smirk grow wider
"Oh you know exactly what I mean" She said with raised eyebrows, Fae on the other hand, was not amused as she tightly crossed her arms
"No, in fact, I do not"
True to her word, somebody was sent to the party to guide them to some empty tents that they took refuge in throughout the end of the day, Avalynn didn't need any sleep so she went on to explore the encampment and its surroundings
After a couple of hours Yulia and Claude were sound asleep, while Fae had just woken up
Leaving her tent and going to wash her face with water out of a barrel she found, after splashing her face with ice cold water, she took a deep breath as she wished she could sleep as soundly as the other two, putting her hands on the edges of the barrel, Fae looked down at her reflection in silence
"You look like shit" She spoke at her reflection, and then she snickered
"I think you look great" A voice replied to her, Fae with a raised eyebrow looked to her right to find that same knight woman that greeted them
"Hope I didn't scare you" She added on with a smile as she stood tall with her hands behind her back
"Not at all" Fae played off the embarrassment of getting caught talking to one's self, the knight smiled
"I'm glad, didn't catch much sleep though did you?" She inquired further while Fae shrugged
"This is as much sleep as I can get so I'll be fine" The knight nodded to Fae's reply as she pushed herself away from the barrel
"I hope so since you'll be the show's star" Fae tilted her head to the side and gave away a shrug
"I'm sure you know of this but, we've tried to destroy those crystal things for a very long time to no avail" The knight told Fae
"Though you do look unique enough to be able to do that" Fae slightly furrowed her eyebrows with a growing smirk
"Really now, the last time a knight talked about me she said that I didn't look like much of a warrior" Hearing those words, the knight laughed
"That must have been Lucy right?" She replied to Fae, whose eyes were slightly widened
"Yeah, how the hell do you know that?" The woman snickered at Fae's surprised expression
"Lucy is my little sister, she wrote to me about what happened with the Chimera" She answered Fae who could only let out a slow exhale through her lips
"She mentioned you a lot, you know?" She added on, attracting Fae's eyes again as the former crossed her arms
"She has you in good light only, don't you worry" Fae hummed to herself as she wondered whether the knight in front of her knew about the noble she killed
"You still have to tell me your name though" She told the knight who had widened her eyes for a split second
"Oh right, my apologies" With a hand on her stomach and one in the air, she did an elegant bow to Fae
"Commanding Captain Lucia Vernois of The second chapter of Flora's knights" She then lifted her head to look at Fae with a smile bordering on a smirk
"Was it noble enough for you lady Fae Walker?"
Fae on the other side had her arms crossed and her head slowly shaking in disapproval, a sight that made Lucia snicker
"Lucy and Lucia huh?" Fae then remarked, one that the knight seemed to get often
"Guess our parents wanted us to get along? who knows" Lucia shrugged
"Get along? you two are the contrast of each other, just like black is to white" That comment brought the captain to a soft laughter
"She has much to learn so give her a break will you?" She gave Fae an answer that the latter merely replied to with a lift of her shoulders
"I guess she isn't that bad, she's a good knight if anything" She said to Lucia who had a gentle smile on her face upon hearing that
"I'm glad to hear that" She replied to then look aside, humming in thought
"Well" Lucia after that looked at Fae in her brown eyes
"I got a couple more duties to perform so I'll see you later Fae" Giving a nod to Fae that the latter politely smiled to, Lucia took her leave and left Fae alone, well, not really alone
"She seems the like of a good soldier" Yuna's voice resonated within Fae's mind, a voice that she already had missed listening to
"Mhm" She quietly hummed in affirmation as she crossed her arms to then look up at the sky
"It's soon to be dawn, should we make our preparations for the descent?" Yuna asked, Fae nodded
"You're right, the sooner we get this over with the better" And then went on to wake up Claude and Yulia, and to unfortunately look for Avalynn who after a dozen minutes was found on top of a tree branch with some sort of fox sleeping on her lap, Fae could notice that animals really liked her for whatever reason
Lucia wanted to give Fae a chest plate that the latter respectfully declined as it was a bit too heavy for her liking, Fae wasn't used to feeling heavy and didn't want her footwork to be bogged down by that weight
Although apart from that she gave Fae and the rest of her companions a couple of potions that apparently could stop profuse bleeding, for that she was quite thankful
And so Fae's group went to the cave that was barricaded and protected by dozens of knights that with Lucia's order, let them through
"Alright you two" Lucia stood in front of Fae and Claude
"Be wary on your way down and don't hesitate to retreat if things get too dangerous" Both of the woman and the man gave Lucia a strong nod
"And here, this should help you navigate around" Lucia also gave Claude what seemed to be a map that he inspected alongside Fae
"Our vanguard planned and made maps of the corridors and interiors of the cave, it should be of help to you if you get lost" Fae lifted her head to look at Lucia with a smile
"Thank you, this will be really helpful" She told the commanding knight who gave her a gentle smile
"Just come back in one piece" Fae gave a nod to those words before they've all set down deeper into the dungeon, walking over dead bodies of goblins and wolves, with all of them having different species of those two monsters
"So what's the plan?" Avalynn got between Claude and Fae with a smirk as the other two walked first within the group
"We find the core and destroy it" Fae responded, her hand on the pommel of her sword while her eyes gazed around the dark hallway, illuminated only by the torch Claude held
"Oh! how dumb of me!" Avalynn said with a mocking tone
"I thought we came here to volunteer in dungeon cleaning!" She exclaimed before laughing at the expression she got out of her friend as that same friend clicked her tongue and pushed her forward while she herself slowed down her pace to walk alongside Yulia
The Yulia that was looking everywhere but at Fae, which the latter realized much earlier on
"Yulia?" Fae asked, bringing the ex-guild master to finally look at her with a raised eyebrow
"Yes?" She asked with what seemed to Fae to be a forced smile
"Is it just me or have you been avoiding me?" Fae asked of her, bringing her to widen her eyes
"Avoiding y-you? why would I?!" The sudden surprise Yulia felt alongside the anxiety she felt from this conversation caught her off balance and made her stutter
Fae crossed her arms and tilted her head, she wasn't sure that she was totally convinced just yet
"Alright, though if there are any problems, please do tell me, okay?" The worry written all over Fae's weary face made Yulia feel just a tiny bit guilty
"Of course" She nodded in the affirmative though as she had yet to gather the courage to tell her about what happened with Avalynn, or was it even necessary for Fae to know about it? that's what Yulia kept on thinking while the other put her attention back forward
The group didn't find any living monsters inside, only their bodies, it seemed as if something fought them here & there, in the depths and the surface of the cave, there were bodies everywhere
They all walked on and on, with little chatter between them and most of that chatter was coming out of Avalynn as she was the only person out of all to not pay much attention to her surroundings
Fae raised an eyebrow when she saw the specter of Yuna deeper, bringing her and the rest of the group to quicken their pace so as to catch up with their ethereal friend
"The path severs from here" Yuna exclaimed as she was inspecting the two directions while Fae took the map out of Claude's off-hand as he was busy holding the torch
"Uh..." Although Fae had no idea where they were on the map, at least not until Claude pointed at the map
"Oh right, thank you" She said without moving her eyes away from where his finger once was
"Hm, seems like both directions fuse back into one much later on" Yulia remarked as all of Fae's companions were behind her reading the map she had extended with both hands
"Looks like it, should we split up?" Avalynn proposed an offer that Fae curiously raised an eyebrow at
"Why?" She asked of the Devil
"Maybe we find some hidden entrance in one of the two paths, who knows where this core is hidden anyway?" She replied, seeing Fae consider that proposition for a split second
"We can't afford to pass by obvious clues can we?" She continued while the other woman let out a sigh
"I guess you're right" Fae declared, rolling up the map to then give it back to Claude
"Alrighty then, Yulia's with me while you three explore the other side" Avalynn said, getting a nod out of Fae, Yuna and Claude
"Hey I didn't agree to anything though!" Although much to Yulia's disapproval, Yuna had already vanished while Fae and Claude were on their way forward
"So Yulia, let's get to know each other shall we" Avalynn said with her hands clasped together under her cheek
"God damn it man..." Yulia on the other side, just couldn't complain as much as she wanted to
And so the group split up to cover additional ground, Fae and Claude walked behind Yuna who lead the exploration with her hand on the handguard of her curved sword, ready to unsheathe it at any harm
Fae walked as she took a gaze at Claude, and decided to finally speak her mind
"When we were readying ourselves to enter this dungeon" She told him, Claude looked at Fae as those words attracted his curiosity
"I overheard Lucia say to you " She added, bringing him to tilt her head as his curiosity was nothing more but aroused
"She said that you should stop trying to be two people at once, what did she mean by that?" When Fae spoke those words it prompted Claude to look away and stay in character, completely silent
"Well, you don't need to tell me but" Fae had a slight veil of worry slowly surface on her face
"Just know that you can talk to me about it if you feel like it" She didn't want to push on the topic further, and Claude seemed to appreciate that as he gave her a grateful nod
With that over, Fae decided to walk closer to Yuna
"Notice anything?" She asked of her friend who gave a slow shake of her head
"Unfortunately not" Yuna replied, looking at Fae's eyes who now stood by her side
"The only things I have set my eyes on so far are stone walls and extinguished torches" She added on
Fae let out a thoughtful hum as she looked around her, her eyes confirming what Yuna told to her
"Why?"
All three of them came to a halt as a spectral voice echoed within the cave, prompting them to face the voice that seemed to come from behind them
"Why would you betray us?" Fae had her eyes widened, she knew that voice
"Yuna...?" She looked at her friend with a shocked face, and found her just as surprised at that voice that resonated just one being Yuna's
"No" And then another voice echoed, this time from the way forward as all of them immediately faced it
"We're soldiers not monsters, let her say her goodbyes" The spectral voice added, both Fae and Yuna knew what the latter spoke after that
"Not monsters?" She chuckled
"You'd make the devil blush" And soon with that, the voice died out
Fae and Yuna looked at each other, finding no answers that either of them hoped to see on the other's face
"What the hell was that?" Fae exclaimed what the other two wanted to say
"That was... me?" Yuna said with a tone bordering a whisper as she rested her hand on her chest, looking down at the ground in thought
Claude put his hand on Fae's shoulder and as she looked at him, she realized what he meant
"Right, let's keep moving" Fae muttered, and soon enough, the two followed by her side
Not much chatter happened after that as each of them were occupied by their surroundings, and their mind still on the thought of the voices
"Liutenant, could I have a word, please?" A different voice this time echoed behind the group as they all came to a stop to listen
"Of course, what is it?" The voice of what the three thought was the lieutenant came from the way forward, and they could swear it was the same voice that spoke to Yuna's own voice previously
"What are we doing here?" The soldier asked, his voice echoing throughout the cave
"What do you mean? protecting our homeland of course" The lieutenant answered, though the soldier immediately retorted
"Protecting? ser, we are the ones invading the empire of blades" A silence deafend the three of them for a second, before the officer spoke again
"I know how it might seem, friend, but believe in our king, he is doing his best to safeguard a future for all of us here, and our families back home" The lieutenant said
"All of our efforts won't be in vain, just believe in our king Kasper, for his will is ultimately the best thing for all of us" And then there was silence
Fae, Yuna, and Claude, all looked at each other for a silent moment, all before their staring was cut short by that same ghostly voice
"I wish I could believe anything of what I told him" The voice said
"When I became a knight, I thought honor was all that mattered for us, but I can't see any honor anymore" He said
"Honor isn't paying half of an army to betray their own prince and princess, all of this isn't right" Fae looked at Yuna in silence, the latter having a gaze that was deep in thought
"I saw him get killed by the same people he swore to protect, and her..." The voice took a deep wheezing breath
"Even though she spared me from dying of my arrogance when I tried to duel her, I still am the reason both died" Fae and Yuna both knew that he was talking about the latter
"I can't get it out of my head, the way she looked at me on the day of her death, and her last words still haunt me, I can't sleep anymore because of it" The unknown knight continued
"Maybe she's right, maybe I really am a monster, gods do I regret it all" And then he took a long sigh
"Kasper, dear friend, just what are we fighting for anymore"
Fae looked at Yuna in silence, while Yuna herself didn't know what to say exactly
"Let's continue" Was all she could bring herself to say as mere memories of that day still sting her heart
And continue they did, they all walked in silence, they walked on and on for a dozen minutes or so, all the way until they reached a huge black gate that reminded Fae of where she met Yuna
"This is probably it, isn't it?" Yuna asked of Fae as the latter gave her a sharp nod
"Though no sign of Avalynn and Yulia, we should've met already but we found no other path but this one" Yuna remarked, she was right, if the map was right then they should've met long ago with the rest of the group, but they didn't
"We should still get in, the sooner we can do it the better" Fae answered, Yuna looked at her in silence for a split second
"But if there is too much danger, we retreat" She said, both Claude and Fae gave their friend a slow nod
And then, all together, they pushed the black gates open