“Rainen?” Ellar wiped the tears from her eyes. She could hardly believe he was there. The crystal Raia sent her for light died a while ago and she stumbled along in the darkness until she hit a dead end. Without a way to see where she was going, she feared she’d end up dying there. Using the core to light the way wasn’t a risk she felt comfortable taking, considering how the orcs reacted before.

Stories of lost adventurers being found dead were common. Adventurers, explorers by another name, were bound to get lost. And yet, she wasn’t prepared for that outcome. She wasn’t prepared for any of this.

“Where are you?” She asked.

“I’m against a wall. Where are you?” He asked back.

“I-I don’t know. I’m also against a wall…”

Rainen didn’t dare take his eyes off the statues. There was no room left for him to run, or anywhere to go. All the distance between him and those monsters was precious, so he delegated the work to her. “I can’t move right now. You’ll have to figure things out.”

As he focused on preserving the space between him and the monsters, Ellar turned back to the wall where she sat not even a few seconds ago. Their voices were surprisingly clear considering the wall between them, and it wasn’t long until she found out why. On her half of the wall, Rainen’s flame shone like a beacon and she was drawn to it.

When she peered through, she couldn’t see much. “Over here,” she said, guiding him. The hole was a bit larger than the size of her hand and on the left side of the wall, rather than the middle where Rainen stood. Nevertheless, he scooted himself over to the hole, crouching down so that his ear was right next to it.

“Where’s the major core?”

“I have it,” she said.

"Can you hand it over?"

"Huh? S-Sure." She pushed the core through the hole. Its light was almost completely gone, but not its power.

He breathed a sigh of relief. “Where's Raia?”

“I-I-I… I left her…” she answered. She guessed that since she hadn’t heard Nyle’s voice, something similar happened to him.

He settled down with his back against the wall and Ellar did the same. The two sat quietly for a while, letting silence overtake their conversation. It happened often, as they discovered while lost together. Ellar didn’t know what to say, or how to converse at all. Her experiences were limited to the meek responses she gave to those at the academy, the ones she gave to her parents, and the conversations she practiced in her head.

Rainen, on the other hand, simply didn’t see the need for it. Talking? Why do that when he had other things to worry about? His thoughts were preoccupied with what to do next, and how to move forward. If Ellar had nothing to say to him, he had nothing to say to her. It also didn’t help that he didn’t really talk to other people. Yet somehow, this silence was different. He let his feet slide on the ground and reeled them back to repeat the motion.

“How are you holding up? Your body, I mean.”

“Huh? Oh, well… I-I think I’m okay…” she said.

“No, how are you actually holding up? I noticed you limping a couple of times. You massaged them last night too, before bed.”

‘He noticed that?’ She thought. It was a bit embarrassing to be called out on it.

“They hurt… a lot.”

“I bet.”

More silence. This time it lasted for much longer. Neither side was willing to break it. They didn’t know what to say. That was until Ellar heard something. Her startled cry alerted Rainen.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“I-I heard footsteps, heavy ones.”

“Fuck.”

He moved his fire to the hole, letting more light through to her side. Ellar frantically searched the familiar yet unfamiliar corridor until her eyes settled on multiple silhouettes at the edge of the light. Her body locked up tight, eyes glued to the tall unmoving figures. It took Rainen almost yelling to get her attention again.

“What is it?” he asked.

“S-S-Statues…”

Rainen slammed his fist against the wall, “Dammit. I think they might be from my side. Some disappeared while I was running away.”

He’d gone to the noise on the mix of a whim and in hopes that he’d find the two girls and the major core. If things didn’t pan out, he’d run past the statues and go the other way. Now, if he left, he’d be dooming Blue Hair to a brutal death, but what could he do? A certain thought lingered at the back of his mind.

With a sigh, he flared his fire just a bit brighter, sapping his strength to fuel the flame.

Once again, there was silence.

What was he supposed to do in this situation? What was he supposed to say? Was he supposed to use whatever little mana he had left to blink over to her side and hope that they could escape together? That one was certainly an idea, but one he wasn’t too keen on entertaining.

The thought of abandoning her came back as he palmed the core.

He’d planned to have an active nightlife after leaving the labyrinth. It was one that heavily involved his alter ego, and rumors were bound to spread among the people that The Vigilante could teleport. It wouldn’t be hard for someone to put two and two together. Another strike against the idea was that he’d put his life in the hands of a girl too timid to speak up for herself. One of the two had to watch the statues to keep them from moving, and he didn’t think she’d volunteer for the job. He’d then have to risk his life running past them while they grabbed at him.

Ellar, meanwhile, was combing through the jumbled memories she had of her stories. She tried her best to recall anything related to the moving statues. The more she tried, however, the less clear they were. Her eyes darted around the room, unsure if she had concentrated too much on her thoughts and not enough on warding off the danger.

She closed her eyes to remember. After all, the stories were in her head, or at least the world she dreamed of was.

As the two wracked their heads for possible solutions to their problems, Rainen spoke up. For whatever reason, thinking about things outside the labyrinth and their current circumstances made him think of his master. And thoughts about his master reminded him of the question he asked about whether or not Rainen had made any friends yet. Nyle’s suggestion the other day also came to mind. They all culminated in a single, awkward question. “How are you?”

“I-I…”

‘I’m ok,’ Rainen thought, finishing her sentence for her.

“I don’t know…” she answered.

The answer wasn’t unlike her. She was a timid girl without much in the way of opinions, but he was curious. “What do you mean?”

“I-I don’t know,” she repeated.

He sighed. Yeah, it was definitely like her. “I’m never going to learn anything with those answers.”

“S-Sorry,” she said.

He sighed again. “You don’t need to apologize.”

“Y-You... don’t like apologies, do you?”

“Where’d you get that idea?”

“Y-You’re always telling me a-and others not to say sorry, right? Or am I actually wrong? I’m sorry if I misread you I didn’t mean-”

“Stop. Don’t apologize. You’re right. I don’t like it.”

“Why not?”

‘So now you’re a conversationalist?’ he thought.

“I don’t like it because it doesn’t do anything. I don’t see the point. If someone’s going to apologize, I’d rather that they show it. Words are just that, words.”

“W-Words aren’t just words… I-I mean they are but they aren’t. When I say sorry it just- just kind of comes out so it probably doesn’t seem like, like it means much. I know I say it absentmindedly sometimes but-but I do mean it… D-Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“No, I don’t really get it.”

“S-Sorry. I’m not good at explaining things…”

Rainen held back the urge to groan. “That’s fine. In the future, when you’re talking to someone, like Contempt Girl, you can skip all that extra stuff. There’s no need to explain yourself to people. Say what you want to say and leave it at that.”

“You mean Nina?”

“Was that her name? Learned something new.”

“You don’t remember our classmates’ names?” Ellar asked. She sounded genuinely surprised.

“I know a few, mainly those I talk to. Not everyone’s worth remembering.”

“...Am I?” she asked.

He still didn’t know her name, and he wasn’t sure if they would ever talk this much again, but for her, a strange and shy girl who somehow was holding it all together, he answered, “Yeah.”

“...”

She considered his response, a simple ‘yeah’ as if it were the easiest question in the world. Of course, the answer would be yes, they were partners after all, but she didn’t know if he meant it or if he understood what she asked. She wasn’t even sure if she knew what she asked.

“Th-Then what’s my name?” she blurted. A part of her shivered, though she wasn’t sure if it was because of her question, or the tricks her eyes played on her.

“Blue Hair,” he said, dodging the question.

“B-Blue Hair?”

“I remember you as Blue Hair since all I saw on the first day was your blue hair. It also sticks out in class, you know.”

“I-Is that so?” She was glad to be remembered, but a bit dejected to learn how much she stood out. Besides, he’d given her a nickname. That was something friends or people close to each other did, right? Skychaser would often call Corbyn, one of his long-time friends, Cor. They hadn't had the chance to do much together, but perhaps, just by being partners, he’d already considered her someone unique.

“Keep your eyes on the statues,” Rainen reminded her.

“R-Right.”

As they adjusted their focus, another lull came.

Once again, Rainen broke the silence. “Where are you from?” It was a common question, yet effective. He hoped that knowing where she was from, he could understand why she reacted in the ways she did.

“I’m from Mirnith Village. The village of the roluks.”

He was surprised she didn’t stutter. “Did you live there your whole life?”

“I did. How about you? Where did you live?”

“Just about everywhere on the west side of the empire. Never got around to the southmost parts, so Mirnith Village hasn't been checked off yet."

"Why did you move around so much?"

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

He shrugged and his shirt scraped against the wall. "My master. He taught me everything and he was the one who always wanted to keep moving."

"Must've been exciting," she said, perking up.

"No, not really. Master was too cheap to buy lodging, so we'd often sleep outside of settlements. The few times we did sleep at inns, they were the smallest, most run-down things I'd ever seen. Otherwise, it was a lot of camping out in the wilderness."

"B-But the campfires," she said.

"What about them?"

"W-Wasn't it... nice to eat with everyone?"

"Well, we're not camping but while we're sitting and thinking about what to do, why don't you pull something out of Raia's pack for us to eat? We can use my flame as our fire."

Rummaging through the bag, Ellar found that there wasn't much, as they established last night. She handed him a fig and a hair-thin cut of dried meat, while she had the same. They held the food near the fire in silence. After a minute or so had passed, they ate. Ellar recoiled from the heat and she had to remind herself to keep her eyes open.

"What's wrong?" Rainen asked.

"I-It's hot," she said.

"Really?" he took a bite. "I don't think I'd call this hot. Warm for sure…” a thought came to him. “Wait. What did you think of the meals they served at the academy?"

"W-What? Th-they were good... right?"

She was like a child seeking approval from an adult.

'The meals weren't bad at all, but calling them good?'

What had the girl been eating all her life?

"D-Did I say something wrong?"

"No," he replied, finishing his pitiful food. He waited until she was done with hers. "That's basically what campfire food is like," he said.

"It was nice," she muttered.

"Really? I think a meal around a table is much better."

"You mean like with your fam-" she caught herself. "S-Sorry."

He just sighed. "Don't worry. Like I said to Nyle and Raia, they died a long time ago."

"C-Can I ask w-what happened?"

"Fire," he said. "They died in a fire. It happened in the middle of the night, and the whole house burned down. No one knows how it happened."

"O-Oh... S-"

"What about your parents?" He interrupted.

"M-Mine?" She asked.

She sounded like she hadn't expected the question. 'How not used to talking is this girl?'

"Is it a sensitive topic?"

"A-Ah, n-no... Th-They're not dead or anything... I just didn't interact with them much."

That sounded pretty sensitive to him. "Were they religious?" The vast majority of people aligned themselves with one god or another, though the extent of how religious they were varied.

"I-I don't know."

"Are you?"

"I-I'm not sure..."

"I've seen you pray a few times."

"That's-I-Isn't that what everyone does? I-I mean a-adventurers, before they go into a labyrinth, they pray, right?"

"I think the older adventurers used to do it. Most don't do that anymore."

"O-Oh, w-well... A-Are you religious?"

"No."

The answer was quick, quick enough that she instinctively asked, "Why?"

"What's the point? I've seen many people pray to gods who never answer. If all it does is stroke their egos, then I'm not interested. Whatever problems the gods can fix, I can do myself. If I can't do it myself, then the gods weren't going to help anyway. The only time you'll ever see me pray to those self-absorbed gods is when I'm completely desperate or when I've lost everything. Even then, I might rather die."

It was a harsh response, much harsher than the worst she imagined, and that threw their conversation back into silence.

After a moment he asked, "What do you think we should do?”

"I don't know," she said.

"I'm asking if you have any ideas."

"I-I could try to destroy them with magic..."

"Give it a try."

"Wha-What if they move?"

"They won't."

"B-But if they do?"

"Use it on one of mine. The hall's pretty narrow so you shouldn't miss."

"Wh-What if they come after you?"

"I'm not who you need to worry about."

"Y-You're my partner... O-Of course I worry."

He took a breath. "I'll be fine. Use your magic. We need to find out if it'll do anything."

After a moment of hesitation, Ellar positioned her hand over the hole and cast an ice bolt. It shattered against something, and Rainen flared fire from his other hand. The frontmost statue had a small crack in its torso, negligible damage for Ellar's level of power. Rainen urged her to do it again. The ice slammed into the same spot, expanding the cracks, but it was far from enough.

"They're probably magic resistant," he said.

"I-I can keep going.”

"No, you'll wear yourself out like that."

She was physically exhausted and even if her mana pool was immense, lowering it while she was in such a weakened state could cause her to collapse. If they were on the same side, it could've been done. Rainen fought with the idea of blinking over. One blink might do him in, and then what would Ellar use for light? Why risk himself at all?

Rainen let out a grunt of frustration and ran his hand through his hair. Why hadn’t he prepared more things? Why was it that the core was so close yet his goal was so far? Why did everything keep getting worse? First, he failed in getting his adventurer's license, then he was teleported in a Shift with someone else, and now they were trapped with the only way out being behind a dozen statues.

Kharss was evil. He'd kill more people, ruin more lives. One person he barely knew shouldn't stand in the way of that.

'But...'

Five minutes passed without a word from either of them.

"D-Do you think they're okay?" Ellar asked, breaking the silence for the first time.

"I don't know. They're safe at least, if they didn't keep going straight."

"No, Raia isn't. All the washir chased after her..."

"It's not your fault. There wasn't anything you could do." He wasn't one for comforting people, and he didn't know the circumstances, but they seemed like the right words to say.

She shook her head. "I-I... I could have gone with her. I-I could have fought them off... But I just left her."

"I left Nyle behind too."

"Did you do it because you couldn't get to him?"

"No, I left him because he would've been killed by the washir."

"S-So you did it to save him, then. I-I left Raia behind because I was scared..." She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "I... I was about to go to her. I could have made it through the gap, but I didn't. She looked so tired. She was trying so hard not to slow down. She pulled me along... S-She even let me go ahead of her. B-Because of that she's... She's... It's my fault for being a coward."

Rainen was quiet. He contemplated the best way to respond. The Blue Hair he knew, which wasn't saying much, seemed like the type to beat herself up over every little thing. She was a doormat like Contempt Girl said. Given the chance, it made sense that she'd overthink and punish herself when she failed, whether or not it was productive to do so.

That was why she did nothing when he yelled at her.

He waited for some time to pass, hoping she would say something, but that never happened. Instead, all that he heard from her was sniffling, and part of him felt guilty.

"Hey," he called out. "Can I ask you something?"

She wiped her nose, "W-What is it?"

"How'd you know about the statues?"

"I-It was from a book I read, a-a journal."

"Was it the same one you brought with you?"

"No. T-They're from the same author though... It's silly, right?"

"What's silly?" he asked.

"Th-The book and bringing it along..." She braced herself for his answer.

"Well, I'd be lying if I said no, but it did save us from the statues, so I'm mixed at the moment. Why'd you bring it along with you anyway? You could have left it at the inn. We were going to go back for our things anyway."

"..."

"No answer?" he asked.

"I-It's silly."

"I thought I already said I was mixed on the book."

"B-But that means you do think it's childish!"

He sighed, "I don't know about calling it childish. For what I know, you could've been writing your own journal. Adventurers do that."

"We... aren't adventurers. I-I'm not an adventurer..."

He recalled the first time he encountered her. He was on the verge of mana exhaustion, and she was looking through a request list. She was also kind enough to buy him a drain stone when he was a complete stranger dressed in a strange getup. "You'd like to be one, though. Am I right?"

"Wha-What gave you that idea…?"

"There's no reason to hide it. Lots of people want to become adventurers. I did too at one point. Why do you want to become one?"

"I..." she paused to think. "I want to see the world... I want to see all the things that Skychaser, and-and Halma, and all the other adventurers wrote about. I want to see the world, not just through their words, but-but with my own eyes... I-Is that weird?"

He felt the slightest hint of a smile. She was earnest unlike many of the other students. But like she must have learned, the world wasn't a kind place, especially not to dreamers like her.

"No, it's not weird at all. What might be a bit weird is how."

"Um..."

"Your books," he clarified. "They're the reason why you want to be an adventurer, right? Most people want to become adventurers because they actually see all the money and fame that the job brings. I haven’t met anyone who wanted to become one because of the books they read."

"W-Well the stories are good! I-If more people read them while they were young, then I’m sure a lot of kids would be like me. If you come with me to the library once we get back, I-I’ll find the ones my mother got.”

"They weren't books you picked out?"

"N-No. I-I didn't leave the house much... I-I remember looking out my window and just wondering what was out there... That's why, when my mother taught me how to read, I ate up every story she gave to me. I-It didn't matter if they were informational books, or fairy tales, o-or the adventuring journals... I-I read them all."

"Why bring a book along to the labyrinth, though?"

"N-No... I-I read about a lot of the adventures. Th-They were e-exciting but also scary... S-Somehow though, I kept reading. As long as I had the book in my hands, no matter how intense or sad some of the stories were, I could get through it. The books, they helped in the real world too. When I was scared of the dark, or when the wind was so strong it blew open my window, I grabbed a book. When I was sent to the academy, I had a book with me."

Rainen recalled seeing her sitting alone, reading while the Contempt Girl and the others sneered at her,

"So the reason you brought the book along was because it..."

"I-It made be brave..."

"It made you brave?" he repeated. Again, she'd surprised him. Of all the responses to give, she loved them because they made her brave?

"W-Wait! T-That sounds wrong... I-I don't love books because they make me brave. I-It's... It's because I love them that they make me brave."

There was a pause.

"D-Does that make sense?" she asked. "I-It doesn't sound silly, right?"

“I might not get it, but no. Definitely not silly.”

Silence descended again, but it lacked the weight it had before. Neither of them felt the need to disturb it. For the first time since they were thrown together, the silence was comfortable.

"Alright," Rainen said.

"W-What?"

"Take the core back. We're going to leave this place."

She almost dropped it when he pushed it through. "W-Why? H-How?"

He explained his plan to her. She thought over the details and shook her head. "How are you going to get through the hole?"

"That's for me to worry about." He handed her a burning rope.

She held the burning part away from herself until enough was pushed through that she could comfortably grab it. She followed his instructions, picking up the rope and spinning it around, though shying away from the fire.

"Ready?" he asked.

"No… But I'm ready..."

"Okay,” he said. “Now!"

He moved the fire away from the hole, blocking it with his body. Ellar kept the burning rope spinning, though not enough to put the fire out. She searched the darkness for signs of the statues.

"Time," Rainen said, placing his hand back near the hole. Ellar snuffed out the fire with the help of her magic. "Did they move at all?"

"No, i-it worked."

"Good." He threw the rest of the rope to her. "Let's go then."

"A-Are you sure? W-What if they get you?"

"I'm losing mana. There isn't time to waste."

She took a breath and stuck a section of the other end into the fire. Once she confirmed the fire had taken to it, she spun it around like she'd done before and walked as close to the statues as she dared. "N-Now!"

Rainen spun toward the wall, flaring his fire and peering through the hole. Ellar ran past the statues frozen by Rainen's gaze. The moment she made it to the other side, past the last of the creatures, she yelled back to him. He stopped looking through, and spun around, his fire dimming as he focused on his statues. She spun the rope like she'd practiced. The darkness was denser than she initially thought, and the statues were nothing more than silhouettes. She saw them turn in the dark, causing her to spin the rope faster in a feeble attempt to bring out more light. The fire was dying from the speed.

'Calm down. Skychaser got through this. If I want to be an adventurer, I have to do it too.'

She slowed, managing to get her nerves under control, even if only temporary. With a breath, she let the rope hang. As she listened to the shuffling of the statues, she counted her heartbeat. Eight heartbeats later, she whirled the rope around, giving just enough light to catch the statues, all of which had turned toward her.

"I-I-I got them!" Her voice was unsteady from the adrenaline.

"Okay, coming."

Rainen looked through the hole and blinked to her side. The shorter he blinked, the less mana he used, and so he blinked right where she used to sit. Once on that side, he felt his body writhe at the sudden loss of mana. He crumpled, barely planting his hands and holding himself up.

"A-Are you okay?" Ellar asked.

"Yeah," he said. No time to rest.

Knowing that Ellar was keeping the statues at bay, he trudged along, using the wall as support until he reached her.

"Good job," he said. "Let's go."