When Toley regained consciousness, he woke up in a panic, yelling the name “Celosia”. After they calmed him down he explained that Celosia was his teacher. They explained what happened while he was unconscious, leaving out the fact that Fira had come from inside of him. He seemed very distraught at the thought that he might have, even partly, been responsible for Rox’s death. No one blamed or accused him of it. It seemed like some kind of coping mechanism and they decided to play along.

Toley had no memories from the time they had entered the room and insisted that he would never betray Rox, or anyone else in the party, so easily. Sheeron backed Toley's statement up, saying that the boy was hopelessly loyal. The young man got upset, jokingly, slapping him on the shoulder and everyone laughed, except for Sheeron who was knocked to the ground hard. Toley looked at his hand in wide-eyed disbelief and the girls laughed harder until Sheeron stood up.

“What was that for?” He said, “If you had shown that kind of strength in training things would have gone so much smoother.”

“I-I didn't mean to hit you that hard. It was supposed to be just a light pat on the back.” Toley started to sound almost afraid. The others picked up on it and looked between each other, what if it had something to do with Fira?

“I'm sorry to put things this way, Toley, but we're still in a dungeon and I need you to get yourself under control,” Sheeron said. Harsh, but true, they were still not out of the woods. The man took a deep breath and spoke, “I think that we should finish the dungeon if possible. As much as I hate to suggest it, we've already made it this far.”

Everyone was stunned, Kara was the first to reply, “I agree. We have no idea how much further until the end, but I think it would disappoint Rox if we stopped here. After everything that's happened, I feel I owe it to him.” She turns to the other two, “If either of you wants to go back, I'll allow it. You can wait at the entrance, if we die your contracts will null themselves, so you can leave after that.”

Feera smiled brightly at her, as if smiling at a child acting cute, “Oh honey, you think I'd leave you after that? We might not have had any quality time together yet, but you're still the first one that's been willing to work with me. I'm not letting you go alone, not after losing Rox.”

Toley nodded, “How can I leave after sleeping through the most important fight? You're crazy.”

Kara smiled at them, speechless for a few moments, “Thank you.” They returned the smile and Sheeron looked over the scene like a father witnessing his daughter making her first real friends. She was like his spoiled daughter, seeing her grow as a person brought him happiness and pride, even if he hated to admit it.

“I didn't want to have to be the one to bring it up, but what do we do with his body?” Sheeron said, gesturing towards Rox's battle-damaged corpse. Despite what he had been through in his final moments, being killed by someone he considered family, his face seemed peaceful.

After an awkward silence, Kara said something unexpected, “We should leave his body. Clearing what's left of the dungeon won't be possible while carrying his corpse along with us and trying to protect it.” She looked at his pale face with sorrow, “It doesn't make much sense to endanger ourselves for that when he would want us to complete the dungeon as safely as possible.”

It felt wrong and they all wanted to dispute it, including Kara, but no one could bring themselves to disagree. If they wanted to complete the dungeon, they had no choice but to leave Rox's body behind and hope it would still be there when they left. They all silently agreed and hurriedly readied themselves to move into the next corridor before they could change their minds.

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The next corridor felt longer than any they had passed through before. At first, they were unsure if the feeling was due to everything that had happened so far combined with the dread of the next. It was soon obvious that it was indeed longer than the others. As they made their way through the hallway, the dungeon-stone walls started to look more ornate. Designs started to show on the cobbled walls, it started to change color from the stone-gray color it had been up to now into a gold hue. The magic lighting along the walls became more frequent until it became a constant tube of lighting along the upper corners of the walls. The narrow corridor became wider as they traveled along it until they could all walk side-by-side with plenty of space between them, the hallway now being more akin to a tunneled golden road until finally, they came to a door.

The door was incredibly intricate. Simply seeing it would be enough to convince someone that the primordial gods did, in fact, put these dungeons on the planet. No mortal mind could come up with, let alone comprehend, the inner mechanisms of the door. It was incredibly overwhelming and the only thing that made any sense were two hand-print-looking indents at chest-height for Toley. Once the initial shock wore off, they noticed that the door was a silver contrast to the golden passageway they had been in. It seemed living and upon close inspection, it seemed to be pulsating similarly to a heart in several different parts of the door. Over the dozens of pulsating bits of the door was a slit that looked as if it would open up any moment.

Toley bravely strode up to the door and placed his hands on the indents before anyone could warn him to be cautious. All was silent for a moment before a red light started to shine underneath Toley's palms. The red light quickly spread from the hand indents to the rest of the door, illuminating every space and crack in the structure. As the light reached the various pulsing slits, they opened to reveal an eye the size of a human torso with a glowing red iris. Every eye that opened looked down at Toley as if curious about who had woken them. After the light had outlined the door, every crease in the structure of the dungeon's hallway they were standing in began to glow red as well. Finally, the door opened to reveal an odd blue ethereal glowing entrance. Anyone versed in dungeon study would know that it was a portal to the final room of the dungeon.

“Of course he would die before the end of the dungeon. That's just like him.” Kara said under her breath. If the other had heard it, they chose not to comment on it.

Suddenly a voice rang in their heads. The Voice was deep, calm and composed, yet seemed like what they would hear if someone used translation magic. Only hearing the direct translation of a Primordial God speaking directly into their minds:

“Oh, Ye Who Disturbs Our Slumber. I Am God Of One Of The Four Great Realms. Time, Space, Reality, And Void. I Am God Time. If Ye Wish To Gain The Boon Beyond This Portal, Ye Must Pass One Final Test. If Ye Pass The Test, Ye Shall Advance Civilization Beyond What It Be Now. However, Ye May Not Leave Until The Test Is Over. Do Ye Accept?”

They had no need to think about it. The party looked between each other, nodded, then Kara strode towards the door and spoke resolutely, “Yes. We accept”

“So Be It. May Time Be In Your Favor.”

They felt as if the presence speaking to them left, as it left the portal, as well as the hallway they stood in, changed from a soft blue to a bright red light. Without any hesitation, Kara walked into the portal, disappearing. The rest quickly followed.

The party then appeared in what looked like any other dungeon room, however it was much smaller. No larger than your average room in an inn. In the center of the room stood four pillars of approximately four feet tall and as wide as a human being. In the center of the top of each one was a hand indent on what appeared to be a button. On the far side of the room was a small alcove with a closed gate and a green portal inside. Above the gate was a spiral of twenty characters, of an unknown language, carved into the stone.

Along the edges of the room were windows, through them the party could see that they were in something that could only be described as another world or a pocket dimension. In the distance they could see several similar structures to the one they were in, defying the laws of gravity and floating in the air. This made them believe they were also in a floating structure.

“Why couldn't the final test just be another boss monster?” Sheeron said, exasperated, “I hate puzzles.”