10: To Triumph
The sun rose the next morning as it always had. Lynn stretched out in the practice field. "You sure you'll be alright?" Loi asked from behind her. Lynn glanced back and stuck out her tongue as an answer. Rolling his eyes, Loi followed Lynn as she strung her bow and headed out to the target range.
Rihn, Arianna and Winter stood a little ways away inside a dirt circle. "You said you can use swords, right Rihn?" Winter asked as Rihn tested the balance of the sword Winter somehow managed to procure. "Yup! I'm not as good with it as I am with whips, but I'll definitely be able to use this." Rihn said cheerily as she took up a loose fighting stance. Arianna gave her a curt nod. "Then, let's begin the match." She said, drawing into a defensive position. "Remember, don't hurt each other!" Winter called as he stepped out of the boundary. "I'll do my best." Rihn said, studying Arianna. She wouldn't admit it, but she was a little afraid of the Protector. Even without her shield, it her defense seemed pretty solid. Arianna gave Rihn a polite smile. "You may strike." She invited. Rihn clutched her weapon, a bit of a sick grin crept on her face as instinct honed by the Dark Hunters kicked in. And without another word, Rihn struck.
"I've no doubt it my mind. You're all ready to go back down to the Labyrinth!" Winter cheered to his four guild members. They looked a little worn out from the training, but each of them smiled when Winter gave his verdict. "What about a Medic?" Lynn asked. Winter scratched the back of his hood. "We'll be interviewing them tonight. But I'm pretty sure as long as you guys stick together in a group, you'll be fine. Besides, you also have the medicas. If you get too badly injured, then you can always escape." Winter explained. Loi answered for the four of them. "We'll be careful." He said confidently. Looking each of them in the eye, Winter nodded. "I'll be watching as well. Stay safe, alright?" He finished. "Will do!" Rihn said cheerfully. Winter smiled. "Good! I'll be doing some business in town then, have a great day guys!" Winter cheered again before running off. "...Didn't he just say he was going to watch us?" Lynn said flatly as they watched Winter run off with the excitement of a youth in a confection broker. "Well, I'm pretty sure we'll be fine, with or without Winter goofing off." Arianna speculated, mirth evident in her voice. Lynn rolled her eyes as she turned back down the wooded path to the Labyrinth.
The staircase was just as dark and damp as it was the first time they went down. But this time, Lynn paid more attention to detail. The stairs were carved out of stone, the type of stone however, Lynn could not tell. Ivy climbed the walls, stretching towards the pink portal as if they were trying to escape the dark stairwell. The walls were so grimy that Lynn could barely tell what they looked like, only that there was a faint glimmer of purple through the dirt. The doorway to the forest was paved with the same stone of the stairs. "Something wrong, Lynn?" Rihn asked as she followed her through doorway. Lynn glanced past her, down the stairwell. The stairs went down too far for her to see anything more. Realizing Rihn was still waiting for an answer, Lynn quickly shook her head. Rihn watched Lynn for maybe another minute or so, then shrugged and continued down the path. After a short amount of walking, they once more reached the crossroads, only this time, there was two people there. Blake was speaking with a soldier in a somewhat angry manner. The soldier looked over as Wingless approached, cutting Blake off from what he was saying. "The path here is closed for today!" The Soldier shouted. Blake rolled his eyes. "Closed?" Arianna asked, confused. The Soldier nodded once then returned to silence. "Don't try getting anything more out of him. He hasn't told me anything besides that either." Blake grumbled. "But sir! We have to finish mapping the first floor!" Rihn argued. The Soldier shook his head. "Charting the rest of the paths, excluding this one, will suffice for your quest." He explained. Blake looked ready to shout, he turned to Wingless to get some support but was more surprised to see them turning down the right path without another arguement. "Hey, wait!" He shouted as he jogged after them.
Arianna kept neat check of where they walked. "Don't you want to know why they're keeping that place off-limits?" Blake yelled as he finally caught up. Loi shrugged. "That's their business. For now, we'll focus on ours." He said simply as he mildly studied an intricate looking flower in the path. "But I have business back there, and I can't get back there on my own." Blake said with exasperation. "Well, I'm afraid it'll have to wait then. You're welcome to join us on this floor though." Arianna answered, not looking up from the map parchment. "Oi! Guys!" Lynn said sharply, drawing her bow as something moved through the brush. A butterfly the size of a bird came darting through the path, followed by a pink mouse. With two quick shots, Lynn took down both assailants as her teammates withdrew their weapons. She looked back at them and shrugged as she went to retrieve the remaining prizes. Blake rolled his eyes as the other three put their weapons away. "Your teamwork is just as awful as it was yesterday." He scoffed. "No one asked you!" Lynn chided as she tucked a blue wing and a mouse pelt into her rucksack. "I'm serious though!" Blake called as they continued walking down the path. "You may not think it's important now, but on the next floor, it's vital to work as a cohesive unit. If you don't, then it's lights out." He said gravely. Rihn glanced back at him. "Coming from the 'Soloist?'" She scoffed. Blake crossed her arms. "I wasn't always a soloist." He said coldly. The sneer was wiped from Rihn's face. Loi and Arianna turned to look at the Landsknecht. Blake rolled his eyes. "Oh forget it. If you know what your doing, then great. I'll just hunt on this floor until they open they next one." With a turn, he withdrew his sword and proceeded to where the path split up right ahead. "I'll see you later... maybe." He said crisply as he turned left and vanished from sight, leaving the four newbie explorers wondering about his ominous warning.
More exploration of the floor showed many interesting discoveries. Warm meadows, safe from monsters, beckoned all who walked by to rest. A great crystal door stood mysteriously in a clump of trees, unable to be opened. "Just mark it on the map for now, I don't think we'll be able to find what's beyond it yet." Loi told Arianna as they passed by. A spring trickled at the very South-Eastern area of the floor. The four took a long break to drink to their heart's content as they mapped their area. They didn't run into Blake again, nor did they find any other explorers. But even without the accompaniment of other humans, the forest was still a beautiful place. Monsters would occasionally make themselves known on the paths, but it wouldn't take long to finish them off. This time, they were prepared for ambushes. There was, however, one particular monster that gave them quite a bit of trouble. It looked like some sort of crab, with glowing red eyes within it's blue shell. Physical attacks proved useless against it, Thankfully Loi's alchemist cards slipped through it's shell. Another lucky thing was that the crab-thing traveled alone. If it had traveled with more of those mice, then the guild might've met their end already. "I think we're done." Arianna said as they rested beside a berry bush, found to be full of fresh and delicious berries. "Excellent! That means we're done with the quest!" Rihn cheered as she popped another berry into her mouth. "We have to return to the Senate first, but yes, we should be done with the Quest." Arianna said happily. "So how do we get out from here?" Loi asked as he moved next to Arianna to study the map. She pointed to where they were on the map. "If we take this path then it should lead right back to the entrance." She explained as she traced her fingers across the paths. "Wait a sec, Ari, I want to stop there before we leave." Lynn interjected, pointing at a clearing they passed before. "Why?" Arianna and Loi asked in unison. Standing, Lynn tapped her foot against the ground impatiently. "I just do, okay? It won't hurt to take five minutes to check a clearing." She groaned. Rihn shrugged. "I don't have anything against that." "Neither do I." Loi said quietly. Arianna rolled up the map and stood back up. "Alright then, we'll stop there before we leave." She consented.
A short while later, they were in the small clearing that Lynn had pointed out. "The area around here has good material. We could come back another time and just forage." She explained, but it wasn't the reason she wanted to come back. After poking around a bit longer, Lynn removed a bush to reveal a tiny path leading to the stairwell of the Labyrinth. "I noticed the footprints around it earlier." She beamed. The four followed the short path back to the stairs and back into the natural evening sunlight of Largeon. The guard standing watch at the mouth of the wooded road gave them a wave as they passed through. "Evening, kids! How did the exploration go?" He said merrily. Rihn gave him a thumbs-up as they passed. "We'll be exploring different floors in no time!" She said triumphantly. "That's great to hear!" The old soldier chuckled. "Hey, do you know that Soloist Landsknecht? I think his name was Blake.." Lynn began slowly. The soldier nodded. "I've been watching this here road for many years, my dear, I know most of the adventurers. Although, the kid who watches this path during the day is a lot more familiar with the new explorers nowadays..." The soldier said wistfully. "But yes, Blake, he's been coming here for a few years now. He used to have a few mates he went down with, but they were killed by one of the monsters on the third floor... A shame, really." He finished sadly. A frown creased over Rihn's lips as she looked back to the ground, guiltily. Lynn nodded and thanked the man; who gave a cheerful wave as they walked into the city. "I wonder what kind of monster lives on the third floor..." Lynn trailed off as they walked back to the inn. Loi shrugged. "Who knows? We'll find out soon enough." He said, as Winter came charging down the road. "GUYS! I SAW YOU FINISHED THE MAP!" He shouted gleefully as he reached them. After taking a few moments to regain his breath, Winter beamed at all of them. "Do you know what this means?!" He said excitedly. "Winter, I'm pretty sure we all know what it means. We were all here when the guy at the Senate explained the differences between registered guilds." Lynn said tiredly. Winter shot her a glare and rolled his eyes (At least we assume so.) "This means a lot more then you think! We have to go to the interviews right now, but tomorrow, when we go back to the Senate, big things will start happened for us!" He said in an overly-mysterious tone of voice. "Winter, stop trying so hard. You'll hurt somebody." Lynn groaned, but even with the negative commentary, a grin was slicked on her lips. Arianna handed the completed map to Winter. "Take a good look, this is our first Triumph in the Labyrinth. The first of whats to come." She said happily. "Woohooo! We're gonna be the first ever to reach the bottom of the Labyrinthhh!" Rihn shouted with glee as Winter looked over the map. "You bet we are!" Winter said excitedly as he rolled up the map. The others began walking to the location they agreed on for the interview, but Winter stood there and extra minute, looking at the map clenched in his hands. "...You bet we are..." He said wistfully as he turned and joined his guildmates to look for new recruits.
A/N: Hi, my name is Jay. I woke up extra early to write a chapter four pages long. Enjoy~