A/N: As you guys might know, the first time I uploaded the chapter didn't go so well, so here's the second try! Sorry for any confusion!

There was a famous legend told in her tribe about a brave warrior who, when fatally wounded from battle, was healed by a young girl from a rival tribe. The girl hid him in a cave by a river, not far from her village. Unfortunately, the warrior could never return to his tribe, as he had left his tribe after the battle, when he met the girl who promised she could help. He stayed by the riverbank, watching the young child grow up. Ten years later, the girl got married, and she told her husband about helping the now-old warrior, thinking she could trust him. She was wrong. Her husband had her executed for treason almost immediately. The warriors of the rival tribe went out to the riverbank and confronted him. When the man found out what they did to the girl, the man glowed a brilliant silver and killed every single warrior in retribution of executing the girl. He died some years later, never leaving the riverbank. The spirits of the girl and the man are said to reside in that river and the river bank alongside it, on equal ground with the gods. Demir assumed the point of this story was to encourage taking vengeance on someone who showed one kindness, but this time, she wasn't so sure if she was able to do that.

Her legs fell out beneath her. A drop of blood clung to her hair as she watched the monster back away from Enzo's mangled body and turned its attention to her. Its snarl seemed to turn into a smile as it slowly slithered – or was it a stalk? – up to her. She fumbled around numbly and pulled the swords out of their sheaths. With a trembling hand, she pointed one at the beast. She had no idea what that would accomplish, as she had never had any training before. The monster seemed to sense that, its snarl widening even more.

After what seemed like an eternity, it lunged. Demir's instincts completely took over, and she rolled to the other side. Her arms moved wildly, and she was able to nick the creatures lip. A single black drop formed over the mark. It licked its lips, shocked at the taste of its own blood. Growling, he charged. This time, Demir had nowhere to run. She was pinned up against the corner of the wall. Time seemed to slow. Maybe following Ismet here wasn't her best plan ever. Staring into the jaws of death, she supposed she should relive her life in an instant, but what would be the point? She hadn't lived for very long, after all.

At the last moment, she threw up her arms, pointing her swords at the back of the monster's throat. Incredibly, the swords struck their target, and the monster fell to the ground in front of Demir. A pool of red water formed around Demir as she pulled her knees up. Too stunned to move or cry, she sat.

"Demir?! What the hell are you doing here?!" A normally calm and collected voice raging woke Demir up. Rubbing her eyes, she saw Ismet looming over her. He was unusually disheveled. "I thought I heard something weird coming from this way. What-" he stuttered out of anger and gesturing to the dead monster in front of her, "What is all of this? What the hell do you think you're doing? You could have died! Are you really this completely stupid? Anne and Baba are probably worried out of their minds, and when we get back, they're going to kill you! Not metaphorically kill you, actually make it so your soul is not in your body." His face was a deep shade of scarlet by that point.

Demir didn't care how mad her brother was. She jumped up and hugged her brother as hard as she could. "Ismet, I'm sorry."

Calmed by Demir's apology, Ismet hugged back. "I can't really say it's okay because it's not, but I'll forgive you. Just next time, when I go and do something risky, don't follow me."

Demir smiled against the white, soft cloth of her brother's shirt. "Okay, I won't."

"Then," Ismet said, taking his sister's hand, "we should probably get going. Luckily, there doesn't seem to be anything that wants to actually kill us anymore, but this whole dungeon is like a maze. I guess we just have to keep walking around until we find where the djinn is."

"Wait, anymore?" Demir said, pulling her swords out of the monster. "Did you run into something like this, as well?"

"Ah, no, but this other monster tried to trick me when I first came in."

"Other monster?"

"It kind of looked like a human, but it wasn't. Anyway, it claimed that it wanted to help me, but it was obviously a trick. Don't worry, though, I took care of it quickly, so we shouldn't have anything to worry about."

Demir stared at her brother. "I think it really was trying to help. Enzo saved my life twice…" Demir trailed off, remembering her friend who sacrificed so much for her.

"Enzo?"

"This really nice person-salamander-turtle I met when I first came in here. That monster there killed Enzo, but…" Demir looked around, terrified of but needing to see the body of her friend.

"Well, I don't see any corpse. I bet this 'Enzo' was working together to kill you and bailed when the plan failed."

"I don't think that's it. Enzo is nice!"

"How would you know? How long did you know the thing?" Ismet sighed. "Well, whatever the case, it's gone now. Shall we go, too?"