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Part Four

He saw her. She seemed to be surrounded by a glowing light, but he knew it was her. He reached out a tiny hand and grabbed hold of her white robes.

"Daunte."

He tried to look up, but was unable to. But she bent down and picked him up in a tight hug. He buried her face into her neck. He could smell the perfume she always wore. It comforted him.

"Daunte, I know things look bleak now," she told him, running her slender fingers through his hair. "But they will get better. I promise."

"T…" the words were hard to form in his mouth. He gathered up the courage to say them. "I heard them. They said you were an h-heretic and a…traitor."

"I don't listen to gossip." She took a seat on the couch, still holding onto him. "And you shouldn't either. What I express in my preaching is free thought, Daunte. And the truth of our Scriptures. Not what has been currently mandated in our Doctrines."

"B-But why would they say such things about you?"

"Because that's what people have been told about me. And quite frankly, we Nagareans have become too complacent. People would rather just duck their heads and go with the flow instead of standing up for what is right. But I'm not going to do that, Daunte. I can't just stand back while the High Clerics just skim the Scriptures and make up laws as they see fit. Not while the people suffer."

"What will you do?"

"I will fight, Daunte." Her hand cupped his cheek and turned his face up towards her. But her face was still enveloped in light and he couldn't see her. "I will fight so that Arin and you don't have to grow up in an oppressive environment. I would do anything for you two."

"Kindness Drops."

Daunte's brow twitched, and he suddenly became soaked. He also aware of the burning, agonizing pain in his right ankle, and he almost shouted in pain. But just as abruptly, the pain was gone and he dried. He coughed briefly, and slowly opened his eyes.

"Are you all right?"

Daunte sat up, blinking against the dim light around him. There was a weight on his chest, but he felt it slide down him as he sat up. Roen and Felicity were sitting side by side on the floor nearby, their expressions grim. "A-Are you guys okay?" Daunte choked on the words.

Felicity nodded. "I-It looks like we fell into the secret area."

"Arin!" Daunte suddenly shouted. He looked around himself until he focused on the weight that had settled in his lap. Arin lay sprawled against his lap, still unconscious. The boy was wet and muddy, and Daunte's heart thudded painfully. This physical condition wasn't going to help Arin's already delicate condition.

But the boy was breathing. It was weak, but it was a clear sound.

"We fell quite far and suffered serious injuries."

Daunte looked up. Surya was standing over him, holding a makeshift burning torch. "I broke my leg and collar bone. Your right ankle shattered upon impact, Daunte, and unfortunately Felicity suffered a fractured skull." Daunte looked at the girl in question with alarm, but Felicity looked perfectly fine. "Arin wasn't injured because you shielded him with your own body. But when I woke up after the fall, we all had broken bones. Luckily, my Kindness Drops healed all our wounds."

Daunte looked up, expecting to see a hole in the ceiling from the sinkhole. Instead he saw a dark ceiling. "What—"

"We h-heard them mobilizing from the top of the hole," Roen said. He slowly stood up. "Surya healed me first because my only injury was a broken elbow. But we had to drag you guys as far as we could away from the sinkhole."

"The blood from our injuries attracted monsters, but luckily it was nothing too dangerous," Surya said. "Unfortunately, I had to use all four of my Kindness Drops spells in order to save us, in addition to several of Dr. Yulin's potions. So until we find a safe place to rest, I won't be able to use them and we don't have as many healing supplies as we originally did."

"T-Thank you for saving us," Daunte said sincerely. He shifted Arin around to piggyback him again. Inwardly though, he was shocked that he suffered such a serious injury. Didn't Dr. Yulin say that True Rune users couldn't be injured easily?

Maybe it was because it wasn't a life-threatening injury? How does it actually work though, having a True Rune?

Surya shrugged. "Don't mention it. But we can't rest right now. We need to put as much distance between the sinkhole and us as possible before stopping to rest. Are you guys all right to stand?"

"If it means getting out of here, I'll go as far as I need to," Felicity said. She quickly stood up, but then she suddenly stumbled.

"Be careful," Surya warned, helping to steady here. "I did what I could for your injury, but there might be some lingering injury."

"R-Right."

"I'm ready," Roen said, unsheathing his bolo knife as he stood.

"I think the wisest thing with the upcoming battles is if you three mobilize an attack unit together," Surya said, looking between them. "If the three of you are able to devise a united attack formation, it will allow you to deal more damage in a shorter period of time."

"What about you?" Roen asked.

"I'm a Knight," Surya reminded him. "I've been in a few battles. Outside of your quest to find that True Rune and against the guards, when was the last time you guys were involved in a battle?"

The three of them knew they couldn't answer that question because they'd been in the Dark Chasm for several years. Daunte sighed and looked at his two closest friends. "All right," he decided. "When we're not in battle, we can devise a proper unite attack for the three of us. After all, you two don't have runes and I have no idea how to use my True Rune. So all we have right now is our physical strength—which as we all know is extremely lacking."

"Wait," Surya said suddenly. He fiddled around in the satchel Dr. Yulin had given him and pulled out a scroll. "Daunte, I saw this sticking out of your workbag when I casted Fog of Deception. This will help us significantly if we run into a nasty monster."

"We found that scroll in a treasure chest," Felicity said as Surya handed it to Daunte. "What is it?"

"It's a rune scroll. This scroll in particular casts the spell Flaming Arrows, which is a very powerful fire spell. So hang onto it and don't use it unless we absolutely need to use it. It disintegrates after one use."

Daunte nodded and stashed the rune scroll in his waistband. "Let's get going."

The area of the ruins they had fallen into didn't look familiar to Daunte. Not that the previous area had many distinctive differences than this, but this area had more forks in the road, dead ends, and definitely more monsters. Even without his healing spells however, Surya was more than capable of handling the monsters. The tri-nunchaku he wielded looked very complex to use, and Daunte found himself wondering how the other teenager avoided whacking himself on the head whenever he swung it.

But since Surya proved very capable of handling the monsters on his own, it gave the others plenty of time to devise a proper unite attack that the three of them could utilize. Surya advised them to give their unite attack a name, so that whenever they felt they needed to use it in battle, one of them could just shout the name of the attack so that the others could fall into formation to use it without confusion. But he also advised them to come up with a name that wouldn't make their intentions obvious to enemies so that they wouldn't be struck down before executing the attack.

Ultimately, Felicity came up with a name they all could agree on. "Best Friends'?"

Daunte nodded. "It sounds harmless, and it's the truth."

"You guys aren't just my friends though," Roen said. He shuffled his feet and ducked his head. "You're my family. The only family I have left."

"Thank you, Roen," Felicity said, giving him a hug.

Having a proper unite attack did boost morale amongst them as they ventured further and further through the darkness. Surya's light, which he had somehow made with flints and tinder he had stashed, didn't show a lot of the ruins. And oftentimes they didn't see the enemies approaching until they were practically on top of them. They saw giant rats and ant armies again, but they also saw other weird monsters. Like sentient shields floating in mid-air, and decaying corpses that stumbled towards them.

But their 'Best Friends' unite attack did work to pack a punch against large groups. Daunte and Roen would take the monsters off-guard by charging forward together and engaging up to two at a time with their tekko and bolo knife respectively, and Felicity would finish them off from a distance by throwing multiple knives.

After several hours of wandering, Surya directed them into a room. The room was completely empty, without any treasure chests. But Surya walked the perimeter of the room, examining every nook and cranny, before announcing, "Let's stop here and rest."

Felicity sighed in relief and slid down the blue-purple wall to the floor. "We've made so many twists and turns down here that if they did come down here with dogs to find us, it'll take them a very long time to find us!"

"Exactly," Surya said. He sat down alongside another wall nearby. "Which is why I wanted to explore every room along the way."

Daunte slid off his tekko and propped Arin in his lap. "Do we have any more water?"

"Here." Surya dug through the satchel and tossed a canteen at Daunte. He dug into his pants pocket and pulled out a wad of paper. "I'm really surprised by the security of that hellhole. They confiscated my clothes but didn't go through my pockets!" he unwrapped the paper to reveal what looked like jerky. "Is anybody hungry?"

They all were, and Surya broke off pieces to give to each of them. It was the first time in forever since Daunte ate anything besides hard bread and porridge, and he felt his stomach cramp slightly as he scarfed the meager jerky down. But it didn't matter to him. "Are you hungry, Arin?" he held out a piece to his brother. Arin stirred briefly and he mumbled a little, but otherwise he didn't seem conscious enough to eat anything. Daunte knew he had to get food into his brother as soon as possible, or his condition would only deteriorate even further.

"Surya, you said something about looking for your family," Roen said suddenly. Like Daunte he had inhaled his jerky in three bites. "What exactly happened?"

"My cousins were kidnapped a couple of days ago," Surya said grimly. He looked down at his lap. "It's the craziest thing, too. I mean, not all of them were even in the same place and they all disappeared simultaneously! We found a mole amongst the guards at the palace, and he confessed that Nagarea was responsible for their kidnappings. I was with a group trying to cross the border to do reconnaissance, but I got captured as well."

"How many cousins do you have?" Daunte asked. Felicity immediately followed with, "What kind of people are they? Do you have any brothers and sisters?" And Roen added just as quickly, "You're part of the royal family, right? Are you next in line, or is it one of your cousins?"

"Why are you guys so interested in hearing about my family?" Surya asked them.

"Because we don't have any families," Roen reminded him. "Except Daunte here, of course."

"Drink this slowly," Daunte told Arin, helping him to hold the canteen as he drank the water.

"…Fair enough," Surya said. He leaned against the mossy brick wall. "I'm the son of the Commander of the Queen's Knights. And you guys already know that I'm a Queen's Knight as well, though I almost didn't get the spot. Mother and Father showed me no mercy with their training, but some people still think it was because of nepotism that I got in."

"We've seen you fight though," Felicity said. "And you're very capable. It's not surprising that you got elected to your Queen's Knights."

"Thanks." Surya bit down on a piece of jerky before he continued. "I'm an only child, but I have five cousins. I have two older cousins—Archana and Kaylani—from my great-aunt Haswar, and I have three younger cousins—Farrin, Freyr, and Signe—from my other aunt, Queen Lymsleia. Farrin's probably going to be the hardest for us to find because she's the heir to the throne. But I also think we have to worry least about her safety because I'm sure your government sees the most value in her."

"What are your cousins like?" Felicity asked again.

"Well, Archana is really quiet and keeps to herself, but she wasn't always like that. In fact, she used to have a very, uh, eccentric personality. That all changed when her husband died though."

"Died?!" Roen exclaimed.

"That's awful!" Felicity gasped. "How did he die?!"

"Poisoning," Surya said solemnly. "Right in the middle of their wedding reception. The wedding cake was somehow poisoned—we still haven't figured out how, considering we had food tasters checking the food and nobody found anything wrong with the cake before they brought it out—but since Archana and her husband ate the cake before the guests they were the only ones poisoned. She survived the poisoning…but he didn't."

"Oh no…" Felicity's fingers were curled into her cheeks.

"Archana and her husband were childhood friends and she had always loved him, so she decided to observe the traditional mourning period of seven years," Surya continued. "So she hasn't remarried and she hasn't worn anything but her mourning clothes since then."

"Gosh, that's pretty tragic," Roen said. "Before I was convicted, one of my neighbor's husband died and she remarried within three months! But to mourn for seven years?! That's incredible!"

"It's almost the seven-year anniversary of his death," Surya said. He motioned to Daunte to throw the canteen back to him, and Daunte complied. "So Archana's official mourning period is almost over. Unfortunately, because of this men from all over the country—and even from abroad—have been readying themselves to try and start courting her the minute she's absolved from her duty. In fact, a whole bunch of them volunteered for this rescue mission just to impress her. Never mind the fact that most of them didn't have any form of combat training. But I digress."

Surya took a sip of water before continuing. "Kaylani…is exactly like my great-aunt." He laughed a little. "She loves cute things and loves giving hugs. Even before she got married she collected teddy bears. Even the stuff I grew out of. She was chosen to be Falena's ambassador to the Toran Republic, and that's where she met her husband."

"I-Is her husband still alive?" Felicity asked fearfully.

"Yes. He's a very capable fighter and was part of the rescue mission before I got separated from them. But…" Surya's expression strained a little. "We…we're on a time constraint with finding Kaylani. We need to find her fast."

"Why? What's wrong with her?" Roen asked.

"She's pregnant," Surya said. "In fact, she's due any day now. So we need to find her before she gives birth to her baby, otherwise they're bound to separate the two and it will be very hard to find a newborn infant."

"B-But our government wouldn't harm a baby!" Roen insisted. "And they surely wouldn't separate a baby from its mother! Am I right, Daunte?"

Daunte looked at his friend. He knew he had the option to either agree with Roen's assertion or to disagree. When he looked down at Arin, and saw how his little brother was still struggling for breath, he knew what his answer should be.

"…Roen," Daunte said slowly. "We were separated from our parents. The Theocracy would surely separate Surya's cousin and her baby."

"But we were criminals!" Roen insisted. "Kaylani and her baby are royalty!"

"Roen, stop calling us criminals!" Felicity shouted with frustration. "We did nothing wrong! Even if we go by the logic of Original Sin, did Kass deserve to die?! Does Arin deserve to be as sick as he is?! Will you still defend our government, even after knowing they sentenced us to this hellhole NOT to redeem us, but to use us as free labor to hunt for a True Rune?! Because they were so sure a True Rune wouldn't select a child?!"

"That doesn't change a fact that our Holy Doctrine has deemed us criminals!" Roen insisted. "This is what the Scriptures says is true! We may have been sentenced for sinister intentions, but we still broke the holy law! That's completely undeniable!"

A long period of silence followed his outburst. Daunte wanted desperately to correct him and tell him that Original Sin itself was a giant lie, but he knew that would lead to just another argument. He looked at Surya. "What about your other cousins?"

Surya laughed, and the tension in the air dissipated almost immediately. "Ah, my younger cousins. Farrin and Freyr are fraternal twins. Farrin's going to be the next Queen of Falena, and Freyr's been focusing all of his energy on training to join the Queen's Knights. It's always been a longstanding tradition that the Queen's husband would become Commander of the Queen's Knights, but Aunt Lym broke tradition and changed the rules so that the Queen could elected whom she felt was most qualified for the job. That's why her brother—my father—is the current Commander. I think that Freyr is training so that Farrin chooses him to be her Commander when she becomes Queen."

"So you're not in the running to become the next Commander?" Roen asked.

Surya shrugged. "I probably am. It's the Queen's decision, not the knights, of who becomes Lord Commander. But I'm happy defending my family and country with the position I have now. I don't need commandership to validate myself. But becoming Commander is Freyr's ultimate goal, so I don't want to infringe on that."

Daunte looked at him. He wasn't sure if he should commend Surya for allowing his younger cousin to pursue his dream, or to reprimand him for essentially handing the job to Freyr. But then he looked at Arin, who was still very pale and sweaty, and he remembered how he had wanted to get the True Rune to select Arin to save him. Even though the True Rune chose Daunte instead, ultimately he'd wanted Arin to have the power.

So he said to Surya, "That's very nice of you."

"I agree," Felicity said. "You're very skilled in combat, but despite this you don't want to ruin your cousin's dream. It's very admirable."

"Thanks, I guess. I wouldn't be surprised if Freyr gave his captors a hell of a hard time. Farrin and Signe though…will be harder to pin down. Although, Farrin's a lot like her brother in that she doesn't give in to pressure or dire situations. So she'll probably also give her captors a hard time as well. Signe's much younger than them, and she's very quiet and likes to keep to herself. She'll probably just go with the flow and do whatever her captors want in order to not cause trouble for herself."

"They probably took Far—excuse me, Princess Farrin, to the capital," Felicity said. "Mlkwt Alsmwat is at the top of Winter Hill, and what remains of the Golden River deposits on the opposite side of Winter Hill."

"Golden River," Surya echoed. "Do you mean the Feitas River?"

"No, Golden River," Felicity said, frowning. "It originally flowed from the northeast, but three-quarters of the river dried up after the Great Earthquake."

"That sounds like the Fei—never mind." Surya waved a hand. "So Farrin may be in…Mlkwt Alsmwat, you called it? How are the defenses of the city?"

"It's impossible to lay siege to the city," Daunte said. "There's a steep drop into Golden River from one end, and Winter Hill is at the other. Winter Hill is a pretty confusing roadless landscape of steep hills, plateaus, and no noticeable landmarks. Unless you've been to Mlkwt Alsmwat before, you'll get lost without a guide. Or a horse who knows the way."

"So in other words, the capital is the perfect place to bring all of my cousins to." Surya scrubbed a hand over his face. "Have any of you been to Mlkwt Alsmwat before?"

"No," Roen said.

"I was born there, but I haven't been back there in about ten years," Daunte said.

"My father use to make business trips to Mlkwt Alsmwat, but he only ever took me into Winter Hill," Felicity said. "Winter Hill is a beautiful area. Granted it's full of monsters, but it's not nearly as populated with monsters as the rest of the country is. People have been known to go on picnics and family camping trips in Winter Hill."

"So I have no way of getting into the capital unless I find someone who can take me." Surya slapped both hands over his face and his body sank further into the floor. "This is a nightmare…"

Daunte swallowed thickly and looked at the others. Roen and Felicity's expressions were equally distressed. It was an uncomfortable feeling to know that despite the fact that Surya had helped them significantly in their escape, they were virtually no help to him in finding his family.

We can only hope that they weren't taken to Mlkwt Alsmwat.

"Surya," Daunte said. The boy didn't move. "I…don't necessarily think that they were all taken there."

Surya lowered his hands and looked at Daunte. Daunte shrugged stiffly and floundered on his hands. "I-I think that the High Clerics' strategy would be to separate everyone. Right? I-I mean, if they meant to keep you all together, then they would've taken you to the capital along with everybody else. Instead, they sent you here. Why would they send you here if you're just as valuable as a hostage as everybody else?"

"Hey, Daunte has a point," Roen quipped up. "Whatever reason your family was kidnapped, would it really make sense to keep them all in the same city? Having them all stick together would just increase their morale, wouldn't it? And it would give the Faleneans less of a chase when they would know where they all are."

"That actually does sound better than rounding them all up at Mlkwt Alsmwat," Felicity agreed. Her face brightened a little again and her usual smile resurfaced. "So…maybe they were sent to different cities across Nagarea?"

"Farrin may still have been sent to Mlkwt Alsmwat," Daunte said, looking back at Surya. "Or maybe she wasn't. We don't know anything yet so we can't jump to conclusions yet."

Surya slowly relaxed and set his hands in his lap. After a moment, he straightened back up. "Thank you," he said. He nodded and managed a smile. "I came here to do reconnaissance. So I might as well visit as many cities as I can to find clues as to where they are."

It was really the only thing he could do at this point. Daunte looked down at Arin again and wondered what he could do at this point.

I promised Surya I would help him find his family when he helped take care of Arin. But Arin is still ill and I need to continue taking care of him. I want to keep my promise, but my family comes first.

He shook his head. I'm getting too ahead of myself. First things first, we need to get out of here and get as far away from the Dark Chasm as possible. Then I'll worry about how I'll keep my promise to Surya.

They each got as much rest as they could, taking turns keeping watch for the guards that were hunting them. At one point Roen shook them all awake in a panic. They listened carefully, and to their dread they heard the muddled sound of voices. It was quite a distance down the corridor, but it was too close for their liking. They immediately mobilized and took off running, not even stopping to engage in a random battle. During the course of their running, the True Rune on Daunte's hand began glowing again, responding once again to his panic. The glow provided more efficient light for them to see where they were going, but Daunte prayed that it didn't draw unwanted attention towards them.

They didn't stop until all they heard around them was silence, and their own heavy breathing. After that, sleep was near impossible. Luckily, Surya rested enough to restore the spells on his Water Rune, and Daunte's rune stopped glowing. After taking a few potions, Felicity's head injury was nonexistent, but their supplies became dangerously low. After they decided to move on, they kept their eyes open for an exit, but also for more treasure chests. Unfortunately the hallway in front of them kept winding and winding, not revealing any new rooms.

But…more than the lack of new rooms, something more unsettling became apparent to them.

"We haven't run into any monsters for a while," Roen said softly.

"Maybe they all went to the people chasing us?" Felicity said hopefully.

Surya suddenly stopped, signaling to them with his tri-nunchaku. "Something's coming."

"W-What?" Roen sputtered, but Daunte saw it. In the darkness ahead of them, he saw a silhouette shifting around.

A giant silhouette.

Daunte slid Arin off his back and carefully propped his brother up against the wall in a sitting position. Then he raised his tekko and stepped forward to stand beside Surya. Roen rushed forward to stand at Daunte's other side, and Felicity took position behind Daunte. "What are our chances?" he asked Surya quietly.

"I only have two spells on my Water Rune, and they're defensive spells," Surya said. "You still have the rune scroll, right?"

"Right."

"We have no choice but to fight. Whatever this thing is, it's big enough to block off the passage. If we turn around, we'll get captured." Surya took a fighting stance. "So we have to win this."

Daunte nodded and raised his fists, but his heart was pounding in his throat. This was so much bigger than the fights they had with the guards and with the monsters down there. Surya himself was apprehensive, and his lack of confidence made Daunte very uneasy. If a Knight was unsure of an upcoming battle, how in the hell was HE supposed to win?!

The True Rune glowed once more, revealing the monster before them.

Daunte's jaw dropped. It was a grotesque, giant golden humanoid creature sitting in midair with its legs crossed and its arms folded over its chest. His arms were covered in black tattoos, and there was a white oval jewel in the center of its forehead. It wore a fierce expression on its ugly face, which didn't falter when it saw the teenagers before it.

"W…What is that thing?" Felicity breathed.

"It looks like a Bronze Sun," Surya said.

The monster unfolded one of its arms and pointed to them. "SCATTER!" Surya shrieked. They barely ducked out of the way in time as fire shot down inexplicably from the ceiling and rained down upon them.

Particularly, upon Daunte. Daunte's vision filled with orange and red before his body exploded in pain. He couldn't think past the all-encompassing pain, and the heat that engulfed him. He was on fire. He was on fire!

"Kindness Drops!"

The heat was abruptly gone, and the pain soon after as the familiar raindrops soaked Daunte to the bone. He lay there in a stupor for a second, his head spinning from the sudden shift from heat to cold, when he heard Roen cry out. The other teenager jumped over Daunte's body and raced at the Bronze Sun. He swung the bolo knife down and made a diagonal cut across the monster's golden torso.

But the Bronze Sun didn't flinch. He didn't even bleed from his wound. He likewise didn't react when Felicity's throwing knife slammed into his forehead. He simply reached up and yanked the weapon out of his head.

Daunte scrambled to his feet and Roen ran back so they could get back into formation. He spared a glance over his shoulder at Arin, and the boy thankfully wasn't injured and hadn't stirred from the commotion.

He turned back around in time for the Bronze Sun to point once again, and for fire to rain down upon them. This time though, the fire struck Surya. The boy didn't shout in pain, but he cursed violently as he struggled to put the flames out.

"Best Friends!" Felicity shouted. Daunte snapped to attention and lined up with Roen and Felicity for their unite attack. They did as they practiced—Roen and Daunte charging simultaneously at the enemy. With one enemy to deal with, they struck the Bronze Sun in rapid succession. Daunte threw as many punches as he could, but the sick feeling in his gut didn't go away. He was hitting the Bronze Sun as hard as he could, but the monster wasn't even bruising under the blows from his tekko.

Felicity threw her knives to finish the attack, but the Bronze Sun didn't even looked fazed. A-Are we completely out of our league?! Daunte thought incredulously. Or maybe—maybe we're just not physically strong enough for such a battle after years of mistreatment and malnourishment!

They fought with all their might, but nothing they did fazed the monster before them. Surya had used up all his Kindness Drops after only a couple rounds, and was left casting Fog of Deception whenever he wasn't attacking. Daunte and the others kept up with their unite attack, but no matter how hard they struck the Bronze Sun the monster wouldn't go down. It wasn't long before they could no longer use their unite attack because all of Felicity's knives were sticking out of its body.

And it was still relentlessly attacking.

Daunte dropped down to one knee, and he felt something pressing against his stomach. He looked down and saw the rune scroll. By a stroke of good luck the scroll didn't catch fire all the times the Bronze Sun attacked him. Now the scroll was their only chance!

He stood back up, and tossed out the scroll so it quickly unrolled at the Bronze Sun. "Flaming Arrows!" he shouted.

Slender rays of fire exploded from the scroll and flew at the Bronze Sun. Daunte felt a surge of hope as the Bronze Sun finally reacted with visible pain at the spell striking it. Its body tilted back, as though it might lose its back in the air, as the fire arrows scorched its skin. Daunte felt the rune scroll turn to ashes in his hands, but he focused his attention on his enemy. Please go down! Please go down!

The spell finished, and the Bronze Sun looked dazed. But the dread returned to Daunte as the monster calmly shook off the effects of the spell and turned angry eyes towards him.

Oh sh—

Not even five minutes later, the four teenagers were unable to stand. All of them were heaving for breaths, and all of them were injured. "D…Daunte," Surya gasped. He didn't have the energy to lift his head. "Do you r-really not know how to use the True Rune?"

Daunte's chest tightened, and he looked down at his right hand. Despite the overwhelming hopelessness of his situation, the True Rune had stopped glowing when the battle started. And despite the fact that his life was very obviously in danger, the True Rune wasn't coming to his aid. He knew nothing about it, what sort of spells it could cast, but the Rune had had enough presence of mind to choose him.

Yet it was doing nothing to save his life.

Dr. Yulin said that True Rune possessors can still die. Is…Is this True Rune going to let me die?!

He glared at his hand. "If you're going to let me die so easily, why did you even choose me?!" despite his anger, he didn't have the energy to shout.

The Bronze Sun raised its hand again, but this time the finger extended higher. It was almost pointing towards the ceiling. Still breathing heavily, Daunte was wondering what it was doing until he saw a red-orange glow behind him and horror filled his body.

The monster directed a spell at Arin!

"NO!" Daunte shouted. He scrambled across the floor with an energy he didn't know he still had, and flew at his brother. Arin was still unconscious, completely oblivious to the threat to his life. Still screaming, Daunte slammed his body over Arin, shielding it from the onslaught that rained down upon them.

"Daunte!" Roen shrieked.

Black patches filled Daunte's vision and he screamed in pain. The spell—the spell was too much for his already battered body. He would surely die when it was over. What would happen to Arin if he died?

But if I die, maybe the True Rune will go to Arin. And maybe he'll finally get bet—

His right hand suddenly exploded in green-yellow light. All at once the flames engulfing Daunte's back disappeared, and the pain in his body abruptly faded. He could even feel his strength returning to him as he gaped at the True Rune on his hand.

Then, he heard a whisper in his ears. It was an unfamiliar voice though, and it was impossible to tell if the voice was male or female. "Howl."

Daunte blinked, the Rune still glowing on his hand. Howl? What does that mean?

The Bronze Sun was slowly advancing upon them, but his hand was still glowing. Daunte looked at the Rune, and then at his friends. "…Howl?"

Nothing happened, and the monster was still coming. But the Rune was still glowing on Daunte's hand. He didn't recognize the voice that had said that single word, but maybe—

Was it the Rune that spoke to me?

Out of options, Daunte carefully lay Arin down and thrust his right hand into the air. "HOWL!" he shouted.

The True Rune's symbol floated into the air as the others turned at his shout. Green-yellow light suddenly enveloped all five of them, and Daunte felt warmth in his body. It was a comforting feeling.

Just as quickly though, the light was gone. But suddenly they were all on their feet. "W-We're healed!" Felicity cried out. She looked at Daunte. "Daunte, you healed us!"

"M-My spells are restored!" Surya cried out in astonishment. He quickly raised his hand. "Fog of Deception!"

Daunte wanted to check on Arin, but he knew they had to get rid of the Bronze Sun first. With their restored strength and spells, the battle still waged on for a significant amount of time. But they were now on the offensive as the Bronze Sun became more and more battered. It began dipping to one side as it tried to remain steady. But the four kept striking and striking at the Bronze Sun until finally the monster let out a final roar and fell out of the air, its large body making a deafening 'thud' on the ground.

Surya sighed heavily, falling backwards onto his backside. "That…was awful."

"But we won," Felicity said, smiling broadly. She hurried to collect her throwing knives. "We triumphed over it."

"Daunte, you used the True Rune!" Roen shouted, turning to the boy in question. "How did you know how to use it?!"

Daunte shook his head. "I didn't. I just suddenly heard a voice whisper to me. It must've been the Rune telling me the spell to cast." He heard heavy coughing behind him and he rushed back over to Arin. Arin had started coughing up more black stuff from his lungs, but it was in lesser quantity than it had been when Surya had casted Kindness Drops.

And his eyes were open.

"Arin?" Daunte lifted his little brother into his lap, patting his back to help him cough. "Arin, how do you feel?"

Arin finished coughing but his body slouched over, as though he didn't have the strength to sit back up. Daunte propped him up, and he caught his breath as the boy's dark silver eyes caught his. "B…Brother?" Arin's voice was very weak, barely above a whisper. He glanced briefly around their dark surroundings. "W…Where are we?"

"We escaped the Dark Chasm, Arin," Daunte told him. "We're going to get you out and get you to a doctor. You'll be better in no time."

Arin blinked very slowly. It was hard to read his expression in the dim passage. "W…We made it out? We really made it out?"

"Yes. You, I, Roen, and Felicity made it out."

Arin's brow knitted slightly. "W-What about Kass?"

Daunte's chest twisted painfully and he had to close his eyes. "Try to get some rest, Arin. We're almost out." He couldn't tell Arin yet that Kass was dead. The boy would no doubt be devastated. Such terrible news would have to wait until he got better.

And I don't know if I have the strength yet to put it into words.

Luckily, Arin didn't notice the obvious change of subject. His eyes slid closed and he was asleep once more.

"Who's Kass?" Surya asked them, standing up.

"He was one of our best friends," Felicity said. She looked down towards the ground. "He died a few days ago."

Surya looked stunned at this news, and he looked at all three of them. "I-I'm sorry for your loss," he said sincerely.

"Thanks," Roen said. His tone had gone quiet.

Daunte lifted Arin in a piggyback again. "We should get going. Hopefully this monster was blocking the exit."

"Right," Surya said, nodding.

The Bronze Sun had sprawled in such a way that it blocked off most of the hallway. The teenagers had to practically climbed over it body to get past it. They had a glimmer of hope that if the guards got as far as they did, that the body would stall them long enough for them to get as far away as possible. They encountered no other monsters in the hallway, but they kept on their guard. The exit had to be near! It just had to be!

But…they got their answer after twenty minutes of walking.

"A dead end?!" Roen shouted. He slammed his hands into the brick wall in front of them. "No! This can't be happening!"

"Can we double back?" Felicity asked, looking between Daunte and Surya.

"We….probably have no choice," Surya said grimly, smoothing his hand over the wall. "If we go back though, we'll probably run into the search party after us."

"But if we stay here, we'll get cornered."

Daunte bit down hard on his lower lip. Why had they fought that Bronze Sun, anyway?! They almost died, and it was guarding a damn dead end! Snarling in fury, he stormed forward and slammed the bottom of his foot into the brick wall in a frustrated kick.

The brick he kicked though suddenly sank into the wall. "Guys!" he shouted in relief.

"Oh!" Felicity exclaimed, turning back around. "This is just like the room leading to the True Rune!"

"Thank Nagar," Roen said, pressing a hand to his chest.

The wall rumbled as the other one did, but it didn't sink into the floor this time. Instead, it moved to the right, sinking into the wall. It revealed a large room, and right in front of the door was a large chair, almost like a throne.

More importantly, the room was partially lit by natural light.

Surya entered the room first, and Daunte followed. As he walked alongside the chair, he let his right hand trail alongside the chair's arm. But very abruptly, the True Rune activated, and the room filled with green-yellow blinked. Daunte squeezed his eyes shut. W-What's going on?

Suddenly, the room filled with angry voices. Daunte opened his eyes to see that his right hand was no longer resting on the chair's arm. It was resting on a human arm!

He jerked his hand back, but stilled as he took in the rest of the room. The room was brightly lit and richly dressed in expensive tapestries and gold. There were at least a dozen men in the room arguing, but he couldn't understand the language they were speaking.

And the clothes they were. They were definitely not Nagarean-style clothes.

Daunte heard a powerful voice shout behind him, and everyone else in the room fell silent. He turned to the person sitting on the throne. It was a middle-aged man, who was visibly younger than many of the other men in the room. He spoke to the arguing men in the unknown language, but his voice was crisp and authoritative. He was dressed no differently than the other men, but…his forehead. There was a symbol right in the center of his forehead, though it was hard to tell the exact shape with the headdress the man wore. But it was easy enough to guess what it was.

It's a rune.

Curious against his will, Daunte leaned forward to get a good look at the rune. The man couldn't see him, and his pale eyes kept darting around the room at the other people standing in it. The shape of the rune seemed like—

A hand caught his shoulder. "Daunte?"

Daunte blinked. Just as suddenly, the vision was gone. The room was dark and empty again, and the chair was empty before him. He looked over his shoulder and saw Surya. "Daunte, are you okay? You were acting weird for a second there."

"Wh…" Daunte looked at him, and then looked at Roen and Felicity. "D-Did you guys see that?"

"See what?" Roen asked.

"T-The people," Daunte said. "There were people arguing in here, and there was a man sitting in this chair!"

"People?" Felicity asked. She frowned. "There's nobody in here but us."

Daunte was confused. Had he hallucinated the whole experience? But it had felt so real!

"The Rune on your hand glowed before you started acting weird," Surya pointed out. "Maybe the True Rune showed you a vision of the past?"

"Vision of the past?" Daunte wondered aloud.

"Well, these look like ruins from the Sindar race." Surya pointed to the cursive unknown writing on the wall. "I've seen the language before, and this looks similar to the Sindarian language."

"Do you know what it says?" Felicity asked excitedly.

Surya shook his head. "I'm nowhere near fluent in it. But from what I've heard, they've been finding Sindar ruins in countries all over the world. They were a highly advanced civilization, even more advanced than our modern societies. There's quite a few Sindar ruins in Falena. It's not that surprising that there would be some here, too."

"The man I saw here," Daunte said, gesturing to the chair. "H-He had a peculiar rune on his forehead."

Surya's eyes widened. "Y-You saw the Sindar Chieftain?! That's incredible!"

"Sindar Chieftain?" Felicity said.

"The Leader of the Sindar. It's been said that he was cursed with a True Rune, the Rune of Change. Nobody has a clue what this Rune's power is, but it's been theorized that it promotes constant change in the universe. Because of this, the Sindar race was doomed to wander the world, as the Rune of Change kept forcing them on the path of change. This is why there's Sindar ruins all over the world. This place was probably their home while they were in Nagarea. All the rooms and passageways we saw before were most likely rooms for the Sindar people, and the confusing layout was probably a way to lose invaders if they ever had to escape."

"That's great and all, but we really need to get out of here," Roen said. He pointed to an open corridor in front of the throne. "Let's just hope that leads outside."

"Right," Daunte said. He shook off the vision he'd seen and hoisted Arin higher onto his back. As a precaution he went back to the passage they came in and carefully listened. He heard nothing but silence.

Let's hope it remains that way.

The hallway leading out of the throne room was filled with natural light. Daunte's heart began pounding with anticipation. They were close, so very close! Please let this not be a cruel joke!

Then they saw light at the end of the hallway. Roen and Felicity shouted and took off running towards the exit. Daunte followed suit, and Arin bobbed around against his back. He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an ambush waiting for them right outside!

Daunte followed his friends outside, and stopped in his tracks. There was thankfully no guards waiting to ambush them outside. The Rocky Plains were empty and open before them. Daunte quickly turned around and looked up. He didn't expect to see a palace, but he was still surprised to see nothing but a rocky steep hill above him.

The palace must have been buried somehow. But I wonder how the monsters got in there? There must be more than one exit to this place.

Daunte slowly turned back around to observe their surroundings. He could still smell rain in the air, and the soil of the Rocky Plains still looked wet from rainfall, but the morning sky was more or less clear. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The clean air was so refreshing.

Felicity sniffled, and knelt down to bury her fingers in the soft soil. "W-We're free." She looked up at her friends. "We're really free, aren't we? I-I haven't seen anything outside the Dark Chasm in four years!"

"I-I almost feel agoraphobic out here!" Roen exclaimed. He laughed, but teardrops leaked down his cheeks. "Can you believe this, Daunte? W-We really made it out of there!"

Daunte nodded, and knelt down so that he could check on Arin. His little brother was still asleep, but outside of a few brief coughs he could already hear the boy's breathing clear up. It was amazing what a sudden change of environment could do for the human body.

I've made it this far. Now I need to get him somewhere safe.

Surya reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a compass. He looked at it for a few moments before he said, "Okay, so you said we were on the southeastern coast of Nagarea, right Daunte?"

"Right," Daunte confirmed, offering Arin more water.

"Okay, so the Nagarean-Falenean border would then be to the northeast of us." He turned his body around in different directions, still looking at the compass, before he pointed. "That way."

"I think Baltas is the town closest to the border," Roen said. "But shouldn't we go to K'alak'i Patieba first?"

"That's the closest town to us right now, but that's also the first place they'll look for us!" Felicity said.

"It would be dangerous to go to K'alak'i Patieba, but unfortunately we'll need to rest," Surya said. He looked at the four of them before he said, "I also don't think it's a good idea for you guys to travel in your prison uniforms."

"…Right," Felicity admitted reluctantly, plucking at her own shirt. She looked at Daunte. "What do you think? Should we stop at K'alak'i Patieba, or go straight for Baltas?"

Daunte knew that it was incredibly risky to go straight to K'alak'i Patieba, but he also knew that they couldn't possibly make it all the way to Baltas in their current condition. Especially with Arin still incapacitated. So he said, "Let's go to K'alak'i Patieba."

"All right," Surya said. He reached into a back pocket and pulled out a small coin purse. "I have 1,000 potch on me, which should hopefully be enough to get us a room at the inn and some new clothes."

"What's potch?" Roen asked him.

"You know, potch," Surya said. He poured a couple of golden coins out of his coin purse and showed them to them. "The universal currency. Wh—" he suddenly froze. "Wait. You guys don't use potch in Nagarea?"

"Our currency is bits," Felicity said. "I've never heard of potch before."

Surya groaned, and shoved the coins back into the coin purse. "I should've known! An isolated country like Nagarea is bound to have their own currency! None of the monsters we encountered dropped any money, so I didn't think—" He shook his head. "Okay. We'll need to get into some random battles in order to get some money."

"It's not really surprising that the monsters in there didn't have bits," Daunte said, gesturing behind them. "Because they probably don't interact much with people. But the monsters of the Rocky Plains constantly attack travelers and such, so they probably do have money."

"Well, until I actually meet someone who can convert my potch, we'll need to get into some fights." Surya looked exasperated, but he pulled his tri-nunchaku out of its holder. "Are you guys ready?"

"If fighting means I can sleep in an actual bed and change clothes, I'll kill as many monsters as I can," Felicity said, standing up.

"Let's just hope it doesn't draw attention towards us," Roen said, also standing up.

Daunte hoisted Arin up, but he wasn't worried about what lay ahead. He felt Arin's breath on the crook of his neck, and the breathing was becoming clearer and clearer. He was already getting better outside of that hellhole.

We really made it out.

She felt the twitch in her hand again. That's it. He's used the True Rune.

But she ignored it for the time being. She folded her arms over her chest as she regarded the man kneeling on the ground bound before her. "You can't deny it. I know you helped the children in their escape."

"I deny nothing, Lady Matron." Dr. Yulin glared at her defiantly. "I most certainly helped them escape."

"Why would you allow sinful criminals to escape their divine punishment?"

"Why would you allow innocent children to be so horrifically abused and starved and worked to death?" Dr. Yulin countered. "All because of a True Rune?!"

She didn't falter under the venom in his voice and words. "Do you have any idea how much Nagarea would benefit from controlling a True Rune? Can you conceive of the good we can do for this country with such power? But of course you can't. That's why you aided and abetted the escape of a heathen who stole the True Rune."

Dr. Yulin's glare deepened. "If the Nagarist Order needs to sacrifice children in order to obtain such power, then they don't deserve to have it."

Her gaze left Dr. Yulin and focused on a guard nearby. "Give him twenty lashes for his insubordination. Send out a call for the heathens. Gather them in the dining hall and perform his punishment there." A thought came to her. "Speaking of the dining hall, I've decided that the children no longer need bread with their morning and evening meals. The porridge they receive should more than suffice for their daily diet."

"Please don't punish the children for what I did!" Dr. Yulin shouted. He tried to stand up, but a guard caught his shoulders and shoved him back down. "They're malnourished enough as it is! And you can't keep doing this to them here, Lady Matron! I know that the High Clerics reopened this place to find the True Rune, and it's been found! There's absolutely no reason for the children to be kept here and worked to death!"

"You misunderstand, Doctor," the Matron told him. "This place is a labor camp for criminals. All of the children here are criminals, so they need to work off their sentences to receive penance."

"But you don't give a damn about their penance!" Dr. Yulin was dragged from the room before he could say anything more.

"Make sure he's punished accordingly, but don't kill him," she warned the guards. "There's no better surgeon in Nagarea than him, so he's still useful to us."

"The search party hasn't returned yet," the guard said. "The children wouldn't have the strength to kill the guards, but if there's any monsters lurking around down there they may have been ambushed."

"The boy activated the True Rune," the Matron said. "So there is little chance of them catching the children anyways."

"The children will most likely head to K'alak'i Patieba first," a lower Cleric reported to her. "If they survived their fall into that sinkhole."

"They most certainly did," she responded. She walked around her desk and sat down. "And if not all of them, then that boy did. I will be gone for a few days. I received notice from the Grand Citadel that they have an emergency assignment for me. While I'm gone, continue enforcing the rules here. And make sure that the surrounding area and K'alak'i Patieba are thoroughly checked for the heathens."

"Yes, Lady Matron." The lower Cleric bent his head.

That boy must think he's smarter than me just because he temporarily slipped through my fingers. But I will get that True Rune he has, no matter what.

As was ordered, Dr. Yulin was taken to the dining hall and whipped twenty times in front of all the children. He showed his defiance by not shouting out in pain, but seeing their beloved doctor so brutalized was traumatizing for the children.

And their moods soured even more with the announcement that they would no longer receive bread with their meals. And though the guards didn't say why, they knew enough why they being punished in such a way.

"Daunte—"

"He had the True Rune!"

"He ran away and left us all here!"

"But I heard. Nari was at the infirmary when he got Arin. Daunte promised to come back for all of us!"

"Would he really come back for all of us?!"

"Daunte never makes a promise he can't keep!"

"He'll definitely come back for us!"

That promise alone would serve as great comfort for the children of the Dark Chasm in the grueling weeks to come.

(?) True Rune

Level 1: Howl – Restores Half HP/1 MP Spell