The halls where cold and dark with only scarce torch light to light the way. The cracked stone walls had certainly seen better days. Many thinner halls and rooms branched off of this main hall. Each room they passed, you could feel eyes peering at you from in the darkness. Some rooms where lit and containing many people settling down.
"Don't go exploring down here." Subaki warned, "It's easy to get lost. And.." He paused for a moment and then stopped walking and looked at Nino, "I don't want you ever to be alone down here. Not… not everyone down here are good people. Please be careful."
Nino nodded, moving closer to Gray.
Subaki continued down the hall a little ways more and stopped in front of a lit room.
Inside the room the floor was covered in a pile of blankets, some people have already settled down to sleep, often bunched in groups.
"Is this where we will sleep?" Stahl asked, minding his volume but still surprised.
"Unfortunately, yes. But lucky for you," Subaki gave a slight chuckle, "You already have a friend group to stay with so you don't have to sleep cold and alone."
"Are you saying we all sleep in the same place?" Stahl said looking around.
"Safety in numbers. Even though I warn Nino, really no one should wander this place alone." Subaki walked over to a vacant corner of the room and sat down, the rest joining him.
"So anyone who doesn't have a friend group sleeps alone?" Nino asked
"Most of the time, yes. Unless another group is nice enough to let them join."
Stahl began shedding off parts of his armour.
"I would be careful about that if I were you." Subaki warned.
Stahl just looked at him puzzled.
"I can guarantee your weapon is safe at the wall," Subaki warned, "But nothing else has that guarantee. I've seen many people's armour and clothing get stolen as they sleep."
"What am I supposed to do? Sleep with it on?"
"That's one option. You could pile it close to us and hope for the best is the only other option."
Stahl nodded and replaced the armour he had shedded. "Well it can't be too bad…"
"It's really cold." Nino shivered.
"That's another reason why sleeping in a group is good. It gets bitter down here. Even worse in the winter."
"How will we know when it's morning?" Gray said, shifting the blankets.
"We won't. We wake up when we do, or, wake up when we have to go back onto the field." Subaki looked around, some in the room where giving some nasty looks. "Good night."
He settled down in the blankets followed by the rest of the group.
Subaki fell asleep quickly. Everyone else just lay awake, wondering, wondering how long they'd be trapped here.
The town was lively and joy filled the night air. The group stopped just outside the main square.
"Wait Kiran," Sharena said excitedly, "I was going to get you something."
"Oh, you don't have to Sharena I-"
"I'll be right back." She chirped before grabbing Matthew's hand and dragging him off into the crowd.
Kiran just gave a little sigh and smiled.
"She's quite an energetic one." Alm commented. He looked to where Sharena had went but she was long gone in the crowd.
"Yeah she is." Kiran laughed.
"But that's probably a good thing." Alm said sitting on a nearby bench.
"You think so?" Kiran asked, joining him
"We all need a little happiness. Especially you. I may be pretty new here, but I can already tell that tensions are high." Alm looked up at the clear sky above him. "But I don't feel that here at this festival. Everyone seems so happy. All except for Alphonse." He looked at Kiran. "I want to know."
"Know what?"
"What happened."
"Well," Kiran hesitated for a moment, "I'm sure you know that we have been in this war for a while now. In that time, many close friends have left."
"They've fallen on the field…" Alm sighed
"Y-yeah." Kiran said, "Many veteraned heroes attended this festival years ago. So it brings back memories that are both bitter and sweet."
"Those veteraned heroes are who some of these festival goes seek out isn't it. Why didn't you tell the people."
"We want the festival to be a happy time of hope. If people knew that their inspirations where no longer with us, it would crush them. We can't tell them." Kiran looked Alm straight in the eyes, "You can't tell them. Or anyone that we had this conversation."
Alm nodded, "I understand. It is hard for you to lose people so close to you. I won't speak a word. And thank you, for telling me."
Kiran let out a sigh of relief. 'If only Alm knew the truth' they thought silently.
They both sat watching the stars. Little by little each star became obscured by clouds.
"I'm back!" Sharena said happily as she approached them. She was carrying something tan and fuzzy along with a bag on her back.
Matthew trailed behind her also carrying a sack.
"You bought a dog!?" Kiran stood up.
"He's for you." She giggled. She ran up holding the squirming furball out to them.
Kiran stepped to the side, "I don't want a dog. Why did you bring a dog?"
Sharena forced the puppy up to Kiran's face, where it began licking them.
Kiran backed up from Sharena wiping off their face. "I really don't want a dog Sharena."
"Oh come on Kiran! Just give him a chance. Besides, I think you need him. And if it doesn't work out, I'll take him."
Kiran looked at the puppy and hesitated a moment. "Fine. I'll give the dog a chance." They groaned.
"Yes!" Sharena said triumphantly before passing the dog off to Kiran. "You won't regret it I promise."
"Well," Kiran held the dog out to get a good look at him. It was a scruffy brown dog with little ears that just flopped slightly. "Does it have a name?"
The dog had tan little eyebrows that seemed so expressive shifting around at each voice he heard.
"Nope. That's for you to decide. It's a boy dog too."
"Umm," Kiran studied the dog further, trying to think of a name. They looked around them, eventually stopping on a tree. It's branches rustled in the growing winds. Kiran looked back at the dog, "Douglas. His name will be Douglas."
"That's a nice name." Sharena smiled. She grabbed a leash out of her bag. "Now that we aren't in the crowd anymore we don't have to carry him." She looped the leash around Douglas' collar.
Kiran set him down and he immediately started to wander the area.
"Sharena." Matthew tapped her shoulder. "It looks like some foul weather is starting to roll in."
"Man." Sharena pouted. "It wasn't supposed to rain tonight. But I guess around here the weather never really can make up its mind. Sunny one moment, rain the next."
"It's also getting late too." Alm pointed out.
"I suppose you guys are right. We should head back."
Kiran gave a nod and started in the direction of the castle.
Kiran managed to trip on a branch only a few steps into the walk but was quickly caught by Matthew. "Watch out for the sticks. The wind has been knocking them down."
Kiran straightened up and gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry about that."
Matthew just shrugged, "Don't worry about it."
The group began heading back towards the castle.
The wind began to pick up and the trees all sang in unison as the wind ruffled their branches. The street was dark and empty.
They ran continued down the empty street, seeing the castle only just ahead of them.
And yet. It seemed so far off. Every step brought them closer and yet the castle still stood the same distance away.
Kiran looked at Sharena concerned. Or, looked at the lack of Sharena. Kiran stopped, only to realize that Alm and Matthew where gone too. Even Douglas was nowhere to be seen despite Kiran being the one to have the now absent leash.
"Hello?" Kiran called out.
There was no response. The only sound that could be heard was the dreary chorus of the trees.
"Sharena? Matthew? Alm?" Kiran called out frantically. They looked behind them to only see a dark empty road. They ran towards the castle. But the farther they ran the farther the castle seemed to be.
"How does it feel?" A voice whispered into Kiran's ear. They stopped suddenly and turned, only to see no one.
"How does it feel?" The voice whispered again from behind Kiran.
"Who are you?" Kiran called out.
But there was no response.
"What did you do with my friends?!"
The trees continued to sing, their song only growing louder as the wind grew stronger.
"How does it feel to be alone." The voice whispered. A chill ran down Kiran's spine.
"To be alone so far from home." the voice continued.
Kiran felt a hand on their shoulder. It's cold touch penetrating their jacket. They glanced over, only to see nothing. But yet the feeling stayed. Kiran shook their body and stumbled forward. The cold touch disappearing.
"Who are you." Kiran demanded.
"No one."
Kiran looked around, severely confused now, "What are you."
There was only silence.
Kiran looked around. Only to see nothing. They began forward and suddenly froze. Ten great eyes peered through the darkness. Stacked in pairs, each set a different colour, though the colour was faint. Each eye was huge in size. All ten just stared deeply at Kiran. The eyes where all Kiran could see in the dark.
"How does it feel to be alone Kiran." the voice boomed, from every direction.
Slowly each set of eyes but the top most closed. The magenta colour of the remaining set grew vibrant.
Kiran only stood in a state of shocked silence.
A single silver ribbon shot out from the darkness, just gliding by Kiran's arm, slicing through their jacket and into their skin leaving a long shallow cut.
The ribbon vanished.
Even though the cut was shallow, it burned intensely. Kiran let out a scream of pain clutching their arm.
"How does it feel for your screams to go unheard!" The voice screeched.
Two more ribbons shot out from the darkness, this time, both striking mid thigh parallel to each other.
Kiran let out another cry and fell to their knees, their eyes beginning to tear up.
"Everything is your fault." The voice echoed calmly.
Hundreds of ribbons emerged from the darkness.
Kiran shot up in bed with scream.
Douglas who had been asleep by their side startled awake, along with Sharena who had been asleep on a chair next to the bed.
The morning sun gently filtering through the castle window.
"Are you okay?" Sharena said concerned.
"Yeah." Kiran said steadying their breath, "Just a bad dream." They looked at their arm relieved to see no damage.
"Glad to see your okay," Sharena sighed. "You hit your head pretty good last night tripping on that branch. The cleric said you would be fine but I just wanted to be here just in case."
Kiran smiled. "I appreciate your concern."
"You should go let everyone know your okay," Sharena said jumping up, "And probably eat some food too."
Kiran nodded and swung their legs out of bed, only to be greeted by the stinging of parallel cuts on their thigh.
Stahl woke up to find it fairly dark. Only slight torchlight crept in from outside the door. He sat up and stretched his stiff muscles. He looked around the room. Many people were still asleep.
Subaki sat up quietly. "Nice to see you awake." He whispered.
Stahl looked at the other two, who where still fast asleep. His stomach grumbled loudly.
"Come on," Subaki whispered getting up, "Let's get some food."
"What about them?" Stahl gestured to the other two.
"No one will bother them in here." Subaki walked out of the room followed by Stahl.
"I am so stiff." Stahl complained.
"You'll get used to it."
"Do you know how long we were asleep?"
"We can check in a minute." Subaki said exiting the long hall into the main room.
In the main room many people were up and doing various activities.
"Follow me." Subaki led Stahl to the entrance and then to a small room near the entrance.
"Good morning." Hector greeted them in the small room. "Here for food I would take it."
"Yep." Subaki said in a friendly passive tone.
Stahl on the other hand just nodded quietly and nervously.
Hector looked at Stahl. "You can lighten up. Nothing to be afraid of." Hector was friendly, albeit loud, but not aggressively so. He turned around and reached into a bag hanging on the wall. He turned around and handed each of the hungry heroes a piece of bread and a small strip of dried meat. Sure it wasn't much, but certainly better than nothing.
"Make sure you keep it close until you finish it." Subaki warned, "Unless you want someone else to snag it."
Stahl nodded, holding the food close to his chest while for the short time it took him to eat it.
"I can show you where you can find the time." Subaki walked into another small room nearby. This room had a hall branching off of it and a stone door on one of its walls. Subaki turned as soon as he entered the room and pointed at the wall. There was what looked to be picture of a half circle with an arrow.
"What is it?" Stahl looked at the picture, confused. It just looked like a childs chalk drawing on the wall.
"It'll show you where the sun is in the sky." He pointed to the bottom right of the half circle. "This is sunrise." He traced his finger along the curve, "aaall the way to sunset. It's not the most accurate depiction of time but it works well enough."
Stahl studied the picture. It showed the little circle representing the sun just a little past sunrise. "How does someone know where to draw the little circle?"
"We don't have to. It's a magic image that changes on its."
"Oh. That's pretty cool." Stahl nodded. He looked around the small room. "Where does that go?" He pointed to the hallway branching off of the room.
"That is where we keep track of people." Reinhardt stated walking into the room.
Stahl jumped at his appearance. "What do you mean?"
"When people arrive and when people leave. It is all written on this wall." He walked over to one of the other walls, which had an assortment of writing and images all somewhat crudely displayed.
Stahl lit up, "Wait are you saying people actually leave this place?"
"Of course they do." Reinhardt turned to look at him deadpan, "Through death." He turned back to look at the wall. His face darkened, "That doesn't sound good." He said quietly before briskly leaving the room.
Stahl looked at the wall that Reinhardt was looking at. Looking at it now, it only looks like scribbles and chalk smudges. "How could he read this?"
"Some kind of magic stuff. Its to keep whatever is there a secret from people who don't need to, or shouldn't, know. I don't know all the details of it."
Both exited the room. Reinhardt just left the room that Hector was in and quickly entered another hall nearby.
"So what do we do now?" Stahl looked at Subaki.
"We just wait." Subaki walked back to the other end of the long room where more people floated about, "Can't do much until we are given fighting orders so you can use this time to spar, socialize, take a nap if you need it or -"
Nino's piercing scream echoed from down the hall and the entirety of the Dens went silent.