Part V - Soon
It was all a blur as the light streaked through his one open eye. He couldn't tell if he hit it or not, all that he knew was that the beast was gone. What it took was a blast large and bright enough to send it scurrying back to the shadows. The only downside was that in it's escape, the beast swung its tail upon him, knocking the sword free from his hand. In that moment he became utterly helpless as he knew the beast was driven back into the shadows of the dungeon where it lays waiting for it's next opportunity to pounce. And so he ran as the fresh surge of adrenaline coursed through his veins. His heart ached and stung, his lungs gasped for air that it couldn't reach. But still he ran for he could see a blur of light at the end of the tunnel up the stairs. Away from the danger that lurks behind him and to the salvation that the light wields.
It would be the sweetest of things to see the light of sky, and to feel the warmth of the sun. The skin tingling sensation that he longed for as it felt like so long. Like going without water for days on end, his body craved it. Ached for it. But also what drove him is that he knew that this place was no longer safe as it was. Not even for the monsters that were birthed. The best thing for them all, human and not, was to run.
The light drew closer and closer. With each agonizing step the light began to fill his view. Every step offered the chance that his legs may collapse from underneath him and send him tumbling back down. Though he didn't focus on that, he couldn't. He had to make it. Even if he knew what was up there was not salvation itself, but being one step closer to it. It was all that he needed it be until he arrived to the surface. Perhaps then, the violence would settle to the norm that is expected and life would continue it's cycle without the aid of the things that go unseen in that darkness behind him.
Just maybe. Maybe it might work.
Out of the dark tunnel and into the light, the light shone so bright that he could only squint as his vision distorted everything into a blur. Racing out at a pace of a mad limp, he could feel the still air of the eighteenth floor envelop him and enter his lungs. Focusing his hearing on the sound of his footsteps, listening for the trail that led away from Rivira and to the exit leading up. His boots softly crunched as he stepped over twigs and legs, but the ground remained soft. Looking up to what horizon the floor offered, he could make out a large green blob. It was the massive tree that stood in the center of the floor, underneath the tree laid the town of Rivira. Soon the path would diverge and then he'd have to veer off and away from the settlement. Then he would know that he was on the right path.
"Hey! Hey you! You're alive!" A group of men shouted off in the distance, their voices vaguely familiar. The path before him held no discernible human shape, so he kept limping. Undeterred by the voices calling out to him.
"Would ya wait up?!" Another voice shouted.
Somewhere in the distance, two pairs of footsteps grew closer in a run. Only to slow once they got close.
"Hey guy!" A hand reached out and gripped his left shoulder. The man gasped in pain as every nerve flared up at the touch. Immediately one of the two stepped away from him.
"Gah! Don't touch me!" The man shouted as he reached for his own shoulder, gasping in pain.
"Geez, I'm sorry, guy! But Rivira's the other way, and you're bleeding all over the place. If you keep it up at this pace, you're a goner."
Finally he recognized the voice, the man before him was Jai. If only he could see his face. As he turned around to the source, it was still a blur, his eyes wandering somewhere off in the trees. Behind Jai he could hear the sound of his friend give a sad sigh.
"Oh God.."
"There were three of you, now there's only two of you.. Where's the third?.." The man spoke, with vague concern, already thinking the worst.
"We don't know.. We've been trying to find him when we found you. Guessing he went back to help ya or something."
The man turned his head and sighed as his blind gaze dropped to the grass and dirt below his feet.
"I'm sorry, but I haven't seen him. And if he's not anywhere else on this floor.. Well.."
Jai gave an audible gulp then shuddered.
"Shit.."
"But he was just with us. How could we have lost him?" The other guy spoke, his voice carried a thick drawl of a hard working man. A heavy hitter. A walking tank. Possibly a dwarf. But he could be wrong. To make assessments on one sense alone could lead to faulty conclusions.
"If I were you, I wouldn't go looking for him on the next floor. That darkness, it's poison. That's probably how you lost him. It's not your fault. So don't think about blaming yourselves.."
It hurt him to share such a truth for them. They never could've known just what that thing was. Not even the man possessed a full understanding of what it was. All he could offer was his hope for them to take his advice and to survive to make sure that this doesn't happen to anyone else.
"How can you say that? You know what, no-.. He's out there and we're gonna find him. Right Jai?"
There was a silence as Jai gazed upon the wreck of a man before them.
"Jai.. We're gonna find him right?"
"..."
The man's breath was ragged and weak. He stood on one foot heavier than the other, and it looked like the weight of the bag on his back was going to send him toppling over. All he had was the blood soaked clothes and that bag. One hand with a gaping hole, the other empty.
"No.. We're not.."
It would've been easy to get soaked up in grief. To be in absolute denial and charge back into the fray for a lost cause. That was easy. Admitting the truth, the hard truth wasn't. Jai spoke knowing this. And from his voice alone the man could tell that he wanted to run back, but he was smart enough to know not to.
"We got out without a scratch. But look at him. He's a walking miracle to still be standing right now. We've got to warn the others. Find Morg. Go."
Jai ordered his friend and yet no footsteps sounded on the dirt trail. Instead it was silence. Jai turned to his friend, who stood in place. Reluctant to accept what he was told.
"Peyton. Go. Find Morg."
There was a tense sighe from his friend and finally the man could hear Peyton's foot pivot and begin his run down the path. Slowly the sound faded into the distance leaving the two of them there.
"Come on, I'm taking you back to Rivira." Jai took a step forward reaching out for him and stopped when the man took an uneasy step away.
"No."
"Yeah and what are you going to do?" Jai asked him, as if it wasn't obvious what would happen if he pushed himself any further. What he didn't expect was for the man to start walking away.
"When night falls it's not going to be safe here. So I'm going to clear the way up to the surface."
"You can't be serious.." Jai couldn't believe it. After everything this man has gone through, he still had the confidence that he could hold his own up seventeen floors.
"I'm very serious."
"You got any family when we find your body?" Jai asked a cruel question. One that he'd hope the point would get across. But also to pay respect for a fellow adventurer. The man stopped, thought for a second, recalling the events, a bitter truth he too didn't want to admit. But he couldn't lie to himself.
"No.. Not anymore.." Without facing the man, he continued his walk to the path to the seventeenth floor.
"Ahh shit. Wait." Jai said with an exasperated sigh, finally giving up. With the man coming to a stop, he could hear a faint rustling of fabric, a few clinks and a solid metal thud. "Hold out your hands."
The man gave him a blind stare, as if internally debating whether or not to follow the order. But finally he held out his right hand open and up.
"Take these."
First there was a light vial. A healing potion. Sliding it in the pouch on the back of his pack he held out his right hand once more and felt something heavy be placed on his hands. It felt long, and wrapped in fabric. But balanced.
"A sword?" The man asked. "I can't take this."
"Unless you want to fight with your knuckles, you got no other choice. I expect it back, when I see you next. Deal?"
The man could tell he wouldn't have it any other way. He was sure that Jai would get it back eventually. Whether fate proved to shine upon the man or not. So he shook his head in agreement.
"Thank you."
Jai simply gave him an affirmative mhm, then the man turned to walk away.
"Good luck out there, guy."
Behind him he could hear Jai's footsteps fade just as his friends had. Once again he was alone. For the time it suited him, to take the time to grieve while no one was around. To do all he could to let it out, to get it over with and to move on. Because he knew that there is someone out there waiting for him, whether they knew it or not. Someone that he could help. He knew not who they were. Whether they were a man or a woman. Human, elve or something in between. He knew that he would find them.
It didn't matter if it was divine intervention, or an innate sense in his heart. Somewhere up on the surface, is that person. And as he began his ascent to the top of the stairs leading to the seventeenth floor, he began his journey to aid them. To help them grow. So that way in turn, he may learn from them just as they may learn from him. So he may finally slay that beast.
"It's all downhill from here." He said with a smile as how the monsters from the dungeon will be much easier than the ones down below. Taking his first determined steps on the open floor he made it a quarter of the way through and then he heard a solid crack from the Wall of Sorrows.
His eyes traced the fissure as it spread from the source of the impact. On the other side of the wall a large figure shifts and two red eyes glare upon him.
"You've got to be shitting me." His heart sank down to his stomach as he drew the sword out and to be at the ready. As one shot of adrenaline faded, another began. There he waited for an all too familiar loud crashed signaling the begin of the battle.