The women ate at the table of the dining area of the monastery. Very little conversation between them. Fighter watched all around her, the faces of them, the tears of some she'd heard in the night. Their eyes, of all colors, something behind each, and something taken away and never to be given again. But they must try. Like her.

She sat with all of them on one of these tables at the middle of the room, the head priestess atop a highchair. The old woman lived like they did, ate like they did, and spoke like they did. The high priestess seemed to always be there for them, and that was familiar to Fighter at least. It gave some comfort at first to the young woman, and a role model she strived to be like.

Healing would not be a task that came without struggle. It was a constant battle against the self to find a peace which they so desperately sought. Here, they were not clerics, not fighters, not adventures, never again anyway for most of them. But for her, she was driven by that one feeling.

When she was a girl, Papa would take her to the woods to train. Hours spent balancing logs, perfecting her form, all in the hopes that she would be able to not only protect herself, but the one's she loved.

She remembered the words he said. The day was sweltering, and she was hot all over as they practiced on trees and did exercises of comical length. If not three-hundred push-ups, then it was five-hundred squats. If not two-fifty sit-ups, then fifty laps around the village.

"Remember little one," he said standing above her as she exhaled and gulped down a waterskin, "use your common sense before self-defense, and never be abusive." He was a big man with a big heart, always smiling and happy. Sometimes she was happy that he wasn't alive to see her now.

"What does that mean Papa?"

"It means to not use just your fists, use your strongest muscle of them all," he pointed to his head and tapped against his long dark hair. "Your brain. Be smart, and use strategy, for brawn will get you only so far in this world. And this is very important, use your violence as a last resort. In fighting monsters, one must never descend to their levels of depravity."

Countless hours of her training spent thinking about it. The pain, not just physical but there was plenty of that. It hurt so bad then, still did. Imagining the pain of the past was unbearable even all these years later.

Burned into her visage, was the goblins laughing faces, and the faces of Priestess, Wizard, and...Warrior as they left her alone there. But she told them to go, she told Priestess that she would hold them off. But she did not hold them, it was that man, the Slayer who did. If he had not been there, they would be dead and so would she. But she was not dead, and so were they. In her darkest moments since, she wished he hadn't arrived.

But she was stronger now, much stronger. The High Priestess had taught her. They trained in mysticism as they did martial arts, but the former was only lighter by just a slight bit. Fighter had never been one for magic really, or at least she hadn't been.

"Four elements?" Fighter said as they stood in the training ground. The old woman was standing on a staff to match her younger pupil's height, and she nodded along to the question.

"You know all about ki correct? well, where do you think it all draws from?"

"The...elements-"

"The four elements yes. Before mortals were, ki waited for them in the form of fire, wind, fire, and earth," she made sprinkling motions with her hand as she spoke. "It's a whole new world to fuel your martial arts with."

"How do I harness them?"

"You already harness all of them. Mortals were born from the elements; therefore, they have them within."

"In ki?"

"Indeed, so you are at least a step of the way towards mastery. But don't get excited, it'll take years to truly become proficient."

"O-Okay, where do I begin!?"

"I'm gettin to that. Here, let me show you something," the High Priestess placed her spindly hands together and let out a breath. She did several combinations with flurries of punches and kicks, and Fighters eyes glistened as she saw the old woman throw a palm strike and her hand was on fire. The palm went right to a nearby tree and the old woman struck it.

In an instant, the tree was left with a strange smelling chunk of itself burned and missing as it fell back and hit the ground. The High Priestess looked over to Fighter and smiled, her palm still raised and on fire. The old woman then looked at it and let out a small yelp as she danced and smothered her hand with a part of her robe.

Looking back, the old woman said to the now more than weirded out pupil, "Well sometimes you can't control it all that great even with a bit of practice. But...did you see how I was focusing and flowing with all of those punches and kicks? that's ki goin through my veins."

She trained for hours for it, and there were snippets. A small burst of wind, and her fingerprint singing a tiny bit, but it never truly showed that much results. It was something she almost obsessed over, but even still, it was nothing she seemed able to obtain. At least, not now.

Often, she thought about Warrior. With Wizard and Priestess, they still sent letters even if the former was infrequent. Fighter knew nothing of Warrior, however, besides his still adventuring ways. In her, there was a deep hope for him, and something else, but those thoughts were from another life that would never return.

'Could you face them? after everything, could you truly see them? see him. Would he accept you for what happened? of course he would. Can you accept yourself?'

"Excuse me." The small voice of one of the seated caused Fighter to jump. The girl who asked was sitting next to her, a small still hand holding a spoon in the stew. She had her hood off, so her short red hair and small round face was quite visible. Her eyes, much like the others, had bags under them. She looked very tired.

"Yes, is there something you need?" Fighter gave her a small smile.

"You've been staring at your food...I...was just wondering...never mind," the girl looked away. Fighter ceased smiling, then glanced back to her food and resumed eating and was like that for a small while.

Then she stopped, looked up, and glanced over to the girl again who'd resumed her eating, "How has your stay here been?"

The girl seemed a bit surprised to hear her voice, more so when she realized the question had been directed at her. "Oh, it's...been okay. The priestesses are...nice, and stuff."

She could not have been older than fourteen, or perhaps even thirteen. 'What has she seen?' Fighter thought to herself. Seeing the girl, seeing all of them every day, listening to their cries deep in the night, seeing carts of them delivered monthly. In that moment she wished to hug the child and tell her that she would be all okay, but she did not.

That feeling was always there even in the first few months she was there, the want for adventure. She'd always denied it, told herself that she would never be capable of it ever again. Maybe it wasn't up to her, however, because when she saw the look on this girl's face, a child who'd been fouled, who'd probably watched her party be fouled and killed, it made Fighter want to stop her suffering, it made her want to stop all suffering. So silly, so silly, but it was a wish that wouldn't leave her.

To go, and battle against the creatures that'd taken so much from her. Taken so much from these girls around her. Deep down, she knew why she'd been training for so long. Then to meet Warrior and Wizard again, that would be the most arduous task she'd ever been set to. All of this, just broken dreams. She dreamed broken dreams and wanted to make them come true.

"Excuse me."

Fighter almost thought it was the young one next to her who had said that, but it was instead one of the priestesses. An older middle-aged woman, she looked down at her with dark eyes and said, "The High Priestess wishes to see you immediately."

"Oh, um...of course." Fighter stood up and bowed to the priestess who bowed in turn. She turned and looked at the women at the table, some including the younger staring back, and some not. She then waved and walked to the door.

The High Priestess personal quarters was modest, some small furniture here and there like a couch, bookshelf in the corner, and a personal table to eat or write at. A window to the outside and the bright sun's rays coming in brining additional light alongside the torches. Fighter closed the wooden door behind her and saw the old woman sitting on the couch.

"High Priestess?"

The old woman shook up, and Fighter realized she'd been sleeping. "Oh eh...yes," she scurried up from the couch, then looked back at it then to her pupil, and sat back down, "come in young one."

Fighter nodded, her palms together as she walked in and took a seat on the red cushions, "You wanted to see me?"

"Y-" before the old woman could speak, she brought her fist up to her mouth and began a coughing fit that lasted a good half second. Fighter watched her, unsure at first. She glanced around and saw a nearby pitcher of water sitting on the table. Grabbing it, she helped the High Priestess drink, and the latter drank about half. When she was done, the student put the drink back on the table as the master got her bearings.

"Well ain't that great," the old woman huffed. She was looking at the back of her hand, there was blood on her index knuckle.

Fighter's eyes widened, "Is that?..." she breathed, "you're sick."

"I'm old," the High Priestess poked her in the arm, "there's a difference. Old folk get sick all the time."

"H-High Priestess..."

"Don't you start honey, we ain't got much time, so you'll need to listen."

"How long have you..."

"Had it? well, a few days I'd say. But no time for talk like that, you must listen to what I am about to tell you," the old woman sat on her knees and pointed a crony finger at her student.

"Y-Yes?"

"I'm sick yes, and after I knew about it, I told myself I was ready to go."

"What?"

"Don't interrupt."

"Sorry," Fighter shrunk back and began twirling a finger through her dark hair. She'd taken to leaving it untied at this point.

"Right...anyways the sickness isn't something that can be cured by your run of the mill cleric, it's...something that lay within me for quite some time before I learned of it, all but guaranteeing my death. It's a slow, and...silent killer."

"That's...awful."

"What's worse is this next part, as it turns out, I'm not the only one."

"Huh?!"

"Many of the girls here have it. You may've seen a few down in the infirmary."

"No..."

"Yes. This is why I sent for you."

"I mean I haven't seen anyone there-"

"Learn to pay attention," the old woman said making a pouting face at her. Fighter put her hands up in apology. "Like I said, this is why I sent for you. There's something I need to ask." She got very close to her, a serious look in her eye, "this is not light, nor do I expect an answer immediately."

"Anything."

"I ask you...to go on an adventure."

"...What?"

The old woman put her hand on Fighters wrist, "Fighter, I understand if you'll need time to think this over."

"You..." the girl rubbed her face, "me? are you sure? isn't there a band of adventurers that'd perform better than me? I know of a...person...actually."

"Yes, that cleric or...priestess to the east, was it?"

"Y-Yes in the frontier town, her and a party led by a man they call goblin slayer."

The High Priestess smiled, "That is a solution to the temples issues, but it isn't one I want."

"Why not? aren't there lives on the line?"

"Yes, which is why I wanted you to go and retrieve what we need to cure them."

"But," Fighter put her hands on her chest, "why me? you know me I'm no adventurer, no..." she looked down at her hands, "Fighter..." she let out a sigh as she looked back at her teacher.

"Well, I hope that's not true," the old woman said. "To think, all that time training you and you're just not a Fighter. That'd be..." she shook her head, "a big waste of time, don't you think?" the High Priestess looked at her.

Fighter didn't answer her. She looked away, deep in her mind, and the old woman was silent too. Until her student asked, "What...exactly do you want me to get? if it can't be cured by a spell, what else would do it?"

The old woman held a finger up, "In this area, there's not a caster who has the ability yes. The only people capable of something like this would be either fighting a war, or...they're on another plane like the elf lands or...Ravenloft."

"There's a "but," right?"

"Of course, you see I wasn't always this old hag you see in front of you. When I was your age in fact, I was an adventurer."

"I know."

"Yes, I'm sure you're shocked...huh?"

"Um, it wasn't that difficult to put together if I'm honest...you're...really super strong so...lucky guess?"

The High Priestess stared, her mouth hanging slightly ajar, "Right..." she scratched her face, "well then," she perked up, "in my youth my adventuring party and I journeyed many places, but none so elusive as..." she sprinkled her fingers like a ghoul, "the tomb of Vecna."

"Who?"

The old woman seemed soured by this, "Is it that old? eh..." she rubbed her head, "well, it's not something you'd hear from the average traveler I presume. Alright."

Clearing her throat she said, "To start, Vecna is a...well was...a lich."

"Oh my."

"A great wizard once, and like most great wizards he sought to leave his mark on the fabric of history. Not by magical inventions, though he had plenty of those, but the conquest of all realms. Therefore, he made himself into a lich through dark

"He wasn't the greatest lich it would seem, given he was reported to have died ages ago. Some sources say one-thousand, others two. What's most interesting nowadays is his tomb."

"Is it...filled with treasure? like what I need to find?"

"You are correct. Among other things, there is an item that within life he used to heal himself of an affliction."

"What is it?"

"No idea."

"H-Huh?"

"That was the hard part, you see nobody seems to have any knowledge of the whereabouts of Vecna's tomb, much less something he used to cure himself of a cold."

"Right..." Fighter said sheepishly. She flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Then, how am I supposed to find it?"

"I thought you didn't want to do this."

This gave Fighter pause for a moment. Then she answered, "I don't. Not at all. High Priestess...I'm scared, but if this is for the good of you and those girls then...I'd travel to a moon and back. After everything you've done for me, it's the least of what I can do in turn."

The old woman seemed taken aback almost, she certainly hadn't expected such a speech out of her student. Smiling warmly like a grandmother, she laughed, "You always know just what to say at the right moment don't you?"

"High Priestess..."

"Don't be so sentimental with me, my old heart might give out. If you are dedicated...then..." she looked around, then spotted her work desk and table nearby. "One moment." She went over to it and opened the desk, "In my youth, I journeyed with a wizard, ironically, who was fascinated by old legends like Vecna's. He'd go on and on about finding his staff or spell book or whatever."

"Wow."

"Hm?"

"Nothing..." she thought of Warrior as a boy holding aloft a wooden sword, "just...memories."

Hopping off the stool she was sitting on, she handed Fighter an envelope. "Go east, to a city of bright white in the middle of a lake as large as the eye perceives. From there, head north on a boat for the capital. There you will find what you are looking for at the college of wizards. My old friend runs the place now."

Fighter made a funny noise, "Y-Your old adventuring mate is an archmage?"

"Well, he wasn't a straight mage."

"High Priestess! this is serious!"

"Calm down young one, yes it's true," she nodded her head, "I've written a letter here that should explain everything. Come, let us sit again."

They did so and when Fighter looked at the old woman she was smiling that same grandmotherly smile, "It is a good thing you are doing young one."

"T-Thank you..."

"Don't be modest. You've come a long way from the time you arrived scared and without hope at this temple. Everything you've done since has been in service of this moment you know. I imparted every bit of martial and ki knowledge into you, now it is high time you use it to go back out there. To wear a staff, or your own fists. To sleep under the stars with vigilant watch. To meet and challenge new faces. Go forth," she placed her hand on the girl's shoulder, "go forth, and show the world your strength."

It took three days, and then she was on the road. On the road, the sun bright, the sky clear as she traversed down the mountain, a horse that carried her essentials and belongings on it.

As the sun shined bright, and as she was crossing to the main road. Fighter looked back once, and only once to the monastery. Some fear was within her, but when she remembered who was inside that temple, she road on, a new sense of determination filling her and overcoming the fear that'd plagued her for so long.

Notes: Okay so now Fighters out there too, you know I actually found some really good fanart one time of her post temple where she wears Warriors and Wizards porcelain tags but I can't find it or the artist rn. Anyways thanks for reading, Wizard is up next.