Basil wakes up from a better night’s
sleep than last night with Julia holding onto him. She wakes up soon after and
is red with embarrassment. In a panic, she kicks him off the bed.
“What was that for?”
“You didn’t wake me up when I was
holding you.”
“I just woke up too, and you were
the one that was close to me.”
“I-I didn’t do it on purpose.”
Basil smiles as Julia grips her
pillow then throws it at him.
“Stop smiling like that!”
Julia takes her things and charges
out of the room to change elsewhere. Basil sighs then gets ready for today as
well.
Atlas enters the room and says, “Women
can be like that sometimes. You just have to learn to take it.”
“I’m not going to take it if I didn’t
do anything wrong.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen
again.”
“That’s never worked in my
experience.”
“Is there a reason you’re bothering
me every morning?”
“Because…you need it! I’m trying to
help you get stronger.”
“I appreciate it if you’re telling
the truth.”
“Why would I lie to you?”
“You had to think about it for a second.”
“…uh.”
“Is there something I should know
that you’re not telling me?”
“…no.”
“You had to think about it again.
What do you want to tell me?”
“There’s a big event happening
today, and our guild has been selected to participate in it. The winner gets a
straight sponsored shot to the floating island.”
“Does someone need that to get
there?”
“Influence is how you get places in
this kingdom if you don’t know already. You can’t even walk into the other
districts unless people have heard of you.”
“But they let people in so easily.
How can walking through the gates into another part of the kingdom be so difficult?
That’s just how the life of a professional is.”
“Alright, so Julia and I will participate
and win the event today then.”
“I said the ‘winner’ not ‘winners’.
Only one of you gets to go even if both of you win.”
“What? Why?”
“Because they do contests like this
once a month and people are constantly trying to get into the island, so they’re
trying to limit the large flow of people trying to get an easy life up there,
as if they aren’t doing that already. If Julia honestly cares about you, she
should be able to bring you up to her because of her position of influence.”
“Okay, I trust her.”
“You better because this challenge is
nothing easy. Cynthia and I took this challenge when we were newbies and we
barely managed to win. There will be others fighting to win and they may not
play fair.”
“What’s the challenge?”
“Low ranking adventurers are sent
into the fifth floor of the dungeon and whoever brings back the most wins. What
usually happens is that only one person comes out. Two or more is a rarity. Are
you sure you want to do this? You’re not going to get anything out of this.”
“Yes. If it’ll allow Julia to
achieve her dream, then I’ll do it.”
“Do you want my shining armor?
Because you’re such a white knight.”
“If you’ll give me your armor, I’ll
take it.”
“I was just saying if you wanted my
armor. I didn’t actually mean it.”
“Oh. Wait, why not? It’ll really
help.”
“Because this is armor for higher
ranking adventurers. They won’t let you in with it even if you have proof that
you’re of a lower rank. It’s just how things are.”
“Dang.”
“Hey, if I could give you what I have,
I would, but all you really need is what I told you about before, your mind. A
strong mind is better than the best armor and weapons.”
“If you say so.”
“If you’re serious about doing this,
then be a man and do it. Cynthia should be telling Julia about it now.”
“Then she’s definitely going to do
it. Fine. I’ll take the challenge.”
“I wish you the best, man.”
Basil walks out the door with his equipment
and meets up with Julia who is ready as well with a serious look on her face.
They both look at each other while knowing what the other is thinking.
“Are you ready, Julia?”
“I’m ready. Are you?”
“More than ready. Let’s do this.”
Basil and Julia join the large
group of new adventurers that are participating for the event. The event
managers remind them of the risks and reward of the event every ten minutes while
reminding them that they can still back out. Not many leave and more join the
group before they enter the fifth floor of the dungeon. The group separates as
everyone follows their own plan. Some rush ahead while others take things slow.
Basil and Julia hang back and cautiously advance in the dungeon with the
others.
The cautious group finds themselves
at a crossroad with five separate paths and only one of the tunnels are opened.
The rest of the ways are blocked by boulders some of which has what looks like
bloodstains on them. It appears that the cautious group made the right decision
in staying back, so they move into the only tunnel they can. Running and heavy
breathing that grows louder by the second makes them band together and heighten
their guard. A single adventurer with cuts in his armor approaches them.
He says, “Thank goodness that you’re
here and the way out is opened.”
“What happened to you, and what do
you mean the way out is opened? I thought you and your group went through the
other tunnels,” another adventurer asks him.
“The other tunnels were blocked off
when we arrived, and we thought we heard them opening once the entrance to this
one closed? You guys didn’t hear it?”
“No.”
“Well, we made a big mistake
anyway. The way forward is littered with traps and demons who know their way around
them. I might be the only one left.”
The adventurers look at each other
as fear starts to rise in them.
“We’ll help you out. We just have
to be careful is all,” Basil says.
The other adventurers agree with
him and a bit of their confidence is restored. They march forward until they
reach a room that has a maze with mirror walls and floors.
“This isn’t the way the room looked
before. This isn’t what it looked like at all,” the injured adventurer says.
As the adventurers discuss what
they should do, they feel the ground start to shake. A massive number of demons
start crawling out of the ground and ceiling from afar with their teeth and
bone weapons out.
“We’ll just have to deal with it,” Basil
says as he rushes into the maze with Julia.
The two are then quickly separated
by the revolving walls and floors of the maze.
“Julia!”
The maze itself keeps forcing Basil
to move forward or down as demons break through the mirrors. He rushes forward
while dodging teeth and jagged bones that come from all directions. His sword
is more of a defensive item as he can only use it to block attacks lest the maze
forces him to move forward or further down. There are muffled sounds of what
sounds like screaming in the maze that Basil moves towards in the hopes of finding
help. He breaks through mirrors to try to find the source of the noises, but only finds himself even more lost.
Behind one mirror he breaks is a swarm of demons that chase him through the maze
until they corner him at a dead end. As a demon with spikes sticking out of his
body charges Basil, the floor underneath him falls as the maze has seemingly
saved him from death.
He falls into a shallow lake that
he can stand in. Other adventurers fall into the lake with him from other
places in the ceiling. Basil doesn’t see Julia fall with the others and assumes
that he’ll eventually meet up with her. His legs then mysteriously receive
bites on him, which reminds him of his time on the second floor.
“Run out of the water!” Basil says
as he starts running.
Some of the adventures follow his
advice while others try to fight whatever is biting them. The adventurers that
stay to fight are soon brought under the water and never seen again. Not even
their blood, body, or equipment floats up once they’re submerged. Basil and the
others keep running while being bit at until are sucked into whirlpools
that suddenly form in the lake. The whirlpool sucks them into a hole through a
small tunnel and drops them onto a slide with spikes that jut out from below and
the sides they all manage to dodge the spikes as the slide puts them into another
area. This medium-sized area has a single tree with a light shining on it from
a hole in the ceiling. Grass, weeds, and flowers are jutting out of certain
places in the ground in this area as well. There are no exits in this place,
nor does there seem to be a way back.
“There has to be some way out of
here. Maybe there’s a secret tunnel or something?” one of the adventurers say
while Basil looks at the tree.
Basil notices that the branches all
have a weird feeling to them. Some branches feel fleshy while
others feel oily, however, there is one that feels mechanical. Curious about
it, he pulls this branch and a secret tunnel opens near the tree.
“Good job finding that secret man!”
one of the adventurers says as he goes down the tunnel.
The rest follow him until they
reach a dead end. They try to go back but find that the entrance is closed. The
stairs then disappear as the group falls into a large area with weird tiles a
single demon in the center that’s guarding the lever to unlock the treasure room.
Basil finds Julia among the other adventurers trying to navigate the traps with
some of the adventurers already dead.
“Julia!”
“Basil! I thought I lost you when I
heard you screaming.”
“I was calling out to you.”
“Really? It just sounded like
screaming.”
“Maybe it was just a trick by the
demons. Let’s hurry up and finish this together.”
“You got it. I’m sick of this
place.”
Basil and Julia carefully make
their way to the demon in the center. A few more adventurers fall to the traps
as there are more traps around the demon. Basil eventually makes it to the
demon and kills it, which triggers the treasure door to open. Julia rushes with
the last remaining adventurers to the treasure room while Basil slowly navigates
his way to safety. The adventurers start filling their bags and pockets with
all the treasure they can until one person touches a golden skull that bites their
hand. An amalgamation of golden skeletons comes out of the treasure pile while attacking
everyone around it.
Everyone runs for their life up a
newly revealed stairway with a rotating room at the top. The amalgamation isn’t
the only thing Basil and Julia have to worry about. Rocks start falling from
the ceiling of the stairway while the golden skeleton throws golden chains and weapons
to catch the adventurers. Some are caught, turned to gold, then made part of
the amalgamation. Basil and Julia manage to be the first one to the rotating
room. They wait for the last adventurer to make it with them, however, she is
caught. They then quickly activate the rotating room to escape. When they
arrive back at the entrance, a group of advertisers and other adventurers
celebrate their return and congratulate them with Atlas and Cynthia among the
crowd.
The main event holder approaches
the two winners and asks them who will receive the singular reward. Julia looks
at Basil as if already expecting his sacrifice for her.
“She will,” Basil says.
“Basil…”
“You are truly an honorable man,
Basil. Your friend will be well treated on the floating island above. Since you
have shown your selflessness without prompting, you will receive a payment that
I hope satisfies you.”
Julia kisses Basil on the lips in front
of everyone. People in the crowd aw at the cute sight.
“Anything is fine with me.”
Julia is given a traveling pass
that will allow her to travel to the floating island. She is told that her personal
ride will pick her up in two days, so she has time to buy suitable dresses for
a resident of the island. Basil is already laughing inside as if he knows
already that he has to pay for it, but not today as the Cultrarii guild throws
a large party for them that ends with Basil and Julia the only ones awake while
the others have drunken and eaten themselves to sleep since the guild is rewarded
fame from the two’s victory. The two sit by Basil’s window while holding each
other’s hand.
Julia says, “I can’t thank you
enough for everything that you do for me. I’ll find a way to bring you to the
island with me. From what I was told, it might take a while to get you through,
but I promise that we’ll be reunited.”
“You always talk about thanking me
but seeing you happy is a big enough reward for me. I’ll wait as long as I need
to so don’t be making any deals that you might regret.”
“I won’t.”
The two look into each other’s eyes
then kiss. There were other things on both of their minds, but they only wanted
to enjoy their time with one another until they must be separated for an
unknown length of time. This is just how things are after all in their opinion.
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