As I walk through the main road in the direction of the city center, I continue to hear more and more talk about the heroes, but contrary to the mood on the streets, I’m neither happy nor excited. I just continue to think about what exactly my next series of actions should be. By “closed” they could mean several things, and the most logical would be that the entrance into the dungeon is simply denied to adventurers who are trying to enter. That’s the most logical and easy explanation.

But somehow everything in me is screaming that it’s not the case. That there’s something more to it.

[You should have gotten used to it by now. How many times should things repeat themselves for you to learn? Accept it already. If there are already several alternatives, with good and bad options, it’ll always be the worst possible case.]

I fell Luna clutching me stronger each time someone passes close to us. Her sacred blue eyes are trying to evade direct contact with anyone. She just buries her face into my chest, trying to hide herself from the world. The only thing I can do is put my other arm around her, essentially walking while hugging her with both hands.

Can you blame her?

I don’t know how to explain it exactly, but the past week with Luna was the longest I’ve ever had. There weren’t many events, no fights for my life, but I felt the most alive. Somehow trying to nurture this little bundle, I myself was brought back to life. Those curious and innocent eyes, where were terrified of the world, but that had an indescribable spark in them, somehow captured me. Those eye that want to know, want to learn, but the world already showed its ugly side to her.

I walk deeper into the city, evading the huge crowds of cocky adventurers, and big coaches with rich merchants in them. My eyes scan the still active evening street, until I finally find a hanging symbol of an inn on the wall of a huge three-storey building. The loud sound of drunken singing spills out from the big arc acting as the main door of the building. It’s already dark, so I don’t have the option of searching for another inn. As I get closer to the main door, a huge demi-human with wolf ears walks out of it. The moment he looks down at me and Luna, her tiny hands ball up the fabric of the cloak as she grips harder, trying to hide herself in me. He glances at me in disgust and proceeds forward, as a round, flat gold medal with a strange symbol on it swings from his neck. A demi-human walking around in the open could only mean one thing, a merchant. And that metal more than likely is proof that he’s an official merchant, giving him special rights to trade in the city.

A dozen naked demi-humans, boy and girls, with features of the wolf and cat people of Paletia, with metal chains around their necks follow him. Their height not even reaching the merchant’s waist. They quickly move their feet to keep up with their owner’s pace.

Even their own kind.

Trash.

My sword is still at my hip, I could end him here and now. Free the children, save them. But the feeling of someone small clutching my chest returns me to reality. Looking at her I find her gaze fixed on the leaving group as they go further and further, disappearing into the sea of people. Her trembling finally decreases. I could save them, I could, but now there’s someone more…. dependent on me right now. I swallow the desire, taking a deep breath.

[“Important” is the word you wanted to say. Important. So one life is worth more than a dozen others?]

[How is that different than them? You constantly criticize everyone for their selfishness, how they always prioritize themselves and their loved ones. But somehow in the end you do the exact same thing.]

[Hypocrite.]

The words “I cannot save everyone” are empty right now. Just something people say to help them sleep better. But it won’t work on me. And I know exactly what’s waiting for me in my “dreams”. The cold feeling of disgust and self-loathing somehow calms me down and I look at Luna again. Her terrified eyes meet mine. I pat her head to calm her down, but several loud whistles make me look at the opposite side of the street.

This is an adventurer city, even if it’s bursting with trade. The dungeon is the center of it all, and logically, everything is created around adventurers, who are commonly called “divers”. The three-storey brothel on the opposite side of the street is a bright example of that. Scantily clad women are standing on the balconies, in the window frames, and in front of the exits giving different “signals” to the people passing by. The “signals” range from coquettish winking to outright showing their nude breasts and crotch areas.

Men walking by leer and whistle at the women, many walk in and out of the building, most of them in groups. They’re all so consumed by lust, instinct, and desire that they don’t even understand it. Listening and following instincts is something that can save one in a dungeon, but in the long term it causes one to slowly degrade into something akin to an animal.

Pleasures of the flesh, all they desire. Eat, fuck, and enjoy. Corruption of body, soul, and mind.

Is this really the best we can do?

Is this really the best we can be?

I see “him” in them. They believe him to be just another fairy tale, a story you tell kids. Something they’ll laugh about as they grow up. But he’s real, too real. You just need to look deeper, but people don’t want to. Life is much easier that way.

The blind will not see.

The deaf will not hear.

The unbelieving will not believe.

Shit. Now I sound like those White-Beards from Whiterock. Fucking useless fanatics.

As I enter the inn, many eyes turn and look at me, but nearly immediately turn back with a scoff and chuckle, a few glare at me in disgust. I’m not sure what exactly is the cause for such a reaction. There could be several, the shirt I wear, that’s actually just a big dirty cloth with a single hole in the center for my head, the demi-human child in my arms, or simply that they expected someone else. Doesn’t matter.

I walk towards the man, who looks to be in his forties, behind the counter and greet him.

“Good evening.”

He looks at me, then at the child in my arms, after which he scoffs in disgust.

“We don’t have free food. Get out of here before I call the guards, vermin.”

I don’t have time for this. I take out a single gold coin and throw it on the counter. As the coin bounces several times and stops flat his eyes bulge out.

“A single room for a week. The best one you have. Prepare a hot bath, and decent meal right now. I’m tired and hungry.”

“Ye-“

“And one more thing. Look at me like that one more time, and this inn will have your severed head as a chandelier.”

I walk to the corner of the inn and sit down behind a single table with two chairs without giving the owner time to apologise or say anything in return. I sit on one of the chairs and place Luna on my lap, she’s still too weak to sit on a chair herself, both physically and psychologically, at least for now. People in the inn continue to talk, a few started whispering between themselves, and a few even looked my way.

Same shit, over and over again.

After about half a minute a young woman came and placed some kind of beverage, bread, and several small snacks. The smell of alcohol coming from the beverage is apparent, and drinking alcohol is the last thing I’m going to do here. Several people in the corner of the inn glance at me, whispering between themselves. So, who’ll act first? The amateurs or the professional?

Luna’s eyes fix on the snacks on the table. With my right hand I bring the plate closer to her. Luna looks at me with a questioning look, to which I simply responded “Eat”. While Luna nibbles the bread and snacks from the plates, a person with wild black hair and a bushy unkempt beard, together with several more, similar looking people stood up on the opposite side of the inn and started slowly walking towards me as the inn got very, very quiet.

Amateurs it is then.

As soon as they got to the table, Luna stopped eating and tremblingly clutched my chest while looking at them, trying to hide herself in my side.

“You were quite rude to Old Tome there.” The leader starts, a wide grin with more than a few missing teeth spreads across his face, “It looks like you’re new here. You come to our city, treat our favourite inn keeper badly, and even threaten him.”

“We’ll teach ya a lesson, scum.” the henchman on the right chimed in.

“Come with us. We don’t want ta damage the inn or even taint it wit the blood of the likes of ya.”

The middle one extended his hand to grab me by my make-shift shirt. As if something was lit inside of me, I start burning with violent thoughts. The moment he touches my shirt I grab his hand and rotate it with force, causing him to fall onto the floor flat on his stomach. With my foot I stomp on his shoulder blade, causing an audible crack to travel across the room. It’s followed shortly by a wail of agony. Without missing a beat, I rip his arm out of the socket and stain the floor blood red. Another much louder scream, sounds from beneath my foot.

The two other henchmen jump back in horror and draw their swords and point them at me. Standing petrified their eyes bounce between their screaming comrade and his detached arm in my hand. Turning to look at the location where the group came from, I try and identify the real leader of the group, and I easily find him. Bulky looking guy, forties, calm and confident look, surrounded by several young girls and a group of even bulkier guys in different types of armour.

I make eye contact with the bulky guy, giving him a threatening look, taunting him to take action, but he continues to stare at me with a stone face. I’m really tired of this bullshit. Exchanging threatening looks to see whose cock is bigger.

Throwing the still bleeding arm at the original owner I announce with a deep voice. “Touch me again and I’ll rip you all apart.”

The bulky guy makes a small half-smile and nods at the two still standing idiots, who glance back at him with a terrified look. They make a few uncertain steps to their bleeding comrade, picking him up along with his detached arm and start walking towards the exit. Only now do I notice that the scar started burning again at some point.

Shit.

A few seconds later the same young woman as before comes and quickly places several steaming dishes, bowl of soup and “stealthily” throws something into the wooden mug with alcohol, believing that I’m still looking at the opposite side of the inn.

What?

“Hold it.”

The woman freezes before she could even take a few steps away, and slowly turns around. She tries her best to look confused, but her scared eyes meet mine, and I recognize that look, the look of someone who was caught and awaits the violence.

“Come here.”

She slowly and quietly steps back to my table with an uncertain gait.

“Y-yes?” Her fearful glance at the mug, it only lasted a fraction of a second, but it tells me enough.

The amateurs failed.

Now the professionals step in.

“You will drink it.”

“W-what?” she replies, taking another glance at the mug.

I move the mug towards her “Drink.”

The waitress hesitates for several seconds until the bartender, whose name I didn’t even care to remember, from what the new unconscious crippled blood rag said, walks to the table. On the way he makes several long glances at the bleeding idiot being dragged away and the pool of blood near me. As soon as he gets to the table he looks confused and scared. His Adam’s apple visibly moves as he swallows his saliva, after which he mumbles “I-is there a problem, Sir?” Then he looks at the waitress, then at the food. “Is the food not to your liking?” he says fear radiating from his voice. He looked at the food but his gaze never stopped at the mug.

It can’t be…

Stuck up and cocky, but a total moron. Having a viper inside his den…

But it doesn’t matter.

“Either she’ll drink it, or you will.” I say as I point to the mug.

His brows furrow, he looks at the mug, trying to puzzle something out, then the long seconds of confusion are slowly replaced by realization. Turning to the young woman, he looks at her in horror, who had already taken a few steps back and started running away. Strangely, or not so strangely, no one stopped her as she ran out of the inn. The innkeeper turns back to me and stares at the mug while trembling, his Adam’s apple bobs again.

The warm clutch at my chest makes me look down at the astonished child. Her open eyes look at me with a blend of fear and amazement, as if something beyond her expectation happened, as if she saw a….

Wait.

She didn’t see me “cleaning” the camp. And when she was sleeping cuddled to my chest, she never reacted to the symbol on my chest.

[Isn’t it nice? The first person who not only accepted you, but also has no idea who or what you are, and more likely doesn’t even care.]

Taking a deeper breath I try to calm down. There’s no need for her to see more violence. There’s already too much violence in the world. While the bartender is still staring at the mug, I push it off the table, splashing its contents across the floor. Startled, he looks at me, expecting the worst. I sigh deeply and sat as calmly as possible,

“Next time, be careful who you hire.”

He stands for a few seconds, trying to digest what I just said and sharply bows.

“Thank you very much.” he says loudly and starts walking away with trembling legs, while the mug is still lying on the floor.

I’ve taken one too many lives already, no need for more.

I’ve take the bowl of soup and start feeding Luna with a spoon. It took some effort, as she’s still weak, and by the looks of it hasn’t had soup for quite some time. There were a few dangerous glances, but no one took action. At least for now….

Looking like a hobo has its pros and cons. No one thinks I have anything valuable, so they don’t care to look deeper. Like if you see a small rat running around, who cares about a small rat? But what if the rat has a gold coin in its mouth? Things change, you can just kill the rat and take the coin, most likely the rat found it randomly. Who cares about the rat? Or hobo in this case.

The night came quickly, and I decided it was time to sleep. We can take a bath tomorrow too. It’s been quite a while since I slept on a normal bed. I took the keys from the innkeeper and slowly walked up to the room, which was on the second floor. The room has two beds, a table, a couple of chairs, and a big metal chest that acted like a wardrobe. The best room…..

Locking the door with the key I laid the dozing Luna on one bed and covered her with a blanket. Caressing her head my hand came across two bumps on her hear, and I’m reminded that her ears were ripped off, not cut, it’s too rough for it to be cut. I know that I have asked this question more times than I can count, but still, how can people be so cruel to each other? How do they justify their actions? How are they able to sleep at night? Luna closes her eyes with a slight purr, and starts breathing slowly and evenly. Her sweet innocent smile warms something long frozen in my chest. She needs to sleep to get better faster.

Taking several steps to the other side of the room, I fall down on my bed without even covering myself with a blanket. Even I get tired. Nothing is eternal. Nothing. Before I knew it, darkness consumed my mind.

…

A scream wakes me up, and I instinctively jump from the bed, preparing to send the foe to the afterlife in the most grotesque way possible. But looking across the dark room I find it empty, the only movement in the room is the thrashing on the other bed. Leaping to the other bed I find Luna crying and screaming with closed eyes. But the moment I touch her, her eyes shoot open, her tear filled, unfocused gaze scans everything around, until her eyes stop, meeting mine. For a few long seconds her face hold an expression which I can only describe as a mix of relief and fear. But the seconds end, and another deep wail fills the room as she clutches me.

She starts begging to not leave her, that she’ll be a good girl, that she’ll do everything I say. She continues to beg as she grasps me. In my petrified state I try to calm her down, to tell her that “everything will be okay”, that “everything is fine”. But I just continue to stare at her as she cries into my chest. Finally, as if breaking the chains, my hands move and I slowly embrace her to my chest, caressing her head and repeating again and again, “Everything will be okay. Everything will be fine.”

As she finally calms down I pick her up and take her to my bed. Laying down with her I cover her with a blanket. Her eyes slowly close as tears continue to fall from them. After a few minutes her tears stop and she starts mumbling something inaudible, but I just continue to caress her head. After a few more minutes silence returns to the room as Luna falls asleep.

[Okay? Fine?.... Right. You know full well that this is a lie.]

“No.” I mumble, hugging Luna closer, trying to swat the thoughts away.

[“No” what? You know exactly how it will end! If she stays with us she’ll die, as everyone before her has! We are not able to save anyone or anything! Only destroy and kill! We don’t even have time. That rage started appearing again! We nearly had another episode. How long until we lash out at her?! Is there even “we”? Maybe there no longer is “us”, but only “HIM”.]

[You already did the worst possible thing, you got us attached to her.]

[Why do you continue to torture us? Why? How do you expect us to leave her here, alone, with a fate not much better than ours?]

[How do you expect me to leave her alone in this world?]

[How?]

…

I wake up to the morning sun shining directly in my eyes. Shifting a bit, I look down to find Luna sleeping calmly, my shirt still balled up in her fists, but with a very happy smile on her face. As if the last night’s events were just a nightmare. But it wasn’t, the lines left by the tears are still present on her innocent face. I start to tenderly caress her small head. She shifts sweetly, and a small groan escapes from her mouth. Luna slowly opens her eyes and after a few blinks, looks at me with the biggest and happiest smile I’ve ever seen.

“Daddy.” She softly whispers.

I just continue to caress her head while she closes her eyes in content and continues to smile. A sound of an empty stomach grumbling replaces the happy expression on her face with an embarrassed and ashamed one. I softly smile and pick her up. There are a few things I need to do today, but one has a much higher priority.

I walk down to the innkeeper with Luna in my arms and ask him for a hot bath, since it’s still very early the bath should be unoccupied. Adventurers, dungeoneers, and diver don’t have a concept of time. They live and sleep when they feel like it. And because of that, many services for them are available at any moment of the day.

I enter the bathroom at the back of the inn, and find the metal bathtub already filled with hot water. I slowly walk to the bathtub with Luna in my arms. Her wide eyes jump between the water in the bathtub and the hot steam floating off of it. I touch the water to check the temperature and find it warm enough. Her small hands stretch to the water and touch it, her eyes shoot wide open as she turns to me. Her eyes tell me that she never knew that such a thing could exist.

Such a thing….

I undress Luna and slowly submerge her into the water until she’s fully sitting in it, the water reaches up to her neck. I kneel and start slowly pouring warm water over her head with a small bowl. She shakes her head and with brushes the water streaming down her face with her hands, after which a happy smile appears on her face. Using the sponge I start washing her, and after a few minutes of vigorous scrubbing the dirt on her face, body, and hair, she looks like nearly any other child in a city.

A warm bath, a very simple thing, but what happiness it can bring.

While washing her head and back, I’m reminded again of how her ears were savagely ripped off. I knew about the ears, but only after I washed her back did I find what remained of her tail. A tail isn’t just some random piece of skin, it’s a while limb, with bones, muscles, and nerves, but it’s missing. To most demi-humans that would be akin to losing a hand or leg. Luna continues to sit in the water, playing with it, until she calmed down and tries to look at her reflection in the water. Her curious eyes are looking at the water while she touches her face to make sure that it’s actually her. As the water in the bathtub calms down I see something in the reflection. Something that makes me shudder. The sun is positioned in such a way that the reflection looks just like a mirror.

Nearly all of my hair is grey, and when looked at a specific angle, I really look like an Ojari, no wonder Luna thinks I’m her father. A very exhausted person with a skeletally thin face and limbs, with dark circles under the eyes is staring back at me. Comparable to the past, there weren’t any fights, but right now, I look worse than when I was in the north. But that isn’t a problem, because there is a much bigger issue.

The scar.

The thin, bright line on the right side of my face is no more. The thing on the right side of my face is at least two centimeters wide at its widest, and the whole thing is nearly black in colour.

[How much of us is really us?]

After washing Luna and quickly cleaning myself, we dress up and walk to the nearest shop to buy a few clothes for Luna. Underwear, pants, shirt, shoes, and a few more things. Simple things, that brought an astonished reaction. Luna didn’t even want to wear them, she just sat there, clutching at her new clothes like a treasure. In the end, with some effort, I was able to convince her to put them on. It took even more effort to stop her thanking me.

We took the extra pairs of clothes and put them into our inn’s room chest. It also took more effort to convince her to leave them there. But after I promised that we will return back, she finally agreed. As we exit the inn, I turn to the location of a white structure that stood much, much higher than any other in the vicinity, with a flat circular symbol on top of its huge dome, visible from the whole city.

…

The entrance to the building is quite big. Many organizations like to build huge structures, with huge doors, to make the visitors feel small and insignificant, and this one isn’t an exception. The ten meter-wide stair leading to the white building, only contribute to the effect, most likely specifically designed by the architects. The queue in front of the building entrance moves slowly, as each group only enters through the huge main doors. Most are adventurers with either some kind of limb missing or severe wounds. But everything is orderly since no one wants to cause any problems, it’ll just backfire in the end.

After about an hour our turn comes, and I enter the building through the huge doors. It takes about a minute to walk through the hundred meter-long corridor, which is filled with huge white statues, at the end I exit into a huge room. The first thing that comes into sight is the enormous white marble table on an elevated platform, with several old and young priests sitting behind it. A guard tells me to proceed and sit on a small stone bench with a tiny stone table in front of it, about ten meters from the main table. Many guards are stationed near the bench, but there were at least double the number of guards near the big table.

While I’m sitting, one of the older priests continues to scribble something onto a parchment in front of him. After a minute of scribbling he looks up at me, and with a fake smile and in a very sweet and monotone voice says

“The Church of the Endless Sun greets you. May the god’s spirit bless you.”

A young boy near me comes closer and whispers quietly

“Please place your donation on the table.”

I place the pouch with the required amount on the small table. The boy picks the pouch and quickly carries it to the main table, where he places it softly in front of the priests. One of the younger priests pours out the contents of the pouch into some kind of plate in front of him. After counting the coins, the young priest writes something on his parchment and gives a nod to the older priest. The older one turns back to me and with the same fake smile continues.

“What can the Church of the Endless Sun do for you?”

I describe to them what I came for, and what I would like them to do. One of the priests chants a spell and his eyes turn bright green. He looks in my direction for a very long minute, after which he closes his eyes. As he opens them again they already stopped glowing. He bends to the older priest in the center of the table and whispers something into his ear. The older priest turns to me and just stares in my direction. The silence continues for another minute.

“No.” he coldly states, while the younger one looks at Luna with disgust.

“We do not provide service for demi-humans.” he continues.

The arrogant look they have, it’s the same look I’ve seen many times. They’re humble and polite as long as they’re your subordinates, but as soon as they are given even a bit of power they show their true colours. Give them an opportunity to collect taxes and they squeeze people dry, give them power or control and they’ll think of themselves as gods, those that decide if others shall live or die. The scar starts burning again, but I start breathing deeper to take control and not colour the huge room in red.

It’s been less than a day since the last time.

Shit.

Taking several deep breaths, I try to continue.

“In addition to the fifty gold coins for the donation, I am willing to “contribute” an additional, “personal” fee, if you heal only her legs.”

The older one looks totally apathetic to my attempt to bribe him separately. He slides all the gold coins on the plate in front of him into something behind the stone table, which isn’t visible from my position. He continues with the same cold and monotone voice,

“The church will gladly accept the donation, but as ordered by the Arch-Bishop of Central Endless Sun church, demi-humans shall receive neither healing nor blessing.”

The younger one lightly smirks with a look of pure superiority. Several guards in platemail armour started walking towards me and Luna to “escort” us out. My blood starts boiling, I feel a whistling in my ears because of high blood pressure. I could kill them all, murder them, destroy this church, and make sure there will never be a new one built. I could burn the whole- The movement of the soft bundle in my arms interrupts my thoughts. I look down at Luna as she’s looking around, frightened, not understanding what’s being said.

[You could. You could do much more. But she will get hurt. This is no longer about us.]

[You can feel it, can’t you? One wrong step and it’s as if she will disappear.]

[Enough. Control it. There is still US, even if most of us was eaten by him.]

Taking another deep breath, I try to think of another way to make them heal her legs, but none come to me. And even if I showed them the Blood Brotherhood, it would mean nothing here. Several guards are already standing near me, and with a short bark, demand I stand up and follow them. I stand up and start walking after them to the room’s left corridor of the room. The corridor looks similar to the one I entered, but much smaller and darker. After about a minute of walking I exit to some kind of back alley, after which the guards slam the door shut behind me.

I continue walking through the thin back alley for a few minutes until I exit to the main road. From here I can see the start of the white stairs leading to the church. My blood pressure finally starts to calm down. I shouldn’t lose control, nothing good will come of it. Come through the grand main entrance, but exit it through a back alley. As I look around the main road, which is filled with people travelling back and forth, I see a display of pure hypocrisy. A whorehouse with a theme, slave demi-humans. The same main road which has the stairs that lead to the church, has a whorehouse. So it’s okay to enslave and fuck demi-humans, but not heal them.

Taking another deep breath, I try to clear my mind. The impulses have become much stronger, and the time between them shortens each time. In the end it doesn’t matter, if the healers here won’t fix her legs, the shamans in Paletia will do it. Travelling will be much harder without healthy legs, but it’s nothing gold can’t fix. They didn’t even return the gold.

[Why would they? You brought it in, and they took it. Who can prove that you even had the money in the first place? Your world against theirs. We are neither the first nor the last they scammed.]

But I was the one who could retaliate. Someone who could punish them.

[You could.]

The warmth coming from the bundle in my arms returns me to the current problems. I look into her eyes, which started to shine much brighter than they were a few days ago.

She looks back at me with a questioning gaze and whispers, “Daddy?”

I tenderly caress Luna’s head to which she responds with a soft purr and eyes closed in content. Continue moving, never stop, stand up after every fall, only then will you see the next day……. Ship.

…

“I repeat, for the last fucking time! It’s not a problem of money, there just aren’t any ships going to Paletia this season at all. The Dead Ocean’s current is flowing in the opposite direction right now. After my ships return from Qing we’ll take you both together, even for a single bloody gold coin, but that will be only after I return from Qing in about three months. Enough. I have stuff to do.”

He was the last one.

First I tried the small ships with crews of less than a dozen, they’re usually the ones who are more desperate for coin, and would gladly travel anywhere. But that failed. Then I tried again with bigger, and bigger ones, but in the end, I went for the biggest flotilla. And the answer is always the same, “Ocean current goes the wrong way”, “few months”, “not now”.

A few months…

I don’t think I’ll be able to hold on longer than a week, a single month is unimaginable, but three…? Will the thing I become in three months even care? Maybe if I find someone….

[Yeah, right. “Here’s a non-slave demi-human without documents and a bag of gold. Please get her to Paletia in a few months safe and healthy.]

[Such people don’t exist. It doesn’t matter how trustworthy they are, no one will risk their life for someone who they don’t know. Even if you will be able to intimidate them, the moment when they will need to act, you will be long gone. No one fears dead people. In the best case scenario, the moment you disappear, they sell her and take the gold for themselves, in the worst….]

What do I do…?

I look around the port again to check if I may have missed a ship. But the only thing I see is the same people I spoke with and their very busy crews, who are loading wooden crates on the ships. The thick fog, which is slowly moving towards the city, only increases the gloominess of the situation.

What do I do?

…

While looking into the “Damned Library”, I found some information about dungeons too. Not the usual bullshit like “Sirana, goddess of wind and trees, blessed her creations, high elves, with Limotar, dungeon of beginnings”, but rather the cataloged knowledge which may be as close to the truth as possible.

There are natural flows of essence in the world. The same as ocean currents, seasonal change and tropical winds, there exists mana rivers. They flow mostly underground, carrying mana from all around the world, revitalizing the whole planet. No one is sure if the reason for the flow if the mana rivers is the result of magnetic fields, which cause the chaotic behavior of mana on the poles, or something totally different.

When these rivers merge, mana focus points, or high density mana regions appear. They can be anything, a big patch of earth somewhere in a forest, an underwater area, but mostly it’s underground areas of caves. In those areas, where the mana density is especially high, local creatures change, becoming “monsters”. They become bigger, stronger, faster, and smarter.

Most of the sentient species in the world can’t gather or control the ambient mana, that’s the special ability of “monsters” and spirits. Everyone else has to either train as a Mage, Enforcer, or some other alternative, in order to exchange internal mana with the spirits for the mana. One of the most popular alternatives is to collect mana directly, which means squeezing it out of monster blood, harvesting plants rich with mana, or “anything” else containing even a bit of mana. And when you have pure mana, you “bind” it, and use it as your own.

It takes several steps to bind pure mana. First of all, because mana naturally dissipates into the air, the binder needs to make sure that the mana is in some kind of container, made of tusal, metal slag from mithril. Tusal doesn’t absorb mana, cannot be enchanted, and generally believed to be just a waste material, but it’s the perfect container for mana. Then comes the iteration, the binder sends his own mana into the container to slowly “take control” of the natural mana, fuse with it. And with each iteration the natural mana bends more and more, after many iterations it becomes truly yours.

Many rich, but unskilled Mages and Enforcers use bound mana to even slightly increase their strength. But the amount used by them will never compare to the sheer amount used by enchanters to produce enchanted weapons. Plus, the price is astronomical. But I can’t be sure about the actual difference “bound” mana can give. I’ve only read about it. You can’t bind something if you have nothing. No mana, no binding.

Walking through the main street I finally reach the dungeon plaza, an absurdly huge area, with red marble floor, columns, and statues on them. Some parts of the floor were made of mosaic, showing pictures of the dungeon city’s history, its battles, heroes, and achievements. But the center piece of it is the building with stairs leading to the dungeon’s entrance, located in the north part of the plaza, with even bigger columns and statues made out of black marble right at the base of the volcano.

This place is usually filled with adventurers, specialized traders trying to sell their wares to the ones travelling into or out of the dungeon. But somehow the number of people is just too big, and I don’t see any merchant stall, just a sea of people standing looking in the direction of the dungeon entrance, some whispering between each other, but most just look in silence. Following their gazes, I find a huge magic formation blocking the entrance into the dungeon. But more importantly, I see something that I believed I would never see, is standing right there, right in front of everyone, publicly in the open.

Several dozen warriors, in lavish blood-red and white full-plate armour, all standing proud, with their chins held high looking down on the people around. The problem is what symbol is on their chest armour. The same insignia I have “burned” on my chest, coloured bright gold. They are standing on the lower steps of the wide stairs which I lead to the dungeon entrance.

The New Brotherhood.

The few seconds of pure shock are ended by the booming voice coming from a huge guy in golden armour with blond hair on top of the stairs. Flanking him on each side are at least a dozen people, and each wears extremely colourful armour, of a totally different colour, with enchantments that would make any ruler jealous. But what makes them stand out even more is the ambient mana leaking out of them that is visible even to the naked eye.

Heroes.

Not one, not two, but at least a dozen.

A FUCKING DOZEN HEROES.

None of them look familiar.

Dozen new heroes…

How did…? When did they…? Who was even able to…?

I stop my track of thought short, as I already missed a big part of the speech.

“…in order to protect everyone. We understand that it will cause a major inconvenience to the residents of South Dungeon city, but fear not, the dungeon will be re-opened very soon. We understand that our words may not inspire confidence, but fear not, we will do everything in our power to resolve the problem as fast as possible. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for understanding.” the one in the middle finishes, after which the heroes make a slight bow to the people around, to which the people react with ovation, praise, and whistles.

They closed the main entrance into the dungeon with hero magic.

God damn it.

How long will it last?

The whole city life is structured around gathering materials from the dungeon monsters, and closing it even for a day would damage the economy greatly, but this… The fancy words from the objects of their worships will hold people in line for some time. People soften up when the people they read about in legends, or the ones they idolize ask them for something.

Cult of heroes.

They’re the best, the most noble, the personification of justice.

Right?

But everyone needs to eat. Pretty words are worth nothing when your stomach is empty. So, there’s only one question.

How long will it last?

The heroes start walking towards the castle with the new Brotherhood protecting them from the crowd of worshipers. But they don’t need to do much, people are simply afraid to come close, even the once in a lifetime opportunity to touch the heroes doesn’t overpower the pure horror the Blood Brotherhood’s symbol brings. As soon as the procession is no longer visible, people start talking loudly, their emotions bursting out of them, as if it’s the happiest day of their life.

I never understood the obsession with “idols”. They’re made of flesh and blood, just like everyone else.

Well, there are exceptions, as overwhelming mana allowed some to transcend what it means to be a being of “flesh and blood”.

[Maybe because you have just hunted and killed too many of those idols. Or maybe, after everything we learned, you know that all the idols are fake.]

[Maybe you just have that they are fake?]

[Maybe deep down, as everyone else, you wished that there was truth to the stories, to the ideals they inspire.]

Stop.

Every plan just fell apart. I need to start again. Maybe if-. The sound of a stomach rumbling coming from Luna, notifies me that I forgot how quickly the time passes. Luna looks at me as if she did something wrong, and will be punished. I start caressing her head by pure instinct, to which she reacts by relaxing and closing her eyes in content. Afraid because she got hungry… You can’t just become “normal”. Some scars heal, some don’t. She’s still a small child, so it should be easier, it will take time and effort, but in the end, healing is possible. Looking at the setting sun, I decide to return to the inn.

…

I returned to the inn and found nearly the exact same view as previous day, drunk men around the inn entrance, and the brothel on the opposite side, with girls trying to catch attention, the only difference that this time there’s a thick fog covering the whole city. As I enter the arc, many people on each floor, turn to look at me, after which they return back to their drinks with a scoff. I look around for a free place and find the same spot with two chairs and a small table free. When I come up to the bartender, he slightly bows with a fearful greeting

“Welcome back, Sir.”

“Soup, bread, and some milk.”

“Yes.” he replies with another bow.

I walk to the table and looking at Luna, decide to check how much she has healed by slowly placing her on the chair. For a few long seconds she wobbles while holding to my hands, a few more silent seconds pass as she finally finds stability, and smiles at me with her wide and innocent smile. I smile back and caress her head. This is a major step and I’m happy that her back muscles finally healed a bit. Even though she can sit straight all by herself, her tiny hand grips the makeshift coat made of an old tent that I wear.

She looks in my eyes in fear of something, I sit next to her and ask in Yungi, “What’s wrong?”

After a few seconds of silence she mumbles “D-daddy, p-please, don’t leave…”

Clutching her to my chest I caress her head, I barely squeeze out “Everything will be okay.”

[You couldn’t say “I will not”.]

[You could not.]

I continue to caress her head in silence, while her tiny hands are still clutching me. The bartender comes with several bowls and plates, which he places softly of the table. He nervously looks at me, after which he takes a bite and a sip from each bowl and looks at me. I nod and after another bow he slowly walks away. It looks like the food isn’t poisoned this time. I place the mug with milk in front of Luna. She looks at the liquid in the mug strangely for a few seconds, then she sniffs it and takes a small sip out of the mug. Her eyes instantly shoot up as she turns her head to me and exclaimed with a huge simile

“It’s sweet!”

I just continue to caress her hear in silence as she drinks the milk. By her reaction, it was most likely the first time she tasted milk. A warm bath, and milk. How little some need for happiness.

[And what do YOU need for happiness?]

[Is there actually something you want? Not something that is normal, expected, something that is usually wanted by everyone. I don’t mean “success”, “health”, “luck”, and the other bullshit people wish each other.]

[When was the last time you truly desired something?]

I move the food to Luna, and tell her to eat while it’s still warm. She closes her eyes in content with a smile stretched across her face, as I continue to caress her head.

What do I do?

How do I get Luna across the ocean?

And the dungeon. The entrance into the volcano is located at the bottom of the dungeon, but I need to get through the hero barriers somehow. According to my knowledge any barrier should have a base pillar on both sides. If one pillar is damaged or destroyed the barrier should fall apart. If I find and destroy the pillar on the outside, then maybe I could enter the dungeon, and from there if I evade the monsters and just run, I may be able to reach the volcano core. There must also be another entrance into the dungeon, a back door of sorts. Must be. The heroes will have to enter the dungeon somehow, therefore there must be… something.

[And what if during the creation of barrier they placed an ignore filter on themselves to phase through the barrier itself.]

Fuck.

As I think over the two issues trying to find a solution to it, the sound of loud footsteps sweep across the inn as at least thirty people in mercenary armour come to my table, fully armed, with weapons unsheathed and crossbows drawn. A bulky guy in his forties comes to the front and gives me a confident grin, after which he walks to the side, and comes to a table with several people sitting behind it, who quickly vacate the table. As he sits down the bartender quickly brings him a big mug and some kind of grilled meat. He starts eating and drinking while looking at me with an amused look.

I saw him somewhere before.

Oh.

The guy from yesterday, the one who sent those idiots.

Luna balls her fists up as she starts to tremble, burying her face in my side. I put my arm around her to calm her down, but it doesn’t help much. A new leaner guy, with sharp eyes, in some kind of uniform comes in front of my table. He’s quickly followed by a guy with a missing arm.

“Greetings.” he starts, “I am Matel Poles, second lieutenant of the Dungeon City guard. We have received a complaint that Mr. Carl over here, about yesterday’s events.” he continued while pointing at the guy with a missing arm. “Mr. Carl claims that you stole gold from him, and when he confronted you about it, you ripped his arm out. There were many witnesses and they all attest to the claims. Return the money that you took, pay Mr. Carl’s medical expenses and the punishment for the crime will be minimal.”

The people with the crossbows point them at me while grinning from ear to ear, showing that they know exactly what is happening. As I think how to solve this situation, one of the arbalests shoots the arrow into the table. Luna yelps, and somehow escapes my soft grip. Falling down from her chair to the ground she crawls into the corner and starts to cry while whispering “Please don’t hurt me” again and again. Begging them to stop. Everyone starts laughing as the lean guy tries to say something, but his voice is lost as I continue to look at Luna as she curls up into a ball and weeps.

Hundreds upon hundreds of similar images flash through my vision, as they all end up with me on my knees and dead children in my arms. The images end sharply, with a single one burning itself into my mind, Luna flat on the floor with her dead eyes staring into nothing. My vision is slowly covered in red as seething rage consumes me.

…

The darkness slowly fades away and I return to a world of screams. Looking around I find the whole inn covered in body parts and blood. The number of dead isn’t possible to count, as there is nearly no whole body left and there are simply too many body parts lying around. The wails of agony are coming from several people with severed limbs who are crawling away, screaming in pain and horror. I notice that I’m holding something warm I my right hand, and looking down I find the severed head of the leader, the guy in his forties who didn’t speak and always smirked, but now his expression is petrified in terror. I throw the head away in revulsion.

No.

It started happening again.

The still burning hot scar on the right side of my face tells me that it’s not the end, and that the next episode isn’t so far away. There should’ve been several more weeks left.

Why…

It takes several deep breaths to restore the circulation of mana inside of my body. As always my body is in critical condition, and only sheer power of will is keeping me afloat. Taking several more breaths I try to block the crippling pain coursing through my whole body and make it obey my commands. Slowly the pain recedes into the background, generally numbing all of the sensations throughout my body, but finally giving me control.

I start looking around.

Looking for what?

No.

[No! NO! NO!]

[FIND LUNA! FIND HER! NOW!]

With a rush I leap back to the area, where the table, at which I was sitting should be. I find the whole area covered in blood and body parts. But the in corner there’s a small bundle. Coming closer to the bundle, hundreds of similar flashbacks replay in my mind. And the only thing I can think of is “please no”. It echoes in my mind as if thousands of voices say it at the same time.

I fall on my knees and touch the bundle with both hands, to which it reacts with a jolt and continuous trembling. Forgetting everything, I clutch the bundle to my chest, after which I turn it around and find terrified eyes looking back at me. With my trembling hands, I start cleaning Luna’s face from blood and gore, which she’s covered in. With my palm I caress Luna’s face while repeating “everything will be okay” again and again, like some kind of mantra. Her eyes recognize me and start watering with a sense of relief.

Clutching her to my chest, I continue to caress her head while I continue my chant, as if it will solve all of my problems. I look back to the room and hear some kind of movement coming from outside the inn. I stand up and start walking away with a single goal in my mind, “get Luna to safety”. I peek out of the inn’s entrance to check if anyone is outside. What I see is total chaos, people running around and screaming. Many bright red fires throughout the whole city, breaking through the thick fog that covers it tightly.

What the HELL?!

[DOESN’T MATTER! MOVE!]

I look to the right of the inn’s exit, and find my enchanted sword embedded into the wall, which passed through three dead bodies, two of which were wearing chainmail, with their feet dangling about twenty centimeters above the floor as if pictures nailed to the wall. I’m going to need a sword.

With a quick motion I grab the pommel of the sword and pull it out of the wall. Sound of bodies falling to the floor followed shortly. With a sword in one hand and Luna in the other, I leave the inn at a sprint, without missing even a second I try to leave the main road and hide in the alleys. I pass many people but they give me attention just for a fraction of a second, as they have more pressing matters.

Just before I dive into the alley, a huge explosion stops me, and the shock wave nearly makes me fall. The wave of heat that hits me just a few seconds after the explosion, tells me that it wasn’t a simple blast. As I look in the direction, where the epicenter of the explosion was, I find the inn in flames. We were there just a few seconds ago... If I was late even for a minute, we would-

[MOVE!]

With force I make my body move. Further into the dark alleys, I don’t even know where, but as far as I can get from here.

…

I finally stop running and sit down with my back to the wall of the narrow, dark, and empty alley. I clutch the still trembling Luna to my chest while I continue to caress her head to calm her down. Her eyes no longer are filled in horror, but fear is still there. She saw something that no child should have. Even more. But it doesn’t matter, she’s alive, she’s with me. I can solve everything else. I simply continue to tenderly hug her and caress her head, trying to calm her down.

What the hell happened back in the inn? I never had an episode so overwhelming. They happened, but before that there was always a struggle, a battle for control, like being slowly submerged into swamp water, during which I could change something. But this, this was nothing like what I had before. What changed? Time? Or the curse just went too deep? What about the fires across the city? It wasn’t a single one. There also weren’t any guards around, even after what happened in the inn. Was there something happening in the city itself?

My thoughts were cut off as I sense a group of about a dozen people coming from both sides of the alley. As I finally hear the sound of soft footsteps, against the cobbled floor of the alley, I stand up, holding Luna to my side and draw the sword. My body isn’t ready for the next confrontation, but no one will be asking that. People in dark robes and hoods fill the alley, blocking the path out. I can see the outline of swords and crossbows underneath their robes. My eyes jump between the two groups awaiting who acts first. Several long seconds of silence are ended by an old, deep voice, coming from one of the members of the group on the right side.

“Why did you start so early? Not everyone was asleep yet.”

What?

“Doesn’t matter. You will punished later. What group do you belong to?”

Group? I finally notice that some of the group have animal features, and there are animal ears peaking from under the robes.

Wait.

If the whole city was on fire…

FUCK! How can I be so unlucky with the timing?!

“Answer me!”

The tiny hands pulling on my left side reminds me that I’m not alone. I can’t leave her. If I leave her for even a moment or they will use her as a hostage, or worse. Gripping the pommel of the sword harder, I make the decision. In utter silence I leap into the group on the right, trying to kill the leader first. The group reacted a second too late with a scream, I’m already in their midst, blocking them from using their crossbows. Few are already dead as I took the initiative, but it’s only the start. My stance is highly unstable, as I have to make sure that my body is always blocking Luna from the trajectory of their attacks.

The fight was much harder than I expected. I had to move a lot, as the group of demi-humans seem to be more experienced in night battles in alleys. Only the fact that I extensively circulate mana throughout my barely functioning body, in combination with maintaining a higher speed than the group, and my brute strength, was enough to barely keep me alive, and chip their force down, one by one.

My chaotic movement was also greatly helpful during the fight.

With a quick maneuver, I jumped off the wall, and I was able to main several attackers and break out of the circle as they attempted to box me in again and again. More and more fall on the cobbled ground, but things don’t look much better for me. I have five bolts in my right leg and torso. By sheer luck they didn’t hit any vital organs.

But Luna is unhurt, everything else doesn’t matter.

The group started to flee, but only after there were less than a third of the original two groups left. They returned to shadows as quickly as they came from them. The alley returns to silence after several seconds. Only arrows in my body and the still bleeding bodies lying on the cobbled ground proved that it wasn’t an illusion. The sounds of screams and red light of something burning coming from afar remind me that it’s still not finished. I quickly check to see if anything hit Luna, I find her scared eyes looking back at me, but other than the trembling and her death-grip on me, everything looks fine. I start caressing her to calm her down.

I need to move. If it really is what I think it is, it’s too dangerous to stay here. I need to leave the city immediately. I start walking away from the alley, but a whistle from behind me makes me jump aside, trying to evade whatever was shot. I look in the direction where the sound came from and find a short person with a small crossbow on the building looking down at me. The moment our eyes meet, the person throws the small crossbow away and starts running away in the opposite direction across the roofs.

The desire to pursue the attacker is stopped by a short cough from Luna. Looking down at Luna, I see confusion on her face being quickly replaced by pain as tears start gathering in her eyes. I look at her closer and find a small arrow embedded in her side. The wound starts rapidly bleeding, and fear returns to her eyes as she starts coughing out more blood.

No.NO. NO. NO!

WHAT DO I DO? HOW DO I STOP THE BLEEDING? WHERE-

[THE HEALER! GET TO THE CHURCH! THEY WILL HEAL HER! WE WILL MAKE THEM!]

[MOVE! NOW!]

The city is covered in a thick fog, with occasional burning houses left and right. I try to remember the direction where the church is located, but it doesn’t help. The landmarks aren’t visible at all.

WHERE THE FUCK AM I?

Wait.

The church was on the hill. And the ocean was to the right of it. Orienting myself by terrain slope and the sound of the water, I try to navigate through the thick fog. Clutching Luna to my chest I run as fast as I can, ignoring the bolts still embedded arrows in me and the bleeding they cause. I will survive, I always have.

”Everything will be okay Luna, wait just a little more.”

The sound of explosions and fire increase the more I run, leaping over dead bodies lying on the street, again and again I try to find the main road. Finally I exit onto a very wide road, which should lead directly to the church. I ignore the fire, and that people are running around, I even spot a few Mages using water magic, causing me to slow down a bit.

Are they healers?

No. They can barely cast simple water magic, and they are in adventurer gear, definitely not healers. I continue running, barely feeling the impact of my feet on the ground. I don’t have a way to actually block the pain, only numb the feeling in a specific area, and right now it may cause more problems, since I could easily trip.

“A bit more. Just a tiny bit more.” I say while hugging Luna to me chest and caressing her head.

After about a minute more I finally arrive at the stairs leading up to the church. There are many people standing on the stairs and blocking the path, most likely wanting to be treated, but I ignore them. They may want treatment first, but dead men need no healing, and I can quickly organize that. I shove through the crowd, jumping over several steps, and finally arrive in front of the entrance, a totally different situation stands in front of me. Unlike all the other buildings in the city, the church is not just burning, but totally destroyed, with inferno blazing from under the rubble. A few people are screaming, searching for healers, but most just stare at the blazing inferno, with the larger part of them having either burns, or damaged limbs.

There must be someone. Anyone.

I look around and my eyes stop the ocean’s horizon. Here, on the higher ground, the fog isn’t so thick, so the view is a bit better with the moons lighting up the horizon. Hundreds of ships coming to the port with bright red sails. I don’t see who’s on the ships, but I can guess. The people all became silent when they looked towards the ocean. The few moments of silence are quickly broken by horrified screams, which are followed by even more screaming, as people start running around and down the stairs.

Paletia attacked at the worst, or best possible moment.

I need to find a healer. Maybe the king has one. If I need to I will force them. Looking back to Luna to calm her down, and tell her that everything will be okay. My heart stops. Luna’s half-open eyes aren’t moving.

No.

I brush the hair from her face and caress her head, trying to deny what happened.

But her lifeless eyes stare into the sky, frozen.

No. No. No.

This must be a dream.

A nightmare, a really bad nightmare.

As people are running and streaming down the hill, I continue to stand, caressing her head.

This can’t be.

No.

No.