“Are we there yet?” Luc asked for the hundredth time, sticking his head up from the back of the wagon.

“No,” said Dante.

Luc waited for an elaboration on the answer, but as usual, none came. Sighing, Luc slumped back down onto his back, staring up the sky, which gradually darkened while the sun set in the horizon. It had been a day since they had left Olfar. He and Dante had spent all of yesterday helping Val and the citizens of Olfar clean up. The work was just as boring and menial as Luc had expected, and all it did was tire him out immensely. It made him so tired that he had spent the majority of the day dozing. Not that he was complaining, of course.

“Are we there yet?” Luc asked again.

“No.”

Val had insisted on giving them blankets, a change of clothes, a bit of money, and enough food to last them days. None of the supplies were up to Luc’s standards, but after being forced to wear tattered robes while traipsing in underground tombs for the past couple of days, Luc let it slide. As he had said farewell to Val, Luc had grudgingly acknowledged that she might not have been the aggressive and disrespectful villain he first thought her as. He even hoped to see her again after he was reinstated as the heir of Tosa. Just to show her that he had been telling the truth.

“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

Baz and the other slave, whose name Luc still did not know (nor did he care to ask), had headed back home, taking one of the other wagons that Jad had left. Luc did not know where home was for them, and he didn’t really care. But surely, it was a life better than being a slave for a Nighthawk.

“Are we there yet?”

“Yes.”

Having slept most of the day, Luc hadn’t thought of Jad’s words too much until now. Val had pointed them in the direction of Notori, but besides that, there wasn’t -

“What?” said Luc, sitting up. “We’re here?”

“Yes,” said Dante.

“Say so sooner next time!” said Luc, scowling and taking a look around.

From what Luc could see, Notori looked completely abandoned. He and Dante were facing a long row of small wooden buildings. They were constructed in a residential style, with a single door, two windows on the sides and the back, and a straw roof. The wood on each side of the buildings had grayed with age, and several of the straw roofs had unpatched holes. It was almost nighttime, but none of the windows had any light.

“This can’t be it,” said Luc. It doesn’t make sense for Jad to trick me, does it?

“Let us take a closer look,” said Dante, hopping down from the driver’s seat.

Luc peered out from the back of the wagon as Dante walked up to one of the wooden buildings. Raising a hand, Dante rapped three times on the door. There was no answer. Dante knocked again. Still, there was no response. Reaching down, Dante tried the door. It slid open smoothly, revealing a dark interior.

“No one here,” said Dante, sticking his head inside and looking around.

Luc hopped down from the back of the wagon and joined Dante at the doorway of the house. As Dante had said, it didn’t look like anyone had been there for a while. Luc could see a table and several chairs sitting in the center of the room, but they were covered with dust and countless cobwebs.

“It is getting late,” said Dante. “We should stay here for the night.”

“What about finding that girl named Tamia?” asked Luc. “What about getting back to Tosa?”

“Have patience,” said Dante. “The Way will lead us to the correct path.”

Luc wanted to make a comment about this ‘Way’ thing that Dante kept, talking about, but he chose not to. After the encounter with Yata, he had asked Dante the many pressing questions he had, but Dante was about as responsive as a corpse. As a result, Luc had no idea why Dante claimed he could only make a small flame, how we knew Yata, or even his reason for going to Tosa. But despite that, Luc was glad that Dante was journeying with him. There’s absolutely no way I would be able to do anything of this myself.

“I will go take care of the horses,” said Dante, turning to walk back to the wagon. “Carry the supplies into the house.”

At first, Luc had been irritated when Dante ordered him around. But thinking back to his talk with Val, he reckoned that he could put up with ‘trying new things’ until he answered the question of what he wanted to be. Besides, it made no sense to get on Dante’s bad side. Not after he saw what Dante could do. I’ll convert him into my follower once we get back to Tosa.

Smiling, Luc grabbed the burlap sack of food that Val had given them and hauled it into the house. He set the sack on the table and turned to head back out to the wagon.

Creak.

Luc froze. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder. There was a room at the back of the house with its door closed. It sounded like the noise had been coming from there. Luc waited for several moments, but the sound did not repeat. Shaking his head, Luc took a step towards the front door.

Creak.

Luc was sure it wasn’t his head this time. He glanced around for a weapon, but he stopped himself. He was a coward, and that meant minimizing the risk that someone bad happened to him. Why risk himself? Glancing out the front door, Luc double checked to make sure that Dante was still tending to the horses. Then he pulled the pendant from under his tunic.

“Bones!” Luc whispered.

At his chest, the circle of white mist appeared, and Bones hopped out, immediately dropping to one knee in front of Luc. Luc felt a slight drain on his stamina – it seemed that controlling Bones took more effort than controlling Cloud.

“Open that door,” said Luc, jabbing a finger at the door at the back of the house.

Bones headed to the door, light steps almost inaudible. Luc crouched behind the table and peered up over its top, watching. For a moment, Bones just stood in front of the door. Then the dog masked monster drew back its arm swiftly before lunging forth and smacking the center of the door with an open palm. There was a high-pitched scream as the door splintered off its hinges, crashing into the small room.

“Monster!” screamed a man’s voice. “For the sake of all that’s good in this world, please spare me!”

“Bones!” Luc hissed. I should’ve known it wouldn’t know what opening a door was! “Back inside! Now!”

Bones obediently trotted back to Luc and hopped into the pendant’s white mist. Tucking the pendant back into his tunic, Luc stood.

“What is the matter?” asked Dante, appearing in the frame of the front door.

“There’s someone in here,” said Luc. “Hiding back there.”

Together, or rather Dante leading and Luc trailing, the two of them approached the room at the back of the house. Peering inside, they saw an older man huddled in the corner of the room, whimpering and sobbing. The man wore tattered clothes, and his head was bald. There was a straw mattress in the corner of the room, as well as a thin blanket.

“P-please spare me,” moaned the bald man. “I don’t have anything left.”

“Be calm,” said Dante, kneeling in front of the man. “Why do you panic?”

The bald man raised his head, blinking several times. He glanced from Dante to Luc, then back to the Dante.

“T-t-there’s no monster?” asked the bald man, slowly uncurling.

Dante glanced up at Luc. Luc shook his head.

“There is no monster here,” said Dante. “Now tell me. How has such a situation befallen you?”

The bald man began trembling again, gaze focused on the ground. “W-we came here, to the Chasm, just like everyone else. They said that Spirium was the key to everything. Money. Power. You could have it all.”

“Spirium?” said Dante. “What is - ”

“But we didn’t know that there was an enemy in there much worse than any monster,” said the bald man, not hearing Dante. He wrapped his arms around his knees and began rocking back and forth. His words began to slur and turn to mumbles. “Hal, Keef? Both dead. My life? Ruined. All because of that fiend.”

Dante reached a hand down, clamping it on the bald man’s shoulder to keep him still. “What sort of enemy are you talking about?”

For several seconds there was silence. The bald man’s lips trembled. He fumbled with his fingers, twisting them and bending them. At last, he fell still. After he did so, he lifted his head. His eyes were wide with fear, and his skin was ghostly pale. He opened his mouth and spoke not the title of a monster, but rather a name.

“Tamia.”