William was walking near Dany the girl was terrified of this place, it was a narrow, dark path, William chose not to light a torch so they could count on the surprise factor and maximize protection.

Obviously, it wasn't just so that Dany would hold on to him and not let him get away from her for even a second. Who would do that?

"It must be a short place, it makes no sense to be too long and the creatures here must be dead, it's been closed for a long time and unlike the other places, it hasn't been excavated here. "William tried to calm Dany, but the girl was very frightened and only made small sounds in agreement, not even talking.

Soon they approached the entrance to the first 'arena', now they were going to find out what they should expect to find on this path.

The first thing they noticed when entering was that the walls had some strange symbols that glowed in grey and made the place a little visible.

The place was about 200m² and it was square with small entrances in the corners that were small for any human to pass through, it was small for a duel, it was probably that reason for being small, it was an attempt to make things difficult.

"There's nothing here?" Dany asked as she whispered, she didn't want to warn anything that was hiding in this place.

"There's something, but take it easy, it's coming slowly towards us," William spoke as he used his hand that he didn't hold the sword to get through the girl's head.

Dany trembled to hear that there was something in this suspicious place, but she was somewhat reassured by William's action, and she nodded in agreement.

"Will is strong, shouldn't be dangerous... Dany was trying to convince herself and at the same time that some form of courage was beginning to be born inside her, her will to have the strength to defend herself was growing and she would soon be unable to control herself and try to overcome her limits, she was not born to be a coward, she was born to be a legend!

"When this thing comes I want you to stay behind me and pay attention not to go too far. I won't let anything bad happen to her," William began to explain how she should act, now that Emilly wasn't about to be the second line of defense Dany needed to be more attentive to her defense.

"If anything comes near you, you shouldn't be afraid and then you should try to run toward me. Never run away from me, close I can take care of it, but far away may be late, you understand?" William spoke calmly, and in the end, he was a little harsher, he needed her to do the right thing in case she ran away in despair.

"Okay, I'll do it right, don't worry Will...William." Dany spoke and ended up calling him by the way she thought, she didn't treat him so informally out of her mind, a bit of discomfort surfaced in Dany's young heart.

William was focused on the things that were coming out of the little tunnels and didn't realize the intimate way Dany called him, and without him noticing, she was returning to be that friend he had in Pentos.

Three things were coming out of the tunnels, it was some plant-based creature, several yellowish vines started to drag a big red ball that should be the body of the thing, it was a strange creature, it was like a spider, but the whole creature was a living plant form, at least it was what it appeared to be.

It resembled a spider because it had several lianas in front of its body, but it was much more grotesque than a spider, the lianas possessed about 2 to 3 meters each, and each of these creatures possessed at least 10 of these lianas.

The first creature that managed to bring its body out of the tunnel was the smallest of them, but still, it was much larger than any human, the paws or vines, stuck firmly to the ground and brought the creature forward by moving it.

Dany wanted to follow her impulse to scream and ask William what that thing was, but she managed to control herself and not shiver and fear, and she focused on the creatures, she wouldn't make things worse than they were.

William didn't want to waste time, much less give the other two creatures a chance to join the first.

Even without knowing if those things would attack him, he took the initiative to attack.

With one quick move they approached, and even though the creature was only a short time away she used her vines to attack him, the moves were as quick as a soldier human's attack.

William was quicker than the vines' attacks and deflected most of them, At the last of the attacks, he used his sword to deflect, and then close to the creature he used it to cut the body of the thing.

A loud metal noise hitting something solid was heard.

'Shit the sword almost broke' William cursed in his mind as he looked at the result.

Even though the sword was of excellent quality and its attack was powerful, the creature suffered only a small 'injury', in fact, only a small mark of the sword remained on his hard body.

With a quick reaction, William decided to kick it against the wall.

The kick was strong and the creature was thrown several yards back, but it was not enough.

'It's too heavy. "William thought surprised as he dodged the vines that were attacking him, the creature was too heavy and his attack didn't do what he wanted, even though his body grew stronger each day he wasn't strong enough to be called unstoppable, and now a resilient enemy emerged, a headache.

Well, things weren't so dramatic, William realized that his kick had wounded the creature, apparently it was resistant to cuts, but not as resistant to blunt damage.

Knowing what he was supposed to do, William began to move toward the 'monster-plant.

The vine blows were more organized and more difficult to dodge, but they were still too slow and he managed to get close, and this time he used kicks and punches, he was trying to break and crush the creature with his blows.

No surprise a noise of something breaking was heard and the creature stopped moving.

But before William could celebrate, the other two appeared, and they were bigger than the first.

He was supposed to use the same tactic, but it would be more difficult, the vines of these new 'monster-plants' were 4~5 meters long, and that made him have to be more careful, he still didn't know if they were poisonous, if they were they could be even more dangerous.

Maybe in the last plan, he would have to turn into Lycan, but things were still easy, and it was not necessary for him to use all his assets.

This time the whip attacks of these creatures are much more complex, these monsters attacked simultaneously, and William needed to use his sword to deflect several attacks.

He advanced quickly by making a path in 'Z' to hinder the attacks of these things, and it was working.

When he got close enough he struck, but couldn't hit hard enough to kill him and had to retreat and prepare his advance again.

The 'plant monster' that was hit got slower and out of its 14 vines only half kept moving, but things didn't get much easier, these things learned and were making more complex movements and the advance in 'Z' was a bad idea, it wouldn't work again.

William advanced while the creatures circulated, and from time to time he changed their movements so that their patterns were not easy to identify and worked partially.

A vine ended up hitting him in the arm and tore off his leather armor, and he managed to make a cut on his arm and blood began to flow.

'Shit' William cursed for being careless, even with all his advantages he was wounded, even though the wound would soon heal was undoubtedly a humiliation.

But it was justifiable, he didn't train with everything he could do, and that made even the potential there, things weren't accomplished perfectly.

Dany, who was watching from a distance, realized that William had been hurt, and she became apprehensive, her heart grew weird, she was worried.

William became a little angry, and his body grew a little stronger and faster with a more brutal advance he reached out to the creatures and struck them hard.

First a kick ended the life of that wound, and then a flurry of blows in the second and the thing died.

They were strong creatures, no doubt a lethal threat to humans, but they were brutalized by William.

Dany came running to him and looked at him worried.

"Did you get hurt?" She asked as she searched for the wound.

"No, just cut the leather armor, look," William showed him the spot the 'monster-plant' had hit him in, now it was just vain in the armor and there was no trace of blood or injury.

Dany couldn't see very well, so she used her delicate fingers to pass the place to make sure nothing was wrong.

Her eyes were filled with tears, she was scared, the blows from those monsters were too many and too fast, she couldn't even see straight, she just listened to the sound of the blows against the ground and it scared her, she was afraid of losing William, she was afraid of losing her friend.

Tiny tears flowed down Dany's delicate face while a smile was on her lips, she wanted to say something, but because of her somewhat out-of-control emotions she couldn't, she just stared at him as tears flowed down her face.

"What is it?" William asked worriedly as he carefully held her shoulders as he looked into the anguished face of his friend.

"Nothing" Dany managed to speak, but her emotions eventually faded, and she began to cry and hugged William as she resolved.

'Why is everything so difficult?' Dany wondered while all her fear eventually escaped in a burst of tears, she suffered so much, and when the seams seemed to get better they found themselves in a place like this, a place that was so scary full of strange things that they tried to kill them.

She didn't want to suffer anymore, she wanted to be happy and she wanted her friends to go too, but now she couldn't do anything but stand behind them while they were risking their lives and protecting her!

She felt guilty for being a burden in this place and hated herself for not having the strength or courage to do anything!

"Dany spoke as he lifted his face a little to look at William, who looked at her worried.

"For what? There's nothing you've done. "William was trying to console her.

She sobbed some more and if she forced herself to speak, it was so hard for her to speak now.

"I... I don't help, I just disturb you! "Dany spoke while a strong wave of crying hit her, why was she weak? Why was she so fragile? She hated herself for being like that.

William looked at her in surprise at her speech, he knew more about her than she knew about herself, he imagined it was several things that made the 'dam' break, but he tried to speak only using the things of the moment.

"Don't talk like that, I basically forced you to come here for my selfish desires, you're strong to walk in this scary place! "William didn't have much skill in that area, but he was trying to comfort his friend.

Dany was trying to hold back her cry, but it was hard for her to feel horrible about being the way she was.

"You... you're my friends! I have to help, you've already helped me so much..." Dany was trying to express some of her suffering, but her emotions were out of control.

William was at a loss to know what to do, he didn't know how to help her and being struck by her emotions, he felt a strong desire to care for her and protect her, this damn personality of his made him take impulsive action.

He used his right hand to lift Dany's delicate face a little and with his left hand, he wiped some of the tears from her face and then a pair of violet eyes and a pair of celestial blue eyes met and out of his lucids he acted on the impulse, and their lips met, with that a wet kiss from the tears of a young girl was born.

The sadness of the young woman was eventually forgotten and a little happiness was being born.

It was a delicate kiss, but still strong, he was trying to erase her fears, he was trying to say that he would be there for her.

And she answered the kiss with anxiety and fear, she longed for affection and was afraid of losing those she cared about.

It was a small connection between the soul of someone who by nature was protective, with someone who by nature wanted to be cared for.

A spark of a romance was born, but it was not possible to know whether that romance would persist in the face of the uncertainties of such a dark, complex and rude world.