Kydan was shocked, but he knew that Auros had to have been even more so.

Here was the strange man they’d seen outside of Alfad Remeris with Overlord Lendras, adorned with jewellery and giving off a dangerous energy, and now he seemed to know, no, he knew Auros.

“I’ll ask again,” Auros said, trying to sound as collected as he could given the circumstances, “Who are you? And how do you know me?”

“You don’t remember me?” The man’s voice was saccharine, and the way he carried himself was nonchalant, but Kydan knew he was probably hiding great power underneath it. Those black flames were almost… Otherworldly, unlike anything else he’d seen before.

“I don’t remember anything,” Auros said, “So, y’know, I’d really appreciate some answers. Now.”

“Threatening me, are you?” The man laughed callously, “That won’t get you anywhere good, old friend.”

“Auros, be careful,” Kydan eyed the approaching man suspiciously, “There’s something… Off about him,”

“How perceptive, young man,” the man turned his attention to Kydan, “And what might your name be?”

“…It’s Kydan,” the Dungeon Hunter answered, “What do you want with Auros?”

“Kydan, what an honourable-sounding name- You wear it well, I must say. Names are a strange thing, aren’t they? That said, you can call me V.”

“V…” Auros let the name hang there in the air for a moment, “I… I don’t remember anyone called V. Listen, I lost my memories, and-“

“So you’ve mentioned,” V gave him a look feigning concern, “And I so kindly offered to try and help you refresh your memory!” He launched the black flame in his hand upwards, then caught it when it came back down.

“You mean you want to fight me,” Auros said, “Why?”

“To see how rusty you’ve gotten, of course!” V laughed.

“Auros, don’t do it, he’s dangerous!” Kydan objected, and V laughed more.

“How sweet, you’ve found yourself a friend,” V looked over at Kydan condescendingly, “Don’t worry, I won’t kill your old chum here, I’ll just rough him up a bit.”

“Kydan, don’t worry,” Auros said, “Go get that Spirit Vessel before Lendras does, or this’ll all be for nothing. I’ll keep this weirdo busy as best I can, and see if I can beat some answers out of him,”

Intrigued, V’s gaze lingered on Kydan for a moment, “After the Spirit Vessel, are you? How interesting. Best of luck, young Kydan. I mean that sincerely,” he scowled back at Lendras, who was watching the scene unfold, “Now, Auros… Let’s dance.”

He hurled the black flame in Auros and Kydan’s direction, and Kydan leaped out of the way. Auros stayed where he was, ducking under it at the last second.

“Just go, Kydan... You can do this!” Auros tpld his friend before locking eyes with V, “As for you… You asked for this!”

*

Kydan hated to leave Auros to fight V by himself, but he knew that his friend was right, and that he needed to focus on getting the Spirit Vessel. He ran towards the back of the massive, treasure-filled room where the marble pedestal was. There stood the hulking figure of Overlord Lendras Rosharien and the remaining two people Kydan and Auros had seen outside, along with a woman who stood behind them, the same woman who had met his eyes earlier and shown some kind of recognition. Kydan could only guess that she was the Ancient, but… Why had she looked at him like that?

“And just who the Hell are you?” Lendras addressed him with hostility. There was madness in the large man’s eyes, and in the palm of his massive gauntlet surged an azure flame.

“My name is Kydan,” despite his racing heart and urge to run, he met the man’s gaze and didn’t look away, “I’m from Hayvren- And you’re the man who destroyed my home.”

“And what? You followed me into these depths thinking you’d come and take your revenge? Is this an assassination attempt, lad? It’s a pretty shoddy one if so. You’re outnumbered, and that cheap-looking knife isn’t going to cut it with me,”

“I’m here for the Spirit Vessel,” Kydan declared, “I’m not here to kill you, but I will if I have to.”

Behind Lendras, the Ancient’s eyes were fixed on him, a slight smile on her face, “It seems you have a contender for my Spirit Vessel, you damned lout. And what an adorable young contender he is!” she tossed the burgundy half of her hair back and laughed, “You have spirit, young Kydan… And you also have something of mine.”

Kydan looked at her, puzzled, “Um… What?”

“Shut it, brat!” Lendras roared, “You too, wench! I’ll deal with you and then I’ll bring this little would-be Dungeon Hunter down a peg when I’ve claimed your power. You two!”

He rounded on his companions. For a moment, Kydan made eye contact with the lean girl in rags, and seeing the pain and sadness in her eyes brought a feeling of discomfort and anguish to the pit of his stomach. The girl's ragged clothing, empty stare and unchanging expression told him exactly what she was, and it made him sick to think about.

She… She’s one of his slaves. Who knows what this damn bastard has done to her before this, and then he forces her into a Dungeon, of all places?!

Kydan balled up his fists and glared at Lendras. The large man glared back, and waved a meaty hand, signalling to his cohorts.

“Get that little shit! But don’t kill him… I’ll do the honours of that,”

Kydan swore he saw the dark-eyed swordsman sigh, before he drew his katana, “I’m not in the business of harming children… But orders are orders.”

The dark-haired slave girl said nothing, slowly advancing towards Kydan, entering a fighting stance he’d never seen before. She looked foreign, with her swarthy skin and violet eyes, but Kydan had no idea where she could be from. He wondered what her story was, and how she’d ended up in Alreese, brought into a Dungeon by a cruel Overlord.

No time for that now… Gotta focus!

*

Auros glanced over as two more separate battles had begun in the large final room of Alfad Remeris. He saw Kydan going up against the man and girl who had also been accompanying Lendras, and the Overlord himself facing off with the absolutely gorgeous Ancient.

I swear, he’s the luckiest kid in the world if he gets to bond with a woman like that!

He shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking like this- He was supposed to be pummelling some answers about his past out of the mysterious V. So far, it had been a lot of trading blows and staring each other down.

Auros had made a spear out of ice, and tried to engage V in close combat. The dark-clothed man moved swiftly, so it was nearly impossible to strike him. Seeing this, Auros had gone down a different route, summoning and firing icicles at his mysterious opponent. A few met their mark, but V barely had a scratch on him by the time Auros was starting to grow tired from using his magic too much.

Damn it… Fighting the Fiends in here really took a lot out of me… And yet this guy is barely breaking a sweat…

“Warmed up yet?” V called to him, noticing his foe starting to reach exhaustion, “If this is your full strength, man, you’ve let yourself go seriously downhill. I mean, you used to command ice like it was nothing! What’s with your little icicle throwing and your spears, huh? Where’s the creativity gone?”

Auros hesitated, “You know I can’t answer that. I don’t even have any idea how I got these powers.”

At least my magic’s working this time, he thought. He’d been afraid that earlier when he’d killed that gargoyle Fiend it had been some kind of fluke and he’d gotten lucky, but now it seemed more like he just needed to get used to how being in a Dungeon felt. Not to mention he’d had that weird feeling as if he was on the verge of remembering something.

Wait… Maybe seeing him outside was what triggered that!

He figured it was worth another try, “How do you know me, V? At least tell me that much,”

“We’re old friends, Auros, I keep telling you! We go way back,”

Auros couldn’t imagine himself being friends with a man who felt so… Wrong.

“But from where do you know me?”

“If you can’t answer that yourself, I don’t know what to tell you,” V shrugged, “Hey, isn’t that why we’re having this little sparring session of ours? I want my friend back as much as you want your memories back!”

He hurled another black fireball, and Auros deftly avoided it.

“At least your reflexes are still decent,” V muttered, “But just dodging around and staying on your toes isn’t gonna cut it! You leave me no choice… I’m getting serious now!”

Auros watched in awe as V clapped his palms together and a void of blackness opened between the two.

“Form of the Dark Phoenix!” V roared, and from the void came a bird whose body was composed of those same dark flames V manipulated, “Come on, if this thing doesn’t make you remember, I don’t know what will!”

Auros merely watched the creature in awe- It was magnificent, just like the mythical phoenix he’d told stories about to village children. That phoenix was a creature which was reborn from its own ashes when it died, and whose very touch could heal any wound, but this one was different. The creature V had materialised from nothing had all the markings of a bringer of death- Its very presence felt as foul as V’s itself.

“Still not remembering anything, huh?” V grinned, “Sorry, old friend. Looks like you’re a lost cause- Dark Phoenix, claim his soul!”

He… He’s trying to kill me now.

Despite what he’d told Kydan, V was now out to kill Auros. The Dark Phoenix soaring towards the bard was more than proof enough of that fact.

All Auros could do was stand there. He had nothing that could match a thing like that!

Eight months, huh? That’s all I could last for?

The piercing shriek of the phoenix filled his ears, and came ever closer, its black talons ready to rip him apart and scorch him alive at the same time.

Well, at least it was fun. I sang some songs, saw some places, met some pretty girls… Made a friend…

It was that very friend that brought Auros back to reality.

“AUROS, DON’T GIVE UP!” Kydan roared, glancing at him briefly before dodging a kick from the dark-haired girl, “DON’T LET THAT CREEPY BASTARD KILL YOU!”

There was no time- The thing was practically on him now- It had no visible eyes for him to stare into as it killed him…

… But the feeling of being ripped into shreds and burned to a crisp never came.

A massive blast of freezing cold air filled the area around him like a force field, blocking the phoenix from moving closer.

“Wh…What is this?”

He turned behind him and immediately saw what was emanating the frost barrier.

A dragon of ice flew above him, and although, like the Dark Phoenix, it had no visible eyes, he could feel it looking at him, as if waiting for orders. It was beautiful, glittering in the light like some kind of living sculpture.

“The Frost Dragon,” Auros said, not realising he said it, but instantly knowing what it meant, “That’s it! You’re the Frost Dragon! Wait… I summoned you?”

The creature gave a nod of its head. The phoenix screeched with displeasure as it kept being blasted back by the waves of frosty air exuded by the dragon.

V couldn’t be angered, though. He wore a cocky smile, “There we go! It took you long enough.”

“You knew I could do this?” Auros looked at V, “What else do you know about me?! This is the last time I’m asking!”

“And it’s also the last time I’m telling you that you’re gonna have to earn your answers! Now show me what that pet of yours can do!”

Auros looked over at Kydan. He and his two opponents were fixated on what was happening between the two magic users, and had stopped fighting altogether. The back of the room was still a tornado of azure and orange flames engulfing each other, the Ancient’s orange flames seeming to come out on top each time.

Old Lendras doesn’t look like he’s doing too well, Auros thought, Now’s your chance, Kydan!

He then looked up at the Frost Dragon behind him, giving it a nod.

“Are you with me?”

The dragon gave a nod back.

Auros chuckled. He didn’t think he’d end up commanding a dragon made of ice when he woke up that morning. The dragon’s presence empowered him somehow, though- It gave him that same feeling of strange nostalgia he’d gotten when he saw V, which he had no means to connect with any actual memories.

“Very well then,” he pointed a finger towards the Dark Phoenix, “Let’s send that thing back where it came from!”

*

Kydan panted heavily. His movements had slowed significantly as he got more and more worn down from trying to navigate his battle with these two very different foes.

The man had a magic tool just like he did, but it was a weapon imbued with the element of water, which meant Kydan’s dagger wasn’t a lot of use against it. He didn’t invoke the flames, choosing to conserve his energy and save himself the exertion of using the dagger’s power now when he had an Overlord to fight after this. Mostly he just tried to hold the man’s strikes back with his own blade and parry, but using a dagger to try and block a full-length katana wasn’t the best idea, and Kydan now had the bloody scratches on his arms to prove it.

“I told you two before,” Kydan shouted, “I have no quarrel with you!”

“Nor I with you,” the swordsman told him, “Call it the wrong place at the wrong time, if you will.”

The slave girl remained silent as always, but eyed him with curiosity.

Need to conserve energy… Can’t fight these two forever… Need to stop that damned brute from taking… The Vessel…

When he looked at the foreign girl, he saw what could have been him if his escape hadn't been aided. He knew there were probably those from his village who instead of being murdered like those who actively resisted, had been captured and forced into the Overlord's slave workforce, as well- Regular people with no means to resist, including elderly villagers who may well have been long dead by that stage.

He desperately wanted to help this girl...

But I need her to want my help.

“Come on, you’re a slave!” He said to her, “If that master of yours gets the Spirit Vessel, he’ll just grow to be even more of a vindictive monster. You’re strong, I've seen that… I bet we could take that asshole down together and leave him trapped here once I’ve got the Spirit Vessel! He’d deserve it too, wouldn’t he?”

The girl, of course, remained silent. The look on her face was now unreadable. Had he gotten through to her or not?

“Come on… Why don’t you talk to me? You have a name, right? I’m Kydan.”

The swordsman elected not to attack Kydan, perhaps out of intrigue at whether he’d convince the slave to turn against her master. The older man merely gave him a knowing look.

“She wants to answer, she wants to break free from her invisible shackles… Of course she does,” he said, his expression solemn, “But she can’t, because Lendras forbids her. If she was able to give you an answer I’d stop fighting you and let you do as you will- Truth be told, I don’t have any real stock in what happens here. Hell, I don’t much care whether I get back from this Dungeon.”

What?! This guy... Is he serious?

“How can you say that?!” Kydan looked at him, a pained expression on his face, “Why would you want to die here when you were dragged here by some murdering scumbag?!”

“Death waits for me outside the walls of this place just as much as it does inside of them,” the man said simply, “Don’t act like you know me… Or her. Being a slave is all she knows, and she’s naturally full of fear of what might happen. That man would kill her at the first sign of rebellion. This girl is denied even a name. Do you know how it must feel to be treated like a tool, to be stripped of every right you once had?”

Kydan shook his head, “No. I can’t say I do. But I can say one thing- I know neither of you are bad people, I can tell it from the way you two fought just then, both of you are a lot stronger than I am... But you were holding back. Neither of you want to kill me, and you don’t want me to be at the mercy of that bastard either. You don't want to serve that man, no one would! That... That means our interests are aligned, even if it's just for right now.”

The swordsman opened his mouth, about to say something in response, but was interrupted by the sound of Lendras hitting the ground right beside them.

The Ancient stood over him, a look of intense anger on her face, “Had enough yet, you damn wretch? As if you’d ever be strong enough to command my power!”

Lendras spat out a yellowed tooth onto the ground, and stood back up, albeit with a lot of effort, “I’ll have you at my command yet, you damn witch!”

He saw his two companions, who had been standing listening to the brat talking, by the looks of it.

“And just what the hell are you two doing?! Didn’t I tell you to get the damn brat! #215!”

The Ancient forgotten momentarily, left to watch the proceedings with a somewhat bemused expression, as if she found the Overlord’s desperation funny, he advanced upon his slave and the swordsman.

Kydan moved to stand between the Overlord, his gauntlet blazing with the force of his fury at being defied, and the slave girl, who had raised her hands up as if to try and protect herself instead of moving to dodge, all of her strength and deft movement from earlier gone in the face of the man who had made her life hell.

“Out of the way, brat!”

“She’s not your slave anymore, you bastard!” Kydan roared, stretching his arms out to widen the blockade between master and slave, “You’re not going to control people or murder innocents any more!”

“Have it your way! Then I'll kill you first, and I’ll save that useless Jureinian filth for afterwards! You’ll both burn in hell, mark my words!”