The City of Agartha is a huge metropolis, surrounded by a thick, 500 feet tall, impenetrable wall.

Its streets bustles with activity.

A stocky adventurer, face covered in a flaming red beard accompanied by locks coming out from his helmet, clad in thick armour that embosses his very muscles, stands in front of a shop as he buys new sets of potions, preparing his day for adventure.

In the open confines of an establishment, an elf that shows the very embodiment of majesty. He is standing beside a sweating smith hitting a sword with a hammer while it lays on an anvil, sparks erupting from every blow.

An animal person puts on her most welcoming smile as she leads customers that craves for a cup of tea inside the cafe. While inside the said cafe, the beautiful waitresses glides from table to table as they serve every customer with each of their lips forming an arch that points upward.

Despite the air of the city that radiates joy through the traffic of people that moves from all sorts of directions, a certain area that covers a sixth of the city’s land, right in the northern edge of its walls, is eerily covered by dark clouds above the soil that is patched with a dark green hue, a rotting three story mansion stays unmoving in the center of the malevolent land.

The sun refuses to shine in this particular corner of the blooming city. It gives the appearance that it is always nighttime within its confines.

The gloomy atmosphere of the area does not affect the citizens of the city because of the expanding building that serves as a wall between malice and peace, hence dubbed by the townspeople, The Wall. The rectangular building that starts from one wall of the city to the other serves primarily as a blockage for regular civilians, but for adventurers, the building has a different purpose.

It serves as an entrance.

An entrance to the Dungeon.

The Dungeon starts as soon as one body has crossed the other side of the wall.

My legs carry me towards the Dungeon’s entrance. The Mansion behind The Wall mocks me, beckons me forward as if telling me to peak into the contents of its heart.

I take my first step up the platform that leads to the entrance of The Wall.

The main reception room is filled with an abundance of adventurers of all races flock from one side to another.

The marble white flooring is surrounded by a flourish yellow painted wall. An enormously long bulletin board is nailed to one of the walls while people of all races gather in front of it, some couches and benches lie in the different corners of the room.

Although the room is already huge, huge to the point that it could fit a maximum of 5,000 people, there are also archways that branches out to the left and to the right from the main reception room, I’m guessing beyond the two opposite direction lies different facilities for the people to use.

The reception room gives off a rather nerve relaxing vibe. It’s hard to believe that this room is ought to serve as a wall and entrance to danger. I wonder if it’s made this way just for that sake.

My eyes still scanning my surroundings, it lands right on the far front. Facing the entrance, a huge metallic double doors, about 20 feet high and 10 feet in width, sits in the opposite side of the entrance wall. Despite all the fancy decorations that decorates the reception room, this particular door stands out because of its dark colour that contrasts from the whole tone of the room. It’s being guarded by two other attendees with iron clad armour, they radiate a strong, soldiers aura while they stand there and open the door whenever a group adventurer desires to venture forth. They serve as both guard and usher for the entrance.

Something nags me in the back of my head, telling me to go through the door. What’s this? It’s stronger as ever, to the point that it kind of manifests its own voice, as if telling me to walk forward towards the cold metallic entrance. It doesn’t feel harmful or malicious, I admit that it feels like it’s my own yearning. Am I truning crazy or am I just curious about what lies behind that door?

I calmly tread my steps towards the direction of the door, as I was about to grab the handle.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

One of the guards grabs my wrist and questions me in a strong commanding order.

“Uh…” I stumble to make out words, only managing to let out a small cowering sound out of my throat.

“Do you think you’ll just waltz through The Breach and be on your way towards The Dungeon with only pants, an undershirt, and a coat?” His strong tone never wavering towards my weak demeanor as I let out a sweat down my cheek.

“You see.. I’m also wearing underwear, it offers quite the protection.” Well, at least I managed to let out a small comeback, it sound so pathetic even in my ears.

“Huh?..”

The guard stares at me with utter confusion, as if he was listening to a comedian that just butchered the punchline of his own joke.

“Is that supposed to be some kind of joke?”

Meanwhile, the other soldier starts convulsing his shoulders up and down while covering his face, is this man really laughing at my joke?

I’m amazed, for me this retort isn’t even up to my standard as laughable but this man seems to be enjoying it. Me and the guard seem to notice his presence with one of our eyebrows cocked up, the soldier, still grabbing my wrist returns his gaze towards me.

“Find yourself at least a weapon to defend yourself, then I’ll allow you to pass through. Head towards south of The Wall and turn towards west main, you’ll be on your way to The Guild headquarters.” He says as he loosens his grip on my wrist, eventually releasing his grasp.

“That won’t be necessary, Reynauld.”

A simple voice, filled with pride and confidence, came from behind me. I turn my head and consecutively, a gloved hand pats my shoulder.

A man with dark red hair that is combed backwards, some of the strands of his hair hangs behind his ear, with black eyes, wearing a smile, he looks just about average, no better than my looks. Two other people follow behind him, one looking rather pale with the same build as him with white hair and a scar in his eye, and another person is bald accompanied by a stubble as a beard, his build is considerably different from the two, being larger, muscular, and stocky.

The man that spoke earlier reaches out to his side and then brings a dagger attached to a sheath towards my field of view.

“I’ll give the rookie some of our extra wares, I’m also in a good mood today so I’ll let him join us and teach him the ropes.”

He leads the conversation towards his favor, each syllable produces a sound of confidence.

But I’m still wary of this person, offering a hand towards someone with no experience, what is there to benefit? Behind those boasting words I sense a hint of malice.

I direct my gaze towards them, eying them from head to toe. The stranger doesn’t let up his smiling demeanor, the armour that covers him is fairly simple, a leather coat with a solid metal plate on the chest area, long pants, and boots. The other person that accompanies him wears a similar attire, the only accessory that distinguishes between the two is a single backpack, he is probably the supporter of the party. Meanwhile, the last member of their party wears only a leather tank top that covers his mountainous stature, gloves on his hands and accompanied by leather pants and steel toed boots. Their armour looks like it’s for beginners, it strikes me unusual that they’re scarce in resources but they insist on lending me a weapon.

I feel a worried gaze directed towards me, it comes from the man Reynauld. “Osiric, I don’t think a rookie should head towards The Dungeon without preparations issued by the guild.”

“Oho-ho-ho, but I insist Reynauld, taking him to The Guild takes for too long. With the on-going troubles of the dungeon, wouldn’t you think making this fine man an adventurer as fast as possible would be a benefit?”

“The Guild orders that new explorers needs to be directed towards them beforehand, this man is not even a part of a Faction.”

“The eyes of this man sparks determination, our faction is recruiting new and determined members. I will scout him, take this as a test if he’s worthy of carrying our faction name.”

I am aware that my eyes sparks no such thing, rather it resembles the eyes of a rotting fish due to the red hue of my iris.

“How about we drop our dispute and let the man decide, what is your name?” The man named Osiric continues.

“Ashé Krow..”

“Well, Mr. Krow, what says you?” He slowly thrusts out his hand towards me, palm facing upwards, a dagger with a sheath stays on top of it, inviting me to grab its hilt. His smile never leaving his lips.

I weigh the offer in my thoughts, I suspected that they have nothing to gain in taking me with them, but as they have said, they are recruiting members. This offers still makes me feel unease, I’m conscious of the dangers that strangers may inflict towards me.

But…

This feeling, this curious feeling, this yearning that pulls me, that attracts me like I’m some kind of moth drawn towards a burning light, I have to know what lies on the other side of this door, of that Mansion under those ominous clouds. It’s like an itch that I have to scratch away by stepping on the floors of that mansion. I ponder over it for a mere five seconds.

“I accept.” Consecutively grabbing the hilt of the dagger. It has a bit of heft to it and about 7 inches long.

Reynauld seems to stare at us with arched eyebrows. His eyes builds suspicion, not directed towards me but towards Osiric.

Osiric reveals an even wider grin, like a child that just won her mother’s favor while fighting over who gets to play with a toy against his brother.

“Alright then! Reynauld, if you may please?”

He requests with a forced enthusiastic voice accompanied by a slight bow, while his hand still outstretched, signaling Reynauld to open the door. Reynauld’s brows arches even further while he squints his eyes focused on Osiric’s bowing form.

Reynauld grabs the handle of the metallic door that barely fits the edges of his hand and swings it open with slight effort.

We start passing through the newly opened entrance. The group of three start taking the lead and I follow behind, then someone from behind grabs my shoulder as I almost pass the metal frames.

“Watch your back kid…” Reynauld’s voice rings through my ears.

“Ha-ha! Reynauld, I’ll make sure he makes it back alive, don’t blame me if he comes out with a few scratches though.”

Osiric butts in to the words that are only directed towards me.

Although at first thought, Reynauld’s words should be directed towards the dangers that lies in The Dungeon, but his tone conveys a different meaning. He’s not telling me to watch out for the horrid fangs of The Dungeon, but to be wary of the putrid stench of betrayal that is covered by the smile of the three adventurers.

I venture forward, heeding Reynauld’s words and making sure to abide by it. I step down from the platform of the wall as I hear my feet land on soil, The Breach closes with a distinct metallic sound and shuts with a satisfying thud, signaling the start of my adventure.

“What brings you to the city of Agartha?”

Osiric strikes up a question directed towards me with a genuine friendly tone.

“I’m just a lone traveler, nothing more, nothing less.”

“Ho-ho so you’ve been through the far corners of the world, have you?”

“…”

“?..”

“…”

“Ah, my apologies, it seems that my questions are too privy.”

“No bother…”

He conveys the impression that he is indeed interested in my origin….

But to be honest with myself, I can’t seem to have any recollection of the events leading me to this metropolis. Although I would like to answer his pressing questions, I too am starting to question my past.

I ponder over the thoughts and figuratively pound my brain for answers. Still, I couldn’t recollect the stages of my youth. I have knowledge that I am 17 years of age and I carry the name Ashé Crow, but I guess thats about it. Thats all I know.

“Stop pondering and keep your head leveled.”

A sharp response came from my side, the white haired supporter lightly scolds me.

“You’re surrounded by danger, you’ll regret thinking of other matters. Instead, think of your own safety.”

In contrasts with their leader’s friendly approach, the supporter is level headed and strict. He radiates an aura of responsibility and wit akin to a true supporter, if there is someone to be called as the brains in this group, I would most likely vouch for him.

“I apologize, thank you.” I managed to blurt a firm reply to his strict words.

“Now, now, Lyeon, take it easy on ‘im. At least, play nice.”

A booming voice strikes on my left as a mountainous figure smiles at me, although his demeanor looks that of a rampaging barbarian, through his words and gentle voice is an image of a hearty man that cares for his fellow adventurers.

“This fool will die without proper orders within the dungeon, do you think it’s proper to take it easy on him?”

“Just don’t listen to ‘im, A’ll make sure nuthin’ wrong happens to ya!”

Lyeon’s retorts are strong, it reflects the strength of one’s mind and discipline.

But the heartfelt words of the gentle giant gives off the essence of safety towards not just me, but the whole party.

“Shh!.. I hear something.”

Osiric who has been walking ahead of us stops on his tracks and directs on of his hands towards to us without turning towards our direction, signaling us to stop to our tracks and pay attention.

Crshkkksle, Crsssshhk, Crsssshkle…

The sound of shifting soil could be heard, we’re the only ones present in the soil path leading to The Manor, the dark green field of grass littered with tall withered trees far between from each other. The soil in front of us starts erupting and a withered rotten hand starts emerging from beneath. Three more hands starts emerging from the grass, the hands starts pushing away the soil slowly revealing an inhuman, decaying body that is twisted in impossible positions.

Crack, Crack, Crack…

The bodies start cracking horrifying sounds while it twists and turns its bodies to a more humane position. The face of the monster, the horrifying face that could make an innocent grown make make a run for his life groans to life.

Four dead bodies and four adventurers, it’s more like three because I’m just tagging along.

The manifestations of horror itself starts to walk toward our direction.

“Take positions! Mord, cover our rear!”

The leadership of Osiric finally shows itself as he draws his saber from the hilt of his belt.

“I’ve been itchin’ for a fight now!”

The tank-like Mord assumes position from his allies’ blindspots while he rests a huge war hammer in the palms of his hands

“Could you at least be more serious Mord?”

The discipline and stature of Lyeon is brought down to his comrades while he withdraws his twin daggers from its sheath.

While me, I’m in their center, being protected by the three adventurers, I unsheathed the blade given to me and assume a defensive stance with the sheath on my left hand serving as another means of defense. Their backs right against me forming an impenetrable defense. This kind of hurts my pride.

“I’ll lead the offense, Lyeon follow my lead, Mord don’t let them lay a finger on Ashé.”

“Lead the way.”

“Alright!”

As Osiric finishes his words, He charges straight to the enemy that spawned right in front of us, slashing through its chest and leaving a wound while blood flings at the direction of his swipe, red stains cover the edge of his blade. He quickly jabs the point of his saber forward and thrusts it towards the body of the hideous humanoid form, it pierces the body and with one SLASH, a long vertical line starts oozing blood from wound, the monstrosity kneels before the might of Osiric. He charges his final blow as he pulls his sword towards the back of his head and brings it down to the head of its opponent, the top half of the helpless victim’s head is split into two, the sword stops just right on top of the nose bridge.

On Osiric’s right, a quick succession of attacks brought upon an assailant. The quick, silver daggers of Lyeon slashes consecutively on the decaying body, blood flying in the direction of each swipe. Then the white haired man readies his position, two consecutive kicks makes contact with the head of the undead, making it move backward but still standing its ground.

On the rear of the commotion, Mord and I stands between two figures

As it drew closer, Mord tightens the grip on his war-hammer. The two rotting bodies step within Mord’s range, then he unleashes a huge swing that could knock down a tree despite the war-hammer’s blunt head. The two bodies fly through the air, giving two satisfying thuds on the grass and soil. Mord rushes forward, heading for the furthest.

“RAAAAAGH!”

He brings down the hammer on the head of the body that lies on the dark brown soil. A resonating SPLAT could be heard when the hammer was brought down. Red-chunks of matter starts flying in every direction. A red pool of blood could be seen under the war-hammer that is now making contact with the ground where once the poor head lay. I watch the strength of the warrior as he triumphantly vanquishes his enemy.

“GraaGhh….”

A low groan catches my attention, the once body that landed on the ground starts standing up. It weakly limps while it moves every inch of its body, making it more discomforting for whoever is unfortunate enough to notice such a sight.

It staggers forward, dragging its lifeless body with its limp legs, I stand my ground, raising the dagger that was given to me with my right hand and guarding using the sheath with my left, I chose to stand my ground because I don’t know what the atrocity in front of me is capable of, so I stay in a defensive position. It moves within my range and my eye-catches the rotten limb of the monster starting to rise, it’s readying for an attack. As it brings down its right hand, I parry using the sheath on my left, mildly deflecting its blow as I unexpectedly flinch by the strength of my assailant. I find an opening before it could ready another attack, I thrust the tip of my dagger right below its stomach, It pierces through its body, blood oozing as I feel it flow through the hilt of the blade and right through my fingers.

A force starts to move me forward, the monster is still standing its ground. Unflinching, unyielding strength overwhelms my posture as a stumble down and fall to the ground, I come face to face with a putrid smell as my nose was assaulted by the stench of its decaying breath. Its jaws starts moving up and down as if trying to mow down the flesh of my face, the weight of its body is pressed against me preventing me from standing up. My arms starts to give out, shaking as every inch of my body’s muscles tense.

SHING!

Blood splatters on my face,I close my eyes to protect it from the crimson liquid oozing out of a tip of a blade that penetrated the skull right between its eyes. My breaths are heavy and my heart is beating out of my chest.

The encounter with the foul monsters has finished. It felt like an hour for me, but in reality the gruesome foes were only defeated in a matter of minutes.

“For a second there, I thought you we’re a goner.”

The friendly voice of Osiric speaks out so casually as if nothing dangerous happened.

“Sigh… Mord, I believe we ordered you to stay put with Ashé.”

“Ahh.. Lookit’ the kid, he can stand up fer ‘imself”

A sigh of defeat like a big brother watching over a troublesome child escapes Lyeon’s lips, on the other hand, Mord just lets out a hearty grin. It makes me wonder which person is older between the two.

Mord grabs the lifeless body and lifts it up, while Osiric helps me to my feet.

“These are ghouls, Ashé, they may look like a piece of cake but for beginners, their strength might be a bit underestimated. Best to expect the worst I would say.”

“You always have to hit ‘em in the head, they won’t stop comin’ for ya if ya don’t.”

Osiric lectures me about the nature of the figures that we encountered while Mord provided me with invaluable information of the Ghouls.

“As I told you earlier, the moment you step out from the other side of the Breach, The Dungeon already has you on its palms.”

Lyeon’s gaze is directed towards the floor, where he collects a small fragment that displays a clear crystal color but does not produce any light. When looked at, the crystal seems to be as clear as day but it doesn’t illuminate anything that comes near it.

“What are those?” I asked a question directed to Lyeon

“…These are energy crystals that serves as heart of the monsters that resides outside and within the dungeon. They being low leveled, the sizes are small but they still fetch a price in the market.”

Lyeon starts putting the crystal to his bag that he was carrying earlier.

“So they’re sold.. For what pur—.”

“Let us venture forth The Manor, we’re wasting time here, we can chat along the way.”

Osiric politely interrupts my sentence as he lightly pats me on my shoulder, while signaling me to head towards The Manor. I do agree, staying here just waits for another ambush for monsters. We ready our course and again, we start to make our way to our destination.

“We sell it to The Guild, The Guild then uses it to power the city.”

Lyeon answers my previous question before we started moving. Still his tone was full of discipline.

I nod while after I hear his words, with the only dungeon available throughout the far corners of the world, The City of Agartha must stand at the center. Being able to provide energy for other neighboring would fuel the strong flames of economy of the country. No wonder it could provide such a strong foundation even though a lurking danger resides right within The City’s walls.

We start to tread our way towards The Manor while I ponder about how strong is the influence of The Argartha. My eyes catches the sight of the huge building called The Manor. A new sensation re-awakens in my spirit, disregarding the thoughts I’ve been pondering about for the last minute. The sensation of curiosity grows stronger, the itch of knowledge envelops the back of my head. My thoughts come to a wonder, while my senses scanned the far corners of field.

Just what is inside The Dungeon, and why do I yearn for its discovery? What does it have that keeps me drawn to its origins?

Luckily, we didn’t encounter any more ghouls on our way to the mouth of The Dungeon.

The gaping mouth of the huge door reveals its interior, a dark room that resembles the living room comes to our field of view, except ‘living’ doesn’t really show itself anywhere. The Manor accurately shows that it is abandoned. The room is decorated by paintings, sofas, pots and the like. The floor is covered by a red rug and the walls are painted a fancy white. From just the living room, you can assess that those who’d owned The Manor are a family that lived an extravagant life.

The sound of our steps is accompanied by the distant sounds of other parties, I guess we were the last party to have arrived in the manor considering how late it was by the time we have arrived in The Manors front entrance.

I stare in awe around my surroundings, taking in every inch of detail I could. This place looks so fancy, if monsters don’t pop out from the ground I’d consider living here.

The Manor reeks an ominous air as we make our way above the stairwell leading to the second floor. The atmosphere feels eerie while we tread the slightly dark hallway. Luckily for us, we do not need to bring any type of light source. Even though the sun doesn’t directly shine on the surface of The Dungeon because of the thick clouds under it, a fain light from it somehow reaches the area.

“I’m surprised we haven’t encountered anything since we got inside The Manor.” I asked, trying to hold back how intrigued I am.

“We came here too late, the upper-class parties have already cleared the rooms.”

“Yes, it does seem that it would be the case… still keep your eyes peeled for any movement.”

We tread our way across the second level of the manor. The ornate decorations still litter the every side of the hallway. The Manor really seems like the prior residents of the establishment are not just someone that lived a flamboyant lifestyle. The scale of each floor is huge, even though it is only a three story house, starting from top to bottom, you could easily say the height of each floor is 20 meters. Just from the outside, the scale of the building is breathtakingly enormous. It would have taken at least a few years to create such a massive architecture.

“It’s lookin’ like we’re the only ones left in the manor ‘eh?”

“Considering that the low-leveled parties has already cleared the Manor, for sure they have already headed towards their respective faction homes. The higher-level parties however, are currently dwelling the bottom pits of the dungeon.”

“There’s more to the dungeon besides this manor?”

I’ve thought that the contents of The Dungeon only composed of this single enormous house. That’s why I let out a surprised question in the middle of Mord and Lyeon’s conversation.

“Yes, under The Manor lies a deeper labyrinth. Those whom have explored that section has stated that it was far more excessive than a floor of this Manor.”

Witnessing the size of a floor of The Manor, it’s easy to say that one low-class party would take one whole day to explore a whole floor.

“You could say that The Manor simply acts as a lid for the endless siege below. This floor only spawns low-level ghouls convenient for parties like―”

The sound of loud stomping feet interrupts Osiric’s sentence.

It sounds like someones running towards us?

It would be impossible for it to be ghouls because ghouls are incapable of running.

In the distant corner of the second floor’s corner a battle party appears.

We stood there on our feet, staring in awe as a battle party hurriedly run for their life against our direction.

Their eyes filled with terror, as if they’ve seen something that doesn’t belong in The Manor.

“RUN, RUN, RUUU―”

“CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!”

An ear-piercing screech cuts off the warnings of the terrified adventurer. As our party stares in awe, my legs prevent from moving, not because of terror but due to my personal interest of knowing what living being could emit that shrill sound of terror.

The party we saw passed us, aggressively panting while their eyes are as wide with horror.

A huge scale monster, 2 meters tall, appears from the same corner that the party has emerged from. A face that is a cross from a monkey and a horse, a body of a tiger with yellow stripes with a white flowing mane in its neck, sharp claws on all fours, and a scaly tail like one with a lizard.

A face that would be fitting to the depths of the underworld.

Before I could even react, Osiric draws his saber, pointing towards the direction of the hideous monster.

“Osiric, are you a fool? That Nue is 2 levels above your own!”

“Calm yourself, Leon. Mord follow up on my defense!”

“Aye!”

Osiric takes a defensive stance, using his sword to block an incoming claw of the rushing Nue. Mord, on the other hand, steadies his gaze on the monster while his body tenses, awaiting for Osiric to make an opening for him to attack the monster.

The Nue swipes its paws while Osiric grips his weapon tighter, moving it to the direction of the swipe.

SHING!

A blinding spark emerges as Osiric’s sword is split, only a quarter of the saber remains on its hilt. The remaining part stabs to the ground, its sharp edges glints as a soft light shines on it from the window.

Without even a scratch on its strong claws, it cleanly splits the saber.

Our eyes widens in surprise as each of us recoil, finally feeling the danger of our one foe.

The Nue’s raised paw from its swipe speedily strikes down and hits Osiric, launching him backwards pasts us.

“OSRIC!”

Lyeon yell’s at his fallen comrade.

“…. Mord, plan B.”

Osiric slowly stands up, his eyebrows furrowed while he commands his party member. The once friendly smile that never left his lips are now replaced by a frustrated frown.

Plan B?

A fist comes to my view and slams square on my face, knocking me off my feet, eventually sprawling me to the floor. A sharp pain shoots up in my face, almost knocking me out of my conscience.

I hear hurried footsteps starting to run the opposite direction of where I’m facing, away from the monstrosity in front of me.

That’s when I realized…

They used me as bait, as diversion.

Fuck.

I sat up as quickly as I could, blood starts trickling down my nose as it throbs in pain.

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”

The Nue lets out a sharp cry, but not a triumphant cry, a cry that sounds like it’s in pain.

One of its paws has stepped on the sharp blade from Osiric’s saber.

I get up as fast as I could and use the opening to start running the opposite way of the hallway.

Adrenaline starts surging from my veins while my heart pumps blood as fast as it could. Sweat coming out from all the pores from my body. I pump my arms while I move my legs as fast as I could towards the direction of the stairwell leading to the first floor of The Manor.

“CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

The monster shrieks as it chases a young man under the dimly lit hallway.

It leaves a trail of blood on its wake because of its wounded paw, but even though the monster is wounded, its speed does not let up.

The young man runs for his life, while the monster’s eyes never leaves its prey.

Ashé reaches the first step of the stairwell.

His footing slips on the third steps and tumbles down the stairs, each gradation delivers a blow around his body, including his face.

He lands with a thud on the very bottom of the stairwell, he struggles to stand up. Bruises covering different parts of his body while it aches in pain.

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!”

“Shit!”

His senses is knocked back into him because of the shrill scream of the Nue.

The Nue clearly shows how frustrated it is because of its shriek, it speeds up even faster just to catch its one prey.

“Pant, pant, pant…”

He breathes heavily as his lungs burns while. He ignores the pain as he picks up the pace of his speed.

His eyes catches the light gleaming out of the Manor’s entrance. He carries his legs even faster as he makes a break for it.

The sound of the beast’s paws as it slams in the ground reverberates around the Manor’s walls, reaching Ashé’s ears.

Almost there!—

SLAM!

The monster catches up behind Ashé as it delivers a strong blow with the back of its paw towards the side of its prey, directing him away from the exit.

Ashé slams on the wall of the Manor, leaving an imprint of his body on the solid wall.

Pain surges through every tendons of his muscle as air escapes his lungs. His body stays limp when he hits the floor.

The Nue slowly approaches him, its eyes reflecting the unconscious body on the floor.

A white path of light from a sword carves from behind the monster.

“UWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!”

A scaly tail flings right up to the air, the Monster screams in agony and recoils in pain. It leaves its prey and runs towards the other direction, fleeing from the unknown assailant.

A figure stands before the unconscious Ashé as he lays on the cold hard ground. The good samaritan approaches the fallen young man and supports him up, wrapping his arm around the unknown person’s shoulder.

The two shadows head towards the exit.