Everything was fine, as long as you didn’t take into account the twelve-hundred-pound naked rodent that suddenly smashed through a nearby loose brick wall and was now in a tug of war with Moggen over who was allowed to use his shield as a chew toy.

While the rat remained entirely too enthusiastic in this physical discussion, Moggen was not amused. Probably because he was losing.

“Kill. It!” he barked between gnashing teeth and being jostled this way and that, somehow still standing as if rooted to the floor. I looked at his legs and, well, he had actual roots snaking up and down his legs and hips, burrowing into the muddy ground below.

A boon. Or magic.

Like a tree of wood and metal, he was weathering the storm for now. Sadly, no one was in a position to really help him.

Momma rat was not the only one who was home. Her extended family, plus uncles, aunts and ugly stepchildren swarmed us, emerging out of a series of large holes we had mistaken for open graves all around, as was rapidly becoming a theme. Even in this distant dilapidated castle, a smattering of tombstones was the norm rather than the exception.

Fuck. I hate mole rats. I hate, hate, hate those foldy naked nubbly things.

“Shit, there’s more than last- ow!” Ritz yelled as he took stabs in every direction in an attempt to keep them off himself and Vinesse, who herself was trying to clear a path towards the man in armor. Though, on the way there she took enough detours to get close to the nearest holes in the ground and stick her long bronze staff in. When she pulled it out, the hole was frozen over.

Magic! No, wait, focus. Who needs help?

Avice was pushed against the corner of the nearby building, carefully making singular stabs against the few rats that were bothering her. Despite her size, her weapon, her mass of furs and uncanny mask, most of them ignored the woman with three hands because even they smelled the fear in her movements.

C’mon Avice! Stab! With the pointy end!

I was caught somewhere in the back together with Krah, who was further behind me yet. That was as far as I could make out before I had to contend with two giant rats myself.

They were roughly the size of dogs, with the tapered barrel-like body of rats and teeth that could gnaw more than tear and bite. Though when they did bite me, I was sure that it was gonna hurt.

Stop. Biting. My. Boots.

One of them wiggled towards me before leaping at my shield. I met it with as much poise as I could muster, but the unexpected weight of the little critter combined with my, well, shoddy shield-wielding skills and half-paralyzed arm made me stumble back a step.

I bumped into someone’s back, and they hissed at me.

J-just Krah, the Bekki man. He’s got my back. Focus on the front.

The giant rat continued its angry assault, shaking off the backlash of its headbutt and going for another jump. However, it was just a rat. And I was a very clever girl. I could learn.

Bonk went my club.

Crack went one giant rat’s skull. It slumped to the floor, twitching, one eye hanging limply by a string out of its broken face. The strike still rung in my hand, the feeling staying there and settling into my bones.

That… doesn’t feel nice. That feeling of bone crunching. I don’t like this club.

I turned towards the other rat. Who now had a friend. And another one. And another one.

“Godsdamn, how are there so many?” I heard Ritz yell.

“No more are coming from the holes. Kill them all, they’re just rats.” Vinnesse yelled.

Haha. Yeah. ‘Just’ rats the size of dogs, with teeth the length of my fingers.

As I thought that, one of the rats circled left and another right. Both jumped me nearly in unison and in my short time of distraction, I panicked and tried to block both at the same time. It would have been more reasonable to step aside, or even backwards, but with the constant sounds of fighting coming from behind me, I had to assume that Krah was still there.

One bonked into my shield but didn’t manage to dig its teeth into it. The other one almost bit me in the arm, but I pulled it in as quick as I could. Instead, it got to bite my hand.

OUCH! FUCK!

The back of the gloves were armored with small steel plates even the incredible strength of the giant rat’s jaws couldn’t overcome. The other side however only had a thin layer of leather glove to protect my squishy hand. It bit and it bit hard. I tried to shake it off, but its grip was tight, and it didn’t let go.

Don’t let go of the club. Don’t let go of the club.

I barely failed to lift its body off the ground as I dragged it in a clumsy looking half circle around.

GET OFF YOU FUCKING VERMIN, GAH!

A sudden slash of silver came from behind and the weight on my hand lessened in tow with the pressure. The rat’s lower body immediately plopped to the ground, its eyes bulging before its bite grew limp and its head too fell to the floor.

A wide-eyed Bekki man known as Krah bolted past me, his curved Sha-shik sword in one hand, already bearing down on one of the other rats in the back. He grinned and howled with joy at every kill. The sight of him easily trouncing one after the other filled me with mixed feelings.

Why does he have to make it look so easy? Or fun even? C’mon me. You can do this. This isn’t a reason to panic and freeze up. Compared to the flea hosts, the coneheads and the… fish, they really are ‘just rats’.

I stepped forward and into the next large rat. It didn’t seem to know what to do as many of its kin fell all around it. I took the chance and smashed with my club.

Bonk!

It flinched at the last second and I missed the head.

Even then, I hit its back well enough that for a moment, it could do nothing much but flounder and struggle backwards without its hind limbs, leaving me an opening to finish it off with a swift blow to the head. The taste of soul entered my nose, smelling like soaked ratty fur mixed with something vile.

More.

I went forward and killed the next rat.

More.

And then the next rat.

And then the next one.

I need to pull my weight.

And another one.

Another one.

The fight went on, barely raging as rats nipped at my boots and hands but failed to do much while I fought back with bonks that turned from desperate to better-aimed over time.

I’m so glad I didn’t bring George along. He would be so upset.

A rat poked out of the ground, and I hit it over the snout, pushing it back down the overlooked tunnel it came from. I was panting yet lifted my club once more. When nothing came, I took the time to look how everyone else was doing.

The tide had shifted in our favor, as far as I was in a position to make that judgement. The rats were starting to scurry away, at least those which could still walk fast enough to get out of Krah the whirlwind’s reach. Vinesse and Ritz had made it over to the other two, leaving many a dead and dying rat in their wake and freeing Avice of her encirclement.

Presently, the four of them were facing off against the single huge rat matriarch, which was proving much less of a threat now that three people were honestly pressuring it from different angles. I say three people because in all honesty, while the way Avice held her spear neared the perfection of a sculpture, she managed to inflict only three shallow stabs before the rat matriarch succumbed to its wounds.

Without so much of a squeal or roll of its eyes, its legs failed to carry its great weight and it fell, limp and breathing no more. The rush of soul that came with the kill smelled the same as the little ones, just more pronounced, deeper, wider. It made me feel fizzy and warm inside, even though it smelled absolutely rank.

Victory! And I had a part. Small steps. At least Krah’s having a fun time hunting down the stragglers. But wow, that was a lot of them. If I had come here by myself, they would’ve chewed me to bits.

I caught up to the rest of the group just in time to see Vinesse hand back a sweat-stained handkerchief to Moggen, before turning to our masked spearwoman. Displeasure was clearly written all over her face.

“You performed poorly. Again.” Vinesse said, stepping up to Avice and making herself tall.

“I-I…”

“No excuses. If you have a spear, use it to kill. No more pussyfooting around, got it?” She didn’t bother waiting for an answer as she walked away and over to Moggen, leaving me, Avice and a very awkward looking Ritz standing in the middle of our slaughter.

“Ok.” I heard Avice whisper, barely audible.

“Wellll, I’m going to go and reel our best Bekki friend back in.” Ritz said, before leaving us two to just awkwardly stand there.

“If you need someone to talk…” I said.

Even with her mask on, she looked torn between accepting my compassion and just keeping whatever was bothering her bottled within.

“I…” she started. “I have issues.”

“So? I don't have a lick of sense for whacking things with swords correctly. Or at all. We all have something we're not proud of.”

“Not like me. I… I abhor blood and violence. I remember winning many a tournament on spearmanship. I remember being taught where to stab for a lethal hit, and where for a merely debilitating one. But I never went further. Just tournaments. Just games. Not this. Not the blood.”

That sounded awful. And so very similar to me. Her confession reminded once again that I was not the only one struggling out here in the dark, be it in body or mind.

I stepped forward and gave her hand a squeeze.

“You’re doing fine. You can hide behind me, or Mog. We’ll keep you safe.”

She didn’t recoil from the contact. Instead, she breathed in and out.

“I will do just that. I have no other choice. I must have the soul.”

We all needed it, for various reasons. I still had more purple on my skin than, well, normal skin color. Ritz for all his joking around actually seemed to have trouble seeing, a cloudy mist over his eyes. Vinesse hid her wounds well, but the way she was walking up those stairs a bit awkwardly hinted at something still being off. And Moggen? Moggen’s face looked the most healthy out of all of us. And that was even with his one cheek being folded and scrunched up like a scrotum.

I wonder how much soul we need to become whole again. Moggen and Vinesse seem to be coming along better than us all. And they've got the most.

With that, the group got together and prepared our foray into the actual castle grounds. Moggen had a trashed shield and a few bitemarks on his arm, but stoically declared that he was fine. Ritz got a few bites along his feet and shin, courtesy of not wearing metal-capped boots. Vinesse and Krah both got off without a scratch. While I would have loved to say the same, my left still hurt quite a bit after the rat bite, but not so much that I couldn’t ignore it.

“Is it always like this?” I asked.

Moggen tried and failed to fasten his crumbling shield to his arm. After the fifth time, he gave up and simply threw it aside. Such a good shield ruined so quickly.

Ritz answered in his stead. “No. The last few times, the largest ankle biter went to my knee. We killed dozens over an entire day. Not five minutes.”

“We stumbled into their nest.” Moggen added.

Ritz nodded. “We go a different route every time. More treasure and soul gain that way. Or y’know, maybe we just can’t navigate for shit.”

Ah. They were already thinking about maximizing profit. Wow. The disconnect between their line of thought and mine of just trying to stay alive, to contribute as much as I was able made me feel like I was even more out of place.

I heard a clap as Vinesse spoke up.

“Light check.” She said. “Tell us how many feet you have gained, dim and bright, and if you felt anything off.”

Moggen spoke up first. “Five dim, a half bright. I have forty-eight feet of dim light, twelve of which are bright. Nothing unusual.”

He was a proverbial lighthouse. He was also built like one, sturdy and reliable. Still kind of rude how he didn't even think of giving me a chance the moment we met.

Cool it. Cool it, Rye. Everyone deserves a second chance. And, well... compared to everyone else, I do look the least imposing.

“Three dim, one bright. Puts me at thirty-six-ten. I dunno, feels like I got a lot funnier.” Said Ritz. Everyone gave him annoyed glares. “O-or it’s just my imagination. Could be. Probably, yeah.”

“Six dim, one bright.” Krah said. “Math is… forty-ten? Throat no scratchy.”

It came to me and Avice and I wasn’t going to force her to speak up first.

“I got, wait, one, two, three… seven… Seven dim, two bright. Holy shit! That’s a lot!”

“L-language.” Avice mumbled.

"I’m at seven bright, twenty-four dim feet of light!" That alone makes this so worth it. Success! Progress!

“Any other differences?” Vinnesse asked.

“Oh, right.” In the moment, I couldn’t really put my hand on it, but I definitely felt different. Better. More awake. Less paralyzed with fear and indecision. I took in a deep breath of air and despite just having survived an ambush of giant rats, fighting for my life all the while, I felt almost… happy?

“I feel happy. More awake. But definitely happy.”

“And that is important why?”

“Well… I don’t enjoy killing. I can do it with monsters, with pests and stuff. But I shouldn’t feel ok about it, let alone happy.”

Ritz scratched the side of his neck and Vinesse seemed somewhat pensive. They both looked like they were puzzling something out, or as if they already knew something but were trying to hide it.

“Alright. Avice?”

Avice stared to the side, looking embarrassed.

“E-eight dim. Three bright. Twenty-two-six total.”

Not even the unflappable Ritz looked happy at that. The person who had done the least (but still her best!) had gained the most. Everybody else probably assumed she somehow skimmed it off the top of their gains.

“I–it’s ok, right?” I said, trying to shift the mood. “She still risked her life with us. She had the least light out of us all to start with, too.”

A moment of tension passed.

“She’s right, y’know.” Of all people to agree with me, I didn’t expect it to be Moggen.

People were now looking at Mog with questioning gaze. Everyone but Vinesse, who was still locked in her own realm of thought.

“The more soul I have, the harder it becomes to gain. It smells the same, but there’s less benefit.” He said, looking to Vinesse. “And the boon. That make sense to you, ma’am?”

She nodded, eyes still distant. Eventually, she even answered with words, a nod, and a clap of her hands.

“Alright boys and girls. Enough drama, let’s get a move on. And Rye?”

“Yes ma’am?” I said, beaming with readiness.

“Switch with Moggen. You’re up front.”

Ah. Shit. At least I can entrust my back to Avice now.

When I looked over to her, she was acting even more crestfallen than before. I got the distinct impression that she wasn’t looking forward to swapping the big, fully armored man for the small, not so fully armored and armed me.

Double shit. At least the golden hint was somewhat right. There are only rats around, no dregs, no fleas, no spiders so far. Let it stay that way I say.

As we motioned past the inner walls, Ritz perked up and looked around. “Did anyone else hear that?”

I didn’t and by the looks of it, neither did anyone else. Moggen was still cutting the air with his sword, testing out how much he could stress his slightly wounded arm. Krah looked drowsy, drunk almost as he loosely followed behind, a sliver of spittle hanging from his lip.

Ew. At least Vinesse looks as sharp as ever. Uh, I mean, is looking sharp, sharp, sharply? Ugh, stupid head. She’s keeping an eye out is what I’m trying to say, two yellow eagle-eyes in fact.

“Keep an eye out for things lurking in the dark. Especially you, Ritz, Krah. The keep will lend us shelter. Forwards.” She said.

And thus, I led the way. Marching on with shield in hand, Avice and my new group of friends, compatriots, and strangers at my back.