Chapter 35

What a wonderful feeling it is to sleep in a clean bed that I can have all to myself. What’s even better is being able to clean my entire body with hot water and then jumping into a clean bed. With our newfound wealth, we decided to splurge a bit when we got back to the inn and rented a private room with two beds like I dreamt of before being awoken by Kayman strangling me. However the cost was 1 silver instead of 80 copper. I wonder where I got the 80 copper from? I was worried about renting out such an expensive room out of nowhere since it might make us suspicious but Farland didn’t seem to think anything of it. It’s odd for me to go to sleep while it’s still bright out and it’s a bit difficult with the sun shining into our room through our window. The noisy ruckus coming from the busy street below us doesn’t help either but with how tired I was and considering we spent the entire night digging graves, I soon drift off to sleep.

…

What a fucking disgrace this day has been. We should have cleared out this dungeon yesterday but every single one of these fucking worthless bastards are useless unless they’re getting drunk or plowing someone at a whorehouse. We won’t even finish clearing it out today because Oscar is the most worthless one out of them all it seems and let a shadow hound cleave his stomach open. I’m really thinking of leaving the useless prick here to serve as a distraction as the rest of us get the fuck out of here but Alister insists on bringing him with us. This little bitch is getting uppity again. I wouldn’t mind giving him another thrashing like yesterday. Seeing the rest of the shadow hounds around us regrouping, my heart drops because I can see the alpha of their pack saunter in from a lower cavern. Fuck, another wasted day. We make our retreat back into the upper cavern behind us as the alpha cautiously watches us, looking for an opening to tear us apart. How hard is it to get a single dungeon core? She could have asked for anything else in the world and I’d be able to get it for her but she had to demand a godsdamned dungeon core. Unbelievable. I’m of the mind to scrap our whole deal and try to abduct her sister without her help but when I picture her sister in my mind and imagine what I’ll do to her when I get my hands on her… sigh. We’ll try again tomorrow. I’ll only ask for help after two more attempts. I can’t seem weak and incapable of doing anything on my own. I’d rather die than appear that way especially to him.

As we’re heading back up to the upper cavern, I smell smoke for some reason. We check our lantern but that’s not what’s causing this smell. Before long the smoke intensifies and it’s stinging our eyes and making us cough. What the fuck is this? We don’t have the time to give a fuck about Oscar and leave him leaning against a wall in the upper cavern. Taking a look back, the shadow hounds have followed us all the way here, still watching us for an opportunity, any opportunity to pounce. Hey, by all means, satisfy yourselves with Oscar and leave us the fuck alone. The smoke is getting worse by the second and I can’t take it anymore. I run past Alister who’s supposed to be the vanguard and dash towards the dungeon entrance. Who the fuck did this!? Who the fuck do they think they’re fucking with? Once I get my hands on them, they’ll regret being born and curse their miserable parents for bringing them into this godsforsaken world. When I’m about to reach the burning stack of logs in front of me, a red shadow appears in an opening in the log stack. My eyes adjust to the lighting and I think I recognize that fa-

…

The feeling of having a crossbow bolt pierce through my right eye and only coming to a stop at the back of my skull is definitely fascinating to say the least. I wake up with a start and I genty check my right eye, making sure there’s no crossbow bolt in it. Sighing in relief at the absence of a bolt, I lie back down on my bed and enjoy the warmth for a few more moments. “You know, having a bed all to myself today only made it clear to me how violent you are when you thrash around in your sleep. I could get used to this.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Cough up another 12 copper every night if you want a bed for yourself so badly.”

Judging by the darkness of the room and the quiet street below our window, it’s night. We slept through the entire day and woke up at night. With our weapons in hand, we step out of our room, locking the door on the way out before heading downstairs. We had some pottage this morning before going to sleep but right now I’m famished. The Sleeping Hornet is the same as usual. Farland has a lot of regulars that come in every night and it’s rare to see a new face. When we came in the first time, I thought everyone was staring at us because we looked out of place but it was just because we looked unfamiliar. Quinn’s already seated at our usual table and there’s six empty mugs around him. Funnily enough, I can tell how late it is by counting how many empty mugs there are in front of Quinn when we come into the dining hall. With six empty mugs in front of him and Quinn starting on his seventh, the evening’s just begun. “Evening Quinn. How are you today?”

“Isaac my boy! Doing alright for myself. How’d old Nestor treat you boys last night?”

I almost forgot we bought our weapons last night. It feels like such a long time has passed with everything that’s happened but it was only one day ago when we were still planning on how we were going to kill Alister and his crew. “He was very helpful. Helped us pick out swords and a shield. Without him, we wouldn’t have any idea of what we were looking at or what we should be looking for.”

“Good, good. Nestor’s an old friend of mine and he’ll never do you wrong. How are you feeling today Isaac? Hope you’re mending well.”

Wow, it really does feel like a long time has passed but I only got out of the tunnel two nights ago. “Yeah I am. Feeling better every day. Should be back to normal soon. Anything interesting happened while I was stuck in the mines? I told you about my two weeks there last time, but what happened out here during those two weeks?”

“Not too much happening in the city itself. A few weird stories coming in from the villages around here like Harmstead’s elderly are disappearing quicker than cookies in a jar when it’s near me.” Quinn slams his palm on the table, shaking the whole thing, as he guffaws at his own joke. I always feel bad about not laughing at his jokes and I’ll always give him a few pity chuckles. Wraine’s the opposite and if it was up to him, the whole inn would be silent whenever Quinn told a joke to utterly destroy him. Quinn continues when he stops laughing, “A hag got spotted near Wakefield a week ago. Best not go anywhere near there for the time being until some high ranking adventurers get dispatched to take care of it. On the warfront, just like I told you a month ago, Aethelbrande’s gathering his forces at Larsath’s Dwelling with the sorcerer's blessing and when he thinks he has enough men to throw at Vansgrieri, he’ll march on the city and he’ll probably take it back but we’ll be hurting for more hands this next generation.”

When Quinn finishes telling us about anything new that’s happened, a man bursts through the inn’s front door. His face is incredibly pale even in the candlelight. He’s panting as though he was running from something horrific. I think I recognize him. Enraged, Farland shouts, “Peaton, you whoreson! What the fuck do you think you’re doing in my inn!?” He seems to be a regular here but that won’t save him from Farland’s anger. Peaton looks at Farland, terrified, and tries to stammer out something but he’s incomprehensible. Someone rushes over with a stool and places Peaton on the seat before handing him a mug of ale. Peaton downs the mug in a few seconds and exhales a long breath. By this point in time, everyone in the inn, including us, are surrounding Peaton in the center of the hall, interested in what happened to him. What can I say? Gossip’s a powerful drug and nothing interesting happens in this inn.

Once he’s calmed down, Peaton opens his mouth, “I don’t know what I saw. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I still can’t believe what I saw. There are things in this world no one should ever see with their mortal eyes and I think I saw one of them today.”

The crowd around him is mesmerized and I really want to know what he saw. A dragon flying through the sky? A sky strider walking over Midriver? A floating city in the passing over the city perhaps? Farland’s had enough of Peaton messing around, “Enough! Just tell us what you saw.”

Peaton looks aggrieved for being yelled at. He’s the one setting the mood, he’s the one creating the atmosphere, and he’s the one telling the story. It’s up to him how he wants to tell his story. But he shrugs and keeps going, “I was in the northeast forests today because my house was lacking a bit of firewood. Why pay for something when you can go get it yourself right? It was the afternoon and everything was going well when all of a sudden, fog started rolling in. One moment nothing was there and then the next moment, bam! Fog everywhere! I couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of me and to get a better view around me, I climbed up a tree and sat on one of its branches. Before long I started hearing these roars in the fog. Never heard anything like them before in my life. Then right in front of me, these gray monsters came through the fog, charging through it.” When Peaton mentions gray monsters, my eyes widen and I turn to look at Wraine. He stares right back at me without saying a word and turns back to Peaton, continuing to listen to his story. “Ugly things these monsters. Not sure what they were. Red eyes, yellow fangs, huge bodies, never seen a thing like them in my life. Strange thing though, all these gray monsters had a collar around their necks. Chains hooked to the back of the collars were being pulled by something behind all of them and when all of them passed by me in the tree, hundreds of chains were midair in the fog. I held my breath waiting, wanting to see what kind of super monster could control all those monsters. Keep in mind, any one of those gray monsters could rip me in half if they chose to and I wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it. Finally, what passed in front of me was a knight in black armor. From head to toe he was covered in thick black armor and he was holding the bundle of chains in his right hand. His left hand was holding the reins to his steed. The whitest horse I’ve ever seen in my life. Not a speck of color on the thing. If that was all it was, I wouldn’t have come in here losing my shit but right when the knight passed by me, he turned his head and stared right into my eyes. When I saw his eyes, I swear, I swear by the gods he didn’t have eyes in his head. No eyes where they were supposed to be but just black holes. When I saw that, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I thought I was going to die right then and there. Then I opened my eyes, didn’t even know I closed them and it was all gone. The knight and his horse, the gray monsters, and the fog was all gone. Gone, like it was never there.”

The rest of the patrons start to make fun of Peaton, saying he got drunk in a tree and passed out. Peaton denies drinking a drop and tries to get them back on his side, swearing everything he said was true. He’s unsuccessful and everyone goes back to their seats except for us. I’m not sure what to think. It sounds like he went through the exact same experience Wraine and I had with just a different figure controlling the monsters. But it also sounds like no one else knows what he’s talking about or have never heard of such a thing before. Wraine walks up to Peaton and asks, “What do you think you saw today?”

Peaton takes a glance at Wraine standing in front of him and says, “Not sure. Don’t know what to think. But if I had to take a guess, I think I saw Death today, but it wasn’t my time yet. When it is my time to leave this world though, perhaps I’ll see that knight once again and to be completely honest with you, I’m terrified.”

…

We’re back at our usual seats at our usual table. Peaton’s words are still rolling around in my head and I remember back to that night when we saw the fog and the gray monsters. A lot has happened since then and a lot has changed. But I think those burning desires I felt that night are still inside me, somewhere. With where we are now and with how our future is looking, I’ll never be able to achieve my dreams. When I acknowledge this, a sickening feeling wells up inside me. No, I’ll do it. I have to do it. Standing up abruptly from my seat, the noise makes Quinn and Wraine stop talking and both of them look towards me. Looking at Wraine, I move my gaze towards Quinn and I say, “I want to join your gang.”