Yuta tossed and turned in his bed. Inside the world of his dreams he looked down to see blood on his hands, but it wasn’t his. Beside him he heard his sister crying. She was the last person in the world he ever wanted to see hurt, so he hoped against all hope that the blood wasn’t hers. He turned towards her to see tears streaming down her face, but no visible wounds on her body.

“Oh thank god, you are okay!” Yuta said, checking her all over.

“You’ve killed them, they’re all dead because you were too busy playing a game”

“What do you mean I killed them?” Yuta looked down and saw bodies of faceless adventurers at his feet. Limbs broken, armor torn off, and throats slit. “It wasn’t me! Daisy, you have to believe me, I didn’t do it?”.

“You killed them with your failure, just like you killed yourself”

Yuta jolted up from his sleep and grabbed wildly at his surroundings.

“No!”

He clutched at his aching heart and tried to catch his breath. Taking in a large gulp, he finally regained his composure and let out a sigh. He clutched his face in his hands and tears streamed down his face.

“I know okay! I know I’m weak!” He picked up the notebook on his bedside table and threw it against the wall. It collapsed awkwardly back onto the floor, and settled with its pages open.

Yuta eye’d the page and read the underlined passages he had marked to come back to later. It was from his first lesson on magic, with Madeleine.

“Magic is about a principle called the void”.

“The void is that which you do not see. So you can’t go assuming that all you do see matters all that much. Forget yourself, forget what you know, and let knowledge of the arcane inform you of the context you yourself cannot see”

“You probably think magic is about the elements; fire, earth, water, and air or some such. Nonsense, it’s about how foolish your mind is boy! And to unlock her power, you have to offer her something precious to you”

“That arrogant way about you looks mighty juicy”.

“You’d better stop muckin about pretending you are entitled to magic, or it’ll whoop you boy. Are you hearing me!!!”

Yuta picked up his notes and sat on the edge of the bed to study them closer. The pale grey light of the dawn wasn’t enough light so he flicked on a lantern stone and contemplated the meaning of her words.

“She told me that selfishness and spellcasting is like a toxin that can drive a person mad… I wonder if using magic yesterday wore my body out and caused me to have that nightmare. It is weird though, the dream and her words seem similar somehow. Calling me blind, foolish, and not willing to sacrifice. Maybe it is related?”

Yuta stood up and grabbed his adventuring gear ready to head out to the guild to meet Silvia.

“Nah, it is just a dream, it’d be ridiculous to assign meaning to it”

The cool morning air licked at Yuta’s bedhead hair, and rustled his shirt sleeves as he made his way to the guild. His weaponry consisted of a pike slung on his back and a wooden club at his side. His protection was just some simple clothes covered by a vest, and a backpack to carry odds and ends, like rope, and some simple tools. He wasn’t exactly well equipped but it wasn’t like he had any choice. As a newly minted grade G adventurer attempting to reach grade F he didn’t have many options, since most of his money was spent on just trying to stay afloat. Worse yet he was already in debt to the guild to the tune of 30 gold, which would require at best a month or two worth of work to pay it off. Though with the impending danger attack, he would need to make at least that to cover the costs of travel to the closest city in Darlan to the west.

“Hey Yuta, are you ready to pillage and plunder?” Silvia asked as jumping towards him with a sunny smile.

“Plunder, yes, pillage… That will just depend on how the day goes, haha”

Silvia blissfully ignorant of Yuta’s attempt at a joke carried on hyping up the adventure, “We are going to be really lucky today, I can feel it! And with a team ten strong, we’ve got this on lock”

“Ten? Isn’t that four more than your usual party, why so many?”

“It is just standard practice, if you are exploring somewhere unknown you enlist more adventurers, just in case you need the backup”

Yuta looked around and saw Silvia’s normal crew, and three more strangers who didn’t look all that much better equipped than himself.

“Wait, why are the other three just as ragged looking as me?”

“Cheaper that way! Adventurers above grade F won’t take an escort mission without pay upfront as well as taking a larger split from whatever we find. This way it’s just a ten way split and no extra fees”

“Oh, okay, but technically I am still a grade G”

“Don’t worry about that, you’ll do fine. I saw you take out those bullfrogs. Think better of yourself!” Silvia replied.

“So what do we do now?”

“Now we all huddle up and I’ll explain the split again”. Silvia waved the other adventurers over. “Hey guys, huddle up, let’s do introductions for the new guys, talk a bit about where we are going, and discuss the split”.

Three archers, a pikeman, and a shieldbearer made up the rest of Silvia’s usual group. The tank wore a rusty breastplate over gambeson while the others wore leathers for the mobility it afforded them. They were decently well equipped unlike the three new recruits which looked like they had been scrapped from the bottom of the barrel.

*Is that guy just in a loincloth? Why?*

*And that guy is missing three teeth, and only has a dagger*

*But this other guy… Well let’s just say he makes the other’s look good*

Silvia jumped into action and started the meeting. “Normally I like to have the girls outnumber the boys, but today the guys outnumber the girls four to six. Us girls will support from the backline, as you boys fight at the front. We are heading into a tomb I found the other day in the misty meadows when hunting some rabbits, it looks unexplored so it should have some nice loot. So if we stick together and work as a team we can all make out well today. It will be an even split after the end of the day, and if we find anything anyone wants in particular they will have to buy it from the team at a fair price. If you can’t then we sell it and split the profits and you can try to buy it back on your own time. Keep alert, and don’t die, we have some potions, but they are expensive, so if you get a scratch, that is on you. Don’t expect me to jump in and splash one on you. And yeah! That is it! Let’s have some fun!”

Silvia put her hand into the middle of the circle and everyone else followed, “Lets go, on three… One, two, three. Let’s go!”

The crew headed out through Elmvale’s north gate, passed by the fields beyond, and passed through Gimly.

“You ready?” Silvia asked Yuta.

“Yeah, I think so… Oh wait, I forgot to form a quanta”

“A what?”

“It is so I can cast a spell, I will just need a few minutes”

“Really? Couldn’t you have done that before we started?”

“I’m sorry, I’m still kind of new at this”

“Ugh, fine, we’ll post up here by the stables and give you a minute. Hey everyone, hold up a sec, Yuta just has to take five to summon up his spell thingy. In the meantime if any of you have any questions just ask”.

The halfling boy with a hunchback that Yuta hadn’t thought much of earlier came up to Silvia, “Miss Silvia, what kind of monsters will there be”

“I don’t know Garett, it is a tomb so I expect some skeletons, or maybe some goblins if they found the place first”.

Yuta eye’d the little hunchback uncomfortably for a moment but then sat down by a tree to perform his ritual. Focusing on the ebb and flow of mana in his body’s humors until he could see energy form within him like starlight. He gathered it into his core, and locked it into a magical circle within his heart gate. One small blue orb floated in his chest and gave off a cool glow.

Yuta grabbed his head as little hammers smacked at the inside of his skull, and brine oozed through his body like watered down clay. Yuta drunkenly opened one eye and took a swig from his canteen. “Ugh”

“Are you okay mister?” the halfling boy asked as he noticed Yuta grumbling.

“Yeah I’m fine, just need a couple of minutes”

*Why, just why? The kid is only three feet high, and a good part of that is his hunch. How will he even be useful in a fight, gah just looking at him makes my head hurt*

Garett hobbled around to each of the adventurers and gave them bread rolls from his backpack. He then came over and waggled one in front of Yuta. Yuta grabbed it reluctantly “Thanks, err…”

“Garett!”

“Yeah, uh, thanks Garett”

“No problem, we’ll all need our strength today”

“Mhm” Yuta replied, avoiding further conversation by stuffing his mouth with the bread roll.

After finishing the roll Yuta stood to his feet and Silvia signalled for everyone to head out. “Alright, let’s do this guys, fog is just on the other side of the treeline”

...

Mirio rang the bell at the front gate of the Gimly baron estate and waited for one of the servants to arrive.

“Oh Mirio, is that you?!” a kind servant asked. “Oh my, oh my, I suppose they didn’t tell you did they… I guess they were in an awful rush”.

“I just came to ask if you knew anything about where they went or when they’d be back?”

“Ah, well that depends”

“What do you mean?”

“The baron is visiting his brother in the northern continent, if I recall correctly it is a port town called Pescat”

“Pescat? Never heard of it, is it part of the beastfolk kingdoms?”

“It is an outpost town, it has a lot of beastfolk there but the town itself is run by the baron’s brother. Just like how the beastfolk have a town along the coast further east of here”

“I see… Do you know why she didn’t tell me she was leaving?”

“The family was in a rush, so I couldn’t rightly tell you her reason”

Mirio felt a pang of anguish in his heart as he started to realise that she wasn’t coming back, and somehow he had missed his chance to develop the relationship further.

*Damn it, I should have just left with her when she was bringing it up. I am so thick sometimes, maybe she knew this was coming, and she finally gave up on us leaving together. So is that it, is this all that can be done*

“Don’t feel sad, she cared a lot for you, she wouldn’t want you to suffer because she had moved”

“Yeah, but she chose not to let me know this would happen. But really I’m just dense for not figuring it out. Argh! Why’d she leave without even telling me”.

“I’m really sorry Mirio, these things happen”

“Yeah, I know… I guess I just hoped it wasn’t so… Final”

“I’d offer you something, but I’m afraid all I have is some tea I made back in my quarters, you are welcome to some if you like?”

“No no, I’ll be okay, it just sucks. Don’t worry about it, I’ll figure something out, I think. Gah, I don’t even know if she wants to see me again now. Maybe if I go to Pescat she’ll just brush me off. Again I’m sorry for burdening you with my thoughts, I’ll figure it out. I think”

Mirio turned away and hopped back onto Rocky, with Ezee leading on ahead.

...

The three other archers walked ahead of Yuta through the mist. Everyone had to stay close to each other to not get lost, but there was just enough visibility for him to check them out from behind. One was skinny and had a flat butt but the other two…

*Hello there my darlings, why yes I wouldn’t mind a peach for breakfast*

Silvia tugged on Yuta’s shoulder. “We are here”

*Gah, that was sudden. Did she catch me looking? Nah, I don’t think so, I think I’m in the clear*

The entire group formed up around a spiral staircase that led deep underground.

“I thought it was an ancient well at first when I saw it,” Silvia whispered. “But then I saw the stairs. There is a door at the bottom that leads inside”

Yuta kicked around some debris that was scattered around the staircase, “It looks like there was a cover on it, but I guess age got to it. Still the moss, and grasses still hide it pretty well”

Garett quickly hopped down each of the stairs and waved everyone else down enthusiastically “Come come, I’ll scout ahead, I just need someone to open the door”.

*Oh, that is what he is for, he’s a scout* Yuta scratched his temple *I guess I was a bit harsh on the kid before*

“Magic is about the void, and the void is that which you do not see”

Madeleine’s words echoed in the back of his mind *Shut up old bag*

Yuta felt like now was not the time for his subconscious to be spouting out a moral lesson. It was time to focus and to prepare to fight. Yuta pulled his pike off his back and stepped through the doorway after Silvia. He could hear the pitter patter of Garett’s tiny footsteps rushing through the halls up ahead.

Silvia stopped and made sure everyone was through the door and then lit a lantern stone and placed it on her waist belt. “Okay, so Yuta, Vaan, Galt and the loincloth guy up front”

“Hey, my name isn’t Loincloth guy, it is Jerimiah”

“Okay, that is great, whatever. Dagger guy, you stay in the middle, sorry I don’t remember your name either but it is what it is. And us girls will follow up from behind and find an angle when we can”

Yuta turned to Jerimiah “Don’t you have a weapon? You can use my club if you want”

“I’ve got all the weapons I need right here my brother” he said as kissing each of his fists.

*Okay, note to self, Jerry is an idiot*

Garett came running back out of breath. He explained between gasps of air that the route ahead was clear and led into a large room.

Silvia nodded. “Let’s go”

As they entered the large room, Yuta couldn’t help but instinctively freeze, “Boss room!”, “Or a place for an ambush”, “Guys we should be careful”.

Jeremiah whispered into his ear “Don’t worry man, I’ll keep you safe”

Galt, the pikeman, and Vaan, the shield bearer, fanned out ahead and started looking for monster tracks. Jeremiah followed suit.

“We should set up some defenses here, prepare it for battle. Mirio said that when you have a chance, you always want to establish a place to fall back to where you have the advantage. Garett do you have some traps in your pack?”

Garett knelt over and started pulling out snare traps, and acid vials out of a relatively small satchel.

*What the hell?*

Garett looked up at Yuta and winked, “It's a bag of holding you see, pretty neat isn’t it. Since I’m small it helps me to stay prepared”

“Aren’t those expensive?” the girl with the flat butt replied.

“It was my father’s, he gave it to me before he passed away”

“Oh I’m sorry for your loss” she responded.

“It is okay, I used to miss him a lot, but now only a little. And I’m grateful for all he taught me, cuz I can look after mom and my little sis”

“Aww” the girl with the flat butt smiled sweetly at Garett, and Yuta couldn’t help but feel jealous. Even though she had a flat butt, she was still really quite pretty, and she seemed sincere.

Silvia picked up some of the traps and began laying them out around the room. Yuta couldn’t devise any reasoning behind where she placed the traps but just took a mental note of them so he wouldn’t trigger them. She then pulled out a large piece of glowing chalk and drew a large circle at the center of the room, and some safe lines through the traps to its center and to the exit.

“There, now we just need to follow these lines and we can fight from the center here, but if there are lots of monsters, we fall back to the entrance and use it as a choke point. All clear?”

Everyone nodded, all except for Garett who ran off up ahead, and went down a long dark corridor. Sounds of his footsteps and some strained moans came from the distance. Garett flicked a stone at the head of one of the skeletons, and attempted to draw it away from two others that were roaming in the room ahead. He skipped and jumped his way back into the main chamber and made a signal for everyone to take a position by the hallway entrance. Vaan dived on the skeleton as it came out into the room, tackling it to the ground, while galt jabbed at it with a pike “Gah, it isn’t working”.

Jerimiah dived in and grabbed one of its arms.

SNAP!

The elbow joint cracked back in a way it wasn’t meant to bend, and then was yanked off its arm. The skeleton hissed, and lashed its teeth towards Vaan, but he had it pinned by the neck making it’s attempts useless.

Yuta holstered his pike, and pulled out his club. He tossed it to Galt “Here, use this”.

WACK

The skull smashed into fragments, and its boney body scattered on the ground. Galt chucked the club back to Yuta “Thanks”.

Garett ran up to Galt and pulled an iron hammer out of his bag of holding to give to him. “Here it is important you are properly equipped”. He then turned to Vaan the shieldbearer and handed him an iron prybar.

The scuffling sound of two more skeletons echoed through the hallway drawn by the noise. Silvia signalled to everyone to get into a position for an ambush. As the first skeleton came into the room, Galt smacked it hard with the iron hammer, driving it into its skull. Vaan ran into the hallway and tackled the second skeleton and smashed at it with the pry bar until it stopped moving.

“Nice work guys,” Silvia said. “Well that wasn’t so hard. Are there any more in the room ahead?”

Garett shook his head, “The next room is clear, we can move up”.

Everyone filed into the next room and saw two hallways, one leading left and the other right. Directly ahead was an ominous looking wall painting of a dark shadow flooding through the land. People dying as it spread through and into the surrounding villages.

“What is that?” Silvia said, pointing at it with one of her arrows.

“Dunno,” replied Galt.

Yuta looked around waiting for someone else to reply but no one else seemed to care.

*Is this a quest hint? Maybe I should take a look, it might be important*

Yuta moved up to the painting and paid attention to it in detail. “Maybe it was a volcano? They spew out ash and fire that looks like smoke. But why would a picture of it be here? Do you think the misty meadows are built over a fault line?”

“A what?” Silvia asked.

“Oh, right… A fault line is a split in the earth; they create volcanoes, and sometimes they cause gasses seep up from below the surface. It could be what is creating the fog, and maybe the people who lived here before had their village wiped out”

“Thats stupid, how could a split in the earth create a volcano, besides, it is common knowledge they are created by the gods, or sometimes dragons like the red mountain in the west. To me it looks like a plague, some kind of disease, spreading through the land”

Vaan looked shaken by Silvia’s words. “Don’t tell me we might unearth a plague in here, or a dragon”

Silvia slapped him on the shoulder, “Nah, the only thing to be found here is treasure”

Vaan forced a smile “Yeah, okay, but just in case no one should open any strange jars or containers”

Yuta nodded “I agree, we should be careful as we move ahead”

Garett came back from the left hallway. “Both ways are collapsed, but on the right side there is a hole that leads further down”

The group gathered together by the hole and looked for a way down through the boulders and dirt. After clambering down the dark rocks they found themselves exiting onto a wooden walkway circling around an enormous pit about twenty paces wide.

“Whoa, now that is a hole” the man with the dagger said.

“Looks like the walkway leads down,” Galt replied.

“Okay, let’s all keep going, but be mindful of your step” Silvia said.

It took the group a few minutes to reach the bottom, where the air was heavy and the walls covered in black mould. A single mineshaft lay ahead of them, about twenty paces wide and ten paces high.

Garett kneeled by some tracks, “Kobold!”

“Kobolds?” Vaan asked.

“Yes, they are a humanoid race, similar to goblins, but they are half lizard”

“I know what they are. They are dragon kin! Look guys, I don’t know about all of you, but this is looking more and more like a lair of some large and dangerous creature, and less and less like a place for us. I say we leave and let the guild know” Vaan replied.

“No! There is treasure here, I’m sure of it. And kobolds don’t always mean dragons, we’ll be safe if we just take things one step at a time” Silvia said.

Yuta chimed in. “I think she is right, we should push on”