A few hours had passed since the incident with the ape-like magical beast, and Hina was still as on edge as ever. She kept shifting her gaze all over the place, to the point where it was almost distracting. You don’t really have to get that twitchy, I get that you’re afraid now stop it.

We’d encountered a few more of those grotesque ape like creatures but they were quickly taken down; they had quite a bit of strength, if the shattered floors, walls and flying shrapnel were anything to go by, but if you were fast enough then no big deal. In fact it was almost funny to run circles around the dumb brutes. Of course Hina was the very definition of useless throughout each skirmish with the apes, just standing there and looking scared.

I was pretty tempted to just leave the idiot behind, but then Serenity would keep nagging and nagging until I changed my mind. She’s a lot more difficult to phase out with all the little screeches she produces. To be blatant about the situation, I was starting to get a bid fed up with the dead weight I had to drag along with me. Not only was she no help whatsoever when fighting, but I actually had to make sure she doesn’t die. In fact, I couldn’t even really afford for her to get a little bit maimed, and that’s not even so bad, it wouldn’t kill her at least.

We were still walking through the large cavern, in the direction Serenity was indicating, and it felt as though we were getting nowhere. I was bored, I was irritated; life at this point was not fun. I’d started to take note of all the scenery we passed by, and if I had to say, everything looked exactly the same. Nothing of interest. Oh look a crack in the ground! What’s that? Another pebble…

Cyne, the natural magical energy is starting to get thicker at an accelerated pace.

Hmm? And what does that mean? Natural magical energy getting thicker, so stronger monsters? Nope, no monsters in the surroundings… Unless I’m losing my edge. No, it can’t be that, I’m as sharp as ever. Doubting oneself can only end badly. So doubt others! Serenity are you losing your edge?

The little owl turned to look at me with the most unimpressed expression I’d ever seen on an owl. Not that I’d seen that many though.

Just be careful

Careful… ok. I then continued doing what I’d been doing for the past hour or so; walk. Careful walking of course, can’t be tripping over and embarrassing myself on this relatively flat floor… careful walking… All of a sudden I heard a crack. Wait, did I just fail at walking?

I quickly surveyed the area and spotted a frozen Hina. This one again. I looked down to see she’d stepped on a crack, enlarging it. I on the other hand had been playing the game, avoid the cracks for the past few hours quite successfully. Oh well, no harm done. As I thought this, harm was done.

*crack*

The crack spread further, snaking its way towards me. Of course, at this moment the only thing I could think of were a wide range of profanities. The entire cave seemed to rumble as the crack spread like lightning. Hina, you were just dead weight before, but now you’re a bad luck charm. The floor split into a gaping wide maw, and at the bottom only darkness was visible. Hina looked to me desperately, expecting some sort of miraculous move to save her. Unfortunately my feet weren’t exactly on solid ground.

Her expression quickly turned to hopelessness as she noticed this minor detail. I took the initiative and stretched out towards her, grabbing her wrist and drawing her closer. I embraced her in full body hug. She stiffened at the action, but quickly began to clutch tightly onto me in response, releasing sobs into my chest. Operation use-Hina’s-body-to-soften-the-landing will now commence.

As Hina whimpered ‘I’m sorry’ over and over again into my chest, I slowly positioned myself to direct the most impact towards her body. The dumb girl hadn’t even noticed that she was the one underneath. If we hit the ground, she hits first. It’s only fair, right? I mean, we’re falling to our deaths because of her, so she should be held accountable for actions and respond with proper compensation… like being a meat shield against whatever was at the bottom of this trench.

In reality, even using her like this will probably get me killed. I mean, we’ve been falling for like half a minute already. The concept of death doesn’t seem overly pleasant. I’ve got so much more to do for the world after all. No one can quite hold a heretic burning like I can, even my peers at the church had to admit that. My bucket list will remain incomplete it would seem. I will never have the opportunity to burn a true heretic to death. I could almost feel a tear form in the corner of my eye; so many good things I’ll never do for the world. It’s a tragedy really.

But I couldn’t allow myself to stay in such a state any longer. Think positive Cyne! Maybe Sol exists, and you’ll go and live in a paradise of eternally burning heretics. That would be nice. I’d actually started to look forward to it in fact. Unfortunately, such an outcome wasn’t a certainty.

CYNE!

Hmm? Serenity? It would appear that Serenity had been shouting at me about something, but since her little owl form had been left up at the top of the trench, I could easily phase her out. Oh the nostalgia. I was about to enquire after what she was interrupting my musings for before everything went black.

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“Hey, do you think these guys are alright?” unidentified person 1

“I don’t know… They look fine. But why are they down here?” unidentified person 2

“We should be the only ones with that map, right?” unidentified person 1

“… Do you think they’re here for the same thing?” unidentified person 2

“Dunno, maybe we should just finish them off before they wake up.” unidentified person1

“… No, they may just have gotten down here by accident or something. Let’s just have them wake up and then we can ask them.” unidentified person 2

I decided instead of opening my eyes when I became conscious, I’d just continue listening to the two unidentified people nearby. Things were sounding interesting. Well, from what I’d gleaned, I’m not dead, so luckily for the world my good deeds will continue to spread. Bad news was they said ‘guys’… As in plural, so Hina probably isn’t a flattened meat patty as I’d planned. But then how on earth did I survive?

I reached you two before you hit the bottom

Serenity… But you’re just an itsy-bitsy owl.

Fortunately for you two, this owl can direct magical energy into its wings.

… That still doesn’t really sound possible. No matter how I tried to imagine it, being carried by that tiny owl just doesn’t seem possible. Seriously how’d you save us?

I already told you. This variant has the ability to manipulate some magical energy into its wings to aid flight. I simply took some of the natural magical energy from your store to redirect enough energy to its wings.

If you say so. I was still a bit sceptical about the whole thing though. I’ll believe it when I see it. Wait, why did you save Hina as well?

Wouldn’t it be bad for you if she died? If you must know, I prioritised your life; she was just clinging to you, who I’d grabbed onto. Even when you both fell unconscious she still didn't relax her grip.

Hina certainly has some crazy survival instincts if that was actually the case.

“Hey, what’s up with that owl?” unidentified person 1.

“I don’t know, but it must be a pet. If it were hostile it wouldn’t perch itself on someone like that.” unidentified person 2

“Can we kill it? Its stare is creeping me out.” unidentified person 1

“I don’t see any harm in taking out the pet.” unidentified person 2

What uncouth people. To kill someone else’s pet without just cause. Truly despicable. It had become clear that the time to make my consciousness known had come. As I heard the drawing of a weapon, I groaned and sat up, acting groggy as I gazed at my surroundings, taking in the scenery.

It was still dark, but this time there were small crystals embedded in the stone ceiling, walls and floor, illuminating the area to an extent. Through the dim lighting I could see two adventurers looking at me with cautious gazes. They were quite the characters as well. From the masculine voice of unidentified person 1, I could only assume that the big hairy guy with a hammer was the very same fellow. He had some magnificent facial hair, braided down to his chest. Something seemed off about his proportions though… he was a bit short. His grizzled, stout body was heavily layered with a disorganised mismatch of leather armour and metal plates. This guy… was really short. The initial big impression he gave was due to his breadth, but a closer look showed a man of about 150cm in height. He was a dwarf if I wasn’t wrong. Don’t see those guys often.

Unidentified person 2 matched her feminine and soft voice with a willowy appearance. Tall, sleek, lacking in breast and butt, with a pair of pointy ears to top it off. No doubt that she’s an elf. And what a typical colour scheme; slanted green eyes, and long green hair. An elf and a dwarf, and both adventurers. I’ll have to be careful here.

Of all the demi-humans that we as superior race (as dictated by the book of Sol) attempted to enslave, these guys fought back the hardest. I think the war is still going on… Hopefully they don’t care about country relations and the like.

“Greetings, fellow adventurers. May I be so rude as to enquire where I am?” I asked, in a friendly tone with a smile on my face.

Both of the adventurers gave me a wary look.

“Ah! Forgive me, pleasantries should be exchanged first. Blame my confused state for such an error. I’m Cyne Wight, a B rank adventurer.” I continued.

They both appraised me with a few glances up and down. After they finally finished with their, what I could only assume was an attempt to literally see through me, they also gave their names.

“I’m Caine, A rank adventurer” said Mr. Dwarf.

“I’m Liselle, also an A rank adventurer” said Ms. Elf.

Two A rank adventurers? That’s a pretty big deal. You don’t get many of those guys; to be promoted to A rank you need to accomplish and bring proof of some sort of impressive adventuring feat. You can’t just be able to kill A rank beasts. A rankers aren’t exactly a frequent sight. Being A rankers also means that they know what they’re doing. If they’re down here, so is something very interesting. My smile started to curl upwards as I my imagination began to run wild.

After a few moments a groan sounded from behind me and Hina slowly lifted herself from the ground. When she finally regained all of her senses she looked at me, and her eyes began to fill with tears. Happiness flooded her face as she looked both herself and me up and down, finally concluding that neither of us were dead. She then noticed the 2 individuals in front of me, giving her glances.

“That’s my companion Hina.” I said. Best not let her run her mouth and ruin any opportunities here.

“She’s also an adventurer. From the fact that you two A rank adventurers are here, I can only assume that we’ve ended up in a relatively dangerous part of the dungeon. If you would be so kind as to allow as to tag along with you experienced people, we’d both be eternally grateful” I said, as courteously as I could manage, clasping my hands together as I did so.

They gave each other conflicted looks. The dumb-looking dwarf didn’t look like someone who’d be making any decisions in the team, so that leaves elf lady. She looked back towards us and let out a sigh before nodding. Hehehe, she has a soft heart. Most elves are like that though.

“You guys can tag along, just don’t get in the way. We can talk some more as we walk. Let’s go.” She said, turning around and quickly walking away. The dwarf then lumbered after her gesturing for us to follow.

I didn’t move immediately though. I’d seen something.

“Cyne? Cyne, shouldn’t we follow them?” asked Hina. It looked as though she’d quickly figured out the situation. Good for her. I ignored her pestering, which was being done with a voice gradually increasing with irritation at being ignored.

I saw something very good. As that elf lady turned around to walk away. That glimmer. My smile curved upwards as far as it could go. I had to suppress my excitement, lest I go and do something rash. I’d know that pendant anywhere. That was the pendant of the pagan god of the forests. A relatively minor pagan god that was localised in only a few areas under elven rule. Hehehe… I guess Sol decided to reward me for all of my hard work (or it’s just good luck). It looks like I’ll finally get to burn a genuine heretic.