Heyoooooooooooooooooo! What up my home dogs? Yesterday/today two of you lovely readers tripped two of my lovely trap cards. "What do you mean trap cards? Are you crazy after imagining that crazy apple?" The answer is no dear friends. By trap cards i mean little hints in the story. Some are for foreshadowing, others are more subtle. The name Atropos is one of the less subtle ones however. See Atropos is the last of the three fates, which are the greek goddesses of, you guessed it- fate. Another asked me if harems will be included in this story. Nope! I am not like Mr. Sir and as such don't even wanna try to write one that works. The reason most characters are girls may or may not be revealed soon. Still reading this? Want more TMOV? How about you either leave me one of them there tasty reviews, or draw some art for me? The deadline for the art contest is chapter 12 I will feature the top three in the story and those people will get to name a character each.

[Bran's POV]

I woke up to being spooned. I gotta say, when they reached out to grab me I thought they were gonna kill me. I didn't expect to be kidnapped and tied up like this. I don't even know how this rope is keeping me bound but it is wrapped completely around me. I also appear to have a gag in my mouth. squirming around a bit I looked around myself.

We appear to be in some sort of small room. There is the elf woman sitting by the fire on a chair of stone reading, I think she is keeping watch. Around the room I saw two other lumps of people. I assumed they were the other adventurers. Feeling the arms around me squeeze extremely hard I let out a little whimper. If what I assumed was correct then the woman currently squeezing the life out of me was the gauntlet wearing bad-ass from earlier. Stealthily moving a bit I turned and looked at her. Wow. She may have looked very pretty from a distance but from here you could see her struggles. Her arms, now bare with the gauntlets removed, were covered in scars. Her knuckles looked like they were made of scar tissue completely. The laugh lines around her eyes were visible now, and the small smile she had been harboring was one of contentment. Me, nervous? Yes, very nervous. The long raven hair she had didn't hide the well-toned muscles. She could probably punch into my chest and rip out my heart!

I was still deciding if letting the elf know I was awake was a good idea when I heard a throat clear behind me. Squirming around I looked at a very cross elf. Shit. Welp, now they know I'm awake. I looked at her and mumbled through my gag to untie me. For a second she looked confused. I then tried again, this time in the language she understood. The elf looked at me right then, and she gave me the most piteous look I have ever seen. She then told me that if I talked too loudly her companion behind me might wake up surprised and squeeze harder. If this was light squeezing then I didn't want to feel hard so I nodded my agreement. She then whispered a few words and the rope unbound itself around me. Ah. Freedom how missed you were! I carefully snuck out of the sleeping woman's grasp and stood up.

Quite frankly this elf lady was tall. Really tall. She was like 6'5, and as lanky as they come. Her robes fluttered as she pointed me towards a chair. We sat down and she looked at me. I looked at her. There we sat, me looking dazed and confused, and her looking calm and collected. She really was quite beautiful, just in a more dignified way. Almost like how a still pond, or foraging deer are. She put the book in her lap and continued staring at me. I did the same, there was no way I could talk my way out of a kidnapping. I would wait and then pick my chance to escape. It was at this moment the dragon-lady walked up and touched my shoulder. Needless to say the high-pitched shriek I let out woke up the other two. Soon enough they came over and sat down on the chairs or rubble around the room and started talking. The shorter lady in plate-mail spoke first saying something about capturing me in what sounded like a Russian accent. When they all laughed it made me startle quite considerably. For kidnappers these guys were quite friendly, after all the elf undid the ropes as soon as I woke up. They all finished their conversation and looked at me.

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[Blanche's POV]

When I woke up to a shriek I thought that another of those stupid birds had gotten in the room to continue their attack. I was a little shocked when in my grasp was only a bundle of ropes. It appeared that Jade had let him out while we slept. A little bit stupid but I'm sure she had her reasons for letting the guy out. I'm sure she was a bit worried I'd have a nightmare and squeeze him till he popped like a blemish. Having an elf in your party was nice, they never truly slept. Instead the went into a trance-like state where visions of their past came to them. Wimly had woken up as well and the short ginger dwarf sat on some rubble in the corner of the ruined room and started talking.

"Poor little man, look at how he cowers! If he is strong then he should stop with the nervous looking about! Just because he got captured by some over-sized scaly beast!" She nearly shouted it with bravado evident in her voice. Wimly, while incredibly muscled and strong, hated seeing the weak bullied. While she seemed to be scolding him, she really must be worried about him if she brought him up in conversation. He was taller than her and looked around 5'7 with curly brown hair. Currently he looked like a scared rodent, searching for a way to flee from Jade's stares. He didn't know it but Jade was almost a mute, hardly ever talking except for soft murmuring and whispers. So for him this might be unnerving and uncomfortable, for us this was hilarious. When all of us burst out laughing he startled, clearly his mind was harmed by that evil dragon.

"Ee's quite the catch you know? Few good meals and some work-outs and he could be the pinnacle of health again. Hell we could make a fortune off selling 'im." Daisy replied boldly. She still had her and on his shoulder, almost possessively.

"Daisy! We are not going to sell him! We just saved him from a dragon, and by the gods he was there for a reason. As soon as we get him out of here we can try to see why he was there." I was a little furious, we weren't going to sell this guy just because he had brown hair! What kind of fool would do that? I did feel a little anxious though. If he was brainwashed he shouldn't have acted so calmly by now. He should be screaming and clawing his way out, trying to get back to his master. He shouldn't be sitting there trying to calm himself down while nervously watching them. I was a bit leery, maybe the dragon was protecting him. If so, from what?

"Well guys, let's get moving for now. I'm sure our strange prisoner over there can walk with us. Hopefully the traps haven't been reset."

As we packed up our things to leave I looked around this room, it was a great find. A room with no monster spawns would be perfect as a base camp. Just this info alone could be worth golds. Sighing I forlornly looked at the worn out backpack I carried. Unfortunately instead of being loaded down with treasure, like that silver platter I was loaded down with guilt. I hadn't a clue why I was though.

We finished packing, attached the rope to the young guys waist and set out into the hallways, back to the surface. Or at least we would've had we not come face to face with a wall. Apparently the labyrinth didn't want the boy to go. Too bad. I wound up my fist and punched the wall, we would find a way through. Even if I had to break every damn wall in this place.

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[Astarte's POV]

The tears freely flowed from my eyes. I had made my choice. It was between the only people I had in my heart. Bran was vibrant, full of energy and he kept me company. He was not my daughter though. She was my everything and though I hadn't seen her in a decade I held hope that I would soon. So the tears fell. Poor Bran, he was but a flame in the dark.

When I had first met him I was amused by his strange antics, the way he laid on the floor as if dead. Oh how amusing it was to see a human with personality. When he challenged me to a game of riddles was when I had truly decided that he was worth a small portion of my time... maybe. No mortal had ever struck me quite like he had, as a dragon we live in almost another world. We pass our days by sleeping and guarding our treasures. The only real treasure I guarded however was the life below me. So when I sat and listened to the hustle and bustle life in these cities I was intrigued to say the least. His face had come alive with color and expression when he described how buses travel the paved roads. More so when he explained what the black rectangle he held was. Fortunately he had left it in his pants pocket when he had been taken here. In the last few weeks he had shown me his favorite songs, all of which were comparable to gods music. For a day we had sat there listening to what he called a "podcast" about three brothers answering questions. The words were beautiful. He showed me his favorite one, they were playing a game of some sort called " Dungeons and Dragon's". His face had flushed when he said that. The stories they wove were unfamiliar, there wasn't a single dragon or dungeon in any of it! When he had looked at me with tears in his eyes he showed me something on the tiny rectangle. It was a painting of his family, all of them were smiling, they were happy.

He told me of the times he shared with his friends. How they would sit and talk for hours about silly things like girls, and local happenings. Of how he had walked through every street alley and trail in and around his town. He had talked of his brother, how he was so arrogant all the time and how he sang incessantly. He then told me of how they used to fight and yell at each other, he was crying when he told me that he was sorry about not leaving his brother any money for the place they lived. I had asked him why they needed the money to live there. He said that one of the things he had not explained was "rent" that he must pay to live in his tiny home.

I looked around the room. It was a mess, and I hoped the labyrinth shades came through to clean it soon. Over half of the doors were blocked by rubble, caused by my roars and raging when he had been taken. The cage he had slept in was melted, I couldn't stand the sight of it. It brought back the guilt, the indecision about finding him. I couldn't leave though. Not yet. My daughter was here and she was family.

Tears fell again, they looked like liquid gold. Streaming into my cushion they reminded me of his own tears. He would understand, my family was important, she was all I had left now. So I lay my head down to rest. I sniffle a bit, not due to need but out of habit. And just before I close my eyes I see the lone clay cup sitting on the ground, knocked over in the party's mad dash for the door. I sigh and shake my head to clear the dark thoughts of how he must feel. My daughter comes first, Bran would understand that. I lift the edge of the cushion and peer at the metal door. She would agree with me. It was something she always said.

"Family first." I whispered to myself. Entering the sweet land of dreams.

# Hey there! this is just a quick reminder that you should totes rate this fiction or at least comment! Any feedback helps me write! Also when someone pieces together the crumbs of knowledge and figures something out it makes me giddy! So if you got theories post them below!#

if anyone, god forbid saw the old title. Just like shhhhhhhh k?