Felia always was a heavy sleeper. However, her lack of drinking experience left her mind in a semi-awaken state. She felt someone bringing her somewhere unfamiliar. Then she felt as someone was taking off her chain armour. “Must be the clerics”, she thought and continued resting. Only when the someone’s hands starting pulling off her loincloth she realized what was happening to her.

Felia quickly opened her eyes. The dim light hit them and sharp, but mild pain rushed through her hangover brain. She turned her head to stare in the eyes of her attempted rapist. The elf in front of her stared back. He was tall, bald, his eyes were sunken deep into his skull, his grey skin sickly pale. An escapee, perhaps? His cloth pants laid a meter or so to the left, leaving him only in several-week dirty underwear.

She kicked him in between his legs. The elf doubled down, holding his crotch, and let out a pained groan. Felia pulled up her loincloth and stood up. As the rapist looked up, she hit him in his nose. He fell over. Dark and thick black blood from his nose trickled down his cheek and formed a little dirty red puddle on the floor.

Felia heard a muffled voice coming from behind the door: “Bokh! What’s going on in there?!” It was familiar, but there was no time to think about that. “Bokh?!” She picked up her chain armour and hid in the darkest corner she could find. The door opened, and the dwarf that gave her that grog shot. “What the fuck?!” He scrambled up to the elf lying on the floor.

Meanwhile Felia sneaked out of the room. She hastily started putting on her armour. But where was her mace? Where were her rags?! She looked around. It was a long dim lit corridor with doors on both sides. She looked forward and back, choosing where she should run. The dwarf came out of the room. “What the fuck’s wrong with you, Bokh?...” he whispered to himself. He moved his gaze up at the elf. “Oi!”

The elf chose to run forward. “Wait!” the dwarf yelled after her, but she didn’t listen. That fuckhead drugged and let someone rape her! Well, Bokh, if that was his name, did fail to do it, but this was no way to treat a fellow person.

She rushed through the corridor, and turned left. This place was too complicated to be the pub, she entered. What was this place?

Felia turned right, then right again and immediately entered a room on her left. It was empty. She shut the door and sat quiet. She heard the dwarf walk past the door. “Where the fuck is she?” he muttered and walked on forward.

The elf waited until she could no longer hear the dwarven frequent steps to open the door. She looked both ways to find the corridor empty and left the room. The exit. She had to find the exit, both of her cleric and rogue sides told her that.

The corridors looked the same to Felia. If you saw one dim lit corridor you saw them all. She decided to look through each of the door, in case they led outside. She leaned to the door opposite of her and listened to what was inside. No need, to break in just to find herself in a trap or anything along those lines.

Nothing was inside. At least, nothing made any noise behind the door. She opened it. This room was empty as well.

She checked the next room. Empty. Then the next. Empty too. She opened each door in hopes to find the exit, but only became more and more disappointed, until she opened a seventh door on the left side of the corridor.

“Wh-what?” she asked herself. There was Bokh, the same elf that tried to rape her. The pool of blood grew in size and covered half of his face. This confused Felia. she didn’t go in a circle, she was sure of it. And yet, here she was right in the same place, where she started. How was this possible? Magic was the only answer, but how many wizards could live here in Vienum? Considering that wizards were outlawed in all of Prinzessin.

“Hello again”, said the rough dwarven voice. The young elf turned around to see the dwarf she ran away from minutes ago. This should’ve surprised her, but it didn’t.

“What’s going on in this place?” she asked him.

“Are you talking about how you got back here, or about Bokh lying in a pool of his own blood? Because I’m pretty sure you know about it more than I do”.

“He tried to rape me”.

“Yeah, the fucker hasn’t seen a woman eager to fuck him in years. Guess he took the opportunity”.

“The opportunity?!”

“I’m not saying he’s done right. And anyway, you’ve shown him what’s what”.

She glanced at Bokh. “I guess I did”.

“Don’t give yourself too much credit though. He’s just skin and bones at this point. We’ve met him literally two weeks ago”.

“Who is ‘we’?”

“Oh, right, I’ve never told you my name”. The dwarf outstretched his hand to shake hers. “Me name’s Syln. May I ask you yours?”

“Uh… My name is Felia”. She never shook his hand. Syln lowered it and slightly shook his head with an understanding smile.

“The elf’s name Bokh”.

“Yeah, I heard you calling for him”.

“Oh, right”. Syln looked down at Bokh. “Well, I guess you should meet the rest of us. Come on, let’s go find them”, he told her as he took off.

“Doesn’t this place loop on itself? With magic, I mean,” Felia asked, as she went after him.

“You are absolutely correct! It does! That’s Bokh’s doing. We just need to turn left...” They made a left turn. “... left again...” They made another left turn. “... right...” Felia and Syln turned right. “... right...” Another right turn. “... go back and enter the third door on the left”. They opened the door and behind it were stairs, leading up, and ascended them.

The elf and the dwarf entered the room behind the door upstairs, where sat two humans: the mountain of muscles Felia sat next to, who wore only a loincloth, and a much smaller woman, who wore extremely inappropriate attire, barely more than a pair of strings. The human couple sat on opposite sides of a table with cards on it and in their hands. Next to them lied two piles of clothes. They both threw a glance at the newcomers. The man asked: “Where’s Bokh?”

“The bastard tried to rape the poor girl”, dwarf answered. “But she gave him a lesson”.

The man gave a little nod and turned back to the game. “You taught him good?” the woman asked the elf.

“You should ask him, when he comes here”, Syln said instead of Felia. “Just don’t be surprised about the blood on his face”.

The woman whistled and grinned. “Serves him right, I’ll tell you that! He tried to get in my pants as well. Filthy elf… Uh, no offence”.

Felia didn’t say anything. She didn’t like humans, but she didn’t hate them either. Not exactly. Their leaders always gave speeches about how all lands of Moria belonged to them and them only. That didn’t stick right with the elf. “What about elves, dwarves, goblins?” she wondered. “What about halflings and katzes?” Not to mention, how many wars the two countries had in the past, and, even though there were no official declarations about it, every Prinzessin citizen was sure that another one was at bay.

When she got no answer, the woman asked Syln: “Can’t she speak?”

“I can”, the rogue told her.

“Oh, I see”. And she turned back to the game so rudely interrupted by the dwarf and elf.

“I guess you two aren’t going to introduce yourselves”, Syln said. “Felia, I want you to meet Muscol,” the man raised his hand, “and Cervella”.

Muscol put a card on the table. “Oh, my!” said Cervella. “I guess, I lost. Well, here it goes”. As the man smiled, the woman started untying the cloth, holding her breasts. Felia felt her cheeks getting red and put a hand over her eyes.

“All right! Just follow me, Felia!” Syln said and went to the door, which, Felia supposed, led outside.

“Oh, don’t be shy, honey!” Cervella yelled after them. “It’s not like you two don’t know what’s under there”. They opened the door and heard the cloth flopping onto the floor. “Just look at these two babes of mine!” Syln slammed the door shut from the other side.

“If you keep ignoring her she will eventually stop doing this”, the dwarf told Felia. “You Are new here”.

Felia looked at the night scenery, before which they stood. They were still in Vienum. At least, they were in a city of some sort. Between the buildings she could see the forest, from where she came. “Exactly where is here?” she asked her captor.

“We are at the edge of the city square. This”, he pointed around them, “is the ‘Dragon’ Inn. Anything else you want to ask?”

“Did you poison me?” Felia asked bluntly.

“Me? No way! I mean, I do long for a woman’s touch, but you are not in my taste”.

“Then why did you bring me here?”

“Oh, I just can’t leave a woman in trouble. You’ve seen that place! If I and Muscol didn’t take you here, someone else might have!”

“Your ‘friend’ tried to rape me”.

“Yeah, that’s awkward”.

“Awkward?!” the elf raged. “You call rape awkward?”

“What else can I say?”

“I don’t know! At the very least, you could apologize”.

“What for?”

“For not keeping an eye on that rape happy Bokh of yours!”

Syln looked down at his feet. “You are right. I do apologize”.

“Th-thank you”. Felia calmed down a little.

The dwarf sighed. “Now then. Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure”.

“What such a young elf was doing at ‘Around the World’?”

Felia tightened her lips. She stared at the dwarf, hoping to put down the question, but Syln’s more experienced gaze forced her to speak. She looked down, sighed and said with a hint of embarrassment: “I was looking for a group of adventurers to get out of the country with”.

“Oh. What have you done?”

“Nothing!” she spurted. “I’ve done nothing”.

“Really?” Syln was obviously sceptical about what she said.

“Well… Nothing that was my fault...”

“There it is”. He waited for an answer, which didn’t come. “Just spit it out. You’ll feel better”. Felia looked at him with a question in her eyes. “I know from experience”.

She turned her gaze to look at the buildings and the forest between them. “... Someone I was supposed… to… look after died”. As Syln tried to say something, she added: “Extremely vicious. I… I can still see his crushed legs”.

“That’s cruel. When did it happen?”

“Yesterday...”

“Yesterday?! Girl, you are a quick one! Was that someone So important?”

“Yes. He was a promising paladin”.

“So, you are cleric?”

“No… Not anymore...”

“I see. And exactly how promising was he?”

“He was on his way to become a hero of the church.”

“That does sound promising”. He looked the same way she did. “So, let me get this straight: you were a cleric who was looking after a future hero, you got him killed, changed your class and got yourself drunk and almost raped? And all of that happened in a span of a day?”

“Pretty much”.

Syln looked at the elven girl. “This makes no sense”.

“I’m not saying it does”.

The dwarf for a moment stayed silent. “You know what? Let’s say I believe you. As I understand you want to travel with a group, and we are a good group as any. What is it for us?”

“I… I think I could...”

Her flow of thought was interrupted. “YES! DO IT HARDER! YES! RIGHT IN THERE! OH, DIVERTIM!” The wall behind Felia and Syln thrusted with so much passion that the birds on the roof took off.

Dwarf looked at the wall behind them. “You get used to that”.

THRUST.

“I don’t think I can”, Felia said.

THRUST.

“I don’t think anyone can”, she added.

THRUST.

“Can’t we have this conversation somewhere else?” she finally asked.

CRASH.

She heard someone’s quick footsteps inside and the lude sounds got softer. At least, for the people, who heard them. “See?” Syln asked and moved his hand in a presentable way to drive his point in. “You get used to that. Now please, go on”.

“What?”

“You were going to say what you were going to give to the group”.

“Oh, right. Well… none of you are very stealthy?..” The dwarf raised his eyebrow. “... None of you are. I am… and, I guess, I could steal something… if you need it...”

Syln started nodding in understandment. “So you are a rogue now?” Felia nodded too. “It’s a far stretch from cleric, you don’t find?” Just before the elf could answer, he continued: “I don’t judge! Just curious. And you’re right. We aren’t very stealthy”.

All of a sudden the noises humans made stopped. They heard Cervella’s voice: “GET OUT OF HERE YOU, PERV!” The door behind them suddenly opened, and Bokh came through it. In the room, Felia could see Cervella’s face and ass laying atop of Muscol, whose naked body was spread out on the floor. Bokh closed the door behind himself. His left cheek was soaked in blood, giving a little bit of life to his face, and his nose was bent unnaturally to the left. “Thank Parva”, thought Felia, when she saw he was wearing his pants. When Bokh saw the girl, however, his wide eyes widened even more, and instinctively he took a step back, hands over crotch.

“What do you want, Bokh?” the dwarf raised his voice.

“I...” His voice was quiet and weak, a little bit trembling as well. It sounded like wind was rushing out of a particularly small bag. “I wanted to get some fresh air”. He pulled his hands apart and, trying to stay as far away from Felia as possible, stood next to Syln. Dwarf watched his every move, while elf looked away.

“You have anything to say for yourself, Bokh?”

“What?”

“You were about to rape the poor gal. A sorry wouldn’t be amiss”.

“I am”. Bokh touched his nose, winced and sucked some air in.

“Tell that to her”.

Bokh moved his gaze to Felia. “I’m sorry. I haven’t seen a... healthy elf in years”. He looked down. “I am not proud of it”.

Everyone was silent. After a minute has passed the wizard said: “How is your foot?”

“Huh?”

“Your foot… I’ve noticed it was disjointed, so I’ve put it back in place. How does it feel?”

Felia looked at the foot that was crushed by the monster barely a day ago. It was fine. “I… I didn’t even notice”. She looked at him and plainly said: “Thank you”. This didn’t mean she trusted him or even liked him. That was nice of him to do, but the rape attempt just underlined its whole meaning. Yet, a ‘thanks’ was a requisite. “So”, she continued, “you are a wizard?”

“Yes”.

“And when did they put you in prison?” she asked.

“As soon as I got level 6. I was too excited to show it off”.

“Wait”, Syln interjected. “Are you two serious about this?”

“About what?” asked Felia, when Bokh said: “Yes”.

“Wizardry is a criminal offence around here?”

“Oh”, the girl said, when she realized the dwarf’s question. “Yes. You didn’t know that?”

“I heard about it. And this bugger told me that he was arrested by it, but I didn’t buy it”.

“Well”, Bokh answered the unspoken question. “Now you know for sure”.

“But she was a cleric! That’s… magic… isn’t it?”

“Ooh! So you were a cleric?” Wizard glanced at rogue.

“I was a cleric in service of the Tohcraft prinze”, both questions received their answer.

The door behind them opened and slapped the wall next to it. Fully dressed Cervella with her nose up high looked at them with a glimpse of judgement. In the background Muscol was jumping on one leg, putting on his pants. “You three are getting along, as I heard?”

“We are...” dwarf looked at the elves beside him. “... doing fine”.

“Hmm… Shame”. She looked at Felia and gestured her to keep her nose up. This ‘friendly’ exchange over with, she looked at Bokh and gestured the other way round. “By the way”, she turned back to the girl, “your staff’s in the basement. Get it… whenever”. She went back to the room, leaving the door wide open.

Bokh said: “It’s in the room opposite of where… you woke up”, and left after her.

“You can sleep where you want to”, Syln told the remaining elf. “Feel free to do whatever for now”. He went to the door. “But just so you know”, he stopped, “we leave in the morning”, and closed the door.

Felia stared at the closed door, turned around and stared at the stars filling the black night sky. This was it, she told herself. She found the people to leave this shit dump of her old life behind. She still had to run from the government, but having these… not exactly friendly, but anyway, people, put her mind to some kind of rest. It was warm and somewhat cosy. Not as she felt before Al’s untimely death, but still. The rogue turned around and entered the room. The cleric, stayed behind and slowly drifted to the black that was the night sky.