“Oh… no.” Burin turned away from the remains of the beastkin climber. “Swap sides with me.”

Burin was pointedly looking away from the remains as he grabbed the feet. The face looked no worse than the other beastkin we had moved so far but I did not want to question the teary eyed dwarf.

Shrugging, I grabbed the shoulders of the corpse. Working together we moved the corpse into an open area to be stored.

Yui dropped an enchanted cloth that slowly wrapped around the body. “Why does this one bother you?”

“His ears. Looks just like my Grokun.” He rubbed one of his eyes with the back of a hand. “The family pup. We spent most of my childhood together.”

The beastkin in question had an iron ring pierced in his left ear. I also realised that I forgot to grab the TKS. Before the enchanted cloth reached the head of the corpse, I reached down and removed the tower key storage amulet.

“Your pet had their ear pierced?” I asked.

“Of course.” Burin said proudly. “But his was gold to match his tail’s.”

“His tails what?”

“I don’t much like hounds as pets.” Richard chimed in. “They are too needy and wet. Cats are way better. My aunt had a cat that was soft as silk to touch.”

“Aye, sure very soft… but how long could ye pet it before getting cut?”

“Fair point. Affection was very much on her terms.”

“See. Dogs will never say no to affection. They also love exercise and will happily run around all day with ye.” He scoffed. “What good is a cat apart from looking pretty?”

“They teach children about personal boundaries?” Richard offered.

Miko let out a laugh. “I can’t tell if that was a statement or a question. I am on Burin with this one. Dogs are the best pet to grow up with.”

I motioned to Burin. “Come on, one left.”

“What about you Yui?” Richard asked. “What pet did you grow up with?”

It took a second for Yui to respond. Her eyes were unfocused until Richard’s words registered. “Oh. Sorry. Was just looking over my notification… I grew up with a pair of dragons. Grandfather was out of the city on a quest when he met their mother. He bested her in battle and she pledged herself to him in exchange for her life. He agreed and she asked him to take her young for a decade while she recovered from her wounds. Grandfather said that half the family treasury is due to their relation to us.”

“What?” Miko questioned with a raised voice. “Did you just call the Dragon twins your family pets?”

Yui shrugged. “We also had a few cats and dogs around, and a slime the librarian liked to keep for paper disposal… If that counts.”

Burin chuckled as we grabbed the eighth and last of the bodies. “Talk about golden spoons.”

I thought about Hiro and what he told me. “Well, her grandfather is like a thousand years old or something.”

Burin gave a whimsical smile as we moved the last body. “Imagine all the gold I will have at that age. I’m going to sleep under blankets of enchanted gold.”

As we were moving the body a sob sounded out. Turning my head, I saw that one of the beastkin survivors was awake and staring towards us. Or more accurately, the body we were moving.

Richard placed a hand on the wolfkin’s shoulder and prevented her from rising too quickly. “Easy there.” He said in a gentle voice and helped her sit up. “You are not in good shape, so move slowly. My name is Richard and I’m healer working with the Exterra guild. Do you know where you are?”

Rising to a sitting position she tried to speak but only a croak sounded out.

“Give her some water, you idiot.” Miko said as she moved closer.

“Right. Of course.” He pulled out a tall glass bottle with runes etched into it and offered it to the beastkin.

He held onto the bottle. “Just sip. Don’t gulp it down.”

The beastkin clasped the water bottle and took small sip after small sip. Once she felt like she had enough she looked around the room. Her eyes widened as they found the other survivor.

“Rose.” Her voice was hoarse as she called out the name. She reached out towards the other beastkin and tried to get down from the table. Richard caught her when her legs gave out trying to stand.

Miko rushed forwards and supported her from the other side. “Careful.”

“She is okay.” Richard said reassuringly. “Like you, she is just very weak.”

She looked at Richard. “And Richie?”

“What?”

She turned and looked at the body that was now fully wrapped in white cloth.

“Oh. I’m sorry.” Richard said. “You and uh, Rose were the only survivors.”

She just nodded and looked down into her lap.

We waited another hour in the hopes that Rose would wake on her own. Azalea, the beastkin survivor that had woken up, did not talk much and after eating fell back asleep. Richard did his best to get some water into Rose but did not want to give too much in case she choked.

The team decided it was better to continue forwards and I was given the duty to carry the unconscious beastkin. I carried Rose on my back, while my shadow supported Azalea.

“Why do I have to carry her?” Complained my shadow. “I can’t exactly kill pirates like this… I mean I can, but it wouldn’t be as fun.”

“I think that’s exactly why Yui had us carry them.” I replied. “Besides, Burin would end up half dragging her on the ground and Richard…”

“Yeah, he doesn’t look like he could carry either one for long. Despite how much he seemingly wants to.”

We were moving up another set of stairs, the fourth set by my count, and were walking behind the others. My shadow stepped closer to me and started whispering. “Now that I think about it. Remember when you first met him? He did seem a bit obsessed with beastkin.”

I glanced at my shadow. “I can’t believe I am having this conversation with… myself.”

Ignoring me, he continued. “He had that book. What was it called? ‘My beastkin fantasy’ or something.”

A laugh escaped my lips. “I don’t think that’s what the title was. Besides, so what if he likes a bit of tail?” My shadow snickered. I smiled and continued talking. “Anyway, I don’t think he is the sort to prey on the vulnerable.”

We reached the next deck and watched as the others engaged in battle with several sand pirates.

“Aw man.” Moaned my shadow. “Yui is gaining on me.”

“You weren’t really counting kills, were you?”

My shadow shrugged, jolting the passenger on his back before giving me an evil grin. “Yui is very competitive. It was fun seeing her get more and more frustrated with every lead I gained. I bet she was thinking something like ‘I have been training since I before I stopped breastfeeding, how is he besting me?’” He let out a laugh.

Yui did seem to be pushing herself. She was darting back and forth around Miko, slashing out and cutting down pirates that were within range. Miko was like a serene rock in comparison. Her shield was used just as much for offense as defense. Burin was taking more of a crowd control role. He used his new wellspring spell to spill water over the floor and then froze it under the feet of the pirates, causing them to slip, fall, or become stuck to the floor.

Richard was taking more of an offensive role now too. He would alternate between shooting out beams of light towards the pirates and sending healing orbs to his teammates.

“Doesn’t look like they need much help anyway” I commended.

“Sure… But pirates!” My shadow stated as if that was the winning argument.

“Heh, butt pirates. Mac would like that one.”

We moved forwards until a feeling of wrongness overcame me. Something extremely dangerous was about to show itself. My instincts screamed at me to ready myself. My heart was racing, and I sucked in air. I rebalanced myself and prepared for what was coming. My shadow must not have noticed the danger as he was standing in a relaxed posture… too relaxed. He was even chuckling.

He then looked over to me, his smile gone, and raised an eyebrow.

I continued scanning our surroundings, something was coming. I was sure of it, was it Zelphar? No, he was dangerous but only because of his level, this was something else. The feeling reminded me of my time in the tower. My lungs felt useless, I felt out of breath, despite them working overtime.

“Relax.” My shadow called out from what sounded like a mile away. Confused, I turned to look at him and was surprised at how close he was. Was he always that close? Too close. I couldn’t fight freely.

“Relax.” He said again. My shadow must be crazy. To relax means death. I broke out in a sweat and glanced behind my back. There was a shadowy opening leading downwards.

There! Something is coming. I can feel it. I let the burden on my back slide down to the floor and glanced back towards the others. Good, they were finished with the pirates. They can flee to safety, whatever this was it’s too much for them. I turned back to the dark opening. My hands were slick with sweat and I my focus was stuck on the darkness below. I felt weak, much too weak and I cursed myself for not preparing more. No matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to get enough air into my lungs.

I conjured a sword. A copy of my own sword. It shook in my hands. I knew it was just a replica as this blade was not whispering to me. However, despite that, the familiar weight and shape of the hilt filled me with reassurance. I stood there. As ready as I could be for what coming….

Nothing happened for what felt like hours and the feeling of imminent doom slowly dialed down. My breathing came back under control and my arms stopped shaking. There was nothing coming from below. I felt ridiculous. I let myself relax and turned around to the others.

My shadow had his back towards me, his arms outstretched, keeping the others at distance. They had concerned looks on their faces.

“What do ye mean give him space?” Burin yelled. “He needs help!”

“No.” My shadow said firmly. “I don’t know if he can tell friend from foe right now. If you get too close to him… he might cut you down.” I had never heard my shadow self sound so serious.

“I would never cut down a friend.” I said hoarsely.

My shadow turned his face to me, if I didn’t know better, I would have thought he looked frightened. He looked me over and relaxed. He lowered his arms and grinned. “Nice sword.”

Flexing my hand, I felt the intricate grooves under my fingers. For some reason, I was not ready to dismiss the weapon.

“Reigner, are ye okay?” Burin asked as he took a few steps towards me.

“I’m okay.” I replied. “Just tired.”

“You look exhausted.” Miko commented. “What happened?”

“I’m sorry for worrying you all… It’s embarrassing.”

As Burin reached me, he put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a friendly squeeze.

“It not embarrassing.” My shadow stated. “After what you went through It’s only normal.”

“Maybe.” I replied. Feeling very weary I moved to the closest wall and sat down against it. “Why were you not affected?”

“I don’t know. Probably because of my stunning good looks.”

“Affected by what?” Yui asked.

“He… had a panic attack.” My shadow explained.

I laughed. “Stupid, isn’t it? Here we are having fun fighting pirates on a giant magical pirate ship and I go and have a panic attack.”

“What do you mean, having fun?” Richard asked.

“Like hell it is!” My shadow growled over him. “It has not even been a month since you left that shadow infested hellscape. You think you can walk away from spending over twenty years in a place like that and be perfectly okay?” He sounded angry. “Honestly, I am more surprised it has not happened sooner. If I had to guess why, maybe it was the excitement of magic? Either way…” He crouched down and met my eyes. “Do not be ashamed for what you had to sacrifice to save that world. They have a label for this back on Earth, if you remember.”

For a second I thought he was going to say ‘back home’ but then I never saw that place as my home. Earth or Torath. I made friends and acquaintances sure, but the last time I saw them was the day I entered the tower… Twenty seven years ago. That was no place to call home.

I nodded to my shadow. “Thank you.” It felt weird receiving advice from my own shadow… But I knew deep down inside that I would have done the same for him.

Miko let out a gasp. “You saved Earth?”

No longer feeling the need to wield the hollow replica, I dismissed it. “Not Earth.”

Saved from explaining further, Azalea, who was still on the floor from where my shadow dropped her, reached towards her companion. “Rose!”

Looking over, Rose’s eyes were open. She was looking at Azalea, sobbing her eyes out. At least I thought she was sobbing, there were no tears, but her face was screwed up and she was breathing heavy.

Azalea crawled over and embraced her. She whispered comforting words through her own crying.

Richard placed the bottle of water next to them and took a step back.

“Let’s take a break.” Yui said.

Happy to just stay where I was, I leaned my head against the wooden wall of the ship, I knew it was called something else, but I was just too tired to remember. Hull? That might have been it. I closed my eyes and ruminated on ship lingo.

When I woke, the first thing I saw was Burin sitting down next to me, munching on a sandwich. Looking around I saw that everyone was eating a sandwich of some kind. The two beastkin survivors Azalea and Rose were in discussion with Yui and Richard, each with a sandwich in hand. Miko was inspecting her shield with one hand while holding a half eaten sandwich in the other.

My shadow was moving around and handing out tall glasses of juice. He walked over and handed one to Burin before turning to me. “Feeling better?”

Burin turned his attention onto me, his eyes widened. “Yer awake, Reigner. I’m sorry… for what ye went through… I’m glad you survived and are here with me.”

“I told them.” My shadow stated in explanation.

I was not angry at my shadow for telling them. Instead, I was relieved. I have already explained some of it to a few people here and each time just brought back memories and emotions I would rather move on from.

Nodding to my shadow I reached out to the juice he held.

He pulled the glass away and sneered. “Oi, hands off, this is mine. Summon your own bloody drink.”

Chuckling at being denied a drink from my own conjuration, I took his advice and did just that. A merryberry juice, something Teek showed me how to make, appeared in my hand.

I took a sip and looked to Burin. “Thank you, Burin. Please don’t worship me.”

He punched me in the arm. It didn’t feel like he held back either. “Worship ye? Bah ye are not the first washed up hero I have seen. In fact, Grogun, was my uncles best friend.”

“Who?” My shadow and I asked at the same time.

“Bah. No one no remembers the great history of the dwarves in this city.”

Miko laughed. “You do realize he has only been here for a few weeks now? How is he meant to know who Gorum the great was?”

“Grogun the great!” Cursed Burin, slightly squashing his sandwich. “Gorum, son of Grogun, was the bard that sung of his father’s deeds.” He nudged my elbow. “and a damn fine one too.”

“I believe you.” I said before taking a sip of my drink.

Yui walked over. “How are you doing Reigner?”

I waved off the question. “Fine. How are the two beastkin?”

“Better now than before we found them. They are sisters and are part of a community that lives on this floor.”

“They are T-Mads?” Burin asked.

“Tower nomads, yes. Their team was out raiding for supplies from roaming pirate skimmers... Before being swept up by this mobile dungeon that is. Apparently, this what we are in now is considered a myth, a story they tell their young to keep them well behaved.”

“Aye? Pretty convincing to me.” Burin replied as he knocked the back of his hand against the...

“Bulkhead!” I grinned after remembering the correct term. The others just stared at me in silence.

“Uh, sorry. Just remembering something.”

“Ookay. Anyway, the sisters tell me that this place is a raid level dungeon.”

“Cool” Was all I said.

“By the tower!” Burin gasped.

Yui focused on me while pointing towards the dwarf. “That is the more expected reaction. That being said. Now we know more of what you are capable of.” She gave me a smile. “I expect we will make it through fine. Azalea and Rose will be joining us until we clear this place. They mentioned that they have a way of contacting their community, but they need to be outside under the sky.”

“Blast it.” Burin said as he started to rise to his feet. “Not the first time we have faced a Raid target. There must be a hoard of pirate gold to be found! Let’s get to it!”

“Not so fast.” Yui interrupted. “Since this is a raid dungeon, we don’t need to worry about respawns. We will stay here for another few hours so everyone…” She looked over to Richard and the two beastkin. “can rest up. Richard believes they will be able to move under their own power soon.”

Burin slid back down the bulkhead. “Will a few hours make that much difference?”

“Richard seems to think so.” Said Yui as she moved away.

Miko came over and crouched down. “You do remember that raid target almost killed us?”

“We got one of them.” Burin replied happily. “The loot was great.”

“True.” She smiled “I also remember a certain dwarf screaming and crying while we ran for our lives.”

Burin waved his hand towards Miko, shooing her words away. “Bah! I don’t know what cursed words you be spouting. It was a tactical and manly retreat! No crying involved.” He glanced towards me. “Right Reigner?”

“Right.” I replied. Scratching my chin I asked, “Was it raining that day?”

“No. I don’t think so.” Replied Miko.

“Strange. I could have sworn I felt some rain when running behind Burin.”

Burin jumped to his feet. “Aw shut it! The both of ye! I’m resting somewhere else.” He stomped away mumbling under his breath. “Hero? Bah! More like betrayo.”