We continued through the second floor in much the same way we had the first. We followed Meebur through the dungeon for a few more hours, taking precise turns that made me certain he knew exactly where he was going. There were several more golems, some of which we avoided by sneaking around corners, and others were left for me to defeat.

  Overall, I found the entire journey pretty easy. It was exciting to utilize some of my skills like and but after a few easy golem fights it started to become a bit repetitive. We were even getting the same rewards from defeating golems. Meebur was quickly filling a bag with escape buttons and random pieces of unremarkable gear dropped from several of the golems I bested. If my tamer’s goal was to immerse me in danger so I could recall some memories, this wasn’t looking like the right place.

  And even Frey seemed out of sorts. As opposed to being encouraged by the journey, he began to look even more depressed. He started walking slower and slower, and I could tell it wasn’t because of exhaustion. Watching two guild leaders and a deity monster easily dispatch this dungeon was getting to him.

  Why are we here? I thought, looking at my tamer with skepticism. I asked Astrid to question Meebur on what his plan was, but for the first time since she became my interpreter, she refused to do so.

  “I understand it’s odd,” she whispered to me, “and while I haven’t always agreed with Meebur, he hasn’t been around this long for nothing.” Whatever Meebur was doing, Astrid seemed to understand it. She had trust in him, so I tried to feel the same. But it was getting more and more difficult.

  The next few floors were even less eventful than the first two. The fourth floor in particular was odd. We didn’t encounter a single golem, not even in that floor’s room of threads. We climbed up to the fifth floor without any issue.

  I shouldn’t be upset to have an easy floor, but it definitely feels weird. As though someone defeated them all already…

  After more uneventful encounters, we eventually came towards a part of a floor I expected to have threads leading us up. But there were no more threads to climb. We had reached the top floor of the dungeon. And on the top floor we saw a large wall made of the same white stone as everything else, but that had a large line down the middle of it. Like a massive seam hastily stitched into a garment, the line stood out amongst the blank hallway.

  “Frey, do you know what this is?” Meebur asked, once the new recruit caught up. He had been lagging behind for a few floors. I was impressed he was still with us, but also concerned because of how slowly he was moving.

  “I do, but I hope I’m wrong…”

  “You’re not.” Astrid said with a wicked grin.

  “It’s the door to the boss room, isn’t it?” Frey asked.

  “Correct!” Meebur said, clapping his big hands together happily. “And what’s inside that room?”

  Besides the boss, I thought.

  “Yeah, besides that,” Astrid whispered down to me.

  “Well, there’s the boss…but also the thing the boss is guarding.” Frey answered.

  “Correct again!” Meebur said. “The boss is a golem bigger and nastier than any others found inside the dungeon. And they’re always guarding a rare item known as a stellar raiment. These range in quality depending on the rank of dungeon you go to, but always provide some kind of benefit or skill while wearing them. And unlike the dungeon items found throughout the floors, like the escape buttons we’ve been gathering, these are not of limited use. Once you have one and are wearing it, the skill is available to you.”

  “That’s amazing!” Frey said, and I also thought.

  “Each dungeon always provides the same stellar raiment. Once a boss is defeated, you can take the raiment and then the boss will regenerate after anywhere from a few days to a few months. And the raiment regenerates as well. This particular dungeon has been visited numerous times by our guild as a training ground. It’s the lowest rank of dungeon classified: a C-rank. That means the boss is relatively weak. Even some of our more talented recruits could beat it on their own. And that’s what you’re going to do.”

  “What?” Frey asked.

  “You’re going to defeat the boss. Alone.”

  “How am I supposed to beat it? I haven’t even been able to create a hatchling egg, let alone hatch a monster that can fight!”

  “Yes, it should be pretty tough for you without a monster.” Meebur said, still smiling.

  “Tough? More like impossible! If you don’t actually want me in your guild, you can just kick me out. You don’t have to lure me to the end of a dungeon and have me killed!”

  Before Frey could ask anything further, Meebur stepped forward. With a push from one of his massive hands, the door to the boss room opened. And with a push from his other hand, Frey was nudged inside. He gave a short, little yell as he passed through the doorway, which made Meebur chuckle as we all followed close behind.

  It took even my eyes a second to adjust, as the room inside was very dark. But after a few moments, the entire room became bright as torches all along the walls lit abruptly. The room was as circular as the dungeon tower itself, and the flames from the torches shone a pale pink color unlike any fire I had ever seen before. There was no furniture or architecture of any kind. Not even a treasure chest or mound of gold coins like I had been picturing. Despite an ominous feeling, as though many eyes were watching us, there was only one thing in the room. A golem. But it was unlike any golem we saw throughout the dungeon’s floors. It was larger than all of them combined, almost half the height of the room itself.

  That thing must be four Meeburs in height!

  “Probably five,” Astrid said to me.

  “F-five what?” Frey asked, his legs shivering as he stood before the massive boss golem. “Five seconds until it attacks?!”

  “Maybe less!” Meebur said as casually as if he was talking about measuring ingredients to make his favorite dessert, rather than an imminent golem attack.

  While Frey’s forehead became drenched in sweat, I wondered how my true form would stack up against this golem. I hadn’t had any trouble against the ones we saw before this, and assumed even a boss golem would prove simple to defeat.

  But this is Frey’s fight. Apparently.

  Despite everything in his body clearly telling him to run, Frey stepped forward. With no monster or weapon to aid him, he stood before the boss golem alone. It was mighty impressive. If not for how visibly his legs were shaking and how he kept muttering “I’m going to die” to himself over and over.

  With Meebur, Astrid, and I watching from the doorway, the giant golem finally turned to look at Frey. It had four eyes and each one looked down at the tiny tamer. For a brief moment it looked like nothing would happen. That it would simply remain frozen there, staring down for all eternity. Its limbs didn’t even sway an inch. I had never seen something stand so still.

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  “Meebur, are you sure this is alright?” Astrid asked, questioning her former leader openly for the first time that I saw.

  He didn’t answer, but simply gave her his usual wide grin.

  And then it attacked. With a speed unbecoming of something so large, the boss golem’s massive fist slammed down towards Frey. It didn’t wind up or give any indication that it was about to attack. It simply struck.

  Frey was lucky he had legs well trained from fleeing. He dodged backwards almost as fast as I would have. But I probably wouldn’t have screamed.

  “AHHHHHH!! Nooooo!”

  The golem’s attack continued, despite Frey’s pleas for it to stop. Something told me the golems didn’t respond well to bargaining, but Frey kept trying.

  “I promise, I don’t want to fight! We can talk about this!!”

  However concerning it may have sounded to hear Frey beg for his life, he ran with his legs even better than Hodi ran his mouth. The golem came close to hitting him every time, but Frey was always able to just barely get out of the way. It was actually extraordinary how well he ran from the golem’s attacks. I wondered if I could even move that fast.

  But his luck couldn’t hold out forever. He and the boss golem had been fighting for such a brief amount of time, and already I could see Frey running out of stamina. He couldn’t keep this up for much longer. Travelling up the dungeon in a single day had worn him out. And even if he was fresh and rested, this would have been beyond his ability.

  I turned to look at my tamer, expecting Meebur to notice as well and finally step in.

  But he didn’t move.

  He just stood there, his arms crossed, and a smile on his face.

  Meebur, we have to do something. He can’t win!

  “Meebur, Nid wants to intervene,” Astrid said, “and I have to say…I think he may be right. I know an intense situation like this can unlock a person’s potential, but it’s no use if he doesn’t live.”

  “That’s true.” Meebur said, but remained still.

  The golem’s next attack came much closer to hitting Frey. With my enhanced senses, I could hear the wind from the strike actually ripple against Frey’s jacket as it nearly knocked him over.

  The next attack wouldn’t miss.

  I slithered across Meebur’s chest and down to the ground so I could look up at him. I stared at my tamer right in the eye, but he completely ignored me.

  It was infuriating.

  All day he kept Frey in the back, keeping him safe. He let me fight the enemies and I dispatched them with ease. Why was he behaving like this now? Sure, I hadn’t unlocked any memories, and Frey wasn’t able to activate his mark, but so what? At least we were alive and could try something else another day. Was my tamer so stubborn that he couldn’t admit his plan to come here had failed? That this had been a bad idea?

  “Aghhh!” Frey yelled out as the golem grabbed him in its massive fist, lifting him effortlessly into the air. In seconds the golem would squeeze and crush Frey, and yet my tamer still stood there like nothing was happening. I could hear Frey’s body buckle against the golem, trying to stay strong amidst the immense pressure. But his frail form was beginning to fail him.

  “Meebur, this has gone too far-” Astrid yelled out, but just as she was about to lunge forward to help Frey, Meebur finally moved. He grabbed Astrid by the arms, and held her back. “What are you doing?!”

  Meebur wasn’t going to do anything. And Astrid no longer could either.

  Frey was helpless.

  He was going to die.

  Just like me, as a hatchling in the forest of death, Frey was powerless to do anything. The golem may as well have been the Harrowhawk, hovering over an egg, for how easily things were about to come to a gruesome end.

  My eyes went wide, and I felt a horrifying memory return to me.

  The memory was of another person who felt helpless. Who walked aimlessly through life from errand to errand, never feeling like they had the power to do anything that mattered. They felt weak and tired all the time. They were yelled at by coworkers, by their boss, by people on the street who said they moved too slowly. Everywhere they went they were useless and in the way. This person was going home not because it was a place they felt safe, but because their legs were simply moving automatically. They took this train, at this time, every day, so why should they change? When the platform became crowded, and someone shoved them with just a bit too much strength, this person didn’t even have the energy to stabilize themself. They fell forward, landing painfully on the metal tracks before them. Their eyes glazed over as even the pain didn’t jolt them awake. They saw the light of the train approach, and it was only in that final moment that they woke up.

  I remembered the last thing I thought in my first life:

  I wish I wasn’t so weak…I wish I wasn’t so worthless…

  As the painful memory flooded my mind, I burst forward with all of the speed I could. I grew to my full form, metallic scales shimmering in the pale pink light of the chamber. With my long tail encircling the room multiple times, I spun rapidly towards the golem and wrapped my entire body around it. Completely surrounded by impenetrable and sharpened scales, I crushed the golem with all my strength. I squeezed harder than it ever could have squeezed Frey, and it quickly loosened its grip on him. He fell down to the ground, but I caught him easily with the end of my tail. My maw opened wide, fangs barred as I looked down at the emotionless golem before me. It didn’t show any sign of fear, which was its greatest fortune. Because I was not going to hold back anything. It would fall to my fully unleashed power with such ferocity that I knew it would be reborn in this dungeon remembering the threat that I posed.

  Terror of me would span all of its lifetimes.

  Poison leaked from the tips of my fangs as I prepared to lunge forward and destroy the golem. However, a small hand pressed against my tail, stopping me right before I attacked.

  “Nid…thank you…” Frey whispered, “but this was my fight…I can’t let you do this…”

  Frey rolled himself off of my tail, and landed on the ground with a loud crash. His limbs lifted himself up, but they were shaking. It was difficult for him to even move. I turned back to the golem and prepared once again to finish it off.

  “Let it go, Nid!” Frey yelled, pulling himself back to his feet. “I’m supposed to defeat it. I have to…it’s the only way I can become a real tamer!”

  “You don’t have to do this, Frey!” Astrid yelled out, only for Meebur to immediately cover her mouth.

  “I do. I can’t keep running. Every step I take running…is a step I take further from my parents. From who I could have been if they hadn’t died. I need to do this!”

  “Then do it.” Meebur spoke, finally. His words echoed through the chamber like the rumbling of an earthquake. “Trust your mark, trust your motivation, and defeat the boss with the power of a tamer.”

  Frey turned to look at Meebur, his dark curly hair dripping sweat as his head moved. He was as confused and frightened as he had been when we started this fight. Meebur nodded towards me, who was still holding the boss golem in my grip.

  “Tamers don’t fight alone, Frey.” Meebur said.

  Frey turned back to look at me, and moved forward as though he knew exactly what he had to do. He placed a hand onto my tail, to stabilize himself. But I could feel something from him. It was as though Frey’s dedication had become a warmth that began to emanate from the mark on his hand. It glowed white, and my tail felt a sudden surge of strength, the light flowing throughout my entire body. With this unexpected boon, I lunged forward and let my fangs sink into the golem. With an empowered , I ripped apart the boss in a single strike and watched as venom soaked the pieces of the defeated golem.

  I returned to my cute form once the boss began to fade, and quickly faced Frey. He was hurt, staggering in place, but smiling despite the injuries. To be safe, I slithered towards him. He lifted me up closer, and I opened my mouth to bite him. He didn’t flinch at the movement, trusting me completely. My fangs sunk into his arm, and I quickly used a healing skill called . Unlike everything else my fangs did, this bite restored some of his health, and soothed the pain.

  “Thank you…” Frey whispered down to me.

  Astrid jumped out of my tamer’s arms as his grip loosened. Meebur then walked towards Frey and I.

  “Congratulations on using your first tamer skill, Frey. That was called .”