Terra and I push onward, leaving the Veilwood Periphery path behind, and venture deeper into the forest. The air is cold, and heavy with the scent of decay.

  "How are you liking Elias's magic?" I ask, curious about the frost that clings to his fingertips.

  Terra glances down at his body for a moment before replying. "It's good. It keeps my body from rotting, just like you said."

  "That's good."

  "Is it strange for you?"

  "Is what strange?"

  "Me possessing your brother's body. You don't find it to be strange?"

  I shake my head. "It's a strong body, and it deserves a strong soul."

  "You think I'm a strong soul?" Terra asks, seemingly surprised by my words.

  "Of course. You were a knight during your time among the living after all," I say, but Terra doesn’t hear me. He couldn't hear me.

  You don't have the requisite Karma to reveal this information

  With a frustrated swipe, I dismiss the prompt.

  "I’m sorry, what did you say? I didn’t quite catch that."

  "Never mind." My lips twitched into a small smile. If I wanted to progress our conversation naturally, I'd have to try another approach. "Do you remember anything from your time among the living?"

  "No, I don't remember a thing," he lies, and his gaze is distant, as if he’s recalling a faraway memory.

  I never knew just why it was that Terra always came to me, the soul of a knight whose past was clouded in mystery. He had stood beside me through all these lifetimes, but I had never learned what his true goal was.

  Perhaps I hadn't made it far enough in any of my past lives to uncover the truth. This time, I hoped, would be different. No, this time things had to be different.

  Finally, we reach the Withered Dreads. After another mile of walking, we come across a village. Or at least the remnants of one. The only sign it was ever here to begin with is the foundation of a handful of buildings, and at their center, a single well that remains untouched by time.

  I start my descent into the well. My hands grip the cold stone, and my fingers find protrusions on rough edges as I lower myself down.

  Terra follows after me, his voice echoing from up above. "Are you sure about this? This place feels...off."

  "Trust me, this is a shortcut."

  When we reach the bottom, I kick at one of the stones until it falls away, revealing a hidden corridor beyond. After knocking enough stones away, I crawl through. We enter a passage glowing with clusters of fungi that sprout from the walls. The skeletal remains of those who had met their end in this forgotten dungeon litter our path.

  "Let me go first," Terra insists, squeezing past me. "It's dangerous."

  I pull on the scruff of his neck just as a rusty spike ejects from the wall. It misses Terra by mere inches, and I continue to pull him back.

  "I'll go first. I think I've got a good sense for these kinds of things." Though I can’t see Terra’s face in the dimly lit passageway, I can sense his hesitation as he steps back.

  "Is this one of those dungeons I've been hearing so much about? You and your cousin had to go through one back in Seraphine’s Rest. Your injuries were bad."

  "That's right," I confirm, taking a deep breath and stepping forward into the darkness. "This is one of many. We're going to clear it and keep the rewards all for ourselves. Also I won’t be getting hurt in this one. Hopefully…"

  As we venture further, I carefully disarm each trap we come across before Terra speaks up. "How did you know about this place?"

  "Nobody ever lived in Wraithwood-Hollow, even before it became cursed land," I explain. "What would a well and the foundation of those houses be doing in the middle of a forest that nobody had ever lived in?"

  Terra considers this, his voice tinged with surprise. "You're perceptive."

  Although this wasn’t entirely true. In one of my earlier lives I had been running from Stygians and ended up falling down this very same well. Too weak to pull myself out, I lay at the bottom and cried until eventually a wall gave out behind me. It was by complete luck that I ever found this hidden gem. But Terra didn’t need to know this.

  My fingers brush against a bone, and without a moment's hesitation, I toss it forward. A spike erupts from the wall, penetrating the tibia.

  Unfamiliar coins can be seen littering the ground, their dull glint barely visible in the dim light.

  "I think we’re nearing the end, stay close."

  "The others aren't like you. Not that I've met many of you, you're just..."

  Terra’s voice trails off, and I glance back at him, urging him to finish his thought. "I'm just what?"

  "You seem unnaturally level-headed. Not that that's a bad thing by any means, but you're still so young. Yes, you have a few episodes here and there, but the majority of the time you seem oddly in control."

  "That's how all Crowsongs should be," I reply, stepping carefully over a pile of bones. "Stay calm, assess the situation, do what's best for the sake of the clan. That’s what they try to teach us at least."

  Terra nods, his gaze lingering on me for a moment before returning to our treacherous path. "That's right, but from what I’ve seen, you are an outlier. Even among your kin, you’re an exceptional leader. Your late brother was a valiant soul, I'm sure of it from my short time I had with him. Although Clarence is..."

  If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  "Clarence is a child," I interject, already knowing where he was going with this. "But he's growing more and more every day. Even if he does make mistakes."

  "Yes, that's what I was going to say," Terra agrees. "But you two are the same age, so it's just strange to me how different you two are."

  I feel a small smile tug at the corner of my lips as I slightly change the direction of the conversation. "And what about you? If a couple of 14 year olds are so young to you, then how old were you in life? You must remember at least that much."

  Terra purses his lips at the question, and after a moment of contemplation, he responds, "I was 26 in the prime of my life."

  "26," I echo. It was a different answer than last time. Really, weren’t knights supposed to have a code of honor or something?

  "That's a young age to meet your end. What was your occupation?"

  "I…was a knight."

  "A valiant one, I hope?"

  "I hope."

  We continue our journey through the maze of corridors, each step bringing us closer to the end of the dungeon. Finally we find ourselves standing before a small water reservoir, which has been mostly drained with time. From the shadows, something stirs, and I take a step forward, only to be yanked back by Terra.

  Mere inches from my face, the tip of a sword hovers menacingly. Of course, I knew this would happen; Terra was fiercely protective of me, and it was always fun to test if he still was, even across lives.

  He had never let me down. At times this was more of a curse, but right now, it was a blessing. It was a relief to see that he hadn’t changed like so many other things in this life.

  Terra throws me back, positioning himself between me and the new threat we face. The aquifier, a tall suit of armor concealed by heavy plate mail and several tattered robes, steps into view. Fungus coats the armor, and it is heavily corroded, yet somehow, it holds itself together. It stands just within the water, watching us with an eerie stillness.

  "Stay back," Terra warns, his voice low and determined as he prepares to fight.

  As the suit of armor shakes, its sword retracts back into its body, a single coin drops from within it and lands in the murky water with a soft plink. There’s coins everywhere in the room. Thousand of them, easily.

  "I think this is a wishing well," I say to Terra, watching as the ripples spread across the surface of the water.

  "Really?" he replies, his voice tinged with disbelief. "I can tell there’s no one inside that armor, the movements aren’t right. Is that thing supposed to be the protector of all of these wishes?"

  "Maybe," I muse, my eyes never leaving the towering figure before us. "He might just be a collection of hopes and dreams, stored into little coins inside of a suit."

  "Well, we have to defeat it to clear the dungeon, right?" Terra asks, his stance shifting ever so slightly.

  "That's right."

  With a determined stride, Terra steps forward into the large puddle of water, his boots splashing droplets onto the damp ground. The Aquifier charges in response, its movements heavy yet fluid. I focus my energy, forming an Aetheric Needle that soars through the air and into Terra's hand. It morphs seamlessly into a broadsword, its gleaming edge sharp enough to slice through weaker metals. Gripping the weapon tightly, Terra swings at the Aquifier, parrying its initial attack with deft precision.

  His next strike is swift and decisive, the Aetheric blade slices cleanly through the suit's sword arm. Hundreds of coins spilled forth, clattering against the floor and sinking into the watery depths, each one representing a wish that would go unfulfilled.

  The battle rages on, the clash of metal echoing throughout the chamber. Every time the Aquifier tries to retaliate, Terra grows faster, more agile. The more damage he inflicts, the more coins fall, scattering like lost memories into the water below.

  Finally, the Aquifier lay defeated, its body reduced to a torso, an arm, and a head. Terra stood before the fallen foe, his breathing heavy yet composed.

  "Do you have any last words?" Terra asks, his voice softening. He waits a moment, and then speaks again. "I guess not. Then please, rest easy."

  Although at the last possible moment, the Aquifier raises its remaining arm and flicks a coin into the water. The small splash seems to reverberate through the tense silence, marking the end of a sad and lonely existence. As the last ripple of water ends, Terra deals the killing blow.

  A golden orb glistens in the dim light as it rolls to a stop, its metallic surface catching the faint glow of the fungi that speckles the chambers walls. I step towards it, the shallow water rippling beneath my feet. I reach down, my fingertips brushing against the cold metal, and pluck the Aquifier's Soulgem off the ground. I had left this behind in so many lives, but now it was going to be put to use.

  "Come on, let's go," I mutter, pocketing the gem.

  As we begin to leave the chamber, Terra stops, his voice tinged with uncertainty. "Is every dungeon so… sad like this? It just doesn’t feel right."

  Each dungeon had its own unique challenges and dangers, but they all shared an underlying sadness in one way or another, the remnants of lives lost and dreams unfulfilled.

  "In a way, yes," I reply, my voice barely above a whisper.

  Terra looks back at the decapitated remains of the Aquifier, his gaze lingering on the scattered coins that now lay lifeless in the dark waters.

  "Do you think his wish came true?"

  "Let’s go, Terra."

  At last, we reach the end of the dungeon and stand before the treasure chest. It too has been untouched by time, unopened, as if it were waiting patiently for our arrival. The iron hinges creak in protest as I lay my hand upon its surface, but the lid pops open without resistance. I reach inside and pull out a sword.

  "Blade of the Shadewell," I read aloud, my voice barely above a whisper. A short sword with a description.

  Blade of the Shadewell: It's taken on the hopes and dreams of those who used to wish upon this well. It has a low level water enchantment

  I hand the blade to Terra, noticing how his eyes briefly dance with excitement. "This is yours, sir knight. Since you're good with a sword." He sheathes it gracefully, securing it at his waist with a respectful nod.

  It would be bad if Clarence was here… Reaching into the bottom of the chest, I discover several small, ripped baggies of gold coins. They weren’t of this world, but money was money. Gold would be useful somewhere. Greedily, I fill my pockets with as many coins as they can hold.

  "One more thing..." I murmur, leaning closer to the chest as I pry the false bottom free. Hidden beneath is a small, black shawl, which I recognized immediately.

  A shiver slither runs my spine as I recall the memory of the Aquifier obliterating the chest in his relentless pursuit of me. I had tried slipping past him that time, and it didn’t work. With a shake of my head, I push the thought aside, and focus on the item I hold in my hands now.

  "Shawl of the Shadewell."

  Shawl of the Shadewell: It's black because it's full of many different elements. It acts as a conductor, helping to protect the wearer from many types of magic

  I wrap the shawl around my neck and allow it to flow over my arm. It feels its warm embrace as its dormant power thrums beneath its threads.

  "When you defeated the Aquifier, you got a Divine Aspect. What was it?"

  "That’s right, it’s called Whisper of Luck. I will occasionally find a single coin in my back pocket. I will never get the same coin twice." As Terra says this, he pulls out an old, copper coin. Running across the side of it is the word ‘Liberty’, with the visage of a man on it.

  "It could be a useful ability if you ever need to make a wish. But… throw that one out, coppers no good to us."

  Terra does as I say, and tosses the coin aside as we leave the Shadewell behind.

  The Shadewell has been cleared!

  Shawl of the Shadewell received!