Franco was dozing off when Maph nudged him. He opened his eyes to see and hear Zif walking towards them. He stood to greet the golem, happy to get some of these burning questions answered.

  “Master Zif, it's a pleasure to meet you again” Maph said as he walked up and bowed.

  “Young Maph, the pleasure is mine. What brings you to the Temple of the Jade Goddess" Zif said, giving their group a bow.

  “To check up on our friend and ask his advice, but first it's only been a little over a month and it's hard to recognize the place with how much it's changed.” Franco said, shaking one of Zif’s four hands in greeting.

  “The work never ends but with the help of the adventurers we have made great progress. The second through fourth vaults have been fully reclaimed and with no further losses to my brothers. While more of the temple's systems have been repaired or replaced. All thanks to you” Zif said.

  He sounded pleased and in fact happy, Franco thought.

  “Zif we are happy to see how well things are going. We even noticed those new paintings out front.” Frazier said as she patted one of Zifs arms.

  “Did you like them? I have tried to honor the Goddess and your great deeds better but I am a poor artist and my brothers just paint what I tell them. In the future, once more of the temple is reclaimed I will hire more great artists to restore this place as it should be.”

  Franco could see Frazier change her response as Zif talked. The old golem was trying and didn't need to hear their complaints about the art outside no matter how embarrassing it was.

  “It is very good work for what it is but you do us much honor with us being out front by the door. We don't really deserve that and shouldn't stain the walls of such a place as this ” She said with a sweet smile. Her white straight teeth shined against her dark skin.

  “Not true, you accomplished great things and the Goddess would have the world know.” Zif said in his metallic voice.

  With nothing to say to that, the group went back to sitting down in the little amphitheater as Zif stood by the table. Two more golems stood by the far wall near the stairs down to the first Vault and they carried not only their weapons but Zifs. He showed them a lot of trust being here unarmed around them.

  “Franco, you said you needed my advice. I do not know how this fool of a priest can help but I will try my best”

  “First, friend Zif, be kind to yourself and second, can you tell us about this stone?” Franco said as he pulled out the purple stone that Cid had let him borrow and walked over to Zif so the golem could see it better.

  “That's an Adder stone, a Mental one by its color. May I” Zif said as he put his bottom right hand out to hold it.

  Franco dropped it into the waiting hand and watched as he brought it closer to his face or jade eyes and inspected it for a few seconds before he returned it.

  “It is an Adder stone with Mental attuned Mana. It will impart a confusion effect onto your captain’s bolts if given to her to use in her gauntlet. A very rare item, well at least in my time. Where did you find this?”

  “We didn't find it, but the adventurers that did found this stone along with others in an arrow trap in the dungeon. Two of the stones were a hollow white color. Do you know what those would be” Franco said.

  “What a waste for a Mental and Soul attuned Adder stones. Used on an arrow trap? Shameful. That is insanely wasteful. Do you know what these Soul stones you described did?”

  “Cause crippling pain or instant death onto Lizardkin and some giant spiders from what was told to us”

  “That sounds like direct soul damage. Very strong and strange for a Soul attuned Adder stone.” One of his hands tapped his face where his chin would be if he had one in thought.

  “Why is that strange, what else would Soul attuned Adder stones do” Franco asked after a few seconds.

  “They were mostly used to strengthen one's Soul which made you tougher and greatly speed up your body and mind's recovery from injury but were also very good for direct healing. Soul healing is better than almost all other forms of healing as soul healing returns the body, mind and soul closer to its original state and the soul has a long memory. Regrowing limbs or helping with trauma was all part of Soul based healing.” Ziff said.

  Franco felt his team looking at him but he continued to face Zif. The connection was obvious and with how it interacted with his Spirit Mind It opened up a lot of possibilities.

  “Thank you, well the reason why I am here is because I was given an Enhancement by God, Goddess or hell the Apparatus whatever you want to call it, but by the system when I was injured. It's called Spirit Mind and it saved my life I think.” He took a deep breath.

  “So Zif let me tell you my story, if you would listen.” Franco said as he turned and took a seat and after Zif waved him on he started at the beginning, in those tunnels the day they opened the doors to the Dungeon of Desanigh for the first time.

  ***

  Summer watched as Jax led twenty one other adventurers out of the central plaza towards one of the eastern boulevards that connected to the place. She stood there Mari and Ishtar at her side while Dai had gone willingly with Jax.

  “Still wished we had your sister and Kara” Mari said, rubbing his chin as they watched the group walking away.

  “Same” Summer said before she turned to go stand closer to Daggon

  Cid was separated from the group standing nearer the arch and that plaque that seemed to require only one more piece to solve. The ground between Cid and her group was mostly barren dirt plots with the bone piles in between them and the next large circle of adventurers that stood further back. They didn't want to get hit by some trap so they all stood ready and waiting. The air full of anticipation as she studded Cid and the ground around the arch.

  It was strange and different from any of the other grounds around them. It was rougher for some reason and as she studded it, it looked like bones were sticking out of it. Just bits and pieces coming through a layer of dirt.

  ***

  “You are going to wait here child. I don’t know how you got here but the city is closed besides the force Sir Allen is leading in. They are trying for the second floor and should be at the plaza now” The older elf woman said to her in a to patient voice.

  “I know, like I said I was with them and then decided I needed to talk to a friend who was going to the Jade Temple this morning so ran from the base of the 9th gate to here.” Autumn said again.

  She was growing very frustrated with this woman who would not listen to her or let her pass.

  “Well I just sent a Message spell and if you are a Mage so can you. Get the office to let you through and I'll let you move on from this spot”

  Autumn spun around and looked back down towards the city. They had ran all the way here from the 9th Gate and Kara and her were hurting from such a hard run but the damn guards here this morning at the 3rd gate would not let them through or to go back. She was sure she was actually better equipped then this Silver ranked team put together but there was no way she and Kara were going to force their way past five Silver rankers who didn't want them to.

  She didn't have time for them or this delay, she could almost feel Summers beating heart in her chest, like a second one beating alongside hers. It was here, whatever it was but Fate was here.

  ***

  “And thus the reason we are here, why did I pass out? What is a Spirit Mind and a million other questions. Sorry but I am desperate for answers Zif” Franco said.

  “That is quite the story and it is clear you have been touched by the gods. No wonder the Jade mistress favors you” Ziff said as his two top arms were crossed in thought while the bottom pair seemed to be wrestling each other.

  “Wait, she does? " asked Franco.

  “Oh yes, but that is not for me to discuss. Let us see here. Let me think. A Spirit Mind is very strange. This is new even for me, but it might be similar to the minds that help run this temple, although few remain of the original 200 after all these years.” Zif mused.

  “Wait, are these minds alive? Are they people or were they people?” Oaken asked real worry and concern in his question.

  “Young Oaken, now you have asked a question long debated during my time. The minds were created from the souls of newly departed priests of this temple, but one could never force a soul to do it, no matter how many thousands of slaves the city and their Masters sacrificed. Let alone the countless horrific experiments they are said to have done but there they failed unlike the slave golems.

  Franco shivered at the thought of what they did in the past for power. No modern nation would allow their neighbor to do such experiments. Desanigh was truly one of the great evils of the past he thought.

  “A temple mind is not that of one contributing soul. For whatever reason one soul is not enough to birth one but that of dozens of volunteer souls is needed to create one. So that was always the debate. Is it a new entity? or an old one given new life. My temple believed that it was not one of its former selves, nor a mere combination of many but something newly made and it’s creation was a birth. Now the real debate in my day was if they are people or machines like normal golems, and that I cannot tell you but they do not level so most thought of them as like unto golems”

  Frazier coughed and interrupted the old golem before he could let loose again in another tirade.

  “And about Franco” she asked.

  “Yes, excuse me, but I do like to digress, let me think” He stood there thinking but not silent and Franco was never sure if Zif knew he thought aloud so much.

  “So a Spirit Mind as an enhancement or something similar, but he was born new but not really, as you have your old memories of how to walk and talk, read and write, and of course to fight. But not of your past life until the other day and by the sounds of it other intense experiences.” He finally trailed off into silence as he thought for a few minutes and Franco went back to sitting.

  “Honestly, I do not know. This is a new thing, but I would see it as a way for the mind to protect itself or to continue functioning after such damage. I do not have the ability to see the physical damage to your brain but maybe the Spirit Mind is a physical thing. A Mana construct that actually fills parts of your mind, replicated or replaced in Spirit. That you are in fact missing little chunks of your brain. As I said soul healing can recover that which was lost months and even years ago, but it takes time or great magic. I expect your Spirit Mind is filling in what is missing and that it gives you more abilities than we yet know, young Franco” Zif said in a calm tone.

  They sat quietly in thought as Franco pondered his words. Thinking on how he could literally be missing pieces of his brain, but wait he had drunk a healing potion and seen skin and bone mend in front of his eyes. Why would it not be the same for his brain?

  “But what about healing potions?” Franco asked in a to defensive tone.

  He tried to calm himself before he spoke again. “I have drank a lot of those these last few weeks”

  “A reasonable question young Franco especially as they are far superior now than they were in my time, truly wondrous items but the mind like the heart is something healing potions and even common healing magic falter at after life ending damage. I did state earlier that one of the many reasons why soul healing magic is superior in almost all ways is that it restores what was physically lost unlike healing potions which mend and regrow. Besides the brain is more complicated than my golem heart, it is the realm of the gods, a simple healing potion, may mend flesh and bone, but does not remake a man in his mind”.

  Frazier, after another minute of silence cut it again with her question.

  “What about these Adder stones and the first floor?”

  “If these adder stones are as large as you described, they would have been some of the most valuable items in all of Desanigh at its fall and to be used as keys to unlock the next floor is interesting. A great temptation for any who knew about their worth, but as they say history has forgotten more wonders than will ever be built and now what would’ve sent nations to war at my birth are trinkets for adventurers. Get them if you can once the way to the second floor is open, and I will be able to work them or use them to empower the temple and many Legendary Artifacts that could not and have not been used in 10,000 years” Zif said with a hint of wonder in his metallic voice.

  “I expect this Harekin, a species not known in my time, is correct. If the smaller soul stones will survive vs the original larger one that seems to be missing is unknown and should be thought about. I do not know myself but it is a clever idea.” Zif said.

  ***

  Cid held both stones in his right hand and it trembled slightly with anticipation and excitement. Together the two stones were still too small but it seemed to him like they would be enough to fit in and activate the plaque. Call it his thieves' intuition.

  He looked around and saw the remaining adventurers near him in two circles. One only 50 feet away or so, just enough to be outside the arch on both sides. Many thought the stairs would open there underneath the arch as the ground was a little different and Cid was inclined to agree. Rocky, lumpy and not the clear dirt fields or the paved walkways of the park. It really was different.

  The second circle was over 100 feet away from him and were already watching him. He said a quick and quiet prayer to Lady Luck of the Isle City. A goddess of thieves, fools and children. After finishing his little prayer he placed both of the milky hollow white stones into the empty socket of the plaque. For a second or two, he held his breath, but nothing happened and then the plaque changed. The large slot meant for a different sized stone seemed to conform itself around the two smaller stones.

  And as he stood feeling triumphant the ground underneath began to shake. The arch shook as if something was moving underneath it, releasing a loose cloud of dirt as it shifted, not thick but enough to cause him to jump back coughing and cursing.

  Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

  Suddenly a pulse of blinding white agony shot forth from underneath the arch and threw him to the ground. He felt his body fall, but his mind, his essence, his Soul he realized suddenly was pulled towards the arch and the ground underneath it. No not ground, he could see somehow in some way during his last seconds of consciousness a pit of bones, thousands and thousands of enchanted bones. All piled on top of each other. Filling a stairwell leading down and then there was only pain.

  ***

  Autumn felt One of Mind pulse with activation. Her true twin power. Many a day had been spent as children playing with it and when their parents had discovered their twin power the play had been turned into training. One of Mind was one of the three famous twin abilities and right now Summer was trying to switch bodies with her which meant something had gone very wrong in a strange way. Autumn sat down where she was and put her back against the wall. She both loved and hated doing this with her sister but when it happened unplanned it always meant trouble.

  She felt her body disappear as she left hers and went to her sisters. What was usually just a blink and then a switch was different for the first time in her life. Instead of blinking and finding herself in her sister’s body she was in a sea of white light and pain. She felt herself, her essence being thrown around among other things. Souls maybe? Where each collision sparked intense pain and they continued to happen every few seconds. She had no control of herself and no senses of time or meaning to this place but for a feeling of motion and deep pain with each hit. It was seconds between collisions just enough for the pain to end and for her to quickly dread the next spike of pain as she hit another soul.

  Autumn felt like she had spent minutes in that space already but she did not activate her True Twins: One of Mind ability and switch back to her body. She knew if Summer had been in here and suffered this that Faye could not let her back in till she did what she needed to rescue herself. So she endured what felt like another ten minutes of pain before she felt their ability activate and Summer trying to switch places with her again. Faye did not hesitate and felt her soul moving away from that sea of pain and lost souls.

  She blinked and found herself on her side on the ground. Drool pooling on the ground by her face. Kara had set her ruck up like a pillow underneath her head but she had rolled off of it. Autumn sat up and looked around to see that several people including her worried bodyguard were next to her checking to see what was wrong. Asking her what had happened but she ignored them all as she saw the piece of paper on the ground with her sisters writing.

  We activated a trap with the placing of the last Stone. A hollow white light pulsed through the square from the arch. Everyone collapsed who was in it and my soul was pulled into that sea of pain with everyone else I think. Get help, I’m not sure what it is. I’m sorry and I love you Autumn.

  Autumn got to her feet and looked at Kara had her sister talked to her? It didn't matter she had to get Summer help and she had no idea who she needed but she needed to move. The bottom of her armored duster swooshed around her as she stood. Not seeing anyone but Kara and a few strangers who had been guarding the 3rd entrance into the city crowding her.

  She could not just run into the city with them, not until she got some real help moving towards Summer. She thought of Franco and his team and knew they were at the temple. The reason she ran this way in the first place and the reason she wasn't trapped along with her sister.

  She batted away the hands of the people around her trying to get her to answer or to see if she still needed help. She didn't have time for them. She was sure she heard Franco mentioning that Oaken had learned the Message spell so she sent a Message Spell out to him telling him what had happened before she started explaining it to those around her.

  ***

  Oaken felt the ping of magic in his mind as a Message Spell meant for him appeared in his mind. He could dismiss it with a thought but as they were just sitting here talking with Zif on the main Temple floor he read it.

  From Faye of Seasons End

  Oaken, something has gone wrong with the mission to unlock the stairs to the second floor. Everyone in the square has collapsed and their souls seem to have been pulled into a sea of hollow white light where they clash against each other causing great pain. I know this because of my Twin Abilities. Summer was there and is now trapped. I don’t know what to do but I’m sending this out to you desperately. Can you or Franco help? Please forward to anyone who can help.

  Oaken reread the message and then forward it, word for word to Sabastian. He was a Human Mage from one of the Thousand Islands and the Mage on duty by the entrance to the cave they had passed on the way here. He was part of a message network and the next link in the chain of Mages to send the message up to his father and the other leaders of the Expedition.

  Zif was talking to Franco about his Spirit Mind and what it could entail. It was new for the golem as well but he had strong opinions on what it could mean. Maph and Frazier were sitting nearby in the little amphitheater as Franco stood on the stairs so he could talk to Zif at face level.

  He stood and trilled loudly, getting everyone’s attention.

  “We got to go, I just got got a Message Spell from Faye saying that something has gone wrong with a mission to unlock the stairs to the next floor. Did we know about that? Anyways it seems that their souls including her sisters have been pulled from their bodies and that they are in a sea like environment full of pain. Apparently she knows this because of her Twin Abilities. You humans” He said, shaking his head.

  Zif harrumphed as if he had just won a point and they all looked at him. “See Franco, Your ability has not only preserved most of you even at the cost of your memories it gives you power to help now. The Goddess is wise” The Golem folded all four arms and nodded his body to emphasize his point.

  “What?” Franco asked after a second of silence from everyone.

  Zif looked at their team and finally spoke, surprised by their lack of reaction.

  “It sounds like they have activated a Soul Well, an item that holds Souls. To make it part of a trap is nasty but It is very effective vs Undead who have no real resistance to it so it does make sense if that is who they were fighting. Your Spirit Mind will help greatly here now I am sure. The more you describe it the more I think it is a crafted part of your mind. Crafted by the Gods or this Apparatus if you want to call it that but you must hurry. Living have a few hours depending on level and enhancements before their bodies will die without their Souls in them. The Undead lose complete control of their bodies when trapped but they don't really die. Lots of stories of people using Soul Wells to unleash Undead on their enemies by placing them in a graveyard or some battle field.”

  “A Soul Well? How can I help them?” Franco asked immediately.

  “Easily, your Spirit mind will allow you to get close to it and deactivate the trap but you must hurry” Zif said.

  Oaken looked at Franco who just shrugged and then they both looked at Frazier who stood and nodded.

  “Zif are you coming? It sounds like you know what this is. We don’t know about Soul Wells and if Summer is caught in the effect then most there would be. How did no one tell us about this. They went for the second floor? Anyway no way a Bronze like her was planned to be a direct part of the team heading to the second floor. That’s Gold’s work” Frazier said.

  “Leave my Temple? I have not done that in thousands of years. Do you really not know what a Soul Well is?”

  “Not at all,” Franco said before he checked his belt and Saber before he started to run up the short flight of stairs to head for the exit.

  “Come with us Brother Zif, something has gone wrong and you can help it seems” Oaken said as he stood.

  “Please,” Maph added.

  “I am unsure” Zif said as he watched Franco reach the floor and start to run faster.

  “If you can help them come, It’s your duty” Frazier said quickly before she turned her head and shouted at Franco.

  “Stop Franco! Wait for all of us” she then turned back to Zif who stood perfectly still for a few seconds before he nodded his entire body moving.

  “I will help. There are four adventuring teams down below but my brothers should be able to handle them if they need help. Let us go. Time is important.”

  “Thank you,” Oaken said. He sent a Message spell to Faye telling them they were on their way and to wait for them and another to Sebastian with the information that Zif had just shared.

  His father would know what to do.

  ***

  Jax took the blow on the center of his shield. He felt it in his forearm where the thick band of metal held the large shield to his forearm. He darted his spear forward in a Quick Thrust taking the Minotaur in the throat. A full foot of enchanted steel pushed through the thick bull’s neck before Jax pulled it free.

  He had no idea what was going on or where these Minotaur’s were coming from. One second he was nervously watching Cid from the road and not standing on the square covered in piles of bones and bare dirty fields as his friend replaced the missing soul Adder stone and then everyone on the square collapsed, including Cid.

  These damn Minotaurs with green sashes must have been waiting for just that moment because just as everyone collapsed they had attacked. Coming from the east they emerged onto his road from what were supposed to be long sealed off building doors and the nearby roofs. Four of the adventurers had died in the ambush and now he led the rest back to shelter in a building's front courtyard while his teammates and a hundred more adventurers lay exposed in the open.

  ***

  “Faya said she is at the third gate waiting for us. The guards there might be a problem but she can lead us to the central plaza from there. She knows knows the way.” Oak said almost out of breath as he ran.

  “How long do we have Zif?” Franco asked.

  They were running down the pathway following the large crevice on the right. They were not sprinting because they had many more miles to go.

  “Hours at least for the weakest, the strongest could be a day or so. Their souls will live, but their bodies will die” Zif said as he carried two highly enchanted swords and two daggers easily as he ran.

  “Oaken send another message to Faye. She must get us to Summer within an hour to save her. We do not have time” Franco yelled from the lead of their running pack.

  “We can’t sustain this pace Franco” Frazier said

  “I know, but once we hit the city, we will have to jog then, who knows what’s changed in there” Franco said.

  “Worried about an ambush?” Maph asked, running easily in his armor alongside him.

  “Yes, feels like one of those days doesn't it”

  “Oh you know when you have to sprint off into into an unknown dungeon trap that involves souls and spirits, and probably a horde of undead. Yep just one of those days” Oaken said sarcastically.

  “Exactly. Oaken gets it.” Franco said, putting a cherry tone into his voice while his heart betrayed him beating faster and faster with worry.

  “Once more, my friends. Once more into the depths for the Goddess and the Jade Temple!” Zif bellowed as he ran.

  At least someone sounded excited Franco thought.

  ***

  “Helmric message, this one from your boy”

  “What does it say?” Helmric asked as he peered over a map on the table. Notes and little painted figures covered it.

  “His team and and brother Zif are on their way to the plaza. Oaken reports that Brother Zif thinks it’s a Soul Well, something that traps your soul. They think it was probably set up to stop the Undead from reaching the second floor. They were apparently common Undead protection and traps in Zif’s time. According to Zif the people in the plaza only have hours to live but according to Brother Zif Franco with his Spirit Mind might be able to disarm the Soul Well and save them” Netlor said scanning the transcript of the message as he relayed the important information.

  The expedition office was in a frenzy with message spells flying in about the Minotaur attack and the adventurers going down in the central plaza. It was one of those days and it was all coming to a head and of course now the ancient living golem, a being of legends tells them now that they only have hours to save over a hundred of his adventurers. And of course Franco would play a key role. Kimber plan and the Apparatus laughs, the old adage kept repeating in is head

  “Sound the dungeon breach alarm, rally point the nearest dungeon entrance. I will personally lead the first group in 15 minutes into the dungeon through the ninth gate. Netlor you will take the second group 10 minutes after me through the third gate, meeting meeting at the central plaza. Have Innosaa set up an infirmary in the lizard village and make sure this town is secure. Let’s move!” He said before trilling as he burst into action.

  The office exploded into movement as Helmric went into his office and grabbed the blood red spear that his son had found for him. The dungeon sought their lives today and his son was rushing in again for the second time with his team. He would not be alone.

  The highest level living individual within 500 miles was going to war.

  ***

  A Kimber adventurer in front of him took two ability powered arrows to his face. Dropping the young Silver ranked adventurer in an instant.

  “Fall back, fall back back into the courtyard” Jax yelled. Putting word to action as he [Quick Thrust] his spear into the short Minotaur in front of his left bicep, causing the Minotaur to drop the two handed flail they carried and scream in pain as he reached for his hurt arm.

  Jax stepped backward, using his massive round shield to cover himself and the remaining adventurers as they retreated back into the courtyard. He had tried to lead a breakout as soon as the minotaurs had fallen back, but he had just gotten another adventurer killed. The minotaur's had killed four in their ambush, and now another two have died in the fighting.

  The minotaurs didn’t pursue them back into the courtyard so the rest of his 17 remaining adventures made it back to safety.

  “Rest, Marty with me at the gate. Dai back on the roof in over watch. Everyone else three minutes then I want one more scout up top and a man on each corner. The rest ready to support us here at the gate”

  He knew they couldn’t stay here, but they had cut down almost 30 minatours before they backed off in only a few minutes of fighting but there looked to be hundreds of the hairy horned bastards out there.

  He needed to know why they had suddenly appeared but they still didn’t wanna talk.

  ***

  “Franco,” Faye shouted.

  “Go, lead the way” he said as he ran at her and the door down to the city.

  “Helmric said we are following you in Stone Eaters. Bronze leading Silver, but I guess it is an honor to follow you Brother Zif” an older elf woman said next to Faye.

  Franco just gave the elf a thumbs up and followed after Faye who had just turned with Kara in toe and headed down the stairs back into the city.

  “Don’t run, we ran to meet you but jog once we get down there. How long to get there from here” Franco said in a rush as he followed.

  “We can do an hour if we jog nonstop, but Franco there are messages flying around saying that Minotaurs attacked Jax, the captain of the Wrath of Pele and a small group who were far enough away to be spared by the trap. I switched with Summer once again. It’s really awful being there.”

  “Minotaurs” Franco moaned in frustration. “Why now?”

  “It must be their trap” Oaken said

  “That makes sense,” Frazier added from the back, also out of breath.

  “Someone added it or turned what was there already into a trap. Hundreds if not thousands of years later when this Undead force pushed into the dungeon.”

  “She’s right, we should've seen this. Well someone should have” Maph said next to her. “Undead this organized and well supplied would not leave forces like they have here and with the said forces still active they would not leave if their master or creator was trapped inside.”

  Oaken cut in. “Your right, so their leader, some Necromancer or Death Priest, or Lich or some greater Undead monster from legends is trapped, or was killed by the Soul Well.”

  They were walking down the steep steps as fast as possible, as Zif clanked loudly with each step.

  “Soul Wells are great traps against the Undead, but one of their flaws is that undead can reconstitute once the Soul Well has been destroyed. All the souls trapped in it are let loose” The golem added.

  Frazier sighed as they reached the bottom of the steps and followed Faye as she began to jog.

  “Zif are you telling me that Franco is probably going to unleash the leader of all these undead forces when he breaks or does whatever to this Soul Well” Frazier asked. You could hear in her voice that she feared his answer.

  “Most assuredly captain” Zif said, his metallic voice sounding a little too excited.

  “Oaken send another” Frazier was saying when he cut in.

  “I just sent it”

  “It’s going to be a fight Franco” Faye said next to him as they jogged.

  He was sweating already and knew he could not keep up this pace without help so he downed a stamina potion before tossing it aside. Faye turned and smiled at him after the toss.

  “Well, I’m glad you’re here to help save Summer and me again, just like back in Abigail” Faye said her eyes locked on to him as they moved.

  Franco almost tumbled at her words. He had to catch himself mid stumbled but he righted and kept jogging

  “I know, I know now it’s not the time Franco, but I’ve known you for years and so has Summer and we can talk about it after you save my sister and your friend. We came here for you.”

  Franco, shocked and a little mad, said nothing as they passed buildings on either side of them. He realized after a few minutes how mad he was and frustrated with all this. He made himself take several deep breaths before he said anything.

  “I never asked you to” Franco finally said.

  “No, you did not, but hell Franco, you are my friend, you never needed to. I know you wouldn’t have waited if our roles were reversed” She said.

  “Are you fucking serious, now?” Frazier snapped from behind.

  “Really? Now is the time you decided to have this conversation, right before a fight? Right before whatever is about to happen?” Frazier yelled.

  “Sure” Faye said. “Some of us might die and Franco should know that his family, friends, and even the King of Abigail himself sent help for our special guy here” She said with a wink and a weak smile.

  His anger broke with that wink as he laughed, trying to catch his breath. What a farce this all was, who was he that she would be here. Friends, he could believe that when he looked at her. He wanted to scream to the world that he was a different person than that boy he saw in that flashback was dead and gone but that lie didn’t work on him anymore.

  He was who he was. The worry and fear was all that was left now. His anger now gone before the truth of it all. All that remained now was the need to reach the adventurers in time. To be there for friends, current and past.

  “Not again,” Franco said, nodding at Faye.

  “Never again,” She replied.