“So every single floor so far had some kind of clue track, right?” Judine begins to give out her mission report and a very clear torture chamber.

  “Yeah, yeah… Did you find the clue to get us further in this horrific tower?” Bariton asks, finally with his friends again.

  “Of course I did, what do you take me for, an idiot who wouldn’t be able to find the clues even if they were screaming in my face?” Judine continues, stepping around the table to behind Bariton, “We all spent 5 years apart, and instead of just getting stronger, I actually looked around and found out the most I could about this tower floor.”

  “And what, praytell, did you find?” Sornid asks, already tired of the glum surroundings.

  “Well it’s simple,” Judine starts, as though all they have to do is make somebody a sandwich and she already knows who. “We need to personally kill the king.”

  That wasn’t what the others were expecting, but Bariton just sits in his chair. He takes a peak at the future once more, and it still says the exact same fucking thing it did a year ago. A scorching desert, the same as the one to the west. How could it possibly be that they have to kill the king?

  “Well it’s unfortunate, but a reasonable price we have to pay.” Pallad speaks up from the silence, ignoring the glare he’s getting from Clara, “We have our own world to save, and we are all heralded as heroes here, we could probably kill the king and get away with it.”

  “Mmh” Bariton offers in his own agreement to whatever Pallad is talking about, but what he sees is they are definitely going to some desert, and then clearing out the desert before they’re able to even think about what’s happening there… Why did the future never mention the king’s death? Unless maybe that’s the blood that’s spilt before they go…

  “Hey, Bariton, you okay?” Clara waves her hand in front of Bariton’s eyes, trying kind of desperately to capture their bards attention.

  “Hm?” Bariton auto-responds, before snapping back to reality, “yeah, what’s up?”

  “Judine just told us we’re going to kill the king just now,” Sornid cuts in, and grabs Bariton to drag him back up from the stone bench. “Apparently she’s such a big shot in town she can just personally ask.”

  “Well team, what are you waiting for?” Judine asks before waving them to follow. “Just follow me.”

  The stone hallways change as they go up the stairs and pass a singular door, similar to a door to a wine cellar. They definitely know they took a different exit, but it’s like they just can’t remember. This feeling leaves Bariton with goosebumps, as they walk through obviously regal hallways.

  Dressed in red carpet, statues carved out of the finest of marble, and welcoming wooden walls, lit well by chandeliers every couple of feet. The hallways all feel the exact same, but Judine leads the group with purpose, her well groomed outfit, perhaps even a uniform free of wrinkles.

  She fits in well, along with Pallad, Sornid, and Clara. But Bariton stands out, with a cloak over his usual green outfit. Even then, his usual bard outfit fits more in a tavern than a regal castle. Other servants don’t stare, but he can catch their glances.

  They are all the least comforting, but Bariton swallows down the discomfort. After all, the other party members must be thinking the exact same as him. They all must feel a little bit uncomfortable at the glances the servants throw them, except they don’t.

  The look of minor disgust is reserved only for Bariton, the only one who looks ragged. The other four actually care about their looks, don’t they, for them to fit in within the halls of nobility. But Bariton could never understand that. Or the feeling of rage the others may feel, but those aren’t his to feel, are they?

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  But the others could at least argue his case. But the halls are no longer the same as they enter a throne room, extravagant in of itself. Three tables rest parallel to the walls on the side towards the entrypoint. The throne itself a brilliant gold that almost blinds Bariton from the way the light glints off it.

  The five bow down to the king, avoiding eye contact until he says “you may rise.”

  Those words give solace to their hearts, except for Bariton’s. He raises his head, yes, but he still is shook to the core with these odd feelings of wrongness. Everything in this room, while beautiful, shows the shadows better than before.

  Nothing is meant to be hidden, but as Pallad throws his flail Bariton realises that the blood was not the kings, but hey, at least they were sent immediately to the next floor. A blazing desert surrounded them on all sides, expanding seemingly endlessly.

  This desert was a great expanse, and it seemed to grow only hotter as Sornid attempted to cool them off. It was a truly terrible place to be, with no escape from the heat for miles and miles. But that didn’t make the five heroes give up. They simply began walking North, the sun beating their backs.

  The only one partially cool was Bariton, and second most was Judine, the two covering as much skin as possible from the fiery orb in the sky. Bariton stays worried from what he saw here. A demon, or maybe not, but someone far far stronger than them all, even currently, facing them in battle.

  The demon seemed tired, but it was hard to see his facial features. The prophecy, like usual wasn’t too visible, giving him a simple view into a future battle, and all he saw was blood in the sand from a noble man.

  “Are you sure you aren’t feeling bad, Bariton?” Clara asks Bariton, putting a hand on his shoulder.

  “Y-yes, I’m fine.” He shudders under Clara’s touch, but he prays she doesn’t notice. The look on her face doesn’t say that prayer worked out however. The raising of the eyebrows, and the slight look of solemn sorrow causing her lips to sag.

  “What did you see?” Sornid stops the party from moving forward to confront Bariton.

  “Nothing.” The lie slipped easier than Bariton would've thought, even with the pressure from his entire party.

  “Liar.” Pallad makes a short but direct response. Maybe Bariton was the only one to have changed in this year.

  “I’m not.”

  “Yes,” Pallad takes a deep breath, he knew just as well as Bariton that they cannot afford to not stay moving in this desert, “you are. I know you saw a horrific future.”

  “Fine, I did see a bad future, but it’s too vague to prevent.” Bariton feels something snap, but he can’t tell if it’s a bone from the backlash he’d get, or something mental that allows him to spew this out, “I feel helpless to stop it, and I’m unsure as to the cause of it.”

  That felt… Good to get out, and he knows it. The rest of the party isn’t shocked at all.

  “Then just tell us what this nasty fate is, and I’m sure we’ll figure it out like always.” Judine cuts in, her words sharper than she let on before the year passed. “You remember how strongly bonded we became within this tower, and even after that one year, we all grew to Level 100 and met up at the exact same time. Whatever you saw, you have to tell us.”

  Judine’s words felt as though they were cutting clean through Bariton, and Bariton knew she wasn’t lying. He was the only one with a lie detector skill, and the only one immune to them. It was a dangerous combo he collected, entirely for the case of a mainly political floor.

  The agreement of the party didn’t help the cutting through the shell Bariton grew. He thought they truly didn’t even miss him during that year, yet he was the first locked up. He was the first all-rounder, but all of them became Jacks of All Trades during the year they were separated, but even then, he was still the most spread out.

  “Fine… I’ll tell you the future I learnt of.”

  He goes on and on, about how he saw this very desert, and a foe they will be inable to beat no matter how much or how hard they try. Eventually blood will be shed, and turn the golden sand red. This blood he’s unsure where it’s from, but it’s someone dressed as a noble.

  The worst part about that, is that four of them are dressed that way, and as such the prophecy is unable to be fulfilled on purpose to avoid a far far worse fate. They all solemnly nodded, but Judine was first to speak.

  “Well, that sucks, but Clara can revive people now, right?”

  “Oh, yeah, of course I can! I trained my healing magic beyond the System’s usual heights, opening the skill to practically reversing the time on injuries!”

  “Wait, wha-” Bariton makes a small sound of surprise and shock, but Clara is not lying. It’s a terrifying truth, but it is a truth, one Bariton was grateful for. It was a comforting terror, one that breaks the logic of what’s possible, but a break in the logic that made many worries go to rest and perish.