Running through the blinding light, crimson eyes constricted before closing. The further he went into the light, the stuffiness of cavern tunnel air gave way to something more open, flowing. The coolness of the tunnel slowly faded to a calm warmth as the light grew brighter.

  His steps came to an end and his eyes opened. Standing on top of a small hill was a sight that took his breath away.

  "I... what the... how is this even possible?"

  Enclosed, trapped beneath the earth was a chamber environment that spanned for miles in every direction. But that wasn't what captivated him.

  Not even the nearly sky-high cave ceiling with a gigantic sunstone cluster that acted like a makeshift sun. What stole his attention was the vast, lush underground forest that painted the chamber green.

  "No way..." A loud screech grabbed his attention as it echoed from a flock of eagle-sized bats that screeched as they flew over the forest. "This is unreal."

  "You better believe this is real." Igneel spoke out as the group followed right behind him.

  The moment Jerome made his way into the clearing, he started searching the ground for markings on which way to go. Aurali and Zyreth followed close behind. The girl was awestruck just like Red as she took in the sights, pointing out every that caught her eye to Zyreth.

  "Grandpa, how is this possible? It's like I'm in one of my story books."

  "It's like I told you at the tavern, these chambers have their own environment. Now come on, we still have to find that girl."

  'He's right, this isn't the time to get lost in a book.' With a renewed focus as he took a few steps over the chamber grass, his hands cupped over his mouth as he screamed into the chamber. "Xaio, if you're out there, hang on!!"

  The moment those words left him and echoed into the chamber, a hand came in and smacked him in the back of his head.

  "What do you think you're doing, brat?" Red covered his head before turning to find Jerome glaring at him. "Are you trying to tell the monsters where we are?"

  "Sorry."

  Jerome didn't care for the apology as he pointed to the ground before taking off again. "Come on, everyone, we're going this way, based off the blood trail they walked along the chamber edge. So we'd better get going until we find the next tunnel they came from."

  While his gaze was stuck on blood-marked grass that went the same way as Jerome, his mind wasn't allowed even a moment to wander.

  "You heard the man, let's get going." Igneel wasted no time in leading the group behind Jerome as they ventured further into the chamber's forest.

  —

  After walking for hours in the dimly lit cavern tunnels, it still took some time for his eyes to adjust to the renewed brightness. The softness of the grass was a welcome change against his feet, opposed to the rough, rocky cave tunnels.

  'How is this even possible? I know Grandpa said these chambers have different environments, but I didn't think they would be this pretty.'

  Making their way through, Red gazed upon the trees that were just as large, maybe even larger than the others where he was camping.

  Traveling along the edge of the treeline and the dungeon walls, they went deeper. Passing by protruding crystals that were taller than Igneel and flowers that neither he nor Aurali had seen before.

  "Zyreth, it's so pretty down here. Can we come here again soon? There has to be a bunch of different kinds of flowers down here."

  "Aurali, this isn't a place for you to play." She was quick to show her disapproval at the statement.

  But even at that statement, Red couldn't help but agree in some form. 'I wonder what else is hidden in there.'

  Their trek continued, and deeper they went, low growls and echoing screeches came from beyond the treeline. With each step they took, the noise only grew louder.

  The only thing that got louder was the beating in his chest. One hand rose, trying to feel his pounding heart through his chestplate.

  'Why did it suddenly get so much louder?' Looking around the group, Igneel was unfazed by the noise and kept pace with Jerome. Turing around, Aurali was occulted, pointing out all the flowers she saw to Zyreth, who, despite having her attention split on both himself and answering Aurali's questions on the flowers and even the large crystals that emerged from the ground, she still remains vigilant.

  'How are they so calm about this? Is it just something you get used to?'

  However, before he could think of an answer to his own question, the bush started violently shaking.

  Without a second to waste, his hand grasped Breaker, and just as its blade was about to be freed from its sheath, a figure emerged. Long ears led to a small head with a singular stubby horn and a body covered in brown-gray hair. A pink nose twitched as it sniffed the air. It reared up to its hind leg, and started to sneer.

  Still, Red's grip on Breaker didn't loosen, and he slowly became the center of attention.

  "Zyreth, I think Strange Eye is scared of rabbits."

  A small laugh came from the group at his expense. While he couldn't see it, Red could feel his face slowly start to match his name.

  "Well, that isn't a regular rabbit, it's a HornHare." Looking behind him, Igneel stood by Red, reaching down and without a word, he picked up a rock and threw it at the monster. Causing it to run back into the woods. "In a group, they're nasty little creatures, always trying to swarm a target with sheer numbers, but on their own they're nothing but an annoyance."

  Their pause didn't last long before they started moving once again. However, as they moved, Red was still bothered by their run-in with the HornHare.

  "Don't worry, dear, everyone gets startled by a HornHare when they're on edge from time to time." Zyreth's words did little to console him as they marched on.

  "So Strange Eye, if you're scared of rabbits, why did you come?"

  "How long will it take until you start calling me by my actual name?"

  "If you're scared of rabbits, you can hold my hand if that helps. But I've never met anyone whose afraid of rabbits before."

  "I'm not scared of rabbits!"

  Low mermers were coming from both ahead and behind him, which caused him to groan. Igneel sent a sly grin his way, as if trying to nudge him in a certain direction, as Aurali didn't stop in her bombardment of questions.

  "So why are you down here? Are you trying to play pretend like those books?"

  A simple groan escaped him. "They aren't pretend, and I'm not here to play, I'm here to help Xaio."

  They walked deeper into the camber, passing by large diamond-like crystals that shot up from the ground. During this, Jerome moved ahead of the group, making his way up the approaching hill, they followed the trail.

  Aurali wouldn't relent in her questioning. "You said you're here because you wanted to help. Why? Do you know her well?"

  Each step following only added to the pause as he tried to collect his thoughts. "No, I don't know her at all."

  "Then why did you come here if you don't know her?"

  "Because she helped me, and my mom would tell me if someone helps you, you need to help them back."

  "She helped you?" Her voice was still monotone.

  "Yeah, before we came here, I chased a Flame Lizard into the woods, and after I caught it, the next thing I knew, I had to fight a goblin." Her gaze widened at the claim. "But it didn't end there, before I knew it was getting chased by a group of them."

  Her widened gaze further, shifting rapidly between shock and horror.

  "All I could do was run. Their cackling laughter was the only thing I could hear until I tripped."

  As he kept going, Aurali wasn't the only one taken aback by his words. Zyreth watched the boy with more intent.

  "I was scared, and when I cried out, I don't know how, but she arrived. I didn't see much, but all I knew was when I looked around, she was there, and the goblins weren't."

  "She didn't want anything from you after that?"

  "Yeah, she didn't take anything from me, and she didn't guilt-trip me into buying her anything." This time, Aurali was the one to launch a glare. "She just helped me, so I want to help her. Do I need another reason?"

  "I don't—

  "Hey, Igneel! You're gonna want to see this!" Jerome's voice echoed from the top of the hill. At the sudden call, they hurried their way up a hill, quickly meeting up with Jerome, and where they were met with an unnerving sight.

  Zyreth came to stop and tried to hold them both back before they reached the top. But, Red pushed his way path and crimson eyes followed a crimson trail to small crimson pools as a chilling quiet took over.

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  "This isn't good." Igneel whispered to himself. Looking over the small red stains, shifting from ripped clothing and severed monster parts that almost looked like dried-out cactuses.

  Large globs of silk painted the grass white as it covered the area, but in the center, where there was the most carnage. There was a large battle axe, stuck to the floor, covered in the same white substance. Jerome looked around, trying to find a continuation of the path in the mess, while Zyreth tried to cover Aurali's eyes. But she moved past the elf's hands to gaze at the sight.

  "What do you think, Igneel?" Zyreth broke the silence as the old king picked up lengths of silk from the grass. "How should we proceed from here?"

  Red heard his grandfather groan. "Looks like we might have to venture into the woods."

  "He's right." Everyone shifted to Jerome. "There's a trail that leads back into the woods."

  The moment Red heard that, he took the first steps down the path. Igneel didn't let him get too far ahead of them as everyone started to make their way into the treeline.

  —

  At first, monsters started to appear more frequently; waves of goblins and small packs of kobolds would try to assault them, only to meet their ends by the group's combined force.

  But it wasn't just simple creatures like goblins and slimes.

  As they went deeper, the sudden shaking of the trees gave the group their first encounter with one of the beasts that lived in this chamber.

  A Carnothrasher, a seven-foot-tall theropod dinosaur with a short skull and a pair of bull-like horns and small arms that looked like nubs, snarled and snapped its jaws at the group.

  Its gurgling roar shook not just Red but Aurali. His hand reached for Breaker in an attempt to show strength, but the monster's threatening display did not affect the old king. It charged them, and Igneel met it pace. With a single burning slash, its life came to quick as the head hit the ground with a low thud, and its body stumbled onto the first floor, sliding across the ground.

  Even deeper still, this time it was a large, green-skinned, obese humanoid with a stomach that hung over its waist, that growled at them. It was an Ogre. Swinging a large bone like a club, it tried to make a move.

  Yet again, with a shaken hand, Red reached for Breaker. Aurali clung to Zyreth's side. This time, it was Jerome who acted first. Rushing the Ogre, he dodged the monster's strike and slammed his mace into its kneecap. Staggering, it howled in pain, only to be silenced by Jerome as he smashed its face in. The sound of its skull splatted as it shattered. It was like a nail being hammered into a board, but it only left a bloody, obese mess.

  Even a pair of vulture-sized bats interpreted them. Circling from above the treeline, the almost silent chanting from Zyreth caught Red's ear as he watched two tendreal of water shot out of the ground and into the sky. Snatching the flying pair in a watery vice, before being dragged down and slammed into the earth. The pair still thrashed as they tried to take off into the air once more, only for Zyreth to end them by stabbing them with her staff.

  With each small encounter, Red watched with shaken hands, unable to pull his blade out every time.

  Every move made by the group, Red didn't let a single moment go unnoticed.

  However, the action wasn't the only thing that had his attention

  As they went deeper, having left the open field that divided the chamber walls from the treeline's edge, the sunstone's light was getting blocked out as the foliage grew thicker, and the grass reached over his knees. The small trail they followed changed from small blood stains to drag marks within the grass.

  Looking to his side, all Red could see from the top of the hill was the treetops. For what seemed like miles was nothing but green leaves and different colored crystals.

  But while this was a sight he let his gaze take in, something was missing when he looked ahead. The small patches of blood they were following had only grown small and less frequent, replaced by silk and strange indents.

  'We've been walking for a while, but we haven't seen any sign of Xaio. All we've seen are monsters... Is she ok?' Stuck in his thoughts, he didn't notice an uprooted root catch his foot and fall to the ground.

  Igneel was quick to come to his side. "You good?"

  "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess I didn't see this root cause of the grass." Slowly, he got up. "Hey Grandpa, we're still going the right way, right?"

  Before he could respond, a different voice answered him

  "Hey, Strange Eye, come take a look at this."

  Before he could groan, let alone correct her again. Aurali grabbed his shirt sleeve and dragged him off to the side.

  "Look at this, I've never seen a flower like this before." In the grass, there was a single flower with pink and purple petals. It didn't look much different from any other flower, that was, until Aurali poked at it. "Look, it's like it's made of glass."

  "How is that possible?"

  'Would Mom like something like this?'

  Before Red could question it any further, Aurali removed the flower from the dirt. Her golden gaze was captivated by the see-through flower. Until something else caught Red's eye.

  "Is that a thread?"

  "It feels like glue." Aurali poked and even pulled on the thread.

  Looking from the flower, following the taut thread into the brush, the pair grew confused as it went slack.

  A high-pitched scream almost shattered Red's ear. A rounded body, covered in short hairs, leaped into view before Red found himself staring back at himself through eight black pearl-like eyes that surrounded its head. Its body shifted on eight legs from side to side as it eyed them both. Its red and green abdomen stood out on its black body while its chelicerae moved up and down.

  'Is that a spider!?'

  As it rose, exposing its dripping, jet black fangs.

  Aurali stumbled and fell back at the sight. Before he knew what he was doing, Red's body acted on its own and shot in front of her. The moment he moved the spider leaped at him. His hand shot up and grabbed Breaker's handle

  Time seemed to slow to a frozen crawl, and while his legs moved before he could think, the moment his hand reached his sword, his body shook violently.

  'Why can't I move? Why can't I stop shaking? This is just like with the goblins.'

  As the spider lunged, a crimson blade covered in fire flew past them both, running through the spider as it launched it back and pinned it against the tree. Its body violently squirmed against the burning tree.

  "Grandpa?"

  Igneel didn't pay him a single thought as he walked past, taking Breaker from Red's sheath. He separated the spider's head from its body with a single clean cut.

  Red could only watch as its spazzing legs came to a stop; he couldn't even register that Breaker was returned to his sheath while Zyreth ran over to calm Aurali. The elf did what she could to calm the girl down. But Red's gaze didn't linger on them as it fell back to three as Igneel pulled his blade free, revealing a charred hole that passed the whole way through the tree.

  "At least we have a better idea of what we're going to be running into," Igneel whispered to himself before he spoke up. "Alright, everyone, looks like we're going deeper into Gathering Spider territory, so keep an eye out, last thing we need is to get surrounded by those things."

  'He did that so... so easily, and he didn't hesitate. Unlike me.'

  Looking back to find his grandfather looking down. "Red are ya—

  "Sorry, I got in the way again."

  "Got in the way?"

  "I ran ahead at the entrance, I just stood still when kobolds attacked and now with the spider... I just froze. Just like when I ran into those goblins."

  "So the problem is you're afraid?"

  "I guess. Every time we've seen a monster, I think I can fight like you or Mom, but I just freeze." Looking done, his gaze rose as a hand rested on his head.

  "Well that's good." He looked up to meet his grandfather's gaze. "It means you have a little more common sense than your mother did at this age."

  There was a slight chuckle before he turned serious. "It just means you know that you're not invincible. Being scared isn't bad; it lets you know your current limits. S,o because of that, I have a job for you."

  "A job?" A confused look took over. "But I thought Mr. Jerome already gave me a job?"

  "Who are you going to listen to, your grandfather or that stubborn dwarf?" Red didn't speak, just pointed his finger. "That's what I thought, as for the job I need you to do. You see, Aurali? Your job is to help guard her."

  "What, why me? I've done nothing but get scared and stand still."

  "It's ok to be scared, you just have to make sure you don't let it control you, that's how being brave works. So can I trust you?"

  "Ok. I'll do my best."

  As Igneel took off to the group, his crimson fell to the ground and onto the glass-like flower before he followed after.

  —

  "Hey Grandpa," Red called out to Igneel, while with a burning slash, he cut down a duo of the same spiders from before. "What are Gathering Spiders?"

  Before he could answer, the trees shook and another spider fell from above. Without a second thought, my Red stood in front of Aurali, Breaker at the ready. Only to watch as the staff flew into the air.

  The staff pierced the body as Igneel made the quick follow-up by cutting off its head before it hit the ground.

  But the one to answer his question wasn't his grandpa; he had already turned his attention back to the front, joining Jerome as he flattened another into paste and prepared to face the rest of the arrivals. It was Zyreth's calm voice.

  "You see, Gathering Spiders get their name for a specific reason." Pulling her staff free, the spider's blood wetted the grass. "The males will go out, hunt whatever prey they can catch, and bring it back as an offering to gain favor with the harem's female."

  "So all the spiders we've seen have been male?" Red questioned.

  "That's correct. The females can be around ten, maybe fifteen times larger than their male counterparts." The moment their size was mentioned, Red watched Aurali cringe and try to ignore this newfound knowledge.

  "Now, if the female doesn't like the offering, best case scenario, she takes it and ignores the male, or the more common situation, she turns him into an offering."

  The topic only made Aurali cringe harder, covering her ears in an attempt to block out the conversation.

  "Wait, so if they don't bring something back the female likes, they get eaten? Why would they do that?"

  A light smile marked Zyreth at the question. "Well, that's simple, everything wants to continue the circle of life, even monsters." As she spoke, a thread of silk shot out from the woods.

  Red forced his way in front of flinching Aurali, Breaker at the ready.

  But rather than the silk hitting him, he watched as Zyreth's arm and with a mighty pull, the spider was flung into the open as her hand rose.

  "Liquid Bullet!"

  A blast of condensed water shot a hole through the spider. Zyreth started to chant again and rain-like bullets formed around her. Crimson eyes watched as a storm of watery projectiles shot at the Gathering Spiders. Each spider was filled with holes before falling to the ground as their numbers fell faster with the trio's teamwork until they stopped coming.

  A sigh of relief spread from one to another, but Igneel didn't waste a moment as he started scouting what direction they needed to go. It didn't take long for them to get moving again.

  But something was different within the group. A crimson gaze first looked to the front before locking onto his grandfather, before moving slightly to the man barely standing over his grandfather's waist.

  'Grandpa and Mr. Jerome seem fine.'

  When he shifted to Zyreth, she gave him an assuring smile. Only for a sudden shake from a bush made not just him snap in its direction. But he wasn't the only one to have his attention shift to the quivering body that grabbed onto him.

  "Aurali?"

  He didn't have time to question her shaking; the bush's shaking grew until it stopped. A HornHare hooped out, took one look at the group, and hopped away back into the treeline.

  'Huh, guess those rabbits are always around.' As the rabbit left and the group continued on. Yet, the grip on his arm remained. "Aurali?"

  As he spoke, Aurali separated herself from him. The sound of a twig snapping caused her to jump again.

  "Hey Aurali, are you ok?" She didn't answer and just kept walking, increasing her pace. Still Red under the watchful eyes of Igneel in front of him and Zyreth behind. Both of them watched with some interest.

  "You know if you're scared of spiders, you can hold onto me." His question was less comforting and more of a revenge taunting, but he didn't stop there as he tapped his pouch. "And if you're hurt, I brought my potions with me. I haven't gotten to use them yet, so I guess we could find out how good they are."

  And it affected his attempt at comforting, only caused her scared look to form into a scowl before she separated from him and moved to the back with Zyreth. "Jerk."

  "Huh? All I did was say the same thing you told me and offered you a potion if you got hurt."

  Confusion washed over him as Zyreth found the scene amusing, while his grandfather almost looked disappointed. Even Jerome couldn't help but have a light chuckle escape him.

  "Why am I the jerk?

  As they kept walking, both Igneel and Jerome slowly paced themselves until they ended up next to Red.

  "Red—

  "Hey Grandpa, why are we walking so close together?"

  He felt his grandfather's astonished weight down on him.

  "To put it simply, it's so we don't let those spiders know our exact size." As he continued to speak, his voice became softer. "But that's not what I wanted to talk with you about."

  "Did I do something wrong? I thought I was doing what you told me to."

  "No, what I wanted to say was, when we get home, I think it might be for the best if your mother or I teach you how to talk to girls."

  "What do you mean by that? All I did was say the same thing she said to me."

  "You got a lot more to learn about when it comes to stuff like that."

  He was still confused, but then Jerome spoke up with a calmer, more entertained tone. "You see, boy, when it comes to life, there are just a few battles you can't win and most of them come from women."

  "Happy wife, happy life, am I right?"

  The pair couldn't help but laugh, leaving Red confused as the group kept moving forward.