Astral Flow

Chapter 42

'So, this is what a story dungeon normally looks like.' Ryder thought to himself as the group approached a massive tree, easily over a couple hundred feet tall and wide.

Though not as large as the hollow he'd seen with Vincent it was still impressive, though it held a strange tragic air about it.

It felt closer to a monument, one for those who lost their lives during this event.

"Ryder, you ready?" Oto asks from a bit further ahead, he stands with the rest of them at the entrance to the dungeon.

No surprise to anyone, Melia decided to wait, though no one could blame her either considering what they were walking into.

"Yeah!" he replies, marching to catch up, though as he approached the darkness began welling up within him once more, warning of what awaits.

There would be no turning back from this.

"Everyone remember the plan?" Aranea asks, looking back at everyone one last time with the slightest amount of hesitation in her eyes.

Though as everyone nodded she realized it was time to go, and with one deep breath turned and pushed open the door. "Everyone in one at a time."

Slowly everyone began to file in, each one vanishing into the darkness one by one until only Ryder was left, still feeling a bit wary as he approached.

Upon making it up to the door he saw that the entrance itself was a deep dark pit, one going on for who knows how long.

He couldn't see the bottom of it, but it didn't feel like Omen's depths, no, it felt like something else.

It felt... wrong, terrifyingly so.

As if this was a singular final destination, one that all life ends up at.

Despite his fear though, he couldn't stop, not with everyone else already diving headfirst into it.

Yet as he was about to, a new voice called out for him.

"Ryder, wait! I Changed my mind!" Melia's panicked voice cried out, begging for him to wait. "I can't just sit back and wait for you all!"

He pauses, slightly surprised at this as she catches up, now having to stop and catch her breath.

It took them a couple hours just to march here... did she sprint the entire way to catch up?!

"Melia-" Ryder begins, only to be stopped by her raising a finger to stop him.

"I know what you're going to say, and yes, I don't have to do this." She begins, taking one last deep breath and standing up. "I want to do this, I want to help as much as everyone else is!"

"And you're sure about this?" Ryder asks, still being a bit worried about her.

"I'm certain, I'm going in that dungeon and you can't stop me!" she proudly states, crossing her arms now and standing her ground firmly.

"Alright, then I'll see you inside." Ryder calmly says, stepping into the dungeon and falling into the pit now.

The fall was surprisingly short, landing him right into an underground chamber that looked to be made up entirely of dirt and a few tree roots.

However no one else was around strangely enough, did they walk off without him? They wouldn't, would they?

Instead of moving aside he looked back up instead, now curious to see if Melia would come down the same path he did.

Sure enough the sound of screaming confirmed his suspicion, letting him prepare.

No sooner than she had emerged into the room did she find herself being caught by Ryder, with surprising grace as well as he didn't even move a muscle.