We Can Be Heroes ...?

8

Mila, of course, entered the darkness first, stepping down into hole left by the goat statue and becoming swallowed by the black. Dave followed, leaving Jova and Shion. It appeared Jova had taken it upon herself to guide and support Shion through all of this and, though Shion did not appreciate Jova's lewd attentions, she did appreciate that. Still, Shion hesitated to step down into the hole.

"It's fine. I've done this a million times. Well, not a million, but you get what I mean, don't you. They always start with a blackness. It's when the game loads the next section." Jova laughed, making a playful, lingering slap against Shion's upper chest. "Except you have no idea that this is a game, do you? Never mind. Follow me. It'll be fun."

Jova turned her back to the hole and began a little, shimmying dance as she stepped backward toward the hole. She rolled her fingers, laughing and then performed a pirouette before jumping up and back. The black devoured her, the last thing Shion saw was Jova's hands as they disappeared into the darkness.

It had fallen into night, here in the circle of stones, faster than Shion had anticipated and she found herself all alone in the wilds of Hastia, a realm where her very presence could cost her her life should any soldiers of the nations warring against her elven kin find her here. She had no-one else here to talk to, no-one to protect her. The only thing she could do was follow the others into the black.

Girding herself, she brushed down the leather armour, but it didn't feel the same as smoothing the skirts of her beloved, plain dress. She began to step forward and stopped. Tried again and fear forced her to hold back. If her Papa saw her now, he would scoff at her. He expected her to have the strength her mother once claimed. Or, that was how she thought she remembered it. Not wanting to think too much about what she did, or did not, remember, Shion jumped forward and the sweeping lands of Hastia fell away ...

... revealing a cave where light seemed to emanate from some unseen source. Enough light that she could see almost as clear as she could during the day. As soon as she landed, she saw the others running toward her, only to stop and give her exasperated looks. Defeated looks. But they couldn't already feel defeated. They had only this very moment entered this 'dungeon', though it still looked like a cave to Shion.

"Fuck! I thought we'd catch it that time!" Mila kicked out at nothing, her hands balled into fists that looked as though she really wanted to hit something. Hard. "The exit's gone. You know what that means? We either complete the dungeon, or port out and cost be damned. Dave?"

"Yeah. I'm lookin' a' i' now." Dave had crouched beside a glowing sheet of paper laid flat on the floor of the cave, though how the old, half-blind man could read it at all surprised Shion. "I' says, ah, somethin', somethin' adven'ure. Ah, somethin', somethin' searche' fo' years an', ha, yeah! I's the 'Bas'ion o' Nukrambuzer'. Arch-Necromancer of the ... Firs' Age. Nice."

Dave didn't notice, but Mila had turned toward him. Not a natural, interested turn, nor a snap twist around that would show some degree of surprise or shock. No, she turned toward him in a very slow, menacing manner and Shion could almost imagine the woman cackling before slitting Dave's throat in some kind of unexpected betrayal. She didn't, but Shion could certainly not put it past her.

"What?" That sounded quite calm. Not at all filled with the menace of a possible, upcoming, throat-slitting, switch of allegiance. She sounded calmly furious, instead. "I won't ask you to say that again because I heard you the first fucking time. Just tell me that's the first time you've heard that name."

"I' is? I' is! Firs' time. Swear." Dave stood upright, his long, incredibly thin legs looking hardly able to support him. He held up his hands as though to surrender, then scowled. "Why?"

"Because, you fucking idiot, if you'd spent any amount of time reading lore books, the name 'Nukrambuzer' would ring a fucking bell. If you knew anything about the First Age, you'd know all about the Arch-Necromancer." Mila began to pace up and down the floor of the cave where they had all landed, rubbing her forehead and looking a fair amount less confident than she had only moments before. "Nukrambuzer is a Legendary Antagonist, a very special kind of enemy. I only heard rumours, outside the lore books. I just didn't ... Dave, you said this was a simple dungeon. This can't be simple if it involves Nukrambuzer. What, exactly, did the quest map say? Exactly!"