Chapter Five - A Journey's Start
After an hour or so, soldiers started returning from killing off the remaining Orcs. The sound of joy filled the hills as they searched the monster bodies for what they called "Monster Loot." But, there was
no joy spread across Drew's or my face. For an hour, we stared at the lifeless body of our dead friend. The guilt I felt was unimaginable, if only he hadn't saved me. Tears streamed down my face until I had none left to shed.
"He believed in us..." I whimpered to Drew, wishing my friend would say something to nullify the complete silence we sat in. But, instead, Drew got up, scowled, and walked away.
"I'm sorry about your friend." the female magician had snuck up on me, and it was apparent she was trying to help but didn't know-how. I didn't answer. Simply nodding my head at her was all I could muster.
Her auburn hair fell just past her shoulders. She was average height for someone in my town, but her eyes were something I had never seen before, dark with a hint of red. It slightly reminded me of something
like a dragon. My lack of response was enough to stop her from saying any more. I didn't want to speak to anyone, Oliver was dead, and that happened because of me. My mind flashed back to right before Drew and I entered the portal.
*
"You two have one brain between the both of you! You need someone with intelligence on this sort of quest!" Oliver smiled
*
That hit hard. Oliver risked everything to help out his friends. I doubt I will meet anyone like that again.
"Tsk." I got up, wiping the tears from my face. The fire witch stepped back, trying not to upset me in any way.
The soldiers around me had lost group members as well. Whimpers and tears were spread out amongst the battlefield. Those who were not mourning were whispering about Drew and me.
"Green lightning!?" one said.
"HE CAUGHT A SWORD, JEREMY!" I heard another say. They hushed their tones as I walked by them towards Drew. He had grabbed a spare shovel from the group's caravan and was digging under a lone oak tree. I grabbed a shovel as well. We dug Oliver's grave together and in silence. The wind rippling through our clothes, leaving a cold bite on my neck.
*Thump! *
After what seemed like hours digging, we lowered Oliver's body into our makeshift grave; we took last looks at our friend. Tears dropped from both of our eyes.
"I'm going to miss you, buddy, you believing in us is enough for me. I will succeed in saving my sister." I managed to say in between whimpers and tears.
"He shouldn't have risked his life. It was stupid," Drew muttered, wiping the last of his tears away. I felt a pang of anger and hurt. Did Drew blame me?
"Ahem," squeaked a small voice behind us, "The alliance is heading for the first-floor town" the witch shuffled her feet uncomfortably.
"It's pretty obvious by your outfit that you are two are fresh. You can accompany us and ask any questions you need until we get to the first floor if you would like!"
Drew gave me a slight nod.
"We would appreciate that greatly" I stepped forward and stuck out my hand, still unable to muster a smile, but she was nice. "I'm Leo, and this is Drew."
Her face reddened; what was up with this girl? She shook my hand slowly while avoiding eye contact.
"I'm Grace, we are about to depart, I know it's not a lot of time to mourn, but the hills aren't safe. Please come." she trotted along down to the remaining soldiers. Drew followed close behind. I turned towards the oak tree that hung over my friend.
"I'll get strong, so no one needs to save me ever again. Thanks, Oliver." my feet turned and stomped off down the hill towards the caravan.
After walking for some time in silence, I finally got the nerve to ask Grace some questions.
"So, Grace. Where exactly are we?"
She glanced at me as if surprised I didn't know.
"The world is known as Purgatory. Currently, we are on floor one," she explained as the group began to enter a forest on the edge of the hillside. Attempting to avoid uneven rocks and roots scattered along the ground.
"What exactly are the floors?"
She brushed her hair over her ear.
"Think of the floors like pocket worlds; with each ascension, the floor environment changes. As far as I know, the highest floor anyone has reached so far is seventeen."
"Are they still there?"
"No one has seen them since they entered the floor, so I doubt it."
The terrain we were walking on slowly started morphing into something more akin to a path, which was nice because the awkward terrain had started to hurt my feet.
"How do you get to the next floor? Why has nobody reached further? Did they give up on their loved ones?" my voice began to tremble as I thought about my sister.
"To reach the next floor, you must defeat the floor boss, and as the floors increase, so does the difficulty of the bosses." She winced as if remembering a painful memory.
"Once you beat the boss floor you are free to go up and down the floors, but no one who hasn't killed the floor boss can ascend. As to loved one's, I am not sure what you mean."
Drew and I exchanged glances; I wasn't sure why Grace and her allies had come to her if not to save someone. Was it possible that only we had people taken from us? If so, why?
"I saw your magic fireball; it was pretty impressive. Is it rare to be able to use magic?" I questioned.
Grace's face blushed. She pushed back her shoulders proudly as she walked. I could sense a slight aura coming off of her. She was the first person I had noticed with any sort of aura at all.
"Everyone is able to use some magic, but it takes a very long time to be able to use attack spells, so mages are quite rare in alliances. Most of the time, an Abyss Walker has an affinity
with one of the four major elements, and very rarely has an affinity to more than one..."
*Eeek! *
Grace was now face-first on the ground, she had tripped over a maniacal tree root. She shot up, her face bright red.
"Nice one, Grace!" someone chirped in from the back of the group. The laughing quickly died out as she shot her ember eyes towards them.
"Who said it! I'll kill em!" she yelled back, waving her arms rapidly.
"Anyway," she turned back to us while brushing herself off, "I can test your affinities when we reach the town!" she beamed. Our eyes caught each other and she quickly averted.
Drew had been completely silent the entire journey since we left the battlefield. I understood how he felt. My heart ached. I had no energy like my body had been completely drained of power.
Grace had given us some food earlier, Drew and I quietly nibbled on it as we walked. Grace sensed that talking was done and stopped to wait for her companions. I could hear threats of her
blowing someone's face off with a fireball and the sound of laughter as they walked. I clasped my hand around my only other friend's shoulder, attempting my best to fake strength.
"You going to be okay?"
He turned his eyes towards me, peering into my heart, my facade dropping immediately.
"It was a mistake coming here Leo, I get your sister is in trouble, but we could've been fine back home, just the three of us."
I couldn't believe I was hearing the words that were coming out of his mouth. Regardless of my sister, the person who was taken from him was also gone.
"Drew, how could you say that? What about whoever was taken from you!" I said.
"Yeah, whatever, Leo, forget I said anything," he scoffed. What was wrong with him?
Drew seemed to reel in his emotions and reformed himself.
"Status Window," the purple game screen popped up in front of Drew.
"Drew Young"
Age: 17
Level: 4
Status: Demon Abyss Walker
Unique Ability: Demonic Body
Nickname: "The Malevolent"
Abilities: None
After seeing Drew's status window, I did the same.
"Status Window" My green screen popped up like usual.
"Leofwin Warin"
Age: 17
Level: 3
Status: Heavenly Abyss Walker
Unique Ability: Divine Sword
Nickname: "The Unknown"
Abilities: Enhancement
How did I acquire another ability? I was still staring at my screen as I stepped past the edge of the forest.
"Leo, Drew" Grace ran up to match our pace smiling. "Welcome to Veridiem, the first floor's town!"