A Feeling Worth Testing

The path hadn't changed for hours. Same cracked stone underfoot. Same moss clinging to the walls like an old disease. The same scattered ruins, leaning just enough to look like something once stood there, though whatever it was had long since crumbled into anonymity. Everything stank faintly of rot and old air, the kind that settled deep in your lungs and stayed there.

Haise tilted his head and gave the ceiling a long look, half expecting something to fall just to break the monotony. Nothing did. Of course.

He grumbled and gave the torch in his hand another spin, "I've had enough of this place."

Avari didn't answer. He rarely did when Haise got like this. The knight walked ahead at his usual pace, silent and upright, as though leading them through the underworld was a Sunday stroll. His armor never seemed to catch dust. No matter how grimy the tunnel got, he still gleamed.

The rest of the group shuffled along a good ten paces behind them.

Haise rolled the torch from one palm to the other. "Avari, entertain me."

Avari didn't turn. "Tell me, how is it possible that from calm and composed you turn into a manchild?"

"I'm just saying," Haise said, stepping into stride beside him, "other than those goblins, nothing's happened. Nothing! I'm too young to rot in a stone hallway for twenty-four straight hours."

"How young?" Avari asked, his voice the same flat iron as always.

Haise raised one hand and counted out loud, tapping each finger with excessive deliberation. "Fuck knows. Sixteen. No, wait. Seventeen. Pretty sure."

That earned him a pause. Avari stopped and turned slightly, just enough that the rim of his helmet caught the light.

"We are the same age," he said. "So stop crying."

Haise stopped too. Blinked. "Life is a bunch of lies."

Avari said nothing else, just turned forward again and kept walking. Haise gave it a second before following, the torch swaying with each annoyed step.

They walked like that for a while. The silence stretched. Somewhere behind them, Karsen muttered something, then laughed. Haise tuned it out.

Eventually, the words came, softer this time. "Hey, Avari... if we find those goblins again, let me fight at least one."

Avari's pace didn't break. "Did your ego get damaged that much?"

Haise's voice didn't rise. "There's something I need to know."

That quiet note made Avari glance his way, if only briefly. But he didn't ask what. He didn't have to. They walked the next hour in silence.

When the path widened again, it opened not into a tunnel, but a cavern, broad, low-ceilinged, its floor sloping downward into what looked like a natural bowl carved by years of erosion. Faint luminescent fungus clung to the rock in scattered patches, painting everything in a sickly green.

Avari raised a hand. The group halted without question.

"We're close," he said. "I sense approximately twenty."

Haise looked down into the basin but couldn't see anything clearly.

Karsen stepped up, already unsheathing his blade. "Let me come with you."

Avari shook his head. "No. Stay with them."

Karsen frowned but didn't argue. Maybe he could sense that Avari wasn't in a mood to explain himself.

To everyone's surprise, Avari turned to Haise.

"You're coming."

Haise raised an eyebrow. "Did you feel some kind of pity? Why only take me?"

"There is also something I want to know," Avari said. "The goblins are slow to notice presence. But your friend's mana signature leaks constantly. We'll lose stealth soon."

"And your brilliant plan is to send me in first."

"You're going alone."

Haise gave him a long look. "You really want to get rid of me, don't you?"

"You don't seem scared."

"I'm not. Just don't leave me to die. I planned on having at least one good meal in this world before dying. Something greasy. Maybe bread that doesn't taste like chalk."

Avari motioned toward the slope leading down. "Ten minutes. After that, I act."

Haise nodded. No jokes this time. He stepped forward, leaving the group behind.

The descent was slow. Careful. He kept low, one hand near the ground, the other on the hilt of his sword. The light up here was faint, but just enough to trace outlines. He moved from shadow to shadow, boots soft against the stone. The smell of ash and meat reached him before the sound did. Goblins always cooked in large numbers. They always overdid it. He followed the scent to its source.

A lone goblin crouched near a broken pillar, tapping a rock against the ground like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

Haise watched for a moment. Then he stepped out from behind the stone and drove the blade clean through the goblin's neck. It barely made a sound. The rock dropped with a dull clack.

Second time I've killed someone, right?

But these… these aren't people.

They hurt my possession.

They deserve it…

Two more goblins sat near a small fire, arguing over something in a torn sack. One reached for it. The other swatted his hand. They didn't notice Haise until he was already behind them.

He grabbed the closer one by the scruff and shoved his face into the other's. As they reeled, he slashed through both in one horizontal sweep.

Three dead. Fifteen? Maybe more?

The fire crackled, still unattended. A battered iron pot sat to the side, partially filled with something brown and oily.

Haise looked at the pot. Then at the sleeping goblins nearby. The idea came all at once.

He stepped forward, raised his sword like a conductor's baton, and slammed the flat side against the edge of the pot. The clang echoed like a scream, ricocheting through the cavern.

Silence.

Then movement. Heads rising. Feet shifting. Voices croaking in confusion.

One goblin crept toward the noise, eyes barely open.

Haise didn't wait.

He reached into the fire with his bare hand, grabbed a handful of glowing embers, and hurled them into the creature's face. It shrieked and stumbled. Haise caught it by the jaw and drove his blade across its throat.

More footsteps now.

Three came together, weapons half-raised.

He darted forward. Drove his sword through the foot of the first one, pinning it in place. With both feet, he pushed off the hilt and launched himself into the air. He twisted mid-flight and brought his heel down on the middle goblin's skull. The impact crunched like wet gravel.

He landed harshly, reached for his sword, but the third was already coming in quickly.

The second goblin swung low, aiming for his side. Haise shifted, letting the blade glance off the sword still buried in the ground. The goblin stumbled in close, just enough. Haise grabbed its head and rammed it down onto the exposed steel. The crunch was instant.

The third came from above. Haise dropped low, dodging the swing, then yanked his sword free from the ground. As the goblin overextended, Haise slashed upward, cutting clean through its torso.

He stood still for a moment, listening to the quiet fill in around the noise. The fire crackled. No one else moved.

If it was this easy… could I have saved Karsen back then?

He didn't know. Probably not.

That faceless figure didn't care either way.

Haise looked toward the far side of the camp. A few more goblins stirred, confused, unsure of what they'd just heard.

Still twelve of them, he thought, then turned his back and walked the other way, more relaxed than he probably should've been.

The remaining goblins watched, uncertain. Their instincts screamed that something was wrong, but their minds hadn't caught up yet.

And then the light emerged.

From behind them, Avari stepped into view, his blade already drawn. It glowed, not like fire, but something else entirely. Pale white, like moonlight given shape in steel.

The air shifted. Even Haise felt it. A cold swept through the cavern, soft and sudden, like a breath against the skin.

Avari raised his sword in one smooth motion.

The sound that followed wasn't a roar or a scream.

It was a murmur.

And when it stopped, eleven goblins fell at once. Their bodies were cut clean in half, no spray, no mess. Just a sudden, silent collapse.

The glow faded from Avari's blade.