Chapter 33: The Forgotten Lands, Part Eleven

{Rin}

[To the spirit's right,] Rin thought as she laid down, with that small bag sitting on her stomach. [We'll find an elevator, take it down, and then we just find the thing and kill it. Sounds easy enough.]

In the bag, Xhez had been resting for almost thirty minutes now.

"Rin."

"Yeah?"

"Is your home like this?" Xhez suddenly asked.

"What do you mean?" Rin asked as she sat up, looking into the bag and finding Xhez floating in the water, her arms and legs outstretched in a slightly funny way.

"I knew humans fought 'monsters' often, creatures like me, but... When I looked into the memories of the skeleton we were fighting just a bit ago, I saw..." she shook her head. "I saw so much death and blood. Is this normal?"

"..." Rin took a second to answer. "Depends, I guess."

For most of her life, Dren hadn't suffered through anything too troubling, aside from some food shortages because farms got assaulted by monsters. No, most human warring came from struggles between Cradle and Libera, and the war that had happened some time ago.

"If there's a conflict then, yeah," Rin said. "If not, then, no."

"... That is sad."

"Eh, it's just a part of life," Rin responded. "Even here," Rin added, "people had some reason for what they did. Whether they were scared or greedy or whatever. I'd like to think that no one here killed each other just for the sake of killing each other."

"I suppose I understand."

"Do sprites not fight at all?" Rin asked.

"... We do not have communities to fight with," Xhez replied.

"What?"

"Yes," Xhez sighed. "Many years ago, sprites were far more common and walked together in groups as large as yours. However, something unknown happened. We call it, the Maddening. Most sprites went insane, from one day to another, killing each other. But, a few sprites saw this coming and separated. Those who did began living in much smaller groups, and, as sprites are vulnerable on our own, and do not reproduce quickly, the number of sane sprites never truly recovered from that event. Ever since then, we have not been in a position to look for fights with anyone. We are lucky enough if we are left alone."

Hearing that was eye-opening for Rin. Knowing now how Xhez's species were struggling to even remain in this world, it also let Rin know just how much trust Xhez was putting in her, by traveling by her side like this.

[... I just hope I don't get her killed,] Rin thought.

"After this..." Xhez muttered.

"Yeah?"

"... Ignore me," she said. "I misspoke."

With that said, the two of them remained in silence for a while. Eventually, though, Xhez said:

"I am ready."

"How long can you go for?"

"Most of the day, hopefully, though I do not know how my Spirit usage will affect that."

"... By the way, what if you use your song on those things?"

"That requires more Spirit than anything else I could do," Xhez let Rin know, "but, if we are in a situation where it feels particularly beneficial, I will."

"That sounds good, okay," Rin said, putting the bag down and standing up. "Let's go."

A few minutes later, the two of them were walking side by side, with Xhez holding the bag, in the direction Jessen had told them to go in. Rin kept her eyes peeled for anything that looked like an elevator, though, going by the ones she'd seen, she had a hard time picturing one out here.

At the same time, she kept that new ability in mind. [Spirit Flame]. A part of her, one that was feeling slightly vengeful from having had her pride wounded earlier, wanted to take a moment to find a skeleton or two, to fight with it. Before, she doubted she would have been able to kill even a single one without it. Now, though, she wondered what would happen.

And, as bones began picking themselves up ahead, it looked like she wouldn't have to wait long to find out.

"Hold on," she said, as one skeleton appeared before them. "Let me."

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Xhez nodded and took a step back, while Rin walked up to the creature. Closing her eyes, she went through the spellsign for [Spirit Flame] in her mind, and when it was done, her hands and fists were covered in a white fire. It was, of course, curious how the spellsign for this ability was done mentally as opposed to physically, but as long as it helped her in battle, Rin didn't care too much to find out why that was. 

The skeleton made an unnatural screeching noise as it walked toward her. Rin waited.

[Okay, let's see how this goes.] Rin thought.

When the skeleton was close enough, it raised a sword up and went for a vertical slash. Rin dodged to the side and closed the gap between them, looking for a right hook. The skeleton, however, dodged out of the way, leaning back.

[Right, they're fast,] Rin reminded herself, trying to speed her own movements up.

She went for a left hook, then another right, and an uppercut. All of which, the skeleton avoided easily. Then, the skeleton went for a stab at her gut, and this was the chance Rin needed.

She used a technique that Maria had taught her, pushing the blade away by its flat side. Then, she went for a punch the skeleton couldn't possibly dodge, aiming a fist at its ribcage.

Her punch found the enemy, and with it, as she struck its body, the skeleton's bones caught fire. White flame covered the skeleton, and Rin watched, shocked as it let out a scream.

Focusing up though, she walked up again and punched it in the head. The hit made the skeleton's skull break, and the enemy fell to the ground, disintegrating.

[... Holy shit, I did it,] Rin thought as she looked down at her own hands.

"YES!" Rin laughed, as she turned toward Xhez. "Point one for me! Yeah!"

"Good work!" Xhez told her and Rin laughed.

[I actually did it! Ah, this is awesome! I can actually fight these things now!]

"It is only the beginning though, Rin," Xhez said as she walked up. Though, she was smiling widely. "We have many more enemies to clear before we reach the source."

"Aw, come on, Xhez, let me have this! I..." Rin chuckled. "This is the first time I... I've felt like a fighter since I've started this whole thing."

"What do you mean?"

"I guess I haven't told you too much about myself," Rin said with a little smile.

"... You are right," Xhez nodded. "Though, it is my own fault. I have been too busy asking about humanity that... I failed to comprehend that you are also a person all on your own. I would love to learn more about you," Xhez stated. "As both a human and... well, as you."

Rin breathed in and shrugged.

"Well, basically," she said, gesturing for them to keep walking while they talked, "I only just started this whole adventurer thing. I knew it was gonna be hard, but, it turned out to be harder than anything I expected. Still, this fight just now... I don't know, I guess I'm getting my hopes up."

"Is that bad?" Xhez asked.

"... We'll see."

Later, they finally ran into that elevator Jessen had mentioned. However, it looked unlike any elevator Rin had seen before. What the "elevator" consisted of was a circle in the ground, with a button next to it.

Rin, whose [Spirit Flame] was still active, asked Xhez to press the button for her, while they both stood within the circle. The sprite did so, and the floor trembled. Xhez held onto Rin's right shoulder as the platform they were on began to descend, and that was how they entered Derain.

As they were taken lower and lower, the circular hole above was covered by something, and the two of them were left in darkness, made bearable only by the white flame on Rin's body.

The platform eventually stopped, ending up in a place with another button just beside it, and a pathway leading to a single door.

"Scary," Rin muttered, her voice echoing in the tight hall. "Xhez, you might wanna use that [Candle] spell I taught you."

"Oh, right."

And so, casting the spellsign for it, Xhez created a small blue orb that burned as brightly as any torch, and the orb hovered over her head.

"Perfect," Rin said. "Now... Let's see where this leads."

The two of them walked up to the door. It was already open, its knob broken and hanging by a few metal bolts. Rin gave Xhez a look and the sprite pushed the door all the way.

And, when Rin saw what was on the other side, she was stunned.

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