The (Almost) Moment Of Truth

<<Floor 1, Day 12, Within The Dungeon Tower>>

The silence rang out almost profoundly, a deathly quiet that constantly reverberated. Like a bell that had finally tolled its last.

Hush whispers were the keywords that amounted to all others into irrelevancy.

"We're opening the doors."

Shared and repeated until there was no one else left to hear.

Everyone began to rally by the giant doorway shut tight. Solemnity in the trudging of their footsteps, grimness in the eyes of their beholder. No one talked much, no one had too… not at the moment.

Reluctance in the faces of many, yet none turned away, they gathered, weapons in hand, determination and resolve stifling their quivering and their doubts.

Between them and I, at least we shared that one thing in common. We all agreed that the nightmare had to end and that it was time to end it.

"Time to take your rightful place, Guild Leader," said Jin, no longer idling away by a decrepit stone wall.

"I know… but still," I paused, turning to the assemblage that had done forming. "The Level 1 taking charge, how'd they react if only they knew..."

Tayuma recoiled back in horror, his lips sputtering as if he just spat out a drink. "Level - you're level what now?!"

"Thanks for demonstrating," I said, sighing. "Could use with a little bit more outrage, though. Felt a bit held back there at the end."

"I always thought it was weird that you were hiding your level," he said, breathing deep into his hand. "Fucking hell, now I know!"

"An open secret now, I suppose. Everyone else is gonna find out one way or another."

"They don't need to know, Sora," said Jin, once again stroking a non-existent beard.

"I don't have to tell them anyhow, wooden sword's a dead giveaway."

"Doesn't have to be," said Jin, his eyes flickering towards Tayuma's. "By any chance, I don't suppose you got a spare weapon lying around somewhere in your inventory, do you?"

Tayuma narrowed his eyes. "One or two, maybe… why?"

Jin stretched out his hand. "Give it here, I got an idea."

An emanating blue glow plopped onto Jin's hand, gradually dimming to reveal a curved iron sword. He tapped on it and a small translucent bar hovered just above it, its specs and its level inscribed within.

"Level 10," I muttered softly as the display was whisked away. "Can't wield that, that's for sure. I'm probably better off breaking my fists at one of its legs."

"Except you're not gonna be the one wielding it," Jin corrected. "I am."

He drew out his severed hand from his coat pocket and began clasping the fingers one by one onto the hilt of the blade, fastening it securely with a steady hold.

"A little bit of my wrist is jutting out here, you can try and keep a hold on it from there," He said, fretting himself away with some test swings and twirls.

Tayuma and I both exchanged looks of concern.

"You're saying I should hold…" I gestured to the hand/sword combo - thing, expressing myself a high skepticism towards his bizarre creation. "Okay, Dr. Frankenstein, how sure are you about this?"

He held the blade out in front of me. "Sure enough."

Still reserving doubts, I extended my arm out beneath it. Jin dropped the sword in my hand, bequeathing to me immediately a sense of weight that began to pervade, tightly pressing against my palm like a slab of stone.

My arm yearning for the agony to cease, I sought out the recently departed limb attached to the handle, finding Jin's gaze staring back at me just beyond it.

"Go on," he urged. "Be hand-holder again."

So I did, and the moment I took hold of it, the hefty pressure on my palm instantly dispersed. Freed from burden, the blade was steady in my grasp. Firm, yet light, I swayed the sword from left to right, feeling no strain, no pain.

At my shock and awe, Jin shot a small fleeting smile, his eyes glimmering with approval.

"So, uh…" Tayuma cleared his throat, tearing away for long enough to focus on Jin. "You gonna explain?"

"Simple enough, really," Jin began, looking rather full of himself. "See, that hand is still a part of me, and I more than enough meet the weapon requirements, so as long as Sora keeps hold of my hand there, by proxy, he'll be able to wield whatever weapon I'd be able to."

"Remind me to go find the NPC that sliced your hand off after all this," I said, flourishing the sword in my hand/his hand effortlessly. "I'd like to give my thanks to it."

"Pssst!" Hissed a voice from behind us.

Ayako had made a gracious return, emerging unceremoniously from the suffocating depths of the crowded corridor, still retaining a sliver of resentment in her sharp expression.

"Did your job for you," She said, crossing her arms haughtily. "Tell me you're not gonna leave me to open the damn door by myself, are you?"

"What baseless accusations!" I exclaimed out loud, feigning shock. "How could you ever suspect me of such a thing? Throughout all our time together… do you really think so little of me?"

A dull, impassive blinking of her eyes. "I'm not even gonna answer that."

"Relax, we're on our way," I replied, trying my best to look apologetic.

My gaze was confronted with a cold, piercing stare from her own before she turned away to the crowd once more, disappearing in a huff. "Hurry it up, then."

"Looks like she's not too fond of playing errand girl," Tayuma remarked, a small grimace on display. "Yikes, that stare. Wouldn't want her upset at me."

"That's her upset?" Jin snorted in amusement. "And I thought I had it bad."

"Whatever, she'll get over it quick enough," I said, turning my sights to the two of them. "Let's go get this over with."

Soaring apprehension, perhaps that's what it was.

"Remember, level 1. Don't do anything rash, don't get yourself killed. Leave mostly everything to us," said Jin.

I mean, what other reason could there be for the mutters and whispers to gradually begin growing faint just as we settled ourselves at the crammed foreground just before the doorway?

"I know…" I simply said.

Couldn't think of any other.

Ayako was already present there, joining the eerie silence in its daunting watch of us. Her expression was blank, but her eyes followed mine, only tearing away once I took my place beside her.

Jin followed suit, then Tayuma.

Together, we stood in four against a congregation of a hundred. Left, right, as far as the eye could see, brimming with the gazes of what felt like a million. Each and every one of them burrowing deep within us a heavy reminder of the sole promise for why they rallied behind us, of the sole promise they put aside their fear and their doubts for.

Of the sole promise that we vowed to make into a reality.

I looked to each of my companions, then to the unyielding crowd, and nodded.

"Let's end this."

The four of us turned to the towering stone archway still sealed shut… but not for any longer. Jin reached out an arm to the web-ridden surface, a mounting pressure gathering in the palm of his hand.

The door stirred slightly in a sonorous rumble, ripping some of the thick wads of webs that had ensnared it like threads.

A little more exerted effort dented the door inwards. He pushed again, even more snapped threads.

By then, the clatter and clunk of weapons being drawn persisted behind us like a melodic symphony of steel and iron. Tayuma brandished his sword, Ayako gripped her bow and as for me… I held Jin's hand.

"Almost…" grunted Jin, impelling further and forming a slight crevice down the middle.

Tayuma forced fear out with a long breath. Noticing it, I tried to follow, but that was when I felt an unusual warmth at the end of my wrist. It was a tingling sensation, one that had me turning to its source.

Ayako, veiled beneath a cascade of flowing black hair, sinking her head to the ground, a free hand wrapped tightly around my wrist, fear manifesting in the slight trembles of her fingertips.

"Cold feet?" I whispered.

"Freezing…"

"Do you want to turn back?"

"No, but..." she paused, swallowing hard. "I don't know."

Jin gave another hard nudge and the doorway began to loosen. Ayako held on even tighter.

"Just nerves… just spiders… just -" She turned her sideways to look at me, her pale sickly complexion displaying clearly pure unbridled dread. "Do you think we can do this?"

Her eyes sought only for comfort, but all I could offer was the truth.

"I don't know."

The door parted open with a screeching grinding of stone against stone, a strong gust of wind streaming out from the doorway folding inwards to reveal the cavernous depth it held within itself, ushering us in with a chilly stillness void of any sound.

Ayako released her hold on me, straying far back as I took the first steps into the boss room, feeling as I did the wet spongy texture of cobwebs pressing under the skin of my boots.

An expansive circular interior, sharp web-covered rocks lining the cavern walls, trailing to a jagged ceiling infested with long, narrow stalactites that stretched beyond sight. The only source of light being a soft glow originating without a source.

As the rest slowly started to funnel into the room, I took a gander to the skies, then to the sides, then finally to all around.

Two minutes in, still only explored with a precarious glance, not daring an inch deeper into the fray. But there was no fray, there was no fight, only the trudging of our footsteps resounding through the light.

The other three finally caught up with me and I turned to face them, pointing to the scene behind me as I did.

"See anything wrong with this picture?" I asked, staring into each of their faces.

As expected, Jin was the first one to comprehend, ruffling his hair with a troubled expression.

Ayako attempted to peek through the slits in her fingers, and even she could discern it.

But it was Tayuma, last to realize, who decided to express the manner vocally for all to hear.

"The boss is gone."