Campfire Conversation

It had been a long day and the group was too tired to trek back to the outside camp, so they set up a makeshift camp on the second floor. Ian prepped the food while Markus and Derek went out to look for anything that could be used as kindling. The girls set up the rest of the camp, which didn't take them long as the camp was only going to be temporary. Markus and Derek were able to find some broken spear handles and parts of shields so they used what they could to start the fire.

Once the campfire had been set up, Ian began to prepare a meal for the group.

"Wow Ian, I didn't know you could cook. I'm impressed."

Zoe saw Ian in a different light once again as he managed to surprise her with some more of his, what almost seemed infinite, knowledge.

"Yeah, I cooked a lot of meals on my own because I would cook when I got home from practice. I was always watching what I ate, so my family would either try to cook food that I would eat or just eat without me."

Zoe understood where Ian was coming from as she usually made dinner for herself and her younger siblings. Her parents were always busy working, so she was always looking after her little brother and sisters. She started reminiscing about the times she spent playing games with them, helping them how to do their homework, the many nights of mac and cheese.

Derek started to think of his younger sister, who was about to start high school and he told her that he would be there to help her through her first year. He always protected her and now, he couldn't even keep his promise.

Markus thought about his two stepbrothers, who had been with him for around 4 years and didn't get along him because he was so much older than him. The only memory he had was when he taught them how to throw a perfect spiral.

Alice and Rose were only children, so they didn't take in the same meaning that Ian's words held, but they tried to put themselves into their friends' shoes. The silence lasted for quite some time, before Ian broke the silence by excusing himself.

"I need to take a walk and clear my head. Alone."

Ian walked off on his own and left the group of five to sit there in silence. No one said anything at first, but Markus broke the silence with a slight chuckle.

"Haha, I just remembered something hilarious. Ok, so Ian was challenged by another guy on the football team named Chandler to a race. They had to do suicides on the football field from one end zone to the other. Ian beat him no problem and Chandler had added in the bet that the loser had to run around the track butt naked. He thought that he would for sure win."

Derek also let out a laugh, "Ha, I remember that. Chandler was pissed, so he ran every day after practice because he wanted to be able to outrun Ian."

Rose was the next one to share a story, "When I was a kid, Ian had helped me get a toy back from this little girl who had snatched it out of my hands. He hit her in the head and told her to never take things that didn't belong to her. She started to cry, and he comforted her while apologizing for hitting her. I gave her the toy and we played together. However, she didn't learn not to take what doesn't belong to you and she still gets into trouble to this day."

Rose through a quick glance over to Zoe, who looked agitated after hearing that story.

"Oh, it was such a big deal that you had to have Malibu Barbie instead of Surfer Barbie, even though they looked the same. Well, I have a story of my own. I was doing some shopping with my siblings when my little brother grabbed some candy off the shelf and put it in his pocket. We didn't have enough money for it that day and I didn't know about it until we checked out and walked through the doors. The security guard was right there, so he checked the cart just to make sure that nothing was missing. My brother decided to pull the candy out and start eating it. The security guard caught him and told me I had to pay for it, or he would have to call my parents. Ian was walking in and got pulled into the situation. He played for the candy and everything was right with the world."

When Zoe finished her story, the group was left in silence again. Then, Rose, Zoe, Markus, and Derek all turned their heads towards Alice.

"Alright Alice, you have to have a story involving Ian. Spill it."

"Yeah, come on. We apparently were all brought together because of him."

Alice finally acknowledged the group and tried to get them to calm down by giving them what they wanted.

[A/N: this story will be extremely dark and deal with very mature themes. This is not to make fun of the subject, but to bring awareness to it. This is your only warning.]

"When I was in middle school, my body was already developing. I noticed that I had been gathering the attention of some of the boys at school and even a few teachers. School had just gotten out and I was walking home by myself when a bunch of boys from the high school saw me. They approached me and tried to me offer money for "favors", but I refused. I tried to run away, but they grabbed me and brought me over to this large, white van. They started to drive off, but they didn't get very far as they hit something. One of the guys in the back got out while another pinned me down. He started to grope me, but he was interrupted by his buddy who had just gotten his head slammed into the door. I looked past the high school boy and saw someone standing on the sidewalk with blood running down their face. The guy holding me told the driver and the guy in the passenger seat to get out and handle the stranger. It was at this moment that I saw that the stranger was only a kid about my age. The kid rushed at the driver and punched him right in the testicles. The driver dropped to the kid's height and the kid head-butted him hard. The passenger went and tackled the kid, but the kid bit the passenger's arm and caused it to bleed. The kid was like a wild animal and he beat the passenger until he was unrecognizable. Then the kid picked up a large stick from the ground and hit the guy on top of me in the head."

"That boy looked down at me with blood running down his face and chin. He gave me his hand and I saw the kindness in his eyes mixed with the ferocity he had shown my attackers. Ian had saved me that day and I have never forgotten that. I thought about when I saw that Ian was so willing to get hurt just to save any of us. My only fear is that Ian will risk everything to save us, even a way back home."

Standing behind a nearby stalagmite, Ian had been listening to all their stories. He remembered each one of them. He had come back early because he found a piece of parchment, but he didn't want to ruin the mood so he decided that he would tell them all about it in the morning.

Ian came back to the camp and joined his friends around the fire. They talked about their families a bit more and came up with strategies. Then they all laid down on their cots and the sleep that had seeped its way into their heads finally took them.

The next day, everyone helped packed up their camp and they continued heading through the caverns. There didn't seem to be anymore skeletons, but they started to see a light as they continued to travel their current path. The light brought them to the next gate that led to the third floor. The gate had big vines going all over the door and the vines were about 4 inches in diameter. There was a figure standing next to the gate with a large tower shield and a claymore. It was covered from head to toe in steel armor and was roughly 6' tall. It stood there menacingly and stared down the group of heroes. It looked like a knight, but the steel was dark and menacing and it had glowing red eyes. It lifted its sword and pointed it at the group then it slowly started to walk forwards.