Dark & Light

Susano keeps walking for a few leagues, until they see something incomprehensible face to face, another group of mercenaries, those stangers seem comfortable finding another group, which is not usually common among competitors.

"Hello!" salutes the short man in front of the other group, he looks very friendly, his tone of voice, his facial expression, his wave of the hand.

Susano can only shyly respond waving back, in addition to not being used to represent his group, he is even less used to being friendly with strangers after they actually enters in a dungeon, the short man approaches and extends his hand.

"Hello again, I'm Hikga'ard!" Susano greets him but takes a while to respond, Ramon may not be an example of sympathy, but he thinks Susano is making a fool of himself.

"Hello, I'm Susano" Susano sounds like he has to remember how to introduce himself, and he realizes he has to introduce his group too, after all he gets closer to Hikga'ard.

"Amira, Ramon, Rikka and that one late is Krastinaff" Susano points to each one when saying their names, they respond to their names waving to the other group, except Krastinaff, he ignores the other group, ignores even his friends, he is totally focused on understanding that, he starts talking loudly to overcome Susano's distraction.

"… first is the calm and pleasant light, then comes the sinister and deadly darkness…" Krastinaff keeps a little away so as not to be distracted from his reading and reasoning again.

"HAHAHA, another nerd!" Hikga'ard seems to speak about his own experience. "We also had one like that in the group, but this dungeon was too much for him, and almost too much for the rest of us too!" the short man looks very evocative.

"Sartaj, K'irara, Sahn-fu and Chent-chi" Hikga'ard follows Susano's example and introduces his companions pointing to each one, they respond by imitating Susano's companions and nod when their names are mentioned.

"Do you look good? Is this place as good as it looks?" Susano does not hide his curiosity.

"HAHAHA, yes and yes, the place is great,! we were sent here on a mission probably like you guys, but when we found this place we decided to stay, after all the outside world is even worse" Hikga'ard steps aside and let his teammates more visible, Susano imitates him.

They keep talking, Higa'ard walks from one side to the other without straying from any more of his group talking to Susano, the rest of the two groups sit and talk almost forming a circle between them, except Krastinaff who goes away to reading aloud and moves a little farther away from those noisy people.

"…Those who let themselves be enchanted by the light will not know the darkness, but will live in it as they live in the light…" Krastinaff sits leaning against one of the nearest trees he can find.

They keep talking and sharing their experiences about the hell they went through to get to that layer, they eat, sleep and even hunt together keeping close to the meeting place of the groups, the exception is still Krastinaff, he keeps reading his notes and always when someone approaches he reads aloud, his companions make fun of him to their new friends, sometimes they move closer to Krastinaff intentionally to disrupt his study.

"…a layer of relief to reward those who are willing to be sacrificed has been made, but the fools who mistake it for paradise will be condemned in darkness…"

"… the pleasures of light are equal to the suffering in darkness… light and darkness alternate for eternity, here the cycle is absolute…" when another cycle sounds, Krastinaff's eyes bulge, he goes to his companions and gathers them.

"We have to go!" his companions respond with embarrassment and dissatisfaction as they see their new friends laughing at them a few feet away.

"Again with this!" Amira complains and the others seem to support her, Krastinaff looks at Ramon who seems indecisive. "Even you Ramon?" Ramon is taken aback by not supporting Krastinaff.

"I'll explain on the way, now we have to go" Hikga'ard and his group mock even more to see 'Susano' group being bullied by the 'nerd', Amira thinks quickly of an excuse to end her humiliation, she turns to Hikga'ard.

"Well… let's take our nerd for a ride, he's dying to find another totem like that, the applications he was studying are over" Amira is embarrassed by the laughter of Hikga'ard and his companions.

"Waste of time! They're all the same, our nerd also became obsessed with it and went astray, there are dozens of cycles that we don't see him, it must have been killed by an animal or it left here and died outside, it doesn't matter, but you can take advantage of it to collect different fruits " Hikga'ard spits to the side and looks at his companions and goes on.

"That's why we're wandering around, to meet other people and collect different fruits, good as it is, if you have a little wits, you'll ignore this nerd and stay here, see you later, and if you find figs, save some for us, it's been a while since we found a fig tree with fruit" they turn and leave, mocking on Krastinaff's.

Amira turns to Krastinaff with anger in her eyes and the others also look very unhappy, except for Ramon who doesn't seem to mind.

"They're doomed and we will also be if we don't get to the center of this layer!" Krastinaff speaks and sprints ahead of the group, his companions reluctantly following him and disturbed by Krastinaff's conviction.

"How? Are you crazy Krastinaff? They said they've been here for a long time and everything is fine! Forget about that bullshit mission! We found paradise!" Amira screams following Krastinaff shuffling her feet in a sign of rebellion, Krastinaff turns and glares at Amira.

"For sure they've been here a long time! At least twice what they think!" Krastinaff continues to show total conviction in what he says, which only adds to the confusion in his teammates' heads, Krastinaff always looks farther on the horizon in search of a totem pole.

"What do you mean by that?" Susano joins the conversation, Amira makes room for him, happy to be actively supported, Krastinaff this time doesn't stop and keeps walking aimlessly.

"I didn't understood it well, I can't explain it right, light lasts for seven cycles, just like darkness, in light it's all wonderful, but whoever starts a cycle in darkness is stuck here..." Krastinaff has been talking inconstantly, which makes it difficult for him to be understand by his companions.

"Are you scared of the dark now? Prefer to go back outside? Where, in addition to being dark, there are a lot of guardian monsters to eat us alive!" Amira is not more incisive because she is a little tired with the fast march imposed by Krastinaff.

"But when it gets dark in here does it mean that monsters will show up here too?" Susano makes his only guess that Krastinaff makes sense, Amira has a flash of empathy for Krastinaff.

"Yes and no!" Krastinaff seems elated, he barely understands what needs to be done and is bombarded by useless questions of his teammates, but he tries to explain a little more anyway, even though it's impossible for them to understand the problem so easily.

"The monsters are already here! It's the people who stayed here too long, the limit is six cycles, maybe seven, I didn't understand this part well, and we spent four if I remember correctly! Stop babbling and help me find the second zone so we can get back to the layer we came from!" Krastinaff as well as Amira doesn't scream because of the fast march.

"Enough!" Amira stops walking and screams. "I'm tired of your madness, fuck Krastinaff! You're not taking us to another trap again!" Krastinaff turns around ready to slap Amira and he is restrained by Ramon and Susano, they grapple each other and roll on the floor, Amira asks Ramon and Susano to teach Krastinaff a lesson so that he stops being crazy.

"Enough now I say!" Rikka doesn't quite scream, but she is very incisive. "I was trying to regain my magic a little, but there's something strange here, I can't recover almost anything, what I've got a little, apparently I have to use it to find out if Krastinaff is crazy or not" they stop thrashing on the floor and get up again.

Rikka approaches Krastinaff with her hands bright yellow and puts her hands on his face, he understands what it's about and leans over so they can touch each other's foreheads, it seems like a few seconds for their teammates, but for Rikka and Krastinaff it was like they've talked for a whole cycle.

"Let's go! Krastinaff is right, we have to get out as soon as possible, I understood less than him and I don't even want to know about this place anymore, we haven't even progressed a layer to reach our destination." Rikka joins in fast march accompanied by Krastinaff, Amira still goes on reluctancy, but now she doesn't argue anymore, the others follow in silence for a while, after all, guiding stone always choose the right path.

Once in a while Susano or Ramon asks Krastinaff to explain again, Krastinaff tries to explain, but they never understand and they keep quiet for a while. Amira always adds a hint that perhaps Rikka has contracted Krastinaff's madness, she is ignored by everyone.

They find another totem after walking many leagues, they ate picking fruit along the way, always keeping the frantic march, Krastinaff actually identifies that totem is almost the same as the one he found, except for an inscription, probably from the same drunken bard he must have made that nonsense about 'hero' at the entrance to the other dungeon.

"And now?" asks Ramon after taking a breath, before Krastinaff can answer, the bell rings announcing another cycle, Krastinaff and Rikka's faces are filled with awe and frighten their teammates, that's the fifth cycle within that layer and they still have no idea on how to get to the central zone, Amira remains sulky and laughs at their fearful faces.

"We still need to get to the center" Krastinaff repeats once more, sick of having to keep repeating that, Amira imitates him in a sarcastic tone over and over again.

"SHUT UP!!!" Rikka erupts in a scream of rage while still sitting next to Krastinaff, the others are a little surprised, including Krastinaff, who even sharing Rikka's sentiments has become used to Amira's petulance.

"Whoooooooooooo Wow, she's going to hit me, sooooooo!" Amira still mocks her friend and is immediately answered with another furious scream from Rikka.

"IF YOU DON'T SHUT YOUR MOUTH, I'LL FUCK YOU DOWN MYSELF!!!" this time Rikka looks with hatred deep in her eyes at Amira, Amira pulls away, she knows Rikka is no match for her, but if she fights Rikka she will fight everyone else, maybe at the same time.

"But don't you have any tips on how to get there?" Susano questions Krastinaff, he looks at Susano hopelessly and answers. "The tip is trees, that's all" Rikka adds with the quote. "Amidst the trees is the obscure path that leads to the exit, the exit depends on where you entered…" Rikka sighs.

"Then let's go towards where there are more trees." Krastinaff looks almost smiling at Susano. "We are surrounded by trees, as far as the eye can see…" Krastinaff gives up on completing the reasoning.

"That's right! In that direction there are more trees, maybe there's a different totem there with another tip." Susano speaks casually and the idea hits Krastinaff and Rikka like lightning.

Krastinaff and Rikka squint their eyes to see if they notice any difference in the amount of trees around, everything looks the same to them.

"It's true, I was even going to tell you to go there, to look for some different fruits." Ramon, somewhat embarrassed, for not having supported Krastinaff before, complements Susano's testimony. "The smell of the fruits and trees there is stronger" now with Ramon reiterating Susano's claim, Rikka and Krastinaff hopelessly ask them to lead the way.

Amira follows them in silence a few meters away, she thinks they must have all gone crazy and if not it's time to join another group that could be right there.

The path is winding and Krastiaff and Rikka question if Ramon and Susano are sure that this is the path, they both answer affirmatively every time, they find a few more groups on that route, but they hardly do more than introduce themselves without saying what are trying to do.

Amira always thinks of an excuse for herself not change to the other group, she deceives herself with futile reasons, the truth is that she is so psychologically dependent on this group that she can't leave anymore, it's the only family she ever had.

After dozens of leagues, they see, not far from the top of the hill they are, a great concentration of trees, nor can they see what is inside so dense is the concentration, yet Krastinaff can see a few sparks of white light in the middle of that, Ramon too, but the light is black.