Encounter (pt 3)

'The sounds of fighting had been rampaging for many minutes now, Cal's bony legs clinked and clanked against the floor while he ran forwards, clutching his dagger at full speed. The screaming had stopped, Cal didn't know if it was due to the owner of the scream perishing, or because they had made an escape, regardless, the fighting had continued without them. The skeleton was unsure if it was safe to go someplace where such sounds of despair had come from, but his drive to help the person in need combined with his overwhelming curiosity drove him forward.

'I mean... how bad could it be?' he said, calming himself.

Cal had walked about for about 3 days into the dungeon since waking up in his new body, while a large amount of time was spent resting or taking care of goblins, there was still a lot of ground to cover.

Cal heard growls and thumps of blunt weapons smacking the ground, his imagination ran wild with theories. He had asked Chimey to light up the dungeon as he ran through it, even a limited and smaller light source was a godsend in the dungeon's dark and depressing walls.

'It's right around this corner!' Cal thought excitedly. He hadn't prepared for this or knew what lay beyond this corner but his brain was aching from the monotony of living inside this dungeon, he needed to know what was happening.

He worried that the fighting had stopped during a brief period of time where the sounds had gone quiet, but soon after they quickly picked up even more ferocious than at the start.

Cal tip-toed to the corner of the dungeon pathway, careful not to clink. The sounds were right here.

He slowly poked his head over the walls and peeked into the fight.

'...'

'Oh shit.' Cal was lucky he no longer was capable of speaking, otherwise, he would've unknowingly yelped at the sight before him

A Gnoll, bloodied and bruised, fighting against a shadowy figure with the same ailments; scattered amongst them were pale green bodies of deceased goblins and bones of skeletons that had crumpled to the floor.

Cal couldn't believe his eyes, not even considering the gargantuan amount of corpses that lay on the floor, fighting a Gnoll alone was an inconceivable task.

'That guy... he's gonna take down the Gnoll!' Cal clenched his fists in anticipation. Cal had been brought up surrounded and trained by veteran adventurers, as such he had skill in judging the flow of battle, and the Gnoll had little stamina left.

The Gnoll and dark figure went from exchanging blows to jumping back and resting for a second, they were both pushed to their utmost limit, the shadowy figure recovered the fastest and launched another barrage of attacks.

Cal was hypnotised by their battle.

One showed overwhelming strength and instinct while the other showed mind-boggling levels of speed and skill. Cal looked at that fight longingly.

He knew that even with his past body's strength, fighting a Gnoll wouldn't be possible, yet he yearned for that level of strength. Cal had no goals beyond getting stronger and getting a better position at his guild and as such, those few goals always held strong within Cal's mind.

*SCHLEEK SCKEEK!*

The final blow had transpired.

With a thump, the giant Gnoll collapsed onto the ground, his body covered in cuts and bloodied beyond recognition. Cal had no intention of stepping into that shadowy figures presence, dying once was enough for him!

Cal retracted his skull from peeking beyond the corner and slowly backed away, careful as not to clink when all of a sudden-

*THUMP*

Another body collapsed onto the floor.

"He-help..." a weak voice called out.

Cal stood frozen in shock.

'Help? You?' Cal saw the adventurer's movements and knew that they weren't anywhere near their limits, how could someone like that need his help? Needless to say, Cal tried to step out of there as fast as he could.

"Someone... anyone..." the voice was gasping, its tone chockfull of desperation. Cal stopped in his tracks.

*THUMP THUMP*

*SLIDE*

Familiar sounds echoed through the dungeon walls.

*THUMP THUMP*

*SLIDE*

Sounds that brought back long-forgotten memories for the skeleton.

*THUMP THUMP*

*SLIDE*

'...'

'shit.'

The skeleton threw caution to the wind and walked around the corner of the dungeon.

The fighter cloaked in black had also been gravely injured, his arms and legs had a large number of wild cuts and bruises across them, now that Cal had a closer look, he was baffled at how well this person had fought in their condition.

They threw both their arms out, extending them as far as possible before clawing at the ground and pulling themselves closer to Cal.

"P-please..." the voice was now no more than a hushed whisper.

Cal looked at Chimey, through the orange interface, no words could be seen. The system stayed silent, waiting for Cal's decision.

The skeleton cleared his mind and took a metaphorical breath, before stepping into the dungeon's expansive hallway.

"Uhrk..." upon seeing Cal's body up close and in full, the adventurer, once desperate to get to Cal opened their eyes wide in shock. The figure did its best to push themselves off the ground, yet they had lost too much strength and fell back down.

"PTOFF" a mouthful of blood was spat out, Cal could see the blood accumulate through their mask.

Cal looked at the adventurer's pitiful state with a complicated expression, he wanted to help them but with the way Cal looked, getting attacked was a real threat.

The adventurer's eyes no longer sought help. They looked glassy and defeated, resigning themselves to their fate.

"To... to... to a skeleton? Heh..ah... how funny..." Cal paid no mind to the adventurer's mindless babbles, Cal was sure that they expected him to kill them without a second thought.

Cal walked closer to the adventurer.

This mysterious figures face was obstructed by a mask, yet one only needed to look at their eyes to see the hate and desperation that they emitted.

*clingg* Cal dropped his dagger onto the floor, the sound of metal falling echoed throughout the dungeon.

"mm..." the adventurer studied Cal's actions, they looked confused.

Cal slowly bent down onto the floor and started to write, using the dirt and grime that accumulated on the dungeon floors to communicate as best he could, as the words he wrote became decipherable to the adventurer, their eyes looked as if they were deranged

"F R I E N D L Y", wrote Cal on the floor, he then followed up the word with an arrow pointing to himself. Cal did his best to smile without lips and gave two bony thumbs up.

The adveturer's eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets.

Cal ignored the adventurers shock and started to write again, from his assessment, there wasn't much time for them.

"M E D I C I N E?" he wrote on the floor.

The adventurer kept flicking his eyes from Cal's bony fingers to the floor. Cal was understanding of their surprise but time wasn't something that he could afford to waste.

*THUMP*

Cal smacked his bony fist onto the dungeon floor, emphasising the "?" in his last remark.

The adventurer tried to move his fingers to no avail, seemingly trying to point the medicine out to Cal.

"Right... pocket..." whispered the adventurer in a hushed tone, his weaking body spurred Cal into action. The skeleton jogged over to the adventurer's pants and felt around in their right pocket, Cal fished out a small brown satchel with a few red pills inside.

'What's this?' Cal looked confused, as someone with over 6 years experiance as an adventurer, he had eaten and drunk all types of medicine, this was a first.

Cal supressed his curiousity and trudged over to the adventurer and pulled down the mask covering his mouth. Cal was curious as to what the man looked like, however, the blood and grime that had accumulated within the mask made it impossible to get a good look.

Cal cupped his hands and spilled some pills into it before promptly bringing it up to the adventurers face, the haggard adventurer wasted no time and eagerly ate the medicine, crunching and chewing it as quickly as they could; soon, all the pills were gone and the adventurer had dozed off to sleep.

The skeleton eyed the adventurer with a curious expression, someone with the ability to slay a Gnoll on their lonesome would definitly be someone with a high level of fame within the Black Bear Guild, yet he had never seen this person before. Cal studied the adventurers eqiupment when something caught his eye.

'Curves...'

'Those beautiful curves!'

'That edge! That pommel!'

Cal was starstruck.

He had never seen such a beautiful thing before in his life.

Cal reached out with a shaky hand and touched the handle of a shortsword. He slowly pulled it out and revealed the glory hidden beneath.

A silver sword, beautifully made by a skilled artisan. It's pommel had a core so pure it reflected your face back onto you and a handle so comfortable it felt like gripping a cloud. Cal swung the sword a few times, it was light-weight yet solid and sharp.

Cal mainly wielded a long sword alongside his shield, yet even when unfamiliar with this type of weapon, he could sense it value.

He wanted it.

'I mean... there are two of 'em... and I *did* save his life so...'

'Should I take the second as well?' a stray thought entered his head.

'No! No. I'll take this one...'

Cal slashed and hacked the sword a few more times, due to him losing all his muscles and tendons, he had felt considerably weaker. A weapon such as this which was lightweight yet sharp would be a perfect match for his current physique.

'But what if this guy gets angry and comes back for me? Ugh...'

There were too many variables, no matter how badly he wanted the sword, potentially angering someone of this level would be disastrous. Above all, Cal prioritised his safety, if they could slay a Gnoll and a horde of monsters back to back, killing Cal would be almost too easy.

'That settles it...' Cal looked at the sword longingly, as one looks at a portrait of a deceased lover. He mourned the loss of a potential partner and made his way to the adventurer to return the weapon when sudden shouts and thumps made him jump back in surprise.

"HERE! SHE WAS HERE!" the gruff voice of a middle-aged man bounced along the walls.

Cal jumped behind the dungeon's corner and focused in on the commotion, these people had snuck up on him somehow.

'I didn't hear them at all? Could they have used sound magic?' Cal thought inquisitively. Either way, he had no business dealing with humans who could easily kill him. Cal slowly edged away into the darkness through the loud gasps and shouts coming from the hallway.

'This is trouble... time to go!' Cal was now barely within earshot of the new arrivals.

"URGH! SO WHAT HUH?! YOU JUST LEFT YOUR COMRADE TO DIE? PATHETIC!" an even more haggard voice than the adventurer's stopped Cal in his tracks.

He recognised that voice.

The same voice that chastised him wherever he went, one who's caring words contrasted with their gruff exterior and tone. A dear friend.

'Old man Kent...'

Cal had almost forgotten the reason he had crawled through the dungeon on his deathbed. He had a life to live beyond this dreadful cave.

The boy clenched his fist and walked into the dungeon, he wouldn't let someone he respected see him in this state.

Kent kept shouting off in the distance but Cal delved deeper into the dungeon with renewed passion.