Will Of The Fates

12.

It took us an entire week to get all the lacrima. All twenty of them.

We'd go in as early as we could everyday, fight till we couldn't anymore and then leave. The first few days of doing that were good. But as the lacrima in that one room dwindled, the silver all attached itself to the ones that remained. Which meant we had to hack and slash through bigger globs of floating silver than we started out with.

It was slow. Both the silver and the entire process. We couldn't just leave the room either as it seemed to just stay at the other exit and block the path ahead.

The day we got the last lacrima was glorious. Risna smacked it out of the silver, and Elikai stomped on it. The last wave of mana resonated through the entire room and the silver monster finally collapsed to the floor, all liquid with no hopes of return.

We'd been at it for hours. But we walked into the next room to a sight we thought we'd left behind several days ago. More silver floated towards us, as if it meant to mock us for its brethren we'd finished.

Sidas roared in frustration as he attacked them again. My body responded out of habit, but my brain was blank. Exhaustion plagued every limb of mine. The single sticks in my hand had torn the old calluses on my hand and started new ones. There were blisters on my feet from fighting in these well-worn boots. It had been hard to sleep as the days progressed. I would close my eyes at night, and start to wonder if we made the right decision to come here. It felt like we had wasted our time here. We could have earned good money from jobs as we hopped between villages, but here we were- surrounded by silver monsters that never seemed to die and underground as we searched for a treasure that might or might not exist.

Over the past week, we'd also learned more about our current companions. Sidas, Risna and Elikai were all orphans who grew up in a farming town. Sidas was the oldest, and when he'd left the village at 16, Risna and Elikai had followed.

Risna had been teased as a kid for being big, Elikai had been a shut-in who only liked to read books and practice magic. Sidas had been the town trouble-maker. The three seemed like an unlikely trio, but they'd become family to each other through the years.

All four of us would listen enraptured as they talked about all the towns and villages they'd been through. Dinner would go by with the details of what they'd seen on their travels. It felt important as much as it was entertaining. Like a lesson being taught through a story.

But tonight, there was only silence in the clearing. None of us spoke, none of us wanted to speak as we tried to deny the futility of the last week.

That was what was on my mind, I couldn't confirm it for the others. But the looks on everyone's faces showed that I might not be very far off.

Despite my exhaustion, my mind felt restless. I felt exhausted but I probably wouldn't be able to sleep. Not like I didn't felt like it. Night watch was mine anyway. They'd let me sleep for a few days after my head injury but I still had to do my part.

As the week had progressed, so had everyone's trust in each other. Instead of two sleep-deprived people at the end of every night, we'd agreed to keep only one, but we alternated between the two teams.

The night passed quicker than expected as I meandered through my thoughts. I didn't wake anyone up as the sun rose. Pyr's breaths quickened all of a sudden and she started awake. Her hazel eyes met mine, wide open as she tried to calm herself. She'd almost been crushed under the big silver monstrosity that had formed when there was one lacrima left. I think that still weighed on her mind.

She looked up at the sky and swallowed. Her eyes followed a cloud as she calmed down. "You didn't... You didn't wake us up."

"Yeah..." I replied absently as I also followed a cloud.