Danmachi ( Fanfiction Volume 18 )

Reminiscence "4"

Bell , trapped on floor 70 with no means to bypass the 69 floor stood on the temple front stairs ,the light here never fades  . The constant flames and volcano eruptions always kept a source of orange light illuminating the area . He never knew how much time had passed since he arrived here. To make things worst his companion informed him that he lost the connection with his god through the blessing . His face became pale blue from news , as it was the finishing blow to him, he though he would never be able to level up anymore and stuck in this place forever.

" How am I supposed to get pass that room then ?"Bell asked with desperate voice. A sign that he was loosing all hope now.

" well , its not like you are doomed here human ,you have me ..and y.. " the phoenix proudly declared

" except for healing me , which I am grateful for , you have been nothing but bad news " Bell answered not letting her finishing her explanation . Bell was not in the right state of mind right now. 

" you!! You !! you ungrateful brat! Show me what you can do then without my guidance ! hmph!" she retorted with cracked voice .

Silence bell stood there observing the floor , as his only companion went silent after their argument. He realized he was alone, just like when he first arrived to Orario. He let his mind wonder back to those memories , with his goddess , welf ,lilly and all the others " goddess , everyone please give me strength" with a whisper like prayer . After making his decision, bell stood up grabbed a pouch , filled her with water and some fruits from the garden nearby , the fruits were hard from the outside but sour and crunchy from inside with some sweet parts . He rejoiced that they weren't poisonous at least.

Setting out in the opposite direction to the giant door bell walked . the terrain seemed to loose the heat in it as he moved towards the exist ahead , which contrary to what he had ever saw before in the dungeon had an Arch like frame tunnel , glyphs engraved all over the marble arch , He kept observing them trying to deduce something that might help him ,but he gave up soon after " do you know anything about this , phoenix-san?" bell wondered , however no answer came back

He sighed ,making his mind , he walked through the tunnel .With his talkative companion no longer speaking to him he found himself adventuring alone for the first time in a while. He took a long breath and started running.

Just after he walked through the tunnel the glyphs on the Arch behind had a faint glow before dimming again .

Bell kept running for almost 2 hours to his surprise no monster jumped on him or popped from any walls which made him really suspicious ,in addition to that his mind was thinking about how to make up with his only companion . He remembered his goddess words about how he needed to apologize if he hurted a girl's feelings . So he stopped and made his mind " Phoenix-san , I , I just want to say , I am really sorry for hurting your feelings, you were trapped here alone and you helped me , but I was ungrateful , I was in desperate situation , I am still in it as I can no longer level up and go back up , I feel really ... hopeless and lost , Sorry" Bell with heavy guilty voice .

After along silence that made Bell wonder if she was ever going to forgive him a familiar voice resounded in his mind :" Baka" in a low tone she replied " I forgive you this time "

" thank you phoenix-san " bell said

" Faenūr " the phoenix spoke , " what ? " bell asked 

" my name , you asked about it before bell , its Faenūr, you can call me Fae " she said hesitantly

" alright Fae-san! Thank you " bell answered with a chirping voice , now that he made up with her and she gave him her name , he felt much better now he returned his focus to his surroundings.

" Fae-san" bell spoke , " yes bell ?" she answered

" do you know why there are no monsters here , I ve been running for a long time , yet nothing came out " bell asked as he was curious about the absence of any monster

" like I said before , the dungeon from here on out is different, you ve already saw that arch at the entrance , that is the trail door , from here on out , every floor is a trial left by that god , you need to finish the trial in order to be able to open the door to next floor " Fae answered , she remembered that , because that was an important information she picked up from the adventurers who passed by her floor through the years

" a trial ?what it is it about ?" bell was now more interested in what the dungeon was hiding

He kept walking while asking her about what the trial would be but Fae never really knew what the first trial looked like .she only knew that it was a cold place

Soon ,he started feeling a current of cold freezing wind breezing inside the tunnel , the wind current became faster and colder as he walked further and soon he found out why , as he saw a ray of light from the exist he run faster , existing the tunnel he held a hand to cover his eyes as he took time to adjust to the change in light . However the sight in front of him was breathtaking . White , ahead of him stood frozen lands with high mountains cover in heavy snow

" whaa?"