Finding the Dungeon [publishing]

Chapter 5

The sun was rising into the sky, and the stars were slowly disappearing from view. Leo was slowly waking from his deep slumber, when Boa shook him until he showed some sign of movement.

"Onii-san! Onii-san!" he shrieked. Leo sat up, looking for the rest of the group. Boa ran over to Eria who was over by the cliff, with a hand clapped to her mouth.

"What's going on?" he called.

Leo tripped out of his bed, stumbling towards the cliff edge. "What is going on?!"

He stopped abruptly at the cliff, careful not to fall over the edge. Glancing at Eria, he followed her line of sight.

At the bottom of the cliff. Eria had been staring at the bottom of the cliff.  Boa was staring at the bottom of the cliff.

What was at the bottom of the cliff? A body.

Whose body was at the bottom of the cliff? Hana's.

Leo stumbled back, his mind turning, uncomfortable. What was going on? This was a dream, it had to be! He pinched himself, and the pain shot through his arm.

Why was Hana's bloody, broken body lying there, fallen from the cliff? What had happened?

The tears were too afraid to make their way to his eyes, and he was soon slumped on the ground, shaking in a panicked state.

Eria was staring at the body as well. Not in panic or disbelief. But guilt. The last thing she had ever said to Hana was rude and uncalled for. She felt ashamed of herself. She needed to change that about herself. Starting today. Today they would start afresh. Find a new water pixie, a fire demon, and an air sage. Then the mission would be over as soon as it had started. No questions asked. The group would stay in touch, and Boa could hand her and Leo their rings as they got married. They would adopt Boa, and when she gave birth to their first child, she would make the water pixie, the fire demon and the air sage the child's godparents. They would all start their own families, and everything that happened the previous night would have been long forgotten.

Dreams never become reality, she reminded herself. She could never forget this morning. She knew it. But she didn't want to believe it. No one wanted to believe it.

***

It felt like a million knives stabbing her from underneath her pale, sickly skin. Her dull blue eyes which hid years of suffering were slowly stained black. Her screams filled the cell, and she yanked on her chains, writhing on the cold, concrete floor. The dainty dress she had been wearing was stained with her blood and the dust in the cell.

Blood started to foam at her dry, cracked lips, and it gushed out as her limbs twitched from the intense pain. Her voice was so tired from screaming but she couldn't stop; the pain was relentless. An ink-like substance ran down her cheeks from her eyes, and it stung like miniature wasps' stingers sinking into her bones.

It was killing her, and the moment the Grim Reaper stooped over her body to collect her soul, life was pumped back into her so she could feel the pain for hours longer before the process repeated yet again.

Her body was weakening quickly, and it was falling apart. She could no longer feel any pain, and her body was numb. Her throat was closing up and blood was collecting in a pool around her.

Then it stopped. So abruptly that no one could have expected it.

***

The group had continued to walk, but unlike last time when they were always making small talk, the silence was awkward and full of pain.

They had already past through the main city where they had got all their supplies, and were making their way towards their next stop. A large city full to the brim with feisty fire demons.

Fire demons were the least likely to live so compact, but there were a couple of places that they lived together. FireWall was one of those places, being the second largest community of fire demons.

As soon as they entered the cobbled streets, they quickly took to mind how many dark alleys there were around the backs and sides of the houses. Leo carried Boa on his back, purposely turning away from a particularly gory beat-up close by.

It was quite a wide street, that went on for miles. Leo had taken a couple glances down the alleyways, which looked like they didn't lead anywhere. He assumed this main path was the only way down to the city center.

Up in the distance, they could faintly hear the screams and cheering of a large mob. As they moved on further, they could see a group surrounding something - probably a fight - that was in the middle.

"You have any idea what's going on?" Leo panted, still exhausted from hiking up hill earlier.

Eria was on-guard. She had been since we first enter the street.

"It's a fight. Not sure how we can get around it."

"'Kay. We'll work out something."

"We can go around the side!" Boa finally piped up. He had been asleep on Leo's back for at least an hour.

"Right, now get off my back."

"What?! Onii-san!"

Leo flinched at the name, remembering what had happened in the morning. "Just for a bit," he compromised.

Boa reluctantly got off, and made his way for the side of the large mob. The space was quite small, and they were all unsure if they would be able to make their way across without disturbing anyone's business.

Although Boa was wearing all green, the opposite colour to demons, he managed to slip past due to his size. Leo squeezed past, brushing against the door of a nearby house owner, luckily managing to not catch the attention of an on-looker.

Eria wasn't any taller that Leo, in fact she was several inches below him, and her purple dress stood out no more than his turquoise shirt. She was following closely behind Leo, but her luck ran out when the nearest fire demon stepped back and caught a glance at her.

"'Ey!" he laughed, pushing her forwards, into the horde of untamed demons. "Anyone want her?"

She stumbled into a tall, muscular man. "Watch where you're going!" He shoved her further towards the centre.

"HELP!" she started to scream, and some of the men in the crowd began to jeer at her.

"Who's taking her home?" one called.

"Whose hoe is this?"

"Give her to me!"

"Someone gonna get 'er?"

"I'm taking her!"

Eria wrapped her arms around her chest, trying to run out, but too many people were pulling at her hair, her dress and her jewelry. An earring was yanked out of her ear by a small but athletic woman, and her ear began spewing sticky, crimson blood everywhere.

"Leo!" she yelled, "Help!"

She clutched her dress to her body, trying to cover the areas that had been ripped off by the mob.

Suddenly, the crowd started to disperse, and a pathway cleared all around her. She looked up to her saviour, and a husky, attractive young man with long brown locks emerged. A well-built woman was standing behind him, watching his every move. Eria quickly realised that they were the ones that had just been fighting, and from what she understood, the whole crowd had been looking forward to this one for a long time.

"Get off her," he growled in a deep voice. He was careful not to make any physical contact with her, but he marched up to the man who had pushed, and roughly grabbed him by the shoulder, knocking him to the floor instantly.

The short woman who had stolen her earring earlier quickly scurried out to hand it to Eria. Now that she had a proper look at the thief, she didn't look older than just fourteen.

The man who had been fighting was glaring at her, and she ran for her life through the crowds. He didn't dare follow her, since she was too young to experience that sort of violence.

"Back off!" he called. The people gathered in the street were quickly lessening, and he found himself face to face with two women.

"So. What urged you to stop our little sparring match?"