As Garrett walked down the hallway, the environment around him became darker and darker as the crystals that illuminated his path became more and more sparse. The walls began to close in higher around him, to the point where he couldn't even draw his sword fully. He pulled out one of the goblin's daggers from his bag and held it tightly. Eventually, he hit a dead-end.
"That's it?" Garrett said.
He put his hand against the walls. Something didn't feel right. It was too strange to have the hallway just end like this. These crystals were clearly leading towards something. As he moved his hands around, he felt a slight breeze from a crack in the wall he was facing. He ran his fingers along the crack, noticing that it formed a rectangle in the wall. With no handle or any sort of secret mechanisms that he could find, Garrett pushed with all his might. Slowly, the door cracked open.
Sunlight flooded the hallway and filled his eyes. The sounds of bugs buzzing around and birds chirping filled his ears as his eyes began to adjust to the was green foliage and trees. He was outside the Darge. Seeing as there weren't many other options when going back in, Garrett stepped out and looked around. Part of him expected to hear Vanessa's voice calling out to him like when he first met her, but there were only the sounds of nature.
Garrett took a deep breath and slowly began to shut the stone door behind him. Looking at it, you wouldn't have been able to tell anything was there unless you looked incredibly close. Even then, there wasn't a handle or anything, so it would have been near impossible to open it. Not wanting to get locked out of the Darge, especially after having found where the treasure was, he stuck the goblin's dagger in the foot of the door. Just enough that he could open the door up again, which he tried. With the makeshift door-stopper working, Garrett began to walk away from the Darge.
Other than the brief time during the second timeline, Garrett hadn't been outside of the Darge really. The sunlight wasn't harsh and the air was nice and clean, especially compared to the dampness of the Darge. He ran his hand along the bark of the trees near him, not recognizing a single thing out here. Upon realizing that, he retracted his hand from the tree.
"Right, I don't know what's dangerous out here." Garrett looked down at his hand, expecting a reaction of sorts from touching the trees. Thankfully, nothing happened. He continued along his path away from the Darge when he heard voices talking. He ducked down into the brush and slowly crouch walked his way towards the voices.
"...and then we'll go along this way. If we're lucky, the monsters won't be so restless this time."
"Sir! Our traps caught some more monsters."
"Excellent. Send them over to Miles and record them into the log."
"Yes sir!"
As Garrett got closer, he could see several large wagons being steered by something that looked like a cross between a horse and a lizard. Multiple crates and cages were tied down that was being unloaded. The people walking around looked like humans, all of which were wearing tough metal armor. He could see a reoccurring symbol on some of the crates and the armor; it looked like a wolf creature with a sun in its mouth. These wagons and men were all near a large opening that leads into a cave, which the stone resembled the Darge. Near the wagons was a table with several armored people standing around, but one person stood out.
It looked like a man, about in his late 30s. He stood tall, with Garrett estimating that he was about 6' 2". His armor was far fancier than the other people and the sun wolf symbol was on his chestplate, clear as day. He had a chiseled chin and a well-trimmed short beard, along with short brown hair. By his side was one large sword and another shorter sword on the other side. He seemed to be the one talking and giving the orders.
"These people seem like they mean business," Garrett said, slowly starting to back away.
*CRACK*
Immediately, Garrett froze as the armored men immediately turned towards him. They pulled out swords and bows and began to approach where Garrett was. Running would only make them pursue him, so there was only one choice left. Garrett raised his hands above his head and walked out of the brush into the clearing.
"Stand down men, it's just another adventurer," the tall fancy armored man said. The other armored people put away their weapons and began to go about their business. The man turned to Garrett, the height difference between them clear. "My apologies for my men. We're all a little on edge before our expedition. What were you doing in the brush, stranger?"
"Oh, I was just scouting around the area," Garrett said, technically not lying.
"Scouting?"
"Yes, I was going to go down in there," Garrett said, pointing to the entrance of the cave.
The man threw his head back and heartily laughed. "Always good to see adventurers with a healthy sense of adventure, but if you're going to go down into the Darge, I would recommend you come more prepared." The man pointed to the meager equipment that Garrett had. "Using that stuff would likely get you killed in there."
"I can handle myself," Garrett said, trying to pull all his confidence together.
The man stared at Garrett before giving another hearty laugh. "Well, you're welcome to join our expedition. The more we have, the better our chances." The man extended his hand to Garrett. "I am Captain Desmond of the Sunrir Brigade."
"My name is Garrett." Garrett shook Desmond's hand back.
"Well then, let's get you some better gear so you don't die on us." Desmond turned around and gestured for Garrett to follow him.
"GET BACK YOU MANGY MONGREL!"
Garrett turned his head towards one of the wagons where he saw a man struggling to put a large dog-like creature into a cage. "What's happening over there?"
"Ah," Desmond said, turning towards the commotion. "Just a bit of a tiff with a Rangi. Nothing that Miles can't handle."
"Is that being used for the expedition?" Garrett asked, walking a bit to get a closer look.
"The opposite," Desmond said proudly. "That one is being shipped back to the capital for research and meat." Garrett bit his lips slightly at hearing Desmond talk about that.
'... Remember, this isn't Earth... These are monsters... I guess that kind of stuff is normal here...'
"Part of our daily job is getting rid of monsters to keep it safe for people," Miles said before turning his attention to something else. "Hey! You be careful with that!" He ran off to deal with a different situation, so Garrett took the time to approach the wagon.
There were monsters of all sorts in various cages. All of them looked fierce and ready to attack. All but one, which caught Garrett's eye.
It was a small girl, about a foot tall. She gave a purple glow and translucent wings on her back. She was wearing a purple dress and had a marble in a small net attached to her side. Her skin was pale, yet had strange black markings that looked like tattoos dotted around her skin.