Ward grew ever more comfortable with Dane and Liza. The two were kind, and welcoming, especially Dane. He was full of energy and life, curiosity and pride.. He embodied youth itself.
So much so that Ward began to feel closer to his childlike side. He began to see his own personality bubbling to the surface. He wasn't talkative, but could chat and make jokes.. He was very careful and cautious and very observant, in sharp contrast to Dane...
All of this he learned in the few days he spent in the hideout. That and so much more...
The world outside the little haven was harsh and extremely dangerous. So much so that they never went outside alone. A couple times they were attacked just outside the hideout by some zombies.. another time it was a ghoul.. Both times Liza drove them away with her lantern.
Otherwise it was peaceful. The two didn't seem
To know much more about the Fain or why he didn't have memories or what the hell was going on anyway so he stopped asking questions along those lines after a while.. He was more curious about the outside world, the one they could tell him about.
Dane was from the central province, and was a farmer's boy.. He was poor, and served under a local lord. He never traveled outside his small village.. but he and Liza both knew the world was full of strange monsters and magiks, stories and heroes... None of which they could validate, but he soaked it in anyway...
He was also concerned with the books in their hideout. Most of them were technical science books.. books on wildlife, on geography, on the history of a dead king of a forgotten land.. There were a couple books on the Fain though: "Flora and Fauna of the Fain" and "Balder of the Fain".. Both of which he could read the covers, but not the actual content. The actual words in the book were some strange, foreign language he didn't know.. He wasn't sure why the cover and the content would be different languages, but he tried not to dwell in the thought for too long..
curiosity killed the cat and all that..
They mostly concerned themselves with two things: eating and plotting... Eating wasn't so hard. There were wildlife to hunt, and plenty of odd fruits and vegetables in the wood if you looked hard enough. Dane was also an excellent fisherman. He would often go into the wood and come back with a string of trout on his makeshift line.
Plotting was the hard part.. They had little information on the area, and a lot of it was too dangerous to tread into. Monsters and other people's territories made them quickly turn around, leading to countless dead ends and confusion.
Even though the other two had been there six months, they knew little about the actual second floor.. Nor what they were supposed to do really... It was assumed by Liza that they would pass if they simply survived long enough, but something about that didn't sit right with Ward... his experience from the first trial had taught him something:
It wasn't about surviving, it was about overcoming...
It certainly didn't feel like overcoming staying in their comfortable little shelter, with a steady supply of food and an ever burning fire...
No...
Something wasn't quite right...
"Liza... I don't think it's about surviving.. I think the real trial is somewhere else" Ward said. They were preparing dinner as he spoke, and she stopped putting vegetables in the large pot to respond.
"What do you mean?? Isn't it about surviving long enough?? That's why the ravagers..." she stopped talking then and Ward could tell she wasn't going to say anymore, so he didn't press what she knew on the ravagers...
"But there are constantly new people right?? Have you met anyone that has passed? It doesn't make sense that you would need to survive till a certain number of people are left if they are going to bring in new people..."
"Hmm.,, you have a point. I haven't thought of that.." she said. She set down a sad looking potato and put her hand to her chin, thinking, "Maybe you are right... But still, what can we do? You've seen the monsters around here... A lot are as deadly or deadlier than the Floor Guardian you met before.. There is even a floor guardian here who roams the woods. I've seen it twice.. both times I could tell it would kill me immediately if it saw me.. it had robes over a large frame..
Anyway...
Point is, We are safe here.. and we can't just give up this hideout to go off and kill ourselves.. not to mention there are people out there who would happily murder you just to get closer to reaching the next trial..."
Ward nodded. He knew that much, but it still irked him.. "Maybe if we kill the floor guardian, we can move on..." he said, mostly for himself. It was a stray thought, and a dangerous one.. he knew that much by the look on Liza's face:
It said, "Hell no... do you want to die??"
It was then that Dane burst through the door with a big smile on his face, "Look! I caught two hare in the trap!"
He stopped when he read the atmosphere in the room. A rare thing for him to do.. he was very oblivious... But it was too thick to not notice.
"What's going on? What did I miss?" He asked solemnly. He set the hare down on the table as he walked in.
"Aah nothing.." Liza said, "We were just taking about the monsters out there.." she nodded to Ward who nodded back. He understood it was best not to bring up any crazy ideas around Dane, or to worry him too much about the idea that maybe, just maybe what they were doing was pointless...
"Aah ok! Well, don't worry about them guys!" He clapped them both on the back in an effort to cheer them up, "don't worry, you got me! What do you have to worry about!"
He puffed his chest out and Liza and Ward couldn't help but laugh. Dane immediately got offended and started berating the two of them, but they didn't care, the laughter was too strong and the atmosphere in the room immediately changed from gloomy to cheerful...
Ward lay staring at the ceiling of the small room. The feather bedding was comfortable, and his friends were already fast asleep. Dane especially was snoring loudly.
He thought about the floor guardian.. The Bard.. and The Fain in general. No matter how comfortable things were, the weight of knowing that they couldn't stay there forever hung in the air continuously. It was suffocating..
He was young, not even a teenager, but he knew it was true: They would die eventually there...
They would die like a shark does if it stops swimming... They couldn't stop moving...
There were too many monsters.. Too many supposed people out there in the woods that would kill them for no reason.. It only made sense that the longer they stayed in one place, the more likely they would be found, or they would encounter something that couldn't be turned away by the blue lantern...
He shuddered at the thought.
So he began to train a little.. Mostly at night, after the chores of the day were over, but during the day as well.
The next few days were uneventful, and Ward turned his thoughts to his regime. Talking to Liza he learned a few workouts, but none of them would take effect overnight. He knew that.. But in the long run it would, and it made him feel better.
Dane joined him too, and they both enjoyed the friendly competitions of who could do the most pushups.. or who could sprint the fastest... of course Dane won every time, but Ward was just happy he didn't have to suffer through the exercises in silence. He had a friend to do them with.
The thoughts he shared with Liza on the floor guardian and the true trial didn't get brought back up until three days later, when all 3 were in the dark wood, scouting...
"Stop..." Liza said as she held her arm out. The boys stopped and grew quiet. The trees were close and there was an unusual amount of tall bushes in this area of the forest. Liza could see over it but they couldn't.
"What is it?" Dane asked. His curiosity too strong to keep quiet, like he probably should have..
"Shh.. people.. ravagers I think.." she whispered, giving him a disapproving glance before turning her attention back to whatever was on the other side of the bush.
Ward heard it then: voices.. Maybe three or four,
Muffled and hard to hear in the distance. They were accompanied by the rustling of leaves and their footfall on the dry ground below.
All in all they clearly didn't care if they made noise.. Which probably meant they were confident they could handle whatever decided to attack them.. Monster or person alike..
Liza knew it too, which is why she gestured for them all to get low as she dropped to her knees and hid. Ward's heart beat fast as he huddled in the bushes with his friends. Would they be caught? Who were the other people?? Did they have answers to his questions? Could they help them? Were they going to kill them???
All this and more raced through his mind as he ultimately decided to just stay put and do nothing. After a while the sound of their footsteps died away and Liza stood,
"We should move... There's probably more of them.. They look like ravagers"
Ward nodded and asked quietly, "Who are the ravagers anyway?"
Dane looked solemn and said, "Murderers..."
"Yeah.." Liza said, reluctantly, "They killed some friends of mine I made when I first got here. I escaped, but they didn't... They have a bad reputation by survivors here. There goal is to kill people off quickly. They believe it will help them pass the trial.."
"I see..." Ward said. Deep inside this only strengthened his resolve: We need to pass the trial quickly.,. The longer they stayed put, the more likely they would die...
On the way back he finally spoke his mind,
"Look, I've told you Liza, but Dane needs to hear it too... We can't stay put. That's not the trial.."
"Ward.." Liza said, but he cut her off.
"Just listen... I think this challenge is to kill the floor guardian, or something else, but it doesn't make sense to just wait to be killed.. We need to take the initiative.."
"I agree!" Dane said quickly. As expected, the boy was full of energy and the lack of fear that any older person would have.. It was a dangerous thing to have in a world where every turn could mean death..
"You two.." Liza said, "fine.. say you are right. How do you suppose we kill the floor guardian? You want to know why we can't??? Because I know what it can do.. I've seen it.. a month into being on the second floor I saw it..."
...
"It was dark, I mean, it was darker than usual.. The air turned fiercely cold and still, and there was little to no light around. I was by myself then.. The ravagers has already killed my two companions..
That was when I saw it.. No, I heard it first. Screams. Some guy was screaming.. I crept closer, staying hidden behind some trees as I watched. There was a person fleeing fast, and not far behind there was a hooded figure. It had black robes and I couldn't make out much.. All I know is that it had a deformed shape, like its body wasn't quite human beneath...
It seemed to glide through the forest.. I couldn't make out whether it had arms or legs. It was too dark for that.. Then it disappeared, and the man screaming fell silent and crumpled. His head was gone... decapitated.. ten feet in front of him it was suspended in the air, the expression of fear still there as it hovered.. and next to it was the floor guardian.. it stood there looking at it.. but I didn't stop to find out anymore, and I ran... I ran fast and far until I couldn't run anymore...
...
"So you see, what do you think Ward... Dane.. you think you can kill that? You may have killed the first floor guardian, but from your story you got lucky.. and I don't think it was nearly as strong as this guardian..."
Ward glanced at Dane who was clearly shaken.
"You are right.." Ward said calmly, "I was lucky.. I am weak.. but still... I'm not going to sit around and wait to die. So you can help me or I can go figure it out myself..." He didn't really mean it. It was a foolish pride welling up that made him say those words, and he instantly regretted it..
Dane glanced between Liza and Ward, clearly worried. Liza sighed and rubbed her temples with her fingers for a minute. She was thinking deeply, and began to speak slowly, "ok... I'll help you... But you listen to me, and do what I say... And we aren't going to go into this blind. We will take our time.. and if I decide it's impossible, that's it.. we are done, and we aren't going to try anymore..."
Ward smiled and said, "deal..."
"Really.. I thought Dane was the dumb one. I had hopes that you wouldn't be as rash of a kid.."
"Hey!" Dane said angrily. He punched her in the arm but she just laughed. "I'm not dumb... I can think for myself thank you."
"I kind of agree with her.." Ward teased. This led to Dane chasing him around, trying to tackle him. Ward dodged easily and took off in a jog back towards the hideout.
"Ha! Too slow!" He teased again.
Dane laughed and took off after him, while Liza called out from behind, "wait up you two!"