Three days after leaving the Usahd Dungeon, they stepped to the side of the road as they saw a caravan approaching. A commander and several puppets came forward to them before the caravan arrived.
"Halt!" the man called out to them. "By order of His Holiness' decree, you are demanded to remove yourself from the path of the caravan. Should you fail to comply, your lives will be considered forfeit!"
The nine looked at each other and shrugged, walking further off the side of the road. A couple of puppets followed them and stood by them until the caravan had passed. The entire time, the man sitting atop his horse three meters away from them, giving them dirty looks. After the caravan had passed, the man looked like he wanted to say something, but was hesitating. As the caravan got further and further away, he clicked his tongue and chased after them to catch up, the puppets following after.
"You wanted him to do something, didn't you?" Walter asked.
"No." Evren answered, "Well, maybe. Yes."
Evren turned to Walter, "I'd have felt bad if they didn't have an escort. Plus, I don't want to fight the puppets."
Walter replied with, "Fair enough."
Evren looked back at the caravan as they walked and said to Walter, "I think that guy's going to do something."
Walter replied, "We're still a month away from Arcadia."
Evren nods, "The way he looked at us. I'm sure he was just a merchant, but it seemed like he knew something."
Walter shrugged, "What do you want to do then?"
"Let them get out of sight before we stop." He replied.
Roughly a half an hour later, a curve in the road hid the caravan from view of them. The caravan's speed was slow as it is, but Evren had slowed the pace of the group to keep them in view. The man kept looking their way as well.
Evren stopped everyone and gathered them up, explaining the situation to them. "I think that merchant knows something." He started with.
Fletcher said, "Well, the dragons did say they knew about us."
Bryan spoke up, "What? Drag… no… Who knows about us?"
Fletcher replied, "Grandia."
Bryan and Tim's faces both paled as they thought of what would happen if they got caught.
Evren shrugged and said, "Anyway. They know about us. It'll take a month for them to get to Arcadia, maybe less for soldiers to get back to this place. We'd have a month lead on them at best, which would put us at the Rimder Slopes."
He dropped his backpack and pulled out a map of Seeclind. This road we're on is the only way through the mountains, but there's a way on the southern end. That's if we decide to go through the forest. If we went that way it'd probably add…" Evren calculates in his head, "another three months to our route."
"How far is it from here?" Karina asked.
"Almost three months from here. It'd be six months if we head south and that's not counting how long we'd be held up if we stayed somewhere through the winter." He said as he looked at everyone. "I'm sure in two to three months, they'd realize we were off course, and they'd start reinforcing the Hasfil Path."
"What if we went north, Mr. Evren?" Harley asked.
Evren looked down at the map and said, "According to the map, the mountain range extends into the sea and the only way around is by boat."
Evren hesitated there and Walter said, "Buuuutttt….?"
"There appears to be an old path through the mountains west of the town Apotoyuca. If we head straight north from here, it should take us a month and a half." Again, Evren paused before continuing.
Walter said, "Buuuutttt…?"
Evren looked at Walter with a bit of irritation, "The path is called the Hell Gap."
Tim immediately said, "Oh, I won't go." Bryan shook his head as well.
Silence covered the group for a while. Everyone considering what Evren said when Ellis spoke up. "What if we hide out in the dungeon for the winter?"
Evren looked to Ellis and thought about it. "It won't be winter for another couple of months at the earliest. Winter should last maybe four months? I don't recall how long I spent in Aernide dungeon, but what if we finish that dungeon in two months? Then we stay four months inside the dungeon until winter's over?"
Ellis looked sad as he thought about it when suddenly Evren grabbed the map he was holding to look at it more carefully. "There's another dungeon about four weeks south of here near a town called Dubhan."
Walter said, "What if they see us enter the dungeon and Grandia comes asking them questions?"
Evren smiled, "Shouldn't be a problem, they closed that dungeon down too. All we have to do is avoid the town and sneak in."
Isobel asked, "What's in that dungeon?"
Evren replied by shrugging his shoulders. "It's a bit over a month of travel there. If we finish while its still winter, we can head back up this way to the Usahd Dungeon and spend the rest of the winter there. Maybe we can also get those two to be less useless." He said pointing at Bryan and Tim.
Harley said, "Are you sure you want to wait through the winter Mr. Evren?"
Evren shook his head, and said, "No, but honestly I'd rather wait than get caught. If we make them wait through the winter, they might get curious and dispatch patrols to seek us out. If they spend that time in the mountains, they could lose a lot of people to morale and the weather."
Walter asked, "What would you do if you were searching for us Evren?"
"Roadblock the roads. Send people to towns. Patrol places of interest. Eventually I'd set up a net to search for them, closing in to eventually corner and capture. It would take a while, but it would be the most effective way." Evren replied.
Walter then asked, "So, when would be the best time to get by them?"
Evren looked at him and said, "Before they get a chance to set up. Break through and flank or swing around to the other side to attack from the rear."
He looked around to the others, "Who here can swim?"
Karina raised her hand, but aside from Evren, that was it.
Evren takes a deep breath and says, "Then the quickest way would be through the Hell Gap. It doesn't sound promising, and they'll probably set up an ambush on the other side for us, but that's our best option."
"If we go that way, you have to understand we'll probably be fighting humans. Whether they're puppets or not, would you be willing to kill them?" Evren asked.
"Killing a human isn't like killing a monster, especially a monster in a dungeon where it just fades away when its dead. Maybe you'd be doing the puppets a favor by putting them out of their misery, but the others? The soldiers? They have parents, siblings, spouses, children. They have a life; they speak a language. They live, laugh, cry, hate. Are you willing to take that away?"
Ellis asked, "Can you do it Evren?"
Evren scoffed, "I spend 130 years in the military. I've fought wars against territories, wars against countries, wars against planets, in space, underwater, every place you can think of and probably every race you can imagine."
"No, I take that back. Seeing some of your reactions when I showed you what I looked like before you probably couldn't imagine." Evren rebutted. "Sorry, that was probably a little rude of me."
Ellis shook his head, "I think we understand."
Evren followed up, "If I could, I wouldn't involve any of you in this. I'd rather tour the world with you guys than fight battles."
Evren looked each one of them in the eyes with a serious look, "Let's head back to the dungeon and take a rest for today. We can decide after we've taken a rest."
The nine of them wordlessly headed back towards the Usahd Dungeon. As they walked, many of them brooded over what Evren had said.
Harley wasn't sure if she could do it at all. The thought of it frightened her. Karina was like Harley but thought of killing someone sickened her instead of frightening her. Fletcher was unsure, but the though of it made his stomach turn. Ellis had always had a naughty streak, but he wasn't sure if it extended that far. Perhaps if they were bad enough, he'd be ok with it. Walter had trained to fight against humans. He knew would be able to take a life, but the thought of it gave him butterflies in his stomach. Isobel was fine. As for Bryan and Tim, if they survive, that's a plus for them.
A few hours later, as they neared the Usahd Dungeon, Evren changed his direction to the south, heading towards the forest. Not understanding, but not questioning him, the other followed. Evren led them through the forest and came around the back of the abandoned town, close to the entrance of the dungeon. He turned to the others and held a finger over his lips to keep them quiet. He advanced further, but at one point, he motioned for the others to stop while he continued forward.
He paused behind a tree, seeming to wait for ten to fifteen minutes before slipping out from behind the tree and advancing towards the boarded-up entrance to the dungeon. He cast 'muffle' on the entrance and began pulling boards off. However, as he pulled them off, he held them in place with telekinesis in their previous space. When he had detached all of the boards, he backed off into the woods again and waited.
After a half hour, he motioned for everyone to come forward and enter the dungeon. As they approached the entrance, he moved the boards out of the way enough for them to slip through. Evren was the last one to enter, and he moved the boards back in place. He used telekinesis and his arms to pull the boards back in place, and ensure the nails stuck. When he had finished, he backed off and cancelled the 'muffle' spell, joining up with the others.
They got to the teleport chamber and teleported to the 10th floor. Here they set up camp on the outside of the boss chamber and spent the night. Upon asking why they had to proceed as they did, Evren informed them that the merchant and his crew were staying in one of the abandoned buildings and had set up patrols through the town. The next morning they got up, ate breakfast and headed down to the 11th floor to begin their conquest of the dungeon.