The team arrived at the same sewer that Barry had seen the secret entrance at. Everyone besides Barry took a moment to brace themselves for the foul stench that they would soon breathe in.

  “This is disgusting, couldn’t those Nightwalkers have picked a different place for their secret entrance?” Ron complained, hoping that the smell wouldn’t linger on to his clothes.

  Sherry patted him on the back, trying to give him some encouragement, which also made him nervous because it was her. “I know it’s filthy down there, but Barry said that the entrance shouldn’t be too far. You can do it!” She pinched her nose and climbed on down. Watching her tough it out definitely gathered all the courage he needed and followed in, he also didn’t want to look weak in front of her.

  Everyone but Barry, who declined, had a lantern strapped to their waist to provide some lighting as they roamed. Barry had no need of the lantern, since his eyes were able to see fine in darkness with his ability, this fact amazed the group, expanding their curiosity of what type of Class he was.

  Onwards, they travelled on a cobblestone sidewalk, listening to the flow of the sewer water that streamed under the city. “How much further do we have to go, this smell is starting to become nauseating.” Anna said, she was trying not to breathe through her nose, instead breathing through her mouth, which was still disgusting.

  Barry would stop at a wall and unleash his scanning pulse ability, outlining the frame of the secret entrance that only he could see. “We’re here.”

  He took out the sigil from Ned and began waving it around the wall, and when he did that, the sigil radiated the same purple light as before. Everyone watched as the frame of the entrance began to change shape by deconstructing itself back into the walls, soon discovering a stairway leading down even further. “It really was the key to opening it…”

  They all went down together with caution, the path that they were going down must have been paved away through the use of magic, by the way Ron commented about it. He assumed that this route must not have been used quite a lot, probably only serving as an emergency exit rather than the Nightwalker’s main one.

  Eventually, the group would arrive at a flat, leveled cobblestone floor that had three hallways in different directions, one of them being blocked off by debris that had collapsed. “What now?” Ron wondered. “Do we just pick either of the two left and move on?”

  Barry activated his, Detective Mode, ability from his eyes, trying to spot any evidence of one of the Nightwalkers traveling down either of the paths. He saw blue footprints leading down the far right path, which was a sign that one of the residents had probably gone down it. “This one.” He pointed.

  “What makes you say that?” Anna was curious of how sure he sounded.

  “It's my intuition that tells me so.” He replied with confidence.

  Anna just accepted his answer without complaint, and everyone went down the chosen hallway. Barry tracked down the footprints closely, the sound of their steps were the only things heard as they walked.

  As they continued, Kat hung around in the back of the group with Sherry, who was fidgeting with a piece of stone in her hand. She watched as Sherry magically morphed it into gold, then into silver, and back into its original state. “Wow, that's so cool, Sherry! Is this what your Class is capable of?”

  Sherry smiled, her cheeks becoming slightly pink. “Yeaah, I guess you can call this a little demonstration of what my grandfather and I can do. Although, his skills are obviously way cooler than what I can do. He’s able to shape and construct entire buildings into homes in no time if he wanted to. I still have a ways to go to completely master it like he has, but I’m no slouch either.”

  Kat was eager to know what sort of Class she might become, hopefully something as impressive as Sherry’s and her grandfather. Magic and witchcraft was a thing that always interested her back on Earth, but it was also a thing that she knew was nothing more than superstition. ‘Magic was never real back on Earth…but here, magic exists. And that makes me want to learn so much about it.’

  The footsteps would lead the group to what seemed like a dead end, Barry would then wave the sigil in front of it, deconstructing the wall once again and allowing them to move on.

  They now entered some sort of catacombs with lit torches attached to the walls that burned a white-bluish flame to illuminate the halls. There were skeletons layered out across the aisles, standing upright, some in armor and others in robes. There were also rows of skulls that were placed on shelves facing the walls. All sorts of creepy nick knacks were positioned around to give the room a sinister and ominous appeal. Barry would also see that the footprints ended in this room, no longer providing him any other leads.

  “What do you all think these corpses once were? Humans? Anyone not with the Nightwalkers? Because this place is not giving friendly vibes like Oswald told us about them.” Ron commented, he was having doubts about Oswald's impression of them, at least of now compared to how they acted a long time ago.

  Sherry responded, wanting to keep the same mindset and belief that the Nightwalkers were still good people. “Let’s not think of them as such, we haven’t even met them yet. For all we know, these corpses could be their deceased that died from the bomb my grandfather caused.”

  Ron kept quiet and apologized, he didn’t want to upset her for making an impulsive assumption like that. “I’m sorry, Sherry. Truly, forget I said that.”

  She gave a stern nod, accepting his apology, and looked around the vast catacomb in search of any information or something related to the Nightwalkers, still keeping close to the group.

  Anna leaned over to Ron and whispered. “You just lost 5 points, dude. You better work on getting them back.” She gave one slight smirk at him before joining Sherry.

  Ron was astonished by what she had said to him, his face turned red. “W-What do you mean I lost 5 points? I don’t understand!?” All he knew was that Anna was probably messing with him about his interaction with Sherry.

  Barry observed his surroundings with focus to spot anything that stood out to him, what he did find were a couple of Uncommon books with green text above them filed onto a shelf. He went over to them and inspected each one, seeing that they provided a +1 or +2 in Intelligence or Wisdom. ‘Magic Mike, again? I remember finding one of his books in a platybear den before. He must be really popular.’

  He would snag the books, but not use them, he had no way of utilizing the stats they provided and would probably find a way to sell them later for more currency. He had also thought about handing them to Ron since he was a mage, but his abilities only consisted of illusions and such, which probably wouldn’t do much for him.

  Everyone looked around the place in search of another path to take, the catacombs were so vast that it almost seemed like a maze. Sometime would pass before Anna called out to everyone to check out what she found.

  There were small monuments with scriptures on them, engraved writing that made no sense to any of them. Gifts were presented on a marble stone table in front of it with a skeletal priest looming over it. A ceremonial dagger was sheathed within a leather holster, and next to it was a sparkling clean jeweled chalice made of gold.

  The only items that stuck out to Barry were the chalice and the ceremonial dagger. The name of the chalice that he could read from it was simply referred to as, “Gold Chalice” in yellow font. While the ceremonial dagger was called, “Ceremonial Dagger +1” with green font, an Uncommon weapon.

  “A place of offering it seems, maybe to a deity that the Nightwalkers worship, or possibly the dead that are resting here.” Anna tried making sense of it, this whole place was giving her chills the moment she stepped foot in it.

  Barry was wondering why the chalice had a yellow font, the only time he remembered seeing that type of font color was back then when he was searching for one of the king's quest items and found one under a tile.

  Down the hall to their left, Ron could see what appeared to be a door at the far end. “Hey look, that might be where we need to go.” Ron ran up to it with Sherry and Anna following him.

  Kat was about to tag along, but noticed that Barry was concentrating on the chalice with complete focus. “Barry? Is something on your mind?”

  He answered, his eyes still locked onto the chalice. “Yeah, it's about this chalice and dagger…”

  Kat observed it with him, studying the chalice more closely but finding nothing out of the ordinary. “It just looks like a fancy chalice to me…”

  Ron tried opening the door by the handle, but it would not budge open, appearing to be locked. “It won’t open, we must need a key to unlock it-”

  “Let me try something.” Sherry said, Ron moved aside as she channeled her magic into her hands, emitting a radiant turquoise color around her hands that sparkled. “If it won’t open, then I’ll make it so!”

  She pressed her palms against the door, trying to open a gap in the center of the door for them to cross through. But her effort would go to waste, as the door resisted against her transmuting capabilities, a shimmering purple barrier could be seen shielding the door from her magic. Sherry realized this and stopped, disappointed that her trick wasn’t going to work. “Oh cranberries, I really thought that would work.”

  Barry saw her attempt and looked back at the chalice and dagger, he had his own idea that was worth trying and grabbed the holster that contained the ceremonial dagger. He grasped the handle and tried unsheathing it, but it wouldn’t pull free. “What the hell? This thing won’t budge.”

  Kat saw him struggling and wanted to help. “L-Let me hold the other end of the holster, that way you can use both hands and yank it out.”

  He agreed to her assistance and grabbed the handle of the dagger with both hands in a tight grip, while she gripped the holster as firm as she could. And with their combined efforts, Barry was able to pull the dagger free from the holster.

  However, he lost his balance and fell on his ass in the process. Kat gasped with concern, “A-Are you okay?”

  Barry got back up with the dagger in hand, dusting himself off. “Yeah, getting this out was a pain in the ass…now then.” He then approached the chalice and extended his index finger from his empty hand left hand.

  At first, Kat wasn’t sure what his idea was, but the moment he brought the dagger closer to his finger, she realized what he was planning to do. “Barry don’t-”

  He slit his finger with the dagger, allowing a few drops of blood to drip down into the chalice. The two watched as the blood he offered would soon magically evaporate into red vapors that disappeared. Multiple clicks could then be heard within the catacombs, confirming Barry’s suspicions about the chalice. “You heard that right?” Barry asked Kat, who nodded, still looking at Barry’s cut finger.

  The group by the door had seen Barry offer some of his blood to the chalice and heard a click coming from the door next to them. Anna tried the door knob, turning it with ease and revealing the next room over. “It’s open! Let’s get going-”

  Immediately, Anna’s voice was blocked out by the shifting movements of walls protruding from the floor. Barry and Kat could no longer see the other group because of a wall cutting off their view, the same was true with the other hallways that they saw from the center of the offering zone. It appeared to them that the catacombs was changing into a maze of some sort. “B-Barry, w-what’s going on?” She asked, sticking close to him out of fear.

  “I don’t know, just keep close and…” Barry looked at the skeletal priest that had the ceremonial dagger in hand before, he was sure that he saw it move a bit.

  An HP bar, along with its Stamina and Mana bar, would slowly appear above the skeleton’s head, which proved his suspicions right. “Shit!”

  The skeletal priest jumped out at Kat with their bony hands stretched out in an attempt to strangle her, but Barry reacted fast enough and decked the bastard square in the ribcage, sending its body flying into a wall, breaking apart its structure.

  Kat had shielded herself from the attack, startled by the sudden scare. “T-Thank you, Barry.”

  “We still need to get out of here, so be on guard for more of them.” He advised, then saw a call window from the system appear in front of him. It was from Anna, so he accepted.

  “Hey, you two alright? We’re still waiting by the door that we just opened, it leads to another hallway. There are skeletons animating all around, trying to close in on us. We can try and wait for you two to find your way here, but there are swarms of skeletons coming in from two sides.” Anna offered, doing her best to hold her line of defense.

  Barry gave it some thought, but ultimately decided not to have them wait. “No, get out here now. We’ll find our own way and let you know how things go.” He wasn’t sure they would be able to find them in time before they got overrun.

  There was a slight pause before Anna replied. “Alright, if you think it’s the right call, then we’ll you both later. Get out safe.” She then ended the call.

  Kat understood that Barry was talking to Anna and accepted the fact that they would have to find a way out through the shifted catacombs on their own. She looked at the skeleton priest that Barry had destroyed, believing that she might have seen a bone from it move. ‘Did a part of it’s body just…move?’

  There were two directions that they could take now, so he picked one and waved a hand towards it. “This way, we’ll figure it out as we go.” He then dashed off, Kat looked away from the broken skeleton and followed. She was still curious if what she saw was true.

  As they traversed through the maze, cutting around corners and deciding which path to continue going down, they would encounter more skeletons along the way. Some of which were in full metal armor with melee weapons in hand, and others with a quiver and bow firing down the hall.

  Barry did his best to block the incoming arrows for Kat, as he smashed his way through the mob of enemies from blocking their path, side stepping their swings and delivering a counterattack with a right and left hook. A trail of bones was left behind as they went, taking random turns around every corner they went in hopes of finding an exit.

  Eventually they would encounter a few more priest looking skeletons down a hall filled with more skeleton frontliners. He noticed them channeling a dark aura around themselves, as he paved the way for them towards the priests, expecting them to launch some sort of spell attack.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  He reached down and picked up two maces from the fallen, using them to smash a few more skeletons till he got close enough to hurl both at them. He was fortunate to strike one of them in the chest to shatter their body, but the other was unharmed. It was finished channeling it’s power and unleashed it upon Barry.

  Below his feet was a purple magic circle that illuminated, he tried leaping out of it but wasn’t fast enough, as his arms and legs were held down by purple shackles. “Damn it!” He struggled to break free from the chains.

  Kat knew that she had to stop the priest so that Barry could be free again, and tried dashing ahead to deal with it. But she stopped once she heard rattling from behind, fear rose inside as she noticed the skeletons that were once destroyed, begin to reassemble back together. “B-Barry! The skeletons are reconstructing!”

  Barry glanced back and saw that she was right, the skeletons were forming back up to their original state. He knew that Kat would not be able to handle deal with the skeletons on her own, and urged her to press on and take care of the priest so that he could be free. “Break that priest apart, be quick!”

  The majority of the skeletons were put back together, weapons in hand and approaching fast towards Barry. “But Barry you’ll-”

  “I’ll be fine, just get the fucker!” Barry shouted, his words shocking her for a moment, making her realize that it was up to her whether they survived or not.

  She gathered whatever remaining courage she had and sprinted off towards the priest, who was guarded by a couple of armed skeletons. She used her shield to protect herself from their strikes, clanging against it. All the way through the hallway, she pressed on in the hopes of not letting Barry down.

  The skeletal warriors, that arisen near Barry, began swinging their weapons at him in his vulnerable state. Luckily, he had a high enough endurance to withstand the cuts and blows of their weapons, but still, he was restrained by the shackles with no way of retaliating.

  Kat was doing fine getting past the first few skeletons by shoving them aside, but a taller, bulkier skeleton in armor with a great axe stood between the priest and herself. At first, she hesitated to approach any closer, believing that she was going to be cleaved in half, but kept in mind that Barry was counting on her. ‘There's no other option, I have too!’

  She used all her momentum to transfer it into a power slide between the legs of the giant, narrowly avoiding the downward cleave that her enemy performed. And with the priest now in front of her, she immediately swung her mace into the side of its skull, cracking it but most importantly, ending its spell that restrained Barry.

  As Barry was continuously being attacked by a mob of skeletons, he could feel the chains that wrapped around his body become loose. The shackles that held him down were dispelled into nothingness, giving him the opportunity to unleash mayhem upon his foes. “It’s my turn!”

  He activated his skill, “King's Commanding Presence”, and erupted out of the gang of skeletons, breaking them all apart, charging ahead towards Kat who was defending herself the best she could with her shield against the brute skeleton.

  As he sprinted to help, he heard a faint whisper through his ear that sent shivers down his spine. “So angry…” It was the same voice of a woman that he heard before when he was almost dying in Oswald’s shop.

  Barry had no idea where the voice was coming from, he decided to ignore it for now and focus on the present moment. Which required him to take down his next target before moving on.

  Kat was trapped with her back against a wall, she could hear her shield breaking down with each strike from the big skeleton, pretty soon her shield would break and leave her defenseless. She wasn't sure if Barry was still alive after being beaten down by the reanimated skeletons. ‘Please be alive, Barry!’ Kat was frightened, but then noticed that the pounding had stopped.

  She peeked past her shield and saw Barry fighting against the brute. “Screw this labyrinth and screw that damn priest!”

  He ducked under the swing of his foe's great axe, listening to it grind against the walls, before targeting one of its shoulder joints. Barry dug his fingers in between the gaps of its armor, ripping its arm apart with ease. He avoided another attack and did the same thing again to its other shoulder. Now disarmed, he kicked it to the ground and tore off it's spine, crushing the skull and ending its time of awakening. Essence of magic could be seen fading away from the destroyed skull.

  Barry then approached Kat with haste, she felt relieved to see him again. “Barry! Your ali-”

  Kat was picked up by Barry, holding her close to his chest in a bridal style carry, he wanted to get the hell out of the catacombs as quick as possible. His action surprised her so much that she blushed red, totally nervous. “Sorry, but I’m heated right now after getting wailed on. So hang on tight.”

  He bolted off down a hallway, zooming past multiple skeletons, bashing against any that got in his way. Barry would continue sprinting onwards for a while until a door was spotted in his sights. “There!”

  A couple of priests appeared behind them, collectively casting multiple spells of their own. A dark purple aura flowed out of the priests, manifesting projectile orbs that would soon be launched towards them.

  Upon reaching the door, Barry opened it and was about to step through without looking, had Kat kept quiet. “Barry wait!” He halted, wondering why she told him to stop. “Look! It’s pitch black.”

  “What!? No its-” He cut himself off, it was not pitch black to him because he could see through darkness, but when he looked through the darkness, he realized that inside the room over was a giant hole. “It’s a pit.”

  The spell casters from behind finally unleashed their attacks directed towards them, Barry tried turning back around to find another exit but saw the projectiles heading their way. ‘This is gonna hurt.’

  Kat saw what was coming as well and curled up closer to Barry’s chest, as he turned his back around again to tank the hits. The impact of the attacks pushed him out of the door, knocking the air out of his lungs along with a bit of blood. Down the pit they went, Barry held onto Kat as tight as he could to protect her from the bludgeoning that he would endure.

  Landing on his back and rolling a bit, he soon came to a stop and groaned in pain. He was alive, the boots he was wearing halved the fall damage he took, which was a part of his saving grace. Barry refilled his lungs with air, coughing a bit more before regulating his breathing.

  From his arms that held her, Kat quickly got out of his hold and instantly brought a health potion out from her inventory in an attempt to feed him it, but struggled to locate his head since it was dark. She had lost her lantern sometime during their rush to find an exit. “B-Barry, are you alright!? I have a potion for you. Where-”

  He could see fine and grabbed the potion from her hand, popping it open and chugging it down, allowing for it to take effect as he rested on the ground. “Thanks…” Every part of his body ached, he looked back up at the light shining out of the door they fell from, watching it slam shut. “Seems like we’re stuck down here…”

  They sat in the darkness for a moment, his eyes shifted around their surroundings and spotted a tunnel ahead of them that continued to lead through darkness. ‘That’s our only way out, I guess.’

  Opening up the menu, he decided to send Anna a message to inform them that they made it out for now in a dark cave and would continue going forward. After a bit, he received a reply back from her, telling him that they were pressing onwards as well down another hallway and would hopefully meet each other again later.

  With his body feeling better after letting the potion kick in, he rose from the ground and stood up, Kat could hear him moving and stood up as well. “Break times over, let's get going.” He told her before pressing on through the tunnel.

  “U-uh…okay.” She sounded a bit confused. Bringing herself up and attempted to follow him through the darkness, listening to his footsteps as her only guide.

  Barry walked a couple of steps forwards until he looked back and noticed that she was deviating from his path of direction. “Hey, I’m right here-” He stopped talking, realizing why she wasn’t able to keep pace with him, which was that she had lost her lantern and couldn’t see through the dark like him, thanks to his eyes. ‘I’m such a jerk…’

  She fumbled through the dark towards the last few words he said. “C-Can you say something again, I-” He had grabbed her by the hand, startling her.

  “Relax, you can’t see in the dark like I can…I’m sorry for not realizing it till now. I’ll guide us out here, so just hold on to my hand.” He said in a soft voice, knowing that she was a timid person and was probably nervous with everything that had happened.

  Kat was nervous at the moment, as much as she wanted to act strong and reliable to the group, she still had trouble hiding her fears. “O-Okay, t-thank you…Barry.”

  He brought her with him, taking it slow for her despite not liking the pace, preferring for them power walk instead. Silence was all they heard as they walked through the abyss, Kat knew not where they were going, but trusted Barry to lead her on.

  She felt disappointment in herself, wishing that she was braver than she was now, or even useful to the group in someway. Kat knew that she would not have survived this long, had it not been for Barry or Anna’s help throughout the game. “I’m…I’m just useless…aren’t I?” Intrusive thoughts began to fill her mind.

  Barry was silent for a moment, thinking about what she just said before responding. “What makes you say that?” He wanted to know the exact reason why she was calling herself that.

  “I-Its okay if you think so…I haven’t really done much for anyone besides being a burden. You would have been much better off with anyone else besides me holding you back. I remember you saying that you hated helping those weaker than you…that you get mad when you have to step in to save others who can’t help themselves in situations they put themselves in…if only…” Tears began to form from her eyes.

  Barry began to experience a similar headache he would get whenever a new memory fragment would surface in his mind, he knew what was coming. ‘I wonder what I’ll see now…’ His mind began to wonder, continuing to walk forward through the tunnel uninterrupted.

  —————?[Barry’s Memory Fragment]?—————

  Back in his mind, he saw a vague apparition of the true Barry once again, only this time, he saw him standing in front of a boy with a sword by the kid’s side, after seemingly defeating a mob of monster looking creatures in a secluded forest with other people, some that were injured but were being attended to.

  “Well, that could have gone wrong in a lot of ways. Good thing I was passing through to lend a helping hand.” The true Barry said, stowing away his giant sword on his back and turning to lend a hand to help the boy back on his feet. “Come on, up you go.”

  The boy did not acknowledge his assistance, continuing to look down at the ground in deep thought of something. “Hey, don’t leave me hanging here. My arm’s gonna get tired.” The swordsman joked, waving it up and down to get his attention.

  “Why is it that I can’t do what you can do, tell me hero, why is it that I froze in place when I could have done all I could to defend everyone here?” The boy questioned, his body began to shiver, possibly from revisualizing the scene that had happened before the swordsman arrived.

  The true Barry thought about the boy’s question for a moment, he could sense that the boy was probably feeling great disappointment in himself for not being able to fend off against the monsters. “You’re being too hard on yourself, it’s natural for people to freeze up in the face of terror. And it doesn’t just apply to kids your age, it happens to adults too.”

  “Then how does one become immune to such a feeling? I’ve been training constantly day after day with my uncle, practicing with real swords. I shouldn’t have been as stiff as a statue in the face of these creatures! I…I…I’m still just as weak as I was before…useless.” The boy felt defeated, as if his first encounter against monsters would continue to be the same every other time.

  After listening to the boy’s sorrows, the swordsman got down to his level and provided some words of advice that would hopefully uplift his spirits and spark some motivation in him. “You really think I’m immune to such a thing as fear? That’s just nonsense, all heroes experience terror in the face of danger. No one, and I mean NO ONE, is fearless.”

  The kid began to look up at him, he was surprised to hear such words from him. The swordsman continued. “So you froze up in the face of all these monsters, but you still made an attempt to stand up against them for everyone else, am I right?” The boy nodded, sniffling a bit. “Then that’s a huge step towards becoming a proper defender, that take’s guts kid, you might think of that as something so insignificant, but rather, that’s quite the opposite. You were willing to give your life to save others, think about it.”

  He watched as the boy began to shift his way of thinking and slowly realizing that the swordsman was right, even though he froze in place, he acted with the idea of saving others. “Fear is something that is required for a person to be brave to begin with, it’s just something that we all have to get used too. So you shouldn’t be beating yourself up over your actions, rather, you should take it as a learning experience and be proud that you acted with your idea of protecting others. Now that’s a step towards becoming a hero, I tell yah!” The swordsman gave him a thumbs up along with a proud smile.

  Tears of happiness would flow out of the boy’s eyes, he felt encouraged by the swordsman’s words and would take them to heart. Even though the boy may not have protected the people around him like he wanted too, he still made an attempt to do so despite the terror he faced at the time. He would learn from this experience and over this feeling in due time when another event occurred.

  “Thank you, hero…I’ll remember your words of advice and train to become just as great of a person as you are.” He then had one more question for the swordsman. “Hey, would you mind telling me your name? I’d like to know in case you become famous.” The boy wiped away his tears.

  The true Barry grinned and replied in a heroic pose. “The name’s Barry! And I have full confidence that you’ll be able to overcome your fears in due time!”

  It was then that memory fragment would end, fading away the film that was being played in Barry’s mind.

  ‘So…the true Barry must have not only been some heroic monster slayer guy, but also someone that provided words of wisdom to those that needed a bit of encouragement when facing hard times. Truly someone to look up…perhaps I should do the same for Kat…’ Barry thought.

  ———?[End of Barry’s Memory Fragment]?———

  With his return from his memory fragment, continuing to guide Kat through the dark tunnel, he decided to try and comfort Kat the best he could. “Kat, listen to me and don’t think otherwise; but, you weren’t useless when I needed you most during the time that I was being restrained. Although you hesitated to leave me behind, you realized that the most important thing to do was to break the skeleton priest's concentration on keeping me locked down. And I likely wouldn’t have made it out alive if not for you, so…thank you, Kat. I appreciate what you did, wholeheartedly.” And that was the truth, he genuinely appreciated what she did.

  His kind words sparked her heart, she was surprised to hear him show appreciation to her. Kat knew that there was something more beneath his intimidating appearance and attitude, believing that he was really being honest with his words. “Thank you…your words make me feel better already…”

  “I won’t lie, I did have doubts about bringing you along with us because I saw you as a liability, but after watching you save my ass by overcoming your fear, I now know that I was wrong. You just have to believe in yourself more, you hear?” He continued to send words of encouragement.

  Kat felt butterflies in her stomach, he was right; she did overcome her fear when it counted, that was something of her to be proud of. “L-Loud and clear, Barry!”

  Barry couldn’t help but grin a bit, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to see him smile in the dark. “Another thing though too, if you don’t mind my advice.”

  “O-Oh, yeah, I-I don’t mind at all. Any advice from you is okay with me, I’m all ears.”

  What he was about to say would feel like stabs through her heart, her cheeks would redden from embarrassment. “Work on your social anxiety some more, seriously, am I that intimidating to you? I can feel your hand getting sweaty, you can tell me if I’m being an asshat to you. You lost your lantern, so next time say something to me will yah?”

  She was so embarrassed at his comments about her, that she began to fumble her words even more. “U-Uh, I-I’m so sorry-”

  Barry cut her off before she couldn’t finish apologizing. “What the hell are you apologizing for, geez…just take it one step at a time.”

  “Yes…” Her perspective of Barry was slowly shifting to a kinder light. Kat wanted to know what kept him motivated to keep going, impulsively asking him with curiosity. “Barry, you don't have to tell me, but I'd like to know what keeps you going through all this…only if you want too.”

  There was a moment of silence, her question resonated inside him that triggered his feelings of rage. “What keeps me going, you ask...” Immediately, his mind went to thinking about his lost memory that the gods must have taken away. A glowing green neon light illuminated further down the tunnel like a beacon. “To put it simply, it's rage.”

  Kat could feel his hand slowly letting loose of hers but not quite yet, she saw the light as well. “...did you lose something or someone close to you? Is that why you're so angry all the time?” She wanted to understand him.

  “You can say that I did lose something very important to me.” They got close enough to the beacon to see that it was a bunch of mushrooms that radiated a neon green light inside a large cave room that had cobwebs and silk weaved cocoons sticking around.

  Now in visible enough light, Barry let go of her hand, which she then noticed him balling into fists, his tense expression shifting to anger. She didn't want to see him angry talking about something he probably didn't like. “Barry, it's okay. You don't have to-”

  She stopped talking, due to shadows manifesting on the ground. Above them were horrific giant spiders that descended from above on their silk lines, spotting new prey that had just entered.

  “Ain't this a good opportunity to vent, don't you think, Kat?” Barry said, he grabbed a greatsword out of his inventory and prepared himself, allowing the rage that he felt to empower him through the fight that was about to go down. “You want to get stronger, right?”

  His words startled her, she could hear a bit of anger in his voice but responded with firmness. “Yes, I need to get stronger. I want to be better than what I am.”

  Her tone of confidence was all the confirmation that he needed to hear. “That's what I want to hear, so let's get to exterminating.”