Dawn- An age of Darkness

"Well, let\'s go find him I guess." I sighed and gave a glance to my comrades behind.

They both gave me awkward stares. But I guess they were ready to head out anyway. 

Servesta however was a bit confused now. "What happened to your arm?"

I didn\'t have time to explain. "Can we-" But as I was about to say stuff, the hand turned to water and fell on the floor. The symbol was gone too. Obviously, I didn\'t feel anything other than maybe a bit lighter?

And my pendant also stopped glowing. This thing probably worked like the godstone from Damsel. 

\'I guess I shouldn\'t have believed it was going to be this easy.\'

"Huh." Servesta was confused. 

I was kind of confused too, but we didn\'t have time for all this. "Go get your stuff. We\'ll be right behind you."

He came close. "I heard there are abnormals here. Are you sure it would be wise to bring the ladies?" He whispered. 

I gave him a nod. "I\'ll be right there."

He nodded and left. 

"I? You mean you wish to do this alone?" Ve caught on quick.

"If it\'s dangerous then it\'ll be better for you two to stay here. Dick is fairly powerful, if he\'s down, we can only imagine that the enemy is strong."

"So? It\'s not like our journey before was any less dangerous," Alisa said. "We\'re coming with you."

I appreciated the sentiment, but I didn\'t have time for this. 

"Look, I don\'t have time to argue. Just stay here and wait for Biteria." I glared at Ve. "Understood?"

"Fine." Ve took her seat. 

Alisa glared at Ve. "You\'re giving up!?" She still wasn\'t convinced. She glared at me furiously. "You don\'t trust us."

I sighed. "It\'s not about trust. I just don\'t want you guys to get hurt." I put on my armor, checked my knife. I didn\'t have anything else to carry. "I don\'t want anyone else to get hurt for my sake. And this time, I don\'t\' think it\'ll be as easy as just going there and beating some goblins."

I\'d heard about the abnormals from the old man and I knew, I didn\'t have the luxury to take this halfheartedly. I couldn\'t let these two near those things. I couldn\'t take that risk. 

Alisa was mad, too mad. Enough so, she didn\'t even look at me anymore. 

They didn\'t say anything. 

I didn\'t say anything either.

But getting out of the door, was kind of painful. 

With each step, my heart ached a little. Was I perhaps making a mistake? I didn\'t know. Was this really the right choice? I didn\'t know. 

I didn\'t know anything. But I wanted to keep my friends safe, and what was wrong with that?

\'Calm down. Dick\'s overpowered.\' But if an overpowered Dick could be so easily dragged out from the street, it was safe to assume whoever it was, he was strong. And dragging Alisa there would have put her in serious danger. 

But then again Dick was intoxicated, so maybe….

Ve was fine on her own, but I needed someone to protect Alisa here in case something happened. 

So in the end, I was probably just making my life harder without actually achieving anything. But at least those two would be safe. 

With a sigh, I just kept on walking. There was no turning back.

I met up with the Servesta a minute later and walked down the stairs with him.

"Wait!" But apparently, the girl at the counter was still awake.

It was awfully dark this time around though. And there weren\'t any more customers. 

***

"I thought I told you not to get out during the night?"

"One of my pals got lost, so we\'re just going out to find him."

The girl gave us weird looks. "I heard from your \'pal\' that you guys were robbed my mountain rabbits and are currently weaponless. What do you think you can achieve with just defense and experience?"

\'Just how many of our secrets did that moron leak?\'

Obviously, it had to be Dick. Servesta was just too tight-lipped. Ve and Alisa weren\'t even down here. 

I took a glance at Servesta, he didn\'t have any weapons. I guess everything was in Dick\'s cup this time. Maybe they were doing this to prevent what happened last time? 

Well, it certainly backfired on us. 

As for me- "I have my trusty knife. And we can fight barehanded if need be." I wasn\'t out of options. I had the mystic blade and I even had Boriosa\'s cane. I didn\'t want to think about the crossbow though. 

I was far from being weaponless. 

The girl sighed. "I don\'t understand you lot. Think about the girls. What will happen if you don\'t make it back?"

"I\'m sure they\'re not that frail. And trust me, we\'re coming back." I had no intentions to get myself killed by goblins. I\'d already experienced something similar more than enough times. 

We both stared at each other for a good minute until she finally gave in. "Fine. She went under the counter and came right back up. "Here!" She shoved a sword in my hand. An old sword. 

"This hasn\'t been used in a while, huh?" It was an ordinary sword. But definitely good enough to use. It needed sharpening but we didn\'t have time. 

"That was my husband\'s. Promise me you\'ll return it."

"I will." I smiled and turned around. "I can promise you that."

I didn\'t know just how strong an abnormal was but if the old man struggled against one, then it only meant it was very powerful, at the very least. 

***

Once we were out of the establishment, everything looked grim: this place was totally abandoned. There wasn\'t even a speck of light and all the houses were shut too. I looked back and I could see Ve glaring from the window. 

It did not feel good. \'Guess I\'ll apologize later.\'

The light of the stars was minimal and seeing was kind of hard, even for my eyes. 

But my eyes did get better as time marched. 

I walked towards the direction Dick was taken. Obviously, I kept up my guard. Servesta however just followed me around silently. Coming from the geezer and other loud people, this silence almost felt scary. 

"Over there." I pointed and we both started to run. There was a small goblin and when it saw us it started running away. 

We were almost about to catch up- when-

I smelt something and my head started to wobble a bit. "Cover your nose." I grabbed a cloth from my ring and wrapped it around my face. I always kept a good-quality one for my usual stroll in forests. Who knew it\'d come in handy like this. 

Servesta just obliged, he didn\'t question me one bit. 

\'At least, say something!\'

Running a bit more the goblin turned around and started to inspect us. 

Meaning, all of this was preplanned. \'These things are more intelligent than I give them credit for.\'

"Let\'s pretend," I whispered. Servesta nodded and fell on the floor, the cloth still on his face. 

I did the same. The goblin walked towards us and called more of its friends. They all started to drag us. Weird noises came from them. They were enjoying this way more than I thought. 

I could feel the animosity in the air and I was very conscious. \'What are these things up to?\'

They weren\'t attacking us or crippling us for that matter. Whatever they planned to do, they needed us to be alive. 

In a matter of minutes, we were dragged down to some sort of back alley. There was a small hole there. Enough to barely fit Servesta. Obviously, I was peeking and taking a good look while also maintaining this farce. Being dragged definitely wasn\'t a pleasant feeling though. 

"That\'s enough I suppose." I removed the cloth, breathed nicely, and stood up to say hello to the purple things. 

These guys were a bit more on the yellow side though. 

The goblins welcomed me warmly with knives and loud yells. But unfortunately, I was enough for these lots. I used the rusty sword swiftly and sliced any goblin that came for me. Servesta did everything by hand. 

My back was throbbing and I could feel I was lacking some skin. I was definitely not in a good mood. 

There were three hobgoblins standing guard by the entrance, but they were kind of on the small side and they easily got pummeled by Servesta. I didn\'t even have to act. 

We killed about thirteen goblins and three hobgoblins. I didn\'t think these things could get into a city like this and do such things. 

A small dart flew by me, scratching my cheek. 

\'A sniper?\'

I waited for the next shot… Shot! 

"There!" I picked up a rock and threw hard. The goblin was knocked out: I quickly ran for it and stabbed it. There was no point in taking chances. I looked for more snipers but we were good. "You okay?"

"Fine."

I drank a bit of potion. Servesta didn\'t want any, he did take a club from a hobgoblin though. 

My back still ached. 

"Alright, let\'s go in."

He nodded. 

\'Say something, dude!\'

But the frustrations were just piling up. \'Sorry guys.\' I still kind of felt bad about leaving Ve and Alisa behind. Was I doing it for them or was I doing this just to satisfy myself?

I didn\'t know.