“ This the thing that makes the drinks?” King said, slapping Lance's back.

  Lance turned around amazed at how just two minutes of conversation ended up with these two drunk. “ Yes she is, and she's not mine she's Wellyns be nice to her Reilly.”

  Just as Lance was about to scold them for filling their mugs to the brim Valora entered through the doorway. Everyone looked back at her and fell silent. Valora stood at the doorway with a blank blue shirt with ruffled shoulders, and a pair of puffy blue pantaloons. She looked like a town crier from medieval times. Everyone tried to hold back laughter and just as the door was about to shut another hand grasped the frame. Pushing open the door was a tall blond haired male, strikingly handsome, in half plate armor, helmet held to his side. Reillys mouth fell open with a trail of drool. King and Lance both stopped their snickering. Courage however wore a face of anger, his brow scuffed tightly.

  “ These your friends?” Bastion said tapping Valora on the shoulder to which she nodded. “ Ah well *cough* good time to practice.” He muttered under his breath with a light pat on her back.

  Valora stumbled a step forward and then paused. She took in a deep breath and stood up straight. “ Presenting Sir Bastion Growl of the Knights of Freedom's Thunder. I, his lightning squire, Valora, humbly ask that you rise in honor of his presence.” Valora spoke proudly and then bowed. Bastion smiled wide. Then gave a good clap.

  King, Reilly and Lance all stood. Courage stayed seated staring madly at Bastion. Bastion meeting the gaze of everyone fell onto a met glare with Courage. Valora could feel the tension. Bastion's clap slowed to a stop.

  “ Sire, this is my brother Courage, please pay him no mind.”

  “ Ah, Courage. Vehemently. Well hello all it is nice to meet you. Valora does speak of you with great fondness.” Bastion broke the staring contest greeting everyone.

  Before he stepped forward, Valora spoke once again. “ No, that's too forced. These are not royalty, and even in that setting you sound like a fool. Direct and honest.”

  “ *ahem.* Nice to meet you all.” Bastion said cheeks red. Lance and King chuckled.

  “ THAT'S It! What the fuck is this!? Don't pardon my French. This the guy who kicked your ass all day yesterday almost cost you your run and you two are acting like fuckin LOVE Birds! I should kick your ass SIRE! PUT YOUR HANDS ON MY SISTER LIKE THA..” Courage had begun to rant and before he took it too far. Lance punched him in his shoulder, just strong enough to shut it down. Courage looked at him still hot with anger.

  “ Chill man. We'll get to that.” Lance gave him an agreeable nod. Courage sat back down huffing. He grabbed a drink and took a swig, choking back his anger.

  Bastion's shoulders slacked and he put his hands on his hips. He scratched his head. “Well. *ahum* Perhaps I should meet you all another time. My sincere apologies for training your sister a bit hard. Best way to learn.” Bastion turned to leave, Valora caught him by the arm. She gave him a nod pulling him back. He gulped but then walked forward and extended his hand to Courage. “ Forgive me Courage. I only wanted her ready.”

  Courage looked up at him. Trying to hold onto his anger. He gave him a quick handshake. “ Yeah whatever.”

  A round of handshakes and then everyone sat. Lance offered to pour drinks for Valora and Bastion but they declined. They all began to strategize. King was going to go through the level tonight with Lance, Reilly, and Courage but pause at the exit. He would wait for Valora to be ready upon reaching Level 2. The other three would push on and then wait for them at level 5. Lance had asked Valora and King to gather goblin and cave ingredients that they knew of and to bring them to him. The only issue here lay in Valora doing level one with a different group, Bastion spoke at that point, saying she was ready and could do it alone if needed. The level of confidence they both showed seeded trust in everyone about her capabilities. They were all happy to have a game plan. Everyone set off eager.

  Valora returned to her space with Bastion. Upon returning the two of them went back to the armory, Valora helped Bastion remove his armor and hung it on a mannequin.

  “ Four minutes fifty-three seconds. Not bad. We need to get that number down but it's good enough for a first try.” Bastion said removing his gauntlets and boots.

  “ Your friends seem interesting. Lance is.. strange. Your have a good brother. Reilly is very much a girl.. And King seems out of place for his age. But if you trust them then so shall I.”

  Valora was still clasping the armor closed onto the mannequin. “ My brother means well. He's just protective of me. Always has been. By the way.. did you mean it. That I could do it alone?”

  “ Oh well, I may have been boasting a bit. But yes I'm sure if you set your mind to it. The first excursion should be rather simple”

  Valora's mind raced with her first two entries. The amount of grief the game could instill with one level was astounding. She definitely thought her class could benefit from supporting roles. Luckily Bastion had been kind enough to show her how to use a sword and shield. As well as defending against different types of weapons. She felt more confident with fighting, but she couldn't help overlook everything else. Lance had shown her a creative playstyle, one more lifelike. She felt that there was still so much to learn, she wanted to be with her brother. Fear began to set and doubt crept into thought.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “ I believe in you, Valora. We will rebuild what has been lost. You have immense value here, restore the memory of these walls to those outside them.” Bastion tightened a fist at her in solidarity, shaking her off her depressing path of thought.

  “ Yes. You're right. I will Bastion.”

  After the armor was back on the mannequin Bastion walked Valora to the large drawbridge gate holding a book in hand. Valora had the shield and short sword she started with both at rest on her back and hip. She tightened the gambeson she was wearing. Bastion handed her a waterskin to drink from, after which she wrote her name in the book. And he began to draw the gate. Dark miasma pooled at its threshold then she stepped into it.

  The others were already well onto the path towards the first checkpoint on level two.

  Courage snuck behind stone spires sending Screech forward, above a group of goblins at a camp the small bat flapped its wings in a manner that seemed like it was hurt. The slow flap and noise of it landing on the ceiling above alerted the trio of goblins below. The three of them hushed each other and began to creep towards Screech who licked its wing as it clung to the top part of a spire. One of the goblins got right under Screech and pulled a small dagger from its hip ready to throw it. The pair of goblins behind him held a goblin longsword each ready for the dagger to drop the small bat for dinner. Just as the dagger goblin reached backwards to throw, Courage stepped from the spire just next to him, a convenient place for Screech to perch near, and a sword went right into the goblins neck. A spire then exploded from the other side of the small pathway, as King with his Chiten - Arms punched the pillar into a spray of rock. The goblins jumped covering their face from the shower of stone, Reilly and Lance raced from behind the goblins to them. With quick precision they both landed chops to the back of the goblins heads, dropping them.

  Screech flew down and onto Courage’s chest, it then crawled under the cape turning around poking its head out. Courage gave him a couple pats on the head. “ Great job buddy.”

  “ These guys are really easy to fool now that we have an understanding of them.” Reilly said.

  “We aren't supposed to be here anymore. We could easily be a couple floors ahead. I'm three levels higher than most goblins in here, two for the stronger ones.” Lance said.

  “ Hmph. Well it's almost worthless fighting them now. They don't even drop anything we don't have already. And the Gachas aren't dropping anymore. You guys should just rush through here. The quicker you do the faster I can grab the materials for you, and you'll be able to get to a checkpoint on the third floor.” King said somewhat tiredly. He was obviously over waiting.

  “Well there's that exit if we can make it.” Courage said pointing up.

  “ What's the matter scared? Haha we can do it easily. And we have rope. King, do you think you can give me a hand?” Lance said.

  “ Sure. Chiten - Arms” King called forth his swarm of Chiten. They crawled under Lance's bat leather vest. Lance squirmed but held back his cringe. Arms began to form under his.

  “ Awesome thanks. Okay I'll head up one of these skylights. I'll toss down a rope then you can call back these guys for them.” Lance nodded to King. He began to climb the speleothem spires towards the roof. Moving through the stalactites until he found a skylight hole, he braced himself then began a spider crawl up the hole into the ceiling. The space was tight which made it easier to brace himself against. He went up at least another 20 feet before he found an opening, passing mirrors that had been blinding, through their canted perch. The crude mirrors were polished sheets of a thin metal. Lance thought of them as a pretty ingenious method for lighting the cave here, but wondered where they came from. He doubted any goblins did such a thing. The clearing at the top here was a small cavity that seemed to be under the hollow of a tree. Looking up Lance could see through a tree from its center, at the top the bold letters of Level 3 stared down at him. They floated on a bright fog at the tip of the tree's husk. Lance yelled down the hole and dropped the rope. It was a combination of tied off bat leather strips and the rope he and King had found on level one, amongst other bits of cordage they had salvaged from goblins here in the cave. The Chiten flew down the hole towards the group. Lance felt relief.

  Rielly came up next, she was a bundle of joy. “ Can you believe they would hide an exit like this? Pretty interesting, it's like a speedrun!”

  Courage came up last, he was out of breath as he pushed up the edge holding an armful of the polished sheets of metal. King grabbed the ledge after completing the group's climb. Courage was a little afraid of using the Chiten arms, not for fear of bugs, but that he could only control the arm he had, the bugs acted on their own accord seamlessly as if they were intelligent enough to anticipate their need.

  The small cavity under the hollow tree was now full and the light from the hole above glared off the mirrors Courage had grabbed. Lance grabbed one testing its strength and realized it had flexibility close to that of tin, but it was heavy for a thin sheet. He raised his brow. “ Weird.”

  “ YEAH, that's what I thought, pretty heavy for a thin sheet right? Probably a decent metal. You could maybe make some stoneware with these guys!” Courage said passing the remainder over. They were the size of a standard sheet of paper but together the thin stack weighed around ten pounds if Lance could guess. Considering there were only five it was impressive. King reached out to grab one also testing it under his strength. He bent one clean in half and back snapping it.

  “ Eh. Pretty crap I'd say it's an alloy, the tensile strength of it is too weak, could be lead. I don't recommend you make dishes out of this.” King said, handing over the pieces to Courage.

  “ What do you know about metal Gray? Sounds like more than us.” Lance said.

  “ I'd hope so. I'm a Welder by trade. It's why I'm leaving for a job tomorrow. A huge building getting built in Arizona.”

  “ Oh cool. Dude we need to get you working here! Haha” Courage yelled out.

  “ No, I'm here to not work. Dingus.”

  Lance chuckled at them. “ Well identifying metals is still pretty sweet. I can't Appraise it, just metal to me. You should gather more of this from the other exits. Never know, it might be something useful.”

  King nodded. Reilly pulled out her Slime Crown. Presenting it as a place to store the sheets. Everyone gave King a fist bump. Lance helped Reilly climb up then went after her.

  “ Hey Gray. Thanks for waiting for my sister. I'll keep my eyes out for anything up there you could use. I owe you.”

  “ Don't mention it kid. I got other stuff to do back in my Legacy space anyways, been meaning to find time for it.” With that King activated his Chiten pulled up the rope, gave it to Courage and began his descent.

  Courage looked up at the exit. “ Finally.”