"This is where the Orcs said they saw the Red Dragon." Chilchuck explained while pointing at the map, "We should be there in two days. I doubt the Dragon's just sitting there, but they don't move around all that much. I want to camp a maximum of two more times. Once halfway there, and once right before the Dragon."

He held up the candle and looked over at us, "When this candle's gone out, wake up Laios. Take care of any business now. It'll be a while before our next break." After he was done talking, Marcille raised her hand up, "I want to take a sponge bath."

"..."

"Where?"

"Here, in the corner."

"..Make it quick. We'll be waiting outside."

"Huh? It's fine. I'm keeping my clothes on. Just stay here."

"Oh, I see."

I stood by the doorway, "I should go check on Hebi, I let him look around the area in case of monsters and he has been out too long."

"Alright just be careful and be back soon."

-

"Hebi!"

I wander around the rooms calling out Hebi's name hoping they hear me. That's weird, Hebi doesn't usually stay out that long. Has something happened to them? I turned the corner and saw something that made me stop my tracks. In the center of the floor lies Hebi, broken into pieces. I walked closer and saw his lower half completely destroyed. Hebi turned their head to my direction with the sudden noise, they seemed almost relieved when they noticed it was me. I crouch down and cradle them into my arms.

"Don't worry buddy, you'll be okay."

I released Hebi back into the ground, I stood up and saw something that caught my eye. It's an arrow. I picked it up and took a closer look at it. Did an adventurer come by and attack them? ..This arrow feels familiar. I looked around feeling something was off. I quickly put the arrow down and made my way back to the group.

"Oh good ye made it back on time. Did ye find Hebi?" Senshi looked over at me while cleaning his pot.

"Unfortunately I found them broken apart. Is everyone ready to go? Where's Marcille?"

"She went to dump water, would ye mind waking up Laios."

"Sure." I walked over to Laios and patted his face.

"Laios it's time to get up." He stood up, still looking pretty tired.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling much better thanks to the juice you gave me."

"What juice?" Chilchuck asks, looking our way. Shit

"Um, just juice that Utta used when my stomach hurts." Nailed it. As we were finishing packing and waiting for Marcille to come back, there was a loud crash followed by Marcille's yelling.

"Huh!?- What was that!?" We peeked out and saw a ball of water attacking Marcille, making her launch into the water. "What is that!?"

"It's an Undine! Weapons won't defeat it, we need fire!" Chilchuck started looking around.

"We don't have any fire, the candle is out!" I pointed to the candle on the floor.

"..."

"..shit..Marcille you'll have to deal with it on your own!"

"Easy for you to say!"

Shit what can I do?! Maybe summon Hebi? No, the Undine will just destroy them.

"What if I tried to summon the Kraken? That helped us last time." I went over to the water, before I was pulled back. The spot that I was last at was destroyed by the Undine magic. I felt something hitting the back of my head, I looked and saw Chilchuck who looked angrily at me. "Are you crazy?! You can't just go out there in the open like that, are you trying to get killed?!"

"We can just stand here! We have to do something before-" I was interrupted by Marcille yelling out in pain. Marcille was now holding onto her leg, "Marcille!"

"Marcille, you have to run!" She kept blasting the Undine as she slowly made her way over to us.

"Ahh, I can't watch! She's so slow!"

"Hold on! I'll get a fire going!"

"I'll help!"

I was helping Senshi with the fire when I heard Laios call out Marcille's name, we all looked and saw her falling back down from the air. Laois caught her, we grabbed onto him before he fell into the water and pulled him back hard causing him to land on top of us.

"Uhh guys..look." Chilchuck pointed at the Undine who was getting ready to blast us.

".."

"Run!!!" Laios picked up Marcille and I grabbed on to Chilchuck and took off running as fast as we could. We finally made it to one of the abandoned towers.

"Marcille, how are you feeling?" I help her up against the wall.

"Hm.. I stopped the bleeding..but I'm low on mana and blood, I can't heal it all the way."

I held up my hand out, "I can try-"

"No.. then you'll be low on mana too..It's my fault anyways..I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. Let's lay you down to rest for a bit." After helping her to her bed I went with the others. "So what do we do now?"

"We can't take a magic user who's out of mana any farther in.", Chilchuck pointed out. "Without a water walk spell, we can't go anywhere anyways.."

Laios sighed, "I wish I'd taken Falin's healing magic lesson more seriously."

"Well..all we can do is wait for other adventurers to come by." I said.

"I doubt they'll help. We don't have anything we can trade."

"At best we've got some kelpie meat. We'd better hope they 're actually starving."

"Food this nutritious are rare in the dungeon."

"I'm not talking about nutrition."

At this point I heard Laios mumbling about meat? He stayed quiet before making eye contact with Senshi and both shouting out 'It's grilling time!!'. How did they shout that at the same time??

- - - -

- - -

- -

-

You were crouching looking at the stone trying to figure out what shape it was.

It kinda looks like a flower, or an animal. Maybe a fish. I should go show Utta. You looked around and spotted Ester talking with a group of kids. You went over and grabbed onto her arm pulling her attention towards you. For a split second, she looks at you with disgust before going neutral before you can notice.

"What."

"Have you seen Utta? I want to show her this stone that I found. It kinda looks like a fish."

"She doesn't have time to look at your dumb rock. It doesn't even look like a fish." You took a closer look at the 'fish' rock, before helding it up to Ester's face.

"Huh you right, it's not a fish. It looks more like your face." The kids behind Ester began to laugh, Ester's face turned red before smacking your hand away from her face. "Shut up! Utta's back at the school. Go and leave me alone."

You left the group alone and made your way to the school holding onto the stone that looks like Ester. You enter the building and start looking in each room, you make it to the last room. Before entering, you overhear Utta and one of the teachers talking to each other. You believed this was important so decided to wait outside before you heard your name.

"Utta are you sure Y/n is the right student? I mean, picking Ester would have been a better choice."

"What are you saying?"

"It's just that you've been teaching her for years now and she still hasn't improved. There are children younger than her that could do more magic that she's ever done."

"She just needs time, trust me. There is something special about her."

"Utta be realistic, you are just saying that because you took her in. Honesty, that girl is useless. I never saw a tall-man who couldn't do a simple spell."

"So what, do you suggest that I just give up on her?!"

"...Me and the others have been looking for quite a while now...but we tracked down her biological parents."

"..What?"

"They live on the other side of the island. Turns out they abandon her because she was a girl. They are willing to take her back for a price, typical tall-men."

"Why are you telling me this?!"

"I'm giving you a choice. You have a new chance to start fresh, to teach a new student that has more potential. You can give the girl back and-"

"No."

"But Utta-"

"No! You're crazy to think I will ever do such a thing! Y/n is my child! My daughter, whether you like it or not."

"Utta this is for the better! You are wasting your talents on someone who can't learn.There are others like Ester who are more talented."

"I don't care for that!"

"..."

"..."

"You know what..I'm done."

"What?!"

You hear their voices getting louder, you quickly ran out of the building and went home. You sat at the table waiting for Utta to come back.

What did Utta meant by done? Done with what?

Is it all true what they said about me?

..Am I really useless?

Am I really holding Utta back?

Should I just leave to my real parents?

"Y/n! I'm home-Why are you sitting in the dark?"

"Huh?" How long was I thinking?

"Y/n are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine." Should I tell her?

"What's that you're holding?" You forgot you were still clenching the rock from earlier. And held it out to Utta.

"A rock."

"Wow! This kinda looks a lot like Ester, right?"

"Yeah!" You jumped out of your seat," I thought it looked like a fish, but it does, doesn't it!"

Maybe I'll keep this a secret between us.

.....

....

...

..

.

"Y/N!"

Huh? I turned my head and saw Marcille sitting next to me eating the kelpie meat Senshi gilled. I looked down at my plate, which remains untouched and full of meat.

"Y/n are you okay?"

"Yeah.."

".."

The others are still eating and having their own conversation, I look over to Marcille who still looks weak and starts passing my food onto her plate, "Here, you need to eat more to get back your mana."

"Hold up wait-" Marcille put her plate down, "You have been acting weird since the Undine, what's going on?"

I stayed quiet for a bit before letting out a sigh. "I just felt bad that I couldn't help more."

"It was for the best, otherwise we'll both get hurt."

"It's not just that...If I was more like Utta then I could have been more useful. Utta was an amazing mage and she taught me everything she could...but I couldn't do a single spell right, no matter how hard I tried. I was born with a really low amount of mana; it was basically nonexistent. By the time I gained it, it was too late, Utta was already gone... I always wondered what would have happened if I had mana earlier. How much things would change. Maybe Utta will still be here."

"What if.." Marcille started off, "After we save Falin I could teach you a couple things."

"Really?"

"Yeah! Falin would also love to teach you as well. I have a feeling that you two might get along well!"

- -

-

While we were eating the rest of the kelpie meat, Chilchuck had a startled expression on his face.

"What's wrong?"

"I hear footsteps. About five people, they are armed." Chilchuck looks up at the spiral staircase, "They're coming closer."

The footsteps got louder, "You're not criminals who can't go back to the surface, are you?". The voice from the staircase spoke out.

"We're just camping. We don't intend to fight you!" Laois responded.

"Hm? Hold on. That voice.." A red haired dwarf reached the bottom stairs. "Whoa! I knew it! If it ain't Laios!"

"Namari!" Laios and Chilchuck shouted.

"Friends of yours." The Elder gnome turns to the dwarf.

"Old companions" She responded, "Hey! Long time no see. Well, maybe just a week or so."

She pointed to her party, "Whoops, let me introduce you. These are my current employers, Mr. and Mrs. Tansu. They're somebody's hired scholars. They pay real well. Those two over there are the twins, Kaka and Kiki. I don't know which is which."

Namari looked over to Senshi and I, "Looks like you guys found more members to join you."

"Oh right." Laios pulled Senshi and I by the shoulder in front of Namari, "This is Senshi and Y/n!. They joined our party not that long ago."

"Namari, you..you abandon Falin, and then you.." Marcille tried to get up.

"I abandoned her? You told me to walk into the jaws of death with you for free, and I said no, that's all."

"You little..ngh." Marcille started crawling over to Namari. I quickly ran over to stop her before she hurt herself more, "Marcille you need to rest."

"Don't push yourselves. If anything happened to you guys..Falin wouldn't be happy about it either."

"Oh right!" Laios spoke out, "Is one of you a healer? We'd like you to treat our friend."

"In exchange for..?" The gnome asked.

Laios patted his armor before looking at the kelpie meat on the grill.

"Kelpie meat..?"

"Nobody needs that!" Mr. Tansu yelled, "We're going, Namari. Practicing charity in the dungeon will trip you up. Even the corpse we found on the way had money to cover their resurrection.."

"You should be careful out there, there's an Undine roaming around." I said.

"An Undine..?" Mr. Tansu looked over to Marcille, "So you angered a water spirit, didn't you? Hmph. Don't underestimate us, child. We gnomes have lived with gods and spirits since antiquity. To us, the spirits are neighbors. They're nothing to fear."

"But-" They ignored me and went out to where the Undine was. I follow close behind them, "I think you should really listen to me, that Undine nearly took out our party."

"Undine!" Mr. Tansu shouted, which startled me. "O great spirit of the water! Hearken to my voice." The undine started bubbling, getting ready to attack.

"Ah, that won't do." Mr. Tansu said as he pulled Namari over to shield him. You saw this, before the attack could reach the dwarf you pushed her out of the way, taking the hit instead.

"Grandpa Tansu!" Your body felt limp on the ground, blood slowly dripping into the water. Namari stood there shocked looking at your dead body. Why did you do that? You just met her. She was then dragged away by one of the twins, away from the undine's attack coming their way.

"What happened! Wait, where is Y/n!?" Laios said with a worried look.

"Your friend is dead. She took the undine attack straight to the head."

"What?!"

"So ye just left her body over there!?"

"Don't worry, she won't stay dead for long." Mr. Tansu said without a care, "Just bring her body here and I'll fix her up."

As your body lay there motionless, the blood dripping down into the water began to glow ominously. A figure made out of water appears and looms over your lifeless body. It raised its 'hand' over your head and started healing the wound. After the wound healed, footsteps were heard and the figure disappeared back into the water.

"Look! There she is!" Laios commented.

"Hm..I don't see the undine around, ye should hurry."

Laios picked up Y/n and headed their way back inside. He placed her by Marcille and waited for Mr. Tansu to revive her. Mr. Tansu made his way but before he could start chanting, you stood up making everyone yelled out in shock.

"Huh? Where am I?" I said looking at everyone, "Why do you guys look like someone died?"

"Because someone did die, you dumbass!" Chilchuck started hitting me.

"Ow! Stop hitting me!" Chilchuck and I began arguing back and forth. Laios place is hand on my shoulder, pulling my attention over to him. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, just a little tired." I smile back at him. I wiped the blood from my forehead and felt to see if I had any scar. I turned to Mr. Tansu, "Thanks for reviving me."

Mr. Tansu didn't say anything and looked like he's thinking about something.

"Resurrection magic, hm." Senshi began, "Of all magic that's the sort I like the least."

"You're against revivification?" Laios asked?

"It's not a pleasant thing to watch." Senshi watched as the other Gnome went to check on Y/n. "The dead don't come back to life."

"Not outside the dungeon no, but it's normal here."

"It's not normal...That's not normal, Laios."

"He's right. This dungeon is under an extremely powerful spell. It binds people's souls to their bodies." Mr. Tansu looked over to me. "Thanks to that, no matter how grave the body's wounds are, the soul isn't set free.. Just repair the damage, and they're good as new..If you ask me..It's not that the dead come back to life. Death itself is forbidden here."

"That being said. I'm researching ancient curses like it." Mr. Tansu turned to Laios, "If you'll aid my investigation I'll heal your friend."

"All right."

-

"Wait! What do you mean I'm not coming?!"

"You just got revived." Laios said gently pushing me back, "I'll feel safer if you are here resting."

"But-"

"Don't worry, Senshi is coming along with me. Plus you will be here with Chilchuck watching Marcille." Laios looked down to the 'not so fine' elf, "How are you feeling Marcille?"

"..."

"...She looks like shit."

"Hang on just a little longer, all right?" I watched as they made their way down further into the tower. I sat down with Chilchuck and Mrs. Tansu.

Why do I feel a little off today?

Hey big guy! Do you hear me?

Y/n

What happened back there? I thought I was dead for sure. But ever since I woke up Mr. Tansu has been giving me weird looks.

That's because you woke up before he could have revived you. You were supposed to be dead.

Then how would had come back to life if he didn't revive me?

Before your friend came to get your body, some...one else healed you.

Huh? Who?

I'm not sure it came out of the water..but I know for sure that it had your blood.

My blood?..What does that have to do with anything?

I don't know...Since your souls and mine combine, we have become one being. Therefore you became a part of me. I am assuming that whatever happens to us makes your blood special. So until I figure this out, try not to make yourself get hurt. Who knows what could happen next.

"Hey Y/n come try this!" I felt someone shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes and saw- Laios?!

"Ahhh! Laios! What happened to your face!?"

"I got stung by tentacles- anyways try this!"

"Wait you got stung by a what??" I said as Laios forcefully put whatever monster he caught in my mouth.

"So what does it taste like?"

"It tastes bitter. What is this?"

"It's the tentacle that stung me."

"....you did not just feed me a tentacle."

-

After feeding pieces of the tentacle to Marcille, Mr. Tansu finally healed her.

"Namari...For now, thank you for helping us. The Falin matter aside."

"You're very welcome. See? People work better when they're not working for free."

Uh oh.

"Now, now you two." Laios spoke, "Its all over and done with."

...

"..."

"No it isn't!"

"And anyway, why are you the one who's acting like its somebody else's problem?!"

"Honestly! I can't believe you!"

"No..I wasn't trying to.."

AN: Hey ya'll! Sorry for not posting, I just got hired on November on my very first job and have been working the midnight shifts and that has mess up my sleep schedule. Since Christmas is over, I will be getting less hours so I will have time to continue writing this story. Thank you all for be patient with me. I will update soon. Bye and have a Happy New Year! :D