Doran and his friends stood around Bruinn's covered body. His own torn cloak had been laid over him, covering his face, and body, down past his stomach. The ground here was too hard to bury him — no soil to dig, and no stones nearby to raise a marker with either. His sword had been placed beneath the cloak instead, held in his own hands atop his chest, the blade pointing down.
They stood around him, each mourning him in their own way. One boy — the one who had stabbed him — knelt on the ground, sobbing, repeating the same words over and over again.
"I'm sorry Bruinn. I'm sorry. It's my fault, Bruinn."
Doran stood beside him, staring down at Bruinn's shrouded shape, two tears streaming down his face as he closed his eyes and drew a long breath.
By the time they hit the ground he had already opened his eyes again. He turned slowly towards his friend and said in an even, strained voice " That's enough, Cathan."
"But I— I was the one wh—who—" The boy on the ground, Cathan, tried to say.
"I said enough!" Doran raised his voice, screaming at Cathan. " Whatever controlled you and Niall is the one responsible! Not you!"
He looked over at Bruinn's deceased body one last time, then he turned to face Rem and Valdo.
"What are your names?"
Valdo waited, just like he always did, but the question went unanswered. He glanced sideways at Rem, who was still staring at Bruinn's body, lost somewhere inside his own head. He took a deep breath and answered for both of them.
"I'm Valdo. and this is Roeselle." As he said the name, he elbowed Rem lightly in the side, jolting him back to reality.
"Valdo, Roeselle." Doran bowed slightly at the hips. "Thank you for what you did back there." Doran's voice was entirely flat now. "As agreed, we'll take you up with us. To do that, we need to go deeper first. There's a Clochán ahead — a vast chamber where multiple tunnels meet. Some lead up. Others go further down, into other Clocháns."
"We split after reaching it." He went quiet for a moment, then said coldly. " We will hunt the monster responsible for this."
"And how exactly will you do that, if you don't mind me asking?" Valdo said in his usual tone.
"I do mind, and that's none of your business." Doran replied, already turning and continuing in the same way as before.
Valdo watched him for a moment before choosing to follow in silence, not pushing the topic any further.
Rem, resurfacing from his own thoughts, let out a heavy breath. He could feel his shoulders loosen, and the tension bleeding slowly out of his muscles. He was finally getting out of this Nightmare.
He wasn't stupid. He understood that the actions of one low-ranking soldier weren't going to change the outcome of a war this size. The people of this realm had been doomed the moment the Warmongers first set foot in it.
Which raised a question worth asking. What was the point of this Nightmare in that case? Why had the Spell thrown him into it? The only answer that he could come up with was simple, Survival. And the best way to do that would be to wait until the war above ran its course.
All he had to do now was make sure that they get up, and not ruin it.
***
Rem and Valdo followed the trio in silence, the tunnel unwinding the same way it had before, with the occasional distant explosion sending a gust of compressed air through the passage, that stopped them in their tracks.
This time though, the distance between the two groups had visibly decreased, something both sides seemingly noticed, but neither brought up.
Valdo picked up his pace, closing the gap in slow, measured steps.
Rem's Attribute — [Faint Instinct] — went off, and his first thought was that they were under attack again. Cathan and Niall tensed at the same moment, their hands drifting towards their sword hilts. Even Rem shifted his weight, ready to intervene and knock Valdo out himself if it came to that.
Everyone was seemingly on edge, everyone except for Doran who kept walking forward.
That was when Valdo said something that stopped the rest, dead cold in their place. Rem most of all, his face going ashen, caught somewhere between shock and disbelief.
"How about we join your hunt?" He said.
Doran spun around and asked. "Why?"
"Why not" Valdo shrugged. " More numbers won't hurt you."
Doran didn't answer right away. Whatever was going on in Valdo's head, he clearly couldn't follow it. That was when another voice caught him off guard entirely.
"Yeah," Rem said. " It's their hunt. Let them handle it themselves. They're not going to trust us with their backs anyway, it's better if we just leave."
Doran looked at Rem, then at Valdo. " As much as i hate to agree with an unblooded, your friend's right. I dont want any surprises."
"Well then." Valdo's tone shifted, sharpening. "Let me walk you through what you're actually about to fight. Best case, you're up against an awakened demon that's only recently awakened it unique ability. It can possess one person at a time, up to three times total. After that, the ability might need time to recover."
"So riddle me this, Doran. What happens when it takes Niall and Cathan again? You knock them both out, and now it's just you, alone, against the monster itself, with two unconscious bodies on the ground beside you."
"I'll t—" As soon as Doran spoke, Valdo cut him off.
"And what if it can control its victims and move on its own at the same time? what if this isn't even the best case, what if you're facing an awakened devil instead? what will you do then?"
Doran stared at him, he opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted again, this time by Rem.
"What if the thing we're heading towards isn't an awakened demon at all, but a fallen devil?" he waited for a moment, for the point to hit home and then continued. "Wouldn't we just be digging our own graves going after that abomination?"
Every eye in the tunnel landed on him. Rem understood in that moment, that this was his chance to convince everyone, a chance to talk all of them out of these tunnels. If it worked, his odds of surviving this Nightmare would dramatically increase.
"I think the smarter move is for all of you to come back once you're stronger. Then it won't be just this monster, but every monster in that Claichen will be yours to take apart."
Valdo turned to look at him, a glare in his eyes like a parent watching a child utterly humiliate themselves. Rem had no idea, yet, why Doran and the others were suddenly staring holes through him.
"It's Clochán, not Claichen." Cathan said in an even voice.
Then Doran Spoke.
"Come back?" His voice was quiet. "You think if we make it back up and rejoin the war, that we will ever be able to come back here?" He raised both arms, they were slightly bent at the elbows, his palms were facing up toward the dark ceiling. " We're already dead men walking, Roeselle. it's already decided, we either die down here, or up above." His voice rose, the control he had over it finally slipping." And I will be damned if I let one more of my brothers die without taking revenge!"
Resolve burned behind his eyes, but something in the way he stood, arms raised like that, burned itself into Rem's mind.
That was also the moment Rem realised the mistake he'd just made. Whatever chance there might have been to talk these people out of this was gone now.
In his head, one word repeated itself, over and over again.
SHIT!