"Can you transform her?" Ellis asked. "If you can't talk to her."
"I can talk to her." Michael assured. "I don't…think she wants to come out right now."
"Then ask her if she can help us find the mana beast."
"She said she can't."
I can help you find them, the voice said, but I'm only going to do it if that bitch asks nicely.
"Michael?" Ellis said. "You're acting really weird."
When do you need to complete this quest, the voice said, can you ask that to the shorty?
"When do we need to complete the quest?"
"Today, if not, tomorrow." Ellis answered. "Why? Did she ask that?"
"Yes."
"So can she help us or not?"
"I…uhh—"
"You're making it sound like she's playing with you. I don't know what you have with each other but don't let it get in the way of the quests."
Michael felt like his stomach was flipping. "She can help us."
"How?"
If that bitch asks nicely, the voice said again, make sure you say it exactly like how I sounded it out.
He averted his eyes. "If—Mave asks nicely…"
Evelyn appeared in his face. Michael, you can't be this scared of her. She's just going to keep pushing you around and—
Mave grabbed the straps of his armor and pulled him from the ground.
He was still holding onto his sword, meeting her furious eyes that wanted to rearrange every bone in his body.
"Mave," Ellis called her name sternly. "We don't have time for nonsense."
She shook Michael with no intention to back down. "Do you honestly think you're funny?"
"That's…" Michael moved his throat from her fists. "What she told me."
"Tell her to get out of that damn sword and say that to my face. She wouldn't, right? Because I'll beat you and she can watch from the side—"
Michael kicked into her stomach, staggering her back as he dropped to the ground. That was the first time ever he landed a hit on her. Maybe it was also his last time as well.
Mave gritted her teeth, drawing her sword.
"Stop!" Ellis shouted. "What are you two doing?!"
Win this, the voice said, then we can finally kiss!
He thought the voice in his head was crazy. There was no way he would beat Mave in a duel, not when she's angry like that.
Mave knew everything about Michael's pathetic form. She's always been picking through his flaws and imperfections as if it was some exercise for her. As much as he came up with new ways to tackle Mave's swordsmanship, he was just letting her experience his pitiful attempts to win.
Ellis jumped in between them before she could close the gap within a second. He knew Mave's temper, he's been with her for years, and to have someone like Michael kick her like that had triggered a wave of impulse that would've been horrible.
Mave stopped in her tracks. "Move."
Ellis shook his head with no fear of confronting her. "We're not going to fight on a quest. You can beat him, twist him, throw him however much you like but not here. Not when we're trying to be a party."
"You think I care about that? Move before I make you."
"You wouldn't dare—"
"What did I come back to?" Stefan climbed over. "Did you guys miss me so much that you went crazy on yourselves?"
They looked above.
"Come on, get over here," he quickly waved to them. "We're already trying to kill ourselves before the quest even starts. What a riot!"
Mave sheathed her sword before giving Michael a very dead stare of unforgiveness. She climbed over to where Stefan was heading.
Ellis sighed, looking back at Michael. "You've been in this party long enough. Can you at least just try to be normal?"
"I told her what Evelyn told me."
"And nowhere in your mind did you think it would switch her off? You just thought it was okay to say that out loud?"
"I told her what Evelyn told me."
Ellis sighed again with no intention of arguing. He climbed over to where they were heading, surprising Michael of his athleticism despite his short height.
Come on, the voice said, you're not just going to blame this on me, right? You wanted to say the same thing.
He sheathed his blade and followed behind them before he could have a conversation with his sword.
Stefan had found a tall door that almost towered as the height of the temple and was overgrown with thick roots along the ridges. The door was also covered in moss, too much to the point the writings and details became pointless. Anybody would have passed by this could think it was some other structure consumed by the forest. But Stefan had caught the thin line creeping into the darkness. He was so eager to look at what's inside.
"Okay," Ellis said, looking around. "Just have to find the giant key."
Stefan snickered. "Who said anything about a key?"
They stepped back. Stefan ran his hand across his sword and swung as he defiantly shouted. The swordcast hit directly on the door, echoing a loud boom into the forest, flocking the perching birds away, and trembling the air around them. The roots sizzled with a large diagonal burn, but the door didn't budge.
"That's embarrassing." he said, covering his sword in mana again. He slashed the air with much harder and a louder shout this time. The swordcast blasted through the doors, completely cutting through the roots and welcoming them into a smoking darkness. Whatever type of beast that lived inside there definitely knew they were about to receive some hard company.
Stefan sheathed his sword and wiped his nose. "There we go."
Ellis coughed, waving the smoke away. "Well, that's certainly inviting. Should we wait for the rest of them?"
"They'll catch up." Mave moved forward. "We don't have any more time for nonsense, do we?"
They ignited a torch and ventured into the unknown darkness. Michael thought it was different from a cave. It was built by humans just judging the surface of the floors and space of the walls. He didn't think it would also be infested by roots from the forest, burrowing into the underground passages as they walked. Some parts were hard to squeeze through and others were easier. Seems like nature was ruthless and it was a matter of time before it claimed these places as its own.
There were strange, empty, and cold rooms that didn't make any sense. And seeing they were only held up by a few pillars threatening to collapse, none of them had the idea to stay inside there any longer. Michael thought this place an extreme hazard and it must have been the roots that kept everything in place.
Ellis took the duty of marking their tracks, remembering the way back in case of a sudden emergency. But it wasn't as simple as it sounded. Their only source of light came from their torch. None of them knew spells for light, as Mave repeatedly said, because none of them were classes of a mage.
Michael's sword hummed on his back.
They all turned to him. Apart from the crackling of the torch and the sounds of their footsteps, it had to be dead silent for them to hear that.
He pulled his sword from his back, avoiding everyone's awkward stare. To their surprise, the golden sword glowed in the dark even brighter than the torch that they carried.
"Less of a help," Ellis recalled before. "Why didn't you tell us you could do that, Michael?"
"I couldn't. She does that by herself, the sword."
"Oh, that's right!" Stefan beamed. "When we were both thrown down that hole, your sword glowed!"
Michael didn't know why Stefan found that memory so fascinating. Being almost separated from Evelyn was one of the worst moments in his life.
"Keep moving." Mave demanded. "The boy's sword is magical, great, let's not stop and talk all about it."
As they continued deeper through the underground temple, the paths started to divide. Michael walked behind Stefan alongside Ellis, holding his glowing sword for betting illumination. Mave walked behind them with the torch, watching their back and flank.
With more light around them, Michael could see more of the decorations and drawings on the walls. Rotting away by time and dust, whoever was here, all of the work was being forgotten.
Ellis caught his gaze. "A lot of these are in the uncharted."
"These?"
"Old history. Uncharted is land that was torn apart, destroyed, and left behind after wars. It's funny, you know, after centuries of the kingdoms fighting you would think they would finally reach a resolution. But war never stops. Not until you're dead."
"You don't like war?"
"None of us do. We get treated like numbers, families are torn apart, and most of all, innocent people die."
"Can we stop it?"
"Don't give him any ideas." Mave said from the back. "We already have enough to deal with, we don't need politics in the party."
Stefan chuckled in the front. "And this is coming from a noble?"
"What do you even know about being a noble?"
"Be rich and talk a lot."
"It's astonishing how you've gotten this far in life—"
There was a sound of something rolling behind them. They turned around, cutting their little squabble short.
Mave pointed her torch. There was nothing. What followed was the silence of their own breaths. Michael would be lying if he said he wasn't scared. Being surrounded by only darkness, they've been depending on the glow of his sword and the torch. If there really was a mana beast lurking, or even stalking them, it would've been the perfect opportunity for them to strike.
"Hello?" Stefan called out. "Who's there?"
"You idiot!" Mave growled. "Are you expecting them to respond?"
"What if they did? Then you would be the one—"
"Both of you, knock it off." Ellis quickly ordered. "It's small, whatever's been following us."
"Small?" Stefan questioned. "How do you know?"
"The sound it made, it would've been heavier if it was larger. I don't think it's a mana beast but there's life down here which means we're getting close."
"What do you wanna do?"
Ellis stared ahead. "We follow it."