"Are You Sure?"

It took a few minutes to get everyone out of the hole, but with the use of the rope there was no need to repeat the barrel shot technique. The next order of business was to decide whether we would go after Hashi or leave the dungeon. When we put it to a vote, only Lilian and I wanted to continue.

“That settles it. We’re going back,” said Ori.

“You can do whatever you want, but I am going after Hashi,” said Lilian.

“You can’t go alone, it’s too dangerous,” Ori argued.

“I’ll go alone if I have to, but I don’t think I will. Bastian? What’ll it be?”

“Bastian’s staying with me,” said Ori, looking at me. “Right?”

I didn’t answer, and they could see my inner struggle. “Come with me and I’ll let you have the promotion,” said Lilian.

“Why would you just let me have it?” I asked.

“Because right now, all I care about is beating Hashi.” Lilian’s eyes were full of fury.

“Alright,” I said.

“Wait, don’t do it Bastian. We’re a party. Your party voted to leave.”

I glanced at Youssef and Martin. “No Ori, they aren’t my party. The only person I wanted in my party was you.” I patted her on the shoulder. “I’ll see you around,” I said. Then I hurried to catch up with Lilian, anxious to get away before Ori could make another protest.

“It’s all good and well to go after them but I don’t know how we’re supposed to catch up,” I said.

“That’s easy. Sam forgot to leave my party. I’ve been watching him the whole time,” she said. We set off at a jogging pace, and within a few minutes I could hear voices ahead. Lillian booted Sam from her party, and I joined. As we waited around the corner I noticed Lilian tenderly rubbing her behind. She caught me staring and turned red.

“You’re the actual worst,” she said.

I only smirked.

Suddenly her voice grew softer. “About the scroll. I don’t really know why I did it. I was really angry with you when you ran out on me–humiliated even…”

“But why would you care?” I asked.

“I think they’re gone,” she said, hurrying around the corner.

I followed her to find a huge door above which “The Final Test” was written in gold lettering.

“Here’s the plan. We wait until they start fighting the boss, then we sneak in and hide ourselves at the back and wait for our opportunity.”

“What if they spot us?” I asked.

“Then we scrap the plan and go straight to getting revenge.”

“Okay, clear enough,” I said.

As I opened the door, we were greeted by a great tumult of noise. Hashi and his party were locked in a fierce fight with a huge scaly creature. The door shut behind me on its own, but no one seemed to notice. I followed Lilian’s lead as we crept behind a pillar and waited.

“Are they winning?” I asked.

“I think so,” said Lilian. “But it’s a pretty even fight.”

At last, the battered beast slumped to the ground with a great wail of pain. Lilian gave me a silent countdown on her fingers, then we sprang up. Lilian used the element of surprise to launch a slow but powerful freezing attack.

“What the–look out!” Hashi yelled, permeating just in time to avoid the spell, but I was ready for him. I followed his ghostly body until the shade effect wore-off and grabbed him. He started an attack spell, but I hoisted him into the air and slammed him on the ground. Just then I felt a heavy blow in the back, as their tank, Garick, barreled into me with a charge attack. Enraged, I punched him back and we began to struggle. I caught a glimpse of Lilian who was now busy dealing with Sam. In strength, Garick and I were closely matched, but while my attacks did no real damage, he was steadily wearing my HP thin. I had to escape, but how–when he had me under the arms?

Then it came to me. I quickly equipped and unequipped the barrels, allowing me to slip out of his hold. I ran to Lilian as she raised her wand and blasted a beam of cold energy.

“Stop, we give up!” Hashi yelled.

"See what traitors get!" Lilian shouted.

“You’ll kill us! Please!” he screamed.

The beam ceased.

“Thank you! Oh thank god!” gasped Hashi.

“Get out of here,” said Lilian.

“I have a teleportation scroll. Just let me get my party members together, and I’ll warp us all out of here.”

Lillian nodded. “Slowly,” she said.

The injunction was unnecessary. I could see they were suffering some kind of speed debuff. Gradually, they made their way to Sam. Garick picked him up and carried him to where the others stood encased by ice from Lilian’s first attack.

“Thank you,” said Hashi. “You’ve shown the kind of true heroism this competition is meant to reveal. You really deserve this promotion.”

“Hurry up and go,” said Lilian, brandishing her wand.

“All right, I will, just one more thing, and then I’ll go.”

“What now?” said Lilian impatiently.

Just then I noticed the debuff disappeared. “That promotion is mine!” Hashi shouted, as he dashed for the fallen boss. Lilian fired ice orbs, but Hashi was able to permeate again. As he reached the boss, he swung his scythe, cleaving a deep gash in the creature’s armored breast. The boss howled and fell dead–at least, so it seemed before it reared back up, sloughing off its armor.

“It has a second phase!?” I shouted, as the reinvigorated boss struck Hashi, knocking him across the room.

“Alright fine, he’s all yours,” said Hashi. “If that was the first phase, the second should be interesting. Good luck!” He pulled out the scroll, and the next moment, his party vanished in a flash of purple light.

“We’ve gotta get out of here,” I said.

“No, we finish it!” Lilian shouted, charging her ice barrage, but she had miscalculated. Without its heavy armor, the creature was moving much faster now. It struck at her with a long, hooked appendage, and I was only just in time to pull her to safety. Hoisting her on my back, I dashed to the entrance, but it wouldn’t budge–the door was sealed. As the creature struck again, I threw Lilian behind a pillar and was knocked back against the wall. My health was now in dire territory. The creature charged at me, but suddenly Lilian was beside me.

“Glacial barrier!” she shouted.

The dome of ice shattered from the strike, as she tried to pull me to safety.

“Leave me,” I coughed, “it’ll kill us both.”

The creature crawled towards me. Suddenly the door opened with a blaze of light.

“Photon Needles!” Ori shouted.

I was lying on my face when I felt the effect of a heal. “Ori…” I muttered as I rolled over to see Paelyn tending my wounds.

“Hold still, I can’t wave a magic wand and heal you like your girlfriend,” said Paelyn as she wrapped the bandages with deft fingers.

“Icicle Barrage!” Lilian shouted.

“Can you walk?” Paelyn asked.

“Yeah, I think so,” I said, sitting up.

The next moment she dashed away, bow in hand.

I crawled to a pillar and watched with bated breath. The fight seemed to be going well for us. Alternating photon needles and icicle barrages left the creature with no time to counterattack, and with help from Paelyn, they seemed to be whittling it's health down fast. But then, when I expected another icicle barrage none came–Lilian was out of mana. She resorted to shooting the beast with ice spheres, but her level 1 ability left it unfazed.

The creature charged Ori and knocked her back against the wall. “Ori!” I shouted, running to her aid. I reached her, but there was no time to escape. The creature was rearing back for another attack, and our friends were helpless to stop it.

I grabbed Ori, squeezing her to my chest. She was barely conscious, but she was looking at me tenderly. “Bastian…I…l–”

I used barrel shot to launch her away. How different this moment was than I had pictured. I had thought there would be more time–time enough, at least, to say what was in my heart. As the creature's claws pierced my chest, I double tapped my weapon. The last thing I saw was the message “Are you sure?”