Yes. Wonderful.

My best guess was that we had been holed up for about a day, maybe less. From when the huge woman threw me down to now, I guessed that two or three days had passed. During that time, Javier had been falling in and out of consciousness. When he could stay awake, we had him drink some crude jerky soup we’d made by boiling water in a tin drinking cup we’d brought. The presence of the nearby waterfall had been an asset, if only because we could access plenty of water.

Since I could see in the dark and could defend myself, I was the one who went out to fetch water. During a few of my forays, I happened to spot gremlins gathering at the decoy I’d chucked down the hall. They appeared to be completely absorbed by the scent of blood, and somehow remained ignorant to our presence. At least it was working on something.

Otherwise, we passed the time silently, urgently attuned to the sounds of the outside world. A few times we did hear something shuffle past our shelter and held our breath, but for the most part we were left alone. Were they not bothered or attracted by the smoke we vented? Or did it function to repel the monsters?

Either way, Javier finally awoke and had gathered the strength to cast another miracle, which had returned color to his face, but his eyes remained unfocused and blank. He confirmed that he had become blind, and was uncertain if he could recover his sight.

After we ran out of wood to burn and the last of the embers had gone cold, and the only light we had was the lantern, Javier declared "We need to leave."

"I agree." I said, but Javier shook his head. "We’ve been here for too long."

"We need to leave, but not because of that." He said.

"The creature we ran from was the Wheezing Dragon. It’s a six legged monstrosity that’s been chasing me since I first descended into the depths." He calmly explained, "That’s why you found us, well, me, in those circumstances. I had been running from it when I ran into that greater Gangrel. Mauricio and I were forced to defend ourselves."

"They’re called Gangrels?" Amparo asked, mimicking the hunched over, four limbed gait

"Yes, but that’s not important." Javier said, completely missing all of Amparo’s pantomiming, "The Wheezing Dragon is a monster known for not letting its prey escape. I don’t know what happened and how we managed to evade it, but it will be back for us once it grows bored or hungry."

"Could it be that’s why it left us alone? It was saving us for later?" I asked, the recontextualization horrifying, "Then we need to leave right now."

"I can sense your concern, but it was unwarranted. I received a premonition, we will be safe for a little longer, but soon it will hunger, and then it will begin to hunt us. The sooner we leave, the greater our lead."

"I’ll take that small comfort." I sighed, "Do you get premonitions often?"

"No, but I’ve never almost died before. My real concern involves this choice. I have enough mana to cast one of two miracles. One will heal me, and maybe restore my sight and ability to walk."

"Maybe?" Amparo asked

"I will definitely become stable enough to travel, but my injuries may have been so terrible that I’d require a more aggressive miracle to restore those."

"What’s the other choice then? I get the feeling that it’s just as uncertain if you’re weighing against maybe recovering."

"The other spell will guide us to the exit, but I won’t be in much condition to travel. I’ll likely need to be carried until I can gather the focus to try healing myself."

"But if the healing doesn’t work, we’ll need to carry you, regardless." Amparo crossed her arms, "Those are definitely some bad options."

"Which is why I believe we should decide together." He said, and they both turned their attention to me.

"I don’t know what’s better." She said, "What’s the call, Loiel?"

"Me? Why am I deciding?"

"You were doing fine on your own long before you found me." Amparo said, "And you made the call that kept us safe from the Wheezing Dragon. Whatever you decide, it’ll probably be the best that we can do."

"I dislike the responsibility." I said, glancing to Javier.

"I hardly know either of you. All I do know is that you saved my life, and it continues to remain in your hands." Javier darkly chuckled, still staring blindly into the wall. "I should’ve died long ago. As far as I’m concerned, any more life is merely a bonus."

"Fine!" I said, throwing up my hands, "We have only one real choice: heal thyself, saint."

"You think so?" He asked, clearly puzzled, "I was betting that you would’ve had me cast the guide.”

"You’re barely stable. If you die on the way, then the guide is pointless. Besides, once we can start moving you safely, walking or no, we can set out into the Dungeon. The more space we make, the better, regardless of whether it leads us out or not."

"The logic is sound." Javier said, and he began chanting the prayer.

A soft, golden light emanated from his hand, and color returned to his cheeks. Whereas before he looked better than a corpse, now he appeared merely sickly. However, his eyes still remained blank and unfocused. Despite his conscious efforts to move his eyeballs around, the pupils remained inert and unfocusing. He then tried to get on one knee and steady himself up, almost to topple over. Only Amparo catching him prevented the saint from tasting the earth.

"Alas, I fear I am still crippled." He said, sighing.

"The worst outcome is still not bad." I said, getting up and beginning to pack away our equipment, "How long would it take to get out once you have the strength to cast guide?"

"From what Missol said, it would take a few hours, at worst, half a day, to go from the third floor to the exit."

"Wait, we’re only on the third floor?" I asked, ‘It’s this awful, on the third floor?’

"Of course it would be this dangerous. This is the prison of a God, and these are fragments of that God’s anger."

"Makes enough sense." Amparo chimed in as she chewed on a piece of jerky while she carefully organized all our worldly belongings so that they would neatly fit into the backpack.

"If you say so." I commented, as it made no sense to me, being a foreigner to this world, "I did want to ask, what else can you do? I want an idea of our abilities so I can plan accordingly."

"Ah, a planner, truly fit to lead us then." Javier chuckled, finishing the last of his tin of jerky soup before handing it to Amparo for stowing, "I’m sure you’ve heard the legends and myths, but I’m nowhere near the strength of the saints from legend. Truthfully, I have only a small repertoire of miracles that I can beseech god for. The power to heal minor wounds, the power to summon lesser sunbolts, the miracle of light and the power of guidance. I also receive premonitions from time to time. These are vague warnings, but I imagine that they’re better than nothing."

"Those are still miracles!" Amparo countered, unwilling to accept his show of humility, "It’s not like God listens to me."

"Nor me." I chimed in.

"True, I suppose it could be seen as that. Besides, I’m not much more than a dead weight right now. It will take time, maybe an hour or two, before I’ve built up the focus to call forth another miracle."

"You don’t weigh that much. I’ve carried lambs that weighed more than you." Amparo puffed her chest out with pride. "I’ll carry you this time. That’ll free up Loiel to protect the both of us."

"Then I’ll take the backpack." I said, resigned to whatever she decided.

"It wouldn’t be any problem for me to carry the lantern, at least." Javier said, "My arms seem to work just fine."

"Agreed." Amparo said, clasping the backpack shut, "I guess I may as well say what I’m good at. I have a knife, which I’m not very good at, and I have a sling that I am very good with. I don’t know my class yet, I haven’t been baptized."

Javier’s attention turned towards me, "I’m good at killing things, and not dying. I can see in the dark."

"You both are far too humble. The way you slew that gangrel was amazing. Amparo, your accuracy was impeccable. Surely, you must have a hunter or archer as a class." Javier said, without a hint of maliciousness in his tone, "And Loiel, your swordsmanship was a sight, it makes me wonder what you could do with a real sword. Do you know what your class is?”

"My class is knight, level 6." I said, hoping that there was no hesitation or deception in my tone.

"I see, so you’ve already been baptized and gone through communion? How wonderful."

"Yes. Wonderful."