Interlude - Before the Fountain of Life

The deeper they went, the more equipment they found. The more monsters they encountered. The more bloodied her sword. Many of them still did not look her in the eye.

But they all followed.

Beside her was Ruka. The girl Ami had saved on the bridge. At first, Ami had thought the experience would make her shut down. Become useless. But the opposite had happened.

Wherever Ami went, so went Ruka.

She had armed herself. She found two large daggers, and hung loosely in borrowed sheathes by her hips. She found a copper plate to cover her chest. She kept her arms bare, showing off the scar where the thing had bitten her. One of Ami's companions, Yuma, had used her unique skill to close the wound, but the scar remained. It became her signature. Her look. Her bare arms, her short hair hanging just over her dark eyes.

Ruka's unique skill was Enthrall. When the creatures appeared, Ruka called to them, and they lost interest in anyone else. They flocked only to her. It was incredibly dangerous.

But wherever Ruka went, Ami followed.

She destroyed them before they even got close, before they realized they'd been fooled.

They were only stupid creatures. Easy to kill.

Like Ruka and Ami, many of the others had unique skills. Some of them were better suited to combat. Others were more useful for reconnaissance, or helped them to survive in other ways. And some them claimed not to have a unique skill at all. Maybe they didn't, or maybe they were lying about it. It was frustrating, but ultimately Ami decided the end result was the same: they weren't going to participate.

And in the middle of those who did not get involved, there was Tenka, always circulating. Always whispering in ears. Always pulling people aside for a short chat.

Ami hated him.

He is a poison.

But she had to protect him. She had to protect everybody. She had already let her guard down too many times before. She had lost Souma. She had almost lost Ruka. There would not be any more casualties. She would kill the Demon Lord, and bring everybody home safely.

He will cause you more problems.

Even now, he was speaking in hushed tones to one of the other boys, another who claimed not to have any skill. What was he planning? Surely, he understood the situation they were in? That if they did not band together and cooperate they might never get back home?

You should get rid of him before he causes more harm. One death is unfortunate. Many deaths are tragic.

She didn't want to kill him. He was still one of them. He was still somebody she needed to protect. The group's morale was already shaky. Too many of them still didn't fully grasp what was happening. She couldn't exactly walk up to him and run him through.

Bring him with you on a task. Show deference to him in public. Then kill him when you are alone.

Nobody would believe that.

People believe what they want to believe. They will forget him as soon as you save them from the next danger.

Would she be capable of stabbing him, though? Tenka was another human. Wouldn't that make her a murderer?

Aren't you already?

She looked down at her sword, sleeping in its sheath.

"Ami! You've got that scary face on again!" Javier chopped her on the top of her head.

"Gu!" Ami let out a little squeak, rubbing her scalp.

"There's nothing scary about Lady Ami's face!" Ruka snapped from beside her, baring her teeth at Javier.

"He didn't mean it like that, Ruka," Ami chuckled, and patted her friend affectionately on the head.

"A-ah.. If... Ah, if you s-say so," Ruka turned pink and looked down at the floor.

"Sho and Sumi are back," Javier told her, motioning up to the two students walking toward her, their red blazers mostly obscured by the long brown cloaks they had draped over their shoulders.

"Sho! Sumi! You're safe!" Ami beamed, and jumped up to hug the two of them.

"Piece of cake," Shohei laughed.

"Though you should stop hugging us before Ruka stabs us in our sleep," Sumi added.

Ami looked let go of the two boys and looked back at Ruka, who was grinding her teeth. She laughed again. "Don't be ridiculous! Ruka's a kitten! She'd never stab you in your sleep!"

Ami went back to patting Ruka’s head.

"You mean, she'd stab us while we're awake?" Sumi sighed.

Ruka probably heard, but she didn't seem to care anymore.

"I'm just glad everybody's alright," Ami smiled. "Did you find anything?"

"We did," Shohei nodded. "Along the path you told us to follow. A few more of those goblins, not that they noticed we were there. And a huge door, as big as the one we went through to get here in the first place. Not far from here at all."

"Anything else?"

Sumi and Shohei exchanged a brief glance, and Sumi leaned in closer to Ami, so only she could hear. "The door was engraved with an image of some kind of... monster."

Ami bit her lip. That couldn't possibly be a good thing. "Still, that's got to be it."

"The way out?" Javier asked.

"I guess we'll have to find out."

"People aren't going to want to leave."

Right now they were in a safe place. At least, comparatively. After venturing through the eerily lit corridors for what felt like days without rest, they found this chamber, filled with a calming blue light. In the center was a large raised basin, filled with clear water that eased their suffering. So long as they drank it, their wounds closed, and they felt neither thirst nor hunger. Most importantly, the monsters avoided this place.

Rather than face what was outside, it was a given many of them would rather stay here.

Ami frowned and looked back at the other survivors. There was no sense in hiding the news. A few of them had already noticed Shohei and Sumi's return, and were looking in their direction. Whispering to each other in hushed tones.

"Everybody," Ami stood tall, and faced the others. "We've found a door, like the one that brought up here in the first place. If we go through it, I believe we will be one step closer to going home. We'll gather as much of the water as we can, then head out."

There were a range of reactions. Many of those who were already loyal to Ami nodded, as though this were the natural course of action. Some others frowned, and folded their arms in protest. Some put their heads in their hands.

"You've got to be kidding me," Tenka stepped forward through the crowd. A disturbing number of people nodded their agreement.

"I'm not kidding, Tenka," Ami shook her head. "We have to keep moving. Whatever's behind that door is probably our best hope of getting out of this place."

"Getting us out of here. To where, exactly?"

Ami forced a smile. "I don't know. Hopefully somewhere better than we are now."

"Better?" Tenka scoffed. "Are you sure? Do you have any proof?"

"I..." Ami's smile cracked. "Of course I don't have-"

"No proof," Tenka cut her off. "But you want us to follow you through this death trap again?"

"We have to keep moving forward. It's got to be better than staying here forever," Ami appealed.

"Nobody's saying we stay here forever," Tenka turned to face the others. He was no longer talking to Ami. "I'm not even saying that door isn't the right way for us to go!"

"Then why don't you shut up and let us find out?" Ruka muttered under her breath from just behind Ami.

Ami reached out behind her and quietly patted Ruka's hand, but kept her attention in front of her. On the others. Tenka wasn't done.

"All I'm saying is we shouldn't blindly follow Ami whenever she gets it in her head she wants to go explore some new corner of this place."

"That's not what I'm asking," Ami shook her head. "All I want is to get everybody out of here. And I... I think we should go to that door together. If there's a teleporter and it activates, we might not be able to come back. Anybody who doesn't come might be left behind. I don't want that."

"And you're sure it's a teleporter?" Tenka looked back at her.

For just a second, Ami could have sworn he smiled.

He's up to something. You should kill him now, before he talks. Don't worry, people will thank you for it later.

"Was there anything else you wanted to tell us about that door? Anything at all?"

Ami felt her smile cracking away.

"Well?" Tenka leaned in a little.

Impossible. How could he have known?

"There was an engraving. Of a beast. A monster. On the door."

Then everybody was shouting at the same time. Pointing fingers, exchanging angry words, pushing. This wasn't good. At this rate, people would turn on her. Everything would be for nothing. At the back of the hall, she saw Yuma and Rin slowly preparing their weapons. She could feel her other companions starting to the same.

And then Tenka clapped his hands, and the noise died down.

It was creepy, the speed at which everybody fell silent.

"I see, I see," Tenka sighed. "And you were going to tell us about this when? The big warning sign on the door."

"We don't know that's what it means," Ami replied.

"You want us to leave this place? Where we're safe? Where the water keeps us alive? And for what? A suicide mission to see if your hunch pays off?"

"Lady Ami was the one who brought us here in the first place, you slug!" Ruka snarled.

"Ah yes! Of course! Ami's faithful guard dog barking at any dissenting opinion," Tenka sneered. He turned back to the others. "She has no idea what she's leading us into! If we just follow her without thinking for ourselves, we'll all wind up dead! I thought you were all better than to blindly obey what some stranger tells you to do?"

Ami felt the room start to get hazy around the edges.

Just kill him.

Tenka's voice sounded far off. All she could hear was her own heartbeat. Why didn't he just listen? Why was he doing this?

Kill him. Quickly. It'll make things difficult for a day, at most. Nobody will ever question you again.

Surely not. Surely just one little murder wouldn't solve things so easily. Her sword. When had she drawn her sword?

Yes, yes! That's the spirit! At a girl! I knew you had it in you!

Yes. Of course. Just one tiny hole in his lungs. That's all she needed to do, and this whole trip could get back on track. Then everybody could go back to-

"Enough!"

Everybody felt silent a second time. Javier stormed past Ami, the fury evident in his face. He didn't usually try to draw attention to himself, but there was no denying he was a physically imposing person.

"Ami was the one who brought us this far, she is the one who will bring us home. Enough with this petty squabbling. We cannot remain here forever. You have no proof that this place is safe. You have no plan to do any better than what she is doing. You have no proof this water will last forever."

He raised his staff, the air around it already warping.

"Burn!"

A scorching heat filled the room. They were bathed in a hellish red glow.

When it faded, and they were game enough to uncover their faces, where had once been the fountain was now a scorched mark on the floor.

"And now you have no water at all." Javier turned his back on them. Facing Ami, he mouthed a few silent words.

Put your sword away!

Immediately, she understood what he had just sacrificed to stop her from doing something stupid. He had just cast himself in a very specific, necessary role. A role that Tenka had already been starting to fill. She quickly sheathed her weapon.

That done, Javier looked over his shoulder at the others with thinly veiled disgust.

"Follow us and be saved," He said to them, voice low and gravelly. "Or take your time dying here."