"What, why wouldn't I remember you? That doesn't make any sense. We, hah, we have a contract, remember?"

"Karen..", Zephyra stared into her eyes. A single tear rolled down her face. "You've woken me up every day for the last week with the same…"

Her voice caught in her throat. And, her eyes looked down to the floor.

"The same conversation."

Karen frowned. It didn't make any sense. No, she would've remembered that!

She stood up and backed away from Zephyra and sniffled. 

"No. No. I don't believe you."

BANG! 

Ted knocked loudly on the door again. 

"Hey, what's taking you so long? We're going to be late. And, you'll both be grumpy because you didn't eat anything."

"Ted!" Zephyra called out. And quickly wrapped a blanket around Karen to protect her modesty. "Karen's had another headache again."

The door handle immediately turned and swung open. 

Ted looked aghast and horrified.

"No, no, no, not again."

"Not again?", Karen parroted meekly.

"Zephyra! This wasn't supposed to happen! You said that she'd be okay for a couple of weeks!"

"Well I thought so, the medicine should've helped!"

"What're we going to do?! Is she going to be alright? Gods above, she can't go back into the dungeon like this."

Karen sunk back to her knees and curled into a ball. 

"Stop. Please. Just stop. I cant- I don't… I don't understand."

Ted glanced at Zephyra.

"You haven't explained it to her again yet?"

"Well, I tried, but it only happened a moment ago. And, you know how she gets after they happen."

"Yeah…", Ted sucked in his breath deeply and ran a hand through his hair. "Shit."

He sat down and placed a hand around Karen. 

"You're going to be alright. We're here for you."

Karen sniffled. "I don't understand."

"No. I suppose you don't right now. Are you ready to listen?"

He waited for a few moments until Karen calmed down and nodded her head. 

"Alright. Two weeks ago, we went down into the dungeon close to town. Do you remember that?", He asked softly.

Karen nodded her head. 

"Alright. Well, you and me, Phil, Suzy, Joe and Zephyra all went down into the dungeon together-"

"Wait. Wait… Suzy? Joe? Who are they? They definitely didn't go down with us."

Zephyra and Ted glanced at each other with a worried and sickly smile. 

"I'll explain later. Please… trust me?", Ted asked softly. 

"A-alright." Karen agreed.

"So, we went down to the dungeon. And, we did pretty well. You kept us together really well and gave us all directions to fight and-

Oh! There was this really big skeleton. You sent me up to fight against it. Ha, I was totally sure that I was gonna be flattened into a paste, but it was really slow and-"

"*Ahem*" Zephyra cleared her throat and glared viciously at Ted. 

"Ah. Sorry, got off track. Um, anyway, we made it to the boss room. We didn't know it, but the dungeon evolved. And, uh, the new boss, he managed to slip past our defenses. He um… placed his hand on your head and-"

"No!" Karen stood up abruptly. She threw her blanket over Teds head, marched over to her shirt and quickly put one on. "I don't want to think about that… thing. Ever again. I-i almost died."

Karen spun and faced Zephyra. "You saved me. Y-you healed me. You brought me back to life with your necromancy and-"

Ted and Zephyra shared a glance together and sighed. 

"Well that's new", Ted muttered. 

"What's new?", Karen snapped.

"My love, I'm not a necromancer. I've never been a necromancer. I'm a priest. An ordained healer. I worked hard to get here." Zephyra closed the distance to Karen and held her gently.  "And, you need to be careful about calling someone a necromancer. The church takes that sort of thing very seriously."

"B-but, I saw you", Karen stammered and harshly whispered. "You definitely used necromancy."

Zephyra sighed, leaned back and held out her hand. A bright golden orb appeared in her hand, thousands of lights danced and twinkled around it. They blinked and twinkled before snuffing out of existence to be replaced by another dancing spark. 

"This spell is called [Daylight]. It's a very simple low level spell; anyone can use it. So long as-" 

"They have the holy attribute." Karen whispered softly. 

Zephyra smiled weakly. "Yeah… my love, I am not a necromancer."

Karen held her head. Her knee bounced anxiously as she tried to sort everything out.

"But…" Zephyra took a deep breath. "You will always be my princess. I love you deeply. No matter what happens. We can fix this together."

"How? How are we supposed to fix this? This isn't… I mean, I can't…"

"We need to go back into the dungeon." Ted piped into the conversation. "We're hoping that if we actually defeat the [Skeletal Knight], it'll stop destroying your memories."

"G-go back?", Karen blanched. "You want me to face that thing, a-again?"

"It's the only thing that we've been able to think of doing that might help." Zephyra sighed and brushed the hair from her eyes. "We've tried everything else. Every spell, poultice, and potion we could afford. And, nothing has worked."

"I even tried singing every song that might spark a memory for you", Ted smiled feebly and laughed softly.

Zephyra sighed and glared back at Ted.

"Now, is not the time to joke around." She deadpanned. "But, it's true, we all suffered through his singing."

"Hey!" Ted cried in mock indignation. "I was trying my best to help out."

Karen blanched. "I-i'm sorry, I don't remember any of that…"

Zephyra cradled Karen's head into her arms and pulled her close. "Shh, it's alright. We know that it's not your fault. We'll fix it. You'll see. We just have to kill the bastard that did this to you."

"I don't know if I can face it again. I mean, last time, he nearly killed me." Karen pulled a strand of her white hair into her hands. "He did this to me… I'm scared."

"I know… I know you are sweetheart." Zephyra cooed and brushed her hands over Karen's head. "But, it'll be alright. Trust me. We'll be there for you, every step of the way."

"A-alright." Karen sniffled into the healers chest.

"Good girl." Zephyra turned toward Ted. "Is everything ready for us?"

Ted nodded. "But, we have to hurry. We're losing daylight."

Karen looked around in shock. It had gotten unnaturally darker. It should've still been morning. But, everything seemed a little bit more morose. Like, an overcast sky. A little bit more hopeless. Like, the color had drained from her life and surroundings. 

"Right now? You're sure?" Karen asked nervously.

"It's alright, my love. We've been planning this for a long time." Zephyra replied, a small playful smirk pulling at the edge of her lips. Her hand strayed and gently strolled across Karen's lower abdomen. "Of course, if it wasn't so urgent, I'd love to just stay here and make my girlfriend happy."

Karen blushed and giggled.

Ted frowned and raised an eyebrow. "Yeesh, and people say that I'm the horny one. Aren't members of the clergy supposed to be chaste or something?"

Zephyra snorted. "Well, yeah. But, we're human too. We have needs. And, desires… just like anyone else."

"Uh huh. Well... Anyway. Let's go!" Ted masterfully and inconspicuously changed the topic. "Phil is waiting for us with breakfast."

The three walked downstairs and amicably chatted while they ate. Their bags were packed and their gear was ready for them. All they had to do was walk out the door and head to the dungeon after they finished with their breakfast. 

But… the sky was becoming darker. The cloudy and overcast sky slowly morphed into threatening storm clouds. The sun was covered and dimmed. It felt ominous and foreboding. And, an unnatural chill hung in the air. 

A small itch scratched at the back of her head. It was insistent that something was wrong. A vague and grim notion that something wicked was just around the corner. 

"Karen." Phil spoke with gentle concern that shook her from her pensive reverie.  "We're here."

"Huh?" Karen looked around her surroundings. 

They had arrived at the dungeon. The stone columns of the entrance jutted out of the ground and bore over them with a haunting sense of finality.

 Karen was struck with a sense of insignificance. The dungeon had existed long before them. The weathered stone; a testament to it's timelessness. What could they do against such an ancient and primeval force?

How could they possibly hope to triumph?

Karen shirked back from the entrance with a heavy footstep. She shouldn't be here. She wasn't meant to be here. She had barely survived last time. And, she wasn't even sure how they got back to this place.

She didn't remember walking. The journey happened in an instant. They were at the inn and enjoying breakfast. Then, suddenly, they arrived. 

What happened? It didn't make any sense. 

"Karen. We have to go now. We're out of time." Phil warned with a sense of urgency.

A bolt of lightning crashed through the heavens. And, Karen heard a strange voice emanate across the sky.

"Zephyra must be pretty incredible to…

… I'm going to start draining her mana now."

Karen didn't recognize the voice. It was completely unfamiliar. But, it sounded like a man. The clouds swirled overhead violently, as if someone had reached down and stirred them all together. And, the clouds formed into a funnel. 

But, miraculously, even as the tornado picked up speed, the weather started clearing out. The sun broke through the clouds in patches and little spots. And, the wind picked up and gathered the storm into the cloud tunnel. Thunder and lightning courses through it with divine fury. Until, at last, the clouds had dissipated entirely.

"What? What was that? That wasn't normal!" Karen muttered, completely unnerved.

Ted sauntered up next to her. "Oh. It looks like they bought us some more time."

"What?" Karen stared at her friend. 

"Nothing. We gotta hurry before the storm comes back. We won't want to get wet on the way home." He walked away nonchalantly and headed into the dungeon. Except, this time, he waited for the rest of them.