The insectoid heard the sound of soft footsteps approaching it from behind. Frantically the monster released its mandible from the grip and tried to turn around to look at its hidden assailant. This time, however, it was Viran who did not want to let it go. The man headbutted the creature as soon as there was space between their skulls.

 

The being was dazed and by the time it recovered, Red was already upon it. His cleaver moved soundlessly and the boy severed the monster's arm with a single motion. Then, before his newly found strength left him, Red had already retreated from the two combatants.

 

His thought process was simple: he wasn't sure if even under the effects of this drug he would be able to kill the monster. So instead, Red freed the one person he knew could do it.

 

The monster didn't have any time to react. With his remaining arm now free from its restraints, Viran's fist came crashing down onto the insectoid's head. Another crack rang out as more of the being's skull fractured. The man, however, didn't raise his hand for another strike.

 

His fingers dug down into the creature's exoskeleton and whatever organ or flesh was beneath it. The monstrosity shrieked as green fluid flew down from the holes in its head. Perhaps for the first time in the fight, it felt direct pain. Viran didn't let his grip go, even when the insectoid's one remaining claw dug deeper into his body.

 

It seemed, though, that the man was lacking in strength to pierce any further into the monster's head. What he had done wasn't enough to kill it, evidenced by the beast's increasingly desperate struggle.

 

"Should have just stuck to hunting defenseless slaves, bug."

 

The remaining gleaming Spiritual Energy under his skin flooded towards his arm. The light reached Viran's hand and it started to radiate in a bright glow. The insectoid felt the gathering energy on top of its own head and fought even harder to get itself free. It tried biting and kicking Viran to no avail.

 

Its angry shrieks turned into fearful ones as the monster saw what was about to happen. Nonetheless, Viran remained smiling.

 

The energy in the man’s hand reached a crescendo. Suddenly, something threatened to burst from under his skin, and then came an explosion.

 

Red had to protect his eyes from the light that was released from the explosion. The boy felt some droplets of blood and gore pepper his whole body. It was only after a few seconds had gone by that his vision finally recovered.

 

Viran's remaining hand had disappeared and half of the insectoid's head had gone along with it. The man used his stump to remove the creature's limp claw from his stomach. Its corpse fell lifeless to the floor and the green mist around the room dissipated. The battle was over.

 

"Somehow it worked, huh?" Viran said as he looked at Red, a sly grin in his face.

 

The boy was starting to feel the aftereffects of the drug. His body felt as if he had just undergone an hour-long training session against the old soldier, but he didn't sit down to rest. In Red's chest where the spiritual bolt should have struck, a green light was glowing under his skin. Slowly the brightness of this energy was fading, and the youth felt a painful sensation in a certain area of his spinal vein.

 

"It did..." Red replied. He saw the man's legs tremble. "You-"

 

"Not now." The wounded warrior interrupted him. "Help me sit down."

 

The boy did as he was told. Viran put his arm, or what remained of it, around his shoulder and Red felt a tremendous weight being applied on him as the man struggled to remain standing. Before both of them collapsed to the floor, they arrived near the cave wall and Viran promptly sat down with his back against it.

 

Red took the time to examine all of Viran’s wounds. There was so much blood covering his body that it was hard to tell how many wounds the man had received. The boy frowned.

 

"What are you standing around for?" Viran asked, his voice much weaker than before. "Go look inside of that thing's head, there should be a crystal there."

 

After some skepticism, Red walked over to the insectoid's body. Sure enough, looking at its partially destroyed skull and beneath the bits and pieces of insect meat, he found a crystal lodged inside what looked like the creature's brain. It was of a green color mixed with some vivid streaks of blood-red and the boy had to use his iron knife to cut it out. The gem was a bit smaller than his fist and it looked jagged and rough at the edges, like the minerals the slaves would find down here.

 

Returning to Viran, he showed him the crystal.

 

"Red? That's strange..." The man seemed confused. Pressed for time, however, he had no choice but to throw his suspicions to the back of his head. "That is the equivalent of hundreds and hundreds of moonstones gathered together, kid. It'll make opening your special acupoints much easier... However, this one is a little strange. I would investigate it for you, but clearly, I'm in no condition to do it. If you find anything strange about them, though, do not hesitate to throw it away." Viran then pointed at the ground in front of him with his stump. "Now, sit. We need to talk about some things."

 

Looking at the blood slowly pouring down the warrior's body, Red hesitated. It seemed as if only the man's will was keeping him alive at this point.

 

"Ha, nothing down here can patch this up, kid." The man laughed.

 

"We could ask the guards."

 

"Even if they had the right medicine, the only thing I could use to exchange for it is gone. Besides, even if you went there you probably won't make it back in time..." Viran snorted. He pointed at the ground in front of him again. "Come on, sit down, before..."

 

His voice trailed off. Finally, Red did as he was told.

 

"Good..." The man continued. "You know, if I was aware that all this shit was gonna happen I wouldn't have been so stingy with my lessons to you."

 

"Did you know this was going to happen?" The boy asked, pointed at his slightly glowing chest.

 

When Red was hit by the spiritual bolt he felt an immediate pain, but the blood he had expected to flow from his chest didn’t come. Instead the energy seemed to flow into his body and the youth swore that he felt as if the attack had reinvigorated him instead.

 

"Well, I hoped so, but I wasn't too keen on testing it against a strong creature like that..." He paused, spitting a glob of blood towards the corpse of the monster. "This thing employed the same kind of spiritual energy that is present all over these moonstones. That was how you were able to survive." Viran explained. "Your special acupoints were supposed to diffuse that kind of power, but with only one of them open, I believed..."

 

The man smiled.

 

"Thankfully, either my method is far more effective than I thought or the creature didn't use its full strength with that bolt, or else both of us would be dead."

 

Red was about to enquire about it further, but Viran once more interrupted him.

 

"You must have a lot of questions in your mind, kid. But there are more important things to talk about while we still can." He continued. "You need to leave."

 

"...I haven't even finished opening my second spiritual vein." Red noted.

 

"Heh, don't I know that... But after they learn about what happened here, the guards will probably collapse this entrance for good. No more food or supplies for whatever is left alive down here. And besides, where there is one of those insects, there will probably be more..."

 

Red felt alarmed. The boy thought with the main culprit being eliminated he would be able to stick around the mine and slowly open his spiritual veins until he was ready to escape. However, it seemed this was not the case.

 

"How do I get past the guards?" Red asked. He had minimal contact with the people overseeing the mine entrance, so he wasn't sure how he would go about staying hidden from view.

 

"Get past them?! Haha- ugh..." Viran's laugh was interrupted by a sudden jolt of pain. "...Ha, no kid, you're not getting past them. They have a way of knowing about everything that leaves this place through their position. Besides, even if you were able to kill all of them and leave, you would definitely be hunted afterward. No, the only way to escape is..."

 

Red had a bad feeling about Viran's next words.

 

"Down."

 

...

 

"...I'll die." The boy stated confidently.

 

"You probably will." The man replied. "But it's the only way to go about it."

 

Red felt conflicted, but between one sure way to die and the other, there was not much difference in the end.

 

"How do I do it?" The boy asked.

 

"I have a map." Viran responded. " I managed to explore much deeper than you might think. I found signs of a river tributary..." His words trailed off, and he stared at the youth silently.

 

Red was confused for a second before understanding dawned upon him. He had almost forgotten who he was dealing with.

 

"Even in this situation, you still want to act like a bastard?" The boy asked with his emotionless tone.

 

"Maybe, but then again, you're not the one who's dying." The man smiled. "So?"

 

"What do you want me to do?" Red asked.

 

"Two things. Two wishes of mine, if you can call it that." Viran responded. "The first one is for your own benefit...There's a forest very far away from here, called Autumn's Hearth. A native tribe lives there. Go meet with their chief, his name is Aksvale, and tell him that 'The One Who Burns The Brightest' sends his disciple to collect what is his. It'll be a shame if my trove is forgotten to history and ends up in the hands of some savages. So if you ever make it out of here, make sure to go there as soon as you can, do you understand?"

 

"I do." Red memorized the strange words. Whatever could benefit him in opening his Spiritual Veins and Sea, the boy wouldn't refuse. This, however, didn't seem like the difficult task Red was expecting in exchange for his life.

 

"The next wish of mine..." Viran trailed off.

 

It was then that the atmosphere changed. At that point, the old soldier started to recall something. The smile faded from his face, and an expression of hatred came over him.

 

"The one who hunted me, the one who took everything I had... The one that put me in this state..." His voice threatened to explode as if simply remembering this individual was enough to make him go mad. "If... When you leave this place, I need you to kill him."

 

This time, Red hesitated. He didn't know why, but the weight behind the man's words was extremely heavy. It made it seem like this wish of his would have further ramifications than the boy could reasonably judge right now. However, in his mind, anything was better than rotting in these caves.

 

"...I'll do it."

 

"That's not good enough!" Viran growled. "I need you to promise it."

 

Another moment of silence.

 

"I promise."

 

"Good." The man smiled again. "His name is Bernard, but most people know him as the Silver Knight. Remember that well."

 

Red didn't feel as if he was going to forget that name any time soon.

 

"Now, reach into my side, my knife should still be there."

 

The youth did as he was told. He found the weapon still strapped to the man's belt, covered in blood.

 

"Break the handle." Viran ordered.

 

The boy stared at him, confused.

 

"Do as you're told. Just make sure to be careful."

 

Red picked up his cleaver and delicately cut it into the knife's wooden handle. The poor material gave way very quickly and the youth noticed that it was hollow inside. Carefully splitting apart its remains, he noticed a folded-up paper was hidden within the handle.

 

Opening it up, the boy was surprised as a large detailed map of the cavern system spread in front of his eyes.

 

"You can use that to escape." Viran commented. "It's not complete but it's better than nothing. It's annotated with areas you should avoid and the place you should look for: the stream."

 

"I can't read." Red commented. The layout of the place was familiar, but the words were gibberish to him.

 

"...Just make sure to stay away from the bad-looking symbols." Viran could only begrudgingly state.

 

Nodding, Red folded the map again before storing it in his pouch. Finally, he turned to stare at the soldier, waiting for his next orders.

 

"Then..." The man said. "That's it, you can go."

 

Red didn't move.

 

"Nothing more to do, kid." Viran commented when he saw the boy still hadn't moved. "I told you all you need to know right now. If by some miracle you do manage to make it out of here, then you can learn the rest by yourself..."

 

Red still didn't move.

 

"Want to squeeze me dry of everything I have, kid?" The man laughed. "My hideout is still open. You can go look for stuff there, but you already have my most prized possession, so don't hold your breath."

 

The boy continued to stare at Viran with his completely impassive expression.

 

"Feeling some sympathy, huh?" The old soldier continued. "No need for it, kid. You know, when I embarked on this journey I knew I could die at any moment. However, I would be lying if I said I didn't see myself going out with a bit more of a bang. You know, a memorable battle against my most hated rival with the entire world as a witness... Instead of that, though..."

 

Viran lifted his handless arm.

 

"I get to die in a dark fucking cave as my only grave, wounded by a fucking bug I could have crushed like an ant in the past... And on top of that, I even ended up playing the hero and saving a little brat like you... Ha!"

 

He laughed, before coughing up even more blood.

 

"...How those guys would laugh at me if they knew."

 

Viran laid his head back against the cave wall and closed his eyes, a smile on his face.

 

"Now go! Leave a man to spend his last moments in peace. If you don't end up in some insect's stomach, one day you'll understand how I feel."

 

"...You deserved a better end." Red finally broke his silence.

 

"Hmmm..." Viran hummed in agreement, his eyes still closed. "I guess I can't complain, it's better than what many people get."

 

"...I'll make sure you're not forgotten."

 

"I hope so... A man is only worth as much as his word."

 

Viran stopped talking. His breath started to become heavier and the pool of blood beneath him gradually became bigger. The boy decided to finally grant his wish.

 

Walking into the tunnel, Red didn't look back.