Whew... Alright. Just... Relax. Just keep going according to plan, and everything'll be fine. 

And... I'm sure he'll be fine, too. Everything'll turn out alright.

Whew...

. . .

Oh, we should probably get lunch after this. Yeah, that'll be good. It's about that time, anyways. I think so, at least. I get the feeling my stomach's gonna feel that way in a bit, anyways. 

I wonder how long it's been since S has actually eaten anything real? He has been eating these past few days, right? Sure hope he has.

Well, he seems fine, at any rate, so I would assume that he's been healthy, but he's also crazy, so I wouldn't be all that surprised either way. 

. . .

Man, this place gives me the creeps... I guess this is probably where that one extra golem from that one time came from. I mean, the rest of the ruin was already pretty freaky, don't get me wrong, but this place is all darker and damper and... Creepier, I dunno. The torchlight illuminating all the scattered remains of the golems and crap that were seemingly up and walking a day or so ago certainly doesn't help. How the heck could anyone rest in a place like this?

Freaks and criminals, I guess. And, now that I'm thinking about it, the Master of Darkness ought to be alright with places like this, too. I should take the opportunity to get acclimated to this sort of thing. 

Alright, uh, close eyes, hold chest high and confident, and take a nice, hearty breath, soak everything in.

HhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaACK- 

AHK, Frick... Was, uh... A lot dustier than I thought it was gonna be. Eck. Okay, yeah, not doing that one again. I guess a distinct lack of any reasonable air circulation will do that to a place. Yeah... This place is probably really terrible for combat.

Yet, here we are... Yaaaaay... Ah well, what can you do. 

. . .

Wait, actually, hold on! Thinking about it, you can actually do a lot! Rather, I can actually do a lot. Because I have superpowers. 

Hands! Pockets! Hands! Holes! One way far up in the sky! One in, like, I dunno, my hood or something, sure.

Boom! I am now a walking beacon of fresh air! I AM THE AIR CONDITIONING! HUZZAH!

This is at least moderately more helpful than an average electric fan. Nice. 

This added breeze won't attract any monsters or anything to me, right? Though, I guess you wouldn't sleep rest somewhere if you weren't 100% certain there weren't monsters roaming about, so I'm probably alright no matter what... Still, I think I'd be forgiven for having a little apprehension in this place. 

Especially considering what's about to happen...

. . .

Where the heck am I supposed to go, anyways? So far, I've been fine just going forward, but now the path splits off 2 ways. Both paths look mostly identical, and equally dark and gross... Which way is progress? This isn't one of those 'if you go the wrong way you die' puzzles, right? Dying again so soon would be quite embarrassing, especially if it happens like that. 

Well, there's no markings or anything that would suggest that... Or any markings or discernable purpose in general, really. What the heck was the purpose of this place before it became ruins? Did I already think about that last time I was here? Probably. Still weird, though.

Anyways, left or right, left or right... On one hand, the common mantra in mazes and such is that one should hug the left wall, but if you only go with convention, you're never gonna make any real progress. But by constantly rejecting common thought we risk that same stagnation, or possibly drifting backwards. So, ultimately, uh...

Ah, whatever. I'm just gonna flip a friggin coin. 

Alright, just, uh... Yeah, a gold should do. Okay, how do you flip these, again? They hold it like this in the movies, right? Alright, just balan- Ah, frick. How the heck do you hold it like that?

Oh, whatever. It fell to the left, so I'll go left. What an excellent use of my time. 

With that, I cautiously stepped forward into the left hallway.

Looks like it's just more of the same, so far. Just a hallway with rooms and crap. No death traps yet, at least. That's good. 

Wonder what kinds of things once walked these halls? Just more golems, or were there, like, giant spiders or something? Eek. That'd be gross as heck. Creepy, too.

Almost as creepy as the increasiNGLY LOUDER FOOTSTEPS COMING FROM BEHIND ME FFFF-

I broke the cardinal rule of horror movies and slowly turned around to face whatever the heck was behind me.

Instead of dying instantly, I was greeted by a tough looking figure, bathed in almost sheer darkness, only broken by gentle torchlight, slowly and heavily walking towards me. It was very imposing. I should take notes, this seems like a good thing to practice and imitate. 

Anyways, it stands to reason this is probably the guy I'm supposed to be looking for. Man, I sure hope his hunch was right, or... Well, I guess if it isn't, I can just teleport out. 

As a precaution, I put my hands in my pockets as the thing slowly approached. As imposing as the guy was, they sauntered towards me rather slowly, so I was standing still there for quite some time. It was a little awkward, if I'm being entirely honest. In hindsight, probably could have just walked up to them, save us all some time, but it just didn't feel right in the moment, y'know?  

Eventually, the man came up to me. He was quite a bit taller than me, so he was literally looking down at me. He was the spitting image of 'typical fantasy bandit boss guy', which was a look that complimented his tastefully messy facial hair and scars wonderfully. Beautiful aesthetic, simply excellently built.

"So. I see you've come alone." His voice seemed to boom as it echoed throughout the stone hallways. Ooh. Nice. "Quite brave of you, boy. Or hopelessly foolish. For both of our sakes, I hope it's the first one." 

"Uh... Yep. Uhuh. L-likewise. It sure is a... Something. That I came alone. W-which I definitely did." I stammered out. 

Their tasteful yet mild villainous smile shifted into a look of equally mild confusion.

"A-anyways." I continued. "I, uh..."

"Why have you come here, boy?"

"I, uh, that's... Y'know what, hold on."

. . .

I took a moment to reassert myself in reality.

"S-sorry, it's been an eventful day." I said.

"Right..." 

"Anyways, I'm uh... H-here to fight you, I-I think."

The man smiled lightly once more. "I figured as much. In that case, if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll damn well get."

"R-really? Just like that?" 

"What? Have I called your bluff, perhaps?"

"That's irrelevant. Some random stranger kid walks into your camp says 'I wanna fight you' and you just... Agree to fair combat?" 

The man chuckled. "Well, let's just say... You're not exactly a stranger, boy." 

"Oh. I-I see." Ah. Well, that's certainly unnerving. What, did the one did with all the knives talk? Is he buddies with this guy? Certainly matches the aesthetic... Y'know, I probably should've seen that coming, actually. How much would that guy know, anyways? From the look in his eyes, I don't know if he was really taking in much of what was happening in front of him.

"At any rate... I'm dearly looking forward to this, boy." His mild smile went to a full on devious grin.

"Oh. C-cool."

"But we won't fight here. Follow my lead, boy. Let's make this one fun." 

Eh! You never like to hear that!

As much as I'd like to just peace out of this crap, go eat cake or something... I gotta follow this through at least a little longer. 

In a bit, though, I'm gonna gorge myself on some sweets. Oh, and I should probably make sure to grab Sis as well. Almost slipped my mind, honestly. Good catch, me. 

Thus, I followed him back down the stoney halls, towards the main fork in the road I encounter earlie...r...

W... What's...

Suddenly, everything-

. . .

z-

"Achoo!"

"Bless you."

"Uh, r-right."

Man, that was the weirdest sneeze I've ever experienced. Anyways, I followed the guy down the hallway as my heart raced. Partially with excitement about the sweets I'm abouta munch on, and partially (mostly) out of fear, because this guy's quite freaky.