“We’re near the entrance to floor level 2, Air, do you have the Blue fire torch?”

 

“Yeah, it’s here.”

 

I watched him, a bit excited to finally see one in action. A blue fire torch was special because, unlike normal torches, they burned manna from the air… I would call that magic, but I guess it was legal for one reason or another… ‘Maybe it’s not all that magical?’

 

He lit the torch by striking it against the cave wall and everything around us lit up with a faint glow. It felt less like a torch light, and more like the moon was lighting my path.  “Nope… It’s definitely magic…” I accidentally said out loud.

 

Airsidh shrugged. “It's not magic… it's just like normal fire, but special.”

 

“So… Magic fire…”

 

He tapped the torch against the wall. “I mean yeah, but don’t call it that.”

 

I just shook my head. It was starting to feel like the only thing people actually cared about was whether I was strong, everything else was just a guideline.

 

“Here it is, floor two.” My father pointed at a large stone staircase before continuing down.

 

“Is the first floor really that small?”

 

Airsidh answered for me, both of us knowing my father certainly wouldn’t “Well no, we probably didn't even cover 1 percent of the level, but the staircases are all close to each other, if not connected entirely, it's convenient because it means you can get to the lower levels easier if you are more experienced and don't want to bother with the upper ones.”

“I see.”

 

“That's not all dungeons though, sometimes you do have to clear the entire floor before progressing.”

 

“They're not all the same?”

 

“It would be weirder if they were–”

 

“Up ahead. Skeletons.” Everyone's voices quieted again as my father raised his hand, stopping us in our tracks at the bottom of the staircase.

 

“If you listen closely you can hear their bones rattle while they walk. Siya, same thing. I'll stay closer to you this time, but I want you to try and defeat them alone. There are only two of them so you should be fine.

 

“OK just give me a second.”

“Don't give time for fear to set in, your enemy is in front of you, attack!” He yelled, grabbing me by the collar and yanking me out in front. I had planned to use my status screen to compare myself to the skeletons to see how strong they actually were, but it took time for me to do that… Thrust into combat I had no choice but to think fast… Or at least cheat a little bit.

 

I froze time. I still couldn’t use both skills at once, so I couldn’t look at their stats or anything, but I was taught not to get too caught up in the numbers anyway. Even without them, I could still analyze my opponents, at least to some extent. One of them had a bow, the other a club. The one with a club was alerted by my father's yell and already walking towards me, while the one with the bow began drawing back its string.

 

Weak or not if I got shot by an arrow I knew that it would hurt. Even if my armor blocked it, the skeleton's bow was no joke.

 

‘Ok, so if I put myself between them I should be pretty safe, and after I take down the fighter I can rush the back line, or just counter with my own bow. Simple enough.’

 

It wasn’t perfect, but it was better than nothing. All I could do was work with what I had. I figured out where I needed to place my feet to catch my balance, and we began.

 

“Watch the archer!” My father yelled from behind.

 

I dodged the first swing of the club and quickly looked over to see the bow pointed straight at me. Only then realizing I had already screwed up the plan by stepping too wide.

 

A sharp sting grazed my bare shoulder and snapped against the wall behind me. ‘I need to stay between them, stick to the plan. I can’t move too recklessly like that… I’ll face it head-on.’

 

I turned my focus back toward the one in front of me, slicing its arm off as I blocked another swing from its club. Suddenly,  a sharp impact hit me right in the chest, knocking the wind clean out of my lungs. ‘What…’

 

As I gasped for air I thrust my dagger between the skeleton's ribs to shatter its crystal, only to notice an arrow settling between its bones. ‘It shot between the bones?’ I raised my eyes back to the archer, staring at it through the same gaps it had shot through before the bones between us quickly crumbled to dust.

 

Luckily, my armor held up, so the arrow just bounced off, but I was still struggling to recover from the impact.

 

“SIYA! Keep your head on!” My father yelled as the third skeleton broke free from the cave wall, its club crashing down on my shoulder, causing me to drop my sword as my whole arm went numb… ‘Come on… He was wrong about the number again! Knowing things like this would have been nice!’

 

I froze time again, quickly analyzing my surroundings. ‘So much for helping me out… I can’t believe my perception is so rusty, I’m not analyzing things properly or thinking broadly enough, and I’m not even able to keep track of more than one enemy at a time right now…’

 

My arm quickly recovered, and without my sword, I had a free hand. Putting it to use, I grabbed the skeleton's head and moved it between me and the next arrow, its skull fracturing from the impact. At the same time the old bow the archer was using snapped to splinters under the tension.

 

‘That’s one less thing to worry about.’ As soon as the arrow stuck into the skull I twisted and jammed my knife into the skeleton’s core. ‘With two dead and the last one missing its weapon, this fight’s basically over.’ At least, that was what I thought. Two more skeletons broke free from the wall further down though, and I started to feel like I was jinxing myself. This time they had swords…

 

The archer without a bow pointed at me, not moving an inch as its jaw rattled, giving commands to the other two to charge. ‘Their faster…’ I took a step back. “I thought you said you were going to help!” 

 

“You’re fine!” My father yelled from across the chamber.

 

I whipped out my bow and somehow managed to take out both of them, but the archer's cry only woke another two from the walls.

 

“WHAT ABOUT THIS LOOKS FINE!” My whole body flinched as they blocked my arrows with their swords.

 

“You’re overreacting, just harden your skin!”

 

I could feel my heart race as I grabbed my sword and backpedaled, the weapons they had were old and rusted, probably dull, but if they were faster I knew they were probably stronger too and it was starting to make me nervous. If they only got stronger, then to what end, how fast would they be on floor 3, much less floor 33?

 

“Only two of them…” I grumbled, snapping my bow back to my scabbard and quickly scanning each one as my mind finally began to open up and see the whole picture, if only slightly. It still wasn’t anything like how I remembered it, but the same familiar rush of adrenaline, the good kind that brought a smile to my face. I could see a plan, a way to win.