Sometimes pain was a good thing.

It meant I was alive.

But that didn’t mean I wanted to endure so much of it at once.

How long has it been since I had hurt like this? Nory’s capture? That day in the church…?

Yes. Maybe. Was this worse? It felt like it was, but something told me it wasn’t… and…

I coughed, and I knew I blinked but it didn’t change anything. The world was dark… and I wasn’t in the mood to try and focus my eyes as to see anything. Right now all I wanted to do was pass out, but I knew I couldn’t. Wouldn’t.

“Stupid,” I groaned at myself as I shifted my left leg. It was fine… but my right wasn’t. It hurt, and it hurt to try and move it especially. Broken, but how badly? I didn’t want to find out. The idea of sitting up and seeing it gone completely scared me… it felt like it was, after all. I could feel my toes on my right foot move, since it sent waves of pain up my leg… but it still felt as if my whole leg was missing past my knee.

My arms hurt too. Especially my forearms, but I could feel the wet stone with my fingers. My hands kept twitching, as if to make balled fists… likely thanks to the pain. So I knew my arms were… somewhat fine…

And although it hurt to breathe, at least I could. I kept coughing, but my mouth wasn’t full of blood nor was it hard to breathe. It just hurt...

Turning my head, I tried to look to my right. I flinched at the feeling of warm wetness against my cheek and head, and hoped it was just water and sewage… but I knew it wasn’t. It was blood. Likely from the throbbing from in-between my ears.

The fall had been quick, but the damage definitely wouldn’t heal quickly.

If I was able to heal at all…

They hadn’t tossed me down this hole just to kill me, after all.

Blinking blurry eyes, I focused my eyes and noticed a wall. It was glistening from wetness. And it was… a little too far away. Did it look like it was that far because I was hurting? The hole I had been tossed in had been large, but got smaller as I fell down it. Near the end I had hit the side of the hole, and skidded along the wall near the end…

Likely one of the reasons I was still alive. It had slowed my fall to a degree and…

Turning my head the other way I coughed again, and flinched at the pain it brought. Once I was done coughing, and blinked some tears out of my eyes that the coughing had caused… I tried to see the wall on the other side of the room. To try and judge how big of a room I had fallen into.

I couldn’t see the other wall. Hopefully that was just because of the pain.

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and resisted the urge to curl up in a ball and cry.

I needed to get up. I needed to get out of here.

There was no way to know just how deep beneath Lumen I was, but reality was as real as the pain I was enduring. I wasn’t going to be saved. No one was going to be able to find me in time.

So I needed to save myself… somehow…

Could I though?

Gritting my teeth I went to try and sit up. At first I thought it impossible, but before I knew it I was sitting upward… even though it was so painful I barely registered how long it had taken me to do so.

My tail was beneath me, stuck under my rear and left thigh… and it hurt horribly, but even though it hurt I wasn’t able to gather myself enough as to free it. At least it was still in one piece, it seemed. That freak up there had wanted it. Thankfully the one who had tossed me down here had been the type to focus a little too much on their task…

I shivered, and realized I was cold. Freezing even, maybe.

Likely not just because it was cold. How much blood had I lost…?

Reaching up, I tepidly touched the top of my head. With just my fingertips I tapped the spot between my ears, nearly the center of my head.

It was soaked. And I could feel the gash.

Great. Just great.

Ignoring the blood on my fingers now, I glanced at the rest of my body. What little I could see in the dark told me I was banged up, but didn’t look anywhere near as bad as I felt. My fingers were all still there, and not bent oddly. My arms felt broken, but didn’t really look it either. Same with my legs. My right leg was definitely still there, and was even moving when I tried to do so.

Licking my teeth, since they felt odd as if thicker than normal, I wondered if the injury on my head was making the rest of my body feel worse than it were.

“Come on Rennalee,” I chastised myself.

Putting my left hand down on the ground, to use as support as to stand… I flinched when the sharp pain ran up my arm and under my armpit.

The pain stopped me from standing… and I groaned.

Yea. Definitely broken.

But that didn’t matter. I had to ignore it. I had to endeavor through it.

Using both arms this time, I was thankful to feel nowhere near the amount of pain in my right arm as my left. It let me put more weight on it, which let me sluggishly get to my knees and…

Right as I was about to fully stand, something loud landed nearby.

My heart thumped up into my throat as I shot to my feet, startled by the sudden outburst of sound. Although my head and groans had been noisy, the rest of the world around me hadn’t been. It had been eerily quiet in fact…

Yet…

On unsteady feet, I tried to focus in the direction of the sound. It had definitely sounded as if something landed nearby… I had heard the sound of something hitting the ground, and then bouncing. I had heard the sound of water and puddles splashing, too and…

There. Something was definitely nearby. Like a bundle of…

“No…” A tiny groan of pain came from the dark blotch of feathers, and I nearly fell down as I hurried to Fly.

“Fly!” I fell to my knees as I reached her, and worriedly wondered where to grab. In the dark, with half closed eyes from pain, she looked like a giant ball of feathers… Where was her head? Actually, where were her legs and arms and…

“No!” Fly shouted and a head suddenly appeared, as did a hand. A hand that shot out, to hit me in the chest as to keep me away.

Her hand connected, but I barely noticed it. All her push accomplished was to push her own self back a bit, causing her to skid along the ground and…

Studying Fly who was sobbing, likely from the pain, I noticed something rather odd in the moment.

She was naked.

Or at least, as naked as one could be when covered in feathers.

“Fly, it’s me. Renn,” I said quickly, as I understood she probably couldn’t really see me. It was dark enough I barely could see, so there was a chance she couldn’t see anything at all.

Fly startled, and in the dark I saw her shiny eyes go wide as she hurriedly sat up. How had she not gotten more hurt falling down here? It was hard to tell, thanks to the darkness and her feathers but she looked relatively unhurt.

“Wait! Fly!” I startled upon realizing something very important. More important even than her being naked.

“Huh!” she startled too as I drew closer to her and reached out to grab her. I grabbed her where I thought were her arms, but turned out I grabbed her shoulders. “Why are you here!?” I shouted at her.

She should be at the Society! Safe! And!

“I’m sorry!” she shouted back.

I flinched as she leaned forward, to grab me, and since I was holding her she applied what felt like a lot of pressure on my arms. It hurt.

“I’m sorry! Renn!” Fly sobbed as she wrapped her arms around my waist, and went to sobbing. She was oddly wet, likely thanks to her feathers, but she felt warm. Almost too warm. I knew it wasn’t that she was hot, but that I was too cold.

“Fly…” I groaned as I stared down at the feathers that shook in my arms.

“This is all my fault…!” Fly cried.

No. It wasn’t.

“Did they toss you down here too?” I asked her.

She either ignored me or didn’t even hear me as she squeezed me tighter, crying harder.

Great.

Taking a deep breath, I was about to let out a long sigh. One of both relief and…

My back went straight, and my ears turned. Just enough… to my left.

Slowly, I tried to force my eyes to follow the path of my ears. They begrudgingly did so… and I felt a shiver start to erupt from within me.

What is that?

My mouth became dry, and it made my tongue feel odd. As if itchy. My eyes tried to scan the darkness, as I did everything I could to hear past Fly’s sobbing and the ruffling of her feathers to hear for what I knew was out in that darkness.

I could smell it. How could I not? How had I not smelled it earlier? The stench was so strong, not even the sewage could be smelled anymore.

It was a thick smell. One that hung in the air. One that made me nauseous, yet alert.

“Fly…” I groaned a warning word, and with an unsteady and shaky hand I tried to get her to stop. To quiet down. To pay attention.

There was no point in trying to go silent and hide. Whatever it was knew we were here. We had made too much noise. Our smells too foreign.

And…

“I’m sorry, Renn. We’re going to die, and it’s all my fault,” Fly cried softly.

“Fly…!” I squinted at the darkness. Something moved. Something… big… Had I actually seen something near the ceiling move, or had that just been my eyes playing tricks on me?

Please have been my pain. Please…

“We’re going to be eaten,” Fly groaned as she squeezed me tighter.

I shifted on my knee, and tried to stand up. Between the pain, and Fly clinging to me, it was impossible.

“The Dinner Table,” I whispered as I understood clearly.

She nodded, burying her face into me even more. “The Master’s Pit.”

Yes. That was this smell. The smell of one of our kind. Someone beyond reason.

It was similar in smell to my grandmother. A smell that didn’t exist anymore. A smell that had nothing to compare it to. No animal, no plant, no place… nothing could replicate it. Nothing could match it.

Fly had said I smelled like this? How? In what way? This was the smell of something worse than death.

Yet…

I felt as if this supposed master was just out of sight. In the darkness. I could smell them. And… maybe see them. If those shadows moving were them.

Yet they hadn’t attacked us just yet. Maybe they were waiting. To see what we’d do. To see if anymore would be thrown into the pit alongside us.

Squeezing Fly’s shoulders, I pulled her upward. To make her stand up with me. She fumbled, but got the point. She stood up easier than I did, and seemed to somehow know I was struggling. She kept her arms wrapped around me, and even helped steady me as I got to my feet.

“Why’d they throw you down here too, Fly?” I asked her quietly. I knew there was no point in trying to be quiet, yet I couldn’t seem to gather more volume to my voice. As if instinctively I knew not to speak loudly.

“Because I said I was leaving. Since I came back to get you. I betrayed them,” she whispered.

A new reason for my eyes to water came into existence, and I wrapped my arms around the young feathered girl. Hopefully I didn’t hurt her as I felt her feathers shift and move under my arms.

“Welcome, Fly,” I whispered to her.

Fly’s hug tightened back, and she let out a tiny sob again.

Before I could say anything more, we both jumped as something odd made noise other than us.

The sound of wood clattered nearby… and then something heavy fell with a thump. I flinched at the sight of a body as it actually bounced upward a little, then rolled a few feet away.

Staring at into the dark at the body that had fallen, I panicked for a moment as I tried to figure out who it was.

Had they thrown someone else down here too? Someone I knew? It looked… thin… but whoever it was, was tall, and… The stuff that landed before the body and around it… Something made of wood? Pieces of a chair maybe? Or…

“Aunt…” Fly whispered, and I realized she was right.

Those were her antlers scattered around. Broken... yet not from the fall? How was that possible? Had she hit the side of the hole or something?

Why had she fallen in anyway? Hadn’t she been some kind of a boss?

Aunt let out a tiny groan of pain. One I was oddly familiar with, but wasn’t sentimental for her at all.

“Why’d she get…?” Fly whispered the same question I had, but went quiet when someone else fell. Behind us. We turned, and I half expected it to not be another body but the master.

This man fell with a loud, and wet, thump. He didn’t roll as Aunt had, and instead went completely quiet upon his landing. Not a single noise came from him. Was that a tail bundled under his body? It looked as thick as his waist.

“Who is that?” I asked Fly.

“Bo’. He’s… strong,” Fly sounded shocked to see him.

Then something else landed.

Just as loudly. Just as heavy… yet without a drop of blood, or crunch of bone.

Turning to the new body, I wondered if maybe I should pull Fly away from this area. If someone fell on us it’d do more than just hurt, especially with how frail she was and…

But this body wasn’t broken. Nor someone I didn’t recognize.

“Vim…?” I barely whispered his name as I watched Vim stand up from his crouch, and hurriedly turn to look at me.

“Renn…” Vim’s face contorted in worry upon seeing me, which told me that I probably looked as bad as I felt.

“Vim?” Fly’s arms around me squeezed tighter, and I couldn’t help but smile at him as he hurried over to us.

“Look at the two of you…” Vim spoke calmly as he walked over to us, but had a rather upset face… as if he was angry at us, but I knew that wasn’t the case. He was simply worried.

I heaved a small sigh of relief as Vim reached out and grabbed me by the shoulder. His steady hand kept me from collapsing as he looked me and Fly up and down. “Are you okay Fly?” Vim asked the young girl. She began to tremble as she nodded, still in my arms and I hers.

After patting Fly on the head, Vim returned his attention to me. “I know how you look. How do you feel?” he asked me.

“Probably worse than I look,” I said honestly.

He nodded.

Blinking relieved tears, I wondered what to say. It was a good thing I was holding Fly, else I’d probably have collapsed in relief. Not that Vim would think less of me if I did, of course, but…

“Did the fall hurt you, Fly?” Vim asked her.

She shook her head and sniffed loudly. It echoed. “I floated down mostly,” she said.

“Floated…? You can fly, Fly?” I asked.

Fly shook her head again. It felt odd, thanks to all the feathers… as if she had a lot of really thick hair all over her. “No?”

“Well we…” Vim started to say something, but then went quiet… and still.

I blinked as I stared at the face of a man who just changed.

Vim was staring past me now. Over my head. Between my ears. If not for the look of defiance and the cold eyes, I’d think he was studying my head wound.

But I knew what he was actually studying.

Unlike me, he could see it.

“Vim…” I whispered the name of the Protector as his hand on my shoulder squeezed me a little.

Before he could say anything, a deep and heart stopping growl filled the air.

Fly yelped, nearly pushing me over as she pushed her head into my stomach as to hide herself. She began to shake and tremble fiercely, as the world shook. The very air seemed to thunder and become heavy, as the growl grew louder and louder.

Vim kept a steady hand on my shoulder, and his other grabbed my forearm. Where I was holding Fly closely, as to steady her, and he kept us both on our feet.

I turned, and flinched as the growl deepened even more. The impossibly loud sound started shifting thanks to the one it was emitting from had begun to move.

The darkness beyond wobbled oddly, and my eyes quickly adjusted to realize why. The thing wasn’t just massive, it had scales. Dark scales that blended it into the darkness.

At first, my memories of that large snake came and went. The one that had hunted my family. This thing before me was slithering like it. It was huge like it…

Yet this was no snake. It had a body. A huge one, that loomed upward and…

Looking left and right, my stomach turned and knotted painfully as I realized how big the thing was. Like a snake coiled around itself, it encompassed the whole room. Yet before us, looming high enough to hit the ceiling was a giant body. One that had a huge…

I nearly wept at the sight of all the teeth. Each nearly as big as Fly, some as big as the man I stepped back and up against for support. Large black orbs began to glisten as they stared at us, hovering above the massive mouth of teeth. There were dozens of them and…

With my back against Vim, I held Fly closely as she and I stared up at a monster. One nearly as big as a building.

The teeth opened, and I heard them scrape against each other as it released another low growl… as if in greeting.

A greeting that required no words to be understood.

One of hunger.

Of death.

“Master Monarch…!” Fly cried out, greeting it back.