Chapter 5

TW: Inaccurate Veganism 

When Fenton came into the tent, he started towards me with a very serious look in his eyes. 

“Oh sweetie, do you need a hug?" I held out my arms and was met with a punch to the gut. 

It wasn't a particularly hard punch, but it was uncomfortable, so naturally I fell to the ground and rolled around in pain. 

“Stop it, stop it!" Fenton’s foot met my back over and over as he kicked away his frustrations. 

I rolled around, playing the victim, until I couldn't help laughing.

“Honestly, how did I get mixed up with you…” he muttered and walked over to the various wardrobes and trunks to see what was inside.

"It's alright, sweetie. You even said you recognized the guild, and we got a decent amount of gold! It will all be fine.”

"Stop calling me sweetie! And I didn't think they would say yes to thirty gold a day!" He threw his arms out at his sides. “Their guild is well known. Known for being extra skilled and dangerous to mess with. I don't know about you, but I'm not that skilled. I've only leveled up to ten. I should have put more into Constitution, but I wanted to be a rogue." He flopped on the floor and laid down staring at the tent ceiling.

I was not good at consoling people, but I got the feeling I needed to do that now. I walked over to him and laid down next to him. 

“It will be ok," I said smiling.

“How do you know? How do you have such blind faith that it will all turn out okay?" His voice was starting to crack. 

Looking at his profile, I could tell he was tired. Not just physically tired from the events of the last few hours, but from the months of being trapped in-game. The months of uncertainty. The months of fear.

"I know it's hard to believe, but I know it will be okay. You just have to believe it too. Go with the flow and let your instincts carry you." I sounded pretty confident there.

He turned to look at me. Fenton’s eyes stared hard into mine. His lip stopped quivering and he said, "you're an idiot.”

From the doorway we heard a noise. It was Kendrick with a tray of food. "I didn't know what you both like, so I grabbed a few things. You can always get more…” he stopped after seeing us laying on the floor, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I'll just leave this here and I'll be sure to knock next time!” He quickly laid the tray down on a small table and left quickly. 

“No, no wait!" Fenton started after him, but I pulled him down. 

“Don't correct him, you're the one who leaned into the romance angle anyway." I was never going to let him forget this.

He grumbled, got up, and started going through the item storage again.

While he did that I went over to the food and started stuffing my face.

"What level are your robes? I can look for something the next level up. Or do you want clothes that actually match your class?” He was flipping through the list, selecting a few things here and there.

"Ah, well…mine are fine. I don't need to change them out,” I said in-between bites of some type of meat.

"What do you mean? They are giving us free loot. Take advantage of it while you can. Plus, then people will stop calling you a mage. What is your class anyway?”

This is what I was afraid of. I didn't know how to explain what my class was without lying. I had thought about it countless times. The best strategy I could think of was fairly simple.

"It’s what you think it is,” I said as I took another bite of food.

"So a rogue then, like me? I guess that makes sense. You should really change your outfit though. I've never seen robes like those. You could probably sell them for quite a bit, and just wear rogue armor.”

"I could, but I'm good. I don’t wear animal products- I'm vegan. Thanks, though! Do you want some of this food?" I asked in-between bites of something that reminded me of bacon.

“I don't think you know what that means...but yes. Save me some of the meat…since that's all you're eating."

After filling our bags and our stomachs we exited the tent. Kendrick was waiting outside. 

"Are you two ready? For today we are just going to check if the path has changed. Then you can rest while we decide on our next move.” 

"That's fine, we are ready to start when you are,” Fenton said as he grabbed my arm and dragged me along. 

I wasn't sure this was necessary for acting like a guild, but I was fine rolling with it. 

"Now, let's say that we go in there and the path is the same. What will we do?” I asked. It was always better to be prepared if we could.

"Most likely, it will be different. We will use rope to find the exit again, but we will go as far in as we can,” Kendrick explained while pulling out said rope. 

He tied it around both our waists. The other end was attached to a giant reel that reminded me of a spool of thread. 

"Are we going alone, or…?” I trailed off with one eyebrow raised. I didn't need to finish that sentence for them to get what I meant.

"No, I'll be going with you, along with a few other soldiers,” He explained while preparing his own rope. 

Fenton took a deep breath next to me. I put my hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him, but he brushed me off with a pretty ugly look on his face.

“Alright! We are all set! Let's enter through the same crevice you both came out of." 

“Sounds good…though I really didn't think we would be going BACK in there the same day we left. I started walking towards the rock face and climbed up the ladder. 

At the top, I waited and helped Fenton to his feet and made sure to continue to hold his hand. "Gotta keep up appearances, right?” I said with a smile.

This really was more than just an act for me. I wasn't entirely sure, but the odds of both of us sneaking past a DRAGON without it noticing us was probably one hundred to one. I haven't tested it out yet, but I think my luck can rub off on others. 

Fenton did not seem enthusiastic about this though and made a face that showed his displeasure. 

Giving a sigh, Fenton said, “Fine. But you hold the torch. We aren't going in the dark this time.” 

He pulled a torch out of his bag and it instantly lit on fire. The fire wasn't hot or overly bright. The strange light seemed to illuminate the space around us rather than just around the torch itself. 

"Oh, neato!” I played around with the torch a bit while we walked into the cave.

"Tell me this isn't your first time seeing one of these?” Fenton asked with a sneer.

"Ok, I won't say anything,” I smiled back.

"Ha! Ok, remind me to go over some other magical items with you later. They are pretty convenient," he said enthusiastically.

“You two are so cute together!" Kendrick squealed. “How long have you been traveling together?" 

We both looked at each other, and I tried to indicate that I should not be the one to say anything. 

“Oh, it's hard to keep track of time when you're walking around. It feels like years, ya know?” Fenton and I both gave awkward laughs.

“Oh. My. Gosh! So you both knew each other in real life too! That's so lucky! I honestly think I'm doing better than most because I have my older brother with me too. If I didn't know anyone when this whole thing started I would be a mess. Luckily that wasn't the case though! Jacob also has a pretty strong presence and some military training so he was able to pretty quickly put together our guild and help guide us to be productive. Can you imagine what it would be like if no one had a guild and everyone was just running around doing whatever they wanted?" 

Oh, he was a talker. No, this would not do.

"Hey Kendrick? We should probably be quiet. The dragon wasn't very deep in the mountain when we went through this a few hours ago.” I said gently.

"Oh, yes. We can always talk later.”

Fenton leaned his head towards me and whispered in my ear. "Way to not deny it. Now we have to pretend we knew each other before!”

I had not thought about that. I'm sure it will be fine.

We walked down the pathway, but, just like we had thought, there really weren't any landmarks to go off of. It was so dark before, and now everything just looked like rocks.

It wasn't until we started to approach a large cavern that we started to hear it. 

At first, it just sounded like a gentle breeze moving through the cave. The rhythmic pattern identified the breeze's source. 

Breathing.

From the entrance of the cavern we could finally make out the giant beast we had snuck past earlier. 

Before our eyes was a dragon. 

A big dragon.

A-how-did-we-walk-past-this-thing dragon.

A-it's-filling-the-entire-cavern dragon.

I don't know exactly how big this thing is, and I don't really want to know. We helped them find it, now we get to leave, right?

Fenton squeezed my hand and took a step back. There is very clear fear in his eyes. I think we have the same idea.

I looked over at Kendrick and he and his soldiers all had the same look on their faces. Mouths open, fear in their eyes, legs shaking, and ready to bolt back down the tunnel. I got the feeling that this group of soldiers was not anticipating finding the dragon today. 

Looking back at the beast, I tried to see if I could spot the artifact. Maybe he was hoarding treasure, or was sitting on it like an egg. I couldn't see anything from where I was though. 

I took a deep breath. I squeezed Fenton's hand and let go, trying to step into the cavern. He instantly grabbed my hand back and started shaking his head. 

“No!" He whispered. 

I leaned over to speak in his ear. “Just really quick. I'm going to see if I can find the artifact." 

I stepped away and Fenton pulled me back, “No, let them do it!" Pointing at the soldiers.

We looked over at them, and there were noticeably less of them in the tunnel. Only Kendrick and one other soldier remained when there had been ten people originally. 

From behind us we heard a low growl. 

Turning around slowly, we saw the dragon had woken up, and it seemed a little annoyed.