Ashes of the Fallen

And at that moment, I almost kissed Katherine.

She had woken up and turned her eyes up towards mine, with lips slightly apart, while breathing lightly on my neck. Those tri-colored eyes of hers, with an inner deep green ring blended with an outer light blue ring, split across by a soft dark gray that spread out with a light splatter… they were captivating.

A mixture of colors that a description couldn't do justice, green and blue from a distance, yet with the intermixed grays up close… a spectacular arrangement of color.

When Katherine wanted to be seductive… well, no one held a candle to her.

Even with Selene asleep under my left arm, I wanted Katherine.

That was wrong.

Quickly kissing Kate on the forehead to dispel my thoughts, I then hugged her tightly and turned to stare at the sun directly above. It was partially blocked by the canopy of the trees, but it gave me something else to look at.

Kate buried her head into my chest, possibly blushing or potentially harboring her own desires. I didn't know which it was nor did I dare to check. She was far too tempting, and that was a risky proposition.

I needed to get up, before the situation devolved any further.

Nudging Selene awake was my first step. I then slowly stood up as the girls got back to their feet and gathered their belongings, none the wiser to my internal plight.

"Ah, now that we're rested," I started to explain, while not risking making eye contact with either female. "Shall we give that dungeon a go? Revenge for their sneak attack last night, and to instill a little fear into those mutated things?"

Nothing quite like a dungeon grind to distract one's inner thoughts.

"No?" I asked, while looking at the girls that were standing idly by.

They seemed bothered by the previous night's events, and stayed silent.

"Alright, we're going in," I declared with some conviction. "You two stay behind me, as long as I'm in front and we're fighting in narrow rooms, you two will be safe."

"Do you mean to fight, those things?" asked Katherine with a slight frown.

"They're weak, I'll show you," I stated, hoping to convince them with little effort.

Selene had yet to say anything, which was unusual for her as she often interrupted to throw out some witty or sarcastic line of some sort. Her silence, was uncharacteristic of her. She must be afraid of failing again… I, could understand that.

As someone who fails far too often, I understood where she was coming from.

Because of that, I also knew that the best remedy was to move forward.

"I trust you Sir Sigurd but… it was, dangerous, last time," Kate uttered hesitantly.

"They caught us by surprise with no visibility, it won't be difficult this time."

No longer wanting to discuss the same topic over and over, I grabbed Kate's arm and wrapped my other arm around Selene's waist as I dragged them both with me. Selene was in a poor mood, but we would fix that with some confidence-boosting action in this Open Dungeon.

Stepping through the cave entrance, there was no portal here that separated the two worlds like the Static Dungeon where the Outcast Goblins were located. That was an "instanced" dungeon, something that never changed and was always there, simply requiring a reset related to a timer. These Open Dungeons, were free and randomly populated by the creatures that existed within the game.

After clearing an Open Dungeon, there was no telling what would show up next.

It very well could repopulate with the exact same creatures, but that wasn't a guarantee. Also, as far as the information from the Alpha and Beta phases of the game went, it could take a few days for an Open Dungeon to fill up compared to the one-hour hard reset after all players had left a Static Dungeon.

The first thing I noticed when stepping into the cave, was the smell.

It didn't smell like puke and urine… though, it still smelled like urine.

Rat piss, is what it reminded me of.

"Eh, wonderful," I muttered, as I flared my nostrils and blew out a puff of air somewhat noisily. "You girls brought your scarfs right? I suggest wearing them now."

They must have been marking their territory, with how odorous it was.

The cave system was quite different thankfully, as it appeared to have small cracks and open spots in the ceiling that allowed sunlight to directly shine through. It wasn't much really, and it didn't have the same ambiance as a bunch of scattered torches, but it was nice in its own little way.

My shadow stayed put behind me, rather than leaving me to dance awkwardly along the domed ceiling like the previous dungeon. There was a fresh breeze as well, that carried cooler air through the cave and aided in drying the place out. The cave, so far at least, was far from damp and dank.

All pluses, in my mind.