Fallen Fate Online

"We won! Unbelievable!" The knights exclaimed with joyful smiles as some of them even jumped up, unable to contain their emotions.

Aron and Roland were more relaxed, but they had slight grins as well. They had to restrain their emotions in front of the younger ones, though perhaps they were even more excited than they were.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! Zayne, this is incredible! I knew Fate turned his Sight on you for a reason!" Harald spoke with a wide smirk walking toward Zayne.

"Well, I'm definitely grateful to Fate, its power has helped us all, but I was able to win now thanks to someone else, someone who gave me the most important advice." Zayne glanced at Harald with a relaxed expression.

"Hmm? What advice?" Harald tilted his head in confusion.

Zayne waited for a moment before he said, "Words won't solve the problem, but action will. It can also help you deal with your inner fears."

"Hah, I can't say I completely agree with that, but that advice certainly works for you. I saw your fight, but I didn't expect you to be so cold-blooded." Harald smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Zayne shrugged, "Well, maybe you're right, but I think it's because I'm not as scared of death as you are. I'm a Traveler, you know."

Harald frowned, "Zayne, you don't seem to know much not only about this world but about yourself."

"Hmm? Did I say something wrong?" Zayne raised an eyebrow as he didn't understand what caused Harald to have such a reaction.

"Agh... Well, maybe you were too busy to figure it out." Harald sighed shaking his head, "As far as I know all Travelers get a serious punishment if they die. They get resurrected, that's definitely a good thing, but they say the penalty is appropriate. What's more, no one but old men dies painlessly."

Zayne shuddered as he imagined for a moment what would have happened to him if Hobgoblin's jaw had closed on him. The Black Wolf's bite was very painful for him, but it would be something on a whole other level.

"Well in that case I hope I die as little as possible. I'll do my best to make it happen as late as possible." Zayne replied with a slight smile.

Harald nodded silently and headed toward Amelia. She did not participate in the battle, but she helped the wounded knights by healing their scratches or bruises.

After a while, everyone calmed down as one of the knights approached Roland, "Commander, have we completed the mission?"

Roland turned to him, about to answer confidently, but suddenly he stopped and looked up. Through the hole in the hut, he could see a blue sky with slowly floating clouds as well as an amber eye covered in red flames, which could only mean one thing - Chaos Hearth had not yet been defeated.

"But... why?" Roland muttered with a confused look as the others noticed it too and a shiver ran through their bodies.

"Hey... Maybe there's a common goblin hiding somewhere? We just have to find him!" One of the knights suggested slamming his fist against his palm with a confident smirk.

"Young man, you are too inexperienced." Aron calmly said walking past the knight while holding his hands behind his back, "These goblins came from the power of Chaos, so they are fierce and ferocious. There is no way any of them are afraid to attack us, well to them we are the ones who have invaded their home."

"What...? Then what's going on here?" The knight frowned as he was puzzled.

Aron was silent, he took a deep breath and stopped a few feet away from the dead Hobgoblin, "It just means that the goblin village is not a real threat."

Aron bent down and brushed the dust off the ground as well as the metallic sheen of something round as if from a massive ring showed from beneath the dust.

"Shit... Today is definitely not our day..." Roland muttered with a dark look approaching Aron.

"What shall we do?" Roland asked turning to Aron.

"It's up to you, you're the commander, I can only advise you that it certainly won't be easy. This Chaos Heart is not an Open Type, it is a Mixed Type. I've only seen one of these a few times in my life and every time it was a real nightmare since by the logic of the Chaos, these goblins were only a prelude." Aron said calmly as if he were talking about something insignificant, but his words sent a chill through everyone present.

Roland hesitated for a while, which was evident in his frowning face before he made a decision.

"Damn, there are several villages near this forest as well as hundreds of people walking here every day... We just can't leave here, at least we have to find out how dangerous the second level of this Chaos Hearth is." Roland sighed with a complicated look before grabbing the metal ring.

Crackling.

Roland slowly lifted the massive hatch from which dust was falling, rolling down into a dark passage leading further into something unknown and dark. An unpleasant smell wafted out, as if from something poisonous or rotten since Roland even grimaced.

"Harald... If anything, can you cure us of the poison?" Roland asked without turning around from the aisle.

"Yes. That won't be a problem." Harald nodded, understanding the situation as he became truly serious.

"Knights, find some torches, apparently we have a hard road ahead of us..." Roland muttered quietly, but his subordinates heard him clearly, then Roland approached Zayne.

He stared at him for a long time, as if trying to read his mind, until he said, "Zayne, this is going to be dangerous, most likely some of us will die..." Roland clenched his fists hard and said, "I can't ask you to do this, but I'll do it anyway. I want you to come with us there, you're a great fighter, and Fate's Aura still works, so..."

"Don't worry about it." Zayne shrugged nonchalantly with a slight smile, "Even if you hadn't asked me to, I would have gone after you anyway. You said yourself that there is danger, there is a reward, so how could I pass up such a chance?"

Roland was shocked as his eyes opened wide, then a satisfied smile appeared on his face, "Fine, that's the answer I was hoping to hear."

A moment later the knights came into the hut with several torches. They were not preparing to go down into the dungeon, so torches were few, though it was more than enough for one mission.

'Well, well, it started out as a simple battle in the middle of the village, but now I find myself here... I don't know how well I'm doing, but so far, I'm liking this game more and more!' Zayne said inwardly looking at the dark passage. The danger worried him less and less as he wanted to know what was out there.