Garden Of The Abyss

Not wanting to risk offending the brutal blade-wielder, Ren met his hand and shook it, experiencing the tight grip he feared as his hand felt as if it were surrounded by stone.

"Urr, I'm Ren."

"I owe you one, Ren."

"How did you get stuck in there in the first place?"

The question was gnawing away at the back of Ren's mind, leaving him no choice but to ask the man, who stood roughly a head above him.

"Let's just say that horned-fucker doesn't only get thrills from butchering and eating people."

"...He stuffed you into the cell?"

Goldheve nodded in response to Ren's question, which was mostly coated in doubt as he thought he misunderstood the sharp-edged adventurer.

"You look a bit young to be entering this place? Even growing hair down there yet?"

"First off yes I am, not that it is any of your business. And so what? It's not like there is an age limit for entering the trial."

It was already apparent Goldheve was someone who didn't have a filter as Ren defended the state of his physical growth.

"You've got some spunk, kid, I'll give you that. What I mean is, this is a place for men like me who have shit for brains, leading to awful decisions like coming here."

"--Do you have a wish of your own you want to be granted here?"

Goldheve paused for a moment at Ren's question before giving him a wide, unnerving smile.

"I don't believe in any of that "wish-granting" bullshit. For me, this place is heaven. I'm free to kill, I'm free to live, I can spend eternity here if I have to, slaughtering whatever creature comes my way. This is a proving ground for the strongest, and you bet your ass I want to make it to the end and fight whatever strong bastard is waiting."

Although they seemed to be on good terms, the words he spoke caused Ren to never lower his guard--the man before him felt a complete wild card, someone who acts on impulse and on their own whim.

"...Alright. Well, do you have any clue how to solve this puzzle?"

It was a longshot, considering this man seemed to have less sanity than blades, but Goldheve indulged his question, turning his attention to the set of levers sitting in the stone system.

"How about...This."

Watching Goldheve carefully as he studied the levers, Ren watched as the man then grabbed every lever and pulled them down at the same time.

"--!"

It was done so casually that it didn't even register in his mind what Goldheve had done until the all three of the heavy doors parted with a resounding rumble, followed by the echoes of metal grinding once again.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

"Shoving it right back up this labyrinth's ass! These little games have been pissing me off! Just fight me like a man, bull!"

Goldheve slid his trusty sabers out from the scabbards at his sides, yelling out into the air as he challenged all of the approaching creatures that left their dank cells.

--Should I just go ahead? This guy just seems like trouble...If I stick with him, he's going to bring the fight to us.

Watching as Goldheve held a warped smile over his face, walking over to the pile of monsters as his charcoal boots carried the weight of his bloodlust--Ren couldn't decide on what to do. Looking upon the man's back, he knew he could potentially be what he needed to overcome Asterius, but the question was how many deaths would await in that alliance.

--Even so...A partner doesn't sound so bad right now. Even if it is a lunatic, I won't be alone anymore...Screw it.

Scorning his own softness, Ren slid Belus out from its scabbard and followed alongside Goldheve as they approached the wave of creatures: arachnids, goblins, serpents, and chimeras. Besides the yearning for human interaction, there was something alluring about Goldheve that kept Ren close to him, an air of charisma that hung around the bloodthirsty, battle-lusted man.

Being ill-prepared to engage in battle left him in Goldheve's dust, who burst forward towards the swarm of monsters with speed that abandoned the limits of the human body, carving through the sound barrier and far past it. In his path, he painted the air in crimson as his blades effortlessly sliced past the defenseless monsters.

Once again, the joyful laughter returned to the man as he spun his blades around the flesh of the inhuman creatures. Dropping his dual swords for a moment, the dexterity he displayed by reaching to the straps on his torso and flinging the throwing knives forward before catching the blades in midair before they fell was unmatched. Even in that short time frame, the blades he threw forward were guided by picture-perfect precision as each blade hit between the gray-skinned goblin's eyes.

Ren couldn't find a spot to step in towards, fearing he might become collateral in Goldheve's bloody rampage. Somehow gashes and cuts appeared on the bodies of creatures even when Goldheve wasn't near them, amassing a torrent of slashes that stretched beyond his own reach.

Watching his unlikely companion fight, or more so slaughter the enemies before him, only raised a single question in Ren's mind.

--This guy hasn't beaten Asterius?

The sharpness of his strikes, the unending tenacity he showed, paired with his perfect precision--if this was a man who was bested by Asterius, then there was something he felt was missing in all of this. Finishing his spree, the floor was dyed in the liquid essence and entrails of the deceased monsters as Goldheve sheathed his tools of destruction once more.

"--Seriously, you can't beat Asterius?"

"Can't beat?"

For the first time, Goldheve held an annoyance towards Ren, it didn't take so much as a sharp glance or change of expression to send a shiver over Ren's skin--just the change of air around the man.

"He's bested me a few times, but I don't think you understand. I take it you've just entered the labyrinth, no?"

"That's right."

"Well, consider any other encounter you've had with that horned-shit just him playing with his food. We're in his domain now, next time you see him...You'll understand."

Moving past him, Goldheve cracked his neck side to side before choosing to enter the rightmost pathway without a second thought.

"Urr, any particular reason why you chose this way?"

"Not at all. If you don't like it, go your own damn way."

There wasn't a single ounce of care in Goldheve's rough voice, not stopping or even so much as looking at Ren as he spoke.

--Should he really be leading the way then? Or does he even think we're a "team"?

What followed was a corridor similar to the one that he initially found in this labyrinth, narrow and dark, only serving as a hallway to the room that laid ahead.

"How long have you been here?"

"This labyrinth or the floor?"

"Both?"

"In that case, one month."

He didn't elaborate with the second portion of the question asked to him, leaving silence hanging in the air as Ren waited for him to continue—which he didn't.

"Urr...That's just one answer."

"I made it to this musty maze the day I arrived. Been stuck here for a month."

It wasn't an answer that met his ears pleasantly. He already had his guesses that this labyrinth was a hard stuck trial in its own right, but for it to be confirmed by another challenger was another thing entirely.

Reaching the edge of the corridor, the next area came into view. Once again, the labyrinth proved to be something built by divine eccentricity, as the next chamber spanned far, holding in it a towering, elder tree that spanned its limbs to every corner of the room. From time and grime, the overgrown sapling had shifted from its natural dusk to a hollow, grey, and black complexion.

The sharp, jagged branches that reached out in every direction acted as barriers, splitting the room into a series of smaller sections.

In place of the fresh, rejuvenating air to expect from a tower of nature, what met his nose was a sharp, nose-scrunching stench of decomposing timber, wrapped with a hint of spoiled meat.

"Is anything normal in this place?"

"Normal is boring. This is the only place of its kind in the world—savor it while you can."

—What is there to "savor" in this place? I thought the Outlanders were adrenaline junkies, but this guy has them beat by a mile.

Goldheve seemed pleased by the sight of the new chamber, cracking his neck side to side as well as his knuckles as he stepped into the domain without any hint of cautiousness. Meanwhile, Ren watched his step, expecting false steps to trigger poison darts—he chalked this lack of caution from his acquaintance being that he never watched adventurer movies or played a dungeon crawler game.

"Hey."

Goldheve called out to Ren nonchalantly, standing in front of the barren tree's trunk.

"What is it?"

Stepping next to Goldheve, Ren looked in the same direction as the man, noticing cavities oozing with an amber liquid that resembled a face displaying a crooked smile.

"This isn't some tree. It's an Ent. A big ass one at that. Although we're lucky--cooped up down here, I think it lost its wisdom."

The matter-of-fact way Goldheve spoke without any shift from his deadpan tone almost made it seem natural as the formerly immobile tree began to move.

Pulsating subtly, from its limbs down to its core, it seemed to be breathing, releasing a harrowing groan from the dark cavity warped into a smile.

"How about we give it a nice morning welcome?"

Smiling at the prospect of a battle, Goldheve slid his two sabers out from their solace, holding them in a cross.

"—Is running an option?"

Ren's desired choice didn't seem to meet Goldheve's ears, who prepared to face the awakening ent with his wicked smile stretching across his lips. Roots rose from the stone as if shaking off crumbled leaves, turning the battlefield into the body of the enemy before them.