Viy deposited him at Kur's and Gad's feet, while the others were rummaging through the bodies, looking for any valuable loot.

Looks like he changed his mind on looting, Nar thought, wincing at his back. I can use the rest anyways…

"Thank you for stopping those two," Kur said, kneeling in front of him. "That's going to make our lives a whole lot easier.

"No worries," Nar said, tentatively stretching his lower back.

"How are you feeling?"

"Not great," Nar answered honestly. "My back is killing me."

"Your back?"

"From flying into a tree?"

"Oh… Yeah, that would do it," Kur said with a grimace.

"You're surprisingly cheery about this," Nar said. "Considering I almost killed myself."

"But you didn't!" Kur said, his tone light. "And you stopped them! Everything went as perfect as it could have!"

"I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not," Viy said, squatting behind Nar and holding him upright.

"The pressure just got to him," Gad rumbled. "Ignore him."

"Can't I just be happy that everything worked out for once?" Kur shot back. "We wiped out over fifty goblins, and the final boss is none the wiser! We should be happy about this!"

"See?" Gad said.

"Yeah…" Nar said. "Calm down, Kur. Everything's going to be alright."

"Ugh, shut up," Kur said. "Can you move on your own?"

"Not anymore," Nar muttured.

"Actual healing first, then," Kur said, pulling out a plastic white tube from his backpack.

Nar glanced at the scrawled, tiny words across it, alongside several images, and the bright green cross and a logo of some kind emblazoned upon the tube.

"What's with all the words, and stuff?" Nar asked.

"These are instructions on how to use it," Kur said, pointing at the images. "Which I don't really understand why they're there, to be honest. You literally unscrew the cap and down the potion. What else is there to be said?"

"And the words?" Viy asked, also curious. After all, no one in the party had ever drank a potion before.

"Warnings. Disclaimers," Kur said, shrugging. "Just legal stuff to protect the manufacturer."

"Protect them from what?" Nar asked, trying to shy away from the potion, but being held in place by Viy.

"Just drink it," Kur said, twisting the cap open, which cracked.

Nar took the potion into his less painful hand and lifted it to his nose to take a curious, but cautious whiff at the substance within.

"What's it smell like?" Gad asked.

"Sweet," he said, his eyebrows rising in surprise.

"Nice…" Viy said.

Nar looked from her, to Kur and to Gad. "Are you all just waiting to see me drink this?"

"Of course!" Viy said. "Drink it!"

Nar sighed and lifted the plastic tube to his lips.

"And drink the whole thing," Kur told him. "And it's better if you do it all in one go."

Nar threw his head back, ignoring the protest that earned him from his back, and poured the contents of the potion down his throat.

"Gah! It burns!" he said, clearing his throat. "And it tastes like weird fruit!"

"It's supposed to be ranona flavored," Kur said, taking the empty tube back, and turning it to show Nar a yellow, five pointed drawing of a fruit.

"How long is it supposed to take?" Nar asked, ignoring it.

"About fifteen minutes," Kur said, standing up. "So just rest here. After the potion does its job, we can see how you feel."

"Right…".

"It's got a 20-minute cooldown anyways," Kur said. "And that's for any kind of potion, so you can't take the HP one either."

"Cooldowns suck," Gad muttered, and Nar nodded in wholehearted agreement.

Something screamed in the distance, and Nar looked up to see Jul pulling her dagger from a goblin.

"Finishing the wounded," Kur said. "We don't want to take any chances."

"Oh! That reminds me," Viy said. "I grabbed this. Looked fancy!"

And she pulled from her ring the blue knife that the fleeing goblin had tried to kill Nar with.

"Ah, the ice knife!" Nar said.

"Ice knife?" Gad asked, leaning in closer to get a better look.

Nar nodded. "The goblin I chased channeled its ice attacks through it."

"Either it's their focus, or the dagger itself has the ice skills…" Kur mused, taking the knife from Viy. "I've heard that you can imbue aether gear and weapons with them."

The knife had a simple, yellowed, white handle, with white, frayed strips of cloth for grip. Its slightly curved and short blade was made of some kind of cloudy blue crystal that was now dull, without what Nar assumed was its owner's ice aether.

"Weapons can have skills?" Viy asked, frowning at the dagger.

"They can. Usually do, from rare rank upwards," Kur said. "Or it could be that this is just a focus for the caster. Like Cen's staff. Probably the latter if I was to guess… You don't find rare weapons inside an orange dungeon. But… Uh."

"What?" Viy asked.

"I can't inspect it," Kur said, frowning at the dagger in his hands. "What in the Pile?"

"Great…" Nar muttered. "Something else crazy is going on…"

The four of them stared silently at the now dull weapon in Kur's hand for a few confused moments.

"Well, let's bring it with us, I guess," Kur said. "Might be worth something at least."

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"Are we looting now?" Viy asked, grinning.

Kur shrugged. "Nar needs time to heal, and we're still hoping to get out of here. Might as well make the most of it while we wait."

Might as well, Nar agreed, wincing.

"Oh! I think I feel something!" Nar said.

A loud growl echoed from his stomach.

"I think you feel lunchtime," Gad said.

Viy burst out in laughter, and Kur shook his head.

"Whatever…" Nar said, flushing something furious.

*********

The healing, in the end, was a simple affair. Alternating waves of cold and heat radiated from his stomach, spreading across his entire body, and Nar felt several somethings coming back together in his back, and after a few minutes, he was able to straighten up, and sustain his own weight.

Once twenty minutes were past, Kur handed him another healing potion, as Nar's arms and legs were still weak and tingling.

"And that's not good after that kind of blow," Kur had said, wincing as he glimpsed at Nar's back, and his spine within.

And Nar had once again downed the potion without protest… Kur was also taking First Aid classes, after all, and after that, he had walked on his own with the others, to take refuge in the tree line.

"Now what?" Mul asked, through a mouthful of sandwich, as they ate their Scimitar given rations.

"We'll slowly make our way up while Nar is healing," Kur said. "Unfortunately, we can't take too long or whatever's up in that cave is going to start wondering where the ice goblins are."

"Are we fighting an ice goblin boss, then?" Tuk asked. "That doesn't seem too bad."

"We don't know what to expect," Gad said. "So, let's just expect the worst. That way, we at least won't be disappointed."

"But what's the worst?" Mul asked, frowning.

"Whatever's making everything in this dungeon terrified out of their minds," Kur said. "The troll worked together with the forest goblins, where they normally would've killed each other on sight, and keep in mind that whatever's leading these white goblins isn't necessarily an ice goblin boss as well. Lots of monsters lead and rule over other kinds of monsters and beasts, and I feel like this might be the case here…"

"Any ideas what it is?" Rel asked.

Kur shook his head. "A monster that also uses ice aether is my only and best guess, but that could be anything…"

He sighed and checked his compass again.

"No use worrying too much about it now. We'll find out soon enough," Kur said. "Can you walk, Nar?"

Nar nodded and stood up. After the third potion, he was still feeling sore all over, especially his back, but it was nothing he couldn't handle.

"I'm ready," he said.

"Alright, let's get going then," Kur decided. "Let's get you started on the HP potions now, and you're walking in the middle for a bit."

They got underway, and Nar examined the new plastic tube that Kur handed him.

Looks the same, he thought. Except, is this… A green shield? For HP? That would make sense.

Curious, he brought the white plastic tube closer to his eyes, and read some of the tiny text stuck to it.

Warning: Do not mix with any other potions, boosters, gels, pills, ointments, bandages (including, but not limited to, BandexTM), or any other healing or HP regen medicine, tech, healing or any other such consumable, material, component or other, that is aimed at healing or increasing HP, or its regen rate… What in the Pile is all this?

Frowning, he kept on reading.

Warning: May cause blurriness, partial or complete darkening of vision… Isn't that blindness? He thought, making a face at the little tube, and curious, he skimmed through the rest of the warnings. Heart arrhythmia and palpitations… Loss of taste and smell… Upset stomach, vomiting and diarrhea? Loss of sensation? Don't take more than 5 per day… What in the Pile is in this thing? And how in the Pile can they just end it all with a "Sanitarex is not responsible for whatever adverse effects may arise from taking HPRecoverex+™. Consumer takes all responsibility, waives all rights to any claims arising from…" But you made this stuff!

"Don't overthink it," Kur said, walking at his side.

"How?" Nar asked. "Did you read any of this stuff?"

"Of course! I read all of it," Kur said with a shrug. "That's just standard legalese to cover Sanitarex's ass. All the corporations do it."

"But they make the stuff!"

"And sometimes shit happens," Kur said. "They test it, and 99% of the time, it works as intended."

"And the other 1%?" Nar asked.

"Sometimes weird stuff happens. An allergy. A bad reaction to something weird," Kur said. "Most times though? People are just stupid, and ignore the label. Like, I'm not defending some evil megacorp or anything like that, but anything that ends in "-ex" is partially owned by the Church, and they usually keep a tight rein on the products coming out of those corps."

Megacorp? Corp? Is that like the Explorers? Nar wondered.

"Ah, don't worry about it. Plenty of time later for you to get to understand just what kind of delightful place the Nexus is," Kur said, half-frowning and half-smiling at him.

"Uh-hu," Nar said, dropping the matter.

He unscrewed the tube with a light crack, and downed the contents of the HP potion.

"Oh, this one tastes nicer," Nar said. "What's that? Rilow berry flavored…"

"So many things we haven't even tried yet, uh?" Kur said, shaking his head. "I wonder if we ever will, no matter how long we live…"

Nar nodded solemnly at that, and handed the empty tube back to his party leader. Soon, the forest floor angled up, and they began ascending the mountain slope proper.

"Would you look at that…" Tuk whispered at some point.

"Wow," Nar breathed.

They had reached a cracked, somewhat flat rock in their ascent, and it opened up the dense forest to allow a peek over the tree tops below, and beyond that, the wider cluster of dungeons they had seen the day before, from the cliff at the prairie's edge.

The undulating dark shape of the seemingly endless forests stretched below, and in the distance, highlighted in a brighter and lighter blue, the mountains that made up the horizon almost glowed in the wispy, cloud-streaked twilight sky.

Light and color… Nar thought, his eyes misting up. My Crystal. This is beautiful.

And maybe there really was something to light being a part of his affinity in some way, given how much he always seemed to crave and adore seeing it.

"That must be the end of the cluster," Kur said, dragging his finger over the bright blue outline of the mountains that made up the distant horizon. "Open dungeons like this are usually surrounded by nigh on impassable natural barriers."

"Did you know it was going to look like this?" Nar asked. "I mean, you have so many different electives…"

Kur shook his head. "Everyone really did their damnedest not to spoil it for us."

"And it was worth it," Tuk whispered.

The others had formed their own little clusters, and they too marveled at the beauty extending past their feet.

"And I'm starting to see why people delve," Tuk added. "I mean, look at this! This is insane! It's beautiful! It even makes it worth all the fighting and stuff!"

Kur chuckled. "The O-Nex is just as shiny and colorful, you know?"

"Uh… No?"

"Hmm, yeah. You're right," Kur said, smiling enigmatically. "Forget about it. It will be nice to go back there without knowing what to expect."

"Have they shown you the O-Nex?" Nar asked.

"A little bit," Kur said. "A tiny, tiny bit. But of what I saw…"

He shook his head.

"You'll have to wait to see it," Kur said. "I'm not going to spoil the surprise, but I'll tell you this much. Until you've seen both the Infinite Nexus and the Endless Labyrinth, you won't be able to fully understand either, and that goes for me as well, your interpret party leader. I've only seen glimpses of the O-Nex, but it's enough that I know we're in for a big shock and surprise. Most likely several…"

"Hmm," Tuk said, rubbing his chin in thought.

"That's what I thought," Nar said. "We need to see both to know, to understand why people would choose to come out here… Given everything delvers go through."

A gentle breeze came up the slope, caressing the tree tops and gently ruffling Nar's hair. It was still cold, and it still sent shivers scurrying across his body, but here, before the cold beauty of that too early night, that cold touch felt fitting. It didn't take from the view, or the moment, but rather, it amplified it.

"I think I'll always be a delver," Tuk whispered, more to himself than to the other two. "I'm sure I'll love the City Without End in all its people, noise and endless things to do. But out here, in the quiet like this, where I found my affinity, is where I'll find myself. Again and again… And I don't really care how dangerous it is. Not anymore."

Nar glanced at the ring tosser at his side. Tuk was staring out into the distance with a look Nar could not decipher, and he was reminded of that moment in the golden rays of light under the silent trees.

Is that something else I'm missing in this picture? Nar wondered. Something I'm not understanding in order to unlock my affinity?

"It is a moment like none other," his master had told him, in one of their many late-night sessions. "It's different for everyone, so I can't really describe it. However, when it comes… It's like staring upon Creation anew, and you will finally truly know and understand yourself. And that will change everything."

Nar sighed.

I can't wait for it, Nar thought. And I hope I don't end up waiting for years for it…

Unfortunately, he had been warned that it was a possibility, and given that he had a mini, but incomplete moment of enlightenment, where Gad and Tuk had fully unlocked theirs, it most likely meant that whatever his affinity was, it wasn't something as obvious or as straightforward as theirs.

And it will probably be the same for Cen, Nar thought, glancing at the caster, who stared open mouthed and wide eyed at the cloud streaked, twilight sky above them.

"Kur. We should keep going," Gad said. "It will only get darker."

Kur startled awake from whatever thoughts he had plunged into, and glanced up at the sky again, not with wonder this time, but with a frown.

"You're right… Just past 4PM and it's already like that," he said. "And it's not because of the clouds… Alright, people! Let's get going! I want to reach that cave before we need to fully rely on [Dark Vision] again!"

The party moved out, ready to resume their ascent up the mountain, and Nar cast a last look at the dark forests, glowing mountains and twilight sky stretching behind them. The Labyrinth continued to prove itself more than Nar could've ever dreamt it to be, and once more, he reminded himself that his journey as a delver, and a forgiven sinner, was just beginning.

Only the Crystal knew what awaited him still, deeper into the Endless Labyrinth.

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