Calamity Dungeon

Chapter 2 - The First Night

Chloe and I were at the shop as We were buying potions from the NPC. I waited beside the door as I was still clueless on how the game works. "Alright, I bought the potions Kaijin!" Chloe said to me as I looked at her as she was carrying a bunch around her arms. "H-hey your going to drop some!" I said as I started picking out some healing potions out of her arms. She giggled a bit saying "Don't worry I'm not going to drop any" as I then picked out half of the entire stockpile she bought from the NPC. "alright, They should be in your inventory Kaijin" Chloe said as I swiped down and opened my inventory, seeing the potions I then clicked on it as it equipped to my hotbar. "Where did it go?" I said as she replied "It's in your hotbar, move your thumb and it should appear" as I then moved my thumb as the Potion manifested out of particles into my hand. "Woah, That's cool!" I said as She got up from leaning onto the table behind her. "Yeah, we should head out now" She said as I then nodded my head to her and walked out with Chloe. While we were walking towards the fields, We then overheard some players saying "Did you see the Labyrinth yet?" as I thought to myself "Labyrinth?". I then looked over to Chloe who had a saddened expression for a little while. "What's wrong Chloe?" As Chloe jumped a little before hitting My shoulder saying "don't make me jump like that.." as I then realized that this must have been a sensitive topic. "You had a sad expression for a bit, did something happen?" I asked her as she sighed saying "No, I-it's alright, It just comes out when No one is looking" as she tried to chuckle it off a bit. Concerned about her, I played along saying "Alright, Just wondering if that was a sensitive topic" as she shook her head saying "No, it's not really....It's not really that sensitive.." as she was trying to phrase it in a formal way a bit but couldn't find the words for it.

I then saw the sun setting already as I said "Chloe, it's getting dark, should we head back?" as Chloe shook her head saying "no, We should be fine as long as it doesn't increase the spawn rate." as They headed over to the forest instead. Pulling out their swords, Chloe questioned me saying "Why is your longsword around your waist?" as I replied looking at it saying "I don't know, it just happened I guess" I said as The Boars began to spawn. "Alright you take the one on the right and I'll take the one on the left." as I nodded saying "Alright, I got it" as we both rushed towards the boars that were getting ready to attack. "Hrah!" both Chloe and I shouted as We swung our swords in sync at the two boars. Both boars charged into us as Chloe moved out of the way and I had blocked the hit, rolling onto the ground before getting back up. I ran up to the boar I was fighting against as I swung my sword at the boar, hitting it for a decent amount of it's health. Chloe had then pierced her boar into the ground as her shattered, I then used a sword skill to finish off mine. "Phew, That was a close one" I said as Chloe replied "No, that was pretty easy", I looked at her and said "Please just let me have my glory on not dying for once chloe.." as she chuckled saying "alright, I'll let you have it next time" as the sun was setting. 2 Hours into the forest, it was midnight in-game as I held a torch in one hand as my other hand was being clinged onto by Chloe. I thought to myself "I get stuck with a girl who can't let go of my arm..." as I looked at her expression and face. Her expression was scared down to the core, as she held onto my arm a bit tightly. "Ow ow ow!! Your doing it again!" I shouted as Chloe looked and loosened up her grip saying "s-sorry!!" as I then sighed saying "You get hit by a wizard's spell and then this happens to you.."

As we were walking down the forest path, Chloe then said "Hey um..." As I looked over to her, stopping to hear what she was going to say. "Kaijin....Your a nice guy y'know..." Chloe said as I looked a bit surprised saying "Oh, I mean if you want me to leave you in the dark I-" as my sentence was cut out with a shout from Chloe. "NO I DON'T WANT YOU TO LEAVE RIGHT NOW!" as I was surprised now as Chloe realized what she said, Her face then started to fluster up red a bit as she then stuttered saying "N-n-no I di-didn't mean that!". I chuckled at her a bit as she looked at me and giggled a bit before I said "I know you don't mean it" as she looked at me a bit surprised. Chloe's expression saddens a bit as she sets her hand onto her arm saying "It's just....It's just that..." As I looked at her, having my full attention to what she has to say this time. Chloe then sighed saying "I...I wasn't always this butthurt about everything and trying to be the bright courageous one..." as I thought to myself "Butthurt... like the time you hit me for stealing a coin... Bright.... Like the time you tried to make me laugh.... Corageous...... Like the time you wanted to go into a Labyrinth alone..?" as Chloe then said "I...I had my last party killed because I was too scared to fight..." As I looked at her and said "oh... You can tell me it when we have a camp set up" as She looked confused saying "what..?" as I said to her "Double spawns at night, we should camp out here for the night". She looked down a bit and said with a little shaky voice "o....okay..." as I set up a campfire, throwing the torch into the campfire. We then sat down as I noticed tears coming out of her eyes. "Huh, why are you crying?" I asked as Chloe said "N-Nothing...I-It's Nothing...", I moved to her side as I said "You can tell me what happened alright? It's going to be between both of us...". Chloe looked over as she started to wipe her tears away, I then l looked up into the sky as it was a starry night sky. "This world's sky looks very beautiful..." I said as Chloe also looked up just in time to see shooting stars. We were both amazed at the sight as Chloe had regained some confidence to tell the story. Tapping my shoulder, I looked at her as Chloe said "Alright.. I'll tell you the story now" as I nodded.

Chloe inhaled and exhaled deeply as she then said "Before I met you, I was in a small party, there was only four of us as we couldn't find a fifth member. Hours before, We set our sights over to a Labyrinth not far from here as I was the backup. We walked into the labyrinth and encountered too many monsters there, We tried to rush out of the labyrinth as they took the party one member at a time. I had gotten my foot stuck by a web as the leader of our group had gotten me out of it and told me to run. As he fought off many of those monsters, I wanted to help but My feet....My feet were like they were frozen solid... I couldn't move from my spot... I was overtaken by fear as the labyrinth doors were closing down, My party leader pushed me out of the labyrinth in time as the doors shut closed... I didn't see or hear from them again as the party was disbanded... It was my fault my party had died because of me... That's why I ran from the Labyrinth's entrance all the way back to the safe zone, where I ran into you.."

Chloe's eyes began to tear up as I handed her some silk cloth. She looked at it as I said "Don't worry alright, I won't die on you with your guidance Chloe...Now wipe your eyes alright..?" as She smiled and grabbed the cloth, wiped her tears with it and said "Thank you Kaijin... Your too kind for your own good sometimes..." as I smiled a bit saying "The people I know say that too" as Chloe then yawns a bit. "Tired?" I said to her as she suddenly falls back a bit as I then catch her from falling any further. "You need more sleep next time chloe..." as I set her close to the fire as she smiled a bit. I smiled a little before walking off to go hunt some boars and see If I was ready to do things by myself.