(Zhenya POV)

And once again darkness. Goddammit, I figured these monsters weren’t going to let us go that easily.

The flames relight to illuminate our new challenge.

“W- What the hell is this?” Fredrica stammered out in a panic. I was inclined to agree on this one.

Before our eyes, the illuminated void started acting in ways that should not have been possible. Writhing, churning It solidified around us turning into a glass hallway!

I say glass, but it was more like darkness condensed into a solid form and polished to a mirror sheen. Either way, it created the illusion that these halls run on forever.

“Erhm, got any ideas?” Turning to Fredrica I point out the location of our two flames.

Right above us Fredrica’s flame dangled from the ceiling upside down, gently swaying out of reach. Its embers drifting downwards on nonexistent drafts.

Below us was my flame trapped underneath the glass like floor floating right side up, its embers drifting upwards as it should.

“Tsk, tsk, Zhenya have you learned nothing, things like logic and planning don’t apply here. You have to think outside of the box!” With a mighty grunt, Fredrica leaps into the air as if she could take off flying into the sky at any moment...

And here she comes, crashing back down. All in all, it just amounted to her making a commotion.

We need to get out of here before she completely loses it.

Anyways declining sanity aside, Fredrica in her failed pursuit of flight, revealed something odd about the void floor with her energetic jumping. What should have been a glass floor didn't shatter or break under her weight. Instead, it sprung back with no cracks or scuff marks.

Kneeling down bewildered, I tried knocking on the floor keyword being tried. The moment my knuckles made contact it stretched downwards with no resistance at all, eventually giving way letting my hand pass through.

Huh, alright, this is definitely something. Getting down on my stomach I attempt to reach even further down, but I can only make it as far as my shoulder. Almost there, Face pressed up against the glass floor I vainly flail my arm around, the flame was so close.

Hihihihihi...

Tch these things are teasing me. Popping my arm out of the void floor... bubble thing it quickly reforms leaving behind no traces of where my arm pierced it.

“Haaaaaaaahhhhh,” I let out a long sigh defeat. “Well, at least the peanut gallery is entertained.”

“As much as I would love to flick one of those giggly brats in the gut,” Fredrica shot a sharp glare into the undulating void, she was probably imagining herself doing just that. “We should just ignore them for now and figure out another way to get out of here.

Though I am not exactly sure how. We could continue chasing after these infernal flames but who knows how long it will take for them to finally set us free.”

Sidling up to Fredrica I lower my voice. “Look like it or not I think we should go all out and put on a grand show for these monsters.” Pausing I expected a retort from Fredrica but she just stared at me with this incredulous look painted her face.

“Just follow my lead.” Getting some distance in between me and her, I cup my hands together and lower my stance. “Remember what you were doing earlier?”

Letting out a long sigh Fredrica reluctantly plays along with my scheme, slipping off her suit of armor with surprising ease.

Would you look at that, she’s somehow not a muscle monster under all of that.

“What are you staring at!”

“Nothing, nothing at all!” But really considering she can hop around in that thing and not even break a sweat...

Finishing a few stretches to limber up Fredrica takes off running.

Okay here she comes, jumping on to my outstretched hands I propel her up into the air. Reaching out for the flame, she was so close but I could tell that she was at the apex of her jump... HER JUMP...

Uhm she’s not coming down. She's just floating in place like she was being held up by strings.

After a couple seconds of wondering whether or not I should pull her down, Fredrica let out a grunt and flipped her self upside-down executing a perfect landing on the ceiling. Wasn’t expecting that, but hey least she’s on even footing... Orientation with the flame now.

A tiny round of applause rang out from the void accompanied by ooohs and ahhhhs.

It was a bit subtle but I could see a small grin form on Fredrica’s face as the monsters cheered her on, some begrudgingly while others wholeheartedly.

“Well damn.” For someone who fights in a full suit of armor she certainly is a nimble one, never would have guessed.

“Flattery won’t get you anywhere, you know.” Yeah, I can see that she’s loving the praise. “Now start passing me my stuff while these monsters are busy being amused.” Probably a little too much.

“Yeah, yeah, why don’t you give them an encore while you’re up there.” Untangling the straps on Fredrica’s armor, its parts feel unusually light in my hands, still heavy but lighter than I originally thought. Light yet it's density is comparable to steel.

Throwing the pieces up to Fredrica she starts putting it on albeit with some difficulty being upside down and all.

Once she’s settled back into her armor I start doing my own stretches, exaggerated ones not for me but for the monsters, something to get their attention and fuel their anticipation. Feeling a gaggle of expectant gazes bearing down on me I break into a sprint signaling the start of my performance.

Taking a small hop forward, I squat down digging in deep and jump straight up arms forward reaching out for Fredrica.

Caught off guard by my shenanigans she frantically reached out, catching me mid-jump. Making eye contact with her I silently offer my condolences and proceed to do mid-air flips and rolls playing with the forces pulling on me.

I can hear the monsters cheering me on with each flip, each stunt, each barrel roll I pull off. On the other hand, I can feel Fredrica reaching her boiling point as I use her as an impromptu hurdle.

To her credit, she is doing a really good job following my movements and supporting me.

With a little finesse, I manage to land with some grace ending my stunt and from the peanut gallery came a round of cheering and hooting.

“hehehe, that was awesome!” Getting swept up in the monster’s cheers, I let out a cry of triumph. Playing the part of entertainer I bow and throw my arms up in victory stoking their enthusiasm.

*bonk*

“Ouch!” Oh right, I should explain the whole plan to her. For the sake of my well-being if nothing else. I don’t like how she’s winding her arm back.

Rubbing the bump on my head I can practically feel her harsh glare bearing down on me. “Soooooo.... uhmmm that’s part one of my master plan done!”

*Bonk*

“Alright, alright, I get it, just stop hitting me!

The long and short of it is like I said before we need to entertain these monsters, let them have some fun, some thrills. Like they said this is a game right something for fun.”

Crap Fredrica doesn't look all that convinced yet. “You have any younger siblings?” She shakes her head, “No? I have five and trust me, these monsters act exactly like them when they’re bored and want someone to play with them, minus all the magic tricks.”

“Okay, I’ll follow along with your plan, only because I have nary an idea myself on how to escape. This. Tortuous. Void.” She trails off bit watching me sway back and forth trying to orientate myself.

I don’t how she can act so normal, even trying to hold this conversation is making me dizzy. It was one thing flipping around and moving but standing still just makes me realize how unreal this all is.

“And they told me all that inverse adaptability training was a waste of time.” Fredrica loudly muttered to herself not even trying to hide her words or prideful smile.

'What.... h-how.... y- you know what, never mind.” Later Zhenya, ask later. Focus on the task at hand. “Okay, this is what I have in mind for the next part of the plan-.” Leaning over I whisper the details of the plan to her. We gotta keep the audience guessing after all...

...

..

.

“And then we dive straight down, got it?”

“Got it.”

“Good, Let's hurry up and do this before I yarf all over the ceiling, floor, floor-ceiling.” Walking off I ready myself for another jump, let’s hope my stomach can hold until then.

“One more thing.” Fredrica suddenly calls out to me. “At first I thought you wanted to boost me up to the flame but now you have me wondering, just how did you know about the whole shift in gravity thing and the ceiling?”

“Oh yeah, I had no clue that would happen.”

*Bonk*

“Just hope this plan pans out as favorably as your last one, for both our sakes.”

Alright, let’s get this started. Running up to Fredrica I take a step onto her waiting hands and go flying through the air as she launches me up with ridiculous force.

I gotta say this feeling of floating in midair is growing on me. The weightlessness, the freedom of movement, it feels nice on the body, all the strain and knots are melting away. Only problem is the scenery, an endless void is not much of a vista.

Before gravity can drag me back down to the floor I grab on to Fredrica’s outstretched hand. Then playing with the twin forces vying for my body, like two kids fighting over a toy, I start putting on a show for the monsters using Fredrica as an anchor for my antics.

Releasing my grip on her I focus on my center of gravity and do a flip. Once, twice, thrice twisting and throwing my body forward I do three continuous flips before having to stabilize with Fredrica.

A restrained applause trickle out from the peanut gallery, it was a stale trick but a personal best for me. So far so gooooo-

Out of the blue Fredrica starts to swinging me around by the arm treating me like a balloon on a string, a mischievous smile plastered on her face. Using the momentum from swinging me around she starts to throw me around putting on her own show, she was the one dictating things now.

I guess this is her way of getting back at me for leaving her in dark last time. Getting swung around to and fro the only thing I can do to keep the performance going is following Fredrica’s lead. Roll, spin, flip I had little say over my movements, Fredrica and the ever-growing momentum had full custody over me.

Under the cheering of the monsters, I silently resigned myself to being a prop for Fredrica to throw around.

......

...

.

Like hell I'd let that happen, biding my time I slowly throw my weight side to side slightly throwing her off rhythm while regaining my own, by the time she noticed it was far too late I was perfectly in position for a counter-attack.

“Shit!" Her concession of defeat is music to my ears. Looks like she's finally realized that I'm beat slower than normal.

Using the momentum I painstakingly built up and rapidly twisting my body I break into a spin countering all the force she threw me with. Abruptly stopping myself mid-flight Fredrica was caught completely flat-footed as she was already smugly in position to catch me.

Running like a rabid dog she made a mad dash to catch me before I hit the ceiling. It was one thing to try and get payback but it was another thing entirely to let this ploy fall through. Dodging her attempts to grab me I use the thick steel neck guard on her armor as a footstool to propel myself upwards.

And so our innocent act turned into an acrobatic battle for domination pitting will against will, wit against wit.

Meanwhile, the monster’s were engrossed in our contentious display watching to see how it would end, I even heard quiet cheers rooting for either myself or Fredrica to win.

A strange thing about the void is even though I can’t feel nor hear the wind it’s definitely still present carrying our voices and even the voices of the monsters very clearly.

But enough with that, it's time to set the final phase of our plan into motion.

While duking it out we were building up momentum and increasing our speed.

Finally grabbing Fredrica’s hands I use our combined momentum to drag her up into the air with me, armor and all. Then allowing gravity to take us, we go plummeting towards the floor.

With our combined weight, we shatter through the floor leaving cracks around the hole we made. ““Alright!”” We both scream out in unison, even the monsters seem to be affected by our cheery mood celebrating our success alongside us, or maybe they just like all the chaos and destruction.

Drunk on success I almost forgot the last part of the plan. Playing along with the cheering crowd I helped Fredrica back to the ceiling to touch her flame, then hopped back down to touch mine. The moment my hand touched the flame everything went dark.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Urgh...” Ah crap, am I still in the void?

Wait no I just have my eyes closed.

Opening my eyes I find myself lying down propped against a tree.

Argh, my heads killing me, wa- was everything all just a dream? the void? Fredrica? the monsters?

No, that can’t be, everything felt so real and I don’t think I could conjure up someone like Fredrica even if I tried.

Water, I need some water my mouth's dry as hell and the world's spinning. How long have I been out?

Rummaging through my rucksack I pull out a waterskin and start chugging down its contents. With the dizziness subsiding, I can finally think straight. Okay, first order of business, my rope is missing. That can only mean one thing, the whole thing couldn’t have been a dream!

Unless someone nicked it off of me when I was unconscious. Actually, the lump on my head from all the times Fredrica conked me is more of a dead giveaway than anything else.

Well, that’s one mystery solved next one is, why am I covered in dust?

It’s not your run of the mill dust either, the way It shimmers all sorts of colors when in direct sunlight is almost hypnotic. If I know anything about trading and selling it is (size (rarity (shiny + usefulness))) = Gold and this dust is definitely shiny, it might even be rare.

Dusting myself off, I take great care to recover as much prismatic dust as possible, putting them into a carrying jar. This dust really is a mystery, there’s nothing around here that could’ve made this. Unless, maybe this dust came from them?

Oh well, a question for another time. Let's continue exploring the dungeon I still have this map to fill out after all. Putting the jar back into my rucksack, I get up popping a few bones in the process. Okay, I am seven glades in... hold up, looking at the tree I was passed out on I notice seven cuts in it.

“Oh, for the love of.”

After everything that's happened, I only traveled this far... Screw it, you know what, let's just head west from here and avoid glades entirely from now on.

Journeying on everything went rather smoothly, despite running into one or two stray wolves which I easily took care of. Honestly after risking life and limb fighting against those enraged wolves in the middle of a firestorm, fighting the normal variety is sort of a cakewalk now.

At first, I was caught off guard by their endless stamina, durability, and regeneration but past that they’re just normal wolves except lighter. Actually, they’re fairly weaker than the frost wolves we used to hunt back home.

Stuffing the paper I got from defeating the stray wolves into my rucksack I continue on my cartographic adventure. Which eventually led me to a river.

At a glance, it looks and smells clean enough to drink out of. Hmm, a little nibble should be alright, worst thing that could happen to me is a bad stomach ache.

Dipping the tip of my finger into the river I do a quick taste test. Yep, that's drinkable water alright, a free source of non-dubious drinking water. Feels weird, I was expecting something like a monster lurking in the river bed to jump out. And Force me to answer its riddles for water or something like that... No? Still nothing?

I swear, those brats are making me question everything in this dungeon.

Alright, let’s take some for the road, dunking an empty waterskin into the river I fill it up with dungeon water. Although I think it’s best not to chug it down carelessly, at least for now. Let's take it back and have someone examine it first, you can never be too sure about the things you find in a dungeon.

Now then, should I head up the river or down. Down seems to head back to where the entrance is, so upriver it is.

While taking a nice leisurely stroll next to the river, I ran into a group of adventurers who were hunting in the area. Stopping to chat with them I found out they were doing collection request so they were on the lookout for wolves.

Well, that explains the lack of wolves in this area.

Continuing further upriver, encountering even more people along the way I eventually reach a lake, numerous tents were set up along its shores. Might as well take a break while I’m here, it looks like this place is gonna become a rest area or at least a pit-stop in the future.

Settling down on a nice patch of dirt I start chowing down on some jerky while glancing around. It seems like everyone is opting to follow the river instead of trekking through the trees, a tried and true method when exploring unknown ground.

But that also means this whole area has most likely already been explored to high hell, competition is bound to be fierce if there’s still anything worth a damn that is.

Let's try exploring a bit off the beaten path, yeah that sounds good. I need to find more things to sell, make enough cash to send back home. But with the things I’ve gathered so far, a couple sheets of paper, some shiny dust, and drinking water. Selling everything might not even net me enough GP to buy a meal at the bar!

At least if I stray from the river I can hunt down wolves without having to butt heads with anybody, the paper itself should be worth a bit of GP to the guild if nothing else.

“Hey, Zhenya!” A familiar voice suddenly calls out to me, the distinct sound of metal clanging against metal really gave away who it was. Turning around I spot Fredrica calmly walking up to me.

I pat the ground next to me offering her a seat. “Fredrica, It’s good to see you again!”

“Thank the Goddess I found you, I wasn’t sure what happened to you after we touched the flames.” She dropped to the ground sitting legs crossed. Flicking open her chest plate she pulled out some jerky to munch on. “I thought you might have been left behind in that void!”

We chatted for a time while we rested, catching each other up.

Apparently, Fredrica found herself much like I did when I came to, passed out on the ground covered in prismatic dust. When I asked her about the dust, she shrugged it off saying she had no clue what it was but stored it away just in case it was something of importance.

“Hey, Fredrica, you know since we keep bumping into each other.” She turned her attention away from her fourth piece jerky. “You wanna go adventuring together, at least until we leave the dungeon?”

Contemplating it like it was the hardest question in the world, she placed a finger on her chin in an exaggerated manner. “Hmmm, a temp group is an interesting proposal. Buuuut do you have any requests you’re doing right now?~”

“Only a request to chart the floor, but I was thinking of hunting some wolves on the side for extra pocket change.”

“That’s wonderful, I accept your offer!

We can make swift headway into the dungeon, fighting tougher enemies. Plus thanks to our time imprisoned in the void we already have a basic idea of what the other person is capable of.”

She ecstatically offers me a handshake to seal the deal, which I of course take. “By the way, I have a collection request for the paper that these monsters drop.”

“Alright, now that’s settled, I suggest heading this way to start off.” I point towards the grassy hillside area just north from the lake. “With everyone following the river I think crossing that hill is our best bet in finding some wolves, and who knows maybe we’ll even find a hidden area.”

Fredrica hesitant reluctantly agreed to my proposal. Torn between not wanting to run into any more of those insect monsters and wanting to complete her request in a timely manner. Ultimately I think it was the possibility of finding a hidden area that tipped the scales for her.

Finishing up our meal we patted the dirt off our armor, readied ourselves, and trekked deeper into the dungeon.