Chapter 3: Fences All Around
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Normal people would have panicked, been confused, scared, anxious, frustrated. When one loses their own memory, it was nearly impossible for an ordinary person to keep their cool, given that they couldn't recollect enough to keep their own emotions in check. Riveria had seen it happen to plenty of adventurers before in the past, those who suffered physical or mental injuries drastic enough to wipe bits and pieces or the entirety of one's memory. Such a thing was highly difficult to fake and took even more effort to keep up. A story with higher losses than gains, it didn't really require much logic to see that it was an ailment that was foolish to mimic.
That's part of the reason why the elven woman was questioning everything that had happened, because it made no sense.
Revan Knox, a human child that had popped up from beneath the surface of the lake they had been occupying for the course of two full hours. Scars littering his skin, healed burns taking up large parts of his back and chest area, and his face a complete mask void of any and all emotion, save for a soft curiosity. From the time he had surfaced to the moment he was cut down from the tree branch and started walking with them, the boy hadn't even attempted to act like an amnesiac. He just stayed silent and proceeded to hoist the claim high, as if the group was too stupid to actually know any better.
The only reason Riveria was following along with the whole ordeal it was due to two very important reasons.
For starters, the black haired child was, somehow, in the dungeon without a familia.
When Tione had first tossed Revan from the water, there had been a wave of confusion that followed. The group of females wrapped their heads around what happened, looked beneath the surface for anyone else, got out and surveyed the area for any other spies that WEREN'T in the water, got dressed, and then finally went on to investigate the body that had been thrown at the tree like a low level monster. It seemed, at first like a clear cut case of perverted peeping, something that was to be expected from someone as young looking as Revan. Of course, that was before Tione, against Riveria's own objections, lifted the boys mangled shirt, exposing his entire torso.
Aside from the obvious disfigurement of the boys skin, Riveria and the other girls immediately noticed the lack of any sort of Emblem on his back. There wasn't any sign of a status or any familia mark present, it was just a regular torso, albeit a completely messed up one.
Taking into account how strong Tione was, it was a miracle that they had even found the youngling breathing and in one piece. A level one
The lack of a crest lead into the other important reason Riveria was playing along.
How had the boy appeared in the lake?
They had been at the lake for a solid two hours and been the utmost aware of their surroundings. No one had came or left the area at any point within that given period, so there was no chance Revan had somehow slipped in undetected. He has no status to speak of, no abilities or skills to help him stay underwater for such a lengthy stretch of time. It made no sense that the youth had completely evaded detection the entire duration they had been in the water.
The young man was wrapped in an air of mystery and uncertainty, enough to capture Riveria's attention and dictate her next course of action.
She wanted answers, despite not really needing them.
Still, even though she wanted to dig into the situation further, there were objectives she had to complete, duties that needed to be fulfilled before anything else was done. The whole ordeal with the youth could wait until everything was wrapped up.
Having just come up from an expedition from the 50th floor, the Loki Familia had stopped to regroup, check supplies, and rest up before continuing back towards the surface. As a prominent figure within the Loki Familia, it was Riveria's obligation to help with inventory, look over the familia members, discuss some strategies as well as plan the next move with the two other high ranking executives Gareth and Finn. As much as the elven woman wanted to dive into the unknown and sate her own rising curiosity about the stranger in their midst, she restrained herself.
"Where are we going?"
Riveria's ears perked up, her train of thought halting in it's tracks the moment Revan asked the question, something the boy had rarely done since being cut down. Up until that moment, the youth had shown zero observable emotions, actions, and body language and revealed very little curiosity about where he was or who he was traveling with.
He was almost completely unreadable.
Due to this, Riveria paid far more attention to the conversation then she would care to admit.
"We're heading to the place where we made camp," Tiona answered casually, having simmered down slightly after Riveria had chastised her. "Our Familia set up a spot outside of Rivira."
"Rivira?" Revan asked, slight confusion in his voice. "You mean the woman over there?"
Riveria frowned at this but abstained from any sort of comments on it, continuing her walk like nothing had happened. By this time, they had reached the large wooden fence that surrounded Rivira, the place Tiona had just mentioned to Revan. Having chosen to occupy a lake farther away from the small scale town, the trio still had a ways to go before they reunited with the rest of the adventurer group.
"No. She's Riveria." The soft voice of Ais chimed in. "The other is Rivira."
"Rivira is a town made by adventurers," Tiona explained, speaking matter of factly. "You'll be able to peak inside when we pass the front of it, since it's right inside of this wooden wall. We might even have time to show you around inside of it before the group moves to leave the dungeon. Aside from the beautiful area and lack of monsters, its one of the best parts of Floor 18."
(("Floor 18. Adventurers. Town called Rivira.")) Revan mentally noted every single bit of information the moment they were said. While he didn't yet have enough facts or small details to get the bigger picture, he was definitely making headway. (("Loki Familia. Individuals with superhuman strength. Dungeon. Yggdrasil sized tree in the center with glowing crystals for a ceiling."))
As the black haired youth was thinking, he made sure to keep his eyes on everything happening around him, namely the enormous wooden fence of what he was told blocked the town of Rivira from his gaze.
The barricade was made of thick wooden planks and was very uneven, reaching as high as 7 meters in some places and as low as 6 in others, as if those who put it together could've cared less about proper consistency. While the fence itself looked properly stable and well constructed, although it definitely was winning any beauty contests, a large number of the planks looked as if they had seen better days. Long gashes and small scratches were smeared over their surfaces, making certain sections look as brittle and weak as wet paper. Just above the fence, one could see the dark wood of some of the buildings, structures that also seemed to have taken as much of a beating as the barricade. Towering above it all, aside from the tree that looked over the entire town, was a lone watchtower situated near the center of Rivira.
"That's strange," Revan muttered softly to himself, just enough for the Tiona to hear, walking towards the uneven fixture. "Never seen that before."
"Revan?" Tiona asked curiously, just loud enough for the other two females to hear, prompting them to stop and look. "Something wrong?"
The black haired youth barely registered the girls question as he walked up to the faded brown wall, his attention completely captured.
All the scratches he had seen from the distance looked even rougher up close. The gashes ran deep, about a full 13 centimeters, nearly punching through the boards and wrecking the gate. Other places looked to be off colored and considerably thinner, as if they had been slathered in some kind of acid. Running his hands over the surface of the fence, Revan traced along one of the scratches, his head running through scenarios and claw sizes, attempting to pinpoint which animal could have possibly made the mark. He didn't know what had caused the boards to melt, but he was certain he could at least try to narrow down which entity was responsible for the gouges in the wood.
"Whatcha lookin at?" Tiona asked, suddenly appearing over Revan's shoulder. "Everything alright?"
Revan didn't respond immediately, his black hues remaining attached to the rough boards in front of him, tips of his fingers still sliding through the slashes. After a few moments of thinking, he eventually gave Tione a firm nod before opening his mouth to ask the foremost question on his mind.
"Monsters," Ais said, answering the youths inquiry before he could even form the first syllable. "The wall.....Rivira...attacked by monsters."
"Monsters.....," Revan frowned softly, his words a mere mumble, almost too low for the other two to even hear.
"Monsters can come from the lower floors," Riveria explained, applying detail to what Ais had just said. Revan hadn't even heard her approach, the entirety of his focus having been on the fence. "Depending on the number, they could easily overwhelm those staying on the 18th Floor. Rivira has been rebuilt over three hundred times since it's founding."
Monsters can come from the lower floors. That's what Revan heard as he turned away from the wall and once again walked behind Riveria and the other two girls.
Finally, using that small bit of knowledge, he shoved together what he knew for a quick theory.
They were in a dungeon with an unknown number of floors, going as far down as 18 and then further beyond. On each floor, monsters appeared to be a threat, halting the movement and progression of heading down to the lower levels, with no floor being safe from them. A group of adventurers would be assigned or hired to protect whatever a Familia was while they made their way down, collecting or beating whatever they had gone down for in the first place. It explained why the others felt so dangerous, they were probably part of the group meant to protect the Familia.
Based on what he had, that was the best Revan could come up with. He definitely lacked some essential information necessary for a full in depth analysis, but nonetheless, he did the best with what he had at his disposal.
He would do much better once he reached the camp of the Loki Familia and got some real answers as to what was happening around him.
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