Chapter 24: Trials and Tribulations
"HEY ASSHHOLE! I DON'T KNOW IF YOU NOTICED, BUT YOU HAVEN'T REALLY BEEN THE BEST HELP THIS ENTIRE TRIP!" I went off on Polk.
"If you're talking about the that one fight you guys were in, that isn't a valid accusation! I was offline, dumbass."
"HA! You think that's the only thing I'm talking about?! No! You barely help with anything and when you do, you half ass it with a scowl. Speaking of your ugly mug, you look at everyone the same way, but with me you have a very specific look of disgust. Is there some thing you wanna tell me?"
"Uhhhhhh, guys?" worry could easily be heard in Gash's voice.
The water got to a point where our heads were about to touch it. I can't believe I'm gonna die in some random deposit next to this whiny idiot.
"I'll tell you my problem, it's YOU! Types like you that walk around thinking you own the place! Types like you that think you're some extraordinary being that's on a higher level than everyone else! You're not! You just lucked into everything! You lucked into that armor, you lucked into having connections with the leader of one of the strongest guilds, and you lucked into having a clear-cut path to beating the game!" Polk said.
"Dude, we literally met a couple of days ago! I don't know why you've grown so much hate for me-"
"Do you honestly think that you're what the world needs?! Like you're the missing piece that'll complete the puzzle-"
"HA! I'll tell you what, compared to pessimists like you that complain when the going gets rough and wants to keep everyone on your level, I'm certain I am! I'm certain I'm the damn main character! And I'm also certain that you don't hold a candle to me!"
Wait a minute...
WAIT!
As the rising water level was about to submerge us, I take as deep of an inhale as I possibly could and dove underwater. I swam towards the button that had one more try on it. Please let my hunch be right! If I get this last one wrong, I'm certain we won't get any more tries and die here!
Once I made it to the button, it was time to give my answer. Once I press this button, I have to make sure that I could be heard. I'm underwater, so I can't just say it normally...
I pressed the button and with numerous bubbles of air coming out of my mouth, I screamed the answer to the riddle at the top of my lungs.
"CANDLEBLULBUBLUBLBULBUBLUBLUBLBULBULBUBLUBLUBLUBLUUUB!"
My answer came out muffled towards the end, but it came out nonetheless. Once I gave the answer, the runes in the room glowed green and the wall in front of us opened. The new entrance acted like a vacuum that sucked up everything in the room we were in, including us.
As we literally pooled into the next room, there were multiple drains that depleted the water that was rushing in. Once we got back up, Gash was jumping for joy.
"As expected of my buddy!"
I looked over to Polk and he immediately averted his gaze. He seemed to regret what he said. He must've been embarrassed about it. I wasn't going to hassle him about it. The best we could do is move forward and get out of this situation.
"What was the answer?" Gash asked.
"It was candle."
"HA! Of course! So I guess we've got to do the next challenge. I can see the next podium over there." Gash pointed to the podium at the end of the room.
Right before that podium, there was a large square and a wooden sword at the left and right ends of the room. The three of us made our way to the podium and I began to read what was on the stone slab.
"Now that you've bonded over the riddle behind that last door,
It's time to bond some more!
Here's the shtick,
Beat each other with these sticks,
And then you can open the door."
"Bond some more?" I questioned it as I continued. "How are we supposed to bond over fighting each other?"
"Doesn't matter. We just got to beat each other for a bit right? No problem! Come on, Matthew! Let's bond some more over-" Gash was about to grab a sword, but Polk already had both wooden swords in hand.
"Hey...Polk...what the hell do you think you're doing?" Gash gave Polk the deepest of death glares. I felt as if he was peering into his soul to rip it out.
"Hey, Matthew. Catch." Polk threw one of the swords to me and I caught it.
As we stared each other down, Gash read the room and sulked as left the square. Polk wants to fight me? But why? Maybe he's just blowing off steam.
"I'm going to be honest, I'm not interested in bonding with you or anything. I'm just interested in how you think. Your narcissism." He readied his weapon as a cage began to rise from the ground and surround us.
"I would say that I'm interested in how you think, but I don't like to waste time thinking about people like you."
"Ohhhhhhh. Burn!" Gash instigated the battle as it began.
I began my dash towards him and attempted a swing at his chest. Before I got anywhere close to him, he touched his sword and said "lesser buff!" Once he did so, the outline of his sword gave off a faint red glow.
As soon as he tried to heave his sword at me, I reacted just in time to dodge and counterattack with a strike to the knee. This all happened with one fluid motion so at a glance, it would look like I knew what he was going to do all along and prepared for it. A perfect feint.
As Polk turned around, I activated my divergent claw and sent him flying.
"Someone like you is so certain that they have the tools to change the world, but you have to understand, you're just like anyone else. You can die. You can stumble and fall over and over again, you can fail for all of your life until the day you die! Isn't that scary?" Polk recovered and begged the question.
It just seems like he's projecting. As if he gave something his all and still couldn't reach his goal. I wondered if I would end up like this at some point then immediately concluded that I wouldn't.
Even if I hit a wall that I wasn't able to cross, I wouldn't give up. I would just hit my head against that wall until I either break through or die.
He went for another wide swing at me that I just barely dodged. More or less, his fighting style is pretty easy to understand. I waited for him to swing, dodged the attack, and landed blow after blow. I looked and found that his health bar was at 50 percent.
Anyone could see that this was an easy win for me. Regardless, Polk kept getting back up. He hasn't even shaved ten percent of my HP off. This would excite me if there was a huge difference in power, but we're even in level and he's a healer. He keeps attacking me as if he's trying to understand why I am the way that I am, so I might as well give him an answer.
As we locked swords, he used all of his might while I barely tried to overpower him. Regardless, our swords were locked. At that point, I told him what was on my mind "Sure, a lot of things can go wrong, but the difference between me and you is that I keep running into that wall until I break through it or die trying. Everything I do is for the greater good of this world. If I were to die serving it at any point, my only regret would be that I didn't live to die a more valiant death."
"B-but I tried so hard and failed at every turn-"
"WHEN ARE YOU GONNA REALIZE THAT YOU HAVE TO CHASE THOSE DREAMS OF YOURS TO THE BITTER END?!?!! I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GOING THROUGH, BUT PUT YOUR VERY SOUL AND LIFE INTO YOUR PASSION AND YOU WON'T REGRET A DAMN THING ABOUT IT!" I used my sword to deliver the final blow to Polk's abdomen.
He immediately collapsed to the floor and entered FYL mode. Once he did that, the room lit green and a door opened at the end of the room. As the cage lowered, Gash dragged his feet as he entered the other room. It looks like he was still sulking about not being able to fight me.
He'll get over it.
I looked down at Polk. He seemed to still be in pain as he healed himself. I offered a hand to him and he reluctantly took it to help himself up.
"You know, I always wanted to write comics. Doesn't really fit into the greater good of the world, right?" Polk joked.
Comics? Like those books about superheroes and stuff? I tried them and although they had good lessons and tear-jerking moments, it didn't really make me feel anything.
"Hey, everyone needs to be inspired when they're down, right? You're helping society in your own way." I said to him as the two of us went into the next room.
This looks like the end of the tomb. This better have been worth it. Because if not, Hermes and the rest of the group is not gonna be happy...
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
RoyalRovaine
RoyalRovaine Matthew and Polk formed a bond over the crossing of blades! Although Gash couldn't participate, he'll get his time to shine in the next chapter!
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