Chapter 102: Cold Reality

’T-this isn’t right!’

Peace’s eyes shot toward the wall, where glowing hieroglyphs clustered in groups of three, almost like clouds. A frieze lined the entire wall, its metopes depicting a battle against monsters between each triglyph of clouds — the illuminated symbols signaling that synthesis was still underway.

That the exits were still sealed.

’But it’s there! It’s right there! Nobody touched it!’

The others soon appeared behind Peace, pushing the door open only to be greeted by the same harrowing sight once their eyes adjusted to the light reflecting off the shield atop the altar.

With no rogue monsters nearby and no further need for silence, Dita immediately echoed his internal sentiments aloud.

"That can’t be..."

Dropping the lantern, Yulis bit his lip, then screamed:

"You idiots! We just got ourselves killed! Why didn’t we wait for—"

Ralph’s eyes began tracing the frieze as well.

"Kid... we’re still locked in."

"Huh—? But didn’t you say—"

Ralph plucked his helmet from his head.

"I did... And I thought it was true. It should’ve been true. But it seems Lady Fate has decided our destiny for us."

Dropping his helmet, Ralph watched as the hollow metal shell bounced off the marble floor and rolled to a stop at Peace’s heel. With his face exposed, there was no hiding the exhaustion in the old warrior’s eyes.

Sensing Ralph’s resignation, Yulis threw down his bow and gripped Ralph by the underside of his pauldrons. Pulling him close, Yulis rose onto his tiptoes and screamed in his face.

"What are you saying, you lout?!"

Ralph shrugged weakly.

"I don’t know. This... is unprecedented."

Shoving Ralph away, Yulis pointed at Dita, then Peace.

"Then isn’t it her fault?! His fault?! You said it! They must be cursed!"

Stumbling backward, Ralph caught himself on one knee. Yet even after regaining his balance, he made no effort to stand.

From there, he glanced at Dita, then Peace.

"No curse could cause this... The dungeon doesn’t randomly rewrite the rules it’s followed for decades. Something must have deliberately changed them. And if that something is a someone who possesses the power to alter the dungeon itself, what right do weaklings like us have to defy their will?" Ralph nodded toward Dita and Peace. "And if they are responsible, do you really think beings like that would simply roll over and die after hearing us discuss killing them to their faces?"

"Shut up! What about that woman?! She sent her here! She probably sent him too!"

Ralph squinted, defeat settling into the corners of his eyes.

"Ah... that thing. It may very well be capable of such a feat."

"Then it is their fault!"

Ralph shook his head and let out a wry chuckle.

"Perhaps so. Maybe that thing had some twisted idea of fun, saving them only to trap them... If I thought killing them would change our fate, I’d have raised my sword, not dropped my helm. Again... if our deaths are what that thing wishes, defying its will would only serve as entertainment."

Yulis stepped back, then withdrew a short sword from his subspace bag. Clicking his tongue, he spat:

"Tch. I’m not like you... I’m not going to go out whimpering in despair. Come to think of it, you have a connection to her as well. All three of you... All three of you are the problem!"

Peace, who’d been quietly studying the glowing symbols, didn’t even look at Yulis as he said:

"So much back and forth between trusting and distrusting. It’s getting tiring. Pick a side already and stick with it. That goes for all of you."

Tightening his grip on his sword, Peace’s red eyes shifted, locking onto the trembling Yulis as he added:

"You’re either a friend, or you’re not."

Yulis met Peace’s cold glare with a strained one. Even if he drew his sword against Peace, Ralph, and Dita, he knew he stood no chance.

"I..."

Volkar, who sat slumped against the wall, huffed between labored breaths:

"Friends... stick together."

’Hmm...’

Peace turned fully toward Ralph, looking down at the kneeling warrior.

"Ralph... you trusted Volkar’s intuition earlier. Why?"

Ralph raised an eyebrow.

"What an odd question to ask now... But that fool has an eerily keen intuition."

’And he trusted that sense enough to risk walking straight toward his doom?’

Now that he saw where that path led, he was once again resigning to a doomed fate leaving Peace and the others to talk him from the ledge. It was almost a mirror of the scenario when they’d first been locked inside the Light Temple. Only, Peace now saw what Ralph was truly afraid of. He now slightly understood why he’d been about to swallow the poison vial.

The fate Ralph seemed certain of was not death, but something worse...

’Now I see why he said that... why he said "I was at least lookin’ to die on my own terms."’

Peace asked:

"If you trusted it so deeply... does that mean you think it’s more than luck?"

Ralph lifted his head and scowled, but said nothing.

"..."

Peace took a deep breath .

"I see... So, tell me, why do you wish to die so badly? There’s clearly something you’re not telling us about our lively friend over there. Perhaps something that explains why you were so reluctant to hash out your original plan against me... Why you were so intent on staying on his good side?"

Yulis stammered as his head swiveled between Ralph and Volkar.

"H-huh?"

After a few long seconds, Ralph let out a weary sigh and finally replied:

"Why do I wish to die? Because... living is tiring. Cruel, even. Survival always comes at a cost. Most of the time, that cost is time itself. Sometimes, the debt is paid in blood. And other times... you survive only to realize that what you sacrificed was worth more than the life you saved. All that remains is the burden of remembering. Of knowing you’re still here, while everything you fought so hard to protect is gone. That is why... you could say I’ve given up. Not because I have nothing left to live for, but because I do. And I can’t bear the thought of losing that, too. You were right, Peace... I do have something to lose. A lot, actually."

Yulis’s blue eyes grew stone-cold as disgust and confusion twisted his features.

"What do you mean you ’wish to die’?! I will not allow such self-righteousness! Explain yourself!"

Dita shook her head, then interjected.

"You sure flip at the drop of a hat."