He turned and turned, trying to focus on anything else, he missed his home; he missed the sound of the town through his window waking him up; he missed his mom calling him frustrated to wake up, his sister stealing his breakfast when he wasn’t looking, his neighbors asking him how long till he got to their task while he was clearly doing another one’s. His nguage homework, getting a splinter while fixing a hole on their roof, reliving the weeks that followed the kiss, cleaning the cattle’s manure. Everything; he’d do everything a thousand times if it meant he could be there, he wanted to go home, he needed to be there, to hug his family, to feel the grass of home under his feet, to walk through his streets, to sleep in his bed.

  Luca couldn’t hold the sobs in, the tears flowing as his breathing and sobs escaped from within his very soul, he didn’t want people to hear him cry; he wasn’t safe there, people would ask, feel sorry for him, take pity; he wouldn’t have it, so he clutched a hand over his mouth and pulled his knees near his face as he id sideways on the bed, drowning his sorrows in a world where no one could hear him. He had never felt so alone.

  The night sky stretched above them, the stars decorating the moonless dark infinity; they were te. The big guy lit up another cigarette, contact better get there soon, Satch was dedicated, but not so much that he’d take a beating like the st guy just because this one wasn’t punctual. Gncing around, the other people seemed to think the same to themselves. The crew was pretty varied: Paul, he obviously saw before; if you weren’t blind you could see him, he was big and mean and thought he deserved to lead because of it, he was the leader. Thomas was another one he knew about, started out as a gambler, started taking his liberties during certain games, cheated the wrong guy, now only had crime to feed whoever he needed to. Finally, Libertas, even after having seen her over the years, frequenting bars and such, Satch couldn’t quite get accustomed to seeing a woman with wings and four eyes clean a dagger of blood she herself spilt, but there she was, at least she said she spilt it, might have been a different situation, she also said that the celestials that behaved well had shining eyes, bullshit he thought.

  The new one, however, was also a standout. A smoking half-orc, two sulking humans and an ex-astris1 Humans with godly blood in them, they have another smaller set of eyes under the usual and wings, as well as capacity to glow. cleaning a bloody dagger were a weird bunch, but when you added a guy with a dog face and a receding hairline/combover combo, things got even weirder. The guy apparently had a good smell, which made sense, but while he was also leaning against the wall, he was ser-focused on a certain house, one of the few that still had their lights on. The more Satch saw this guy, the more intrigued he became, so he decided to break the silence and risk a hit from Paul:

  “Hey, why don’t we do a roll call?” They all gnced at him, except the dog-man, whose ears twitched at his voice but who didn’t gnce back. “Let’s all say our name and why we need the money, huh? You first Tom.” He nodded at Tom, who sighed and straightened himself.

  “I’m, well, Thomas like he said, and I need the money to uh, pay some debts.” He gnced to the side, avoiding eye contact with anyone. “Because some people are sore losers and can’t accept when a guy has good luck.”

  “Why are we doing this?” Paul sounded irritated, but not enough at them and more at the situation, they irritated him, the guy that was te angered him.

  “Trust exercise, you know? You next Libby” Satch motioned to Libertas to continue, who, after cleaning the dagger, was poking her finger with it.

  “I’m Libertas; I come from the stars of wisdom.” Paul rolled his eyes at her comment, but she continued. “I need the money for drugs.” She looked at the pricked finger, a small drop of blood emerging, she then put her mouth on the cut and started sucking; she did that sometimes.

  “Good! Paul?” He looked up at him, he found a trick long ago that the best way for Paul to not bme you for issues that you had nothing to do with was act with him as you did with others; it didn’t avoid the possibility of getting beaten if you fucked up, but it helped avoid it when others did.

  “... grrhn” He groaned and spit his cigarette out, taking another one, he lit it up again as he spoke. “I’m Paul; I need money because I want it, and I’m still here because this FUCKER clearly can’t read a clock!” A small silence appeared but vanished as curiosity won over Satch.

  “I think you are the only one left, friend.” He waited for the guy’s response, but he didn’t react, still focusing on the far house. When Satch gnced at the house, they turned their lights off, looking back at the beastman, he was smiling, full set of canine teeth revealing... “What, does dinner smell good over there boy?”

  “He doesn’t speak.” Decred Paul. “They call him Hound, and he isn’t interested in dinner.” He took a long drag and exhaled, leaning his head back and closing his eyes, trying to rex. “He got messed up in the head a while back; the only thing he cares about is women… who usually don’t care about him back.” Satch looked at Paul, he wasn’t the type to joke. He looked back at Hound, who finally turned to him smiling, his eyes were looking in two different directions, and his freakish dog tongue was out, he may not speak but he ughed, a horrible perverted, throaty ugh. Satch grimaced, he wished his curiosity had left him alone.

  “You haven’t gone yet Satch.” Libertas spoke, still looking fascinated at the dagger, Satch sighed as the dogman looked back at the house.

  “Yeah yeah, I’m Satch and I need the money cause… I got someone to feed.” The dog man ughed again, gncing at him with a questioning look; Satch didn’t appreciate it. “You wanna go to the pound boy?! They’ll have you neutered before this fucking guy gets here.” Hound seemed unaffected by the threat, which only served to piss Satch off even more, if this guy even insinuated to do something to his sister…

  “Ah, that’s them, no?” Thomas spoke and nodded forward, down the street came a short figure, with some heavy equipment that looked like a small cannon covered in a bck curtain, (which matched the figure's bck cloak) and a long backpack that they dragged.

  “Fucking finally, c'mon, it’s te already.” Paul threw the cigarette and walked towards the western entrance to their right.

  “But they didn’t do the trust thing!” Libertas protested, which got a response in the shape of a backhanded sp from Paul, who’s hand was as big as her face. All stopped and looked, as Paul groaned and went back to walking, Hound wheezed a quiet ugh and followed.

  This small pause allowed the cloaked figure to approach, taking off their hood; they were a red hair with a buzz cut. A small amount of orange hair covered the top of their round face, as they approached Libertas, who were on the ground with a hand on her cheek. They were a half-foot, young, probably in their twenties, seeing as how they looked like a human ten year old.

  “G-Golly, a-are you okay miss?” He tried to console Libertas, who in turn snapped at him and hissed, sshing at the air as he reeled back, she got up and spit at the ground before him, very proper of her. Satch looked as he stood up on his own, dusted the bottom of his cloak and grabbed the long, dragging backpack. Thomas grabbed the cannon device from him and started walking with the group. “T-Thank you sir! I-I-” He stopped as he noticed how they all walked away, he silently followed. Satch wanted to ask him things as well; he seemed too innocent to be here, but then again he only looked like a child, didn't sound or walk like one, and the doggy man was a rapist so, who could guess, he decided to settle for a name.

  “Satch” He said as he walked past him tapping his chest with his fingers, the half-foot followed as fast as he could and nodded.

  “Barkly.” Satch nodded at him as they joined the group and he turned to face the front, seeing the western wall approach.

  The pn was to stay silent, so they all did; only Paul talked, both the inner and outer guards did their theater of asking him who he was and where he was going, and Paul followed, handing them both a passport filled with money, which they emptied and gave back. As they walked into the grass towards the dungeon, only cricket’s song filled the air—that and the long backpack of the half-foot dragging. Satch looked up at the dungeon, he would’ve struggled to differentiate the top from the night sky if there weren't stars; it was very dark. He hated the dungeon but loved the money raiding it provided, one only needed to have the right buyer, and they could get a double-digit number of gold coins from a couple nice things in the first level, and he needed the money. His little sister’s birthday was only in a week, and she was doing so well in school; even acing that test, he’d get her something nice, whatever, but it’d be nice and expensive, so he joined Paul’s recruitment.

  After a while of walking, they got to the foot of the mountain; apparently that part used to be inside the ground, mad to think about. The half-orc walked towards Barkly and grabbed the equipment from them violently, throwing them on the ground, Hound once again wheezed quietly.

  “We aren’t ambushing any group, are we?” Thomas asked as he opened the backpack, revealing some thick and long as a human arm metal bolts, he grabbed one and took the bck covering off the cannon, revealing a wooden cannon-shaped structure.

  “No, we are just going to get some shit from level two.” He responded as he kneeled and grabbed the wooden device, holding it still. Level two?! He only agreed to level one.

  “Got it.” Thomas grabbed one of the bolts and walked over to the device, squinting. “Tsk, I can’t see shit, Libby, you mind?”

  Libertas reluctantly put her dagger back in its sheathed and lifted her hands, directing her hands towards the wooden equipment, making an effort, magical light flickered out of her hands, after that, Thomas loaded a bolt into it, and finally Paul pressed something that made the machine make sound, Satch couldn’t see what because Libertas’s light was flickering out, finally the light disappeared, and she panted from the effort.

  “Oi Paul, what do you mean level two? We said only one, you know I only accept going to the one.” Satch protested as Thomas and Barkly operated the device; they seemed to be aiming it.

  “That’s why I didn’t tell you.” The half-orc didn’t even look at him; he instead was looking up at the entrance.

  “Wh- That’s bullshit! I ain’t going to level two.” Paul snapped back and walked towards him, before he could react, he got punched on the side of the face, dropping him to the ground and sending the world spinning, he heard Hound’s wheeze ugh again, at least someone got something good from the pain.

  “Be my guest then! Go back to the gates and get arrested, or stay around and get caught by the patrolling ones.” He leaned forward to get closer to his face on the ground. “You are a fucking pussy Satch, you are fast and useful, but we ain’t getting paid enough to risk an arrest by killing slimes and bats, so we going to level two.” With that he stood straight again and turned to the group. “Launch it already.”

  As Satch got up, he heard the device unch, a whistle as the bolt went upwards followed by the metal cord attached to it and a distant metallic cnk as it grabbed onto the entrance, grappling hooks were one hell of a device. Thomas went once again to the backpack and opened another pocket, then started handing out harnesses to all of them except Libertas.

  “Where's mine?” She asked, scratching her neck and leaving white marks on her tanned dry skin.

  “You have wings.” Paul stated while putting on his harness.

  “What?! Oh come on, you know I don’t like flying.” It was bizarre for one without legs to not like making the effort of walking but, maybe it wasn’t applicable.

  “Well I don’t like talking to you but here we are, aren’t we? Now shut up and wait for us to get up there, then fly.” He said it as he attached his harness to the cord and then grabbed it, finally, he started climbing. Despite being the biggest one, Paul liked going first, probably reveled in the idea that if he fell, he took everyone with him, which is probably why Thomas prayed to make sure Paul's harness stayed on the cord if he did lose footing.

  Libertas took off her cloak, revealing her scrawny figure, her chest was covered by a brown bra; she extended her wings, almost stretching them, and looked downwards, looking worried or scared. Satch’s turn arrived, the st one, after Barkly’s trembly figure, he attached his harness and breathed deep. It’d be fine; they had gotten to the bottom of level one, with a bit of luck, they’d find enough materials at the surface of level two in order to avoid going deeper, just a bit of luck.