Kael.
I woke up at three in the morning with a perfect plan.
"Dungeons," I said into the dark.
The word sat there.
Solid.
Structured.
Reliable.
Fantasy world. Magic. Guild. Debt.
Dungeons.
Dungeons meant treasure.
Treasure meant gold.
Gold erased debt.
Simple.
Clean.
I sat up.
"…finally."
Senna was already downstairs.
Of course she was.
Book open.
scratch… scratch…
Hat slightly crooked.
I sat across from her.
"How far is the nearest dungeon?"
She didn't look up.
"Good morning."
"Dungeon distance."
A pause.
Then she looked up.
"Valdremoor."
"How far."
"Six days by carriage."
I leaned forward.
"Walking?"
"Longer."
"How much is carriage."
She said the number.
…
I leaned back slowly.
"So they exist."
"Yes."
"And we can't reach them."
"We cannot afford to."
I nodded once.
"And we can't afford to because we owe one hundred and thirty-one gold."
She waited.
"And we owe that because of a bridge."
Still waiting.
"And the bridge happened because someone touched Rael."
"Kael."
"I'm mapping the disaster chain."
She closed her book.
thump.
"The realistic plan is local quests. Save slowly. Travel later."
"How much later."
She hesitated.
…
"How much."
"At our current rate… around eleven years."
…
The word sat.
Heavy.
Eleven.
I stared at the wall.
"I died at eighteen," I said quietly. "I will be nearly thirty before we even reach the dungeon."
"That assumes nothing else goes wrong."
I rubbed my face.
"Please don't add variables."
Rael came downstairs.
step… step…
She looked at me once.
"You look unstable."
"Dungeons are six days away and eleven years impossible."
She poured a drink.
clink.
"Then we'll make money."
"That's the problem."
She drank.
"No. The problem is we don't have money."
…
That was annoyingly correct.
The vault job paid six silver.
Six.
I held the number in my head.
Six against one hundred and thirty-one gold.
…
That wasn't progress.
That was decoration.
We took it anyway.
Venner's vault sat underground.
Stone walls.
One door.
Heavy lock.
clunk.
Three nights.
One person awake.
We made a schedule.
"I'll be there all three nights," Mira said.
"There are only three," I said.
"I'll be there."
"You don't need to."
She adjusted her sword.
shff.
"I'll be there."
…
That ended it.
Night One
I lasted three hours.
The chair was warm.
The lamp was soft.
The silence was heavy.
Mira sat across from me.
Back straight.
Sword resting lightly.
Eyes open.
Still.
Too still.
"You don't have to stay," I said.
"I know."
"You're not even assigned tonight."
"I'm staying."
…
At some point—
I blinked too long.
Morning.
Light hit my face.
There was a blanket over me.
Mira hadn't moved.
Same position.
Same posture.
"You slept?" I asked.
She didn't look at me.
"The vault is secure."
"That wasn't—"
She adjusted her grip.
shift.
Conversation over.
Night Two
Senna lasted four hours.
She fell asleep upright.
Pen still in hand.
…scratch…
Stopped.
Morning.
Blanket.
Mira—
same position.
Senna stared.
A long time.
Then—
flip.
She opened her book.
Wrote something small.
scratch.
Paused.
Wrote again.
scratch.
Closed it.
Night Three
Rael tried to outlast her.
She stood the entire time.
Wouldn't sit.
At some point—
her chin dipped.
…
Morning.
Blanket over her shoulders.
Mira—
had not moved.
Rael stared.
"How are you still—"
She stopped.
"How."
"I am sitting."
"You know what I mean."
Mira tilted her head slightly.
"The vault is secure."
Rael narrowed her eyes.
"Are you human."
Mira blinked once.
"Yes."
Rael leaned closer.
"Fully."
"Yes."
…
That made it worse.
Morning.
Venner arrived.
Six silver dropped into my hand.
clink.
He looked at Mira.
"You were here all three nights."
"Yes."
"You didn't sleep."
"I rested."
"You look completely fine."
…
No response.
He studied her.
Looking for something.
Anything.
Nothing.
He nodded slowly.
We left.
Outside.
Morning light.
Six silver heavier.
I looked at Mira.
"How do you do that."
"Do what."
"The not-sleeping."
"I rest."
"That's not normal."
"It works."
"For how long."
She thought.
"I haven't reached the end yet."
…
I stopped walking.
"You haven't found the limit."
She kept walking.
Rael made a sound behind us.
exhale.
Not a laugh.
Not quite.
"Root affinity?" I asked.
"Probably."
"That's concerning."
"It's useful."
"That's worse."
She didn't argue.
"Since when," I asked.
"Third temple rejection."
…
The air tightened.
I almost asked.
The way she didn't look at me—
said enough.
Not today.
"We now have eleven silver seventy-five copper," Rael said.
She always said numbers out loud.
Like that made them behave.
"Against one hundred and thirty-one gold," I said.
She nodded once.
"Still terrible."
"Correct."
Guild board.
Small jobs.
Fence repair.
Field clearing.
Rat problems.
Nothing dungeon-shaped.
I stared.
"I thought it would move faster," I said.
Mira stood beside me.
"It won't."
"I was hoping for a shortcut."
She thought.
Then—
"You're still here."
…
I exhaled.
That wasn't dramatic.
But it landed.
Behind us—
flip.
Senna turned a page.
Rael adjusted her axe.
shff.
Six silver in my pocket.
One hundred and thirty-one gold ahead.
Six days to a dungeon.
Eleven years to reach it.
"One quest at a time," Mira said.
I looked at the board.
Then the street.
Then back.
"…Fine."
Not hopeful.
Not defeated.
Just—
moving.
We stepped forward.
Together.
Somewhere above Breth—
a goddess watched.
The count kept climbing.
tick… tick…
She didn't look at it.
She was watching Mira.