It was his calling. It had always been his calling. Alexander had, without a second thought, dove into the Void without a second thought. He knew that William would be safe from harm on the other side. He had faith that the people of Revaliir would do their duty, and save everything. Just like he would.

However, the Void was something that he had never encountered before. His shimmering plate armor was reduced to a dull grey. The realm itself felt oppressive and unwelcoming, as if it were trying to reject the very existence of the foreign object that had just entered it. Still, the noble knight pressed on against this pressure, finding himself in a tunnel of sorts that lead deeper into the Void.

He was met with his first foe within minutes of exploring the tennel; an inhuman creature of a grotesque make, flying about overhead. Its first action after spotting Alexander was to dive down. After all, a tasty treat had just entered its territory. It was unceremoniously cut in two with a brisk slash from Alexander’s blade. Its battle cry, which had been cut short, rang through the eerie silence. At once, it was answered with several more screams from the dark.

“Oh. This could be a problem,” Alexander said almost nonchalantly. If it be one, or one thousand, Alexander would cut through them all without hesitation. “For Revaliir,” he said, charging forward into the darkness. The first Stalker came from straight ahead, and Alexander responded with a straightforward stab, striking the beast dead in the center. The weight of the Stalker slowed him down as he tossed it’s lifeless corpse to the side, but it hardly would affect him in the long run. However, this gave another Stalker the opportunity to strike from his blind spot.

“Clever!” he said as he reversed his blade with incredible speed, pushing back to impale the beast. “But not clever enough!” While his blade was preoccupied, though, a second Stalker came from the front. He let his blade go, and quickly caught the creature by its neck. It made a painful screeching noise, clawing at Alexander and scratching at his exposed face. He ignored the pain, and felt his strength increase as he focused his mana, crushing the beast’s neck and tossing it aside.

The whole ordeal was going to be harder than he initially thought. He used the momentary lapse of attackers to free his blade, and once more turned to the depths of the Void. He could hear more of the Stalkers approaching, their wings and calls echoing throughout the tunnel. He whipped his blade through the air, cleansing it from the blood that had covered it, and then took a combat stance.

“Come at me, then!” he roared to the darkness, dropping his uncaring attitude for a much more serious one.

After all…this was for the future of all.

It had never been Xeik’s intention to go into the Void. In fact, the boy could have gone his entire life without ever going through one of the various tunnels into the dark abyss. But here he was, risking it all, because of one of his guild members. The boy had gotten so lost in the battle, so frightened, and it was Xeik’s responsibility to take care of him. After all, that’s what leaders do.

Right? Xeik thought as he slowly walked through the eerie silence. There had been some commotion earlier when he had first entered the tunnel, but now he heard nothing but silence. The whole place was setting off every internal alarm he had. Every fiber of his being wanted to turn tail and run, but the boy could hardly back down now.

“Nihil!?” Xeik called out, his voice echoing through the shadows. There was no answer back. So the boy pressed on. With every step, he felt his connection to the Tree diminishing, and his strength draining. How could someone survive extended amounts of time here? He shook the thought away, and pressed on.

“Nihil? Hello!?” he called out again. Still no answer. The silence was almost deafening at this point. He started to move again, and stumbled over something heavy. He let out a yelp, and fell to the ground with a hard thud. Groaning, his looked to see what he tripped over, and let out a startled scream, scrambling back. Staring at his face was a Void beast, it’s grotesque face snarling. But it wasn’t moving. Xeik crawled over to it on all fours, and poked it with a skillfully drawn dagger.

“Dead,” he stated as he stood up, turning towards the depths. His eyes could make out more of the dead Void beasts off in the distance. Nihil can’t have done this. Someone else is here. His eyes lit up. Maybe they can help! He started to run, this time paying better attention to where his feet were, making sure to avoid the various dead Stalkers about.

“Hello?” he called ahead. “Is anyone there?” There was still no reply, but the body count was getting bigger. There was a sense of dread in Xeik’s heart. Perhaps whoever it was hadn’t survived.

Surely enough, Xeik finally came across a bloodied body, cased in plate armor, sitting against the wall of the tunnel. They were in deep now, and there was little connection to the Tree that the young boy could feel. “Hey! Hey you!” Xeik ran over to the dark haired strange, slapping his face a little. “This isn’t a good place to be! Wake up!” The boy was frantic now, trying to figure out a way to save the warrior who had pressed so far into the Void.

“Come on,” Xeik said, slapping the man again. “Get up already! This isn’t the place to die! Not here, and not now!”

It had been a long, and arduous fight. He had pushed as far as he could go into the depths of the Abyss, and here he was about to perish. Perhaps, he thought to himself, he was not quite the valiant hero he made himself out to be. But of course, he knew in his heart that he was always one for self sacrifice, but self sacrifice was not always enough. In an average fight, he would have done so well, but the Void is a place that even the brightest of warriors fall dim. And yet, as his eyes slowly opened, he found himself staring at a young boy whose concern was prominent on his face.

“Ah,” Alexander said with a dull surprise. “It seems I have worried you, boy.” He sat up, feeling slightly more awake. “It would seem that I fell asleep here.” This was, of course, a lie. The brave knight had fought with all his might, underestimating the power of the Void and his distance from the World Tree. Had the boy not arrived, Alexander would have likely perished from mana deprivation, or a wandering Void beast. It was not Pride, though, that made him lie to the boy. No, it was out of the concern for those who would lose hope that a hero would fall.

It was unavoidable in the current situation though, and he knew it. Heroes would fall.

“Here we are boy,” Alexander said as he held out his hand. “Help me up. This is no place for a child to be.”