DAN AND MADS' AMAZING ADVENTURE
PART FOUR

[Descending into the most secret, most remote part of the dungeon is pretty simple, after having defeated the first two guardians. No other supernatural creature comes at them as Daniel, Madison and Mel travel through narrow, damp, dark tunnels, following no lead except their sense of direction and Mel's vague indications. He seems to be able to "feel" the stone, its heartbeat, so to speak, or at least that's what he confusedly tried to explain to Madison, and what she tried to report back to Daniel in an even more confused fashion. Daniel decided to trust them both, Mel's instinct and his sister's fate in him.

That's why he's not really surprised at all when they reach another big, circular room that's been dug in the stone at what seems to be the very heart of the mountain.

It's completely empty, except for the few torches hanging from the walls, to dimly illuminate the steel trunk placed on a middle-sized ivory pillar right in the middle of the room. A soft white light seems to emanate from it, and Daniel tries and ventures closer, despite how weirdly soft the ground feels, as if covered in mud.]

Daniel: That must be it... do you think that's where it's been kept? The stone?

Mel: *He nods, but he explains more to Madison. At this point, he doesn't even need to turn to her anymore. He just speaks in her mind. Besides, there's no chance of confusion here. He can only speak to her.*

Madison: He says that the feeling he gets from the stone seems closer here. That heartbeat thing he was talking about? It's louder. And, if you ask me, this looks like the kind of place you would keep a treasure in. Any deeper than that and you’d pop out the other side of the world. What worries me, tho, is that this also looks like the kind of place you put your secret weapon, if you have one.

Daniel: *He looks around, trying to spot anything suspicious. He sees nothing.* Right now, there's just the trunk. Maybe that's the secret weapon? Maybe it's been made unbreakable. *He slowly unsheathes the sword he stole from the Cyclops. It's still glowing red hot, as if it was still barely out of the forge.* I say we try our luck.

[And with this, he steps closer to the trunk, his foot instantly drowning in what seems like a deeper puddle of mud. He quickly backs off, grimacing in annoyance, but that's nothing compared to the look on his face when the mud starts coming together from all sides of the room, composing in a tall figure without a face, only barely solid and with glowing red eyes.]

Daniel: ...shit.

Madison: *growling* Why does it never go smoothly? I mean, wasn't two giant monsters enough? No, let's give them a third. We've got time to waste, rooms to spare... *sighs, and pushes Mel behind herself.* You stand back. Dan, this is a golem. I don't like golems. I never remember how they work.

Daniel: Well. *He wields his sword, looking at the growling monster to keep his movements in check* Let's see if this sword was worth the fight we went through to get it. It's been forged by a Cyclops. I bet it can take down golems.

[He launches himself at the monster, lifting his sword and then bringing it down over its head after a graceful jump. The blade cuts through the entirety of the golem's body, from the top of its head to its guts. The two halves fall limp on the ground and for a moment they look like they're melting again. A victorious smile starts blooming on Daniel's lips, but it's a short-lived one: very quickly, the two halves seem to come alive again, turning into two twin golems, smaller than the one he took down, but just as deadly.]

Daniel: ...or not.

Madison: Doesn't look good to me. Maybe it's the sword? Let's try another way, this time.

[She plants her feet on the ground and follows one of the two smallest golems with the barrel of her gun, and just at the right moment, she fires. The bullet, aimed a few feet ahead of the golem, hits it right on time. The little golem explodes, giving her a brief moment of happiness, and then its particles, or whatever they are, reassemble in two even smaller golems.]

Madison: For fuck's sake! This is ridiculous! Now there are three of them.

Daniel: Fuck! *The smaller golems are indeed a little less threatening and overwhelming than the huge one they first saw, but they're faster, and they attack way more rapidly. Plus, the only thing Daniel can do when they attack is keep cutting them into tinier and tinier pieces, and the only effect that has is that the golems keep multiplying: in but a few minutes, they're surrounded by dozens of little golems all coming at them, trying to climb their bodies to nibble at them.* Mads! We need to do something! They're too many! We can't resist any longer!

Madison: Well, you can stop with the cutting, for starters!

[In saying so, she hits a couple of golems using her gun as a bat. And then, she repeats the procedure to free Mel from another couple of those things.]

Madison: *talking to Mel* Yeah, love. I have no idea how to do that right now. Can't you see I'm a little busy?

Daniel: What? *When the golems approach, he tries to stab them in their chest instead of simply cutting them to pieces, hoping that will stop them. It doesn't, so he has to keep cutting, he's got no other choice, as much as it disappoints him.* What is Mel saying?

Madison: *She keeps hitting golems as if she were playing baseball.* He says he has to go to the trunk. Stress on 'has', like his life depends on it or something.

Daniel: *He knows better than to dismiss Mel's requests and feelings. After all, he guided them there, didn't he? He slices through another couple of tiny golems, turning them into four more baby golems, and then looks at Mel* You feeling something, baby?

Madison: *Rolls her eyes*

Mel: *Nods, looking at him. He places the palm of his right hand on his own chest where the heart is.*

Daniel: Okay, then. *He was almost being covered in ridiculously tiny golems, and he gets rid of them with a powerful shrug, and then moves to the side, luring them into follow him* Mads! Get him closer to that fucking trunk. I'll deal with these tiny demons. *He keeps jumping right and left, keeping the monsters focused on him and slicing through them as if they were made of butter, hoping whatever Mel has in mind puts a stop to this terrifying multiplication of golems.*

[Madison’s got no time to argue about a plan that will potentially resolve into his brother being eaten alive by tiny golems. She grabs Mel by the hand and, clearing a path among the golems, she drags him to the trunk.]

Madison: Work your magic, elf. Get us out of here!

[Mel has no idea how this works, he only does what he feels compelled to do, which is getting close to the trunk. He feels the stone resonate with something inside his body. It's as if the stone had a heart, and that heart is now beating together with his own. He closes his eyes, trusting that Madison will keep him safe, and focuses on the tiny vibration inside his chest. He connects with the stones through it, willing it to reconnect with him. The trunk starts to vibrate, emulating what's happening inside Mel's body and then, quite suddenly, it bursts open and the stone comes out. It's a...]

Madison: *whistles* So much for the sacred bling. That thing's bigger than my head!

Daniel: *He has had no time to follow what was happening around the trunk: surrounded by tiny golems coming at him from every side, all he can do is keep turning around slicing them and only barely keeping them at bay. He hears his sister whistling, though, and that makes him understand something good must've happened.* Guys...! I need some help, here!

Madison: Yeah, well, the fucking thing's open but nothing changed and—

Mel: *Without warning, he starts walking towards Daniel, seemingly unfazed by the fact that there are thousands of golems ready to chew him whole.*

Madison: Hey! Where the fuck— *hitting baby golems left and right* Oh, for fuck's sake!

[Since, apparently, what Mel does is always right, she decides that the only thing she can do is get him through to wherever he wants to go, which, unsurprisingly at all, is where Daniel is.]

Daniel: *He only sees the boy approach at the last minute, and of course he's terrified for him.* Mel! What are you doing?! It's dangerous here! *He tries and slice a little golem coming at the kid, but surprisingly the golem gets bounced away before it can touch Mel.* What the fuck? *And then, when Daniel tries to move, he finds out he can't. His body's drawn towards Mel, but when his arms, apparently moved by a will of their own, lift the sword mid-air, he understands it's not their bodies coming together, it's the stone, calling for his sword. They meet halfway and the moment they touch a huge, pulsing, white light emanates from them, seemingly fusing them together. The moment the bright light disappears, the blade of his sword has stopped glowing red and is now glowing a very dim white-bluish light, and the hilt of the sword has changed too. It has now wings.* ... this is so fucking cool!!!

Madison: Great! That right there must be the most fucking expensive sword ever existed up to now. Would you mind trying if it also kills stuff or it's just another pretty useless thing like the two of you?

Daniel: *He doesn't even have to do anything. He turns towards the army of toddler golems coming at him in full force, and the moment he raises the sword that bright white light comes back, seemingly exploding out of the blade, enveloping everything in blinding whiteness. Daniel even has to cover his eyes with his forearm not to be completely blinded by it. And when the light's gone, just as that, so are the golems.* ...well. I've gotta say. That was fucking rad.

Madison: *arches an eyebrow, looking around where there's... well, nothing anymore.* Well, I must say I'm impressed.

Mel: *smiles and claps his hands, jumping a little.*

Daniel: ...and that was all you! *He turns towards Mel and wraps an arm around his waist, pulling him into a tight hug and kissing him on his lips.* You've been great. Turns out you didn't need any protecting, after all. *chuckles*

Madison: If we don't count the time that I actually freed him from the cage where they put him two days after he left his village.

Daniel: That's completely irrelevant, he didn't have the magic stone with him back then. *shrugs, and then realizes what he just said* Which actually makes me think... the stone disappeared, right? *He lifts his sword* It's in here, now.

Mel: *nods*

Daniel: Which means... *sighs* We have no other choice. If your village needs the stone, then I've got to leave the sword there. Hoping that'll be enough.

*
[They reach Mel's village a few days and much smooching later, so when they finally see the crossed branches that signal the entrance of the place, Madison sighs in relief. The nightmare is over. Mel leaves Daniel's side for the first time in forever just to run under the branches and hug what are supposedly his parents - they're like him, but older. But anyone else among the hundreds others elves coming out from their houses in the trees looks exactly like him, so they could just as well be not related to him at all.

The place is weirdly silent, except for the natural sounds, which is a little creepy. One thing is having a non-speaking kid around, another is having a whole village looking at you and not saying a word.

But that doesn't matter at all, really, the moment the sword is shown to the chief elf and Mel nods to these people, and the crowd opens to make way for what Madison thinks is the best sight in the world.

A few elves bringing not one but two trunks full of the things Madison loves most in the world after her brother. They put them right in front of her and she kneels on the ground, burying her hands in that sea of silver and golden coins. Money makes such a pretty sound when it's so much and so pure you can see your reflection in it. She laughs happily, bringing handfuls and handfuls of coins to her face, smelling them, showering herself in them until she's completely buried under it, and all you can see of her are her boobs, going up and down as she sighs happily.]

Daniel: ... you're shameless. *He sighs and turns away from the sight. Money never was the reason he was doing any of that, after all. He looks at Mel, briefly, and then at the chief, holding the sword, too heavy for those small creatures* Excuse me, sir... where should I put this?

[The older elf points at a stone altar a few feet away. Since Madison clearly can't be used as a translator now, Mel just nods to confirm and smiles. ]

Daniel: *He smiles back at him and follows the old chief, putting the sword on the altar. The moment he does that, the whole place seems to come alive at once. Not only the elves look younger and healthier, but the woods seem to heal too, the leaves turning greener, the trees taller, the water of the nearby stream clearer, the birds chirping more cheerfully. Everybody rejoices, and Daniel smiles widely, satisfied with himself and the job they've done. Then he remembers what this means, having reached the end of the journey, and when he turns to face Mel his smile is somehow a little sadder* Well... it seems like we made it, kid.

Mel: *He nods, clearly as sad as Daniel is. He looks down to show his sadness, but then he doesn't want to miss a single moment with Daniel so he looks up again, sighing.*

Daniel: Oh, come on, don't be sad. *He tries and smiles in a more convincing way as he cups Mel's face in his hands and leans in to kiss him on his lips* I mean, I'm only leaving, not dying or anything. I can always come back. We could meet again. At some point.

Mel: *He glares at him, and he doesn't need words for the concept "Yeah, sure. Do you say that to everyone?" to pass through.*

Daniel: *He chuckles, amused by Mel's expression.* Don't look at me like that, kid. *Sighs and kisses him again, more sweetly this time* I hate the thought of leaving you. But I can't stay here. You understand that, don't you? I've gotta follow my call. My father's road.

Mel: *He looks at him for the longest time, and since everything is silent here – a little bit less silent now that Madison is laughing happily – the time looks still. Then, his eyes get bigger and brighter and he smiles. He nods, touches his chest and then moves his hand in a gesture towards him.*

Madison: *from under the pile of gold* The answer is no.

Daniel: *He was trying to follow Mel's silent speech without needing a translation, but his sister's voice, which he's used to follow whenever he hears it, easily distracts him, and he turns towards the pile of gold Madison's buried underneath* What? What did he say?

Madison: Does it matter? The answer is no.

Mel: *Taps his foot on the ground and then marches towards her, literally dragging her out of her golden nest. He glares at her.*

Madison: Listen, not only I find the idea annoying, but it's unpractical. And also dangerous. But most of all annoying.

Daniel: *Pouts, looking at them both, annoyed* Would you mind sharing?

Madison: *sighs* He plans to come with.

Mel: *He points at her with both hands, in a "ta-da!" way, smiling.*

Daniel: *He wasn't expecting this at all because he was pretty sure what Mel wanted was to stay with his people in his village, after going through so many perils while outside its borders, so when he hears it his whole face changes completely, brightening up. He grabs Mel's hands in his own and squeezes them, looking adoringly at him* Would you?!

Mel: *nods, quickly*

Madison: Doesn't it bother you that I said no? It should bother you, because it's hard to kill things when you're alone.

Daniel: Oh, stop it, Mads, you saw him! He's strong, he's got magic, he could be useful! We're gonna have lots and lots of fun! We're gonna roam the lands searching for quests and people to save, it's gonna be amazing!

Mads: Still a no.

Daniel: Well, it doesn't matter much, 'cause he's coming. *He shrugs and turns back to Mel, smiling brightly* How would you like to meet my mother?

Mel: *He nods, and then points at a lady elf and then at himself.*

Mads: ...and that's when I become an only child. *She puts her money back in the trunks and closes one and then the other.* Well, folks... *shaking hands right and left* It's been a pleasure.

Daniel: *He was looking at the lady elf Mel was pointing at, curiously, but he instantly stops when Madison starts moving.* Wa-- Madison, wait! *As always, he plays it cool, but whenever his sister threatens to leave here he is, running after her skirts like a baby boy. He grabs Mel's hand.* There's no time to waste, if we don't follow her right away we're gonna lose her. Believe me, happens all the time. You ready to leave?

Mel: *He nods again. He doesn't owns much and he used to live on the trees, so. He grabs his hand and runs with him.*