The insides of the elven palace had nothing. Damian was hoping for some kind of treasure, but judging by how the place looked, the elves were not dumb to leave their treasures there.
'It must be somewhere else,' Damian thought.
But not that it was a bad thing to explore the building. Damian's idea was to make Chris look for the book — the one Damian was in possess — to see that it was not there!
It would make Damian less suspicious about taking it for himself. Not that they would say a word if he took — Damian saved their asses, so a book was a small payment for what he did.
"Let's head back to meet the elves."
"The elves? They are here?" Chris said, surprised.
They took a mission to explore the lost elven city, but that was it, a lost city. The elves were not present; Chris, Polly and Judith had never seen elves!
"Yes. They hired us to clean the city, and now that the demon is dead, all the beasts are leaving, so our task is completed," Damian said as he stared at the beasts running away, not bothering with them.
Almost all the beasts witnessed Damian fight the demon and win, and they were not stupid. The beasts knew Damian would come for them next, so they all left, hoping to live another day.
The mission Damian had was to clean the city from the beasts, and it did not matter if he killed them or the beast fled, it was all the same. So why would he bother chasing them? Damian had other urgent matters to attend to.
"This is the portal we took," Damian said, turning around to see Chris and the others, noticing their worried faces, "Don't worry, the elves may dislike outsiders, but I got their trust, and I can vouch for you."
That was all Damian could do, and being friends — or more than friends — with the elven queen had its advantages.
"You're back!" Siora said, running toward Damian the moment he stepped out of the portal.
She wanted to show her affections, but not in front of the other elves.
"Gather everyone," Damian said.
Siora nodded, and within five minutes, all the elves were gathering in the same place, waiting for Damian's pronunciation, one that he wanted to make it short.
"Attention, everyone," Damian said with a brief pause, "I know all of you don't trust outsiders, I do, but I do hope that after all of this, you can see me as equal."
"I fought by your side when the beasts came within the forest, and now I can safely say, your lost elven city is no longer lost, and the beasts inside are all but gone!"
"What?"
The elves whispered to each other, some even crying with happiness! Only a few the elves there had lived in the city before. The others were of a new generation that did not know the place.
One elf, a commander from another village, walked forward toward Damian, extending his hand.
"Out of all the humans that exist, you might be the first I see as kin. Thank you, brother. You did more to us than we could ever ask."
The matter about their city was a big thing, and Damian, being the one who took it back for them, was huge! It was like he was their hero, a savior who gave them back the thing they dreamed about every night, a home.
Siora walked forward too, speaking not only to Damian, but to all the other elves watching it.
"We have nothing to repay you for now, but we will thrive and get back to our past glory, and when that happens, we will never forget what you did, and will do everything in our reach to help you!"
All the elves screamed after she said that. The elves were hard to befriend with, but they would never forget the things one did, and would repay back at the best of their capabilities.
'I cannot say that for most humans,' thought Damian.
They all went through the portal, and the elves' journey to rebuild their city had just started.
"Are you really leaving?"
Siora and Damian were alone in a private conversation, and she did not look happy to know Damian would leave.
"Yes, I have to, but we can see each other again! I've heard this dungeon floor will become home to many of us," Damian said, remembering what Judith told him.
She knew their departure would eventually come, yet it was still sad.
"See you," Siora said, kissing him.
~~~~
A group of humans left the elven forest mounting on black panthers!
"Damian, how do you domesticate these beasts?" Chris asked.
The more Chris stayed with Damian on an adventure, the more surprised he was about his skills. There was nothing in that world that Damian was not good at or could not do.
"A secret," Damian said as he laughed.
Their destination was the biggest settlement on the tenth floor. It was more akin to a city, and with the increasing number of humans on the tenth floor, the size of all settlements was skyrocketing.
The journey took three days, even with the black panthers as mounts. Each night, the group stopped and made a campfire to sleep in their sleeping bags.
Every night a beast tried to attack them, though it never succeeded with Damian's and Frederic's keen senses, who could feel, hear and see the beasts from a long distance.
"We are finally here…"
Damian stopped in a line in front of the gate.
"This never happened before. Why are there so many humans here?" Polly said.
Damian remembered Judith's words, and seeing the huge line of people trying to get into the city, he realized she was right.
He wanted to enter the city and search for his friends and father, but held himself back to make a good impression.
"Let us wait."
It took a few hours before it was finally time for Damian and the others to enter the city.
The guard wore a plate armor and had a sword and shield, looking like a person straight from the medieval times.
"State your businesses here," the guard said.
Chris took the lead and said, "We are a party of adventurers registered in the Adventurer's Guild. This is our identification," Chris said, showing them a token, "And these two are our new recruits who yet have to get their tokens."
Damian did not know what an Adventurer's Guild was, but played along, and apparently the guard respected those from that guild.
"Come in, and have a pleasant stay."
The city had a wooden wall and all the houses and other buildings inside were made of wood, too. The place was simple due to lack of resources, but better than being with the monsters.
Despite the high human population, the city was still roomy. With the help of new people, more buildings would soon appear, making the place thrive and become a beacon of hope to all humankind.
"What's this Adventurer's Guild?" Damian asked.
"It's like the organizations back on Earth. This is the biggest one, and the entrance point for almost everyone. Different from the others, there are no harsh requirements. I mean, you need to have the skill and pass the tests to get a better ranking, therefore better quests, but you can leave the guild, or be in it and in another organization at the same time!"
"Oh, really?"
Damian was a little skeptical, as the offer seemed too good to be true, but would try to enter the guild. But first, he had other things to do.
"Can I use the portal to look for my friends and family?" Damian asked the guard responsible for taking care of the portal that led to Earth.
"I am sorry, but everyone is on the tenth floor already. There are no more people in Earth. If your friends and family are not here, they might be in other cities. There's a portal for each city."
That was one thing Damian feared, and sure thing, it happened. It would be hard to find Aurora, Magnus and the others, but it wouldn't be impossible. In fact, Damian already had a plan for it.
"Hey, Chris, help me get a position in this Adventurer's Guild of yours. Frederic, you come too!" Damian said, grabbing Frederic by the collar.
What Damian had in mind was create an Adventurers Party, one that would carry the name Dawn. With his power, it would take him no time to reach a decent popularity, spreading his name through humanity's new lands, and that would surely make his friends and father find him.
It was a long shot, one that could fail, but Damian had to try it, and there was nothing else he could do at that moment. Would he leave and search in each human settlement? No, it would never work. His friends and father would not stand still in the same place. So that was his only hope.
'I hope this works...' Damian thought as he entered the Adventurer's Guild.
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