He was not following. The dark knight, that is. [i][b]Why!?[/b][/i] Had he not just told them all to move? That they would have to reach the forest? Whatever [i]those[/i] were, they definitely did not look like the sort who would grant them a warm welcome. (They are beasts, and this is the land of beasts, [i]their[/i] land. And beast, one day, you too shall be.) 
	"Sir...?" she muttered, though far too quietly for anyone to hear. Not over all that growling... ([b][i]Run.[/i][/b] They have not got their eyes on you just yet. And for now, running is still possible. Soon, it will not be, and then you will have to [i][b]fight.[/b][/i]) "But ... Sir?"
	The bell-man lingered by the dark knight's side, but the former assassin was moving. The newcomer did not wait, and began jogging in her general direction even as she remained standing on the spot, like a sculpture of distress. The darkness was still rapidly consuming the land as she watched. She was still ahead of the rest, as she had first gathered her things and begun to run before halting and looking back just to see whether everyone was following and ... well, not everyone was. Obviously.
	The troubled expression on her face grew as her desperation increased. A part of her insisted - no, [b][i]DEMANDED[/i][/b] that she ran while she still could, but she could not leave her companions behind, now could she? Even if she had only known them for all of a couple of days, they were still people and, well, also the only ones she had, after being alone for who knows how long. 
	Not only was waiting for them the [i]human[/i] thing to do, she was also lost without them. If the dark knight [i]himself[/i] no longer had what it took to get back into his promised land, how would [i]she[/i] have what it took? She did not understand a thing of what was going on here! She had never seen that 'key' he had been speaking of, and hence, well, hence she would not even be able to recognize it when she saw it... She [i]needed[/i] him to be their guide in this realm. 
	Still, she did not move, frozen in place by indecision and fear. She could see the beasts now, monstrous and huge. Filled with intent as they approached the dark knight, who was preparing his shield and halberd. Did he really intend to [i]fight[/i] these things? But ... even though he was a giant of a man and armed and armored, these things were twice his size and probably had inhuman strength behind their claws and in their jaws. They'll tear him to shreds!
	"[i]...SIR![/i]" now she was actually shouting, though still not making an attempt to move either forward or backward. 
	[i]"You must leave this place!" [/i]
	"But..." she protested weakly, even as she felt her throat closing up. 
	[i]"Do not trust the Hermit!"[/i]
	But she did not even know who or what this ... 'Hermit' was! How on not-Earth was she going to avoid someone she had no idea who was or what looked like? Was this 'Hermit' one of those pillar-things, too? What was the Turn of Light? What was anything here!?
	[i]"Find what I have lost."[/i]
	How can she find something she did not even know what was!?
	[i]"Go!"[/i]
	"I can't... But..." She could not just ... leave him behind, could she? "You have to come with us, Sir..." She was once more speaking too quietly to be heard. (He is making himself a distraction. Sacrificing himself so you can escape. Keeping them occupied until you are out of their sights and minds. He knows just as well as you that he would not make it through.) But that was not right! (One does not have to be the fastest one to survive ... just fast enough to outrun the slowest one. And he has volunteered to be the slowest one.) 
	[i]"GO!"[/i]
	"But..."
	[i]"Find the Crown, find your way home!"[/i]
	Jeweled metal circle thing that goes on your head? But what, where, why, how...? She hesitated, even as the bell-man seemed to be telling something to the dark knight, lingering by his side for a while longer ... before turning to run, too.
	(There is no changing anything here. Just being torn apart yourself, too, if you stay. Take his advice and go.) The blond newcomer was now moving at full sprint, and stormed past her, finally urging her to take a step back and turning her back to her armored companion. 

	If you could no longer run, then you [i][b]fought.[/b][/i] 
	But it was the dark knight who had opted to fight, so she could run... 
	So she ran, even though a part of her did not want to. 
	Even as she heard the dark knight demand the beast to tell him what king they served.
	Would that be the last they saw - or heard of him?
	
	(They are not following.) 
	That much was a relief ... she guessed. That she did not hear the growling anymore, only the footsteps of herself and her fellow escapees. Just the four of them. The new guy before her, and the former assassin and bell-man behind her.
	She did not know how long she had been running, but her chest had began to hurt and her legs tire, a thin sheen of sweat glistening on her face. She had been used with heavy duty, she supposed, but you try running with a heavy backpack while carrying a hefty axe in your arms and having two pairs of pants and a winter-coat on ... especially when the environment was once more getting warmer. And much wetter, too. 
	Whatever manner of world this was, it certainly was not consistent in anything but being as unpleasant to human beings as possible. One could easily wander from a freezing hell straight into a burning one ... or a very damp one, as was the case now. 
	The rocks beneath her feet were no longer sandstone, but rather something smooth and lifelessly bleached gray, slick with water and some manner of algae, or grass or whatever this stuff was. She did not know how, but somehow the slippery plant-substance beneath her feet managed to be blueish-yellow without being green... Some kind of strange, unnatural and above all, [i]sickly[/i] color. 
	She was stumbling forward now, rather than running. (There is no point in running anymore.)
	The valley walls were no longer really there, replaced by a maze or towering pillars and mere fragments of walls. A perfect place to hide ... whether you were trying to escape or preparing for an ambush. Water was trickling down the towering formations, seemingly endlessly. Was it fog condensing on the rocks, or...?

[i]	All she could hear was dripping. It was maddening. [/i]

	And their breathing. And their footsteps. Every sound they made just seemed too loud. 
	Some of those stone pillars and walls were ... odd. She could almost discern figures in them. Naked, [i]humanoid[/i] figures. If it were not for the massive size of those trapped stone bodies, she could have almost believed that something or other here could turn living beings into rock. But what twisted kind of sculptor would shape entire towering cliffs into trapped humanoid beings? Or perhaps it was better not to ask... Perhaps the land itself had formed its terrain to mimic trapped people, just to mock them.
	There was light here, despite the now-black sun ... not like that of the bleak sun while it was still uncovered. This one was greenish-gray. A kind of cold, weak, unhealthy glow. Luminescence.[i] More mockery.[/i]
	Still slipping on the damn wet rocks and that slick whatever grass-algae that was that covered them, she made her way over one of the pillars, took off her backpack and dropped it next to herself, leaned her back against it and slowly sunk into a crouched position, resuming to clutch her axe. Hopefully her instincts were right and there was no need to run anymore, indeed. Even if the dark knight had said they need to reach the forest before the "light turns". But the light had already turned, so it did not matter anymore? Who knew...
	So, what now? They - minus the dark knight - were assuredly still alive. They were in this ... place, now. Probably to find some kind of crown, which could be wherever. In a beast's stomach, at the bottom of a pool of bile or a ravine too narrow to fit a human in. How would they know? And even if they found a crown, how would they be able to tell it was the right one?
	 (It was much easier in solitude, when she was still just trying to find food and water, traveling in a random direction. It was when she met people that things got complicated.) And one of them was dead now, was he not? If he had not caught up by now, he most certainly was... And she still had no clue what was going on, but now her only guide was dead. Just her and a couple of other ragtags who might not even be entirely sane, now... Quite hopeless.
	But he had said he had died before, several times, right? That meant he could still ... come back and find them, right?
	Nevertheless, her eyes stung, and she felt a tear run over her cheek. Just like one of those bloody weeping trapped stone statues overseeing this place, with water always trickling down over their faces and bodies.
	[i]Stupid... [/i]She would probably cry even if the former assassin or the new fellow died, even if no one in this world really died, at least not before they became "empty". (The dark knight would not be empty just yet, would he? He had seemed quite sane still, in any case...)
	But until then what? She did not know anymore... Find a crown. Avoid hermits. May be get to forest as quickly as possible, maybe not. [i]Useless. [/i]Completely useless. 
	(Part ways. Continue on your own path. Forget about these people. Focus on food, water, and avoiding bigger beasts. Would be a simpler life...)
	With a ragged sigh, she leaned her forehead on her knee, cheek against the metal head of the axe. Tears were now flowing steadily, and there was nothing she could do about that, either...

	She did not even know why she was crying.
	Sheer confusion and frustration?  
	Death of their sole guide? 
	Everything at once?