"Here we are, back here again" Killer grumbled.

"Cheer up a bit!" Ink hooked his arm around Killer's shoulder, or at least tried to because Killer is taller than Ink, which made it hard.

"Oh shut it emotionless freak." Killer growled, "And get your hands off me!"

"Let's get a move on already!" Error barked, gesturing for the two to follow him as everyone else was already walking ahead.

"Holy shit! Why's there so many people?" Killer yelled.

"This place looked smaller at night" Horror mumbled in astonishment, staring at the crowd of civilians.

"How are we supposed to know who to talk to? There's so many people here" Dream asked in disbelief.

Suddenly, a soft blue diamond appeared above some of the townsfolk's heads.

"How convenient," Cross muttered.

Error cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the party, "Ok, so we have to split up. Killer, you go with Dream."

"ohh ~ I'm with Mr. Sunshine?" Killer smiled, leaning against Dream.

Dream only gave Killer a small smile.

"Cross, you're in charge of Ink." Error instructed while pointing at a vibrating Ink.

The monochrome male turned to Error when he was called. He then looked over to the said skeleton and sighed. He remembered that Ink tends to have massive mood changes, so it would be difficult to work with.

"Dust and Horror, you're sticking to each other."

The two men nodded at him, allowing him to finish.

"And Blue, you're with Nightmare and I."

The short, blue male, gave him a thumbs up.

"Let's head off, we don't have all day".

Everyone started to separate and search for clues and resources.

Error started to walk towards a pub with Blue following behind.

Nightmare had to jog to catch up to Error's speed. Once he was at Error's side, he decided to talk to the black boned skeleton. "Look at you, giving out instructions".

Error chuckled, "What? Didn't think I could do it?"

"Maybe, you make such a good leader, captain." Nightmare teased.

Error puffed up his chest. Error was a prideful skeleton, so a complement from the dark prince filled him with so much pleasure.

Once they got to the doors of the pub, Blue entered the establishment.

The tavern was loud and crowded, the inhabitants were filled with all kinds of creatures, from humans, elves, and werewolves.

Some had on travelling gear and others wore clothing that resembled the mediaeval times.

"It's as crowded as outside," Blue acknowledges, as he looks around the room.

Error wrapped his hands around himself, avoiding accidentally bumping into someone.

"Yeah, we must speed this up so we can get out of here," Nightmare suggested.

The goopy male walked up to the bartender, while avoiding the drunk patrons.

"Hello, welcome to our humble establishment." The bartender greeted Nightmare as he saw the dark skeleton get closer to the counter..  "How may I assist you, dear traveller?"

Nightmare nodded a greeting to the bearded male, "I want to know more about this world".

"Ah, you want to know of a mighty story." His deep voice boomed into the tavern.

"Our kingdom was once ruled by a small prince..." The bartender started.

Instantly, their scenery changed into a green landscape. In the distance was a floating kingdom, with miniature floating islands surrounding the giant structure.

A small prince was having a stroll through the castle gardens when a 5 headed dragon with sharp fangs and scales blended in with the night sky.

The hydra had often destroyed the kingdom, and flown away after the massacre.

The soldiers of the kingdom were sent to defend their kingdom but the hydra was too strong, and was undefeated.

The young prince set off on his journey to conquer the foe, with the help from 5 wizards and their magical abilities.

The prince used the five relics to defeat the beast, but unfortunately, he went missing alongside the relics.

Error swore under his breath as they came back to the view of the bartender gleaming at the three.

"Do you, by chance, know where these relics could have gone?" Nightmare asked the bearded man.

A drunken patron hooked their arm around Nightmare's shoulders, and drunkenly slurred, "it was rumoured to be scattered across Nexus.'

Disgusted, Nightmare pushed off the patron's arm and quickly thanked the bartender before leaving the tavern, with. Error and Blue quickly following behind.

"I think we should head back to the group now," Blue suggested.

"Yes, I believe so,"

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

Everyone had finished asking around and now was gathered at the fountain that was in the middle of the town.

"What intel have you all collected?" Nightmare asked as everyone had gotten together. He turned towards his brother, "Let's begin with you, brother."

"We-" Dream started.

"We found nothing," Killer groaned, crossing his arms.

Nightmare raised his brow at the pouting skeleton.

"Not exactly nothing," Dream continued, "We helped an old lady, who was in need of our assistance".

Killer clicked his tongue against his teeth,, "we got back her cat, what about it?"

"We got gold," Dream huffed.

Horror patted the yellow clad male, pity fell upon the skeleton as Dream had to deal with Killer.

"What else did we find?"

"We. got some tools," Horror spoke, pulling out two small hammers and a round glass bottle. It had some sort of blue liquid that bubbled.

"What is that?" Error pointed at the mystery liquid.

Horror shrugged and passed the bottle to Error, who examined the bottle.

"Other than the tools, that guy was no help." Dust mentioned, jabbing a finger at the said male, who looked to be a black smith.

"We found out there was a prince who saved this kingdom." Cross noted.

"Oh! So have we!" Blue added, "The prince defeated a hydra like beast with some sort of relics, but the prince and the relics have gone missing".

Screams then abrupted into the town, civilians started to run around, panicked. Yelling of all kinds had filled the atmosphere of the once cheerful town.

The group was confused until a loud roar was made. A multi-headed dragon

"Travellers! Travellers!" A voice called from the crowd.

They turned towards the voice. An old man came running towards them.

Killer could be heard groaning, "Oh, it's him again."

The old man stopped in front of them, breathing heavily for the short run that he had to come to them. He was now shaking and not like the grumpy man from yesterday.

"We... We need your help!" The old man pant, his voice quivering with panic..

"What?"

"D-defeat the hydra... It's back... I-it's destroying the kingdom." The man continued.

"Why should we?" Killer barked.

"Please!" The man cried.

"Fine," Killer huffed.

The old man's face lit up, "T-hank you, Than-"

He was cut off as giant teeth sunk into the body of the man. His screams were loud and echoed into the atmosphere.

"Holy shit!"

The group moved back, moving back to avoid the danger.

"Move!" Dream yelled, arm beckoning the team to hide behind one of the crumbling houses.

"What do we do?"

All of a sudden, their inventory appeared in front of them, a text, 'New Quest ; defeat Hydra'.

"How are we supposed to defeat the hydra?" Cross asked.

"Oh! We could use the relics, like what was in the story," Blue suggested.

"With what relics?" Dust snapped, "You heard the story, it disappeared."

The group was silent, the only sounds were the screams of terror and the destruction around them.

Blue gasped, drawing the attention of his teammates, "A man did talk about a rumour, something about it being scattered."

"Hey, adventurers. Come, C'mere." A strange voice beckoned them.

The voice came from a tall, young lady with dark brown hair, her rich brown skin glistened into the sunlight, and a magenta cloak draped on top of her head. She sat in her small stand with a distinctive purple glowing purple lantern.

"I heard you gentlemen were going to defeat the hydra." Her angelic voice asked as she leaned onto her arms.

"Why do you care?" Killer grunted.

The merchant chuckled, pushing her hair over her shoulder, "Well, dear, I live here. Why wouldn't I care?"

'Damn' Killer grumbled, the merchant did have a point.

"My name is Willow," She smiled at the group.

"You're a merchant?" Dream asked, walking closer towards the brown haired female.

Dream continued when he saw the female nod, "What items do you have on sale?"

The merchant hummed, and smiled, turning around and pulling out many tools, weapons and magical items. "Feel free to take a look".

"What's this?" Error held a large, hard covered book, a gemstone directly in the middle of the front cover.

"Oh that? That's a simple spell book for starting magic users," Willowstated.

Error paused, "I'll take it, how much?"

Willow beamed, "30 gold!"

Error paid and looked through the book as the group continued to look through the collection splayed out for the team in Willow's store.

She watches them happily as they pick out some equipment before placing them down on the front bench.

"That will be all," Nightmare notified the brunette.

Willow giggled, "230 gold, my good sir".

Dream nodded and paid while everyone took their belongings and began walking out of her stall.

"Wait! Before you go!" Willow called, "Take this." She handed them a map with freshly drawn ink that circled where they had to go.

Dream thanked her and left with the group.

"Where to?"

"On the map shows us 5 different locations." Dream stated, while pointing at each spot on the map.

"We should go to the castle," Blue cheerfully pointed, "I've always wanted to go into one!"

"Pfft, we already live in a castle," Killer laughed.

Blue huffed, "We're going anyways".

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

Not so far in the distance was a huge castle, it was surrounded by a large body of water. Two enormous trees sat on either side of the stone castle, and a long bridge connecting the castle to the land surrounding it.

"Woah!" Blue exclaimed, his eyes shaped in blue stars.

Nightmare huffed, "mine is much more grand than this pathetic structure." His arms crossed.

Blue gave him a deadpan stare, but stopped when two guards approached them.

"Who goes there!" One of the soldiers yelled, his voice was loud enough to break glass.

Horror winced, the man was too loud. He rubbed the side of his skull, soothing it from the pain.

"We're adventurers, off to defeat the hydra." Dream informed.

The second soldier nodded her head, "The king would like to talk to you."

"Oh? Alright" Dream answered with a little uncertainty.

"Follow me please," The female guard instructed.

Once they reached the throne room, a small bearded man sat. "Oh ho! What strong adventurers!"

"I need your help! There are some winged creatures that are stealing my gold and I cannot stop them myself. I need you to retrieve my gold and get rid of them." The king requested.

"Why?" Horror softly asked, the king was as loud as the previous guard and it annoyed him.

"You mentioned you're on a journey to defeat the hydra, no?" Dream nodded as the king waved his hand and a small grey winged creature nervously carried over a cushion with a small gemstone, the gemstone was a solid pink and in a diamond shape.

"I have one of the relics here with me, I will give it to you if you help me."

"Where are the winged creatures?" Error asked, staring at the small winged creature.

"Outside by the docks," The king grinned, "I'll have two of my guards escort you there."

The group agreed and left for the docks.

"I don't trust this guy," Horror whispered, leaning closer to Dust.

Dust shook his head, "Me neither, but what else can we do".

The group soon arrived, five minutes later.

"Hey! Get out of here!" A male yelled, throwing a rock at a young feathered being.

The feathered being, had dirt and mud covering the blue feathers, it curled itself into a ...

"Stop that!" Blue urged, pushing the man so he could stop.

"What the hell man! What gives!" The man spat, going into a fighting stance.

The skeletons also got into a fighting stance but Blue interrupted, "We're not here to fight, we're here to fulfil the king's wishes".

The man tsked and left.

Blue walked over to the fallen being, only to get a growl. Backing away with his hands up to show that he's friendly.

"Hey," Blue softly spoke, "Are you alright? We're not here to hurt you."

The being continued to growl at Blue, "Yeah? You're here for the king!"

"Yes, but we want to know your situation before anything." Blue reassured the injured creature.

The feathered creature was silent, but soon started to sob. "We would've left b-but, my baby is in there with that FREAK!" She cried, her voice shaking as she pointed at the castle.

Dream gasped, "Oh no! Does your child have grey feathers?"

"Yes! Yes! It's my baby! Please can you get her back and we can finally leave!" She pleaded.

Dream gave her a reassuring smile, "We will, don't you worry about it."

Blue and Dream walked back to their group, "We have a plan,"