Chapter 4
Reunion
I couldn’t do anything but laugh and scream my victory, the stress of the ordeal marred the edges of my sanity. The release of all that tension was a high of unimaginable proportions, the body’s way of congratulating me for surviving.
I dragged myself to my feet after I felt strong enough to continue. I took a glance at Narx’s body, but could only frown discontentedly because it had disappeared. I had no idea the exact time I spent on the floor: I fell asleep. I wasn’t actually ever injured by Narx, any blow that connected would have insta-killed me. I was only extremely exhausted, I’m not sure I’ve ever pushed myself to the point I did during that battle. I was no better than an orc the way I clawed at Narx’s face.
I tried my best to shut down that depressing thinking and instead looked forward to what amazing reward I would get for clearing this room. Near the place I collapsed, a blue pillar rose one and a half meters from the ground. Nestled comfortably in a nest of ferns and sticks, on top of the pillar, was a black egg with red dots. An egg? It looks weird for an egg, most eggs I’ve seen were usually a light color, and wasn’t it a little big? It was half a meter tall and a fourth meter wide. Suddenly, an idea struck me. I tried using my Character Card on it. Technically the egg was a life form, meaning I should be able to learn everything about it since it was yet to be born and powerless. Unfortunately, the Character Card greeted me with nothing but questions marks and a name: Mysterious Egg. Could it be… a dragon egg? The more I thought of it, the more I felt I was right. I stored it in my Spacial Ring, hoping that it wouldn’t die before I could properly incubate it. Then, I turned my attention to the ordinary looking stick on the ground. It used to be the handle of my Staff of Disintegration. I put in my Spacial ring and checked the Character Card.
Amplio Stick- A stick fashioned from amplio wood. It shares the magic absorbing and enhancing properties of amplio wood and the user can decide when to unleash that magic as an enhanced attack.
I took one last sweep of the room that I almost died in, and the one where I killed as close to a human as I hope I’ll ever have to. I shook my head wildly in an attempt to physically shake my burdens before hiking towards the exit, intent to never enter this place again.
Despite my mental plague, I was all sunshine and smiles as I emerged from the depths of the dungeon. It was tradition for the whole village to see off a tested, but only the tested’s family members stayed until they exited, that or they planned a funeral. It was mid day outside, and Old Rain was pacing through the grass, nervously checking his pocket watch with a grimace. His face visibly softened once he saw me, he quickly wrapped me in a bear hug and I returned it with full force.
“I was so worried when you didn’t come out yesterday,” He whispered in my ear.
“Thanks for having faith in me,” I told him with tears in my eyes.
Old Rain and I weren’t actual blood relatives, I was his adoptive son. Right around the same time I lost my parents, Old Rain lost his wife and child. It was a heavy relationship at first, but we ended up with a father son bond stronger than most others. Old Rain adopting me was the only lucky thing that ever happened in my life before today.
“Let’s go get something to eat, and you can tell me all about it,” said old Rain. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and helped me walk. With my bad luck, I was used to walking purposefully and slow in order to not trip.
“Wait,” I stopped Old Rain. He looked at me with a quizzical expression. I slowly slid his arm off me and took a step forward, then another, and another before running at full speed and jumping, all with my eyes clamped shut. “My bad luck is gone!” I shouted, absolutely elated. I expected Old Rain to explode in positivity, but instead his face contorted in pain and tears filled his eyes. I ran to him and asked what was wrong.
“I’m so glad,” He whispered before actually choking me in a hug. My own eyes burned with tears, this whole time he felt my pain, he always provided me with a positive outlook and support whenever I gave in to my luck or fixated on it. I never realized how selfish I was.
After a healthy amount of crying, we spent the rest of the day together. I told him all about my time in the dungeon, leaving out the conspiracy I slowly convinced myself was true, as narcissistic as it was to think I was special. He also let me sit in and watch him smith for the first time. I was never allowed near the forge room because he was afraid I would get hurt with my luck. The way he worked was really marvelous. It was almost like the iron itself wanted him to succeed as he shaped it into a sword.
All too soon, it was night fall, and my eyes drooped despite sleeping half the day in the dungeon. Before going to sleep, I said a few words to the picture of my parents I had on my desk, my only possession besides clothing. It showed them in their iconic white and gold armor with pointed elbows and knees, and small wings on the side of the helmet. Their swords were normal, non-magical iron swords, probably forged by Old Rain back in the day. I never knew why, but my parents never used magic weapons, they insisted on letting their personal skills speak for themselves. My mother was capable of magic and used it from time to time, but I understood that the no magic principle was only for their equipment, my mother’s ability to spell cast was her own power.
When I awoke, the sun was already near its apex, and Old Rain was at his stall. He left me porridge at the table with a note wishing me a good day. I hated that I would be going against Old Rain but I put the porridge in my Spacial Ring and wrote on the same note that I would be visiting the demons for the next three days. I knew he would never let me go unless I did it without him knowing, and I needed to visit them again. I never visited them after the space rift incident and I felt like I needed to thank them now that my bad luck was good.
The human territory was split into four clans, all with one entrance to the Dungeon of Chance. The Silwind clan, my clan, has the space south of the dungeon, the Marland clan has the North space, the Truvish clan has the west space, and the Kruzik clan has the east space. Further north relative the Dungeon of Chance was the demon’s Nether Lands, further east lies the Dwarven Kingdom, and further west lies the Elves’ Forbidden Forest. Far North was the Dragon Ridge, it wasn’t necessarily controlled by dragons, most dragons just nest there so it’s come to be known as dragon territory. The Silwand clan’s territory was mostly wide and not very tall, with the Royal District located right below the Dungeon of Chance and the territory on both sides as the Common Districts.
I was a noble of the Silwind clan and live in the Royal district. My clan doesn’t follow the same idiotic system the other clans and the drawves did. Instead, nobles of the Silwind clan were practically commoners, only nobles had a say in things like the Codex of Laws. You become a noble through being recognized by the chief as the best in your craft. My parents were obviously the strongest warriors of their time and Old Rain was the best smith. A noble’s offspring weren’t nobles and the position couldn’t be passed down through bloodline. The offspring of nobles would only be permitted to live in the Royal District until their nobles died. It wasn’t a perfect system and most of the time since the children learned from the best they ended up as the best and received the noble title after their parents’ deaths.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I ran south on paved stone streets and brick houses, maneuvering around foot traffic and carriages, until I reached the gate. The Silwand clan’s territory was enclosed within a wall that completely surrounded them. The only way in or out was through the gate. People weren’t very itinerant, so it was only a problem for merchants and trade with the other clans.
Once I reached the gate, I turned my bearing slightly right, hoping the gossip I heard in the Learning Room was right. The wall around the clan’s territory had guard towers staggered so they could see everything, making escaping or sneaking in impossible. I reached the first guard tower and counted my steps right until I was directly between guard towers. I grinned as I looked up the curved length of wall. The wall in this particular stretch was curved enough that a small hole was made in the guard towers’ fields of view.
I boosted myself with Zeus’ Jays and jumped. I frowned at my returning bad luck and dropped flat against the top of the wall in a panic. I picked the exact time a carriage was making its way on the other side of the wall.
“You on the wall! Show yourself!” a man shouted from the ground. Shit, they saw me. I layed unmoving.
“If you refuse, we will alert the guards,” warned the man. I tsked and slowly stood up. The carriage was traveling slowly with four guards walking alongside, protecting it. The carriage was lavish with baroque gold patterns decorating either side of the half glass door. On the bottom half of the door was the crest of the Kurzik clan, a dragon traced in gold. There was a noble of the Kruzik clan in that carriage
“What is it? Why are we stopping?” called a female voice from inside the carriage. A guard walked near the door and explained the situation to the noble. Suddenly, the carriage door opened and a girl in light chainmail with a sword at her hip exited, not what I was expecting. Most nobles from other clans liked to flaunt their riches and looked down on anyone that wasn’t a noble from their clan as lesser. What surprised me the most, however, were the girl’s heterochromic light green and red eyes.
She looked up at me and smiled as she said, “It must be fate we ended up meeting instead of me tracking you down, Fei.” I frowned at her words, but I knew she was right. My luck was amazing since stepping foot in the dungeon, something like this would only happen if fate dictated so.
“I get that you want answers, but I don’t have any. I’m as clueless as you,” I told her.
She gave me a pitiful look and said, “I don’t expect an uneducated commoner such as yourself to know of knights Ferdinand and Dallia. To sum it up, they also met in the dungeon and fate pushed them to be married. I won’t be foolish enough to fight against fate.” I have heard of that story, which is why I didn’t tell Old Rain about meeting her in the dungeon, but I never believed in those old folk tales. To top it off, her tone pressed my buttons. In the dungeon, she sounded friendly enough, but now I felt like smacking her with my Amplio Stick.
“Actually, I am an educated noble of the Silwind clan, not that it matters. We Silwinds don’t believe that something as inconsequential as bloodlines makes one person better than the other,” I growled at her.
“Watch your tone, brat! You are addressing the future chieftain of the Kruzik clan,” threatened one of the guards. Great, I was dealing with the fattest, most cowardly of them all. The girl gave her guard a look and he apologized for stepping out of line.
She sighed, “Look, whether you like it or not, our fates are intertwined. I have come to take you back to the Kruzik clan and groom you to be my future husband. I suggest that you bid goodbye to any family members and come quietly.” My annoyance reached its peak. I wasn’t about to let her decide my future.
“As great as that sounds, I refuse.”
“Why you! That was an order from the chieftain's daughter,” the same guard shouted. In unison, the guards grunted a battle cry and lifted their spears. They were all outfitted with full iron plate mail and carried enchanted spears. I sneared at them, one hit from one of Old Rain’s morning stars and their armor would crumple like a leaf.
“My deepest apologies, but I don’t have time to play with spoiled rats such as yourselves,” I said before activating Zeus’ Jays and flashing from my position. I reached an insane speed by riding on a lightning bolt. I never tried it in the dungeon because of its limited area and my minimal amount of control. After a few seconds, I dissipated the lightning bolt and tried to stop my forward momentum. I managed to slow myself down, but I crashed into a tree with a painful snap of wood before I could stop.
I gasped sharply through clenched teeth and tumbled to the soft grass filled ground. I would definitely have bruises, but I ignored the throbbing pain and checked my surroundings. As painful as it was, I traveled half the distance to the demon city in a couple of seconds. It was a net gain of zero, though because I moved at half the speed I would usually thanks to my injuries.
It was close to sundown by the time I reached the city. The trees stopped and a worn road led to a gate in a massive metal wall. There were two demon knights keeping watch on the wall.
“Halt!” they commanded in unison as they jumped down the ten meter tall wall.
“Wait, it’s me, Fei!” I screamed at them while waving my hands in the air. They stopped in their tracks and exchanged looks. The one on the left took off their helmet and looked at me.
“Fei? Is that really you?” she asked. I recognized them as Shan, a demon knight I met seven years ago. She looked exactly like a human with two paper thin horns jutting from her long blue hair. A giant smile bloomed on my face.
“Long time no see!” The second demon knight removed their helmet and revealed Xerxes, Shan’s twin brother. I shook their hands and exchanged some small talk before a shadow slammed into me and suddenly swept off my feet.
“Y-you're choking me, Raima,” I struggled to get out as Raima, the city chieftain, suffocated me in a hug. She roughly let me go and I waved my arms as I almost tripped.
“Seven years, Fei. You couldn’t have visited once?” Raima angrily asked me. Raima had dark skin with the slightest hint of red, long black hair, and brown eyes. She also had claws hidden away in gauntlets twenty four seven and small wings she always kept tucked in. She wore what demons called a tank top, baggy leggings with multiple pockets, and dark heavy duty boots. I knew she was just grilling me and wasn’t actually angry, so I just shrugged. Her angry mask fell and revealed her childish, hyper personality.
“Well, we have no time to waste! Let’s get you inside,” she announced as she spun around and led me down the path. “Oh, one more thing,” she suddenly stopped. “Is that girl behind the tree with you, or…?” she asked while pointing behind me. I didn’t notice anyone following me, but I knew who it must be.
“No, she’s an assassin who’s hell bent on killing me,” I said.
“That is not true!” the girl from before jumped out and shouted.
“Then, who are you?” asked Raima. The girl sighed and put on an innocent, helpless face.
“My name is May and I am Fei’s future wife,” she said with a smirk.
Raima brought the back of her hand to her forehead in a dramatic pose as she said, “Oh how tragic when a girl confesses her feelings, but is ignored.” I rolled my eyes.
“That isn’t what happened,” I said.
“Well, what did happen?” asked Raima.
“We met in the dungeon,” May answered before I could say anything.
“Yeah, and now she thinks we have to get married,” I snorted.
“Sorry, Fei,” interjected Xerxes, “She’s right. I'm sure you’ve heard of knights Ferdinand and Dallia? I knew them personally, when humans and demons weren’t on hostile terms. Believe me, they tried to stay apart, but fate just wouldn’t let them.” Hearing this, I helplessly looked to Shan and Raima, who nodded their heads. I still huffed in defiance. My luck has already ruined the first half of my life, I won’t let fate have a turn
“No matter! Come, I’ll show you and your spouse around,” Raima said giddily.