They moved as one, quickly making their way through the left gate and into the cursed plains. Pal wasn’t sure why or when people started calling the place that, some said it was simply because it was near the dungeon and others said it was because the place was cursed by the dungeon.
This amused Pal, despite knowing that dungeons couldn’t extend further than their doors, people were still blaming it for things it had no idea or control of. It wasn’t long before they reached the dungeon entrance and the first odd thing Pal noticed was the color of the stone.
“It’s black, why is it black? Is that even stone?”
It was different from the last time, so were the serpents on the stone pillars, they looked more intricate, more lifelike, their eyes had gems embedded in them as well.
“Hmm, this is conflicting with reports I have, was this there before Pal?”
The dwarf turned and saw the Guild Master gazing intently at the life-like sculptures of the serpents.
“No, this is new.” He answered.
His face took on a contemplative look and he rubbed his gray bread.
“Hmm, I see, let me try something.”
They all watched with a mix of awe, terror and shock as the man burst into flames and reappeared near one of the serpents, it instantly took on life. Its ruby eyes burst into black flames and its stone body moved like water as it unwrapped itself from the stone pillar that held it.
It hissed in annoyance but made no move to attack the man.
“What do you want, mortal? Why must you pester me? Was the creator not clear enough? GO. IN. SIDE. IF you pester me again–I will excavate the brain matter from your head!”
Its voice was like metal grinding on stone, it was maddening to hear.
A chill ran down Pal’s spine, his legs suddenly gave way as a wave of dizziness slammed into him. The Guild master faltered mid air, color draining from his healthy face as the serpent of stone locked eyes with him.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“O-Of course… My apologies, I was merely curious you see… I’ll be on my way now.”
“Hmph!”
There was a flash of light and the serpent was suddenly back in its place, as if nothing had ever happened.
“What is this!? What was that?!”
Pal felt his entire worldview and beliefs crumbling as his mind struggled to process what he just saw.
“WHAT IN ALL THE GOD’S NAME WAS THAT?!” His mind screamed the question over and over, desperately searching for an answer, anything that would make what he just saw make sense.
Why did a dungeon have such a powerful creature? How was it intelligent enough to make it talk? Why could it Talk? Why did it talk like that, referring to the guild master as mortal. Pal’s mind was in disarray, the dungeon was breaking so many facts right now.
Dungeon creatures weren’t supposed to talk! They weren’t supposed to be made of stone either. Pal’s desire to delve into the dungeon rapidly drained along with his desire for revenge, how was he supposed to compete with beings like that?
He tried to get up but had no strength to: His brain was too shaken after what it just processed. At some point the guild master persevered and got up.
“Snap out of it! We still have to go in!”
His words washed over them in a strange way, they felt almost physical. They reminded Pal’s body of the heat emanating from a crackling fire.
“Are you mad!? That thing wanted us to go inside! It wants us dead! Why are you giving into its will?”
“Yeah! It doesn’t make any sense–I knew this place was cursed! I fucking knew it!”
“Mama raised me right, ah ain’t doing this shit for nobody!”
The swordsman dropped his sword and turned his back; he wouldn’t be coming back, no matter what they did. Pal couldn’t blame the man, what they all just witnessed was enough to shatter any ordinary worldview, to challenge their very beliefs in the gods themselves.
They were shaken to the core with such force that it threatened to crack their sanity, Pal included.
His assumptions about the dungeon earlier were ripped to shreds by reality with such force that Pal struggled to conceive any coherent thoughts for what felt like forever.
“How….?”
Just how wrong were they about this dungeon? What more sanity breaking revelations did it hold? How long would it take for his assumptions to get him killed?
The dwarf’s mind drifted to the words of the guild master himself, a recent memory.
“In a real-life situation only Pal here would’ve maybe made it out alive. Your response to the sudden shift in your environment was pathetic. How can you call yourselves copper adventures if you act so poorly? I know many of you have never stepped foot in a dungeon, but this is just unacceptable!”
“Such random and rapid shifts are common in dungeons, and while we may not know how old this one is, it's safe to assume that things will mostly be the same. You will face mutated monsters, twisted creatures the likes of which you can’t comprehend, nothing will be constant, nothing.”
It was ironic how the man that said this ended up being blinded by his own hubris and nearly got them all killed, Life was truly a trickster.
They had just got a firsthand experience of what the man had meant, and it wasn’t pleasant by any means.
Pal felt his faith in the keeper buckle, was it really worth it to believe in a god that fed them lies? Pal didn’t want to answer that question, but part of him already knew the answer, and he didn’t like it.
Still, Pal wasn’t going to give up, beliefs and facts be damned, the dungeon would die, even if it wasn’t happening today.
He promised Hal vengeance, and he would see to it, even if it meant cutting away at the strings of fate that stayed with him for 200 years.