Wyn heaved against the large wooden door to the library, forcing it closed as the deafening sounds of wind and rain grew muffled, replaced by the quiet crackle of the hearth. The storm had arrived in earnest on his walk home, and he’d diverted back to the library instead of walking out in the tempest.

Khaeli was sitting by the fire, looking over some documents that were spread out on the table, “Wyn, you’re back?”

“You hear it out there?” Wyn jerked his thumb back at the door, “I don’t want to walk home in that.”

“Wyn that better not be you!” Eldress Ornum came out of her study with a dangerous look on her face, but she paused when she saw Wyn’s hands up in surrender.

“I went I went! Jeth let me go, I promise.”

She scowled, “Wait right there…” The older woman went back into the room she’d come from, the sound of rummaging could be heard from outside.

Wyn turned to Khaeli, taking off his cloak and hanging in on a rack by the door, “What are you looking at?”

“Maps,” she said, “There might be another way down to the second floor, right? If I could just figure out some kind of pattern, then maybe…”

Wyn grimaced, he’d thought about and tried the same thing multiple times, but to no avail.

He started walking over, “Here let me—”

“Don’t you move a muscle!” Eldress Ornum’s voice called, sharp and stern.

Wyn sighed, “Any luck?”

Khaeli leaned back, shaking her head.

“I’ve tried to figure it out too,” Wyn said, “but as far as I can tell the tunnels are random. Other than the fact they all go inwards into the mountain of course.”

A towel hit him in the face, “You’re dripping all over my rug.” Eldress Ornum looked at him disapprovingly.

“Why do you even have a towel in here?”

“Hmph, when you get as old as I am, you learn to expect young people to be stupid.” She walked off deeper into the library, refusing to elaborate further.

Wyn glanced at Khaeli, who sighed and gave a slightly embarrassed smile. “I spilled some tea on the floor a couple months ago, and that towel has been here ever since.”

Wyn snickered, “Klutz.”

After catching a grape flung at his head, he chuckled and dried off before walking over to the bookshelf with records on the dungeons and monsters within them. Somewhere in these pages, he knew he could find an answer. If he couldn’t brute force his way through the dungeon, he’d have to be smarter about it.

Records of the founder’s tomb had been passed down throughout all of Straetum’s history. As far as he and Corrin had ever found or heard, no one had gone past the first floor and lived to record it, but there had to be something that could help him.

After several minutes, Khaeli had joined him, and the two had several books and papers spread out on the table, looking through them for any important information they may be able to use. “Still nothing?” She asked.

“Nothing,” Wyn said, “The records are complete as far as I can tell, but no maps or entries show anything that might lead to another route down, and from what I understand, most floors in a dungeon only have two entrances, one from below, and one from above.”

Eldress Ornum came over and offered the two of them some hot tea, which Wyn couldn’t refuse, it would’ve been considered rude to reject an offer like that from an elder of the town.

“Thank you Eldress,” Wyn bowed slightly.

“Keep it on the end table and away from the books Wyn. If you spill it, I don’t want it anywhere other than your lap or the floor.”

“Of course, Eldress.”

“Hmph, let me get a good look at you boy.” The older woman said, grabbing his chin. “Like I thought, look at these bags. When was the last time you slept?”

Wyn chuckled awkwardly, he would prefer not to go down this line of questioning. “I’m fine, really. I just had some bad dreams last night.”

“Just last night? I find that unlikely. You look like you haven’t slept in days.”

“Like I said,” Wyn brushed her hand aside politely, “I’m fine. I won’t pretend this business with Corrin doesn’t have me on edge, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

Eldress Ornum’s expression softened slightly, “It’s clear to see you’re past your limit Wyn. You need to rest.”

“With all respect, that’s simply not an option right now.”

She sighed, “It never is, is it? Well, at least sit down and have some tea, maybe you’ll find something here that can help.”

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Wyn nodded and sat down, thanking the elder yet again for the tea, which was quite good, “Any luck Khaeli?”

“Still nothing, this kind of phenomenon has never been recorded before. But either way, it just doesn’t make sense based on what we know about the dungeon. Monsters shouldn’t be able to coordinate like that.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it either. Monsters can incidentally work together, and some of the smarter ones can use others to their benefit, but most of them simply don’t have the kind of intelligence needed for such direct cooperation.” Wyn rubbed his face, “Which gives me two theories, either this is some sort of effect from the dungeon, or the work of some kind of monster I haven’t seen yet.”

“An effect from the dungeon?” Khaeli asked.

“In some ways, the dungeon seems to have a mind of its own,” Wyn explained, “For example, though I’ve never seen it, supposedly if you damage a dungeon enough it will find a way to ‘retaliate’ like spawning much stronger monsters. Apparently, it came up during excavation attempts in the past. Also, collapsing or blocking the entrance has the same effect, which is why it would only be done in a last resort. Think about it, we still don’t know what caused the last dungeon flood. Most people just assume it was because the previous guards died, and so monsters wandered out—”

“Wait, you mean that’s not what happened?”

Wyn shook his head, “That’s not how it works. Even if the guards stopped doing their jobs, it shouldn’t result in a huge burst of monsters like last time. It would build up slowly as the number of monsters in the tomb increased—we keep them well below the capacity. It would take some time for the number of monsters leaving the place got to the point where it would actually cause an issue.”

“Ah I see,” Khaeli said, “So you think the first flood was a dungeon effect, and this might be one too?”

“That’s about the only thing I can think of. Unless there’s some sort of mind-controlling monster down there, but I don’t know why it would just block the way, they never seriously chase me away.”

“Which is why you think—”

“Corrin’s alive,” Wyn finished, “I’m positive it has something to do with that.”

Khaeli leaned back, closing her eyes, “Let’s hope so. Have Elders Terris and Irym recovered yet?”

“I think so. They said they’d go on another run with me tomorrow, which might just work. Last time we were so close…”

“I just feel so useless,” Khaeli sighed.

“I understand the feeling. But it’s not your fault this happened Khaeli, it’s mine. You’ve been nothing but helpful this whole time, and if we find a second pathway down, it’ll all be thanks to you.”

“Thanks Wyn… Let’s get back to work, I found some previous guards’ journals too look over, maybe there’ll be something in there.”

The storm made it impossible to tell when the sun set, but it almost certainly did while they sifted through the documents they had spread on the table: maps of the dungeon, journals from previous guards, even children’s stories about the dungeon. None of it had been any help. As far as they could tell, nobody had ever seen a dungeon effect like this, and even besides that, none of the previous guards had even approached the second floor, let alone a second entrance like they’d hoped. It was all just… it was all so useless.

Wyn slammed his fist onto the table, causing Khaeli to yelp in fear.

“Wyn?”

He steadied his shaking hand, “I’m sorry, really. I’m just frustrated. It feels like we’re not getting anywhere. I just wish I were stronger is all.”

Like that spirit knight. If I were as strong as him…

As Wyn took a sip of tea, forcing himself to calm down, a purple light spirit floated gently down onto the table. Purple ones like this were supposedly rare, but he’d seen them many times in his life, especially in his youth. Though, he’d always had a weird tendency to attract spirits. He’d heard certain spirits could be attracted to different things, like flame spirits gathering around fires, but the nature of the lavender spirits eluded him.

Eldress Ornum looked over from her table, “What an interesting spirit that is. I’ve never seen one sit so still.”

“Yeah, I guess that is a little weird,” Wyn reached out with his finger, disturbing the spirit which had remained at rest on the table.

“You always seem to attract one spirit or another when you’re here. That’s good luck you know. To be loved by them.”

“So you’ve said before,” Wyn rolled his eyes.

If there really was such a thing as good luck, he didn’t have any. Not a single drop.

“Perhaps you should pray to the spirits then,” the older woman suggested with a shrug, “sometimes they listen.”

Wyn chuckled, “If only it could be that easy.” Many of the older folks in the village ascribed such beliefs, those of praying to spirits for blessings and favor, and the ability to commune with them directly like Fenfreth could made him an invaluable resource to the town as a spirit speaker. But Wyn had never been a particularly pious person. After all, the spirit from back then, despite how she felt, had seemed so human.

“The spirit from back then…”

Wyn had a feeling, one that felt like a chord being struck within his very soul. He shot to his feet, causing Khaeli to yelp again and lurch back herself.

“What is it Wyn? Did you figure something out?”

Wyn started laughing. He was so stupid, just how desperate was he to even consider such an idea? There was no reason to think he would survive, and even less reason to think it would help the situation if he did, but it just felt so right.

“I’m going to pray to the spirits for help.” He downed the rest of his tea and began to walk towards the doors of the library, leaving Khaeli sputtering and confused.

“What are you talking about? Do you hear the storm out there Wyn? What could you possibly be planning?”

Wyn grabbed his cloak from the rack and grabbed the iron handle of the door, it was cool to the touch. He turned to Khaeli, “The place where it all began. You’ve heard the story before. I’m going back to the glade.”

“You’re insane!” Khaeli yelled, “That’s suicide!”

She looked towards her mentor for help, but the older woman just shrugged. “If the spirits are with him, who knows what will be?”

“Now’s not the time for you to become a religious nut!” Khaeli rushed over to the door, grabbing Wyn’s wrist. “Please, think about this! Corrin’s already down there, surviving, waiting for us to rescue him. If you don’t come back…”

“I will come back, I promise. But Khaeli,” Wyn removed her hand and forced the door open, the wind and rain immediately rushing into the room, “Every second we spend here, is another second Corrin might die. So, I must go now. I’ve already survived the woods once, right? Call it a hunch, but I think it’s the right idea.”

“You’re an idiot… Don’t start acting like Corrin now.” Khaeli said softly.

Wyn grinned wide, “You can complain all you want when we’re all together again. Until then, just wait for us.”

Wyn wrapped the cloak around his body and stepped out into the storm. The wind slammed the doors shut behind him. He took another step into the dark of the storm and noticed the same lonely purple spirit flying by his side.

“You’re coming too?” He asked it through gritted teeth. “Well, at least I’m not the only one this stupid.”

It pulsed rapidly, in a way that seemed almost resolute.

Wow I really am beginning to imagine things.

An impossible problem called for an impossible solution, and the great spirit in the forest was the only card he could think to play. He wasn’t a miracle worker, but for those two, and maybe for himself, he’d play the part.