Charlie opened her eyes to a new day. The air was slightly cold and sterile, smelling of cleaning chemicals. The walls of her new on-site apartment were a silvery grey, but the plants she was growing under a sunlamp really livened the compartment-like room up. Her new job allowed her to sleep in a decent amount, which she was very much a fan of.
Heaving her way out of bed, she flipped on the light in her new state-of-the-art bathroom. Turning the tap on, she waited for her shower to heat up. Sometimes, even with tech and magic, you still have to wait. While she did, she turned around, staring at her bare-naked back in the mirror.
A scar ran up the length of her spine. Fresh, yet healing, it was the remnants of a rather gruesome surgical scar. Left paralyzed on her right side by a bullet that grazed her spine, she had thought her time in action, hell, her time doing anything had been long behind her. Still, a combination of modern-day prosthetics plus a bit of magic fixed her right up. Stepping into the shower and giving her body a good wash, she wondered about the new world that she was only seeing the cusp of.
Her entire team, or at least the six remaining members, were all the same as her. Broken, shattered, left to rot away uselessly in a room. Then all of them had been offered an opportunity like none before.
She had needed her spine repaired, Brandon was much the same. He was a full paraplegic, unable to move anything below his neck prior to the surgery. Clarence lost his left arm from the elbow down along with his left eye and ear when he jumped in the way of an IED to save a young officer. All of them had been offered what the wizards and scientists were calling “Alchemy Rods.”
Touching the scar again as she stepped out of the shower, she laughed, remembering when the lot of them had embarrassed the entire research team. Since they all had been re-given their lives by the power of ‘Alchemy’ many of the patients had dubbed themselves ‘Homunculus’. This had caused quite the uproar for a short while, many of the magi-techs not wanting to take that much credit. Those eggheads really were good people when you got to know them.
After her shower, she threw on some basic clothes, just a T and some sweats and marched off to the mess hall.
“Charlie, come on over!” Brandon, or ‘Fubar’, called her over to the table.
Team D was relaxing in the mess, it was Christmas after-all so ham and plenty of home-style fixin’s were ready for everyone.
“Sure as shit beats the old MRE’s right?” Clarence said from across the table.
Charlie scratched her head and smiled. “I guess, I’d rather we just got meatball subs like usual today though. Never was much for the holidays, nothing good ever seems to happen around them.”
Brandon spoke up, “Oh, you hadn’t heard? It’s all over the news, turns out a hospital’s cancer ward, the entire thing, was cured last night.”
Charlie brightened up at that; it was good news, however, her face returned to the stern look from before, not wanting to get her hopes up too much. “Still, that’s happening all the time now, doesn’t make today any different. Another Necro looking to do some good in the world?”
This time, it was Clarence who spoke up. “Nah, looks like an artifact. We’ve tracked it down to its origination point. The thing literally just pushed a wave of healing all the way from this flying rock to a hospital. There’s literally a path of LIFE in its wake.”
“Sounds like something the brass is going to send out B team for,” Brandon said in a downtrodden tone. B team was the best after-all, of course, they got the coolest missions.
Clarence spoke up with a smile on his face, waving a folder around in his organic hand. “Nah, got the orders here, all us.”
Clarence tossed a folder to each of them at the table, all eight members of D team reading up on the mission.
Charlie, looking over the document and noticing something odd, spoke up. “That’s a lot of black, what’s with all the redactions this time?”
Clarence tensed up, the feel of an icy snake coiling around his windpipe. “I uhm, just read the packet.”
Charlie leaned back in her chair, the only other member on the team to know about the captain’s ‘special ability.’ Around a month ago, right as the teams were sent on their first missions, one of the wizards from the past had revealed to the captain a rather troubling power. It was as-if he could look at something, a text, or document, even the smallest thread of the grandest tapestry; and then, see exactly what it had looked like at any point in the last hundred years. Of course, Clarence had wanted to tell the brass of the power so they could hopefully ward against it. Instead, the wizard cooked up a deal with him.
The wizard taught Clarence the ‘mystical eye’, who then proceeded to test the ability on photocopies and other pictures of documents. The ability held true. Paper, textiles, even stone let the years slide away in Clarence’s vision.
This ability came with a cost, however, that he could never reveal the things he saw to others. Charlie remembered one time when Clarence had tried to test the limits of his oath; he had been in a coma for two days after. Now, even hinting that something was up with the packet caused him to want to grab at his neck, although nothing was physically there.
Charlie could tell, not by much, but the body language alone made her read the un-blackened text with more care. The Artifact they would be sent after would be a magical miner's lamp, held inside of something called a ‘Dungeon.’ There were multiple testimonies by entrants the day before, attesting to the rules and limits of it. Much of the text was blacked out, save for the descriptions of raw, unbound power.
“So, what? This some item of raw magic, or does it just heal? The dossier isn’t very descriptive,” asked Brandon.
“Doesn’t need to be. All I can tell you is that a massive amount of never-before-seen mana is inside of this lamp. Colonel Hasenpfeffer wants it pretty bad,” Clarence responded, scratching at the side of his neck.
Brandon smirked, leaning back in his seat. While he didn’t know the captain’s ability; he had noticed that whenever the captain touched his throat before a mission, something would always go sideways.
The team finished up their brunch, deciding from the information given that they would enter the town during a scheduled town meeting. It being Christmas and having a meeting during made most of them feel confident that this would be when the least amount of resistance would be met.
At a quarter after five, they were ready and waiting. Hijacking the portal for a split second would take a bit of effort on the technician mage’s part, but it was very possible. The trick was to catch the portal just as it closed around one person, and before it opened for the next, thus avoiding any unfortunate ‘slicing’ circumstances.
***
On the other side of the portal, all eight members of D team found themselves surrounded by what appeared to be a quaint mountain town. The only differences being a few very large and grand buildings near the center of town where they now were.
Using hand signals, Charlie commanded the rest of the group in the direction of the Dungeon while Clarence surveilled the town hall and barracks through his upgraded eye.
“Alright, travel successful, moving to position A.” Clarence spoke into his radio as the group jogged up the gravel path.
Finding the receptionist was easy, yet the number of people outside of the target was disturbing. Taking Clarence aside for a moment, Charlie spoke. “There’s a lot of people here. From what I just overheard, this isn’t just some magical lamp. There’s a genie inside of it, like an actual wish-granting genie.”
Clarence said nothing, straightening his back and doing his best to not betray the feeling of constriction around his throat to his second in command. Charlie, however, was far too observant to be fooled, “That’s what I thought. So, what’s the plan?”
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Clarence let go of his rigid pose, no longer in danger of letting information slip. “The plan right now is for Fubar along with Oscar and Mike to stay outside. Just as the mission briefing said, we need to post guards to keep the magical folk out.”
Charlie let slip a knowing grin. Fubar, or Brandon got his name early on in his career, his father was a high-ranking member of the military which granted Brandon an undue station after he signed up. Always bragging about his father’s wealth and status got him out of most situations, except for when he pissed off the wrong person. He was caught separate, away from his group on a smoke break that he had threatened his commanding officer for. Whatever sense of humor the universe had that night was on full display as after he was captured, they swiftly put a bullet in the base of his neck.
Brandon lived, but not by much. Some of his squadmates found him and brought him to medical where they saved his life. Charlie had heard that some people think that fubar stands for “Fucked up beyond all reason” and although the name was given to him for his lack of coordination and general failure to complete tasks, then, it was personal to him. For two years Brandon stayed in hospital after hospital, unable to care for himself. Then, he joined up with D team, where he has promised to use his douchebag powers for ‘good’.
“You sure we need Fubar?” Charlie asked, concern in her voice. Using that name would tip Brandon off that something was definitely wrong, along with leaving the two newest replacement members of the team outside…
“I’m certain, we’re still under the radar right now. Lookouts are necessary if he just happens to be too overzealous in his job then… Well, who can blame a soldier for trying to do their job too well?” Clarence said with a massive grin stretching along the scarred side of his face.
Returning to the group, “According to prior information and the form we all just filled out, only five can go in,” Clarence spoke to the other members of the squad, pausing. “Alright, Oscar, Mike, you and private Fubar here will guard the front. You heard what the Colonel said, don’t let anyone even vaguely magical looking in until the mission is complete.”
Brandon gave the group a curt nod before the five of them walked inside of the gaping mine entrance. “Private Fubar, huh? It’s been a time since I acted like that… You got it, Captain.”
With the knowledge of how desperate people act when facing someone who acts better than them, Brandon put on his best jerk persona. Merely going back in time before he even started the army. The entitlement and feelings of superiority flooded back. Gaining control over the more nasty parts of his personality; Brandon set about doing what he does best. Fucking something up, beyond all reason.
***
Clarence took the lead once inside the Dungeon, “We’re here for the Lamp.” he proudly declared with his real hand inside of the statue’s gaping maw. Everyone else quickly followed suit. The other four members saying it at the same time, the great marble door to the Maroon Room opened up.
The soldiers were floored, penguins were out serving food to guests, it looked like a 1920s lounge more than a dungeon to fight monsters. “You sure we’re in the right place?” Grant asked the captain.
“Oh yes, I’m quite certain. The portal to the Dungeon proper is up ahead.” Clarence quickly responded, wanting to get out of here as soon as possible. The full tactical gear they were wearing gave them away too much and he very much didn’t want to cause a panic INSIDE of the dungeon.
“Let’s just quickly get inside,” Charlie echoed his thoughts from beside him.
All of them quickly made their way to the glowing portal, a gentle purple hue emanating from the hole in reality. The five of them without hesitation stepped inside, only to be greeted with what looked to be a rec-room.
“Welcome to the first Challenge. Please complete any three out of five challenges you wish to participate in. There will be no fail-state in this room, if you wish to retry, please press the large button in front of me.” The voice came from an armless statue near the door to the next room. The lips hadn’t moved, and it didn’t seem like she had more to say, that is, if it hadn’t been a recording.
Sure enough, a large button with the word “RESET” stood in front of her. “I have an annoying feeling about this” Grant said. No one spoke a word against such a feeling, however.
Each of them went to a different task and set about trying to clear room one.
***
Fubar felt an ick in the pit of his stomach that he couldn’t shake. Even though he knew that this was the mission, and likely that cap had a bigger plan, even his past self would have found this distasteful.
“Comeon! Stop being such an ass! We need them to go, if you keep talking like that you’ll just make them angry!” Oscar pleaded with Fubar. Just recently assigned to the team for Christmas break along with Mike while two other members left to spend time with their families.
Brandon turned back, eyebrows knit and cocky attitude in tow, poking Oscar in the chest. “If ya don’t like it, tell the cap when he gets back. This is just how we do things in D.”
The two men deflated. They couldn’t give him orders considering that Brandon was their senior officer, and there was no recourse as the radio didn’t work inside the dungeon.
“Just… Try to cool it a bit?” Mike asked with pleading eyes.
***
“FINALLY!” four members of D team inside the game room all shouted as the counter on the wall had finally read out “⅗ Pass.”
Clarence shook his head, thinking no one noticed. “Alright on to room two.”
Taking the lead, the group of five all walked in formation behind Clarence. Weapons at the ready, they stepped into the first of the true challenges.
“Tis I! Hero! And my group who shall be your end! I shall banish you from this magical place!” The largest man stepped forward, nearly eight feet tall and with a massive sword that might as well be a sheet of metal for how large it was.
“I’m Clarence, how about a little one on one?” The leader of the group showed a toothy smile.
The large man was taken back. “I-uhm… Well, I do not mind an honorable bout. Yes, I agree, no interference from our other teammates?”
Clarence nodded back at the warrior, “Agreed, just us.”
A branch stretched between them. An older voice floated toward them, “You may fight as soon as the leaf touches the ground.” Elder Thorne finished, a single leaf dislodging from their long branch drifting slowly toward the floor.
Both competitors watched the leaf fall, gripping their respective weapon of choice as the adrenaline started rushing through their bodies. Right as the leaf touched the cold stone floor, Hero let out a mighty yell.
“GAAAAH!” He brought the sword over his shoulder, aiming for a single downward strike.
Clarence, however, brought up his left arm. His forearm entirely metal and covered with armor plates. So many in fact, that Clarence had to wear weighted protective gear on his right side just to keep a sense of balance. Those layers of alloy and titanium buckled, the first few being sliced clean through by the magical sword, yet the weapon stayed firmly lodged in the impact zone.
“My turn.” Clarence smiled again, a darker smile, more sinister as he pulled his handgun free, pressing it right where a person’s heart might be and unloading the full clip of twelve bullets into Hero’s chain-mail covered torso.
The large room-boss didn’t stand a chance. His heart was shredded, as his body fell lifeless to the ground it evaporated as Hero could only watch helplessly from this point on.
***
“What in the hell was that?” Oscar called over as they ran past the group he was just speaking to.
Brandon was shocked, staring at the pitch-black portal with golden lettering above, “reclaim hope, all ye who enter here.”
Unable to do much more, Fubar just fell on his butt, staring in amazement. “I… I think we failed. I mean…” Brandon considered everything that just happened. Two people demanding entry, one of them was likely the sheriff who also clearly had a magical shield.
“...I’m not sure what else to do.” Brandon finished, genuinely at a loss.
Just as Oscar, Mike, and Brandon all were left without a hope of completing their tasks, even if one of them was arguably done…
... Jerome walked out of the inky blackness covering the entrance. “Dungeon’s open! Everyone go inside, unfortunately, there will be a delay between runs however there is free food and care inside.”
“Shouldn’t we uhm, stop that?” Mike asked.
Brandon shook his head, “Nah, the real threat to the team was likely inside the big ball of darkness or whatever. We’ve failed.”
Just as the last phrase he said rang a little hollow, he heard something that made his entire body tense up.
“There are also gifts from Head-Mage Zippy inside, which should help you on your runs. Please, feel free to take one of the items in the box beside the portal.” Jerome called out to the people now walking into the inky black entrance.
Brandon looked up from his sullen expression, “Did… Did that man just say Zippy is here?”
***
The five members of D team stared at the long room. Much bigger than it had been for the contestants only a day prior. An entire strip of beach was visible, the ceiling raised, and the swinging bulb that impossibly illuminated the entire room was now set into the ceiling, shaped like a massive golden chariot. IF you were to look closely, you would see that the chariot isn’t still, instead, constantly moving along the sky, much like the sun in the sky.
That, however, wasn’t what garnered the group’s attention. On the other end of the water, near the other bank and in front of the door to the next room… Sat an otter on the back of a sea lion in full armor.
The otter wore armor of magenta and gold, its steed in brilliant silvers with a cloth covering. His weapon was a massive lance of flowing green fire that seemed not to hurt the otter nor its allies. Above the otter’s form, the group of five saw, with their goggles made out of acquired dungeoneer’s glass, its name.
Reqeem, Lord of Crusticakes and Slayer of Men.