There were a few more packs of disgusting bloated corpses walking around between us and the ruins. Occasionally there would be one enemy within the pack who had a higher danger rating and some modifier before the front of its name, but together we triumphed over everything that stood in our way. I converted anima into experience points and hit Level 3, which gave me another 3 attribute points, along with another skill and equipment token to use when I had a chance to do so.

The loot wasn’t great for the most part, but higher danger enemies always gave something a little better. Lockjaw and Marilyn got a few pieces of gear, and we all received some crafting components. I hadn’t seen anything in the way of firearms or ammunition yet, and I wondered if they were even part of this contest.

All previous EDGE Force missions had started with a loadout of at least a pistol and an edged weapon, but there had been no guns at all this time around.

Time and weather had reduced the ruins to nothing more than some free-standing walls and courtyards that were grown over with moss and low-lying plants that rose between the cobblestones. My apprehension grew as we approached, unsure if Grendel would launch an attack on us. Lockjaw and Marilyn assured me that Grendel was stationary. He wasn’t dead though, I knew that for sure. If he’d perished an announcement would have gone out on the global channel.

We crossed the threshold of the ruins and walked into the space where Grendel supposedly was. A horde of corpses surrounded the whimpering Grendel. There were two swords stuck in his flank, and he was covered in arrows. He made eye contact with me and immediately sprang back to his feet. The fur on Grendel’s back stood up in a ridge as he growled.

“Easy,” Lockjaw said as he approached the wounded Grendel. “We’ve just killed a bunch of these things with Hatchet’s help. He’s not here to hurt you. None of us are.”

Grendel turned his attention to Lockjaw and snarled a challenge.

“You don’t want to fight us,” Lockjaw said in an even, gentle voice. “We’re your squadmates. Marilyn, me, Franklin, and Quinn. We need to work together, Grendel. Both Marilyn and Hatchet have healing skills, and they can heal you. But we’re going to need to pull those things out of you first.”

This sent Grendel into a frothing rage. He launched himself at me with his uneven jaws opened wide. I braced myself for impact, but Lockjaw shoulder charged Grendel while he was in the air. The beast flew off its trajectory and went rolling away. Grendel flipped over and tried to come at me again, but his feet were stuck to the ground, held in place by green slime. Marilyn was a puddle underneath Grendel, and Lockjaw had knocked him right into her!

“Calm down, Grendel!” Marilyn said from a mouth that formed in her centre mass.

Grendel fought against his restraints, but an odd change came over him. His eyelids started to droop and the fight started to go out of him. Slime stretched up his limbs and covered over the wounds on his paws and lower legs. Was Marilyn pacifying him somehow?

“Come on Hatchet, we need to do this while Grendel’s incapacitated,” Lockjaw said, and I followed.

Lockjaw got started on the nasty business of pulling the swords and arrows out of Grendel while I used my healing skills to keep him alive through the process. Every time Lockjaw pulled another arrow free of Grendel’s hide, the hurt creature would snarl and thrash out of his stupor, but Marilyn kept him in place.

The colour of Grendel’s hide was remarkably similar to Kaiser’s. It was black and gold in relatively the same pattern, aside from the places where Grendel’s form had been twisted into something more than dog. I used up a lot of mana throughout the healing process, but the last two swords stuck in his side were the worst. Lockjaw had to yank on them hard to pull them free, and a nasty gout of black ichor rushed out of the wounds along with bright red blood.

“Poisoned swords,” Lockjaw said with disdain. “Just do what you can for him, Hatchet. If the shock of pulling those weapons from his hide hasn’t killed him, Grendel is more resilient than I thought.”

I used up the last of my mana to heal this poor creature. Up close, the similarities between him and Kaiser were impossible to ignore. Grendel and Kaiser were the same until Mnemtech twisted Grendel into an anima hunter. I knelt next to Grendel’s head as I pushed the last of my mana into him.

“You’re in there, aren’t you?” I asked. “The same cheeky, stubborn, loveable mutt that I call family. It’s not too late, Grendel. We could be your friends too, if you’ll let us. We’re not the enemy. Mnemtech is, and they’re here on the plateau.”

Grendel let loose a forlorn groan at this, and then his eyes snapped open.

“I can’t hold him any longer!” Marilyn said as she had to let go.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Grendel immediately got back to his feet, shook his head, and then snarled at me. He took one step toward me and bared his mismatched fangs in a threat display. I held my breath and thought for sure he was going to lunge at me, but instead, he turned around and ran out of the ruins away from his squadmates.

Lockjaw called after him, but Marilyn stayed in puddle form to recuperate.

“Are you going to be okay?” I asked.

Her face floated across her surface. “Yeah, I just need to rest. Going into puddle mode is hard, and forming strong grips is even harder. I’ll be okay soon.”

“Well at least he didn’t try to kill me, so I consider that progress,” I said.

“Go to your friends in the dungeon,” Lockjaw said. “We’ll meet you at the bridge later. By then, I hope Grendel realises that we’re all on the same side.”

I nodded, then headed into the ruins. I sent Kaiser and Spook a quick message to ask if there was anything I needed to watch out for, but they had already cleared out most of the enemies. There were some traps that used pressure plates as triggers in the ruins though, so I would need to watch my step.

The ruins weren’t entirely devoid of monsters as I searched for the dungeon entrance. I came across a couple of Rotknights wandering the crumbling corridors before finding the mist-covered door that led into the dungeon proper. I used my Rancid Claws to take the enemies down, and they were much easier to deal with when fought one-on-one.

The mist-covered doorway was unlike anything I’d ever seen. The mist roiled and flowed in thick billowing blankets within the threshold of the stone arch, almost as though it was liquid. I couldn’t see anything through it, not even a glimpse of what lay on the other side. I stepped into the archway and almost expected the mist to resist me, but it didn’t. My vision went dark as I passed through but returned once I’d made it to the other side.

A notification appeared.

Now entering: Mistbegotten Crypt

A rectangular stone room sprawled out in front of me, and true to its name the ground was covered in a layer of thin mist that moved as I walked through it. Torches burned in sconces on the other side of the wide room, and I idly wondered who had lit them. If this place had been abandoned for thousands of years, had someone from the Alarendei Empire gone around to all these dungeons and lit the torches before the game started?

My Balaran Knight armour illuminated the area directly around me in an ambient green glow, so I didn’t need to grab any of those torches, but I did need to find my friends.

Hatchet: I just entered the dungeon. Where are you guys?

Kaiser: Spook found a secret room and we’re trying to figure out a puzzle. There’s an elevator at the back of the first chamber. Take it down and we’ll meet you.

The elevator was exactly where Kaiser said it would be. It was made of stone and inset into the wall. I stepped inside, and then pulled the lever which immediately sent the elevator down deeper into the ruins. It came to a soft stop, and I was glad to see Kaiser and Spook waiting for me. The chamber beyond was also covered in mist.

“Hey sorry I’m late, but I’m glad you two are safe,” I said as I stepped into the stone chamber.

Kaiser whimpered in relief and licked my hand. I used what little mana had regenerated to heal Kaiser’s wounds, which didn’t look too serious. Spook walked straight into the elevator without saying a word.

“Hey, where are you going?” I asked.

Spook rolled her eyes at me as she pulled the elevator lever again. Then she jumped out of the elevator as it returned to the top of the ruins.

“Did you just strand us down here?” I asked with a little more than annoyance in my voice.

Spook rolled her eyes at me again, then motioned to the empty well left behind after the elevator’s departure.

There was a chamber hidden in the back of the lift well.

“Whoa,” I said.

“Game designers love to mess with you,” Spook said.

I blinked in surprise at the sound of her voice. It was quiet but confident.

“So they hid this chamber where they thought nobody would look for it,” I said.

“No, they hid it in the place where someone like me would absolutely look for it,” Spook said with a grin. “There’s a puzzle in here we need two pairs of hands for. Kaiser tried, but sometimes you need thumbs.”

Kaiser whined in disappointment at that, but I ruffled his fur.

“You have other gifts,” I said.

Kaiser barked once. Yes.

Spook took my hand and tugged on my arm to follow her into the chamber. “Come. Elevator’s safe. We’ve already walked through it once.”

I followed Spook into the elevator well, which was also full of mist, and something depressed under my foot as I landed. A whirring, grinding sound came from above us the elevator mechanism let go and tried to drop the stone elevator straight down on top of us. I grabbed the back of Spook’s jumpsuit and wrapped an arm around Kaiser’s shoulders before I launched us all forward.

The elevator slammed into the lift well a second after we were clear.

“Sorry for being rough,” I said and got back to my feet.

“What the hell! That didn’t happen the last time Kaiser walked through there!”

“Maybe there was a weighted trigger or something in the floor,” I offered. “I’m a bit heavier than you lot. Or maybe the dungeon is smart enough to not engage traps that would stop progression. You needed me to solve a puzzle, right?”

Spook nodded.

“Then the dungeon might have known it would trap you and Kaiser down here if it triggered that trap.”

“We’re dealing with crafty game designers, then. It could be a simple weight threshold trap, or it could have hidden parameters to trigger. I personally doubt it’s the second scenario, as most other dangers have been well telegraphed so far. I feel like everything in this dungeon and this game is a test.”

“Like what?”

“Well all the knights, mages, and rangers we faced left wet trails behind them, so Kaiser and I could figure out their patrol routes. Plus, putting the lever that controls the elevators right near the opening made me think we should try sending it back up. Maybe there was a clue we missed in the lift well when we passed through. Something under the mist.”

I dusted myself off, and we headed towards an ornately carved statue sitting at the back of the chamber.

“Well there’s no going back that way now.”