Shane sat. He wasn’t tired or injured. He was a bit overwhelmed maybe, but mostly he sat in wonder. He had unlocked everyone’s Fates. Each subsequent one was easier for him to do as he became adjusted to the massive influx of knowledge and emotion. He knew these people. They were his chosen family. His best and closest friends on Earth. And yet. He felt like maybe he had never truly known them. At least not until now. The wildest part of the entire crazy experience was that each person that he unlocked and bound had their experience shared with the others that he had unlocked. They all understood one another on a deeper level now. It was crazy.
Each one of his friends had unlocked a different Fate, but Shane especially could feel the connection between them all. Brom’s was called [Hero of the Silver Crown], Brynn’s was [Once and Future], Malcolm’s was [Magus Eternal], and Kenzie’s felt the most closely tied to his own [Ashes of the Fatebound]. And while he could see their fates, he really had no idea what they meant, at least not yet. He assumed that down the line, he’d get a skill or ability that let him interpret or understand what they meant.
In the meantime, though, they had all received a glut of Aether from the entire process and had spent the better part of an hour leveling up, choosing skills and spells and allocating stat points. They all looked a bit different now as well. The stat gains from the titles and levels had affected all their physicality so that they each looked like they were in peak physical shape, however two stood out, Brom and Brynn. Brom’s body had gotten more massive and muscular. He looked like a superhero body builder. His strength alone was now at an astonishing twenty-seven. The closest to that was Kenzie with a twenty. Malcolm speculated that both Brom and Kenzie were well into the superhuman realm of strength and had bypassed the peak of human performance.
Gazing at his friends, he had to marvel at the changes. Brynn had changed significantly. She had been a pretty teenager. Shane would even say that she could have had a modeling career, but now, she was almost otherworldly. Her features looked sharper, and her skin was perfect even with the slight sparkle that looked like glitter on her flesh. Her shimmering blonde hair shone with a luster that did not look quite natural. Malcolm commented on how her ears were pointed now and saying that she looked elven. Very Lord of the Rings. It was hard not to look at her. She was simply radiantly beautiful.
Shane had gone from level one to level five from the experience. Brom and Kenzie were both at four and Malcolm and Brynn were at three, although they were both only a few hundred Aether away from four. Shane had chosen his new skills and spells straying on the healing side of his class instead of the combat abilities, as he had seen firsthand how much damage they had all taken and the time it took to recover. He wanted to have more ability to heal while in a fight than afterwards, so he took [Cure Poison], and [Mend Wounds], a stronger version of [Mending Touch]. [Mass Mend Wounds], this one had range and covered healing everyone at once and finally a sort of combat related spell [Inflict Wound]. This spell allowed him to directly damage someone’s health by touching them. If he had skin contact, he could bypass any innate abilities like Brom’s Titan Skin.
His skills were interesting in that they set him up to be able to create potions at some point. He had taken the [Alchemist] skill that he was excited to try out. He also had a [Survival] skill, one called [Surgical Strike] that allowed him to know better where to injure an opponent and finally one called [Healer’s Camp]. If he was to either make a fire or otherwise set up most of a campsite, anyone staying in the camp would heal at twice their normal speed.
Shane had even received a Fate Quest [Fates Found] to unlock ten Fates. His own did not seem to count for the total so he was at four overall. He wasn’t sure he knew ten people he was willing to bind his fate to though. Probably the Reeds if they wanted, but that was it as far as he could think of. His world of close friends was all here already. But the rewards for the quest were what got him wanting to complete it.
Fate Quest! [Fates Found 4/10]! Unlock the Fates of ten beings. Quest rewards, 1000 Aether, +12 to both Wisdom and Willpower, Fate Ability: [Fortune’s Favor].
By mid-morning, the group had finally completed their leveling and packing. The sun was well up, although with the heavy cloud cover, rain, and wind, it still looked dreary outside, but at least they could see. Kenzie pushed the group to get moving as she wanted to spend as little time as possible sitting around. The quicker they moved, the faster they would make it home.
Feeling far more confident than the day before, they left the store and braved the weather. As the group moved down the road, they all were happy to notice that the cold really did not bother them all that much. They still got wet which made clothing and walking along in soaked shoes especially annoying, but they no longer felt like they would freeze to death. Malcolm continued a stream of thoughts on the system and agreed with Shane’s assessment of the help option in that it wasn’t very thorough. He also walked noticeably closer to Brynn with a look like a love-struck puppy.
After walking for thirty minutes, they had passed multiple wreck sites and had not encountered any living creatures. Shane noticed that the cows that were a common sight along this stretch of road were gone, but he did not point out the blood stains in the grass in various places for fear of needlessly upsetting Brynn. As they passed the latest wreckage they found an oddity, a semi-truck trailer was jackknifed across the road. This differed from all the other broken vehicles in that the trailer for the truck was covered in vines that looked to be old growth. As if the trailer had lain there for years. The rollup door in the back was halfway up and the interior of the trailer had a dim light coming from it.
“Yeah, that looks like trouble.” Malcolm noted, stepping even closer to Brynn.
The group stopped to discuss the anomaly and it was finally decided that Brom would brave a closer look as they did not want to pass up the possibility that it was some sort of treasure. He approached it cautiously with his sword ready and after a few tense minutes, he stuck his head in the open trailer door. This elicited a slight squeak from Brynn, who had managed to clamp her own hand over her mouth.
Brom turned with a grin, “It’s a dungeon!” He waved everyone over.
As Shane approached along with the rest of the group, he received a notification.
Dungeon Discovered!
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Dungeons can be found across the Shattered Realms and offer those that brave their dangers, adventure and rewards.
Requirements to enter: Any participant must be below level ten. No more than six participants may enter together. Requirements to enter, met.
Note: To enter as a group, you must be part of a party consisting of no more than six participants.
Additional Note: Be the first to complete a dungeon in your Realm and earn extra rewards.
Enter the Dungeon as a single challenger? Y /N
After reading the description, Shane looked at Brom, and the huge smile on his face. He looked like a kid in a candy store. Shane tilted his head in inquiry, “You don’t seriously want to go in there do you?”
“Oh, hell yeah dude!” Brom was practically bouncing on his feet.
“No way.” Kenzie shook her head. “We have no idea what’s in there, or how long it could take. And besides, don’t we want to get home quickly?”
“But don’t we also want to get stronger?” Brom countered. “I mean the note said to be the first to complete a dungeon. That means no one else on Earth has done one yet!”
Malcolm added, “As much as I want to get home and see mom and dad, I think Brom has a point. It’s still going to take us days to get home. Why not make a grab for more power while we have the opportunity?”
Kenzie looked to Shane for support. Shane shrugged, “It’s compelling, I can’t lie.”
“Really? You too?” Kenzie turned to Brynn, “What about you?”
“It sounds gross, and I don’t like it, but I’ll go wherever Brom goes.” She unconsciously took a small step towards her brother.
“And I go wherever Lovie goes.” Chirped the plucky sounding teddy bear from where he was being held in Brynn’s arms.
Brom stepped up to Kenzie and grabbed her by the shoulders, smiling, “Kenz, think of it this way, if we can complete the dungeon and get the rewards, what if we find something like a magic carpet or another tool to help us get home quicker? And even if we don’t get something like that, whatever the rewards are will at least help us level and gain more abilities. C’mon, let’s do this.” He looked earnestly into her eyes.
Reluctantly Kenzie sighed, “Fine.” Brom crushed her in a huge hug, “Okay. Okay, get off me you brute.” Brom let her go, obviously happy with her acceptance. “But, for the record, if this gets us killed, I’m going to really pissed.”
Shane slid next to her, placed an arm around her waist and kissed her on the cheek. “Noted. And… thank you.” He kissed her again as she scowled her displeasure.
Malcolm opened his mouth, stuck out his tongue and mimed gagging, then said, “I looked up the help on parties and it seems pretty simple. As the highest level currently, Shane should activate the party and invite us all.”
“Alright, what do I do?” Shane turned his attention to the teen.
“Just think, activate party, and you should get a prompt and a list of those near you to invite.” Malcolm sounded just as excited as Brom.
It took a moment, and everyone was activated in Shane’s Party. They all marveled at the interface that showed each member and their relative health, stamina, and mana. Shane especially liked the interface as it would help him quickly identify any teammates in need of healing. Even Kenzie begrudgingly accepted that it was a useful tool.
They all climbed into the trailer and saw that the back wall of it was cloaked in a shimmering blue light. Shane waved his hand through the light but all it did was create ripples in the energy as if his hand had moved through water. Looking back, haloed by the light he asked, “You all ready?” At nods all around, he called up the dungeon interface. Everyone held hands.
Enter the Dungeon as [Shane’s Party]? Y /N
He chose Yes, there was a moment of disorienting weightlessness and then he was standing in a humid, dimly lit, windowless room, still holding Kenzie’s hand who in turn held Malcolm’s and so on. The entire group was now standing in a ten by ten room that looked very much like an abandoned industrial office. There was a desk and office chair, a filing cabinet, and a credenza behind the desk. The room was lit by softly glowing sickly yellow crystals imbedded in the ceiling and high up on the walls. The depressing light showed that everything in the room was covered in strands of some sort of damp fungus that was so dark green as to be practically black and in places oozing a viscous fluid. There was a fog or mist emanating from the floor that was thick enough to obscure their feet almost to their knees and the entire place smelled like rotting vegetation. Their footsteps made nasty squishing noises.
Brynn immediately pinched her nose, “Oh my God! It smells! I don’t like it! Can we leave now?”
Brom patted her on the shoulder, “Not yet, Princess. We just got here.” He took in the surroundings and motioned towards the only door in the room. “I bet if we go through that door, the air will get much better.” He was still in high spirits despite the gloomy area. “Besides, it’s warmer here and not raining.”
“Anyone else expecting something different?” Malcolm asked as he and Shane studied the oozing fungal growth.
Shane smacked Malcolm’s hand away from touch one of the creeping tendrils, “Don’t touch that!” He admonished. “Dude, what happened to gaming 101? Don’t touch the nasty slime stuff.”
Malcolm smiled, “Point taken.”
Kenzie pulled Malcolm away from the desk, “Mal, please don’t touch something that might melt your arm off. Or worse yet, shoot a tendril up your nose and take over your brain.”
Malcolm’s smile wavered at the last comment as he gave it some serious consideration.
Shane went to the door and tried the handle. It was the only part not covered in slime. The brass knob turned. He let go and consulted the others. “That’s obviously the way to go. How do we want to do this?”
Kenzie matter-of-factly stated, “Tactically speaking, we should send Brom first, then Shane, Brynn, Malcolm, and I’ll bring up the rear. This keeps Brynn in the middle and with a fighter class front and back.” At everyone’s astonished looks she asked, “What? I took the Tactics skill.”
“Good enough for me.” Brom headed for the door. He had the two-handed sword from the Wolfen in a solid grip. Behind him, Shane drew his Wolfen longsword, he had used one of his free skill points on the one-handed weapon skill which left his other free for casting healing if needed. Malcolm had his staff at the ready, while Kenzie held her shield and kept her spear pointed upward so as not to accidentally impale anyone. In the middle, Brynn hugged Harvey.
Brom opened the door with a dramatic and spooky creak and stepped into another dimly lit area. This new space was enormous, or at least he assumed so. It resembled a warehouse with fifty-foot ceilings and rows and rows of floor to ceiling shelving filled with wooden crates. The fungus was here as well as the mist on the ground. High above, dim yellow crystals gave off just enough light to see maybe twenty or so feet. Up ahead, the row of shelves was interrupted by a T-intersection. From somewhere ahead there was a weird, soft, intermittent clacking noise along with a constant dripping sound.
“Costco from Hell.” Malcolm noted somberly as he took in the scene.
“Nope.” Brynn turned around to head back, but found her way blocked by Kenzie, who gave Brom a questioning look.
Brom made his way back to the door as Brynn was trying to turn the knob. It did not move. She rattled it and tried turning it, but it stayed solidly unmoving as she began to panic just a bit. Brom laid a calm hand on hers. She turned up to him with tears beginning to form, “Can you kick it open?”
“Probably not.” He said gently. He wrapped her in a hug and spoke softly to her in Russian. He pointed to their friends and then patted Harvey on the head.
Brynn sniffled once and then straightened her spine and stood up more properly. “Okay.” She finally said and went to stand beside Malcolm, still hugging Harvey fiercely.
As Brom made his way back to the front of the group, Shane asked, “Still think this was a good idea?” Brom gave Shane a look and headed down the open aisleway.