The dense forest air felt heavy and humid against my fur as I crept through the underbrush. My small yet sharp eyes constantly scanned the surroundings, always on alert for potential threats. I was a Ratkin, a creature of small stature but equipped with a keen mind and strong instincts. Once again, these attributes had saved me.

We had only left Abervale a few hours ago when my sensitive ears warned me of something approaching. I stopped and listened, my heart pounding loudly in my chest. Abervale Forest might not have been the most dangerous place one could visit, but it had thrown several unexpected obstacles our way before. And this time seemed no different.

The other four Ratkin around me sensed the change in my demeanor and became alert as well. They were all seasoned fighters, each with their own skills and instincts to protect them in such situations. But despite our experience and strength, we knew the forest still held many secrets and dangers for us.

A low growl escaped my throat as I heard the strange presence drawing nearer. It was no ordinary animal or monster approaching. It was something different, something I had never heard or seen before.

"W- what's that?" whispered Knixx, his eyes also scanning the underbrush, searching for the source of the sound.

"I don't know," I replied softly, "but get ready. Something big is coming!"

The tension in the air was palpable, and I felt my muscles tense, ready for attack or defense. Seconds felt like hours, and then suddenly, it burst forth from the underbrush.

It was a creature of impressive size and stature, with sharp claws and teeth, and a gaze that revealed only one thing: It was here to hunt. Us.

Confidently, the creature approached, always ready to leap at my throat should I make a mistake. Its earthen body gleamed in the diffuse moonlight, and its eyes glowed with an intense, unnatural amber. It was as if they were looking directly into my soul, seeing through my fears and uncertainties.

I tried to remain calm, control my breathing, and focus on my training. I knew that in such moments, it was important to keep a clear head and not panic. But how could I do that when this peculiar monster was staring at me so greedily?

As the monster took another step closer, I froze like ice. It sniffed at my chest, apparently deciding whether I would make a good snack, and then its long tail began to swish from side to side, spreading dirt and dust.

The other Ratkin around me drew their weapons and formed a defensive formation. Our small group was determined to defend ourselves, but we all knew our chances against such a creature were limited. Our instincts screamed at us to run, but we stood our ground, ready to fight to the last breath.

It was Fren who launched the first attack. The water mage and healer among us extended her hand and summoned the moisture from the air. In an impressive surge, a powerful jet of water shot toward the monster.

The monster tried to dodge backward, but it was simply too surprised by the sudden attack to succeed. The jet of water hit it directly, sending it flying to the side and momentarily throwing it off balance. It cried out, visibly unsettled by the powerful attack from the mage.

Finally seeing an opportunity, I yelled at the monster with all the force my lungs could muster, insulting and mocking it, all to keep its attention focused on me.

Soon enough, the monster turned its attention to me. I felt the adrenaline rush through my body, knowing I had to be ready to strike again at any moment.

The other Ratkin also attacked, each with their own skills and weapons. Hoks, our archer, fired a series of arrows, each more venomous than the last, while the others hurled stones and daggers. But despite our united efforts, the monster seemed to find a way to dodge or deflect our attacks time and time again.

Amidst the chaos and battle cries, I suddenly heard a familiar melody. It was the song of Perrim, our wind singer. With closed eyes, she stood there, her voice rising above the noise of the battle, giving us the strength to continue fighting.

Inspired by her melodies, I felt a surge of new energy within me. With a powerful leap, I attacked again, this time with a combination of speed and precision. My dagger found its way, striking the monster in the throat. Again and again, I struck at the creature, until, finally, something seemed to give in. A loud howl filled the air, and the monster collapsed exhausted to the ground. It almost instantly dissolved into thin air, leaving behind only a glowing mana stone as a reward for our efforts – we had emerged victorious.

~ ~ ~

After collecting our loot and recovering from the encounter with the monster, we decided to continue our journey to the dungeon. We had already lost a lot of time, and our destination still lay far ahead of us.

"The dungeon is deep in the heart of the forest," Knixx explained, pulling a hastily drawn map from his pocket. "We should see the mountain soon. Certainly!"

Fren nodded in agreement. "Let's hurry. We don't know what creatures await in the forest!"

With renewed determination, we set off. The landscape of Abervale was beautiful but unforgiving. The ground was uneven, and the roots of the trees formed a dense network that often tripped us up. But we didn't let that discourage us. Not now, when we were so close to our goal.

As we penetrated deeper into the forest, our surroundings quickly began to change. The trees became sparser, and soon the moonlight penetrated all the way to the forest floor. A sense of relief washed over us, knowing we were now close to the dungeon. We could already see the mountain!

"That's it," said Fren after a few more minutes of walking. "Th-the dungeon!"

We exchanged glances. Each of us felt the gravity of the moment. The dungeon before us was only a few weeks old if the ramblings of the drunken dwarf could be believed, yet it promised more wealth than even the best quests in the adventurer's guild. If all went well, we'd be set for life!

With a nod, we stepped onto the meadow surrounding the mountain, ready to embark on our adventure.

It took us a few more minutes to reach the entrance. It was an inconspicuous tunnel in the rock wall, which looked almost black in the moonlight. Armed only with my torch, I cautiously approached the hole, which in the darkness looked almost like the mouth of a monster.

The walls of the tunnel initially seemed smooth, almost as if carved by a stonemason, but the deeper we ventured into the passage, the more unsettling it became. Every twenty-five steps, as I had counted, the tunnel made a turn to the left or right, sometimes more sharply, sometimes less so. It was as if someone had created this tunnel, as if this were not a dungeon but rather an artificial creation, but that could hardly be true. Even as a shield-bearer, I could feel the magic in the air, growing stronger with every step.

After eight turns, we reached a last, straight section, and I could see sunlight - right in the middle of the mountain! Now any remaining doubts vanished.

"Gif- gifts," Fren reminded me when I tried to step onto a wooden bridge. "Of- offerings!"

I quickly grabbed a handful of sweet cherries from my chest bag. It hurt to throw them away simply, but certain traditions had to be followed, especially those related to dungeons. And who knew what it might be good for?

Hoks, Kniff, Fren, and Perrim also willingly offered their sacrifices before gathering at my side to take a closer look at the underground lake and its island greeting us.

The dungeon had created a volcano of all things, more than just a strange sight for a newly born one. Had the dwarf lied to us and this place was much older than he had said?

No, that couldn’t possibly be true. He was drunk, very much so, and more than willing to trade a few coins for his story. Everything he had said was true, but a volcano? He had never said a word about that.

We all stood there speechless, fascinated by the fight of the elements displayed in the sky in front of us. It felt surreal as if this were a place that existed only in stories and legends. But here we were, right in the middle of a dungeon that seemed to be full of surprises.

"In-incredible," whispered Perrim, her eyes wide with wonder. "Never thought something like this could exist in a dungeon!"

Knixx nodded in agreement. "Like entering another world! Hard to believe it's part of a dungeon!"

We warily made our way over the bridge, always watching our flanks and backs, but not a single monster showed up to block our way. When we finally reached the other side, Perrim slowly went to her knees, her eyes open in wonder. Her hands reached out for one of the glowing blossoms.

"Not only beautiful," she explained with an eager nod. "Plants radiate! Energy, like never felt before! They live - truly, truly alive!"

"We need to be careful," I warned her. "The place is peaceful, but we don't know what awaits us!"

Even though I said so myself, I couldn’t help but stare at our surroundings in awe. There were just too many vividly colored blossoms to be seen, none of which we had ever seen before. It was likely they existed only here, at this magical place.

Nothing happened as we slowly made our way around the volcano, past a giant tree and dozens of berry bushes we couldn’t help but marvel at for minutes. Their fruits were white like snow, and possibly highly poisonous, but looked incredibly delicious for some reason.

It was only when we reached a third of the awkwardly fall-colored trees, that something major happened: we stumbled upon a large magic circle that had colorful elemental runes carved into its marble surfaces. I could easily identify the symbols for water, earth, fire, and air, but didn’t even hope to guess what the magic circle was here for, to begin with. The deep black lines connecting the pedestals of marble made me feel restless if anything. It felt like we had stumbled upon some forbidden magic, left here for whatever nefarious purposes.

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The nearby lava river didn’t make me feel the slightest better about the possible death trap we had found ourselves in. It looked ominous to say the least, as if it was just waiting to come alive and swallow us whole, and, as to confirm my fears, I could suddenly hear the noise of aggressive barks in the distance.

Then there was a growl closer, much, much closer. Out of a nearby hole stepped one of the earth monsters, its tail aggressively swishing from left to right. Before I knew it, three more came running around the volcano, cutting off our retreat.

"Def-defend yourselves!" Knixx shouted, drawing his daggers. The others also grabbed their weapons, each of them ready for battle.

It didn’t take long until the creatures pounced at us and a fierce battle ensued. We managed to barely fend off their attacks at first, but their numbers seemed endless, no, several monsters half water, half dog had appeared to heal them with snakes made out of water!

"The water ones!" I called out.

Knixx immediately tried taking out the healers but failed time and time again in this task. There was always an earth monster willing to take the attack instead of its watery mate. It was only when we finally wore the earth creatures down somewhat that things started to look a little better and a few first arrows hit the healers, digging deep into their translucent bodies.

Fren meanwhile did her best to keep us on our feet. Time and time again, she created water barriers to protect us from the wild attacks of the monsters and healed us with her magic whenever we were bitten. Her magic blocked many of the monster's attacks, but the precious water fell to the ground after every second or third hit, and time was clearly against us as her mana would be completely depleted within minutes.

Perrim did her best as well. She played a wild melody on her flute, which disoriented the earth monsters at least for a moment. In this brief pause, we were able to take out two of them - especially Hoks was worth his weight in gold here - but the next wave of monsters was already ready as three more healers appeared, ready to assist the others.

Meanwhile, I used my weapons with all my might, trying to keep the monsters at bay, but they were fast and skilled, and the monsters somehow managed to surround us despite us trying our best to prevent it from happening. During all this chaos, we desperately tried to regroup and reevaluate our strategy. The situation seemed hopeless, but we could not give up.

"Hold on!" Knixx shouted, swinging his daggers wildly at the attacking monsters. "Don't lose courage!"

I used my shield against the approaching monsters, trying to thwart their attacks, but the overwhelming force was crushing. We were surrounded, and the monsters still outnumbered us.

Suddenly, a loud bang echoed, followed by a dazzling flash of light. It was Fren, who mobilized her last energy source, a fist-sized mana amulet, to give us a momentary advantage. The water barrier she created was so powerful that it even threw the two remaining earth monsters back.

"Now!" she shouted.

We used the moment when the monsters were weakened and ran them down, slashing and stabbing at them with a fierceness I had never seen in ourselves. Before I knew it, both of the remaining earth monsters had crumbled into dust, leaving behind nothing but their cores.

With the fighters taken care of, the remaining fight quickly turned in our favor. The water monsters seemed to have no combat capabilities aside from spraying water at us, which was a nuisance at best. Before long, every single one of them had disappeared into mist, leaving behind faint blue mana cores.

As if waiting for this chance, suddenly there was an almost inaudible splash coming from behind us. We quickly turned around, towards the lava stream that seemed to endlessly flow down the volcano. Six creatures now raised out of it, their whole dog-like silhouette made out of pure molten rock. Glowing red eyes stared at us and a single wave of their two blazing hot tails sent fire and lava spreading everywhere. As if that wasn’t enough, living, four-legged flames now descended the volcano’s rocky slope, seemingly heeding their comrade’s call.

I shouted a curse, before bracing myself for the unavoidable fight. Fren’s magic shield still on me, I charged at the beasts to prevent them from engaging my friends, my shield causing a loud splash whenever it met the head of one of the lava beasts.

Three of the monsters reacted to my taunts and kept engaging me, the others, however, were already charging at my team. I screamed a warning at the four, before concentrating on my unequal fight.

The combat was a mess, to say the least. While the fire elementals were quickly dispersed when hit by Fren’s water magic, the same couldn’t be said about the ones made out of molten rock. Whenever their attacks hit our watery shields, shards of volcanic glass would form, pelting us with their knife-like edges. As if that wasn’t enough, the fire monsters quickly learned, changing from melee to magic attacks.

Soon we found ourselves at the disadvantage, as molten claws and balls of blazing fire came at us from all directions. The monsters did their best to wear us down, giving us no chance to take a single breath. And sooner or later, our luck ran out as one by one Fren’s magic shields broke under the relentless attacks of our assailants, their quick replacements barely blocking a single attack of the lava monsters. We were running out of time.

“Break through!” I urged my friends, pointing at a nearby bridge.

With a scream I bashed my shield against the lava elemental’s heads one by one, making them stumble, albeit for seconds at best. My friends took the chance to push through their lines, somehow managing to defeat one of the remaining two fire monsters in the process and making their way to the bridge. With a sudden, long jump I fled after them, my feet barely managing to avoid my assailants’ molten bodies.

My tail, however, wasn’t as lucky. An agonizing pain assaulted me before I had even reached the bridge. I couldn’t help but turn around, only to be greeted by the cruel sight of my burning appendage dangling from one of the lava beast’s toothless maws. Tears ran down my fur as I continued running, silently hoping that Fren would be able to do something about it.

The monsters didn’t care about my loss as they ran after us, doing their best to trample us down. They pursued us, snapped at us, again and again, and barked in an ear-deafening noise that sent shivers down my spine.

Only when we arrived in the tunnel did the monsters suddenly let go of us. They still barked and growled at us, standing on the bridge as if to defend it with their honor at stake, but they did not dare to enter the tunnel itself.

Only after minutes of the deafening spectacle did the monsters let go of us. For a moment afterward, there was almost total silence, only our breaths and heartbeats sounding loud and clear. Each of us was exhausted from the fight, but we knew we could not rest for too long.

"That-that was close," Fren gasped, trying to regulate her breathing.

Knixx nodded in agreement. "Dungeon more dangerous than we thought."

I couldn’t help but present my tail, now barely a third of the length it should be. Fren gasped before quickly looking around, trying to find my missing appendage, but I quietly shook my head. Tears gathered in her eyes as she kneeled in front of me and began taking care of my stump to at least stop the bleeding for now.

While the loss of its tail was harsh for a ratkin as it didn’t make me more attractive in the least, it ultimately was a cheap cost for overestimating ourselves like this. We could easily have died!

While Fren was doing her best to soothe my pain and heal my wounds, Perrim herself sighed before sitting down next to me. She pulled out her flute and played a soothing melody that gave us some comfort in this dark moment. Her music seemed to clear the air around us and organize our thoughts. But that was all she could do for us. It was clear that she, too, was at the end of her strength.

"Ar-are you okay?" I asked hesitantly. "If you need a break, take it."

Perrim nodded hesitantly, then closed her eyes to rest.

Fren was even worse off. The water mage now shed silent tears as she stared into the space from which we had come.

Most of the monsters were still alive and more than enough to become dangerous to us, especially now that Fren had to use her trump card. Time was also working against us. Soon, the defeated monsters would reappear. We were facing a fight that was at least as difficult as the last one.

"What do we do?" I heard myself ask. "Run?"

The others just shook their heads. That would be sheer suicide. But what else could we do? We could not possibly defeat the monsters faster than they reappeared!

"Con-continue," Hoks decided.

"Continue?" I asked incredulously.

"Dungeon young," he explained, "Maybe core in next room!"

He was right. It couldn't hurt to at least check what the next room held for us. Maybe it really was just the dungeon core. Then we could at least rest in peace and maybe recharge Fren's amulet, if that was even possible to begin with. Maybe the dungeon even had a portal to its entrance! Sure, it was young, but it had already surprised us once.

It took us about half an hour to at least somewhat combat our exhaustion. Fren and Perrim had replenished most of their mana by now, meaning we were - at least physically - capable of continuing on, but actually forcing ourselves to do the first steps into the new room was an entirely different deal.

The dungeon awaited us with a barren wasteland, filled with nothing but hot air and shallow ponds that had countless miniature volcanos growing in them. Instead of lava and smoke, these tiny mountains brought forth fountains of boiling hot water and thick clouds of steam. Just stepping into one of the ponds promised a painful death.

Even more upsetting than the landscape was a line of shadows hovering far above our heads, half covered by the steam. At first, I thought it was monsters, but their dark silhouettes appeared to be immobile for now.

The weirdest feature of the room was a wooden pavilion in the middle of a larger pond, surrounded by several of the water volcanos. A dense fog had gathered around its base, hiding half of the structure, but I could still easily make out its roof.

My hopes immediately went up. Something had to be in there, something that might help us! Maybe it was even the dungeon core’s location! It would certainly be weird for the dungeon core to protect itself from the elements like that, but not entirely unheard of.

With that much in mind, we slowly made our way through the room, always wary for traps or another one of the water jets to appear right in our path, but we came across neither. If anything, the room seemed strangely quiet aside from all the noise the boiling beams of water produced while erupting from the ground.

When we reached the pond housing the wooden structure, we couldn’t help but stare at it. It was deeper than I thought, but not majorly so. If anything, it would reach our hips if we decided to walk into it.

“You think it is safe?” I asked Fren.

The water magician quickly shook her head before thinking better of it. With a whisper, she summoned a tiny ball of the water out of the pool and onto the palm of her hand where it hovered in relative silence. After a moment of silence, she confirmed its safety with a nod and before I knew it, she had already put a finger into it.

“It is safe.”

Hesitatingly we stepped into the pool of water, only to realize it was almost pleasantly warm, rather than boiling hot. We would still have to avoid the steam- and water-spewing miniature volcanos, but other than that, the pond seemed rather inviting for a long, relaxing bath. The gods knew I desperately needed one.

We ultimately reached the pavilion’s entrance which was almost perfectly hidden by steam, only to freeze like ice the next moment. We were not alone! On the pavilion’s benches sat a Beastkin like I had never seen one before. The young woman had long, red hair. Black tips adorned her ears, and a long, bushy tail ended in pure white. Somehow she reminded me of the monsters, but I couldn’t exactly say why.

The beastkin seemed lost in thought. She was staring at the fog that was hiding her feet. It was only when we approached that she looked up at us. In her gaze, I found curiosity, but also a feeling I did not want to see at that moment: anger. She was angry with us!

A cold shiver ran down my spine as I realized what that must mean. I looked around, searching for a monster or trap that would surely kill us, but there was nothing of the sort. The room seemed peaceful, far too peaceful.

It was only when I tried to address the young woman that something changed. Out of the fog suddenly rose a dog-like silhouette made out of vapor. It had a semi-translucent body that was almost white, only a soft golden hue to be found hidden deep inside of it. The monster was glowing as if charged by some foreign energies. And when two aquamarine eyes slowly opened up to stare at me from out of the cloud that grew out of its body, I couldn’t help but shudder. This wasn’t our fight! I immediately knew we weren’t ready for this.

"G-give up!" I heard myself stammer. "We give up!"