After the party had dwindled and goodbyes had been said, Gio had followed his parents and his two younger siblings back to their townhouse in a dreamy fugue state. Unable to put down the rugged tome, his mind wandered to its previous holder. By all accounts, Francisco Benicio Cromwell was supposed to have been a good adventurer. He was apparently somewhat well-known in certain circles, but Gio had only ever heard of him through his father. “He was a Stubborn old fool.” Maxwell would say. But Grandpa wasn’t a topic of frequent discussion in their household, having been officially declared dead by the time Gio’s dad was 15 years old- More than 30 years ago. [Telchine’s Garden] became Francisco’s grave. The small dungeon was the reason Francisco dragged his sick wife and infant son to The City of Rings, and because it was located 10 miles outside of the sprawling city’s borders, it was officially an unclaimed dungeon. Francisco spent years of his life researching the dungeon and became madly obsessed with the spirit spring that he believed was at the center of it.
On the 20th anniversary of his death, Gio and his family visited the dungeon. Gio remembered it clearly.
_____
It was a warm, sunny day outside near the coast. Gio was 5 years old and held tightly by his mother. She had a carefully planned expression on her face. The family of three stood at an unassuming, overgrown mouth of a freshwater stream. A small marbled archway shimmered in the middle of a knee-deep water basin. A school of dull-looking fish darted through the gateway and disappeared.
“Are you certain that this is safe, Max? I know you’ve said it a hundred times… but this is a dungeon. A real… wild dungeon. Besides the servant dungeons at work, I’ve never seen one this close before.” Divina said.
Gio, ever the quiet child, drank in the scenery. His big oversized rain boots threatened to slip off because his parents wanted him to grow into them.
Maxwell replied; “Dad used to take me here to gather the flowers. They make cheap ink for spellforms. It’s clear of any hazard for about 10 miles, and even then you need some sort of special skill to get to anything besides water and flowers. I just want to see inside it, one last time. Just to … let him meet his grandson.” The young miner was carrying a small wooden box in his hands as he led his wife and child through the shimmering gateway.
Gio started crying, unused to seeing system prompts and not yet being educated in the language of the land.
“It’s okay sweetie, it’s just the system,” Divina cooed, rocking her son slightly. Gio sniffled but stopped crying as he looked outwards from his mother’s chest. Slanting outwards at an unclimbable angle were sheer cliff faces covered in thousands upon thousands of shining white flowers. The crystalline surface of the water didn’t ripple as the family trotted through it, and the air was fresh and slightly floral. Small motes of soft blue light danced across the surface of the water.
“Do you want to get down? Be careful, there’s rocks under the water, watch your step!” Divina warned.
Gio splashed around, chasing the motes of water mana, enjoying as they seemed to respond to his hands, circling around him. The family didn’t get far before the shallow waters began to drop off into a deeper incline and the walls began to narrow.
Maxwell stopped, taking a small wooden boat from the box, and placing it on the surface of the water, in the vessel, he placed a picture of the three of them and plucked a few of the shining white flowers from the high walls.
After a short silence, the man spoke. “Dad… I have thought long and hard about what I would say to you if I ever saw you again. For a while, I believed in your dream… that you would come out of this place and make us filthy rich. That the adventurer’s guild was wrong, and that you had just lost your signet ring, and that you were too good of a wayfinder to die. But as the years went on… I made peace. I want to thank you for having the mind to set aside enough money for me to finish school.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Maxwell looked into the eyes of his son, and his wife. “And I want to thank you for showing me that it hurts to be abandoned. I would have rather had a poor father than a dead one. I will never leave my family the way you left me. Maybe it was how you dealt with losing mom… or maybe it was just blind obsession. Either way… I miss you. I wish you were here to meet your grandson. Goodbye, Dad. I’m sorry it took so long for me to come say that… Goodbye.”
_____
Gio never really had much desire to go back to the dungeon where his grandfather died. He had, of course, been endlessly fascinated with the worn spellbook that he left behind. His father had told him that the spellbook was really just a piece of garbage, that his grandfather had gotten a new one just before his final dive, but that he couldn't bring himself to part with it. The notes that were previously inside of it were written in ink from the white flowers that grew inside the dungeon. The spindly white flowers that grew on the walls were called [Freshwater Asphodel] and could be reduced to ash to make a water attuned mana sensitive ink that was, rather ironically very prone to smearing, being that without any additives the ink wasn’t waterproof. The first page in his spellbook was a mess, but a pretty mess. A shimmering, blotted-out mess of concentric circles and symbols that wouldn’t hold any mana was all that was left of what was presumably the most useful spell that Francisco couldn’t access through his class skills, or perhaps his class had some sort of bonus for using paper magic? Gio’s father didn’t know too many details about the old wayfinder’s class. Gio turned the page, admiring the first three actual spells available to him.
[Hairline Fracture] (Tier:Upper Common/ Sub Uncommon) (Schools: Force, Earth, Alteration) Cause small hairline fractures to occur in a hard substance upon touch by bringing out microscopic imperfections in uniform lattices. Brittle materials are more susceptible.
[Detect Magic] (Tier:Lower Common) (Schools: Arcane, Divination) Sense magic in a small area surrounding the user.
[Prismatic Shape](Tier:Lower Uncommon)(Schools:Light, Conjuration, Evocation)(Precursor) Summon a light-aspected mana construct with either a defined form or a vector of force. May apply a small amount of radiant damage.
I can’t believe they did this for me. Hairline Fracture is a bit of a niche spell, but I’m going to treasure these three.
The rest of the weekend before the opening ceremony was full of love and warmth. Gio spent every moment possible with his family, aside from packing up the few belongings he was allowed to bring with him. After a mostly restless night, Gio woke up early on Monday morning to make breakfast, as the whole family had an early day ahead of them.
“Lieutenants, at arms!” commanded Gio.
“Swir wes swir!” replied Emma and Sam, cleaning supplies in hand. The three deGloria children patrolled the common areas of the house, annihilating any detritus from the morning meal as their parents nursed their morning coffee.
Reading some sort of highly technical report on his company-issued scrying plane, Maxwell finished his coffee and prepared to leave for his shift.
“Alright my little soldiers, I love you. Gio, we’re gonna miss you- and remember to write!” giving his son a peck on the top of the head (which was becoming harder and harder as the years went by) and saying his goodbyes to the others, Maxwell was the first out the door. Followed shortly by Emma and Sam, who had just proven themselves capable enough to walk together to the levi-bus station for primary school without adult supervision when classes started three weeks ago. Lastly, Divina and Gio were carrying Gio’s luggage to the train station.
Copper Ring Station tended to be quiet early in the mornings, as there were not many commuters from the Copper Ring to other rings. The imposing inter-ring train was fueling in its port, visible even from far away. Gio had only been to the Silver Ring for a few events in the entertainment district with his parents, and only been to the Gold Ring one other time for testing to gain a scholarship to the eponymous Crystal Ring Academy. Gio had never been to the other rings at all, especially since some of them were off-limits to pedestrian traffic.
“My darling boy. You are going to do such great things.” Divina squeezed her son with the sheer strength only a mother could supply for such a hard goodbye. The silver-haired woman wiped away the beginnings of a wistful tear and waved him off.
Settling into the plush car, Gio once again sat in wonder at the machine. The interior of the inter-ring express was exquisite, all polished brass and shiny lacquered wood. Sipping his warm beverage and snacking on a delightful yet airy wafer-like cookie, he looked out the window at the gargantuan obelisk-like walls that divided the rings. The inter-ring express, being a feat of magical engineering was designed to operate in several modes. There were rails in the cities, flight configurations for scaling the walls, and he had even heard of centipede-like legs for traversing the subterranean rings. Thankfully, it was somewhat of a direct path from Copper, to Iron, to Silver, to Gold rings consecutively. Gio yawned, being that it was very, very early in the morning for his usual schedule. Settling in comfortably, he opened his new spellbook and began studying the spellforms inside of it in preparation for the trip.