It took me a bit to calm Alysia down. It involved making several promises to soothe her. Finally, the pair of us stepped through the exit to join the rest of the party and left the relieved Gram alone. Dungeons were a strange thing. Two people standing on either side of the dungeon’s entrance wouldn’t be able to see each other. There was a dark shroud that seemed to exist. When you stepped into a dungeon, you essentially entered a place slightly apart from the world.

This was why dungeons could exist in so many odd forms, even to the extent of not having any physical presence. Although most dungeons did take up space in our world, it wasn’t always equal to the space exhibited on the inside. This was also why resurrections and portals had restrictions. The thick miasma within dungeons also interfered with the ability of mana to transmit, but it was their other-worldly nature that made them difficult to handle.

So, they weren’t able to hear my conversation with Gram, and I wasn’t able to see what was going on with the other side until I stepped through. I had come up with a quick excuse as to why it had taken me so long to exit. My best excuse was that I needed to go take a leak. Hopefully, for a bodyguard, that would be acceptable. I had only wasted a couple of minutes, but I felt it necessary to give Gram a final goodbye. This was why I was a bit confused when I stepped out to find the cart abandoned.

I was standing in an area that appeared to be some kind of small building. There was no door on the building, and it led outside into what appeared to be a forest. Frowning slightly, I started moving out into the light of the morning day. Unlike the other side of Gram’s Passage which came into the side of a mountain, this opened out into a thick rainforest.

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However, there was something strangely off about the environment. I currently couldn’t hear any birds or other sounds of life. It was extremely quiet. I pulled up my map, using Sense Life immediately to identify where anyone was. I immediately located a group of people, but they were all scattered out. I picked the closest group and headed toward them.

I didn’t have to walk long before I heard someone shout. “Who’s there!”

I recognized the voice as the leader of the adventuring guild, so I called back. “It’s me.”

“Ah, Deek…” Pait’s voice sounded out. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize we left you back there.”

I shook my head. “What’s going on?”

I stepped out into a small clearing. Pait, Dav, the dwarf, and the leader were the only ones there. It looked like the cart pullers and the adventurers were going out searching.

“When we stepped through, there were no guards to greet us,” Pait spoke uncertainly. “It is like, everyone got up and left. Their fort shouldn’t be abandoned like this.”

“Hey! I found something!” A voice cried out from the distance.

The group of them looked at each other before starting to head in that direction. I followed them. We didn’t walk far before walking right into a village. I didn’t realize it was a village at first because all of the homes were built into the trees. This was a small village servicing Gram’s Passage. It was possibly a bit bigger than the Esmore outpost we came from. As we walked, I could smell something unpleasant. However, my eyes were on the map, which showed no life in the village other than our people.

We came up to where the cart puller who had called us had stopped. His face was white and he was staring at something.

We all followed his vision to see a group of ten men all lying on the ground dead, their faces sunken in as insects buzzed around them.

Horror started to form on everyone’s face as they began to realize what happened. Everyone in this village was dead!