Kaiser’s breath came slow, measured. His ribs still ached, the weight of the golem’s hit pressed his chest. Here he was, draped over Elara’s shoulder, the one who saved his life. Yet, he couldn't feel like nothing more than a fallen soldier… for the first time in his life, he wasn't the one who did the saving, but he was saved.. He pushed against her hold, his boots scraped against the dirt. “I'm fine, Elara. I am a Knight…”
Elara didn’t let go immediately. Her grip lingered for a fraction longer than necessary before she eased back, watching him carefully. “Be careful…” The warning wasn’t chiding, he had gotten hurt, yet he was moved well than someone who got hit by the force of a dragon's tail whip. It completely broke his defenses.
Kaiser rolled his shoulders, forcing the stiffness from his limbs. He reached to his belt, his fingers flexed around the hilt of Finisirae as if reaffirming his connection to the blade. He had wasted enough time. The dungeon waited ahead, its entrance covered by an iron gate. It bore no markings, no scripture—just a sheer, unyielding presence. Something primal stirred in his gut. Not fear. Not yet. He stepped forward. His left hand on Finisirae, his right palm pressed against the cold metal.
And then—
Zap.
Lightning snapped against his skin, the force unseen yet undeniable. A pulse of raw energy surged through his arm, hurling him backward. He hit the ground hard, the scent of burning fabric thick in the air.
A voice—no, the Dungeon itself—spoke.
“YOU ARE NOT WORTHY.”
The words weren’t heard. They were felt, rattling in his skull. Kaiser clenched his jaw, shoving himself upright. His vision swam, his eyes wanted to drown in the water.
Not worthy? His grip on Finisirae tightened. The weight of his failures pressed against his ribs harder than the golem had. It's like the third time in his life he felt inferior, the first he was weak. The second he didn't have enough strength, but now he had enough power. Why would it—Why did it deny him? The mere question infuriated him.
His palm balled into a fist as Finisirae began to glow, purple accents flew from the blade as a demon of a man once there formed in the eyes of Kaiser. Before the touch of an annoying elf took him out of it. Looking back Kaiser met eyes with Lynda, who pointed behind herself at Elara who had the same worried look as before.
“Knight.” She began “She is the one who killed the titans. She has to open the dungeon, naturally if you did more damage it would allow you as one of the main participants. But she took all of the guardians' health.”
“Right.” Kaiser said, almost instantly as if he knew the answer to the question. “Let me… get out of your way.” The black armored knight moved, the white cloaked elf moved with him as well. The green dress walked in front of the gate shyly, she put her hand to the metal and it vanished instantly. The dungeon roared. Ready for the challenge the three faced. It was cocky in nature, yet it was letting a three headed monster in.
━━━━°⌜ 之后 °━━━━
Wolfe breathed heavily. His hand on the axe of Mason, his knuckles white, his grip was shaking, lungs fought not to collapse. The lightning around went from thunderous output to a mere spark. He was tired. He used all he had in that swing… and the hand behind him. He looked up, throwing his head upwards as he looked to see who helped him kill the last of those demons… and no one stood with him. No one else was around to see his feat.
He was yet but a lone wolf. He looked at Mason's axe, his now dead Guild mate's body in his peripheral vision. It hurts to see, both see the body and use his eyes. It hurts to stand. It hurts to—
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
His body loses all its weight, he falls backwards through the air. Hitting the ground with a loud thud. Dust flies up in the air, everything around his unconscious self quiet. Shadows move from the dungeons, crawling around the light from the torches that otherwise lit up the cavern. They grabbed him by his legs, pulling him deeper into the dungeon. Not to eat him, not to harm him, but trap him. Punish him for the massacre of the Angels whose darkness he put light to.
━━━━°⌜ 之后 °━━━━
Lynda walked ahead, tracing her fingers along the cavern walls. She frowned, the Elven Force in her body read like a compass. Telling her to turn back around, her being in this area alone made her balance of Light and Dark tilt more to the films of evil. “This isn’t right,” she murmured, adjusting her glasses. “The structure doesn’t match any recorded dungeon layouts.” Kaiser turned over his shoulder, looking back at Lynda. His grip on Finisirae tightened. “Meaning?”
“Meaning this place is shifting,” she replied, walking slightly faster to meet Kaiser on his side, Elara who was behind her also sped up as to not be left behind in the cold place that gave her chills. “Dungeons don’t stay stagnant, but they don’t rewrite themselves this quickly either. We need to be careful—one wrong step, and we might find ourselves lost on a floor that wasn’t here five minutes ago. Or even worse walking in a looping maze that gets so different every second that forget what the color of the wall was when we walked in.”
Kaiser exhaled through his nose, scanning the surroundings. His gut twisted, he didn't have any external form to tell him to be wary. Finisirae in itself wasn't worried, it didn't scream to him. Didn’t call to him, the blade was cocky and arrogant in nature. Something is watching. Elara took a step closer to him, not Lynda. As if she still found solace in being closer to the Knight in black armor even if he was likely weaker than her. A spark of fire lit in her hands, providing them with more light outside of the torches that sat it forever ever on the wall. “I don’t like this…”
No one did.
They stepped through the dungeon, going down some corridor. Stepping over the bodies and corpses of people who have entered this dungeon in the past, likely not the Guild members however, as they would still be rotting flesh—Not bones. Right? Lynda examined the bodies as they stepped. One was of fairy origin, another few of orc race origin, and nearly a dozen of human origin.
This place wasn't a dungeon, it wasn't a maze or a trial this was a fucking graveyard. Out of nowhere, a sound rang out. It was distant, but unmistakable as the scream of someone in pure unfiltered agony rang out. It reverberated through the tunnel, bouncing off the wall like broken shards of glass. Elara stiffened, eyes wide. Lynda paled. Kaiser turned his head toward the source, muscles coiled like steel wire, Elara put her hand up, flame in palm.
Someone was down there and they were suffering. The tunnel walls trembled. Dust trickled from above, disturbed by something—something waking. Then, without warning, the ground beneath Kaiser, Elara, and Lynda sloped downward. “Elara!” Kaiser snapped as the magic user lost her footing first, the knight stabbed his sword into the stone between him to hold his ground. Lynda yelped as the floor gave way, sending them all sliding down a smooth, stone chute. The descent was quick. Too quick.
They hit the ground hard, Kaiser braced before impact landing in a crouch, sword in hand. Elara stumbled, catching herself. Lynda adjusted her glasses, unamused. A chamber stretched before them, its size covered like gravy in a neck cracking silence. A dark, glistening lake sprawled across the cavern, no visible exit in sight. Stake air held to their skin, going and invading their lungs.
“What… is this place?” Elara whispered, the first to speak.
Lynda approached the nearest wall, her fingers tracing the carvings. Symbols, ancient and pulsing, reacted to her touch—glowing. Kaiser’s eyes narrowed. His vision moved as he read the symbols, the Order forced him to learn these meanings before he took the job as a knight. He sighed, sheathing Finisirae, muttering three words. “It’s trial.”
The air shifted. A ripple disturbed the lake’s surface. Something moved beneath. The water changed from the dark color it reflected to something much more like oil, dark waves splashing against the stone floor. Kaiser stepped forward, Finisirae raised, purple energy ran from it.
A huge serpent of a monster came forth, and just as fast as it appeared it's body was split in two. Kaiser's eyes flowed purple. Finisirae roared out as if it itself was in battle. And then Kaiser sheathed his blade, the heat from Finisirae’s blast that split the monster evaporated the water that the serpent had come from. And then, they moved on.