“Honestly,” said Veles. “I never thought it would take you this long to see the bigger picture.”

Davis offered no reply. His eyes were lost as he was finally struck with the reality of this place.

Veles could only shake his head in disappointment. He’d reminded himself that Davis was still a youngster with great ambition to see the world. His lack of knowledge about the common struggle was just showcased.

As to what led to this… Well, it was already the full day after the attack on Koria, and during their traveling, they stumbled upon a main road that led deeper into the land, where they encountered hundreds of refugees traveling away from their homes.

However, in this small caravan. There wasn’t a chorus of chatter nor the boisterous laughter of playing children. Instead, be they young or old, their heads were hung low, and the sheer depression reverberating thought was tough to watch—occasional sobs of women and men reassuring each other that everything would be okay made everything much worse.

Veles wanted to hitch the ride alongside them, but it seemed like the sight was too much for Davis. He practically begged him to leave and continue alone.

So, here they are. Away from the main road, hiking through some random forest without a real destination set.

Glancing at the Vera. The arrogant owl treated his shoulder like it was her throne. Those cyan eyes looked down on the world with disdain, like her mere presence was a gift that should be cherished. The bird’s behavior was ever amusing.

Just as he was about to focus on the book he was reading. Davis’s voice reached him.

“You know,” Davis quietly said. “When I was fifteen, I ran away from home.”

Veles said nothing. He closed the book and paid attention to Davis’s words. This was the first time Davis had talked about something like this, despite them already spending close to a month together.

“My parents wanted me to take on the family business and learn pottery. Obviously, I was against that. I wanted to travel and experience new stuff beyond the boundary of our small village. Which led to many back-and-forth moments until I decided to pack things and leave.”

“That’s selfish, you know,” commented Veles.

“I do,” agreed Davis. “After I left, it was hard to get by. I’ve done numerous jobs and moved from place to place all the time. But eventually, I stabilized myself and grew stronger so that I could take on mercenary jobs. That’s when it hit me…”

“Let me guess,” interrupted Veles. “You experienced the first cruelty?”

Davis nodded. “Yes. One of the first missions was to face a group of bandits that terrorized local villages. When me and the group I’ve worked with found their camp. It was terrible. The request said we should capture them if possible. But we didn’t do that…”

There was no need to say the word more, Veles could guess what bandits did to deserve their end.

“After that job. I returned home once, I mean I tried to, which didn’t end well… and I left again but still, I kept sending letters to my parents whenever I could,” he paused for a moment. “And looking at those people just now. I don’t know. I feel melancholic and worried…”

“That’s good,” said Veles. His words earned him a confused and slightly angry look from Davis. “As long as you remember and have some respect for your parents, it’s all you need. You shouldn’t let your past control your future. You have your own life. Live it the way you want.”

Davis sighed and gave him a nod in understanding. “That’s not what… Never mind, sometimes I envy your weirdness. How do you not care for anything… it’s baffling.”

“Well, it comes with age. One could see as much suffering and death before growing numb to it,”

Davis’s turned stiff. “Makes sense… But I’ve been meaning to ask. How old are you?”

Chuckling at how hard it was for him to ask this question. Veles decided to give an honest answer, “I should be close to three million years old now. That’s with the lack of memories… But considering the place I’ve been to, I’m probably many times older than that.”

With his jaw dropped, Davis’s steps faltered. His mouth was constantly closing and opening, trying to produce any meaningful response.

“M-millions?” Davis asked. His voice quivered.

“Mhm, yes,” replied Veles with a shrug. “That number is possibly in the dozens now. Or perhaps even more, who knows…”

“How the hell… What are you? An immortal?”

“I’m,” Veles calmly said. “In fact, even as I am now. I don’t age.”

“You gotta be kidding me…” said Davis, then he quietly added, “You certainly don’t behave old.”

Veles raised his eyebrow and intriguingly asked, “Oh, how I’m supposed to behave then?”

“More refined and arrogant? I don’t know. Haven’t really interacted with anyone like you…”

“You just assumed that from the stories you heard,” said Veles. “You always hear how you should treat those with more experience with respect, or how with age comes wisdom. But all of that is nonsense, you met that drunkard Kraguill, he is the prime example of a nutcase, and he is just around thirteen hundred years old. Those with long lives who don’t care about the power struggle are a bunch of eccentrics and lunatics…”

He didn’t want to go into the detail about this, so he switched his next words a little.

“For someone like me, who is immortal. Those things like respect or other bullshit aren’t of any importance. Because in the end, what does respect from someone who will disappear in the current of time even matter? This made my view on life completely different than the rest. The weirdness came from that too… However, still, it doesn’t mean I’m completely unbothered by anything. There is a bottom line that cannot be crossed.”

“And it is?” Asked Davis after Veles made a pause.

“I hate it when people hurl insults at my lineage and downplay who I am. Just like the librarian and Kristos did. You can call me a weakling, asshole, or whatever. But the moment it is aimed at my bloodline, it’s a problem.”

“I guess I should be careful then,” Davis jokingly said.

“You should,” Veles replied in all seriousness. “It’s not something I have much control over, to be honest. If you say something stupid, you could be the target of my wrath.”

“Giving me a heads up for something like this earlier would be nice,” commented Davis.

“Now you know,” replied Veles. He’d already opened the book he was reading. “I think I’ve found our next destination.”

“Are we sticking there or?”

“No, I just want to check an interesting place. It shouldn’t take much time.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

***

“Do you have a pass, or do you want to buy one?” Asked the clearly bored guard. His armor was removed and was lying to the side. He didn’t even bother to do a proper job.

“We would like to buy a one-time pass for both of us.” Replied Veles through his dark wooden mask. Interestingly, it didn’t bring him a lot of attention he thought it would. Mercenaries who wore disguises seemed to be a common sight.

“Two silver coins then,” the guard extended his hand, expecting the payment. After Veles gave it to him, he added, “Two hours is the maximum time you can spend inside. Everything over that, and you will be fined. If you don’t leave in the next twelve hours, you will be proclaimed dead. Did I make myself clear?”

“Got it,” replied Veles as he took two small metal plates from the guard.

He exited the small guard tower and met with Davis, who waited outside. Both stood next to each other and stared at the target of their wonder.

It was a very small hill protruding from the earth. It would take maybe a minute to circle it with casual steps. It was that small. But their main point of attraction was the man-made opening on it. From this distance, the two stone pillars could be seen supporting the ceiling. Under them, the patch of darkness showcased the entrance inside the depths of this place.

“This is a dungeon?” Asked Davis. “I must say, this looks awfully similar to the ruins found inside the Forest of the Forgotten.”

“Maybe they are the same. Let’s check it out,” said Veles. He proceeded to walk forward. His destination was the four guards waiting at the entrance.

He had no idea how to describe this place. The guard tower and the few buildings surrounding this dungeon were just here to provide protection. The place, in general, was in the middle of nowhere. Of course, there was a road that led to the nearest town, which was fifteen minutes of walking. The town in question was a very small place—much smaller than Koria. It was more of a trade hub and place to rest than an actual town, mainly because its main attraction was this dungeon.

Reaching the guards, Veles showed them the metal plates. Without even looking, one of them nodded and gestured for them to enter. Not saying a word.

“Weird, talk about being bored as hell,” said Davis after taking their first steps inside this dungeon.

“The book that talked about this particular dungeon said that it was useless and provided nothing of value. Nobody even bothers with this place,” said Veles. He carefully observed every possible detail to understand the inner workings of this ‘anomaly’.

It took them a full day to reach this place, and during this time, Veles went over the books Davis had stolen from Koria’s library. Among the first ones to gain his attention was a personal book of a Sage who was a well-known mercenary, famous for tackling almost every dungeon in the region Koria belonged to.

This book explained in detail the inner workings of these dungeons. From what kind of creatures inhabited them to the very fine explanations as to how to combat them, the book had it all. Veles also had the itch to explore one of them, just to get the gist of what they actually were. Ever since he’d heard Fagor mention it, he was curious.

“This place is overflowed by the creatures called Greklins,” said Veles. “They are short humanoid-looking monsters with sharp teeth and claws. However, they aren’t physically strong, nor do they possess any kind of venom. In short, they are like ten-year-old children with sharp claws. Practically harmless.”

Despite hearing his words, Davis’s grip on the spear didn’t lessen. “I’m too weak to manipulate the rock in this place.”

Having reached the end of the stairs, they were met with a long and dark corridor. Both of them wore a special kind of trinket over their necks, which had the purpose of a flashlight. This was one of the rare items Veles had actually agreed to buy back in Koria—nor really for himself, because honestly, he could see in the dark pretty well.

“They should be also very slow,” Just as they were about to walk further in, Veles signaled Davis to stop. “Ahead of us is some kind of spatial barrier, the natural one.”

“Meaning?” asked Davis.

“Meaning dungeons are most likely dimensional warp projections. Treat it similarly like the place I was imprisoned at, only a couple levels lower,” Veles explained. “We aren’t going to waste our time here much. Just kill a couple of creatures so I can use them as research material.”

The real reason for even making a stop here was to check a couple of details that Veles was very curious about. Mainly about the way dungeon monsters came to be. Were they made out of mana, or were they similar to spirits? Or perhaps they actually had a functioning breeding system. Ever since he’d heard talks about the dungeons, numerous questions formed inside his head.

Stepping beyond the invisible barrier, nothing changed except the general atmosphere of the place. And the mana… felt different. The round trinkets around their necks—so-called Raylenses. Perfectly illuminated the corridor upfront. A neat little artifact, if Veles had to say, cheap one at that, too.

They walked carefully and cautiously. The corridor was vast, maybe four meters tall. The structure provided no place for a sneak attack. Still, it wasn’t enough reassurance for them to lower their guard.

And as expected, after a couple of minutes of walking. They encountered the three-way split.

“Where to?” Davis whisperingly asked.

Veles wished he hadn’t left Vera outside. She could provide great scouting support, but who knew how the soldiers outside would react to her presence…

This left only one option. Inhaling, Veles let his senses go haywire. Ever since leaving the Forest of the Forgotten, his old senses started returning, not in a good way, though…

Picking up various sounds in the surroundings. The first one to reach him was the beating of Davis’s heart, which started beating faster the moment this sense was focused on it.

“The hell is that?” Davis asked, and the grip on his spear grew stronger.

“Sorry, that was me. It won’t happen again, so keep quiet. I’m trying to listen,” said Veles. Then his attention shifted to the corridor on the right, finding nothing after a minute of listening. He switched up front.

There, he heard a small scarping of the stone. “Middle one,”

“Understood,” said Davis. “But please, don’t do that previous thing again on me. It’s scary.”

Looking at Davis’s face. Veles noticed slight paleness. He had no idea what he’d actually done. Tough, he would keep it in mind and be careful in the future.

Continuing forward. They both soon heard the uncomfortable sound of something scratching the stone. Once they’ve neared it, both focused the light from the trinkets around their necks towards it. And well, Davis gagged at the sight while Veles didn’t know how to react.

Everything made sense as to why nobody ever visited this dungeon. The creature in front of them…was too much disgusting. It was hard even to describe its looks.

Suppose Veles had to explain it. It looked like an extremely malnourished goblin. With the head twice as big and with enormous beady red eyes attached to it. The creature’s skin was deep green, with long, spiky fingers and pointed ears. Most importantly, it was naked…

“Let’s just kill this thing,” said Veles. He strove forward Greklin, who was looking at him like he was a piece of meat. Instead of using the dagger—like he usually would. Veles grabbed the saber from his belt. He had no intention of even nearing this ugly creature.

Seeing his hostility. Small Greklin screeched and lunged forward. Not wanting to damage his first specimen much. Veles’s body was covered in black fog, which utterly confused Greklin’s perception, making its previous jump miss him entirely.

Watching it land confusingly next to him. Veles took a chance and dove the tip of his saber in the back of the creature. He knew this type of sword wasn’t meant for stabbing, but it pierced its skin easily.

It breathed its last. And Veles grimaced as he had to touch it and store it inside his storage ring.

“I think we might have a problem,” said Davis just as Veles had finished storing the thing.

Turning around and following the ray of light from Davis’s trinket. Veles could only say, “Oh, shit.”

A dozen beady red eyes shone menacingly, and more appeared every second as ugly creatures swarmed the corridor.

“Should’ve asked when was the last time anyone ventured into this place,” said Veles.

“What do we do?”

Veles scanned the ever-increasing horde of Greklins. What were they supposed to do? Of course, the answer was obvious. “We run. If every single one of them was suicidal like the first one. Fighting is out of the question.”

No words were said, both took a full sprint back.

Unfortunately, they didn’t reach far. The previous split point was blocked. A dozen pairs of red eyes waited for them in ambush.

Not slowing down at all, Veles tightened the grip on his saber. With his other hand, he grabbed one of his hidden daggers. He could see the part of the blockade that was focused on him had their perception completely messed up. Each was focused in a different direction other than him.

Three crouched down and jumped. They were obviously going to miss him. Still, he acted. With his saber, he slashed towards one. The blade shone silver before cleaving the creature in half. While the other was effortlessly impaled on his dagger, which he quickly shook off.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Davis swatting two lunging his way. His spear served as a bat to move them out of the way. Combined with the enchantments on his body, two Greklins were stuck to the corridor’s wall, the collision killing them instantly.

Dealing with the rest in this small blockade was easy. The initial ones they crushed served as the confusion. Those left chaotically tried to attack them but were met with similar fates.

Running away afterward proved to be easy. The short legs of Greklins weren’t able to keep up with their momentum. Eventually, they crossed the invisible barrier of the dungeon. Yet both didn’t stop running until they reached the top of the stairs and were entirely outside.

After stabilizing his breathing, Veles was about to address the smiling soldiers who were currently exchanging silver coins amongst themselves. Assholes knew about the numbers of Greklins for sure and were treating his misfortune as a sport.

“Very funny. I can’t wait to see your faces when you get ordered to cull the infestation of those things,” said Veles.

Seeing every single one of their faces grimacing. Veles smiled.

“Let’s go.” Veles gestured for Davis to follow him. He got enough to place a few unknown pieces about dungeons together.

Truthfully, he was further annoyed at how weak he and Davis were. It was impossible to continue going without first increasing their strength.