Undead City-Altraud

Inside the dungeon of shadows

On the grassland of the dungeon, a large Wolf and a giant Crow sat on either side of a rabbit hole.

It had been 4 hours since the wolf leader fought with Arya and the beasts refused to move away from the hole ever since.

Inside the chamber, Peter sat beside Arya with a worried expression. All the wounds on her body had vanished hours ago yet she remained unconscious.

Ervin sat on a faraway corner of the camber, his gaze focused on the bow in his hand.

He had been staring at the bow for hours yet the gloominess didn't vanish from his face.

“Hey Ervin, is the teacher going to be ok?”

Ervin didn't know how to respond to that,

‘Maybe she is like that because I hit her too hard’ The thought crossed his mind, sending a chill through his spine.

‘She is still a child, was it a mistake to hit her?’ shaking his head he approached them and sat next to Peter,

“She is going to be fine” he said to Peter and placed a hand on his head to console him.

“Why did you hit her?” the boy asked in a low voice with a downcast look. Ervin didn't know how to answer that, he hit her during the heat of the moment yet had no idea why he hit her.

‘Why did I hit her?’ he thought in his mind ‘Because she put Peter's life in danger? Or because she was creating unwanted commotion?’ many reasons came to his mind yet he denied all of them until only one answer remained,

“I was jealous “ The realization hit him like a truck yet his mind found peace in that answer. He stared at Peter and continued

“4 years ago humans invaded our home and ever since then I wanted to grow stronger to not let anything like that happen ever again. I worked hard to grow stronger yet an 8-year-old girl was somehow stronger than me, it made me jealous.”

Peter glanced at the girl and nodded, “Um, ok. So that means you are not mad at her right?”

Erin shook his head in denial and got up, “Let's prepare something for her to eat”

Peter nodded at his suggestion and went to help. While they were busy preparing food Arya regained her consciousness and looked around with an unfocused eye and found Ervin preparing a meal along with Peter. A few seconds later clarity returned to her eyes as she checked her nose and sighed in relief, there was no permanent damage to her little nose. Recalling the reason for the damage she lunged at Ervin delivering a punch to his skull.

“What was that for!? I was even thinking about apologizing” Ervin screamed while clutching his aching skull causing Arya to tilt her head in confusion.

“Why were you thinking of apologizing? It was my mistake, right?”

Stolen story; please report.

“Did I hit you too hard, have you gone mad?” she asked with eyes filled with concern, erking Ervin to no end.

“Damn it shortie, if you knew that it was your mistake then why did you hit me?”

“Cause I was mad and who are you calling a shortie, I am just young”

“You are not young, you are an immature brat”

“Say that again and I will punch you”

As they both bickered Peter jumped in and hugged Arya,

“Teacher, I was so worried “ the boy sobbed in her arms, causing Arya to sigh as she placed her hand on his skull and consoled him, it took a while but the boy finally calmed down,

“Teacher, are you hungry? want some meat?” he presented a piece of raw meat and Arya immediately took the meat and downed it in one large bite.

“That was nice” she praised and turned to Ervin “Learn something from him, you don't even know how to be considerate of an injured person”

Ervin scoffed “I don't need to be considerate with a barbaric child”

“Who are you calling a child”

As they both bickered, Peter awkwardly glanced at them and turned towards the entrance of the rabbit hole.

At some point, the beast outside the entrance had turned completely silent, eerily silent. He peeked at the beasts outside and found them kneeling while facing the distant tall mountain.

*********************************

At the peak of the tall mountains of the dungeon

A large magic circle decorated the floor of the peak and at the very centre of the circle a white orb sat emitting a soothing light.

A 4m tall shadow Panther with menacing golden eyes and silvery-white claws stood at the edge of the circle and stared at the distant grasslands with a hesitant look.

It glanced at the orb at the centre of the magic circle and after pacing around for a bit longer it let out a loud roar and jumped down from the mountain.

With the smell of blood acting as a guide, it jumped from rock to rock and trekked down the mountain.

*******************************

Near the entrance of the dungeon of shadows

“Damn it I am never going to run a marathon ever again” Maya screamed as she and the kids exited the dungeon.

All the kids collapsed as soon as they exited the dungeon and entered the sweet embrace of sleep. Maya was tempted to do the same but resisted the urge.

Looking around she found a group of three undead submitting a stack of crystals to a large undead bird. The bird was 2m tall, had flamy green eyes and a pulsating heart inside its ribcage giving it a green glow.

“Yo, how are you all doing? I am not doing fine and urgently need to find old bones. Do you know where he is?”

The undead bird looked at her weirdly until she recognised that it was Maya,

“Oh, hi Maya. Arthur and the others are busy preparing to welcome the newborn, do you want to help?”

“I don't enjoy seeing adults torturing newborns so no thanks. Anyway, I need help, Peter is inside the dungeon and is in danger“ Maya looked around to find any help but the streets were deserted,

“Wait, you left a kid all alone inside a dungeon!” one of the undead who was holding a dagger asked with a bewildered expression but Maya just shook her head.

“Not alone. He is with my teammates and that's why I am worried. Ervin loves to fight and Arya is no different. They might attract the dungeon boss so can I get some help”

The bird hesitated for a second and came forward,

“I can help but am not strong enough to fight a dungeon boss alone” Maya nodded at her suggestion and turned to the remaining undead.

“If you meet Old Bones please ask him to help us” she requested and climbed atop the bird. After some deliberation, the bird took out a sac filled with crystals and passed it to the undead, “give this to either Arthur or Paul, you can find them in the outer city” it informed the undead and took fight, rushing towards the centre of the inner city at full speed.

*********************************

Edinburg fort

“Come on big guy, we need to go to human camp and I need your help. Won't you help me just this once?” Fiona stood in front of a 3m tall white bear and asked with an annoyed look but the big bear just scoffed and turned away.

Sighing in frustration she rubbed her temples and then thought of a plan,

“Too bad I was planning on going to Altraud and meet Maya, but guess you don't want to meet her”

The bear's ears perked up as soon as it heard the name Maya and immediately complied to help her.

It got down on all fours and invited her to hop on. Fiona did just that as they hurried towards the human camp.

‘Just hold on for a few days, please’ Fiona pleaded internally as they moved.