Her hand was inches from the door of the dungeon before Aurelia remembered that she had one last thing to do before she should enter.
Addressing the system she asked, “What are dungeons in Eldria?”
A new system prompt appeared in her vision and she read the history tutorial prompt aloud. “Dungeons are system run challenges containing monsters, puzzles, and traps that need to be overcome in order to receive rewards. Dungeons are placed in locations all over Eldria, but are relatively few in number. There are five difficulty levels of dungeons including novice, apprentice, adept, journeyman, and master. Only one party may enter a dungeon at any given time, becoming open after either the participating party completes the dungeon or perishes. After entering the dungeon, the only way to exit is to complete the dungeon. Dungeons may contain hidden challenges or rewards which may change with each run through of the dungeon.”
Aurelia read through the description a second time before dismissing the prompt. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to tell what difficulty level her dungeon was, but decided in the end that it wasn't relevant. Her only way out was to complete the dungeon to the end, and debating what might be wouldn’t get her anywhere. She was on her own and would need to trust in herself. Otherwise, she wouldn’t make it.
She put her attention back to the door and realized there was no handle on the door or any noticeable hinges to show which way the door would open. Aurelia reached out for the door again and set it against the smooth stone. A prompt appeared in her vision.
Would you like to enter the [Dungeon of the Wild]?
“Yes?”
The door swung outward, revealing a long dark hallway. Aurelia stepped through the doorway and heard a thud behind her as the door closed. Her heart thundered in her chest as her anxiety went through the roof.
“I guess that means no turning back.”
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Around the same time, in a galaxy probably very far away, Rachel and Steve Burgess sat on the couch in Aurelia and Irene’s living room. Steve had his arms wrapped around his wife as she cried. Two police officers were exiting the apartment after finishing their inspection of the apartment and their interview with the two grieving parents. Irene was in her room, still in shock that her roommate had just disappeared. After she had completed her statement with the police, she had locked herself in her room, wanting to be left alone. The Burgesses had finished up with the police and now were alone in the living room of the apartment.
“We should have talked to Aurelia sooner, it was a mistake to have kept it from her.” Steve spoke softly to his wife.
Rachel sat up and sniffled, “I know. I just wanted her to have a normal life away from all of that mess.”
“She isn’t normal, though. And she was old enough to make her own decisions.”
Rachel put her head in her hands, “Ugh. This is a mess.” She ran her fingers through her hair and looked back at Steve. “Maybe there is something we could do to help her. We could-”
“No.”
“But isn’t it our job to-”
“NO!” Steve raised his voice at the word and then quieted down, remembering the other occupant of the apartment. “What’s done is done. You know what would happen if we tried to return. We would die without doing anything to actually help Aurelia. We would just make things worse.”
“Isn’t that just thinking of ourselves? She is our daughter. We raised her.”
“We knew it was always a possibility that Darrius would come looking for the orb. It couldn’t be helped that the orb happened to be with Aurelia, and there was no way that we could keep running from him. There was no way that Aurelia could run away from who she is. I knew we should have told her about Eldria, that would have been the best protection, not ignorance.”
Rachel stood up in a huff, “Well I’m sorry. All right? You were right, and I was wrong. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
“This was never something I wanted to be right about, you know that, so stop being so antagonistic.”
“Well stop being patronizing, then! We can’t change the past, Steve!”
The man stood up as well and groaned. He crossed his arms and looked up at the ceiling before closing his eyes. “I’m sorry.” He sighed and hugged his wife. “That wasn’t helpful, I know.”
They spent a moment in silence, thinking about what they might have done differently. What they might have done in order to save Aurelia from her fate. In their hearts they knew there was nothing. Their daughter had been fated to end up in Eldria, just as they were fated to spend the rest of their days on Earth. It was likely they would never see their daughter again.
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The hallway was dark but for the crystals casting faint light from the walls and ceiling. Rocks and other rock formations cast shadows in the cavern hallway, making Aurelia nervous. Aurelia slowly walked forwards, her worn boots scuffing on the cave flooring. She held her wand in a white knuckled grip, and kept her gaze moving all around her. She searched around her for possible traps or hidden dangers. She walked around large stalagmites and hanging stalactites, stepping over large rocks and holes in the ground. Gazing at a particularly large hole, she didn’t notice an especially large stalactite and rammed her shoulder into it. The tip of the stalactite broke off from the collision and crashed to the ground. The sound echoed through the cavern hallway and Aurelia grimaced at the noise.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
She paused and mentally reprimanded herself for being so clumsy. She looked over at her shoulder and saw that she hadn’t taken any damage, as her shield had protected her. She felt no pain either, so that was a plus. Aurelia continued forwards, going slower than she had before and keeping her eyes more focused forwards.
Aurelia didn’t think to look behind her, so she was taken by surprise when a heavy something rammed into her from behind. She let out a yelp as she was forced into the ground. Thankfully, her shield protected her from any damage and it also forced her offender to fall next to her rather than on top of her.
She scrambled away as she assessed the attacking creature. It seemed to be some sort of mole creature that was a foot tall and two feet long. Its eyes were deep set into its furry brown head and she saw large pointed teeth as it turned and screeched at her.
Adrenaline pumping in her veins, Aurelia quickly pointed her wand at the mole creature and summoned a mana bolt at it. Right before she casted her spell, the mole creature leaped at her, claws outstretched and mouth agape. The mana bolt met the monster in the air, and suddenly, the mole just exploded. Aurelia saw what was left of the mole creature splatter against her shield and fall to the ground. “Holy..!!” Aurelia gagged at the horrible sight.
[Cave Mole] Level 2 defeated.
20 experience earned!
Would you like to loot [Cave Mole]?
Aurelia groaned, “Yes…”
In the next moment, all of the disgusting remains of the cave mole had disappeared. Aurelia received a new notification stating that because she had the spatial storage skill, all of her loot would be directly deposited in her storage space. Aurelia looked around for a moment, paranoid that another cave mole would sneak up on her. When she didn’t see any more movement, she looked at the loot notification.
[Cave Mole] meat x1 received!
[Cave Mole] pelt x1 received!
2 copper coins received!
All loot deposited in [Spatial Storage].
Aurelia wasn’t too impressed by her loot, but this was the first monster she had defeated at the very beginning of the dungeon. The level of the monster also was lower than her’s but maybe the levels of the monsters would grow as the dungeon progressed.
Aurelia stood up from her place on the ground and looked around once more. After walking forwards a couple steps, she noticed movement coming from her right. She turned her head to see another cave mole crawling out of a hole in the ground. Not wanting to give it a chance to leap at her, Aurelia pointed her wand at the mole and blasted it to high heaven with a mana bolt. With an experience and loot prompt later, Aurelia continued onwards down the tunnel.
The next cave mole she spotted was further down the hallway ahead of her, so this time, Aurelia took the time to identify the mole with her skill.
[Cave Mole] Level 3
Health: 150/150
Mana: 0/0
Stamina: 120/120
The [Cave Mole] is a common underground predator, often seen in caves and ground tunnels. [Cave Mole]s prefer to wait in holes underground and ambush their prey from below. They are usually solitary creatures but may occasionally roam in packs. The [Cave Mole] is blind and deaf, but has an excellent sense of smell and can detect vibrations through the ground.
Aurelia only had a few quick seconds to scan the information screen about the cave mole before she had to act and blast the offending party before it could attack. As she moved forwards again, she tried not to make as much noise, but realized there wasn’t much she could do. She had no idea how to walk stealthily, though she guessed there was a skill for it. Maybe she could learn how to become a ninja and be a stealth master?
Over the next couple of minutes, Aurelia continued to blast away at the continuous stream of cave moles. She caught most of them before they got close, but they would occasionally catch her unawares and attack her shield. After the fifth such sneak attack, her mana shield vanished, leaving Aurelia completely without protection. Unfortunately, Aurelia didn’t have time to recast the shield as she was suddenly surrounded by five cave moles. Three were rushing at her from the front and two from behind.
Aurelia cursed and decided to use her spatial slash attack at the three moles rushing at her from the front. She swiped her wand in a horizontal slash at the moles, releasing a disruptive energy slash that flew through the air and quickly approached the monsters. Not waiting to see the result of the attack, Aurelia cast a mana bolt behind her with her other hand. The mana bolt connected with one of the moles, but the second was unhindered as it suddenly leaped at Aurelia.
“Ahh!” Aurelia tried casting her shield spell, but she was too late. The large mole crashed into her, teeth clamping around her right thigh. The pain was intense as strong jaws crushed her leg, sharp teeth cutting open her skin. Aurelia put her palm right next to the cave mole’s back and blasted it with her mana bolt spell.
Aurelia screamed again as she received damage from the mana spell. Her vision darkened and she collapsed to the ground on her good leg. Tears swam in her vision as she looked around the hallway, checking for more moles. That's when she noticed the aftermath of her spatial slash attack. The three moles had all been caught in the attack, and Aurelia blinked. Each of the cave moles had been sliced in two, and were now dead on the ground. She accepted the loot notifications and then cast her shield spell with her wand. There was no way she would let that spell dissipate again in this dungeon.
She then turned her attention to her leg, whimpering from the intense pain. Aurelia glanced at her health on her status page and saw that her health had dropped by sixty points. That was almost half of her health! She didn’t have any spell to heal herself, but she remembered that she did have a healing potion. She took a red potion bottle out of her inventory and uncorked it. Not knowing what to expect, but not particularly caring at the moment, she gulped the potion down. It didn’t really taste like much, just like water with a little sweetness.
“Oh wow!” Immediately, the pain in her leg washed away and she could feel her leg healing itself. She watched as the gashes in her leg closed up, though the blood and tears in her pants stayed. “Oh well, I guess I’ll need to get new pants at some point.”
Aurelia decided that it wasn’t wise to stay put for any longer, and moved on after putting the empty potion bottle in her inventory, “Waste not, want not.”
As Aurelia continued forwards, she became more aware of her mana shield. She could feel when the damage threshold was almost at the limit and when the shield would disappear. Before it was completely destroyed, Aurelia recast the spell, resetting the mana shield. This way she would be able to better avoid hurting herself too badly. She didn’t have a lot of health, and didn’t want to find herself in a precarious situation without a shield to protect her.
Mana bolt after mana bolt, spatial slash after spatial slash, Aurelia killed the cave moles. She continued on for what seemed like forever, but was probably only another twenty minutes. In the distance, Aurelia could see the gray outline of a new door set into the wall. Excited, she picked up the pace, not being as attentive as she had been previously. So it was to her dismay that Aurelia suddenly found herself surrounded by almost twenty cave moles. One seemed bigger than the rest, and after a quick identify, Aurelia saw that it was at level 10. A much higher level than all the other moles had been.
“Oops…”