To get the door to open I had to tackle the immortal ice golem into a tiki god idol while my partner turned its companion into a tree.
I gazed in dismay at the girl shaking her head at me, “Tell me how I was meant to know that.”
Instead of answering me she turned towards the shattered idol and started picking up pieces off the ground, “Ah man, that’s made from the fine shit too. Do you know how much one of these things sell for now?”
“Cry your heart out.”
I ignored her rude reply and walked towards the door that we had worked so hard to open. It had lost the tell-tale purple shimmer of death magic that had shielded it. Scattered snow and a dead deer were the only things blocking the way now. I didn’t touch the door and instead brushed aside the dead animal and knelt down to its base. I brought out my magical tools and examined the snow touching the smooth material the dungeon was made out of. Sometimes the more dick-ish builders made difficult magical wards disappear from the naked eye but stay activated. A ward this deadly meant that it was better to use time to double check and be safer rather than sorry.
After all, one touch of the stuff had killed the deer we had thrown into it.
“Oh Deer-y.” I heard my partner shuffling through the snow towards me, “You had such a long life ahead of you.”
I glanced up from my work and snorted, “You named it?”
“Gunther, it deserves respect. It was our companion for so long.”
“You’ve known it for five hours and we were going to eat it for dinner until you threw it into the death ward.”
“… That doesn’t mean we can’t have Deer-y for dinner, does it? I was really looking forward to it.”
I ignored her and continued my work. I had a sturdy enough build that the door wouldn’t be difficult to open but it was anybodies guess what would come out of it. Hopefully whatever it was would distract my partner for a few seconds so that I could continue my work.
“Hey.”
I took out my wand from under my robe and the tip began to glow orange as I cast a spell of detection over the door.
“Hey.”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
Nothing.
The entire door was completely ward free.
“HEY.”
If the door had been this difficult to break through then it was clear that the dungeon contained incredible rewards. This might be one of our greatest hauls if we could pull through. Hopefully there weren’t any more ice golems inside this thing. They were pretty difficult to conjure up in the first place and I doubt a spirit of ice could really survive for countless years without access to the outside world’s magic.
“HEY ROBERT”
Robert?
I turned around, “Oh, hello there.”
Six cloaked figures had materialized behind me while I was working and were starting at me and Eve.
Eve rolled her eyes at my reply and pointed towards them, “These fine dapper gentlemen appear like they wish to converse with you.”
I winced as she put on what she believed to be a noble accent. I believed it to be an ear-sore.
I warily studied the new group in front of me. The small lineup of mages each had a crest belonging to a different guild on their chests. No, there were only three guild crests. The Stormbreakers, Flame Hammer and Rising Dawn. It looked like the main guilds had been keeping a close eye on this dungeon. Funny how I hadn’t noticed them until they’d descended onto us. It could have been the result of my concentration being elsewhere or powerful magic, but more likely the guilds had provided these members access to enchanted clothing.
I gave them the stink eye, “Higher end aren’t you? A little too high end to be stealing all the credit for our deeds.”
“Rank six warder Robert Duval. Rank six nature mage Veronica Rain. We are the guild teams overlooking this dungeon.”
Dungeon vultures.
I grimaced. It was rare but sometimes a dungeon attracted enough attention from the guilds that they would place a guard over it. If there came a time when someone worked out how to get rid of the defensive wards and guardians then the guild teams would try to hustle the adventurers and force them to either leave the area or provide a share of their loot upon exiting.
‘Robert and Veronica huh.’ I never could keep track of whatever names we were using.
Eve peered at the six figures with a cocky grin on her face, “Gods. If you think we’re going to anything but kill you then you are free to continue trying to muscle in on our operation. But if you sorry pansies aren’t man enough to handle a couple of ice golems and death wards then there’s no way you’re surviving us or whatever the hell is down there.”
I could feel the wind around me rustling at that one.
The Stormbreakers were clearly the angriest of the lot. The pair stepped forward and removed their hoods so that they could stare at us. A man and a woman. Unfortunately I recognized one of the faces.
Alfred Stormbringer.
The Stormbreakers were broken into three major each guild branches across the continent. Each one was rules over by a prestigious being that had soaked in the blood of countless monsters and enemies. The vice guild masters. These people only answered to one person across the entire continent and even then they regarded him as an equal. This vice guildmaster of the Stormbreakers packed a lot more wallop than a person with the name Alfred should.
Alfred’s eyes glowered a bright blue as he stared at Eve, “You would do best not to test me woman.”
“You would do best not to test me man” Eve flipped him off.
Standing next to Alfred the eyes of the woman narrowed and the wind began to pick up.
‘Oh great.’
She was someone strong enough to affect the world around her just through her emotions. I watched as she lifted her hand towards us and lightning crackled between her fingers.
“Robert.” Eve turned to me with her hands against her hips, “If you let that twinkle bitch touch me then I am taking Deer-y and moving to the countryside without you.”
“Gods Ev-Veronica,” I punched my hand against my head as I felt a headache rising, “Do you have any idea how much effort it would be to carry around a dead deer everywhere you go.”
“I’ll just use magic. How do you think I shot it at the door in the first place.”
I felt my hair rising as I spoke and before I could reply to her I pushed her over into the ground in time to see an arc of blue lightning split the air where she had been. I smiled as Eve spluttered out a mouthful snow and glared at me. We both know that she wouldn’t have been hurt but we also needed to keep up appearances for our guests. Also it was far funner to do things this way.
“Alright-” I turned back towards the lightning shooting woman, “Maybe we got off on the wrong foo- hey, where’d she go?”
One second the woman was standing in front of me and the next she had disappeared. I heard a resounding crack which sounded suspiciously like bones being broken and ducked down as warm liquid rained down onto me.
I looked up to see Alfred’s eyes wide in shock. He had been showered head to toe in blood.
“Eve…” I flipped around to see what my partner had done and found myself eye to eye with a lifeless head banging against the dungeon door.
“What the hell is that.” Eve lifted herself off the ground and stared at the corpse.
No, she was staring at whatever had killed the Stormbreaker mage. The woman’s body no longer resembled anything remotely human. The door had only been opened a small crack and whatever was clinging onto her was trying to mash every single pound of flesh through the narrow opening. The rain of blood had washed over us when her body had literally exploded as the thing tried to force it through the crack. She hadn’t even had time to cry out or feel pain. Or at least he hoped she hadn’t. A second later a final spurt of blood, bone and brain hit us as the thing brought the woman’s head through the gap and it exploded outwards.
I hadn’t had enough time to see what had attacked her, or even if it had been a flesh and blood creature.
“Whatever it was clearly lacks intelligence.” I said calmly at the guild mages finally reacted and brought out their wands, “Or else it wouldn’t have given up the element of surprise.”
I lifted myself up and brushed the bloody snow off of my robes. Eve stood next to me but kept an eye on the group behind us and another on the dungeon door.
“I repeat.” She lifted up an object defensively and I only vaguely recognized that it wasn’t her usual wand, it looked like a white branch, “What the hell was that.”
“You didn’t see it?” I was only partially rebuking her and mostly surprised.
Eve didn’t act cautious but I knew that not many things could go unnoticed or unseen by her.
She raised the deer antler higher, “It was too fast. I didn’t even sense it coming towards us.”
“It must have been hiding behind the door.” I took a few steps back to eyeball the owner of the new voice, “Probably a dungeon creature trying to escape the moment the wards were dismantled.”
I finally got into a position so that everyone, both mage and door, were visible to me. This new woman had begun glowing red across her entire body and symbols swirled across her robes. Another famous face.
Serena Vells.
Summoner and body mage of the highest caliber, or so it was said. I haven’t met her before now. The Flame Hammer guild had lucked out though. If she had been attacked by that thing instead of the Stormbreaker mage then her guild would have lost a valuable member.
“So I’m seeing some famous faces here.” I spoke slowly, “Let’s not get our undies into a knot fighting each other. First lets try to work out what’s going on here.”
I tilted me head towards the door, “Who here thinks that thing is going to launch another attack on us.”
Alfred’s eyes glowered at the bloody soaked dungeon entrance, “It doesn’t need to. I will render the flesh from its bones for this transgression.”
“Calm down there buddy.” Eve’s eyes flashed, “What if there are more than one of those things in there? You have humongous balls and thank the gods I don’t have that disability affecting my thoughts, but even you should be able to see that attacking without planning is a bad idea.”
“I agree with the foul mouthed girl.” One of the mages from the Rising Dawn guild lowered their hood to reveal a handsome young man with blonde hair and green eyes, “We have already lost one mage to this creature and I refuse to allow more to die due to our folly.”
“We should call for reinforcements” The other Rising Dawn member spoke up.
I noted curiously that he was the only one of us that hadn’t raised his wand towards the door. No, he hadn’t even brought it out.
‘Is he so foolishly confident in himself? Or is there another reason.’
Alfred grunted but then nodded his head, “Vera was a rank six lightning mage. Her death is a loss for the entire continent.” He shot a look at Eve then lowered his gaze, “We also cannot discount the possibility that there are more of those creatures in there. Whatever they are.”
“Glad to see we can all agree on something.” Serena smiled wryly.
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I let out a sigh of relief as Eve nodded her head as well. Clearly whatever attacked us got her spooked enough to cooperate. For a few minutes at least.
“We will need people to stay and guard the door. We cannot let that thing escape into the outside world.” Alfred lowered his wand and I watched as it slowly changed shape until it had twisted and grown into a bright blue and white staff, “Vera’s death will have already alerted the Stormbreakers to my predicament.” He stared at Eve and I, “I suggest each group leave one member to guard the door and another to communicate.” He pointed at me, “Boy, you will go and guard the guild members as they cast the communication spells.”
I nodded. The mages would be extremely vulnerable while casting the spells required to talk to their guilds so there was only two ways this could go. Either the pairs leave together to have a guard while Eve, Alfred and I guard the door or I could leave to guard them. Alfred wouldn’t allow himself to be outnumbered by a pair of adventurers so naturally I would have to go with the others.
“I’ll go with them as well.” The remaining hooded Flame Hammer member stared at me as she spoke, “Just incase.”
‘Just incase I try to assassinate the mages while they’re calling for reinforcements.’ Which I’ll admit is was what I was planning to do.
She’d read me like a book.
I grunted in response and the four of us immediately left. Alfred, Eve and the cloaked Rising Dawn mage were left staring cautiously at the door in case anything else decided to peek out of the opening.
“So,” I walked with the mages until we’d found a suitable spot away from the dungeon door. If something came out and managed to disrupt communications that would cause a lot more trouble than it was worth, “what brings you guys to this neck of the woods.”
Serena and the blonde Rising Dawn mage stared at me with raised eyebrows.
I lifted my hands defensively, “I mean, to everyone else this is just a dungeon door right? But here I am standing next the Serena of the Flame with Alfred Stormbringer clomping angrily around the place.”
The edge of Serena’s lips twitched upwards at my description and the blonde man let out a laugh and raised his wands, “We’re going to call our guilds now. Try to kill us and you’ll be dead faster than the lightning girl.”
I shrugged and whistled a tune as I waited for the mages to do their thing. The Flame Hammer member that was guarding Serena slid her hood down and I whistled harder.
‘This line up just keeps getting bigger and bigger.’
Tia Ki.
Someone from my home continent that had moved over here when the Flame Hammer guild had offered her an executive position on its council of elders. Of course they were more like a council of very strong but relatively young to old people. But who was I to judge their lack of uniformity.
I shot her a smile, “So what brings you to this neck of the woods.”
She frowned but didn’t speak.
“Oh come on, its freezing out here and I need to keep busy. A bit of laughter and conversation never hurt anyone.”
“I hope your balls freeze and fall off.”
I gagged at her words and my smile widened, “Its good to see someone with a sense of humor exists in the guilds… that was a joke right?” She ignored me, “Right?”
I decided that it was indeed a joke and hummed happily. It had been a pretty interesting day so far. But my mind couldn’t help but cloud over.
‘What was that thing?’
Eve being spooked was one thing, but her being unable to even spot it when she had been staring right at it was just creepy. We had never encountered something she couldn’t sense or see at all. It was part of the package deal of her nature magic that she could notice anything in the world.
‘So what if it isn’t from this world?’
That would be crazy. I had never even heard of a theory that suggested such a thing was possible. After all, if it could open a door and kill someone then surely it had to be a part of reality. Otherwise it wouldn’t even be here. Let alone stuck inside a dungeon. Magic suppression, magic resistance, death magic. I let a few theories float around in my mind as to what could have gotten past Eve.
“HOLY SHIT.”
I accidentally let out a shout and a burst of magical energy as my chest began to burn with searing pain. The guild mages were startled and then extremely angry as their spells were disrupted. Then they froze as they heard the crackle of lightning and a cry shot out from the direction of the dungeon.
“Duval…” Serena lifted her head and froze as she saw the pain in my eyes, “What is wrong with you?”
I had no time to answer her as I lifted my wand over my chest and felt my heart stop.
“How did he die- oh gods what the hell.”
I opened my eyes to see the blonde Rising Dawn mage staring down at me with saucer eyes. I guess he’d never seen a person die and come back to life before.
“Hey there green eyes. Sorry but I’m taken.” I shot him a smile and then lifted myself off the ground, “Ah gods that hurt,” I scratched at my chest and noted that my heart had begun to beat regularly again, “As for how I died.. soul link. Eve just died.”
The mages paled at my words and I looked at the direction of the dungeon.
“Lets go”
Without waiting for a reply Serena and the other Flame Hammer mage ran towards the dungeon door.
I ran after them and tried not to slip on the icy ground as I did, “What about the reinforcements?”
The dawn mage nodded his head towards me, “Its our priority to make sure that nothing gets out of that dungeon and makes a break for nearby towns. For now we’ll have to rely on the Stormbreaker guild to send enough people to help us gain a foothold.” He wasn’t at all affected by the uneven and slippery ground.
‘Guilds cooperating? Now that’s worrying.’ I thought to myself.
The dungeon door quickly spread into view and I saw that it was further ajar than before. You could fit an entire person into its opening now. The entire area was awash with blood except for a spot in the opening that looked like it had charred whatever had tried to come through.
“What happened here?” Serena’s voice filtered through the air and I saw that she was talking to the lone figure out on the field.
It was the hooded Rising Dawn member.
“Something came out of the door and took Alfred and the adventurer girl.” The mage said simply, and then he pointed towards the door.
“The girl said she wanted to eat and tried to move a dead deer. Then the thing attacked and Alfred cast a lightning spell. I don’t think it was damaged.”
Very report-like. I watched the lone mage carefully, he looked like he was hiding something.
*Boom*
Our heads shot up immediately as we heard the distinct sound of lightning magic being cast inside the dungeon.
“Alfred.” Serena lifted her hand and I saw that her wand was releasing tongues of blue flame, “That sounded close.”
“Let’s go in then. You need to save blue eyes and I need to save Eve.” I shuffled close to the door and tensed as I peeked through into the pitch black insides of the dungeon.
“You said she died.” The blonde haired Rising Dawn mage said it matter of factly but he also gave me a look of pity, “Are you okay?”
I let out a laugh at his worry, “Ah sorry, she did die. But she doesn’t stay dead long,” I pointed at my chest, “Otherwise I’d be dead too. Good deal I have going on here right?”
Without another word the blonde mage lifted his wand and it morphed into a golden shield, then another line attached itself to his free hand and the magic tendrils formed a golden sword. Serena’s flames had already reached their peak and her wand slowly released a palm-sized fiery red orb that contained the shadow of a humanoid within it. Tia Ki had already begun to chant and her skin glowed a bright white.
Only the hooded Rising Dawn mage stayed completely still.
I looked at him, “Hey buddy, you coming with us?”
“Yes.” He replied.
“Daniel.” The blonde man raised his shield at me as he and Serena walked by.
“G-Robert.” I followed them in and raised my own wand.
‘Warding. Right.’
According to the info people of this continent had on me I was only a rank six warder. One of the strongest on the continent. My wand wouldn’t turn into anything fancy like a weapon or summon a fiery spirit, but it was great for glowing in the dark…
But so were the three other mages.
I inspected the dungeon and the team around me. Serena’s ball of fire was emitting the brightest and most revealing light as it flew ahead of us defensively. As a spirit of fire it couldn’t die so it was the most logical choice to both provide light and a first line of defense. Serena herself stood behind Daniel and in front of Tia and I. She was the most vulnerable while channeling the flame sprite but the tell-tale red glow of her robes showed me that she would be a heavy hitter if it came to a close quarters fight.
Daniel was obviously the tank of the team. I didn’t recognize him like I did the other two but he was probably a summoner. Unlike Serena he had summoned weapons rather than a sprite but when it came to taking damage or dealing it I was sure that his weapons could probably sustain and deal a lot more damage than her fists. I would have to be careful, if his weapons accidentally touched any of my wards its possible they could be disabled and we’d be screwed. I would have to try and wrap them around his summons carefully if I was going to provide support. Then there was Tia Ki. Her glowing body surprised me. It provided just as much light as the Serena’s fiery sprite but it was clear she was a fully body magic oriented combat mage. The magic she used was one from my home continent that allowed her to slowly become a being of pure magic. Is she’d reached a high enough level she might be able to convert part of her body into pure flames.
That just left me and the other Rising Dawn mage in the back. I didn’t know what he could do but as a warder I was going to give it my damn all to make sure these people didn’t die. At least not until I could find Eve and get out of here. She had definitely died. I had felt it when she used up one of my lives. Nothing on this continent should have the power to kill her as quickly as she had died.
And why hadn’t she fought her way back to us?
“Something is strange here.” Daniel motioned at the walls, “Do any of you recognize these carvings?”
Tia Ki paid him no attention, “You can gawk at the historical artifacts at a later time.”
“No,” I slowed down and tried to motion at the others to do the same, “he’s right.”
I ran my fingers over the walls of the dungeon and felt the material warm up as I did. Serena had moved her fire spirit over our group so that we could gain a closer look.
I pointed to our backs, “Tia Ki, move over there,” I pointed at the hooded Rising Dawn mage, “You too, I don’t want to get killed while looking at some pictures like an idiot.”
“Not pictures, words.” Daniel breathed heavily as he examined the wall, “No, no, just one word. Repeated over and over again.”
“One word?” Serena looked over curiously, “What word is so important that they would carve it over and over again.” She looked higher towards the ceiling, “Covering every inch of surface in this place.”
I stared at the word. It wasn’t a language I recognized, even from the numerous dungeons I had explored with Eve. I looked over to Daniel and saw him trying to mouth the letters.
“Don’t say it.” I hurriedly poked him in the side and warned him, “Its probably a trap.”
Daniel nodded his head, “I know. Maybe its the name of the creature and simply saying the word summons it towards us.”
“Or we teleport six feet underground and onto a floor of spikes.” I added.
“Charming” Serena squirmed and stepped away from the carving, “What are the chances there is a creature so powerful within that merely saying its name would summon it.”
“Not very likely.” Tia Ki spoke from behind me.
“She’s right.” I looked towards Daniel and Serena and we moved away from the wall, “Even if the death ward at the entrance was powerful a creature that strong would have found a way to break through it eventually. And we’d all have died the first time it attacked.”
That seemed to quieten the mood as we walked forward and pondered over what the creature could be. I looked at the walls illuminated by the fire spirit. Each one was covered in the same symbols repeated over and over again.
No, not all of them, “Wait.”
The group halted as I spoke and I silently pointed towards a spot in the wall that had been charred and blackened. Clearly some form of magic had struck the dungeon. Magic strong enough to warp the very material that had allowed the dungeon to stand tall for who knows how many years.
“I think we found out where our boom came from.” I lifted my glowing wand towards the wall so that the fire spirit didn’t have to leave its defensive position to light it up.
Serena narrowed her eyes at the scorch marks, “Lightning could have caused this. But where’s Alfred?”
“No.” Tia Ki shook her head, “Where’s the blood?”
I dropped down onto my knees and examined the floor around us. It was spotless. Not even a speck of dust surrounding us.
“You’re right. The thing wasn’t exactly a clean eater.” I ran a finger over the floor, “If Alfred got a shot at it then he should have made a mark on the floor. He was covered in blood and snow from the outside.”
“How far away are we from the entrance?” I looked at Daniel and he pointed at the ground with his sword, “I mean, are we far away enough that all traces of blood could have rubbed off?”
I narrowed my eyes and peered into the dark dungeon that seemed to go on until it became pitch black, “I didn’t see any blood at the entrance either.”
“Curious.” Daniel looked towards the way we came, “Something is off. I can feel it.”
Serena drew closer towards Tia Ki, “Agreed. Lets go back to the entrance first and try to set up some wards. I do not want this creature to slide on past us and into the outside world while we are distracted crawling through this dungeon.”
I didn’t argue as I shuffled alongside the group as we made our way back.
‘This can’t be right’ I glanced at the walls.
There had to be a reason that the walls all contained the same symbols. It was just too unlikely that any civilization would go to all this trouble building this place only to take the time to carve out the same word over and over.
‘Think Gunther. Think.’
Daniel was right, something is definitely off.
‘How long have we been walking? Why can’t I remember how far away the entrance is.’
Then it hit me, “Wait. Stop.”
The group looked at me. Tia Ki seemed impatient but alongside Daniela and Serena she had already brought herself into a defensive position. I lowered my head to the ground and pressed my ear into it.
“Can you guys hear that?”
I didn’t take my ear off the ground and I could feel the involuntary frown forming on my face as something seemed off. The floor was too smooth. But even though it didn’t shift or move in the slightest I could hear something… something just beyond us. It sounded like something was dragging across the floor.
It sounded like we were being surrounded.
I stood up, “Prepare yourselves.”
I put my wand away and reached underneath my robe as the others circled around me defensively. Serena was quickly pushed into the middle of the circle with me and Tia Ki, Daniel and the Rising Dawn member looked out around us.
“I don’t see-” Daniel began to speak but shut up as I lifted my hand to reveal a crystal coin.
“Neither do I.” I said simply.
A divination coin. An extremely rare yet useful tool. It could see that which is unseen, it could divine the future and even provide the answers to simple problems. The most common to do so was to flip the coin. That would dispel any nearby illusions.
“Maer guide me in your path. Provide me the means to see that which remains unseen.” I chanted under my breath
The coin glowed white hot in my hand and I tried my hardest to hold onto it. The strength of the magic being cast, as well as the strength of the illusions being dispelled would cause the coin to emit a heat as a byproduct of its fight. The fact that it was hot enough to cause me to think about letting go meant that there were truly powerful magics at play here. The group tensed as the coin reacted. It confirmed that they had been under some form of enchantment. The group raised their weapons cautiously.
But I didn’t simply cast a spell to dispel any illusions around us.
The chant is not important when casting divination magic. It is the intent. The first spell I cast was one of future divination, the illusions would be dispelled after that.
I raised the crystal coin to my eye.
“Gods. This isn’t good.”
When he looked at the group with the crystal coin inbetween them he could see their futures. They were all dead. Every single one of the mages in the group had been reduced to grinning skulls with lumps of rotting flesh sticking to their bodies. There was no clearer indication that if they continued onwards they would die.
The divination had spoken.
“Prepare yourselves,” I lowered the coin from my eyes and flipped it into the air, “Dispel.”
The group tensed. The moment the coin touched the ground it emitted a sharp cry and shattered into pieces.
“AH GODS.” I shouted and reached for my wand.
All around us the air shifted and shimmered, each and every identical symbol being replaced by a new one. The space around us was no longer an endless corridor and was instead replaced by an ancient hall. Higher than I could possibly see given the limited light provided by the fire spirit. But what had caught my attention was the hundreds of human-like creatures that flittered around us menacingly.
Shapes in the shadows blacker than night. I could see the darkness itself squirming all around us as our light touched against it. All around us were corpses shuffling towards us. They were only a few feet away. Somehow we had walked directly into them, if we had gone any further we may never have even known what ate us. Flesh ridden, bones broken and dust covered. These beings bore the marks of creatures thousands of years old and decayed.
Undead.