Having walked over to the door to the right, considering if you just came in through the door they entered through, he stood there for a moment, listening. As he couldn’t hear anything he looked at Cera questioningly, she looked at him confused, almost as if the pressure was too much but she seemed to understand what he meant and shook her head.

Taking this as her not hearing anything on the other side, Gilliam and Rhyan readied themselves like last time and opened the door.

The door flung open and Gilliam was ready to step in and defend himself, but he quickly found that it was a wasted effort, they had tactically opened the door into a small storage room. A quick check confirmed that it had writing utensils, cleaning supplies and random stuff. None of the papers they saw were written on, so it was clear this was a supply closet.

Letting out a few chuckles at the over-the-top entry into a closet, they moved to the last remaining door, repeating the checking before doing anything. Like the previous door, they didn’t hear anything, Cera confirmed this and they opened the door and stepped into a hallway going left. The hallway was made of the same relatively smooth stone as the rest of the place and was lit by the same orbs at the intersections or bends, of which there was one, heading right.

Following the hallway as quietly as they could, it was surprisingly uneventful even through the bend, they came to an intersection where one path went forward and the other broke off to the right twice. Pondering for a brief second they tried figuring out which path was the most used, which wasn’t easy as there wasn’t exactly a lot of dust or tracks in a stone hallway, but after a brief consideration, they pushed on straight ahead.

This took them through several more turns they came to another door, and the process became the same and after Cera shook her head they entered to find a room without people or zombies. The room itself was a simple kitchen, it had places to prepare and cook food, seeming to use magical items to produce the cooking heat. Probably a smart thing as using a fire in an enclosed place like this seemed unsafe at best. The room also doubled up as a location to sit and eat, having a kitchen along one wall with tables and chairs standing about.

This was the end of that path, no extra doors out of this place, meaning that the alternative path was the way with the hidden magic circle.

“Should we check the way with the magic that we skipped?” Rhyan commented, not looking too happy.

“Yeah, it seems like the only way to go.” Gilliam replied as he started walking.

“About that spell... are you able to dispel it?” Rhyan raised a good question that Gilliam hadn’t properly considered.

“I never really learned how. I could perhaps figure it out but as I haven’t tested things like that I don’t know if I’ll just trigger it, I think the best thing is to avoid it.” Gilliam felt that he could perhaps find a way to dispel it, there were many rune words he could use to get that idea going but as he stated, he didn’t know if he’d trigger it or manage to dispel it.

“How should we avoid it, then? Jump over it?” Rhyan seemed to try and ponder ideas, but at the same time, he looked a bit surprised at Gilliam’s explanation.

“Worst case we can have Savia teleport us to the other side, but that could have someone realise we’re here as teleportation sends out a decently powerful mana pulse.”

They continued the back and forth until they found themselves with the magic circle again. It was hidden so it was hard to find the area it covered, but he could sense it enough to estimate the rough area. It went from wall to wall and was almost as wide the other way. Another problem was that Gilliam couldn’t deduce what it would do if it triggered, as it was invisible he couldn’t read any runes either.

Focusing more on it he managed to figure out a rough ‘field’ that it covered, it only covered halfway up towards the ceiling. This means that they could in theory fly over it. Which felt like a simple and good idea.

“I can just lift us over it. It seems that the field it covers is only halfway to the ceiling, lifting us over it flat should fix that.” Gilliam shared as he kept inspecting it.

“Well, if that works then I’m fine with it.” Rhyan didn’t seem to have a problem with it, and Cera seemed either indifferent or didn’t understand what was going to happen.

Gilliam used telekinesis and grabbed himself, lifting himself off the ground. This wasn’t an as efficient way to fly as the flying magic, but it had higher control as it was like moving something by hand.

He lifted himself flat against the ceiling, floating like that to the other way of the magic circle and landing on the other side unharmed without triggering the magic circle.

Feeling a sense of success he proceeded to do the same to the others, starting with Rhyan. He didn’t know if Cera would take that easily so he decided to start with the one who understood it more.

Reaching out a tendril of mana it connected with Rhyan, though he was heavier than Gilliam was, it was hardly an issue. Lifting him and supporting him almost against the ceiling he repeated the process without issue. And he was glad to see that Cera got it as well, she was a bit hesitant and stiffened up considerably, but didn’t resist and was also lifted over without an issue.

This all looked a bit dumb but it seemed to work fine!

Continuing down the hallway, bending left and right, they found themselves at another door, this time Cera pulled at Gilliam’s coat looking scared.

Gilliam bent down so she could whisper to him.

“I hear many feet in there. No speaking, just walking.”

Gilliam relayed this to Rhyan. “So what do we do? Should we just burst in and take care of them all? Or...”

“Well... If you feel confident doing that. I can block the door to protect myself and Cera, but I don’t work too well against groups when fighting.” Pointing to his shield, though there was a sword fastened to the back of it in a specialized scabbard, it was still a man with a shield and sword. Rhyan seemed like a good combatant, but realistically speaking, being swarmed is never a good thing for anyone.

“I say we try, if it becomes bad, Savia can take us out of here.” Gilliam commented, reaching to the back of his hair to get her loose.

“Mnmn?” Not even talking she just made a questioning sound as she was pulled from her slumber into her master’s hands. She had fallen asleep on the way back after nothing was happening for a while.

“If it goes bad, we need you to be ready to take us out of here.” Gilliam commanded in a whisper.

She used a few seconds to process this before seemingly waking up and realising what was said, and that they were whispering. “Savia teleport master if danger?” She whispered back in her tiny voice.

“Yes, not just me. All of us. If I say so you bring us out, ok?” He confirmed, just to make sure she got it all.

She nodded rapidly!

During this little exchange, Rhyan had used a moment to quietly take his shield off his back, which he did masterfully. Gilliam could barely hear him moving the large metal plate, even considering that Rhyan was also wearing metal. He had done this before but it was still surprisingly impressive to Gilliam.

Looking at Rhyan, who looked back once he had prepared himself and gotten a proper grasp on his shield, they nodded to each other as they felt ready.

Gilliam took his staff out of the ring, taking it in his left hand and stepped in closer to the door. He was aware that the little pulse of magic this created could perhaps be picked up by someone very skilled in mana sense, but it didn’t matter as in less than two seconds spells would be flung anyway.

Rhyan flung the door open, letting Gilliam pass before he took a defensive stance in the doorframe. Gilliam used that moment to pass him into the room as planned. Stepping in he found that it was a surprisingly empty room as far as furniture or objects were, instead, the room seemed to be a stock-pile for zombies. Of which there seemed to be quite a lot. A glance count seemed that there were 20 or 30 individuals stuffed in the room. They didn’t seem to have moved much and were somewhat clustered in a way that one could walk from the door he entered, unhindered to the two other doors in the room. Of course, this changed as soon as they saw Gilliam, seemingly taking great offence to his presence most of them shrieked only a split second after seeing him.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Gilliam had dealt with large groups before, and the bonus of nobody being in front of him was that he didn’t have to consider the safety of anyone there. Weirdly this was easier than if he had any fighting allies. He entered in the middle of the room, so he had targets in a solid 180 degrees ahead of him and to his sides. However, this was still not a problem.

Calling back on the magic he used when invading the Fractured lands, he expanded on a spell to handle this. A pure and bright yellow circle manifested above Gilliam’s right hand with the runes spelling out Aether Half Disc. Two runes were placed in a circle with a second circle flashing into existence with the word for Expand. Both circles collapsed into a field of energy in Gilliam’s hand as fast as they appeared, taking only a fraction of a second before it expanded through the whole room out from Gilliam, taking only a second before the disc cut a deep groove in the stone walls around the three walls.

The zombies didn’t seem to react much, even when they fell to the ground cut in two at chest height. Some seemed to stop moving entirely but others started using their arms to crawl towards Gilliam, though it seemed that all legs had stopped entirely, some were shorter or hunched over and had their heads cut in half, they seemed to remain motionless.

“Ah... that’s right... Fuck..” Gilliam remembered the information about the spell circle or darkness mana crystal being the target. He didn’t hit or cut it off from the remaining of the body. So if it was on their heads, leaving their arms would let them crawl around like that.

And weirdly, they looked creepier that way, not something Gilliam couldn’t stomach but it looked less human in a way. He needed to damage more of them at the same time, quickly going through the elements he found that Air and Water could be hard to use properly, Fire would be a problem as it could use too much air in the underground area, but Earth and crushing were good.

The simplest is often the best, was a slogan that ran through Gilliam’s head. Anyone down here would know about them now, so he didn’t have to hide or be stealthy anymore. Reaching his hand up towards the ceiling a dirt brown and dull sand-coloured glowing circle manifested with runes for Stone Sheet formed, there was a secondary circle connected to it which had a string-like line connected to Gilliam’s finger, he moved his finger around, leaving a magical line in the air him and the door they were standing, making a cutout of sorts before the whole spell activated. Rather than collapsing like the last spell, the energy this created spread out across the whole ceiling, using half a second of stone against stone dragging sounds a large sheet disconnected from the ceiling and fell.

Some of the zombies were almost in striking distance of Gilliam, but they were too late as the heavy slab of stone fell and crushed anything and everything between itself and the floor with a powerful thud. The cutout he drew with the line made a rough half circle around the door and himself un-cut from the ceiling, meaning they remained uncrushed.

“There, that takes care of that.” Gilliam commented to himself with a smile as he stepped into the room on top of the plate.

Rhyan was quite surprised but seemed more focused on the two other doors. “If they didn’t know we were here before, they do now.”

He seemed to relax a little bit but kept his shield up as he stepped into the room as well.

Cera was incredibly hesitant but followed them as well.

Gilliam pondered which door to go for, and had a moment of thought. If they enter one of them, they are effectively gone, meaning that anyone can just leave, enter or whatever, which was a problem.

However, this problem had a very easy solution.

Extending his hand towards the left door he made a pulling motion upwards, this raised a large slab of stone in front of it, effectively making a wall behind the door itself. If anyone intended to go through the door, they had to get through the wall as well

Not expecting anything special to happen he stepped towards the other door. He had considered the danger in this area and was starting to feel cocky. Though having allies is good, currently he didn’t need their assistance in the underground area. Though perhaps that was a bit unfair, comparing normal people to him. Perhaps he’d just have to train with them to find a way that works.

By the time he had considered this, without concluding what the best step would be, he had reached and just nonchalantly opened the door. Looking into it he found something interesting. The following room was a similar shape and size as the one they were in, but it was very differently furnished.

It looked like a holding area where a quarter of the room was just a cage, the rest of the area had some tables with tools as well as what looked like a bloodied and well-worn-out operating table.

The room was void of anything moving or interesting enough to investigate, though as Gilliam turned for the other door he saw Cera react to something, her ears twitched and pointed towards the barricaded door. It didn’t take long before he could also hear sounds there. It seemed that the door opened and confusion ensued.

Walking closer he could hear their conversation.

“The fuck do you mean there’s a wall there?” An annoyed male voice commented from a bit further in.

A voice near the wall replied. “I mean what I said. There is a wall here...” He didn’t sound entirely certain of himself but responded regardless.

A few seconds later the voice from afar was now closer. “The fuck, there is a wall there...”

“Dude, that’s what I told you.” The man who reported the wall commented, sounding a little sad.

“Well... yes... but how could I believe that without seeing it..”

“I suppose you’re right... but how did this happen?”

Gilliam decided to have fun with this, though Rhyan seemed to put his index finger against his lips, beaconing them to be silent, Gilliam didn’t care.

“Guys, there’s a wall here!” He joined and played along with the confusion.

“What? Who’s there?” The man originally from a distance away commented.

Gilliam couldn’t use a name or pretend anything like that, so he ignored the question. “How the fuc did a wall end up here? How many are in there? We might need to tear this down.”

“What? Well...” The man who reported the wall commented confused. “Just us two and the boss.”

“So the boss is not with you?” Gilliam asked to clarify.

“No, he’s working in his office.” One of the men replied, which was what Gilliam needed.

“Oh, good.” He replied as the two men lost their value in his mind.

Using a simple motion of his hand pushing down, he pushed the wall back into the ground, which opened up the entry to the doorframe again. The two very surprised men looked at Gilliam with confusion and horror as they saw the mage opening the path.

For a brief moment, he considered talking to them, but as the wall fell and he saw two armed bandits in the door there was something in the back of his head taking over. It felt like the same reaction to move your arms to slap against someone startling you, or lifting your hands to protect you when someone fake-throws something at you. It didn’t feel bad but it felt a little out of control even though he knew they would be there.

He swiftly lifted his right hand and produced a similar, but smaller, spell to the one he used on the Dreadfangs. A dominantly yellow spell circle formed and collapsed into two small pointed orbs. In the following split second, they had launched from his hand and covered the short distance between them. The fact that they had turned around trying to run into the room didn’t change that the two darts penetrated their heads effortlessly, and didn’t stop before impacting the wall on the other side of the room. The movement through their heads was enough to spray paint a small cone on the floor red and pink before they fell over, covering some of it.

“Gods...” Rhyan commented in disbelief. “The fuck, Gilliam. We’re here to find out what’s going on, not murdering everyone.” He was not happy about how this was being handled.

Gilliam briefly considered his comment but decided to think more about that later, right now they were going to speak to the local boss.