Darkness swallowed everything. Ember couldn’t even see his own shield being held right in front of him. Without torches to light the way, he led the descent down the spiraling staircase with cautious steps. One foot, then the next. One foot, then the next. He needed to be careful with his footing. He needed to be deliberate with his actions. The last thing he wanted was for either of them to trip.
“How far down do you think this goes?” Autumn asked.
“Beats me,” he answered bluntly. “Just be careful, okay? If you fall, I’d be going with you.”
Ember expected the air to turn thin and musty the further down they went, but that wasn’t the case. It remained just as warm as it was outside. Earlier he had pictured them going down to a cave, or some kind of underground burial site. But with how the air here feels abundant, that started to feel less and less likely.
“Where are the monsters, anyway?” Autumn’s whisper echoed throughout the empty stone chamber.
“I don’t know.” Ember wondered the same thing. They walked these stairs for some time. Surely, a monster would’ve attacked them by now. Too dark to see the attack coming, too narrow to avoid it. If they chose to turn back, the stairs would only slow their escape. This would be the perfect place for an ambush. And yet, no sign of any monsters. “Maybe they’re waiting for us at the bottom.”
Autumn echoed with an audible gulp. “Y-you think so?”
“Well, yeah. At least, that’s what I would do if I were a monster. If I hadn’t attacked us yet along the stairs, I’d be waiting for us at the bottom. Maybe I’ll have some friends with me, too.”
“Stop it, Ember! Don’t say that!” Her shrill whispers pierced his ears from behind. “This is no place to talk like that.”
“What? I was only trying to help.” A pang of guild stung Ember. He didn’t mean to freak her out like that. Even before the mystery dungeon formed, monsters around Foxhole Village mostly preferred either ambush or pack tactics to overwhelm their prey. It only made sense to him that he mentioned that. Maybe I should’ve just said that.
“I don’t get how you can be so calm about this,” she said. “I’m practically dying back here.”
“Hey, I’m nervous, too, y’know,” he shot back. “I don’t exactly like going downstairs in the dark. I’m just good at not showing it.”
“That’s the one thing you’re scared of?” she questioned. “I thought you were fearless.”
“When you nearly break your leg walking down to the basement without a light, then we’ll talk.”
“Hm?” Autumn peeked over her brother’s shoulder, and noticed a clearing. “Hey, I think I see a light.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Ember said. “We’re almost down.”
Finally, after walking for what felt like ages, Ember spotted a light at the bottom of the path. An audible sigh of relief escaped Autumn. He couldn’t blame her. His legs were starting to cramp from all these stairs.
The second floor wasn’t an underground tomb or cave as Ember had conjured in his mind. It was a forest, the same forest as the floor above. “Wait, this can’t be right, can it?” Confused, he checked the map. The room shown was in the top right-hand corner, with corridors leading from the bottom-left, or straight down. The words, “Foxhole Woods, B2F,” were underlined at the top of the map. As far as it was concerned, it was correct. “How does that even work?” He questioned.
“Oh, so this is what my books were talking about,” Autumn mumbled to herself.
Catching his sister talking to herself, Ember snickered. “Your books? What’re you talking about?”
“Before coming here, I read a few books on mystery dungeons made by previous adventurers,” Autumn began. “According to them: since mystery dungeons form by morphing the local environment, each of their floors take on the properties of the areas they form from. At first, I had no clue what they were talking about, but this must be it. Some even theorize that mystery dungeons form from excess chaos energy.”
Another chuckle from Ember. “Chaos energy?”
Autumn nodded. “Mhm. They don’t mention it often, but some believe that a build-up of chaos energy results in mystery dungeons forming.”
“How does that even work?”
“I don’t know. But I want to find out.” Ember may be interested in fighting monsters, but Autumn had loftier goals in mind. She wanted to be the girl to solve the mystery behind the mystery dungeons.
“Are you sure this is right?” Autumn asked, looking about with the same confusion as her brother.
“That’s what the map says,” he answered. He folded the map back up. “Well, I’m not gonna fight it. The sooner we get to work, the sooner we find the idols.”
Slowly, methodically, the two foxes snaked their way through the second floor. When the occasional monster came to greet them, Ember’s toughness and Autumn’s magic made quick work of them. Eventually Ember felt that “click” in his mind, signifying that he had leveled up again. Checking his status after the Gloomshroom that he just fought withered to smoke, he found it wasn’t just his level that grew.
Ember gained a new level!
Ember’s Class gained a new level!
Level: 2 > 3
Class Level: 1 > 2
Vitality: 24 > 28
Mana: 10 >12
Strength: 13 > 15
Endurance: 24 > 27
Magic: 10 > 11
Agility: 6 > 7
Ember learned the skill: Toughen Up!
(Toughen Up: Raises your Endurance by 10 points for the next five minutes. Targets: self. MP: 2.)
“Hey, I leveled up!” Ember exclaimed. “And I got a new skill.”
“So did I.” Autumn expressed her excitement under her breath. She doesn’t like being loud like her brother.
“What did you get?” Ember asked.
“Trance,” she told him. “It raises my Magic by ten points for the next five minutes.”
“Oh. That sounds like my new skill, Toughen Up, except mine raises my Endurance.” It was kind of funny to him. At their second Class level, they both learned a skill which did the same thing, but for their respective class. He welcomed these new changes. In fact, he already worked out exactly how he wanted to use his new skill.
The next fight we get into, I’ll use Toughen Up, and then Provoke. That way, I’ll last a little longer when dealing with multiple monsters at once. And while I have them distracted, Autumn can use her Trance skill to buff up her spells to wipe them out in one blow! Then again, the enemies here die easily enough as is. I’ll definitely save this strategy for later down the road.
“Ember, is something wrong?” Autumn asked. “You’ve gone quiet all of a sudden.”
“Hm? Oh, sorry,” he said. “Just thinking to myself.” He was so caught up in strategizing that he forgot they were in the middle of something. Since the plan involved her too, he told her what he had in mind. It was a simple plan— short, sweet, and to the point.
“I see,” she said. “So, you still need me to kill the monsters for you.”
“Well, I wouldn’t put it that way.” Ember tucked his hands behind his head. “But between the both of us, you’re the most effective one against these monsters. I mean, the last time I attacked a Slime, it split on me. And my dagger’s old— can’t even cut through a slice of cheese.”
She first replied with a disgruntled groan, and then, “but I’m not here to kill monsters. I just want to research mystery dungeons.”
“I know, but until I get enough funds for better stuff, I’ll be lagging behind in the damage department for a while.” Even if he was well-equipped, a major drawback to the Vanguard was their lack of damage compared to other classes. They were made to body hits for their teammates, not dish out damage.
“I suppose you’re right.” Her voice went soft. It was obvious by her tone that she was not enthused by this plan. She sighed. “Well, if it works, it works, right?”
“Yeah! See, you get it,” Ember said. “Come on, we should keep moving.”
Not wanting to hold up their progress any longer, Ember continued the search.
The second floor was much bigger than Ember expected. Having blown through six rooms already, his map showed they still had plenty of blank space to cover. No sign of the idol or the next stairway yet. He groaned. “It’ll take all day at this rate.” Ember cast his gaze upwards. The canopies above the main rooms were thick enough to nearly blot out the sun. But here, within one of the connecting trails, sunlight poured down in patchy streams. The trees stood tall, and their many branches looked sturdy. An idea sprang to mind. “Here, hold my stuff.”
“Wait, what are you—?” Autumn suddenly found her hands filled as Ember dumped his shield and bag onto her, and hopped up the nearest tree. He climbed with the speed and grace of a monkey, casually skipping from branch to branch. Not a single movement wasted. In the time it took her to blink, he was nearly half-way up. “Ember, get down,” she cried, “it’s dangerous!”
“I’m just scoping the place out,” he retorted, “I know what I’m doing!” Things got a little tricky near the top. The branches are spaced far enough apart that he couldn’t simply reach for them. He had to admit, he missed climbing trees. He missed the feeling of rough bark scraping his palms. He felt overjoyed getting to do it again. Sure, there were trees all throughout Foxhole Village, and he certainly climbed them—every last one of them, in fact. They just never scratched the same itch. They never grew as tall, or as strong. There were always adults telling him to get down. Things quickly got boring around the village.
“Almost there!” Ember was near the top of the tree. He just needed to clear one more jump, then—
Thud!
Ember yelped, and lost his balance.
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“Ember!” Autumn cried, watching in horror as her brother fell limply from the tree. There was nothing she could do to help him. He ricocheted off branches, slamming into his back and then his chest before landing hard on his side. Autumn rushed to his side, dropping his things. “Ember, tell me you’re all right!” Tears streamed down her cheeks. She’s never seen him in such a state before. Bruises browned his orange fur in countless spots. His eyes were blackened and swelled. Blood flowed from his snout.
To her surprise, Ember moaned and painfully stirred. “Yeah, I’m all right,” he wheezed. A fall like that would’ve killed any other fox. He had his high Endurance to thank for saving him. Even without armor, he survived.
“N-no, don’t move,” she sounded more insistent than usual. “Is anything broken? We need to get you help.”
“N-no, I’m fine,” he told her. “Just bruised up.”
Without hesitation, Autumn reached into her bag and pulled out a potion. It uncorked with a loud pop. Moments after administering the red fluid, her brother immediately started to improve. His bruises faded, swelling shrunk, and bleeding stopped. He slowly lifted himself up, and rubbed his head. His eyes were still black. “What happened up there?” she asked. “I heard a thud, and you fell all of a sudden. Did you hit a branch?”
“No, I hit a ceiling!”
“What?” Autumn couldn’t believe what she was hearing. A ceiling, way up there? This was no time for one of his exaggerations. “What do you mean ‘a ceiling’? All I see up there is the sky.”
“Do you wanna go up and check for yourself?”
“N-no.”
Ember went on in an angry huff, “Trust me, I know what I’ve felt. I was about to reach the top when I slammed into something solid. I didn’t even see it.”
Autumn stayed quiet, trying to make sense of all this. Her books mentioned nothing about mystery dungeons having “invisible ceilings”. Was it that, this being the second floor, Ember actually hit the bottom of the first? “While you were up there, did you happen to see what the layout looked like?” she asked.
“No, I wanted to reach the top first.”
“That’s what I thought,” Autumn huffed. “Does anything feel broken to you? Do you need help?”
“No,” he answered, “just hurt.”
That came as a relief to Autumn. She was just happy that he was okay, as battered up as he was. He was always one for risk. But if he had died—if he had seriously broken something—she wouldn’t know what to do. “Just be more careful,” she told him. “We still don’t have a clear picture on how the mystery dungeon operates. I think it’s best we don’t do anything risky from now—”
She suddenly went stiff, and her fur puffed out. Something rustled from behind her, and it wasn’t the wind.
“What’s wrong?” Ember asked in a hoarse whisper.
“Something’s behind me,” she rattled out, “watching us.” She sensed hidden eyes peering at her back, studying her.
To that, Ember let out a soft “crap” under his breath. “Stay calm, Autumn,” he warned. “Don’t give it any reason to attack you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Her voice shook. Don’t give it reason to attack? How was she supposed to do that? “What’s behind me?”
“A Giant Rat.”
“What?!”
Her shrill outburst triggered the figure to pounce. It was a blur of dark blue fur, tailed by a streak of pink. Before she knew it, the creature latched on to her brother’s ankle with its long, chipped incisors.
Ember yelped out in pain. He tugged against the rat, trying desperately to free his leg, but his foe was deceptively strong. For a creature who stood barely any taller than the twins, it forcefully dragged its catch across the soft earth. The injured fox dug his free heel into the soil, hoping to find an amount of purchase, but even then the beast managed to haul him as he tried to resist.
It all happened so quickly. One moment Autumn was warning him about the unknown threat, then the next she was watching a rat tug her brother into the forest to make a snack of him. She had to do something, and fast. “Let go of him, you!” The rat hissed when she gave it a mighty whack on the head with the big end of her staff. That was just enough for it to release its prey from its clutches. “Ember, are you okay?”
“Yeah.” He rubbed his bitten ankle. A red line formed where the teeth latched on, but otherwise no blood showed. That was good.
Autumn didn’t like this dilemma. With her brother effectively down and out for the count, there was no one left to defend her. Mages are ill-suited for direct combat. Her spells needed time to conjure, time which her opponent wasn’t looking to give her. The thought of running away seemed tempting at first, but what about Ember? If she took him, the rat would catch them for sure. She couldn’t just leave him, either. Not after all he’s done for her. Mother would be devastated.
That left only one option.
“Autumn, what are you doing?” Ember barked out his question. Autumn stood between him and the still-squirming rat, her staff held out defensively. “You can’t fight that thing! It’s too strong for you!”
“I can take care of this,” she barked back. “You’re too injured to fight. Please, just take the rest of your potion and let me handle this.”
“Too injured to fight?” scoffed Ember. “My whole job is to get injur—” While attempting to get up, Ember let out a sharp yap, and crumpled back down.
And that’s all the rat needed to strike again. It pounced for the injured fox once more, swiftly avoiding its partner’s staff swings.
“Hey! No! Stay back!” Autumn ordered, but it won’t listen. She swung wildly to keep it at bay. The creature stood equal to her, its yellow eyes staring into hers. It wasn’t scared of her, and she knew that. It merely bid its time, and prodded for a weak spot to slip past. It tested her, it wanted her to wear herself out. It circled around the two foxes in a slow, deliberate waltz. But Autumn shooed it away each time it approached.
“Ember, please, let me handle this,” she begged. “I know it’s your job to protect me, but right now you’re the one needing protecting. You can hardly stand as you are. I’m the only one who can deal with this thing.”
“Okay, you win,” her brother relented. “But if things get dicey, I’m stepping in.” Slowly, he unsheathed his dagger. At least then, if the rat manages to slip by his sister’s guard, he had something to defend himself with.
That, Autumn was fine with. She wasn’t here to kill monsters. Right now, all that mattered was that she preoccupied the monster long enough for Ember to recover. Maybe if she resisted it for long enough, it’ll lose interest and leave.
When the Giant Rat lunged, it didn’t go for the injured Vanguard. Autumn knew it was strong having watched it drag her brother by the leg, but when it grappled onto her staff, she struggled to wretch it free. It tugged at her like a plaything. Her grip was tight—her and Ember’s life depended on it—but her strength paled against the monster.
“Woah—!”
With a sudden jerk, the rat threw her to the side. Her staff now belonged to it, but it didn’t for it, throwing it to the side.
“Autumn! Get—agh—!” Once again, the rat latched onto Ember. “Let go! Let go!” Ember punched and slapped, but the rat was determined to bring him home. Unsheathing his dagger, he made wild slashes which looked to hardly harm the beast. What blows did land had little effect. The blunt edge was able to cut through the Green Slimes and Gloomshrooms before it because their bodies were soft, but the rat’s added layers of fur and fat complicated things. In the end, his dagger only left behind shallow scratches.
“This’ll do it!” If long, sweeping slashes, won’t work, then maybe stabbing it will. Ember reversed his grip, but in his haste, fumbled his weapon. “No!” He clawed desperately for it, but was carried too far away to reach. “Autumn, help!”
The two nearly reached the boundaries of the corridor. In mere moments, Ember would disappear in the thick foliage.
And that gave Autumn the time she needed.
Her chants chilled the air. A storm of ice and frost surrounded her hands.
“Ice!” she let loose the cold blast, which froze everything in its path. There was a loud screech, distinguishable from the howling of the freezing wind. Did she get it?
Moments later, a voice called out in the distance. “Autumn, was that you?”
“Y-yeah, that was me,” she called back, voice cracking. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I think your spell worked!”
Hearing that, Autumn breathed a sigh of relief. It was a risky strategy. For her to defeat the rat, she needed to cast her spell. To cast her spell, she needed time. And the only way to buy time was to let the Giant Rat take Ember. At first she planned to cast Fire, but seeing how thick the forest fauna was, she worried she would burn the whole place down. Following the trail of ice, she hoped he wouldn’t be too mad at her.
The frozen trail left by her spell led her straight to her brother. He himself was fine, but his leg was trapped in the frozen rat’s grip. It seemed to be wincing in reaction to the spell before getting shelled in by ice.
“Ember! Thank goodness, you’re still okay!” Nerves overwhelming her, she went in to hug him.
“Ow, ow! Back off a little,” he cried. He didn’t mind her hugging him, but his sores flared against her hold. “Not so hard, okay?”
“S-sorry. Here, I brought your things.” She tenderly handed him his shield and bag, and he accepted. “Sorry for letting that rat carry you off like that. I wanted to protect you, but I needed time to cast my spell.”
“Hey, no problem.” Even while hurting, he sounded so casual. His attitude perplexed Autumn.
“But what would’ve happened if I missed? I put your life in danger.”
He scoffed. “Like I’ll die to a rat. I’ll just fight it off.” Slowly, he tested his legs again. He collapsed the last time, but he was able to hold his own weight now. But Autumn had her hands out to catch him just in case. “But still, you did great. Thanks.”
Autumn broke into a small smile. Hearing him thank her felt somewhat ensuring. The mission has certainly been rough on the both of them, but now she felt she had the strength to finish it.
A loud pop rang out as Ember opened and downed one of his own potions. Pins and needles coursed through his battered body, pricking at him from underneath his pelt. Potions accelerated the body’s natural healing process. His soreness still persisted, but in a matter of seconds small cuts and bruises disappeared from sight. It would take a little more than just a simple potion or two to clear his harsher wounds, but he could shrug those off for now.
Fallen from a tree and attacked by a Giant Rat—he would be lying if he said this wasn’t the most excitement he’s had in a long while. But that was something to keep to himself. If Autumn heard him say that, she would have a heart attack.
Progress through the second floor has been slow ever since Ember’s little incident. After all he went through, he still insisted to be the forerunner of the team. That meant the dungeon could only be explored as fast as he could limp.
Walk it off, Ember, just walk it off. Every step was laborious to him. His legs wanted to collapse back in on themselves. But injuries like this came as second nature to him. It was gonna take some time for the potions to soothe his sores. He just needed to walk it off.
He can rest after the mission.
Slowly but surely, they worked through two more zones before Ember spotted a familiar, out-of-place wooden figure. Their second idol nestled underneath some bushes that made up their current room’s boundary, in plain view.
“Heh, too easy,” Ember gloated. “Two down already.”
“Wait, Ember.” Autumn grabbed him by the hand. “What if this could be a trap? Don’t you think it’s odd that it’s placed right in front of us like that?”
“A trap how?” he questioned.
“Like, what if it’s an ambush? What if we go grab it and a monster attacks us by surprise?”
That wasn’t a bad thought to consider. Ever since they’ve entered the woods, they were met with ambush after ambush. He at least understood why she was worried—she especially had been a favorite target of the monsters around here. No doubt this could be a set up.
“Ambush or not, we need to get that idol. So why don’t I take this one, and you stay here?” he said in a raised voice. “If anything happens to me, just fire a spell at them.”
“Um, okay.” Confusion rippled across her face. Why was Ember talking so loudly? Did he want the enemies to know what they were up to? Just as she was told, she primed herself to cast a spell at the first sign of trouble.
Ember was prepared in his own way. Carefully approaching the idol, he readied his makeshift shield in front of him, and his dagger in his other hand. Even in his weakened state, he was ready to fight what came his way. No monster would make a meal of him today.
The forest was quiet, except for the grass crunching beneath Ember’s feet. His heart raced with heavy thumps. No sign of any monsters, he thought, eyes darting all over the place. Normally that would be a good thing, but the way things have been going for him today, that meant nothing. Just need to grab it and go.
The idol was almost within his reach. Just a few more steps and…
Just then, the trap was sprung. A yellow light shined brilliantly underneath his feet. A magic circle formed.
“Ember, what’s going on—?”
Before she even had the chance to finish her question, Ember’s body coursed with lightning. He flailed erratically; his screams were numbed.
“Ember!”
When the magic circle faded, the fox flopped to his side, still twitching. She ran towards him, but stopped just before reaching him. The circle had engraved itself into the dirt. What would happen if she stepped into it? Would the same fate befall her?
“Ember, are you okay?” she cried. He responded with incoherent gurgles. His fingers raked the ground, trying to make a fist but failing.
“Shock Trap.” Her books mentioned these. Mystery Dungeons are formed from abundant chaos energy, and sometimes they would weave that energy into magic circles. Invisible to the observing eye, whoever steps into them receives a nasty surprise.
The bushes rustled, and out popped a pair of small hands that snatched the idol away.
“H-hey! That’s ours!” Fire burned at the tip of Autumn’s staff. “Fi—!” Just before she finished the spell, the figure disappeared.
She cursed under her breath. Not only did the enemy escape, but they stole the idol. And those hands: they looked like they belonged to a Giant Rat, but that didn’t seem right. The fur color was off. “A green Giant Rat?” She mused to herself. “My books didn’t mention anything like that. What was that thing?”
Furthermore, what would Ember know? Maybe he knew about this monster—he knows everything about this forest. But what would he think of her letting it go? A chill ran down her spine. She could already imagine his outrage.
Speaking of which, Ember started to stir. The paralysis of the shock trap doesn’t last very long and when it wore off, he regained control of his body. He coated the ground in slobber as he shook his head. The sides of his mouth still drooped numbly.
“Where’d that come from?” His speech was slurred somewhat. “It appeared outta nowhere.”
“You triggered a Shock Trap,” Autumn filled him in. “the mystery dungeon creates them to fend off intruders.” She held out her hand, and Ember accepted it, and was pulled out from the circle. It only triggered when someone stepped inside it, so nothing happened when Ember was excavated out.
“What happened to the idol?” he asked. “Did you get it?”
“N-no.” It was a little hard understanding him, but Autumn had a basic gist of what he was saying. “Just when you got shocked, a Giant Rat stole it. But this one was weird because it had green fur instead of blue.”
“Green fur?” Even he looked perplexed. Foxhole Woods was crawling with Giant Rats, but he’s never seen or heard of one being green before.
“I was hoping you knew something about it,” she told him, but he just shook his head. Beads of drool stretched down his mouth.
“Nope. Never heard of it.”
“Oh.” Autumn’s gaze went downcast. Just her luck. Even Ember didn’t know.
“Autumn, we have to get it back,” Ember mumbled.
“But where could it have gone?” she asked. “It could be anywhere by now.”
“It’ll still leave footprints behind. We can still track it down,” he said. “And besides, if this place has a roof, then I’d imagine there must be walls holding it up. Wherever that thing is heading, it won’t be heading out.”