Walking through the Dweller tunnel, Gabe was on high-alert. He’d heard all kinds of stories from adventurers who had ventured into these dark depths and each one spoke of deadly traps and dangerous monsters lurking about. After being caught unawares by both the prowlers and the wyvern, he was determined not to be blindsided again. He’d cast Aura of Vitality, Professor Alrik had cast his aura that detected hidden enemies, and Simon had cast a spell that allowed him to sense vibrations in the earth. While he’d experienced a minor bit of strain when casting, his aura itself felt stronger, even without him modifying it. With all three active and Drevock leading the group, axes raised, they were as ready for an attack as they could get.

Strangely enough, an attack never came. They’d been traveling for almost an hour and they hadn’t even come across a single branching pathway. Gabe had recast his aura twice after its duration ran out before eventually deciding to save his mana. Nothing pinged Professor Alrik’s aura and while Simon could feel something through the rock, the vibrations were faint. Rather than feel relieved, the party was more on edge the longer they walked without encountering anything.

After another hour had passed and still they hadn’t even encountered a bug, Simon spoke up and broke the silence they’d been traveling in.

“Is this normal? Cause for some reason I thought that these tunnels were filled to the brim with horrors beyond our imaginations or some nonsense. Don’t get me wrong, I’m fine with not expanding my imagination in that way, I’m just worried that maybe we picked the wrong secret tunnel at the back of a monster's nest. Seems like an easy mix up to make.”

Gabe couldn’t help but agree with Simon. This was not how it was supposed to be. Sure, sometimes people had reported that they’d needed to travel a bit of a ways into the system before the traps and monsters appeared, but no one had ever mentioned walking down a singular pathway for multiple hours. The Dweller tunnel systems were notorious for having many intersecting pathways that many people suspected could take you anywhere within the Iochian mountain range if you walked long enough.

“The spell I cast back in the cavern revealed only the singular hidden entrance,” answered Professor Alrik. “While I concur that there does appear to be something unique about our experience so far, I do not doubt that we are where we need to be. All that we can do is continue our march forward and be prepared for whatever may cross our paths.”

And so they continued on, though by this point it was too mentally and emotionally exhausting to be constantly on high alert, or at least Gabe felt that way. Simon seemed to have reached a similar conclusion as he’d dug out that old battered book he was always reading and began reading while walking. Gabe was worried he’d trip over the uneven ground, but apparently Simon’s Earthsense was good for more than just detecting incoming enemies as he stepped past every crack and loose stone without a second thought.

“What is that book about anyways,” Gabe asked as he walked up beside Simon.

Instead of answering like a normal person would, Simon simply turned the book around so Gabe could see the pages Simon was currently reading. Each page had a diagram of different colored lines that intersect one another in a particular way with a variety of label markers at different locations on the top half and a short block on the bottom half. The diagrams vaguely reminded Gabe of spellforms, but it wasn’t until he started reading the text that he fully understood what the book was.

Pictured above is an inverted Zeke’s cross using two threads of earth mana as the base and a single thread each of mind and fire for the guards. Note that due to the energetic synergies of earth and fire mana, the leftmost nexus point, labeled A, is a half-step closer to the central braid than the rightmost nexus point, labeled B. An inverted Zeke’s cross stabilizes the ephemeral-physical interaction of earth and mind mana and the inclusion of fire mana increases the energetic capacity of the spellform to allow for more efficient output of compounded spells.

“Is this a guide for creating your own spells?”

Simon wiggled the hand that wasn’t holding the book back and forth. “Sort of. It goes through most of the common spellform subpatterns and how they differ when using different combinations of mana threads. This particular volume isn’t comprehensive enough to build a completely new spell from scratch, but it is useful for modifying and optimizing existing spellforms. You wouldn’t believe how common it is for wizards to sell spellforms that barely work. Few take the time to refine their spells, especially if they’re ones they’re willing to release to the public.”

“So this is how you’re so versatile with your magic.”

“That, and I am a magical genius.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

This got a chuckle out of Gabe. “Yes, you are a supreme genius of the arcane arts whose only weakness is a bad habit of dumping all their mana in a single spell.”

Simon gave a scoff of mock indignation. “A single, very cool, very effective spell. And you’re no better, Mr. ‘Let me almost rip my soul in twain trying to save my very cool and super amazing mentor because I couldn’t bare the sight of his bloodied unconscious form’”

Now it was Gabe’s turn to scoff. “I was more concerned with having to carry the pack if you died. You make such a better pack mule than I would.”

It felt good to be laughing and joking around with Simon. With everything that had happened in the last few days and the strange emptiness of the tunnel, being able to relax a bit and break the tensions was nice. Gabe could even see a small smile on Professor Alrik’s face.

“I am glad that you are finally recognizing my superiority in all things,” replied Simon. “Whether it be magical or the mundane, few can compete with Simon Emalal.”

They continued like this for another half an hour, Simon and Gabe cracking jokes at one another's expense as a means to pass the time. Abruptly though, the walls of the tunnels shifted from rough cut earth to smooth worked stone. It felt as if they were no longer underground, but rather deep within the bowels of some ancient structure. Along with the change in the walls, something else happened.

The pathway they were walking opened up into a large circular room. There were three other hallways that led into the room, one directly across from them and one on either side. And there, directly in the middle of the room, was the remains of a campsite.

A small fire pit had been built in the center of the room and scattered around it was various trash and debris. Two tents had been ripped to shreds and a backpack was torn to pieces, its contents strewn about around it. A fine layer of dust coated all the items, leading Gabe to believe that it had all been there undisturbed for quite a while.

“Well this is more than a little ominous. I can’t decide if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that there isn’t any blood or other signs of a struggle. Could mean that this camp was abandoned prior to being destroyed.”

“Or,” Gabe said, finishing Simon’s thought. “it means that whatever did this was able to catch them unawares. Tents that big, I’d guess a party of at least four or five.”

Professor Alrik stepped past the others and walked right up to the threshold to the chamber. He belted out a short incantation that Gabe thought sounded similar to the one he’d used when locating the hidden entrance in the wyvern’s cave. The spell caused a bright light to flash through the room, but the light faded away without illuminating anything. Professor Alrik followed it up with another, longer incantation.

A series of golden footprints began to shine along the floor. From where they stood it was hard to tell much from them, but it appeared as if the footprints all came from the door on their left. The floor of the cavern was covered in a mess of the glowing tracks, but none of the other tunnels had a single one. Whatever had happened to this group, happened right in this room.

“So, the good news,” began Professor Alrik as he turned to face the others. “is that there are no concealed mechanisms, secret passageways, or things otherwise hidden by either magical or mundane means that my Beacon of Revelation spell could detect. We should be safe to enter the chamber.”

Before he could finish his thought, Simon butt in. “And the bad news is that despite being free from any traps, the last people to walk through here didn’t leave alive. In fact, if I am interpreting your second spell correctly, it appears that they didn’t leave at all. I have made up my mind, it is most definitely a bad thing that there isn’t any blood or body parts.”

“Professor, what exactly is your spell showing us?” While Gabe had come to a similar conclusion as Simon had, he was hoping that he was just misunderstanding what the glowing footprints indicated. There was no way that such a large party could just disappear like that. He supposed that with magic, anything was possible but he’d never heard of anyone spontaneously disappearing from the Dweller tunnels. Though now that he thought about it, people were reported missing all the time from the tunnels so maybe there was some force teleporting people about. He quickly put that thought out of his mind as it was terrifying and he already had the looming threat of impalement to stress about.

“My Echoes of Passage spell illuminates the last steps taken within a given area.” Professor Alrik held up a hand, stopping Gabe as he was about to speak up. “Before you ask, I invested the spell with additional mana to extend its range. What Simon said is an accurate description of what my spell revealed. The group that entered this chamber did not leave upon their own volition.”

The four of them stood in silence, staring at the ruined campsite encircled by a sea of golden footprints. Eventually, Drevock made the decision for them.

“Ve cannot turn back.”

And so he walked into the large chamber. When no rocks fell from the ceiling or pit traps opened below, the others followed. Gabe was interested in looking through the scattered remains of the backpack and had headed there first. Simon must have either had a similar thought or felt sympathy for his fellow pack carrier as he walked over with Gabe. Both Professor Alrik and Drevock were more interested in sifting through the remains of the tents to see if there were any clues hidden amongst the trash. As it was, the four of them didn’t notice as the passage they’d just came from was slowly being blocked off from a slab of stone dropping silently from the ceiling until it was too late.