Chapter 05

The dungeon continued through a long looming tunnel. Black smoke traveled along the upper arch of the corridor towards the direction we came from. I followed Shiye through clusters of big maggots. He sliced through them, mostly with ease, and I spread Dust of Life for the both of us.

The maggot's teeth were terribly sharp and pincer-like. It was better than running into the Disciples of Bekbah because we could hear the grinding of teeth well before we came upon them.

We passed a few burial cairns on the way. They were alight with a blazing fire that billowed black smoke and occasionally erupted plumes of ash.

“This one is different,” Shiye said once we’d entered an enlarged chamber. A single burial cairn sat in the middle on a plinth of decrepit skeletal remains. The smoke that raced from the top of the cairn was going--not the way we came, as the prior cairns had--but billowed forward.

“This the boss?” I said.

“Maybe.”

We approached cautiously. Shiye brandished his broad axe. I hefted a rock in one palm. We expected maggots to come pouring from the cage of the bones that formed the plinth but none came. The fire ignited double, and sparks of blue caught the entire thing in a rush of deep blue flames. The stones of the cairn tumbled away and a horrid scream pressed from ruptured lungs.

Aeeueeeaheeeeeeuh!

Gnarled hands rose first, with one set of bony fingers clutching a shepherd's cane. Then came the body and lolling head of a Disciple of Bekbah.

“This one’s different,” I said.

Two short rams horns protruded from the monster's skull. It rose to unsteady feet and lifted a hand, palm up to us. In a ghoulish voice it said, “what buried me will bury you. Igneous ignition!”

Mana coalesced from thin air into the disciples palm. It came together with mysterious gravity in a flash of white heat. From the molten light that rapidly cooled, a stone was born that leapt with flames of blue, igniting the whole hand with it.

The Disciple of Behkbah was charging. Shiye was running, engaging in battle, parrying the shepherd's hook. I threw my rock and it plunked through the dry ribs of the monster. Shiye’s attack had left an opening in his defense. The disciples' flame-clutching fist drove into him, cracking a rib, sending him flailing backwards. Shiye was tumbling across the stone floor, broad axe sliding into cavern shadows, and the Disciple charged me down.

I bolted away and the monster pursued me. Its sheep's stolen eyes bore into me with malice. I circled the burning cairn and narrowly dodged a couple swings of it’s flame-clutching fist.

Shiye grunted in the shadows and scrambled for his broad axe.

“Hold tight Tosin!” He said. At that moment I received a sharp sting of pain on my temple. The Disciple of Bekbah’s shepherd's staff struck me and I fell into a tumbling heap on the ground.

“Die,” breathed the disciple as he raised his fist of blue flames.

His hand was descending with blue flames trailing fingers. A hollow mouth of rotten victory screamed with a lilting death rattle. Shiye came swooping in, leaping, axe swinging, his roar bellowing as he struck the Disciple of Bekbah at its temple, cleaving the head in two.

I scrambled back and leapt up to my feet. The Disciple lay dead and Shiye and I both panted for minutes before the adrenaline left us. In the meantime I cast more Dust of Life over us.

When we recovered I said, “Shall we?” And gestured forward.

“If we have to face two of those at the same time,” Shiye said as we trudged along the narrowing corridor, “we might be screwed. You still got that healer's stuff?”

“Yea, enough for quite a few battles.”

The tunnel darkened once more as we lost sight of the destroyed cairn still burning blue behind us. We sliced through more maggots along the way until we came to an icy cavern. The tunnel opened up to reveal a massive chasm. We stood at the bottom of it. The ceiling was cracked open and revealed a dark and cloudy sky. Snow fell from the gash and icicles hung ominously around the edges. Two burial cairns were alight. They sparked and changed to blue and doubled in their burning speed.

“Oh noooo..” Shiye and I groaned nearly simultaneously.

A multitude of the largest maggots we’d seen so far, oozed out from beneath the cairns. They caught fire as they did and screamed as blue flames scorched their gooey spines. These were snake-fast and rushed us. Shiye divided them while I kept others at bay.

The last one squealed in half when it died, emitting a lone pitiful cry. One of the blue flamed cairns fell to pieces and up rose a Disciple of Bekbah. The other cairn tumbled apart and an almost identical disciple came to its feet.

Their breaths were terminal respirations that whistled through punctured lungs. Each of them brandished a shepherd's staff and a fist engulfed in blue flames.

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“The left one first!” Shiye said. “Throw a rock at its head. I’ll charge in for the kill!”

My aim was true: the rock threw the disciple off balance. Shiye delivered a mighty chop to the monster's midsection, nearly cleaving it in two. It folded over the blade of his axe and tumbled forward.

The second disciple came in fast and I had no chance to escape its attack. It’s flaming fist struck me right in the gut and my tunic erupted in flames. I fell back and received a lash from it’s staff. That was the last blow it would deal. Shiye had buried his broad axe in the back of the monster and the bit broke through all the way.

The pain was great, but I tossed Dust of Life around us as quickly as I could. My tunic remained scorched and slashed where the flames had cut like blades. My wounds healed and I was back on my feet and ready for more.

Except there was no more. Only stone coals smoldering with blue flames. The dungeon ended here, which meant…

“This must be the boss room,” Shiye said.

A shadow passed through the gash of the open ceiling. A large figure came down, twice our height with legs of sheep. It’s hooves clapped deafeningly on the stone floor. The upper half was the torso of a man with a wide berth of muscles. It’s arms were meaty. It’s face was human but stretched forward to infer a rat. Curling from atop it’s forehead were large ribbed rams horns.

Behhhhaaaak! Bahahaaaaaak!

It’s screams were so piercing, we were forced back. My ears rang viciously. The monster clomped forward and tilted its head. Two plumes of breath shot from its nostrils. Perhaps the most terrifying part of the biggest monster we’d yet to fight, was its weapon. It was a shepherds cane like the Disciples, but the hook was a sharp curved blade that was attached to its handle with a chiseled block of ice.

In a flash it was sprinting forward, head down, eyes marking its target. Eyes that were each composed of many that had been smashed together to form one whole eye, each.

“Shiye! No!” I said, watching the warrior brace against the charge.

The boss slammed into him, ram horns dragging him across the chamber and smashing Shiye into the wall.

“Oof!”

Shiye’s broad axe clattered to the ground. I ran to his aid as the boss backed up in staggering clomps. It was disoriented from the headbutt. I cast Dust of Life over Shiye then chucked a rock into the eye of the boss. It hissed a deafening, “Eunnnnnnh!” and shook its head violently.

I was powerless against the swing of its incoming staff. The hooked blade whistled through the air. I couldn’t evade the staff. Instead I ran forward hoping to meet the handle of the staff rather than the blade.

It was the block of ice joining metal and wood that struck me. I was sent flying across the room and slamming into the wall. The floor was racked with vibrations from thundering hooves. The boss was charging me and I rolled to the side as it slammed horns first into the wall.

Shiye had recovered and followed right behind it. He leapt onto the back of the monster and struck three times while the boss writhed in pain.

Once it had recovered from its daze it ripped Shiye from its back and hurled him to the floor. I sent a stream of Dust of Life over Shiye and received a hoof to the gut.

Again the bladed staff was swinging towards me. It descended with a cold whistle. Shiye slid between me and the blade and blocked it with the handle of his broad axe. The boss pulled back and I took the opportunity to hurl another rock at its face.

Shiye swung at its ankles but the boss stomped backwards.

“To the wall!” Shiye said pointing behind us. “Trust me!”

We ran away from the boss as it bent low and charged.

Baheunnhhhhhh!

It was coming fast, horns lowered, brow clenching down over its eyes.

“Dodge!” Shiye said and we both leapt to opposite sides. The cavern wall shook and stones tumbled from new fissures when the monster’s horns met stone. As the monster struggled on its feet in a daze, Shiye struck it in the belly. It doubled over in a howl of pain. The warrior then swung his axe in an uppercut that cleaved the boss’s face in two from chin to forehead.

It slammed down to the ground with finality.

“Tosin!” Shiye said, “are you ok?”

“Yea-yea I think so.”

We were breathless for a while, watching the mouth of the tunnel, checking for more danger, while the boss bled out.

We heard cracking from the far wall beneath where the boss had come down. The stone was cracking. Veins of ice shattered and it all crashed to the ground. The small avalanche of rubble revealed a small niche wherein a shimmering blue chest was bathed in an ethereal beam of gold light. Light that seemed to be self made.

Our defensive postures relaxed and we devolved into laughter and excitement.

“We did it!” I said, jumping and throwing a fist into the air.

“Alright man!” Shiye said. We clasped hands and shared a brotherly hug before sprinting over to the chest. It was wooden, with blue metal covering the corners and edges. The top was arched dramatically and closed by a simple large latch, as though a lock should have been there.

Shiye wasted no time in flipping the latch and heaving it open.

A singular beam of blue evaporated from the open chest. We each took a mana crystal, and split the rest. I negotiated a scroll, two red potions, a blue potion, and leather boots. Shiye was left with two rusty daggers, a beaten helm, and an ingot.

“Hey congratulations man,” Shiye said.

“Yea you too. I guess we just... go back?”

There were no other ways out. The boss had dissolved and left behind its rams horns and bladed shepherd's staff. Our problem was an inventory one. My bag was only so big, and Shiye had to carry his loot in his arms. He had no bag or sack. I carried the horns outside of my bag and Shiye dragged the staff as we left the chamber.

“You feeling tired too?” the warrior asked as we made our way back through the tunnel we’d come in from.

“Exhausted.”

It wasn’t long before we reached a change in the tunnel. Fresh air blew in from an upcoming opening. We could hear voices, human voices, just outside the tunnel opening. We approached cautiously until we realized that the dungeon had changed to shortcut our way out. Students were milling about just beyond the dungeon exit--which was the same as the entrance. Everyone clamored over their adventures and discussed their loot.

We weren't the first to complete our dungeon run but we certainly weren’t the last. Judging by the number of students beginning to walk the trail back home, I’d say our timing was average.

“You’re a good teammate,” Shiye said. “Catch you later man, see you around.”

I waved him off as he rejoined his guild companions who offered me nods and smiles.

“Tosin!” Pelle said, emerging from the crowd. “Congrats, you did it!”

In her arm was a heap of items she’d looted too.

“You too! Wanna head back to the guild together?”