Side Story: Seris Part 1

They always told me I was too hasty. They said ‘Serisandorin you act much like a human and it pains me to see it. You are a young elven woman; you have time to truly appreciate life in all it’s splendor. Have patience and all of your ills will pass you by leaving only serenity.’ But it’s not serenity that I yearn for. What I seek will not come to me if I have patience, I must seek it out myself. So, I left and they called me a fool for doing so.

With me I brought a large tome filled with countless blank pages so I might document all that I find that is beautiful and new. I had imagined the tome would last me years or perhaps decades but within a week of reaching a human town the book was full and I found myself purchasing a new one. Everything was so different, so exiting that I couldn’t stop writing. Every person I met was so different from each other that I could fill up entire pages of my book writing about people I met for only a couple of minutes.

Even the elves I met were different from the ones I had known all my life. One elf that I had met told me the elders of my grove were cowards who were too afraid of failure to act. He said they were too sheltered to suffer the consequences that would normally follow and so they never learned from their mistakes. I was shocked, for I had never heard such disrespect be directed towards the elders before, for their wisdom is meant to be unparalleled. He told me that wisdom is earned through experiences, not age and that the elders were about as experienced as a baby.

That elf was a religious man I soon learned. But he did not follow Elfineos like so many of my kin back home. Instead, the Goddess of his choice was Margaret. I knew little of her, but I Knew her domain was secretaries, so why did this traveler worship her? He told me that all that was required from Margaret was a love of documentation. Whether that meant managing the budgets of a wealthy merchant or finding what still needs to be written down doesn’t matter.

At the end of the conversation the elf gave me a symbol of Margaret and told me to try praying some time and see what happens. I had only ever given half-hearted prayers to Elfineos before and was unsure what to do. Everything from my childhood told me that Margaret was just some Demi-Goddess younger than my parents with all the flaws of a human. But somehow, I still wanted to learn more about her and her teaching than I ever did for Elfineos. So, for the first time in years, I prayed and unlike with the Goddess of Elves and patience it felt right this time. I have been wearing her symbol ever since.

After a few weeks I found the funds I brought from the grove to be dwindling and I realised I needed an income. In the grove I was still naught but a child to be taken care of and my parents had yet to let me work. My skills were few, but the elders of the grove had always told me of the superiority of elves so I thought finding a job would be easy. I was wrong. For the first time in my life I was experiencing a true challenge with real consequences if I failed. I looked all over town, asking all of the new friends I had made but no one would hire me for more than a day.

One day I was practicing my archery after being rejected once again when a man approached me. He was impressed with my skills with the bow and asked me if I was an adventurer. I was aghast at first, for in the grove adventurers were looked down upon beyond all others. But the elders of the grove had been wrong before. I told him I was a traveler from an elven grove. He then asked me if I would like to join him and his companions as he was preparing to enter a dungeon and he could use an archer of my skill. I had perhaps not realised the full extent of the danger involved in dungeon delving because the decision to join was made far quicker than it should have been.

I entered my first dungeon with a fresh book and a completely unwarranted sense of carefreeness. If it were not for my companions, I would have found myself dead within minutes of entering. I didn’t even think to look out for traps and the archery I was recruited for proved to be less useful than I had hoped. The training I had from the grove did not prepare me for such chaotic situations and often found myself missing my target.

Despite my inexperience we reached the end and claimed our reward, although my share felt ill deserved. In truth I was more burden than asset and they all knew it. Despite the numerous near death encounters I went home with a feeling of excitement. The design of the dungeon was so incredibly fascinating that I spent all night writing down every little detail about its traps, monsters, and the tactics of the people who brave them. By the time I was done I had filled an entire book from cover to cover.

The entire system was designed to be dangerous but not deadly to the well prepared. The traps were made to injure not kill and the adventurers had developed strategies for fighting the monsters. There were even environmental hazards that required creative thinking to get past. It was almost like a game and I very quickly knew that it was a game I wanted to win.

I spent the next week preparing and researching all that I could for my next dungeon. Using the gold, I obtained from the first one, I bought books on adventuring tactic and dungeon layout catalogs. After extensive studying I compiled all of my notes into a single journal for me to refer to in the dungeon. That night when I prayed to Margaret, I felt her gaze upon me. She sent images into my mind, my first foray in a dungeon, my journal filled with notes, and a page with the words ‘good job’ written on it in neat handwriting. When the images stopped, I found myself somehow capable of casting magic.

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The spells I knew were few and I had a rather limited reserve of mana to cast them with but the fact that it came from my love of dungeons filled me with joy. My god looked upon my book and judged it worthy. The more dungeons I completed and the more notes I took the more magic I gained. At first my spells were the kind most clerics get from their gods. Spells that healed or created light, even some offensive options, which I found much more effective than my bow. But as the years went by the spells, I was learning seemed more and more catered to dungeons specifically.

I learned spells that could turn mundane water into a healing potion for a short time or detect monsters up to a certain distance away. And when I cast these spells, I would occasionally feel a different presence other than Margaret helping me cast it. When I prayed to this other presence, I would see a white cube floating above a pedestal while slowly rotating. The cubes corners were pointing towards the floor and ceiling, so it looked more like a diamond when stared at from the front. I had heard of this cube before, for it was a legend among adventurers.

While it is common knowledge that Humanus created the dungeons to test the ambition of humans, a tale among adventurers says it is run by someone else. The legend goes that Humanus wanted the dungeon to be ever changing but was too busy attending the prayers of humanity to make those changes himself. Instead, he created a new being, one whose power almost rivaled that of a god to create new dungeons in his stead. This being was located at the end of the most difficult dungeon in the world, the Platinum Dungeon. If you reached it then it would grant whatever wish you desire. The few Adventurers that have witnessed it in person claim it took the form of a cube. Soon enough I was wearing a second holy symbol, although I had to get the cube specially made.

 I was starting to become a legend among adventurers. They called me ‘The Dungeon Guide’ and said I could navigate you through any dungeon and that I knew more about them than anyone else alive. I grew confident and as my magic grew stronger, I went into harder and harder dungeons until one day I lost both of my legs to a trap I couldn’t see with my trap detection spell. My companions at the time saved me although we had to leave the dungeon early. I had the gold to pay a cleric powerful enough to regenerate limbs, as I was not focused enough into healing to do it myself, but the process took over a year. I hated the feeling of being useless so while my legs where still regrowing, I took a job as a secretary at an adventurer’s guild.

It was an easy enough job to get due to my qualifications as a veteran adventurer and a powerful cleric of Margaret, but it was a lot duller than I was used to. I still got descriptions of new dungeons from adventurers, but it wasn’t the same as actually experiencing them. Soon I found myself partaking in my new hobby, creating dungeons myself. Every spare moment I got I was sketching in one of my many notebooks dungeon layouts’ monster compositions, and trap designs. It was a pass time that I enjoyed greatly, but unlike adventuring I had no one to share it with.

Adventurers only see dungeons as an obstacle to get past, not a thing of beauty like I do. To them, me drawing traps in my notebook is just me trying to design the most efficient way to kill them, but it was never about killing. It’s about creating a challenge that has real consequences for failure. It’s about pushing past those challenges and achieving victory through whatever talents you posses. If dungeons where truly designed only to kill then I would not have lost my legs that day, it would have been my head that was sent flying.

Still, my new hobby made me few friends, so it came as a surprise when a silver rank team came into the adventurer’s guild and asked for me specifically. They told me about a dungeon they recently went through that had a strange letter at the end. The letter was addressed to me and was magically sealed so they couldn’t open it but that wasn’t even the strangest part. The strangest part was that the dungeon they described was an exact copy of the very first dungeon I had ever designed.

I took the letter and read it as quickly and thoroughly as I could. It started off with an apology for cutting off my legs but then went on to express how much fun they have had reading my dungeon blueprints. It then continued to say that they would very much like to meet me and that I should bring an adventuring party to a nearby silver rank dungeon once my legs are fully healed. It was then signed Quellan which was not a name I had ever heard before, but the cube drawn next to it told me everything I needed to know.

I still had two weeks left before my legs were back to full strength, which gave me plenty of time to consider the offer. It could very well be a trap, after all the adventurers could have made all of it up just to get to a place he could ambush me. but if that were true then why would the letter tell me to bring a party? And how would they know the exact details of my very first dungeon?

In the end I consulted Margaret. The cube, Quellan if the letter is to be trusted, has always been silent and I knew Margaret had met the cube when she became a Demi-Goddess so she could at least confirm its existence. In truth I could have asked Margaret about the cube years sooner, but it had never quite felt right. Almost like cheating in a way. But the cube had never reached out to me like this before, if it truly was the cube, so I was driven to action. I wrote in my tome ‘What is the name of the cube?’ and below it was written by a hand unseen ‘Quellan.’ I then wrote ‘Was it they who sent me the letter.’ And below it was written ‘It was.’ At last I wrote ‘What is it Quellan desire of me?’ and again, below the answer was written. ‘If you wish to know, ask her yourself when you meet.’

And with the last question answered the spell ended and I had my path decided. On the day my legs were healed I would become an adventurer once more. It was two weeks ago that I decided that and now I am writing this passage at the entrance to the dungeon where Quellan awaits. I was a veteran gold rank adventurer in my prime and I picked out the best silver rank team in the area. Even if I am a little rusty there is little chance for a repeat of last time. Some might feel fear anyway, but I am more eager than ever to be an adventurer again. Ah, I think I see my team approaching. I think I will stop here and perhaps I will finish this story once I have beaten this dungeon and seen what is at its end.