After way too much pestering, A bell rung, everyone in the raft sitting up straight.
“Oh, here we go!” Roxie said, jumping up and down in her seat “It has been so long since I have got to go!”
Mia felt concerned about that, but got distracted as a clear film extended from the back of the raft and encased the whole thing, forming a complete egg shape.
And older man stood up at the front of the raft, bowed slightly, and sat back down in his seat, a magic glow appearing over his head as the raft started moving, picking up space as it neared the end of the tunnel and submerging, the raft going dark with the only light coming from the one above the man’s head.
It felt claustrophobic, Mia looking around restlessly, barely making out they were moving at a rapid pace “…is this normal?”
“Oh yeah, very.” Roxie pointed up, circling her finger “We are moving below the city now, pretty soon we will be under the main land.” She leaned back on her seat “Get comfortable, it’s gonna be awhile, thirty minutes, tops. Depends if the old man needs to shit or not.”
Mia saw the old man glance back for a second, shaking his head and going back to piloting.
She sat there, bored, she couldn’t do anything “So, people don’t want you in their party, because your small?”
“Yup.” Roxie stated bluntly “Like I said, they don’t trust someone as small as me can block something bigger than me, for people bigger than me. But I have the skills, they just need the faith.” She waved her hand in the air, as if dismissing something “I’m telling you Mia, I can cover for you no matter what.”
“…sure.” She’d just have to wait and see.
The ride after that progressed smoothly, Roxie somehow managing to fall asleep with Mia staying wide awake, too excited, she could barely keep still. Half an hour later and they resubmerged into a much more rundown version of the previous station, the sky visible. They pulled up to the stop, the egg shell disappeared in a *pop*.
“Rascals! CHAAAAARGE!” A group of 3 kids leaped out of the raft, screaming as they ran up a flight of stairs.
“Wa-wai-hwaa MIA?!” Roxie shot up, her arms flailing about until they finally landed on Mia “oh, there you are.” She gave her a pat on the head.
“Always the noisy kids, thanks for the ride.” One beastman stood up, gave his farewell with a tip of the hat to the driver, and flew off through the open hole in the ceiling, several people following after him, the majority making their way out the normal way.
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“Flying…” Mia went wide eyed, she never even considered that as a possibility.
“Oh yeah, don’t mind them, some higher levels come to power level people, or to farm some dungeon drops near the border.” She waved them off, sticking her tongue out at the empty ceiling “Now, lets go!” she grabbed Mia’s hand, dragging her off the raft and up the flight of stairs.
“Wait, wanted to look around-“
“You’ll have plenty of time for that once we are out! Like, behold!” Roxie pulled her up, presenting her with the view.
A destroyed and twisted city concaving in on itself, buildings twisted upside down, melting, or missing huge chunks out of them, with it all topped off with foliage growing everywhere, making some bits look like a jungle “…what caused all this?”
“Eh, who knows, who cares… oh look, lucky~” Roxie pointed towards the kids from earlier, all surrounding a webbed sack stuck to the wall, hitting it with swords while a few other groups were sticking around to watch.
"What is that?” Mia asked, the two of them getting closer “Spider web?”
“Exactomundo~” Roxie raised her thumbs up in the air “Me sized spiders, perfect for the early level scamps.”
Mia looked between Roxie, and the spider sack, shivering. She had fought spiders before, bigger, in fact, but a lot of them did not sound like a good time “Move on? Goblins maybe?”
“Right right, you and your goblins.” Roxie shrugged, waving for her to follow “what? Goblins burn down your village or something?”
“No, that was the church.” Mia said, bumping into Roxie, who had stopped and glanced back at her.
“What?” her eyes swam back and forth, her brain thinking “You a refugee from the mainland? …and already training in the dungeon for revenge! I like that!” she swung around, patting Mia on the back “Thatta girl! Show em whose boss!”
“…?” Mia was thrown off guard, getting a bit off put by Roxie at this point. Thankfully the thud of a spider falling in front of them intruded on the mood “Ah, a spider.” Mia said dryly.
“Ooh, our first fight together.” Roxie stepped forward “Ok, so, when fighting with a tank you have to wait for the tank to draw the enemies attention, and with them distracted or handled you at-“ Roxie flinched as an icicle flew right by her face, stabbing into the big enemy spider’s face, it writhing in pain before dropping dead.
“Like that?” Mia asked, heading over to collect the magic stone.
“…Well, it was just a low leveled one anyways.” Roxie slumped her shoulders “But you have to pay attention, when we get to higher levels the enemy gets tougher, and you’ll need me to guard.”
Mia summoned an ice dagger, tapping the hilt against her head in an attempt to force herself to remember Roland’s training on magic gem gathering, but drawing blanks “…eh.” She shrugged, and began cutting away, searching for it.
“Mia.” Roxie knelt besides her “What are you doing?”
“Getting the gem.” She said, cutting with reckless abandoned.
“It’s where the heart is, or sometimes the brain, but for spiders it’s the heart.” She said, pointing to the mid-section of the spider.
“…you sure?”
“Positive.”
Mia sighed, cutting into it, and after a few minutes she brought out a nail sized magic gem “Small.” She exclaimed.
“Yeah, its just a spider.” Roxie shook her head “Come on, we will start heading for the big one…and your goblins.”
Mia sighed, sticking the gem in her pocket “Alright…” she followed along, sticking close as they went deeper into the haunt.