Heroes of Darkness: A Dark Dungeon Realm LitRPG Omnibus Collection

by Wolfe Locke

  She wore a polished suit of heavy green plate mail over a brown leather jerkin, intricate runes and carvings on the armor, and depictions of her elven heritage and life before the dungeon. On her hip, she carried a steel shortsword whose blade glowed with a permanent hue of light blue. The visage stirred memories within Seraph in nostalgic recollection. In her full armor, this was the form Seraph had remembered her most as—the Paladin.

  With a scowl, she looked about the room, her eyes passing over Seraph and Jack. Her face showed obvious displeasure at being here, and her eyes flashed in judgment and disgust when she looked upon Rosebud. “I should have known it would be you, Seraph,” she declared, her voice showing signs of bitterness.

  “You two have lingered too long here; the others have already moved on, and the remaining cohorts will be arriving at dawn. Every night, the forests surrounding Hometown excrete a poisonous gas to kill off the vagrants and vagabonds. If you were anyone else, that would mean your death, but due to your special circumstances, I’ve been instructed to escort you to safety. However, we need to leave now. We won’t make it to the safe area before nightfall, but every second we waste makes survival that much more difficult,” Sadie explained, even as her body language showed signs of uneasiness.

  Seraph mentally filed away that another group of people would be arriving come morning, but he made no other comment. He was unsure how many people or different cohorts would follow his own before emergence.

  “But that’s not the only reason I've been sent to fetch you,” she explained, her voice edged with tension as she looked out the window at the falling light. “We all need to leave now. Follow me, and we can talk on the way. Try to keep up as best you can, and don’t fall too far behind. It won’t be safe here much longer, and I plan on spending as little time out after dark as I can. But if you get caught, you’re on your own; I’m not dying for you.”

  With no further words or explanation, she turned and walked out the door, turning down the hall to leave the in-processing building—not bothering to see if they were following, and not waiting for a response from either of them. She assumed they would heed her warning and instructions.

  Seraph followed without complaint; only a fool would wait in place when someone they trusted said run, and the woman had a sense of urgency about her that made him believe her words when she said the area wasn’t safe. Her anxiety had been real, and if she had reason to be concerned, so would he. He refused to die in such a place.

  “Jack, listen to her and hurry up. Don’t get left behind; you need to keep up with me!” Seraph shouted from over his shoulder as he ran through the doorway, trying to keep pace with the elf woman in front of him.

  Sadie opened the door to the outside, the sun low in the sky, and she bounded down the metallic and rusted stairs. Her steps were loud as the metal creaked and groaned with each step. Struggling to keep pace with her, his stamina rapidly draining, Seraph followed behind as fast he could while Jack lagged further behind. Of Rosebud, Seraph could not see, but he knew the pet could easily keep pace with Jack and was in no real danger.

  As Seraph followed behind, he looked for landmarks as he bounded down to see if he recognized anything to try and orient himself. Instantly, he noticed a trail leading down the hill, through the nearby trees. It was surrounded on all sides by towering pines and deep piles of pine straw that sloped ever downward. To an extent, it reminded him of his old guildhall, and when he saw a rock near the top of the hall, that suspicion grew deeper.

  On closer inspection of the in-processing center, Seraph saw the faded and barely visible sigil of his guild—painted over though stained and still showing through the paint. The World Dungeon had sent a clear message with that one. Carrion Crow was not to be. The in-processing center stood where his old guild had, and with the night-time poison, no one would be able to live outside the city.

  Once Sadie reached the bottom of the stairs, she looked to see if Seraph and Jack were following, but she didn’t give them a chance to catch up. She was already moving on, her pace brisk as she headed for the tree line; she had no need to find landmarks. Sadie already knew where to go to get safely to Hometown; she had been here before and taken the route many times. She knew the way.

  Seraph had his own guesses about the course, but he did not trust that things had remained the same. He could not plot a course based purely on his memories. Soon Sadie set her foot on a dirt path familiar only to her that led through the underbrush and the tree line. She then doubled her pace with solid ground under her, the growing dark seeming to drive her as worry became more evident.

  Far behind him, Seraph could hear Jack’s complaints, and he hoped the man would realize this was not the time to be wasting his energy or breath. It was another bad habit that Seraph would need to break the man of if he was to survive the dungeon.

  Down the path, Seraph ran in pursuit of the woman. Though his vision was obscured by the thick of the trees and the stinging sweat in his eyes, he was successful in keeping his line of sight on Sadie—even as she quickly put more and more distance between them, easily navigating through the thickets that occasionally interrupted the path. As for Seraph, his face bled freely from running into branches he didn’t see, traveling as they did at the frantic pace Sadie had set, and though she had said to ask questions as they moved, and even though Seraph had questions he wanted to ask, he found that the questions would have to wait. He didn’t have the spare breath for them. Not if he wanted to keep up.

  Wheezing, Seraph found himself winded, and his sides burned as sweat rolled off his body. He was struggling to breathe. With no end in sight to their mad dash, and forcing himself to acknowledge he couldn’t continue at the current pace, he was forced by his own weaknesses to speak up, hoping the wind would help to carry his words to her. “Sadie, we can’t keep up with you anymore. My stamina can’t match yours. Please, slow down.”

  She turned and looked at him, surprise on her face. She was surprised he had admitted that he couldn’t keep going, and she was surprised that he had asked her to accommodate. With a nod, Sadie slowed her pace down just enough so that he could manage. “Things have changed, haven’t they, Seraph?” she asked herself, even as she directed the words towards him. “Maybe even you can be different. I can’t slow down more though; things aren’t like they used to be. The nights aren’t safe anymore, and to be outside of Hometown at night is a death sentence for all. Even for us.

  “Listen closely, danger is everywhere in the World Dungeon, even in Hometown,” she explained to the breathless men behind her. “It's only a designated safe area during the day. At night, that changes, and only owned homes, shops, and the Inn of the Withered Fig are designated as safe. When the sun goes down, things roam, waiting to swarm those who haven’t found shelter, taking them screaming into the dark to never be heard from again.”

  “Sadie,” replied Seraph, still out of breath, “you’re an elf. The dungeon is your home, isn’t it? You are a dungeon creature, are you not?”

  “There are rules, Seraph,” came her curt reply. “Not even we Elves are given protection come night, and yes, I am a dungeon creature, but I am not completely immortal if I die again. I have no guarantees that the World Dungeon would raise me anew when the Game begins again. I am quite hoping this new threat helps to keep the numbers of you humans down this time around. It will make it far more manageable.”

  It was apparent—and Seraph should have guessed based on the previous hate and disdain she had for him—that she knew who he was. Who he really was. Though how much she remembered, be it full memory or partial, Seraph could only assume. He thought she remembered plenty—though not enough to remember the things that would drive her to attack him, rather than try and save him from the nights of the Dungeon. Regardless, he would need to be wary.

  Silence fell between them; the only sound was Seraph’s heavy breathing, soon joined by Jack as he and Rosebud, who had bound itself to Jack’s legs to boost his agility and stamina, we
re able to close the distance gap. Eventually, Seraph broke the silence, a question on his mind, “Why are you helping me, Sadie?”

  She stopped for a moment, turned, and looked at him. “I’ve told you that monsters roam the night—monsters that even I’m afraid of—and you choose now to ask me why I'm helping you? Because I’m not a monster. I’m not a murderer, and I've no intention of leaving you here to die. My hate for you would kill all of humanity if I but let it; instead, I choose life. Besides, we all have our roles to play.”

  “I’ve heard enough,” responded Jack, barely able to push the words out, his face flushed with exhaustion when he got close enough to join the conversation, the bloody gashes on his face healing just like Seraph’s had. “Whatever history you two have can be settled later. Can you tell us what’s waiting for us when we get to Hometown? It looks like it’s going to be nighttime shortly; the sun’s almost down, and we are only just now approaching the edge of this tree line.”

  Sadie looked and saw that he was right. At best, they had five more minutes of light left. “Let’s focus on getting to the Inn first, and then we’ll talk more. I’ll let you know what I can about what we face as we move.”

  Seraph could only wonder how that eventual conversation would go. He would need to be diplomatic. He was not strong enough to challenge her, and if she was willing to work with him for the sake of peace, it was something Seraph was duty-bound to try to accept. Adding her strength to the group of companions Seraph would eventually assemble would help immensely, especially now that he was so short on allies.

  “Some of these night terrors are called Wraith Mothers. They appear as they did in life—normal—their cursed state unnoticeable as they cover themselves in glamours. They sit and cry and weep for the families they have lost, the children they can never hold again, and their homes that have burned. Their minds are warped by grief; all semblance of conscious thought is gone. Their touch is doom. If they touch you, they will drain the life from your bodies—permanently, not temporarily—decreasing your stamina by taking it for themselves, and should you die, they will claim your souls for themselves so they may not be as alone, and you too will be cursed in the same way.”

  She paused, making sure the two men had heard her. “These mothers I have seen personally, and they are easily avoided,” she explained as she motioned for the pace to pick up from its crawl as they approached the edge of the wood line. “But beware the Shadow Devourers. Theirs is a unique way to kill. They cannot attack you unless first, they announce themselves twice, and then you must look for them. They hide within the shadows, both near and far—hiding even in your own shadow. They make subtle noises to trick their victim into looking around, and in doing so, their victim looks at them.

  “There are others, I am sure,” she continued, looking up at the stars in the sky as the walls of Hometown appeared close. “But I do not know them; I do not make a habit of being out at night. But it looks like this night will be my first out among the stars.” She looked as the last vestiges of light left the sky as they excited the wood line.

  “But, at least we're here,” Jack said as he looked in front of them at the stone gate that allowed entry into Hometown, marking the border of the city—a barrier that was beginning to close. “That’s bad, right?”

  “Run!” commanded Sadie as they all broke out into a dead sprint, running as fast as possible, each of them using up their limited recovered stamina reserves to cross the distance and make it through the stone gate before it closed, locking them out for the night and condemning them to certain death.

  As the stone gate locked into place behind them, they all struggled for air, thankful to have made it through the gateway, but knowing they still had much in front of them to worry about.

  “Well, what now?” asked Jack, looking around nervously, Sadie’s warning replaying in his mind on a constant loop.

  As for Seraph, he had no answers to give the man. As he looked at all the buildings around him, he recognized little. This was not the city he remembered. Nothing he saw was as it used to be. The city looked as if it had seen a tremendous battle.

  Seeing the stunned and confused look on Seraph’s face, Sadie spoke up, offering simple words as a simple explanation. “No second chances, Seraph. This isn’t the dungeon you knew. Not anymore."

  Chapter 6: The Shifting Past

  “Well, that was absolutely horrific. Literally the worst experience of my life,” Jack complained breathlessly as he doubled over, desperately trying to catch his breath, his jumpsuit drenched with sweat. “I never much cared for cardio.”

  Sadie looked at him, the recent sprint through the woods not affecting her like it did them. “I can see that. Your hate of cardio almost cost you your life."

  Jack shrugged, not caring. They were alive, a little tired and beat up, but they had made it through the gates, and that was something Jack felt good about. He wasn't going to let the vicious elf ruin the moment for him.

  Unconcerned with their back and forth, Seraph kept his eyes forward, scanning around for danger, lines of worry appearing on his face. Unfamiliarity made him anxious; the city as it was laid out before them was nothing like how Seraph remembered it. “Where’s Rosebud?” he asked, noticing the Nether Demon had not yet reappeared.

  A grinning white mask lifted off the ground as Rosebud pulled itself up out from under the faint remnants of Jack’s trailing shadow. “I’m here, Cousin. I required rest after carrying this one’s weight through the forest—”

  “Then everyone is accounted for; we need to get moving,” interjected Sadie, looking down the road, the bronzed streetlamps beginning to illuminate the street as magical flames flickered inside the brass fixtures.

  At the sound of the lights flicking on, Seraph looked around, trying to get some sense of his location relative to where they needed to go. If the only Designated Safe areas at nighttime in Hometown were owned buildings and the Inn, the choice was obvious. They would need to secure lodging for themselves for the night if they were to survive. Even if the city had changed, it would likely still follow a similar layout to the one he had known—an arrangement that put the entrances to the dungeon floors in the middle of the city and an Inn nearby for the players to rest at in the business quarter. Seraph guessed they were close.

  Even as all the lamp posts flared to life, it was strange and unnerving to see the apparently deserted city. The streets were utterly devoid of signs of life. Everywhere Seraph looked, he could not see a single person out roaming the streets, nor could he hear the sounds of the night, the barking of dogs and other animals, laughing couples, or those embroiled in drunken stupors. Instead, the night was empty, sending a chill up his spine as the hairs stood up on his arms, a warning that danger was near.

  Looking at the night sky, nothing was as Seraph remembered it. He groaned in frustration. This was not the grand city he had once fought and killed for. Seraph remembered walking along the full streets of polished cobblestone, accented and edged by red brick to mark the walking paths. He walked on remnants of better days.

  "Sadie?" Seraph asked in a hushed whisper. " What happened here? I know some things are different, but it looks like a battlefield."

  She turned and looked at him. The glare in her eye and fierce look on her face told him now was not the time for that conversation. However, she then seemed to abruptly change her mind, answering, " You wouldn't remember it because you weren't here, and I was only told about it while I waited for my master to revive me. When you humans abandoned Hometown to try and conquer the Locum Malificar, the green mist perverted the lower floors of the dungeon. As you lay dying on the final floor, the few elves who had been brought back by the dungeon, and some of the other dungeon creatures, fought for their lives against the Infernals. That is why it looks like a battlefield."

  Notification: Update "The Wormwood Codex"

  Details: Based on the revelations of the elf, Sadie, it appears that the Wormwood phenomenon is not as closely linked a
s previously believed.

  His steps fell on the flat earth, shifting broken tiles as every step displaced the pieces and furthered the damage. These streets were much narrower than he remembered. On both sides of the road, the homes and shops he could see were all in various states of disrepair, the windows and openings closed up with boards and pieces of rotten wood. What had once been a city of envy had become a city of devastation.

  With nothing of interest that he could check out nearby, Seraph looked down the street, hoping for some indicator of directions. He could see signs and some advertising for shops, but the lamp post outside of each burned low, giving off barely any light—a clear indicator they were closed for the evening.

  It was the same in every storefront Seraph walked past and every residence he looked at. The storm shutters were all pulled tight and locked, the paints peeling from heavy use; these were not merely décor. The dim light from the lamps cast long shadows on the walls beside him, reminding Seraph of Sadie’s warnings of the monsters that haunted Hometown at nighttime.

  “We don’t have time for this,” Sadie hissed as she grabbed Seraph under his arm and Jack under his, looking to get their attention before she started dragging the two of them along. “We need to move, and you’re just standing with your mouths open, not doing anything. I refuse to die for you. I will leave you behind. It’s enough that I’ve brought you this far. He’ll understand if I’m forced to abandon you if you can’t keep up.”

  Rosebud peeked up from his place in the shadows, hissing at her as Jack angrily tore his arm away from her grasp, and Seraph did the same thing, both men irritated at her heavy-handedness.