by Wolfe Locke
Notification: Global Announcement - Emergence
Attention: The World Dungeon has fully emerged on the surface. Time is now fully integrated. The current time is 16:00 EST. We thank the first three dungeon cohorts for their efforts. Please be advised to secure lodging and other accommodations before nightfall. We are expecting an influx of thousands of new players as they finish the tutorial.
Chapter 31: Purgatory Door
* * *
Seraph dismissed the announcement that the World Dungeon had emerged. He had missed an important timeline and knew there would be consequences, but those consequences were a concern for later, and it would not do them any good to split their attention. He could only hope that the tutorial would help prepare the influx of people for the dangers they would soon face.
“We need to hurry!” Seraph shouted at Sadie, his voice betraying his irritation that they had run out of time.
Seraph could see that her body had gained some muscle tone, and her figure was more cut, leaving a not-quite cruel expression on her face. He could tell she had used the points from leveling up. The first 10 levels were the easiest to reach and effectively made a person twice as strong as a normal person.
As he approached the podium, a feeling of dread came upon Seraph, and the release of chemicals filled his body with unease, adding a sense of urgency to his movements. Pushing the feelings away, Seraph reached out and grasped the sides of the podium, performing a last check for anything he may have missed before he pulled out the three of the wooden figurines and carefully worked on placing them perfectly into the circular grooves on the pedestal up on the stage.
Meanwhile, Sadie collected her enchanted sword from where it had fallen after the defeat of the healer. Both of them remained armed and at the ready. The warhammer, heavy and unfamiliar in Seraph’s hands, was placed next to the podium.
“Here goes,” Seraph said apprehensively as the last figurine snapped into place. Once all three were in place, Sadie and Seraph waited with bated breath, wondering what was to happen next.
Slowly, the pedestal began to slide across the stage, the loud sound of metal gears groaning and grinding as it moved. A dark hollow opened up beneath it, revealing a winding stone staircase that led deep down into the dark—the bottom of which could not be seen. The long steps heading downward were illuminated by torches whose flames danced on the walls.
With a nod of his head, Seraph motioned that he would go first, and Sadie followed behind as they descended the stairway.
The stairs went deep into the earth, winding ever downward. Their postures were hunched, prepared to defend themselves at a moment’s notice. Each was using their off-hand for balance by bracing themselves against the low ceiling.
Step by step Seraph counted, and finally, after forty floors, they reached a landing, a small break in the stairs that led to a straight staircase going down a dimly lit tunnel. Seraph counted only thirteen steps as he followed the stairs farther down into the dark that ended in a small wooden door with an ironbound knocker. When he felt a cool breeze blow across his face, he knew they were approaching the end of the stairs. Seraph motioned with his hands to stay low, showing that he wanted Sadie to follow closely behind him.
With the thirteen steps behind him, Seraph held his ear to the door, and even with the hearing of an Abyssal Elf, he heard nothing. With another hand signal, he ordered Sadie to watch his back as he hyper-focused his energy into his sense of hearing, dramatically increasing it as his vision and other senses dimmed. With the amplification, the only thing he heard was the movement of air and the static hum of an enchantment.
Allowing his senses to return to normal, Seraph turned back at Sadie and shook his head and shrugged. It was better than nothing. They would still be going in blind, but not without some measure of caution. Seraph mentally projected his ability Starfall to space on the other side of the door and let it charge. If there was anything or anyone on the other side, they would notice it, and at least he would be able to hear them… and blind them. 5, 10, 30 seconds passed, and Seraph released the spell. Grabbing the door knocker, weapon in hand, he pulled the door open.
The room was a tomb, and the release of Starfall had not disturbed it in the least. The walls were made up of glossed sandy-red odem. Deep grooves were carved into the stone from the passing of wind and water, without any sign of either water or an opening for wind to pass through. As he admired the walls, Sadie poked him in the back to get his attention as she pointed.
Everywhere on the ground lay piles of bones and skeletal remains. Seraph crouched next to a heavily armed skeleton near the doorway and examined it. The bones were broken in spots—clean breaks through as if cleaved. In other spots, small nicks could be seen as if from a small blade or blunted sword. Seraph watched as Sadie’s eyes widened at the casualness of him searching the body, fearful that he would wake the dead. He wasn’t worried about that, though he had felt an enchantment upon the room, he did not feel the presence of the evil and restless dead. Only a solemn melancholy. The way the skeletons were littered throughout the room, and with their similar heavy armaments, Seraph mused they died in battle.
“It’s OK, Sadie,” Seraph said as he got up. “They won’t touch us. Let’s keep moving; we’ve another door to pass through,” he said, pointing to the far side of the room.
Ignoring her sharp intake of breath, they both looked towards the stone doorway that was their next goal. Twin torches burned on both sides, the flames blue to ward off evil. The doorway was split in the middle and carved into the stone were profane images. The carved figures appeared to move as if alive—depictions of the trapped souls of the damned, faces twisted in agony as demons perpetually pulled them down into hell, unable to escape damnation.
The closer the two of them got to the doorway, the heavier their steps became as an oppressive aura pressed into them, weighing them down.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this, Seraph,” said Sadie, her tone a warning as she looked hesitantly at the demonic door.
Seraph nodded as he forced himself forward. “I have a bad feeling too, but it’s not like we have much choice here. The only way out is through, and we can’t retreat without gaining control of this Guild Hall. Too much depends on us being successful.”
“I know that, Seraph, it’s why I’m still here and haven’t turned around and gone back to the surface. Too much is relying on us. But have you even thought of where that door leads?” she questioned; her face lined with worry.
With a confident reply, he answered, “Nowhere we want to go, but it’s nothing the two of us can’t handle. This was meant for beginners, a group of beginners, but still beginners. We should be fine.”
Gripping her weapon tightly, she responded. “You’re probably right about that, just be careful. Don’t take on any more risk than we need to. Neither of us is coming back if we die.”
He nodded in agreement; he wasn’t trying to be a hero.
When they reached the gate, both heard a loud crash and turned around to see that the stairwell door had now been sealed off.
“Only way out is through,” Seraph reminded her in response, pointing at the gateway as a clear coated red shield covered it, effectively closing off the exit and sealing them in the room.
“Never mind,” Seraph added irritably as they both recognized the sounds of bones animating with the tell-tale clank of ivory. Something neither Seraph nor Sadie was surprised by.
Notification: Event Discovered - Ancient Animity
Details: Dying in the heat of battle, these ancient enemies rise in undeath to do battle once more, united where once they were enemies to bring death upon the living.
Conditions: Defeat all enemies
Reward: 2 Rings of Random Quality.
Sadie counted all the skeletons around them. “We’ve got a count of forty in total. All melee, though. Still, it’s going to get rough. Let’s retreat back to the stairwell and use that to funnel them all into a choke point.”
“Can’t,” replied Seraph, “that door is sealed, and even if it wasn’t, those skeletons are in the way. It wouldn’t work out well.”
Sadie shrugged, her sword glowing blue as she powered it up with the ability to do more damage to the undead. “Alright, here they come,” she said as the first of the Skeletal Warriors reached her, swinging a rusty broadsword at her. She ducked underneath and brought her own blade up into the skeleton’s skull, using her off-hand to add more force by pushing up on the pommel. The move shattered the bone and dispelled the animation, the rest of the bones falling to the ground.
“Well done, Sadie,” Seraph said with a smile, his blood burning in excitement as the nearest three Skeletal Warriors turned to attack him. Their movement was slow compared to his current physical ability, and he was easily able to outpace them as they swung their swords and axes at him. One at a time, he dodged and evaded, using the opening to counterattack with a devastating hit from the warhammer. All three of the Skeletal Warriors were destroyed in seconds, though more soon replaced them.
The kill had been easy enough, but he noticed his own ragged breathing. Sadie appeared to be having the same issue as steam began to rise from their bodies. They would burn through all their stamina before destroying the rest of the skeletons.
“I guess now’s a good time as any to show you a little of what I can do.” Sadie laughed as she cut the palm of her hand and made a fist, forcing the blood dripping from her palm to fall to the ground in droplets.
“Purify Lesser Undead,” she commanded as the ground below her turned white, an arcane circle spreading out from the drops of blood. The circle expanded a few meters around her. Seraph watched as the Skeletal Warriors within the circle became trapped, unable to move as their bones began to shine in the same white as the circle before collapsing in heaps of bone dust.
“Does it seem like this is too easy?” she asked after clearing away over two-thirds of the undead horde in seconds.
“It does now,” responded Seraph as he moved to join her in the circle, his back against hers. “Makes sense though. This being on the first floor, means it would be one of the places new players would find and explore first. It’s balanced to them, not to us.”
“Correct. That makes perfect sense,” she responded. “We might actually be a little over-leveled to be here. Even with the experience boost we got earlier, I’m sure anyone else in the same situation wouldn’t have been able to pick up any abilities like you have.”
“That’s true,” Seraph admitted as he used his Cold Hands ability on one of the few remaining skeletons to turn the bones to ice before shattering the monster with a blow from the warhammer.
“Show off,” she muttered teasingly. Both of them were enjoying themselves. Two warriors doing what they did best: killing things.
With the last of the skeletons defeated, both of them collected some of the scattered bone dust before it was reabsorbed by the dungeon to give to Jack when they surfaced. When the expected notification of completion never came, and the doors remained sealed, they both knew the battle wasn’t over and used the time to prepare themselves for what was to come.
Each of them was expecting a sub-boss or regular boss to appear. All throughout the room bones begin to churn, pulled from the piles left around, and uprooted from where they had been embedded in the ground. Collapsing upon the middle of the room, they formed into a Skeletal Lord, though this one was covered in armor from its head to toe, with no obvious weak points to attack. The varying rusted swords scattered through the room thrust into the armor to act as spikes, making it near impossible to approach close enough to destroy it.
The dead thing was made up of thousands of bones, and Seraph knew it would never get tired—something that they even with their advanced stats for the situation they would need to contend with. Exhaustion was already setting in after having fought through the Skeletal Horde, their muscles heavy and cramping.
“Do you have any ideas?” Sadie shouted at him after they tried unsuccessfully to launch a barrage of attacks against the Skeletal Lord, only to be forced to retreat as its giant claymore swung with a quickness the other skeletons had not possessed, nearly disemboweling both of them.
“I’ve got one idea; we need to get in front of the demonic door,” Seraph responded as he started to run. Sadie followed, the Skeletal Lord not far behind as it ran in pursuit.
“What’s the plan, Seraph?” Sadie asked nervously, eyeing both the door and the charging Skeletal Lord.
“Can you parry that claymore?” asked Seraph.
“Once or twice. Any more and my sword would probably break.”
“All I need is once,” responded Seraph as he used his Thousand Handed ability to summon ethereal arms throughout his body. Sadie screamed at the Skeletal Lord, drawing its attention to convince it to attack her. As it lifted its claymore to attack, Seraph ran around behind it, using the forward momentum of the swing to grasp at the gouges in the skeleton’s armor from where the swords had punctured it, pushing it forward toward the demonic door.
The effort strained him almost to his breaking point, but not quite. His strength was amplified by the use of the spectral arms he had summoned.
From the doorway, the demons etched into the stone stopped pulling at the human souls that they had kept trapped and turned to look at him in eager anticipation. Outreached hellish claws reached out as if the stone was elastic as the Skeletal Lord fell forward off balance. Many demons grabbed ahold of the monster and pulled it inward, the bones that had comprised its monstrous form disappearing as they reverted and transformed into the souls who had been trapped in undeath. Twisted in agony, the souls screamed for escape as the demons celebrated.
Chapter 32: Sins of the Past
* * *
“I got the Ring of Minor Protection!” Sadie shouted at him as she slipped it on her hand. Seraph checked his own spatial pocket and pulled out his own ring. Apparently, the loot had been divided by the World Dungeon. “And I got the Ring of the Fool,” he responded, turning the steel band over in his hand.
Notification: Item gained “Ring of the Fool”
Details: Whoever wears this ring is cursed and will have a status of confusion bestowed on them until such a time as they or someone else removes the ring.
“Let’s get going. We’ve wasted enough time here,” Seraph said.
As they approached the demonic door, the demons etched into the stone turned to look at both of them, every demon showing them a look of deference and respect. Power was what they respected. For the souls that were kept trapped, the lapse was used to try and escape their prison as souls and faces pressed against the stone searching for release. The demons returned to their duty as the seal on the demonic door was undone so that Seraph and Sadie could continue.
The demons did not hinder the pair as they passed.
Notification: Now Entering “Gehena - The Pit of the Bones”
Details: The place where the inglorious and cursed dead go to die the second death. Where the fires never stop burning, and the maggots never die.
A pungent smell of burning and rotted flesh hit his nose. There was a dark smoke thick in the air, making him choke, and from behind him, he heard Sadie start to loudly cough as both moved forward in the smoke, hands covering their faces with bits of the cloth from their armor as they tried to filter some of the smoke and keep from passing out.
His vision was heavily obscured by the thick smoke that burned black from pollutants. Glancing behind, he saw Sadie had the same issues, though she appeared to be a bit more unsteady than he was. Being natively elven she likely didn't have the tolerance for the toxins in the air like he did.
"What is this place, Seraph?" she asked in horror as she examined the nearest headstones, each of the names erased as if ground out of existence. She stared wide eyed at the rows and rows of dilapidated gravestones that went on in all directions, disappearing out of sight.
"This is the place of the forever deat
h," he answered cryptically. "Anything cast down into that burning pit will never rise. For those that fall within it, there is no respawn. Only oblivion."
Sadie's look of horror turned to him. "How do you know that?” she asked, an edge of suspicion creeping into her voice.
He didn’t have an answer for that, A sense of guilt gnawed at his stomach. Seraph had to turn away. He didn’t want to lie to her, and he didn’t want to admit how he knew. Not to her. Finally, when the silence became unbearable Seraph answered with a tone of fatalism, he murmured, “I did what I had to do.”
With unshed tears, she launched herself at him with a snarl. Diving into his side and tackling him to the ground with her strength, she exerted enough force to knock the wind out of him when he landed.
“Bastard!” she screamed from on top of him, pinning him to the ground. Her anger welled up from within her, a sense of betrayal rocking her to the core at the reminder of who the person was that she had been traveling with. Over and over again she punched him, one blow after another. The sound of cartilage breaking and skin splitting was easily heard.
Seraph knew he was in no real danger. With his abyssal body, simple damage like this would not be long-standing, and it would do no permanent damage. If this was what she needed in order for them to continue on their mission, so be it. For Seraph, it was small penance to pay.
After what seemed like hours, though it was merely minutes, drops of sweat dripped down her face and off her chin. The force of her blows slowed as her arms grew heavy from fatigue. With one last blow that split his cheek open, she collapsed on the dirt next to him.