The Two Week Curse

by Michael Chatfield

  “Together, we have made it past the beast horde. We have survived and come out stronger than ever before. We have made sacrifices; we have lost loved ones. Though we are here today due to those sacrifices that must not and will not be forgotten.” Blaze received a round of nods as he looked to Rugrat and Erik.

  “Rugrat and Erik came to us in a time of need. They came, using their own resources and knowledge to assist us. They did this because they felt it was the right thing to do. They were not under orders to come here. In fact, Lord Salyn told me to keep the truth from you all, that he would send aid. Before the battle to protect our village started, I was notified that he had broken his oath to this village, to you. I pledged to uphold his rule and follow his laws and he would offer aid in times of need. He tore this oath apart and stepped on our faces!” Blaze yelled.

  People grew angry and started to mutter among one another.

  “Rugrat and Erik were sent here. They only needed to survive the beast horde. They didn’t need to protect us, to help us build up our strength, or improve our village. I decided that we should hold back the information right before the battle, not wanting to distract people and lead to greater losses.” He let the quiet conversations go on for some time.

  “Elise, Glosil, Jasper, Taran, and I have decided to follow them no matter what,” Blaze said.

  Erik stepped up and put his hand on Blaze’s shoulder.

  Glosil was reminded of the first time that Erik had addressed the people of Alva Village. The village couldn’t be compared to what it was back then. Glosil, like the rest of the villagers, watched Erik’s every movement, waiting for him to speak.

  “According to our quest, the beast horde will not come back again. We have also been given a teleportation scroll and been made dungeon masters. I don’t know what that means, nor where it will lead, but if any of you want to, you’re welcome to join us in heading to the Beast Mountains Dungeon.”

  “You command—I will follow.” Storbon pulled out his spear and stepped forward. He slammed it into the ground, steely determination in his eyes.

  Others stepped forward.

  Glosil looked to his fellow villagers. They’d been abandoned; everyone else had left them but Erik and Rugrat had stayed with them through it all. Glosil looked at them—their spears, swords, crossbows, and armor.

  A crooked grin appeared on his face as they all looked at Rugrat and Erik.

  Rugrat’s stoic expression broke as he let out a laugh.

  Erik’s face also broke into a touched smile.

  “All right, well, I guess we better start paying your wages!” Erik clapped his hands. This got a few grins and laughs. “Eighty percent of the materials and loot that we got from the beasts in the beast horde will be broken down and passed out to everyone. You can exchange with one another and the quartermasters once we’ve moved to the dungeon. We will be moving everything useful to the storage district tonight and tomorrow. Tomorrow night, we will activate the teleportation scroll. For tonight, we’re not on rations. Eat, drink! Quick reaction force, you’re on watch!”

  People cheered, excited to leave Alva Village behind.

  “There ain’t no rest for the wicked.” Erik stepped off the stage and addressed the department heads.

  “Can’t I just hit metal?” Taran complained.

  “We’ve got to plan out how to move everything that’s important. Break down the smithy, bring the components we need. We’ve only got a teleportation area one hundred meters by one hundred meters. We can’t waste any space!”

  So they set to work, planning out what they could take. Rugrat and Erik went with Jasper, marking out the one-hundred-meter radius teleportation circle.

  That night, people celebrated. But knowing that they would be put to work the next day, they didn’t go overboard.

  Everyone was given tasks. Alva Village was torn apart and broken down. In the afternoon, they all went to the Village Hall. Blaze called up the village cornerstone. This was the core of the village and the basis of the village.

  Blaze had planted this cornerstone when he had built the initial camp nearly twenty years ago.

  A screen appeared in front of him. He hit a few commands and the cornerstone transformed into a token, landing in his hand.

  He put it away as a notification ran out.

  ==========

  The cornerstone of Alva Village has been removed. The village will cease to exist.

  ==========

  Blaze lost his title as the village became “abandoned,” meaning that anyone could now take it over with their own base token or they could move into it and build on top of it without Blaze’s agreement.

  They spent the rest of the day piling all of their supplies up and distributing items to the different people and families. This made them responsible for their new goods. Many of them traded in their monster cores and other items at the store earlier to take more with them.

  ***

  “It’s time.” Rugrat looked out at everyone who was all bundled up. The heavy infantry units were around the edges of where they had marked out the teleportation scroll’s limits. Archers were behind them, with the old and young in the center, protected by the quick reaction force.

  They simply didn’t know what was waiting for them on the other side.

  “Ready yourselves!” Erik barked.

  Everyone gripped their weapons tighter, ready to fight.

  Rugrat opened the scroll.

  ==========

  Teleportation Scroll (location locked)

  ==========

  Using this scroll, one will be teleported to the locked location. The teleportation circle will have a radius of one hundred meters.

  ==========

  Location: Beast Mountains Dungeon

  ==========

  Do you wish to activate?

  YES/NO

  ==========

  “Yes.” With Rugrat’s word, Mana rushed in toward the scroll as a massive magical circle appeared underneath the feet of the villagers.

  Lines, circles, triangles, and other shapes formed; complicated runes seemed to be written in the ground by an unseen pen. The children made surprised noises as they looked at the ground in shock.

  The scroll floated away from Rugrat, rising up above him. The paper burned, condensing; runes on the paper burned in concert with the paper, forming on the ground.

  The last rune was completed as the paper turned into a crystal.

  There was a flash of light as the group disappeared.

  A circle one hundred meters wide, which had been filled with people and supplies, was turned into barren dirt, no sign of the nearly two hundred people who had been there just moments before.

  Silence fell over Alva Village. Wind whistled through the abandoned homes, the broken defenses and craters.

  Chapter: Egbert

  The village vanished in a flash of light. They were in a dimly lit cavern. The dim runes above them were the cavern’s source of light, some thirty meters above them.

  The floor near them was also glowing, its light dying down. It looked as if it were the fixed location for the teleport scroll.

  The ground was smooth; one section showed a dimly lit line that led into the center of the cavern. Erik traced them back to three different buildings that were around a twenty-meter tall cylindrical device that was covered in bands of magical runes that slowly moved around.

  The entire place gave off an old feeling, as if a once great power had once controlled this area but they had disappeared.

  This sense made Erik eager to explore and discover more.

  “Have the archers hold here. Section One, Two, and Three of the heavy infantry and quick reaction force will move with us to explore those buildings,” Erik ordered Blaze and Glosil.

  Quickly they got themselves organized and moved along the dim path toward the cylinder building and the three that surrounded it on one side.

 
As they moved closer, the buildings came into focus. The largest looked to be a sort of manor. Rugrat said that the other looked like a smithy.

  Rugrat went to the cylinder. Erik went to the unknown building, with Blaze heading to the manor. Each of them commanded a heavy infantry section while the quick reaction force were tasked with looking over the smithy.

  Erik had his shotgun out as he nodded at the heavy infantry soldier. They pulled open the door and Erik moved in, his shotgun up and looking around. The rest of the heavy infantry section followed in, their swords at the ready.

  Erik was hit with the smells of old plants. Erik and the heavy infantry continued to push through the building, trying to discover its secrets.

  “All clear,” Erik said as they went through the last room.

  Erik lowered his shotgun and looked at the cauldron on top of a cold hearth.

  “What do you think this place is? Some kind of kitchen?” Sergeant Choi asked.

  “No, I think this is an Alchemy workshop,” Erik said.

  The rest of the heavy infantry looked at one another.

  “Let’s see what the others have found,” Erik said.

  The people in the manor were still looking through the large building. The smithy was mostly open, with only the storage area and furnace being enclosed.

  Storbon walked up to Erik to give his report. “Sir, we found some tools and ores in the smithy. We also found a large and complicated item that has magical circles on it. We don’t know if it’s a tool or not.” Storbon sounded confused.

  “Good work.” Erik was about to say more when someone jogged over from the large cylinder building with the rotating bands of runes.

  “Rugrat said to tell you that the building is the dungeon’s core.” The man looked to be disturbed about something, taking a moment before continuing. “He, uhh, well, he found something and, I’m not sure what it is, really.”

  Erik’s brows knit together before he walked toward the dungeon core. “Sergeant Choi, go and help out Blaze. Storbon, patrol the area.”

  They moved to carry out his orders as he walked to the door leading into the dungeon core. He went up a set of stairs that spiralled upward. He could see into the center.

  On the ground floor, there was a complex magical formation. It seemed to be drawing power inward to its center. The power collected together, forming a thin beam of blue light that shot up and into a series of floating inscribed metal bands. The bands went from small to big; the largest was fixed in position as the others slowly rotated in different directions.

  From the main floating metal band, brighter blue Mana was channeled out, hitting magical circles, the power disappearing.

  If I was to guess, then it looks like some kind of reactor. As he rose to the second part of the building, there was a crystal tube that extended from the magical reactor to the ceiling. Around it there were six shimmering and flickering images.

  Rugrat was studying these different circles.

  “This the dungeon core?” Erik looked around the room.

  “Yeah. Look at this.” Rugrat reached for the circle at the top and drew it out. The other circles became smaller as Erik was looking at a representation of the floor they were on, including the villagers who were moving around. It was like the village interface but this gave real-time updates on what was happening on the floor.

  Erik could see Blaze exiting the manor and talking to the sergeants, sending them to patrol the area and sending a group to pass word to the villagers.

  “So, only we can make building decisions in the dungeon and we can only make them in this room,” Rugrat said.

  “How did you find that out?” Erik asked. He hadn’t received a notification.

  “I told him!” a somewhat familiar voice yelled out with indignation.

  A bony head appeared out of Rugrat’s storage.

  “Not now, Egbert!” Rugrat yelled, smacking the skeleton on the top of the head as it disappeared back into his storage ring. “You were saying?” Rugrat coughed, as if nothing happened.

  Erik pinched the bridge of his nose. “Is there a skeleton in your storage ring?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Is there a talking skeleton in your storage ring?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Why is there a TALKING SKELETON IN YOUR STORAGE RING?”

  “I wanted a souvenir?”

  “I’m not a souvenir!” An angry voice came from Rugrat’s ring.

  “Don’t make me come down there, Egbert!”

  “You named it Egbert?” Erik asked.

  “Not an it! I’m a he.” Egbert’s head appeared, all skull and glowing blue flames in his eyes.

  “Egbert, not the time!” Rugrat stuffed Egbert back into his storage ring.

  Erik looked at the ceiling, as if seeking strength from it. “Let the damn talking skeleton out of the storage bag.”

  “Come on, I thought he’d be a cool party guest—you know, let people think he’s a mannequin and then he moves.” Rugrat started laughing as he imagined it. “We’d get so many people!” Rugrat had to clear a tear out of his eye from the laughter.

  “I am not a mannequin!” An indignant voice came from the storage ring.

  Erik looked at Rugrat before the latter gave in.

  He let out a sigh as “Egbert” was revealed.

  “You’re pretty skinny, huh?” Erik asked.

  “I’m a damn skeleton—what do you expect me to be, overweight?” the skeleton yelled back.

  Rugrat made eye contact and tapped his finger on his storage ring, sharing a look with Erik.

  “No, you’re not going to stuff him back in your storage ring,” Erik reprimanded.

  “But—” Rugrat started.

  “Go and play with your rifle in the corner,” Erik said.

  “You go and play with your rifle in the corner,” Rugrat muttered, kicking a rock that went flying into Egbert’s ribcage, knocking out a rib and rattling around.

  “I just fixed that one!” Egbert complained as Rugrat put his hands behind his back, whistled, and walked away as he looked up at the ceiling.

  “You’re the voice that gave us tasks!” Erik snapped his fingers, remembering the grandiose voice that kept on messing up and even got exasperated when Erik and Rugrat had rested for a few days instead of directly challenging the Beast Mountains trial.

  “Yes, that was me. Oh, I guess you both became Dungeon Masters of Beast Mountains Dungeon.”

  A screen appeared in front of Erik.

  ==========

  Egbert, the skeleton and caretaker of the Beast Mountains Dungeon, swears his undying loyalty to you and to carry out your orders with the best of his abilities.

  ==========

  Just reading this, Erik could tell that this oath wasn’t like those that the other department heads had made. This basically made Egbert do everything that they said, without consequences.

  If they ordered the department heads to do something they didn’t like, then it might go against their conscience and they would break their contract based on their unwillingness to carry out these tasks.

  “All right, Egbert, why are you here? What is the Beast Mountains trial really and what happened to this place?”

  Rugrat stopped trying to look away and focused on Egbert as well.

  “These things are directly connected. First, this Beast Mountains Dungeon was created in large part by a group of gnomes. They were a very advanced group of gnomes and looked to creating their own world away from the burning sunlight. They created the different levels of the dungeon. My master led them, wanting to create a utopia. That was, until a human entered the dungeon. He was but a child and my master took mercy on him.

  “He raised the boy as his own, taught him what he knew. The gnomes accepted him as well, but their trust was misplaced.

  “The boy grew up and created his own plans. He broke the power formations in the dungeon, opening it up to t
he Beast Mountains and letting in the powerful beasts around us. He even looked to steal the Mana seed that rested in the heart of the dungeon core.

  “When my master, who considered himself the boy’s father, confronted him, the boy, drunk with power, used the Mana seed on his body and attacked my master.

  “My master was close to death, but not willing to let his mistake hurt others, he killed the boy he considered his son.

  “The gnomes had taken too many losses. Many were killed; others had escaped.

  “My master sealed off this level from the others and ordered me to start the Beast Mountains trials. He stored a piece of his soul before he passed away to assess those who might become the master of this dungeon.

  “The Beast Mountains trial was not made for people to just kill beasts; it was made to find the new dungeon master, or masters. The ability to react to threats without thought was the trial with the snakes in the grass, to take one’s time and plan was sneaking around the second beast. To know not only how to fight but also have other skills and desires. To look out for others and have a good character.” Egbert didn’t need to say anything more. These directly related to the trials and parts of the quest that they had gone through.

  “The current state of the Beast Mountains is due in large part to that boy’s actions. Most of the dungeon was in chaos. Multiple buildings were destroyed here. I cleared them away and even destroyed others to use their resources to fuel the dungeon core and keep it active. I kept my master’s home in honor of him, the smithy to fix the few Vzztpsshts that were left, and the Alchemy workshop to create powders to assist my own body and allow me to keep living. There are six levels in total.” Egbert pushed the expanded floor they were on back into place. “We are on the Neutral floor at the top. Below us there is the metal floor. This floor was made with massive metal attribute gathering formations and arrays. Rare metal seeds were added to this area, as well as different metal Affinity beasts, creating an entire ecosystem.

  “In the same style, the next floor is the Earth floor. This is covered in growing pastures, with a natural light that gives one the warmth of the sun, without the damaging effects that affect gnomes. Then there is the Fire floor. This is a world of magma and volcanoes. Below that is the Wood floor, a vast forest with all kinds of natural druids, nymphs, will ’o wisp and other woodland creatures.