When all of them finally reached the top of the stairs where Seraph had been waiting, a light turned on automatically illuminating the area around them. They were at the end of a hall that lead in three different directions. A sign read “Office” above a door directly in front of them down the hall, while an old exit sign hung directly above them pointing towards a locked double door, while the hallway itself turned at the office and continued, though to were Seraph could not see.
The exit sign was no longer lit and for Seraph that was a clue that the exit was not to be trusted. It was likely a false lead that led to some sort of trap for the unwary and unaware. A correct assumption, as Erin approached the locked exit and screamed “Monsters!.” as she looked through the glass pane at the top of the door in response to what she saw on the other side.
Seraph rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Of course, there are monsters.” He hissed. “This is all part of the dungeon experience, it is literally full of monsters, and every time you scream fate rolls the dice and decides whether or not we get swarmed and killed by those monsters.” She didn’t respond as she continued to look through the window, her hands pressed against the door. As Alexander and Paul moved towards the door to look, he felt obligated to follow, keeping his attention focused on the splitting hallway behind them.
Neither Paul nor Alexander screamed, but Seraph noticed that both men had fear etched into their face. Not just on Alexander’s, but on Paul’s face too. Something that had been lacking, even in the fight against the Gigas or when he faced the Kobolds. Seraph realized why when he looked through the windowpane and saw it. A vast Hellscape among the ruins of what had once been a town. A green mist lingered. Everywhere he looked, all he could see were hulking monstrous abominations of ruined flesh roaming aimlessly past destroyed cars and rotting mutilated mounds of corpses. This was something that Seraph feared too. He knew what those things were and while he had been able to kill them in the other timeline, he could do nothing to stop them now. The Infernals.
Seraph bent forward and whispered to them “Slowly get away from the window and stay away from those things out there from now on. Those things outside can instantly kill us any of us, the Gigas was nothing compared to them.” Paul noticed Seraph’s fear and pointed to the door, it had been completely sealed, first by chain, and then by what looked to be solder. For all purposes at this point it was a barrier, basically a wall and a door no longer. Seraph breathed easier upon seeing that, but still made the group move away as he saw one of the abominations drag a struggling body down the street by septic entrails, even death was not an escape Seraph noted.
As they moved away, Seraph was reminded of something, if this was the dungeon, and not an actual place, then those monsters couldn’t get inside, or at least couldn’t get inside easily. The dungeon wasn’t immune to the incursions of the Infernals but did offer substantial protection from them. What Seraph didn’t know however was whether the building they were counted as part of the dungeon, or if the Infernals outside were dungeon constructs, was this still a tutorial, or were they the real deal? He had to assume the latter and hope for the former.
In a hushed whisper Alexander asked Seraph the question that was on the mind of the rest of the group. “What are those things? Do you know? Are we safe?” They seemed to finally believe in him to an extent that he had some knowledge from the future, and in this case, he had no reason to keep what he knew from them.
“Yes, I know of them. In my other life, we called them “Infernals.” I am not sure what they are, or where they come from, much of them is unknown, but they are extremely dangerous. Warriors level 300 and above were killed by these things. When they appeared, they spread across the entire surface of the Earth and killed every single person who was not inside the dungeon. The dungeon was the only place safe from them. There were very few things that could hurt me before I restarted, the Infernals compromise the majority of the things on that list.” Explained Seraph.
“The answer of what to do is easy enough. We will just avoid them for now, it's good to know they exist, and safer knowing we need to avoid them at all costs.” Responded Paul. “I’m if this is part of the tutorial, they are out there either as a forewarning, or as a call to aims in preparation to meet them one day.”
As far as guesses go, it wasn’t a bad one mused Seraph in agreement. “I don’t really know much about them. Even with foreknowledge I’ve still got blind spots, and there are a lot of things I just don’t know enough about.”
Erin spoke up. “Maybe it’s a clue, things don’t just get put out there in a setting like this without a reason.”
“What do you mean” Asked Alexander as Paul and Seraph looked at her wondering the same.
Erin looked at each of them in the eye and responded. “I know you don’t like me, I’m not stupid, and because I’m not stupid I do notice things, I do know things. If what you told us is true, then this whole thing is about preparing us for something that’s to come. You told us those things out there eventually kill everyone. So, here’s what I think, either this is about providing clues on how to prevent that by showing us some way to fight those things, or its about building up exposure to these Infernals so more people can be saved when the moment comes.”
Seraph doubted it was about exposing people to the infernals, just simple exposure wouldn’t save anyone. It’s near impossible for regular people to plan ahead for something like that, and those things were simply beyond what regular people could manage.
“I think I’ve got it.” Mused Alexander. “This is part of some like tutorial, right? So, if only people who enter the dungeon are shown those things out there, and only people still on Earth are killed by them, why would the dungeon show them to us? No, it has to be the dungeon is trying to show us or wants us to find a way to fight those things. It’s a clue. Somewhere in this building I’m guessing is a clue to how to either prevent or how to defeat those things and save the Earth.”
Seraph looked at him in shock as he spoke and Alexander got a wide embarrassed smile, certain that he had messed up talking like he did out of turn. “Your absolutely right, both of you.” Admitted Seraph. “There must be something here that we need to do before moving on, before using our tokens, and I'm willing to try to find it, will you guys help me?”
They both nodded in agreement and as Seraph turned to his father Paul for his opinion, he found the man was gone a moment of panic setting into his bones as he started to fear that something had taken his dad. It was only for a second though as he saw Paul opening another door.
“What are you doing?” Hissed Seraph. Paul responded back with a pointed finger at the sign that said “Office.”
Seraph nodded; it was as good of any place to start.
Chapter 12: True Colors
* * *
Without a word between them, and as creeping as quietly as they could, Paul, Seraph, Erin, and Alexander snuck into the office that had been designated as a safe place. Treading carefully so as to avoid the attention of monsters nearby, and monsters about. Their bodies pressed against each other in a stack as they moved. Each of them filled with unease, unsure about what they might find inside. Even Seraph felt the tension, the presence of the Infernals just outside the walls of the school was a danger none of them could handle. If one somehow managed to get into the building, he would be forced to abandon them, his father included.
Paul took the lead to open the door into the office, and on a whim checked to see if the light switch was working. To everyone's surprise, the office lit up, and when nothing moved to attempt them the remainder of the group followed Paul’s footsteps, closing the door and securing the room behind them.
As they passed through the door, each of them had to resist the urge to gag as they were met with the hot and musty smell of stale air and old wood rot. It was clear that the people who had been here before had left in a hurry as dust covered every surface, and the moldy, spoiled remnants of food left out on the desks. Papers cracked
and yellowed with age were sprawled everywhere, the counter space cluttered with evidence of half-finished handyman tasks and the receptionist desk looked as if it had been roughly pushed away in haste. All evidence that an abrupt emergency had likely come to this place.
Alexander went to open his mouth and say something but was stopped himself as Paul motioned to each of them to be quiet as he reached out and grabbed a claw hammer from within the handyman’s belt on the floor in front of the counter. Paul pointed to Alexander and motioned for the man to follow him. They would make sure the area was clear before everyone spread out to begin looking around. Seraph having already led the way through the dark was ok with the change in duties. He would stay behind and make sure nothing came through the office door behind them, his responsibility was to keep the space secure.
In just a few moments Paul and Alexander came back from their security sweep.
“All clear, no signs of danger, maybe this really is a safe area.” Paul reported to the group as he allowed his posture started to relax.
Alexander nodded his head in agreement. I didn’t hear or see anything either. This office is smaller than I thought though, it’s just this space here, and those two rooms over there, looks like a nurse’s station and maybe the principal's office. I didn’t see any other doors though.” “
“Good thinking you guys.” Complimented Seraph. They were learning a bit. This wasn’t the world anymore that they were used to, adjusting would be to their benefit and help with everyone's survival and the more they looked out for themselves, the less Seraph would have to reveal himself.
“Alexander, give me a hand with this desk, we need to move it over there to barricade the door. It’s the only way in or out of here, and I don’t know about the rest of you, but I need to rest, I don’t think I've ever been this tired and I need to lay down before I completely crash.” Commented Paul, his voice showing some of his weariness.
He did seem tired noted Seraph as he looked at his father's face, and then around at each of their faces, they all looked weary, fatigue was setting in already. Time worked differently in the dungeon, and it felt like days had passed, even though Seraph knew it had still only been a few hours since he had even talked Paul into entering the dungeon. But he knew that if he was the last to have been transported into the gymnasium, the effect he currently felt was likely magnified for the others who had arrived earlier.
“I’ll take first watch then.” Seraph said as he volunteered, much to everyone's surprise. He noted the surprise in irritation and had to push down his feelings of anger at their response. It made sense for him to be the first one to stand guard, he was the last to arrive. “Did they not think somebody needed to keep watch?” He thought to himself.
“I’ll look around a bit and see if I can’t find anything we can use, or anything of importance, and make sure nothing bothers you guys while you’re asleep.” Explained Seraph. “This isn’t your home, and this isn’t a camping trip, you can’t ignore the need for security.”
They all looked embarrassed by what he said, especially his father. “That answers it.” Seraph thought. “They didn’t think anyone needed to guard over everyone else's sleep.” Seraph knew the look; it was the look of somebody who had known better. Paul had served in the military, somebody was always on duty while everyone slept, especially when there was danger, and here in the dungeon with those things just outside, and who knows what inside, the danger was close.
Paul started to protest but was interrupted by Seraph who replied, his tone heavy with irritation. “It's fine dad, it really is, I've been here the least amount of time, it's only fair that I can stay up a little longer so everyone can rest, even you. That healing you did earlier can take a lot out of you. I’m sure no one else has a problem with it. Try to rest, I'll wake you if I need you.”
Erin and Alexander both shook their heads in agreement. Neither had a problem with Seraph taking the 1st shift, so they could rest. Seraph could only help but smile inside as he knew how relieved both of them were to not have to stay awake and be the one on guard. People were so easy to manipulate sometimes.
Seraph listened as he could, drawing in on himself, to expand the ability of his hearing as his vision and sense of smell decreased, but of the earlier scurrying sounds he had nothing. Waiting, he heard nothing shift in the dark, whatever was out there wandering the halls wasn’t currently moving. He released his hearing and took up a watchful posture, sliding dust off the chair of the receptionist's desk as the other members of the team slide down the wall, resting against it and nodding off to sleep.
Seraph didn’t expect that any of the members of his team would sleep deeply, so it came as a surprise that within seconds of them laying down, all of them were sleeping, even his father Paul who started to loudly snore. He had to remind himself not to judge too harshly, this was by all means a major life event, an event they were tolerating better than most.
For a moment Seraph grew irritated in frustration that the noise they were making would draw other monsters to them, but quickly dismissed it. He was confident that this area was under the jurisdiction of the dungeon, and as such had rules that had to be obeyed. One of those rules being that within the dungeon, it was impossible for adventurers to fall asleep, unless in a safe zone. This impossibility didn’t extend to status effects, like passing out or being knocked unconscious.
Which meant they were safe, truly safe, at least for a moment, and Seraph was free to look for whatever secrets this place had hidden from him. He would start with the contents of the receptionist’s desks.
The center drawer was locked, so he moved on to the other drawers, finding in one stacks of paper reports showing current absences and class size. He put a few of the class reports in his pocket storage to show everyone else. As he rifled through the reports, he saw that there had been a drastic decrease in class size down to single digits by the year 2038, he looked but so no further reports beyond that date, but he hadn’t expected anyone. 2038 was the year the green mist spread over most of the world.
Taking a look at the reports, they were likely a clue warning future adventurer of a coming calamity. “This is interesting.” Though Seraph as he considered the possibilities, within the original timeline he had never heard of any such warning and wondered if this was a change that had occurred because he had traveled back in time, or if it was a secret that had been waiting, but had either never been discovered or disclosed in the original timeline. The later he found problematic and would need to rule out that someone hadn’t obscured the warning and kept it from him.
The picture of a woman and her daughter looked up at him from on the desk, and as he looked through the paperwork he tried to ignore it. But something about the picture irritated him, he couldn’t stand the way the family seemed to be looking at him. He reached out to turn the picture over, and on the other side, he found a key attached to the back of the photo, a key he guessed would likely fit into the center drawer that had been locked.
As he put the key in the lock, he knew he had been right in his guess as the lock turned. Pulling out the drawer, he wondered what he would find. Fantasizes about dungeon drops, rare loot, and stat boosts played out in his. Instead, all he found were paper clips, pens, a half empty bag of hard candy, and a dated copy of Time magazine. “Actually” he thought “Maybe not useless after all.” As he grabbed the bag of candy and the magazine and went to read.
As soon as he saw the cover he panicked. His face, his actual face was on the cover, not the childlike one he was currently wearing, but the face of his original body. The cover read in damning red ink. ““Who's coming to save us? A look at the Crows and their enigmatic leader Seraph on page 11.”
His heart pounding in nerves, he looked at the others and saw they were still sleeping, he needed to do something about this. He couldn’t just rip it out. The noise would definitely wake the others, and if the article contained even a fraction of his secrets, he would be forced to make sure the others
never left here alive. Even Paul, some secrets needed to stay buried.
He quickly scanned the table of contents, seeing if there was something he might be able to use. “Ah, that will work” He thought as he congratulated himself on his find. He moved the magazine and began to pull multiple pages out, and crumpling the remaining to throw back into the drawer.
The noise woke up Erin as the other two kept sleeping.
“Hey did you find something?” Asked Erin in groggy excited as she tried to rub the sleep from her eyes.
“Nothing amazing so far.” Lied Seraph. “Just an article called 8 Ways to Best Delve. It’ll be good to share with everyone as a reference and training manual when we finish this tutorial. I found that along with some other documents that kind of hint about what's going on here, just not ready to divulge those quite yet though until I can figure out what it means. Go back to sleep though, I still have to look around some more, I'll wake you up when it's time for my shift to be over, promise.”
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