Saga of the Soul Dungeon

“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”

-Frederick Douglass

==Zidaun==

Breath surged in my lungs, the air hot. My eyes stung from the hazy smoke, but I just blinked and kept going. Heaving gasps fueled my run, even as the others ran behind me.

A pitfall, almost invisible beneath its concealment, was rendered truly invisible between my watering eyes and the smoke seeping out between every tree. Only my mana sense allowed me to see it, and I sidestepped it without a thought, the others following closely.

A monument appeared, and I veered off slightly, touched it in passing, and spared only that moment of diversion. I returned to the track traveling through the woods, allowing no further delay.

Directly overhead, a sun burned orange and swollen, like the eye of some angry god.

My angry god.

The thought was enough for no more than a flash of amusement. Even a chuckle would waste air that couldn’t be spared. Not even Gurek was complaining.

The trees were dead, and dried leaves hung on their branches like so much tinder. The tinder it would become soon enough, the wall of flames in the distance growing ever closer. Just like the section of fire we were approaching.

I reached out, tamping down the heat around us and insured we had air, even as we continued to run.

Flame and fire greeted us with a warm embrace, as we ran straight into them.

The flames grew pale for a moment, their heat washed out as they fought against my power. I didn’t bother concentrating enough to suppress them fully, instead whipping by in a blur of motion.

Trees and tangled brush formed flowing walls of fire to either side of the path, highlighting it with blinding intensity. A shadow darted between the flames, gliding with imperious joy in rising heat.

I identified it reflexively, already sure of what it would say.

Coal-Fire Skyray – Level 19

Monster

Coal black with sections that burn like embers, this large skyray has two wide wings and its body tapers into a short but wide tail. Its head has a sharp protruding beak with stiff whiskers. This monster revels and dances in flames that it has created.

I didn’t bother to say anything, simply waving out a hand to indicate that nothing had changed.

So, we continued to run.

It tore out of the flames, making its odd clicking cry as it streaked to attack me. The small amount of speed it lost as it left the flames was sufficient for me to duck and roll beneath its massive body. My momentum was conserved as much as I could, the roll turning back into a run.

Gurek’s short blades lashed out when the monster was close enough, tearing into its body, leaving ragged rents in its wings. For a moment, boiling hot blood sprayed outward from the wounds, forming a stream of red in the air. It glittered like jewels, the individual beads of blood reflecting the burning light.

The moment passed and the monster’s wounds burst into flame. The clicking shriek was almost palpable as it cauterized its injuries.

It didn’t bother to beat its enormous wings as it dove back into the fire; instead, super-heated air twisted around each of them, making it surge forward in a burst of speed. Out of sight, and out of range for my own detection.

It didn’t make us wait for long.

It came out from behind Firi, flames and smoke trailing from its body, both sucked forward behind it by the force of its passing, outlining its form in a wave of embers and ash. It dove toward him with a cry, as Firi lashed out in defense. His flat palm was obscured by the delicate blue glow of the tiny shield it manifested; the perfect icy circle of light reached out to intercept its charge.

With a flare of light, it was deflected, and a small section of its body met the manifestation of divine ice and light. For a brief instant, its flesh froze, and then exploded into a cloud of blood and flesh, its own heat sublimating the ice to vapor.

It cried out again, louder, diving back into the flames, only to emerge again from the side, testing against our limits.

Inda was ready, her sabre out since we entered the flames, well aware of what we would find. It flickered, almost a mirage in the shimmering waves of heat, the twisting motion of her strikes almost a dance. A dance with a sharp edge.

The twisting motion was sufficient to intercept the skyray’s attack, its beak deflected to the side, Inda using the rebounding force to twist. Her own magic added to the rebound, twisting her around with titanic force, the returning blade slashing in a wide arc against the underside of the monster as it passed over her.

Its own momentum carried it into the slash, and blood fountained out onto the ground past Inda, as it bore a strike that was almost as long as it was. She stumbled from her run for a brief moment, but continued on.

It cried out again, and I could almost feel its rage and hatred.

Fire swirled in the wake of its passing, and its blood sizzled where it struck the charred and burning embers.

Fire gave way to dead forest. The brown leaves and orange light a relief after the intensity of the monster’s domain, and I dropped my suppression of the heat. I needed to conserve my mana in case of the worst happening.

Not that it was over just yet.

The fire behind us twisted together, swirling toward a central point. Soon enough we could see the skyray again, shooting toward us at the head of a twisting wave of fire, as though in some twisted homage to its water-bound cousins. It skimmed atop the cresting wave of fire, using the heat to fuel its momentum, the angry glow of the flames lighting up the gaping cauterized mass of its wound.

It surged toward us, only to fall out of the air and back into the surging wave with a loud crack. A crack coming from a rock thrown at preternatural speed through a combination of skill and Inda’s magic. It would have dodged before, its speed lending sufficient agility except in the last moments of its charge as it left the fire behind. Blinded by its anger, it had finally been ripe for a last strike.

We didn’t bother to congratulate Inda with more than nods, saving our air, as she returned to the formation. She had needed to stop to properly throw and aim the rock, but careful bursts of power were enough to let her catch up and fall back into place.

I was able to spot three more monuments along the way, making the briefest possible divergence to reach out and touch them. Twice one of the others had run off as well, no doubt spotting some I had failed to see.

Three more times, we dealt with more monsters. Twice more it was a coal-fire skyray. Sadly, once it was a red night manta, which was even worse.

A beautiful creature, its black skin and wings were dotted with a glowing pattern of red mist and dots, looking like the night sky cast only in shades of red and black. Its broad wings carried it effortlessly through the air, and its head merged with the rest of its body, leaving no sign of a neck.

Unfortunately, while breathtaking, it was also terribly dangerous. It didn’t bother to descend to our level, only swooping toward the ground when it was far beyond our reach. Not that it needed to get close.

Flames shot out from it on each wing beat. As its two wings grew close, flames surged and burst forth in a tightly bound arc of flame.

Instead of the quick ambushes of the other monster, it floated high overhead, content to pelt us with flames from a distance. Each slow stroke of its wings an attack meant to wear us down. Rocks sent its way were dodged with lazy grace, or intercepted and returned in a blast of fire. A knife would have worked properly, but Inda wouldn’t get it back afterward, and the stone knives I could make were worse than useless. I didn’t know how to balance them properly.

Firi could have struck it down with a spell, but he, like me, was saving his magic as much as possible. Saving it for the fire.

The forest fire behind us was accelerating in speed, gradually growing faster with each instant we spent here.

It had nearly killed us the first time.

It was slow at first, a creeping fire that slipped forward at the speed of a slow walk. It had been visible and audible from the beginning, the flickering light matched against a dull roar, like the sound of a waterfall in the distance.

We assumed we had plenty of time, though we hurried somewhat, aware of the potential for future issues.

I wasn’t the one who noticed that it had gotten closer, that was on Gurek. And if he hadn’t… we probably would have died.

Even with that, we didn’t manage to outrun the fire.

It came, a sweeping wall of flame, buoyed upward by the heat so the fire danced in leaping wisps higher than the canopy.

It came, the distant roar growing into a million individual cracks of snapping wood and whistling escaping gas. Together, they were a cacophony sufficient to batter against our senses, raging up against our eyes and ears, even as the heat raged against our bodies in blows of super-heated air.

It came, and we were consumed.

It came, and it took the world with it, leaving only fire and ash behind in its wake, save for what little I could save against it. Only a tiny sphere, sufficient to contain us but little more, held against the ravening tongues of fire, their hunger breaking down the trees into husks of spark and soot. So hungry they consumed the very air, hungry enough they would choke themselves to death on it, if they were not careful.

We huddled close together, my power and Firi’s gradually waning beneath the onslaught of the heat and dying air.

Eventually, however, it passed.

It passed and left nothing but cinders in its wake. The trees were only charcoal outlines amidst the smoke, any grasses and bushes having been reduced to nothing more than the ash, smoke, and wind blowing after the fire like the train of a priestess’s vestments.

It passed, but the heat continued to rise. It rose from every heat-crazed stone and lingering cinder.

It passed, but we remained.

Alive.

Still, the heat outside my influence was not survivable and so we had fled toward the exit, each step we took casting up choking clouds of ash. No monsters troubled us, either fled or consumed by a heat greater than they could endure. Firi and I took turns cooling the air, and we only managed to touch a single monument because it was directly by the path.

Only the dregs of our mana remained when we finally stumbled through one of the portals. Sadly, it wasn’t the correct one, but we cared little as we heaved breaths of cool clean air.

Well, we cared little until we had to do it again, and again.

We were on our sixth attempt now, only able to increase our odds of success by touching whatever monuments were close enough to see in the smoke as we ran for the exit. We were simply fortunate that this layer of the Wandering Woods was as simple as the first two. A slightly wandering path through the woods that lead straight to the exit. Though the path on this level was quite long, going on for what felt like a dozen miles. The haze and heat of the level made it feel endless.

Just like the Wandering Woods.

How long have we been here?

My thoughts drifted with every step, shifting like the endless churning of smoke and seething orange ray of light. The familiarity lulled me to reflection, absent but ready to snap back into alertness at any moment. Even dodging streaks of fire had become a thoughtless task.

The first layer of the forest had been nothing, just primer for everything that came next; a mere introduction to prepare us.

The second layer had proven no more difficult to us than the first, though it taught some degree of situational awareness.

No… It was the third layer where the woods had truly started to wander. The sun had dropped down to an endless sunset over a barren wood. The trees were naught but grasping hands in the fading light, casting out their long shadows in lines across the cold ground in alternating black and red.

And it was cold, the air carrying the chill of the stillness that came before storms carried ice and snow across the world.

And for the first time, the woods had wandered. The path had broken into a dozen smaller paths that diverged into their own canyons beneath the ever present barrier of thorns.

The fourth came as a still and snowy night. Stars glittered overhead with silent intensity, pale against the silver glory of an interloper.

A full moon, according to my identification. I still remembered it.

Moon (Full)

Name: Luna

A smaller celestial body that revolves around a planet. A moon’s shine comes from reflecting the light of the sun or other light sources. The position of the moon, relative to the planet, determines the proportion that is lit or in shadow when viewed from a terrestrial location.

This moon is a replica from the dungeon’s own nostalgic memory.

Such a strange thing, hanging in serene glory in the artificial sky. And such a strange message.

The identification had felt… odd. I could feel a resonance to it. I had only received the last line because I was connected to the dungeon. I… had felt a piece of his longing in my soul.

I didn’t even understand what it meant.

Not even Inda had heard of a moon, and she was the most educated among us by far.

How old is this dungeon?

Had there been a moon orbiting our world, once upon a time? And was it the embodiment of a god, like the maw and the sun? And… if so, where had the god gone?

The snow and trees were cast into monochrome beneath the moon’s pale gaze, leaving us to amble through the silver snow and deep shadows. The snow varied between barely reaching our ankles to drifts that could have buried us.

Though, there was still fruit. Ready for us to harvest and crisp with flowing juices. Eating a meal of jerky and fresh fruit beneath the peaceful moon had stirred something primal in me. An urge to hunt silently in the icy woods.

The fifth layer still had a moon, though it hung lower in the sky and was only half full. The moon changed halfway from argent light to perfect shadow like a great beast had cut part from the sky, hoarding its light away for itself.

The figures started there.

Already, we had dealt with many animals. Each layer grew in difficulty; the animals growing stronger and more numerous, though even on that layer they were stationary and territorial. And now, amidst the shadows, trees and stones became impressions of monstrous forms.

They were only suggestions, there. A tree that looked like a face from the corner of our eyes. A rock and shadow that implied a monstrous clawed hand. Each was easy to dismiss once you saw it properly.

We left the haunted night into the misty morning of the sixth, as greenery returned to the trees.

The figures didn’t stop, growing more defined and easier to confuse in the light haze.

And stalking amid the mist, real monsters wandered the woods for the first time. They were skyrays, mostly, sweeping through the misty air and trailing clouds of condensing water in their wake.

The first we saw was a bird-wing blue-fade skyray. Its body carried the suggestion of something sleek, its head the same profile as a ferret, and with two wings rising up from its nonexistent shoulders. The wings were black on their front edge, fading into a pale blue as they reached the back. Its body, black and palest blue, ended in two tiny fins that protruded below like stubby feet; a single short fin above acted as an equally stubby tail. From a distance, the blue faded into the mist, leaving the ray as nothing more than disconnected outlines.

Those outlines had made it look much like the shadowy impressions of monsters.

The seventh layer took the half-obscuring mist of the sixth and made it full.

Fog, thick and impenetrable, turned the daylight to gloom and caused sound to echo and muffle unpredictably.

The eight layer turned the mist to rain.

Mud churned beneath our feet with every step and rain fell constantly. More intense cloudbursts fell upon the forest like hammers, causing brief floods and turning visibility to no more than vague blurs.

Finally, on the ninth layer, the layer just before this one, we encountered fire.

The increased visibility and dry air had seemed a blessing at first. At least until we found glades of forest burning, with skyrays merrily emerging to spread lines of fire across the underbrush.

Though we didn’t realize it at the time, that layer was preparing us for this one. Any monument the fire reached, would burn out and stop functioning. And, unlike the present, second, and first layers, it was still broken into a dozen-odd branching paths.

We had needed to go swiftly, touching monuments as we could and exploring to find the finish as fast as possible, racing against the flames inevitable destruction of the monuments.

We had gotten unlucky there.

Until then it wasn’t terribly uncommon to miss some monuments or to find several that were broken and inoperable. We never went through a layer less than twice, and either we had been exceptionally unlucky or it was designed that way.

Last layer, however, we had done fourteen times before we emerged onto this tenth one.

It was hard to say exactly how long we had been here. Our best guess was somewhere between ten and twenty days. Gurek said twenty, while Inda said ten. At this point I was pretty sure their guesses and the subsequent bickering were just something to do as we camped in the root tunnel at the end of each day.

Over the course of all the many layers, all my other party members had gained a level. I wasn’t expecting to gain one yet, having leveled up when I gained my new class. Fighting against the constant impairments to my vision had increased my Improved Sight II up to III, however. Plus my Endurance Boost general skill had also improved from so much running and hiking.

Adversity does have its rewards.

My thoughts flickered away as I refocused, we were getting close to the end of the path. The path might be slightly different each time, but we had each started to memorize its approximate length.

The end soon came, each of us having slightly more energy in our step.

Ahead of us, the final clearing waited. The exact nature of each had varied by layer. This one was accessed by following the path into the split trunk of an enormous dead tree.

The forest fire had risen to a dull road behind us, only a minute away from sweeping over us and burying us beneath an inferno of black and red.

A second red night manta wove through the air lazily, but with the end in sight, Firi was already charging up disks of glowing light.

With no more need to conserve mana the two disks spun out through the air lazily, each arcing toward their respective target in a slow glide. Both of the mantas drifted to the side contemptuously, dismissing the projectiles. At least until each one came back around and impacted the top of both in a frozen explosion of ice and light.

If the manta’s weren’t so high in the air, it was unlikely the impact would have been fatal against their large bodies. However, the drop worked against them as they spiraled down in uncontrolled descents, their frozen skin too stiff to move. By the time their skin had started to even begin thawing, they were impacting against the hard surfaces below.

One of the mantas was actually unlucky enough to impale itself on a protruding tree branch. Reflexively its wings had drawn together and set the branch on fire. We all winced at its shrieks as it started to cook itself.

A rock from Inda put it out of its misery.

We ran through the gap, the fire not far behind.

We emerged into a clearing, ten portals briefly showing, before six of them closed and showed their various symbols. It was obvious now that at least some of them were clues to the contents of the various layers. Showing now on the six sealed portals were: sun, cascade, cavern, snowflake, flame, and arbor.

Each of the portals was as good as another, but it was Gurek’s turn to pick. I had set it up that way after it would obvious we would be here a while. Only fair to share both the blame and the successes for our guesses.

He hesitated for a moment, but he finally pointed to the far right, the portal on the very end.

We walked through, following Gurek, and the familiar tunnel was ahead of us once again.

We wearily walked forward, turning the corners, until I bumped into Gurek after he turned once again.

I stopped short, finally seeing what Gurek had seen. Ahead of us the corridor turned into a room, with a numbered door.

I had never been so happy to see a room and door in my entire life.