Chapter 32

  Traps and Treachery

  Odai strode into the training hall and waited. Despite the size of the place, Yan was the only person here. She moved in total silence, striking targets, flipping through the air, and trailing energy as she practiced the techniques. It only took her a few minutes to complete her round, then she landed before her father. “What?” She asked.

  “You aren’t even panting.” Odai said. “Good. The stamina training was well worth it.”

  “Really? Praise? What are you really here for, Dad?” Yan asked.

  “There’s been a change of schedule. You must master everything in the next three days.” Odai said.

  Yan took a step back in alarm, “You’re joking! I had a week left! And that was ridiculous, how am I supposed to master everything in only three days?!”

  “There’s no room for complaints, it needs to be done.” Odai said. “You should use that cloning technique you learned. Speed up your training by training using it.”

  “It doesn’t work like that, it's a power from a Zori.” Yan said, creating an Energy Double. “All it does is let me swap places.”

  “That’s all you use it for.” Odai picked up a small weight and tossed it to the Double. Yan’s double was able to catch and hold the weight. “But it can interact with the world, so it should be able to train.”

  “She’s not an it, the double is still me.” Yan said. “And I told you, that’s not how it works.”

  “Do you really think Zori and People are the same?” Odai asked.

  “No, of course not.” Yan said.

  “So why would a power work the same for you as it did for a Zori? Just because it came from that Zori does not mean you can’t make it your own.” Odai said. “Training is everything. Master your Energy Double power, and Master all of the techniques.”

  “Even if you say that, I’m going to burn out.” Yan said.

  “I’ve taken care of that as well.” Odai said. He withdrew a box and handed it to Yan.

  Inside the box was a strange shaped white gi. Yan examined it with curious eyes, then realized what it was. “One of the enchanted relics great-grandfather made?”

  “Yes.” Odai said.

  “But, isn’t it fragile? And, unique.” Yan said.

  “One of a kind.” Odai said. “Use it. Master everything. I will leave you to it, I have to go make an appearance.”

  Odai turned and left the training hall. Yan looked over the object once more. Her Great-Grandfather had left the clan during the Broken Times to pursue a life as a scholar, returning here and there to give things to the village. Then he vanished, never to be heard from again. Yan changed into the gi, and felt her fatigue fading away. “Okay.” Yan said, more determined than ever, “I can do this.”

  The Trial of Stealth took place in a large crater that had long been overgrown with grass. Dozens of statues no larger than a barrel dotted the crater, forming barriers and marking steps between different levels of the place. The statues were caricatures of frogs, foxes, bears, wolves, fish, birds, and other animals, all rounded in an artful way. The place was reminiscent of a large graveyard, if you didn’t look too close.

  A sturdy fence surrounded the crater, and the various onlookers of the Trial stood around it, peering over to watch the Trial. At the entrance to the trial site, Sebastian stood with Aeroth. “Let me explain the rules this time.” Aeroth said. “The Trial of Stealth takes place within this crater. The objective is to find the hidden object, in this case a small blue crystal comb, that I have hidden. You must do so while avoiding the various traps hidden within.”

  “Do I lose if I trigger a trap?” Sebastian asked.

  “Not for every trap. Some will be a nuisance, and some will be worse. There are traps that will destroy the objective, which will cause you to lose. And if you are unable to continue you will lose as well.” Aeroth said.

  “Using traps instead of people to make a standard test with no bias or skill discrepancy. I like it.” Sebastian said, smiling.

  Aeroth did not seem moved by the compliment. “Are you ready?”

  “Yes.” With Sebastian’s confirmation, Aeroth stood aside and allowed the Evari tactician into the Trial site.

  “Begin.” Aeroth said.

  Sebastian took a step forward, and his foot plunged into the ground. A pitfall from the get-go, Sebastian managed to catch his balance and pull free before his leg got stuck. “I see.” Sebastian said, looking around.

  Grass was growing in thick clusters around the base of each of the statues. Faint green mildew discolored the dark grey stone, which had the same texture as the monolith from the previous test. Between the statues, the grasses, and the sunken pavers in the crater, there were many places to hide a pressure plate or tripwire. Sebastian had done many things, but disarming traps was not one of them.

  He took a closer look at the area around. Using his mystic sight did not reveal anything of note, so Sebastian infused his eyes with a bit of energy. The enhanced focus of the empowered eyes did not reveal anything he was unaware of either. Sebastian didn’t see any tracks left behind by Aeroth either, no clues to lead him to where the comb might be located.

  This was no good, Sebastian’s training didn’t prepare him for finding traps. He tried to think of what the most logical places to have traps would be, the places where they would be most inconvenient. With that in mind, he took a careful step forth. Nothing happened, so he took another.

  No traps were sprung, but moving one careful step at a time would get him nowhere fast. Sebastian’s mind raced, he needed a way to find something hidden away with no trace. Of course, that kind of a skill would be...

  An idea made Sebastian blink. A long time ago, a few years, he did learn a skill for finding impossible to find items. Sebastian raised one hand, and from it came a pulse of blue energy. The pulse extended out like an invisible sphere with a faint blue line around it. The pulse struck the statues, the grass, the ground, all around Sebastian in a few feet range. Two of the statues pinged back a small pulse, and a few places on the ground did as well.

  After deliberating for a moment, Sebastian moved. He stepped in places where there had been no return ping, and nothing more happened. With a smirk, Sebastian stepped over to one of the statues that pinged.

  The statue, huh. Was it possible touching the statue was a trap? That didn’t seem like an ordinary way to go about it. Sebastian rested one hand on the statue, and nothing triggered. Pleased, he began searching the small frog, touching at various places of the statues head.

  As he ran his fingers along it, something moved. Sebastian found the wiggle space, and prodded at it once more. There was more movement, so he prodded harder.

  Part of the statue’s head rotated, and a dart shot out. Sebastian’s tendency to flinch saved his hand from being stuck, just in time. “Traps... and hidden compartments.” Sebastian looked around the crater. The comb could be beneath a paver, or hidden in a thicket of grass. Now he also had to look for it in the statues. “Well, better keep going.” Sebastian let out that pulse of energy again.

  Michael, Wolf, and Hyato watched the Trial from above. “What’s he doing?” Michael asked.

  “No idea.” Wolf said, “But he’s moving faster, so it's a good thing.”

  “It’s a Dungeoneering skill.” Hyato said.

  “Really?” Michael asked, “You sure?”

  “Yes.” Hyato said.

  “You’re a Delver, Hyato?” Wolf asked.

  “Nope.” Hyato said. Wolf started to laugh.

  Sebastian pulsed out the dungeoneering skill and avoided each place where it returned a ping. The pings were traps, Sebastian would have to assume as much for now. After examining the crater he determined that the center was the best place to go to first. There was a crosspath in the middle of the crater that led to all of the other sections of the Trial.

  The center of the crater was almost in reach when Sebastian’s leg caught on something, a trip wire that hadn’t pinged back! Sebastian fell forth, and in a sudden wild flinch of self preservation his arms lashed out to catch two nearby statues. Slapping his hands into stone stung.

  It took all of Sebastian’s arm strength to keep himself from slamming into the ground. He didn’t want to fall onto some other trap and get messed up. With a deep inhale of air, Sebastian prepared to push free. As he exhaled he pushed hard on the statues to get to his feet. His right hand slipped, triggering a moving plate on the statue connected to it. A sudden spray of something vile shot from the statue of the bird, splattering Sebastian’s hand! Whatever it was, it stung like a burn!

  “Ow! Owowow!” Sebastian danced to his feet and shook his right hand while keeping it as far away from him as possible. Bits of the acid sprayed onto his arm and shirt, and they didn’t stop burning. Seeing as thrashing wasn’t working, Sebastian conjured elemental water around his hand and arm. It wasn’t perfect, but the pain lessened.

  Clenching his jaw, Sebastian fired off the pulse again, and paid more attention to where he stepped. Each step he took towards the center was made with more care than before, to avoid any more mishaps.

  After reaching the center Sebastian began to head around in a general search pattern, to sweep around in case he noticed something. After a few minutes of this, a ping echoed back. This one rang out with a clear crisp tone. Just the sound of it made Sebastian think of a crystal growth, he’d bet this was the comb.

  He followed the ping to a small dead end section of statues. There were three large statues the size of a torso, and several smaller ones. On the right was a statue depicting a cat, and surrounding it were a dozen small statues of kittens. On the left was a statue of a falcon, along with several statues of eggs. The ping rang true from the statue straight ahead, the statue of a hare, surrounded by statues of tiny snowmen.

  From all the other statues, as well as from the pavers in the ground and the grass, numerous other pings returned to Sebastian’s pulse. He could tell the arctic hare was the objective, but the sheer density of traps was disconcerting. He wouldn’t be able to avoid them as he had been.

  “How do I do this...” Sebastian wondered aloud, looking around. Nothing obvious jumped out at him. These ninja and their subtlety. Sebastian rubbed his chin.

  If he were Hyato, Sebastian could weave through the traps in the narrow empty spaces without issue. Michael could jump over this, so could Yan for that matter. Wolf might not be a good example to think about here.

  It was none of Sebastian’s allies that created this puzzle, it was Aeroth. Yan’s younger brother, a traditional ninja set on keeping to the rules. He was stoic, but that seemed like a facade. Sebastian could tell Aeroth had the same curiosity that Yan did, he just suppressed it. Why? To please his father? For the village?

  Sebastian didn’t know Aeroth well enough to be making judgements. He just needed to figure out how the man would put something like this together. Sebastian looked up at the crowd watching and spotted Aeroth. The son of the Ninja Chief stood watching, his face falling to a stoic mask. He hid his emotions before Sebastian had a chance to detect them.

  If Sebastian was right, some of these traps would destroy the objective. Triggering one might set it off, that was not a risk he could take. So he changed his focus. Sebastian pulsed again, and looked at the groupings of traps. Many of them were close enough to be considered in range of the Hare. Two clusters of pings weren’t connected. Sebastian didn’t know what these traps were, but he needed to make a move. He hopped to the disconnected cluster nearer to the Hare. “If this breaks the comb, I’ll lose!” He said, willing to risk it.

  Landing on the plate set off a series of clicks all around. With that brief warning, traps around Sebastian sprang to life! A tangle of ropes shot out of a kitten, freezing water splashed up from the ground, small whips lashed out from the grasses, and a kunai fired from a distant egg statue! Each of the traps made Sebastian want to flinch, to jump and flee from the danger. If he did that, he would be out of reach, and might trigger another trap. Sebastian closed his eyes, remaining rooted to the ground.

  A myriad of pains spiked at Sebastian’s ankles and calves. The ropes swung about his legs, but he didn't try to move so didn’t topple. The freezing water dug at the small cuts in his skin from the whips. Why did he have to wear shorts today, of all days? The kunai knife grazed the back of Sebastian’s left calf. If he had flinched away it would have been a direct hit. In this case, only a small cut. Sebastian ground his teeth together, hissing from the pain, and leaned forth.

  With his burned right hand bracing him up from the arctic hare, Sebastian leaned in to search with his undamaged left. He took deep breaths into his nose, trying to dull the pain as he searched. The little grass whips continued to lash at him, but something moved on the back of the statue!

  Sebastian gave the hare a firm prod, and a compartment opened up. His right hand shook as he reached inside, then his fear faded. Sebastian grabbed the smooth item he felt inside and withdrew it from the statue, holding it aloft! Clutched in his hand was an elegant blue comb that refracted light in every direction from it's crystalline surface!

  A series of clicks danced through the crater, and the whip trap stopped lashing. Tripwires lost their tension and pressure plates shifted all about the place. The traps were disarmed. Sebastian chuckled and looked all around at the crowd. “I won!” He declared.

  The cheering started before he finished his sentence. Jess and Lin hopped the fence and rushed over to Sebastian, each giving him a short hug. Jess undid the ropes around his legs for him. The villagers continued to cheer. Most of them were teens or young adults, Michael noticed.

  “Well done.” Aeroth said, though only Michael and Hyato heard him. The crowd seemed all too intent on cheering for things like victory praise.

  “Well, that’s the last challenge.” Michael said, pumping his fist into the air. “We can finally continue our journey!” Sebastian walked over from the trial site, smiling as he listened in.

  “Yes!” Wolf said, “The open road. Danger all around, mystery and adventure! Gah haaa!” Wolf cackled, leaning back to face the sky. Michael laughed, and Hyato smirked.

  “You will not be leaving yet.” Everyone gathered turned to Chief Odai as he arrived. “Congratulations on finishing the last Trial. I am impressed.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “What do you mean, we can’t leave?” Michael asked, stepping forward to stand before Odai. The chief of the Ninjas was a little taller than Michael, and looked impassive.

  “Due to the ruling of the Elders, you are tasked with carrying out one final Trial. Should you pass this one, then you will be free to leave as you desire.” Odai said.

  “That wasn’t what you told us before!” Michael said, scowling at the leader of the clan. “We completed the four trials that ninja use to prove themselves as adults. We earned our way forward.”

  “Yes. And you have done very well.” Odai said. “However, the Elders have made a decision. In three days, one of your number shall undergo the Trial of Combat.” The villagers listening began to whisper among themselves, frantic surprise moving through the crowd. “Should you manage to win, your information will be provided.” Odai had a serious look in his eye, but for a moment Michael saw... a pleading look?

  “Well...” Michael said. “Who are we fighting?”

  “First off, should you fail to defeat your opponent, you will not have a second try.” Odai said. “And the fighter you select shall go up against our strongest warrior.”

  Tension overtook the crowd, and Michael frowned. Sebastian rubbed at his chin, wondering what kind of warrior they would go up against. Wolf grinned, and Hyato seemed unmoved. Michael wondered if Hyato had already seen the battle.

  “Three days.” Odai repeated, turning away from everyone. “You’d best be ready.” The leader of the ninja clan departed.

  Michael paced back and forth in the training yard behind the house the party was residing. The sense of triumph he felt had faded into tension. “This is a problem.” He muttered, “What are we going to do?”

  “We’ll win!” Wolf said, lounging on the porch. “I can defeat their warrior no problem.”

  “But what if you lose?” Michael said. “Then we will be thrown out of the village! With no information! And we have to wait three days?!”

  “Train.” Hyato said, while lounging in a hammock. “Prepare for the battle.”

  “I’ll go talk to the Elders.” Michael said, “I’ll get them to change their mind. I can redo all the Trials instead.”

  “They won't see you.” Jess said. She sat on one of the jumping stones watching Michael freak out, “They won’t see any of the outsiders.”

  “Why are you so worried, Michael?” Lin asked. “You seemed so confident before.” She sat at the table next to Sebastian, growing concern on her face.

  “If we lose, and we’re kicked out, they won’t let Yan leave again.” Michael said, grinding his teeth. “It doesn’t matter if we don’t get the information to navigate the mountains, our friend is being held hostage in her own village.”

  Jess and Lin both dropped their gazes, and the others were silent. Sebastian rubbed at his chin. “Still, I don’t see any alternatives.” He said, Michael glared at him. “Calm down. Just hear me out.”

  “If we are forced to undergo the Trial of Combat we had better prepare for it.” Sebastian said. “We need to get stronger, to start with. We can decide who is going to do the battle the day of, but we should train.”

  “We have been training,” Michael said, “It’s not fast enough.”

  “I will agree with you there.” Sebastian said. “Sparring is a good way to get stronger fast. Even faster would be killing Zori, but we can’t leave the village. That’s not an option.”

  “Sparring then.” Michael said, drawing his sword.

  “Food first.” Sebastian said. “You didn’t do a Trial today, but we all did. I’m certainly hungry after all that searching I did.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Wolf stood up and went into the house. Michael frowned, but sheathed his sword and turned towards the training facilities.

  “Speaking of searching, what was that energy wave spell you were using in the Trial?” Lin asked. “It made the statues all go ‘booong!’ It was really cool.”

  “Ah, that was an Arkpulse. It’s not a spell, it’s a skill. I picked it up back when I did some dungeon delving. It’s used to find hidden objects and passages within the dungeons, very handy. I was pleasantly surprised to find it worked in the trial.”

  “You did delving?” Hyato asked, “You didn’t tell us about that.”

  “It wasn’t really enough to be noteworthy.” Sebastian said.

  “Dungeon Delving.” Lin said, “That sounds like a really cool adventuring activity. I wanna go delving.”

  “There’s a dungeon in the village.” Jess said as a bit of trivia, “Sometimes monsters escape from it and give the people some trouble. Usually quiet though.”

  Sebastian rose to his feet, “There’s a dungeon entrance in the village?!”

  Jess blinked, straightening her back up some, “Uh yeah...”

  “That could be perfect.” Sebastian rubbed his chin again, “Training in a dungeon, that could get us stronger much faster than sparring.” Michael turned from his training, then exploded a failed tech and tumbled across the yard.

  Landing at Sebastian’s feet, Michael looked up. “Faster than sparring?”

  Sebastian crouched down and ruffled Michael’s hair, “That’s right. At least twice as fast. And fighting different types of enemies will be good too.”

  “Let’s do it!” Michael said, grinning, “Let’s go to the dungeon.”

  “Ohh, I wanna go to the dungeon.” Lin said.

  “Well you should come too. And you too Jess, if you’re willing.” Sebastian said. “A party of four is good enough, but six improves our odds even more. And I can teach you both some new skills at the same time.”

  “Really!?” Lin hopped in place, a wild grin on her face.

  “Sure.” Jess said, hopping down from the jumping stone. “Sounds like a plan.”

  “Food first.” Sebastian said, helping Michael to his feet. “Then we go dungeon delving.” Michael nodded and entered the house, followed by Sebastian, Lin, and Jess. After another few moments of lounging Hyato sighed and joined them.

  Through the grove of indigo blossoms, around the chasm of agility, and past a field of peach trees, the party reached the other end of the canyon that made up the lands of the Aeronemar Clan. There were few houses out here, but there was a small lake and bamboo grove. Jess led everyone around the lake and down a slope into the bamboo thickets.

  “It’s just ahead,” Jess said as she led the party down a dirt road with logs inset to form a natural staircase. They wound their way down along the path, where less grass grew, and many mossy boulders stood from the ground like jagged teeth. Moss coated the rocks, and the landscape was dotted with small clusters of crystals. The sunlight was sparse in the area, the tall bamboo casting long shadows. Amongst the myriad boulders there was a building that stood out.

  The structure did not resemble its surroundings in any fashion. It was made of a dark blue material that looked like neither stone nor metal, yet had a solidity to it that rivaled both. The surface of the structure was unmarred by weathering or even moss. Grooves were cut into the surface, drawing rigid lines in an unfamiliar geometric pattern that seemed decorative. The edges of the building were beveled in a uniform manner. The overall spotless appearance made the dungeon entrance seem like an illusion. It was a cube shaped building with an angled roof and no door at the front. The interior was a staircase leading down, the walls and ceiling of the corridor made of the same dark blue material.

  “That’s a dungeon alright.” Sebastian said. “Eerie how immaculate they can seem.”

  “How is that possible?” Wolf asked.

  “I would tell you if I knew." Sebastian said. "The dungeons are old. Older than the erasure of history with the Ancient war, older than the lost era of Skye, older than the Heroes of Paragon. Their method of construction has long been lost to the world."

  "Geez. Why were they built?" Wolf asked, "Err. That's a stupid question, I guess we don't know."

  "They were built to escape some threat to the world." Sebastian said, "And then later abandoned."

  "We should proceed if we are going to delve it." Hyato said. "Stop stalling."

  "I wasn't stalling!" Wolf said, folding his arms.

  Jess strode forth and peered down the staircase. “What kind of dangers lie ahead?”

  “I don’t know.” Sebastian said, “So proceed with caution.” He moved to head down the stairs, sending out an arkpulse along the stairs. Seeming satisfied, he continued. The others followed.

  A full story down into the earth the part way met with a door. The entrance to the dungeon was a sleek black arched door with dozens of indecipherable runes on it. Sebastian looked at the runes, rubbing his chin. “Seems to be a puzzle.”

  Lin and Michael looked at the door too, while Wolf, Jess, and Hyato loitered. Michael tried to make sense of the runes, but wasn’t sure where to start. Lin looked them over and then reached forth to touch the door. The rune she touched lit up. “Oh!” The rune stayed lit for a few seconds, then faded.

  “Good idea Lin.” Sebastian said, “Could have been a big risk, but it worked out.” He hummed and looked over the door, then smiled. “I see it.”

  Sebastian pressed the door in six spots, six identical runes. A faint whirring click reverberated through the door, and a section of the door opened to reveal a handle. “So it was the ones that matched?” Lin asked.

  “Seems to be the case, this time.” Sebastian said. He opened the door.

  A short corridor stretched forth. The walls and ceiling seemed to be made of shifting light on dark glass, and the floor was blurry. Everyone paused, save for Sebastian. He took a step inside. “Dungeons that are still in a fluctuating state always start like this.” He said. “Even if we clear the dungeon, it will reset some time after we leave.”

  “What?!” Jess said, “Then even if we clear it the village won't be safe from things escaping?”

  “It can be cleared permanently, but we have to find out how inside.” Sebastian said. “That’s where my skill comes in handy. To earn it you need to delve enough, but I already learned it, so I can search for secrets. Come on, we don’t have all day.” He beckoned everyone into the corridor.

  “We kind of do.” Wolf said, grinning as he stepped in.

  “You know what I meant.” Sebastian said. The party entered the corridor and walked through to the other door, which was already unlocked. The entrance behind them closed. “Be on guard everyone.” Sebastian said. Michael drew his sword, Lin and Jess drew kunai, Wolf rolled his wrists and took a stance. Hyato waited at the back of the narrow corridor, and Sebastian opened the door.

  The doorway rushed through them, and the party found themselves in the first room of the dungeon. Five walls made up the room in a pentagon, with the farthest wall being the longest. Three pillars stood from floor to ceiling in the room, each with a section missing out of them in the middle. There were no enemies.

  Hyato and Jess did not drop their guard, but Michael took a step forward, looking around. The dungeon interior was constructed of the same blue material, with smooth indents in the walls and floor in various places. Cubes of the same material, in various muted colors, sat on the floor of the room in various places. There were no light sources, but a shadow fell at everyone’s feet, discoloring the floor a small amount. “Where is the light coming from?”

  “Seems to be everything.” Lin says, “A small amount of light from every surface, with less on the floor.”

  “It’s pretty weird alright.” Wolf said. “And there’s no door. Just a bunch of cubes.” He looked around and counted. “Eleven of them.” He picked up one of the cubes, testing the weight.

  "The cubes are the same size as the gaps in the pillars." Lin pointed out. "Maybe that's the puzzle."

  "But there are more cubes than pillars." Jess said.

  Lin grabbed a cube off the ground. "Just means we can take some with us in case we find pillars further ahead." Lin walked over to the central pillar and pushed the cube into the gap. The cube slid in and locked into place with a mechanical click.

  A thrum of force buzzed in the walls to the left and right. A dark blotch formed and grew to a narrow diamond shape on both walls. The blotch grew clearer, then emerged from the wall!

  Two entities appeared. Their bodies seemed similar to the walls, yet gave off sparks of white energy. They were slender frames of metal making up a tall diamond shape. Within the frames was a glowing orb that gave off the crackle of energy, and they floated a few feet off the ground. Before the party could question what they were, one of them glowed a furious red and a beam of energy shot from it.

  The energy beam hit Lin, who flinched away and dropped into a combat stance. "Foes!" She hissed.

  "Take this!" Wolf slammed an elecrafted club made of amber flames into the diamond foe. The fires did little to its body, but the impact knocked the enemy aside. It swayed and swerved, but did not fall.

  Hyato crouched and vanished, appearing behind the other foe with the Flash Blade technique. The attack left a cut on the frame. "Tch." Hyato said.

  "Attack the core!" Jess said, throwing her kunai into the enemy. Her accuracy was true as she struck the glowing orb at the center of the thing. The kunai punctured it, but didn’t go very deep. The glow of the orb changed to an angry red.

  Bolts of energy lashed out between the two diamond entities, spreading to arc along the room and hit with indiscriminate voltage. Jess, Lin, Wolf, and Michael were all caught up in the blast! The four who were struck twitched, their bodies convulsing in pain. Michael felt sparks racing through his muscles, causing him to spasm and lose his balance.

  Hyato struck with his sword, stabbing through one of the foes. His blade cut through the core and he swung to the left with a two handed swing, causing the little thing to slam into the wall and crack open. It’s glow went out.

  The remaining diamond entity turned towards Hyato, but was struck from behind by Sebastian. The sneak attack using the very kunai left lodged in the thing, and a pillar of water, shattered the enemy. The two foes shrank into motes of energy and dissipated into the air.

  Panting, Sebastian handed the kunai back to Jess. “Arkwardens.” Sebastian said. He helped Jess to her feet, and the four who had been attacked had shaken off the muscle spasms. “The enemies found in dungeons are called Arkwardens. An Arkwarden is some kind of guardian left behind by the original creators, and warped by whatever warped the dungeons. You can treat them like Zori. Eliminate them without holding back, they are monsters.”

  “Could have told us before.” Wolf complained.

  “I’ve never encountered one.” Sebastian said, “The delving I did was free of foes. I dealt with traps, puzzles, and challenges.”

  “What do you mean by challenges?” Lin asked.

  “Things like, jumping across narrow posts or doing something with the right timing.” Sebastian said, “Challenges of skill, in various ways.” Sebastian took a drink of his water bottle. “You guys work on the puzzle. I am going to try to find hidden things with Arkpulse.”

  “You’re the smartest one here, why not help with the puzzle?” Wolf asked.

  “Gives me a chance to try anyways.” Michael said, stepping over to the pillar and removing the cube. “Puzzles sound fun.” Examining the cube, Michael found that four sides were smooth. The other two sides, which were opposite of one another, each had a faint textured pattern to them. One was wavy, the other a crosshatch. The cube Michael held was mauve in color. “Patterns.” Michael said aloud.

  Lin and Jess crowded around the cube, so Michael showed them what he had found. “Patterns on two sides.” Jess said. “What about the others?” She walked over to a moss colored cube and examined it. “This one has patterns on two sides too! A bumpy dots side, and a triangle pattern.”

  “Well, these ones have patterns too.” Hyato says. “What do they mean?”

  “Just another part of the puzzle.” Michael said. “The cubes have patterns, like the front door had patterns.” He glanced over at the pillars. “I don't see any patterns on the pillar. That’s where the cubes go, right?”

  Jess and Wolf went over to the pillars and began poking around. Wolf used flames to check the inside of the cube slot, while Jess examined the exterior. They both looked around, then Jess gasped. “The ceiling!” She said, pointing up.

  “And the floor.” Wolf said, crouching to the base of the pillar. “Patterns here.”

  “Alright, match the patterns with the floor and ceiling patterns.” Michael said. The party checked over the cubes along with the patterns found on the floor and ceiling of the pillars. Hyato stood guard in case more Arkwardens arrived, while Sebastian walked around and tried out his pulse skill.

  Sebastian pulsed near the wall, and a ping returned. There was something here, something that seemed like it would move. The evari tactician pressed his hand to the smooth dungeon wall and felt along it. A section of the wall caught, so Sebastian applied a little more force.

  The wall slid, revealing a small nook. Glowing runes flickered inside, suspended in the air like tiny clouds of steam. Sebastian watched as the three runes changed into letters in Seran, the language he was most familiar with. ‘ZUR’

  “Wonder what that means.” Sebastian said, noting it down. A heavy clicking sounded from behind and Sebastian turned to see the others. They had just affixed a cube in each of the pillars, and a door appeared. Sebastian felt a flow of accomplishment as the puzzle was solved, Synergy flowed into him.

  “Woah, I feel great!” Lin said as Sebastian rejoined the group. “Our Synergy grows when we complete puzzles?”

  “When we complete rooms.” Sebastian clarified, “We can proceed now.”

  “How many rooms are there in a dungeon?” Wolf asked, rolling his shoulders and stretching as the party gathered up and made ready to proceed.

  “That depends on the dungeon.” Sebastian said, “I’ve heard that most tier one dungeons have three to eight rooms. The higher tiers are bigger.”

  “What tier is this dungeon?” Hyato asked.

  “Tier one dungeons are any dungeon that connects to the surface of Iagorothi.” Sebastian said. “Since we entered from outside, this is a tier one.” He opened the door.

  “There are dungeons that don’t connect to the surface?” Michael asked.

  “It is said that you can reach any dungeon through any other dungeon. There are secret doors that lead to entirely different dungeons scattered about. There are dungeons all over the world, and they all connect in a vast underground network. That’s why Pro Delvers can spend months or years in the dungeons.” Sebastian opened the door. “We should just focus on this one. We can get stronger fast. If we find a secret door, we won’t go through.”

  The party stepped through the door into a wide octagonal room. There were six pillars in the room, each larger than the ones prior. As the party entered the room fully, the door closed and the walls sunk away. Behind the party and all around was a deep chasm, an impossible drop into darkness. The party were stranded on a plateau, and they were not alone.

  From each of the six pillars stepped an Arkwarden. They looked like suits of armor, too thin to be worn and wrought with interlocking chains at the joints. They each had a diamond shaped head and pointed legs that hovered just above the ground. Two were armed with triangular shields and blades that crackled with energy. Two more stood back, holding long spears with orbs of glowing fire at the ends. The fifth Arkwarden was taller than the others. It had a huge crescent on its head, like horns on a helmet. There was a violence to the red glow of the orb contained within its head.

  The sixth Arkwarden smashed the pillar that it emerged from. It was wider than the others, bigger. It looked like armor that could be worn by three men at once, and hefted the pillar over its shoulder as a weapon. The foes took combat stances, as did Hyato, Michael, and Wolf.

  “Looks like we got a boss fight!” Wolf said, a wild grin on his face.