Apparently, that was not an appropriate use of the expletive. I disagreed, but perhaps they knew better. Manny found it amusing enough to tell me I was on the right tracks.
The flame flickering across my blade extinguished with a thought, and I looked back down at my arm. It looked as though there would be a recovery period, as the small vial of previously amber liquid was now mostly clear. Right at the edge was a sliver of the orange color, slowly expanding.
“So, did you just spontaneously learn magic?” Lore was still grimacing at my use of the uncouth word. “How does your Class work?”
In truth, I did not know if I even had a Class the same as these adventurers. Even with the help of a mirror, I could not use my Identification on myself. It wasn’t magic, or at least, it wasn’t the kind that the Arcanist could use.
“I am an incomplete vessel.” I felt my eyes dull and look at little lower as I opened up to them. “Through collecting the souls of the fallen, I able to unlock or upgrade parts of myself.”
Manny came up on my left side. “Why did your creator make you that way? Why not have everything from the start?”
“There is no answer I could provide you that would not include speculation of intent I was not privy to.” I shrugged. “Perhaps it is a test to prove I am worthy of my full potential.”
“Cruel, in a way.” Daniel ducked beneath the bough of a tree as we passed. “But often great warriors much overcome challenges to flourish.”
“Like you?” Kate rolled her eyes. “Less poetry, more talking about the dungeon.”
I fell into a comfortable silence as the group talked back and forth. Considering my interactions with the living prior to meeting them, I was pleasantly surprised with how easy they were to be around. They made me feel welcome.
“How do you get your next upgrade?” Lore had stayed by my side as the other three argued amongst themselves about the prospect of doing the dungeon.
“I require fourteen further souls for my Class Upgrade, and I can currently purchase minor skills for five souls each.”
“Huh.” He adjusted his glasses and pulled a face that I was unable to read. “I reckon we could get you that in the dungeon. We attempted it before and it gets a bit dicey with only Dan taking aggro. With both of you it should be less… dangerous.”
Despite his persistent choice to badger me, I was growing to accept Lore as an acquaintance. While the others had accepted me as a traveling companion for the time being, the Arcanist seemed to be interested in assisting my growth. Had even provided me clothing. I should probably not just him so harshly just because he uses ugly magic.
“Please tell me more details about dungeons, Lore.”
“Of course.” He smiled warmly, keen to tune out the others and labor me with the knowledge I sought. “It’s quite a wild description, so please stop me if there are any phrases or terms you don’t understand.”
I nodded for him to continue.
“The previous description of a lair of evil is not too far off. But it’s not technically part of this world.” He exhaled and furrowed his brow. “The entrances are portals that lead to a split in realities. For example, this dungeon is a den of bandits, but what we’re doing is teleporting to a reality where the cave system actually has the bandits in. That way, other groups can come clear it without waiting around for it to be populated naturally.”
“And in every other reality adjacent to this one has bandits in this dungeon?”
Lore tilted his head. “A finite percentage would not, but we’re talking extremely low odds of getting anything but bandits in there.”
Manny dropped back, his ears picking up the conversation. “Ah, remember what happened in the Skeleton Grove?”
“Random is random,” Lore said as he shrugged. He caught the inquisitive look I was giving him. “Eh. It’s like a rite of passage dungeon for fledgling adventurers. Basic undead. One time a group went in and it was high-level demons instead.”
“That’s what the single survivor said, anyway,” the half-elf added. “The rest weren’t so lucky.”
We stepped down a short decline where a brook had once dried up, and I considered this information. Lots of answers, but they brought more questions to the surface. “Will the dungeon eventually run out of realities to draw from?”
“Very unlikely in our lifetime,” Lore said as he shook his head. “A few months back they had a special Mage come in and check the Skeleton Grove, and she said it had barely been dented. Fraction of a percentage or something.”
To me that just sounded like a potentially infinite source of evil to scour souls from. It would not be that easy, however, I was sure of it. “There is a restriction on reentering a dungeon, I assume?”
“Correct.” He seemed amused that I was connecting the dots together. “There’s a key you have to bind to and you’re not allowed in the same dungeon for another week. Apparently, hopping realities can get very bad for your health too close together.”
“Bad for the world, too,” Manny added again, every the dour interloper. “The Rot Glen used to be… well, more of a Nice Glen.”
Lore nodded. “A group with more power than common sense was able to override the key limit somehow. Did the same dungeon maybe a handful of times?”
The Ranger nodded. “Between five and ten, I’ve heard. Then the whole place exploded. Everything decays there. Perpetually. Like a festering abscess on the continent.”
Ahead of us, Daniel cleared his throat, his eyes were narrowed at Manny. “If we could stop with the scary stories until time for camp? We can do the dungeon as long as Port is on board, otherwise we have a less glamorous job to do.”
“I would like to do the dungeon and maim the unworthy across realities.” I nodded and my eyes adjusted to something that apparently showed my joy.
“See what you’ve gotten into his head now?” the orc murmured toward the Ranger and Arcanist.
I was informed that bandits were humanoids that performed crime as a group, which sounded to me like the close opposite of an adventuring group. Apparently they’d look and be outfitted in similar ways, but wouldn’t have a Class. Perhaps I would need to be careful when approaching people in the future, lest I get the two confused. Originally, I had imagined that a bandit was a red version of a goblin.
The sky had remained overcast, even darkening slightly. I had yet to be assailed by damnable rain, but I knew it to be inevitable. Such was the burden of existence. Surrounding us, the terrain continued to be a plethora of greens and browns. A couple of flowers, a vibrant shade of purple, caught my eye and I stopped to crouch beside them.
“What is the purpose of such color?” I asked nobody in particular.
“Is beauty not enough of a reason?” Kate answered.
“Also bees and pollination,” Manny’s muted voice came from further away.
I tilted my head. “What is the purpose of beauty?”
The Cleric exhaled. “I’m not really the poetic type, so instead of giving you a rather blue answer, perhaps one of these gents can enlighten you?”
A purple answer would be preferable, but perhaps my ocular sensors viewed things differently.
“Beauty is everywhere,” Daniel began, the orc stepping in to take the stage provided to him. “It is something that can bring joy to your heart. Your favorite song, a warm meal that reminds you of childhood, or even a hard fought duel can each be beauty in their own way. It is not purely something with a pleasant appearance.”
I stood back up and turned to him. He seemed proud of his prepared-sounding speech. “Are souls beautiful?”
“They certainly can be.” He smiled and gestured for us to continue walking.
That made me feel better about my chosen vocation. Evil was an ugly, reprehensible thing. If I could extract the beautiful souls through my acts of violence, then perhaps I was like a gardener tending to the bright flowers. “Thank you, Daniel. I have a clearer understanding of things.”
“Always a pleasure.” His grin did little but elicit eye rolls from the Cleric, who may have a dimmer view on matters of the heart than the charismatic orc.
“Port?” Lore appeared beside me once more, even though he probably never left it. “I have a couple of books you could read later on. They might not be explicitly useful, but I imagine you wouldn’t shirk some extra knowledge.”
“I have a large capacity. I would be grateful, Lore.”
“Redtree has a small-ish library,” Manny added. “We’re heading back there tomorrow.”
My eyes grew slightly larger in anticipation. Of more knowledge, sure, but that wasn’t all. “A town?”
“A small one,” Daniel said from the front. “Although I do wonder how you’ll fare with so many eyes wondering who or what you are.”
“Port,” I confirmed. “An adventurer.”
His face softened, and he gave me a nod. I did understand his trepidation, however. Not all humanoids would be good or accepting. Some would be evil and hateful, others in the gray space between. Even worse, there may be some like Lore who had nothing but curious interest for my existence. I turned my head toward the Arcanist to see him still staring at me.
“What manner of spells do you wield, Lore?” I hoped my question would provide a fruitful excuse for him to relent with his constant gaze.
“Control, for the most part. Slows, restraints, and reduction in accuracy. Some of the opposite, as magic seems to work that way.”
“You cannot create fire like I can, then?” It was at this point I noted he didn’t seem to carry a weapon.
“Lore doesn’t like the flashy magic,” Manny said with a wide grin. “But what he does use is effective.”
The Arcanist had pulled a face at the first sentence, but the added compliment seemed to temper his ire. I nodded toward the Ranger. “Your explosive arrow was effective too, is that magic?”
He ran a hand through his blond hair. “Nah, I don’t have the capacity for it. Some Rangers do, but this was done the old-fashioned way.” He tilted to the side as we walked to present his quiver. Several of the fletched ends had a different coloration, so he knew which were special ones.
“Alchemy?” I asked. What a curious thing.
“Yeps,” he said with a smile. “Although nothing related to potion making, as my friends here are keen to admonish me for any chance they get.”
“The savings we’d have on health potions,” Kate added from ahead, furthering his point.
They were an interesting bunch of humanoids. Father had been quite simple. Rules driven and stern. Everything by procedure. Assuming these four were relatively standard for how most humanoids acted, there seemed to be a fair amount of casual insults and faux disdain that they employed and I should learn.
I considered telling Lore he was fucking annoying, but my last attempt at the expletive hadn’t been well received and I didn’t want to make a habit of social ineptness when I had been doing well so far. Perhaps a little more watching and learning. It would be nice to meet others and learn from them during my journey, too.
“We’re here,” Daniel announced.
The tree cover broke away to show a large boulder, part of a bulge of a hill in the surrounding terrain. Built in to the rock was a doorway, round as if it perfectly covered a natural hole that dug through into the ground itself. Maybe it did, beyond the doorway of slate gray. Beside the inert portal was a sign made of wood. The number five sat above a triangular indent about an inch deep, a further circle around the shape to signify it could be rotated.
A keyhole.
“Maximum occupancy?” I leveled a finger at the numeral as the orc withdrew a triangle of metal from a side pouch.
“Yeah,” Manny confirmed. “Sounds weird when you put it that way, though.”
As I watched the Fighter, I considered it all. These rifts through realities seemed dangerous to some level, and either overloading or overusing them could break things in random ways. Just like I received random boons from expelling the souls I had accumulated. Whether there was more of a connection than the simile my mind conjured up would have to be a thought to be addressed later on.
The key turned in the keyhole.
The flat gray of the supposed doorway vibrated, shimmered as though it were liquid. Gradually, color started to shine within it, blue at first, before turning a bright shade of green. With a burst of energy that felt uncomfortable, the whole portal became a pulsing wave of this energetic light.
“Everyone ready?” Daniel turned and brought his helmet up to don.
I nodded my head, and everyone gave their murmured acknowledgement. The mood had lowered as we prepared to face the evil within.
But not for me.
Elated and brimming with anticipation, I followed and stepped through.
