William Winthrope
It took a few minutes for his eyes to adjust to the pitch-blackness that now encircled him. He could only see a few feet ahead of him, barely making out the dirt walls that surrounded him. The shaking ground had stilled, but he could still hear faint rumblings of moving earth around him.
Activating his Storage Rune, William pulled out one of his twin scimitars as well as a small torch. All that was remaining in his storage space was the second of the twin scimitars, a Ring of Binding paired with a collar that was issued from the administrators at Kespian, along with some additional oddities he always brought along in case of emergencies. Lighting the torch, the room illuminated around him, casting a halo of light around him.
He stood in what was now a completely different area from the garden he was in just a moment ago. There were walls seemingly made at random around him, splitting off and creating three different tunnels out of the small room he was in.
‘Well, it’s not a trap. At least not one for me.’
He was pretty confident that this was a pokeGirl dungeon that had been generated, and from the size of it, a weaker one at that. Most pokeGirl’s that are powerful enough to create a domain were vastly powerful, the most powerful of which stretching for miles and from Williams’s best guess this one was a couple hundred feet at most. There must be an exit somewhere, but usually some conditions must be met in order to escape such a dungeon. The other option would be to go find the creating pokeGirl and kill her. Not a great option, but he was already on a streak of stupid decisions sneaking in here.
It didn’t help that a sizable part of him was also curious who and what the pokeGirl was. The Order of White Rose must have known this was happening, or perhaps they even caused it. Why else would they clear out of here so quickly?
Examining his options, there was no real difference between them outside of the fact that one, the right, seemed to slope downward slightly. He himself had never been in a pokeGirl dungeon of course, but some of his study at Kespian revolved around famous dungeon explorations that had occurred over the centuries of recorded history. So instead of choosing randomly, William decided to employ a pretty simple tactic: Pick a direction and stick to it. Choosing the right tunnel, William started his journey cautiously, deciding to follow whatever path took him downwards.
The descent down was windy and narrow, spanning just enough to fit his broad shoulders with a few inches on either side. The walls consisted of packed brown dirt, spindles of roots and hanging vines were holding the dirt tightly together. The further he traveled, picking whichever route would take him down, he noticed an increase of a white stone, some type of granite he thought, scattered in the dirt that made up the tunnel. It had been a long time since the rumbling of the dungeon had stopped, and the silence of the dark had begun to unnerve him.
Exiting the small tunnel, he came across a big room, bigger than the one he had started his journey in. This was the first time the dirt had completely been absent, the white stone completely encompassing the walls, roof and floor of the circular room. William swept his torch light around, illuminating the center of the room. A sea green stone in the shape of a large diamond stood out against the white stone of the room, reflecting the light back at him eerily. He didn’t know what the symbol meant, so he turned his attention to the two tunnels that stood before him.
They were both made of the same white stone, one of which led to a steep climb up, and the other would continue his journey downwards. ‘No time to stray from the path now,’ he thought.
Entering the white walkway, this tunnel was quite a bit larger than the previous ones he had traveled through, perhaps two or three of him across. Immediately upon entering the tunnel he could hear the ruffling, shifting sound of some creature, or creatures, that lay ahead in the dark. William instantly paused, trying to locate the source of the noise.
Rustle…. Rustle….
The sound continued, but he couldn’t quite make out where it was, still not able to pinpoint its direction. He lifted his torch high up, trying to make out the ceiling. Two gemmed eyes stared back at him, and a HISSS emitted from a forked tongue.
‘Oh shit!’
The snake rocketed forward at him after being revealed, launching its coiled body downward at him. William reacted quickly, leaping backwards while slicing upwards with his scimitar, cleanly slicing the snake's head off.
The limp body hit the ground with a soft thud, and its head followed closely behind. William quickly whipped his torch around him, casting light on the far reaches of the walls in search of more attackers. Seeing none in his direct vicinity, he took the time to examine its body.
It appeared to be a regular snake, just a species he had never seen before. It spanned a couple feet long, and was plenty thick around, with two disproportional massive fangs extending out of its dismembered head. It was armored with gleaming white scales, each tipped in a pale green that appeared to be slightly faded giving the creature a unique look that matched closely to the white stone surrounding him on all sides.
‘The first creature I’ve come across in this dungeon,’ William considered as he poked the snake. It was a good sign that he came across such a weak creature in a pokeGirl dungeon like this. With the formation of a pokeGirl dungeon came the summoning of servants under the control of the creating pokeGirl herself, although it took an experienced user to control them effectively. The difficulty of such servants were usually in proportion to how strong the creator herself is, the strongest of which have been rumored to summon and control other pokeGirl servants long ago.
He stood from his crouched position and decided to continue forward, this time very slowly. The slithering sound continued around him, forcing William to constantly be on guard and easily slayed a few more of the white snakes on his path. As he made his way deeper, a new sound echoed through the chamber. Pausing, William stayed absolutely still as he tried to make out what exactly he was hearing.
It sounded…. It sounded like some sort of language, some guttural noises coming from what sounded like two distant members. A knife of nerves twisted in his gut. This was most certainly a bad sign contradicting his good luck in the snakes. Creatures capable of speech would definitely be more formidable foes than the snakes he had faced. He was confident enough in his abilities to fight off some lower tier creatures but this might be where he had to turn back. Firstly though, he had to find out what was making such a strange noise before tucking his tail and running.
He crept forward, still wrapped in his Shadow Cloak to hide his presence as much as possible. The guttural noises got louder and louder, until finally a bend in the tunnel ahead had a faint flickering light pouring out. Putting out his own torch and returning it to his Storage Rune trading it out for his second scimitar, he inched forward, each step closer the voices becoming louder.
“GULBU DABA SHITHU!”
“NITHI HABRU LANGATA KELPRE TATA!”
“NI NI”
He reached the turn in the tunnel, preparing himself to take a quick peak around the corner. Just as he steeled his resolve, the voices suddenly stopped from what he thought was mid conversation, and an eerie silence followed. Nothing happened for a long second, and William did not dare take a look at what the creatures were doing.
“Tala Usi Re?” A voice whispered, just loud enough that he could hear.
“Ni Ni,”
“Sh-o sel-ve,” Rang out in broken speech, breaking the silence that hung in the air. He could make out the meaning, ‘show yourself’, but he didn’t know how they knew he was there.
Making a quick decision, William stepped out from his hiding place, if you could call it that, and surveyed the strange creatures. There were four of them, each gripping a small spear tightly standing shoulder to shoulder with each other in a line. They were small Imps standing no more than three feet high, with green scales covering their bodies. They each had a set of wings protruding from their lower backs, too small to allow for flight with the exception of one. He was a little bit bigger than the other three, and had a much bigger wingspan that might grant him flight.
The four of them stood in front of a small fire that had been set ablaze on a matching green gem he had seen in the previous room, giving each of the Imps a demonic look. The four small tents were set up around the fire were the only other feature he noticed in the blank white room besides the double doors inset into the back wall.
The Imps tensed up at his arrival, and William thought he could see a tint of fear in their dark, beady eyes. The biggest one stepped forward out the line of his brothers, knuckles tightening on his sharp wooden spear tipped with a piece of metal. “Hooman, what want?”
Even William wasn’t quite sure what he wanted from this odd situation, but the door behind the group of Imps was the only way forward in his quest. The plain door oddly drew him in, beckoning him to come closer. He pointed to the door, causing the Imp to glance behind him.
“Ni- er- no, hooman no allowed.”
“I’ll be going through there,” William responded confidently and began to walk towards them. Imps, even though there were four of them, posed little threat to him as they were mostly known to be placid servants rather than fierce fighters. The Imp reflexively took a step backwards before noticing the frightened looks of his comrades. He regained his composure and took up his defensive stance as William had crossed half of the distance between him and the Imps and was quickly closing in on them.
“NO!” The Imp yelled as a desperate attempt to stop him. It was a futile effort, and a drop of pity was starting to form in William at seeing their anguish. He was now almost on them, and finally the lead Imp decided he must take his stand. His three companions were still frozen in terror, but he charged forward, spear tip out to stab this intruder.
The two quickly met each other in open space of the room, and the Imp lunged forward. William easily sidestepped the thrust, and the Imp’s momentum took his right past William’s side. As the two passed, William slashed down, separating the Imp’s upper torso from the bulk of his body.
“Miss…” Escaped from the Imp’s limps, almost inaudible before his whole body turned to ash. William’s regret was amplified, surprised at such a sorry excuse for an attack even if he was an Imp. He wasn’t even trying.
The other three stood shocked at seeing their leader so easily dispatched. They each looked at each other briefly before coming to a consensus. Almost simultaneously all three charged forward, spears at the ready. A war cry rang out in lieu of their fallen leader, and they refused to dishonor his memory by dying like cowards, knowing their fate was sealed either way.
The challenge of facing three at once was a bit more tricky than fighting just the stronger leader, but it was still no contest. William swiped one of his scimitars up on the first to arrive, cutting cleanly through the Imp’s spear in two before bringing down the second sword to behead him. Like the leader before him, his body turned to ash.
The other two were not as brazen in their attacks. Each of them took the brief opportunity their brother had provided in his death to fan out, attempting to attack from each side. They each rushed at him, forcing William to take a small step backwards in order to be able to see them both. Both spears met a different scimitar, letting out a CLANG as metal met metal. With a quick twirl of his wrist, William rotated and adjusted his right scimitar to spin and slash through a spear where the metal connected with wood. The Imp stubbled back in surprise, and William took his opportunity to strike. He disengaged with the Imp that still had an intact spear and brought down both scimitars giving this Imp a more brutish death than the ones before, a pile of ash forming by the time he could finish the follow through of his strike.
He turned to face the last Imp, seeing eyes full of sorrow at his dead members staring back at him, and he couldn’t help but feel some of the sadness himself. The Imp let out a cry, and shouted, “GITHLOTI DEF HIBRI!”
The Imp charged forward, and William let out a sigh as he waited for his attacker to reach him. Against his better judgment, he allowed the final Imp to nick his thigh, no more than a scratch before decapitating the Imp. Just as his body was shifting to its ashen state, William could have sworn he recognized a prideful smile on his dying face.
The room returned to the silent state the rest of the dungeon had, an occasional crackle of the fire interrupting the gloom that now hung in the air. William had felt indifferent to the Imps upon meeting them, but once he fought them, it was almost as if he was killing toddlers with sticks rather than real threats. He paused for a moment, giving their act of loyalty to each other the respect it deserved before turning to face the big double door.
It wasn’t gaudy or flashy in any way, but it certainly gave off the air of importance, and its pull on him was felt once again. He meandered on over to the door, careful to avoid any of the Imp’s belongings for some reason unbeknownst even to him. Two large handles were fused onto the door, the only indicator besides the hinges that told him this was any different from a wall. Taking the handles in each hand, William pulled open the big doors with a loud CREAK.
