"You two," the head of the Raiders Party said, his voice directed at Lyra and Serin, who held the unconscious boy by their shoulders."You can come with us. We were headed to the surface anyway."Serin and Lyra looked at eachother, and after a brief nod, they dragged the boy toward the group. "Let my boys carry him, no need to put more strain on ladies such as yourselves." The party leader said with a smirk. Serin faintly blushed, but Lyra completely ignored the remark."Save that for someone else." Lyra grumbled as she watched the healer do her work on Kier. Which to her, seemed like a very sloppy job-and that was being generous.
A burly man picked up there friend and hoisted him over his shoulder.
"Don't drop him." Serin warned.
"Wouldn't dream of it." He replied gruffly, "Not with two fine ladies askin'." Serin let out a soft sigh at his words, clearly not in the mood for flattery from him.
Lyra crossed her arms, her gaze narrowing at the way the girl was healing him. "We're not just leaving him behind. We'll take him with us."
The Raiders' leader smirked, amused by her defiance. "Relax, sweetheart," he drawled. "We'll leave him in the care of a few of my men. No sense draggin' around dead weight when we're headed to the surface."
Lyra opened her mouth to protest, but Serin placed a hand on her arm, shaking her head slightly. "Lyra, we need to worry about Nick first. He's the one injured right now."
Lyra clenched her jaw. She knew Serin was right, Nick's wounds were serious, and they couldn't afford to be slowed down. But leaving Kier behind, especially with the way these Raiders talked about him, didn't sit well with her. It felt like she was betraying him.
As they turned to leave, she heard muttered voices behind her.
"Blood mage, huh? Dangerous kind."
"Should've left him where we found him."
"Hope he doesn't wake up angry."
Anger flared inside Lyra, but she forced herself to keep walking. Picking a fight now wouldn't help Kier. She stole one last glance at the unconscious, white-haired boy before stepping forward, following the others into the dimly lit tunnels leading to the surface.
Kier slowly woke up from his deep sleep. The first thing he felt was the cold, squishy surface of the dungeon, and the temporary pain of laying on his shoulder too long.
"mmngh…" Kier let out a soft grunt as he positioned himself upright with one arm.
"Wow…the pain is all gone…" He muttered to himself, happy that somebody would do this for him. It wasn't the best healing job, in fact, with his whole body still being painfully sore, he would even say it was half-assed.
"Not like I expected anything better, honestly." He bluntly said to himself as he rubbed his eyes. Blinking a few times, he looked around…and he saw…nobody. Every single Raider that was in that big group, was no where to be seen, and he hadn't moved an inch.
"So they left me eh?" He let out a sigh as he got up.
Veyla flared from his hair, as if waking up from her sleep as well. "Heh, guess we both went a little overboard huh?" He chuckled to himself, which made the spirit pout.
Checking his person, he let out a sigh of releif as nothing was stolen.
"But the broken armour will cost me." He thought aloud.
Kier sighed again as he set out for the path to the stairs leading to the surface. His body was restored, but his soreness certainly wasn't. The healing magic also didn't calm his urge to get a long bath, which he desperately needed thanks to the stench of blood over him.
Stepping over a branch with blue veins, he accidentally kicked something.
"Eh?"
He let out a weird noise as he watched the orange ball roll. The ball had a red liquid that swirled inside, as if it was alive. The ball hummed, a low, ominous sound, and he knew one thing for certain.
"No way… That can't be…" His eyes grew wide in understanding. Veyla moved closer to Kier's face in fear.
"Why is a Beast Caller here!?" He shouted beginning to back away, but he knew he was out for too long to run from it now.
The Beast Caller, it was a magic item forged from magic stones found on the Dense Forest floors. When several magic beasts were killed around it, it would absorb their blood and essentially their whole presence. The point of the item was to get out of fatal situations when your back was against a wall.
But they were also infamous for another thing: killing other Raiders.
"Shit…! Blood Sense!"
Activating his ability, he noticed more pulses in the area than he liked.
"Veyla! Looks like getting back won't be easy…!" Kier said as he pulled out his axe. She shined bright, determination radiating from her glowing form.
He noticed more pulses, a lot of pulses. He knew what was coming, but fighting them directly was a death sentence, even for skilled Raiders.
Kier will admit, he isn't that strong. But he did have a lot of confidence in his knowledge of the dungeon, and the stacks of books and notes near his bed prove this.
Chitter, chitter, chitter, chittter, chitter, chitter, chittter.
"Chitterrot swarm."
A colony of small, rat-sized creatures covered in pulsating fungal growths. They move as a hive mind, controlled by a central fungal mass hidden within the dungeon.
A dozen tiny shapes skittered out of the shadows, fungal growths pulsing like infected hearts. The air grew damp, and a sour rot filled Kier's nostrils. Kier could see masses of glowing eyes in the darkness behind them. Getting into a fighting stance, Veyla flared by his face, her energy matching his own.
"Well Veyla, welcome to my life…" Kier said as he smirked confidently. For some reason, he felt like he would enjoy this. He had a weird feeling, a feeling that this specific experience would ignite something in him.
"Lets go!!" He shouted as he rushed forward, Veyla flaring beside him as she followed suite.
Outside the dungeon, two girls sat at a bench close to the entrance. The weather was perfect today, clearly representing the mid-spring season.
"Oh! They're back!" A girl with long green hair and sharp emerald eyes got up suddenly, surprising even her friend.
"Hey…! Where are you going!" She shouted, running after her friend. "Ugh…she's always like this…!" She grumbled under her breath, annoyed, but also light.
A group of Raiders turned to meet the girl jogging toward them, her expression getting darker the closer she got.
"Oh hey, your that Lyra girl, right?" The party healer said as she approached.
"Yes, I am…and where's Kier?" She asked, genuine concern lacing her voice.
"Geez," Her friend, Serin, sighed as she caught up to her. "You're still worried about that vampire?" She asked, her voice losing the lightness it had.
"And?" She replied bluntly, shocking Serin. "Well, where is he?" She said as she turned toward the healer, the two guys accompanying her started to slip away.
"You don't need to worry so much," the healer said with a smirk. "we took care of that monster." She replied while tapping her shoulder in reassurance. "He won't be terrorizing anyone else any longer."
The healer began to walk past Lyra, her head held low. But before she could do anything, Serin spoke up.
"So, did you just kill him?" She asked, though there was no real concern in her voice.
She stopped. "We all know about their abilities, we didn't want to risk going in ourselves. So we threw a Beast Caller at him before he woke up." She shrugged, "Honestly, it's been a while since it happened. He's likely been turned into monster shit by now." The healer chuckled to herself as she walked away.
Lyra wanted to say something, anything. She wanted that girl to stop treating the boy that saved her life like nothing more than a horrendous monster. But, in reality, she couldn't find the strength to do it.
"Damn, i'm pathetic." She thought to herself as she stared at the cobblestone pathway.
"You don't need to worry so much." Serin said, putting an arm around Lyra. "Your better off worrying about Nick who we've been waiting for this whole time."
Lyra's throat constricted, as if her heart wanted to deny it, but her mind wouldn't listen.
"…Your right." She finally said, earning a smile from Serin as she playfully turned her in the direction of the bench they were sitting at.
"How about we get something sweet to take your mind off things." Serin suggested. Lyra nodded in response, stealing a look at the dungeon entrance again.
How pathetic was she? I mean she left her savior to die in the dungeon at the hands of clearly dangerous people. She didn't even try to do anything to help him. She just left him there. Left him to rot in that dark place, where no one would come to find him. She couldn't even say anything to that healer! And now she was up on the surface, enjoying the nice whether, getting something nice to eat with her friend, while the person that allowed her to keep living died in a horrible way underneath the surface.
"I couldn't hate you more, me," she thought as her eyes drifted toward a Raiders party.
"Maybe…"
But her thoughts were interrupted when a spoonful of ice cream was shoved into her mouth.
Serin smirked as Lyra blinked in surprise. "Hehehe, that's payback." She said playfully. She plopped down on a nearby bench and patted the spot beside her.
Lyra shook her head, pushing the thoughts away, and began to quietly eat her chocolate ice cream.
"You're eating that a bit fast, huh?" Serin commented, noticing how focused she was.
Lyra's face began to tinge red, and she turned slightly away.
"Ah… I didn't mean to." She muttered.
"Hehe, it's alright. That experience in the dungeon was really scary for me too." Serin said, digging into her vanilla. "I think I'll wait a while before I even think about going back."
She continued eating, seemingly unfazed by the few guys glancing their way.
"But what about…" Lyra started, then hesitated.
"Hmm?" Serin asked, her spoon still in her mouth.
"A-ah, it's nothing." Lyra said, poking at her ice cream.
Serin studied her for a moment, then decided to let it go. "If you say so."
Lyra took one last look at the dungeon. There was something strange about it. Not quite a feeling, more like a pull. Like the dungeon itself was calling out to her, flooding her thoughts.
"Maybe…"
Too many.
Kier's boots skidded on the slick stone, spores clouding the air like ash in a wildfire. His lungs burned as he swung again, horizontal this time, his axe cleaving through a pair of Chitterrot trying to flank him. One shrieked, bisected at the torso. The other lost its head in a spray of dark ichor.
Keep moving. Don't get boxed in.
He pivoted, slammed his shoulder into the wall to regain balance, and drove his axe down into another that lunged low. Bone cracked under the strike. The Chitterrot twitched once, then went still.
A shrill chittering echoed around him, too many tiny clawed feet skittering in rhythm, getting closer.
From above, one dropped. Kier raised his arm on instinct, grimacing as its fangs scraped across his vambrace.
"Personal space, ever heard of it?" he growled.
Veyla flared to life in a flash of gold, her light searing across the creature's face. It shrieked and fell back, blinded.
Kier didn't let it hit the ground alive.
He buried his axe in its chest, kicked it off, and exhaled sharply through clenched teeth. His muscles burned, already soaked in sweat. His heart thundered in his ears.
Veyla zipped around his head, flickering like a firefly on overdrive.
"Thanks," he muttered. "Let's not make that a habit."
The swarm moved like a wave now, pulsing forward, retracting, circling. No wasted motion.
They're watching me.
Each Chitterrot twitched, reoriented, as though listening to an unheard command. Their insectoid eyes gleamed. Their movements were in sync. Too in sync.
A chill crept down his spine.
The hive's in control.
"Can't stay here. They'll overwhelm me," he growled, bracing for another charge.
Three came at once, one from each side, one straight on.
"Of course."
He ducked low, spun his axe in a wide arc to catch the flanking ones, then rolled beneath the third just before its claws could snag him. He came up fast, reverse-gripping his weapon, and rammed the spike into its spine.
It spasmed and collapsed, dragging his weapon with it.
Kier snarled and yanked it free.
"Fine," he muttered. "You wanna play chess?"
The corridor offered no more shelter. He broke into a sprint, ducking under low-hanging fungal growths that squelched when brushed. Muck dripped from the ceiling like the dungeon itself was weeping rot. His boots splashed through shallow puddles, sending echoes down the twisting tunnel.
Can't run blind.
"Blood Sense"
The world drained of color.
Everything dulled to crimson and shadow. Pulses beat like war drums in the back of his mind—fast, frantic, countless.
Dozens behind. Fifteen? Twenty? Scattered. Following. Surrounding.
Two on the left. One above. Pack ahead.
But there—deep and slow, steady. Huge.
Not a Chitterrot. Something else.
The core.
"There you are…"
A grin tugged at his lips. His feet moved faster.
He used the wall to pivot sharply left, then right, vaulting over a crumbled stone archway. Mold slicked the surface, and he nearly lost his footing, but momentum carried him through. Chitterrot shrieked behind him, clawing at the walls in pursuit. One nearly reached his leg—its jaws snapping shut a hair's breadth from his calf—but he kicked off the wall and soared forward, breathing hard.
Almost…
The tunnel curved sharply, and then—air. Open space.
"Well shit."
A falling sensation took over his body. The hanging blue bio-luminescent vines swirling past his view.
"Oof!" Kier let out a grunt as he landed in the soft, thick green moss that covered the room. The opening was adorned with think vines that crawled along the walls, their forms shifting with the room. The glowing vines swayed with an imaginary wind. It was as if the room itself was breathing.
The soft whispers of death from the swarm behind him grew louder. They were almost on top of him. Kier scrambled to get up, his eyes locking onto the center of it all.
The Hive Mind. The creature that controlled the Chittrrot Swarms was armored by thick, blue vines that pulsed like a heartbeat.
Kier's eyes locked on the Hive Mind.
It pulsed, a grotesque bulb of sinewy roots, fungal growths, and a sickly glow, all encased in that thick cage of blue vines. Every beat sent a tremor through the floor, as if the entire dungeon breathed with it.
"Veyla."
The sprite zipped to his shoulder, her golden light flaring brighter, more intense. She hovered there, her form ablaze.
Fwoosh.
A trail of brilliant flame burst from her tiny form, swirling around his axe like a hungry serpent. The metal hissed, glowed red-hot, then white, veins of fire dancing through the blade. Heat radiated off it in waves. The moss at his feet curled away, scorched.
The swarm surged into the chamber behind him, pouring in like a flood of clicking, screeching limbs. Dozens. Maybe hundreds. Eyes gleaming. Claws raised.
No more running.
Kier turned toward the Hive Mind.
"It's sad to say, but I think our fun time has come to an end."
He roared, charged, and brought the flaming axe down in a single cleaving arc.
The blade hit the thick vines, and screams erupted.
The fire flared on contact, searing through the roots as though they were dry paper. The Hive Mind convulsed, its glow spiking into a blinding burst of azure before shuddering violently. The vines writhed, split apart, and with a final pulse—snap.
Silence.
The swarm collapsed mid-charge. One by one, the Chitterrot froze, limbs twitching spasmodically, then dropped like broken puppets. Some screeched, clawing at nothing. Others convulsed. And then…they all turned to nothing. A single Soulshard dropped from the Hives' mind.
The air turned still.
Kier stood in the center, chest heaving, axe still burning, surrounded by heaps of steaming chitin and smoldering moss.
Veyla hovered beside him, dimming, her light no longer frantic but soft. Gentle.
He looked around at the fallen swarm, and then smirked. "Don't mind if I do."
Kier picked up the Soulshard, about the size of his hand. "Not bad." He commented approvingly. "Well that was worth almost dying."
The flame on the axe guttered, then winked out.
And in the silence that followed, Kier heard something.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Something deeper. Lower.
The dungeon wasn't done with him yet.
A massive beast growled to his call, the sound coming from a gaping hole to his left. The growl that answered Kier's call wasn't like the chittering swarm from before. It was deeper, more primal, more ancient. The sound echoed from the gaping hole to his left, reverberating through the chamber like a death knell.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The thick green moss parted as something massive shifted beneath it.
Veyla hovered close to Kier's cheek, her light twitching erratically. Fear. Not panic, but warning.
The ground boomed as a colossal figure dragged itself into view, the vines parting like curtains. Standing easily ten feet tall, the Shroom Golem emerged, its body a tower of compacted mycelium and fungal armor, hunched and heavy. Glowing mushrooms dotted its back like cancerous growths, and from its chest bloomed a massive, half-rotted toadstool cap, veined with sickly blues and reds. Each step released spores in thick clouds, and the damp, sour stench intensified.
But his attention was drawn elsewhere, behind the Shroom Golem. A blue, almost see-through floating jellyfish bobbed up and down, dimly lighting the dark passage. It's eyes glowed a deep yellow, and it's tentacles where tipped with a pulsing dark-blue liquid that swirled wildly.
The Spore Fiend.
"Two for the price of one?" Kier muttered. "Lucky me."
Kier's grip tightened on the axe, still faintly glowing with Veyla's flame. The heat rolled off it in lazy waves, but it wasn't the fire making his skin crawl.
The Shroom Golem loomed ahead, its lumbering steps slow and deliberate, like it didn't need to rush. Like it knew it couldn't be stopped. Each impact puffed clouds of spores into the air, curling upward in thick, green plumes. The stench hit hard, wet decay and something sour underneath.
Kier wrinkled his nose. "Lovely."
And behind it, floating like a smug jellyfish at a royal banquet, was the Spore Fiend. Its semi-transparent body pulsed with slow, glowing rhythm. Yellow eyes watched from beneath a curtain of waving tendrils, each tipped with that swirling, dark-blue toxin.
He didn't like how still it was.
Veyla zipped close to his shoulder, her light flickering low but stable. She was watching, too.
"You feel that?" he muttered.
She bobbed once in response.
The Fiend shifted, barely. Just enough for Kier to know it had made up its mind.
The Golem charged.
He moved before thinking, dropping low and launching sideways into a roll. The Golem's massive fist slammed into the mossy ground where he'd stood, sending tremors through the chamber and tearing up slabs of fungal-coated stone. Spores burst upward like a detonation.
Kier landed in a crouch, steady. "Too slow, mushroom-brain."
He darted to the side, weaving through twisted roots and shattered debris. The Spore Fiend hovered higher, sensing his movement. One of its tendrils flared—and launched a dart of blue poison straight at him.
Kier knocked it aside with a flash of his axe. "Try harder."
But the Fiend didn't flinch. It just floated there, passive, like it had all the time in the world.
"Well that's just being annoying." Kier grumbled under his breath. The Shroom Golem locked eyes with Kier, well, if it had eyes instead of hollow sockets.
He swallowed hard.
"Decapitation. That's the only way. I've done it once. I can do it again."
But last time, he hadn't been this exhausted. His arms ached. His blood pulsed too slow. One wrong move and that thick, rotting mass would crush him. It took a lot of force to break through that thick body. Kier narrowed his eyes at the vines hanging from the ceiling.
Kier smirked slightly, his confidence flaring.
"I might have an idea."
He nodded at Veyla, then motioned for his axe. Understanding his intent, Veyla poured more of her energy into his axe. The flames surged around the axe like a small hurricane.
Kier got into a running stance, putting his axe into a reverse grip.
"Let's hope this works!" He said as he launched forward, the flames trailing behind him, creating a wave of swirling flames.
He rushed straight for the Shroom Golem, who stomped his foot in response. A cloud of green smoke appeared between them, but he didn't stop. A wave of moss from the floor surged for him from the impact.
"Tch." Clicking his tounge in annoyance, he leapt of the attack, landing in the smoke. Using his momentum, he swung his axe across his entire body. The cloud of smoke cleard instantly with the help of the flames, revealing two poison tipped darts dangerously close to his face.
In a swift motion, he slid under the darts, the wind making his white hair flutter. Immediately after, he was met with a towering fist streaking toward him.
"Heyo!" He shouted with a strained voice as he scraped the Golem's arm against the axe, side-stepping the punch.
He twisted then leaped in the air, parrying another dart from the Spore Fiend. He landed on the Shroom Golem's shoulder, who twisted to get him off. Kier ran up the creature's arm, ignoring it's wild attempts to throw him off. As he reached the top of the shoulder, he leaped once more, this time with more force.
"Let's see you dodge this!"
Kier grabbed onto a low-hanging green vine that hung from the ceiling, using it to swing him. He twisted his axe back to a forward grip, using both hands to put it in a threatening position as he reached the mossy ceiling. Kier's smirk grew wider.
Pushing off the ceiling with incredible force, he streaked across the room like a falling star, heading straight down toward the Shroom Golem. The Golem looked up at Kier as he descended, his axe glowing like a mini sun. But it was too late-
"HEYAAA!"
Swinging with all his force, Kier swung across his body in a brutal arc.
CRACK!
The Shroom Golem lost his head, the flames leaving a lasting arc in the air as it turned into nothing but a Soulshard.
Kier hit the ground hard, rolling with the momentum before coming to a stop on one knee. He coughed, hacking up the spores he hadn't meant to breathe. His arms trembled. His knees wobbled. The world spun for a second before Veyla'swarm glow steadied near his cheek, grounding him.
He reached for the Soulshard, clutching it in his fingers like a trophy. "Not bad," he rasped, trying to smirk through the pain.
But the moment froze.
Buzz.
A low vibration filled the air.
Then—
Fwoosh.
A blast of air, thick with spores, rushed past his face.
KSSSSHHH—!
Kier ducked as three blue darts screamed past him, one exploding against a chunk of Golem debris and splashing acidic venom in every direction.
He rolled behind the stone slab, chest heaving. "Right. Still one more."
The Spore Fiend hovered just feet above the ground now, tendrils writhing like snakes. Its glowing yellow eyes locked onto him, emotionless and cold. Another dart launched from a raised tentacle, forcing Kier to sprint for a new piece of cover. The stone shattered as it struck.
"It's herding me," Kier muttered, narrowing his eyes. "Smart little freak."
He had no time to rest. The Spore Fiend wasn't giving him an inch. Every dart pushed him closer to a thick clump of pulsing fungi, and the moment he saw it, he knew, a trap.
"Not today."
He shifted his path, sliding beneath a tangle of roots, then spun and threw his axe—not at the Fiend, but at the glowing fungus above.
WHUMP—BOOM!
The ceiling gave way, crashing down in a wave of debris and dust. The Fiend flinched, forced to dip low to avoid the falling rubble.
That was his shot.
Veyla zipped to his side, her flame blazing brighter than ever, sensing his resolve. He caught the axe mid-spin as it rebounded, feeling the last of her heat pour into the weapon.
"Let's end this."
He charged. The Fiend whirled around just in time to fire another dart, Kier batted it away, though the impact nearly jarred the axe from his hand.
Ten feet.
Another dart. This one grazed his shoulder, sizzling flesh. He didn't slow.
Five feet.
Kier jumped, spinning through the air like a blazing comet, and brought his axe down with everything he had left.
CRACK—SSSHHHHHHHH!
The Spore Fiend split open with a wet, sickening sound, its translucent body igniting as Veyla's fire consumed it from the inside out. The creature let out a muffled screech, almost… surprised. Then it collapsed in on itself, melting into a twitching puddle of goo.
In the center of the mess, another Soulshard glowed, dim but unmistakable.
Kier landed hard, staggering forward. His knees nearly buckled, but he stayed standing. Barely.
He stared at the Fiend's remains for a long moment, then dropped to one knee and reached for the Soulshard.
"Damn…Let's maybe not waste more energy than we already have."
Veyla hovered beside him, flickering gently. He gave her a tired nod.
And finally… silence.