382 days until the Arkon Shield falls

1 day, 19 hours until Dungeon Purge

Incident report: direct communication with Core 2-1 initiated by a Trials participant. Anomaly marked for further analysis. —Trials Log Entry #232,129,489,795.

After seeing to Regna’s burns, I studied our surroundings anew. The chamber we were in was definitely a kitchen, one large enough to feed all the Keep’s one-time occupants, I judged.

At the far end, where the fire elementals had been standing guard, was a single gilded door that was otherwise identical in appearance to the one in the central passage. I gestured towards it. “Let’s go see what’s through there.”

The fighter nodded and made his way over to the door.

“Oh, and Regna,” I said.

He turned around to look at me questioningly.

“This time, try not to charge in please. Let’s do this slow and steady.”

“Of course,” Regna said with a grin.

His beaming smile didn’t instill a lot of confidence, though. I didn’t know my new companion well enough to tell yet, but I began to suspect he had a reckless streak. I shook my head. Quite the pair we make.

From beside the door, Regna glanced at me. I nodded, indicating my readiness. Reaching out, the dwarf turned the handle.

The door didn’t budge.

Regna frowned. “It’s locked.”

I lowered my staff. “Strange.” It was the first locked door I had encountered in the dungeon yet. “Do we try breaking it?”

The fighter tugged at his beard. “Better not. If it’s locked, it might be trapped too.”

I nodded slowly. “All right then, let’s retreat to the main passage.”

Regna led the way, and shortly we stood outside the gilded doors at the end of the central corridor. Without waiting for my go-ahead, the fighter reached out and yanked down on the handle. “As I suspected,” he grunted. “Locked as well.”

Two locked doors—of similar design no less—couldn’t be a coincidence. Closing my eyes, I considered the layout of the floor. Given the positioning of the gilded doors, it was possible they led to the same chamber. But if that was the case, the room they opened into had to be large. Some sort of hall, perhaps.

“There will be a key,” Regna said.

I glanced at him. “Why do you think that?”

“Look at the door with your magesight,” the dwarf replied, “and tell me what you see.”

I frowned at him.

“It will make sense in a bit,” he promised.

Curious at the reason behind the strange request, I did as Regna asked and opened my magesight. The first thing I noticed was Regna, or rather the dense mass of luminous strands that were his spirit. The second thing that caught my interest, strangely enough, was his hammer. It, too, shone brightly in my magical sight. Now why is that? But before I could investigate further, something else caught my interest.

The door.

Lines of magic were traced all over its surface in a spellform whose complexity was at one time breathtaking and intimidating. My own spell constructs, by comparison, looked childlike.

“Ah,” I breathed, moving closer to study the convoluted spell weaves.

“From your expression, I take it there is a ward around the door?” Regna asked, recalling me to the present.

With difficulty, I closed my magesight and refocused my attention on my companion. “How did you know?”

Regna grunted. “It’s a common enough occurrence in dungeons.” Seeing that I remained no more enlightened, he explained further. “While dungeon designs differ, they all follow a similar pattern: a series of rooms and encounters before the main challenge: the guardian-prime. Sometimes there are optional routes and even shortcuts, but usually, the Trials will try to force a party to clear a dungeon before it can face the guardian.” Regna shrugged. “It often does this with wards like the one you saw just now.”

I chewed over this. “So you are saying the guardian-prime is behind that door?”

“Almost certainly.”

“Can we break through the ward?”

Regna snorted. “Not a chance. That ward was crafted by the Trials itself. No one, not even any of Overworld’s strongest mages, has ever managed to unravel one before.”

“Hmm. So where will we find the key?”

Regna’s eyes drifted to the stairway leading to the first floor. “Up there, most likely.”

My own gaze followed my companion’s. The first floor was the only other unexplored area of the dungeon. “Then let’s go find it.”

✽✽✽

The steps leading up opened out into an unguarded antechamber that was richly furnished. Thick curtains and tapestries draped the walls, lush carpets covered the floor, and marble busts of strange creatures I didn’t recognize were set at regular intervals around the room.

There were no windows, though, only a single white door that led deeper onto the floor. Unlike the lower floor, everything in the foyer was immaculate, as if this area had been recently inhabited. Most likely by the same smugglers that kidnapped Regna.

“We’ll search it later,” I whispered. “Once we’ve cleared the floor.”

Regna made his way to the end of the foyer and looked at me, waiting for my order. I nodded. Turning the handle, he ducked through while the door was still swinging open.

High pitched squealing emerged from the other side. Contact, I thought. Lowering my staff, I stepped into the doorway, wondering what elementals we’d face this time.

There were no elementals.

The white door opened into a long corridor, paved with marble tiles and lined with magical lamps on either wall. At the end of the passage, chittering angrily and advancing towards us, were a mass of… things.

So many. My heart skipped a beat. How do we defeat all that?

I had no name for the creatures we were facing. Each was about five feet in length. Their torsos were protected by interlocking plates of muddy-brown carapace and long and slender like a caterpillar’s. They skittered forward on hundreds of tiny legs, each tipped with claw-like pincers. Their faces were eyeless, all jaw and sharp teeth, and growing out of the top of their heads were spindly tendrils that searched the air restlessly.

“Mindworms!” Regna spat. “Don’t let the tentacles touch you. That’s how they control their prey.”

I gaped at the dwarf. Control? He couldn’t be implying what I thought he was, could he? If he was, that made this encounter tenfold harder, if not impossible. I opened my mouth to demand answers, but then reality intruded, and I shook myself. Clarification could wait for later.

I turned back to the mindworms. There had to be dozens of the creatures in the mass wriggling down the corridor. At least they weren’t moving at any great speed. We had perhaps half a minute, I judged, and I could extend that further.

“Back!” I ordered and began spellcasting.

Regna shot me a confused look. “What? Why? Better I try to hold them here. The foyer is too open; we will be overwhelmed there!”

“Back,” I repeated, not looking away from the approaching worms. The fighter growled in frustration but didn’t object further. I waited only for him to slip past me before releasing my casting and transforming the passage in sinking mud.

Marble tiles disappeared from sight as the thick brown magical sludge bubbled into existence. The mindworms paid the mud no heed and crawled straight into it. Immediately, their advance slowed.

They kept coming, though.

Still, at least I could thin their numbers before they reached us now. Raising my staff to point at the nearest worm, I cast fire ray. White-hot heat seared the air as a beam of dragonfire shot out the tip of my Focus and into my target, striking the creature in its gaping maw.

The mindworm exploded, spattering its nearby fellows with bits of gore and melted carapace.

“Blimey,” Regna murmured from behind me.

I blinked, just as stunned. I hadn’t expected to kill the creature, not with a single strike, much less in so spectacular a fashion. Sending out tendrils of will, I analyzed one of the worms.

The target is a level 10 mindworm. It has meager Magic and Resilience, mediocre Might, and has no Craft.

The creatures were only level ten. That explained it. Still, what they lacked in levels, they made up in numbers. I picked out another target and sent dragonfire racing down my staff and out towards it.

It too exploded.

After my near-panic from only moments ago, killing the creatures felt almost too easy. I knew, though, if the worms managed to get close enough to employ their tentacles, the complexion of the encounter would change quickly. Mind control, I thought with a shudder. I certainly didn’t want to experience that.

Grim-faced, I set about my task.

✽✽✽

The last mindworm died well before it reached the range of flare.

Regna, after his single initial exclamation of awe, had remained a silent spectator throughout the slaughter. But notwithstanding the dwarf’s admiration, I was concerned.

The skirmish had drained a significant portion of my mana. Too many more encounters like the one we’d just fought, and I would be forced to stop for the day. And if I could help it, I wanted to avoid doing that. It was my hope we could still face and defeat the guardian prime today.

Despite my resolve not to worry about the orcs, I hadn’t forgotten about them. It was at the back of my mind that the quicker I found and killed the guardian-prime, the more time I would have before being forced to leave the dungeon. I needed that time desperately, not only to recover and plan for my inevitable clash with the orcs but also to search for an alternate way out of the castle. What I would do if I could not get past the moat did not even bear thinking upon.

“Well,” Regna remarked as he stepped up to join me in the doorway, “that was something.”

I glanced at him. “It was nothing,” I demurred. “Any mage could have done as well.”

The dwarf snorted. “I’ve met mages aplenty, and let me tell you, none of them could have done what you did. Not at your level.” He looked at me searchingly. “Just what are you, Jamie?”

I remained silent. Folding my hands behind me to hide them from Regna, I cast lay hands and restored the health I’d lost from my spent lifeblood. The dwarf was altogether too curious about my magic, and I didn’t want to give him fresh cause to question me further.

“Well? Aren’t you going to say anything?” Regna prodded.

I shrugged. “I told you, I’m just a mage.”

The dwarf snorted. “Nonsense. Any fool could tell—”

“Leave it, Regna,” I snapped, out of patience.

The fighter folded his arms and glared at me, letting the silence draw out uncomfortably.

I sighed. “What I am, I can’t tell you,” I said finally. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure myself what the correct answer to Regna’s question was, but I was beginning to suspect that there was much more to my dragon magic than I’d first thought. “Let’s just leave it at that. Please.”

Before Regna could say anything further, I limped into the passage. “Come on, let’s get moving.”

I reached the first of the dead worms and knelt down to sift through its exploded remains. Picking up a piece of carapace, I turned it over in my hands. Paper-thin and easy to pierce, the carapace afforded little protection—another reason why the creatures had been so easy to kill.

A tentacle—nearly whole—caught my attention. Fishing it out of the corpse’s gory mess with my staff, I ran my hand along its length.

You have uncovered a mindworm’s Technique, charm prey. Your skill in anatomy has advanced to level 10 and reached rank 2, Trainee.

Huh. The name of the worm’s Technique confirmed Regna’s claim. The creatures could control our minds.

At the tread of the fighter’s heavy feet, I glanced around. Regna’s face had cleared, and he showed no sign of bearing a grudge at my rebuff. He could not hide the curiosity that shone in his eyes, though. The mystery of my magic still piqued the dwarf, but he seemed willing to let the matter rest, for which I was grateful.

“There are six doors,” Regna said. “Which do you want to enter first?”

Rising to my feet, I surveyed the corridor. There were three identical doors—all closed—on each side of the passage. “That one,” I said, pointing to the closest.

Without further discussion, we approached the door and readied our weapons. But I hesitated before giving Regna the go-ahead to open it.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, seeing my troubled expression.

I rubbed at my face while I considered what might lay beyond. At this point, I’d rather face elementals. That way, at least, I could let Regna do most of the work and conserve my mana. “What do you think is on the other side?”

“Probably more mindworms,” the dwarf replied.

My brows drew down. “Why do you say that?”

“The Trials likes patterns.” Regna shrugged. “The first floor was elementals. This one is likely all worms.”

“I see,” I muttered. I thought for a second. “What about the guardian prime? Does that mean it will be an elemental?”

The fighter shook his head. “No, the boss can be anything.” He turned back to the door. “So, how do you want to do this?”

I pursed my lips, wondering the same thing. “Do you have any skill with a bow?”

“Sorry, I’m no good at projectile weapons.” Regna frowned. “Why do you ask?”

I need to preserve mana,” I admitted.

Understanding dawned in the dwarf’s eyes. “Ah, of course.” He paused. “What now, then?”

I scratched my chin. “Looks like I am about to get some bow practice.”

✽✽✽

It took us a full minute to prepare.

I had to conserve mana, but I was not so foolish as to believe we could do this entirely without spellcasting. My first step was warding the door. Drawing on my magic, I cast wilting ward.

Mana poured out of me and formed two layers. The first was a circle of spelled ground in a one-yard radius around the still-closed door—the trapped area. The second was a fine network of strands stretching across the doorway—the trigger. Extending a third set of filaments between the trap and trigger, I snapped the spell in place.

Regna, standing beside the door, watched me with narrowed eyes. He couldn’t see the ward, of course, but I’d explained what I was about earlier, and while the dwarf hadn’t said anything, I didn’t miss the sharp glint in his eyes when he heard I had death magic too.

Backing away from the door and ignoring the avid attention of Regna, I positioned myself near the opposite wall of the corridor. There was only one more thing for me to do. Drawing on my mana again, I formed the spell construct of sinking mud in my mind.

“I’m ready,” I confirmed.

Regna nodded. “Here goes,” he said. Turning the handle, the fighter shoved open the door and ducked out of the way.

My eyes flew to the inside of the room and immediately latched on the mass of writhing shapes at the far end.

Mindworms.

There were fewer than we’d fought in the passage, but still enough to pose a considerable threat. The creatures sensed the door’s opening right away. Squealing in that eerie manner of theirs, they boiled towards the door.

I released the spell I held ready, and churning mud gushed out the tip of my staff and into the room, flooding the entrance and the area immediately beyond.

Getting down onto one knee, I placed my staff on the ground and picked up the shortbow I’d left waiting there. Regna stepped up to my side, hammer at the ready. “Aim true,” he said by way of encouragement.

I threw him a wry look and pulled an arrow from my quiver. Given how closely packed the worms were, I could scarcely miss. Setting the projectile to my bow, I sighted and let loose.

The arrow flew through the air and struck my mark, not in the worm’s mouth as I intended but somewhere mid-torso. I paused before firing again to evaluate the results of my attack.

Blood and gore spurted out of the wounded worm, and although my target still moved, it deflated rapidly as its insides spilled out. I lost sight of the creature after that as the other worms crawled over it.

I hadn’t felled my target with the single arrow, but I had critically injured it. I blew out a relieved breath. My attack had been successful, and I was sure now my plan was workable. Setting another arrow to my bow, I fired once more.

Then again. And again, each time without bothering to pick out individual targets. I only had to hit something. It didn’t matter what or where.

I kept at it, launching a near-continuous stream of arrows into the onrushing pack. The worms drew closer, leaving a trail of their dead and dying behind them, their numbers growing notably less with every foot they advanced.

“There’s only five left,” Regna said abruptly.

I blinked in surprise. Lost in the rhythm of draw and shoot, I’d barely noticed.

“Pick your shots carefully now,” he warned.

I nodded.

The first of the remaining worms was nearly at the door, but we had nothing to fear. They still had the ward to contend with. Lowering my bow, I took a moment to catch my breath and wipe away the sweat dripping down my brow.

Archery was harder work than I expected, but I was nearly done now. Setting another arrow to my bow, I waited.

The first worm slipped through the doorway.

The wilting ward triggered, and the spelled ground beneath sent weakening coils upwards, trapping all five worms. In an instant, the creatures were slowed, their already sluggish approach turning glacial. The spell’s curse wouldn’t last long, only a dozen seconds. But that was more time than I needed.

I let fly the arrow I held ready.

This time I hit my mark dead center. Firing at point-blank range, it was impossible for even an archer as poor as me to miss. I fired four more arrows, killing a worm each time.

Regna lowered his hammer. “Well done,” he congratulated. “That was easier than I expected.”

I chuckled wearily as I heaved myself back to my feet. “Easy for you to say. I was the one doing all the work.”