Reud stands outside the entrance to the Metalflow Caverns, Lilia by his side, Bo and six other skeletons at their back. The cave that leads down to the dungeons is overgrown, barely even recognizable through the undergrowth. There’s no way anything had been in or out with its depths in a very long time.

Nudging him, Lilia smiles widely. “This is exciting, isn’t it! It’s like exploring a new-found dungeon!”

“We have been down here before though.” Reud points out.

Lilia shrugs. “With this much time, it’ll be like a completely new place. Besides, if no one else has been down there then it’ll be teaming with beasts.”

Reud looks at her, his wife’s exuberance a little worrying. “Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer to stay up here? I can handle anything down there, there’s no need for you to come along.”

Lilia glares at him. “Oh? Too high and mighty to fight alongside your wife now?” She pokes him in the shoulder with a finger. “If you’ll remember, you’ve never beaten me in a spar.”

Laughing, Reud raises his hands in mock surrender. “You know that’s not what I mean. I can’t die, and either can they.” He gestures over his shoulder at the skeletons. “You, on the other hand, are far more vulnerable.”

“Reud, I’ll be fine.” Lilia says, her face suddenly serious. “Besides, I’ve been working on my new affinity. It’ll be good to finally have something real to try it out on. Isn’t it best to do that now, under your careful supervision, then when I need it to save my life?” She flutters her eyelashes at him.

“Fine, fine.” Reud says, smiling. “Just be careful, okay?”

“You know I will be. Now, are you going to open this place up or do I have to do it?” Lilia says.

Stepping to one side, Reud gestures to the skeletons to clear the path. The undead are carrying an assortment of weapons, from axes to picks to morningstars, but their bones are otherwise bare. Bo, however, is dressed in a far more elaborate outfit. Over Reud’s time away from the city it seems Rachel and Lilia had managed to scrounge up a set of plate armour for the skeleton, complete with an ornate cloak. Bo had taken to the armour, resisting Reud’s urging to leave it behind. Reud could have forced him to take it off, of course, but the novelty of the skeleton showing a personality was enough for him to let Bo have his way. At least Bo had left behind the hulking greatsword he’d taken to carrying around with him in the city, replacing it with a single-handed sword. A far more practical weapon for the confines of a dungeon.

The skeletons with axes make short work of the roots and vines blocking the cave entrance, quickly opening up the route into the dark. Then, work completed, they step to one side in silence, awaiting further orders.

Lilia pulls a couple of lanterns from her pack, lighting them and handing one to Reud. “Bo, you’re up first, I’ll be right behind you.”

The skeleton bows his head to her, then turns and strides into the dark. Lilia turns and flashes Reud a smile, then heads into the save entrance herself. Reud follows her, mentally commanding the rest of the skeletons to follow him.

The cave goes on for a short while, before angling sharply downwards. A rough-hewn set of steps lead the way down into the depths of the earth, ancient support beams lining the edge of the corridor. The stone is overgrown with moss, making the footing uncertain, and a number of times Reud almost slips, just barely catching himself before tumbling down into the darkness.

They walk for a long while before the steep steps finally end, opening out onto a round room. Stone benches are carved around the edges of the chamber, and a heavy door stands in the opposite wall. Into the rock above the door, just barely legible, are the words Metalflow Caverns. They were definitely in the right place.

“This place has really seen better days.” Lilia says, walking over to an alcove in the wall. “Even the fountain is gone.”

Reud follows her into the room, memories rushing back through him. This was the waiting room, created by the old adventurer’s guilds at the entrances of the known dungeons. Here a party could rest and recuperate before entering the dungeon. Once, there would have been enchanted fountains filled with restorative water set into the wall, and sometimes even a vendor selling various herbs and poultices. Selling things to prospective dungeon delvers was quite a lucrative business.

“It’s actually in surprisingly good condition, given how long it’s been since anyone was last down here.” Reud says, running his hands along the wall. “I half expected to have to dig our way down to get here.”

“A good bit of luck for us then.” Lilia says, before walking over to the door. She gives it a pull, but beyond a creak, it doesn’t move. “Bo, mind giving me a hand here?”

The hulking juggernaut of a skeleton clanks over to her, wrapping a gauntleted fist around the handle. Lilia nods to him. “Now, pull.”

With a screech, the door grinds open. A shower of dust falls from the wall around it as the pair strain to shift the ancient portal.

Finally, it is open wide enough for even Bo to step through. Releasing the door handle, Lilia steps back, rolling her shoulders. “Right, let’s get on inside! I’m itching to fight something.”

Reud grins at her, stifling a laugh.

Lilia notices her gaze, a flush spreading across her face. “What? Why are you laughing? What did I do?”

“You never change, do you?” Reud says, a wide smile spreading across his face. “I remember you saying those exact same words, then running into that ant hive. Then, running back out again.”

“Shush you.” Lilia says, a smile tugging at her mouth. “That was different, I was young and excitable.” She draws herself up tall, flicking her hair back from her face. “Now I’m more collected and mature.”

“Sure you are.” Reud says, laughing softly.

Lilia sticks her tongue out at him. “Let’s just go inside.” Turning to Bo she gestures. “After you.”

Bo nods to her, then strides into the dark.

***

The group snake the winding caverns of the dungeon, the oppressive darkness around them pressing, as if trying to snuff out the tiny pool of light cast out by their lanterns. So far there has been no sign of life, no movement within the surrounding shadows. There has also been no sign of the metal they are here for, so they have no choice but to delve deeper and deeper.

Reud breathes deeply, savouring the tingling sensation of the mana saturating the air. Dungeons formed where the ambient mana was many times greater than usual, warping reality in strange and wonderful ways. The further in the dungeon they delved, the greater the mana would be, and the more influenced by it the things they encounter would be. The creatures living at the heart of a dungeon would often be monstrous, mutated to deadly heights not seen on the surface. As a result, the materials that could be harvested from them were valuable, and it was this that pushed adventurers to brave the dangers within a dungeon's depths.

Reud’s lantern light glints off something shiny on one of the stalactites filling the tunnel. Walking over to it, he holds his lantern up to look closer. A thin band of greenish-silver metal snakes down the damp rock. Relief rushes through Reud at the sight. They were in the right place.

“Psst, Reud.” Lilia whispers. Her and Bo have stopped at the end of the tunnel, at what looks to be an entrance to a larger cavern. Lilia has dimmed her lantern, crouching to the side as if hiding from something within.

Reud dims his lantern too, then walks softly over to her, commanding the skeletons at his back to slowly do the same. As he approaches, Lilia gestures for him to look at something within the cavern beyond.

Peering over her shoulder, Reud’s eyes widen as he spots what stopped her in her tracks. The tunnel opens into a wide cavern, dotted by pools of water. Great bands of the greenish-silver metal line the walls, shimmering in the dim blue light cast out by faintly glowing flowers growing around the floor. At the centre of the room, crouching over one of the flowers, is a spider. A giant, dog-sized spider.

Its bulbous body is covered in splotches of the greenish-silver metal, as if the arachnid was wearing armour. With its two front legs, it carefully manipulates the flower below it, pulling away the petals at the top to reveal a tiny orb within. Slowly, it lowers itself down further and plucks away the orb with its mandibles.

“Foe?” Lilia whispers to Reud.

Reud nods slowly. “I don’t think we hope that any creature in a dungeon will be friendly.”

“Lightning strike then.” Lilia says. “Send two of the skeletons with me, Bo and the others can guard the exits against anything that comes investigating.”

“Sounds good to me.” Reud agrees. Looking back at the skeletons, he picks two carrying maces and orders them forward. The axes wouldn’t do much good against the armoured spider.

“On three.” Lilia says, her eyes glowing with purple light. “Three. Two. One. Go.”

In an instant, she bursts into a full sprint. The two skeletons Reud picked race along behind her, Bo and others fanning out around the room. The spider spins with surprising quickness at the disturbance, a chittering cry erupting from within its body as it does.

It barely has a chance to do a thing before Lilia is on it. Her sword flickers out, a white glow lining its leading edge, and cuts through the spider's raised front leg, sending the severed limb clattering onto the rock at its side. The spider lets out a keening screech, loud enough to make Reud wince.

Skittering forward, it slams its other leg towards Lilia. She springs back out of its reach, letting the spider hit nothing but rock. The strike does, however, send chips of stone spraying into the air.

Narrowing his eyes, Reud commands the two skeletons by Lilia forward. They spring towards the spider, bringing their maces down with a ringing crash. Their blows do nothing but dent the metal covering its body. The spider hisses and strikes out, sending one of the skeletons clattering along the ground.

“Draw its attention!” Lilia shouts, circling around towards the back of the spider. “I’m going to try something.”

“Try what?” Reud shouts back, ordering the fallen skeleton to pull itself back together and re-enter the fray. Lilia doesn’t answer, her blazing eyes focused on her blade.

Reud turns his attention back to the skeletons. Raising a hand towards them, he floods them with mana once again. The spider lashes out with its remaining foreleg, smashing into the ground again and again. The enhanced skeletons, brimming with energy, deftly dodge its attacks, their bones floating out of the way of its strikes. In between its attacks, they dart in to slam their maces down, little by little denting its armoured exoskeleton.

Then, Lilia was back into the fight. She charges towards the spider, spinning on one foot to bring her blade around in a long arc, cleaving through the spider’s bulbous abdomen with ease. As her blade moves, it leaves behind a glittering trail, and where it touches the spider a white film covers its body. Instantly, Reud recognizes the magic. It seems Lilia had finally managed to tap into her new affinity for ice!

The spider screeches and tries to spin around towards her, but the two skeletons at its front spring in, smashing their maces into its face. The spider reels back, only to take Lilia’s blade in its side again.

The frost spreads further and further over the spider’s body after each strike. As it spreads, the arachnids movements slow, until the skeletons can dodge its strikes without needing Reud’s bolstering. They take it in turns to dart in and slam their maces into the spiders face, mangling its many eyes and crushing its mandibles.

Then, with one final strike, the spider stiffens. Its legs curl up underneath it, sending its body rolling over onto its back. With one final shudder and a wet gurgle, it goes still.

Lilia steps back, a faint sheen of sweat glistening on her brow. “Well, that was exciting.”

“Impressive use of your new magic there.” Reud says, smiling at her.

Lilia gives her sword a few swings, leaving glittering trails through the air. “It’s good, isn’t it? It takes a bit of getting used to, channelling through two affinities at the same time. Not something we ever got taught at the Academy.”

Reud nods. A dual affinity was so rare, he’d only ever heard of it in books. Lilia would be forging her own path in learning how to control both her affinities. It was impressive she’d managed to get so far already.

Walking up to the spider, Reud squats down beside it to examine it closely. The creature was fascinating. The metal that covers its body in blotchy streaks seemed to actually be fused into its exoskeleton, running all through its carapace like greenish-silver veins.

“It’s like naturally formed plate armour.” Reud remarks.

“Sure was hard enough,” Lilia says, walking over to him. “Cutting it nearly chipped my blade. It seemed resistant to my magic.”

“That’ll be the mana infusing the metal.” Reud says. “It’ll have a repelling effect on any other magic. If I remember rightly, it made some pretty impressive armour, a shame that it is so hard to work in large amounts.”

Reaching out with his senses, he focuses on the metal. A steady stream of mana flows into it from deep within the dungeon, continually replenishing the mana leaking out from the spiders ruined corpse.

“That’s odd.” Reud murmurs, a frown creasing his face.

“What’s wrong?” Lilia asks.

Reud gestures at the corpse. “Any mana link should have been severed once the creature died. But for some reason, it hasn’t.”

Reud tries to push his senses along the mana link, but the connection is too faint to be sensed through the ambient noise of the chaotic mana in the dungeon. He would need physical contact to follow it better.

Reaching his arm out, Reud goes to touch the metal. “The link goes deeper into the dungeon. I’m just going to follow it and see-”

The moment his fingers brush the metal, the link becomes clear. In both directions.

Deep in the dungeon, a powerful mind, raging with mana, stares back at him. Their gazes meet for a moment, before the thing sends an immense blast of mana back down the link.

The mana slams into the spider, blasting the metal along its body apart, before slamming into Reud. He jerks backwards, stinging slivers of metal peppering his arms, a high-pitched ringing filling his ears.

Reud lies back on the floor, staring up at the ceiling as he waits for the dizziness to pass. Lilia’s face appears in his vision, concern creasing her face. Her mouth moves, but whatever she is saying is lost behind the ringing.

“... you okay?” Her words finally make their way to his ears. “Reud, say something!”

“I’m fine.” Reud says, pushing himself up onto his arms.

“What was that?” Lilia asks.

“That…” Reud says, a smile spreading across his face. “It was blowback from a mana surge. We have a dungeon boss to slay.”