Rem smiled on happily as she waded through the pages of her dusty grimoire with Clive. He smiled back but from even the quickest of glances the Maestro could tell that it didn’t fit him, he half expected the boy to break out in a sweat. Clive coughed as he felt Rem's eyes laser in on him.

“Sorry, I just have to go to the bathroom, I will be back in a bit”

Clive slammed his body up against the wall of the cubicle before sitting down in a panic.

“How am I going to do this?”

As he turned over his right hand the orb pulsed ominously, as he heard whispers streaming into his mind. His hand trembled as he gazed into the abyss beyond the lighted facets of the orb.

“What are you?” he said while stroking at it's surface.

It felt like any other gem, it didn’t even feel charged with magic, in truth, it just felt empty.

*Are these glyphs extracting energy from my soul? Is it trying different combinations to try to unlock control over my body and mind?*

Clive felt sick to his stomach looking at the gem, and the mutalated wounds that surrounded it. He didn't even want to think about how it had managed to fuse into his bones. He felt a cold chill spreading through his body the longer he looked at it. The knowledge that it was real and couldn’t be wished away, was like being pinned down in a brawl, and beat on until a person's spirit had nothing else to do but break.

He turned his hand palm up to hide it from sight.

"I have to work up to acknowledging its existance bit by bit, if I try it all in one go... I just can't handle it"

He swung open the cubicle door and planted his hands on either side of the wash basin. The reflection staring back at him in the mirror was gaunt from the previous night's fever. He turned cranked the faucet and ran his hands under the water before splashing his face.

Taking in a big gulp of air, he readied himself to return to Rem and the Maestro.

“Keep cool”

He smiled to Rem as he sat back on the bed, she rubbed his arm warmly and the continued to read off different glyphs, what they meant, and the short stories on how they were first used.

“This symbol here is shoo, much like achoo when you sneeze, it was originally used to cool fevers that came from early incantations and magic rituals. It allows a person better access to veins and blood vessels. Isn’t that fascinating?!”

“Sure is” Clive smiled.

…

The pebbles and grit of the cave scraped against Subi’s forelegs as he crawled. He scanned with his ears and nose in order to evade detection. Large snakes slithered through the grass, as stink beetles climbed about on the tips. He could hear everything, from the fluttering their wings to boglets wading through streams in the distance, small brown creatures that were half frog and half monkey.

Subi slipped into a side cavern following the Abolat crystal’s smell. It was dark except for traces of blue light coming from small patches of rawtfungi. It didn't bother him though, as his night vision just made the room like a black and white movie.

Transforming out of his wolf form he strode confidently towards a pile of mud on the far side of the cave. He dug away at the dirt and shovelled it aside to reveal shining crystals.

“Aha! Found you” he said as he hurried to dig out the rest.

“Okay, so this time... Don't punch it, even if the weird voice deserves it, just try to sense its nature”.

He knelt down with his baby body and placed his hand on the crystal. It buzzed as his skin made contact. Flashes of white light filled his mind, followed by the sounds of a rushing river.

Subi felt as though he was submerged under water, fighting to reach the surface, only to be pulled further into the depths. He fist clenched tightly at his side and began to shake as he fought off the urge to break free from the crystal's influence.

"Pah!" he said as he let out a sigh.

He tried to bring his focus to the details around him as he swam inside the head of what seemed to be someone else's memories. He looked down to see that his arms were that of a teenage boy, blonde hair brushed in front of his vision, and in after fighting his way to just below the surface of the water he caught glimpses of dry glass, and… Dandelions.

“I’m Clive!"

The vision faded away leaving him in a cold dark place, where he could feel nothing but the buzz of the Abolat crystal forming into words.

“He will be consumed, just like wild water cannot be contained! Feyr, feyr, FEYR!!!”.

Subi reflexively pulled back his hand from the crystal and then…

THWACK!!!

His knuckles hit hard against its surface causing it to shatter like so many shards of glass.

“FUUUUCK!"

Subi knelt to the floor and scooped up some of the crystal dust in his hands.

"Damn it! Why can’t I control myself when the voice whispers in my head”.

Subi stood to his feet and shook off his throbbing knuckles with a few short sharp flicks.

“Wait, am I taller?"

"Grr, what am I doing, I need to get out of this cave before the guards head back”.

Subi sprinted out of the side cavern as fast as he could, and transformed into his wolf form as he shot towards the cave entrance. He ignored the bugs, boglets, and snakes, simply zigzagging his way around them with his superior agility.

Fwoosh!

An arrow shot at him from across the other side of the cavern.

“Damn it, what is with that guy?”

Hearing the arrow in flight gave Subi just enough time to shrink into his human form to avoid the bow. The arrow shattered upon a pile of rocks behind him.

He ran through the grass like a boy raised in the wild, pumping his legs as fast as he could.

The guard from the slums screamed out, “What the hell was that?!”,

Eric turned and began to chase.

“Some large creature on its way out, we can’t let it escape! Gah! Where is it?” one of the brothers shouted out.

Eric shot into the next cavern after the sound of footsteps with his arrow half cocked. He quickly scanned the room left to right, and then scurried through to the next. He scanned from left to right again and again until he reached the cave entrance. It was either too late or the animal was still in the main cavern. He slowly made his way back to the main room where the other guards were shouting as swarms of green beetles chased after them.

“Run!” the guard from the slums cried out “Abort abort abort”. The brothers picked up their legs and shot towards the exit.

Eric shot two quick arrows to something moving in the grass ahead of them.

Fwoosh, fwoosh!

They shot through the air one after the other and struck into the target. A large snake reared out of the grass with two arrows lodged in its side. The brothers swept out to either side of its strike and ran past Eric toward the entrance.

They all shot through the caves as fast as they could until finally… Daylight shone on their faces.

“Wait, where is the draw bridge? Why is it up!”

“Ahh they are coming!” the guard from the slums screamed as he looked back.

Eric aimed an arrow at a strand of rope holding up a large boulder by the entrance.

"Move"

FWOOSH

The arrow sliced through the rope and sent the boulder crashing down over the entrance, plugging it entirely. The guards all stumbled back as the rock settled in.

“Well don’t just look at it, let's get out of this pit!”

The guard from the slums screeched out “There is a bug! It is crawling from the gap”

CRUNCH

One of the brothers smirked as the bug squished under the edge of his shield, “Stop being such a baby”.

…

Subi bolted out of the entrance now a foot taller than he was before. He pulled the the winch on the drawbridge in order to buy himself some time and scrambled over to a puddle of mud. He quickly sloshed it onto his face and body, and snatched up cutlery from a table close by and ran for the Captain's tent.

"Chi chi chi!"

"Nyah nyah ticker ticker nyah!"

He blasted into the room knocking a few things over for added effect and stared into the Captain's eyes.

“Oh my god! A chitterling!”

The Captain reared back in fright, tossing what little he could at the creature before him. Subi squated and stepped out of the way before leaping onto the Captain's chest.

“Tells… Me… Where… Dungeons… Is! Or I eat your faces!”

The Captain screeched, “Okay I’ll tell you, just don't eat me!”

…

The screams of the Captain echoed through the entire forest.

“Quickly something is attacking the Captain!”.

All the guards pulled together to escape the pit, making a makeshift ladder out of their swords. Eric climbed out fist and sprung into a fighting stance, he spun an arrow from his quiver and half cocked it before swiftly moving to the Captain’s tent. He sprung through the entrance to see the Captain pointing back out into the mist.

“Chitterling! Chitterling! Into the mist!”.

Eric ran out, but whatever it was, it had vanished.

One of the brothers managed to climb out of the pit next, and went over to the drawbridge and lowered it back down for the other guards. The Captain was speaking gibberlng mess when everyone arrived.

“The chitterling spoke! It forced me to tell it where other dungeons were”

Eric scratched his temple, “… This doesn’t make any damn sense”

...

Subi’s paws thudded against dirt and rock as he shot through the woods. His pace was so fast that everything was a blur. He shot up into the mountains, and through a rocky passage, then down onto the capitol road and into the woods alongside it. He made his way as quickly as possible to the city walls.

“Wow, the walls are so high”

Subi transformed down into his human form and took a thin blanket from his bag and wrapped himself up so he wasn’t naked.

“Hey, is that a kid?”

“Yeah looks like it”

“What the heck is he doing outside the walls?”

“Hey kid!”

Subi looked up at the guards and jogged over to them.

“What are you doing outside the gates? Its dangerous out here, get inside”

Subi nodded and ran in behind them.

“Geez, that kid really has some deadbeat parents”

“Maybe he’s an orphan?”

“I didn’t think of that, should we have offered some food”

“Nah, he looked okay, just a bit dirty”

“Yeah you are right, kids are tough”

The main street beyond the gate forked in five directions; two along the wall, one straight ahead, and two at angles. Subi quickly surveyed the surroundings and worked out that the streets that followed the walls were used for transporting goods, since they were eventually stored in the walls anyways, while the three other roads were all market prominades to maximise trade with visitors.

Subi jogged along the shops and weaved between people as he found his bearing in the crowds. He had to hop and lean around people to see what goods each shop had.

"I need some gear, I can't just rely on my wolf form for everything in the next dungeon"

“Ah, this is a good idea” he said as he spotted an alchemist.

“Hi maam”

“Oh hi there little one, where is your mommy”

“She is sick, I am just helping out”

“Oh does she need a tonic of some kind?”

“No no, she needs some of the powder that explodes when it hits slimes”

The lady raised her eyebrow and brought her hand to her hip, “Oh really? She does, does she? So why exactly would she need that”

“Dunno, she says she’s worried about brother”

“So you are sure it isn’t for you or maybe your friends? This isn’t a plaything”

“I know, momma said to be real careful, and I promised I would”

She reached under the counter and brought out a pouch of it, "Aww, you sweet little thing"

“She also needs something that creates a lot of smoke… For my brother”

The lady was suspicious but nevertheless pulled out a half dozen egg shells filled with a substance and coated in wax.

“Be careful with these”

Subi then pointed at a pouch with five different colored potions “What is that?”

“It is the bundle we sell to those going outside the gates, its full of helpful potions just in case of emergency”

“I will take two”

“Okay here you go”

Subi pulled out a pouch of money and put the exact amount on the table.

“Whoa, you can already count!”

“Yup!” he smiled, and then started putting everything into his backpack, “Thanks lady”

“You too little guy, be careful!”

“I will”

The lady turned and sighed “If I had more time on my hands I would have saw him home...”

Subi rushed through the streets and shot through the front door of the tailors.

He fumbled through the piles of children's clothes until he found something understated and light blue.

“This please”

“Who is talking?”

“Down here”

“Oh its you, aren’t you a little young to be out buying clothes on your own?”

“Its fifty yes?”

“Uh, yes, it is”

Subi slid the money up onto the table and headed to the changing rooms, slipping on the light blue shirt and trousers.

“Ah, that is better”.

He waved cheerfully as he headed out of the shop and onto the next one.

WHOOSH

He shot through the door of a book shop and scooped up pens, parchment, and anything else that looked useful.

“Is that kid looking at books?” the store keeper mumbled to himself while scratching his head.

Subi brushed of a book that read “Dungeon work guidelines”.

“These please” he said as he put the exact money on the counter.

“S-sure”

POOF

Subi shot out into the street and towards the weaponsmiths. The sign above the door read “The Stirling Sword”.

Subi popped through the doors and was surprised by how much larger it was than any other he had been in. It was cleaner too. There were dozens of racks and shelves on each wall full of shining metal swords and shields. Subi walked over to the shields and pulled off the wall a small metal buckler, that to him was the size of a shield.

“This might help, those guards said that an eagle was sent out to each dungeon to make up for short numbers… I will need this if I run into one of them again”.

He reached up to the shelf just above where the shield had been and took a six inch straight edged dagger off the shelf.

“I can’t use a sword yet, so this should have its uses”.

He scurried through shelf after shelf frantically looking for anything useful.

“Aha! Bolas”

It was a lasso with three weighted balls on the end of three meter long cords.

“Yes, with my heightened strength and speed, I could use these. It would help make up for my lack of reach”.

He had recalled back on earth using them as a kid for fun, you would hold one weight in your hand, spin the other two and when releasing at the target the last weight would cause all the ropes to tighten out so it became like a helicopter snaring itself around a post or a pair of legs. He grabbed a second one off the shelf so he would have more than one to throw.

Subi lit up with another idea.

“I need some cord!”

He bounded around to another shelf and pulled out a bundle of thin but strong cord.

“Nice”

He then looked over in the corner at some massive sets of armor that were too big to be worn by humans

“Battle armor for horses? Too small for me though... But I'll keep it in mind for later”.

“Hi sir, these please!”

The shopkeep had a bored expression and didn’t barely look up to see who was paying him, “Two bolas, some chord, a straight edge dagger, and a buckler… is that all? Or can I interest you in our oils and whetstones for keeping all your gear in tip top shape”

“Ah, no thanks”

“Then please do have a stirling day” the teenager mumbled from behind his fringe.

Subi stuffed everything into his bag and slung it over his shoulder.

Decked out in a blue shirt, slightly darker blue pants, a shield attached to his arm, with a satchel backpack slung over his shoulder and some potions on a holster on his waist, he looked like a real adventurer, just much much smaller.

The straight edged dagger was slipped into a holster just behind the shield, and the bolas were rolled up and in two small pouches either side of his belt buckle. He stood there feeling complete, he might have been barefoot and armorless but he had to be dressed for speed anyway.

His foot prints made little imprints as he left out through the gates, creeping behind the guards and returning to the woods. He stripped off and threw everything into his bag, transformed into the wolf and ran off to the closest dungeon’s location given to him earlier by the scared Captain.

Through the day and into the night. Through forests, mountains, and fields. Passing by monsters both large and small, past little village roads and across river passes. He galloped in elegant strides and cut through the air like a blade. His fur shifting in the wind and reflecting the moonlight.

“Here we go”, he said as his nose caught onto the smell of Abolat crystal.

He slowed his pace and walked over to the top of a ridge and looked down at the open grassland below.

In the distance were campfires lit by the guards that manned the dungeon. He trotted down the cliff side and strode to the far side of the grassland.

“Gah no cover anymore, I need to transform”

Subi pulled off his backpack and geared up so he could make his approach.

The guards all sat around the fire except one who sat looking out over the fields in a different direction than Subi had came. A leg of meat was skewered and was being smoked over the fire as the guards laughed and slapped their knees in merriment.

“What’s so damn funny?” one with dark hair and a grumpy brow said as he stared the others down.

“Can’t tell you Captain its an inside joke... And we’re outdoors!” one of them let slip out.

“You think you guys are funny ha ha, I’d like to see you laugh when I stick this sword of mine up your ass”

Subi puffed up his chest and strode confidently towards the camp.

“Hey, what is that, is that a…” the man on watch stammered.

Another guard turned around to check “Is that a goblin or something?”

“Get up already and go deal with it would you" the Captain grumped, "What am I even paying you guys for, surely not to sit around and wise crack”

“Aww man, do I have to?” the guard huffed.

He picked up a torch and lit it in the fire and wandered closer to the figure just beyond camp, “Hey, hey Captain, you need to see this, its not a goblin”

The captain groaned and stood to his feet “Alright what is it”

“It, its a kid”

“Whoa, what the heck are you doing out here buddy, you get lost or something, and what is with that shield and backpack” he squinted hard and scrutinised Subi with a mean eye

“Oh I get it! Haha! Good one guys, where’d you find him, nice touch with the shield too, haha”.

“But Captain” one of the others tried to explain.

Subi stopped once he was by the fire and held his hands near the flame, causing everyone to look at him with confusion.

“Is this for real?”

“Hi there guys” Subi squeaked out in his childlike but firm voice, “I was wondering if I could go into the dungeon”.

The Captain stared at him for a moment with his mean eye, carefully scrutinising him again with fresh resolve.

“Bwahhahaha! This is too much” he said before pounding with his fist on his thigh.

Subi calmly continued “I don’t ask that you take responsibility or anything, there is just something inside I have to see”.

“Wait a second kid, are you serious? There ain’t nothing to see in there ya know, just monsters and a whole lot of bad luck”

Subi turned and looked at the Captain, “I won’t ask for your help, I just ask that you don’t try to stop me”.

“Well kid as much as I’d like to just let you do whatever it is you are looking to do, its dangerous and I don’t want some dead kid on my conscience. Also if you step into that dungeon you might send some of the beasts in there into a frenzy and then we have to deal with the consequences, so no kid, you can’t go in”

One of the other guards walked over and knelt down to Subi’s height “You can have some food with us though if you want”

“I’ll pass” Subi said dismissively as he walked back off away from the campfire, “I just ask that you not do anything to get in my way” he said as he walked off back into the shadows.

“Hey, where did he go? What the hell, what kind of kid just wanders out here in the night and then disappears? Shouldn’t he be crying like a baby for his momma or something, what gives?”

“Hey boss, what if it wasn’t a kid… what if it was a g-ghost!”

“Hey shut up with that crap I’m on edge enough as it is”

Subi walked in a wide circle to approach the pallisade from the far side of the guards, and pulled out a length of cord. He tied some loops in it to create a makeshift ladder and hung it on one of the posts and climbed down into the pit.

He dusted off his hands and shoulders and looked into the open maw of the cave allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness within. The grime and rock was cool to the touch of his feet as he stepped inside. He saw some horseshoe crabs, slimes, and a lot of burned vegetation littered around the cave. Nothing was particularly threatening so he just walked through.

He peered into the next corridor and saw some kind of large boulder in the middle. He walked up to it as silently as he could and once close noticed it had fur and was snoring loudly with a grumble here and there. He tiptoed around it in a circle and noticed as he reached the other side that it was a grave bear.

“Not good, I won’t be able to just run out with this here”

Subi shuffled past and plopped down from the corridor into the main cavern beyond, filled with the light of rawtfungi and gnarlshroom. Tropical forest sounds echoed through the cave as Subi scaled down rockwall and towards the smell of the Abolat crystal.

“The crystal is close, nice, I won’t run into much here then I guess”

He could sense the razor birds in the trees but he was too small and too calm to send them into a frenzy. He could also hear and smell the goblins near the far end of the cavern, along with several large warthog creatures and a small group of orcs, but again, it was unlikely they would notice one as small as him.

He walked closer to a stream running along the eastern wall and could see the light of the crystal peeking through the gaps in a waterfall.

Subi suddenly stopped by the edge of the water, as his nose twitched, a drop of sweat appeared on his brow and he dived back away from the water, lifting his shield as he did. His shield was hit with a loud thud.

WHOMP

He lowered the shield to improve his line of sight and saw a vine slither back into the water.

“Drowner vines”

Tentacles of the plant broke out of the water surface and flailed around like a hydra.

“From what I have heard, these plants are territorial, even to their own kind, it is likely this is the only one”

He reached for a bola just to the right of his belt buckle and held the end of the strings.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH THWIP

He twitched his wrist and cast the bolas like a spinning helicopter towards the base of the three tentacles. The ropes quickly spun their way around the vines and held it together.

He dropped his bag, ran forwards and dived into the water. He kicked his feet and dived down below looking as best he could for a bulb at the base of the vines.

*Aha!*

He unsheathed the straight dagger from his shield and began hacking at the bulb until it popped off. The moving vines fell silent and floated on the surface of the water.

*Glad I took a look at that book earlier*

He retrieved the bolas, and swam over to the waterfall. Slipping behind the wall of water and placing his hand on the crystal.

“Okay, don’t punch it, don’t punch it, don’t punch it” he whispered under his breath as he started to concentrate.

The crystal shone brighter as a blue room grew in his mind.

“Feyr, why are you here?”

Subi grit his teeth as a surge of anger washed over him. The crystal's voice was unbearably patronising and invasive to his senses. He quelled his urge to punch the crystal with a sigh and concentrated harder on the crystal to respond with a question of his own.

“What are these dungeons? And how is it connected to the magic of this world?”

“A Feyr asks this question like a pitiful human, how sad...”

Subi’s hand not held on the crystal balled up into a fist and then relaxed.

“This Feyr wants to know your view, mister crystal”

“Why should I explain anything to you? Feyr...”

“Listen to me you stupid piece of crap, just tell me what I want to know”

“No, I don’t think I will”

Subi pushed his hand harder onto the crystal harder and began deep breathing.

“Then I will dig into you and find out for myself!”

Subi grit his teeth as he invaded the spirit of the crystal with his own, wild lights flashed in his minds eye, yet undeterred he dug deeper and deeper. Until...

“No stop, you stupid beast, don’t!”

Subi twisted his head as sweat beaded upon his brow. He wasn't far away from an answer now.

"Ahhh... You send out energy that lulls people into a false sense of security, so you can operate under the surface... My my, you have been busy haven't you..."

"ENOUGH!"

The crystal began shaking under his hand, until…

CRACK!

The crystal shattered into a fine dust in an instant, nothing left but a pile of dust.

“Hey! Come back you stupid crystal!”

Subi scratched his head.

“I think I felt something before it turned to dust though, I think these dungeons are some kind of weed, or rot, creating an appearance of everything being better than it really is… Its hiding something, something it doesn’t want anyone to see...”

He crept out from behind the waterfall and made his way slowly through the trees and then slowly climbed out of the valley into the hall. He tip toed around the snoring bear and walked back out into the pit.

He grabbed the cord rope ladder he made and climbed out.

“What are you?” an intimidating figure said to him as he stepped out. Subi looked up at the towering figure; bow slung over his shoulder, and carrying the heir of an elite shoulder.

*Fuck... One of the Eagle squadron...*

“Just leave me alone mister”

“Why should I?” he kneeled down and grabbed Subi by the wrist “Don’t think you are just going to be able to run off on me either, you are going to tell me what you were doing in there and you are going to tell me now”

Subi looked him in the eyes and welled up with tears, “My sister dropped her heartstone necklace, it fell into the dungeon when it opened up, she was crying because it is all we have left of mom, so I came to get it”

The eagle squad trooper looked at him with a raised eyebrow and loosened his grip, “You find this necklace of hers?”

Subi pulled out a heartstone necklace for the eagle trooper to see, something he thought was pretty as he moved from shop to shop.

“You got some guts kid, walking into a dungeon like that, maybe you got what it takes to be eagle squadron one day when you grow up,” he reached over to his sleeve and pulled off a small eagle badge.

“Here, take this, we need brave kids like you, show it to one of our men in the city and say you want to be trained as an eagle, he’ll see this and know I vouched for you”

“What is your name” Subi asked.

“Its Harding”

“Okay Harding, I will”

“And don’t go climbing into any dungeons again until you do, you hear me kid”

“Kay, I gotta get back to sis now, thanks Harding!”

Subi waved and headed off into the fields. The Captain came over to Harding and nudged him.

“What was with that?”

“Uh just some cocky little kid, his sister dropped her necklace and he was crazy enough to go grab it”

“Wait, it wasn't a ghost? And it went in there? Brave little fucker...”

“Yeah, told him to join the squad we need kids like that”.

The captain turned his head and squinted at the hole to the dungeon “Is that a goblin?”

“Shit you are right, it must have followed him out, just a sec”

Harding pulled out his bow and an arrow and shot into the pitch black striking the goblin down

“Lucky kid, had no idea it was following him out”