Prologue: Unearthed

Dusk settled across the sky as the sun ended its crescent over the world. The forest of viridian green and vibrant purple was dense over the land, forming a canopy that obscured the ground from the air above. Below the leaves, the darkness was much more potent as the dimming daylight struggled to reach past the awning. Wolves howled as the day set, casting fear into the hearts of the domicile wildlife, but a sharper ear would find angst present in the shout.

In the deepest part of this darkness, where one would find no light here even during golden hour, a shrouded thicket held underneath a hole that led towards the depths of an unmarked ruin. Only recently, the thicket was broken and damaged, but clever techniques utilizing the surrounding underbrush masked the presence of the location. The discovery of a dungeon was a chance at riches, so often expeditionists would hide their existence to covet everything inside, ignoring the laws of reporting it to the Dungeon Investigation Agency. Of course, fortune was not all the dungeon stowed inside.

Inside, it looked like any other ancient mine from ages past. Metallic carts of the inferior design lay either tipped over or forever irreparable on the tracks that lead deeper. The mine seemed fairly innocuous and, to the untrained eye, would be glanced over and deemed unremarkable, aside from attracting the attention of history buffs. However, to dungeoneers, this location was teeming with the chaotic energy of magic. Oddly enough, the chaos was potent enough that any junior explorer would be able to sense the presence of a dungeon once inside, but it was indiscernible from beyond the entrance.

Various traps lay destroyed along the path inside. Most looked to be safely disarmed, but every so often, one would have rich blood strewn about the area. Torn clothing, strips of flesh, or cracks in the ground could be found among the gore of destroyed bodies and figures. None of the remains were humanoid, but it was unlikely, based upon the messy remnants, that the entrants did not struggle while facing the resistance.

Following the footprints in the black dust, a large stone door locked shut, guarded the dungeon’s deepest room. The dungeoneers had already entered inside and the door closed behind them would force them to face the challenges inside. Only those confident in their abilities or ignorant to danger would enter such an obvious final room.

Faint sounds of a clash pushed through the door, but they echoed loudly across the stone in the locked chamber. Sparks of metal colliding flashing of magic illuminated the circular room, outshining the red sconces on the walls. Heavy boots of steel pressed into the ground with each step and served to mask the sound of what could only be explained as the ticking of a clock. The only outstanding object in the room was the large, empty orb attached to the ceiling above, reflecting each movement from those inside.

Standing tall and reaching the top of the three-meter tall ceiling, a mechanical automaton expressionlessly attacked the invaders before it. It’s bronze coating with strange runes glistened in the dim lighting and atop its constructed shoulders was the design of a gruff, but strange-looking old man’s face. Its face did not move, but behind its eyelids was the slight glowing of a red light. Each of its attacks, whether it was the hammer of it’s right or the blade of its left, held the might of a train that those before it had to defend against.

The vanguard consisted of those in knightly attire, steel plates, pauldrons, and all. Quality weapons were held by each of them and each sword, spear, or shield had their own unique effects. Coordination trained by years of fighting led the group into a routine dance, shielding to block the heavy attacks and then striking directly after.

Behind them towards the backline, four people in lighter clothing stood helpless in the skirmish. One of elvish descent loosed arrows one after another but failed to do much damage against the metallic creature. Another in priestess clothing chanted words upon words, bringing light from the ceiling and into the wounds of the warriors to heal them. The third was a young boy, staff in hand but his panicked demeanor caused him to hesitate between each spell. Lastly, a strong, if not strange man carried a large number of supplies in his pack currently placed to his side as he sat on the ground. In his hands was a bowl of soup that he would occasionally take satisfying mouthfuls of, forming a grin on his face.

Frustrated, the elf brought her bow as she stamped her foot in frustration. “It had to be a goddamned, automaton, didn’t it? I can pierce a Giant Recluse’s eyes, shoot out the wings of a Darklit Butterfly, or even destroy the hide of a Cinder Wolf, but what the hell do I do against a hunk of metal!”

A concerned look spread across the priestess’s face. She gave an apologetic smile, “I wouldn’t worry too much. Different classes have different strengths and weaknesses, Cella. Look at me, who can only rightfully hurt undead creatures and those with hearts of sin.”

Cella’s brow still furrowed, but she crossed her arms with a sigh. “I already know that, but knowing doesn’t make me any less angry.” She swore in her heart to invest in obtaining an explosion-based skill for her arrows at the next opportunity. “Even Joseph over there can help out the troops.”

Both of the women looked at the boy. His face showed he was only in his lower teens and his stressed face indicated the situation was too much to bear. He cast spell after spell but each one had less of an effect on the automaton than he expected.

“Your brother is a bright child,” the priestess said with a frown, “but even you can see he is inexperienced. Despite being far from danger, he stresses this much. I fear it will be long until he becomes a competent mage.”

Sitting beside the two women, the man having his meal spoke up, “‘Tis only the boy’s first expedition. “He’ll learn quickly, he will.”

Cella looked at her brother and could only pray that was the case. “Anyways, why are you eating right now? We should be ready to leave at a moment’s notice and here you are already serving dinner.”

The older man raised a brow towards the girl, “You don’t ‘venture with us much, but this is plenty normal. If anything, the Knights’ll have my head if dinner is not ready after a boss encounter.”

‘Boss encounter,’ Cella thought. She had seen a few before in her time with the mercenary party, but most of them were easy enough for the vanguard they could hardly be called such. This one seemed not only much more difficult but the eerie atmosphere chilled her bones to the marrow and seemed to be sapping at her energy. ‘It must be the tense battle attacking my nerves,’ she thought.

Time slowly passed as the atmosphere only got more grave. Over twenty more minutes passed and sweat flooded the vanguard’s silver helmets, while visible expressions of worry took place on those in the rear. At this point, the priestess was fatigued with all four limbs on the ground. Her holy healing could not keep up with the vanguard’s injuries, inevitably leading to one of their members losing their life. Others had to step to the side away from the attacks to rest, but their fatigue prevented them from rejoining the fight. More worrying was that the time between each tick of the faint clock only decreased the longer they spent in this room. It was to the point where each click resounded in the hall as its volume would rise higher and higher. Unfortunately, there was little the group could do to ease their worry.

Another ten minutes and that feeling growing in Cella's gut reached its peak, but it was far too late for any reaction. She hadn’t noticed, but the chef had already long fallen asleep next to his stew. She felt the irresistible urge to join him but still managed to stand tall due to the lack of energy she expended and the support of her higher level. By this point, only the leader of the vanguard was fighting. Three had collapsed into an everlasting sleep and the several others only lay on the ground, panting in exhaustion and a defeated look of despair on their faces.

At last, the ticking abruptly subsided and the creature froze its movements after one final attack. The leader managed to block it with the remainder of his energy but looked on at the automaton, baffled by the ceasing of its attacks. Confusion arose on the faces of the vanguard as they looked toward each. They waited a few seconds more and used all their energy to stand up. After realizing nothing else was happening, all of them broke into a harmonious cheer.

An idea seemed to pop into one of their heads, “Ah! I think I’ve heard of endurance boss rooms before, but I never thought they existed.”

“I knew that automaton wasn’t meant to be killed.” Another chimed in, speaking his mind, “It was too tough to kill.”

The Leader gathered his senses and calmed everyone down, “Alright everyone, we may have passed this trial, but stay on guard in case of another. Something doesn’t seem right.”

Realizing she wasn’t the only one with this sentiment, Chella finally realized the changes in the room she ignored in her fatigue. The sconces across the walls had grown more intense in their light and it seemed like more rows of them had appeared than before. Enough existed now that they occupied the entire domed ceiling, leading up to the orb in the middle. Except now, the crystal was no longer empty but had a faint black mist swirling inside.

Joseph limped over in a visibly weakened state and spoke to his sister, “Hey, sis, do you know what this faint line coming out of me is? I only just noticed it.”

Cella looked at the ‘line’ coming out of her brother but realized it was more of a beam of light if anything. Tracing it, she noticed its vector as a pit fell in her stomach as everything slowly connected itself. Looking at everyone else in the room with the prided eyesight of an archer, she saw a line from each and every person in the room. Fear struck her as she saw her very own beam of energy attached to the orb at the top of the room.

[&$%#%$& Percentage: 25%. Able to initiate catalyst. Proceed?]

The booming voice of a female came from every direction of the room. Cella was stunned for the moment and bracing her head with her hands as the deafening voice cracked into her skull. The strange word from another language uttered from the woman’s mouth did not register with Cella as she lost all ability to think.

[Proceed?]

Once more, the voice asked. This time, Cella’s knees buckled as her head experienced pain like no other. She wished to pass out, just so she would no longer have to deal with the explosions resounding inside of her skull.

[Proceed?]

[No response. Searching for administrative orders. Administrative override key found.]

The vibrations from the voice ruptured the membranes in Cella’s ears and damaged her other internal structures. Losing the ability to ear did not stop the loud voice form still entering her skull and further damaging her organs. She took one last glance around and realized she was the final one awake. Her brother lay unconscious and the entire vanguard in their exhausted state stood no chance in resisting the destructive voice. Cella gave one last glance towards the automaton and realized that its eyes had opened and its face seemed more life-like than before. It’s glowing, red eyes stared towards the black orb in reverence and piety. That chill spread through her bones once again, but she was not in a state to worry about such a trifling thing anymore. She understood her fate at this moment, as she crawled to her brother’s side and embraced him as she joined him in the void.

[Initiating catalyst.]

The sconces on the wall grew in intensity in an instant. Each one grew in power to form a fireball capable of wiping out any one person of the vanguard who entered the dungeon. Soon, they grew large enough and merged together into one flurried mass, rotating around the room in an inferno. Creaking loudly, the doors to the room opened, creating streaks in the black dust on the ground wherever it dragged. Slowly lowering itself, the inferno engulfed everything in the room, capturing the energy of whatever it destroyed into the orb above. Soon, the coal dust on the ground below ignited, the combustion joining the inferno as it stretched to the rest of the mine and further beyond.