The enjoyment and novelty of exploring dungeons had quickly worn off. All there was, was endless gigantic passageways interspersed with a smaller, yet still large, domed rooms. Each domed room had somewhere between one to four exits. If there was a single exit, I would trudge back into the gigantic dark passageway, my feet crunching the grit as I strode back from whence I came.

That same grit also managed to find its way into my clothes, making me uncomfortable as the grit rubbed my skin sore.

Other than the crunching of the grit under our feet, only Alis’ happy humming broke the deathly silence of the dungeon. I was glad that Alis was still enjoying herself. Her freckled cheeks had yet to undimple because of the wide smile that lit up her face. She was even smiling when fighting the few monsters we had come across.

Still by now I had hoped she would’ve stopped with the annoyingly repetitive humming. It took all the willpower I had not to snap at her.

We walked into another of the identical looking domed rooms. A slight, and silent, dust devil grew in the centre of the room. These dust devils were the only interesting thing found within this annoyingly monotonous dungeon. And all they indicated was that, yet another, monster was forming.

And there were only about eight different monsters.

As it grew even larger, I called forth my mana axes, their dark blades gleaming in the light orb shining from the centre of the dome. I guessed Alis understood the meaning of me forming my mana axes. The crunching of her footsteps ceased, probably so she could make those marks on that damned bit of parchment.

I strode forward, judging my speed so I would reach the monster just at the moment it formed.

The dust devil grew even larger and thicker.

From the height and thickness of the dust devil, I guessed, it would probably be either a sandstone golem or a sand wraith. Two of the more powerful monsters found in the dungeon. More powerful, yet still not powerful enough for Alis to come to my aid.

I slowed my pace slightly.

Though I could defeat either of the monsters alone, it would take me more than a simple and quick axe strike.

Maybe I could take some of my frustration out on the monster.

Yeah, that would be good.

A tall, blocky figure appeared within the thick swirling mass of the dust devil. Even though it was now vulnerable to my attacks, I waited for the dust devil to shrink into a ball of gritty dust before sinking into the figure.

The blocky figure was as tall and wide as Hallvard. Its legs, arms, and body were all simple blocks ardorned with geometric shapes. Its head was slightly more rounded. There were no sharp lines, and it seemed like it was attempting to make a humanoid face. Without a mouth, that is.

Oh, and its eyes glowed with a clear, diffuse light that was very similar to the light orb shining from the centre of the dome above it.

It took a step forward, a heavy, lumbering step that caused the gritty sand to ripple outwards from its foot. In second thought, I really could not be bothered to waste any more energy on this damned dungeon.

With a quick step forward, I unleashed a series of axe strikes. Each strike landed true and started to whittle away some of the thick stone armour of the blocky stone golem. With one final stroke, I saw a faint glow shine forth through the weakened armour in the centre of the chest.

I reformed one of my axes into that of a short, stabbing sword. With an accurate stab, I punctured through what remained of the armour, disrupting the glowing core of the golem.

The entire golem, armour fragments and all, burst apart into a spray of gritty sand. Used to the whole explosion thing by now, I closed my mouth and eyes. There was not much more I could do, other than let the grit wash over me. As the wave of grit washed over me, even more of that annoying grit sunk deep into my clothes and armour.

‘I’m sorry, Klarric.’ Alis said in a quiet voice.

I turned to face her, dismissing my axes as I did so.

‘I’ve been so caught up in the excitement of exploring a dungeon that I forgot about you.’

Facing Alis looking at me with such a sad face, I couldn’t help but to start to apologise in return. But the strong gaze on her pretty, freckled face, and determination in her stance, made me falter somewhat.

In the end, Alis broke the deafening silence in the dungeon. ‘I love you, Klarric. But I got carried away with excitement when I had the chance to have an adventure in the Isles of Dunkeltal. But, Klarric, if it were not for you I know I would not be here right now.’ Her freckled cheeks paled until they were almost snow white. ‘I am not sure where I would be without you.’

Alis swallowed and looked away from me.

I placed my hands on her armoured shoulders. She rested her cheek against one of my hands. For a moment, we stayed still until she spun around and took half a step back.

‘Klarric, I think it’s time for us to see what the divine tool Aggard gifted us does. I’m also hungry, and very thirsty, so I want to see what food Celameth packed for us.’

It made me chuckle when Alis saw our situation in the light of being on a picnic, rather than a life and death struggle through a dungeon. Not that I couldn’t see her point, as even the most dangerous foes we had faced so far were easy for a single one of us to face alone.

As there were no traps and only a single monster appeared at a time, and they never ambushed us, we were in as much danger as if we were playing a computer game. The only difference was grit got everywhere and made me feel very uncomfortable. I was using my body and was wearing armour so was tired. I was bored going through the same motions over and over again for no apparent reason.

I mean, we were not getting any treasure, nor were we getting any obvious XP or any other bonuses.

Whatever tension I had when I entered the room was now all gone. After taking hold of the flattened, rounded river stone which was the host for Aggard’s divine gift, I poured some mana into it. The mana flowed around the stone, never once interacting directly with the stone.

‘Klarric, it’s a divine tool.’ Alis said.

With another chuckle, this time at my stupidity, I opened myself to the blessings inherent in the stone. I could feel a trickle of Aggard’s blessing flow into me. This time, it didn’t just sit within me and fill me. It twisted and engulfed not just me, but Alis, too.

Just when I felt like I was going to be destroyed by the blessing, I found myself alongside Alis, in what could only be called an entrance porch into a log cabin. Within this grand entrance porch, easily big enough for at least ten people, was a small fire crackling in a fireplace, a flagstone floor, and a series of coat hooks.

A simple, yet beautifully crafted, wooden platform stood near where the door led out of the entrance porch.

If this large and well-made room was just an entrance porch, I dared not think what grandeurs lay beyond the closed timber door which led deeper into our gift.