Cal stood outside the Golden Mortar with his pack settled on his shoulders and his spear strapped across his back, watching his breath fog in the dark.
Selara emerged first, wearing layered travelling clothes of oiled wool and close-fitted leather that were practical and built for the forest. Behind her came Aurelian, his silver-blond hair combed for once, dressed in a coat of deep charcoal that fell to his knees over a high-collared shirt. Neither looked particularly well-rested, and neither commented on Cal's armor.
He'd donned the Legion-issue plate that morning, suiting up for something he knew he couldn't properly prepare for.
She nodded to him. "Let's go."
They walked south through the still village, their footsteps the only sound on the cobblestones. Cal ran a quick inventory out of habit: spear, shortsword, harvesting knife, full pack of potions and rations.
The south gate was a large structure of dark timber and iron banding, its doors standing open to receive the grey dawn. Two guards in Legion-issue cloaks leaned against the gatehouse wall, watching the road. They straightened as the Veil party arrived, their eyes catching on his pauldron's crossed spear and shield seal for a half-second before sliding away.
The other party was already there, and Cal could tell who was who based on their descriptions from his mentors.
Ido Aloi held the center of the group with the easy poise of a man accustomed to being looked at. He was lean and athletic beneath his armor, its blued steel plates fitted snugly over deep indigo robes. Faintly glowing runes followed the edges of each plate in patterns that shifted when the light caught them. The silver amulet on his chest held a sparkling yellow stone. His brown eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled, and the smile came immediately when he caught sight of Selara.
Beside him, Angelika Halmi made the morning air feel several degrees colder. She was tall and slender, fine pointed ears framed light golden hair that was twisted into a severe braid and lay over one shoulder. In the low light, her skin was ashen, close to colorless, and she swept a look across the arriving Veil party that held casual disinterest. Her robes were an impractical white, reinforced with silvered pauldrons and vambraces that were covered in runes.
Her twin, Filip, wore interlocking argent scale mail. Each of the large scales was etched with a crackling blue rune that made the whole suit look like a barely contained thunder storm. He had similar features to his sister, although his hair was cut shorter and less controlled. And where her violet eyes held calculation, Filip's contained the bouncing energy of someone who'd decided today was going to be a good day because he planned to hit something.
Zamir loomed behind them both. He was eight and a half feet of black iron plate, craggy-featured and bald, his grey eyes set so deep in his skull they looked like caves. His exposed skin had the grey and weathered texture of granite. Across his armor, runes glowed with a dull earthen light. In practical terms, Cal did a rapid recalculation of what a good adventuring frontman looked like as this behemoth set the new standard.
Hope stood apart from the group, slightly to the left and a yard closer to the gate, her leather armor fitted and unremarkable, but he had to assume no less expensive. A brace of daggers ran along one thigh. She was watching the treeline. Behind them all stood another man, separate from the core group. He was cloaked and hooded in dark, travel-worn fabric, his features completely obscured by shadow.
One thing that stood out to him besides their ridiculously cool looking gear was that while Hope wore daggers, the rest carried no discernible weapons. His gaze dropped to their hands, searching for the reason.
That's when he saw the rings. Ido's right hand bore two. Angelika's, three. Filip, two. Zamir wore one enormous banded ring on his index finger. Hope had none visible atop her gloves.
Void rings. They must keep their weapons stored like Selara does. He looked at their unencumbered hands and thought of the spear strapped across his back. Just another thing to mark him as out of place.
Ido stepped forward in greeting as they approached, his eyes locked on Selara. Something behind his placid smile gave way. A small tightening at the corners. A fraction of a second where the practiced charisma slipped, and his attention lingered on her for a beat too long.
"Selara," he began. "It's good to—"
"This is Cal," she interrupted, gesturing toward him without looking at Ido directly.
"Cal." Angelika drawled. Her eyes traveled from his boots up the Legion-issue armor and finally landed on the crimson seal at his shoulder. "And what is this?" Her soprano was clipped and cool. "Some commoner you've hired to carry your bags?"
"He is our apprentice, Lady Halmi, and a very good one at that."
"An apprentice in the livery of a simple soldier." She tilted her head a degree. "How very... novel."
Cal remained still. He kept his face blank and his breathing even, not letting the words get to him. She had the same entitled air as three executives he once worked for, the kind who mistook inheritance for merit, who looked straight through the people below them.
That's useful. Invisible is sometimes exactly where you want to be.
They set off down the Delver's Trace as Aurum's golden light began to soften the darkness above the canopy. Worn down to bare earth by years of boots, the path was about five yards wide. Ido's party took the lead without discussion, falling into a formation that put a natural ten yards of separation between them and the Veil group.
Cal settled into a pace behind Aurelian and Selara, his eyes moving between the treeline and the group ahead.
The Halmis were immediately, relentlessly loud.
"Absolutely appalling." Angelika lifted the hem of her white robes away from the path's margin. "The mud content alone is—"
"The smell, Angie." Filip kicked a chunk of bark off the path with enough force that it vanished into the undergrowth. "Who decided forests needed to smell like this? It's like breathing inside a very old, very damp sock." He punctuated this by kicking another piece of debris, then pivoted on his heel to walk backwards for a few steps, searching the trees with restless eyes. "Is it always this grey? I feel like I am going colorblind. Zamir, do I look hale to you?"
Zamir, who walked with the implacable, ground-eating stride of a man who had long ago stopped listening to the Halmis, said nothing.
"He thinks this weather is bad for my constitution," Filip told his sister.
The Virethane was indifferent.
Cal found himself grateful for the twins' noise. It made it easier to watch Hope.
She moved at the edge of the formation, just ahead of Ido. At one point, between a breath and the next, she simply wasn't there anymore. The space she'd occupied on the path was empty; the undergrowth undisturbed.
A minute passed. The path continued. The twins argued about whether Virethane mud was technically worse than the mud near some coastal resort they'd apparently both hated for separate reasons.
Hope materialized at Ido's elbow, and Cal could barely overhear her report. "The path is clear for the next few miles, boss. Minor ambient spiritual activity. Nothing above F-tier."
Ido gave a short nod, and she slid back into her position at the formation's margin.
Two hours in, the Virethane's ambient noise changed. The constant drip-and-creak of the forest shifted, acquiring a low, pulsing vibration that seemed to come from below the dirt. The spiritual energy in the air thickened perceptibly, enough that his passive [Spiritual Perception] registered it like a change in air pressure.
Getting closer. The essence saturation from the dungeon is bleeding out through the forest.
A twig snapped in the brush.
The undergrowth to their right detonated outward, branches cracking, and an E-tier razor boar came charging at them with its full mass and momentum. It was shoulder-height on Cal, built like a barrel of meat wrapped in coarse hide, with dangerous looking serrated tusks. Its small eyes found the nearest cluster of bodies and it lowered its head.
His body reacted before his mind finished processing its arrival. He dropped into [Iron Root Stance], feet spreading, weight dropping, spear leveling at the animal's brow with both hands—
Aurelian sighed.
The man flicked his wrist. A marble-sized bead of white-hot light hissed from his fingertips, crossed the path in an immeasurable instant, punched a cauterized hole through the creature's skull, and buried itself in the earth beyond.
The boar's legs folded and it went down in a heap, cartwheeling end over end twice before coming to a rest..
Okay. That was kind of scary, Cal thought as he straightened.
The leading party had barely glanced back. Ido kept walking.
Angelika, however, had stopped and turned, her eyes moving from the boar's corpse to Cal's party. Her attention settled on Cal.
"Well?" The word carried a cargo of contempt. "Are you going to do your job and loot the stone, or just stand there?"
Cal was taken aback for a second, then looked at Aurelian who gave him a brief nod. He ignored Angelika, crossed the path in a few quick strides, and knelt.
The boar's hide was still warm under his hands. He drew his harvesting knife and worked quickly, his [Spiritual Perception] active and probing as he pressed inward, being tipped off that there was a spirit stone to find. The boar's dying life force was the loudest thing in his senses, a diminishing warmth. Pushing past it, he filtered out the fading aura signature the way he'd trained himself to screen out the ambient hum of the forest's background Mana, searching for something purely magical beneath the meat and bone.
He found it. A weak, muffled resonance, deep in the chest cavity. Its 'sound' was dampened, its vibration softened by layers of tissue, like hearing a bell through several closed doors.
Cal paused, his blade hovering.
He cast his perception outward, toward the air above the corpse. Only forest.
Then he pressed inward again, into the chest cavity. It bloomed back, subdued but unmistakable.
The body is doing it. The hide, the tissue: it's acting as a natural shroud. But the spirit stone can still be felt… maybe in time if I practice this I'll be able to tell which beasts have stones and which don't.
He cut the stone free and held it up, then pressed his perception against it in open air. The E-tier stone's aura expanded immediately, fully open to his senses.
He placed it back in the cavity. Muted again.
Interesting. He collected the stone and then stood, turning back to rejoin his party.
"Keep it." Aurelian was already moving ahead, Selara next to him. Cal nodded his thanks and fell into step behind them.
Angelika sniffed. "You spoil your help, alchemist."
The alchemist stopped dead, mid-stride, and stared her down. The typical boredom had vanished entirely from his features.
"He is not my 'help,' Lady Halmi." The nobleman projected each syllable pointedly. "He is my apprentice. And a more talented one than you might imagine."
Well would you look at that, I must be growing on him, Cal observed, smiling to himself. Like mold?
A venomous smile split her face. "I'm surprised you took another apprentice." Mock pity dripped from every syllable. "How courageous. Let us all pray this one proves more... resilient."
She spared Aurelian one last contemptuous glance, then pivoted toward Ido and the rest of the group, letting the barb linger behind her.
The alchemist stood motionless for several seconds. A tendon jumped beneath his ear, and he clenched his jaw until the bone stood out white against his skin. The habitual veneer of indifferent superiority had evaporated, exposing something volcanic and barely contained before he wrestled it back under control. He started walking again, spine locked straight, every movement clipped and deliberate.
Cal caught the fracture in the composure. The remark had struck home, and Aurelian looked one provocation away from detonating entirely. Maybe I should change the subject…
Matching the alchemist's stride, he let the gap between them and the lead group widen to a comfortable margin. "I'm surprised she expected me to harvest it," Cal said, keeping his voice low. "Given how wealthy this party appears, I assumed an E-tier beast would be beneath their notice."
Aurelian seemed to shake himself, and made a sound of grudging agreement. "In terms of wealth you are, of course, correct. The stone is trivial to them. However—" He paused, seeming to weigh something. "The Academy is a ruthless teacher. They instill it early and they instill it hard: waste is a sin. We would not haul the carcass, but spirit stones and viable reagents are never abandoned." A brief pause. "A matter of principle, as it were."
"That's practical doctrine."
"Most of the Academy's doctrines are, beneath all of the pomp and ceremony." His tone suggested he found this fact mildly annoying.
Cal let a moment pass. "That fire Spell. Was that something they taught you there?"
"The Academy teaches combat magic, of course. Competently, if not brilliantly." He glanced sideways at Cal, dropping his voice below the range of the group ahead. "But most of what I do with fire is a family matter, guarded by oaths that bind considerably more tightly than any institutional pledge."
Of course. Cal stared down at his hands. I know I shouldn't complain after the leg up they've already given me, but man, having a ranged option would be handy.
Aurelian pulled him back out of his thoughts. "The Primer I lent you had an appendix covering fundamental runes in the back. I assume you memorized it along with everything else?"
"I did."
"And have you experimented with them?"
Cal shook his head. "Honestly, no. I've been so focused on mastering the alchemy work that I haven't made time for it."
"Then you've been industrious with one hand and idle with the other. The Primer is a map, apprentice. It is useless if you never take a step. You must learn by doing."
He's right. The truth of it stung. He'd absorbed the appendix in one sitting and then filed it away under later while he built the alchemy pipeline. Later had arrived.
"Is it safe?" Cal asked. "Combining runes without a proper Spell formula?"
Aurelian barked a mirthless laugh that startled a bird from a branch somewhere in the canopy above them.
"Safe." He repeated the word as though tasting something sour. "Apprentice, nothing about power is safe. It is controlled, or it is catastrophic. Assume every combination you do not understand is a bomb waiting for a reason to detonate. That is the first and only rule of discovery." A pause, his attention drifting before he continued. "However. Proper care can produce safe results. Begin small. Single-rune structures, no larger than your fist, fueled by the minimum Mana you can manage. If the construct begins to destabilize you'll feel it before it fails; the tone will turn discordant and the structure will fray. You release the Mana entirely and let it disperse. Do not try to correct it mid-collapse." His jaw tightened slightly. "Do not ever try to correct it mid-collapse."
Cal nodded his thanks, excited at the prospect of further discovery. "Thank you Aurelian, I'll be sure to be careful."
The trees thinned first, their trunks spreading apart over fifty yards until the canopy opened into a wide clearing. As Aurum completed its descent below the treeline, the sky had turned deep crimson. The light turned everything red: the trampled earth of the clearing, the ring of old fire pits marking countless previous parties, and the rough-hewn log benches someone had dragged to the clearing's perimeter years ago. Tucked into the shadows at the clearing’s edge stood a small cabin.
And then there was the barrier.
It hung at the clearing's far end, a blurred distortion in the air, translucent and faintly luminous. Through it the forest resumed, but differently. The trees beyond the barrier were darker and much larger than those outside. Thirty yards past the barrier, the base of an enormous, ancient tree gaped open in a black maw, its entrance framing absolute darkness.
Cal's [Spiritual Perception] hit the barrier and recoiled.
The sensation was the spiritual equivalent of shouting into a canyon and having the echo come back larger than the original sound. Against his senses, the barrier's aura pressed with an immovable density, its low sub-sonic hum something he felt in his back teeth as much as in his perception. He pushed gently, trying to find an edge, a ceiling, some upper limit he could define.
Nothing. The power simply continued, deeper and harder, until his perception couldn't find the bottom of it.
It's like trying to measure the depth of a lake with a six-inch ruler.
"Right." Ido turned to face both parties and clapped his hands together. "Let us get camp set up, shall we? We will set out at dawn, rested and—"
Angelika wasn't having it.
"Absolutely not." She slashed a knife-hand through the air. "I am not spending a single night in this—" she gestured at the clearing, the trees, the general concept of the outdoors— "festering backwater. We go in now, we finish this farce, and we leave in the morning."
"Entering a dungeon at night is—" Selara began, then stopped herself and glanced at Aurelian.
He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, looking even more bored than usual. His attention drifted toward the barrier, toward the hollow tree beyond it, and then back to Selara with a small shrug.
Selara sagged a fraction. She pressed her lips together and said nothing.
Ido glanced between both parties for a few seconds, looking torn.
"Fine." He turned to his group, the affable warmth entirely gone as the seasoned delver commander came to the fore. "We're going in. Prepare yourselves."
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Work. Oof. Glad we made it to Friday.
Dungeons are cool. This is going to be fun.
Have a good weekend everyone. Thank you so much for your continued readership and support. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Jon