“I’ve got your back, man.” He widened his stance and readied himself for the next mammal projectile.
It took about fifteen minutes of us searching and yanking the little bastards out of the ground, screaming and shrieking.
We rested for a moment, trying to decide what the next thing we would be fighting might be, but Muu pushed us on.
“There’s really no telling until we go into the boss room and find out, but let’s check the area first, I am curious about these alcoves.” Muu checked the one closest to the floor boss’s door, but it came up empty.
Kayda, go fly the remainder of the room and see what is in the alcoves along the wall? She looked up at me and spread her wings. I’ll take a look, too.
I leapt into the air and shifted into my owl form, opting that stealth would be better for this mission.
Glancing into each alcove, there was nothing of interest; still, it would be a good idea to keep our eyes peeled so that nothing surprised us, and we didn’t miss out on any loot.
Speaking of loot, it was time to move on so that I could put a few things together for our newest member. Huh, here pretty soon, we would likely have to come up with a group name. Kind of like the Braves did.
Maybe we would have to have that discussion while we were resting.
We walked into the boss room, finding that it was much the same as the room before it. Lush and wooded, brisk even, but what was interesting to me was the large fox the size of a Great Dane sitting in the middle of the room.
His silver fur and blue eyes were beautiful.
“Wonder what’s in here,” Fainnir muttered as he scanned the brush, and Pebble stepped forward.
“It is there in the middle of the room, but how can I not see it? Are your eyes broken, too?” Pebble comically reached up and tapped on his diamond eyes. I glanced at the others, and they looked just as puzzled.
“It’s invisible,” I stated, then added. “This is a foe that will be rather tricky. If you want, I can make it visible to you with an ability I have, but once I do that, combat will likely start. What would you like to do, Fainnir? You’re in charge for this one.”
He thought for a moment, frowning from racking his mind at the situation presented.
“Can ye reason with it?” He tried politely, his eyes searching my face for some kind of reaction.
“I suppose I can try, what would you like me to say?” I cast Nature’s Voice while he took inventory of his idea.
“That we only need enough blood to open the next door, an’ that we don’ wanna fight,” he said. “If ye can convince him o’ that, we can move on without much bloodshed.”
I didn’t see the harm in asking, and I could tell that something was going on with him.
“Hello, stranger,” I spoke to the fox, and his eyes whipped to mine curiously. “Yes, I can both see you, and I speak your tongue. You know how we need to get out of here, right? To move on to the next floor?”
“You have to kill me.” He rumbled, standing from his spot in the center of the room and wandering toward me. “I understand the human common tongue well enough, and the small one does not wish to kill me. I can feel the truth of it.”
“How do you know that we have to kill you?” My curiosity took the reins of the conversation as he came to stand closer to me. “All we’ve needed so far is the blood of the creature to pass through.”
He blinked lazily. “Yes, of the slain,” he tilted his head and took a glance at my tails. “You seem strong and well-loved by our kind. I know that I will perish here, but the small one need not dirty his hand and stain his soul more than he has already.”
“Tell me how you know, please.” I was definitely going to need to talk to Fainnir after this.
“Because all creatures of the dungeon know their roles within these walls, our destiny is to either kill or be killed.” He glanced at Fainnir. “I have slain my share of men and women, and I have been slain by many. But none with his compassion. This is the first that any have stopped to see about trying to find a less gruesome way through.”
I nodded, understanding at last, that’s why he took a shine to the kid. Good for you, kid.
“He says that the only way through is for him to die.” I sighed as I watched the hope die in Fainnir’s face a little. “But he said that you are the only person who has ever tried to find another way.”
“If I be the only one, then how does he know that it won’t work?” He asked, a little of the light returning to his gaze.
I explained what the fox had told me, the creature watching Fainnir with interest.
“Then there is no hope of doing this without bloodshed.” He gritted his teeth and took his axe angrily into his hands.
“Do not allow him to do this thing, druid.” The fox pleaded. “If you will end me, swiftly, I will tell you of a treasure on the floors to come.”
“I’m listening.” I put a hand out to Fainnir as I spoke, signaling for him to stop.
“There are false walls on the lower floors, I have heard rumors from the people who pass through here of traps and false walls that hide treasures. Some hidden by panels, others by magic. You can see through magic, so you may be able to find some of them.”
“That’s excellent information, thank you.” I thought about how best to proceed from here. What would happen would be unpleasant, but necessary, and despite the necessity—Fainnir would likely still pay the price for it even if I did the dirty work.
“Would you like to thank him before the…unpleasantness has to begin?” The fox seemed thrown by the question but nodded once.
He dropped the invisibility and looked over at the young dwarf, dipping his head in gratitude.
“He wanted to say thanks for trying to be kind,” I offered to Fainnir on his behalf. “He’s also given us some information in return for your kindness, but in order to move on, what must be done, must be done.”
Even as the words left my mouth, my heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. Fainnir approached the fox slowly and held out a hand palm down so that the fox could scent it. With a gentle caress of his tongue, the fox stood and looked to me, then wandered behind a tree to wait.
I stood straighter, Fainnir watching me with apprehension. “I should be goin’ ta do the deed, then.”
“Not this time Fainnir.” I put my hand on his shoulder and looked down at him. “He’s asked that I do it. He says that you’re a good person, and he knows what it would take for you to cross that threshold. I agree, and we will talk about it more in a little bit; I swear on all my power and soul, that we are going to sit down and we will discuss this.”
Leaving him to deal with his own notifications, I turned my back on the others who surrounded Fainnir with kind and gentle words while Maebe joined me in walking to the waiting fox.
I glanced up at his name.
Garden’s Guardian Level 5
“Well, friend, it’s time.” I took out Magus Bane and prepared myself, mentally, and emotionally for what needed to be done. “Any requests?”
“When I am gone, I would ask that the young one have my pelt. It may not be much, but I hope it will serve him and remind him that sacrifices are made by choices and that we can choose to be different as he did this day.”
That hit me kind of hard. This was necessary. This growing darkness I was walking into with my friends, how deep was I willing to go to protect those I held dear?
I shook my head, determined to make this creature’s sacrifice worthwhile. “Goodbye, friend. Rest well.”
I growled as I cast Falfyre, then whipped the blade into the creature’s jaw, through the mouth, and into the brain, killing it instantly.
I allowed the blood to cover my hand and made my way straight to the door behind where we had walked. The door opened with little noise, and I turned back around.
Muu, come here. I ordered softly.
The dragon-kin came over, and I gave him his bloody project, and he went to work.
While Muu wo
rked, I looked at Maebe. “I’m kind of out of my element, here.”
“How do you mean?” Her head tilted to the left quizzically.
“Fainnir, one second he’s gung-ho about all of this, and now he’s… not.” I frowned, trying to put the words together so that I could get my point across.
“You have told him he is a child, you have told him he is an adult, and he has just found out—likely for the first time in full realization—that he will be the measurement against whom all of those who follow his path are measured against.” Maebe pointed toward the group through the trees where they stood speaking to the object of this discussion. “Not only has he not had the chance to fully find out who he is as a person, he now has to become someone that there is no standard for among his people. He is alone, Zeke. And he is trying to find out who he is in all of this while meeting our expectations and having us find him lacking as well.”
My already heavy heart felt ready to drop through my feet. This was the price of change. This was the cost that he had to pay for something that he had never asked for. And here I was, making it harder. I was so busy trying to teach him, strictly teach him, that I hadn’t taken the time to become the mentor that he needed. And I had claimed to know him.
I let my head fall back so that I could focus on just breathing, rather than wallowing and berating myself for my failures. I could flog myself later. Right now, Fainnir needed me.
“Thank you, Mae,” I whispered hoarsely as I stepped toward the tree line.
She grabbed my arm, pulling me back. “What do you mean to do?”
“I’m going to apologize,” I explained. “And I’m going to go make sure that he knows that from here on out, I’m his mentor and not his instructor.”
“You can be both, Zeke.” Maebe let go of my hand, and I waited for her to speak again. “You can be there for him and still let him know that you will see him prepared for this. The two are not mutually exclusive. You will need to be firm, but fair. Understanding and demanding. You, as a king, must know your people and their capabilities so that you may use them to full effect. These ones are not statistics, I know, but they can be a learning tool for you as well. Go.”
I nodded once, mouthing, “Thank you,” to her, then marched over to the others. Jaken heard me coming and tapped James to get him to move. I wasn’t stopping for any of them.
I walked straight up to Fainnir and lifted the dwarf into my arms for a bear hug. Several of his bones popped, and he grunted from the strength of it.
“Wha’ be wrong?” He grunted as I squeezed.
“I’m sorry that at every turn today, I have failed you.” I sighed deeply and set him down on the ground. “I’ve failed to notice things about you, I’ve failed to teach you properly, and I failed as a mentor. I know that things are hard for you, but I hadn’t fully grasped it until now. And I will never be able to make up for that.”
“Yer doin’ yer best.” He shook his head.
“I was being no better than some of the ‘leaders’ who failed me.” Thinking back to some of them made my vision go crimson for a second, but I snapped out of it quickly. I had a mistake to fix, and I wasn’t them. “I owe not only you, better than that, but myself too.”
I glanced at my friends, Yohsuke and James nodded sagely. They knew about bad leadership, too.
“So, you and I are going to sit down, and we are going to figure out the best way to make this all work for you so that you can thrive.” I thumped him on both shoulders. “And we are going to have some long, and hard discussions on ethics, and use of violence. How to make the hard choices in hard situations.”
“I know how to do that.” He frowned, but sighed, his dialect surfacing. “But, uh, I’ll be listenin’ hard. I know all of ye mean yer best, and ye’ll see me through. Yer me clan for now.”
“That’s high praise,” Muu called, as he walked over to us and raised his eyebrow ridges, the scales skittering over each other. “That means we need a name.”
“Get out of my head.” James snorted.
“It’s been on my mind too.” Yohsuke held a hand up with a lopsided grin.
“Can we at least get to safety before we start batting around group name ideas?” I raised my eyebrow tiredly at the others.
“You have much to discuss, and the time we are here will be better spent learning both on the go and by cautiously progressing,” Maebe spoke to us all. “I think with all of the discussion needed and the adjustment to constant combat for Fainnir, Pebble, and Bea, a longer rest would be advised.”
The others went to protest, but Balmur interrupted, “We’re underground. We rest when we’re tired, we do everything at our own pace down here. We have a timeline, but if we go too fast, we risk recklessness, and we can’t have that.” He nodded toward Fainnir. “We all had to adjust to fighting like this, and even as genius as he’s been handling it, we can’t afford a mistake because any of us is tired or drained.”
“This group of wayward adventurers could have used your wisdom on many of their journeys, Balmur.” Maebe placed a hand on the fire dwarf’s shoulder with a smile. “It is good to have you here again, my friend.”
“Forever glad to be back.” His smile seemed a little sad, and that would be needing addressing as well. But when he was ready.
“I’m all done over there; I may need to have some help to get the leather properly taken care of so that it’s usable.” Muu wiped his hands on a rag. “Tanning it and whatnot. Maybe you can make an item that can simulate the aging process and chemical processes.”
“We can try for that.” I nodded thoughtfully. I wasn’t sure I could, but I would try.
“Let’s get to the rest area and set up camp then,” Yohsuke called to us. “Come on!”
We all gathered ourselves and moved through the door and down a steeply declining grade to a set of stairs that seemed to even out. They were large stairs, about four feet long and a foot and a half wide with only a six-inch-tall step-down.
It took about ten minutes of constant downward movement to get to the area we were headed to.
The room, or rather the luxurious grotto, the walls covered in lichen and mushrooms lit with a bioluminescent glow that made seeing very easy. It was much larger than I thought it would be, easily fifty yards squared. The air was crisp and clear, there were trees with fruit growing on them and a small waterfall leading from the wall to a pond in the far corner.
“How the hell is this possible?” Jaken whispered as we all took in the sights.
“The one dungeon that I was aware of within the Unseelie lands had similar rooms within, but it was significantly more difficult to reach those.” Maebe moved into the area. “Then again, the Fae are much stronger than the beings of this realm naturally, so things are harder by default.”
“Does that mean you can give us some more information on dungeons?” Yohsuke grimaced as he set up the cooking utensils.
“There are differences in all dungeons based on where you are and in what realm.” the Fae Queen ventured closer to the water and stared at it. “The one where I had gone into had been one of the dead and frozen, as it was well within the north of my territory. Inside, we found many precious things made of ice and magic. That was where my mother found Winterheart, if I recall.”
“We’ve been in one before, with the goblins, remember?” James scratched his neck and stretched his wings slowly.
“I have heard this place described in your stories, tell me—was there a door like the one we crossed to come here?” Maebe asked curiously, though she kept her eyes on the water.
“No, it was just a hole in the ground that led us down into a series of tunnels,” Bokaj offered as he pulled out his instrument.
“Then all that could have been was a lair, common among burrowing monsters like goblins.” Maebe closed her eyes as if to recall something. “Entrances to dungeons are concealed and sealed so that only the blood of those who may enter can open them. If they were left open, creatures would escape
and slaughter those around them.”
“If that’s the case, how are they sealed like that? Who does it?” Jaken asked as he began the process of taking his armor off.
“The gods of your realm, I would imagine.” Maebe frowned, then shook her head. “I do not remember having read anything about their creation, but I do know that their existence is so that the people of the realm can grow without needing to kill each other. At least here. In my realm, they are places of great and terrible power that help us fight one another. It gives the realm entertainment.”
Muu looked confused, but Jaken waved him off. “I’ll fill you in more, later.”
“So, dungeons are places to accrue power, sometimes magic items and whatnot, right?” I asked as I tried to fit my head around it.
To be blunt, this was nothing new, not really. In most games, dungeons were something to be crawled through and conquered. But each one was respectively different from the last.
“Yes, as well as resources. Some places within these tunnels and floors may have items, materials, and other things to collect that you should keep an eye out for.” She peered closer at the waterfall. “Zeke, I cannot tell, and Balmur, you may want to look as well, but something beyond that water is bothering me.”
I raised an eyebrow and looked over at Bokaj, motioning to the water. He looked confused for a moment before grunting. “Oh!”
He held a hand out and cast Watery Path on myself and Balmur. I stepped out onto the water as if it were solid ground. I tried looking into the water as it cascaded down the stone, but it was too hard to see.
“Hey Fainnir, you wanna make us a shelf to split the water about six feet up?” I called back to the dwarf, who hurried over toward the water. Then into it, falling in with a yelp of surprise.
He didn’t come back up right away, so I bolted toward him and reached into the water to pull him up and out of it. He may have been young, but he was heavy. Stocky dwarves can be like that. All that compact muscle and extra-large livers for all the booze they consumed.
Into the Darkness: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Axe Druid Book 4) Page 36
