Primal Dawn

“We should try completing at least one wave today,” Peter said.

Fira groaned. “Is leaving an option?”

“It would be good to get used to fighting in the Dungeon as a party, after all,” Gaia chimed in. “Besides, now that Kaze’s gone, we’ll be better rewarded for our time.”

Fira huffed. “Fine.”

“Alright, so…” Peter started.

“I’ve been thinking about our party, and have an idea for a formation that we can use!” Gaia exclaimed while pumping her fist. “Since the ferals come out of the doorways, we can easily deal with them by setting up near their exits. Kalista will stand on one side by herself, a short distance from both. The ferals on that side will all attack her. Erst, your primals and Fira will stand on the other side and cover those two doorways. I’ll be in the center and provide support to anyone who needs it.”

Erst and Peter shared a curious glance. “Works for me,” Erst said. 

“You two, stay near me,” Gaia commanded. They both approached her near the button. “Living Armor!” Her trademark ability wrapped around Peter’s body tightly. “Just in case!”

Peter was a little confused. Gaia seemed somewhat… excited? Energetic? Perhaps she was riding high off of Kaze’s defeat. She never seemed to like him, which wasn’t a surprise, especially considering his hidden crest. The crest. Peter had wondered what something too embarrassing to show might look like. Now he’d never learn.

“Pressing the button in three, two, one… Begin!”

Peter watched as Gaia’s finger pressed down.

…

And nothing happened. Gaia’s head began to dart in the direction of each of the doorways. “Huh? Huh?” She began to press the button repeatedly. Still, nothing happened.

“Maybe-,”

“Maybe a human needs to press it,” Gaia finished with a wink.

Peter pressed down. Hard.

The entire dungeon began to rumble and shake.

“What’s going on?” Erst asked.

Peter swallowed as he looked toward the ceiling. Was it about to collapse? One hand reached back toward the portal, as if signaling for it to stop whatever it was doing.

The shaking stopped. Or more accurately, the room stopped shaking, but across the portal, where the hallway that led to nothing stood, another rumble could be heard. Stone grinding on stone. “Something’s coming!” Peter shouted.

“Get ready!” Gaia shouted.

The wall at the end of the hallway began to float upward, revealing… Peter’s eyebrows raised.

“Is that… a treasure chest?” The party slowly left formation and followed Peter down the hallway. Inside was not one, but three treasure chests. One large and two small. “Kaze must have been fighting the final wave… the dungeon’s cleared!”

Excitedly, he moved toward the leftmost chest first. Grabbing the top and slowly lifting it upwards, he was greeted with a container full of health potions.

“Damn, man, that’s a lot of pots!” Erst remarked.

“Yeah… do Dungeons often hand them out at the end?” 

Erst shook his head. “I’ve seen three Dungeon completions here across five months, and none had potions as a reward.”

Peter’s smile deepened. “This’ll help win some of the others over. Wonder what the big chest has?” Peter approached the wooden box in the middle and popped it open. At the bottom of the chest was a lone dagger, the blade wrapped tightly around with a piece of cloth.

“That’s a lot of space for something so small,” Peter remarked. Carefully pulling it out, he slowly unraveled the cloth protecting it, only to gasp.

The blade of the knife held his reflection perfectly. As he turned and angled the weapon, he caught glimpses of each face in the room watching him, including Gaia’s, who jumped startled. 

Peter chuckled. “It is a bit scary how perfectly it reflects things.”

“Y-yeah,” Gaia said nervously, turning away.

“Come on man, the last chest, open it up!” Erst shouted.

Peter carefully wrapped the cloth back around the dagger. “Fira, why don’t you have the honor.”

“Me?”

Peter shrugged. “Maybe you’ll find something good.”

Fira hesitated before giving a slight bow. Her hands trembled as she lifted the sides slowly upwards. The top now wide open, she let out a heavy sigh. Her hands briefly disappeared inside the chest before pulling out a black garment.

When she unraveled it, Peter quickly realized it seemed to be a two-piece full body leather outfit, with additional hard leather sections attached roughly along the chest and shoulder areas. “Armor?”

“I shouldn’t have been surprised when you looked upset,” Kalista smirked. “You hate clothes, after all.”

“Ugh,” Fira rolled her eyes before tossing the outfit at Peter. 

“Not the best loot, honestly,” Erst said, sounding slightly disappointed. “The potions were nice, but, you’d hope for some cool boss feral we could tame or something.”

“Agreed. Kaze probably defeated it before we arrived. Let’s just take these easy rewards and be grateful.” Erst still looked slightly sour. “Annnd it won’t be long before another portal spawns. With more ferals, more rewards, all for us.”

At this, Erst smiled. “Hell yeah.”