Runt of the Litter - Tales from Alirast

Dire came to a stop near a small outcrop of stone. The run here had been entirely uneventful, no doubt thanks to Exardescere. Even behemoths wouldn't be foolish enough to approach a creature that large, emanating that much power.

Part of Trillia wished she had scanned him.

No new sounds of battle had started. She supposed that was a good thing.

"I'm sorry, Dire, but I can't take you in there with me...I don't know how to move anyone else."

Dire's ability to speak with her hinged on Ialu being a conduit between their minds. Something in recent days had changed, without it, he could only nod and lay down in front of the opening that led deeper underground. "If anything comes by...if anything happens. You run, do you understand me? You run as fast as you can!"

The wolf let out a whimper. She didn't need words to know the dumb wolf wouldn't listen. He was far too loyal to abandon her.

She sank to her knees next to him and hugged his neck. "I'll come back. Just stay safe."

Taking another breath, she stepped into the opening that had been described to her.

Why hadn't anyone come to help them? Where were the other dragons? Exardescere was a problem, right? Why hadn't they showed up to help?

She shook her head to clear her mind. This was no time to be solving mysteries.

-=====-

The tunnel was damp, slippery, and had no light to speak of. She was mostly stumbling through by way of sheer dumb luck. Alliyah had told her that, supposedly the tunnel went on for an hour or so and ended in a cavern that was lit up with glowing moss. The moss would show her where to enter the Aether.

As light began to creep at the edges of her vision, she followed it. Ending in the expected cavern.

Sure enough, moss was growing all over the walls, ceiling, and floor. Leaving only a small circular patch bare in the center of the room. "The gods must have a sense of humor if it's this obvious." She grumbled as she walked over to the clearing. Looking down at it, she paused.

No notifications. Not even anything from the Exardescere encounter. Why?

Something felt off to her.

Something itched at the back of her brain, warning her that she was missing something.

But the looming threat of Exardescere silenced it. With a deep breath and a great deal of concentration, Trillia used [Phase Step] straight down and prayed it would be enough.

You've entered the [Prison of the Eternal General]!
You're under the affects of [Eternal Promise]!
You're under the affects of [Eternal Silence]!

She blinked and opened her status window to look at the two listed debuffs.

Eternal Promise: Any geas formed while burdened with this affliction are eternal. They cannot be broken except by that which can shatter the axles.

Eternal Silence: Any creature afflicted with this debuff cannot use telepathy or be contacted in any way, by any creature, except that which can shatter the axles.

A shiver ran down her spine. She looked around the room she had landed in.

All she saw was darkness in every direction.

She toggled her mana-sight and watched as the world around her turned to dread. The mana here felt...ill. It reminded her of the dungeons that the Sage had taken control of.

But worse. In every single way, it was worse. There was so much death and decay in the mana that she wondered if her mana could overcome it if she needed to.

Slowly she began walking forward, having no real idea of where to go.

It was only instinct that saved her from being skewered by a spear. Well, instinct and the [Shield of Faith] causing the strike to veer slightly off to the side. Trillia's own instincts threw her further from the strike.

"Leaf! Can you tell me what's out there?! I can't see anything for some reason!"

The blade rattled to life and sprung from its sheath, glowing a brilliant green energy. Despite its light, all she saw was oppressive darkness. Another spearhead came forward, and she dodged that one as well. Raising a hand towards it. "[Chain Lightning]!"

As bright pale blue energy flashed toward the retracting head of the spear, she had a brief glimpse of the thing that held it. Some sort of statue that was twice her height.

"They don't need vision! Fly towards the wall, Leaf! If I can see them, maybe I can strike them!"

The blade followed her instructions as it flew forward in the direction that the spear had retreated. As it neared the face of one of the golems, Trillia loosed another blast of lightning.

The system was on her side today as it chained to a second golem. Both seized up and stopped.

A dull yellow light flooded the room as dozens of small glass teardrops lit up with the same light.

The room was absurdly large. The statues, despite being easily ten feet in height, were only a third the size of the room itself. It looked as if she had stepped back into the dwarven halls.

The room was a large circular affair, with thousands upon thousands of intricately carved runes covering every inch of the smooth walls.

Trillia had no idea why her attack had stopped the golems, but she was glad it had. Three dozen of the things lined the walls, each holding a heavy spear.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

She didn't recognize the make of the armor or the weapons. It looks similar to the plate armor that she had, but the helmets had large plumes on them. "Any idea on where we go, Leaf?" The sword had flown back to her side.

As the two of them turned in a circle, they saw a half dozen doors, each with strange markings etched on the wall above them. "Forgive me, Mistress. I do not know this language." A sharp pain accompanied the telepathic link. No doubt the effects of [Eternal Silence] she wondered why it didn't prevent it instead.

Trillia grumbled and slowly walked towards one of the doors. "Neither do I. For how much my traits are supposed to help with this sort of thing, I sure do run into a lot of shit I can't understand."

The golems made no more move to stop her as she neared the door.

It was an odd affair. There was no door frame or jam. No handles or hinges. The only reason she realized it was a door was the break in the pattern of the walls and the odd symbols above each.

"Do we pry it open?"

Leaf remained silent at her side. As Trillia reached a hand out, the door silently slid open. The air that rushed into the room made her gag.

There had to be corpses locked in here. There was no other explanation for such a foul odor of rot and blood.

The lights continued in the hallway, showing even more pathways she could take.

"I wish I could take my time in here." She spoke softly as she stepped into the room, going as slowly as she dared given the time restraint that had been put on her.

-=====-

It had been four hours.

Four hours of walking aimlessly through hallways and doorways. She had come across a few rooms that wouldn't open for her, and her best efforts of prying and even attacking the doors yielded nothing.

The only thing that she and Leaf had discovered so far, was that the place had to be built for giant creatures. The shorter door they had come across so far was just over ten feet in height. Almost the exact size of the golems, and about the same in width.

"We're getting nowhere!" She screamed into the void. Once more pulling out her journal which she had been using as a makeshift map and wrote down the symbols that did open and those that didn't.

"The hallways all seem fine, but anywhere else just...doesn't let me in. How does the dungeon even know?"

They once more found themselves in the main circular room. Trillia wrote down the newest symbol of the door she had explored and moved on to the third.

The door opened, and the lights came on. This time, the air wasn't just rotten. It felt alive.

Trillia took a step back from the door.

It didn't close.

The air slowly swirled together and up into a bipedal figure. She heard the whisperings of words. They sounded like an old dialect of orc, the same that Lotan had spoken. "Speak to the purpose."

It said the phrase again and again. Trillia glanced around the room and thought of the notification. "I am here to check on the Eternal General."

The air stopped moving. A few of the closer golems turned their heads to her.

"Who ordered this?"

Trillia's mind spun and raced. Should she say Alliyah? Exardescere? Another idea came to mind. "I am the pact-bound creature of a Darktone! You would dare to question my authority?!" She took a step forward and let her mana flood into her hands.

That seemed to be the correct answer. The air swirled into a ball and fell to the ground, silent.

Why did it just take her word for it? Maybe it could tell? She so dearly wanted to sit down and think things through, but she didn't know how long this was going to take.

Trillia opened her journal and wrote this symbol in it as well. This one at least had some difference to it.

She stepped into the hallway. At least the lights were in better shape here. A dull white light instead of the washed-out yellow of everything else. But the light was still coming from the glass teardrops. She didn't see any mana in them either, which worried her.

This hallway was rather short and ended in another door. It didn't open at her approach.

She didn't want to turn back. Whatever that creature had been might attack her if she did.

"Cut your hand, see if your blood opens it." Leaf's mental suggestion caught her off guard. But she was out of ideas, she ran her hand along Leaf's edge and placed her hand on the door.

The room immediately came alive with light. The odd patterns of inlays in the walls and ceiling lit up with bright blue light. Not only in this hallway, but even back into the main room. The door before her shuddered open.

As she stepped inside, she was struck with an odd scene. What looked like writing desks were scattered around the room. With strange glass panels that sat dull and lifeless. The room was a crescent shape, and that was where things were really odd. At the far end, the light just...stopped. She didn't see a wall, or anything obstructing it.

But the room went from perfectly lit to a curtain of total darkness.

Slowly, she stepped into the room, making her way around to each desk. As she neared the lifeless panels of glass, one lit up.

"This...this looks like the system?" She murmured in amazement. To even more amazement, she could read it. It was exactly like the system. It wasn't any language she could pin down. It was just...the system.

~Blood Capacty @ 97%

Eternal Blades:
Blade 1 @ 100% efficiency.
Blade 2 @ 100% efficiency.
Blade 3 @ 100% efficiency.
Blade 4 @ 93% efficiency.
Blade 5 @ 30% efficiency.
Blade 6 Malfunction Detected! Requesting Repairs!

Project Stasis Oversight: Working as intended...

Darktone Agent detected within defense system!
Defenses ordered to stand down!
Darktone Agent is given full operational clearance!

Awaiting orders...~

Trillia stared at the panel and read it several times. It was bizarre to see the system...in physical form like this. Hesitantly, she reached a hand out to touch the panel, gently pushing against the words.

As she did, it began to move again.

~Eternal Blades:
Blade 6 Malfunctioned approximately 37,315 solar cycles ago!
Blade 6 Repair requested approximately 37,315 solar cycles ago!
No repairs have been issued...
No response from Capital Maintenance...~

Trillia blinked a few times at the new information. Then paused.

She stared at the number of years. Was it possible something from that long ago still existed? How had it not fallen to ruin? How had it not been discovered?

"I wish the Queen was here. She might have some idea of what happened here."

The panel came alive again.

~Darktone Agent detected...

Enable Verbal Commands? [Yes] [No]~

With a shrug, she reached a finger out and poked the panel in the [Yes].

"What year is it?"

The panel moved in response.

~It is the Year 39,685 Post Cataclysm...~

Post Cataclysm? That had only happened less than two decades ago.

"What was the cataclysm?"

The panel rapidly switched images for a few seconds before displaying a sphere, slowly spinning.

~Fall of Lunar Body #7: A.K.A. The Cataclysm:

A fight amongst a celestial and infernal dragon clan in the space known as the Void, caused Lunar Body #7 to fall from the sky in shards. Tearing apart the land and sending the world into darkness. From this darkness, new life emerged as the gods did their best to rescue their fallen followers. The Cataclysm also caused new laws to be instituted that dragons and other extraterrestrial void-bound creatures had to keep their disagreements an extra 1.3 million miles from the orbit of Alirast to ensure that the planet would not be in danger of backlash.~

Trillia once more found herself dumbfounded as she read the information. Alirast had seven moons? She only knew of two. The primary moon was almost always in the night sky and another was said to only appear every few decades.

"Please provide me a detailed map of this du-" She paused. This wouldn't be a dungeon to these people, would it? "Of this complex."

An image immediately appeared. Trillia sat in a nearby chair and scribbled the entire thing into her journal. The place was absolutely massive as if an entire city had been sunk into the ground.

As she wrote and copied, she found herself frozen in fear. Her eyes slowly turned to the curtain of black that the light simply didn't pierce. According to the map, that was the holding cell of the Eternal General.