Soul of the Warrior

"We should really follow that young man outside," Refix said, catching everyone's attention.

Reivyn looked at his dad for a moment before it occurred to him.

"Because monsters can't exit Dungeons," he said. Refix nodded his head. "We'll have a lot less explaining to do with less overall stress if we confront the situation head on."

Everyone else nodded their heads at the remarks. Xudrid and Vyria went ahead and walked the last distance to the shore while the rest continued to swim. The two cultivators were examining the bodies of the dead aquatic monsters.

"These things are fascinating," Xudrid said, straightening up when the others arrived. "I've never seen ocean beasts before, but I've heard of them from our lessons and other cultivators who did their excursions in coastal regions." Xudrid turned to face Reivyn. "Have you ever experienced anything like these before?"

Reivyn was the only one who didn't appraise the monsters with a look of surprise and exclamation, but he didn't want to get into the whole deal of him having memories from another life. The monsters only resembled what he had vague memories of, anyway. There were mutations and way too many teeth, even for a shark. The squids had some sort of grasping claw on the end of each of their tentacles, too, which was very creepy.

"I have not encountered anything like these, no," Reivyn shrugged. "We can examine them some other time. We don't know how close another group of people would be to the entrance for that boy to find and lead back here."

"Good point," Xudrid said. They turned and headed to the exit at a brisk walk. "You know, everything inside of a Dungeon is considered a monster, even the beasts," he continued. "There's something about the Dungeons that warps the bodies of the beasts. If we found similar species of beasts outside in the real world, they wouldn't have these weird mutations."

"Hmm," Reivyn contemplated the statement for a moment. For the most part, the things he had encountered inside Dungeons had always been humanoid or already monsters to begin with. "Now that I think about it, the one prominent beast I encountered in a Dungeon was a giant spider. It's legs were basically knives, but the ones on the outside that I ran into weren't like that. At the time, I had thought it was because it was a different variation."

"You talking about the echo of that Tier 7 spider in the desert?" Kefira asked.

Xudrid, Vyria, Teilon, and Kimberly all came to a sudden stop. Reivyn looked up and saw looks of astonishment on their faces. Teilon's eyes were as wide as they could go and his eyebrows were trying to connect with his hairline. Reivyn chuckled.

"Oh yeah, we haven't told you guys about that," he said. "It's not as big of a deal as it sounds. At least not yet."

"Not that big of a deal..." Teilon repeated. He shook himself and focused on Reivyn. "Wait, what do you mean, 'not yet?' That things still out there?"

"Kind of?" Reivyn answered. "We'll sit down and talk specifics later, but it was basically captured by a crazy woman-"

"Jezebel," Kefira whispered.

"-who took it with her," Reivyn continued, shooting an amused glance at Kefira. "We were fighting against a horde of invaders who were obviously associated with the same ones we were just fighting, but it turned out their mission was to infiltrate and capture that spider for some high ranking girl probably from a Tier 6 empire."

"Tier 6?!" Teilon nearly shouted.

"Yeah, didn't you know?" Reivyn asked.

"No, I just knew there was a war that you'd gotten yourself involved in somehow. Haven't had time to delve into the specifics."

"Well, that's what we're up against. What we've seen so far appear to only be the subordinate Tier 5 empires under them."

"So we haven't even made it to the actual bad guys, and they already have people that terrifying?" Teilon exclaimed.

"Yup."

"Excuse me," Xudrid interjected. "Do you happen to know the name of that person? Did you say Jezebel?"

"She's not Jezebel," Kefira shook her head before a ruthless gleam filled her eyes. "She's a jezebel."

"I... don't know what that means," Xudrid admitted.

"Don't worry about her," Reivyn said, patting Kefira's shoulder. "Her name was Aeriella."

"Ahh, I see," Xudrid said. He remained silent for a moment before looking up to see everyone's expectant gaze on him. "We've never met her, but she's known to us. She's the youngest daughter of the emperor."

"Hey, just like you, Kefira," Teilon said, a smile on his face.

"She's nothing like me!" If a look could kill, Teilon would have been a smoldering corpse.

"Ok, ok!" Teilon backpedalled with his hands out in front. "Jeez, bite my head off, why don't you."

Reivyn laughed and clapped Teilon on the shoulder.

"Best not to mention anything like that again, buddy," Reivyn said.

Their banter cut off as they approached the exit of the Dungeon. They didn't hesitate and just walked straight out into the sunlight. Reivyn only took a couple of steps before he halted in place, completely flabbergasted by the sight before him.

They walked out onto a rocky outcropping near a beach. The waters were crystal clear with a slight shade of blue, and the waves were gentle and rhythmic. The small hill that the Dungeon was located on oversaw a coastal village where many people could be seen wandering the streets in colorful clothes. There was an outpost of some sort attached to the cave that created a flat platform for people to stand on when heading into or out of the Dungeon, but there were no people on the platform at this time.

The scenery was beautiful and picturesque, and even without being able to see behind the hill the cave was in, Reivyn gleaned hints that there was more habitation further inland, as well.

None of that was what arrested his attention, though.

In the distance, there was a wall of storm clouds from sea level all the way to the sky. Purple lightning bolts continuously flashed inside the storm, and the winds raged almost horizontally. Peering around, Reivyn could see that the storm was a perfect circle encapsulating their location, which he was beginning to suspect was an island, and it continued around beyond where he could see it.

The rest of the Party came to a halt as they witnessed the phenomenon as well. Reivyn switched to his Mana Sight and saw huge amounts of ambient Mana swirling within the storm wall, some of leaking into their environment. Reivyn finally paid attention to the local ambient Mana and found that they were definitely in a Tier 4 Region, but the continued encroachment of Mana from the storm put them on the cusp of Tier 5.

"Ahh! The Siren sorcerors have escaped the Dungeon!" A familiar voice brought Reivyn out of his revery. "It's a Dungeon Break!"

Reivyn turned to the sound of the voice and witnessed a contingent of armed men with wicked looking harpoons rushing toward them. Their armor gleamed in the sunlight, and Reivyn could see that it was comprised of segmented scales of some sort. He could feel the Mana contained withing and knew that the armor was enchanted.

I wonder if that's constructed or Dungeon loot, Reivyn idly thought. Either way, I need to secure a sample for Kailey and Riley.

The squad of armed men came to a halt a few dozen yards away, the boy from the Dungeon hiding behind the biggest man in front. He peeked out from behind the man's shoulder at Reivyn and his friends.

The big man lowered his harpoon, followed by the others, and he snagged the boy from behind and pulled him out in the open.

"What's the matter with you?!" He yelled. "You're going to cause a panic, shouting about Dungeon Breaks and whatnot. If there was a Dungeon Break, there'd be hundreds, if not thousands, of them.

"Now look at them," he pointed at Reivyn but kept his gaze on the youngster. "Have you ever seen sirens walk on two legs? Have you ever seen sirens wear armor and weapons?"

The boy peered over at Reivyn and the others and finally took a good, close look at them. He sheepishly looked back up at the big man.

"They was trying to entice me, though, dad," he said. "Two of them floated right up out of the water. I didn't get a good look at them 'cause I was so frightened."

"Entice you, you say?" The man's father asked, scrutinizing his son's face. "What exactly did they say?"

The youngster tilted his head and touched his finger to his chin as he recalled the conversation in the cave.

"They said, 'we're not monsters' and then 'what's a siren?' Something like that."

The big man pinched the bridge of his nose as he squeezed his eyes tight.

"Boy, I swear..."

"It's his first time in the Cave, Kahl," one of the others called out sympathetically. "He's bound to be a bit jittery."

Kahl sighed as he calmed himself down.

"Bahli, what is it that we always tell everyone that sirens say?"

"'Come into the water,' or 'come join us,'" Bahli immediately said. It took him a second, but he finally got it and tried to defend himself. "But they was trying to disarm my suspicion by sayin' they weren't monsters or sirens. Sounds like siren talk to me."

"'Sounds like siren talk...' Boy! You just told me what they say!" Kahl shook his head. "We'll talk about this later."

Kahl left his son standing where he was surrounded by several other armed men. The other men in scaled-armor comforted the youngster as Kahl approached Reivyn and his friends.

"Ho, strangers! The name's Kahl," he raised an empty hand in greeting. "Sorry about the confusion. The boy's head is filled with the stories his uncles have spun to him over the years. Granted, it is a bit strange for a bunch of strangers to appear in someone else's Dungeon. Care to explain that?"

"It's quite alright," Reivyn dismissed the confusion. "That's why we immediately followed the boy out of the Dungeon. And we ended up here due to a simple misapplication of Space Magic. My name's Reivyn. This is my father Refix, and these are Kefira, Serilla, Teilon, Kimberly, Xudrid, and Vyria." Reivyn went down the line introducing everyone in turn. Kahl nodded his head along with the introductions.

"Simple misapplication of Space Magic..." Kahl repeated with a quirked eyebrow.

"Yeah, we were in a teleport corridor when... let's just say a catastrophic failure occurred, and we were launched into the veil," Reivyn explained. "Luckily, we have a talented Space Mage with us, but none of us had ever encountered such a problem before, and our solution was less than ideal."

"Ok~ay... I guess I can see how that would get into a Dungeon, but how did you get into someone else's Dungeon? That's what I don't understand."

"Beats me," Reivyn turned and looked at his companions. Everyone else shook their heads. "Just a quirk of the System, maybe? Listen, before we go any further, are we safe here?" Reivyn gestured to the storm wall. Kahl turned and looked at what he was indicating.

"Oh, that. It's fine. It's been like this for over a thousand years."

Reivyn was taken aback.

"A thousand years? That's a long time for a storm to last."

"Yeah, well, we're a Tier 4 island Region surrounded by Tier 8 oceans. The differential in the ambient Mana causes the storm, and it's permanent, so it never goes away. But you don't have to worry about that, the weather inside the Region is perfectly normal, though sometimes intense."

"That's surprising, though I guess when Mana is involved I can wrap my head around a lot of different things," Reivyn replied. "If this island is surrounded on all sides by Tier 8 ocean Regions, how did you guys get here?"

"It wasn't always like this," Kahl explained. "The oceans are a lot like the wilderness with their shifting ambient Mana. If the wilderness is like air, though, the ocean is like molasses. It's slow moving. This setup will probably last another couple thousand years before there's any significant change."

"How does an isolated island know about the wilderness on the continents?" Reivyn asked. "Do you just have, like, records or something?"

"Oh, no," Kahl shook his head. "We're not isolated. We're a transition point between local groups. We have a teleport circle and everything. We only have the two destinations, though, so the time between the portals being open is twenty days. Forty days total for each individual destination. We don't get a lot of traffic, but it's enough to keep in touch with the outside world, and we visit the mainlands for Life Experience, too."

"Whew, that really lifts a load off our backs," Reivyn said. "I was worried that there wouldn't be an easy solution for us to get back to our homes and families."

"Shouldn't be an issue. Which Local Group are you from?"

Reivyn stopped and stared for a second, stumped by the question. He turned to look at his companions.

"Terran Three," Refix answered.

Reivyn stopped and stared at his father with wide eyes for a long moment. His father had just said something that he recognized from his past life memories. The words that he spoke were English, and he understood them, though they didn't mean anything in Haman. It was just a name like any other town, city, or Region. Refix gave him a confused look as Reivyn continued to stare.

"What?" Refix asked.

Reivyn shook himself out of the slightly disassociated state he had fallen into.

"Later," he replied. Refix nodded his head. Kefira looked at him with a bit of concern in her expression, but he just smiled to reassure her.

"You're in luck," Kahl said, ignoring the byplay with tact. "Terran Three is one of the destinations of our teleport circle, so it looks like you didn't get tossed around too far. The only minor problem is that it was just open five days ago, so you'll have to wait just over a month before you can take the next hop."

"Is there an Adventurer's Guild on the island we can send a message through?" Reivyn asked.

"There's always an Adventurer's Guild," Kahl chuckled. "Hell, you might be able to find a branch or two in the wilderness it's so pervasive."

"You're probably right, actually," Reivyn chuckled with the man.

"The Adventurer's Guild can also set you up with a place to stay while you're here. We don't get enough visitors for an inn to be a profitable venture, so they handle the rooms for visitors."

"If there are no inns, where does everybody hang out and unwind?" Teilon asked.

"Hey now, I never said anything about there being no taverns!" Kahl laughed. "We have plenty of those. They just don't come with rooms."

"Excellent," Teilon said, rubbing his hands together. Kimberly rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the ribs.

"Well, now that we've got that misunderstanding settled, let me be the first to welcome you to Theyiah," Kahl held out a hand to Reivyn. The two shook.

"Theyaih... almost sounds like-"

"The Eye, yeah," Kahl said. "Nobody remembers what our little slice of paradise used to be called. Once the storm formed, everyone just called it The Eye, and over time it just became Theyaih." Kahl shrugged. "One last thing, though, before you head off to the Adventurer's Guild, I would kindly ask you guys not to go back into the Dungeon for the next four days before it resets. It's tagged by one of our Parties, you see. Once it resets, it's open for all if you want to delve it."

"Sure, that won't be a problem," Reivyn nodded his head. "With what we've been through recently, I doubt anyone's interested in delving a Dungeon immediately."

"Speak for yourself," Teilon said. "You're the one that's been having all the fun. We just got there when you turned us around and headed back. That fight in the city wasn't enough to dampen my spirits."

"Sure, and we can definitely delve the Dungeon," Reivyn replied.

"You guys were fighting in a city? And I'm guessing a Tier 4 capital city at that?" Kahl questioned.

"Yeah, there's a lot going on back where we're from. You haven't heard anything about it?"

"Like I said, we don't get too many visitors. The last group that came through was eight months ago, and they didn't say anything. The Local Groups are big, they probably didn't know anything."

"Maybe," Reivyn said. "The news is big enough, though, that I would be surprised if someone from a Tier 4 Region from Terran Three didn't know what was going on."

"Really? That's surprising. What's going on?"

"War."

"War?"

"Yeah. Tell you what, after we get situated, we can meet up at a tavern you choose and we can give you guys the news, and you can tell us about the Dungeon, the local life, and the other Local Group. Sound like a plan?"

"You don't have to give me a reason to visit my favorite tavern," Kahl laughed.

"What about your wife? I'm assuming considering you called that youth over there your son."

"She'll be coming with!"

"Right on!" Teilon exclaimed.

Reivyn just rolled his eyes and shook his head. It wasn't anything different than his and Teilon's relationships, though. Reivyn had never actually been to a tavern without Kefira, now that he thought about it. Restaurants didn't count. They had things to drink, but they were designed to accompany the flavor of the meals. Taverns specialized in getting high Level Classers tipsy or drunk.

"There's a place down by the shore called The Shifty Eye," Kahl said. "We'll meet up at sundown if that's fine with you."

"Sounds like a plan," Reivyn agreed.

"Alright, well, we won't get in your hair any longer. Until then."

Kahl walked back to his squad of waiting men. He put one hand on Bahli's shoulder and spoke to him in a hushed tone really quick. Bahli lowered his head and listened before perking up at the end. He nodded his head and ran up to the group.

"Mr. Reivyn, sir, I apologize for the inconvenience my hasty actions have brought," Bahli said. He said the words like he was rehearsing exactly what he had been told to say.

"It's not problem, Bahli," Reivyn waved him off. "Hardly an inconvenience, either. It actually made it a lot easier on us to figure things out, so thank you."

"Ugh... Well, I have to get back to work, then," Bahli didn't seem to know how to handle the situation. It obviously went off of whatever script his father had helped him come up with on the spot.

"Sure," Reivyn nodded. "And nice to meet you."

"Yeah, ugh, you, too," Bahli waved as he ran back to the Dungeon.

Reivyn turned to face his group. Kahl and his entourage marched off to where they had come from. Reivyn could see that there was some sort of guard shack half-way between the Dungeon and the settlement.

Interesting, Reivyn thought. They knew about Dungeon Breaks and weren't too surprised about it, and the placement of the guard shack seems strange. It makes more sense if they're taking measures against monsters suddenly pouring out of the Dungeon, though. I'll have to ask him about that tonight.

"So we got some time to kill," Reivyn said. "No pun intended," he said, giving Teilon's smirking face a glance. "Just over a month in this 'slice of paradise' as Kahl called it."

"Doesn't seem so bad, to me," Teilon said. "You guys might actually be able to glean something from the interaction between Tier 8 ambient Mana and this Tier 4 one's."

Reivyn stared at Teilon for a second.

"Is Teilon actually suggesting we conduct some experimentation and, dare I say it, training?" Reivyn raised his eyebrows.

"What? I train!" Teilon defended.

Reivyn glanced at his father.

"I think you're rubbing off on him."

"It was only a matter of time," Refix replied with a smile. "We'll make a proper Adventurer out of you, yet."

"I do pretty well for myself, already. Thank you very much," Teilon said.

"Sure."

"Alright," Reivyn brought everyone's attention back to himself. "So, let's head to the Adventurer's Guild, get the message sent, get our rooms situated, and then we can all go about doing whatever for the rest of the day. I'm going to meet up with Kahl this evening. You all don't have to come, but you're welcome to all the same."

"No way you're going with me," Teilon said. Kimberly nudged him in the ribs again. "Us." Kimberly nodded her head.

"Me, too," Kefira said, looking up at Reivyn. "We can look at the storm wall some other time. Today will be about getting set up and exploring the town."

"Yes, ma'am," Reivyn nodded his head.