SS - Chapter 6 - Unbound Power

Selena paused, her smile slowly morphing into a look of annoyed frustration. “Really? You’re going to be suspicious of me even after watching me walk up and caving that asshole’s head in?”

“I’m suspicious by nature,” I snapped. “It’s kept me and my people alive. You claimed that the Skylian’s severed your connection to their stone. That should have also removed your ability to use a system, and magic but, not even two minutes after making that claim, I watched you step out of cover and cast counterspells while chasing down a mage.”

“I wasn’t casting counterspells,” Selena sighed, her hands falling to her side, her posture slumping slightly.

“Then what was that?” I demanded.

“I have bloodline magic,” Selena said quietly. She brushed the hair off her face and pointed at her bright orange eye. In the sunlight it appeared to flicker, and glow, like a gentle fire. “A prismatic eye. My grandmother told me that they used to be a lot more common, and that different colors did different things, but mine disrupts any magic I look at.”

I slowly relaxed, removing my hand from my blade. “I’ve only ever read about Bloodline magics, they’re extremely rare. The Skylian’s should have been jumping all over themselves to recruit you to their ranks.”

“Well, apparently they considered my elvish blood too foul to even consider using my family’s powers,” Selena growled. “They slaughtered the rest of my family in an attempt to prevent anyone else from gaining access to the ability, I was just lucky I was already on the outskirts of the kingdom when the purges began.”

I looked the girl up and down. She didn’t look like she was lying, and she obviously hated the Skylians, so I decided to give her a chance. 

I’d still make sure to use a couple magic stones to check that she, and the other refugees, had been completely severed before they were allowed anywhere near the town. Even if I trusted Selena explicitly, which I didn’t, I needed to verify. I couldn’t afford to risk the village based on trust.

“Fine, I believe you,” I finally announced. “Do you know if it was just the one squad after you, or do we have to worry about reinforcements?”

“We only saw the one,” Selena replied quickly, “but that doesn’t mean there couldn’t be more.”

“Then we should move quickly,” I mumbled before glancing at the top of the ridge. “Camille! We’re clear! Get down here, we’re going to escort these refugees back to town.”

“I don’t think that’s a great idea!” came the faint reply.

“You’re probably right, but I’m not going to let a bunch of innocent people starve to death in the middle of the wilderness. Get down here!”

Even though Camille grumbled, letting out the occasional faint expletive, she still started making her way down the hill like I asked.

“Let’s go collect the others,” I told Selena.

The half-elf half skipped, half jogged towards me. She must have sensed that I still didn’t quite trust her, because she kept a respectful distance as we made our way back into the Canyon.

As we stepped past the canyon threshold I felt something wash over me, an uncomfortable wave of power. I immediately stopped, and ran my gaze across the area. For a moment, I didn’t see any changes. The shadows felt a little darker, draping the area in a deep gloom, but the basic structure hadn’t changed.

It wasn’t until my eyes adapted to the unnatural darkness that I finally discovered the cause of my discomfort.

“Where did everyone go? Where did that gateway come from,” Selena growled, sprinting towards where we’d left the rest of the refugees. The small alcove where everyone had been cowering was gone, replaced by a massive stone gate covered in intricate carvings inlaid with glowing blue metal.

“Shit…” I muttered. When Selena wandered too close to the gate I sprinted forward and grabbed the woman by the arm. 

“What’s with you? I need to find my people!” Selena snapped.

“Do you not know what that is?” I growled, nodding towards the gate. “That’s a dungeon gate!”

Selena went still for a moment as she absorbed that information, then wrenched her arm free. “So? My friends are in there!”

“Along with traps, monsters and any number of other surprises,” I hissed. “You’re just begging to have your head removed if you wander in there unprepared.”

“None of those people were ‘prepared’,” Selena yelled. “There were mostly women, children and the elderly, and not a single one of them had a weapon. If I don’t do anything, every single one of them could die!”

“I know,” I replied coldly. “I don’t intend to just leave them in there, but we can’t rush in there blindly. You don’t even have a weapon, what were you planning on doing if you ran into a monster?”

Selena stared daggers at me, fists balled, but she didn’t argue.

“Head back outside, and check those soldiers outside for a weapon you feel comfortable with. Maybe some armor and provisions too,” I said quietly. “I won’t have the time to babysit you inside, so you better be prepared.”

Her eyes widened at my words. She glanced at the gateway for a moment before turning back to me and nodding. Without a word she sprinted back towards the entrance of the canyon, passing Camille along the way.

“Please don’t tell me that’s what I think it is,” Camille moaned.

“It’s a gateway,” I mumbled, without taking my eyes off the gate.

“I told you not to tell me! What’s a dungeon doing here? And why didn’t you mention it earlier?” Camille demanded.

“Because it wasn’t here earlier,” I growled. “It just showed up.”

“Dungeons don’t just show up,” Camile said as she looked at me, eyes narrowed. “It takes years for the magic to condense into a dungeon core. They slowly carve out a domain, casting off extra magic as monsters.”

“I’m aware of the process,” I mumbled. “I’ve cleaned up just as many proto dungeons as you have. A fully developed dungeon can flood an area with monsters, making the surrounding area until it’s dealt with.”

My eyes kept wandering back to the gateway, taking in the strange carvings. “That’s why this entire situation feels strange. We settled in this area because it was practically devoid of monsters, but this is beyond a doubt a fully developed gateway which should have been spitting out horrors for years before we arrived. Not only that, but the entrance seems to have been hidden, but I have no idea by what, or why.”

“You want to go in there, don’t you,” Camille moaned.

“We kind of have to. Not only are the refugees in there, but if something had kept this place suppressed until now, and the dungeon is now active, we need to destroy that core before it can overwhelm us.”

“If that’s the case, we should go back and get reinforcements. Apply a liberal application of force and knock it out in a single blow,” Camille suggested.

“You know that’s not how things work,” I grumbled. “The more force you bring against a dungeon, the more active it becomes and the more resistance it throws against you. That’s why the kingdoms send elite squads, or adventuring groups to deal with them.”

“Yeah, well, I hate to break it to you, but an adventuring group usually contains more than two people, and they usually have several people capable of casting magic,” Camille snapped. 

“Well, we don’t have access to anyone capable of casting, but we may have access to someone with a bloodline,” I said.

“What?” Camille screeched as she turned to look at me shocked. “You’re lying! How? Who?”

I threw a thumb over my shoulder as Selena came sprinting back, a bag draped over one shoulder and silver halberd, etched with runes in hand. Camille stared at her, wide eyed.

“You find what you needed?” I asked Selena, as she slid to a stop next to me, panting.

“I did. There was a magic weapon up where your friend slaughtered the squad, it was probably the leader’s, but I don’t know why he left it up there,” she explained.

“He didn’t have a choice,” Camille scoffed. “He had a bit of a tumble.”

Selena glanced at her for a second, but then pulled the bag off her shoulder and dropped it at her feet. “I also found some extra magic stones, and provisions.”

“Excellent,” I declared, reaching into the bag and fishing out three stones, passing one to each of my comrades before swapping out the one in my sword. “Selena, meet my right hand and the village's resident smart ass, Camille. Camille, this is Selena, persecuted for having elvish blood, and owner of an anti-magic eye.” 

“Charmed,” Selena muttered. Camille just grunted in response.

“Now, I’m not going to beat around the bush here, I expect us to be completely outgunned in there. It typically takes a full group of six experienced adventurers to take down a dungeon, one that has access to magic and a full array of magical artifacts,” I explained. “That being said, I don’t think we have the time to get reinforcements. There are people trapped inside, and they won’t survive long without help. Our first priority is to get them out. It’s my hope that this place was hidden, and possibly suppressed, that the dungeon might not be fully online yet. If that’s the case we one hundred percent should attempt to take out the core. 

“If we can't, things are going to get extremely bad around here,” I declared quietly, my hand tightening on the hilt of my rapier. “Any questions?”

Selena and Camille exchanged a quick glance, then shook their heads.

“Alright, then let’s do this.”